Acts 24:17-21
17 “Now after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation, 18 in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult. 19 They ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me. 20 Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council, 21 unless it is for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day.’ ”
Paul came to do his religious and civic duty when nearly beaten to death, and so he presented the case that those falsely accusing him should show up for the trial. The real reason they had so much against him that they wanted to kill him was the gospel - the resurrection after death in Christ. The certain hope in Jesus went against the ritualistic earning of God's favor that so many wore as their prideful accomplishments, and so they sought to stop the free gift that nullified their useless efforts. Grace by faith in Christ alone was on trial. Even today religious systems wage war against this.
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