There is a big difference between confidence and cockiness.
Acts 25 portrays Paul as confident.
There is also a big difference between being blameless and sinless.
Acts 25 portrays Paul also as blameless.
Imagine being blameless. I mean, really, totally blameless.
Most of us would be hard pressed to claim that title. Frankly, it’s not a title we should bestow upon ourselves anyway. It’s much better coming from others.
The Bible tells us in Genesis 6:9 that Noah was blameless.
In Job 1:1 we read that “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.”
Neither of these men were sinless, because that is a description reserved for Jesus only. But they were denoted as blameless. Such is the case with the Apostle Paul. Throughout Acts 25, the ruling leaders simply couldn’t prove any charges of wrong-doing for which he was being held (vs. 7). Paul’s accusers struggled to pin anything on him. Everyone was at a loss as to how to investigate the charges brought against him.
Paul was blameless.
He was also confident. I shutter when I read verse 11: “If I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.”
Whoa. Caesar. Paul pulled out the big guns. Now, that’s confidence.
The reason Paul could appeal to Caesar is because he knew he was not at fault. The most durable confidence is that which is built upon blamelessness. Did you catch that?
Confidence flows from blamelessness.