Acts 24:23

And he gave order to the centurion that he should be kept in charge, and should have indulgence and not to forbid any of his friends to minister unto him.

The centurion ... The use of the definite article here has led some to suppose that this was the same centurion sent by Lysias; but Plumptre affirmed that it might be either he "or the one who had special charge of the prisoners waiting for trial."[27]

The favorable impression made by Paul on Felix is seen in the unusually lenient treatment accorded the prisoner. As Boles said, however, "The indulgence did not include removal of his chains."[28] Don De Welt, quoting Jacobus, noted that "He seems to have been in what was called `military custody,' in which the prisoner was bound by a long light chain to his arm, the other end of which was fastened to the officer."[29]

Indulgence ... as used here "is a common medical term for the cessation or remission of pain or disease,"[30] thus inadvertently showing the hand of the learned doctor of medicine, the sacred evangelist Luke.

[27] E. H. Plumptre, op. cit., p. 161.

[28] H. Leo Boles, op. cit., p. 386.

[29] Don DeWelt, op. cit., p. 307.

[30] A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 233.