Acts 24:27

The two years to which Luke referred were evidently the years of Paul’s detention in Caesarea. Felix’s superiors relieved him of his position because he had handled a conflict in Caesarea between the Jewish and Gentile residents too harshly. Too many Jews had died or been mistreated. [Note: Ibid., 2:13:7; Idem, Antiquities of . . ., 20:8:7.] His replacement, Portius Festus, served as procurator of Judea from A.D. 59-61. [Note: Bruce, Commentary on . . ., p. 474; cf. Gill, p. 25.] To appease the Jews, Felix left Paul in prison. The apostle had become a political pawn in the will of God.

It is quite likely that if Luke was with Paul at this time he used these two years to do some of the research to which he referred at the beginning of his two-part work (i.e., Luke-Acts; cf. Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1). He may even have written his Gospel then and some of Acts. A minority of scholars believes that Paul wrote some or all of his Prison Epistles during his Caesarean imprisonment. One expositor believed Luke wrote the Book of Hebrews under Paul’s tutelage during this time. [Note: Morgan, p. 394.] This is quite unlikely.