Acts 23:26 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix. — The letter may have been sent unsealed, or a copy of it may have been given to St. Paul or St. Luke after his arrival. What we have obviously purports to be a verbal reproduction of it. We note (1) that the epithet “most excellent” is that which St. Luke uses of Theophilus, to whom he dedicates both the Gospel and the Acts (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1), and (2) that the formal salutation, “greeting,” is the same as that used in the letter of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:23) and in the Epistle of St. James (James 1:1).