‘But Felix, having more exact knowledge concerning the Way, deferred them, saying, “When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will determine your matter.”
Having listened to all this, and having more exact knowledge about the Way, (so that he knew that some of the accusations were lies), Felix decided that he did not have enough to go on and deferred a decision declaring that he would wait for Lysias the chief captain to come to Caesarea. Then he would pass his verdict. This may well have been because he was afraid that if he released Paul this might produce even worse enemies than he had already. His knowledge of the Way might have included knowing that sometimes rows did break out because of it. But it would seem that he really had no intention of bring Lysias to Caesarea (otherwise he could have been there within a couple of days or so).