But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: But this I confess unto thee - in which Felix, however, would see no crime,
That after the way which they call heresy, [hairesin (G139)] - literally, and better, 'a sect.'
So worship I the God of my fathers, [too (G3588) patroooo (G3971) Theoo (G2316)] - 'the ancestral' or 'father God.' There are two arguments in this statement. First, Our nation is divided into what they call 'sects'-the sect of the Pharisees and that of the Sadducees; and all the difference between them and me is, that I belong to neither of these, but to another sect, or religious section of the nation, which, from its Head, they call Nazarenes: for that reason, and that alone, am I hated. Second, The Roman law allows every nation to worship its own deities; I claim protection under that law, worshipping the God of my ancestors, even as they do, only of a different sect of the common religion.
Believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets. Here, disowning all opinions at variance with the Old Testament Scriptures, he challenges for the Gospel which he preached the authority of the God of their fathers. So much for the charge of heresy.