Tertullus [TÔö£ÔòùrtÔö╝┬íl’lus]

derived from Tertius, and meaning, LIAR or IMPOSTOR.

A Roman advocate employed by the Jewish authorities to prosecute Paul before Felix, the Roman Governor or Procurator …Acts 24:1, 2…Five days later Ananias, the high priest, arrived with some of the Jewish elders and the lawyer (Greek some elders and an orator)Tertullus, to present their case against Paul to the governor……..When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented the charges against Paul in the following address to the governor: "You have provided a long period of peace for us Jews and with foresight have enacted reforms for us.

Acts 25:8…Paul denied the charges. "I am not guilty of any crime against the Jewish laws or the Temple or the Roman government," he said.

The style of his rhetorical address or brief was common to Roman advocates.

With his power of glib eloquence as well as knowledge of Roman laws, the orator Tertullus sought to impress the mind of the judge. With the trick of his class, he began with flattery of the judge. All of the flattering epithets of the hired orator, however, stand out in striking contrast with "the righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," Paul later spoke about to the same ruler.

From flattery of the judge, Tertullus passed to invective against the defendant, charging him with crimes he never committed. Paul in his defense presented a marked difference between his own frank manliness and the advocate's servile flattery. Tertullus could not rouse the conscience of Felix as Paul did. "Felix trembled," as Paul pressed home the truth of the Gospel and sent for him "the oftener," we read. What a tragedy it was that Felix did not follow his Spirit-impressed conscience!