The Princess Who Bartered Holiness for Political Power
The New Testament occasionally presents figures whose lives illustrate the spiritual perils of high political and social standing. Drusilla was a Jewish princess of the Herodian dynasty whose rejection of the Gospel, despite hearing it directly from the Apostle Paul, provides a sobering warning about the fatal compromise of unwavering conviction for the sake of earthly power.
The Herodian Lineage and Unlawful Marriage
Drusilla was the daughter of Herod Agrippa I (who famously persecuted the Church and killed James the Apostle, Acts 12) and the sister of Herod Agrippa II (before whom Paul later made his defense, Acts 26). Her royal lineage placed her at the nexus of Roman politics and Jewish society.
Her life was marked by an unlawful marriage—a stark illustration of her personal compromise:
- She was first married to the king of Emesa.
- She was later persuaded to leave her first husband to marry Felix, the Roman governor of Judea. This marriage was a double transgression of God’s Law: it was an act of adultery, and it was a union that sacrificed covenant purity for political security and status.
“And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.” (Acts 24:24, KJV)
Her status as a “Jewess” who deliberately entered into an adulterous union with a Gentile Roman governor underscores her utter disregard for the sanctity of the Law she claimed to profess.
The Message and the Fearful Response
Drusilla was present with Felix when the Apostle Paul was held captive in Caesarea. Felix, hoping to extort money from Paul, brought the Apostle before them to hear the message of Christ. Paul, sensing the corruption and unrighteousness of his audience, did not preach general theology; he addressed their specific sins with uncompromised truth:
“And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” (Acts 24:25, KJV)
Paul’s three subjects—Righteousness (exposing Felix’s injustice and Drusilla’s adultery), Temperance (self-control, a vice they lacked), and the Judgment to Come (the final accounting for their actions)—pierced their consciences.
Felix “trembled,” a powerful sign of conviction. Yet, he rejected the conviction, choosing to defer the Gospel until a more “convenient season.” Drusilla, who was complicit in the unholy union and who had the full Law of God, stood by and silently assented to this rejection.
The Fate of Rejection
Drusilla’s story is the epitome of the biblical warning that intellectual knowledge of the truth is useless without physical obedience. She had the highest birth, was educated in the Law, and heard the unadulterated Gospel message from the greatest Apostle, yet she refused to let go of her worldly status and sinful marriage.
She serves as an eternal witness that when the Gospel is rejected for the love of this present world and its political compromises, the inevitable result is hardening of the heart and the loss of eternal salvation.