Acts 26

Acts 26:1

26:1-3 The scene before us has been well described as an enslaved king and an enthroned prisoner. From the spiritual standpoint, Agrippa was a pitiable figure, whereas the apostle soared on wings of faith, superior to his circumstances. When given his cue by Agrippa, Paul stretched out his hand and began a stirring recital of his Christian experience. First, he expressed gratitude that he was permitted to present his case before one who, being a Jew, was conversant with the customs and questions which prevailed among the Jewish people. His introduction was not mere flattery; it was a statement of Christian courtesy and simple truth. 26:4, 5 As to his early life, the apostle was an exemplary Jew. The Jews would have to admit, if only they were willing to testify, that Paul had followed a pathway of the strictest orthodoxy, being a consistent Pharisee.26:6 Now he was on trial for no greater crime than the fact that he clung to the hope of the promise made by God to the Jewish fathers in the OT. The flow of Paul’s argument here seems to be as follows: In the OT God made various covenants with the leaders of Israel, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Solomon. The principal covenant had to do with the promise of the Messiah, His coming to deliver the nation of Israel and to reign over the earth. The patriarchs of the OT died without seeing the fulfillment of this promise. Does this mean that God would not carry out the terms of the covenants?

He would most assuredly do so! But how could He do it when the fathers were already dead? The answer is, By raising them from the dead. Thus, in a very direct way, the apostle links the promises made to the OT saints with the resurrection of the dead. 26:7 The apostle pictured the twelve tribes of Israel as earnestly and ceaselessly serving God, hoping to see the promise fulfilled. This reference to the twelve tribes is important in view of the current teaching that ten of the tribes of Israel have been lost since the captivity. Though they were scattered among the Gentile nations, the Apostle Paul saw them as a distinct people, serving God and looking for the promised Deliverer. 26:8 This then was Paul’s crime! He believed that God would fulfill His promise to the fathers by raising them from the dead. What was so incredible about this? Paul asked Agrippa and all those who were with him. 26:9-11 Reverting to the story of his life, Paul recounted the savage and unremitting campaign he waged against the followers of the Christian faith. With all his strength he opposed the name of Jesus of Nazareth. With authority from the chief priests, he imprisoned many of the Christians in Jerusalem. When they stood trial before the Sanhedrin, he cast his vote against them consistently. Over and over again he arranged punishment for those whom he found in every synagogue, and he did all he could to force them to deny their Lord. (When it says that he compelled them to blaspheme, it does not mean he was successful, but he tried to do it.) Paul’s hate campaign against the disciples of Jesus had overflowed from Jerusalem and Judea to foreign cities. 26:12-14 It was while he was on one of these foreign expeditions that a great transforming experience occurred in his life. He was en route to Damascus, equipped with official papers authorizing him to arrest the Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment. At midday he was overcome by a vision of glory. A light from heaven shone upon him, brighter than the midday sun. After he had fallen to the ground, he heard a voice asking this probing question: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? The voice also added the revealing words, It is hard for you to kick against the goads.

Goads were sharply pointed instruments used to force stubborn animals to move ahead. Paul had been kicking against the goad of his own conscience, but even more important, against the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit. He had never been able to forget the poise and grace with which Stephen had died. He had been fighting against God Himself. 26:15 Paul asked, Who are You, Lord? The voice replied, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Jesus? How could that be? Hadn’t Jesus been crucified and buried? Hadn’t His disciples stolen His body and laid it away in some secret place? How then could Jesus be speaking to him now? The truth quickly dawned on Paul’s soul. Jesus had indeed been buried, but He had risen from the dead! He had ascended back to heaven, from where He was now speaking to Paul. In persecuting the Christians, Paul had been persecuting their Master. And in persecuting Him, he had been persecuting the Messiah of Israel, the very Son of God. 26:16 Next Paul gives a condensed summary of the commission which was given him by the risen Lord Jesus Christ. He was told by the Lord to rise and stand on his feet. He had had this special revelation of Christ in glory because he was appointed to be a servant of the Lord and a witness of all he had seen that day, and of all the great truths of the Christian faith which would yet be made known to him. 26:17 The promise that Paul would be delivered from the Jewish people and the Gentiles must be understood as meaning deliverance in general until his work was done. 26:18 Paul would be sent especially to the Gentiles to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Through faith in the Lord Jesus, they would receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified. H. K. Downie shows how verse 18 is an excellent summary of what the gospel does:

1. It relieves from darkness.
2. It releases from the power of Satan.
3. It remits sins.
4. It restores a lost inheritance. 26:19-23 Having been thus commissioned, Paul explains to Agrippa that he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Both in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all … Judea, and then to the Gentiles he preached to men that they should repent and turn to God, doing works that prove the reality of their repentance. This is what he was doing when the Jews seized him in the temple and tried to kill him. But God had given him protection and help, and he continued to testify to all with whom he came in contact, preaching the message which the prophets and Moses preached in the OT. The message was that the Messiah would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and that He would show light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.26:24-26 Being a Gentile, Festus had probably failed completely to follow the flow of the apostle’s argument.

Thoroughly unable to appreciate a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit, he impetuously accused Paul of being crazy as the result of his much learning. With no trace of irritation or temper, the apostle quietly denied the charge and emphasized that his words were those of truth and reason. He then expressed confidence that the king knew the truth of what he had been saying. Paul’s life and testimony had not been a secret. The Jews knew all about it, and doubtless the reports had reached Agrippa. 26:27 Addressing the king directly, Paul asked, King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? Then Paul answered his own question, I know that you do believe. The force of the argument is unmistakable. Paul was saying in effect, I believe all that the prophets said in the OT. You, too, believe their testimony, don’t you, Agrippa? How then can the Jews accuse me of a crime deserving of death?

Or how could you condemn me for believing what you yourself believe?26:28 That Agrippa felt the force of the argument is indicated by his words, You almost persuade me to become a Christian. However, there is considerable disagreement as to exactly what Agrippa meant. Those who follow the King James tradition feel that the king had actually been brought to the threshold of decision for Christ. They feel that Paul’s answer in verse 29 substantiates this. Others think that Agrippa was using irony, asking Paul, as it were, Do you think that with a little persuasion you can make me a Christian? In other words, he was evading the pressure of the apostle’s words with a joke. 26:29 Whether Agrippa was speaking in sincerity or in jest, Paul answered with deadly earnestness. He expressed the fervent wish that, whether with little persuasion or with much, both Agrippa and all the others present might enter into the joys and blessings of the Christian life, that they might share all Paul’s privileges, that they might become like him, except for the chains. Morgan writes: He would die to save Agrippa, but he would not put his chains upon Agrippa. That is Christianity. Magnify it, multiply it, apply it. The sincerity that persecutes is not Christian. The sincerity that dies to deliver, but will not impose a chain, is Christianity. 26:30-32 The king, the governor, Bernice, and the other officials left the room to confer privately. They were all forced to admit that Paul had done nothing deserving of death or chains. Perhaps with a tinge of regret, Agrippa said to Festus that if Paul had not appealed to Caesar, he might have been set free. We naturally wonder why the appeal to Caesar could not be cancelled. Whether or not such an appeal was unalterable, we do know that it was God’s purpose that the apostle to the Gentiles should go to Rome for trial before the Emperor (Act_23:11), and there find the fulfillment of his desire to be made conformable to the death of his Lord.