Acts 26

Ac 26:1-32.

PAUL'S

DEFENSE OF

HIMSELF BEFORE

KING

AGRIPPA,

WHO

PRONOUNCES

HIM

INNOCENT, BUT

CONCLUDES

THAT THE

APPEAL TO

CÆSAR

MUST

BE

CARRIED

OUT.

This speech, though in substance the same as that from the fortress

stairs of Jerusalem

(Ac 22:1-29),

differs from it in being less directed to meet the charge of apostasy

from the Jewish faith, and giving more enlarged views of his remarkable

change and apostolic commission, and the divine support under which he

was enabled to brave the hostility of his countrymen.

1-3. Agrippa said--Being a king he appears to have presided.

Paul stretched forth the hand--chained to a soldier

(Ac 26:29,

and see on

Ac 12:6).

3. I know thee to be expert, &c.--His father was zealous for the

law, and he himself had the office of president of the temple and its

treasures, and the appointment of the high priest

[JOSEPHUS,

Antiquities, 20.1.3].

hear me patiently--The idea of "indulgently" is also conveyed.

4, 5. from my youth, which was at the first . . . at

Jerusalem, know all the Jews; which knew me from the

beginning--plainly showing that he received his education, even

from early youth, at Jerusalem. See on

Ac 22:3.

5. if they would--"were willing to"

testify--but this, of course, they were not, it being a strong point

in his favor.

after the most straitest--"the strictest."

sect--as the Pharisees confessedly were. This was said to meet the

charge, that as a Hellenistic Jew he had contracted among the heathen

lax ideas of Jewish peculiarities.

6, 7. I . . . am judged for the hope of the promise made . . . to our

fathers--"for believing that the promise of Messiah, the Hope of the

Church

(Ac 13:32; 28:20)

has been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth risen from the dead."

7. Unto which promise--the fulfilment of it.

our twelve tribes--

(Jas 1:1;

and see on

Lu 2:36).

instantly--"intently"; see on

Ac 12:5.

serving God--in the sense of religious worship; on

"ministered," see on

Ac 13:2.

day and night, hope to come--The apostle rises into language as

catholic as the thought--representing his despised nation, all scattered

thought it now was, as twelve great branches of one ancient stem, in all

places of their dispersion offering to the God of their fathers one

unbroken worship, reposing on one great "promise" made of old unto their

fathers, and sustained by one "hope" of "coming" to its fulfilment; the

single point of difference between him and his countrymen, and the one

cause of all their virulence against him, being, that his hope had found

rest in One already come, while theirs still pointed to the future.

For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews--"I am

accused of Jews, O king" (so the true reading appears to be); of all

quarters the most surprising for such a charge to come from. The charge

of sedition is not so much as alluded to throughout this speech. It

was indeed a mere pretext.

8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible . . . that God should

raise the dead?--rather, "Why is it judged a thing incredible if God

raises the dead?" the case being viewed as an accomplished fact. No

one dared to call in question the overwhelming evidence of the

resurrection of Jesus, which proclaimed Him to be the Christ, the Son of

God; the only way of getting rid of it, therefore, was to pronounce it

incredible. But why, asks the apostle, is it so judged? Leaving

this pregnant question to find its answer in the breasts of his

audience, he now passes to his personal history.

9-15. (See on

Ac 9:1,

&c.; and compare

Ac 22:4,

&c.)

16-18. But rise, &c.--Here the apostle appears to condense into one

statement various sayings of his Lord to him in visions at different

times, in order to present at one view the grandeur of the commission

with which his Master had clothed him [ALFORD].

a minister . . . both of these things which thou hast seen--putting

him on a footing with those "eye-witnesses and ministers of the word"

mentioned in

Lu 1:2.

and of those in which I will appear to thee--referring to visions he

was thereafter to be favored with; such as

Ac 18:9, 10; 22:17-21; 23:11;

2Co 12:1-10,

&c.

(Ga 1:12).

17. Delivering thee from the people--the Jews.

and from the Gentiles--He was all along the object of Jewish

malignity, and was at that moment in the hands of the Gentiles; yet he

calmly reposes on his Master's assurances of deliverance from both, at

the same time taking all precautions for safety and vindicating all his

legal rights.

unto whom now I send thee--The emphatic "I" here denotes the authority

of the Sender [BENGEL].

18. To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to

light--rather, "that they may turn" (as in

Ac 26:20),

that is, as the effect of their eyes being opened. The whole passage

leans upon

Isa 61:1

(Lu 4:18).

and from the power of Satan--Note the connection here between

being "turned from darkness" and "from the power of Satan," whose whole

power over men lies in keeping them in the dark: hence he is

called "the ruler of the darkness of this world." See on

2Co 4:4.

that they may receive forgiveness . . . and inheritance among the

sanctified by faith that is in me--Note: Faith is here made the

instrument of salvation at once in its first stage, forgiveness, and

its last, admission to the home of the sanctified; and the faith

which introduces the soul to all this is emphatically declared by the

glorified Redeemer to rest upon Himself--"FAITH,

even THAT WHICH IS IN

ME." And who that believes this can refrain from casting his crown

before Him or resist offering Him supreme worship?

19-21. Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the

heavenly vision--This musical and elevated strain, which carries the

reader along with it, and doubtless did the hearers, bespeaks the lofty

region of thought and feeling to which the apostle had risen while

rehearsing his Master's communications to him from heaven.

20. showed . . . to them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem--omitting

Arabia; because, beginning with the Jews, his object was to mention

first the places where his former hatred of the name of Christ was best

known: the mention of the Gentiles, so unpalatable to his audience, is

reserved to the last.

repent and return to God, and do works meet for repentance--a brief

description of conversion and its proper fruits, suggested, probably, by

the Baptist's teaching

(Lu 3:7, 8).

22, 23. having obtained help--"succor."

from God--"that [which cometh] from God."

I continue--"stand," "hold my ground."

unto this day, witnessing, &c.--that is, This life of mine, so

marvellously preserved, in spite of all the plots against it, is upheld

for the Gospel's sake; therefore I "witnessed," &c.

23. That Christ should suffer, &c.--The construction of this sentence

implies that in regard to the question "whether the Messiah is a

suffering one, and whether, rising first from the dead, he should show

light to the (Jewish) people and to the Gentiles," he had only said what

the prophets and Moses said should come.

24. Festus said with a loud voice--surprised and bewildered.

Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad--"is

turning thy head." The union of flowing Greek, deep acquaintance

with the sacred writings of his nation, reference to a resurrection and

other doctrines to a Roman utterly unintelligible, and, above all, lofty

religious earnestness, so strange to the cultivated, cold-hearted

skeptics of that day--may account for this sudden exclamation.

25, 26. I am not mad, most noble Festus, but, &c.--Can anything

surpass this reply, for readiness, self-possession, calm dignity? Every

word of it refuted the rude charge, though Festus, probably, did not

intend to hurt the prisoner's feelings.

26. the king knoweth, &c.--(See on

Ac 26:1-3).

27-29. believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest--The

courage and confidence here shown proceeded from a vivid persuasion of

Agrippa's knowledge of the facts and faith in the predictions

which they verified; and the king's reply is the highest testimony to

the correctness of these presumptions and the immense power of such bold

yet courteous appeals to conscience.

28. Almost--or, "in a little time."

thou persuadest me to be a Christian--Most modern interpreters think

the ordinary translation inadmissible, and take the meaning to be, "Thou

thinkest to make me with little persuasion (or small trouble) a

Christian"--but I am not to be so easily turned. But the apostle's

reply can scarcely suit any but the sense given in our authorized

version, which is that adopted by CHRYSOSTOM and some of the best

scholars since. The objection on which so much stress is laid, that the

word "Christian" was at that time only a term of contempt, has no force

except on the other side; for taking it in that view, the sense is,

"Thou wilt soon have me one of that despised sect."

29. I would to God, &c.--What unequalled magnanimity does this speech

breathe! Only his Master ever towered above this.

not only . . . almost . . . but altogether--or, "whether soon or late,"

or "with little or much difficulty."

except these bonds--doubtless holding up his two chained hands

(see on

Ac 12:6):

which in closing such a noble utterance must have had an electrical

effect.

30-32. when he had thus spoken, the king rose--not over-easy, we may

be sure.

32. This man might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed to

Cæsar--It would seem from this that such appeals, once made, behooved

to be carried out.