Acts 26
Paul Offers His Defense
1 So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul held out his hand and began his defense:
God has a sense of humor. There were no charges against Paul, but he was given liberty to share the gospel in a court of Roman law before kings. Paul's hands were in chains, yet he gave an oratorical gesture to begin his presentation.
2 “Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,”
The Greek word for fortunate is μακάριος (makarios), meaning happy, blessed, or to be envied. This is the same Greek word that Jesus used in his Beatitudes, when he said "Blessed are the poor in spirit, because they will see the kingdom of God." Paul was happy, felt blessed, and should be envied, as God allowed him to share the gospel with kings.
3 “because you are especially familiar with all the customs and controversial issues of the Jews. Therefore, I ask you to listen to me patiently.”
Josephus recorded that King Agrippa was very knowledgeable about Judaism.
4 “Now all the Jews know the way I lived from my youth, spending my life from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.”
Paul's life was an open book. Many of his enemies knew of his devotion to Pharisaic Judaism when he was young.
5 “They know, because they have known me from time past, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.”
His enemies knew of his strict Pharisaic past, but they were unwilling to testify in his behalf.
6 “And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors,”
Paul was on trial not because he had broken any Roman or Jewish laws, but because he believed the messianic promises of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Jewish prophets. The hope of the Messiah was the center of Pharisaism.
7 “a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. Concerning this hope the Jews are accusing me, Your Majesty!”
Paul spoke in the present tense. He did not believe that there were ten lost tribes, as some cults do today. Notice the chronological order of night and day, meaning that Luke was thinking Jewish and not Gentile.
8 “Why do you people think it is unbelievable that God raises the dead?”
The "you" in Greek is plural, meaning that Paul is now turning from King Agrippa and focusing on the plurality of the audience.
9 “Of course, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene.”
The Greek word for "convinced" is δοκέω (dokeo), meaning that it was Paul's formulated subjective opinion to perform hostile acts on the messianic believers. The Greek word for "necessary" is δεῖ (dei), meaning that Paul thought it was his necessary duty to persecute the messianic believers.
10 “And that is what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons by the authority I received from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were sentenced to death.”
The Greek word for "cast my vote" is καταφέρω (katapheiro), meaning that Paul dropped his black pebble against the messianic believers and approved of the death penalty. Paul did this unofficially, because he was not a member of the Sanhedrin. Many of the messianic believers died at the hand of the Sadducees, simply because these messianic believers believed in the resurrection of the Jesus and the Messianic hope of the fathers.
11 “I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to force them to blaspheme. Because I was so furiously enraged at them, I went to persecute them even in foreign cities.”
Notice that the cities were plural, meaning that Damascus was just one of many cities. Paul was so furious at Christians, that he wanted to kill all of them. This is the condition of all unbelievers. If they had the authority, their depraved nature would crucify Christ and kill all of his followers. God has raised up governments to protect Christians from being killed. When these governments fail to protect Christians, then God removes them.
12 “While doing this very thing, as I was going to Damascus with authority and complete power from the chief priests,”
Paul actually had the authority to do what we all would have liked to do before our conversion. Paul had the authority to arrest and execute as many Christians as possible.
13 “about noon along the road, Your Majesty, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining everywhere around me and those traveling with me.”
At noon, the sun shines at its brightest, yet the Shekinah Glory shined brighter.
14 “When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by kicking against the goads.’”
It was a natural response for Jews to fall to the ground in the appearance of God. The Greek word for "Aramaic" is Ἑβραΐς (Hebrais), meaning the Hebrew language. Paul was speaking Greek in the Roman court, but he heard the voice of God in Hebrew. The Greek word for "kicking against the goads" is πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν (pros kentra laktizen), meaning to kick your heels against the sting of deity.
15 “So I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.’
Whenever Paul was persecuting the body of Christ, he was also persecuting the head.
16 ‘But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this reason, to designate you in advance as a servant and witness to the things you have seen and to the things in which I will appear to you.’
The Greek word for stand is ἵστημι (istami), meaning to arise and take a stand. Jesus appeared to Paul for two reasons. Paul was to be a witness of the resurrection and to the future eschatalogical events that Jesus will show him.
17 ‘I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you’
Jesus will rescue Paul from his own people, the Jews. Paul will be a witness to the Gentiles.
18 ‘to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”
God opened the eyes of the Gentiles by using spirit-filled believers to testify of Christ. Gentiles were living in spiritual darkness, so they must have their eyes opened so that they can see the spiritual light. Gentiles were blinded by Satan, so they must have their eyes opened supernaturally, but God chose to do this through a human agent. Once a Gentile believes, then his sins are forgiven and he is justified in the aorist tense, meaning that it is a completed action of the past. Believers are sanctified by learning bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God.
19 “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,”
Paul only did what his Messiah told him to do, causing the Jews to want to kill him.
20 “but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance.”
Paul's witness to Judea was new information, as it was not recorded in the Book of Acts. Paul always took the gospel to the Jews first, starting in Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, and then the uttermost parts of the world.
Repentance means to change your attitude about the identity of Jesus. Performing good deeds is evidence of salvation.
21 “For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple courts and were trying to kill me.”
The Jews were attempting to kill Paul, because they were losing coverts. Paul was taking this good news to both Jews and Gentiles all over the world.
22 “I have experienced help from God to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except what the prophets and Moses said was going to happen-“
Paul was protected from the dead by God. He was able to testify to both poor and great because of the help of God. Paul was not revealing any new information, because Moses and the prophets predicted that all of these things would happen.
23 “that the Christ was to suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, to proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”
Many verses, especially Isaiah 53, predicted the sufferings of the Messiah. Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would be a light to not only the Jews, but to Gentiles as well.
24 As Paul was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed loudly, “You have lost your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!”
Festus interrupted Paul during his defense. The Greek word for "lost your mind" is μαίνομαι (mainomai), meaning raving mad. The Pharisees used this Greek word against Jesus, calling him raving mad, because "he has a demon and is μαίνομαι (mainomai)". The depraved nature of Festus saw Paul as a man who studied the Scriptures so much, that it turned him into a raving mad lunatic. Like most skeptics, Festus could not disprove anything that Paul said, so he must resort to insult.
25 But Paul replied, “I have not lost my mind, most excellent Festus, but am speaking true and rational words.
The Greek word for "true" is ἀλήθεια (alatheia), meaning divine truth. The Greek word for "rational" is σωφροσύνη, meaning a soft and relaxed logical discourse.
A lost man cannot understand the divine truths of Scripture, even if it is presented in perfect logical methodology. Paul explained this mind condition of the unbeliever to the Corinthians, "The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)
26 “For the king knows about these things, and I am speaking freely to him, because I cannot believe that any of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner.”
King Agrippa had a strong Jewish background, so he knew all of these things, including the prophecies of the Messiah. Festus did not have this Jewish background, so this teaching was over his head.
27 “Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you believe.”
Paul did not give King Agrippa a chance to answer. Paul answered for him.
28 Agrippa said to Paul, “In such a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?”
Agrippa answered in sarcasm, meaning that he was not moved by Paul's speech. This statement does not mean that Agrippa almost became a Christian, such as the King James points out. Agrippa used the term "Christian", instead of "the Way" or "the Nazarenes", meaning that he had some prior knowledge of these issues. He did see that the purpose of Paul's defense was persuasion of the gospel, but he was not interested in becoming a Christian.
29 Paul replied, “I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time not only you but also all those who are listening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains.”
The Greek word for "pray" is εὔχομαι (euchomai), meaning to pray or wish. This verb is aorist middle optative, meaning that the prayer was a completed action of the past made emphatically by Paul himself. The optative mood expresses a wish or desire, meaning that there was a small possibility of the event happening. Paul was praying for conversion of Agrippa and the entire audience, but it was a wishful prayer. Notice that Paul was still in chains during his discourse.
30 So the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them,
When the king stood up, the case was over.
31 and as they were leaving they said to one another, “This man is not doing anything deserving death or imprisonment.”
Both Agrippa and Festus agreed that Paul was innocent.
32 Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
Since Paul had appealed to Caesar, neither Agrippa nor Festus could release him. This case was now out of their jurisdiction. The reason that Paul appealed to Caesar was because Festus had refused to release him and was talking about turning him over to the corrupt Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. This was a clear case of Roman justice failing to do their Roman duty because of political pressure. This had been true of Pontius Pilate, of Felix, and now it was true of Festus.
