1Then Agrippa said to Paul, You are permitted to speak for yourself. So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself: 2I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall give a defense before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, 3especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. 4My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. 5They knew me from the first, if they were willing to bear witness, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. 6And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. 7To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. 8Why should it be thought incredible by you if God raises the dead? 9Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. 12While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, 13at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from Heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. 14And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. 15So I said, Who are You, Sir? And He said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute. 16But arise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things in which I will appear to you. 17I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, 18to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me. 19Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the Heavenly vision, 20but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. 21For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come to be; 23that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. 24Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad! 25But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and sobriety. 26For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things are hidden from him, since this thing was not done in a corner. 27King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you believe. 28Then Agrippa said to Paul, You almost persuade me to become a Christian. 29And Paul said, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these bonds. 30When he had said these things, the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them; 31and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, This man is doing nothing deserving of death or bonds. 32Then Agrippa said to Festus, This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 PAUL'S DEFENSE OF HIMSELF BEFORE KING AGRIPPA, WHO PRONOUNCES HIM INNOCENT, BUT CONCLUDES THAT THE APPEAL TO CĆSAR MUST BE CARRIED OUT. (Acts 26:1-32)
Agrippa said--Being a king he appears to have presided.
Paul stretched forth the hand--chained to a soldier (
Acts 26:29, and see on
Acts 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 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
Acts 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 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 (
Acts 13:32;
Acts 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
Luke 2:36).
instantly--"intently"; see on
Acts 12:5.
serving God--in the sense of religious worship; on "ministered," see on
Acts 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 (See on
Acts 9:1, &c.; and compare
Acts 22:4, &c.)
16 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
Luke 1:2.
and of those in which I will appear to thee--referring to visions he was thereafter to be favored with; such as
Acts 18:9-
Acts 18:10;
Acts 22:17-
Acts 22:21;
Acts 23:11;
2Cor 12:1-10, &c. (
Gal 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
Acts 26:20), that is, as the effect of their eyes being opened. The whole passage leans upon
Isa 61:1 (
Luke 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
2Cor 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 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 (
Luke 3:7-
Luke 3:8).
22 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 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
Acts 26:1-
Acts 26:3).
27 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
Acts 12:6): which in closing such a noble utterance must have had an electrical effect.
30 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 Cćsar--It would seem from this that such appeals, once made, behooved to be carried out.