Chapter 26
2024 - It occurred to me yesterday that most of Acts is really "The Biography of Paul of Tarsus". Luke starts off pretty generally about the start of the church, but at some point in Acts, it becomes all about Paul. This shows us how important Paul was considered to be by those in his own time. He was known world wide, when you think about it. Perhaps only the Emperor of Rome was more widely recognized by name. And yet...the church was to be built on Peter. Surely this proves that Jesus' meaning when he told Peter that was not quite what we think it was. The rock was the gospel, NOT a man, NOT the first pope...that just doesn't make sense in light of what we see in Luke about Paul, and given the number of NT books written by Paul.
Paul starts by praising Agrippa, saying that he knows Agrippa is familiar with Jewish culture and will understand. Then Paul points out that he was a Pharisee - the strictest sect of Judaism - and that he was active in persecuting, and even voting to kill many who followed the Way. He says the Jews are upset with him over his belief in the resurrection. I believe he is shifting this to a dispute between the Pharisees and Sadducees, which would be of no interest at all to Rome.
2024 - But is this really what Paul's persecution was about? Sure on the day they grabbed him in the Temple he seized upon the idea of pitting Pharisee against Sadducee but the charges that started it all were that he had violated the Temple by bringing in a Gentile. Which had not occurred at all. And that was really incidental to the upheaval of preaching Christ crucified and risen to the Jews, and of preaching that the Law need not be followed anymore. He was accused generally of transforming Judaism to Christianity, and specifically of defiling the Temple. Yet here again he says his only "crimes" is believing as the Pharisees believe and that it is the Sadducees who are accusing him, not the Jews in general. And none of his "judges" ever seem to figure that out.
Ahhh...he finally does get to the real reasons beginning in 21.
Now Paul shifts to the Damascus road, and the revelation given to him there. Paul says his "new mission", to proclaim Jesus, is not just some change of mind, but a command from heaven itself. I like this verse:
20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. [Act 26:20 ESV]
This puts the lie to being able to just keep on living like the devil after salvation. You can do that, but Paul would tell you that you were doing it wrong. That is not repentance. It seems that one can do that, but there is no reward for it.
2023 - Repent, in this sentence is present tense, and turn is aorist infinitive - rarely noted in my studies but not "rare", giving the sense of purpose or result. We make our decision to repent and the result is this "turning" that results. Our outlook changes, our values change, our "purpose in life" changes. The result of true repentance is always to turn away from sin and as a result of that profound turning we go forward determined to serve God in all that we do. This not because we HAVE to serve him, but because we will desire to serve Him. So repentant people are not "doing good deeds" to earn a place in heaven but because God changed us at the moment of our repentance into the kind of people who seek always after the "right" thing to do.
It does not, it can not mean, that we repent of what we've done up to this point, wiping the slate clean, and then begin anew to accumulate the same sorts of Godless actions of which we have already repented. Repentance is a change of mind, not a payment to a debt collector so he won't bother you for a while!
Paul points out that it is for this reason - for preaching repentance and a Godly life - that the Jews seized him. Here is the verse:
21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. [Act 26:21 ESV] Paul does not mince words here. He tells them that his arrest by the Jews is because of a disagreement - a violent, hate-filled, death-seeking disagreement - between he (Paul) and the Jewish religious hierarchy and leading (rich) Jews in Jerusalem. It is not about Roman law being violated, not about inciting riots, and not about loyalty to a king besides Caesar. It is about an internal, non-political, non-civil question of religion.
Then the gospel is summarized for Agrippa:
22 To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: 23 that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles." [Act 26:22-23 ESV]
Testifying to what was already in the Scriptures though a mystery, now revealed at the appearing of Jesus the Messiah, and bringing light to the darkness for Jew and Gentile alike. For all.
Festus says loudly that Paul has to be out of his mind. "Your great learning has made you mad". Paul says he is not mad, and that Agrippa - whom he is actually addressing - has knowledge of all these things, including the resurrection and the gospel. Paul asks Agrippa directly whether he believes what the prophets said. Agrippa's answer implies that he does indeed know what they said:
28 And Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?" [Act 26:28 ESV]
Agrippa knew he was being preached to, that he was being offered salvation. Paul says he would that all present would believe.
These "extra" notes from 3/29/20 as to this passage:
Agrippa...almost. How many who have wandered. How many disillusioned, should see this upheaval as an opportunity to be persuaded?
Hmm...I had this all wrong. Th KJV and NKJV are quite different from ESV, RSV, and so on. NKJV reads this way:
28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian." [Act 26:28 NKJV]
But in contrast,
28 And Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time you think to make me a Christian!" [Act 26:28 RSV]
RSV is representative of the alternate translations of this verse. They indicate that Agrippa thought it silly that Paul would try and convert him with just a single "sermon". His disbelief was strong, and he was telling Paul it just wasn't going to happen. Here is the ESV:
28 And Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?" [Act 26:28 ESV]
Agrippa is clearly implying that it will take a lot more than one appearance to convert him. A pretty common attitude for the closed minded.
Agrippa rises first, then the others, and they withdraw. In private, Agrippa says that Paul is not guilty of anything, and could have been set free had he not appealed to Caesar. An aspersion on both Felix and Festus for being too spineless to dispense justice? Like Agrippa has a lot of room to talk!