Institute for Creation Research

Acts 26:1

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:

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I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:

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Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.

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My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;

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Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.

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And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:

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Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly ° serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.

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Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?

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I verily ° thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

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Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.

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And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto ° strange cities.

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Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

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At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.

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And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

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And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

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But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

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Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,

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To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

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Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:

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But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

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For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.

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Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:

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That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

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And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.

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But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.

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For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner.

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King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.

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Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

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And Paul said, I would ° to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such ° as I am, except these bonds.

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And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them:

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And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.

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Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.

Acts 26:7

26:7 twelve tribes. Paul recognized that representatives from all twelve tribes of Israel were still in Judaea, all still adhering to their ancient religion. There is no suggestion in the New Testament that there were ten lost tribes somewhere else in the world. Israelites indeed were scattered all over the known world, including descendants of those who had been in Assyria (which later had been conquered by Babylon, then by Persia, finally by Greece and Rome).

Acts 26:8

26:8 a thing incredible. It would be incredible if anyone but God (or those empowered by him) should claim to raise the dead, for only He is the Creator of life. To Paul, it was both anomalous and sad that the Jews, especially the Pharisees, whose hope was centered in the coming Messiah and the promised resurrection, should now be denying that Jesus had proved He was the Messiah by the very fact of His fulfillment of their hope. They believed in the doctrine of the resurrection, especially when the evidence was so strong that many Pharisees (including Paul) already had believed.

Acts 26:14

26:14 kick against the pricks. This somewhat homely expression refers to a harnessed animal trying to kick away the goads restraining him. Evidently, even as Paul had been furiously persecuting the Christians, he had been increasingly smitten in conscience, especially by the remembrance of the demeanor of Stephen when he died, as well as by the willingness of Christians everywhere to suffer and die for their faith, if need be.

Acts 26:16

26:16 But rise. Acts 26:14-18 give a more detailed account of what the Lord Jesus said to Paul on the road to Damascus than is found either in Acts 9:4-6 or Acts 22:7-10.

Acts 26:18

26:18 To open their eyes. These words of the Creator to Paul make it emphatic that the evolutionary pantheism of the Gentiles was not sufficient to bring them salvation. They were, in fact, under “the power of Satan,” who had led them into these false religions. The “god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.” (II Corinthians 4:4), and Paul had been sent to “open their eyes” to the truth. They were in “darkness,” but Christ died to deliver them “from the power of darkness” (Colossians 1:13) into “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ” (II Corinthians 4:4).

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