CHAPTER 26
Acts 26:1-11 Agrippa then said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul, stretching out his hand, made his defense: “Concerning all the things for which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am to make my defense before you today, especially since you are well acquainted with all the customs and controversies among the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. All the Jews who know my life from my youth and my earlier years in my nation know, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest party of our religion. And now I stand on trial because of the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, which our nation of twelve tribes sincerely serves night and day and hopes to attain. It is with respect to this hope that I am accused by the Jews, King. Why is it considered incredible among you if God raises the dead? I myself thought it necessary to do many things opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth; and this I also did in Jerusalem. I locked many of the saints in prison obtaining authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death I gave my vote. I frequently punished them in all the synagogues and tried to force them to blaspheme; and in my obsession against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
“ Why is it considered incredible among you if God raises the dead ?” He proposes two lines of argument about the resurrection: one derived from the prophets, and he does not dismiss the prophet, but rather the glory of the Jews, and another stronger one drawn from events, that Christ was reported to him as having risen from the dead. And he constructs this latter also from reasoning, recounting beforehand his former zeal. First argument: “ Why is it considered incredible among you if God raises the dead ?” and another: Would such glory have existed, unless they had been raised again in these doctrines? And when he introduced this, who would not have accepted the statement? “For this heresy,” he says, “I am accused; and this is pressed upon them. On account of this they pray, on account of this they worship, that they may obtain this. And this I proclaim.” [CHRYSOSTOM]
Acts 26:12-18 As I was traveling to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road, a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shone around me and those who were traveling with me; and when we all fell to the ground I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the rods." And I said, "Who are you, Lord?" And the Lord said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet; for to this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you as a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you; delivering you from the people and the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me."
“ brighter than the sun .” He then likens it to that which among sensible things is most luminous; since that light could not be equated with the light of Jesus, which is far greater, he speaks in this way, so that human hearing may receive it, and says that that light surpasses the brilliance of the sun. [AMMONIUS]
Acts 26:19 Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
A heavenly vision [Ὀπτασία] 1 is the pure sight that transcends man. What a person in the flesh is unable to see, unless his eyes are revealed to him, cannot be seen. [AMMONIUS]
Acts 26:20-23 But to those in Damascus first and then in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea and to the Gentiles I preached to repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me while I was in the temple and attempted to kill me. But by the help which is from God I have stood to this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that Christ, if he was to suffer, and if he was to be first from the resurrection of the dead, was destined to proclaim light to both the people and the Gentiles.
" saying nothing except what the prophets said ." For fear that he himself be thought the teacher of this, he cites the prophets and Moses, saying, " that Christ, if he was to suffer, and if he was to be first from the resurrection of the dead ," and what follows. But the phrase "if" (εἰ), instead of "that" (ὅτι), means "is." Moses , he said, declared that Christ would be the first to undergo resurrection. For he first rose here and no longer dies: for although some others had been raised either by him or by the disciples, and likewise by the prophets, they died again, awaiting the universal resurrection. [CHRYSOSTOM]
Acts 26:24-32 While he was defending himself, Festus cried out in a loud voice, “You are mad, Paul; your great learning is driving you to madness.” But Paul said, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but I am speaking words of sober truth. For the king is familiar with these matters, to whom I am also speaking openly; for I am persuaded that nothing of these things has escaped his notice, since this has not been done in a corner. Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you do believe.” And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time you would persuade me to become a Christian.” Paul said, “I would pray to God even for a little while, but also in length of days, not only you but all who hear me today, may become such as I am, except for these chains.” Then the king, and the governor, and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them rose up, and as they were going away they spoke to one another, saying, “This man does nothing deserving of death or imprisonment.” And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
Since he was always conversing with the king, as if Festus had suffered something, and seeing the boldness, from anger and outrage, he says, “ You are mad .” But Paul explains the reason for which he turned his speech to the king. Then, showing that this doctrine had become everywhere in the inhabited world, he added: “ this has not been done in a corner ,” speaking about the cross and the resurrection of Christ. In short, that is, with few words, in brief sayings, in a short teaching, without much labor and continuous discussion. Wherefore Paul also fittingly says to him: “ I would pray to God even for a little while ,” and the things that follow. For example, that it is my earnest desire that all should become Christians, and this is my prayer to God. Since I am ready both for many words and for few to preach the faith in Christ, and with work and labor, and immediately. For work and labor in teaching and preaching are in no way counted against me, but it is the same to me to work or not, and to spend much time in proclaiming or little, provided that I see some turning to Christ. He said these things while at once showing his own eagerness and zeal, and at the same time calling to that man, as if he wished both to hear more and to receive more instruction; not only would he not shrink from anything, but he was so ready, providing readiness itself, that he would even perform an act of prayer, if only he should obtain the object. The phrase “ even for a little while ,” Agrippa?—he took instead of “almost,” that is, of what was required to be small. But if anyone else, like you, Paul, discourses about divine and human matters, using spoken delivery rather than the wording or what is signified for the advantage of the speech, he put “ even for a little while but also in length of days ” instead of “in a few words in the contest of words,” and also “in more,” and he offered “I would wish you to become a Christian.” So that he might say, “Both by few words and by many words I would wish you to become a Christian.” For the sake of everything I am ready to do all things for your salvation, not only for yours alone, but also for those associated with you.
" except for these chains ." Not refraining from calling his chains his own, nor ashamed, he said this. For this indeed was to him, if anything else, worthy of glory and boast, but it looked to the opinion of those people, and yielded to their weakness: "may become," he says, " such as I am, except for these chains ."
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Translator notes for Acts chapter 26.
1. Ὀπτασία is a Greek feminine noun meaning "a vision," "supernatural appearance," or "apparition". Derived from ὀπτάνομαι ("to appear"), it refers to a sight or display seen while awake or asleep, frequently used in the Bible to describe heavenly visions, such as angels or divine revelations.