The Word Made Fresh
1Agrippa then said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.”
Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. 2“King Agrippa, I am fortunate indeed to be able to defend myself today before you against all the accusations the Jews are bringing against me, 3because you know well all the customs and controversies of the Jews. So, I beg you to listen patiently to my defense. 4All the Jews know how I have lived from my youth among my own people and in Jerusalem. 5They have long known, if they’ll admit it, that I have lived as a Pharisee, the strictest sect of our religion. 6I am standing here on trial because of my hope in the promise God made to our ancestors, 7a promise our twelve tribes hope to gain as they have earnestly believed day and night. It is for this hope, O king, that I am accused by Jews. 8Why should any of you question that God can raise the dead?
9“Yes, I confess that I was convinced that I should do everything I could against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10And that is exactly what I did in Jerusalem. I was given authority by the chief priests, and I imprisoned many of the saints, and I even voted to condemn them to death. 11I often faced them in the synagogues, and tried to force them to utter blasphemies. I raged at them and pursued them even to foreign cities.
12“In order to do this, I got permission from the chief priests to travel to Damascus. 13On the road one day at noon, O king, I saw a light from heaven, a light brighter than the sun, shining around me and my group. 14We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in the Aramaic language, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It hurts you to fight the inevitable.’ 15I said, ‘Lord, who are you?’ And the Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. 16But get up now. I have come to you to appoint you to serve me and to tell others the things you have seen, and the things you will yet see. 17I am sending you to the Gentiles, and I will rescue you from them and from your own people 18so that their eyes will be opened, and they will turn away from darkness to light, and from Satan’s power to God. I do this so that they might be forgiven of their sins and have a place among those who are blessed by their faith in me.’
19“Then, King Agrippa, I obeyed that heavenly vision, 20but witnessed first to those in Damascus and then in Jerusalem and throughout Judea, and even to the Gentiles, so that they might repent and turn to God and do things consistent with their repentance. 21This is why they arrested me in the temple and tried to have me killed. 22But to this very day I have had God’s help, and now I stand here, testifying to both small and great, and saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses have already said – 23that the Messiah must suffer, but then be the first to rise from the dead and enlighten both our people and the Gentiles.”
24Festus interrupted him in the middle of his defense and said, “Paul, you are out of your mind! You are being driven mad by all your learning!”
25But Paul replied, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus. I am speaking the sober truth. 26Surely the king has already heard about these things, and I speak freely to him, because I’m certain that none of these things have escaped his notice. These things weren’t done in secret. 27King Agrippa, don’t you believe the prophets? I know that you do!”
28Agrippa said, “Do you think you can so easily persuade me to become a Christian?”
29“Easy or hard,” Paul said, “I pray to God that not only you but everyone listening to me today might become like me – except for these chains.”
30Then the king stood up, as did the governor and Bernice and others who had been seated with him. 31As they were leaving they were heard to say to one another, “This man has done nothing to deserve death or prison.”
32Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he hadn’t appealed to the emperor.”
Commentary
1-8: Paul is invited to speak, and tells his story. Notice that now he emphasizes his affinity with the Jewish faith (King Agrippa is Jewish, though not “practicing”) and claims that he is being prosecuted for his hope that the Jewish people will attain the promise God made to their ancestors. For Paul, of course, that means the coming of the Messiah, whom he believes is Jesus.
9-11: He tells how he initially persecuted followers of Jesus.
12-18: This is the second time Paul tells his conversion story, and the third time it has been told by Luke in Acts. If you compare this telling with the earlier one (22:6-11), you will see that Paul has added a great deal to the words spoken to him by the Lord. I think he has added to the Damascus Road experience the understanding that he gradually has acquired concerning the purpose the Lord has for his life.
19-23: Paul asserts that he immediately obeyed the voice of the Lord and began witnessing where he was — in Damascus — but once his mission began to include Gentiles (remember, he is speaking to King Agrippa, a Jew, but Governor Festus, a Gentile, is also present) the Jews turned against him and in Jerusalem a couple of years ago seized him and tried to kill him. He further claims that he is preaching nothing but what the prophets have already said about how the Messiah must suffer, rise from the dead, and draw Gentiles into the light formerly reserved for the Jews. Actually, that claim goes a little beyond the prophets, so I’m not surprised he doesn’t say which of the prophets said this.
24-29: Festus, the Gentile governor, interrupts just at the point where Paul talks about rising from the dead. Paul defends himself then directly to Agrippa, asserting that the king knows all about these events and that he must certainly believe the prophets, angling of course to get Agrippa to agree that the prophets have said what Paul says they have said about the Messiah. Agrippa resists becoming Paul’s ally. Of interest is that this is the first time the word “Christian” has been directly spoken by anyone, although we were told back in chapter 11, verse 26, that the word was first used in Antioch to describe the followers of Jesus. “The Way” has been the designation used by the apostles themselves. Paul’s response to Agrippa in verse 29 is a famous one.
30-32: Both Agrippa and Festus agree that Paul doesn’t seem guilty of a crime, but not being willing to cross the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem, Agrippa lets Festus off the hook by saying exactly what Festus needs to hear him say: Paul has appealed to the emperor; otherwise, they may actually have no choice but to set him free.
Takeaway
If you live according to your faith, the world might occasionally make things difficult for you. Keep the faith. God can handle all our difficulties.