A Study of Acts: Paul Begins his Apologia to the Entourage
Acts 26:1-8 - Believe in the ultimate power of God to overcome death!
“Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make his defense: “In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today; especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. “So then, all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem; since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion. And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers; the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews. Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead?”
Acts 26:1-8 NASB1995
Agrippa tells Paul that he is permitted to speak for himself. Paul stretches out his hand and proceeds to make his defense. He tells Agrippa that he considers himself fortunate that he is able to make a defense before him, especially because Agrippa is an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews. Paul is not saying that fortune had a hand in this, but knows that God has given him this incredible opportunity. In fact, fortunate in this context comes from the Greek adjective μακάριος or makários, meaning blessed or happy. Dr. J. Vernon McGee, quoted in Precept Austin, paints a vivid picture of this scene; the links go to Biblia, Precept Austin and Studylight.
The appearance of Paul before Agrippa is, in my judgment, the high point in the entire ministry of this apostle. It is a fulfillment of the prophecy that he should appear before kings and rulers (Acts 9:15+). Undoubtedly it was God’s will that he should come before King Agrippa....There are several features about this chapter that we ought to note before we get into Paul’s message before King Agrippa.
First of all, I want to make it clear again that Paul is not on trial...He is preaching the Gospel. In view of the fact that this great apostle had appealed to Caesar, not even King Agrippa could condemn him, and he is certainly out of the hands of Governor Festus (cf Acts 26:32)...They no longer had the authority to condemn him....so Paul...is trying to win these men for Christ. This was not a trial, but it was a public appearance of Paul before King Agrippa and the court so that they might learn firsthand from the apostle what “that Way” really is....Therefore they have this public appearance to explain The Way.
I think this was one of the most splendid opportunities that any minister ever had to preach Christ. There has never again been an opportunity quite like this....This stirs the imagination. I trust that somehow we can picture this scene before us as we listen to the message of Paul. This elaborate gathering is for just one purpose: to hear from a notable prisoner by the name of Paul. He is the one who has already been over the greater part of the Roman Empire, certainly the eastern part of it, preaching The Way.
When the door of that great throne room swings open, a prisoner in chains is ushered into this colorful scene. ...This is the man who teaches and preaches the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ for men because they are sinners and need a Savior. This is the one who can speak with authority about the new Way. And they will listen to this man because he knows how to speak and because he is an intelligent man. The light of heaven is on his face. He is no longer Saul of Tarsus but Paul the apostle. What a contrast he is to that gay, giddy crowd of nobility gathered there!...
I do not think, frankly, that Paul was physically attractive. Yet he had the dynamic kind of attraction which the grace of God gives to a man. He was energized by the Holy Spirit. Oh, that you and I might be able to say with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20+). Now let’s turn our eyes from the glitter and the glamour of the occasion to the two men who stand out in this assembly: Agrippa and Paul. What a contrast! One of them is in purple, the other is in prison garb. One is on a throne, the other is in shackles. One wears a crown, the other is in chains. Agrippa is a king, but in the slavery of sin (Ro 6:17, 20+, Jn 8:34, 2 Pe 2:19+). Paul is a chained prisoner, rejoicing in the freedom of sins forgiven and liberty in Christ (Jn 8:32, 34, Ro 6:7+). Agrippa is an earthly king who could not free Paul nor himself. Paul is an ambassador of the King (2 Cor 5:20+) who had freed him and who could free Agrippa from the damning effects of sin. (Thru the Bible - Notes on Acts 26:1).
Paul addresses Agrippa with courtesy and politeness and does not call out Agrippa for his sins, but makes the case for Christ. Paul is the only true free man in the room, even though he is in custody of the Romans. Our mortal life circumstances may imprison us in bad relationships or make us subject to the whims of a deadly disease. We may be imprisoned in actuality for defending our faith. But the believer should always know that we are free indeed through Christ our Savior!
Paul Writing his Epistles - Valentin de Boulogne circa 1619 - Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Paul describes his early life as a Pharisee who adhered to those principles in the strictest sense. He believed in the hope of God’s promise of eternal life even before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Because he believes in this hope and now knows it to be fulfilled in Jesus, he is being accused by the Jews. Jack Arnold has this commentary quoted in Precept Austin:
Paul then pointed out to Agrippa that he believed nothing now that he did not believe when he was a dedicated Jewish Pharisee. He believed in the resurrection then and he believed it now. The promises of the Old Testament guaranteed a resurrection from the dead (Da 12:2+, et al) and, for Paul, this truth had been solidified by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, Paul was in prison because he believed in the resurrection like all good Jews believed, but he knew the resurrection was a fact because he had personally met the resurrected Christ. The Jews did not believe that Christ was resurrected, for if He was, then He would have to be the Messiah, the God-Man, the Savior spoken of in the Old Testament. This was the rub with these Jews. Paul pointed out that a belief in the resurrection from the dead was very logical if there is a God. After all, He who created the universe and the world can certainly raise a man from the dead. The real issue is not resurrection, nor even the resurrection of Jesus, but a basic belief in God who can do the supernatural. Paul had great confidence in the God of Scripture, the promises of the Old Testament and the resurrection of the dead. (Sermon).
Resurrection is not an impossible task for the Creator of the universe. If you claim you believe but yet have doubts that God can do this supernatural act, then those doubts undermine your faith. I know that my faith was undermined by being “logical” and focused on “science” as the answer. Many churches today are spending way too much time being therapeutic, making people feel good about themselves (what sin?) and catering to social fads, rather than telling believers the truth of the resurrection and that sinners must repent, believe and take up their cross and follow Jesus, because that is the path to eternal life. Here is a marvelous commentary from a sermon on Acts 26:8 by Charles Spurgeon (found on Precept Austin) addressing Paul’s question on why should it be considered incredible that God should raise the dead (this is rather long, but quite good):
Concerning the souls of our departed Christian friends we suffer no distress. Our main trouble is about their bodies. Even the perfect Man could not restrain His weeping at Lazarus' tomb. The doctrine of the Resurrection teaches us that we need have no trouble about the body, it has not gone to annihilation. The Lord's love to His people is a love towards their entire manhood. He took into union with His Deity both soul and body, and redeemed both, and both are sanctified by the Divine indwelling. So our complete manhood shall have it in its power to glorify Him forever. This being our hope, we nevertheless confess that sometimes the evil heart of unbelief cries, "Is it possible?" At such times the text is needful.
I. LET US LOOK THIS DIFFICULTY IN THE FACE.
We rejoice in the fact that there will be a great change in the body; that its materialism will have lost all its grossness and corruption, and that it will be adapted for higher purposes; but there shall be an identity between the body in which we die and the body in which we rise. Not, however, that identity is the same thing as absolute sameness of substance and continuance of atoms. We are living in the same bodies which we possessed twenty years ago; yet no single atom remains that was in it then. Admit the like identity in the resurrection, and it is all we ask. Now this hope is naturally surrounded with many difficulties, because: —1. The large majority of dead bodies have been utterly dissolved.
2. Think how widely diffused are the atoms which once built up living forms.
3. The difficulty increases when we reflect that all men will rise again. Think of the myriads who have passed away in countries like China, of those who have perished by shipwreck, plague, and war.
4. The wonder increases when we remember in what strange places many of these bodies now are. In fact, where are not man's remains? Blows there a single wind down our streets without whirling along particles of what once was man?
5. And, moreover, to make the wonder extraordinary beyond conception, they will rise at once, or perhaps in two great divisions (Revelation 20:5, 6). Where shall they stand? What plains of earth shall hold them?
6. And then this resurrection will not be a mere restoration, but in the case of the saints will involve a remarkable advance. We put into the ground a bulb, and it rises as a golden lily; we drop into the mould a seed, and it comes forth an exquisite flower; even thus, the bodies, which are sown in burial, shall spring up by Divine power into outgrowths, surpassing all imagination in beauty.
7. One of the difficulties of believing it is, that there are positively no full analogies in nature by which to support it. Some have seen in sleep the analogy of death, and in our awakening the resurrection. But a continuance of life is manifest to the man in his dreams and to all onlookers. The development of insects is quoted as a striking analogy. But there is life in the chrysalis, organisation, in fact, the entire fly. Nor is the analogy of the seed much more conclusive, for a life germ always remains, and the crumbling organisation becomes its food from which it builds itself up again. The resurrection stands alone; and, concerning it, the Lord might well say, "Behold, I do a new thing in the earth." Here, then, is the difficulty. Is it a credible thing that the dead should be raised? [my emphasis]II. REMOVE THE DIFFICULTY.
It might seem incredible that the dead should be raised, but why should it seem incredible that God should raise the dead? Grant that God is, that He is omnipotent, and that He has said the dead shall be raised, and belief is no longer hard but inevitable. Difficulty is not in the dictionary of the Godhead. Is anything too hard for the Lord?1. When Paul uttered our text he was speaking to one to whom he could say, "Believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest!" It was, therefore, good reasoning to say, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you?" etc. For, as a Jew, Agrippa had the testimony of Job — "For I know that my Redeemer liveth"; and of David (Psalm 16); of Isaiah (Isaiah 26:19); of Daniel (Daniel 12:2, 3); of Hosea (Hosea 13:14).
2. To us as Christians there has been granted yet fuller evidence (John 5:28; John 6:30; Romans 8:11; Philippians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:1).
3. At the same time it may be well to look around us, and note what helps the Lord has appointed for our faith.
(1) There are many wonders which we should not have believed by mere report, if we had not come across them by experience. The electric telegraph, e.g. When our missionaries in tropical countries have told the natives of ice, the natives have refused to believe. After the resurrection we shall regard it as a Divine display of power as familiar to us as creation and Providence now are.
(2) Will resurrection be a greater wonder than creation? To create out of nothing is quite as marvellous as to call together scattered particles and refashion them.
(3) Christ rose again and He is the cause of your resurrection, the type of it, the foretaste of it, the guarantee of it.
(4) Remember also, that you who are Christians have already experienced as great a work as the resurrection, for you have risen from the dead as to your innermost nature.III. OUR RELATION TO THIS TRUTH
1. Comfort one another with these words. You have lost those dear to you. Sorrow ye must, but sorrow not as those that are without hope.
2. Let us cheer our hearts in prospect of our own departure.
3. Expecting a blessed resurrection, let us respect our bodies. Bodies that are to dwell forever in heaven, should not be subjected to pollution here below.
4. The ungodly are to rise again, but it will be to a resurrection of woe. "Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
I suppose this argument could be used to make a case against cremation, but Spurgeon admits that most bodies throughout the decay of time are but merely atoms that are dissolved and scattered. Spurgeon lived before the horrors of the “final solution” and the death/cremation camps of the Third Reich, but his ruminations would cover those humans, too. I believe that God can resurrect us in both body and soul regardless of the state of that body and that He can overcome little things like the “laws of nature and the universe” (remember, He created those laws).
My next devotional examines Acts 26:9-11, Paul describes his persecution of Christians.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer”
Dear Lord - Thank You for guiding me to an understanding that You, the creator of the Universe, can easily overcome those physical things that we consider “permanent”, like the death of our bodies. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 2/1/2025 to review the lexicon for fortunate.
Precept Austin was accessed on 2/1/2025 to review commentary for Acts 26:1-8.