Bible Study Acts 26
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Acts 26 · WEB

Paul Before Agrippa

Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.

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Agrippa said to Paul, "You may speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense.
2"I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you today concerning all the things that I am accused by the Jews,
3especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.
4"Indeed, all the Jews know my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among my own nation and at Jerusalem;
5having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
6Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers,
7which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa!
8Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead?
9"I myself most certainly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10I also did this in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them.
11Punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
12"Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests,
13at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me.
14When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
15"I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' "He said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
16But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the things which I will reveal to you;
17delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,
18to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'
19"Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
20but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
21For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple, and tried to kill me.
22Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen,
23how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, he would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles."
24As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!"
25But he said, "I am not crazy, most excellent Festus, but boldly declare words of truth and reasonableness.
26For the king knows of these things, to whom also I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him, for this has not been done in a corner.
27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe."
28Agrippa said to Paul, "With a little persuasion are you trying to make me a Christian?"
29Paul said, "I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these bonds."
30The king rose up with the governor, and Bernice, and those who sat with them.
31When they had withdrawn, they spoke one to another, saying, "This man does nothing worthy of death or of bonds."
32Agrippa said to Festus, "This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."
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Summary

Granted leave to speak, Paul tells his story for the third time in Acts — Pharisee credentials, fierce persecution of the church, the Damascus road encounter, and the commission to open Gentile eyes "from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God." He insists he has preached nothing but what Moses and the prophets foretold: a suffering and risen Messiah, light to Jews and Gentiles alike. Festus interrupts that great learning has driven Paul mad; Paul calmly insists he speaks "words of truth and reasonableness," and presses Agrippa directly: "Do you believe the prophets?" Agrippa parries — "With a little persuasion you are trying to make me a Christian?" — but Paul wishes all his hearers were such as he is, "except for these bonds." Afterward, Agrippa and Festus agree that Paul has done nothing to deserve death or imprisonment — but the appeal to Caesar is already in motion.

Themes

  • The gospel as the fulfillment of Moses and the prophets
  • Conversion as moving from darkness to light, Satan to God
  • The resurrection as the empirical heart of Christian faith
  • Reasoned defense versus the charge of madness
  • Costly invitation — "such as I am"

Key verses

  • Acts 26:18 — “To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins.”
  • Acts 26:22-23 — “Saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen, how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, he would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles.”
  • Acts 26:29 — “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these bonds.”
  • Acts 26:8 — “Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead?”

Context & background

C. AD 60, Caesarea Maritima (modern Caesarea, Israel). This is Paul's most polished defense speech and the third and final account of his conversion in Acts. The audience — Roman governor Festus, Jewish king Agrippa II, his consort Bernice, military officers, and city leaders — represents the breadth of Greco-Roman power present in the province. The proverb "to kick against the goads" (v. 14) is Greek (used in Euripides' *Bacchae*, among other places), a metaphor of an ox uselessly resisting the herdsman's pointed stick — Paul shares this culturally translatable detail. The phrasing of v. 18 echoes Isaiah's Servant Song (Isaiah 42:6-7), "to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon" — Paul understands his Gentile mission as continuing the work of the Servant. Agrippa's response (v. 28) is variously translated — the WEB's "with a little persuasion" preserves the slight evasiveness of the Greek (literally "in a little, you persuade me to become a Christian"); it can be read as ironic deflection. The note that Paul could have been freed apart from the Caesar appeal (v. 32) underscores that he is going to Rome not because Roman justice has condemned him but because God is taking him there.

Cross-references

  • 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 — The resurrection witness list, with Paul as last.
  • 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 — Paul's later theology of conversion as God shining the light of Christ in dark hearts.
  • Acts 9 / 22 — The first two narrations of Paul's conversion.
  • Isaiah 42:6-7 / 49:6 — The Servant as a light, opening blind eyes — quoted by Paul to describe his commission.
  • Luke 24:25-27, 44-47 — The risen Jesus opening the prophets and Moses to disciples — the very preaching Paul claims in v. 22-23.

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    What phrase did the risen Jesus use on the Damascus road to describe Paul's resistance to God (Acts 26:14)?

  2. Observe

    What was Agrippa's response when Paul pressed him directly about believing the prophets (Acts 26:28)?

  3. Interpret

    Paul described his Gentile mission in Acts 26:18 as "to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God." What does this description reveal about Paul's understanding of what conversion actually is?

  4. Interpret

    Festus interrupted Paul mid-speech to say "you are crazy!" (Acts 26:24). Why is this charge predictable, and what does Paul's calm reply teach us about defending the gospel against the charge of irrationality?

  5. Apply

    Paul prayed that everyone in the room — including Festus and Agrippa — might become "such as I am, except for these bonds" (Acts 26:29). What does this prayer reveal about the posture a believer should have toward those who oppose or dismiss them?

  6. Apply

    Agrippa and Festus agreed Paul had done nothing worthy of death, and Agrippa said he could have been freed apart from the Caesar appeal (Acts 26:31-32). Paul's "mistake" from a self-preservation standpoint was actually God's path to Rome. What does this teach about trusting God's direction even when it leads through seemingly unnecessary cost?

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