Acts
Chapter 26.
Paul's defense before Agrippa. The defense is Paul's final exposition in
the book of Acts, That of his own mission and message. He provides the king with a summary of his
evangelistic work among both Jews and Gentiles. His defense follows three lines:-
1. His life and
conversion. 26:4-11.
The
distinctive Jewish character of that life.
His
unrelenting rage against the followers of Christ.
2. The uniqueness of
his conversion and commission. 26:12-18.
It
was a sheer miracle.
He
was a chosen witness.
3. The blamelessness
of his life since conversion. 26:19-23.
His
obedience to the Divine call.
His
loyalty to his Jewish heritage of faith.
Address to the king. 26:1-5.
Antiquity of his message. 26:6-8.
Appearance of the Lord. 26:9-15.
Appointed a minister and witness. 26:16-17.
Aim of his ministry. 26:18-21.
Authenticity of his message. 26:22-23.
Amazement of his judge. 26:24-29.
Appeal to Caesar must stand. 26:30-32.
Evangelism.
* Resurrection. The resurrection of the body is associated
with the hope of Israel
See 28:20;
23:6; 24:15; 26:6,7.
The fulfillment of this hope has become possible by the
resurrection of Jesus. Through this
great event the promised Messianic salvation is realised.
* Repentance.
Repentance is a Divine gift based upon the
exaltation of Christ and granted to Israel (5:31), but offered also to
the Gentiles (11:18). It is a Divine
command to all in every place, based upon the fact of Christ's resurrection,
which brings certainty of judgment (17:30).
Repentance is towards God (20:21;
26:30) and is the essential complement of faith in the Lord Jesus
(20:21); and baptism (2:38). It is the necessary condition of
forgiveness (2:38; 3:19; 5:31;
8:22). Its reality is attested by
works worthy of repentance (26:20).
* Resume of Paul's
preaching. 26:23.
a. The Christ or Messiah must die.
b. He must be raised from the dead.
c.
He must be proclaimed a light both to
the people of Israel, and to the nations.
(See Luke 26:28).
A difficult text.
26:28. Agrippa may be speaking in
commentary. See the translations, also F.F.Bruce's note in commentary.
Paul's Greek. Luke
makes Paul to speak in high quality Greek in these final trials and to the Jews
in Aramaic as in chapter 22.
No comments:
Post a Comment