Day 4: Defense Before King Agrippa

Reading: Acts 26

Listen to: Acts chapter 26

Historical Context

Acts 26 contains the third and most fully developed account of Paul’s conversion in the book of Acts, set within the most dramatic courtroom scene Luke narrates. The setting itself is spectacular: Festus has arranged a grand audience in the “audience hall” (akroaterion) of Caesarea’s praetorium – a formal reception hall designed for such occasions. King Agrippa II and Bernice enter “with great pomp” (meta polles phantasias) – Luke’s word choice is deliberately theatrical, using the Greek root from which we derive “fantasy” and “phantasm.” The military tribunes and prominent citizens of Caesarea fill the room. Into this glittering assembly of worldly power, a prisoner in chains is brought to speak.

Paul’s address to Agrippa is widely regarded as one of the finest pieces of rhetoric in the New Testament. It follows the conventions of classical forensic oratory while transcending them entirely: what begins as a legal defense becomes a gospel proclamation, and what is framed as self-justification becomes an appeal for the conversion of the judge himself. Paul opens with a genuine compliment – not the hollow flattery Tertullus offered Felix, but an honest acknowledgment that Agrippa, as the custodian of the temple and a man educated in Jewish customs and controversies, is uniquely qualified to understand his case.

Paul begins not with the Damascus road but with his formation. He was raised a Pharisee – “the strictest sect of our religion” (26:5) – and his entire life before Christ was devoted to the very hope that now puts him on trial: “the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain” (26:6-7). This is Paul’s recurring argument throughout the trial narratives: Christianity is not a departure from Judaism but its fulfillment. The resurrection of Jesus is not a novelty but the realization of what God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Paul’s question cuts to the heart of the matter: “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” (26:8). For a Pharisee like Agrippa’s father (who persecuted Christians) or grandfather (who tried to kill the infant Jesus), the resurrection should not be a scandal but a vindication.

The account of Paul’s former persecution of Christians is more detailed here than in any other version. He not only imprisoned believers and cast his vote for their execution (a detail unique to this account, suggesting Paul held some official authority in the Sanhedrin’s proceedings), but he “punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme” (26:11). The word “make them blaspheme” reveals the depth of Paul’s former cruelty – he was not content merely to imprison Christians; he wanted to break their faith, to force them to curse the name of Jesus. And he pursued them “even to foreign cities” – his rage against the Way knew no geographic limits.

The Damascus road narrative in this version contains details absent from Acts 9 and Acts 22. The voice from heaven speaks in Hebrew (or Aramaic), and it includes a proverb: “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (26:14). This was a well-known Greek proverb describing the futility of resisting a superior force, like an ox kicking against the sharp stick that drives it forward. The implication is that Paul had been fighting against God’s prompting long before the Damascus road – perhaps since Stephen’s martyrdom, when Paul first witnessed the radiance on the face of a man who saw Jesus standing at God’s right hand. The risen Jesus does not merely stop Paul; he commissions him on the spot as “a servant and witness” (26:16) to both Jews and Gentiles, “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (26:18). This commission statement is the fullest expression of Paul’s apostolic calling in all of Scripture, and it echoes the Servant Songs of Isaiah, particularly Isaiah 42:6-7 and 49:6.

Paul then traces his obedience to this heavenly vision from Damascus to Jerusalem to Judea and to the Gentiles – the very geographic pattern of Acts 1:8, now embodied in one man’s missionary career. He insists that he has said “nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles” (26:22-23). Every element of the gospel – a suffering Messiah, a risen Messiah, light to the nations – was already embedded in Israel’s Scriptures.

Festus interrupts with a shout: “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind!” (26:24). The Roman governor cannot process the category of resurrection; it falls outside his conceptual framework entirely. Paul’s response is measured and dignified: “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.” He then turns to Agrippa with a direct appeal: “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe” (26:27). Paul has boxed Agrippa into a theological corner: if Agrippa affirms the prophets, he must reckon with their testimony about a suffering and rising Messiah; if he denies them, he forfeits his legitimacy as Israel’s representative before Rome.

Agrippa’s response – “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” (26:28) – is one of the most discussed sentences in Acts. The Greek is ambiguous and has been translated variously: “Almost thou persuadest me” (KJV), “In a short time you would persuade me” (ESV), or even “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me?” Whether Agrippa is moved, mocking, or merely deflecting, Paul’s reply is unforgettable: “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am – except for these chains” (26:29). It is the most poignant evangelistic appeal in Scripture: a prisoner in chains wishing that kings might share his freedom.

Key Themes

• The Damascus road as the hinge of history – Paul’s conversion is not merely a personal story but the paradigm of how the risen Christ breaks into a hostile world and commissions his servants
• Christianity as prophetic fulfillment – Paul insists that the gospel of a suffering and rising Messiah who brings light to the nations was already promised in Moses and the Prophets
• The prisoner freer than the king – The dramatic irony of the scene is that Paul, in chains, possesses a freedom and joy that Agrippa, on his throne, can only observe from a distance

Connections

• Old Testament Roots: Isaiah 42:6-7 (a light to the nations, opening blind eyes); Isaiah 49:6 (salvation to the ends of the earth); Isaiah 53 (the suffering Servant); Daniel 12:2 (resurrection of the dead)
• New Testament Echoes: 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (Paul’s summary of the gospel and his encounter with the risen Christ); Galatians 1:13-17 (Paul’s own account of his calling); Philippians 3:4-11 (Paul’s former life in Judaism)
• Parallel Passages: Acts 9:1-19 (first account of Paul’s conversion); Acts 22:3-21 (second account before the Jerusalem crowd)

Reflection Questions

1. Why does Luke include three accounts of Paul’s conversion in Acts (chapters 9, 22, and 26), and what unique details or emphases does each version contribute to our understanding of Paul’s calling?
2. What is the significance of the proverb “It is hard for you to kick against the goads,” and what does it suggest about God’s prior work in Paul’s heart before the Damascus road encounter?
3. Paul wished that Agrippa might become “such as I am – except for these chains.” What does this reveal about Paul’s understanding of the Christian life? Would you describe your own faith in terms that would make others want what you have?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, you appeared to Paul on the Damascus road and turned a persecutor into a preacher, a destroyer into a builder, a man breathing threats into a man breathing grace. You are still in the business of dramatic transformation. Open our eyes to see the beauty of the gospel so clearly that we, like Paul, would wish it upon kings and governors, prisoners and free alike. Give us the courage to speak of righteousness and resurrection in every setting – not softening the message for the powerful or embellishing it for the skeptical, but declaring the simple, shattering truth that Jesus is alive and that in him there is light for every darkness. Amen.