Festus has already assembled Agrippa, Bernice, the commanders, and the prominent men of Caesarea. He needs a charge he can write to Caesar, and he has already named the real dispute: questions about a certain Jesus, who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. Now Agrippa permits Paul to speak for himself. Paul stretches out his hand, the trained speaker’s gesture, and uses the permission for more than survival. He will tell the hope of Israel, name his own violence, confess the risen Jesus who stopped him on the road, and press a king toward repentance. The burden of Acts 26 is whether a hearer who knows enough will obey the light.
The Hope of the Promise and the Resurrection (Acts 26:1-8)
1 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself: 2 “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, 3 especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.
4 “My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. 5 They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. 6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. 7 To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. 8 Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?
Paul begins with respect for Agrippa’s knowledge, but he does not flatter the king or thin the issue. He frames the whole trial around the hope promised by God to the fathers. This is decisive for Acts. Paul is not presenting the Church as a novelty detached from Israel. He says the case concerns the promise for which the twelve tribes earnestly serve God night and day.
The phrase “accused by the Jews” must be read with that same care. Paul himself is Jewish, the apostles are Jewish, and the Lord according to the flesh is born from Israel. Luke is describing a concrete conflict with particular accusers, not authorizing contempt for Jews as a people. Paul speaks from inside Israel’s hope, and he asks Agrippa to hear him as one who already knows the customs and questions of that hope.
Verse 8 is the hinge: why should it be thought incredible that God raises the dead? He brings the court past procedure into the nature of God Himself. If God is the Creator, if He is faithful to His promises, if He gave life where human hope was exhausted and brought Israel through deathlike bondage, then resurrection is not incredible. The real scandal is not that Paul believes God raises the dead. The scandal would be to claim to hope in God while refusing His risen Christ.
The Light That Stopped the Persecutor (Acts 26:9-18)
9 “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
12 “While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, 13 at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, 18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
Paul does not hide what he was. He thought he must oppose the name of Jesus. He imprisoned the saints, voted against them when they were put to death, punished believers in synagogues, tried to force blasphemy, and carried his rage to foreign cities. The mercy shown to Paul is not sentimental. It is mercy that names the violence clearly and still conquers it.
That honesty has a pastoral edge. The Church should tell this conversion without two false uses. One is to soften what Paul did until grace sounds cheap. The other is to treat a later useful convert as proof that the wounded must hurry. Mercy does not require a wounded person to disclose harm, restore contact, or trust someone who has not yet borne the fruit of repentance. Paul names imprisonment, attempted forced blasphemy, and rage. Where repair is possible, repentance will seek it. Where a person remains unsafe, the Gospel never conscripts the injured.
The risen Christ’s word is the center of the conversion: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” The Lord does not say only, “Why are you persecuting My followers?” He identifies Himself with His members. To wound the Church is to strike at Christ’s own Body. For Paul this is not an abstract doctrine. It is the sentence that breaks his false zeal and remakes him as a minister and witness.
Then the commission fills with baptismal and paschal language: opened eyes, darkness turned to light, Satan’s power exchanged for God, forgiveness of sins, inheritance, sanctification, and faith in Christ. Paul is sent so that people may be illumined, forgiven, sanctified, and gathered into the inheritance of God.
Language insight
In Acts 26:18 the Greek wording moves like a chain of rescue. Christ sends Paul “to open” eyes, ἀνοῖξαι (anoixai), so that people may “turn,” ἐπιστρέψαι (epistrepsai), “from darkness,” σκότους (skotous), “to light,” φῶς (phōs), and from Satan’s authority to God. The goal is not a better religious opinion, but ἄφεσιν (aphesin), forgiveness, and κλῆρον (klēron), an inheritance among those being sanctified.
Mission here is witness that opens eyes, not domination of conscience. It is also more than information. The Gospel calls people out of darkness into a new Lordship and a new life.
Not Disobedient to the Heavenly Vision (Acts 26:19-23)
19 “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. 21 For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22 Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come— 23 that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
Paul’s heavenly vision becomes obedience. He does not treat the Damascus encounter as a private spiritual possession or a story to make himself impressive. He becomes responsible to the command he received. He preaches first in Damascus and Jerusalem, then through Judea, then to the Gentiles. The mission widens, and it remains rooted in the same hope of Israel.
The vision sends Paul into obedient public service; the works that follow repentance show that mercy has been received, and they do not purchase grace. He preaches that people should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. Those works appear in the body: habits, relationships, money, speech, worship, and the day’s actual obedience. A repentance that refuses fruit has not yet obeyed the light.
When Paul later says the Jews seized him in the temple, the same care is required: he names the accusers in a real conflict, while still preaching light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. He also insists that he says no other things than what the prophets and Moses said would come: the Christ would suffer, rise first from the dead, and proclaim light to both. This is Luke 24 in courtroom form. The risen Lord opened the Scriptures to show that the Christ must suffer and rise, and now Paul stands before rulers preaching the same opened Scriptures.
Language insight
Acts 26:19 says Paul was not ἀπειθὴς (apeithēs), disobedient, to the οὐρανίῳ ὀπτασίᾳ (ouraniō optasia), the heavenly vision. The wording matters because the vision is a command to obey. Acts 26:20 then holds repentance and fruit together: μετανοεῖν (metanoein), to repent; ἐπιστρέφειν (epistrephein), to turn; and ἄξια τῆς μετανοίας ἔργα (axia tēs metanoias erga), works worthy of repentance. God’s mercy comes first, but mercy does not leave the will untouched. Repentance turns toward God and begins to bear fruit.
The Church’s Voice in Worship ⛪
Locally preserved staged Great Lent rows place portions of Acts 26 across the season: Acts 26:1-18 on Saturday of the fifth week, Acts 26:1-8 on Wednesday of the sixth week, Acts 26:19 continuing into Acts 27:1-8 on Sunday of the fifth week, and Acts 25:23-27 with Acts 26:1-6 on Thursday of the seventh week. If those rows hold, Lent is a fitting school of turning, for in these weeks the Church would hear a persecutor remade into a witness, a vision that becomes obedience, and a public confession of Christ before rulers. The chapter is not one exact standalone reading of Acts 26:1-32. These locally preserved Great Lent placements still require verification against a citable Coptic lectionary authority before they are treated as a settled reading.
Almost and Altogether (Acts 26:24-32)
24 Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!”
25 But he said, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason. 26 For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.”
28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”
29 And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.”
30 When he had said these things, the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them; 31 and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.”
32 Then Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
Festus interrupts with a loud accusation: Paul is mad, driven out of his mind by too much learning. Paul answers without panic. He is not mad. He speaks words of truth and reason. The Gospel is public truth, testified by Scripture, witnesses, and events that were not done in a corner.
Paul then turns to Agrippa directly: “Do you believe the prophets?” He will not let the king remain a distant observer of an interesting case. Knowledge creates responsibility. If Agrippa knows the prophets, he must face the Christ to whom they bear witness.
The Greek phrase behind Agrippa’s answer, ἐν ὀλίγῳ (en oligō), can mean “in a little” or “with little,” so the verse should not be made to decide his exact tone. What Luke makes plain is enough: Agrippa hears the appeal and does not become obedient. Paul answers with holy desire, not resentment. Paul wishes his hearers the life he has in Christ, except for these chains. He wants Agrippa, Festus, Bernice, and everyone present to become as he is, and he refuses to treat imprisonment as a prize they should share.
Language insight
In verse 26, Paul says he speaks παρρησιαζόμενος (parrēsiazomenos), with bold openness, because these things were not done “in a corner,” ἐν γωνίᾳ (en gōnia). The Gospel is not a secret technique or a private myth. Paul appeals to public witness, Scripture, and reason.
The final verdict repeats the theme of innocence. Paul is doing nothing deserving death or chains. Agrippa even says he might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. In Luke’s story the appeal is not a blunder. The Lord had promised Rome. Legal innocence and continued confinement stand together here; the verse gives no license to romanticize chains.
Gems from the Fathers 💎: Gentleness That Seeks the Hearer
St. John Chrysostom hears Paul’s speech before Agrippa as gentle evangelism, not flattery. Paul speaks respectfully, Chrysostom says, “not to flatter him, far from it; but wishing to gain him by his gentleness.” He adds that the man who seemed condemned “took captive his judge,” because Agrippa’s own response shows the force of that desire.1 The homily is on First Corinthians, yet Chrysostom turns to this scene in Acts to show how courtly respect can serve conversion. Paul’s wish that all present become as he is, except for his chains, is the same gentleness at work: he wants the hearer, not the advantage of the moment.
Gems from the Fathers 💎: Acquittal and the Road Still Opened
Chrysostom also notices the public acquittal at the end of Acts 26: “See how again also they pass sentence in his favor… they acquit him, as undeserving not only of death, but also of bonds.”2 Rulers who had called Paul mad now clear him even of chains. Chrysostom reads the continued bonds as providence, so that the witness would still go forward toward Rome. That reading belongs to the preacher, not to the court’s stated motive. It keeps the chapter’s balance. Paul is not a helpless victim of politics, and he is not a self-directed strategist. He is a servant whose truthful witness, gentle courage, lawful appeal, and unjust chains are gathered into the providence of Christ.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
Do not leave a word from God as a private souvenir. Paul received the heavenly vision and obeyed it in Damascus, Jerusalem, Judea, and among the nations. After a liturgy that pierced you, a confession that named a real sin, a retreat that briefly clarified your life, or a verse that stopped you midweek, ask what obedience followed. Write the next concrete act: an apology, a restored fast, a hard conversation, a gift given quietly, a temptation refused.
Name harm truthfully without despair, and without using mercy as a weapon. Paul does not minimize imprisonment, rage, or attempted blasphemy, and he does not let shame silence Christ. If you have done harm, tell it in confession and seek repair where you can. If you have been harmed, this chapter does not require you to disclose, reconcile, or remain near an unsafe person in order to prove that you believe in conversion.
Let repentance become visible in this week’s actual life. Paul preaches repentance, turning to God, and works befitting repentance. If the turn is real, something should begin to change in how you speak at home, forgive a slight, spend money, keep a fast, apologize, and resist a passion you have been protecting. Fruit is the evidence of mercy received, not a wage paid to earn it.
Speak with gentleness that still tells the truth. Paul is respectful before Agrippa and Festus, and he still asks the king whether he believes the prophets. A servant of the Gospel does not have to choose between harshness and cowardice. Truth can be reasonable, public, and full of love.
Do not confuse almost with obedience. Agrippa hears enough to be pressed. Festus hears enough to reject. The rulers hear enough to acquit Paul. Hearing, admiring, and hesitating are not yet turning to Christ. Today is the safer day to obey, and the life Paul wants for his hearers is life in Christ, not a romance with chains.
Teaching Notes
The Hope of the Promise and the Resurrection (Acts 26:1-8)
- Ask: Why does Paul make the trial about the hope of Israel rather than only about his legal innocence?
- Emphasize: Paul presents the resurrection as the fulfillment of God’s promise, not as a strange novelty detached from Moses and the prophets.
- Watch for: Do not let the phrase “accused by the Jews” become anti-Jewish rhetoric. Paul is Jewish and speaks from within Israel’s hope.
- Connect: Link Acts 26 to Luke 24, where the risen Christ opens Moses and the prophets around His suffering and resurrection.
- Show: Trace Paul’s argument from personal history to the promise to the fathers to the question of resurrection.
The Light That Stopped the Persecutor (Acts 26:9-18)
- Ask: Why does Paul describe his own violence so plainly?
- Emphasize: Christ identifies Himself with His persecuted Church: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
- Watch for: Do not soften Paul’s past, and do not make it larger than Christ’s mercy. Do not use this conversion to press a survivor toward disclosure, contact, or unsafe reconciliation.
- Connect: Acts 9 and Acts 22 retell the same conversion; Acts 26 highlights the mission to open eyes and turn people to God.
- Show: List the conversion movements in Acts 26:18: opened eyes, darkness to light, Satan to God, forgiveness, inheritance, sanctification.
Not Disobedient to the Heavenly Vision (Acts 26:19-23)
- Ask: What does Paul mean by works befitting repentance?
- Emphasize: Works do not buy grace, but real repentance bears fruit in embodied life.
- Watch for: Do not make the heavenly vision about spiritual spectacle. Paul treats it as a command to obey. When teaching verse 21, keep the conflict concrete and refuse any general charge against Jews as a people.
- Connect: Tie Paul’s words to Great Lent, repentance, turning, and works that reveal a changed direction. Name the distributed Lenten hearings, and keep the verification limit: the locally preserved placements are not one standalone reading of Acts 26:1-32 and still need confirmation against a citable Coptic lectionary authority.
- Show: Contrast private religious emotion with public obedience to Christ.
Almost and Altogether (Acts 26:24-32)
- Ask: What is the difference between hearing the truth and obeying it?
- Emphasize: Paul wants all who hear him to become Christian, but not to share his chains.
- Watch for: Do not overbuild on Agrippa’s tone in the “almost persuade me” line. The narrative point is the pressure of truth and the refusal to obey.
- Connect: Chrysostom sees Paul’s gentleness as evangelistic strength and the public acquittal as providence moving Paul toward Rome.
- Show: Compare Festus’s accusation of madness with the rulers’ final admission that Paul deserves neither death nor chains.
Sources
Scripture is from NKJV.
St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians, Homily XXXIII, using Acts 26:2 and Acts 26:28-29 as an example of gentle persuasion before an unbelieving judge: CCEL.
St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Acts, Homily LIII, on Acts 26:30-32, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, volume 11, translated by J. B. Morris and W. H. Simcox: CCEL.
Coptic Orthodox lectionary evidence checked for Acts 26:1-32 and natural subranges. Locally preserved rows hear portions of the chapter in distributed Great Lent readings, especially Acts 26:1-18, Acts 26:1-8, Acts 26:19 with Acts 27:1-8, and Acts 25:23-27 with Acts 26:1-6. The staged extract does not identify an upstream lectionary edition or authority, so these placements require verification against a citable Coptic lectionary authority before publication. No saint, feast, or named Sunday specifically tied to this passage was verified.
BibleHub Interlinear pages for Acts 26:18, Acts 26:19, Acts 26:20, Acts 26:26, and Acts 26:28 were used for the Greek terms discussed in the language notes.