July 8th

By Randall L. Broad

Read: 1 Chronicles 5:18-6:81; Acts 26:1-32; Psalm 6:1-10; Proverbs 18:20-21

In yesterday’s reading of the One Year Bible, the Jews in Caesarea have brought Paul before the Roman Governor, Porcius Festus asking to have him sent back to Jerusalem. As a Roman citizen, Paul appeals to the procurator to be taken to the Emperor instead (Acts 25:10-11). But before Festus can send Paul to Rome, he must “specify the charges against him” (v. 27). Since the accused is Jewish as well as Roman, the Governor turns to King Agrippa to help him understand the concerns of the Jewish accusers.

 ²³The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high-ranking military officers and the prominent men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. ²⁴Festus said: “King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. ²⁵I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome. ²⁶But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write. ²⁷For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.”

Acts 25:23-27

In Today’s reading, Paul makes his defense before Agrippa:

¹Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”

So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: ²“King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, ³and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. ⁵They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. ⁶And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. ⁷This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me. ⁸Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹“I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.

Acts 26:1-11

In Paul’s testimony we see all three elements of the forces that shaped his life and ministry: his past (Acts 9:4-11); his salvation experience on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9:12-18); and his mission to the Gentiles (Acts 9:19-23). Being a Pharisee was a source of pride that drove the young Saul. The Pharisees were the best known of all the Jewish sects. At the peak of Pharisaic popularity they were found throughout Palestine and numbered more than six thousand members in their ‘fraternal order’ or ‘religious society’. To be taken into their ranks was a great honor for a Jew in his day. The “spiritual” nature of his calling on the Damascus Road was a personal fulfillment of everything Paul expected and anticipated with the coming of the Messianic Age. Now Paul stands accused because of his hope in what God has promised our ancestors (v.6). The revealing of his mission and purpose set him on a course from which he would never be deterred. Paul was a single-minded and driven man who once he set out would give everything to see it done. But in today’s reading, that single mindedness and drive has delivered him into the hands of the Roman authorities and the judgment of Caesar.

Agrippa was a descendant of a long line of Palestinian kings going back to the beginning of Roman rule. Agrippa’s has extensive knowledge of Judaism so when Paul the Pharisee speaks to him; he speaks with authority to one who is an authority on Jewish customs and expectations. He speaks as one who has seen the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy on the Road to Damascus. Paul knew–as Agrippa knew–the Pharisees anticipated the coming of the Messiah just as he did. Thus he speaks as one with the command and authority to carry the message of his Lord and Savior to all of the empire. Paul had much to be ashamed of standing before Agrippa confessing his persecutions of the Christians (vv. 9-11), but he was not guilty of any crime. His message and actions were not crimes under Jewish law. His persecutions of Christians were against the one who had become his Lord and Savior on the Road to Damascus. During that encounter Jesus asks: ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me (v. 14)? The pronoun “me” implies Saul’s persecutions were not of the Christians, but of Jesus. He felt the pain of His followers, the suffering, and the sacrifices they made for Him.

In Paul we see the complexity of a man who has tried to serve God, but persecuted Christ. He was a friend of the faithful and an enemy of the powerful. He was the interpreter of Christ’s message and a betrayer to the Pharisees. He was the great missionary to the Gentiles and the enemy of the Jewish Christians. These enduring complexities will emerge as the central theme in the so called “Prison Epistles” written during Paul’s captivity in Rome. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon reflect a shift in Paul’s thinking from epistles directed toward ministry and pastoral concerns to matters of deep theology. In the Book of Ephesians alone we find important doctrines of Systematic Theology including: God’s character (Theology Proper); spiritual warfare (Angelology); the Messiah (Christology); the Church (Ecclesiology); the last days (Eschatology); sin (Hamartiology); the Holy Spirit (Pneumatology); salvation (Soteriology); and human nature (Theological anthropology).

In today’s reading we see Roman indecisiveness about what to do with Paul.

³⁰The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. ³¹After they left the room, they began saying to one another, “This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment.”

³²Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Acts 26:30-32

It is the Palestinian king who will make the final decision about Paul’s future. In the days ahead we will read briefly about Paul’s travel to and time in Rome. The real value of his remaining days will come in the form of the epistles he writes from there. His missionary days are over but there is still much that will come from the mind of the Apostle Paul we will study and meditate upon throughout the rest of this year.

Walk with the Lord …

Ephesians 1:17

(RLB230708)

© Copyright 2018: Randall L. Broad

Disclaimer: This commentary is written by Randall L. Broad. It is in no way affiliated with or represents any denomination, university, church, or pastor. Any errors or omissions are purely my responsibility.

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