Year 2, Week 47, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 47, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Acts 26-27.

Today’s reading continues the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts is a selective history of the early church, which demonstrates how Jesus, by the Spirit, empowers His followers to continue His work. While the Book of Acts traces the early history of the church in general, eventually, the ministry of the Apostle Paul will be the primary focus for much of the remainder of Acts. Acts 26 picks up where Acts 25 left off, as Paul is provided the opportunity to present his case to King Agrippa: “So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense: “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently” (Acts 26:1-3). After he presented his case, Agrippa found nothing unlawful in Paul: “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar” (Acts 26:31b-32). Acts 27 records the beginnings of Paul’s journey to Rome: “And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort named Julius. And embarking in a ship…which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea” (Acts 27:1-2a). Acts 27 ends with Paul shipwrecked but safe on the island of Malta.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was Paul’s restatement of his conversion while journeying to Damascus: “I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice” (Acts 26:12-14a). This recounting of Paul’s conversion to Christ is recorded three times in the Book of Acts. The first account was Luke’s account recorded in Acts 9, while the second and third accounts contain Paul’s own accounts as he was afforded the opportunity to speak to the crowds in Jerusalem (Acts 22), and now here before King Agrippa. These multiple accounts suggest importance. Each account provides further facts about Paul’s conversion and commission. This third account of Paul’s conversion provides more details, quite possibly, because King Agrippa was very familiar with Jewish religious matters: "especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews.”

Paul begins with his background: “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee” (Acts 26:4-5). Paul was a well-known member of the Pharisee party of the Jewish religion. What was also well known was the fact that the Pharisees believed in a resurrection to life after death (this was rejected by the Sadducees’ party). So Paul conveys the irony that he is being charged with crimes for his belief in the resurrection: “And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” (Acts 26:6-8). Paul is simply declaring that his belief in the resurrection is a long cherished belief of the Pharisees. Of course, Paul is aware that what people are most upset about is not his belief in the resurrection generally, but his specific belief that God had raised Jesus from the dead.

Therefore, Paul clarifies his belief in Jesus by first of all recounting his life before his encounter with Jesus: “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities” (Acts 26:9-11). But Paul explains what changed the direction of his life: “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, 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” (Acts 26:12-14). Paul was stopped and confronted by the risen Jesus. Jesus made Paul aware that he was not a faithful Jew doing God’s will, but an unfaithful rebel in deep resistance. Jesus ordered Paul to bear witness about Him, especially to the Gentiles: “But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 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” (Acts 26:16-18). Paul’s commission simply consisted of taking the redemption accomplished by Jesus’ death and resurrection and not offering that to all people, even Gentiles.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe