The Apostle Paul Tells About His Conversion to Christ

(26:1-29)

Agrippa, as king and guest of honor of the procurator, presides over the assembly, opening and ending it, but, as he was brought up at the Roman court, when he opened the assembly by allowing Paul to make a defense speech, he did not say, "I command," but, "It is permitted to you," out of courtesy to the Roman governor of the province.

Then Paul, stretching out his hand, not as a sign of silence (as in 12:17 [112] and 13:16 [113]), but for the sake of the solemnity of the moment and the solemnity of the speech, began to speak. The Apostle's speech is remarkable in that it is directed not so much to personal self-defense as to the defense of his cause – the preaching of Christianity, to which he is called. Therefore, the tone of speech is joyful, enthusiastic, victorious. This was the last solemn witness of the holy Apostle Paul about Christ on the sacred soil of Palestine, pronounced before eminent representatives of Judaism and paganism, who were destined in time to form a single flock under the leadership of the One Shepherd.

The Apostle begins his speech by addressing the king with the same dignity with which he had addressed Felix shortly before. He expresses his joy at having the opportunity to defend his cause before a king, and before a king who knows all the customs and controversial opinions of the Jews, and consequently can judge better than others, including the procurator, of his innocence of the crimes of which the Jews accuse him, considering him worthy of death.

In fact, the Apostle begins his speech in defense of himself with a reference to the testimony of those who knew him even before his conversion to Christianity. He points out that from the earliest years of his youth he was brought up not in Tarsus, where he was born, but in Jerusalem, where he was probably brought as a boy to learn the law of God. He lived like a Pharisee, in full accordance with the requirements of this strict, conservative sect of Judaism.

Then the Apostle passes on to his present position as a prisoner, and says that they do not want to judge and put him to death for betraying his former convictions, but solely for the hope he has in common with all the Jews for the Messianic kingdom, promised by God to the ancestors of the Jews and awaited by all the people. The Jews were especially irritated by the fact that the Apostle based his preaching on the already coming kingdom of the Messiah on the teaching of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, which is why he says: "Do you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?"

Paul goes on to admit that he was a bitter persecutor of those who believed in Jesus of Nazareth as the Risen from the dead and the promised Messiah, and gives in detail how his conversion to Christ took place on the road to Damascus in detail, just as he did in his speech to the people in Jerusalem (ch. 22). There are some peculiarities here that distinguish this story from the first story of the Apostle himself and from the narration of the Writer in Chapter 9, but in general and essentially, all three stories are exactly the same.

The most important feature is a more detailed transmission of the content of the Lord's speech to Saul, where the Lord reveals to him the purpose of His appearance in that He wants to make him His servant and witness on an equal footing with the other Apostles. Further, it is significant that the Lord, according to Paul, Himself promised to appear to His newly chosen witness and reveal His will to him, which we do see in his story, as in 22:17; 23:11 and others.

"Delivering thee" must be understood in the sense of "preserving thy life from the dangers to which thou shalt be exposed," which we also see realized in Paul's missionary work, when he so many times miraculously escaped from the mortal danger that threatened him. From the words of the Lord it is evident that Paul acted exactly in accordance with them, when during his preaching he always addressed himself first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles. The Lord also explains to Paul the purpose of his mission: "to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light" – to open their spiritual eyes to the knowledge of the truth of God, the result of which is the "forgiveness of sins" through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

Further, the Apostle explains that he could not resist the heavenly vision, and therefore he began to preach first to the Jews in Damascus and Jerusalem and throughout the land of Judea, and then to the Gentiles. Wherefore the Jews seized him in the temple, and would have killed him, but God helped him, so that he was able to live to this day, preaching to the small and the great, and never departing from what Moses and the prophets had foretold, that Christ was to suffer, and to rise first from the dead, to proclaim the knowledge of the truth of God, as to the Jews; so also to the Gentiles.

At this point, Paul's energetic and powerful speech was interrupted by a frivolously fiery ("loud voice"), sharp remark from the procurator: just as Pilate had once seen the Lord's speech about the truth that He had come to bring to earth an empty daydream, and he interrupted it with a question full of desperate unbelief (John 18:37-38) [114], so now to Festus, a secular pagan official, Paul's fiery speech seemed extravagant: "You are mad, Paul. Great learning drives you to madness."

"No, venerable Festus, I am not mad, but speak words of truth and common sense," the holy Apostle replied with great dignity. In order to assure the pagan who does not understand the matter of this, St. Paul immediately refers to the more understanding Jew, King Agrippa, to whom, mainly, as to the one who is able to understand more, the entire speech of the Apostle is addressed. The Apostle says that he does not believe that any of these things were hidden from King Agrippa, that is, of what pertains to the life and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, for all this "did not take place in a corner," not in secret, but before the eyes of all the Jewish people in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine.

In a decisive and unexpected turn of phrase, the Apostle suddenly addresses Agrippa's conscience directly, and, like an experienced "fisher of men," almost catches him, so that the king only avoids this trap by frivolous witticism, but almost immediately closes the meeting, from which it can be clearly understood that something has stirred in his conscience. "Do you believe, King Agrippa, the prophets?" asked Paul unexpectedly, and immediately answered this question for the embarrassed king: "I know that you believe."