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Scripture Reading: Acts 26:1-32
In this message we shall begin to consider Paul’s defense before Agrippa and Agrippa’s judgment (26:1-32).
After Agrippa told Paul that he was permitted to speak for himself, Paul stretched out his hand and began to make his defense, saying, “Concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today; especially since you are an expert in all the customs and questions among the Jews; wherefore I beg you to listen to me patiently” (vv. 2-3). As we have pointed out a number of times, in facing his opponents it was necessary for Paul to make a defense in order to save his life from his persecutors. By making such a defense to save his life, he would be able to fulfill the course of his ministry.
Paul appealed to Agrippa as being an expert in all the customs and questions among the Jews. The Greek words rendered, “Especially since you are an expert,” may also be translated, “Since you are especially expert.”
In verses 4 and 5 Paul continued, “Now, therefore, my manner of life from my youth, which from the beginning was among my nation in Jerusalem, all the Jews know, having previously known me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.” Here Paul vindicated himself by saying that, even before his conversion, he was a proper person and lived the strict life of a Pharisee. Of course, in the sight of God Paul was not proper. But humanly speaking, he did live a proper life, and there was no ground for anyone to condemn him.
In verses 6 through 8 Paul went on to speak of the resurrection: “And now I stand here being judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain; concerning which hope I am accused by the Jews, O king. Why is it judged incredible by you if God raises the dead?” In verse 6 the Greek word translated “for” literally means “upon,” “on the ground of.” In these verses Paul indicates that, in contrast to the Sadducees, he had always believed in the resurrection. The resurrection was taught in the Old Testament, especially in Daniel 12. It is a matter that requires our careful consideration.
In the Bible resurrection implies the coming judgment, and judgment implies eschatology. Resurrection, therefore, is related to one’s eternal future, whether he will be happy in eternity or suffer perdition. A person’s eternal future depends upon judgment, and judgment requires resurrection. From this we see that resurrection is an important matter in the Scriptures, for it concerns our eternal destiny. Even before his conversion, Paul, as a Pharisee, believed in resurrection.
The Lord Jesus spoke clearly concerning resurrection in John 5:28 and 29: “An hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth: those who have done the good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done the evil to the resurrection of judgment.” We have seen that the resurrection of life is the resurrection of the saved believers before the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6; 1 Cor. 15:23, 52; 1 Thes. 4:16). The dead believers will be resurrected to enjoy eternal life at the coming back of the Lord Jesus. The resurrection of judgment is the resurrection of the perished unbelievers after the millennium (Rev. 20:5, 12). All the dead unbelievers will be resurrected after the thousand years to be judged at the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15). Even before he was saved, Paul believed in the resurrection of life and of judgment, as taught in Daniel 12:2.
In 26:9 through 11 Paul admitted to Agrippa that he did many things contrary to the name of Jesus: “I therefore thought to myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus the Nazarene; which also I did in Jerusalem; and many of the saints I shut up in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were being done away with, I cast a vote against them. And in all the synagogues, punishing them often, I compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even as far as foreign cities.” Literally, the Greek word translated “foreign” in verse 11 means “outside.” Paul not only opposed Jesus the Nazarene — he attacked Him. In his blindness, Paul considered the Lord Jesus nothing more than a poor Nazarene. He attacked the name of Jesus the Nazarene to such an extent that he put many of the saints in prison. Now before Agrippa he confessed his foolish deeds.
Paul then went on to tell Agrippa that while he was on the way to persecute those who called on the name of the Lord Jesus, he himself was gained by the Lord. “Engaged in which, I journeyed to Damascus with authority and a commission from the chief priests. And at midday, on the way, I saw, O king, a light from heaven beyond the brightness of the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all fell to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, Who are You, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (vv. 12-15). We have strongly emphasized the fact that this “Me” is corporate, comprising Jesus the Lord and all His believers. We have also seen that spontaneously Paul called Jesus Lord, even without knowing Him.
When the Lord Jesus appeared to Paul, He commissioned him, appointing him a minister and a witness. Concerning this, the Lord said to him, “Rise up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you a minister and a witness both of the things in which you have seen Me, and the things in which I will appear to you” (v. 16). Here we see that the Lord appointed Paul both a minister and a witness. A minister is for the ministry; a witness is for the testimony. Ministry is mainly related to the work, to what the minister does. Testimony is related to the person, to what the witness is.
We need to be impressed with the fact that what the ascended Christ wants to use to carry out His heavenly ministry for the propagating of Himself so that the kingdom of God might be established for the building up of the churches for His expression is not a group of preachers trained by man’s teaching to do a preaching work. Rather, the Lord wants to use a body of His witnesses, who bear a living testimony of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ. According to the book of Acts, Satan could instigate the Jewish religionists and utilize the Gentile politicians to bind the apostles and their evangelical ministry, but he could not bind Christ’s living witnesses and their living testimony. The more the Jewish religionists and the Gentile politicians bound the apostles and their evangelical ministry, the stronger and brighter these witnesses of Christ and their living testimony became. In His appearing to Paul on the way to Damascus, the Lord clearly told him that He appointed him not only a minister but also a witness. We have seen that as a living witness of Christ, Paul had testified concerning Him in Jerusalem and would testify of Him in Rome (23:11).
In 1:8 the Lord said to the disciples, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the remotest part of the earth.” Witnesses are those who bear a living testimony of the resurrected and ascended Christ in life. They differ from preachers who merely preach doctrines in letters. As recorded in Acts, the ascended Christ carries out His ministry in the heavens through these witnesses in His resurrection life and with His ascension power and authority to spread Himself as the development of the kingdom of God unto the remotest part of the earth.
In all the trials through which he passed Paul was not merely teaching or ministering; he was continually bearing a testimony. He was a testimony before the opposing Jews and before the commander of the Roman soldiers. Paul was a testimony before Felix, the governor of Judea, and before Festus, who succeeded Felix as governor. Now in Acts 26 we see that Paul is once again a living witness, this time before Agrippa. However, Paul did not preach to Agrippa saying, “King Agrippa, you must know that I am a witness of Christ.” Instead of speaking this way, Paul testified to Agrippa that the Lord had met him and appointed him a minister and a witness.
In verse 16 the Lord Jesus said to Paul, “I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you a minister and a witness both of the things in which you have seen Me, and the things in which I will appear to you.” Notice that here the phrase “in which” is used twice. Here Paul is saying that the Lord had appointed him a minister and a witness of the things He revealed to Paul and of the things He would reveal to him. Although this is Paul’s meaning, this is not the way he presented the matter. Rather, this verse speaks of the things in which Paul had seen the Lord and of the things in which the Lord would yet appear to him.
Acts 26:16 indicates that Paul did not receive the revelation of things without seeing Christ. Instead, he received the things in which he saw Christ. In other words, Christ did not reveal things to Paul without Himself as the content of those things. This is the reason that Paul would be a witness of the things in which he had seen the Lord. In all the visions Paul saw he saw Christ. Furthermore, he would be a witness of the things in which the Lord was yet to appear to him. Here the Lord seemed to be saying to Paul, “In all the visions and revelations you will receive, I shall appear to you.” This indicates that if we only see visions and revelations and do not see the Lord, then what we see is vanity.
We do not agree with studying the Bible merely in a theological way. Those who study the Bible in this way may learn theology, but they do not see Christ. There is a great difference between studying the Bible to learn theology and studying the Bible in order to see Christ.
As Paul was on the way to Damascus, Christ revealed certain things to him, and in those things Paul saw Christ. The Lord indicated that He would reveal more things to Paul, and in those things the Lord Himself would appear to him. Therefore, what Paul saw was not merely the things themselves, but Christ as the One appearing in all these things.
In your experience you may claim to receive light from the Lord or to see a vision or revelation. However, you need to consider if Christ has appeared to you in that light, vision, or revelation. In the supposed light, vision, or revelation, have you seen Christ?
Sometimes brothers have come to me excited about some supposed new light they have received. For example, a brother once said, “I praise the Lord that today during morning watch I saw some new light.” When I asked concerning the light he had seen, he replied, “I have been enlightened to see that I should cut my hair short.” I asked him what the significance of such light was, and he said that cutting his hair short would make him more clean. To this I replied, “What is wrong with having your hair somewhat longer? The Nazarites in the Old Testament kept their hair long. Then at the conclusion of their vow, they shaved their heads, and in this way they were cleansed. It seems that your way of cutting your hair is not as good as that of the Nazarites.” I spoke to the brother in this way concerning the light he claimed to receive from the Lord because the so-called light was without Christ.
In any light we receive of the Lord we must see Christ. Christ must appear to us in whatever we see in the way of enlightenment, vision, or revelation. If we see a vision without seeing Christ, that vision means nothing. Likewise, if we study the Bible and gain knowledge of the Scriptures without seeing Christ, that knowledge is vanity. We all need to learn to see Christ in the things that are revealed to us.
I appreciate the phrase “in which” that is used twice in 26:16. The Lord first spoke of “the things in which you have seen Me.” Then He went on to speak of “the things in which I will appear to you.” Here the Lord was saying to Paul, “I will not merely reveal certain things to you, but in the things revealed I Myself will appear to you.”
The book of Revelation is an excellent illustration of the Lord appearing in the things revealed to the apostle John. John saw a number of visions, but in these visions the Lord Himself appeared to him. Consider the first vision in Revelation, the vision of the golden lampstands. Concerning this vision, John says, “I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands One like the Son of Man...” (Rev. 1:12-13a). In this vision of the lampstands John saw the Lord walking among the lampstands as the High Priest dressing the lamps.
In another vision the Lord showed John God’s universal administration. Regarding this, John says, “After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things. Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and One sitting upon the throne” (Rev. 4:1-2). John went on to say that in this vision he “saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as having been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth” (Rev. 5:6). Once again, in the things that were revealed to John he saw the Lord.
In principle, our experience today should be the same as that of Paul and John. Suppose that in your study of the New Testament you claim to have some understanding of Ephesians 5. However, the crucial question is this: Do you see Christ in Ephesians 5? If you see only the matter of husbands loving their wives and wives submitting to their husbands but do not see Christ, then your understanding of Ephesians 5 is very poor, even vain. You may know certain teachings in the Bible, but in those teachings you do not see Christ. You may learn the doctrines of the Scriptures, but in those things Christ has not appeared to you. May we all learn the importance of seeing Christ in the things that we claim to see and know in the Word.
Our consideration of the phrase “in which” in Acts 26:16 may be helpful in showing us the way to study the Bible. In our reading of the Scriptures, we need to dwell on matters such as this. If we spend time to consider the phrase “in which” used twice in 26:16, we shall realize how marvelous it was for the Lord to say to Paul that He had appointed him a minister and a witness both of the things in which he had seen the Lord and of the things in which the Lord would appear to him.
