Acts 26
Acts 26 is the twenty-sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the period of Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but Holman states that "uniform Christian tradition affirms that Luke wrote both" this book as well as the Gospel of Luke, as supported by Guthrie based on external evidence.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 32 verses.Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:- Papyrus 29
- Codex Vaticanus
- Codex Sinaiticus
- Codex Bezae
- Codex Alexandrinus
- Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
- Codex Laudianus
Location
Theme
Paul took up the invitation to speak: "Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself" with an account of his early life, conversion and faith. Luke presents two contrasting responses:- Governor Festus said, "You are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!”
- King Agrippa said, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”
Paul's speech before Agrippa II and Bernice (verses 1-23)
Following the custom of the first century, Paul's speech begins with "a standard captatio benevolentiae" congratulating Agrippa on his expert ability to judge the case, followed by a reprise of his own life-story, focusing on Judaism, with the emphasis on Jerusalem, in his Pharisaic background, his persecution of the Christians and his conversion to be the follower of Christ. Paul's conversion story is repeated: Alexander suggests that the functional redundancy of the passage is an indicator of its rhetorical importance, with slight variations and the significant addition of 'in the Hebrew language' showing that this time it is addressed to a Greek-speaking audience. An expansion what is said by the heavenly voice here includes a proverbial saying: "It hurts you to kick against the goads", which is not found in either Acts 9:4 or 22:7, but parallels Greek writings.
Paul's challenge to Agrippa (verses 24-32)
The speech was brought to closure with a 'lively piece of dialogue' which contrasts between "madness" and "sober truth". The end of the speech clearly displays the real object of Paul's persuasive rhetoric: 'not exoneration but conversion', so 'all who are listening' to Paul are invited to 'become a Christian', but nonetheless it results in the reinforcement of his innocence as both Festus and Agrippa were convinced that Paul has committed no crime.Verse 24
The phrase τὰ πολλά σε γράμματα is translated here as "great learning" rather than the possibly more literal "many books". Heinrich Meyer argues that if the latter had been the intention, the word βιβλία or βίβλοι would probably have been used.Verse 28
King James Version:New International Version:
While the first translation is the more literal, the king, a rich and secular man, is possibly speaking ironically.
Methodist founder John Wesley preached a sermon entitled "The Almost Christian", based on this verse, at St. Mary's, Oxford, on 25 July 1741. It is sermon 2 in his standard collection of sermons. Wesley's companion George Whitefield also preached a sermon with the same title referring to the same verse.
A "Christian" : this is the third mention of the term in the New Testament. The first use was in Antioch, where the writer of Acts refers to the novelty of the term, and the term is also used by Peter in 1 Peter 4:16: If anyone suffers as a Christian.... All three usages are considered to reflect a derisive element referring to the followers of Christ who did not acknowledge the emperor of Rome.