What does Acts 26:13 mean?
Paul is giving his testimony before Governor Festus, King Agrippa II, Agrippa's sister/lover Bernice, and the civil and military leaders of Caesarea Maritima (Acts 25:23–27). But Paul is most interested in Agrippa. His great-grandfather was Herod the Great. His father was King Agrippa I who murdered the apostle James, brother of John, and was struck by God when he accepted the praise only due to God (Acts 12:1–2, 20–23). Unlike Festus, Agrippa knows and believes the Jewish Scriptures—the Old Testament—as well as the basics of Christianity (Acts 26:2–3, 26–27).The Sanhedrin has accused Paul of breaking the Mosaic and Roman laws. Paul counters that their real issue is he teaches Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead (Acts 24:5–6, 21). His defense is largely comprised of his conversion to follow Jesus and his work as an evangelist. This verse echoes Acts 9:3.
Paul had been authorized by the Sanhedrin to hunt Jesus-following Jews in Damascus. He intended to visit the synagogues, weed out the Christians, arrest them, and take them to Jerusalem (Acts 9:2). The autonomy the emperor gave Jews included authorization to judge all Jews, no matter where they lived, according to their religion. Once in Jerusalem, Paul would try to force them to deny Christ and, if they refused, cast his vote that they may be executed as blasphemers (Acts 26:10–11).
Before Paul reached the city, however, Jesus confronted him. Jesus revealed Paul's sin of persecuting Him by persecuting His followers and claimed Paul as His evangelist to "Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15). It is Paul's loyalty to this commission that angers the Sanhedrin. But it is King Agrippa's presence that fulfills it.
