Acts 26:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

NIV: On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

NASB: While so engaged, as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,

CSB: "I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests.

NLT: One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests.

KJV: Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

NKJV: “While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

Two years prior, the Sanhedrin tried to convince Governor Felix that Paul committed serious crimes against the Roman law. Felix didn't believe them, but he also didn't want to antagonize them, so he kept Paul under house arrest for the remaining two years of his term (Acts 24). When Nero called Felix to Rome to answer for his cruelty, Festus became governor, and the Sanhedrin renewed their complaints. Felix knows very little about Jewish culture and religion and has called King Agrippa II, the king's sister Bernice, and the leadership of Caesarea Maritima to hear Paul's testimony and determine if he has broken the law—Jewish or Roman (Acts 25:23–27).

Paul responds by giving his Christian testimony in the format of a legal defense. He started with his introductory address: the exordium (Acts 26:2–3) and is in the middle of his context of events: the narratio (Acts 26:4–18). He will finish with his formal defense: the argumentio (Acts 26:19–23).

Paul's context began with his Jewish bona fides: how he was raised as a strict Pharisee, devoted to the Mosaic law, and believes in the resurrection of the dead (Acts 26:4–8). After the murder of Stephen—the first Christian martyr—Paul believed he had to defend God's honor against the blasphemous Jesus-followers (Acts 7:54–60). He hunted them throughout Jerusalem and Judea, trying to get them to deny Christ or be executed (Acts 8:1–3; 26:9–11). He now explains what happened when he chased Christians far to the north in Damascus (Acts 9:1–2).

The story is well-known today. Before Paul reached Damascus, Jesus appeared to him in a bright light (Acts 9:3–9). Within days, Paul had repented of his persecution of the Jewish Messiah and accepted Jesus' commission to become what he had hated: an evangelist to "the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15). Paul explains to Agrippa that he isn't on trial because he broke the Mosaic law or even because he believes in the resurrection of the dead—all Pharisees do. The Sanhedrin hates him because he believes Jesus rose from the dead.

The original account of Paul's conversion is in Acts 9:1–19.

Acts 26:12–23 is Paul's testimony to King Agrippa II, Governor Festus, and the leaders of Caesarea Maritima, of how he started following Jesus. The audience wants to determine if Paul broke a law. Paul wants to offer reconciliation with God. Paul describes how he met Jesus on his way to persecute Christians in Damascus and accepted Jesus' commission to spread His offer of forgiveness to Jews and Gentiles. It is for this reason that the Sanhedrin wants him dead, not because he committed a crime. Paul's conversion is recorded in Acts 9:1–19.

Acts 26 records Paul's testimony before the noblemen of Caesarea Maritima, as well as their reactions. He explains that Jewish leaders want him dead because he once persecuted the church, but now believes Jesus rose from the dead and has been spreading that message. Governor Festus thinks Paul has gone mad. King Agrippa II, however, finds his story compelling. They realize that had Paul not appealed to a higher Roman court, they could have let him go.

After being held in custody for two years and, again, hassled by the Sanhedrin who want to kill him, Paul appeals his case to Caesar (Acts 25:7–12). Before he travels to Rome, however, Governor Festus has Paul give his testimony before King Agrippa II and the noblemen of Caesarea Maritima (Act 25:23–27). When Paul is finished, they realize they should have set him free before he appealed to Caesar (Acts 26:30–32). But he must go to Rome, surviving a violent storm and a shipwreck along the way (Acts 27—28).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.