Acts 26:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you

NIV: I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

NASB: rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,

CSB: I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

NLT: And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles

KJV: Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,

NKJV: I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,

Paul is giving an overview of the first few directions Jesus gave him. First, Jesus met him in a blinding light as Paul approached Damascus to arrest Christians. Jesus asked him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?…I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:4–5; 26:14–15). Later that week, Jesus revealed His purpose to Paul, as a servant and witness of the things Jesus will teach Paul to the Jews, Gentiles, and kings (Acts 9:15; 26:16).

"Delivering" is from the Greek root word exaireō. It can mean to rescue, but it also means to select one person from many. Jesus "delivered" Paul in both ways. First, He chose Paul—the persecutor of the church—to be His messenger. Second, He delivered Paul from danger. In Damascus, Paul escaped out a hole in the city wall (Acts 9:23–25) and in Jerusalem, he escaped the Greek-speaking Jews and fled home to Tarsus (Acts 9:29–30). Throughout Paul's ministry, he escaped many times, although often only after being beaten.

That Paul needed to be rescued from the Jews stung badly. Paul had a deep desire for his fellow Israelites to accept their Messiah (Romans 9:3–5). He thought that his former lifestyle of violently persecuting Jesus' followers should lend credibility to his new identity as a Jesus-follower. Jesus told him, no. It was time to leave (Acts 22:17–21). God may have let him see the opposition to his teaching in Jerusalem to strengthen his resolve in going to Gentiles. Not only would the Jews in Jerusalem not listen to Paul (Acts 22:18), but the same leadership who commissioned him to persecute Christians (Acts 9:1–2) tried to kill him (Acts 23:12–15; 25:24).

One of the reasons Paul is on trial is because of false charges brought by Jews from Asia, the southwestern province of modern-day Turkey. They accused him of bringing Trophimus, a Gentile from Ephesus, into the temple (Acts 21:27–29). This is a serious charge; it would defile the temple according to the Mosaic law, and to defile a religious structure was a capital offense according to the Roman law. Paul didn't bring Trophimus to the temple, but here Paul explains why he spends so much time with Gentiles: Jesus told him to.

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.