Acts 26 is the twenty-sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

of the

Christian Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. It records the period of

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

'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 The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...

,Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012. p. 354. as supported by Guthrie based on external evidence.

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 32 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: * Papyrus 29 (3rd century; extant verses 7–8, 20) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325–350)Metzger, Bruce M.; Bart D. Ehrman (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration. New York – Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 67. . *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(330–360) *

Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century writ ...

(c. 400)Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Erroll F. Rhodes (trans.). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. pp. 109–110. . *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(400–440) * Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; extant verses 1–18) *

Codex Laudianus Codex Laudianus, designated by Ea or 08 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1001 ( von Soden), called ''Laudianus'' after the former owner, Archbishop William Laud. It is a diglot Latin — Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, palae ...

(~550; extant verses 1–28)

Location

The events in this chapter took place in Caesarea.

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!” ( Acts 26:24) * King Agrippa said, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” ( Acts 26:28)

Paul's speech before Agrippa II and Bernice (26:1–23)

Following the custom of the first century, Paul's speech begins with a standard ''captatio benevolentiae'' (congratulating his auditor on the expert ability to judge the case; verses 2–3), followed by a reprise of his own life-story, focusing on Judaism (cf. Galatians 1:13—14), with the emphasis on Jerusalem, in his Pharisaic background (verses 4–5; cf. Acts 23:6, Philippians 3:5—6), his persecution of the Christians (verses 9–11; cf. Galatians 1:13; Philippians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 15:9) and his conversion to be the follower of Christ. The conversion story was already recorded twice (Acts 9:1—18 in narrative and Acts 22:6—16 in Paul's own words) but a functional redundancy is an indicator of rhetorical importance, with slight variations and the significant addition of 'in the Hebrew language' (verse 14) showing that this time it is addressed to a Greek-speaking audience (whereas previously was in 'Hebrew', or Aramaic; Acts 21:40). An expansion of heavenly voice here includes a proverbial saying ('It hurts you to kick against the goads'; not found in 9:4 or 22:7), which parallels Greek writings (cf. esp.

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...

. ''The Bacchae'', 794–5).

Paul's challenge to Agrippa (26:24-32)

The speech was brought to closure with a 'lively piece of dialogue' which contrasts between "madness" (verse 24) and "sober truth" (verse 25), turning into a direct challenge to Agrippa, verses 26–29). 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 (verse 29) are invited to 'become a Christian' (verse 28), but nonetheless it results in the reinforcement of his innocence as both Festus and Agrippa were convinced that Paul has committed no crime (verses 31–22).

Verse 24

:''At this point Festus interrupted Paul's defense. "You are out of your mind, Paul!" he shouted. "Your great learning is driving you insane."'' The phrase is translated here as "great learning" rather than the possibly more literal "many books". If the latter had been the intention the word probably would have been used.

Verse 28

King James Version: :''Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.'' New International Version: :''Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"'' While the first translation is the more literal, the king, a rich and secular man, is possibly speaking ironically.

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

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" ( grc, Χριστιανόν, ''Christianon'', nominative: ''Christianos''): this is the third mention of the term in the

. The first use was in

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

( Acts 11:26), where the writer of Acts refers to the novelty of the term, and the term is also used by

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

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.. Quote: ''the name , which, of Gentile origin (see on Acts 11:26), carries with it in the mouth of a Jew the accessory idea of heterodoxy and the stain of contempt.''

References

Sources

* *

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Acts of the Apostles 26