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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Acts XXVI].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC44025.HTM">Previous</A>]
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>A C T S.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXVI.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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We left Paul at the bar, and Festus, and Agrippa, and Bernice, and all
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the great men of the city of Cæsarea, upon the bench, or about it,
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waiting to hear what he had to say for himself. Now in this chapter we
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have,
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I. The account he gives of himself, in answer to the calumnies of the
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Jews. And in this,
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1. His humble address to king Agrippa, and the compliment he passed
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upon him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
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2. His account of his origin, and education, his profession as a
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Pharisee, and his adherence still to that which was then the main
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article of his creed, in distinction from the Sadducees, the
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"resurrection of the dead," however in rituals he had since departed
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from it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:3-8">ver. 3-8</A>.
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3. Of his zeal against the Christian religion, and the professors of
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it, in the beginning of his time,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:9-11">ver. 9-11</A>.
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4. Of his miraculous conversion to the faith of Christ,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:12-16">ver. 12-16</A>.
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5. Of the commission he received from heaven to preach the gospel to
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the Gentiles,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:17,18">ver. 17, 18</A>.
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6. Of his proceedings pursuant to that commission, which had given this
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mighty offence to the Jews,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:19-21">ver. 19-21</A>.
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7. Of the doctrine which he had made it his business to preach to the
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Gentiles, which was so far from destroying the law and the prophets
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that it showed the fulfilling of both,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:22,23">ver. 22, 23</A>.
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II. The remarks that were made upon his apology.
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1. Festus thought he never heard a man talk so madly, and slighted him
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as crazed,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:24">ver. 24</A>.
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In answer to him, he denies the charge, and appeals to king Agrippa,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:25-27">ver. 25-27</A>.
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2. King Agrippa, being more closely and particularly dealt with, thinks
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he never heard a man talk more rationally and convincingly, and owns
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himself almost his convert
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:28">ver. 28</A>),
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and Paul heartily wishes him so,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:29">ver. 29</A>.
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3. They all agreed that he was an innocent man, that he ought to be set
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at liberty, and that it was a pity he was provoked to put a bar in his
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own door by appealing to Cæsar,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:30-32">ver. 30-32</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ac26_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ac26_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ac26_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ac26_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ac26_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ac26_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ac26_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ac26_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ac26_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ac26_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ac26_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Paul's Fifth Defence.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for
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thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for
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himself:
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2 I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer
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for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I
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am accused of the Jews:
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3 Especially <I>because I know</I> thee to be expert in all customs
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and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee
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to hear me patiently.
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4 My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among
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mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;
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5 Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that
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after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
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6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise
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made of God unto our fathers:
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7 Unto which <I>promise</I> our twelve tribes, instantly serving
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<I>God</I> day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king
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Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.
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8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that
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God should raise the dead?
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9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things
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contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
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10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints
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did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief
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priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against
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<I>them.</I>
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11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled
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<I>them</I> to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I
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persecuted <I>them</I> even unto strange cities.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Agrippa was the most honourable person in the assembly, having the
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title of king bestowed upon him, though otherwise having only the power
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of other governors under the emperor, and, though not here superior,
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yet senior, to Festus; and therefore, Festus having opened the cause,
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Agrippa, as the mouth of the court, intimates to Paul a licence given
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him to <I>speak for himself,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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Paul was silent till he had this liberty allowed him; for those are not
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the most forward to speak that are best prepared to speak and speak
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best. This was a favour which the Jews would not allow him, or not
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without difficulty; but Agrippa freely gives it to him. And Paul's
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cause was so good that he desired no more than to have liberty to speak
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for himself; he needed no advocate, no Tertullus, to speak for him.
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Notice is taken of his gesture: He <I>stretched forth his hand,</I> as
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one that was under no consternation at all, but had perfect freedom and
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command of himself; it also intimates that he was in earnest, and
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expected their attention while he answered for himself. Observe, He did
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not insist upon his having appealed to Cæsar as an excuse for
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being silent, did not say, "I will be examined no more till I come to
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the emperor himself;" but cheerfully embraced the opportunity of doing
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honour to the cause he suffered for. If we must be ready to give <I>a
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reason of the hope that is in us to every man that asketh us,</I> much
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more to every man in authority,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+3:15">1 Pet. iii. 15</A>.
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Now in this former part of the speech,</P>
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<P>
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I. Paul addressed himself with a very particular respect to Agrippa,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:2,3"><I>v.</I> 2, 3</A>.
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He answered cheerfully before Felix, because he knew he had been
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<I>many years a judge to that nation,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+24:10"><I>ch.</I> xxiv. 10</A>.
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But his opinion of Agrippa goes further. Observe,
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1. Being accused of the Jews, and having many base things laid to his
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charge, he is glad he has an opportunity of clearing himself; so far is
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he from imagining that his being an apostle exempted him from the
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jurisdiction of the civil powers. Magistracy is an ordinance of God,
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which we have all benefit by, and therefore must all be subject to.
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2. Since he is forced to answer for himself, he is glad it is before
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king Agrippa, who, being himself a proselyte to the Jewish religion,
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understood all matters relating to it better than the other Roman
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governors did: <I>I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions
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which are among the Jews.</I> It seems, Agrippa was a scholar, and had
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been particularly conversant in the Jewish learning, was expert in the
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customs of the Jewish religion, and knew the nature of them, and that
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they were not designed to be either universal or perpetual. He was
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expert also in the questions that arose upon those customs, in
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determining which the Jews themselves were not all of a mind. Agrippa
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was well versed in the scriptures of the Old-Testament, and therefore
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could make a better judgment upon the controversy between him and the
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Jews concerning Jesus being the Messiah than another could. It is an
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encouragement to a preacher to have those to speak to that are
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intelligent, and can discern things that differ. When Paul says,
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<I>Judge you what I say,</I> yet he <I>speaks as to wise men,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+10:15">1 Cor. x. 15</A>.
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3. He therefore begs that he would <I>hear him patiently,</I>
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<B><I>makrothymos</I></B>--<I>with long suffering.</I> Paul designs a
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long discourse, and begs that Agrippa will hear him out, and not be
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weary; he designs a plain discourse, and begs that he will hear him
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with mildness, and not be angry. Paul had some reason to fear that as
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Agrippa, being a Jew, was well versed in the Jewish customs, and
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therefore the more competent judge of his cause, so he was soured in
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some measure with the Jewish leaven, and therefore prejudiced against
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Paul as the apostle of the Gentiles; he therefore says this to sweeten
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him: <I>I beseech thee, hear me patiently.</I> Surely the least we can
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expect, when we preach the faith of Christ, is to be heard
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patiently.</P>
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<P>
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II. He professes that though he was hated and branded as a apostate,
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yet he still adhered to all that good which he was first educated and
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trained up in; his religion was always built upon the <I>promise of God
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made unto the fathers;</I> and this he still built upon.</P>
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<P>
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1. See here what his religion was in his youth: His <I>manner of
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life</I> was <I>well known,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:4,5"><I>v.</I> 4, 5</A>.
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He was not indeed born among his own nation, but he was bred among them
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at Jerusalem. Though he had of late years been conversant with the
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Gentiles (which had given great offence to the Jews), yet at his
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setting out in the world he was intimately acquainted with the Jewish
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nation, and entirely in their interests. His education was neither
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foreign nor obscure; it was among his own nation at Jerusalem, where
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religion and learning flourished. All the Jews knew it, all that could
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remember so long, for Paul made himself remarkable betimes. Those that
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<I>knew him from the beginning</I> could testify for him that he was a
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Pharisee, that he was not only of the Jewish religion, and an observer
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of all the ordinances of it, but that he was of the <I>most strict sect
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of that religion,</I> most nice and exact in observing the institutions
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of it himself, and most rigid and critical in imposing them upon
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others. He was not only called a Pharisee, but he <I>lived a
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Pharisee.</I> All that knew him knew very well that never any Pharisee
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conformed more punctually to the rules of his order than he did. Nay,
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and he was of the better sort of Pharisees; for he was brought up at
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the feet of Gamaliel, who was an eminent rabbi of the school of house
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of Hillel, which was in much greater reputation for religion than the
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school or house of Samai. Now if Paul was a Pharisee, and lived a
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Pharisee,
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(1.) Then he was a scholar, a man of learning, and not an ignorant,
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illiterate, mechanic; the Pharisees knew the law, and were well versed
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in it, and in the traditional expositions of it. It was a reproach to
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the other apostles that they had not had an academical education, but
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were bred fishermen,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+4:13"><I>ch.</I> iv. 13</A>.
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Therefore, that the unbelieving Jews might be left without excuse, here
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is an apostle raised up that had sat at the feet of their most eminent
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doctors.
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(2.) Then he was a moralist, a man of virtue, and not a rake or loose
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debauched young man. If he lived like a Pharisee, he was no drunkard
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nor fornicator; and, being a young Pharisee, we may hope he was no
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extortioner, nor had yet learned the arts which the crafty covetous old
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Pharisees had of devouring the houses of poor widows; but he was, <I>as
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touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.</I> He was
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not chargeable with any instance of open vice and profaneness; and
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therefore, as he could not be thought to have deserted his religion
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because he did not know it (for he was a learned man), so he could not
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be thought to have deserted it because he did not love it, or was
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disaffected to the obligations of it, for he was a virtuous man, and
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not inclined to any immorality.
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(3.) Then he was orthodox, sound in the faith, and not a deist or
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sceptic, or a man of corrupt principles that led to infidelity. He was
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a Pharisee, in opposition to a Sadducee; he received those books of the
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Old Testament which the Sadducees rejected, believed a world of
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spirits, the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and
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the rewards and punishments of the future state, all which the
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Sadducees denied. They could not say, He quitted his religion for want
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of a principle, or for want of a due regard to divine revelation; no,
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he always had a veneration for the ancient <I>promise made of God unto
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the fathers,</I> and built his hope upon it.</P>
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<P>
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Now though Paul knew very well that all this would not justify him
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before God, nor make a righteousness for him yet he knew it was for his
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reputation among the Jews, and an argument <I>ad hominem--such as Agrippa
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would feel,</I> that he was not such a man as they represented him to
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be. Though he counted it but loss that he might win Christ, yet he
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mentioned it when it might serve to honour Christ. He knew very well
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that all this while he was a stranger to the spiritual nature of the
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divine law, and to heart-religion, and that except his righteousness
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exceeded this he should never go to heaven; yet he reflects upon it
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with some satisfaction that he had not been before his conversion an
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atheistical, profane, vicious man, but, according to the light he had,
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had <I>lived in all good conscience before God.</I></P>
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<P>
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2. See here what his religion is. He has not indeed such a zeal for the
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ceremonial law as he had in his youth. The sacrifices and offerings
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appointed by that, he thinks, are superseded by the great sacrifice
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which they typified; ceremonial pollutions and purifications from them
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he makes no conscience of, and thinks the Levitical priesthood is
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honourably swallowed up in the priesthood of Christ; but for the main
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principles of his religion he is as zealous for them as ever, and more
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so, and resolves to live and die by them.</P>
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<P>
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(1.) His religion is built upon the <I>promise made of God unto the
|
||
|
fathers.</I> It is built upon divine revelation, which he receives and
|
||
|
believes, and ventures his soul upon; it is built upon divine grace,
|
||
|
and that grace manifested and conveyed by promise. The promise of God
|
||
|
is the guide and ground of his religion, the promise <I>made to the
|
||
|
fathers,</I> which was more ancient than the ceremonial law, <I>that
|
||
|
covenant which was confirmed before of God in Christ, and which the
|
||
|
law, that was not till four hundred and thirty years after, could not
|
||
|
disannul,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+3:17">Gal. iii. 17</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Christ and heaven are the two great doctrines of the gospel--that
|
||
|
<I>God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.</I>
|
||
|
Now these two are the matter of the <I>promise made unto the
|
||
|
fathers.</I> It may look back as far as the promise made to father
|
||
|
Adam, concerning the seed of the woman, and those discoveries of a
|
||
|
future state which the first patriarchs acted faith upon, and were
|
||
|
saved by that faith; but it respects chiefly the promise made to father
|
||
|
Abraham, that <I>in his seed all the families of the earth should be
|
||
|
blessed,</I> and that <I>God would be a God to him, and to his seed
|
||
|
after him:</I> the former meaning Christ, the latter heaven; for, if
|
||
|
God had not <I>prepared for them a city,</I> he would have been ashamed
|
||
|
to have called himself <I>their God.</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:16">Heb. xi. 16</A>.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) His religion consists in the hopes of this promise. He places it
|
||
|
not, as they did, in meats and drinks, and the observance of carnal
|
||
|
ordinances (God had often shown what little account he made of them),
|
||
|
but in a believing dependence upon God's grace in the covenant, and
|
||
|
upon the promise, which was the great charter by which the church was
|
||
|
first incorporated.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[1.] He had hope in Christ as the promised seed; he hoped to be blessed
|
||
|
in him, to receive the blessing of God and to be truly blessed.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[2.] He had hopes of heaven; this is expressly meant, as appears by
|
||
|
comparing
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+24:15"><I>ch.</I> xxiv. 15</A>,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>That there shall be a resurrection of the dead.</I> Paul had no
|
||
|
confidence in the flesh, but in Christ; no expectation at all of great
|
||
|
things in this world, but of greater things in the other world than any
|
||
|
this world can pretend to; he had his eye upon a future state.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) Herein he concurred with all the pious Jews; his faith was not
|
||
|
only according to the scripture, but according to the testimony of the
|
||
|
church, which was a support to it. Though they set him up as a mark, he
|
||
|
was not singular: "<I>Our twelve tribes,</I> the body of the Jewish
|
||
|
church, <I>instantly serving God day and night,</I> hope to <I>come to
|
||
|
this promise,</I> that is, to the good promised." The people of Israel
|
||
|
are called <I>the twelve tribes,</I> because so they were at first;
|
||
|
and, though we read not of the return of the ten tribes in a body, yet
|
||
|
we have reason to think many particular persons, more or less of every
|
||
|
tribe, returned to their own land; perhaps, by degrees, the greater
|
||
|
part of those that were carried away. Christ speaks of the <I>twelve
|
||
|
tribes,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+19:28">Matt. xix. 28</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Anna was of the tribe of Asher,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+2:36">Luke ii. 36</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
James directs his epistle to the <I>twelve tribes scattered abroad,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+1:1">Jam. i. 1</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"Our twelve tribes, which make up the body of our nation, to which I
|
||
|
and others belong. Now all the Israelites profess to believe in this
|
||
|
promise, both of Christ and heaven, and hope to come to the benefits of
|
||
|
them. They all hope for a Messiah to come, and we that are Christians
|
||
|
hope in a Messiah already come; so that we all agree to build upon the
|
||
|
same promise. They look for the <I>resurrection of the dead</I> and
|
||
|
<I>the life of the world to come,</I> and this is what I look for. Why
|
||
|
should I be looked upon as advancing something dangerous and heterodox,
|
||
|
or as an apostate from the faith and worship of the Jewish church, when
|
||
|
I agree with them in this fundamental article? I hope to come to the
|
||
|
same heaven at last that they hope to come to; and, if we expect to
|
||
|
meet so happily in our end, why should we fall out so unhappily by the
|
||
|
way?" Nay, the Jewish church not only hoped to come to this promise,
|
||
|
but, in the hope of it, they <I>instantly served God day and night.</I>
|
||
|
The temple-service, which consisted in a continual course of religious
|
||
|
duties, morning and evening, day and night, from the beginning of the
|
||
|
year to the end of it, and was kept up by the priests and Levites, and
|
||
|
the <I>stationary men,</I> as they called them, who continually
|
||
|
attended there to lay their hands upon the public sacrifices, as the
|
||
|
representatives of all the twelve tribes, this service was kept up in
|
||
|
the profession of faith in the promise of eternal life, and, in
|
||
|
expectation of it, <I>Paul instantly serves God day and night</I> in
|
||
|
the gospel of his Son; the twelve tribes by their representatives do so
|
||
|
in the law of Moses, but he and they do it in hope of the same promise:
|
||
|
"Therefore they ought not to look upon me as a deserter from their
|
||
|
church, so long as I hold by the same promise that they hold by." Much
|
||
|
more should Christians, who hope in the same Jesus, for the same
|
||
|
heaven, though differing in the modes and ceremonies of worship, hope
|
||
|
the best one of another, and live together in holy love. Or it may be
|
||
|
meant of particular persons who continued in the communion of the
|
||
|
Jewish church, and were very devout in their way, serving God with
|
||
|
great intenseness, and a close application of mind, and constant in it,
|
||
|
<I>night and day,</I> as Anna, who <I>departed not from the temple, but
|
||
|
served God</I> (it is the same word here used) <I>in fastings and
|
||
|
prayers night and day,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+2:37">Luke ii. 37</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"In this way they hope to come to the promise, and I hope they will."
|
||
|
Note, Those only can upon good grounds hope for eternal life that are
|
||
|
diligent and constant in the service of God; and the prospect of that
|
||
|
eternal life should engage us to diligence and constancy in all
|
||
|
religious exercises. We should go on with our work with heaven in our
|
||
|
eye. And of those that <I>instantly serve God day and night,</I> though
|
||
|
not in our way, we ought to judge charitably.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(4.) This was what he was now suffering for--for preaching that doctrine
|
||
|
which they themselves, if they did but understand themselves aright,
|
||
|
must own: <I>I am judged for the hope of the promise made unto the
|
||
|
fathers.</I> He stuck to the promise, against the ceremonial law, while
|
||
|
his persecutors stuck to the ceremonial law, against the promise: "It
|
||
|
is <I>for this hope's sake, king Agrippa, that I am accused of the
|
||
|
Jews</I>--because I do that which I think myself obliged to do by the
|
||
|
hope of this promise." It is common for men to hate and persecute the
|
||
|
power of that religion in others which yet they pride themselves in the
|
||
|
form of. Paul's hope was what <I>they themselves also allowed</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+24:15"><I>ch.</I> xxiv. 15</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and yet they were thus enraged against him for practising according to
|
||
|
that hope. But it was his honour that when he suffered as a Christian
|
||
|
he suffered <I>for the hope of Israel,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+28:20"><I>ch.</I> xxviii. 20</A>.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(5.) This was what he would persuade all that heard him cordially to
|
||
|
embrace
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should
|
||
|
raise the dead?</I> This seems to come in somewhat abruptly; but it is
|
||
|
probable Paul said much more than is here recorded, and that he
|
||
|
explained the <I>promise made to the fathers</I> to be the promise of
|
||
|
the resurrection and eternal life, and proved that he was in the right
|
||
|
way of pursuing his hope of that happiness because he believed in
|
||
|
Christ who had <I>risen from the dead,</I> which was a pledge and
|
||
|
earnest of that resurrection which the fathers hoped for. Paul is
|
||
|
therefore earnest to <I>know the power of Christ's resurrection,</I>
|
||
|
that by it he might <I>attain to the resurrection of the dead;</I> see
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+3:10,11">Phil. iii. 10, 11</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Now many of his hearers were Gentiles, most of them perhaps, Festus
|
||
|
particularly, and we may suppose, when they heard him speak so much of
|
||
|
Christ's resurrection, and of the resurrection from the dead, which the
|
||
|
twelve tribes hoped for, that they mocked, as the Athenians did, began
|
||
|
to smile at it, and whispered to one another what an absurd thing it
|
||
|
was, which occasioned Paul thus to reason with them. <I>What! is it
|
||
|
thought incredible with you that God should raise the dead?</I> So it
|
||
|
may be read. <I>If it be marvellous in your eyes, should it be
|
||
|
marvellous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of hosts?</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+8:6">Zech. viii. 6</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If it be above the power of nature, yet it is not above the power of
|
||
|
the God of nature. Note, There is no reason why we should think it at
|
||
|
all incredible that God should raise the dead. We are not required to
|
||
|
believe any thing that is incredible, any thing that implies a
|
||
|
contradiction. There are motives of credibility sufficient to carry us
|
||
|
through all the doctrines of the Christian religion, and this
|
||
|
particularly of the resurrection of the dead. Has not God an infinite
|
||
|
almighty power, to which nothing is impossible? Did not he make the
|
||
|
world at first out of nothing, with a word's speaking? Did he not form
|
||
|
our bodies, form them out of the clay, and breathe into us the breath
|
||
|
of life at first? and cannot the same power form them again out of
|
||
|
their own clay, and put life into them again? Do we not see a kind of
|
||
|
resurrection in nature, at the return of every spring? Has the sun such
|
||
|
a force to raise dead plants, and should it seem incredible to us that
|
||
|
God should raise dead bodies?</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
III. He acknowledges that while he continued a Pharisee he was a bitter
|
||
|
enemy to Christians and Christianity, and thought he ought to be so,
|
||
|
and continued so to the moment that Christ wrought that wonderful
|
||
|
change in him. This he mentions,</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. To show that his becoming a Christian and a preacher was not the
|
||
|
product and result of any previous disposition or inclination that way,
|
||
|
or any gradual advance of thought in favour of the Christian doctrine;
|
||
|
he did not reason himself into Christianity by a chain of arguments,
|
||
|
but was brought into the highest degree of an assurance of it,
|
||
|
immediately from the highest degree of prejudice against it, by which
|
||
|
it appeared that he was made a Christian and a preacher by a
|
||
|
supernatural power; so that his conversion in such a miraculous way was
|
||
|
not only to himself, but to others also, a convincing proof of the
|
||
|
truth of Christianity.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. Perhaps he designs it for such an excuse of his persecutors as
|
||
|
Christ made for his, when he said, <I>They know not what they do.</I>
|
||
|
Paul himself once thought he did what he ought to do when he persecuted
|
||
|
the disciples of Christ, and he charitably thinks they laboured under
|
||
|
the like mistake. Observe,</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) What a fool he was in his opinion
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
He <I>thought with himself that he ought to do many things,</I> every
|
||
|
thing that lay in his power, <I>contrary to the name of Jesus of
|
||
|
Nazareth,</I> contrary to his doctrine, his honour, his interest. That
|
||
|
name did not harm, yet, because it agreed not with the notion he had of
|
||
|
the kingdom of the Messiah, he was for doing all he could against it.
|
||
|
He thought he did God good service in persecuting those who called on
|
||
|
the name of Jesus Christ. Note, It is possible for those to be
|
||
|
confident they are in the right who yet are evidently in the wrong; and
|
||
|
for those to think they are doing their duty who are wilfully
|
||
|
persisting in the greatest sin. Those that hated their brethren, and
|
||
|
cast them out, said, <I>Let the Lord be glorified,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+66:5">Isa. lxvi. 5</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Under colour and pretext of religion, the most barbarous and inhuman
|
||
|
villanies have been not only justified, but sanctified and magnified,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+16:2">John xvi. 2</A>.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) What a fury he was in his practice,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:10,11"><I>v.</I> 10, 11</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
There is not a more violent principle in the world than conscience
|
||
|
misinformed. When Paul thought it his duty to do all he could against
|
||
|
the name of Christ, he spared no pains nor cost in it. He gives an
|
||
|
account of what he did of that kind, and aggravates it as one that was
|
||
|
truly penitent for it: <I>I was a blasphemer, a persecutor,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+1:13">1 Tim. i. 13</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[1.] He filled the jails with Christians, as if they had been the worst
|
||
|
of criminals, designing hereby not only to terrify them, but to make
|
||
|
them odious to the people. He was <I>the devil that cast some of them
|
||
|
into prison</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+2:10">Rev. ii. 10</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
took them into custody, in order to their being prosecuted. <I>Many of
|
||
|
the saints did I shut up in prison</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:10"><I>ch.</I> xxvi. 10</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>both men and women,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+8:3"><I>ch.</I> viii. 3</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[2.] He made himself the tool of the chief priests. Herein from them he
|
||
|
<I>received authority,</I> as an inferior officer, to put their laws in
|
||
|
execution, and proud enough he was to be a man in authority for such a
|
||
|
purpose.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[3.] He was very officious to vote, unasked for, the putting of
|
||
|
Christians to death, particularly Stephen, to whose death Saul was
|
||
|
consenting
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+8:1"><I>ch.</I> viii. 1</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and so made himself <I>particeps criminis--partaker of the crime.</I>
|
||
|
Perhaps he was, for his great zeal, though young, made a member of the
|
||
|
sanhedrim, and there voted for the condemning of Christians to die; or,
|
||
|
after they were condemned, he justified what was done, and commended
|
||
|
it, and so made himself guilty <I>ex post facto--after the deed was
|
||
|
committed,</I> as if he had been a judge or jury-man.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[4.] He brought them under punishments of an inferior nature, <I>in the
|
||
|
synagogues,</I> where they were <I>scourged</I> as transgressors of the
|
||
|
rules of the synagogue. He had a hand in the punishing of many; nay, it
|
||
|
should seem the same persons were by his means <I>often punished,</I>
|
||
|
as he himself was five times,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+11:24">2 Cor. xi. 24</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[5.] He not only punished them for their religion, but, taking a pride
|
||
|
in triumphing over men's consciences, he forced them to abjure their
|
||
|
religion, by putting them to the torture: "<I>I compelled them to
|
||
|
blaspheme</I> Christ, and to say he was a deceiver and they were
|
||
|
deceived in him--compelled them to deny their Master, and renounce
|
||
|
their obligations to him." Nothing will lie heavier upon persecutors
|
||
|
than forcing men's consciences, how much soever they may now triumph in
|
||
|
the proselytes they have made by their violences.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[6.] His rage swelled so against Christians and Christianity that
|
||
|
Jerusalem itself was too narrow a stage for it to act upon, but, being
|
||
|
<I>exceedingly mad against them, he persecuted them even to strange
|
||
|
cities.</I> He was mad at them, to see how much they had to say for
|
||
|
themselves, notwithstanding all he did against them, mad to see them
|
||
|
multiply the more for their being afflicted. He was <I>exceedingly
|
||
|
mad;</I> the stream of his fury would admit no banks, no bounds, but he
|
||
|
was as much a terror to himself as he was to them, so great was his
|
||
|
vexation within himself that he could not prevail, as well as his
|
||
|
indignation against them. Persecutors are mad men, and some of them
|
||
|
<I>exceedingly mad.</I> Paul was mad to see that those in other cities
|
||
|
were not so outrageous against the Christians, and therefore made
|
||
|
himself busy where he had no business, and persecuted the Christians
|
||
|
even in strange cities. There is not a more restless principle than
|
||
|
malice, especially that which pretends conscience.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
This was Paul's character, and this his manner of life in the beginning
|
||
|
of his time; and therefore he could not be presumed to be a Christian
|
||
|
by education or custom, or to be drawn in by hope of preferment, for
|
||
|
all imaginable external objections lay against his being a
|
||
|
Christian.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_12"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_13"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_14"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_15"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_16"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_17"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_18"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_19"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_20"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_21"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_22"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_23"> </A>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
||
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
||
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Paul's Fifth Defence.</I></FONT></TD>
|
||
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
||
|
</TABLE>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and
|
||
|
commission from the chief priests,
|
||
|
13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven,
|
||
|
above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them
|
||
|
which journeyed with me.
|
||
|
14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice
|
||
|
speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul,
|
||
|
why persecutest thou me? <I>it is</I> hard for thee to kick against
|
||
|
the pricks.
|
||
|
15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom
|
||
|
thou persecutest.
|
||
|
16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto
|
||
|
thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both
|
||
|
of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the
|
||
|
which I will appear unto thee;
|
||
|
17 Delivering thee from the people, and <I>from</I> the Gentiles,
|
||
|
unto whom now I send thee,
|
||
|
18 To open their eyes, <I>and</I> to turn <I>them</I> from darkness to
|
||
|
light, and <I>from</I> the power of Satan unto God, that they may
|
||
|
receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are
|
||
|
sanctified by faith that is in me.
|
||
|
19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the
|
||
|
heavenly vision:
|
||
|
20 But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem,
|
||
|
and throughout all the coasts of Judæa, and <I>then</I> to the
|
||
|
Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works
|
||
|
meet for repentance.
|
||
|
21 For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went
|
||
|
about to kill <I>me.</I>
|
||
|
22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this
|
||
|
day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things
|
||
|
than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:
|
||
|
23 That Christ should suffer, <I>and</I> that he should be the first
|
||
|
that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the
|
||
|
people, and to the Gentiles.
|
||
|
</FONT></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
All who believe a God, and have a reverence for his sovereignty, must
|
||
|
acknowledge that those who speak and act by his direction, and by
|
||
|
warrant from him, are not to be opposed; for that <I>is fighting
|
||
|
against God.</I> Now Paul here, by a plain and faithful narrative of
|
||
|
matters of fact, makes it out to this august assembly that he had an
|
||
|
immediate call from heaven to preach the gospel of Christ to the
|
||
|
Gentile world, which was the thing that exasperated the Jews against
|
||
|
him. He here shows,</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
I. That he was made a Christian by a divine power, notwithstanding all
|
||
|
his prejudices against that way. He was brought into it on a sudden by
|
||
|
the hand of heaven; not compelled to confess Christ by outward force,
|
||
|
as he had compelled others to blaspheme him, but by a divine and
|
||
|
spiritual energy, by a revelation of Christ from above, both to him and
|
||
|
in him: and this when he was in the full career of his sin, going to
|
||
|
Damascus, to suppress Christianity by persecuting the Christians there,
|
||
|
as hot as ever in the cause, his persecuting fury not in the least
|
||
|
spent nor tired, nor was he tempted to give it up by the failing of his
|
||
|
friends, for he had at this time as ample an <I>authority and
|
||
|
commission from the chief priests</I> to persecute Christianity as ever
|
||
|
he had, when he was obliged by a superior power to give up that, and
|
||
|
accept another commission to preach up Christianity. Two things bring
|
||
|
about this surprising change, a vision from heaven and a voice from
|
||
|
heaven, which conveyed the knowledge of Christ to him by the two
|
||
|
learning senses of seeing and hearing.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. He saw a heavenly vision, the circumstances of which were such that
|
||
|
it could not be a <I>delusion--deciptio visus,</I> but it was without
|
||
|
doubt a divine appearance.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) He <I>saw a great light, a light from heaven,</I> such as could
|
||
|
not be produced by any art, for it was not in the night, but <I>at mid
|
||
|
day;</I> it was not in a house where tricks might have been played with
|
||
|
him, but it was <I>in the way,</I> in the open air; it was such a light
|
||
|
as was <I>above the brightness of the sun,</I> outshone and eclipsed
|
||
|
that
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:23">Isa. xxiv. 23</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and this could not be the product of Paul's own fancy, for it <I>shone
|
||
|
round about those that journeyed with him:</I> they were all sensible
|
||
|
of their being surrounded with this inundation of light, which made the
|
||
|
sun itself to be in their eyes a less light. The force and power of
|
||
|
this light appeared in the effects of it; they all fell to the earth
|
||
|
upon the sight of it, such a mighty consternation did it put them into;
|
||
|
this light was lightning for its force, yet did not pass away as
|
||
|
lightning, but continued to shine round about them. In Old-Testament
|
||
|
times God commonly manifested himself in the thick darkness, and made
|
||
|
that his pavilion,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+6:1">2 Chron. vi. 1</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
He spoke to Abraham in a great darkness
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+15:12">Gen. xv. 12</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
for that was a dispensation of darkness; but now that <I>life and
|
||
|
immortality were brought to light by the gospel</I> Christ appeared in
|
||
|
a great light. In the creation of grace, as of the world, the first
|
||
|
thing created is light,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+4:6">2 Cor. iv. 6</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) Christ himself appeared to him
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>I have appeared to thee for this purpose.</I> Christ was in this
|
||
|
light, though those that travelled with Paul saw the light only, and
|
||
|
not Christ in the light. It is not every knowledge that will serve to
|
||
|
make us Christians, but it must be <I>the knowledge of Christ.</I></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. He heard a heavenly voice, an articulate one, <I>speaking to
|
||
|
him;</I> it is here said to be <I>in the Hebrew tongue</I> (which was
|
||
|
not taken notice of before), his native language, the language of his
|
||
|
religion, to intimate to him that though he must be sent among the
|
||
|
Gentiles, yet he must not forget that he was a Hebrew, nor make himself
|
||
|
a stranger to the Hebrew language. In what Christ said to him we may
|
||
|
observe,
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) That he called him by his name, and repeated it (<I>Saul,
|
||
|
Saul</I>), which would surprise and startle him; and the more because
|
||
|
he was now in a strange place, where he thought nobody knew him.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) That he convinced him of sin, of that great sin which he was now
|
||
|
in the commission of, the sin of persecuting the Christians, and showed
|
||
|
him the absurdity of it.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) That he interested himself in the sufferings of his followers:
|
||
|
<I>Thou persecutest me</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and again, It is <I>Jesus whom thou persecutest,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Little did Paul think, when he was trampling upon those that he looked
|
||
|
upon as the burdens and blemishes of this earth, that he was insulting
|
||
|
one that was so much the glory of heaven.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(4.) That he checked him for his wilful resistance of those
|
||
|
convictions: <I>It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks,</I> or
|
||
|
goads, <I>as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke.</I> Paul's spirit at
|
||
|
first perhaps began to rise, but he is told it is at his peril, and
|
||
|
then he yields. Or, it was spoken by way of caution: "Take heed lest
|
||
|
thou resist these convictions, for they are designed to affect thee,
|
||
|
not to affront thee."
|
||
|
|
||
|
(5.) That, upon his enquiry, Christ made himself known to him. Paul
|
||
|
asked
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
"<I>Who art thou, Lord?</I> Let me know who it is that speaks to me
|
||
|
from heaven, that I may answer him accordingly?" And he said, "<I>I am
|
||
|
Jesus;</I> he whom thou hast despised, and hated, and vilified; I bear
|
||
|
that name which thou hast made so odious, and the naming of it
|
||
|
criminal." Paul thought Jesus was buried in the earth, and, though
|
||
|
stolen out of his own sepulchre, yet laid in some other. All the Jews
|
||
|
were taught to say so, and therefore he is amazed to hear him speak
|
||
|
from heaven, to see him surrounded with all this glory whom he had
|
||
|
loaded with all possible ignominy. This convinced him that the doctrine
|
||
|
of Jesus was divine and heavenly, and not only not to be opposed, but
|
||
|
to be cordially embraced: <I>That Jesus is the Messiah,</I> for he has
|
||
|
not only <I>risen from the dead,</I> but he has <I>received from God
|
||
|
the Father honour and glory;</I> and this is enough to make him a
|
||
|
Christian immediately, to quit the society of the persecutors, whom the
|
||
|
Lord from heaven thus appears against, and to join himself with the
|
||
|
society of the persecuted, whom the Lord from heaven thus appears
|
||
|
for.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
II. That he was made a minister by a divine authority: <I>That the same
|
||
|
Jesus that appeared to him in that glorious light</I> ordered him <I>to
|
||
|
go and preach the gospel to the Gentiles;</I> he did not run without
|
||
|
sending, nor was he sent by men like himself, but by him whom the
|
||
|
Father sent,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:21">John xx. 21</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
What is said of his being an apostle is here joined immediately to that
|
||
|
which was said to him by the way, but it appears by
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:15,22:15"><I>ch.</I> ix. 15, and xxii. 15, 17</A>,
|
||
|
|
||
|
&c., that it was spoken to him afterwards; but he puts the two together
|
||
|
for brevity-sake: <I>Rise, and stand upon thy feet.</I> Those whom
|
||
|
Christ, by the light of his gospel, casts down in humiliation for sin,
|
||
|
shall find that it is in order to their rising and standing upon their
|
||
|
feet, in spiritual grace, strength, and comfort. If Christ has torn, it
|
||
|
is that he may heal; if he has cast down, it is that he may raise up.
|
||
|
<I>Rise then, and shake thyself from the dust</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+52:2">Isa. lii. 2</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
help thyself, and Christ shall help thee. He must stand up, for Christ
|
||
|
shall help thee. He must stand up, for Christ has work for him to
|
||
|
do--has an errand, and a very great errand, to send him upon: <I>I have
|
||
|
appeared to thee to make thee a minister.</I> Christ has the making of
|
||
|
his own ministers; they have both their qualifications and their
|
||
|
commissions from him. Paul thanks Christ Jesus who put him into the
|
||
|
ministry,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+1:12">1 Tim. i. 12</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Christ appeared to him to make him a minister. One way or other,
|
||
|
Christ will manifest himself to all those whom he makes his ministers;
|
||
|
for how can those preach him who do not know him? And how can those
|
||
|
know him to whom he does not by his spirit make himself known?
|
||
|
Observe,</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. The office to which Paul is appointed: he is made a minister, to
|
||
|
attend on Christ, and act for him, as a witness--to give evidence in his
|
||
|
cause, and attest the truth of his doctrine. He must testify <I>the
|
||
|
gospel of the grace of God;</I> Christ appeared to him that he might
|
||
|
appear for Christ before men.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. The matter of Paul's testimony: he must give an account to the
|
||
|
world,
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) <I>Of the things which he had seen,</I> now at this time, must
|
||
|
tell people of Christ's manifesting himself to him by the way, and what
|
||
|
he said to him. He saw these things that he might publish them, and he
|
||
|
did take all occasions to publish them, as here, and before,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+22:1-30"><I>ch.</I> xxii</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) <I>Of those things in which he would appear to him.</I> Christ now
|
||
|
settled a correspondence with Paul, which he designed afterwards to
|
||
|
keep up, and only told him now that he should hear further from him.
|
||
|
Paul at first had but confused notions of the gospel, till Christ
|
||
|
appeared to him and gave him fuller instructions. <I>The gospel he
|
||
|
preached he received from Christ</I> immediately
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:12">Gal. i. 12</A>);
|
||
|
|
||
|
but he received it gradually, some at one time and some at another, as
|
||
|
there was occasion. Christ often appeared to Paul, oftener, it is
|
||
|
likely, than is recorded, and still taught him, <I>that he might still
|
||
|
teach the people knowledge.</I></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
3. The spiritual protection he was taken under, while he was thus
|
||
|
employed as Christ's witness: all the powers of darkness could not
|
||
|
prevail against him till he had finished his testimony
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>delivering thee from the people of the Jews and from the
|
||
|
Gentiles.</I> Note, Christ's witnesses are under his special care, and,
|
||
|
though they may fall into the hands of the enemies, yet he will take
|
||
|
care to deliver them out of their hands, and he knows how to do it.
|
||
|
Christ had shown Paul at this time <I>what great things he must
|
||
|
suffer</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:16"><I>ch.</I> ix. 16</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and yet tells him here he will <I>deliver him from the people.</I>
|
||
|
Note, Great sufferings are reconcilable to the promise of the
|
||
|
deliverance of God's people, for it is not promised that they shall be
|
||
|
kept from trouble, but kept through it; and sometimes God delivers them
|
||
|
into the hands of their persecutors that he may have the honour of
|
||
|
delivering them out of their hands.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
4. The special commission given him to go among the Gentiles, and the
|
||
|
errand upon which he is sent to them; it was some years after Paul's
|
||
|
conversion before he was <I>sent to the Gentiles,</I> or (for aught
|
||
|
that appears) knew any thing of his being designed for that purpose
|
||
|
(see
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+22:21"><I>ch.</I> xxii. 21</A>);
|
||
|
|
||
|
but at length he is ordered to steer his course that way.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) There is great work to be done among the Gentiles, and Paul must
|
||
|
be instrumental in doing it. Two things must be done, which their case
|
||
|
calls for the doing of:--
|
||
|
|
||
|
[1.] A world that sits in darkness must be enlightened; those must be
|
||
|
brought to <I>know the things that belong to their everlasting
|
||
|
peace</I> who are yet ignorant of them, to know God as their end, and
|
||
|
Christ as their way, who as yet know nothing of either. He is <I>sent
|
||
|
to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light.</I> His
|
||
|
preaching shall not only make known to them those things which they had
|
||
|
not before heard of, but shall be the vehicle of that divine grace and
|
||
|
power by which their understandings shall be enlightened to receive
|
||
|
those things, and bid them welcome. Thus he shall open their eyes,
|
||
|
which before were shut against the light, and they shall be willing to
|
||
|
understand themselves, their own case and interest. Christ opens the
|
||
|
heart by opening the eyes, does not lead men blindfold, but gives them
|
||
|
to see their own way. He is sent not only to open their eyes for the
|
||
|
present, but to keep them open, <I>to turn them from darkness to
|
||
|
light,</I> that is, from following false and blind guides, their
|
||
|
oracles, divinations, and superstitious usages, received by tradition
|
||
|
from their fathers, and the corrupt notions and ideas they had of their
|
||
|
gods, to follow a divine revelation of unquestionable certainty and
|
||
|
truth. This was turning them from darkness to light, from the ways of
|
||
|
darkness to those on which the light shines. The great design of the
|
||
|
gospel is to instruct the ignorant, and to rectify the mistakes of
|
||
|
those who are in error, that things may be set and seen in a true
|
||
|
light.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[2.] A world that lies in wickedness, in the wicked one, must be
|
||
|
sanctified and reformed; it is not enough for them to have their eyes
|
||
|
opened, they must have their hearts renewed; not enough to be turned
|
||
|
from darkness to light, but they must be turned from the power of Satan
|
||
|
unto God, which will follow of course; for Satan rules by the power of
|
||
|
darkness, and God by the convincing evidence of light. Sinners are
|
||
|
under the power of Satan; idolaters were so in a special manner, they
|
||
|
paid their homage to devils. All sinners are under the influence of his
|
||
|
temptations, yield themselves captives to him, are at his beck;
|
||
|
converting grace turns them from under the dominion of Satan, and
|
||
|
brings them into subjection to God, to conform to the rules of his word
|
||
|
and comply with the dictates and directions of his Spirit,
|
||
|
<I>translates them out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of
|
||
|
his dear Son.</I> When gracious dispositions are strong in the soul (as
|
||
|
corrupt and sinful dispositions had been), it is then turned from the
|
||
|
power of Satan unto God.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) There is a great happiness designed for the Gentiles by this
|
||
|
work--<I>that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance
|
||
|
among those who are sanctified;</I> they are turned from the darkness
|
||
|
of sin to the light of holiness, from the slavery of Satan to the
|
||
|
service of God; not that God may be a gainer by them, but that they may
|
||
|
be gainers by him.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[1.] That they may be restored to his favour, which by sin they have
|
||
|
forfeited and thrown themselves out of: <I>That they may receive
|
||
|
forgiveness of sins.</I> They are delivered from the dominion of sin,
|
||
|
that they may be saved from that death which is the wages of sin. Not
|
||
|
that they may merit forgiveness as a debt of reward, but that they may
|
||
|
receive it as a free gift, that they may be qualified to receive the
|
||
|
comfort of it. They are persuaded to lay down their arms, and return to
|
||
|
their allegiance, that they may have the benefit of the act of
|
||
|
indemnity, and may plead it in arrest of the judgment to be given
|
||
|
against them.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[2.] That they may be happy in the fruition of him; not only that they
|
||
|
may have their sins pardoned, but <I>that they may have an inheritance
|
||
|
among those who are sanctified by faith that is in me.</I> Note,
|
||
|
<I>First,</I> Heaven is an inheritance, it descends to all the children
|
||
|
of God; for, <I>if children, then heirs. That they may have,</I>
|
||
|
<B><I>kleron</I></B>--<I>a lot</I> (so it might be read), alluding to
|
||
|
the inheritances of Canaan, which were appointed by lot, and that also
|
||
|
is the act of God, <I>the disposal thereof is of the Lord. That they
|
||
|
may have a right,</I> so some read it; not by merit, but purely by
|
||
|
grace. <I>Secondly,</I> All that are effectually turned from sin to God
|
||
|
are not only pardoned, but preferred--have not only their attainder
|
||
|
reversed, but a patent of honour given to them, and a grant of a rich
|
||
|
inheritance. And the forgiveness of sins makes way for this
|
||
|
inheritance, by taking that out of the way which alone hindered.
|
||
|
<I>Thirdly,</I> All that shall be saved hereafter are sanctified now;
|
||
|
those that have the heavenly inheritance must have it in this way, they
|
||
|
must be prepared and made meet for it. None can be happy that are not
|
||
|
holy; nor shall any be saints in heaven that are not first saints on
|
||
|
earth. <I>Fourthly,</I> We need no more to make us happy than to have
|
||
|
our lot among those that are sanctified, to fare as they fare; this is
|
||
|
having our lot among the chosen, for they are chosen to salvation
|
||
|
through sanctification. Those who are sanctified shall be glorified.
|
||
|
Let us therefore now cast in our lot among them, by coming into the
|
||
|
communion of saints, and be willing to take our lot with them, and
|
||
|
share with them in their afflictions, which (how grievous soever) our
|
||
|
lot with them in the inheritance will abundantly make amends for.
|
||
|
<I>Fifthly,</I> We are sanctified and saved by faith in Christ. Some
|
||
|
refer it to the word next before, <I>sanctified by faith,</I> for faith
|
||
|
purifies the heart, and applies to the soul those precious promises,
|
||
|
and subjects the soul to the influence of that grace, by which we
|
||
|
partake of a divine nature. Others refer it to the receiving of both
|
||
|
pardon and the inheritance; it is by faith accepting the grant: it
|
||
|
comes all to one; for it is by faith that we are justified, sanctified,
|
||
|
and glorified. <I>By faith,</I> <B><I>te eis eme</I></B>--<I>that faith
|
||
|
which is in me;</I> it is emphatically expressed. That faith which not
|
||
|
only receives divine revelation in general, but which in a particular
|
||
|
manner fastens upon Jesus Christ and his mediation, by which we rely
|
||
|
upon Christ as <I>the Lord our righteousness,</I> and resign ourselves
|
||
|
to him as the Lord our ruler. This is that by which we receive <I>the
|
||
|
remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and eternal
|
||
|
life.</I></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
III. That he had discharged his ministry, pursuant to his commission,
|
||
|
by divine aid, and under divine direction and protection. God, who
|
||
|
called him to be an apostle, owned him in his apostolical work, and
|
||
|
carried him on in it with enlargement and success.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. God gave him a heart to comply with the call
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,</I> for any one would
|
||
|
say he ought to be obedient to it. Heavenly visions have a commanding
|
||
|
power over earthly counsels, and it is at our peril if we be
|
||
|
disobedient to them; yet if Paul had conferred with flesh and blood,
|
||
|
and been swayed by his secular interest, he would have done as Jonah
|
||
|
did, gone any where rather than upon this errand; but God <I>opened his
|
||
|
ear, and he was not rebellious.</I> He accepted the commission, and,
|
||
|
having with it received his instructions, he applied himself to act
|
||
|
accordingly.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. God enabled him to go through a great deal of work, though in it he
|
||
|
grappled with a great deal of difficulty,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
He applied himself to the preaching of the gospel with all vigour.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) He began at Damascus, where he was converted, for he resolved to
|
||
|
lose no time,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:20"><I>ch.</I> ix. 20</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) When he came to Jerusalem, where he had his education, he there
|
||
|
witnessed for Christ, where he had most furiously set himself against
|
||
|
him,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:29"><I>ch.</I> ix. 29</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) He preached <I>throughout all the coasts of Judea,</I> in the
|
||
|
country towns and villages, as Christ had done; he made the first offer
|
||
|
of the gospel to the Jews, as Christ had appointed, and did not leave
|
||
|
them till they had wilfully thrust the gospel from them; and laid out
|
||
|
himself for the good of their souls, labouring more abundantly than any
|
||
|
of the apostles, nay perhaps then all put together.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
3. His preaching was all practical. He did not go about to fill
|
||
|
people's heads with airy notions, did not amuse them with nice
|
||
|
speculations, nor set them together by the ears with matters of
|
||
|
doubtful disputation, but he showed them, declared it, demonstrated it,
|
||
|
that they ought,
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) <I>To repent of their sins,</I> to be sorry for them and to
|
||
|
confess them, and enter into covenant against them; they ought to
|
||
|
<I>bethink themselves,</I> so the word <B><I>metanoein</I></B> properly
|
||
|
signifies; they ought to change their mind and change their way, and
|
||
|
undo what they had done amiss.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) <I>To turn to God.</I> They must not only conceive an antipathy to
|
||
|
sin, but they must come into a conformity to God--must not only turn
|
||
|
from that which is evil, but turn to that which is good; they must turn
|
||
|
to God, in love and affection, and return to God in duty and obedience,
|
||
|
and turn and return from the world and the flesh; this is that which is
|
||
|
required from the whole revolted degenerate race of mankind, both Jews
|
||
|
and Gentiles; <B><I>epistrephein epi ton Theon</I></B>--<I>to turn back
|
||
|
to God, even to him:</I> to turn to him as our chief good and highest
|
||
|
end, as our ruler and portion, turn our eye to him, turn our heart to
|
||
|
him, and turn our feet unto his testimonies.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) <I>To do works meet for repentance.</I> This was what John
|
||
|
preached, who was the first gospel preacher,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+3:8">Matt. iii. 8</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Those that profess repentance must practise it, must live a life of
|
||
|
repentance, must in every thing carry it as becomes penitents. It is
|
||
|
not enough to speak penitent words, but we must do works agreeable to
|
||
|
those words. As true faith, so true repentance, will work. Now what
|
||
|
fault could be found with such preaching as this? Had it not a direct
|
||
|
tendency to reform the world, and to redress its grievances, and to
|
||
|
revive natural religion?</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
4. The Jews had no quarrel with him but upon this account, that he did
|
||
|
all he could to persuade people to be religious, and to bring them to
|
||
|
God by bringing them to Christ
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
It was for these causes, and no other, <I>that the Jews caught me in
|
||
|
the temple, and went about to kill me;</I> and let any one judge
|
||
|
whether these were crimes worthy of death or of bonds. He suffered ill,
|
||
|
not only for doing well himself, but for doing good to others. They
|
||
|
attempted to kill him; it was his precious life that they hunted for,
|
||
|
and hated, because it was a useful life; they caught him in the temple
|
||
|
worshipping God, and there they set upon him, as if the better place
|
||
|
the better deed.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
5. He had no help but from heaven; supported and carried on by that, he
|
||
|
went on in this great work
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
"<I>Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this
|
||
|
day;</I> <B><I>hesteka</I></B>--<I>I have stood,</I> my life has been
|
||
|
preserved, and my work continued; I have stood my ground, and have not
|
||
|
been beaten off; I have stood to what I said, and have not been afraid
|
||
|
nor ashamed to persist in it." It was now above twenty years since Paul
|
||
|
was converted, and all that time he had been very busy preaching the
|
||
|
gospel in the midst of hazards; and what was it that bore him up? Not
|
||
|
any strength of his own resolutions, but <I>having obtained help of
|
||
|
God;</I> for therefore, because the work was so great and he had so
|
||
|
much opposition, he could not otherwise have gone on in it, but by help
|
||
|
obtained of God. Note, Those who are employed in work for God shall
|
||
|
obtain help from God; for he will not be wanting in necessary
|
||
|
assistances to his servants. And our continuance to this day must be
|
||
|
attributed to help obtained of God; we had sunk, if he had not borne us
|
||
|
up--had fallen off, if he had not carried us on; and it must be
|
||
|
acknowledged with thankfulness to his praise. Paul mentions it as an
|
||
|
evidence that he had his commission from God that from him he had
|
||
|
ability to execute it. The preachers of the gospel could never have
|
||
|
done, and suffered, and prospered, as they did, if they had not had
|
||
|
immediate help from heaven, which they would not have had if it had not
|
||
|
been the cause of God that they were now pleading.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
6. He preached no doctrine but what agreed with the scriptures of the
|
||
|
Old Testament: He <I>witnessed both to small and great,</I> to young
|
||
|
and old, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, obscure and illustrious,
|
||
|
all being concerned in it. It was an evidence of the condescending
|
||
|
grace of the gospel that it was witnessed to the meanest, and the poor
|
||
|
were welcome to the knowledge of it; and of the incontestable truth and
|
||
|
power of it that it was neither afraid nor ashamed to show itself to
|
||
|
the greatest. The enemies of Paul objected against him that he
|
||
|
preached something more than <I>that men should repent, and turn to
|
||
|
God, and do works meet for repentance.</I> These indeed were but what
|
||
|
the prophets of the old Testament had preached; but, besides these, he
|
||
|
had preached Christ, and his death, and his resurrection, and this was
|
||
|
what they quarrelled with him for, as appears by
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+25:19"><I>ch.</I> xxv. 19</A>,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>that he affirmed Jesus to be alive:</I> "And so I did," says Paul,
|
||
|
"and so I do, but therein also I say <I>no other than that which Moses
|
||
|
and the prophets said should come;</I> and what greater honour can be
|
||
|
done to them than to show that what they foretold is accomplished, and
|
||
|
in the appointed season too--that what they said should come is come,
|
||
|
and at the time they prefixed?" Three things they prophesied, and Paul
|
||
|
preached:--
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) <I>That Christ should suffer,</I> that the Messiah should be a
|
||
|
<I>sufferer</I>--<B><I>pathetos;</I></B> not only a man, and capable of
|
||
|
suffering, but that, as Messiah, he should be appointed to sufferings;
|
||
|
that his ignominious death should be not only consistent with, but
|
||
|
pursuant of, his undertaking. The cross of Christ was a stumbling-block
|
||
|
to the Jews, and Paul's preaching it was the great thing that
|
||
|
exasperated them; but Paul stands to it that, in preaching that, he
|
||
|
preached the fulfilling of the Old-Testament predictions, and therefore
|
||
|
they ought not only not to be offended at what he preached, but to
|
||
|
embrace it, and subscribe to it.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) <I>That he should be the first that should rise from the dead;</I>
|
||
|
not the first in time, but the first in influence--<I>that he should be
|
||
|
the chief of the resurrection, the head, or principal one,</I>
|
||
|
<B><I>protos ex anastaseos,</I></B> in the same sense that he is called
|
||
|
<I>the first-begotten from the dead</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:5">Rev. i. 5</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and <I>the first-born from the dead,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Col+1:18">Col. i. 18</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
He opened the womb of the grave, as the first-born are said to do, and
|
||
|
made way for our resurrection; and he is said <I>to be the first-fruits
|
||
|
of those that slept</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:20">1 Cor. xv. 20</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
for he sanctified the harvest. He was the first that rose from the
|
||
|
dead to die no more; and, to show that the resurrection of all
|
||
|
believers is in virtue of his, just when he arose <I>many dead bodies
|
||
|
of saints arose, and went into the holy city,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:52,53">Matt. xxvii. 52, 53</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) <I>That he should show light unto the people, and to the
|
||
|
Gentiles,</I> to the people of the Jews in the first place, for he was
|
||
|
to be <I>the glory of his people Israel.</I> To them he showed light by
|
||
|
himself, and then to the Gentiles by the ministry of his apostles, for
|
||
|
he was <I>to be a light to enlighten those who sat in darkness.</I> In
|
||
|
this Paul refers to his commission
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>To turn them from darkness to light.</I> He rose from the dead on
|
||
|
purpose that he might show light to the people, that he might give a
|
||
|
convincing proof of the truth of his doctrine, and might send it with
|
||
|
so much the greater power, both among Jews and Gentiles. This also was
|
||
|
foretold by the Old-Testament prophets, <I>that the Gentiles should be
|
||
|
brought to the knowledge of God by the Messiah;</I> and what was there
|
||
|
in all this that the Jews could justly be displeased at?</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_24"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_25"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_26"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_27"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_28"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_29"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_30"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_31"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_32"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_33"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_34"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_35"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_36"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_37"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_38"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_39"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_40"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_41"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_42"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_43"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Ac26_44"> </A>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
||
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
||
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Paul's Fifth Defence.</I></FONT></TD>
|
||
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
||
|
</TABLE>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>24 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud
|
||
|
voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make
|
||
|
thee mad.
|
||
|
25 But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak
|
||
|
forth the words of truth and soberness.
|
||
|
26 For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I
|
||
|
speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are
|
||
|
hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner.
|
||
|
27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou
|
||
|
believest.
|
||
|
28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be
|
||
|
a Christian.
|
||
|
29 And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also
|
||
|
all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such
|
||
|
as I am, except these bonds.
|
||
|
30 And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the
|
||
|
governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them:
|
||
|
31 And when they were gone aside, they talked between
|
||
|
themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of
|
||
|
bonds.
|
||
|
32 Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set
|
||
|
at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Cæsar.
|
||
|
</FONT></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
We have reason to think that Paul had a great deal more to say in
|
||
|
defence of the gospel he preached, and for the honour of it, and to
|
||
|
recommend it to the good opinion of this noble audience; he had just
|
||
|
fallen upon that which was the life of the cause--the death and
|
||
|
resurrection of Jesus Christ, and here he is in his element; now he
|
||
|
warms more than before, his mouth is opened towards them, his heart is
|
||
|
enlarged. Lead him but to this subject, and let him have leave to go
|
||
|
on, and he will never know when to conclude; for the power of Christ's
|
||
|
death, and the fellowship of his sufferings, are with him inexhaustible
|
||
|
subjects. It was a thousand pities then that he should be interrupted,
|
||
|
as he is here, and that, being permitted to speak for himself
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
he should not be permitted to say all he designed. But it was a
|
||
|
hardship often put upon him, and is a disappointment to us too, who
|
||
|
read his discourse with so much pleasure. But there is no remedy, the
|
||
|
court thinks it is time to proceed to give in their judgment upon his
|
||
|
case.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
I. Festus, the Roman governor, is of opinion that the poor man is
|
||
|
crazed, and that Bedlam is the fittest place for him. He is convinced
|
||
|
that he is no criminal, no bad man, that should be punished, but he
|
||
|
takes him to be a lunatic, a distracted man, that should be pitied, but
|
||
|
at the same time should not be heeded, nor a word he says regarded; and
|
||
|
thus he thinks he has found out an expedient to excuse himself both
|
||
|
from condemning Paul as a prisoner and from believing him as a
|
||
|
preacher; for, if he be not <I>compos mentis--in his senses,</I> he is
|
||
|
not to be either condemned or credited. Now here observe,</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. What it was that Festus said of him
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>He said with a loud voice,</I> did not whisper it to those that sat
|
||
|
next him; if so, it had been the more excusable, but (without
|
||
|
consulting Agrippa, to whose judgment he had seemed to pay profound
|
||
|
deference,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+25:26"><I>ch.</I> xxv. 26</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>said aloud,</I> that he might oblige Paul to break off his
|
||
|
discourse, and might divert the auditors from attending to it "<I>Paul,
|
||
|
thou art beside thyself,</I> thou talkest like a madman, like one with
|
||
|
a heated brain, that knowest not what thou sayest;" yet he does not
|
||
|
suppose that a guilty conscience had disturbed his reason, nor that his
|
||
|
sufferings, and the rage of his enemies against him, had given any
|
||
|
shock to it; but he puts the most candid construction that could be
|
||
|
upon his delirium: <I>Much learning hath made thee mad,</I> thou hast
|
||
|
cracked thy brains with studying. This he speaks, not so much in anger,
|
||
|
as in scorn and contempt. He did not understand what Paul said; it was
|
||
|
above his capacity, it was all a riddle to him, and therefore he
|
||
|
imputes it all to a heated imagination. <I>Si non vis intelligi, debes
|
||
|
negligi--If thou art not willing to be understood, thou oughtest to be
|
||
|
neglected.</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) He owns Paul to be a scholar, and a man of learning, because he
|
||
|
could so readily refer to what Moses and the prophets wrote, books that
|
||
|
he was a stranger to; and even this is turned to his reproach. The
|
||
|
apostles, who were fishermen, were despised because they had no
|
||
|
learning; Paul, who was a university-man, and bred a Pharisee, is
|
||
|
despised as having too much learning, more than did him good. Thus the
|
||
|
enemies of Christ's ministers will always have something or other to
|
||
|
upbraid them with.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) He reproaches him as a madman. The prophets of the Old Testament
|
||
|
were thus stigmatized, to prejudice people against them by putting them
|
||
|
into an ill-name: <I>Wherefore came this mad fellow unto thee?</I> said
|
||
|
the captains of the prophet,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+9:11,Ho+9:7">2 Kings ix. 11; Hos. ix. 7</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
John Baptist and Christ were represented as having a devil, as being
|
||
|
crazed. It is probable that Paul now spoke with more life and
|
||
|
earnestness than he did in the beginning of his discourse, and used
|
||
|
more gestures that were expressive of his zeal, and therefore Festus
|
||
|
put this invidious character upon him, which perhaps never a one in the
|
||
|
company but himself thought of. It is not so harmless a suggestion as
|
||
|
some make it to say concerning those that are zealous in religion above
|
||
|
others that they are crazed.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. How Paul cleared himself from this invidious imputation, which
|
||
|
whether he had ever lain under before is not certain; it should seem,
|
||
|
it had been said of him by the false apostles, for he ways
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+5:13">2 Cor. v. 13</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>If we be beside ourselves,</I> as they say we are, <I>it is to
|
||
|
God;</I> but he was never charged with this before <I>the Roman
|
||
|
governor,</I> and therefore he must say something to this.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) He denies the charge, with due respect indeed to the governor, but
|
||
|
with justice to himself, protesting that there was neither ground nor
|
||
|
colour for it
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
"<I>I am not mad, most noble Festus,</I> nor ever was, nor any thing
|
||
|
like it; the use of my reason, thanks be to God, has been all my days
|
||
|
continued to me, and at this time I do not ramble, <I>but speak the
|
||
|
words of truth and soberness,</I> and know what I say." Observe, Though
|
||
|
Festus gave Paul this base and contemptuous usage, not becoming a
|
||
|
gentlemen, much less a judge, yet Paul is so far from resenting it, and
|
||
|
being provoked by it, that he gives him all possible respect,
|
||
|
compliments him with his title of honour, <I>most noble Festus,</I> to
|
||
|
teach us not to render railing for railing, nor one invidious character
|
||
|
for another, but to speak civilly to those who speak slightly of us. It
|
||
|
becomes us, upon all occasions, to speak the words of truth and
|
||
|
soberness, and then we may despise the unjust censures of men.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) He appeals to Agrippa concerning what he spoke
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>For the king knows of these things,</I> concerning Christ, and his
|
||
|
death and resurrection, and the prophecies of the Old Testament, which
|
||
|
had their accomplishment therein. He therefore <I>spoke freely before
|
||
|
him,</I> who knew these were no fancies, but matters of fact, knew
|
||
|
something of them, and therefore would be willing to know more: <I>For
|
||
|
I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him;</I> no,
|
||
|
not that which he had related concerning his own conversion, and the
|
||
|
commission he had received to preach the gospel. Agrippa could not but
|
||
|
have heard of it, having been so long conversant among the Jews.
|
||
|
<I>This thing was not done in a corner;</I> all the country rang of it;
|
||
|
and any of the Jews present might have witnessed for him that they had
|
||
|
heard it many a time from others, and therefore it was unreasonable to
|
||
|
censure him as a distracted man for relating it, much more for speaking
|
||
|
of the death and resurrection of Christ, which was so universally
|
||
|
spoken of. Peter tells Cornelius and his friends
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+10:37"><I>ch.</I> x. 37</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>That word you know which was published throughout all Judea</I>
|
||
|
concerning Christ; and therefore Agrippa could not be ignorant of it,
|
||
|
and it was a shame for Festus that he was so.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
II. Agrippa is so far from thinking him a madman that he thinks he
|
||
|
never heard a man argue more strongly, nor talk more to the
|
||
|
purpose.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. Paul applies himself closely to Agrippa's conscience. Some think
|
||
|
Festus was displeased at Paul because he kept his eye upon Agrippa, and
|
||
|
directed his discourse to him all along, and that therefore he gave him
|
||
|
that interruption,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
But, if that was the thing that affronted him, Paul regards it not: he
|
||
|
will speak to those who understand him, and whom he is likely to fasten
|
||
|
something upon, and therefore still addresses <I>Agrippa;</I> and,
|
||
|
because he had mentioned Moses and the prophets as confirming the
|
||
|
gospel he preached, he refers Agrippa to them
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
"<I>King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets?</I> Dost thou receive
|
||
|
the scriptures of the Old Testament as a divine revelation, and admit
|
||
|
them as foretelling good things to come?" He does not stay for an
|
||
|
answer, but, in compliment to Agrippa, takes it for granted: <I>I know
|
||
|
that thou believest;</I> for every one knew that Agrippa professed the
|
||
|
Jews' religion, as his fathers had done, and therefore both knew the
|
||
|
writings of the prophets and gave credit to them. Note, It is good
|
||
|
dealing with those who have acquaintance with the scriptures and
|
||
|
believe them; for such one has some hold of.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. Agrippa owns there was a great deal of reason in what Paul said
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.</I> Some understand
|
||
|
this as spoken ironically, and read it thus, <I>Wouldst thou in so
|
||
|
little a time persuade me to be a Christian?</I> But, taking it so, it
|
||
|
is an acknowledgement that Paul spoke very much to the purpose, and
|
||
|
that, whatever others thought of it, to his mind there came a
|
||
|
convincing power along with what he said: "Paul, thou art too hasty,
|
||
|
thou canst not think to make a convert of me all of a sudden." Others
|
||
|
take it as spoken seriously, and as a confession that he was in a
|
||
|
manner, or within a little, convinced that Christ was the Messiah; for
|
||
|
he could not but own, and had many a time thought so within himself,
|
||
|
that the prophecies of the Old Testament had had their accomplishment
|
||
|
in him; and now that it is urged thus solemnly upon him he is ready to
|
||
|
yield to the conviction, he begins to sound a parley, and to think of
|
||
|
rendering. He is as near being persuaded to believe in Christ as Felix,
|
||
|
when he trembled, was to leave his sins: he sees a great deal of reason
|
||
|
for Christianity; the proofs of it, he owns, are strong, and such as he
|
||
|
cannot answer; the objections against it trifling, and such as he
|
||
|
cannot for shame insist upon; so that if it were not for his
|
||
|
obligations to the ceremonial law, and his respect to the religion of
|
||
|
his fathers and of his country, or his regard to his dignity as a king
|
||
|
and to his secular interests, he would turn Christian immediately.
|
||
|
Note, Many are almost persuaded to be religious who are not quite
|
||
|
persuaded; they are under strong convictions of their duty, and of the
|
||
|
excellency of the ways of God, but yet are overruled by some external
|
||
|
inducements, and do not pursue their convictions.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
3. Paul, not being allowed time to pursue his argument, concludes with
|
||
|
a compliment, or rather a pious wish that all his hearers were
|
||
|
Christians, and this wish turned into a prayer: <B><I>euxaimen an to
|
||
|
Theo</I></B>--<I>I pray to God for it</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>);
|
||
|
|
||
|
it was <I>his heart's desire and prayer to God for them all that they
|
||
|
might be saved,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+10:1">Rom. x. 1</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>That not only thou but all that hear me this day</I> (for he has the
|
||
|
same kind design upon them all) <I>were both almost, and altogether,
|
||
|
such as I am, except these bonds.</I> Hereby,
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) He professes his resolution to cleave to his religion, as that
|
||
|
which he was entirely satisfied in, and determined to live and die by.
|
||
|
In wishing that they were all as he was, he does in effect declare
|
||
|
against ever being as they were, whether Jews or Gentiles, how much
|
||
|
soever it might be to his worldly advantage. He adheres to the
|
||
|
instruction God gave to the prophet
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+15:19">Jer. xv. 19</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them.</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) He intimates his satisfaction not only in the truth, but in the
|
||
|
benefit and advantage of Christianity; he had so much comfort in it for
|
||
|
the present, and was so sure it would end in his eternal happiness,
|
||
|
that he could not wish better to the best friend he had in the world
|
||
|
than to wish him such a one as he was, a faithful zealous disciple of
|
||
|
Jesus Christ. <I>Let my enemy be as the wicked,</I> says Job,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+27:7"><I>ch.</I> xxvii. 7</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Let my friend be as the Christian, says Paul.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) He intimates his trouble and concern that Agrippa went no further
|
||
|
than being almost such a one as he was, almost a Christian, and not
|
||
|
altogether one; for he wishes that he and the rest of them might be not
|
||
|
only almost (what good would that do?) but altogether such as he was,
|
||
|
sincere thorough-paced Christians.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(4.) He intimates that it was the concern, and would be the unspeakable
|
||
|
happiness, of every one of them to become <I>true Christians</I>--that
|
||
|
there is grace enough in Christ for all, be they ever so many--enough
|
||
|
for each, be they ever so craving.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(5.) He intimates the hearty good-will he bore to them all; he wishes
|
||
|
them,
|
||
|
|
||
|
[1.] As well as he wished his own soul, that they might be as happy in
|
||
|
Christ as he was.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[2.] Better than he now was as to his outward condition, for he excepts
|
||
|
these bonds; he wishes they might all be comforted Christians as he
|
||
|
was, but not persecuted Christians as he was--that they might taste as
|
||
|
much as he did of the advantages that attended religion, but not so
|
||
|
much of its crosses. They had made light of his imprisonment, and were
|
||
|
in no concern for him. Felix detained him in bonds to gratify the Jews.
|
||
|
Now this would have tempted many a one to wish them all in his bonds,
|
||
|
that they might know what it was to be confined as he was, and then
|
||
|
they would know the better how to pity him; but he was so far from this
|
||
|
that, when he wished them in bonds to Christ, he desired they might
|
||
|
never be in bonds for Christ. Nothing could be said more tenderly nor
|
||
|
with a better grace.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
III. They all agree that Paul is an innocent man, and is wronged in his
|
||
|
prosecution.
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. The court broke up with some precipitation
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>When he had spoken</I> that obliging word
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
which moved them all, the king was afraid, if he were permitted to go
|
||
|
on, he would say something yet more moving, which might work upon some
|
||
|
of them to appear more in his favour than was convenient, and perhaps
|
||
|
might prevail with them to turn Christians. The king himself found his
|
||
|
own heart begin to yield, and durst not trust himself to hear more,
|
||
|
but, like Felix, dismissed Paul for this time. They ought in justice to
|
||
|
have asked the prisoner whether he had any more to say for himself; but
|
||
|
they thought he had said enough, and therefore <I>the king rose up, and
|
||
|
the governor, and Bernice, and those that sat with them,</I> concluding
|
||
|
the case was plain, and with this they contented themselves, when Paul
|
||
|
had more to say which would have made it plainer.
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. They all concurred in an opinion of Paul's innocency,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:31"><I>v.</I> 31</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The court withdrew to consult of the matter, to know one another's
|
||
|
minds upon it, and <I>they talked among themselves,</I> all to the same
|
||
|
purport, <I>that this man does nothing worthy of bonds</I>--he is not a
|
||
|
dangerous man, whom it is prudent to confine. After this, Nero made a
|
||
|
law for the putting of those to death who professed the Christian
|
||
|
religion, but as yet there was no law of that kind among the Romans,
|
||
|
and therefore no transgression; and this judgment of theirs is a
|
||
|
testimony against that wicked law which Nero made not long after this,
|
||
|
that Paul, the most active zealous Christian that ever was, was
|
||
|
adjudged, even by those that were no friends to his way, to have
|
||
|
<I>done nothing worthy of death, or of bonds.</I> Thus was he made
|
||
|
manifest in the conscience of those who yet would not receive his
|
||
|
doctrine; and the clamours of the hot-headed Jews, who cried out,
|
||
|
<I>Away with him, it is not fit he should live,</I> were shamed by the
|
||
|
moderate counsels of this court.
|
||
|
|
||
|
3. <I>Agrippa</I> gave his judgment <I>that he might have been set at
|
||
|
liberty, if he had not himself appealed to Cæsar</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:32"><I>v.</I> 32</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
but by that appeal he had put a bar in his own door. Some think that by
|
||
|
the Roman law this was true, that, when a prisoner had appealed to the
|
||
|
supreme court, the inferior courts could no more discharge him than
|
||
|
they could condemn him; and we suppose the law was so, if the
|
||
|
prosecutors joined issue upon the appeal, and consented to it. But it
|
||
|
does not appear that in Paul's case the prosecutors did so; he was
|
||
|
forced to do it, to screen himself from their fury, when he saw the
|
||
|
governor did not take the care he ought to have done for his
|
||
|
protection. And therefore others think that Agrippa and Festus, being
|
||
|
unwilling to disoblige the Jews by setting him at liberty, made this
|
||
|
serve for an excuse of their continuing him in custody, when they
|
||
|
themselves knew they might have justified the discharging of him.
|
||
|
Agrippa, who was but almost persuaded to be a Christian, proves no
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better than if he had not been at all persuaded. And now I cannot tell,
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(1.) Whether Paul repented of his having appealed to Cæsar, and
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wished he had not done it, blaming himself for it as a rash thing, now
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he saw that was the only thing that hindered his discharge. He had
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reason perhaps to reflect upon it with regret, and to charge himself
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with imprudence and impatience in it, and some distrust of the divine
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protection. He had better have appealed to God than to Cæsar. It
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confirms what Solomon says
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+6:12">Eccl. vi. 12</A>),
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<I>Who knows what is good for man in this life?</I> What we think is
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for our welfare often proves to be a trap; such short-sighted creatures
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are we, and so ill-advised in leaning, as we do, to our own
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understanding. Or,
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(2.) Whether, notwithstanding this, he was satisfied in what he had
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done, and was easy in his reflections upon it. His appealing to
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Cæsar was lawful, and what became a Roman citizen, and would help
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to make his cause considerable; and forasmuch as when he did it it
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appeared to him, as the case then stood, to be for the best, though
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afterwards it appeared otherwise, he did not vex himself with any
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self-reproach in the matter, but believed there was a providence in it,
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and it would issue well at last. And besides, he was told in a vision
|
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that he must <I>bear witness to Christ at Rome,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:11"><I>ch.</I> xxiii. 11</A>.
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And it is all one to him whether he goes thither a prisoner or at his
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liberty; he knows <I>the counsel of the Lord shall stand,</I> and says,
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<I>Let it stand. The will of the Lord be done.</I></P>
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