Kisah Para Rasul 26:27-32

26:27 Do you believe the prophets, ¹  King Agrippa? ²  I know that you believe.” 26:28 Agrippa ³  said to Paul, “In such a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?” ⁴  26:29 Paul replied, “I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time ⁵  not only you but also all those who are listening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains.” ⁶ 

26:30 So the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them, 26:31 and as they were leaving they said to one another, ⁷  “This man is not doing anything deserving ⁸  death or imprisonment.” 26:32 Agrippa ⁹  said to Festus, ¹⁰  “This man could have been released ¹¹  if he had not appealed to Caesar.” ¹² 

[26:27]  ¹ sn “Do you believe the prophets?” Note how Paul made the issue believing the OT prophets and God’s promise which God fulfilled in Christ. He was pushing King Agrippa toward a decision not for or against Paul’s guilt of any crime, but concerning Paul’s message.

[26:27]  ² sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:28]  ³ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:28]  ⁴ tn Or “In a short time you will make me a Christian.” On the difficulty of the precise nuances of Agrippa’s reply in this passage, see BDAG 791 s.v. πείθω 1.b. The idiom is like 1 Kgs 21:7 LXX. The point is that Paul was trying to persuade Agrippa to accept his message. If Agrippa had let Paul persuade him, he would have converted to Christianity.

[26:28]  sn The question “In such a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?” was probably a ploy on Agrippa’s part to deflect Paul from his call for a decision. Note also how the tables have turned: Agrippa was brought in to hear Paul’s defense, and now ends up defending himself. The questioner is now being questioned.

[26:29]  ⁵ tn BDAG 703 s.v. ὀλίγος 2.b.β has “καὶ ἐν ὀλ. καὶ ἐν μεγάλῳ whether in a short or a long time vs. 29 (cf. B-D-F §195; GWhitaker, The Words of Agrippa to St. Paul: JTS 15, 1914, 82f; AFridrichsen, SymbOsl 14, ’35, 50; Field, Notes 141-43; s. Rob. 653).”

[26:29]  ⁶ sn Except for these chains. The chains represented Paul’s unjust suffering for the sake of the message. His point was, in effect, “I do not care how long it takes. I only hope you and everyone else hearing this would become believers in Christ, but without my unjust suffering.”

[26:31]  ⁷ tn Grk “they spoke to one another saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[26:31]  ⁸ tn BDAG 93 s.v. ἄξιος 1.b has “θανάτου ἢ δεσμῶν ἄ. nothing deserving death or imprisonment 23:29; 26:31.”

[26:31]  sn Not doing anything deserving death… Here is yet another declaration of Paul’s innocence, but still no release. The portrayal shows how unjust Paul’s confinement was.

[26:32]  ⁹ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:32]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[26:32]  ¹¹ tn Or “set free.”

[26:32]  ¹² tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[26:32]  sn If he had not appealed to Caesar. Ultimately Agrippa and Festus blamed what Paul himself had done in appealing to Caesar for his own continued custody. In terms of Luke’s narrative, this still appears unjust and a denial of responsibility.