保罗在亚基帕王面前申辩

26 亚基帕对保罗说:“准你为自己辩护。”于是保罗伸手示意,然后为自己辩护说: “亚基帕王啊,面对犹太人对我的种种控告,我今天很荣幸可以在你面前申辩, 尤其是你对犹太习俗和各种争议都十分熟悉。因此,求你耐心听我说。

“我从小在本族和耶路撒冷为人如何,犹太人都知道。 他们认识我很久了,如果他们肯作证的话,他们可以证明我从小就属于犹太教中最严格的法利赛派。 现在我站在这里受审,是因为我盼望上帝给我们祖先的应许。 我们十二支派日夜虔诚地事奉上帝,盼望这应许能够实现。王啊!就是因为我有这样的盼望,才被犹太人控告。 上帝叫死人复活,你们为什么认为不可信呢? 我自己也曾经认为应该尽一切可能反对拿撒勒人耶稣。 10 我在耶路撒冷就是这样做的。我得到祭司长的授权,把许多圣徒[a]关进监狱。他们被判死刑,我也表示赞同。 11 我多次在各会堂惩罚他们,逼他们说亵渎的话,我对他们深恶痛绝,甚至到国外的城镇去追捕、迫害他们。

保罗信主的经过

12 “那时,我带着祭司长的授权和委托去大马士革。 13 王啊!大约中午时分,我在路上看见一道比太阳还亮的光从天上照在我和同行的人周围。 14 我们都倒在地上,我听见有声音用希伯来话对我说,‘扫罗!扫罗!你为什么迫害我?你很难用脚去踢刺。’ 15 我说,‘主啊,你是谁?’主说,‘我就是你所迫害的耶稣。 16 你站起来。我向你显现,是要派你做我的仆人和见证人,把你所看见的和以后我将启示给你的事告诉世人。 17 我将把你从你的同胞和外族人手中救出来。我差遣你到他们那里, 18 去开他们的眼睛,使他们弃暗投明,脱离魔鬼的权势,归向上帝,好叫他们的罪得到赦免,与所有因信我而圣洁的人同得基业。’

保罗放胆传道

19 “亚基帕王啊!我没有违背这从天上来的异象。 20 我先在大马士革,然后到耶路撒冷、犹太全境和外族人当中劝人悔改归向上帝,行事为人要与悔改的心相称。 21 就因为这些事,犹太人在圣殿中抓住我,打算杀我。 22 然而,我靠着上帝的帮助,到今天还能站在这里向所有尊卑老幼做见证。我讲的不外乎众先知和摩西说过要发生的事, 23 就是基督必须受害,并首先从死里复活,将光明带给犹太人和外族人。”

24 这时,非斯都打断保罗的申辩,大声说:“保罗,你疯了!一定是你的学问太大,使你神经错乱了!”

25 保罗说:“非斯都大人,我没有疯。我讲的话真实、合理。 26 王了解这些事,所以我才敢在王面前直言。我相信这些事没有一件瞒得过王,因为这些事并非暗地里做的。 27 亚基帕王啊,你信先知吗?我知道你信。”

28 亚基帕王对保罗说:“难道你想三言两语就说服我成为基督徒吗?”

29 保罗说:“不论话多话少,我求上帝不仅使你,也使今天在座的各位都能像我一样,只是不要像我这样带着锁链。”

30 亚基帕王、总督、百妮姬及其他在座的人都站起来, 31 走到一边商量说:“这人没有做什么该判死刑或监禁的事。” 32 亚基帕王对非斯都说:“这人要是没有向凯撒上诉,已经可以获释了。”

Footnotes

  1. 26:10 保罗在这里指的是信耶稣的基督徒。

Chapter 26

King Agrippa Hears Paul. Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You may now speak on your own behalf.” So Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. [a]“I count myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am to defend myself before you today against all the charges made against me by the Jews, especially since you are an expert in all the Jewish customs and controversies. And therefore I beg you to listen patiently. My manner of living from my youth, a life spent from the beginning among my people[b] and in Jerusalem, all [the] Jews know. (A)They have known about me from the start, if they are willing to testify, that I have lived my life as a Pharisee, the strictest party of our religion. (B)But now I am standing trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors. Our twelve tribes hope to attain to that promise as they fervently worship God day and night; and on account of this hope I am accused by Jews, O king. Why is it thought unbelievable among you that God raises the dead? (C)I myself once thought that I had to do many things against the name of Jesus the Nazorean, 10 and I did so in Jerusalem. I imprisoned many of the holy ones with the authorization I received from the chief priests, and when they were to be put to death I cast my vote against them.(D) 11 Many times, in synagogue after synagogue, I punished them in an attempt to force them to blaspheme; I was so enraged against them that I pursued them even to foreign cities.

12 “On one such occasion I was traveling to Damascus with the authorization and commission of the chief priests. 13 (E)At midday, along the way, O king, I saw a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my traveling companions.(F) 14 We all fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?(G) It is hard for you to kick against the goad.’[c] 15 And I said, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.(H) 16 Get up now, and stand on your feet.(I) I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness of what you have seen [of me] and what you will be shown.[d] 17 I shall deliver you from this people and from the Gentiles to whom I send you,(J) 18 to open their eyes[e] that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may obtain forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been consecrated by faith in me.’(K)

19 “And so, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. 20 On the contrary, first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout the whole country of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached the need to repent and turn to God, and to do works giving evidence of repentance. 21 (L)That is why the Jews seized me [when I was] in the temple and tried to kill me. 22 (M)But I have enjoyed God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here testifying to small and great alike, saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses foretold,[f] 23 that the Messiah must suffer[g] and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”(N)

Reactions to Paul’s Speech. 24 While Paul was so speaking in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, “You are mad, Paul; much learning is driving you mad.” 25 But Paul replied, “I am not mad, most excellent Festus; I am speaking words of truth and reason. 26 The king knows about these matters and to him I speak boldly, for I cannot believe that [any] of this has escaped his notice; this was not done in a corner.[h] 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets?[i] I know you believe.” 28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You will soon persuade me to play the Christian.” 29 Paul replied, “I would pray to God that sooner or later not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am except for these chains.”

30 Then the king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and the others who sat with them. 31 [j]And after they had withdrawn they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing [at all] that deserves death or imprisonment.” 32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”(O)

Footnotes

  1. 26:2–23 Paul’s final defense speech in Acts is now made before a king (see Acts 9:15). In the speech Paul presents himself as a zealous Pharisee and Christianity as the logical development of Pharisaic Judaism. The story of his conversion is recounted for the third time in Acts in this speech (see note on Acts 9:1–19).
  2. 26:4 Among my people: that is, among the Jews.
  3. 26:14 In Hebrew: see note on Acts 21:40. It is hard for you to kick against the goad: this proverb is commonly found in Greek literature and in this context signifies the senselessness and ineffectiveness of any opposition to the divine influence in his life.
  4. 26:16 The words of Jesus directed to Paul here reflect the dialogues between Christ and Ananias (Acts 9:15) and between Ananias and Paul (Acts 22:14–15) in the two previous accounts of Paul’s conversion.
  5. 26:18 To open their eyes: though no mention is made of Paul’s blindness in this account (cf. Acts 9:8–9, 12, 18; 22:11–13), the task he is commissioned to perform is the removal of other people’s spiritual blindness.
  6. 26:22 Saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses foretold: see note on Lk 18:31.
  7. 26:23 That the Messiah must suffer: see note on Lk 24:26.
  8. 26:26 Not done in a corner: for Luke, this Greek proverb expresses his belief that he is presenting a story about Jesus and the church that is already well known. As such, the entire history of Christianity is public knowledge and incontestable. Luke presents his story in this way to provide “certainty” to his readers about the instructions they have received (Lk 1:4).
  9. 26:27–28 If the Christian missionaries proclaim nothing different from what the Old Testament prophets had proclaimed (Acts 26:22–23), then the logical outcome for the believing Jew, according to Luke, is to become a Christian.
  10. 26:31–32 In recording the episode of Paul’s appearance before Agrippa, Luke wishes to show that, when Paul’s case was judged impartially, no grounds for legal action against him were found (see Acts 23:29; 25:25).