Agrippa II Called to Faith

The Roman governor Festus invited Herod Agrippa II to hear from Paul to figure out the exact reason that the Apostle was in custody and to know what to say to the emperor when Paul came before Caesar with his appeal. Festus knew that Paul had broken no Roman law, but he was not an expert on Judaism and wanted to get a Jewish perspective on why the Jews in Jerusalem were against the Apostle (Acts 25). Agrippa II was a natural choice for assistance, for he was Jewish and had a reputation as a pious man who knew the Jewish laws and traditions and perhaps even something about the Christian faith. If anyone could evaluate whether Paul was guilty of violating the temple by bringing gentiles into the precincts forbidden to them (see 21:27–36; 24:1–8) or of breaking any other Jewish rule, it was Agrippa II.

Before Festus and Agrippa II, Paul noted that the Jews really opposed him because they rejected his claim that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. Paul believed such things because the death and resurrection of Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy (26:1–23). At that point, Luke tells us in today’s passage, Festus interrupted Paul and accused him of insanity. The Apostle’s great learning was evident to the governor, but he thought it had driven all sense from him (v. 24). Why would Festus say such a thing? Because while the first-century Jews believed in the resurrection of the body, first-century Roman pagans did not. Non-Jews such as Festus might believe in the immortality of the soul, but they rejected the resurrection because of the long-standing influence of Greek philosophical ideas that said the material world is at best suspect and at worst evil.

Herod Agrippa II, however, had no such reservations, so Paul called on Herod to recognize the truth of his words, noting that the Jewish king believed the teaching of the prophets on the resurrection of the dead (vv. 25–27). Paul’s words amazed Agrippa II, who questioned why the Apostle thought he could convince the king of the gospel. Herod thus serves as a paradigm of those who might know much about the Scriptures but lack true understanding of their message because they do not trust in Christ. The Venerable Bede, the medieval historian of the English church, comments, “Agrippa, inasmuch as he was imbued with the ritual laws of the Jews, believed that the prophets spoke the truth; but, as one lacking faith, he did not know to whom this truth pertained, that is, the Lord Christ.”