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Acts 26:19–23
“I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles” (vv. 22–23).
For some time, Paul opposed Christ and His church even though Jesus was working to redirect him into Christian service, much as the master of an ox directs it with a goad. Yet Paul could not resist Jesus until the very end, for the Savior converted him and called him to ministry, revealing the foolishness of his opposition to Christ. Paul delivered these facts in his testimony before Herod Agrippa II and Festus as he explained the real reasons that the non-Christian Jews in Jerusalem wanted him dead (Acts 25:1–26:18).
Continuing his testimony, Paul next told Agrippa II and Festus that he had been faithful in his Apostleship from the moment he received his call. Immediately he began preaching Christ in Damascus, Jerusalem, and Judea and to the gentiles (26:19). This is the basic account of the course of Paul’s ministry that has been the focus of Luke ever since Acts 9, and it shows that the Apostle did not regard his special calling to the gentiles as a commission to preach to gentiles alone. He had a focus on the gentiles but not in such a way as to keep him from preaching the gospel to the Jews in Jerusalem and elsewhere as well.
While Paul explained his faithfulness to his calling from Christ, he also described the basic message he preached, which consisted of the death and resurrection of Christ according to the Scriptures and a call to repentance, faith, and the exercise of deeds in keeping with repentance (26:19–23). All these elements constitute the essentials of the gospel and how people are commanded to respond when they hear the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news that Jesus died to atone for sinners and rose again for their justification—their being declared righteous in God’s sight—demands that we receive Him by faith and follow Him as Lord by doing the good works He commands. Obedience to Jesus does not save us, but it is the necessary fruit of saving faith and repentance, imperfect as that obedience will be (James 2:14–26). We cannot have Christ as Savior without also having Him as Lord.
Paul also stated that the fundamental reason that the non-Christian Jews opposed him was their theological disagreement with the Apostle that Jesus is the Messiah (Acts 26:21). Nevertheless, Paul could endure the opposition because God empowered his ministry. Matthew Henry comments, “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.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
If the Apostle Paul had to rely on the power of God for his ministry, how much more do we need to do so? We must not serve the Lord according to our preferences or strategies but must seek to put into practice the directives of His Word. That is what God promises to bless with His power. Let us seek to do the work of God in the way that He has commanded.
For further study
- 1 Samuel 30:6
- Psalm 10:17
- 1 Corinthians 12:1–11
- Philippians 4:19
The bible in a year
- Ezekiel 39–40
- 1 Peter 5