Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 26:28

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

28. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian ] Rev. Ver. “With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian.” The original is “with [ or in] little (labour or time) thou art persuading me, &c.” It would seem therefore that the Rev. Ver. represents Agrippa’s words more nearly than A. V. “With little labour” or “in a little time” implies that the king despised the attempt which had been made to convince him, and mocked at the language of St Paul in so readily taking for granted that the king was in accord with him. It is as though he said “You are supposing that I accept these words of the prophets in the same sense as you do, and you are a fool for your pains, to think that with so little trouble and in so short a space you could win me over to your side. And such a side! To be a Christian.” The name had, no doubt, been given, when it was first applied (Act 11:26), to the adherents of Jesus as a term of reproach, and it is likely that it had not yet won its way to be a name of credit, at all events among such men as Agrippa and his friends. For we have no reason to suppose that the king was influenced at all by Paul’s words.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Then Agrippa said unto Paul – He could not deny that he believed the prophecies in the Old Testament. He could not deny that the argument was a strong one that they had been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. He could not deny that the evidence of the miraculous interposition of God in the conversion of Paul was overwhelming; and instead, therefore, of charging him, as Festus had done, with derangement, he candidly and honestly avows the impression which the proof had made on his mind.

Almost – Except a very little – en oligo. Thou hast nearly convinced me that Christianity is true, and persuaded me to embrace it. The arguments of Paul had been so rational; the appeal which he had made to his belief of the prophets had been so irresistible, that he had been nearly convinced of the truth of Christianity. We are to remember:

(1) That Agrippa was a Jew, and that he would look on this whole subject in a different manner from the Roman Festus.

(2) That he does not appear to have partaken of the violent passions and prejudices of the Jews who had accused Paul.

(3) Pits character, as given by Josephus, is that of a mild, candid, and ingenuous man. He had no particular hostility to Christians; he knew that they were not justly charged with sedition and crime; and he saw the conclusion to which a belief of the prophets inevitably tended. Yet, as in thousands of other cases, he was not quite persuaded to be a Christian. What was included in the almost; what prevented his being quite persuaded, we know not. It may have been that the evidence was not so clear to his mind as he would profess to desire; or that he was not willing to give up his sins; or that he was too proud to rank himself with the followers of Jesus of Nazareth; or that, like Felix, he was willing to defer it to a more convenient season. There is every reason to believe that he was never quite persuaded to embrace the Lord Jesus, and that he was never nearer the kingdom of heaven than at this moment. It was the crisis, the turning-point in Agrippas life, and in his eternal destiny; and, like thousands of others, he neglected or refused to allow the full conviction of the truth on his mind, and died in his sins.

Thou persuadest me – Thou dost convince me of the truth of the Christian religion, and persuadest me to embrace it.

To be a Christian – On the name Christian, see the notes on Act 11:26. On this deeply interesting case we may observe:

(1) That there are many in the same situation as Agrippa- many who are almost, but not altogether, persuaded to be Christians. They are found among:

1. Those who have been religiously educated;
1. Those who are convinced by argument of the truth of Christianity;
2. Those whose consciences are awakened, and who feel their guilt, and the necessity of some better portion than this world can furnish.

(2) Such persons are deterred from being altogether Christians by the following, among other causes:

1. By the love of sin – the love of sin in general, or some particular sin which they are not willing to abandon;
1. By the fear of shame, persecution, or contempt, if they become Christians;
2. By the temptations of the world – its cares, vanities, and allurements- which are often presented most strongly in just this state of mind;
3. By the love of office, the pride of rank and power, as in the case of Agrippa;
4. By a disposition, like Felix, to delay to a more favorable time the work of religion, until life has wasted away, and death approaches, and it is too late, and the unhappy man dies almost a Christian.

(3) This state of mind is one of special interest and special danger. It is not one of safety, and it is not one that implies any certainty that the almost Christian will ever be saved. There is no reason to believe that Agrippa ever became fully persuaded to become a Christian. To be almost persuaded to do a thing which we ought to do, and yet not to do it, is the very position of guilt and danger. And it is no wonder that many are brought to this point – the turning-point, the crisis of life – and then lose their anxiety, and die in their sins. May the God of grace keep us from resting in being almost persuaded to be Christians! May every one who shall read this account of Agrippa be admonished by his convictions, and be alarmed by the fact that he then paused, and that his convictions there ended! And may every one resolve by the help of God to forsake every thing that prevents his becoming an entire believer, and without delay embrace the Son of God as his Saviour!

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 28. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.] . This declaration was almost the necessary consequence of the apostle’s reasoning, and Agrippa’s faith. If he believed the prophets, see Ac 26:22; Ac 26:23, and believed that Paul’s application of their words to Christ Jesus was correct, he must acknowledge the truth of the Christian religion; but he might choose whether he would embrace and confess this truth, or not. However, the sudden appeal to his religious faith extorts from him the declaration, Thou hast nearly persuaded me to embrace Christianity. How it could have entered into the mind of any man, who carefully considered the circumstances of the case, to suppose that these words of Agrippa are spoken ironically, is to me unaccountable. Every circumstance in the case proves them to have been the genuine effusion of a heart persuaded of the truth; and only prevented from fully acknowledging it by secular considerations.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Some think that these words were spoken ironically, or scoffingly; as if Agrippa had said: Thou wouldst have me in so short a space (for so may be translated) to be brought to profess Christ: some think it unlikely that such a one as Agrippa would speak so plainly as we translate it, in such a place, before such an auditory: but the danger seems not to have been so great from these words; and if it had been greater, who knows the power of that conviction under which Agrippa at that time was? And Pauls rejoinder do suppose the words to be spoken in the sense we read them.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

28. Almostor, “in alittle time.”

thou persuadest me to be aChristianMost modern interpreters think the ordinarytranslation inadmissible, and take the meaning to be, “Thouthinkest to make me with little persuasion (or small trouble) aChristian”but I am not to be so easily turned. But theapostle’s reply can scarcely suit any but the sense given inour authorized version, which is that adopted by CHRYSOSTOMand some of the best scholars since. The objection on which so muchstress is laid, that the word “Christian” was at that timeonly a term of contempt, has no force except on the other side; fortaking it in that view, the sense is, “Thou wilt soon have meone of that despised sect.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then Agrippa said unto Paul,…. Either seriously or ironically; rather the former, arising from the convictions of his mind, which he could not stifle nor conceal:

almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian; to profess faith in Jesus as the Messiah, to embrace his doctrine, and submit to his ordinances, which is to be a Christian, at least externally: and when he says “almost”, or “in a little”, his meaning is, that within a little, or very near, he was of being persuaded to embrace Christianity; or in a little matter, and in some respects; or rather in a few words, and in a small space of time, Paul had strangely wrought upon him to incline to the Christian religion; though the first sense, that he was almost, or within a little of being a Christian, seems to be the best, as appears by the apostle’s reply to it: what it is to be a real Christian, [See comments on Ac 11:26]. An almost Christian is one that has much light and knowledge, but no grace; he may know something of himself and of sin, of its being a violation of the law of God, and of the bad consequences of it, but has not true repentance for it; he may know much of Christ in a speculative way, concerning his person and offices, as the devils themselves do, and of the good things which come by him, as peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation; but has no application of these things to himself; he may have a large notional knowledge of the doctrines of the Gospel, but has no experience of the power, sweetness, and comfort of them in his own soul; all his knowledge is unsanctified, and without practice: he is one that has a taste of divine things, but has not the truth of them; he may taste of the heavenly gift, of the good word of God, and of the powers of the world to come; yet it is but a taste, a superficial one, which he has; he does not savour and relish these things, nor is he nourished by them: he has a great deal of faith in the historical way, and sometimes a bold confidence and assurance of everlasting happiness; but has not faith of the right kind, which is spiritual and special, which is the faith of God’s elect, the gift of God, and the operation of his Spirit; by which the soul beholds the glory, fulness, and suitableness of Christ, under a sense of need, and goes forth to him, renouncing everything of self, and lays hold upon him, and trusts in him for salvation; and which works by love to Christ and his people, and has with it the fruits of righteousness: he may express a great deal of flashy affectation to the word, and the ministers of it, for a while, but has nothing solid and substantial in him; he may partake of the Holy Ghost, of his gifts largely, but not of special and internal grace; and indeed he can only be an almost Christian, that becomes one merely through the persuasion of men: it is one part of the Gospel ministry to persuade men, but this of itself is ineffectual; a real Christian is made so by the power of divine grace. Agrippa was only persuaded, and but almost persuaded by the apostle to be a Christian, but not by the Lord, nor altogether, who persuades Japheth to dwell in the tents of Shem.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian ( ). The Authorized rendering is impossible: “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” does not mean “almost.” That would require , ‘ , or . It is not clear, however, precisely what does mean. It may refer to time (in little time) or a short cut, but that does not suit well in verse 29. Tyndale and Crammer rendered it “somewhat” (in small measure or degree). There are, alas, many “somewhat” Christians. Most likely the idea is “in (or with) small effort you are trying to persuade (, conative present active indicative) me in order to make me a Christian.” This takes the infinitive to be purpose (Page renders it by “so as”) and thus avoids trying to make like (become). The aorist is punctiliar action for single act, not “perfect.” The tone of Agrippa is ironical, but not unpleasant. He pushes it aside with a shrug of the shoulders. The use of “Christian” is natural here as in the other two instances (Acts 11:26; 1Pet 4:16).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Almost thou persuadest [ ] . Lit., in a little thou persuadest. The rendering almost must be rejected, being without sufficient authority. The phrase, in a little, is adverbial, and means in brief; summarily. We may supply pains or talk. “With little pains, or with a few words.” The words are ironical, and the sense is, “You are trying to persuade me offhand to be a Christian.” Thou persuadest [] is rather, thou art for persuading; thou attemptest to persuade; a force which both the present and the imperfect sometimes have. 29

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Then Agrippa said unto Paul,” (ho de Agrippa pros ton Paulon) “Then Agrippa replied to Paul,” regarding the prophetic hope of the prophets, which Paul declared he had embraced and was preaching, as being progressively fulfilled thru the resurrected, living, interceding, and coming Messiah, Tit 2:14; Heb 6:17-20; Heb 10:36-37.

2) “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” (en holio me peitheia Christianon poiesai) “You persuade me in an inch (of becoming) a Christian,” The idea in the original seems to be that “with a little more time, persuasion, or effort you might lead me on to be or exist as a Christian myself.

In essence King Agrippa spoke respectfully to, if not also deeply sympathetic with, Paul in his stand for Christ and defence of the “foul” charges filed against him by the Christ-hating religious Hebrew “mafia” of Jerusalem, Joh 3:36.

By whatever name Paul was called, he knew who he was, whose he was, and what he was, as: A child of God

A servant of God A steward of God A minister of God An apostle of God An ambassador of God. And he indicates in the next verse that he could commend all men to find themselves in Christ, and in His will, 2Ti 1:12; 1Co 11:1; 1Co 15:57-58; Gal 6:9; 2Ti 4:7-8.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

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28. And Agrippa said unto Paul. The apostle prevailed thus far at least, that he wrung out of king Agrippa a confession, though it were not voluntary, as those use to yield who can no longer resist the truth, or, at least, to show some token of assent. Agrippa’s meaning is, that he will not willingly become a Christian; yea, that he will not be one at all; and yet that he is not able to gainsay, but that he is drawn after a sort against his will. Whereby it appeareth how great the pride of man’s nature is until it be brought under to obey by the Spirit of God. −

Interpreters expound this, εν ολιγω diversely. Valla thought that it ought to be translated thus, Thou dost almost make me a Christian. Erasmus doth translate it a little. The old interpreter dealeth more plainly − (629) in a little; because, translating it word for word, he left it to the readers to judge at their pleasure. And surely it may be fitly referred unto the time, as if Agrippa had said, Thou wilt make me a Christian straightway, or in one moment. If any man object that Paul’s answer doth not agree thereto, we may quickly answer; for seeing the speech was doubtful, Paul doth fitly apply that unto the thing which was spoken of the time. Therefore, seeing Agrippa did mean that he was almost made a Christian in a small time, Paul addeth that he doth desire that as well he as his companions might rise from small beginnings, and profit more and more; and yet I do not mislike that that εν ολιγω doth signify as much as almost. This answer doth testify with what zeal, to spread abroad the glory of Christ, this holy man’s breast was inflamed, when as he doth patiently suffer those bonds wherewith the governor had bound him, and doth desire that he might escape the deadly snares of Satan, and to have both him and also his partners to be partakers with him of the same grace, being in the mean season content with his troublesome and reproachful condition. We must note that he doth not wish it simply, but from God, as it is he which draweth us unto his Son; because, unless he teach us inwardly by his Spirit, the outward doctrine shall always wax cold. −

Except these bonds. It is certain that Paul’s bonds were not so hard, ne [nor] yet did they cause him such sorrow, wherein he did oftentimes rejoice, and which he doth mention for honor’s sake, as being the badge of his embassage, ( Gal 6:17), but he hath respect to those to whom he wisheth faith without trouble or cross. For those who did not as yet believe in Christ were far from that affection to be ready to strive for the gospel. And surely it behoveth all the godly to have this gentleness and meekness, that they patiently bear their own cross, and that they wish well to others, and study so much as in them lieth to ease them of all trouble, and that they do in no case envy their quietness and mirth. This courtesy − (630) is far contrary to the bitterness of those who take comfort in wishing that other men were in their misery. −

(629) −

“

Simplicius,” more simply.

(630) −

“

Humanitas et moderatio,” humanity and moderation.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(28) Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.At the cost of giving up a familiar and impressive text, it must be admitted that the Greek words cannot possibly bear the meaning which is thus put upon them. The words run literally, In, or with, a little thou persuadest me; and this may be completed by, with little speech, with little labour, or little evidence. So in Eph. 3:3 we have precisely the same phrase rendered in few words. Agrippas words, accordingly, are the expression, not of a half-belief, but of a cynical sneer. Thou art trying to make a Christian of me with very few words, on very slender grounds, would be the nearest paraphrase of his derisive answer to St. Pauls appeal. It was. it will be seen, evasive as well as derisive; he shrinks from a direct answer to the question that had been put to him. In his use of the Latin term Christian (see Note on Act. 11:26) we may trace, perhaps, the effect of Roman associations. There certainly were Christian communities at Rome at this time (Romans 16 passim), and they would naturally be described there as they had been at Antioch. It may be noted that, of the prominent English versions, Wiclif gives in a little thing, Tyndal and Cranmer somewhat, the Rhemish a little; the Geneva agrees with the present version in almost. The meaning somewhat, or a little, is a tenable one. but Eph. 3:3. as already stated, is in favour of that given above. The phrase was, perhaps, in itself ambiguous, and St. Paul accepts in one sense what had been spoken in another.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

28. Almost It is now wisely agreed among scholars that the Greek , literally, in little, cannot signify almost. This fact, indeed, destroys the fitness of the passage as a text for such sermons as Dr. Samuel Clarke and Mr. Wesley have preached upon it. And commentators have greatly differed about its meaning, according as they have supplied the noun implied after the adjective little. There are three supposable nouns, implying either time, instrument, or amount, and each of these three have had their advocates. Time, as Wetstein shows, is most frequently implied in the phrase in classic authors, and that fact has misled some commentators into an error. In little time thou persuadest me, besides making a jejune sense, requires persuade to be the future. Nor can the same meaning reappear in the phrase in Paul’s reply without the utmost awkwardness. Supplying instrument as understood, Thou persuadest me with little means or effort, has less philological support and no more plausibility. The third implication, namely, amount, we have not the slightest doubt is the true. Indeed, the word little, without any supplied complement, implies amount. The same phrase is used by Paul in Eph 3:3, and signifies neither time nor instrument, but amount, namely, of writing. The meaning then clearly is, In slight degree do you persuade me to be a Christian. And this meaning, as we shall show, is required in Paul’s response. Did Agrippa speak this ironically and negatively, or affirmatively? The latter meaning would be, You do in a small degree persuade me to be a Christian. The former would mean, But slightly [that is, not at all ] do you persuade me to be a Christian. This last is the true construction. And Paul’s response is, I wish you were not only slightly, but largely, that is, entirely, a Christian. There is no reason to suppose that this word Christian, on Agrippa’s lips, was other than the most respectful. Had he meant disparagement he would have used, as Tertullus did, the current contemptuous epithet, Nazarene, Act 24:5. On the contrary, Christian embodies the highest human title known to the Jews, Messiah. The adjective was formed according to a regular philology, and had a beauty and dignity, not only which every follower of Jesus could accept, but which a Jewish king could hardly bestow otherwise than respectfully. Agrippa did give Paul a negative, but not a discourteous reply.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And Agrippa said to Paul, “With but little persuasion you would fain make me a Christian.” ’

Agrippa was probably both taken aback (he was not expecting to be directly challenged) and amused. He could not believe that Paul really expected to win his response so quickly. And indeed the truth is that he was probably not as aware of the prophetic Scriptures Paul was referring to as Paul thought. He may have been an ‘expert’ compared with a Roman, and even compared with many Jews, but he did not even begin to come up to the level of an educated Pharisee. Furthermore he would be conscious of those who were listening. Yet he does not deny it. Thus he replies (no doubt in embarrassment in the presence of the audience), ‘Do you really expect to persuade me to be a Christian in such a short time and with such little persuasion?’

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Act 26:28. Almost thou persuadest me, &c. There can be no doubt that these words were delivered in the most serious manner by Agrippa. It plainly appears by St. Paul’s answer, and from the sense in which he there uses , almost, in opposition to , altogether, that he understood him to mean seriously that he was almost persuaded, and consequently that he did indeed mean so. To explain the words as if he had meant, thou persuadest me to be almost a Christian, or to become an almost Christian, that is, a hypocritical professor, is quite foreign to the purpose; nor could Agrippa have any temptation to be so.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Act 26:28 . The king is of course well-meaning enough not to take amiss the burning words, but also, as a luxurious man of the world, sufficiently estranged from what is holy instantly to banish the transiently-felt impression with haughtily contemptuous mockery. The conduct of Pilate in Joh 18:38 is similar to this and to Act 26:32 .

is to be taken as neuter , and without supplement, as in Eph 3:3 (see in loc .), namely: With little ( , instrumental) thou persuadest me to become a Christian! This sarcasm is meant to say: “ Thus summarily, thus brevi manu, you will not manage to win me over to Christianity .” Appropriately, in substance, Oecumenius: , , , . Most expositors either adopt the meaning (Calvin, Wetstein, Kuinoel, Olshausen, Neander, de Wette, Lange) sometimes with and sometimes without the supplement of : in a short time (Pind. Pyth . viii. 131; Plat. Apol . p. 22 B; and see the passages in Raphel, Polyb .; comp. the analogous , Thuc. i. 77. 4, ii. 85. 2, iii. 43. 3; Schaefer, ad Bos. Ellips . pp. 101, 553; and see on Eph 3:3 ); or (Chrysostom, Valla, Luther, Castalio, Beza, Piscator, Grotius, Calovius, and others, to which also the modica ex parte of Erasmus comes in the end): propemodum, parum abest, quin . So also Ewald, who calls to his aid the of value (for a little, i.e. almost). But in opposition to the view which takes it temporally, may be decisively urged the reading , to be adopted instead of in Act 26:29 (see the critical remarks), an expression which proves that Paul apprehended in a quantitative sense; and there is no reason in the context for the idea (to which Calvin is inclined, following Chrysostom) that Paul took the word in one sense and the king in another. The same reason decides against the explanation propemodum, which also is not linguistically to be justified, for there must have been used either (Plat. Prot. p. 361 C, Phaedr. p. 258 E; Stallb. ad Plat. Rep. p. 563 B), or (Wolf, ad Dem. Lept. p. 238), or (Bernhardy, p. 258).

Lastly, that the words of the king are to be taken ironically, and not, with Heinrichs and many other expositors, as an earnest confession, is evident even from the very improbability in itself of such a confession in view of the luxurious levity of the king, as well as from the name , which, of Gentile origin (see on Act 11:26 ), carries with it in the mouth of a Jew the accessory idea of heterodoxy and the stain of contempt (1Pe 4:16 ). Schneckenburger also would have the expression to be earnestly meant, but in favour of the apologetic design imputed to the Book of Acts.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1814
THE ALMOST, AND THE REAL, CHRISTIAN COMPARED

Act 26:28-29. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. 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.

IT is surprising to see what different effects the Gospel produces upon different minds; some view it as the very extreme of folly, whilst others regard it as the most glorious display of Divine wisdom. Even when our blessed Lord himself spake, some of his audience believed his words; whilst others said, He hath a devil and his mad. Thus differently were some of Pauls auditors affected also, when he vindicated himself before Festus and Agrippa; Festus exclaimed, Paul, thou art beside thyself; whilst Agrippa, falling under the force of truth, said, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
The effects however which the Gospel produces on all who receive it aright, is uniform: and St. Pauls answer to Agrippa affords us a fit occasion to set them before you in the clearest manner. It leads us to notice,

I.

In what state Agrippa was

He was convinced in his judgment, but undecided in his will

[He was conversant with all the Jewish laws and customs [Note: ver. 3.], and a firm believer in the prophetic writings [Note: ver. 27.]: hence he expected assuredly that the promised Messiah would come. Respecting the advent of that Messiah he had had no opportunity of hearing, except from the reports of persons who were adverse to the truth (and such is yet the unhappy lot of kings and princes, who are constrained for the most part to form their judgment from very partial and erroneous statements): but now, from the discourse of Paul, he was convinced that Jesus was the Christ, and that his religion was indeed from God.

Still however he knew not how to embrace this religion himself. He saw that an open profession of Christianity might possibly shake his authority amongst all his subjects; and that at all events it must be attended with a life of mortification and self-denial, since he must renounce the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, and give himself up to God in a life of universal holiness. But this was too great a sacrifice for him to make. If he could he a Christian, and yet retain the pleasures of sense and the honour that cometh of man, he would willingly embrace the Gospel; but if he must encounter so many difficulties, he will rather forego the pearl, than pay the price.]
This, alas! is the state of many amongst ourselves
[Many are convinced that the Gospel is true, and that there is no other name under heaven but that of Christ, whereby we can be saved. They even envy the state of those who follow Christ; and wish, if it might be so, to share their lot in the eternal world. But to expose themselves to shame or loss for professing the Gospel, they dare not: their reputation, and their interests, are too valuable to risk in such a way: to deny themselves, and take up their cross daily and follow Christ, is a requisition which they know not how to comply with. If they might serve God and mammon too, and have communion with Christ and Belial at the same time, they would stand forth as open, friends of the Gospel; but if they must follow Christ without the camp, and forsake all for him, they cannot prevail upon themselves to encounter such difficulties.
This is particularly found amongst those who are held in much estimation in the world. The more eminent and distinguished any are, the more timidity they manifest. If Agrippa had been only a poor man, he would probably have followed up his convictions, and been altogether persuaded to become a Christian: but his high rank and conspicuous station operated as an insurmountable barrier in his way. And so it is at this day: the poor embrace the Gospel freely; but the rich and the great and the learned scarcely dare be seen among the followers of the despised Nazarene: and hence it is, that so few of them are called [Note: 1Co 1:26.].]

But this state, though common, is indeed most dangerous
[In one new it may appear hopeful; because where the judgment is convinced, there is reason to hope that the heart will soon obey the dictates of the understanding: but when once men begin to rebel against the light, they grieve in a most peculiar manner the Spirit of God, and provoke him to give them up to judicial blindness. True it is, that the struggle between light and darkness is often of long continuance: but during all that time the person, is in a most pitiable state. He enjoys none of the benefits of true religion: he is a stranger to peace with God, because he does not cleave to Christ with full purpose of heart: he has no peace in his own conscience, because he is sensible that he is not upright before God: he has no sense of Gods love shed abroad in his heart, no delight in communion with him, no glorious prospects beyond the grave. No: a consciousness that he is not wholly given up to God, eats out all comfort, and fills him rather with painful forebodings of the future judgment. His state is even worse than if he had been altogether destitute of light [Note: Joh 15:22.]. Every hour that he continues to fight against his convictions, greatly augments his guilt [Note: Jam 4:17.], and insures a heavier condemnation [Note: Joh 3:19.]. The Judge of quick and dead hath told us, that the man that knew his Lords will and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.]

If Agrippas state then was so dangerous, let us inquire,

II.

What is that state in which we should all desire to be

We cannot but admire the address with which the Apostle answered this irresolute king. He had bonds and imprisonments; but of those he did not wish his bitterest enemies to partake: but of his hopes, his victories, his enjoyments, he wished all to have an equal fruition with himself; with the exception of his bonds, he heartily prayed that they might be altogether in a state like his.
Consider what was the state of the Apostle Paul
[How clear, how full, how refreshing to his soul, were his views of Christ! Perhaps no human being was ever so highly favoured in this respect as he. And what effects did these views produce? They filled his soul with a peace that passed all understanding, and a joy that was unspeakable and glorified: they called forth all his powers, both of body and mind, into the service of his Lord. He accounted all that he possessed, as bought with the precious blood of Christ, and therefore as to be used for him alone. To make him known to others was the one end for which he lived: and whatever difficulties or dangers he had to encounter for the sake of Christ, none of them could move him; yea, rather he gloried in them, and rejoiced that he was counted worthy to contend with them. But who can adequately describe his state? Who can tell the fervour of his desires after Christ, the zeal he had to promote his glory, the delight he felt in his service, and the assured prospects which he enjoyed of dwelling with Christ for ever? ]
Such was the state which Paul desired for all his auditors; and such we should all desire for ourselves
[We should not be content with any thing short of the attainments that were made by Paul: nay, if we had attained the same as he, we should still forget what was behind, and reach forward to that which is before, and press toward the mark for the prize of our high calling. We are far from saying, that none are Christians indeed till they have attained his stature: but we must caution all against thinking themselves Christians, whilst there remains any one lust which they will not sacrifice for Christ, or any one duty they will not perform. The man that will not lay down life itself for Christ, cannot be his disciple. Behold then the pattern which we must all resemble: the love, the zeal, the patience, the entire devotedness of heart and life to Christ which were in Paul, must be in us: we must, in desire and endeavour at least, if not in actual attainment, be almost and altogether such as he was.
This must be the pattern for all who are in the ministry, or are preparing for the ministry, to aim at. We should not be like the idle shepherds who neglected their flocks; but like the Great Shepherd himself, who laid down his life for his sheep: and though we may be called to a sphere of small and limited extent, yet should we be in that sphere, as Paul was in the vast circle which he was called to fill: we should be servants to all for Christs sake, and labour in season and out of season for every individual committed to our care.

If any, on account of their more exalted station, suppose that these observations are not applicable to them, let them remember who Festus and Agrippa were, and that the prayer in our text was offered up in the first place more immediately for them. The higher any are, the more needful is it for them to imitate all the graces and excellencies of the Apostle Paul.
But without confining it to any rank or order of men, I beg to express the Apostles wish for all that hear me this day. This is the state proper for all of every degree; and necessary for them also, if ever they would approve themselves to God ]

Address
1.

The wavering and undecided

[Perhaps on account of your pious dispositions it may be said, you are not far from the kingdom of heaven: but to what purpose will this be, if you do not advance? It will be no consolation to you that you were once not far from the kingdom, if at last you are not admitted into it. But consider what it is that prevents you from becoming Christians altogether? Be assured, that, whatever it be, it will ultimately ruin your souls. The young man whom Jesus loved for the general amiableness of his character, was left to perish, when he refused to part with all for Christ. The Lord grant, that none of you may continue almost persuaded, but that you may all with one heart and one mind devote yourselves to him instantly and without reserve.]

2.

Those who think themselves altogether persuaded to embrace Christ

[It is not uncommon to feel a very fervent desire to serve the Lord at one time, and afterwards to relapse into a state of coldness and indifference. Our spiritual enemies often appear dead, when they are only lulled asleep for a season. But O! brethren, beware how you leave your first love, or look back after having put your hand to the plough. See the bright example before you: see how, like the sun in its course, he shined brighter and brighter to the perfect day. So do ye also proceed. Never think you have attained any thing, whilst any thing remains to be attained. Be never weary in well doing. Think what an ornament Paul was to his profession, and what a blessing to the world; and strive, that as God was glorified in him, so he may be more and more glorified in you also.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

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.

Agrippa’s answer leads to a very solemn train of thoughts. How many of the almost Christians, but never in reality so, are now in the world, have been in all ages of the Church, and will be found in the last day? Doth the Reader know of such? Are their characters clearly definable? Yes! They cannot be mistaken. And, although they have different shades under the same title, yet, the whole may be, and are indeed, classed under the one general name of unregenerate professors. These are the almost, but never-to-be Christians. They were born under the meridian of Christianity, but never newborn in Christ, Joh 3:3 .

Without running over a large field of observation by way of drawing the line, according to scriptural decision, between the almost and the real Christian; it will be sufficient to remark, that the almost Christian may have great light and understanding in head, when there is no grace in the heart. Such an one may profess great delight in hearing sermons, seem much affected under the word, apparently alive to the promotion of all charities, and the promotion of the Lord’s glory in the earth, and yet not a single act of true saving grace all the while hath passed upon his heart. Yea, he may go further. Some views of his own sinful state by nature he may have; some apprehensions of the Person and glory of Christ, in an historical knowledge of him, by reading or hearing sermons; some sorrow for sin, with an apprehension of the consequences of unrepented sin, and the conviction that none but Christ can save from the wrath to come: these, and similar lessons may be learnt in nature’s school, where the word of God is read, or heard, or preached; but without a better teaching, and the regenerating work of God the Holy Ghost upon the soul, all, and much more, will leave the persons so taught, among the almost Christians, and never make them real followers of Christ in the regeneration. The Holy Ghost by Paul, hath drawn the portrait of those men with a strong pencil, in his holy word, when he describes them as once enlightened with head knowledge; tasting, but not enjoying, the heavenly gift of his holy word; made partakers of the Holy Ghost in his outward ministry and ordinances; tasting, so as to distinguish the good word of God from the word of man; but not as new-born babes desiring the sincere milk of the word, that they might grow thereby, and tasting the powers of the world to come, in miracles wrought in Christ’s name, and to confirm his word, which in the early days they saw, yea, many of them, (as Judas,) wrought; but in all these, there is not a single word to shew, that God the Holy Ghost had regenerated their persons; and, consequently, there is not a single act of the graces of the Spirit, which flow from regeneration, such as faith, love, and obedience, to manifest their regenerated nature; and, therefore, the whole of what is here said, may, and not unfrequently will, be found in the character of the almost, but never real Christian. See Heb 6:4-6 and the Commentary upon the passage.

Let the Reader look at Paul for a contrast to this almost Christian, when in his very modest and unassuming answer, he said to Agrippa, 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. What tenderness and affection, arising from grace in the heart, were expressed in these words? Excepting the chains, in which he stood before them as a prisoner, which he wished not to his greatest natural enemy; neither the humble poverty of his circumstances in outward things in which he lived, and earned his bread by tent making; excepting these, it was the most cordial wish of his soul, if the Lord willed it, that all then present were, as he himself was, in Spiritual things, and living in the enjoyment of them.

Reader! if you wish to behold the portrait of a real Christian, in the character of Paul, the Holy Ghost hath fully drawn it. He hath shewn, that in the days of his unregeneracy, he was as all men by nature are, sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But, (saith Paul,) after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but, according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly though Jesus Christ our Savior, Tit 3:3-6 . Here we see in the first part, the original features of nature, in the universal tints of character by which all Adam’s children are known, and in which they are all born, and in which they all live and die, unless regenerated by grace. And here we see in the second part of this picture, the source of that vast change, which God the Holy Ghost makes by his own Almighty power on the heart, when, by forming the nature anew, he makes them new creatures in Christ Jesus. So that they are now made partakers of the divine nature, having, through that grace imparted to them in their new-birth, escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, 2Pe 1:1-4 . And thus being regenerated by the Holy Ghost, given by the Father to the Son, and redeemed from the Adam-nature of a fallen state by Christ, called with an holy calling, pardoned and justified by the blood and righteousness of Christ, sanctified in their grace union with Christ, and daily renewed by the Holy Spirit; they are not almost, but real Christians, being members of Christ’s body, his flesh, and his bones! Eph 5:30 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Ver. 28. Almost thou persuadest me ] Here he was nigh God’s kingdom, who yet (for aught we find) never came there. Almost he could be content to be, but altogether may chance bring a chain with it. Jehu will not part with his calves, lest he venture his kingdom. Policy is ever entering caveats against piety. It is thought of Cardinal Pole, that toward his latter end, a little before his coming from Rome to England, he began somewhat to favour the doctrine of Luther, and was no less suspected at Rome, and therefore put by the popedom; notwithstanding the pomp and glory of the world did afterwards carry him away to play the Papist. Such as these Philo calleth semper factae virtutis homines, cakes half-baked, Hos 7:8 . See Trapp on “ Hos 7:8 “

To be a Christian ] The profane philosophers called the Christians credentes, that is, believers, by way of reproach, because they did not argue by reason, but take things upon trust. “We believe and know” (not, we know and believe) “that thou art the Son of the living God,” Joh 6:69 . Illi garriant, nos credamus, saith Austin. Let them jeer us for our faith, let us believe nevertheless; and our faith shall be one day found “to praise, honour, and glory,” 1Pe 1:7 . If Agrippa had been right, he would have esteemed it the highest honour to he able to say, Christian is my name, and Catholic my surname. Those that might well have been his masters and makers, viz. Constantinus, Vatentinianus, and Theodosius (three emperors), called themselves Vasallos Christi, not Christians only, but the vassals of Christ, as Socrates reporteth: and Justinian the emperor styled himself, Ultimum servorum Christi, the meanest of Christ’s servants.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

28. ] These words of Agrippa have been very variously explained. (1) The rendering ‘ propemodum ,’ ‘ parum abest, quin ,’ (‘ almost ,’ E. V.,) adopted by Chrys., Beza, Grot., Valla, Luther, Piscator, Calov., &c. is inadmissible, for want of any example of having this meaning, which would require ( , Aristoph. Vesp. 829, and al.), or , or . (2) Calvin, Kuinoel, Schttg., Olsh., Neander, take it for , which certainly is allowable, but does not correspond to below, nor, as I believe, does it come up to the general sense of the expression. (3) The phrase occurs in Greek writers with various nouns understood according to the nature of the case, and sometimes it will bear any of several supplements with equal propriety. Thus in Demosth. p. 33. 18, , where Schaefer in his Index Grcitatis says, scil. , aut , aut , aut . So also here we may understand or (or ?) or still better as it seems to me, leave the ellipsis unsupplied (see Eph 3:3 ). We have a word in English which exactly expresses it, one which has fallen into disuse, but has no equivalent; lightly: i.e. with little pains, few words, small hesitation. Then next as to the reading , I have followed the most ancient MSS., in editing and not . This being so, we have to choose between of [152] [153] and of [154] . It is almost impossible to give any assignable meaning to the former; and I suspect it has come in by a confusion of the two readings. Whereas seems to take up the of Act 26:26 . The received reading has probably found its way in from first imagining that – had to do with Paul’s persuading Agrippa , and then the having no sense, became conformed to the in the Apostle’s speech below. And now, as to the sense of Agrippa’s saying . In determining this, enough attention has not been paid to two points: (1) the present tense , , thou art persuading thyself, art imagining; and (2) the use, in the mouth of a Jew , and that Jew a king , of the Gentile and offensive appellation . To my mind, the first of these considerations decides that Agrippa is characterizing no effect on himself , but what Paul was fancying in his mind, reckoning the which he had expressed above: the second , that he speaks of something not that he is likely to become , but that contrasts strangely with his present worldly position and intentions . I would therefore render the words thus: Lightly (with small trouble) art thou persuading thyself that thou canst make me a Christian: and understand them, in connexion with Paul’s having attempted to make Agrippa a witness on his side, ‘ l am not so easily to be made a Christian of, as thou supposest .’ Most of the ancient Commentators (especially as reading ) take the words as implying some effect on Agrippa’s mind, and as spoken in earnest: but this I think is hardly possible, philologically or exegetically. I may add that the emphatic position of both and , before their respective verbs, strongly confirms the view taken above. I must again caution the reader against the mistake committed by Wordsworth, in supposing the enclitic to be emphatic, which it cannot be, being required in such a case. Indeed, a more insignificant position than it here holds, next to the most emphatic word of the sentence, cannot be conceived.

[152] The CODEX VATICANUS, No. 1209 in the Vatican Library at Rome; and proved, by the old catalogues, to have been there from the foundation of the library in the 16th century. It was apparently, from internal evidence, copied in Egypt. It is on vellum, and contains the Old and New Testaments. In the latter, it is deficient from Heb 9:14 to the end of the Epistle; it does not contain the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon; nor the Apocalypse. An edition of this celebrated codex, undertaken as long ago as 1828 by Cardinal Angelo Mai, has since his death been published at Rome. The defects of this edition are such, that it can hardly be ranked higher in usefulness than a tolerably complete collation, entirely untrustworthy in those places where it differs from former collations in representing the MS. as agreeing with the received text. An 8vo edition of the N.T. portion, newly revised by Vercellone, was published at Rome in 1859 (referred to as ‘Verc’): and of course superseded the English reprint of the 1st edition. Even in this 2nd edition there were imperfections which rendered it necessary to have recourse to the MS. itself, and to the partial collations made in former times. These are (1) that of Bartolocci (under the name of Giulio de St. Anastasia), once librarian at the Vatican, made in 1669, and preserved in manuscript in the Imperial Library (MSS. Gr. Suppl. 53) at Paris (referred to as ‘Blc’); (2) that of Birch (‘Bch’), published in various readings to the Acts and Epistles, Copenhagen, 1798, Apocalypse, 1800, Gospels, 1801; (3) that made for the great Bentley (‘Btly’), by the Abbate Mico, published in Ford’s Appendix to Woide’s edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, 1799 (it was made on the margin of a copy of Cephalus’ Greek Testament, Argentorati, 1524, still amongst Bentley’s books in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge); (4) notes of alterations by the original scribe and other correctors. These notes were procured for Bentley by the Abb de Stosch, and were till lately supposed to be lost. They were made by the Abbate Rulotta (‘Rl’), and are preserved amongst Bentley’s papers in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (B. 17. 20) 1 . The Codex has been occasionally consulted for the verification of certain readings by Tregelles, Tischendorf, and others. A list of readings examined at Rome by the present editor (Feb. 1861), and by the Rev. E. C. Cure, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (April 1862), will be found at the end of these prolegomena. A description, with an engraving from a photograph of a portion of a page, is given in Burgon’s “Letters from Rome,” London 1861. This most important MS. was probably written in the fourth century (Hug, Tischendorf, al.).

[153] The CODEX SINAITICUS. Procured by Tischendorf, in 1859, from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The Codex Frederico-Augustanus (now at Leipsic), obtained in 1844 from the same monastery, is a portion of the same copy of the Greek Bible, the 148 leaves of which, containing the entire New Testament, the Ep. of Barnabas, parts of Hermas, and 199 more leaves of the Septuagint, have now been edited by the discoverer. A magnificent edition prepared at the expense of the Emperor of Russia appeared in January, 1863, and a smaller edition containing the N.T. &c., has been published by Dr. Tischendorf. The MS. has four columns on a page, and has been altered by several different correctors, one or more of whom Tischendorf considers to have lived in the sixth century. The work of the original scribe has been examined, not only by Tischendorf, but by Tregelles and other competent judges, and is by them assigned to the fourth century . The internal character of the text agrees with the external, as the student may judge for himself from the readings given in the digest. The principal correctors as distinguished by Tischendorf are: A, of the same age with the MS. itself, probably the corrector who revised the book, before it left the hands of the scribe, denoted therefore by us -corr 1 ; B (cited as 2 ), who in the first page of Matt. began inserting breathings, accents, &c., but did not carry out his design, and touched only a few later passages; C a (cited as 3a ) has corrected very largely throughout the book. Wherever in our digest a reading is cited as found in 1 , it is to be understood, if no further statement is given, that C a altered it to that which is found in our text; C b (cited as 3b ) lived about the same time as C a , i.e. some centuries later than the original scribe. These are all that we need notice here 6 .

[154] The MS. referred to by this symbol is that commonly called the Alexandrine, or CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. It once belonged to Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, who in the year 1628 presented it to our King Charles I. It is now in the British Museum. It is on parchment in four volumes, of which three contain the Old, and one the New Testament, with the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This fourth volume is exhibited open in a glass case. It will be seen by the letters in the inner margin of this edition, that the first 24 chapters of Matthew are wanting in it, its first leaf commencing , ch. Mat 25:6 : as also the leaves containing , Joh 6:50 , to , Joh 8:52 . It is generally agreed that it was written at Alexandria; it does not, however, in the Gospels , represent that commonly known as the Alexandrine text, but approaches much more nearly to the Constantinopolitan, or generally received text. The New Testament, according to its text, was edited, in uncial types cast to imitate those of the MS., by Woide, London, 1786, the Old Testament by Baber, London, 1819: and its N.T. text has now been edited in common type by Mr. B. H. Cowper, London, 1861. The date of this MS. has been variously assigned, but it is now pretty generally agreed to be the fifth century .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 26:28 . . , see critical note, “with but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian,” R.V. reading , and being used de conatu (so Zockler in his 2nd edition); cf. , Mat 23:15 . Schmiedel, Encycl. Bibl. , i., 754, inclines to explain the phrase . as a Latinism: Christianum agere , to play the part of a Christian. Weiss sees in the words a gentle irony, as if Agrippa would answer St. Paul’s appeal to his belief in the prophets by intimating that it was not so simple a matter to become a Christian, even if one, as a Jew, believed in the prophets. Or we may regard Agrippa as rejecting, not so much in banter as in cold disdain, the enthusiasm of the orator, and adopting the tone of a certain Jewish orthodoxy (Zockler), not, i.e. , the indifference of the Roman, but that of the Sadducees to the prophets. The A.V. “almost” must be abandoned, even if we retain , for cannot be so rendered, either here or elsewhere in the N.T.; , or or would be required as the classical expression for “almost”. The best parallel is Eph 3:3 , : “in a few words”: so A. and R.V. ( cf. 1Pe 5:12 ). But if in the next verse we read instead of , so R.V. (see critical note), it seems best to understand with , as this noun could fitly stand with both and = with little trouble, with little cost. The R.V. rendering of the two verses reads as if was retained in Act 26:29 , whereas is the reading adopted in R.V. text. So far as N.T. usage is concerned, might be rendered “in a short time” ( cf. Jas 4:14 , 1Pe 1:6 , Rev 17:10 , so in classical Greek), but this rendering also is excluded by in the next verse. Wendt maintains that may still be rendered “almost”; the phrase is instrumental, as if expressing the thought contained in , and meaning that a little was wanted to attain the aim = almost; so St. Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Jerusalem; Luther, Beza, Grotius = propemodum . The answer of Agrippa, therefore, need not be taken ironically, as by most moderns, but in earnest ( cf. Act 26:32 , where his favourable opinion supports this view), although Wendt acknowledges that his confession was only half-hearted, as is seen by his desire to conclude the interview (Wendt, 1888, note, p. 530, and 1899, p. 400, to the same effect, so too Schrer, Jewish People , div. i., vol. ii., p. 198, note). If we read , see critical note, we render “with but little thou art persuading thyself that thou canst make me a Christian,” taking up of Act 26:26 . This reading is adopted by Blass and Belser, but the former takes as meaning brevi tempore in this verse (so in Plato, Apol. , 22 B), but in Act 26:29 he takes it as = facile , whilst (which he reads) = difficile . Belser, however, takes the phrase in the same sense in both verses, “with little trouble or pains”. St. Chrysostom thought that the phrase was used by Agrippa in one sense and by St. Paul in another (so too Lewin, cf. Grimm-Thayer and Plumptre); Blass apparently obliges us to adopt the same view, but there is nothing in the context to support it (Wendt, Belser). .: there is nothing strange in this use of the word by Agrippa; he may have become acquainted with it in his knowledge of the Christian movement (see above), and the term could easily have spread from Antioch over the district which he ruled. It is difficult to say in what sense he used the term; and no doubt the shade of meaning which we attach to his employment of it will depend upon the meaning which we give to the rest of his answer a meaning earnest or contemptuous. Thus on the former supposition it is possible that he may have used the word instead of the despised “Nazarene,” to indicate his half-friendly attitude towards Christianity, and his relative recognition of it by connecting it with the name which was cherished by every Jew, although the context shows that he had no intention whatever of allowing Paul’s persuasive powers further scope; see Wendt (1899), who points out as against Lipsius that there is nothing unhistorical in the introduction of the name here, as if the writer presupposed that it would be familiar to every Jew. On the other hand, although a Jew, Agrippa, before such an audience, might well have used a term with which the Romans also would probably have been familiar, and if he spoke contemptuously (so Blass, Rendall) he would naturally employ a title which had been given in scorn, and which apparently at this period even the Christians themselves had not accepted; see below, and note on Act 11:26 .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Acts

‘ BEFORE GOVERNORS AND KINGS’

‘ME A CHRISTIAN!’

Act 26:28 .

This Agrippa was son of the other Herod of whom we hear in the Acts as a persecutor. This one appears from other sources, to have had the vices but not the force of character of his bad race. He was weak and indolent, a mere hanger-on of Rome, to which he owed his kingdom, and to which he stoutly stuck during all the tragedy of the fall of Jerusalem. In position and in character largely resulting from the position he was uncommonly like those semi-independent rajahs in India, who are allowed to keep up a kind of shadow of authority on condition of doing what Calcutta bids them. Of course frivolity and debauchery become the business of such men. What sort of a man this was may be sufficiently inferred from the fact that Bernice was his sister.

But he knew a good deal about the Jews, about their opinions, their religion, and about what had been going on during the last half century amongst them. Or grounds of policy he professed to accept the Jewish faith-of which an edifying example is given in the fact that, on one occasion, Bernice was prevented from accompanying him to Rome because she was fulfilling a Nazarite vow in the Temple at Jerusalem!

So the Apostle was fully warranted in appealing to Agrippa’s knowledge, not only of Judaism, but of the history of Jesus Christ, and in his further assertion, ‘I know that thou believest.’ But the home-thrust was too much for the king. His answer is given in the words of our text.

They are very familiar words, and they have been made the basis of a great many sermons upon being all but persuaded to accept of Christ as Saviour. But, edifying as such a use of them is, it can scarcely be sustained by their actual meaning. Most commentators are agreed that our Authorised Version does not represent either Agrippa’s words or his tone. He was not speaking in earnest. His words are sarcasm, not a half melting into conviction, and the Revised Version gives what may, on the whole, be accepted as being a truer representation of their intention when it reads, ‘With but little persuasion thou wouldst fain make me a Christian.’

He is half amused and half angry at the Apostle’s presumption in supposing that so easily or so quickly he was going to land his fish. ‘It is a more difficult task than you fancy, Paul, to make a Christian of a man like me.’ That is the real meaning of his words, and I think that, rightly understood, they yield lessons of no less value than those that have been so often drawn from them as they appear in our Authorised Version. So I wish to try and gather up and urge upon you now these lessons:-

I. First, then, I see here an example of the danger of a superficial familiarity with Christian truth.

As I said, Agrippa knew, in a general way, a good deal not only about the prophets and the Jewish religion, but of the outstanding facts of the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul’s assumption that he knew would have been very quickly repudiated if it had not been based upon fact. And the inference from his acceptance without contradiction of the Apostle’s statement is confirmed by his use of the word ‘Christian,’ which had by no means come into general employment when he spoke; and in itself indicates that he knew a good deal about the people who were so named. Mark the contrast, for instance, between him and the bluff Roman official at his side. To Festus, Paul’s talking about a dead man’s having risen, and a risen Jew becoming a light to all nations, was such utter nonsense that, with characteristic Roman contempt for men with ideas, he breaks in, with his rough, strident voice, ‘Much learning has made thee mad.’ There was not much chance of that cause producing that effect on Festus. But he was apparently utterly bewildered at this entirely novel and unintelligible sort of talk. Agrippa, on the other hand, knows all about the Resurrection; has heard that there was such a thing, and has a general rough notion of what Paul believed as a Christian.

And was he any better for it? No; he was a great deal worse. It took the edge off a good deal of his curiosity. It made him fancy that he knew beforehand all that the Apostle had to say. It stood in the way of his apprehending the truths which he thought that he understood.

And although the world knows a great deal more about Jesus Christ and the Gospel than he did, the very same thing is true about hundreds and thousands of people who have all their lives long been brought into contact with Christianity. Superficial knowledge is the worst enemy of accurate knowledge, for the first condition of knowing a thing is to know that we do not know it. And so there are a great many of us who, having picked up since childhood vague and partially inaccurate notions about Christ and His Gospel and what He has done, are so satisfied on the strength of these that we know all about it, that we listen to preaching about it with a very languid attention. The ground in our minds is preoccupied with our own vague and imperfect apprehensions. I believe that there is nothing that stands more in the way of hundreds of people coming into real intelligent contact with Gospel truth than the half knowledge that they have had of it ever since they were children. You fancy that you know all that I can tell you. Very probably you do. But have you ever taken a firm hold of the plain central facts of Christianity-your own sinfulness and helplessness, your need of a Saviour, the perfect work of Jesus Christ who died on the Cross for you, and the power of simple faith therein to join you to Him, and, if followed by consecration and obedience, to make you partakers of His nature, and heirs of the inheritance that is above? These are but the fundamentals, the outlines of Gospel truth. But far too many of you see them, in such a manner as you see the figures cast upon a screen when the lantern is not rightly focussed, with a blurred outline, and the blurred outline keeps you from seeing the sharp-cut truth as it is in Jesus. In all regions of thought inaccurate knowledge is the worst foe to further understanding, and eminently is this the case in religion. Brethren, some of you are in that position.

Then there is another way in which such knowledge as that of which the king in our text is an example is a hindrance, and that is, that it is knowledge which has no effect on character. What do hundreds of us do with our knowledge of Christianity? Our minds seem built in watertight compartments, and we keep the doors of them shut very close, so that truths in the understanding have no influence on the will. Many of you believe the Gospel intellectually, and it does not make a hairsbreadth of difference to anything that you ever either thought or wished or did. And because you so believe it, it is utterly impossible that it should ever be of any use to you. ‘Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.’ ‘Yes, believest the prophets, and Bernice sitting by thy side there- believest the prophets, and livest in utter bestial godlessness.’ What is the good of a knowledge of Christianity like that? And is it not such knowledge of Christianity that blocks the way with some of you for anything more real and more operative? There is nothing more impotent than a firmly believed and utterly neglected truth. And that is what the Christianity of some of you is when it is analysed.

II. Now, secondly, notice how we have here the example of a proud man indignantly recoiling from submission,

There is a world of contempt in Agrippa’s words, in the very putting side by side of the two things. ‘Me! Me ,’ with a very large capital M-’Me a Christian?’ He thinks of his dignity, poor creature. It was not such a very tremendous dignity after all. He was a petty kinglet, permitted by the grace of Rome to live and to pose as if he were the real thing, and yet he struts and claps his wings and crows on his little hillock as if it were a mountain. ‘ Me a Christian?’ ‘The great Agrippa a Christian !’ And he uses that word ‘Christian’ with the intense contempt which coined it and adhered to it, until the men to whom it was applied were wise enough to take it and bind it as a crown of honour upon their head. The wits at Antioch first of all hit upon the designation. They meant a very exquisite piece of sarcasm by their nickname. These people were ‘Christians,’ just as some other people were Herodians-Christ’s men, the men of this impostor who pretended to be a Messiah. That seemed such an intensely ludicrous thing to the wise people in Antioch that they coined the name; and no doubt thought they had done a very clever thing. It is only used in the Bible in tike notice of its origin; here, with a very evident connotation of contempt; and once more when Peter in his letter refers to it as being the indictment on which certain disciples suffered. So when Agrippa says, ‘Me a Christian,’ he puts all the bitterness that he can into that last word. As if he said, ‘Do you really think that I-I-am going to bow myself down to be a follower and adherent of that Christ of yours? The thing is too ridiculous! With but little persuasion you would fain make me a Christian. But you will find it a harder task than you fancy.’

Now, my dear friends, the shape of this unwillingness is changed but the fact of it remains. There are two or three features of what I take to be the plain Gospel of Jesus Christ which grate very much against all self-importance and self-complacency, and operate very largely, though not always consciously, upon very many amongst us. I just run them over, very briefly.

The Gospel insists on dealing with everybody in the same fashion, and on regarding all as standing on the same level. Many of us do not like that. Translate Agrippa’s scorn into words that fit ourselves: ‘I am a well-to-do Manchester man. Am I to stand on the same level as my office-boy?’ Yes! the very same. ‘I, a student, perhaps a teacher of science, or a cultivated man, a scholar, a lawyer, a professional man-am I to stand on the same level as people that scarcely know how to read and write?’ Yes, exactly. So, like the man in the Old Testament, ‘he turned and went away in a rage.’ Many of us would like that there should be a little private door for us in consideration of our position or acquirements or respectability, or this, that, or the other thing. At any rate we are not to be classed in the same category with the poor and the ignorant and the sinful and the savage all over the world. But we are so classed. Do not you and the men in Patagonia breathe the same air? Are not your bodies subject to the same laws? Have you not to be contented to be fed in the same fashion, and to sleep and eat and drink in the same way? ‘We have all of us one human heart’; and ‘there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’ The identities of humanity, in all its examples, are deeper than the differences in any. We have all the one Saviour and are to be saved in the same fashion. That is a humbling thing for those of us who stand upon some little elevation, real or fancied, but it is only the other side of the great truth that God’s love is world-wide, and that Christ’s Gospel is meant for humanity. Naaman, to whom I have already referred in passing, wanted to be treated as a great man who happened to be a leper; Elisha insisted on treating him as a leper who happened to be a great man. And that makes all the difference. I remember seeing somewhere that a great surgeon had said that the late Emperor of Germany would have had a far better chance of being cured if he had gone incognito to the hospital for throat diseases. We all need the same surgery, and we must be contented to take it in the same fashion. So, some of us recoil from humbling equality with the lowest and worst.

Then again, another thing that sometimes makes people shrink back from the Gospel is that it insists upon every one being saved solely by dependence on Another. We would like to have a part in our salvation, and many of us had rather do anything in the way of sacrifice or suffering or penance than take this position:

‘Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to Thy Cross I cling.’

Corrupt forms of Christianity have taken an acute measure of the worst parts of human nature, when they have taught men that they can eke out Christ’s work by their own, and have some kind of share in their own salvation. Dear brethren, I have to bring to you another Gospel than that, and to say, All is done for us, and all will be done in us, and nothing has to be done by us. Some of you do not like that. Just as a man drowning is almost sure to try to help himself, and get his limbs inextricably twisted round his would-be rescuer and drown them both, so men will not, without a struggle, consent to owe everything to Jesus Christ, and to let Him draw them out of many waters and set them on the safe shore. But unless we do so, we have little share in His Gospel.

And another thing stands in the way-namely, that the Gospel insists upon absolute obedience to Jesus Christ. Agrippa fancied that it was an utterly preposterous idea that he should lower his flag, and doff his crown, and become the servant of a Jewish peasant. A great many of us, though we have a higher idea of our Lord than his, do yet find it quite as hard to submit our wills to His, and to accept the condition of absolute obedience, utter resignation to Him, and entire subjection to His commandment. We say, ‘Let my own will have a little bit of play in a corner.’ Some of us find it very hard to believe that we are to bring all our thinking upon religious and moral subjects to Him, and to accept His word as conclusive, settling all controversies. ‘I, with my culture; am I to accept what Christ says as the end of strife?’ Yes, absolute submission is the plainest condition of real Christianity. The very name tells us that. We are Christians, i.e. Christ’s men; and unless we are, we have no right to the name. But some of us had rather be our own masters and enjoy the miseries of independence and self-will, and so be the slaves of our worse selves, than bow ourselves utterly before that dear Lord, and so pass into the freedom of a service love-inspired, and by love accepted, ‘Thou wouldst fain persuade me to be a Christian ,’ is the recoil of a proud heart from submission. Brethren, let me beseech you that it may not be yours.

III. Again, we have here an example of instinctive shrinking from the personal application of broad truths.

Agrippa listened, half-amused and a good deal interested, to Paul as long as he talked generalities and described his own experience. But when he came to point the generalities and to drive them home to the hearer’s heart it was time to stop him. That question of the Apostle’s, keen and sudden as the flash of a dagger, went straight home, and the king at once gathered himself together into an attitude of resistance. Ah, that is what hundreds of people do! You will let me preach as long as I like-only you will get a little weary sometimes-you will let me preach generalities ad libitum . But when I come to ‘And thou?’ then I am ‘rude’ and ‘inquisitorial’ and ‘personal’ and ‘trespassing on a region where I have no business,’ and so on and so on. And so you shut up your heart if not your ears.

And yet, brethren, what is the use of toothless generalities? What am I here for if I am not here to take these broad, blunt truths and sharpen them to a point, and try to get them in between the joints of your armour? Can any man faithfully preach the Gospel who is always flying over the heads of his hearers with universalities, and never goes straight to their hearts with ‘Thou-thou art the man!’ ‘Believest thou ?’

And so, dear friends, let me press that question upon you. Never mind about other people. Suppose you and I were alone together and my words were coming straight to thee . Would they not have more power than they have now? They are so coming. Think away all these other people, and this place, ay, and me too, and let the word of Christ, which deals with no crowds but with single souls, come to you in its individualising force: ‘Believest thou ?’ You will have to answer that question one day. Better to face it now and try to answer it than to leave it all vague until you get yonder, where ‘each one of us shall give account of himself to God.

IV. Lastly, we have here an example of a soul close to the light, but passing into the dark.

Agrippa listens to Paul; Bernice listens; Festus listens. And what comes of it? Only this, ‘And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man hath done nothing worthy of death or of bonds.’ May I translate into a modern equivalent: And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, ‘This man preached a very impressive sermon,’ or, ‘This man preached a very wearisome sermon,’ and there an end.

Agrippa and Bernice went their wicked way, and Festus went his, and none of them knew what a fateful moment they had passed through. Ah, brethren! there are many such in our lives when we make decisions that influence our whole future, and no sign shows that the moment is any way different from millions of its undistinguished fellows. It is eminently so in regard to our relation to Jesus Christ and His Gospel. These three had been in the light; they were never so near it again. Probably they never heard the Gospel preached any more, and they went away, not knowing what they had done when they silenced Paul and left him. Now you will probably hear plenty of sermons in future. You may or you may not. But be sure of this, that if you go away from this one, unmelted and unbelieving, you have not done a trivial thing. You have added one more stone to the barrier that you yourself build to shut you out from holiness and happiness, from hope and heaven. It is not I that ask you the question, it is not Paul that asks it, Jesus Christ Himself says to you, as He said to the blind man, ‘Dost thou believe on the Son of God?’ or as He said to the weeping sister of Lazarus, ‘Believest thou this?’ O dear friends, do not answer like this arrogant bit of a king, but cry with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief!’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

Almost. Greek. En oligo. In a little, i.e., briefly, or in short. Compare Eph 3:3. Paul, carried away by his subject, ceases to be the advocate for the prisoner and has become the advocate for God. Agrippa perceives it, and intervenes with “To put it briefly, thou art persuading me to become a Christian. “There is no ground for supposing that Agrippa was “almost persuaded”.

Christian. See Act 11:26.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

28. ] These words of Agrippa have been very variously explained. (1) The rendering propemodum, parum abest, quin, (almost, E. V.,) adopted by Chrys., Beza, Grot., Valla, Luther, Piscator, Calov., &c. is inadmissible, for want of any example of having this meaning, which would require ( , Aristoph. Vesp. 829, and al.), or , or . (2) Calvin, Kuinoel, Schttg., Olsh., Neander, take it for , which certainly is allowable, but does not correspond to below, nor, as I believe, does it come up to the general sense of the expression. (3) The phrase occurs in Greek writers with various nouns understood according to the nature of the case,-and sometimes it will bear any of several supplements with equal propriety. Thus in Demosth. p. 33. 18, , where Schaefer in his Index Grcitatis says, scil. , aut , aut , aut . So also here we may understand or (or ?)-or still better as it seems to me, leave the ellipsis unsupplied (see Eph 3:3). We have a word in English which exactly expresses it,-one which has fallen into disuse, but has no equivalent; lightly: i.e. with little pains, few words, small hesitation. Then next as to the reading, I have followed the most ancient MSS., in editing and not . This being so, we have to choose between of [152] [153] and of [154]. It is almost impossible to give any assignable meaning to the former; and I suspect it has come in by a confusion of the two readings. Whereas seems to take up the of Act 26:26. The received reading has probably found its way in from first imagining that – had to do with Pauls persuading Agrippa, and then the having no sense, became conformed to the in the Apostles speech below. And now, as to the sense of Agrippas saying. In determining this, enough attention has not been paid to two points: (1) the present tense, , thou art persuading thyself, art imagining; and (2) the use, in the mouth of a Jew, and that Jew a king, of the Gentile and offensive appellation . To my mind, the first of these considerations decides that Agrippa is characterizing no effect on himself, but what Paul was fancying in his mind, reckoning the which he had expressed above: the second, that he speaks of something not that he is likely to become, but that contrasts strangely with his present worldly position and intentions. I would therefore render the words thus: Lightly (with small trouble) art thou persuading thyself that thou canst make me a Christian: and understand them, in connexion with Pauls having attempted to make Agrippa a witness on his side,-l am not so easily to be made a Christian of, as thou supposest. Most of the ancient Commentators (especially as reading ) take the words as implying some effect on Agrippas mind, and as spoken in earnest: but this I think is hardly possible, philologically or exegetically. I may add that the emphatic position of both and , before their respective verbs, strongly confirms the view taken above. I must again caution the reader against the mistake committed by Wordsworth, in supposing the enclitic to be emphatic, which it cannot be, being required in such a case. Indeed, a more insignificant position than it here holds, next to the most emphatic word of the sentence, cannot be conceived.

[152] The CODEX VATICANUS, No. 1209 in the Vatican Library at Rome; and proved, by the old catalogues, to have been there from the foundation of the library in the 16th century. It was apparently, from internal evidence, copied in Egypt. It is on vellum, and contains the Old and New Testaments. In the latter, it is deficient from Heb 9:14 to the end of the Epistle;-it does not contain the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon;-nor the Apocalypse. An edition of this celebrated codex, undertaken as long ago as 1828 by Cardinal Angelo Mai, has since his death been published at Rome. The defects of this edition are such, that it can hardly be ranked higher in usefulness than a tolerably complete collation, entirely untrustworthy in those places where it differs from former collations in representing the MS. as agreeing with the received text. An 8vo edition of the N.T. portion, newly revised by Vercellone, was published at Rome in 1859 (referred to as Verc): and of course superseded the English reprint of the 1st edition. Even in this 2nd edition there were imperfections which rendered it necessary to have recourse to the MS. itself, and to the partial collations made in former times. These are-(1) that of Bartolocci (under the name of Giulio de St. Anastasia), once librarian at the Vatican, made in 1669, and preserved in manuscript in the Imperial Library (MSS. Gr. Suppl. 53) at Paris (referred to as Blc); (2) that of Birch (Bch), published in various readings to the Acts and Epistles, Copenhagen, 1798,-Apocalypse, 1800,-Gospels, 1801; (3) that made for the great Bentley (Btly), by the Abbate Mico,-published in Fords Appendix to Woides edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, 1799 (it was made on the margin of a copy of Cephalus Greek Testament, Argentorati, 1524, still amongst Bentleys books in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge); (4) notes of alterations by the original scribe and other correctors. These notes were procured for Bentley by the Abb de Stosch, and were till lately supposed to be lost. They were made by the Abbate Rulotta (Rl), and are preserved amongst Bentleys papers in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (B. 17. 20)1. The Codex has been occasionally consulted for the verification of certain readings by Tregelles, Tischendorf, and others. A list of readings examined at Rome by the present editor (Feb. 1861), and by the Rev. E. C. Cure, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (April 1862), will be found at the end of these prolegomena. A description, with an engraving from a photograph of a portion of a page, is given in Burgons Letters from Rome, London 1861. This most important MS. was probably written in the fourth century (Hug, Tischendorf, al.).

[153] The CODEX SINAITICUS. Procured by Tischendorf, in 1859, from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The Codex Frederico-Augustanus (now at Leipsic), obtained in 1844 from the same monastery, is a portion of the same copy of the Greek Bible, the 148 leaves of which, containing the entire New Testament, the Ep. of Barnabas, parts of Hermas, and 199 more leaves of the Septuagint, have now been edited by the discoverer. A magnificent edition prepared at the expense of the Emperor of Russia appeared in January, 1863, and a smaller edition containing the N.T. &c., has been published by Dr. Tischendorf. The MS. has four columns on a page, and has been altered by several different correctors, one or more of whom Tischendorf considers to have lived in the sixth century. The work of the original scribe has been examined, not only by Tischendorf, but by Tregelles and other competent judges, and is by them assigned to the fourth century. The internal character of the text agrees with the external, as the student may judge for himself from the readings given in the digest. The principal correctors as distinguished by Tischendorf are:-A, of the same age with the MS. itself, probably the corrector who revised the book, before it left the hands of the scribe, denoted therefore by us -corr1; B (cited as 2), who in the first page of Matt. began inserting breathings, accents, &c., but did not carry out his design, and touched only a few later passages; Ca (cited as 3a) has corrected very largely throughout the book. Wherever in our digest a reading is cited as found in 1, it is to be understood, if no further statement is given, that Ca altered it to that which is found in our text; Cb (cited as 3b) lived about the same time as Ca, i.e. some centuries later than the original scribe. These are all that we need notice here6.

[154] The MS. referred to by this symbol is that commonly called the Alexandrine, or CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. It once belonged to Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, who in the year 1628 presented it to our King Charles I. It is now in the British Museum. It is on parchment in four volumes, of which three contain the Old, and one the New Testament, with the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This fourth volume is exhibited open in a glass case. It will be seen by the letters in the inner margin of this edition, that the first 24 chapters of Matthew are wanting in it, its first leaf commencing , ch. Mat 25:6 :-as also the leaves containing , Joh 6:50,-to , Joh 8:52. It is generally agreed that it was written at Alexandria;-it does not, however, in the Gospels, represent that commonly known as the Alexandrine text, but approaches much more nearly to the Constantinopolitan, or generally received text. The New Testament, according to its text, was edited, in uncial types cast to imitate those of the MS., by Woide, London, 1786, the Old Testament by Baber, London, 1819: and its N.T. text has now been edited in common type by Mr. B. H. Cowper, London, 1861. The date of this MS. has been variously assigned, but it is now pretty generally agreed to be the fifth century.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Act 26:28. , but Agrippa) The king is thought by some to speak contemptuously: it would be more true to say, that there was a motion towards good in him: with which comp. Act 26:27; Act 26:29.- ) This phrase itself is not to be found in the LXX.; but synonyms however are found, put in the same neuter gender; and these synonyms express the Hebrew , the Latin propemodum, tantum non; and that too, in such a way that the effect itself, in the case of a past event, is excluded, in the case of a thing future, is included, according to the variety of the circumstances of each particular case. In the former manner there is generally added , , , Psalms 72 (73):2, 93 (94):17; Pro 5:14 : Latin, pne. In the second way, is employed: , Psalms 80(81):14; , Psa 2:12 : Lat. nullo negotio, facile, celeriter; which notion admirably accords with this passage, which also has . Therefore there are presented to us here, Festus without Christ, Paul the representative of Christianity, and Agrippa, at the point where the decision between the two roads must be made, with an excellent bias.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Almost

R.V. With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian. The answer might be paraphrased: “It will require more than this,” etc., or, “A little more and you will make,” etc.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

Almost: Act 26:29, Act 24:25, Eze 33:31, Mat 10:18, Mar 6:20, Mar 10:17-22, 2Co 4:2, Jam 1:23, Jam 1:24

Reciprocal: Mar 4:16 – which Luk 16:31 – be persuaded Luk 21:15 – which Act 11:26 – were Act 18:4 – persuaded Act 25:13 – king 1Co 2:4 – enticing 1Pe 2:9 – who 1Pe 4:16 – as

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

ALMOST PERSUADED

Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Act 26:28

Who and what was the man who used these remarkable words? He was no infidel, no scoffer at religion, no despiser of Gods Word, no inattentive listener to the truths of the Gospel. Far otherwise. He had been brought up in the holiest religion of the day. He was familiar with the Word of God, and believed what the prophets had written. He listened to the most stirring appeals of the ambassador of Christ. Surely these were evidences most remarkable, most satisfactory, most conclusive. And yet he was never truly converted to God.

I. The Agrippas of St. Pauls day abound on every side.There are multitudes who, like him, hear the truth, know the truth, believe the truth, and are from time to time subjects of the most serious convictions, but who have, nevertheless, never been truly converted to God. Regular in attendance at the house of God, and on the various means of grace, ready to weep at the recital of Christs sufferings, and yet still unsaved.

II. When will you be persuaded?In your dying hour? When you see the end approaching? Is not this the secret hope you are cherishing? Is this the time? When disease is wasting the frame, when pain is racking the body, and when the throbs and throes of dissolving nature are shaking the earthly tenement to its centreis this a time to seek the Lord? Is this rational? That a business, the most momentous of life, on which is suspended the destiny of your soul for ever and ever, and compared with which the most important concerns of this world are as nothing, can be crushed within the limits of a dying hour! Yet this is the hope you are secretly cherishing. Thus your life is a mockery of God. God asks youpresses youfor a life devoted to Him; and you are secretly, yet consciously and wilfully, putting Him off.

Rev. F. Whitfield.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

WHY NOT A CHRISTIAN?

This is one of the few instances in which it is absolutely necessary to correct the Authorised Version. Agrippa did not mean that he was almost persuaded to be a Christian, but just thisWith but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian. St. Paul pleaded for Christ persuasively enough, but Agrippa was not open to conviction.

If you pressed for a reason those who still neglect the call of Christ, you would find it would be one of the following five.

I. Some have difficulties about the Bible.The Bible is not a scientific primer nor a handbook on geology and astronomy. The words ascribed to Galileo are worth quoting: The Scriptures were given to man, not to teach him how the heavens go, but to teach him how to go to Heaven. The Bible does not pretend to explain everything; it tells us distinctly that now we know in part.

II. Others complain of the inconsistent lives of many who profess to be Christians.Men say they are just as mean and greedy and grasping and selfish as the people of the world. There is no doubt much truth in this. Some people draw us to Christ as the flowers draw us to the garden, others repel us from Him. But then you must judge the Christian faith by Christ Himself.

III. Then another objection isI am not good enough.If you say so, then open your New Testament and read how Christ received the worst of sinners. Bishop Andrewes said, I am made of sin. So be of good cheer, and no longer say, I am not good enough, because there is a welcome for all who come.

IV. There are business difficulties.Extraordinary adulteration is practised in food and medicine. It is very difficult to be always honest and tell the truth. If you dont do this, somebody else will, was said to George Eliots hero, Felix Holt. Then somebody else shall. I wont.

V. It is a lack of humility that prevents multitudes from coming to Christ.To renounce their own righteousness and flee to Christ alone with nothing in their hands: men will not do this: it is too humbling: so they make the great refusal as Agrippa did. Such persons have never mourned over the evil of their own hearts.

Rev. F. Harper.

Illustration

A rich Jew once visited a friend of mine, and said to him: I have come to you, sir, because I am to be married to a Christian girl, and they tell me it is best for me to become a Christian, and they have recommended me to see you. Tell me, what is Christianity? And my friend pointed to a crucifix which was lying on his study table, and said to the Jew, That is it. The Jew answered: That? Why, that is a peasant Jew whom we killed in Palestine, nearly two thousand years ago; surely you dont expect me, an educated Jew, to accept that? No, my friend said, I do not. You have made a mistake, you have not looked at the thing I pointed at, and he pointed again. And over the Figure on the Cross was one word, Others. And the Jew looked, and rising from his chair he said: My God, man, I never knew it was that. It is too much. Why, He gave all He had for others, it is too much. Is that your Christianity? Yes, said my friend, nothing else. Then said the Jew: I cannot be a Christian, I am too rich. And in the hall downstairs, as he was going, he said to my friend, You will find a cheque for fifty pounds upstairs; spend it for your poor. To-night I dine in the West End, but I shall not drink one glass of champagne the less on account of that money; it will make no difference to me at all, but He gave allah, it is too big; I never saw it before. I cannot be a Christian.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

8

Act 26:28. Agrippa was logical enough to see the conclusion required from the premises that Paul had cited. He really believed the truth of the prophetic statements, and the facts and truths connected with the story of Christ clearly connected Him with the prophecies. His unwillingness to go all the way that his conclusions would lead, was not from any doubts as to the rightful claims of the Gospel upon his life. But many personal interests of a worldly nature intervened against his better judgment. He was willing only to make the concession to Paul that is expressed by the famous sentence that has become the subject of song and poetry in various literature.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Act 26:28. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Modern commentators very generally, on the ground that no clear instance has been adduced of the Greek word signifying almost, give up this ancient, time-honoured rendering, and translate the kings reply either(a) With but little persuasion thou wouldest induce me to be a Christian; (b) In a little time thou persuadest me to be a Christian; in other words, If thou goest on speaking as thou art doing, thou wilt soon persuade me to become a Christian. Now both (a) and (b) suppose that the words were spoken in irony; but this is very unlike what we should expect. The address of Paul on this occasion would never have called out a sarcastic reply from Agrippa. It would be quite at variance with the whole tenor of the scene. It is clear from what took place immediately after, the Jewish king and Roman governor were moved deeply, and that both of them were glad to be rid of the responsibility either of condemning or acquitting a man whom they felt was in very truth one of earths great ones, and wholly innocent of the charge of sedition and treason.

One cannot help calling to mind a somewhat similar but far more momentous scene, when a famous predecessor of Festus, moved too by the transparent innocence of the accused before him, washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See ye to it (Mat 27:24). Irony here seems utterly out of place, and simply inconceivable.

In his reply, too, Paul evidently accepted the words of Agrippa as spoken in earnest. He saw no tinge of irony or even of playful courtesy in the kings reply. To him it was all terribly real. To him the Jewish sovereign was a soul just grasping with feeble uncertain hand the rope of safety which would save it from eternal death, but letting it slip through his weak nerveless fingers. To win that perishing soul, he made a last brave attempt in his reply (see Act 26:29). That earnest loving appeal never surely would have been made to one who could dismiss with cruel scornful sarcasm such a defence as had been spoken that day by the prisoner Paul in the Csarean judgment-hall.

Considering the laxity which then confessedly existed in the forms of the Greek language used by the many peoples who had adopted Greek as the medium of their intercourse, and that in this so-called Alexandrian or Hellenistic Greek the use of prepositions especially had undergone considerable modifications owing to the orientalisms which naturally among these eastern nations had crept into the language adopted as the general vehicle of communication in the populous countries which fringed the Mediterranean seaboards, we preferas the exegetical difficulties attending the adoption of either of the renderings (a) or (b) above suggested are so greatto retain the old translation of the English Version, Almost (propemodum) thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Among the distinguished scholars and expositors who thus (in the sense of almost) understand the exclamation of Agrippa, must be reckoned the famous Greek commentator and writer Chrysostom. In later times, Luther, Castalio, Beza, Grotius, Bengel, Stier, understand the words of the original in the same sense as our English Version.

Moved already by the splendid eloquence and the weighty argument of Paul, the words of the apostle appealing to the kings known reverence for the words of the Hebrew prophetsa reputation greatly affected by these last princes of the Herodian dynastyelicited from Agrippa the memorable exclamation, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian, thus publicly testifying his admiration for Paul, and his conviction of his innocence of the charges alleged against hima conviction repeated in the decision arrived at by himself and the Roman governor together shortly after (see Act 26:31); at the same time, however, he cautiously avoided committing himself decidedly to the opinions of a sect which he was aware was generally unpopular among the leading Jews.

From this use of the term Christian by the king, it would seem that the appellation had now become one generally used in speaking of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. What an efficacy St. Paul’s doctrine had upon Agrippa: though he would not be converted, yet he could not but be convinced; his conscience was touched, though his heart was not renewed.

Learn hence, That there is certainly that in religion which carries its own evidence along with it, even to the consciences of ungodly men.

Observe, 2. How sad it is, when persons have enjoyed the scriptures, the preaching of the word, and all means of salvation, and yet are but almost Christians, and shall never enjoy the least salvation; they are within sight of heaven, and yet shall never have a sight of God.

Observe, 3. That such as will be Christians indeed, must not only be almost, but altogether Christians: I would that you, and all that hear me, says the apostle, were altogether such as I am, except these bonds.

Where note, The extraordinary charity and Christian compassion of St. Paul: he wishes them his graces, not his chains; he did not wish them his bonds and imprisonment, but he wished them the same liberty and enlargement by Jesus Christ, which he enjoyed; he would keep his sorrows and outward troubles to himself, but wishes they were acquainted with his inward consolations and comforts.

A good man wishes others as well as he wishes himself; and if at any time he wishes that which is penally evil to the worst of his enemies, he doth it with an eye to their spiritual and eternal good.

A good man dares not wish ill to those that have actually done ill to him; but wishes, prays, and endeavours the best good for them.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

28. With matchless skill the apostle had brought his proofs to bear upon his principal hearer, and with the boldness which only those can feel who are determined upon success, he pressed this direct appeal so unexpectedly, that the king, like Festus, was surprised into a full expression of his feelings. (28) “Then Agrippa said to Paul, You almost persuade me to be a Christian.” Under ordinary circumstances, such a confession would have struck the auditory with astonishment. But under the force of Paul’s speech, there could not have been a generous soul present that did not sympathize with Agrippa’s sentiment.

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

28. Agrippa said to Paul, You persuade yourself with little persuasion that you make me a Christian. The E. V. misses this translation. See R. V.

Agrippa stoutly resisted the preaching of Paul, grieving the Holy Spirit, rejecting the unanswerable Scriptural arguments of Paul, and showing no evidence of conviction. To his cheerless and hopeless negative answer, Paul simply responds in an ejaculatory prayer.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 28

It is not probable that Agrippa was in earnest in this remark; for, even if a serious impression had been made upon his mind, he would not probably have expressed the interest which he felt, so abruptly on such an occasion. The supposition that he was not serious is confirmed by Paul’s answer, which has the character of a serious reply to a jesting remark.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

Agrippa was now on the spot. If he agreed with Paul or even appeared to agree, he would have lost face with Festus as well as the rest of the Romans present. Festus had just said he thought Paul was mad. On the other hand, if Agrippa said he did not believe the prophets, his influence over his Jewish hearers and subjects would have been damaged greatly. Consequently Agrippa replied noncommittally, "You are trying to make a Christian out of me in such a short interview!" His response does not mean that he was on the verge of becoming a Christian, as the AV translation implies: "Almost thou persuadest me to become a Christian."

"The reply is light-hearted, but not ironic." [Note: Marshall, The Acts . . ., p. 407.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)