Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 26:20
But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and [then] to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
20. but shewed [ R. V. declared] The word signifies the delivery of a message. Saul was henceforth God’s evangelist.
and at Jerusalem ] Cp. Act 9:29. Here he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians, so that they went about to kill him.
and throughout all the coasts of Juda ] Of this ministration we are only told, Act 9:30, that the brethren finding Saul in danger in Jerusalem, brought him to Csarea, and thence sent him to Tarsus. But as we see in the history of Felix (cp. Act 23:34, note) that Cilicia was sometimes reckoned as a part of the province of Juda, the preaching in Cilicia may be included in the expression “country of Juda.” And we may feel sure that Paul, wherever he might be, never laid aside the character which Christ’s mission had imposed upon him.
and do works meet for repentance] Rev. Ver., more literally and better, “doing works worthy of repentance” or “worthy of their repentance.” For the works were to be a sign of their repentance and turning unto God; the means whereby the reality of their sorrow, and the earnestness of their desire, was to be shewn.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See Act 9:20-23. The 20th verse contains a summary of his labors in obedience to the command of the Lord Jesus. His argument is that the Lord Jesus had from heaven commanded him to do this, and that he had done no more than to obey his injunction. The word then in this verse is supplied by our translators, and is not necessary to the proper explanation of the passage. It would seem from that word that he had not preached to the Gentiles until after he had preached at Jerusalem and throughout all the coasts of Judea, whereas, in fact, he had, as we have reason to believe (see the notes on Act 9:23), before then preached to the Gentiles in Arabia. The statement here, in the original, is a general statement that he had preached at Damascus and at Jerusalem, and in all the coasts of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, but without specifying the exact order in which it was done.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. But showed first unto them of Damascus] He appears to have preached at Damascus, and in the neighbouring parts of Arabia Deserta, for about three years; and afterwards he went up to Jerusalem. See Ga 1:17-18; and See Clarke on Ac 9:23.
That they should repent] Be deeply humbled for their past iniquities, and turn to God as their Judge and Saviour, avoiding all idolatry and all sin; and thus do works meet for repentance; that is, show by their conduct that they had contrite hearts, and that they sincerely sought salvation from God alone. For the meaning of the word repentance, See Clarke on Mt 3:2.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Showed first unto them of Damascus; nigh unto which place he was first converted, taking the first opportunity to preach Christ: out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaking.
And turn to God: as sin is a turning from God, so repentance is a turning (or rather returning) unto God.
Do works meet for repentance; such as became a true penitent; for as we must show our faith by our works, Jam 2:18, so we must show our repentance by our works also: for to say we are grieved for sin, and we hate sin, and yet to live in it, is but to deceive ourselves, and (what in us lay) to mock God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. showed . . . to them ofDamascus, and at Jerusalemomitting Arabia; because, beginningwith the Jews, his object was to mention first the places where hisformer hatred of the name of Christ was best known: the mention ofthe Gentiles, so unpalatable to his audience, is reserved to thelast.
repent and return to God, anddo works meet for repentancea brief description of conversionand its proper fruits, suggested, probably, by the Baptist’s teaching(Luk 3:7; Luk 3:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But showed first unto them of Damascus,…. The Jews at Damascus to whom the apostle first preached; see Ac 9:20.
and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea; observing the order of his mission, Ac 26:17 though it was not until after he had been in Arabia, and had returned to Damascus, that he went to Jerusalem, and preached there; see Ga 1:17 compared with Ac 9:28.
and [then] to the Gentiles; as at Antioch in Pisidia, at Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra in Lycaonia; and at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea in Macedonia; and in many places in Greece and Asia, as at Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, and others, as this history shows; and indeed he preached the Gospel from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum;
that they should repent; that is, that they should repent of their sins; of sin in general, as it is committed against God, is a transgression of his law, and as it is in itself exceeding sinful, and in its effects dreadful; and of particular sins, such as men have been more especially addicted to, and of which the Jews and Gentiles, the apostle was sent unto, and to whom he preached, had been guilty: as the former of their will worship, and following the commandments and traditions of men, thereby making void the law of God; of their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah; of their persecution of his apostles, ministers, and people; and of their trust in, and dependence upon, their own righteousness for justification: and the latter of their immoralities, superstition, and idolatry; and both not of the outward gross actions of life only, but of inward sins and lusts: and repentance of each of these lies in a different sentiment of them; in a detestation and abhorrence of them; in shame and confusion on account of them; in self-reflections upon them, and humiliation for them; in an ingenuous acknowledgment of them, and turning from them: and this is not a national repentance which the ministers of the Gospel are to show to men the necessity of; though this is not unworthy of them, when there is a call in Providence to it, and the state of things require it; much less a legal one, but an evangelical repentance; which has along with it faith in Christ Jesus, dealing with his blood and righteousness for the remission of their sins, and their justification before God; and which springs from, and is encouraged and heightened by, a sense of the love of God: and now this being a part of the Gospel ministry, does not suppose it to be in the power of men to repent of themselves, since no man, whilst he remains insensible of the evil nature of sin, and the hardness of his heart continues, which none but God can remove, can repent; and when he becomes truly sensible, he then prays to God to give him repentance, and to turn him: nor does it at all contradict its being a blessing of the covenant, a gift of Christ, and a grace of the Spirit of God; nor does it suggest, that the preaching of the word is sufficient of itself to produce it; the contrary of which the ministry of John the Baptist, of Christ, and of his apostles, declares; but the design of its being insisted on in the Gospel ministry, is to show that men are sinners, and in such a state and condition, that they are in need of repentance, and that without it they must perish; and the rather this is to be quietly inculcated, since true repentance is unto life, is the beginning and evidence of spiritual life, and issues in eternal life; and since there is a close connection between that and salvation, and that without it there is no salvation. It follows,
and turn to God; this is to be understood, not of the first work of conversion, which is God’s work, and not man’s act, and in which man is passive, and which is before repentance, whereas this follows upon it; though the ministers of the word have a concern with this; to bring about this is the design and use of their ministrations; their business is to show the nature of conversion, what it is, and wherein it lies; to rectify mistakes about it, and to observe the necessity of it: but here is designed a turning to God, in consequence of the grace of first conversion; by an acknowledgment and confession of sin to God, by an application to him for pardoning grace and mercy, by a trust and dependence on him for righteousness, life, and salvation, and by obedience to his commands and ordinances. It intends a turning of the Jews from their evil principles and practices, from the traditions of their elders to the law of God, the Gospel of Christ, and the ordinances of it, and of the Gentiles, from their idols to the worship of the true and living God:
and do works meet for repentance the same with “fruits meet for repentance”, Mt 3:8. And such as are particularly mentioned in 2Co 7:11 they are they which are the reverse of the evil actions they have been guilty of, and which are properly good works. And they are they which are done according to the will of God declared in his word, this is a requisite of a good work; what is not according to the word of God is not a good work, nor can it be any evidence of repentance; and they are also such as spring from love to God, for if they are done through fear of punishment, or for sinister and selfish ends, they show repentance to be a mere legal one: and they are such as are done in faith, in the name and strength of Christ, and to the glory of God by him. All external good works are designed, which show that the inward repentance professed, and that the outward change made in religion and worship, are genuine and sincere: the doctrines of internal repentance and outward worship, and all good works, are parts of the Gospel ministry, and to be insisted on in their proper places.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But declared ( ). Imperfect active of , repeatedly.
Throughout all the country of Judea ( ). The accusative here in the midst of the datives ( , , ) seems strange and Page feels certain that should be here even though absent in Aleph A B. But the accusative of extent of space will explain it (Robertson, Grammar, p. 469).
Doing works worthy of repentance ( ). Accusative case of present active participle because of the implied with the present infinitive (repent) and (turn), though the dative could have been used to agree with (Gentiles). Cf. Mt 3:8 for similar language used of the Baptist. Paul, the greatest of theologians, was an interesting practical preacher.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “But shewed first unto them of Damascus,” (alla tois en Damasko proton) “But firstly (in priority) to those then in Damascus,” those at hand, those nearest me. Paul began to witness where he was, after he was saved, surrendered to the Lord, and was baptized, after he identified himself in Baptism, with the very church or congregation of Damascus brethren he had meant to persecute, Act 9:18-25.
2) “And at Jerusalem,” (te kai lerosolumois) “And also to those who were in Jerusalem,” after he had first been refused fellowship, or a hearing before them, Act 9:26; Act 9:30; Act 11:22-26; It is possible he may have preached in synagogues on his way from Damascus back to Jerusalem.
3) “And throughout all the coasts of Judea,” (pasan te ten choran tes loudaias) “Then throughout all the coast-country of Judea,” or coastal territory of Judea, Act 15:3.
4) “And then to the Gentiles,” (kai tois ethnesin apengellon) “Even to the Gentile nations I announced,” gave testimony, at Antioch in Syria, with Barnabas, Act 11:22-26; then on three missionary tours of Asia Minor and the Eastern European countries, Act 13:1 to Act 26:32.
I
5) “That they should repent and turn to God,” (metanoein kai epistrephein epi ton theon) “To repent and turn to God,” that they should repent and turn their lives to God, Act 17:30-31; Act 20:21; Rom 2:4-5; 2Co 7:10.
6) “And do works meet for repentance.” (aksia tes metanoias erga prassontas) “And practice works worthy of, acknowledging or becoming to, repentance,” to one who has repented, Eph 2:10; Php_2:5-16. Tho works do not bring one repentance, faith, or salvation, they are to follow these in the lives of the saved, as fruits or evidence of salvation, as expressions of gratitude for salvation, as the means of saving some, 1Co 9:20-23; Mat 5:13-16; Joh 13:34-35.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(20) But shewed . . .The verb is in the tense which sums up a long-continued activity, and stands in the Greek after the enumeration of those to whom the Apostle preached: But first to them of Damascus . . . and to the Gentiles I went on showing . . .
Throughout all the coasts of Juda, and then to the Gentiles.The words refer, in the first instance, to the visit after St. Pauls conversion (see Notes on Act. 9:29; Gal. 1:17-18); but the special mention of the Gentiles as following upon the coasts (i.e., the region) of Juda, points to an evangelising activity in Cilicia prior to the commencement of his work at Antioch.
That they should repent . . .The three stages of the spiritual life are accurately noted: (1) the repentance for past sins, which is more than a regret for their consequences; (2) the turning to God, which implies faith in Him, as far as He is known, and therefore justification; (3) the doing works meet for repentance (we note the reproduction of the Baptists phrase; see Note on Mat. 3:8), which are the elements of a progressive sanctification.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
XVIII
SAUL FROM HIS CONVERSION TO HIS ORDINATION
See list of references below.
The theme of this section is the history of Saul from his conversion and call to the apostleship, up to his ordination as an apostle to the Gentiles; that is, it extends from Act 9 over certain parts of Acts up to chapter 13, but not all of the intervening chapters of Acts. The scriptures are Act 9:17-30 ; Act 11:25-30 ; Act 22:17-21 ; Gal 1:5-24 ; Act 15:23-41 ; 2Co 11:23-27 ; 2Co 11:32-33 ; 2Co 12:1-4 ; Act 26:20 , which you have to study very carefully in order to understand this section. The time covered by this period is at least nine years, probably ten years, of which we have very scanty history. We have to get a great part of our history from indirect references, and therefore it takes a vast deal of study to make a connected history of this period.
Two scriptures must here be reconciled, Act 9:19-26 and Gal 1:15-18 . The particular points conflicting are that Luke in Act 9 seems to say that immediately, or straightway, after his conversion Saul commenced to preach at Damascus, and the Galatian passage says that straightway after his conversion he went into Arabia and remained there a long time before he returned to Damascus. The precise question involved in the account is, Did Paul commence to preach “straightway” after his conversion, as Luke seems to represent it, or did he wait nearly three years after his conversion before he began to preach? Luke’s account in Act 9 seems on its face to be a continuous story from Damascus back to Jerusalem, without a note of time, except two expressions: “And he was certain days with the disciples that were at Damascus,” and then a little lower down he uses the expression, “when many days were fulfilled.” Luke’s account says nothing about Saul’s leaving Damascus, his long absence and return there. In a very few words only he tells the story of three years. With his account only before us, we would naturally infer that Saul began to preach in Damascus “straightway” after his conversion, but we would also infer that this preaching was continuous there after he commenced, until he escaped for his life to go to Jerusalem. But the Galatian account shows that he left Damascus straightway after his conversion, went into Arabia, returned to Damascus, and then took up his ministry there, and, after three years, went to Jerusalem. This account places the whole of his Damascus ministry after his return there.
The issue, however, is not merely between Luke’s “straightway” and the Galatian “straightway,” though this is sharp, but so to insert the Galatian account in the Acts account as not to mar either one of the accounts, and yet to intelligently combine the two into one harmonious story. In Hackett on Acts, “American Commentary,” we find the argument and the arrangement supporting the view that Paul commenced to preach in Damascus before he went into Arabia, and in chapter II of Farrar’s Life of Paul we find the unanswerable argument showing that Paul did not commence to preach until after his return from Arabia, and that his whole ministry at Damascus was after that time, and then was continued until he escaped and went to Jerusalem.
The Hackett view, though the argument is strong and plausible in some directions, breaks down in adjustment of the accounts, marring both of them, and failing utterly in the combination to make one intelligent, harmonious story. The author, therefore, dissents strongly from the Hackett view and supports strongly that of Farrar. In other words, we put in several verses of the letter to the Galatians right after Act 9:19 .
Let us take Act 9 , commencing with Act 9:17 : “And Ananias departed, and entered into the house; and laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the way which thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight; and he arose and was baptized; and he took food and was strengthened. And he was certain days with the disciples that were at Damascus.” And Gal 1:15 reading right along: “But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles; straightway I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before me: but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned unto Damascus.” All of that must follow Act 9:19 . Then we go back and read, beginning at Act 9:20 : “And straightway in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, that he is the Son of God,” that is, straightway after he returned from Arabia. Then read to Act 9:25 , and turn back to Gal 1:18 : “Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas.” Then go with Act 9:26 : “And when he was come to Jerusalem, he essayed to join himself to the disciples.” The following is a harmony of these scriptures:
It is intensely important that you have this harmony of all these scriptures. You divide all of this into four parts just like the Broadus method in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I have in four parallel columns made the harmony complete in the passages mentioned, showing how far to read, and then taking up the one that supplies, so that one can read the entire story without a break. In column 1 of this harmony read Act 9:17-19 ; in column 2, Gal 1:15-17 ; returning to column 1 read Act 9:20-25 and 2Co 11:32-33 ; then in column 2, Gal 1:18 (except the last clause); then back to column I and read Act 9:26-27 ; in column 2, Gal 1:18 (last clause) and Gal 1:19-20 ; then back to column I, read Act 9:28-29 (except last clause); then in column 3 read Act 22:17-21 ; in column 1, Act 9:29 (last clause) to Act 9:31 ; in column 2, Gal 1:21-24 ; in column 4, Act 11:25-30 ; Act 12:25 . This is the harmonious story of Paul. Then read for purposes of investigation, Act 15:23-41 in order to get the information about his Cilician work, also read 2Co 11:23-27 to find out what part of the sufferings there enumerated took place in Cicilia. Then read 2Co 12:1-4 , as this pertains to Cilicia. Then read Act 26:20 and ask the question, When did he do this preaching in Judea, and was it during his Cilician tour? This gives all the scriptures. Carefully read it over in the order in which the scriptures are given. It makes the most perfect story that I have ever read. It does not mar any one of the four separate cases. It does combine into one harmonious story and gives us an excellent harmony of these scriptures.
The value of this harmony is very evident. This arrangement mars no one of the several accounts of the story, but does combine them into one harmonious story, and provides an explanation for Luke’s “certain days,” “many days,” the Galatian “three years,” Luke’s “straightway,” and the Galatian “straightway.”
With this harmony before us, we can see why Luke is so very brief on the account of Paul in Act 9 . His plan is to tell the story of the Jerusalem church up to the end of Act 12 . All matters apart from that are briefly noted, and only as they connect with Jerusalem, the center. But from Act 13 he makes Antioch the center, and we are told of his arrest, and later on he shifts back to Jerusalem, and then back to Rome, and thus winds up the history. Remember the centers: First center, Jerusalem; second center, Antioch; third center, Jerusalem, and fourth center, Rome.
Saul did not commence preaching at Damascus immediately after his conversion because he had nothing to preach. He had not yet received the gospel. A man cannot by sudden wrench turn from propagating the Pharisee persecution to propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ. He must have the gospel first, and must receive it direct from the Lord. After you take up the New Testament passages showing how he received the gospel, you will see that he did not receive it while at Damascus. Indeed, we have the most positive proof that he did not receive it there.
But why did he go into Arabia, where in Arabia, and how long there? Being willing to accept Christ as his Saviour, he needs time for adjustment. He needs retirement. He needs, like every preacher needs after conversion, his preparation to preach and to know what to preach. He went into Arabia for this purpose, and, of course, Arabia here means the Sinaitic Peninsula, or Mount Sinai. Up to his conversion he had been preaching Moses and the law given on Mount Sinai. Now he goes into Arabia to Mount Sinai, the very place where God gave the law to Moses, to study the law and the gospel, and comes back to us, having received of the Lord the gospel as explained in Galatians.
There are some analogous cases. The other apostles had to have three years of preparation, and under the same teacher, Jesus. They would have done very poor preaching if they had started immediately after their conversion. Jesus kept them right there, and trained them for three years. Now Paul commences with the three years’ training, and he goes to Arabia and receives the three years’ preparation under the same teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He not only knows the facts of the gospel as we know them from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but as one that was there right at the time, and he gets it firsthand from the Lord Jesus Christ himself telling him all the important facts bearing upon the remaining of the incarnation of Jesus, where he came from in coming to the earth, how much he stooped, what the coming signified, of his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension. We get the harmony of the gospel by studying the books, but he did not get it as we do, but by direct revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ. He introduces a statement concerning the revelation that he received, and he is careful to tell the Corinthian church how that Christ died, was buried, and rose again in three days. It took three years and a half in the analogous cases of other apostles.
Elijah went into Arabia and into this very mountain when he was perplexed; and there came an earthquake, and God was not in the earthquake; and there came a fire, and God was not in the fire, but there came a still, small voice showing Elijah what he must do. Take the case of Moses when the revelation was made to him that he was to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians. God told him the methods and the means and sent him into the same Sinaitic Peninsula. He stayed there forty years in study and preparation, and then delivered Israel.
John the Baptist remained in the wilderness thirty years in order to preach six months. Neither did Jesus open his mouth to preach a sermon until after his baptism, and was led into the wilderness and tempted of the devil, and then came back and immediately commenced to preach. More hurtful mistakes are made by unprepared people taking hold of the Scriptures than in any other way. A certain colonel, when asked by a zealous young preacher, “Well, colonel, what do you think of my sermon,” answered, “Zealous, but weak.”
We have only to read Gal 4 to see the significance of Sinai and Jerusalem, which shows the revolutions which took place in his mind while he was in Arabia. If the apostle Paul had not gone into Arabia, but had been sent to Judea under the old covenant, which is Jerusalem, as Jerusalem now is, the Christian world would have been a Jewish sect. You have only to read to see how certain of the apostles clung to the forms and customs of the Jewish law and claimed that one could not be a Christian without becoming a Jew and being circumcised. What would have been the effect if God had not selected this great life and revealed to him the ministry of the gospel that had been rejected by the Jews and given to the Gentiles, so that foreigners and aliens might become citizens and saints? For a more elaborate discussion of this subject see the author’s sermon on the Arabian visit.
Just before the ministry at Damascus he went into Arabia and returned. He was in Arabia over two, perhaps three years. As he stayed about three years before he went back to Jerusalem, his ministry was not very long in Damascus. The record says, “straightway in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus,” etc. What kind of sermons did they have? The Jews over at Damascus that were still holding to the Mosaic law could not yet understand this revolutionary preaching, and right there at Damascus, he received one of the five Jewish scourgings that are mentioned in 2 Corinthians, which gives a list of the number of times he received the forty stripes save one, and the number of times beaten with the Roman rods, and the number of times scourged with the Jewish scourge. Finding the scourging was not sufficient, they laid a plot against him. They conspired and set a watch at every gate all around the city to kill him. The walls at Damascus have houses built on them, as you can see to this day. They put him in a basket and from a window in the upper story they letrbim down by the wall. Aretas was king of Damascus at this time) and he stationed soldiers at every gate to keep watch, and while they were watching the gates, Paul escaped from the window in an upper story, as given in the thrilling account of 2Co 11:32-33 . Also Luke gives the account, saying that the brethren let him down in a basket by the wall. Now he being let down, started to Jerusalem. Three years have elapsed since he left there, a persecutor, and he returns now a preacher of the Lord Jesus Christ. That presents this connected account.
But why did he want to go to Jerusalem to see Peter? Commentaries say he wanted to get information from Peter; Catholics say that Peter was Pope. Whatever he wanted to get, I think he derived nothing from Peter. When he came there they expressed distrust of him. If he had commenced to preach at Damascus “straightway” after his conversion, in three years’ time some notice would have gotten to Jerusalem, and there would not have been this distrust when he got there. Only one had heard of this change and his beginning to preach, and that was Barnabas, of the Jewish church. When Barnabas related Paul’s experience, they received him and he went in and out among them. But he was there only two weeks.
He commenced immediately to preach to the Grecians, and it stirred up the people as it did at Damascus, and they were so intensely stirred that they laid a plan to kill him. So he left, and there are two reasons for his leaving. When the brethren saw the Jews were about to kill him, they sent him to Caesarea and over to Tarsus. That is one of the reasons for his leaving. Paul gives an entirely different reason. He says, “And it came to pass when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the Temple, I was in a trance, and Jesus came unto me saying, Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. Get thee far hence and preach to the Gentiles,” and he, therefore, went.
Here was the Cilician ministry, its sufferings and its revelations. He was over there five years, and some of the sufferings enumerated in 1 Corinthians II are bound to have occurred in that period; some of the shipwrecks, some of the scourges, some of these stonings. In 2Co 12 he says, “I knew a man in Christ, fourteen years ago,” so if you drop back fourteen years you find yourself there with Paul in Cilicia. In 2Co 12:1-4 we find the revelations that occurred there. One of the revelations there was that marvelous revelation that he received (2Co 12:4 ): “How that he was caught up into Paradise.” Here the question arises, Was it in this tour that he preached on the coasts of Judea? In Acts he seems to say that he preached at Damascus first and then at Jerusalem, and in Cilicia, and on the coasts of Judea. We have no history of his preaching on the Judean coasts beyond his statement, and if he did not preach on the coasts of Judea at that time, when do we find a period in his life before that where he could have preached on the Judean coasts? On his way to the Jerusalem conference. Therefore, he says, “While I was in Cilicia, and the five years I was at Tarsus, and just a little way from Tarsus on the Judean coasts.”
Let us consider the Antioch ministry. The record says Barnabas had gone to Tarsus in order to find Saul and bring him back with him, and that Barnabas and Saul preached a year at Antioch. A great many were brought into the church. It was the first time in the world where Jew and Gentile were in the same church together, socially, eating and drinking with each other. But Paul now makes his second visit to Jerusalem. The last of chapter II tells us that Agabus, one of the prophets, foretold a drought in Judea, and Paul and Barnabas took a collection over to them. Later, when Paul is making his last visit to Jerusalem, Agabus meets him and gives that remarkable prophecy which we find in Act 21 , about what would happen to Paul if he went to Jerusalem, he having received the revelation from the Holy Spirit. But the condition of Jerusalem when he arrived was awful. Herod, as we find in Act 12 , was persecuting the church, and had killed James and imprisoned Peter. Paul comes just at that time. On his return to Antioch he finds a new companion, Mark.
The Romanists place here Peter’s first visit to Rome. They take two passages of scripture, one Act 2 , where Peter visits all parts, and they say when he left Jerusalem this time he went to Rome, and got back to Jerusalem in time for that big council in Act 15 . So far as Bible history goes, there is not a bit of testimony that Peter ever saw Rome. I think he did, but we do not get it from the Bible.
Here arises another question, Did the shock of our Lord’s appearance to Saul on the way to Damascus, likely injure him physically in a permanent way, and permanently affect his sensibilities? My opinion is that it did. He was never a strong man after that. His eyes always gave him trouble. Though the scales fell from his eyes, and he was not entirely blind, his eyes were weak, and he had to grope his way in walking. There are two pictures of Paul which greatly contrast his physical appearance. Raphael gives us a famous cartoon of Paul at Athens, and one of the most famous pictures of the great apostle. We find a copy of it in most Bible illustrations, certainly in any Roman Catholic Bible. Another picture is by the artist, Albrecht Durer. It is called a medallion, a carved picture, and it presents a little, ugly, weak, bald-headed, blear-eyed Jew. Durer’s picture is the one that fits Paul’s account of himself, and not Raphael’s.
I here commend, in addition to Conybeare and Howson’s Life of Paul and Farrar’s History , Lightfoot on Galatians.
QUESTIONS 1. What is the theme of this section?
2. What is the scriptures?
3. What is the time covered by this period?
4. What two scriptures must here be reconciled?
5. What is the problem here?
6. What is the Hackett view of it?
7. What is the real solution of it?
8. Show how the scriptures are made to fit this scheme.
9. How may we show the harmony of these scriptures?
10. What is the value of this harmony?
11. Why did not Saul commence preaching at Damascus immediately after his conversion?
12.Why did he go into Arabia, where in Arabia, & how long there?
13. What are the analogous cases cited?
14.What was the added value of this preparation to Saul?
15.What sermon commended in this connection & have you read it?
16. Describe the ministry at Damascus.
17. Why did he want to go to Jerusalem to see Peter?
18. Explain the distrust there & its bearing on preceding question.
19. How long was he there?
20. What of his ministry while there?
21. What two reasons for his leaving?
22. How long was the Cilician ministry, and what its sufferings and its revelations?
23. Was it in this tour that be preached on the coasts of Judea?
24. Describe the Antioch ministry, and how long was it?
25. What carried Paul on his second visit to Jerusalem, and when does Agabus again appear in this history?
26. What was the condition of Jerusalem when he arrived?
27. Where do the Romanists place Peter’s first visit to Rome?
28. On Paul’s return to Antioch, what new companion had he?
29. Did the shock of our Lord’s appearance, to Saul on the way to Damascus likely injure him physically in a permanent way, and permanently affect his sensibilities?
30. What two pictures of Paul greatly contrast his physical appearance, and which is most likely true to nature?
31. What special authority on this period, in addition to Conybeare and Howson, and Farrar’s History, commended?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
Ver. 20. Works meet for repentance ] Gr. “worthy of repentance,” that weigh just as much as repentance doth. The Syriac hath it, works equal and even with repentance. See Trapp on “ Mat 3:8 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
20. . ] See ch. Act 9:20 .
belongs to . (De W.), not to ( .) as Meyer; see Luk 8:34 ; and on this sense of , note on Act 26:6 above.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 26:20 . .: “both to them of Damascus first, and at Jerusalem,” reading (see critical note) after , thus closely connecting Damascus and Jerusalem as the scenes of Paul’s first activity, cf. Act 9:20 ; Act 9:28 . ., see critical note. If we read accusative simply without = accusative of space marking the extension of the preaching. Blass solves the difficulty by regarding = , ut spe . The statement seems to contradict Gal 1:22 , and there is no mention of such a widely extended preaching at this time in Acts. It has therefore been held by some that reference is made to the preaching at the time of Saul’s carrying relief with Barnabas from Antioch to Jerusalem, Act 11:30 , Act 12:25 (Zckler and Rendall), while others refer the passage to Rome Act 15:10 (Weiss), and others combine Act 11:29-30 , Act 15:3 = Rom 15:10 . Ramsay, St. Paul , p. 382, regards the statement as so directly contradictory to all other authorities that he practically follows Blass in [402] text, and reads , “in every land to both Jews and Gentiles”. The text he regards as not Lucan and hardly Greek, see also Blass, in loco ; ought to be ., as in Act 10:39 , etc. But see in defence of reading in T.R. as against Blass, and the reference of the words to the journeys in Act 11:30 , Act 15:3 , Wendt, in loco (1899). The general meaning given to the words by Blass is at all events in accordance with the view of the speech as a summary, and not as an account in detail, of the Apostle’s work (C. and H., p. 620). Dr. Farrar, St. Paul , i., 228, ingeniously supposes that Paul may have preached on his way from Damascus to Jerusalem in the guest chambers of the Jewish synagogues, so that he may not have come into contact with any Christian communities, and he would thus explain Gal 1:22 . : imperfect, denoting continuous preaching; here only of preaching the Gospel, but cf. Act 17:30 W.H [403] , where God announces to men everywhere to repent, , a striking similarity in language with Paul’s words here ( cf. 1Jn 1:2-3 ). , cf. for the expression Act 14:15 , and see above on Act 26:18 . : “worthy of their repentance,” R.V. margin, i.e. , of the repentance which they profess. In the Gospels , , here , but cf. Eph 2:10 ; Eph 5:11 , Col 1:10 , Tit 3:8 , and with genitive rei , more frequent in St. Luke and St. Paul than in any other N.T. writers. : used in N.T. sometimes of good, sometimes of evil, actions; in classical Greek is more frequent de inhonestis, cf. Xen., Mem. , iii., 9, 4, see Grimm, sub v.
[402] R(omana), in Blass, a first rough copy of St. Luke.
[403] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Acts
‘BEFORE GOVERNORS AND KINGS’
Act 26:19 – Act 26:32
Festus was no model of a righteous judge, but he had got hold of the truth as to Paul, and saw that what he contemptuously called ‘certain questions of their own superstition,’ and especially his assertion of the Resurrection, were the real crimes of the Apostle in Jewish eyes. But the fatal wish to curry favour warped his course, and led him to propose a removal of the ‘venue’ to Jerusalem. Paul knew that to return thither would seal his death-warrant, and was therefore driven to appeal to Rome.
That took the case out of Festus’s jurisdiction. So that the hearing before Agrippa was an entertainment, got up for the king’s diversion, when other amusements had been exhausted, rather than a regular judicial proceeding. Paul was examined ‘to make a Roman holiday.’ Festus’s speech Act 25:24 – Act 25:27 tries to put on a colour of desire to ascertain more clearly the charges, but that is a very thin pretext. Agrippa had said that he would like ‘to hear the man,’ and so the performance was got up ‘by request.’ Not a very sympathetic audience fronted Paul that day. A king and his sister, a Roman governor, and all the elite of Caesarean society, ready to take their cue from the faces of these three, did not daunt Paul. The man who had seen Jesus on the Damascus road could face ‘small and great.’
The portion of his address included in the passage touches substantially the same points as did his previous ‘apologies.’ We may note how strongly he puts the force that impelled him on his course, and lays bare the secret of his life. ‘I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision’; then the possibility of disobedience was open after he had heard Christ ask, ‘Why persecutest thou Me?’ and had received commands from His mouth. Then, too, the essential character of the charge against him was that, instead of kicking against the owner’s goad, he had bowed his neck to his yoke, and that his obstinate will had melted. Then, too, the ‘light above the brightness of the sun’ still shone round him, and his whole life was one long act of obedience.
We note also how he sums up his work in Act 26:20 , representing his mission to the Gentiles as but the last term in a continuous widening of his field, from Damascus to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to Judaea a phase of his activity not otherwise known to us, and for which, with our present records, it is difficult to find a place, from Judaea to the Gentiles. Step by step he had been led afield, and at each step the ‘heavenly vision’ had shone before him.
How superbly, too, Paul overleaps the distinction of Jew and Gentile, which disappeared to him in the unity of the broad message, which was the same to every man. Repentance, turning to God, works worthy of repentance, are as needful for Jew as for Gentile, and as open to Gentile as to Jew. What but universal can such a message be? To limit it would be to mutilate it.
We note, too, the calmness with which he lays his finger on the real cause of Jewish hate, which Festus had already found out. He does not condescend to rebut the charge of treason, which he had already repelled, and which nobody in his audience believed. He is neither afraid nor angry, as he quietly points to the deadly malice which had no ground but his message.
We further note the triumphant confidence in God and assurance of His help in all the past, so that, like some strong tower after the most crashing blows of the battering-ram, he still ‘stands.’ ‘His steps had wellnigh slipped,’ when foe after foe stormed against him, but ‘Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.’
Finally, Paul gathers himself together, to leave as his last word the mighty sentence in which he condenses his whole teaching, in its aspect of witness-bearing, in its universal destination and identity to the poorest and to loftily placed men and women, such as sat languidly looking at him now, in its perfect concord with the earlier revelation, and in its threefold contents, that it was the message of the Christ who suffered, who rose from the dead, who was the Light of the world. Surely the promise was fulfilled to him, and it was ‘given him in that hour what he should speak.’
The rustle in the crowd was scarcely over, when the strong masterful voice of the governor rasped out the coarse taunt, which, according to one reading, was made coarser and more lifelike by repetition, ‘Thou art mad, Paul; thou art mad.’ So did a hard ‘practical man’ think of that strain of lofty conviction, and of that story of the appearance of the Christ. To be in earnest about wealth or power or science or pleasure is not madness, so the world thinks; but to be in earnest about religion, one’s own soul, or other people’s, is. Which was the saner, Paul, who ‘counted all things but dung that he might win Christ,’ or Festus, who counted keeping his governorship, and making all that he could out of it, the one thing worth living for? Who is the madman, he who looks up and sees Jesus, and bows before Him for lifelong service, or he who looks up and says, ‘I see nothing up there; I keep my eyes on the main chance down here’? It would be a saner and a happier world if there were more of us mad after Paul’s fashion.
Paul’s unruffled calm and dignity brushed aside the rude exclamation with a simple affirmation that his words were true in themselves, and spoken by one who had full command over his faculties; and then he turned away from Festus, who understood nothing, to Agrippa, who, at any rate, did understand a little. Indeed, Festus has to take the second place throughout, and it may have been the ignoring of him that nettled him. For all his courtesy to Agrippa, he knew that the latter was but a vassal king, and may have chafed at Paul’s addressing him exclusively.
The Apostle has finished his defence, and now he towers above the petty dignitaries before him, and goes straight at the conscience of the king. Festus had dismissed the Resurrection of ‘one Jesus’ as unimportant: Paul asserted it, the Jews denied it. It was not worth while to ask which was right. The man was dead, that was agreed. If Paul said He was alive after death, that was only another proof of madness, and a Roman governor had more weighty things to occupy him than investigating such obscure and absurd trifles. But Agrippa, though not himself a Jew, knew enough of the history of the last twenty years to have heard about the Resurrection and the rise of the Church. No doubt he would have been ready to admit his knowledge, but Paul shows a disposition to come to closer quarters by his swift thrust, ‘Believest thou the prophets?’ and the confident answer which the questioner gives.
What was the Apostle bringing these two things-the publicity given to the facts of Christ’s life, and the belief in the prophets- together for? Obviously, if Agrippa said Yes, then the next question would be, ‘Believest thou the Christ, whose life and death and resurrection thou knowest, and who has fulfilled the prophets thereby?’ That would have been a hard question for the king to answer. His conscience begins to be uncomfortable, and his dignity is wounded by this extremely rude person, who ventures to talk to him as if he were a mere common man. He has no better answer ready than a sarcasm; not a very forcible one, betraying, however, his penetration into, and his dislike of, and his embarrassment at, Paul’s drift. His ironical words are no confession of being ‘almost persuaded,’ but a taunt. ‘And do you really suppose that it is so easy a matter to turn me-the great Me, a Herod, a king,’ and he might have added, a sensual bad man, ‘into a Christian?’
Paul met the sarcastic jest with deep earnestness, which must have hushed the audience of sycophants ready to laugh with the king, and evidently touched him and Festus. His whole soul ran over in yearning desire for the salvation of them all. He took no notice of the gibe in the word Christian , nor of the levity of Agrippa. He showed that purest love fills his heart, that he has found the treasure which enriches the poorest and adds blessedness to the highest. So peaceful and blessed is he, a prisoner, that he can wish nothing better for any than to be like him in his faith. He hints his willingness to take any pains and undergo any troubles for such an end; and, with almost a smile, he looks at his chains, and adds, ‘except these bonds.’
Did Festus wince a little at the mention of these, which ought not to have been on his wrists? At all events, the entertainment had taken rather too serious a turn for the taste of any of the three,-Festus, Agrippa, or Bernice. If this strange man was going to shake their consciences in that fashion, it was high time to end what was, after all, as far as the rendering of justice was concerned, something like a farce.
So with a rustle, and amid the obeisances of the courtiers, the three rose, and, followed by the principal people, went through the form of deliberation. There was only one conclusion to be come to. He was perfectly innocent. So Agrippa solemnly pronounced, what had been known before, that he had done nothing worthy of death or bonds, though he had ‘these bonds’ on his arms; and salved the injustice of keeping an innocent man in custody by throwing all the blame on Paul himself for appealing to Csesar. But the person to blame was Festus, who had forced Paul to appeal in order to save his life.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
of = in. Greek. en. App-104.
throughout. Greek. eis. App-104.
repent. Greek. metanoeo. App-111.
meet = worthy of, or answering to. Compare Mat 3:8.
repentance. Greek. metanoia. App-111.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
20. .] See ch. Act 9:20.
belongs to . (De W.), not to ( .) as Meyer; see Luk 8:34; and on this sense of , note on Act 26:6 above.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 26:20. , that they should repent) This more appertains to the Jews.-, turn) This more appertains to the Gentiles. For to turn to the Lord Christ is said in this book especially of the Hebrews: ch. Act 11:21, note: to turn to God is said of the Gentiles: ch. Act 14:15, Act 15:3; Act 15:19; 1Th 1:9.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
first: Act 9:19-22, Act 11:26-30
and at: Act 9:28, Act 9:29, Act 22:17, Act 22:18
and then: Act 26:17, Act 13:46-48, Act 14:16-21, Act 22:21, Act 22:22, Rom 11:18-20
repent: Act 2:38, Act 3:19, Act 11:18, Act 17:30, Act 20:21, Jer 31:19, Jer 31:20, Eze 18:30-32, Mat 3:2, Mat 4:17, Mat 9:13, Mat 21:30-32, Mar 6:12, Luk 13:3, Luk 13:5, Luk 15:7, Luk 15:10, Luk 24:46, Luk 24:47, Rom 2:4, 2Co 7:10, 2Ti 2:25, 2Ti 2:26, Rev 2:5, Rev 2:21, Rev 3:3, Rev 16:11
turn: Act 9:35, Act 14:15, Act 15:19, Psa 22:27, Lam 3:40, Hos 12:6, Hos 14:2, Luk 1:16, 2Co 3:16, 1Th 1:9
and do: Isa 55:7, Mat 3:8, Luk 3:8-14, Luk 19:8, Luk 19:9, Eph 4:17-32, Eph 5:1-25, Eph 6:1-9, Tit 2:2-13, 1Pe 1:14-16, 1Pe 2:9-12, 1Pe 4:2-5, 2Pe 1:5-8
Reciprocal: Lev 5:16 – make Deu 4:30 – if thou Deu 30:10 – turn unto Job 22:23 – return Pro 1:23 – Turn Pro 28:13 – and forsaketh Isa 10:21 – return Isa 31:6 – Turn Isa 59:20 – unto Jer 13:5 – as Jer 18:11 – return Jer 25:5 – Turn Jer 35:15 – Return Jer 36:3 – they may Eze 14:6 – Repent Eze 18:27 – when Eze 33:11 – turn ye Dan 4:27 – break Joe 2:12 – turn Jon 3:8 – let Zec 1:4 – Turn Mat 10:6 – go Mat 12:50 – do Mat 21:29 – he repented Mat 24:31 – he Mar 2:17 – I came Act 3:26 – first Act 9:26 – when Act 18:6 – from Act 21:28 – This is Act 22:15 – of Rom 2:9 – of the Jew Rom 10:18 – Have they Rom 15:18 – to make Gal 1:16 – immediately 1Ti 2:7 – a teacher Tit 3:3 – disobedient Heb 6:1 – repentance
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
0
Act 26:20. First unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem. According to Gal 1:18 it was three years before Paul preached at Jerusalem and other places in Judea.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 26:20. But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Juda, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God. It is noticeable that the verb in the original Greek, here rendered showed first, is the imperfect, and implies a continuing activity: I kept on showing. The course of that long restless activity of his, from the moment of his seeing the Lord by the way, until that very morning when he stood before King Agrippa and spoke these things, is here very briefly in these few words sketched out: From that day have I kept on telling out His messageyes, in Damascus and Jerusalem, throughout all the old land of the Jews, away among the isles of the unnumbered Gentiles. In his short enumeration, the circle of his work is ever wideningat first in Damascus, among the synagogues and the few Christians there in those very early days of the faith; then on the broader and more public stage of the Holy City Jerusalem; the circle widens, and the delivery of the message is carried on throughout all the coasts of Juda. All of a sudden the area is indefinitely increased as the memory of the many congregations of distant Galatia, of remote Lycaonia, of storied Greece, of populous and luxurious Asia, surged up in the apostles mind; and he adds those broad inclusive words, and then to the Gentiles,to the heathen world.
We have no difficulty in tracing in the Acts and Epistles the story of his preaching at Damascus and Jerusalem. We know from Barnabas testimony, that he preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus (chap. Act 9:27); and that in Jerusalem, too, he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians (chap. Act 9:28-29); but we have some difficulty in exactly fixing the date of the preaching throughout all the coast of Juda. Dr. Hackett suggests that this part of the work of Paul was carried on when he went to the Holy Land at the time of the famine (see chap. Act 11:30), or while he was at Jerusalem, between his first and second mission to the Heathen (see chap, Act 18:22).
The fourth and greatest of his labours here alluded to among the Gentiles, includes all his missionary toils in Asia Minor and Greece.
And do works meet for repentance. Here Paul, as was his custom always in his teaching, is careful to show that his theology was something more than a creed; it was a life. It was by no means enough that the Jew should profess sorrow for the past, for his rejection of the risen Messiahnot sufficient that the Pagan should desert the altars of his many gods for the simple, earnest worship of the Christian in their upper room, if they did not at the same time change their way of living. It is the gravest of all mistakes to suppose that the great apostle of faith ever omitted to press home to his converts the necessity of living the religion they confessed with their lips. With Paul, faith meant the loving, childlike trust in the Fatherhood of God, who, to redeem us and to restore us to our lost home, spared not His own Son. And this loving trust in the mind of Paul would ever show itself in acts and words and thoughts which that Father would look on, and when He looked could love. The expression, works meet for repentance, is a strange one, and apparently was one of John the Baptists favourite sayings (see Mat 3:8). Very probably Paul had been among the rapt listeners of that gallant and devoted spirit who played among the Jews, in the last sad period of their history, the part the monk Savonarola played hundreds of years later among the Christians of the dying Christianity of Italy, and who received at the hands of his fellow-countrymen a like guerdon with John. If Paul had not been himself a hearer of the Baptist, he of course was well acquainted with his preaching (we know many Pharisees came to his baptism, Mat 3:7); and such a frequent expression as this, no doubt, was graven with an iron pen for ever on the tablets of St. Pauls heart.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 19