ACTS 25 – 26
Bible Study Notes Rev. Betsy Perkins
More Hearings, More Trials
- We put lots of hope in our leaders – national and local leaders, church leaders, even in the head of a household. Recall a time when you had high hopes in a leader but ended up disappointed.
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 1:33:08 – 1:34:48
Trial with Governor Festus (25:1-12)
- What would have been the purpose of the new governor’s visit to Jerusalem?
- Why are the chief priests and Jewish leaders still so fixated on killing Paul?
- How is the new plot by the Jewish leaders similar to the previous plot?
- What is the compromise the new governor tries to work out? How does Paul respond?
- What did it mean for a Roman citizen to “appeal to Caesar”?
The ‘appeal’, of course, was not like an ‘appeal’ today, when a verdict has already been reached and a sentence already imposed, and the convicted person appeals against one or both. The case against Paul has still not been tried, and has still not reached a verdict, far less a sentence. What Paul is appealing for is for the case to be tried elsewhere, in the highest court in the empire. This is his right as a citizen (though not many citizens would dare disturb His Majesty with such a request, and might expect the cards to be stacked against them if they tried it). Paul has been promised by God through his sense of vocation (19:21) and has been promised by Jesus through a special vision (23:11), that he would get to Rome. What Luke has now told us is that Paul himself has had to take responsibility, at one level, for making this happen. N.T. Wright
- Do believe we should pray and wait for God to act, or are there times when God acts through our taking responsibility in the matter? Read Exodus 14:14, then read Joshua 1:6.
Consultation with King Agrippa (25:13-27):
- Who is King Agrippa? (great-grandson of King Herod the Great, in Matthew 2; son of King Herod Agrippa I, in Acts 12)
- Who is Bernice? (King Agrippa’s sister, widow of her uncle Herod of Chalcis, married again to a king of Cilicia, mistress of another man, but ‘living’ with her brother)
Though Luke mentions none of this, the fact that he just says ‘and Bernice’ in vs.13 may tell its own story; most of his first hearers or readers would raise at least one eyebrow at the thought of this fashionable and powerful woman coming into contact with Paul. It is as though, reading the story of some traveling evangelist, we were to come upon a photograph of the preacher shaking hands with Marilyn Monroe. N.T. Wright
- In Luke 23:6-12 another Roman governor consults another Herod – who was the important prisoner then? What help and advice is Governor Festus trying to get from King Agrippa?
- What is the perception Festus has gained about the Christian faith in his interactions with Paul and with the Jews (vs.18-19)? Has he understood the basic message of Easter?
- What is Fetus’ conclusion about whether Paul has done anything wrong (vs.25)?
Paul Addresses King Agrippa (26:1-23):
- What aspect of King Agrippa’s background does Paul appeal to as he addresses him?
- Does Paul describe his hope as connected and consistent with the Jewish faith or as opposed to it (vs.6-8)? In what ways?
- What point is Paul making by sharing how he had been so opposed to Christians initially?
- What point is Paul making by sharing his conversion story? What changed in his beliefs? What did not change in his beliefs?
[Paul’s] message about resurrection – (a) that it is what we were all waiting for, and (b) that it has happened, to our enormous surprise, in Jesus – is at the heart of his claim that this changes everything at the same moment as fulfilling everything. It is the changes, of course, which are the controversial bits, but Paul’s point would be that they are not changes for change’s sake, nor changes because there was something wrong with the old ways, but changes because God’s new world had arrived, fulfilling the promises to bless all nations through Abraham, and that in this new world it appeared that some things which Jews, himself included, had thought were fixed for ever had turned out to be, quite deliberately from God’s point of view, only temporary. N.T. Wright
- This is now the third time Luke has shares the story of Paul’s conversion (9:1-19, 22:5-21). What are the new details in what Jesus said to Paul that he now shares?
- What is a goad? What did Jesus mean when he said, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads”?
[Jesus] warns Paul about the difficult of ‘kicking against the goads’ like an ox, angry at the metal prods that are pushing it in the right direction and kicking out at them, thereby making things worse. The point is not simply that God is wanting Paul to do something and, like an obstinate ox, he is refusing. The point is that the crucified Jesus is himself doing a new work through his resurrection, and that Paul, in persecuting the church, is like an ox kicking against the direction the Driver intends the whole ox-train, plough and all, to be traveling. N.T. Wright
- How is verse 18 a description of what is involved in the process of Christian conversion?
- How might you turn verse 18 into a prayer for those who do not know what God has done for them through Jesus?
- List the 5 elements of the Gospel message in verses 22-23.
Paul’s Crazy Hope (26:24-32):
- How does Festus react, just as Paul reaches the peak of his address with the powerful description of the Gospel message? Why?
- Paul puts Agrippa on the spot with a question. What is the pressure on him in his answer? How does he respond?
- What is the conclusion that Festus and Agrippa draw for the hearing with Paul? Did it surprise you or was it what you expected?
- What lessons might you take from Paul about sharing your faith in Jesus with non-believers?
In light of this passage and our discussion, what one truth about God and about yourself stand out as something to “take to heart” this week?
Are there steps you will take, by God’s grace, to more fully apply it to your life?
Resources: NIV Zondervan Study Bible, 2015
N.T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part 1 2008
Max Lucado, Life Lessons from Acts: Christ’s Church in the World, 2018
Kay Arthur, The Holy Spirit Unleashed in You: Acts, 1994
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – The Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 2014
Add Your Comment