translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ACT

label: NET study note

text: See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13 .


text: See the note on Pharisee in 5:34 .


text: See the note on synagogue in 6:9 .


text: As a servant and witness. The commission is similar to Acts 1:8 and Luke 1:2 . Paul was now an “eyewitness” of the Lord.


text: To open their eyes so that they turn… Here is Luke’s most comprehensive report of Paul’s divine calling. His role was to call humanity to change their position before God and experience God’s forgiveness as a part of God’s family. The image of turning is a key one in the NT: Luke 1:79 ; Rom 2:19; 13:12 ; 2 Cor 4:6; 6:14 ; Eph 5:8 ; Col 1:12 ; 1 Thess 5:5 . See also Luke 1:77-79; 3:3; 24:47 .


text: I was not disobedient. Paul’s defense is that he merely obeyed the risen Jesus. He was arrested for obeying heavenly direction and preaching the opportunity to turn to God.


text: That they should repent and turn to God. This is the shortest summary of Paul’s message that he preached.


text: What the prophets and Moses said. Paul argued that his message reflected the hope of the Jewish scriptures.


text: Note how the context of Paul’s gospel message about Jesus, resurrection, and light both to Jews and to the Gentiles is rooted in the prophetic message of the OT scriptures. Paul was guilty of following God’s call and preaching the scriptural hope.


text: See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27 .


text: “Do you believe the prophets?” Note how Paul made the issue believing the OT prophets and God’s promise which God fulfilled in Christ. He was pushing King Agrippa toward a decision not for or against Paul’s guilt of any crime, but concerning Paul’s message.


text: Except for these chains. The chains represented Paul’s unjust suffering for the sake of the message. His point was, in effect, “I do not care how long it takes. I only hope you and everyone else hearing this would become believers in Christ, but without my unjust suffering.”