Acts 26:22

Acts 26:22. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day. Never without Divine protection had he stood alive before that brilliant court and King Agrippa. Had not the invincible guards of the great King stood around him these past years, that frail life of his would have been long since sacrificed. The memories of Lystra and the rain of cruel stones, the guerdon of his kindly deeds done there; the persecutions of Philippi, of Corinth, and of Beraea; the danger in the theatre of Ephesus, and the later deadly perils he had escaped at Jerusalem, the thoughts which crowded round him when he penned the fourth and eleventh Chapter s of the second Corinthian letter (see chap. Acts 4:7-12 and Acts 11:23-27), prompted this expression of sure trust, of calm, unruffled confidence in the arm of the Lord stretched ever out before him to guard and keep His faithful servant. Paul seemed ever to hear the rustle of the Almighty wings as they moved in solemn guardianship above his head.

Witnessing both to small and great. Rank, not age, is here meant. It is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Christianity that, as regards the future life, it ignores all present class distinctions. That there will be degrees in glory in the eternal kingdom is more than probable, just as there are, we know, grades in the hierarchy of heaven. Thrones, principalities, archangels, angels, with a stammering tongue faintly express our conception of these. But the teaching of Christ as expounded by His chosen servants, such as James, and John, and Paul, shows us that to win this prize of our high calling all stand equally well the learned and unlearned, high-born and low-born, bond and free, rich and poor. The great teachers of Christianity of the first days, while specially careful, even anxious to avoid disturbing class privileges here on earth, at the same time taught that all these distinctions in society were merely temporary, enduring at most only during the short space of human life; and that in the timeless existence which was to succeed this vanishing and uncertain earth-life, entirely new conditions would regulate position and work in the City of God. This was a glorious onlook for the slave, and for all the heavy-laden, sorely-tried sons and daughters of men, and one that urged individual generosity and self-denial, while it forbade discontent and repining. So Paul tells the magnificent Jewish king and his haughty sister, that during that long career of restless work he had with equal alacrity and patient care spoken to the poorest slave and proudest noble.

The phrase is one often used in the New Testament. See chap. Acts 8:10; Revelation 11:18; Revelation 13:16; Revelation 19:5; Revelation 19:18; Revelation 20:12.

Saying none other things than those which the Prophets and Moses did say should come. Before delivering the message which the One who appeared to him on the Damascus road had entrusted to him, Paul was in the habit of simply relating the well-known story of the arrest, trial, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. He then out of the Old Testament Scriptures showed that this was exactly what Moses and the prophets had foretold of the coming Messiah, viz. that He should suffer, die, and rise from the dead. Paul in his argument used none of the traditions and expository additions which had long been growing round the law and the prophets, but simply for his grand purpose quoted the words of the old inspired men, and they were enough.