NLT Illustrated Study Bible - Book of Acts - Flipbook - Page 73
A cts 2 7 : 9
2029
26:31
Acts 23:9, 29
26:32
Acts 25:11
27:1
Acts 25:12
27:2
Acts 19:29; 20:4
27:3
Matt 11:21
Acts 24:23; 27:43;
28:2, 16
27:6
Acts 28:11
27:9
Lev 16:2931
sure these events are all familiar to him,
for they were not done in a corner! 27 King
Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know
you do—”
28 Agrippa interrupted him. “Do you think
you can persuade me to become a Christian
so quickly?”*
29 Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I
pray to God that both you and everyone here
in this audience might become the same as I
am, except for these chains.”
30 Then the king, the governor, Bernice,
and all the others stood and left. 31 As they
went out, they talked it over and agreed,
“This man hasn’t done anything to deserve
death or imprisonment.”
32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “He could
have been set free if he hadn’t appealed to
Caesar.”
Thessalonica, was also with us. We left on a
ship whose home port was Adramyttium on
the northwest coast of the province of Asia;*
it was scheduled to make several stops at
ports along the coast of the province.
3 The next day when we docked at Sidon,
Julius was very kind to Paul and let him go
ashore to visit with friends so they could pro
vide for his needs. 4 Putting out to sea from
there, we encountered strong headwinds that
made it difficult to keep the ship on course,
so we sailed north of Cyprus between the is
land and the mainland. 5 Keeping to the open
sea, we passed along the coast of Cilicia and
Pamphylia, landing at Myra, in the province
of Lycia. 6 There the commanding officer
found an Egyptian ship from Alexandria that
was bound for Italy, and he put us on board.
7 We had several days of slow sailing, and
after
great difficulty we finally neared Cni
6. PAUL GOES TO ROME (27:1–28:31)
dus. But the wind was against us, so we sailed
Paul’s Journey to Rome (27:1–28:16)
across to Crete and along the sheltered coast
The Journey to Cyprus and Crete
When the time came, we set sail for of the island, past the cape of Salmone. 8 We
Italy. Paul and several other prisoners struggled along the coast with great diffi
were placed in the custody of a Roman offi culty and finally arrived at Fair Havens, near
cer* named Julius, a captain of the Imperial the town of Lasea. 9 We had lost a lot of time.
Regiment. 2 Aristarchus, a Macedonian from The weather was becoming dangerous for
27
26:28 Or “A little more, and your arguments would make me a Christian.” 27:1 Greek centurion; similarly in 27:6, 11, 31, 43.
2 7:2 Asia was a Roman province in what is now western Turkey.
were historical matters of public record
that witnesses could attest as factually
true. Agrippa could not invalidate Paul’s
statements of fact.
26:2728 Paul’s question put Agrippa in
a bind: If he said he believed the prophets, he knew Paul would press home
the Christian message; if not, he would
offend the devout Jews in his audience.
Agrippa knew that Paul wasn’t crazy and
that Paul’s testimony about Jesus was
historically sound (26:26). So Agrippa
evaded Paul’s question and refused to
face the claims of Christ, alleging that
the statement given by Paul was too
brief for him to arrive at a responsible
decision.
26:28 “Do you think you can persuade
me to become a Christian so quickly?”:
This enigmatic remark might have been
ironic, incredulous, scoffing, or brushing
off Paul’s challenge. It also might have
been a direct statement of Paul’s per
suasiveness, or a direct statement about
or genuine question of Paul’s intention.
It seems best to take Agrippa’s reply as
deliberately evasive: He didn’t want to
admit that he believed the prophets
(26:27), for Paul had just made a strong
case, and the next step would be to
believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah
to whom the prophets pointed. Agrippa
didn’t want to take that step. On the
other hand, he didn’t want to say that
he didn’t believe the prophets, for that
PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
would alienate the Jewish subjects to
whose loyalties he wanted to appeal. His
non-committal response underlines his
discomfort with Paul’s testimony.
26:29 Paul’s bold answer shows his
quickness in repartee. He challenges
Agrippa and his whole audience about
the value of knowing Christ and making
a personal commitment to him.
26:31 The consensus of these rulers
was that Paul had not done anything to
deserve death or imprisonment; this ver
dict was given repeatedly by the Roman
authorities that considered Paul’s case
(25:25; see Luke 23:4, 15, 22).
26:32 He could have been set free: The
legal verdict was clear (26:31). But as a
practical matter, if he hadn’t appealed
to Caesar, Paul might not have been
alive (25:111). As it was, he was fulfill
ing God’s purposes for him (23:11).
27:1–28:16 The vivid nautical language
used throughout the account of Paul’s
journey to Rome yields one of the best
available accounts of an ancient sea
voyage. • This is the last “we” section
in Acts (see also 16:1017; 20:515;
21:118). During the two years of Paul’s
imprisonment, Luke had probably done
much of the research for his Gospel
throughout Judea and Galilee. Here, as
a member of Paul’s sailing party, he was
an eyewitness participant in the danger
at sea.
GOSPELS & ACTS
27:1 Julius is otherwise unknown. • The
Imperial Regiment (see note on 10:18)
served in Syria during this time.
27:2 Aristarchus was a native of Thessalonica and a co-worker with Paul in Asia
(see 19:29; 20:4, 6; Phlm 1:24). • Adramyttium was a port on the west coast of
Asia Minor southeast of Troas.
27:3 Sidon, on the coast about 70 miles
(110 km) north of Caesarea, was the first
port of call. Julius treated Paul kindly
and allowed his local Christian friends to
care for him.
27:46 Luke describes in detail the sea
voyage north and then west along the
southern coast of Asia Minor. • Myra was
a regular stop for Egyptian grain ships
bound for Italy.
27:7 The great difficulty was due in
part to the lateness of the season (27:9).
• Cnidus was a seaport on the south
western coast of Asia Minor near the
island of Cos. • The cape of Salmone was
located at the northeastern tip of Crete,
the largest of the Greek islands.
27:8 Fair Havens was a small bay on the
southern side of the island of Crete.
27:9 because it was so late in the fall:
This was a dangerous time for a voyage
on the Mediterranean.
L E T T E R S O F PAU L
OTHER LET TERS
