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Scripture • World English Bible
Acts 26:1–11
1Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.”
2“I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you today concerning all the things that I am accused by the Jews,
3especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.
4“Indeed, all the Jews know my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among my own nation and at Jerusalem;
5having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
6Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers,
7which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa!
8Why is it judged incredible with you if God does raise the dead?
9“I myself most certainly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10I also did this in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them.
11Punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
World English Bible (WEB) • Public Domain
Reflection
Paul stands before King Agrippa and does something surprising: he sets the uproar about him in the frame of Israel’s hope. He doesn't defend himself by arguing legal technicalities or promising better behavior. Instead he says plainly that he stands judged for the hope tied to the promises God made to the fathers — the hope that God will raise the dead. Then he asks the question that cuts to the heart of the matter: why should anyone find that incredible?
To appreciate Paul's point we should notice two things he names about himself. First, his life and credentials: he had been a Pharisee, educated within the Jewish system, steeped in its customs and reasoning. Second, his former zeal against Jesus’ followers: he once persecuted the church, locking up believers, consenting to their deaths, and driving them from city to city. Paul knows the Scriptures and knows the force of Jewish conviction. If resurrection were foreign to Israel’s faith, Paul could not honestly say he stands judged for that hope. His question invites Agrippa and his listeners to see the continuity between Scripture, Israel’s expectations, and the Christian proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection.
So why, in Paul’s day and in ours, do people act as if God raising the dead is unbelievable? Partly because unbelief often springs from a refusal to accept the implications of God’s work in Jesus. If Jesus rose from the dead, then accusations against him must be re-examined; if the grave is not the last word, life and suffering take on different meaning. Many prefer the safety of their assumptions — about life, power, or what justice looks like — to the disruptive claim of a risen Lord.
Another reason is hardened hearts. Paul’s own life is the best evidence that prior knowledge or religious pedigree does not guarantee receiving God’s truth. He had the law and zeal; yet his eyes were closed until God graciously broke in. In the same way, educated minds, pious lives, or cultural confidence can become barriers to seeing resurrection reality.
But Paul’s question is not merely rhetorical; it invites a verdict and a response. Believing that God raises the dead reshapes everything: our fear of death is pierced, grief is held in hope, Christian witness is rooted in an event with historical and eternal consequences, and discipleship becomes urgent because eternity matters.
Let Paul’s question work on you: is resurrection incredible to you? If so, ask why. Is it intellectual doubt? Habit? Fear of what belief would require? Ask God to open your eyes as he did Paul’s, and let the risen Christ change how you live, love, suffer, and speak on the front lines of life.
Putting Faith Into Action
- When you face death or grief, name the hope of the resurrection aloud and offer practical comfort: visit, pray, and help carry daily needs with the assurance that the grave is not final.
- Share your testimony of how Christ’s resurrection changed your life — invite questions, listen patiently, and use Scripture and personal story to make belief reasonable for skeptics.
- Let resurrection hope guide your priorities: make decisions about time, money, and service with eternity in view; serve the powerless knowing suffering is not meaningless.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, open our eyes as you did Paul's. Help us not to treat resurrection as incredible but as the center of our hope. Soften hardened places in our hearts. Give us courage to live and speak with the bold, loving confidence that you are alive and that death will not have the last word. Amen.
Memory Verse
Acts 26:8 — Why is it judged incredible with you if God does raise the dead? (WEB)
“Why is it judged incredible with you if God does raise the dead?”
Bible Context
Read all of Acts 26
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Bible Context
Read all of Acts 26
Acts 26
World English Bible • WEB
1Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.”
2“I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you today concerning all the things that I am accused by the Jews,
3especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.
4“Indeed, all the Jews know my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among my own nation and at Jerusalem;
5having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
6Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers,
7which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa!
8Why is it judged incredible with you if God does raise the dead?
9“I myself most certainly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10I also did this in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them.
11Punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
12“Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests,
13at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me.
14When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15“I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
16But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will reveal to you;
17delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,
18to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
19“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
20but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
21For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.
22Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen,
23how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, he would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles.”
24As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!”
25But he said, “I am not crazy, most excellent Festus, but boldly declare words of truth and reasonableness.
26For the king knows of these things, to whom also I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him, for this has not been done in a corner.
27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”
28Agrippa said to Paul, “With a little persuasion are you trying to make me a Christian?”
29Paul said, “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these bonds.”
30The king rose up with the governor and Bernice, and those who sat with them.
31When they had withdrawn, they spoke to one another, saying, “This man does nothing worthy of death or of bonds.”
32Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
World English Bible (WEB) • Public Domain
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