Chapter 26 divides into three main parts – 1-23, Paul before Agrippa (1-3 Paul salutes Agrippa; 4-11 Paul’s early life as a Jew; 12-18 Paul’s conversion on the Damascus Road; 19-23 Paul’s obedience to God and “crime” before the Jews); 24-29, Paul’s dialogue with Festus and Agrippa; and 30-32, the verdict rendered.
26:1-23 is Paul before Agrippa.
Paul salutes Agrippa, 1-3
Verse 1: It appears that King Agrippa is in charge of the meeting. He rather than Festus directs Paul when it is time to speak. Compare Acts 9:15 “he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before…kings” Paul stretches forth his hand in greeting and acknowledgement of the king. Except for when Festus interrupts, Paul directly addresses Agrippa (cf. verses 2, 7, 13, 19, 27, 28).
Verses 2-3: Paul uses captatio benevolentiae (cf. 22:1; 24:2-3, 10) in addressing Agrippa, recognizing him as an expert in Jewish “customs and questions.” For this reason, Paul is happy with the situation, speaking to one who can better understand the religious issues than the Roman governor. He will “answer for myself…touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews” and requests Agrippa to patiently hear him out. He will go into greater detail because of Agrippa’s qualifications to appreciate the details.
The speech of Paul to Agrippa, after the captatio benevolentiae (winning of goodwill, 2), follows a rhetorical format of: exordium/introduction (2-3); narratio/narration (4-18); confirmatio/confirmation (19-20); refutatio/refutation (21); peroratio/conclusion (22-23).[1] Verses 25-29 record Paul’s answer to Festus and his appeal to Agrippa.
[1] The Book of Acts in Its First Century Setting, Volume 1, Winter and Clarke, editors. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993, pp. 329-31.
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