Acts 26:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Then again there are witnesses, his companions. Next he shows that he believed rightly. This is proved by the manifestation of the light, by the prophets, by the events, and by what is now taking place.

“Brighter than the shining of the sun.” Paul speaks of a radiance brighter than sensible light. Since he considers it impossible to compare the light of Jesus with sunlight, he describes the manifestation as human hearing can receive it. He says that this light far surpasses the light of the sun.

If this sun below, which is of one nature with our eyes below, strikes them by its power and not by wrath, by its proper radiance and not by fury, how much more does the light from on high strike one who differs from it in nature and unexpectedly looks upon it? For if Paul was struck by this sun familiar to him because of its power, when he looked at it in an unfamiliar way, how much more would he be struck by the glory of that light to which his eyes were not accustomed from the beginning?

The speech of the Apostle Paul at this trial, in the presence of King Agrippa, is likewise a defense, just as his speech before the Jews on the steps of the Jerusalem fortress was. But now the Apostle spoke with greater freedom than he had then, before a crowd of fanatics. Since he was not interrupted and could speak fully, he defended himself in such a way that he also bore solemn witness to Christ. He testified that Christ had died and risen, according to the prophecy of Moses and the other ancient prophets. He also called his hearers to repentance and conversion to God.

Therefore he asked them to hear him patiently, and once more recounted the well-known story of his conversion. He had turned from being a strict and fanatical Pharisee to faith. He declared that his people's messianic hope had already truly been fulfilled in Jesus the Nazarene. At first he had fiercely persecuted His followers. But Christ personally revealed His glory to him and brought him to know that He had risen from the dead. Why might this faith have seemed implausible even to his hearers? At first it had seemed so to him as well. Yet how could he withstand the personal testimony of Christ Himself? How could he disobey the heavenly voice? That voice sent him to open the eyes of both Jews and Gentiles, so that they might turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Thus, through faith in Jesus, they might receive forgiveness of sins and a portion among the saints. He was not disobedient to this command; for detailed interpretation, see Acts 22:3-21.

"At midday," and so forth. In this second account by the Apostle of his conversion to Christ, some details distinguish it both from the Apostle's first account, Acts 22, and from the sacred historian's account of it, Acts 9. Yet in the general and essential matter, all three accounts are entirely the same. The special features of the present account, compared with those, are as follows. First, the Apostle marks the overwhelming character of the light in which the Lord, Whom he persecuted, appeared to him. It was a light surpassing the radiance of the sun. By contrast, chapter 9 says only "a light from heaven," and chapter 22 says "a great light." This detail completes both of the preceding accounts.

The account of the Lord's appearance to Paul on the road to Damascus contains certain details absent from the earlier accounts in chapters 9 and 22. For example, from this account one must conclude that all first fell down when the extraordinary light from heaven appeared. Afterward the companions quickly rose, while Paul remained lying face down for a long time. Also new is the report that the Lord spoke to Paul in the Hebrew tongue. It was probably considered necessary to mention this because, at that moment, the Apostle was speaking in Greek. In Greek it was less fitting to express the word "goad." As for the Lord's further words, the Apostle may have brought them together from many moments of revelation given to him and for him.