Acts 26:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“I was not disobedient.” I was convinced by this manifestation, Paul says. By this vision the Lord converted me and persuaded me not to delay the work. This vision is pure contemplation, surpassing human powers. A fleshly man cannot see it unless his eyes are opened by a power that is not human.

After proclaiming the faith to those who condemn him, Paul at the end of his speech speaks to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. He does this in order to convert Agrippa, the Gentiles with him, and the Jews who were present. And again: “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” As I believed, so also the one who hears me must believe me. For I report not what I heard from others, but what I heard and saw from heaven. Through the vision, pure contemplation is given, surpassing human capacities. A fleshly man cannot see this until his eyes are opened.

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.

Because this appearance was heavenly, so striking and convincing, so clear and extraordinary, I did not resist the Lord's will expressed in this way. I did not reject the calling, but obeyed it with all my heart. I was not disobedient, though to the Jews it seemed that I should have resisted and refused obedience. "By this appearance He converted me and convinced me so that I could not resist," says Chrysostom. Consequently, from a persecutor I became a preacher of Him Whom I had until then persecuted, as I was commanded at His appearance.

Looking at his destiny after his conversion to faith in Christ, the Apostle speaks of his preaching in Damascus, Jerusalem, Judea, and among other peoples. He also indicates the chief subjects of his preaching: that people should abandon sins, repent, and do good works in keeping with repentance and drawing near to God. By drawing attention to the moral side of his preaching, the Apostle, so to speak, adapted himself to the perception of his hearers. They were more inclined to hear moral instruction than dogmas of faith, which were inaccessible to them because of their height above ordinary concepts, especially pagan ones. Repentance and conversion to God were the subjects of the preaching of all the prophets of the Jewish people. These words were not alien to the pagan world either.

The Apostle Paul presents the preaching of repentance as a universal need and as the chief apostolic work when he says of himself: “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,” that is, to the vision that called him to the apostleship. “But first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.”