Paul Explains Jesus' Death and Resurrection to King Agrippa

 

Paul Explains Jesus' Death and Resurrection

to King Agrippa

 

Acts 25:1-3 "Three days after Festus arrived in his post, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. The chief priests and the leading Jews were accusing Paul, and they asked Festus for a favor and to have him transferred to Jerusalem, so that they could lie in wait on the way and kill him."

It begins with a scene where Festus, who succeeded Felix as governor of Judea during the reign of Emperor Nero, goes up to Jerusalem. The high priests and the high-ranking Jews accused Paul. The high priests and the Jews asked Festus, who had been entrusted with authority, to do them a favor. They wanted to send Paul, who had been imprisoned for the past two years, to Jerusalem. The high priests and the Jews must have had many requests and discussions with Festus, but seeing that they brought up the plot to kill Paul first, we can guess how much anger and rage they had toward Paul over the past two years.

Festus said that Paul was safely in custody in Caesarea, and that if he wanted to accuse him, he should come down with him. The chief priests and the most important of the Jews asked Festus, the governor of Judea, who was a higher and more powerful person, to show them favor. They wanted to get what they wanted done through favors. And they probably thought of it as charis, or grace. On the other hand, Paul had not been seeking favors from powerful people for the past two years.

Festus stayed in Jerusalem for about eight or ten days and then went down to Caesarea. The next day he called Paul and brought him before the judge. The Jews who had come with him from Jerusalem surrounded him and brought many charges against him. But he could not find sufficient evidence.

Paul defended himself in the same way as he had defended himself before the Sanhedrin and before the governor Felix. He defended himself as being completely innocent before the Word of God, within the community of believers, and under worldly law. Then Festus asked Paul a question so that he would look good in the minds (karin) of the Jews.

However, the Apostle Paul firmly refused. The reason was that the Apostle Paul clearly knew his mission. And he already knew that he would go to Rome by the grace that God had given him completely and freely. Paul had been an apostle to the Gentiles through three missionary journeys, established many churches, preached the gospel before kings, and knew from the time he was first called that he would now go to the Roman emperor.

Finally, he could not find any charges against the apostle Paul and he was in front of the Jews from Jerusalem who were full of hatred and anger, and he could not do anything. Paul spoke firmly and boldly before Governor Festus, who had tried to resolve it with favor, and he declared that he would go to Rome. And he firmly and boldly declared that he would stand before the emperor.

Paul’s appeal to Caesar must have been a very fortunate thing for the new proconsul Festus, because it was a difficult and difficult matter to resolve, and he could now refer it to a higher court. Instead, Festus had to prepare an appeal for the accusation and defense between the Jews and Paul. At that time, King Agrippa and Bernice, who were well versed in Jewish religion and culture, came to visit Festus. Festus now had people who could be of great help to him in his current situation.

King Agrippa was the son of Herod Agrippa I, and in A.D. 48 he had inherited from his uncle the small kingdom between Lebanon and Antillebanon. He also had the right to appoint the high priest and to govern the synagogues in Judea, and in A.D. 53 he received a larger territory that included the territories ruled by Philip and Lysanias. King Agrippa was pro-Roman, and whenever a new Roman governor was appointed, he would pay a courtesy visit to him. Bernice, who was also present, was the eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I, and the two sisters had come together to visit Governor Festus.

Governor Festus naturally asked King Agrippa for advice on Paul’s case. He may have wanted to handle his first case after taking office well, and he may have wanted to show King Agrippa and Bernice his competence. However, the Jews’ accusations against Paul were not sufficient to punish him under Roman law. Also, the evidence they presented did not exist. Furthermore, he explained to King Agrippa that the Jews’ accusations were about the Jewish religion and the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The resurrection that Paul spoke of did not mean that the dead body came back to life, but that the spirit rose from the dead and took on a spiritual body. The resurrection meant that Jesus, who had died, came back to life with a resurrected body, and this body was not received from his parents, but from heaven.

Believers believe that the body they received from their parents has been transformed into a spiritual body. Why do they believe this? It is because they value the present visible body. However, the present body is like an insect's husk. We must realize that there is a mysterious body inside it. The previous body dies and is reborn as a new body, which is resurrection. So the revived spirit reunites with the mysterious body.

When the resurrected spirit of Jesus unites with his mystical body, believers will wonder where his previous dead body went. This is the baptism of fire by the Holy Spirit. Luke 12:49-50 “I came to throw fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am distressed until it is accomplished!” Fire signifies the baptism of fire, and Jesus’ death on the cross is a death to atone for all the sins of the world.

In the Old Testament, the sacrificial lamb's blood was sprinkled on the altar, and its flesh was burned on the altar. The flesh was burned and returned to dust. The death of all humans also returns to dust. Sinners offer sacrifices to God and become new beings and return to their homes. This is a ritual, a ritual that is believed in the heart. However, Jesus' baptism by fire is actually becoming a new being. Jesus' baptism by fire is something that happened in the grave during the period of his death and resurrection, and no one saw it, but the angel testifies to it.

Matthew 28:6-7 "He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord Jesus lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead; and behold, he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him. 'Behold, I have told you.'"

“He is risen from the dead” (Egerde apo ton nekron ἠγέρθη ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν). The English translation is “He is risen from the dead.” It means “He (the spirit) rises from a dead body.” 1 Peter 3:18 also testifies, "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit." So the living spirit puts on a spiritual body,

1 Corinthians 15:44 says, "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body." Even John 6:63 says, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life."