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None Other Things.
"Saying none other things than those which the prophets
and Moses did say should come" (Acts 26: 22).
#1.
Paul's defence must be understood as literally true.
pp. 65 - 68
When the Apostle declares, in Col. 1: 26, that the Mystery which had been hid from
ages and from generations, has now been made manifest, his words are a commentary
upon the essential nature of a "mystery" or "secret". We shall search in vain the pages of
the prison epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, II Timothy, Philemon) for any
references to the law and the prophets, in so far as the distinctive revelation of the
Mystery is concerned. We have already seen, in earlier Volumes of The Berean
Expositor, that Paul's apostolic ministry falls into two parts, and Acts 26:, which
supplies us with the sub-title of the present series, provides information on this point.
Speaking of his conversion and commission on the road to Damascus, the Apostle tells us
that the Lord said to him:
"I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both
of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto
thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send
thee" (Acts 26: 16, 17).
The word "both" here cannot be set aside; it indicates two ministries. We read of
"these things" and "those things"; of the "things which thou hast seen", and the "things
in the which I will appear unto thee". Here obviously we have two ministries. Further,
while the Apostle soon found that his own "people", Israel, were opposed to him, he also
found during the early part of his ministry, that the Gentiles, especially the Roman
soldiers, were often his protectors. Proceeding from this statement, the Apostle leads on
to the verse cited at the head of this article.
We must remember, in reading this passage, that Paul is a bondman, that he has
appealed unto Cæsar, and that the only reason for this special hearing before Agrippa, is
that Festus, the new Roman Governor, is in a predicament--for, he says: "It seemeth to
me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against
him." Paul, therefore, has to offer a defence, and, knowing that the Jewish religion, with
its temple worship and sacred books, is a religion sanctioned by Roman authority, his
defence is that he has not gone outside the teaching of the law and the prophets, and so
has committed no crime against the laws of Rome.
With regard to his ministry which he had fulfilled, the Apostle says: