Almost a Christian

[Acts 26:28] Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
This speech, though in substance the same as that from the fortress stairs of Jerusalem (22:1-29), differs from it in being less directed to meet the charge of apostasy from the Jewish faith, and giving more enlarged views of his remarkable change and missionary commission, and the divine support under which he was enabled to brave the hostility of his countrymen.
Here the missionary appears to condense his personal history in various sayings of his L-rd to him in visions at different times, in order to present at one view the grandeur of the commission with which his Master had clothed him. Trying to put himself=lf on a footing with those "eye-witnesses and ministers of the word" mentioned in Lk. 1:2. He was all along the object of Jewish malignity, and was at that moment in the hands of the Gentiles; yet he calmly reposes on his Master's assurances of deliverance from both, at the same time taking all precautions for safety and vindicating all his legal rights.
His speech here was not meant for his own vindication as to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith. The connection here between being "turned from darkness" and "from the power of Satan," whose whole power over men lies in keeping them in the dark: hence he is called "the ruler of the darkness of this world," faith is here made the instrument of salvation at once in its first stage, forgiveness, and its last, admission to the home of the sanctified; And who that believes this can refrain from casting his crown before Him or resist offering Him supreme worship?
[24] Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.
The union of flowing Greek, deep acquaintance with the sacred writings of his nation, reference to a resurrection and other doctrines to a Roman utterly unintelligible, and, above all, lofty religious earnestness, so strange to the cultivated, cold-hearted skeptics of that day--may account for this sudden exclamation.
Can anything surpass this reply, for readiness, self-possession, and calm dignity? Every word of it refuted the rude charge, though Festus, probably, did not intend to hurt the prisoner's feelings.
The courage and confidence here shown proceeded from a vivid persuasion of Agrippa's knowledge of the facts and faith in the predictions which they verified; and the king's reply is the highest testimony to the correctness of these presumptions and the immense power of such bold yet courteous appeals to conscience.
- "Thou thinkest to make me with little persuasion (or small trouble) a Christian". The objection on which so much stress is laid, that the word "Christian" was at that time only a term of contempt, has no force except on the other side; for taking it in that view, the sense is, "Thou wilt soon have me one of that despised sect."
[29] And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.
Doubtless holding up his two chained hands (12:6): which in closing such a noble utterance must have had an electrical effect.