‘And Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched forth his hand, and made his defence.'
At this point Agrippa turned to Paul and gave him permission to put forward his defence against the charge that had not been made against him, and the accusations of the Jews.
We should pause and consider here the position in which Paul now found himself. Every notable person in Caesarea, both Jew and Gentile, was gathered there, together with King Agrippa II and the Roman procurator. We may ask how else could Paul have ever been able to face such a remarkable audience? Men whom the church would never ordinarily be able to reach were all gathered with instructions to listen carefully to the words of Paul. And it was not a trial. Everything was relaxed. What an opportunity it presented. God alone is aware of what fruit eventually came out of that hearing. For every now and again we learn of powerful men who had responded to Christ and become His own. And as he stood there Paul remembered the words of the Lord, ‘You shall be brought before kings and rulers for My sake' (Luke 21:12) and ‘the Holy Spirit will teach you in the same hour what you ought to say' (Luke 12:12).
Paul's Presentation of His Defence and of the Good News.
This is the final brick in Luke's presentation of the hope of the resurrection presented through the words of Paul. Not only does he give these speeches in order to demonstrate that Paul is innocent, but as evidence of the resurrection from one who saw Jesus alive and had spoken to Him. The first half of Acts bore constant witness to the resurrection by the Apostles. This last half bears constant witness to it through the words of Paul (Acts 13:30; Acts 13:34-37; Acts 17:18; Acts 17:31; Acts 22:7-10; Acts 22:14; Acts 23:6; Acts 24:15; Acts 26:6-8; Acts 26:14-18).
The threefold repetition of Paul's experience with the risen Christ on the way to Damascus, of which this is the third (compare Acts 9:1-18; Acts 22:6-16), reveals how important an evidence Luke saw this whole incident to be. It was further confirmation of the resurrection as originally described and evidenced, was itself evidence of the glory of Jesus Christ in His risen state, and in a sense spoke of what every Christians experience should be. It was also confirmation of Jesus Christ's intended activity through His own, and of His worldwide purpose. His message was equally intended for the Gentiles. The threefoldness stressed completeness and would therefore draw special attention to the incident so that thoughts would be concentrated on it. And the later hearing audiences in the church, would, as Acts was read through, be impressed, on the second description of it, by how important it apparently was, and totally grasped by it on the third.