Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian, [en (G1722 ) oligoo (G3641) me ( G3165 ) peitheis (G3982)]. There is certainly some difficulty in this translation, there being no other clear instance of this meaning of the phrase. Some of the best critics think the only true sense of the words to be, 'With a little persuadest thou me,' which they understand as an ironical response to the apostolic question-to this effect, 'Ah, Paul, thou art for making me a Christian rather too summarily-I am not to be so easily turned.' But the apostle's reply seems clearly to show that he at least did not so understand the king; and it is not likely that he misunderstood him. Others, who also object to the rendering of our version, think the sense of the phrase to be, 'In little [time] thou wilt persuade me to be a Christian'-q.d., 'At this rate you will soon have me over to your opinions;' which they take to have been meant seriously, though not very deeply. But though the words will bear the sense of 'In little [time],' the tense used-not the future, 'thou wilt persuade me;' but the present, "thou persuadest me," suits ill with such a rendering of the words; and the apostle's reply seems to us quite fatal to it. One other sense of the words, different from that of our version, remains, 'In a little [measure] thou art persuading me to be a Christian'-q.d., 'You are really making some impression upon me;' 'I feel myself a little drawn over to your opinions.' Not that Agrippa is to be supposed, in saying this, to mean anything more than a high compliment to the persuasiveness of the speaker; though it may well be supposed that there was more in it than he would let his manner show. But the chief, and to us all-sufficient recommendation of this view of the words-which is that of Tyndale and Cranmer, and defended by Alexander-is, that it is the only one which the apostle's response perfectly meets.