Paul's Defense Before Agrippa
Paul tells his story of how he grew up a Pharisee and acted against the "saints" following Jesus.
I'm not exactly sure how this is a defense, it seems like he is just telling his life story. Although I guess since the charges against him are not well defined either, what else is he going to do but tell his story.
Paul Tells of His Conversion
Paul tells about the blinding light and Jesus talking to him that converted him to follow Jesus. The king asks if Paul is trying to persuade him to be a Christian and he replies that he would like anyone that hears his voice to become a Christian. The king says that Paul has done nothing wrong and that he should be set free.
That seemed a bit anticlimactic for all the buildup. Oh well.
So, on Paul's third account of his story in verses 13-16, it seems to differ from the original account, in 9:7. Here, they were knocked over, but in the first story, they remained standing.
ReplyDeleteThe prophecy in verses 22 and 23 are false prophecies. No such thing was ever said.
I think the last thing I want to point out is why do most translations say that Christ is the first to be raised from the dead?
All Christians are supposed to die and be reborn in christ or something right? could that be what those verses are getting at?
DeleteI'm really not sure on the specifics but the Bible itself is pretty vague. This could be the point trying to be made, or it might be something that developed later to explain away the absurdity of it. Like when Christ would tell his followers that they would not see death and he would be back in their lifetimes in many places. When this never happened, the new interperitation changed to a metaphor. It's hard to say.
DeleteSince no one was actually present at these events that wrote the Bible, you'd think the authors might explain a little better what these things are supposed to mean when they wrote them. "...and they would be reborn in Christ."