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Acts 26:16
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14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15 So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
16 But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, ato make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.  
17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, ato whom I now send you,  
18 ato open their eyes, in order bto turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, cthat they may receive forgiveness of sins and dan inheritance among those who are esanctified by faith in Me.’  
Commentaries:
Forerunner Commentary
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<< Acts 26:15   Acts 26:17 >>

What Does Acts 26:16 Mean?



Acts 26:12-19

This passage provides us with an example of how misled a sincerely wrong person can be. Paul, despite his zeal, did not know the true God even though he was sincerely religious. He was sincerely deceived. Jesus basically asked him, "Paul, why do you continue to beat your head against the wall by following the path you are on?"

Can we hear in that question His expectation even of the unconverted? There is in the unconverted some minimal level of understanding and repentance that enables them to see that their values are wrong and to change to those coming from a different, far better Source—Him. If He expects that of them, what does He expect of us whose minds have been opened?

Paul's conversion led to many being given the opportunity to change their values more fully. However, the fact remains to this day what king David wrote and that Paul later quoted in Romans 3:11, "There is none who seeks after God." Carnal people are so imbued with their own systems that they will not change unless essentially forced to.

Satan has the world so deceived (Revelation 12:9) that God is veiled from the eyes of their understanding, so Satan is the ruler of this world and the source of its ways of living. He is worshipped and responded to by all of mankind. Unless God moves to change our values (John 6:44), we rarely change for the better. When God does move, He demands repentance of us and then loyalty to Him in our lives from then on.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The First Commandment

Related Topics: Clash of Values | Deception | First Commandment | Paul's Conversion | Religious Deception | Repentance | Repentance as Change | Satan as god of this World | Source of Values | The First Commandment | The Unconverted | Uncalled and Unconverted Answerable to God | Values, Source of | Zeal without Knowledge



Acts 26:16

The vision motivated Paul to follow through (verse 19). This kind of vision is especially vivid and motivating, and God has given very few the blessing and responsibility of having one. However, He has given the ability to have the other kind to many, and it, too, can be very motivating.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Elements of Motivation (Part Two): Vision

Related Topics: Elements of Motivation | Elements of Motivation: Vision | Paul's Vision | Vision | Vision as an Element of Motivation


 
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