Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Acts 26:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Grants Paul permission and begins his extended defense gesture.
Read It With
- Acts 26:1–26:8
Read Acts 26:1 with 26:1–26:8. In isolation, this contribution—grants Paul permission and begins his extended defense gesture—can be mistaken for the scene's whole claim, detached from its speaker or narrator, or separated from its outcome. The complete unit establishes: Given permission, Paul describes his strict Pharisaic past, frames the accusation around hope in God's promise to the twelve tribes, and asks why resurrection is judged incredible.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Grants Paul permission and begins his extended defense gesture. This precise contribution belongs inside “Paul appeals to Agrippa's Jewish knowledge and resurrection hope” because Given permission, Paul describes his strict Pharisaic past, frames the accusation around hope in God's promise to the twelve tribes, and asks why resurrection is judged incredible.
Follow the Context
- Given permission, Paul describes his strict Pharisaic past, frames the accusation around hope in God's promise to the twelve tribes, and asks why resurrection is judged incredible.
- The unit distinguishes narrated event, participant speech, the narrator's framing, material uncertainty, and the ethical boundary: The appeal does not erase Jewish diversity, enlist monarchy as theological authority, or treat disagreement as irrationality.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not detach its specific contribution—grants Paul permission and begins his extended defense gesture—from Acts 26:1–26:8 or negate the unit's explicit boundary: The appeal does not erase Jewish diversity, enlist monarchy as theological authority, or treat disagreement as irrationality.
What Remains True
Acts 26:1's particular contribution—grants Paul permission and begins his extended defense gesture—shows that faithful witness remains accountable to the verse's speaker, narrated setting, affected people, and the complete movement of Acts 26:1–26:8.
How It Can Shape Life
- Practice Acts 26:1's particular contribution—grants Paul permission and begins his extended defense gesture—through this passage-controlled response: Address a powerful hearer with respect and candor, connecting resurrection hope to the shared story without flattering away injustice.
Teach It Back
Explain Acts 26:1's precise role in Acts 26:1–26:8. Distinguish narrator and speaker, include the first Jewish, Gentile, household, disabled, enslaved, imprisoned, or Roman horizon as relevant, disclose the material uncertainty, and name one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Acts 26:1–26:8 — Paul appeals to Agrippa's Jewish knowledge and resurrection hopeSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 26:1–26:8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 26:1-26:8
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 26:1-26:8
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 26:1–26:8
Open source ↗open university bible study course
Acts of the Apostles Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2019
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'The Gospel, the Romans, the Jews,' Acts 24-28 study guide
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
The Acts of the Apostles
Alan J. Thompson
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Exact location: Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 26:1–26:8
Open source ↗peer reviewed article abstract and metadata
The Jewishness of Luke-Acts: How Recent Scholarship Has Challenged the View that Luke-Acts Is Pro-Gentile and Anti-Jewish
Joshua Paul Smith
The Journal of Theological Studies 72.2, 2021
Supports: Abstract-supported control for Jewish continuity and Gentile inclusion in Acts 26:1–26:8, not a settlement of every conflict scene.
Exact location: Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), pp. 738-765, official abstract and bibliographic record
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
The Provincial Contexts of Paul's Imprisonments: Law Enforcement and Criminal Procedure in the Roman East
Cedric Brelaz
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 43.4, 2021
Supports: Roman law-enforcement comparison with explicit local variation and limits on reconstructing procedure.
Exact location: Brelaz, JSNT 43.4 (2021), complete open HTML, section 1 and the named provincial, custody, citizenship, hearing, or conclusion paragraphs bearing on Acts 26:1–26:8
Open source ↗