Acts 26:31

26:31 The consensus of these rulers was that Paul had not done anything to deserve death or imprisonment; this verdict was given repeatedly by the Roman authorities that considered Paul’s case (25:25; see Luke 23:4, 15, 22).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act 26:31. Οὐδὲν, nothing) Is there nothing besides, ye hearers, which ye might have learned from that discourse? Political reflections and favourable opinions pronounced on such a preacher, do not settle the matter.—πράσσει, doeth) and hath done. They speak not merely of one action, but of the whole life of Paul.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 26:31 . πράσσει , present tense: “agit de vitæ instituto” (Grotius, Blass).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31. They spake together. In that Paul is acquitted by the judgment of them all, it turned to the great renown of the gospel. And when Festus agreeth to the rest he condemneth himself, seeing he had brought Paul into such straits through his unjust dealing, by bringing him in danger of his life under color of changing the place. And though it seemeth that the appeal did hinder the holy man, yet because this was the only way to escape death, he is content, and doth not seek to get out of that snare; not only because the matter was not even now safe and sound, but because he was admonished in the vision that he was also called by God to Rome (Acts 23:11).

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(31) This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.—St. Luke obviously dwells on the witness thus given to St. Paul’s innocence. To us, knowing him as we do, the anxiety to record the witness seems superfluous; but it was not so when the historian wrote. The charge of what we should call lawless and revolutionary tendencies had been too often brought against the Apostle (Act_17:6), and was too current against his followers, to make such a record one that he could willingly pass over.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31. they talked between themselves] R. V. “they spake one to another.” This is more literal and conveys better the idea that they were all of one mind about the case.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then said Agrippa unto Festus,.... As declaring his sense, and by way of advice and counsel; but not as determining anything himself, for that lay in the breast of Festus, the Roman governor and judge:

this man might have been set at liberty; from his bonds and imprisonment; for ought that appears against him, or any law to the contrary:

if he had not appealed unto Caesar; wherefore an inferior judge could not release him; but so it was ordered in divine Providence, that he should appeal to Caesar, that he might go to Rome, and there bear a testimony for Christ; however, this declaration of Agrippa, and what he and the governor and the rest said among themselves, are a considerable proof of the innocence of the apostle.

Next: Acts Chapter 27

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

31 And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.

Ver. 31. This man doth nothing worthy] Here Festus, consenting with the rest, condemneth himself. See Act 25:25.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This man doeth nothing worthy of death - This was the conclusion to which they had come after hearing all that the Jews had to allege against him. It was the result of the whole investigation; and we have, therefore, the concurring testimony of Claudius Lysias Act 23:29, of Felix Acts 24, of Festus Act 25:26-27, and of Agrippa, as to the innocence of Paul. More honorable and satisfactory testimony of his innocence he could not have desired. It was a full acquittal from all the charges against him; and though he was to be sent to Rome, yet he went there with every favorable prospect of being acquitted there also.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Gone aside; either to their houses, or to some apartment nigh to the tribunal. They acquit Paul; for as yet Nero had not made those bloody laws, whereby the profession of Christianity was made capital.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

31. They were gone aside—Not Agrippa and Festus alone; for it was after a consultation by this they that Agrippa gave his conclusion to Festus. Perhaps Festus’ assessors went to make up the they.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Had withdrawn for were gone aside, A.V.; spake one to another for talked between themselves, A.V. Had withdrawn; viz. from the public hall, the ajkroathrion of Act_25:23, into the private room, "the withdrawing-room" adjoining it. There they freely talked over the trial, and all agreed that the prisoner had done nothing to deserve either death or imprisonment. Paul had made a favorable impression upon both Jews and Romans.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This man doth nothing worthy of death, or of bonds - They speak of his whole life, not of one action only. And could ye learn nothing more than this from that discourse? A favourable judgment of such a preacher, is not all that God requires.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

31, 32. After they have returned to the palace they talk over the matter, Agrippa giving his verdict unequivocally decisive of Paul’s utter innocence, assuring Festus that there was no reason for not releasing him on the spot except his appeal to Caesar. While King Agrippa was a stalwart Jew, loyal to the fallen church, and in no way disposed to forsake the multitude, incur the ban of popular churchism and fall in with a few despised Nazarenes, he here shows up very beautifully the integrity of a civil officer, contrasting conspicuously with the falsifications, hypocrisy and rascality manifested by the high-priest and the leading ministers of the Jewish church, revealing the sad fact that when preachers are blindly manipulated by the devil, they are decidedly more unjust, cruel and bloodthirsty than civil rulers, though also in the hands of Satan. Ecclesiastical law, hen out of harmony with the Bible, and manipulated by the devil through a fallen clergy, is cruel as the grave and merciless as hell. Wisely did Paul appeal from it to Caesar. While Agrippa manifested no sympathy with Paul’s religion, unlike those blood- hounds, i. e., the leading preachers of the fallen church, clamorous for innocent blood, he pronounced an unequivocal verdict of innocence in behalf of Paul.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See notes on verse 30

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

31, 32. When they had gone aside. Retired for private conference. Their decision was that Paul had done nothing justifying his imprisonment. The accusations of the Jews were groundless.

This man might have been set at liberty. His innocence was clear, but after the appeal to Cæsar, the case belonged to the higher courts, and Festus had no more power to clear than to condemn. It was God's will that Paul should be carried to Rome. There was work for him to do in the capital of the world (see 23:11).

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

31. ἐλάλουν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, they spake one to another. This literal sense brings out more clearly that they were all of one mind about the case.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31. πράσσει] generally, of his life and habits. No definite act was alleged against him: and his apologetic speech was in fact a sample of the acts of which he was accused.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Doeth. Referring, not to Paul 's past conduct, but to the general character of his life.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.