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“I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense today against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders,
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for I know you are an expert on all Jewish customs and controversies. Now please listen to me patiently!
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“As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem.
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If they would admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion.
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Now I am on trial because of my hope in the fulfillment of God’s promise made to our ancestors.
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In fact, that is why the twelve tribes of Israel zealously worship God night and day, and they share the same hope I have. Yet, Your Majesty, they accuse me for having this hope!
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Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead?
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“I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.
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Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death.
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Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.
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“One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests.