Acts 26:32 (closing comment by Agrippa)

[darinhouston]

30 The king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them, 31 and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another, saying, “This man is not doing anything worthy of death or imprisonment.” 32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

We've just concluded a study in Acts in our bible study at church. After Paul pleads his case and makes his sermon to Agrippa, Agrippa makes the above closing comment to Festus. Either I don't understand his point, or it seems like there's a missing word here such as "This man might [not] have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar." Paul was eventually set free, but this sounds like he's saying he might have been set free earlier -- from the reading of the passages, it sounds as if it was precisely the appeal to Caesar that saved Paul in the first place (though remaining captive - sort of)...

Can anyone shed light on this?

[TK]

i thought it meant that agrippa or festus could have NOW set him free, if not for the prior appeal. apparently they couldnt "trump" the appeal that Paul had already made, even if they wanted to do so. i am not sure if Paul could have said "never mind" about the appeal, if he knew that agrippa/festus was willing to let him go.

TK

[darinhouston]

I see what you're saying - now that I read it with that in mind, I think you're probably right but it does seem a bit odd and anti-climactic to spend these chapters leading up to the "appeal," and then to have him just freed without fanfare when he arrived in Rome after the shipwreck. It's just odd enough that I get the impression there's a teaching point here I'm missing. I guess I'll hit the commentaries -- any ideas on that aspect would be appreciated.

[Michelle]

Wow, Darin, thanks for bringing this up. I had some time this afternoon, and a job I wanted to procrastinate about doing and this turned out to be an interesting question to look into.

[darinhouston]

Wow, Darin, thanks for bringing this up. I had some time this afternoon, and a job I wanted to procrastinate about doing and this turned out to be an interesting question to look into.

The anticipation is making me wait.