What Does Acts 26:28 Mean?

(28) **Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.**—At the cost of giving up a familiar and impressive text, it must be admitted that the Greek words cannot possibly bear the meaning which is thus put upon them. The words run literally, *In, *or *with, a little thou persuadest me;* and this may be completed by, “with little *speech,”* “with little *labour,”* or “little *evidence.*” So in Ephesians 3:3 we have precisely the same phrase rendered “in few *words.”* Agrippa’s words, accordingly, are the expression, not of a half-belief, but of a cynical sneer. *Thou art trying to make a Christian of me with very few words, on very slender grounds, *would be the nearest paraphrase of his derisive answer to St. Paul’s appeal. It was. it will be seen, evasive as well as derisive; he shrinks from a direct answer to the question that had been put to him. In his use of the Latin term “Christian” (see Note on Acts 11:26) we may trace, perhaps, the effect of Roman associations. There certainly were Christian communities at Rome at this time (Romans 16 *passim*)*, *and they would naturally be described there as they had been at Antioch. It may be noted that, of the prominent English versions, Wiclif gives “in a little thing,” Tyndal and Cranmer “somewhat,” the Rhemish “a little;” the Geneva agrees with the present version in “almost.” The meaning “somewhat,” or “a little,” is a tenable one. but Ephesians 3:3. as already stated, is in favour of that given above. The phrase was, perhaps, in itself ambiguous, and St. Paul accepts in one sense what had been spoken in another.