What does Acts 26:14 mean?
During Paul's conversion, Jesus promised Paul would bring the message of forgiveness and salvation before kings (Acts 9:15). Now, Paul is telling the story of his conversion to King Agrippa II.Paul had been a devout Pharisee, idolizing traditional views of the Mosaic law such that he hunted Christians. His goal was either convincing them to deny Christ or convincing the Sanhedrin to execute them for blasphemy (Acts 26:10–11). On Paul's way to arrest Jewish Christians in Damascus, Jesus appeared in a bright light that knocked Paul to the ground (Acts 9:3–4). The men with Paul heard the voice but didn't see Jesus (Acts 9:7).
Paul's phrase about kicking goads is not recorded in the original account in Acts 9. "Goads" is from the Greek root word kentron. These objects resembled a thick, short spear used to poke livestock, to encourage them to move (Judges 3:31). To kick against it is futile; the wielder can simply move it away and stab the ox in another spot. Likewise, there's no action Paul could take to keep God from directing him where He wanted him to go. The phrase was often used in Greek literature to mean it's useless to defy the gods.
Some early theologians suggest the "goads" were doubts Paul felt about Stephen's words (Acts 7) and his own convictions. This suggests that as Paul traveled to Damascus, he was already questioning whether what he was doing was right. His repeated comments that he had held a clear conscience his whole life (Acts 23:1; 24:16; 1 Corinthians 4:4) speak against the idea that he would act contrary to his conscience. The "goads," as in the Greek sense, are the Holy Spirit's nudging.
"Hebrew language" is also rendered "Hebrew dialect" and probably means Aramaic.
