Paul is sent to the nations (defined ethnically), “to open their eyes so as to bring them back from darkness into light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified, by faith in Me.”
I rendered the second verb as ‘bring back’ rather than ‘turn’ or ‘convert’ because I take that to be the correct nuance of the Text. It gives the impression that someone is in the wrong place or situation and needs to be brought to the correct one. And now for the main point: the purpose clause introduced by the conjunction ‘that’ is subordinated to the verbal phrase dominated by the verb “bring back”. In other words, before someone can receive forgiveness of sins, even, he must be freed from the power of Satan! Before a person can be saved someone must do something about Satan's influence upon him.
The Lord Jesus had already said the same thing in different words during His earthly ministry. We find it in Mark 3:27. “No one can plunder the strong man's goods, invading his house, unless he first bind the strong man; then he may plunder his house.” I have used the definite article with the first occurrence of ‘strong man’ because the Greek text has it, the point being that this particular strong man has already been introduced in the immediate context. ‘The strong man’ here is Satan. (The Jewish leaders tried to explain Jesus’ authority over the demons by saying that He expelled them by the power of Beelzebul, prince of the demons. In His retort Jesus does not waste time with that name but uses the enemy's proper name, Satan.)
So then, the Lord Jesus declares that it is impossible to steal Satan's goods unless we bind him first. (From His use of ‘no one’ it seems clear that the Lord is enunciating a general principle or truth.) And what might the nature of those ‘goods’ be? In the context (see Matthew 12:22-24) Jesus had delivered someone from a demon that caused blindness and dumbness, and in their comments the scribes and Pharisees include other instances where Jesus had expelled demons—it seems clear that the ‘goods’ are people who are subject to Satan's power, in one way or another. Thus we have the same essential truth as that declared in Acts 26:18—we have to do something about Satan's power over a person so that he or she can be saved! But what does Satan do to people that makes it necessary to ‘bind’ him?
We find the answer in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Let's begin with verse 3. “If our gospel is veiled it is veiled to them who are perishing, in whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine in them.” The Text clearly states that Satan, ‘the god of this world’, is in the business of blinding the minds of unbelievers when they hear the Gospel, so they will not understand, so they will not be convicted, so they will not repent and convert. This is a terrible truth. The enemy has access to our minds, access in the sense that he has the power or ability to invade them, whether by introducing thoughts or by jamming our reasoning. The Lord Jesus had already declared this truth previously, when He explained the parable of the sower. “These are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown; but, as soon as they hear it Satan comes and takes away the word that was planted in their hearts” (Mark 4:15). In the parallel passage in Luke 8:12 Jesus adds the following words: “lest they believe and be saved”. Note that the Word is already in the mind or heart of the person, but then Satan comes, invades the mind and ‘takes away’ that word. I am not sure just how this intrusion by the enemy works, perhaps he causes a mental block of some sort, but the practical effect is that the Word becomes ineffective, as if the person had not even heard it.
It seems obvious to me that whoever does not take this truth into account will be condemning himself to produce little effect in the spiritual realm, to work hard and achieve little. 19 Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision 20 —first to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to all the region of Judea and to the ethnic nations, I still preach: ‘repent and turn back to God, doing works worthy of repentance.’ 21 That is why the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22 So then, having experienced the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying to both small and great, saying nothing beyond what both the prophets and Moses said would happen 23 —that the Messiah would suffer; that as the first to rise from the dead*Yes, Jesus was the first one out, but only the first! He would proclaim light to both ‘the people’ and the ethnic nations.”†How did Jesus do this after His resurrection? Presumably He did it, and continues to do so, through His followers.
*26:8 The resurrection was the sticking point.
†26:11 Paul states his blame very plainly.
‡26:14 A conversation between two Jews would naturally be in Hebrew.
§26:18 Of specific interest to us here is the missionary commission that Paul (he was still Saul) received. Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15, John 20:21 and Acts 1:8 took place between the resurrection and the ascension, but to commission Paul Jesus returned from Heaven! One other detail deserves special notice—the responsibility that Paul received was primarily concerned with the ethnic nations (“Gentiles” is a translation of the same word that in Matthew 28:19 is rendered “nations”). For these reasons it seems to me that this missionary commission takes on a special importance for us, and the more so for whoever is going to do transcultural work. So let us consider this commission in more detail. Paul is sent to the nations (defined ethnically), “to open their eyes so as to bring them back from darkness into light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified, by faith in Me.” I rendered the second verb as ‘bring back’ rather than ‘turn’ or ‘convert’ because I take that to be the correct nuance of the Text. It gives the impression that someone is in the wrong place or situation and needs to be brought to the correct one. And now for the main point: the purpose clause introduced by the conjunction ‘that’ is subordinated to the verbal phrase dominated by the verb “bring back”. In other words, before someone can receive forgiveness of sins, even, he must be freed from the power of Satan! Before a person can be saved someone must do something about Satan's influence upon him. The Lord Jesus had already said the same thing in different words during His earthly ministry. We find it in Mark 3:27. “No one can plunder the strong man's goods, invading his house, unless he first bind the strong man; then he may plunder his house.” I have used the definite article with the first occurrence of ‘strong man’ because the Greek text has it, the point being that this particular strong man has already been introduced in the immediate context. ‘The strong man’ here is Satan. (The Jewish leaders tried to explain Jesus’ authority over the demons by saying that He expelled them by the power of Beelzebul, prince of the demons. In His retort Jesus does not waste time with that name but uses the enemy's proper name, Satan.) So then, the Lord Jesus declares that it is impossible to steal Satan's goods unless we bind him first. (From His use of ‘no one’ it seems clear that the Lord is enunciating a general principle or truth.) And what might the nature of those ‘goods’ be? In the context (see Matthew 12:22-24) Jesus had delivered someone from a demon that caused blindness and dumbness, and in their comments the scribes and Pharisees include other instances where Jesus had expelled demons—it seems clear that the ‘goods’ are people who are subject to Satan's power, in one way or another. Thus we have the same essential truth as that declared in Acts 26:18—we have to do something about Satan's power over a person so that he or she can be saved! But what does Satan do to people that makes it necessary to ‘bind’ him? We find the answer in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Let's begin with verse 3. “If our gospel is veiled it is veiled to them who are perishing, in whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine in them.” The Text clearly states that Satan, ‘the god of this world’, is in the business of blinding the minds of unbelievers when they hear the Gospel, so they will not understand, so they will not be convicted, so they will not repent and convert. This is a terrible truth. The enemy has access to our minds, access in the sense that he has the power or ability to invade them, whether by introducing thoughts or by jamming our reasoning. The Lord Jesus had already declared this truth previously, when He explained the parable of the sower. “These are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown; but, as soon as they hear it Satan comes and takes away the word that was planted in their hearts” (Mark 4:15). In the parallel passage in Luke 8:12 Jesus adds the following words: “lest they believe and be saved”. Note that the Word is already in the mind or heart of the person, but then Satan comes, invades the mind and ‘takes away’ that word. I am not sure just how this intrusion by the enemy works, perhaps he causes a mental block of some sort, but the practical effect is that the Word becomes ineffective, as if the person had not even heard it. It seems obvious to me that whoever does not take this truth into account will be condemning himself to produce little effect in the spiritual realm, to work hard and achieve little.
*26:23 Yes, Jesus was the first one out, but only the first!
†26:23 How did Jesus do this after His resurrection? Presumably He did it, and continues to do so, through His followers.
‡26:24 Festus in not happy. Paul is talking to Agrippa, not to him. As a ‘son of the disobedience’ (Ephesians 2:2) he was open to demonic interference, and Satan does not like the resurrection. So Paul's mention of Jesus' resurrection is Festus' clue to interrupt, which he does in rather insulting terms.
§26:27 Paul knows that the hearing is over, but he likes Agrippa and nudges him to believe.
*26:32 Of course, but now it is too late.