Albert Barnes Commentary Acts 26:6

"And now I stand [here] to be judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers;" — Acts 26:6 (ASV)

And now I stand. I stand before the tribunal. I am arraigned.

And am judged. I am tried in relation to being judged. I am undergoing a trial on the point on which my entire nation agrees.

For the hope. On account of the hope; or because, in common with my countrymen, I had entertained this hope, and now believe in its fulfillment.

Of the promise, etc. See the references in the margin. It is not quite certain whether Paul refers here to the promise of the Messiah, or to the hope of the resurrection of the dead. When he stood before the Jewish Sanhedrin (Acts 23:6), he said that he was called in question on account of holding the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.

But it may be observed that, in Paul's view, the two things were closely united. He hoped that the Messiah would come, and he therefore hoped for the resurrection of the dead. He believed that he had come and had risen; and therefore, he believed that the dead would rise.

He argued the one from the other. And as he believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and that he had risen from the dead, and had thus provided a demonstration that the dead would rise, it was evident that the subject of controversy between him and the Jews involved everything that was vital to their opinions and their hopes. See Acts 24:8.

Made of God. Made by God. See the marginal references. The promises had been made to the fathers of a Messiah to come, and that embraced the promise of a future state, or of the resurrection of the dead. It will help us to understand the emphasis which Paul and the other apostles placed on the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, to remember that it involved the whole doctrine of the separate existence of the soul, and of a future state. The Sadducees denied all this; and when the Pharisees, the Savior, and the apostles opposed them, they did it by showing that there would be a future state of rewards and punishments. See the argument of the Savior with the Sadducees explained: See Barnes on Luke 20:27-38.

Unto our fathers. Our ancestors, the patriarchs, etc.

Isaiah 4:2; 7:14; 9:6-7; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:14-16; Ezekiel 34:23; Daniel 9:24; Micah 7:20

Zechariah 13:1, 7; Malachi 3:1; Acts 13:32; Galatians 4:4