Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 26:8

"Why is it judged incredible with you, if God doth raise the dead?" — Acts 26:8 (ASV)

Why should it be thought something incredible...?—Some manuscripts give punctuation that alters the structure of the sentence: What! Is it thought something incredible...?

The appeal is made to Agrippa as one who accepted the sacred books of Israel, where instances of resurrection were recorded (1 Kings 17:17–23; 2 Kings 4:18–37). These scriptures should have prevented him from assuming the incredibility of the truth that Saint Paul preached. This truth included: (1) the doctrine of a general resurrection, and (2) the fact that Christ had risen.

The Greek wording, specifically the use of the present tense in the phrase that God raises the dead, emphasizes the first of these points (the doctrine of a general resurrection) rather than the second (the fact that Christ had risen). Agrippa was likely to reject both points. This was because he was probably allied with the Sadducean high priests, just as his relatives had been, and he himself had nominated many of these priests.