Acts 26:18

To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me.

Remission of sins ... That men should receive this blessing was the principal burden of apostolic preaching, the great need of humanity having ever been that of reconciliation with God and the restoration of fellowship with the Eternal. In a vital sense, this is the only blessing that matters. With remission of sins, all of the hardships of life, all of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, all of the disappointments and sufferings, all of life's frustrations and sorrows, resolve at last in eternal glory for the redeemed; but without remission of sins, the most favored and successful life, the most powerful and famous, the most affluent and popular, must inevitably resolve into a hopeless grave and a resurrection to everlasting shame and contempt. "Remission" is one of the great New Testament words.

Sanctified by faith in me ... This, like so many references involving "faith" in the English Revised Version (1885), is an erroneous rendition. As Alexander Campbell noted, it should be translated: "Sanctified by the faith respecting me."[26] The most conspicuous fault of the English Revised Version (1885) lies in this very sector, notwithstanding the fact that it is still the best version that we have, and, as Bruce said, "the best" for purposes of accurate study. For other similar mistranslations, see my Commentary on Romans, pp. 109ff.

What Paul was affirming in this expression was not the popular heresy that people are saved by "faith only," but that the remission of their sins is available by means of "the faith regarding" Christ, through Christianity.