How does Acts 26:24 connect to 1 Corinthians 1:18 about wisdom and folly? Setting the Scene • Paul is on trial before King Agrippa and Governor Festus, recounting his conversion and proclaiming the risen Christ (Acts 26:12-23). • He speaks candidly, appealing to Hebrew Scripture and prophecy. • Suddenly, Acts 26:24: “At this stage of Paul’s defense, Festus shouted in a loud voice, ‘You are out of your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!’”. Festus’s Cry: The World’s Verdict on Gospel Wisdom • Festus hears truth yet labels it “madness.” • His outburst captures the instinctive response of unregenerate minds to supernatural revelation. • What Festus calls insanity, Paul elsewhere calls “sound words of truth and reason” (Acts 26:25). The Cross and the Divide Between Wisdom and Folly • 1 Corinthians 1:18 draws the same line: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”. – Two groups listen to the same gospel; one dismisses it as folly, the other cherishes it as power. • Festus stands with the “perishing,” illustrating Paul’s Corinthian principle in real time. • Paul, though educated, counts worldly accolades as loss next to Christ (Philippians 3:7-8). The gospel produces humility that confounds intellectual pride. Parallels That Reinforce the Theme • 1 Corinthians 2:14—“The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.” • Acts 17:32—Athenians sneer at resurrection; another snapshot of “foolishness” in Greco-Roman courts. • John 15:18-19—Jesus forewarned His followers that the world would hate them because it hated Him first. • Isaiah 55:8-9—God’s thoughts surpass ours; divine logic often feels counter-intuitive to fallen minds. Reversing the Verdict: God’s Wisdom Exposed • 1 Corinthians 1:23-25—Christ crucified is “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles … but to those who are called … Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” • Paul’s “great learning” is not what makes him sane; Christ does. True sanity flows from submitting intellect to revelation. • At the final judgment, the world’s cry of “madness” will be overturned; the “folly” of the cross will stand as eternal wisdom (Revelation 19:11-16). Take-Home Reflections • Expect spiritual opposition when proclaiming Christ; Acts 26:24 shows it is normal, not failure. • Measure wisdom by Scripture, not public opinion. • Hold confidence that the gospel, though labeled irrational, is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). The same line of division traced in 1 Corinthians 1:18 runs straight through Festus’s courtroom: for some, resurrection truth is lunacy; for others, it is life and light. The call is to stand with Paul, embracing the “madness” that is, in reality, the very wisdom of God. |
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