◄ Acts 26:25 ►
But Paul answered, "I am not insane, most excellent Festus; I am speaking words of truth and sobriety.
Study Bible
But Paul answered,

Paul's response is a direct and respectful reply to Festus, the Roman governor. This interaction occurs during Paul's defense before King Agrippa, Festus, and other dignitaries. Paul, a Roman citizen and a Pharisee, uses his legal and rhetorical skills to address the accusations against him. His response is part of a larger narrative where he defends his conversion and mission to spread the Gospel.

Act 24:10 Knowing that you have been a judge over this nation…
1Pe 3:15 But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord.…
Pro 15:28 The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,…

“I am not insane,

Festus had accused Paul of being out of his mind due to his passionate testimony about Jesus Christ and the resurrection. In the Greco-Roman world, claims of resurrection and divine visions could be seen as madness. Paul refutes this by asserting his mental clarity, emphasizing that his experiences and teachings are grounded in reality and divine revelation.

Mrk 3:21 When His family heard about this, they went out…
Jhn 10:20 Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and insane.”…
2Co 5:13 If we are out of our mind, it is for God;…

most excellent Festus;

Paul uses a respectful title for Festus, acknowledging his authority and position. This title reflects the Roman custom of addressing officials with honorifics, which was important for maintaining decorum and respect in legal and public settings. It also demonstrates Paul's strategic approach in his defense, aiming to maintain a respectful dialogue.

Act 24:3 In every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix,…
Act 23:26 Claudius Lysias, To His Excellency, Governor Felix…
Luk 1:3 Therefore, having carefully investigated everything…

I am speaking words of truth

Paul asserts the truthfulness of his message, which centers on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This claim to truth is foundational to the Christian faith, as Jesus Himself declared to be "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Paul's confidence in the truth of the Gospel is rooted in his personal encounter with the risen Christ and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.

Pro 8:7 For my mouth will speak the truth, and wickedness…
Eph 4:25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood…
Jhn 18:37 “Then You are a king!” Pilate said. You say that I am a king…

and sobriety.

Paul emphasizes that his message is delivered with soundness of mind and reason. The term "sobriety" suggests a clear, rational, and serious presentation, countering any claims of irrationality. This aligns with the biblical call for believers to be sober-minded (1 Peter 5:8) and reflects the apostolic commitment to reasoned discourse, as seen in Paul's other writings and speeches throughout Acts.

Rom 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you:…
1Pe 4:7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded…
1Th 5:6 So then, let us not sleep as the others do,…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Paul
The apostle who is defending himself before King Agrippa and Festus. He is a central figure in the New Testament, known for his missionary journeys and epistles.

2. Festus
The Roman governor who succeeded Felix. He is presiding over Paul's trial and is skeptical of Paul's testimony about Jesus and the resurrection.

3. King Agrippa
Herod Agrippa II, the Jewish king who is present at Paul's defense. He is familiar with Jewish customs and the prophets.

4. Caesarea
The location where Paul is being held and where this trial takes place. It was a significant city in Roman Judea.

5. Paul's Defense
The event where Paul is making his case for the gospel and his own sanity, asserting the truth of his message about Jesus Christ.
Teaching Points
The Importance of Truth and Sobriety
Paul emphasizes that his message is grounded in truth and reason. As Christians, we are called to present the gospel with clarity and integrity.

Responding to Skepticism with Respect
Paul addresses Festus respectfully, even when accused of insanity. This teaches us to engage with critics respectfully and thoughtfully.

The Power of Personal Testimony
Paul's defense is rooted in his personal encounter with Christ. Our testimonies are powerful tools for witnessing to others.

Courage in the Face of Opposition
Despite being on trial, Paul boldly proclaims the gospel. We are encouraged to stand firm in our faith, even when facing challenges.

Understanding the Audience
Paul tailors his message to his audience, knowing their background and beliefs. We should be mindful of our audience when sharing the gospel.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Paul's response to Festus demonstrate the balance between boldness and respect in sharing the gospel?

2. In what ways can we ensure that our message of faith is perceived as "words of truth and sobriety" in today's world?

3. How does Paul's personal testimony in Acts 26 inspire you to share your own account of faith with others?

4. What can we learn from Paul's approach to addressing different audiences about the importance of understanding cultural and religious contexts?

5. How do other scriptures, such as 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, help us understand the challenges of sharing the gospel with those who may see it as foolishness?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Acts 9
Paul's conversion experience on the road to Damascus, which is a foundational event for his testimony and defense.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Discusses the perception of the gospel as foolishness to those who are perishing, similar to Festus's reaction to Paul's message.

2 Timothy 1:7
Speaks of God giving a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline, which aligns with Paul's calm and reasoned defense.

1 Peter 3:15
Encourages believers to always be prepared to give a reason for their hope, which Paul exemplifies in his defense.
Sermons
Patti's Defence Before AgrippaD. C. Hughes.Acts 26:1-32
Paul Before AgrippaJ. Parker, D. D.Acts 26:1-32
Paul Before AgrippaD. Katterns.Acts 26:1-32
Paul Before AgrippaJ. Parker, D. D.Acts 26:1-32
Paul Before Festus and AgrippaE. Johnson Acts 26:1-32
Paul's Defence Before AgrippaD. Thomas, D. D.Acts 26:1-32
Paul's Defence Before AgrippaJ. W. Burn.Acts 26:1-32
Paul's Sermon Before AgrippaT. D. Witherspoon, D. D.Acts 26:1-32
Paul's Stretched-Out ArmK. Gerok.Acts 26:1-32
That Many Rest Upon a Strict Way of ReligionA. Burgess.Acts 26:1-32
The Apostolic Defense in the Presence of Festus and AgrippaR.A. Redford Acts 26:1-32
A Moral DuelHomilistActs 26:24-25
A Preacher's Sanity QuestionedActs 26:24-25
Christian Enthusiasm, its ReasonablenessActs 26:24-25
Earnest Christianity Vindicated from the Charge of MadnessThomas Baron.Acts 26:24-25
Evangelistic MadnessActs 26:24-25
Illustrious Fools and MadmenJ. Cuttell.Acts 26:24-25
Paul and Festus -- a ContrastBp. Lightfoot.Acts 26:24-25
The Effects of Paul's Defence on FestusD. Thomas, D. D.Acts 26:24-25
The Sanity of PaulJ. W. Burn.Acts 26:24-25
The Upper ClassesW. Arnot, D. D.Acts 26:24-25
The Wise AnswerOliver Cromwell.Acts 26:24-25
The World's Estimate of ChristianityJ. W. Burn.Acts 26:24-25
Who is Mad Paul or FestusK. Gerok.Acts 26:24-25
Who is the MadmanActs 26:24-25
An Unwilling Contribution to the TruthP.C. Barker Acts 26:24-26
The Christian's DesireW. Clarkson Acts 26:24-28
A Threefold Illustration of the Irrepressible Energy of the TruthP.C. Barker Acts 26:24-32
People
Agrippa, Bernice, Festus, Paul, Saul
Places
Caesarea, Damascus, Jerusalem, Judea
Topics
TRUE, Crazy, Declare, Excellent, Festus, Forth, Insane, Mad, Mind, Noble, Paul, Reasonable, Reasonableness, Replied, Saying, Sayings, Sober, Soberness, Speak, Speaking, Truth, Utter, Wise
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Acts 26:25

     1462   truth, in NT
     5334   health

Acts 26:24-25

     5401   madness

Acts 26:24-28

     2426   gospel, responses

Library
April 20 Evening
Who art thou Lord? I am Jesus.--ACTS 26:15. It is I; be not afraid.--When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee: and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, . . . thy Saviour. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.--Emmanuel, God with us. Thou shalt …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 26 Evening
The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.--REV. 21:23. I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.--Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

Christ's Remonstrances
'And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why perseoutest thou Me! it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.'--ACTS xxvi. 14. 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?' No. But God can change the skin, because He can change the nature. In this story of the conversion of the Apostle Paul--the most important thing that happened that day--we have an instance how brambles may become vines; tares …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Faith in Christ
'...Faith that is in Me.'--ACTS xxvi. 18. It is commonly said, and so far as the fact is concerned, said truly, that what are called the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity are rather found in the Epistles than in the Gospels. If we wish the clearest statements of the nature and person of Christ, we turn to Paul's Epistle to the Colossians. If we wish the fullest dissertation upon Christ's work as a sacrifice, we go to the Epistle to the Hebrews. If we seek to prove that men are justified by …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

'The Heavenly vision'
'Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.' Acts xxvi. 19. This is Paul's account of the decisive moment in his life on which all his own future, and a great deal of the future of Christianity and of the world, hung. The gracious voice had spoken from heaven, and now everything depended on the answer made in the heart of the man lying there blind and amazed. Will he rise melted by love, and softened into submission, or hardened by resistance to the call of the exalted …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

'Me a Christian!'
'Then Agrlppa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.'--ACTS xxvi 28. This Agrippa was son of the other Herod of whom we hear in the Acts as a persecutor. This one appears from other sources, to have had the vices but not the force of character of his bad race. He was weak and indolent, a mere hanger-on of Rome, to which he owed his kingdom, and to which he stoutly stuck during all the tragedy of the fall of Jerusalem. In position and in character (largely resulting from the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

'Before Governors and Kings'
'Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: 20. But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judsea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. 21. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. 22. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Eighteenth Day. Holiness and Faith.
That they may receive remission of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me.'--Acts xxvi. 18. The more we study Scripture in the light of the Holy Spirit, or practise the Christian life in His power, the deeper becomes our conviction of the unique and central place faith has in God's plan of salvation. And we learn, too, to see that it is meet and right that it should be so: the very nature of things demands it. Because God is a Spiritual and Invisible Being, every …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

The Nature of Enthusiasm
"And Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself." Acts 26:24. 1. And so say all the world, the men who know not God, of all that are of Paul's religion: of every one who is so a follower of him as he was of Christ. It is true, there is a sort of religion, nay, and it is called Christianity too, which may be practised without any such Imputation, which is generally allowed to be consistent with common sense, --that is, a religion of form, a round of outward duties, performed in a …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Almost Christian
"Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Acts 26:28. AND many there are who go thus far: ever since the Christian religion was in the world, there have been many in every age and nation who were almost persuaded to be Christians. But seeing it avails nothing before God to go only thus far, it highly imports us to consider, First. What is implied in being almost, Secondly. What in being altogether, a Christian. I. (I.) 1. Now, in the being almost a Christian is implied, First, heathen honesty. …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Conversion of Saul of Tarsus
I intend, this morning, to address myself more particularly to those who fear not the Lord Jesus Christ, but on the contrary, oppose him. I think I may be quite certain that I have none here who go the length of desiring to see the old persecution of the church revived. I do not think there is an Englishman, however much he may hate religion, who would wish to see the stake again in Smithfield, and the burning pile consuming the saints. There may be some who hate them as much, but still not in that …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

Acts 26:24-29. Portraits.
[10] "And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad. "But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. "For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner. "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. "Then Agrippa said …
John Charles Ryle—The Upper Room: Being a Few Truths for the Times

The Publisher to the Reader.
There are no sermons I know of any divine or pastor in this kingdom, that have been more frequently printed, or more universally read and esteemed, than the elegant and judicious discourses of Mr. Binning, which were published after his death, at different times, in four small volumes. As there was a great demand for these valuable writings, about twenty six years ago; so these printed copies of them were compared with his own manuscript copy now in my hand, carefully revised, and then printed, in …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Tillotson -- the Reasonableness of a Resurrection
John Tillotson, archbishop of Canterbury, renowned as a preacher, was born at Sowerby, in Yorkshire, in 1630, the son of an ardent Independent. After graduating from Clare College, Cambridge, he began to preach in 1661, in connection with the Presbyterian wing of the Church of England. He, however, submitted to the Act of Uniformity the following year, and in 1663 was inducted into the rectory of Veddington, Suffolk. He was also appointed preacher to Lincoln's Inn, was made prebendary of Canterbury …
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Vol. 2

Sanctified by Faith
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."--Heb. 11:6. "That they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."--Acts 26:18. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand."--Rom. 5:1, 2. Faith in the blood …
J. W. Byers—Sanctification

The Advanced Christian Reminded of the Mercies of God, and Exhorted to the Exercise of Habitual Love to Him, and Joy in Him.
1. A holy joy in God, our privilege as well as our duty.--2. The Christian invited to the exercise of it.--3. By the consideration of temporal mercies.--4. And of spiritual favors.--5. By the views of eternal happiness.--6. And of the mercies of God to others, the living and the dead.--7. The chapter closes with an exhortation to this heavenly exercise. And with an example of the genuine workings of this grateful joy in God. 1. I WOULD now suppose my reader to find, on an examination of his spiritual …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

Transformed
C. P. C. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 "I send thee to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me."--Acts xxvi. 18. Dark lay the plain, a tangled wilderness, And dark the mountains in the mists afar-- A land of darkness where no order is, Nor moon, nor star-- There was the line of drear confusion drawn, The stones of emptiness lay …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

The Gospel According to Paul
C. P. C. Acts xxvi. 16 From the glory and the gladness, From His secret place; From the rapture of His Presence From the radiance of His Face-- Christ, the Son of God, hath sent me Through the midnight lands; Mine the mighty ordination Of the pierced Hands. Mine the message grand and glorious Strange unsealed surprise-- That the goal is God's Beloved, Christ in Paradise. Hear me, weary men and women, Sinners dead in sin; I am come from heaven to tell you Of the love within; Not alone of God's …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Defending Field Preaching
Between four and five we set out from Roughlee. But observing several parties of men upon the hills and suspecting their design, we put on and passed the lane they were making for before they came. One of our brothers, not riding so fast, was intercepted by them. They immediately knocked him down, and how it was that he got from among them he knew not. Before seven we reached Widdop. The news of what had passed at Barrowford made us all friends. The person in whose house Mr. B. preached, sent and …
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

The Word
The third way to escape the wrath and curse of God, and obtain the benefit of redemption by Christ, is the diligent use of ordinances, in particular, the word, sacraments, and prayer.' I begin with the best of these ordinances. The word . . . which effectually worketh in you that believe.' 1 Thess 2:13. What is meant by the word's working effectually? The word of God is said to work effectually when it has the good effect upon us for which it was appointed by God; when it works powerful illumination …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Paul on his Own Conversion
'And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. 7. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why perseoutest thou Me? 8. And I answered, Who art Thou, Lord? And He said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. 9. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of Him that spake to me. 10. And I said, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Saving Faith.
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.--ACTS xvi. 30,31. This is one of the most abused texts in the Bible, and one which, perhaps, has been made to do quite as much work for the devil as for God. Let every saint present, ask in faith for the light of the Holy Ghost, while we try rightly to apply it. Let us enquire:-- 1. Who are to believe? 2. When are they to believe? 3. How are …
Catherine Booth—Godliness

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