What Does Acts 25:25 Mean?
But I grasped that he had done nothing equal in weight to death, and that he himself has called upon Augustus, so I have judged to send him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he himself hath appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him.THE KEY
The judgment finds no act worthy of death, while the appeal still sends him onward.
THE MEANING
The verse holds two things together: no deed worthy of death is found, and the appeal still carries the person into the next stage of the process. The finding of innocence and the decision to send him onward are distinct.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being sent onward does not mean a capital offense has been established; the verse explicitly says no such offense was found.
THE ROOT
ἔκρινα
ekrina
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
To separate, judge, or decide.
“judged” in this verse is ekrina. The decision carries the sense of judgment: the matter is weighed, then a course is chosen. Here the judgment about death and the decision to send him onward remain separate acts.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: judgment, decision
κρίσις
This branch makes visible the judgment carried within the decision to send him.
kritēs: judge
κριτής
The judge is the one who weighs a matter and makes a decision, as Festus does here.
ἐπικαλεσαμένου
epikalesamenou
GROWS FROM
καλέω
kaleō
To call or summon; with ἐπί (epi), to call upon or invoke.
“appealed” in this verse is epikalesamenou. The appeal is expressed as calling upon someone: the act invokes Caesar as the authority who will hear the matter. That call sets the next movement in motion even though the local finding is that nothing warrants death.
ALSO GROWS
klēsis: a calling, invitation
κλῆσις
This branch shows how the call-family can name an act of calling; here the appeal calls upon a higher authority.
klētos: called, summoned
κλητός
The word shares the call-root, making the appeal’s sense of summoning a response easier to see.
THE PATTERN
Judgment distinguishes accusation from a charge that actually warrants condemnation.
He who aligns the wicked, and he who convicts the aligned one, both are loathed by the LORD.Then Pilate said to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.I found him charged over questions they sought in their instruction, yet nothing laid to his charge was worthy of death or of bindings.THE THREAD
Then Festus, after speaking together with the council, answered, Have you called upon Caesar? To Caesar you shall go away.The same Greek call-word, ἐπικαλέω (epikaleō), means to call upon and appears in both verses. Here the answer to that appeal is stated directly: the call to Caesar determines where the case goes next.
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