What Does Acts 26:25 Mean?
But he said, I am not raving, most mighty Festus, but I speak forth the words of truth and of a whole mind.
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 he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.THE KEY
The verse answers “madness” with its opposite: words spoken from a sound mind and grounded in truth.
THE MEANING
Being called irrational does not make a statement irrational. This verse holds truth and sound-minded speech together, so the accusation of madness does not settle what the words mean.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that speech which unsettles someone must come from a disordered mind.
THE ROOT
σωφροσύνης
sōphrosýnēs
GROWS FROM
σωφρον-
sōphron-
Soundness of mind; clear judgment and self-command.
“a whole mind” in this verse is sōphrosýnēs. “Soberness” here reaches beyond not being drunk: it names a mind in sound order. The related Greek word σωφρονισμός (sōphronismós, “sound judgment”) appears in “a sound mind” in 2 Timothy 1:7, linking this verse’s denial of madness to its claim of clear-minded speech.
ALSO GROWS
sṓphrōn: Sound-minded, self-controlled
σώφρων
It makes the verse’s “soberness” a quality of clear judgment, not merely a restrained tone.
sōphronismós: Sound judgment, self-discipline
σωφρονισμός
Its use for “a sound mind” in 2 Timothy 1:7 echoes the same answer to the charge of madness.
μαίνομαι
maínomai
GROWS FROM
μαιν-
main-
To be mad or rave.
“raving” in this verse is maínomai. This is the same Greek verb Festus uses in the preceding verse. The reply meets the accusation directly, setting madness against words characterized by truth and a sound mind.
ALSO GROWS
manía: Madness, frenzy
μανία
This related noun makes clear that the accusation concerns supposed mental frenzy.
mainómenos: Raving, being mad
μαινόμενος
This participial form shows the same root describing someone as mad, as in the accusation Paul answers.
THE PATTERN
When a speaker’s words cannot be received, hearers can dismiss the speaker by calling them mad.
The days of the visitation have come, the days of the repayment have come. Israel shall perceive it. The prophet is a fool, the man of breath is mad, for the multitude of your crookedness, and the great hatred.And many of them said, He has a demon and is raving. Why do you hear him?And as he thus spoke for himself, Festus said with a great voice, Paul, you are beside yourself; the many letters have turned you to madness.THE THREAD
And as he thus spoke for himself, Festus said with a great voice, Paul, you are beside yourself; the many letters have turned you to madness.The Greek verb μαίνομαι (maínomai, “to be mad”) appears in the accusation here and in the answer that follows. The repeated word lets you hear the reply turn directly toward the charge and name the speech instead as truthful and sound-minded.
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