What Does Acts 24:25 Mean in the King James?
And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Felix’s trembling shows the truth has already landed; his request for a “convenient season” reveals his attempt to control when it matters.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks in the gap between recognition and response: alignment, self-mastery, and coming judgment can reach a person before that person agrees to face what they mean. Felix trembles, then postpones the encounter until a season he chooses; being moved is not the same as being changed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that putting truth off makes it harmless is undone here: Felix postpones the conversation, while the judgment he has heard of remains to come.
THE ROOT
ἐγκρατείας
enkrateias
GROWS FROM
κρατ-
krat-
Strength, mastery, the power to hold or govern.
Temperance here carries the sense of inner mastery: strength exercised over what is within. Felix trembles, yet his answer shows that feeling the weight of the words and governing his response are distinct.
ALSO GROWS
kratos: Strength, power, might.
κράτος
This is the force carried within temperance: mastery is a form of strength.
krateō: To be strong, prevail, or hold.
κρατέω
The sense of holding clarifies that temperance is active self-governance, not merely the absence of excess.
enkratēs: Self-controlled, having mastery over oneself.
ἐγκρατής
This related word names the quality Felix’s postponement puts in question: whether a person governs their response when truth presses in.
δικαιοσύνης
dikaiosynēs
GROWS FROM
δικ-
dik-
Right, justice, what is due or properly ordered.
Righteousness carries the sense of alignment with what is right. Beside self-mastery and judgment, it describes how a person stands in relation to what is right, not merely a rule to debate.
ALSO GROWS
dikē: Justice, right, or what is due.
δίκη
This root word shows the element of right order within righteousness.
dikaios: Just, right, aligned with what is due.
δίκαιος
This adjective makes righteousness a quality of alignment rather than a label alone.
dikaioō: To justify, declare just, or set right.
δικαιόω
This verb links the root’s sense of rightness with the act of bringing a matter into alignment.
κρίματος
krimatos
GROWS FROM
κριν-
krin-
To distinguish, decide, or judge.
The judgment to come is an act of decision, related to discerning and bringing a matter to verdict. It places Felix’s present response under a coming reckoning, so his chosen delay does not remove the matter from view.
ALSO GROWS
krinō: To judge, decide, or distinguish.
κρίνω
This verb reveals the act at the heart of judgment: a matter is weighed and decided.
krisis: Judgment, decision, or verdict.
κρίσις
This related noun shows judgment as a determination, not just a vague future threat.
kritēs: A judge, one who decides.
κριτής
This word names the one who makes the decision, clarifying the personal force of the coming judgment.
THE PATTERN
Truth presses for response in the present; postponement does not cancel what is approaching.
For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.THE THREAD
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;The judgment in both verses belongs to the Greek krin family of deciding and bringing a matter to verdict. Romans sharpens Felix’s “convenient season”: a postponed response does not erase the matter, but leaves it unresolved as the day of judgment approaches.
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