What Does Acts 28:24 Mean in the King James?
And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.
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
The same spoken words meet some as persuasion and others as a reason to withhold trust.
THE MEANING
The words reach you now, and hearing them does not predetermine your response. What is spoken can draw one hearer into trust while another remains unconvinced.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that hearing truth automatically produces trust dissolves here: the same spoken things meet trust in some hearers and refusal in others.
THE ROOT
ἐπείθοντο
epeithonto
GROWS FROM
πειθ- / πιστ- (peith- / pist-), a related Greek word family
Persuasion and trust: πείθω means to persuade or be persuaded; ἀπιστέω means to lack trust, to disbelieve.
“believed / believed not” in this verse is epeithonto. Beneath the KJV’s repeated “believed,” Greek uses one verb for being persuaded and another for withholding trust. The contrast reaches beyond hearing: the same words meet different responses in the hearer.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: Persuade, win over; in the middle or passive, be persuaded.
πείθω
This is the verb behind the first “believed,” giving the response the shade of being won over by what is spoken.
pistis: Trust, reliance; leaning your full weight on.
πίστις
This related noun makes clear that belief can mean placing trust, not merely registering an idea.
apisteō: Lack trust, disbelieve.
ἀπιστέω
This is the verb behind “believed not,” naming withheld trust rather than absence of hearing.
THE PATTERN
Words and signs do not compel one uniform response; they meet hearers with differing degrees of trust.
And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.THE THREAD
Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:John shows that trust and public confession can part ways: many trust him, yet do not speak that trust aloud. Acts 28:24 shows the same trust family meeting the words themselves with both acceptance and refusal.
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