And Paul said: I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but I speak words of truth and soberness.
ο δε ου μαινομαι φησιν κρατιστε φηστε αλλα αληθειας και σωφροσυνης ρηματα αποφθεγγομαι
6 Church Fathers comment on this verse
What then does Paul do? He answers meekly. Paul replied, “No, most excellent Festus,” he said, “I am not mad, but I speak words of truth and sober reason.” Do you see what inspired boldness is like? It seems like madness, yet it shines higher than sound understanding.
He added that he preached nothing new, but only what Moses and the prophets had foretold. Namely, Christ the Messiah had to suffer, rise from the dead, and proclaim light to the whole world, to Jews and Gentiles.
Paul could suppose that all this was known to the king and beyond doubt for him. But to a Roman it seemed strange. It was also strange to the cold governor that Paul said all this with such animation.
He saw in it nothing more than fantasy. "Your great Jewish learning," the procurator said to Paul, "is driving you mad!"
But Paul answered with renewed assurance: "I am not speaking madness. My words are words of truth and sound reason."
Turning to Agrippa, he called upon him himself as a witness, since he too had to know what had not taken place in secret, but publicly, in Jerusalem.
Firmly convinced that in all this only the predictions of the prophets were being fulfilled, he said to the king: "Surely you believe the prophets. Yes, I know that you believe."
Agrippa, taking these words unfavorably, answered him: "Indeed, in a few minutes you have made me a Christian!"
Then the Apostle, with chains on his hands and conscious within himself of something far greater than all the glory of the world is worth, pronounced these great words: "Would to God that, whether soon or not soon, not only you, O king, but all who hear me today might become what I am, except for these chains."
To Festus, this inspired speech of the Apostle seems the product of fantasy and madness. Yet it makes such an impression on Agrippa that it almost persuades him to become a Christian. As for the question of Paul’s guilt, the judges drew from his speech the conviction that he was completely innocent. Therefore he could have been released, had he not himself demanded Caesar’s judgment.
This unexpected exclamation stopped the majestic stream of the Apostle’s eloquence. Yet it did not weaken his refined courtesy. “No, most excellent Festus,” he said, “I am not mad, but I speak words of truth and sober reason.”
“No, most excellent Festus,” and so forth; compare Acts 24:3. Respectfully, with complete calm and dignity, the Apostle firmly denies Festus’ reproach, briefly and powerfully. My words, the Apostle says, are not the madness of one deranged. They are words of truth, spoken with a sound mind and sober reason.
The Apostle's answer to Festus's blasphemy is brief and strong, full of dignity, decisive, and reasonable. He calls what he teaches a word of truth and sound reason. By this he refutes Festus's thoughts about his recklessness and insanity.
Not hoping that Festus, deeply prejudiced against the truth of Christianity, could soon understand everything, the Apostle seeks at least some confirmation of his words from Agrippa. This concerns especially the prophetic predictions.
But Agrippa was visibly troubled by the unexpected question and by his position among unbelieving Gentiles. Therefore Paul judged it better to answer for him himself, saying that Agrippa believes.
Earlier Paul had also said for him that he knows much else, meaning what pertains to Christianity. Christianity was growing everywhere, not somewhere in secret. Therefore a person such as King Agrippa could not have heard nothing.
But Agrippa diplomatically preferred to remain silent about everything. All the more, Paul's special address to him evidently aroused Festus's jealousy and indignation. Agrippa did not wish to do anything unpleasant to him.
A Jew is everywhere a Jew. Though raised at the court of the Roman emperor, Agrippa surely remained a Jew in his soul and believed the prophets in the depth of his conscience.
"Does not the completion under him of the Jerusalem temple, begun by his great-grandfather, testify that in his soul there was a feeling of Jewish religiosity, though perhaps deeply buried? The Apostle's penetrating gaze perceived it and awakened it so powerfully that the king was troubled, especially in the circumstances in which he found himself."
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 14 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS