Acts 26:24
Easy-to-Read Version
Paul Tries to Persuade Agrippa
24 While Paul was still defending himself, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Too much study has made you crazy.”
Greetings this passage here is the reaction that the nations had towards the Good News and Paul’s address to the courts of the Roman Leaders. It was totally rejected as nonsense, but it was noted that he has learned strong religious teachings. The best things to do is take a closer look at what the Good News was and how it was preached all around the world. What does the Bible tell us about the methods used by Paul and others to spread the word of God?
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Names of God Bible
2 Brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I didn’t speak about God’s mystery as if it were some kind of brilliant message or wisdom. 2 While I was with you, I decided to deal with only one subject--Yeshua Christ, who was crucified. 3 When I came to you, I was weak. I was afraid and very nervous. 4 I didn’t speak my message with persuasive intellectual arguments. I spoke my message with a show of spiritual power 5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Easy-to-Read Version
My Message: Jesus Christ on the Cross
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I told you the secret truth of God. But I did not use fancy words or great wisdom. 2 I decided that while I was with you I would forget about everything except Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. 3 When I came to you, I was weak and shook with fear. 4 My teaching and my speaking were not with wise words that persuade people. But the proof of my teaching was the power that the Spirit gives. 5 I did this so that your faith would be in God’s power, not in human wisdom.
Using two different translations we can see that emphasis was placed on Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection from the dead this is the bases for presenting the word of God to people everywhere. You could say that the Good News was downplayed in speech and mannerism so people could see God’s power.
In today’s terms the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was the ace up their sleeves so to speak and they did not want something else to overpower the presentation: A religious scholar was murdered in Israel and then seen walking around just three days after his death. As it says the ancient followers decided to focus their preaching methods on Jesus Christ and the fact that they are eyewitnesses to their teacher that spread announcement of the Kingdom of God. This is the overall plan used as a method in preaching the Good News all around the world, with the help and the planning of God it was a huge success. What prophecy is recorded in the Bible that helps us understand the reaction people will have towards the Good News?
Isaiah 8:14-15
Living Bible
14-15 He will be your safety; but Israel and Judah have refused his care and thereby stumbled against the Rock of their salvation and lie fallen and crushed beneath it: God’s presence among them has endangered them!
Isaiah 8:14-15
Easy-to-Read Version
14 If you people would respect him, he would be a safe place for you. But you don’t respect him, so he is like a stone that you stumble over. He is a rock that makes both families of Israel fall. He has become a trap that all the people of Jerusalem will fall into. 15 (Many people will trip over this rock. They will fall and be broken. They will be caught in the trap.)
What results did the people have to this approach of spreading the Good News of the Kingdom?
1 Corinthians 1:22-25
Living Bible
22 It seems foolish to the Jews because they want a sign from heaven as proof that what is preached is true; and it is foolish to the Gentiles because they believe only what agrees with their philosophy and seems wise to them. 23 So when we preach about Christ dying to save them, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. 24 But God has opened the eyes of those called to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, to see that Christ is the mighty power of God to save them; Christ himself is the center of God’s wise plan for their salvation. 25 This so-called “foolish” plan of God is far wiser than the wisest plan of the wisest man, and God in his weakness—Christ dying on the cross—is far stronger than any man.
JEWS REACTIONS:
Matthew 13:53-58
Living Bible
53-54 When Jesus had finished giving these illustrations, he returned to his hometown, Nazareth in Galilee, and taught there in the synagogue and astonished everyone with his wisdom and his miracles.
55 “How is this possible?” the people exclaimed. “He’s just a carpenter’s son, and we know Mary his mother and his brothers—James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. 56 And his sisters—they all live here. How can he be so great?” 57 And they became angry with him!
Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own country, and among his own people!” 58 And so he did only a few great miracles there, because of their unbelief.
GENTILES REACTION:
Acts 17:32-34
Living Bible
32 When they heard Paul speak of the resurrection of a person who had been dead, some laughed, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.” 33 That ended Paul’s discussion with them, 34 but a few joined him and became believers. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the City Council, and a woman named Damaris, and others.
See An Amazing Model of Jerusalem From the Time of Jesus!