What Does 1 Corinthians 14:36 Mean?
Or did the word of God go out from you? Or did it come down to you alone?
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
What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?THE KEY
The word reaches you without beginning with you, and its arrival does not end with you.
THE MEANING
God’s word does not originate in your circle, and your circle is not its only destination. You receive it from beyond yourself, and its reach remains open beyond you. The verse challenges any claim to own the source or limit who may receive it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God’s word begins with your group or was given only to it.
THE ROOT
λόγος
logos
GROWS FROM
λέγω
legō
To say or speak; λόγος is a spoken word, account, or message.
The word here is a message received, not something the hearers originate. Its source lies beyond them, so receiving it does not make it their possession.
ALSO GROWS
logion: Oracle or divine utterance
λόγιον
This related word for an utterance from God also presents divine speech as something received and heard.
logikos: Reasonable or belonging to reason
λογικός
This related form carries the sense of intelligible meaning, showing λόγος as more than a sound: it is a message that can be understood.
ἐξῆλθεν
exēlthen
GROWS FROM
ἐξέρχομαι
exerchomai
To go out or come forth.
“came out” in this verse is exēlthen. The Greek first asks whether God’s word went out from the hearers. The next clause uses a different verb, κατήντησεν (katēntēsen), meaning “arrived” or “reached”: English repeats “came,” while the Greek distinguishes the word’s source from its destination.
ALSO GROWS
erchomai: Come or go
ἔρχομαι
This is the verb stem in ἐξέρχομαι; the added prefix marks movement outward.
eiserchomai: Enter or come in
εἰσέρχομαι
This related compound marks movement inward, making the directional force of the verse’s question easier to hear.
μόνους
monous
GROWS FROM
μόνος
monos
Alone, single, only.
“only” in this verse is monous. The word sets a boundary around the recipients: did the message reach you alone? The question refuses to let receiving become a claim of exclusivity.
ALSO GROWS
monazō: Be alone or live alone
μονάζω
This related verb makes the root’s sense of being solitary explicit.
monogenēs: Only or unique; only-begotten
μονογενής
This compound applies the sense of singularity to a person, echoing the verse’s challenge to an exclusive claim.
THE PATTERN
God’s word is received rather than owned, and its reach crosses the boundaries of any one people.
You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor shave anything away from it, that you may guard the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.But in every nation the one who lives in awe of him and works alignment is received by him.For there is no drawing apart between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich toward all who call upon him.THE THREAD
But the word of the Lord remains for the ages. And this is the word that was brought to you as good news.The same Greek word, λόγος (logos), names the message preached to “you.” It endures beyond any one hearer, so receiving the word marks you as its recipient, not its source or sole destination.
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