What Does 1 Corinthians 15:5 Mean?
And that he was perceived by Cephas, then by the twelve.
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
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:THE KEY
Here “seen” is an appearing received as an encounter: the living presence reaches one witness, then opens into shared testimony.
THE MEANING
The risen one is encountered as a presence that can be received and recognized. One person’s encounter opens into a gathered witness, as Cephas is named before the Twelve. The verse holds personal recognition and shared testimony together.
THE ROOT
ὤφθη
ōphthē
GROWS FROM
ὁρα (hora; verb ὁράω)
To see or perceive; in this form, to appear to someone.
“perceived” in this verse is ōphthē. ὤφθη (ōphthē) is a form of ὁράω (horaō), “to see or perceive,” and here carries the sense “appeared to.” The encounter is received by a witness: seeing opens into recognition of the risen one.
ALSO GROWS
horatós: Visible; able to be seen.
ὁρατός
This branch makes visibility explicit: what is seen has become perceptible to someone.
hórasis: Sight or vision.
ὅρασις
This branch shows the same root extending from seeing to the perception or vision through which something is encountered.
THE PATTERN
The living presence becomes known through an appearing received by a person.
And the LORD was seen by Abram, and the LORD said, To your seed I will give this land. And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had been seen by him.Mary Magdalene came and brought word to the disciples that she had perceived the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.And Ananias went his way and entered the house, and setting his hands upon him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who was seen by you on the road as you came, has sent me, so that you might look up again and be filled with the Set-Apart Breath.THE THREAD
Saying, The Lord has truly been raised, and was seen by Simon.Luke 24:34 uses the same Greek form, ὤφθη (ōphthē), “appeared,” and names Simon, the person called Cephas here. The repeated wording opens this verse as a personal encounter that can be named and carried into shared witness.
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