What Does 1 Corinthians 16:15 Mean?
I urge you, brothers. You know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have arranged themselves for service to the set-apart ones.
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
I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)THE KEY
The word behind “addicted” means to set or appoint, so this household’s service is a position they deliberately take.
THE MEANING
This verse puts before you a living pattern: beginnings can carry the shape of what grows, and belonging becomes visible in a chosen place of service. This household’s devotion takes form as care directed toward the set-apart. The text shows service as a place people consciously take up.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Service only matters when someone else assigns it to you.
THE ROOT
ἔταξαν ἑαυτούς
etaxan heautous
GROWS FROM
τάσσω
tassō
To arrange, set in order, assign, or appoint; here, they set or appointed themselves toward service.
“arranged themselves” in this verse is etaxan heautous. The reflexive wording makes their placement self-directed: they set themselves in place for service. Their devotion takes the form of lives deliberately arranged toward other people.
ALSO GROWS
taxis: Order, arrangement, or position.
τάξις
Their service is an intentional arrangement of themselves within the community.
tagma: Something arranged, an ordered group, or a rank.
τάγμα
This branch makes their self-placement concrete: they take a place within shared work.
ἀπαρχή
aparchē
GROWS FROM
ἀρχ-
arch-
Beginning, first place, or what stands at the head.
Firstfruits names the first portion of a harvest, a beginning that belongs to a larger whole. The household is presented as more than early: its beginning carries the opening of a wider gathering.
ALSO GROWS
archē: Beginning, origin, or first place.
ἀρχή
It shows that “first” can name the opening from which a larger course proceeds.
archōn: A ruler, chief, or one who holds the leading place.
ἄρχων
This related form shares the sense of being at the head, whether as the beginning or as the one who leads.
τοῖς ἁγίοις
tois hagiois
GROWS FROM
ἅγιος
hagios
Set apart, dedicated to God.
“set-apart ones” in this verse is tois hagiois. The recipients are identified as people set apart, and the household directs its service toward them. The phrase makes service relational: a deliberate placing of oneself in care for others who share this identity.
ALSO GROWS
hagiazō: To set apart or consecrate.
ἁγιάζω
It shows the action within the identity named by “saints”: being set apart.
hagiasmos: Setting apart or consecration.
ἁγιασμός
The shared root links the people served with the condition of belonging to what is set apart.
THE PATTERN
Belonging becomes visible when people freely set their lives toward serving God and one another.
And if it seems evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you settle. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his living soul as a ransom for many.For you, brothers, have been called into freedom; only do not make the freedom a foothold for the flesh, but through love be slaves to one another.THE THREAD
But now the Anointed One has been awakened from the dead, and has become the first portion of those who have lain down to sleep.The same Greek word for “firstfruits” names Christ as the first portion of resurrection. In both verses, the beginning belongs to a larger whole: the household’s first place signals a wider life taking shape in Achaia, and Christ’s rising opens the harvest of those who sleep.
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