What Does 1 Corinthians 9:5 Mean?
Do we not have the right to lead about a sister as a wife, as well as the other sent ones, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
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
Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?THE KEY
The woman Paul may travel with is named both as his wife and as his sister in the faith, holding marriage and shared belonging together within apostolic life.
THE MEANING
This verse names a right that can still feel surprising: an apostle may travel with a wife who is also a sister in the faith. The phrase holds marriage and shared belonging together without treating either as an interruption to the calling. Paul places this right alongside those of the other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A calling to serve means giving up the right to companionship with a spouse.
THE ROOT
ἀδελφή
adelphē
GROWS FROM
ἀδελφ-
adelph-
Sibling; the Greek word is traditionally formed from elements meaning “of the same womb.”
“sister as a wife” in this verse is adelphē. The Greek sibling word carries ordinary family meaning, and it also names a woman who belongs to the community of faith. Here, “sister” and “wife” name two relationships held in one person: shared belonging and marriage.
ALSO GROWS
adelphos: Brother; male sibling or fellow believer.
ἀδελφός
The same sibling stem names men and women in the faith community, showing that “sister” marks belonging as well as family relation.
adelphotēs: Brotherhood; the community of siblings.
ἀδελφότης
This branch extends the sibling word to a whole community, illuminating how the wife in this verse is also named as someone within that shared belonging.
περιάγειν
periagein
GROWS FROM
ἄγω
agō
Lead, bring, or carry along; in this verse, take someone along while traveling.
“lead about” in this verse is periagein. The Greek verb combines the sense of going around with leading or bringing. The phrase pictures a wife accompanying an apostle in his movement, making companionship part of the journey itself.
ALSO GROWS
synagō: Gather or bring together.
συνάγω
This compound uses the same “bring” verb to describe people being gathered together, linking movement with shared presence.
apagō: Lead away or take away.
ἀπάγω
This compound also carries the sense of bringing someone along, showing how the verse’s travel language is built on the basic action of leading or carrying.
THE PATTERN
A calling does not erase embodied companionship or the rights that sustain its work.
But Simon's wife's mother lay down, sick with a burning, and straightway they told him about her.So also the Lord has arranged that those who proclaim the good news should live from the good news.THE THREAD
I set beside you Phoebe, our sister, a servant of the assembly in Cenchreae.The Greek word for “sister” here is ἀδελφή (adelphē), the same word used in 1 Corinthians 9:5. In Romans it names a woman’s belonging within the community; in the current verse, that same belonging is held together with her identity as a wife.
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