What Does 1 Peter 1:25 Mean?
But the word of the Lord remains for the ages. And this is the word that was brought to you as good news.
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
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.THE KEY
The word that reaches you as good news is the very utterance that endures through the ages.
THE MEANING
The word that remains is present in the good news announced to you now. Its enduring nature and its reach into your life belong together: the message that lasts is the message being spoken to you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The good news reaching you is only a passing human announcement.
THE ROOT
ῥῆμα
rhēma
GROWS FROM
ῥη- (rhē-), related to ῥέω (rheō)
To speak or utter; what has been said.
ῥῆμα (rhēma, utterance) names something spoken. The verse says this very utterance is announced to you as good news, joining the enduring word to the message reaching you now.
ALSO GROWS
rheō: To speak or utter.
ῥέω
The verb behind the word points to speech in motion: the word is something spoken, not merely an idea held at a distance.
rhētos: Spoken, stated, or expressed.
ῥητός
This related form keeps the sense of something put into words, illuminating how the enduring utterance can be proclaimed.
μένει
menei
GROWS FROM
μεν-
men-
To remain, stay, or continue.
The verb means “remains” or “stays.” A related word can name a dwelling place, adding the sense that this word does not merely survive at a distance; it stays present.
ALSO GROWS
monē: A dwelling place or abiding place.
μονή
The shared root links remaining with dwelling, giving the enduring word the shade of something that stays.
paramenō: To remain or continue.
παραμένω
This compound carries the same continuing presence found in the verse’s description of the word.
αἰῶνα
aiōna in eis
GROWS FROM
αἰων-
aiōn-
Age, era, or span of time.
“for the ages” in this verse is aiōna in eis. The phrase εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα (eis ton aiōna, “into the age”) gives “for ever” an age-spanning image. The utterance continues into the age rather than belonging to a moment that passes.
ALSO GROWS
aiōnios: Of an age; age-long.
αἰώνιος
This adjective carries the same age-language into descriptions of duration.
eis tous aiōnas: Into the ages.
εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας
The plural form extends the same root’s reach across ages, echoing the verse’s enduring word.
THE PATTERN
God’s word remains through what fades and reaches people as proclaimed good news.
The grass dries, the flower withers, but the word of our God stands for the ages.Heaven and earth pass by, but my words do not pass by.Having been birthed again, not from seed that can be ruined but from what cannot be ruined, through the word of God, living and remaining for the ages.THE THREAD
The grass dries, the flower withers, but the word of our God stands for the ages.This verse echoes Isaiah 40:8: the Greek ῥῆμα (rhēma, utterance) and μένω (menō, remain) connect the “word” that endures there with the word proclaimed here. The good news reaching you is presented as that same enduring utterance.
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