What Does 1 Thessalonians 2:13 Mean?
And for this reason we also thank God without ceasing. For when you took hold of the word of God that you heard from us, you received it not as the word of humankind, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who commit yourselves.
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
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.THE KEY
This verse treats receiving as a passage from an audible message to inward activity: the word of God works within those who trust.
THE MEANING
A word reaches you through a human voice, yet you receive it as God’s word. It does not remain outside you as information; it is at work within you as you trust. Hearing, receiving, and inward activity belong to one living movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that what reaches you through a human voice can only remain human speech: the heard message is received as God’s word and works within you.
THE ROOT
ἐνεργεῖται
energeitai
GROWS FROM
ἔργον (ergon), in the ἐνεργέω (energeō) word family
ἔργον (ergon) means work or deed; ἐνεργέω (energeō) means to be at work or operate.
“works” in this verse is energeitai. The Greek verb ἐνεργεῖται (energeitai, is at work) belongs to the ἐνεργέω (energeō, operate or be at work) family, built around ἔργον (ergon, work or deed). The verse presents God’s word as active within trusting people, not as speech that ends when it is heard.
ALSO GROWS
ergon: Work, deed, or what is done.
ἔργον
This is the work at the center of the word family; the verse locates that activity within the hearers.
energeia: Activity, operation, working.
ἐνέργεια
This related form makes the word’s active operation visible beneath the English phrase “effectually worketh.”
energeō: To be at work, operate, or produce an effect.
ἐνεργέω
This verb family links the word heard with ongoing activity in the people who trust.
παραλαβόντες
paralabontes
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω
lambanō
To take or receive.
“took hold of” in this verse is paralabontes. The first “received” is παραλαβόντες (paralabontes, having received or taken in), from παραλαμβάνω (paralambanō, receive or take alongside). The next is ἐδέξασθε (edexasthe, you welcomed or received), from δέχομαι (dechomai, welcome or receive): English repeats “received,” while Greek distinguishes taking in the message from welcoming it as God’s word.
ALSO GROWS
lambanō: Take, receive.
λαμβάνω
This is the verbal seed in παραλαμβάνω, the first act of receiving described in the verse.
epilambanomai: Take hold of, grasp.
ἐπιλαμβάνομαι
This related compound adds the sense of taking hold, showing how the same root can describe active reception.
πιστεύουσιν
pisteuousin
GROWS FROM
πίστις (pistis), with πιστεύω (pisteuō)
πίστις (pistis) means trust or reliance; πιστεύω (pisteuō) means to trust or place confidence.
“who commit yourselves” in this verse is pisteuousin. The Greek πιστεύουσιν (pisteuousin, those who trust) describes the people in whom the word is at work. The verse holds trust and inner activity together, rather than treating belief as a bare opinion.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust, reliance, confidence.
πίστις
This noun names the trust that the verse places alongside the word’s work within people.
pistos: Firm, steady, trustworthy.
πιστός
This related form brings out the steadiness associated with trust.
pisteuō: Trust, place confidence.
πιστεύω
This verb shares the same word family as the verse’s description of those in whom the word works.
THE PATTERN
A word received as God’s is not inert information; it is active in what it reaches.
So shall my word be that comes out of my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall prosper in the thing to which I sent it.For the word of God is living and working, and sharper than any two-edged sword, reaching through even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and it discerns the inward movements and thoughts of the heart.For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do, for the sake of his good pleasure.THE THREAD
Now to him who is strong enough to do beyond all that we ask or think, overflowing past measure, according to the strength that works in us.The “worketh” here and the “worketh” in Ephesians 3:20 draw on ἐνεργέω (energeō, be at work or operate). Here the word works within those who trust; there, power works within us, carrying the same root’s inner activity forward.
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