What Does 1 Thessalonians 2:2 Mean?
But even after we had suffered before and been outraged at Philippi, as you know, we found our whole voice in our God to speak to you the good news of God in a great wrestling.
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 even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.THE KEY
The verse holds open speech and real struggle together: courage does not mean the contest has ended.
THE MEANING
Abuse can be real, and open speech can still arise in God. The courage in this verse does not depend on the struggle disappearing first.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the lie that being humiliated makes honest speech impossible.
THE ROOT
ἀγῶνι
agōni
GROWS FROM
ἀγών
agōn
Contest or struggle that demands effort.
“in a great wrestling” in this verse is agōni. “With much contention” is ἐν πολλῷ ἀγῶνι (en pollō agōni), “in a great struggle or contest”; it need not mean they are arguing with their hearers. The verse keeps the strain inside the scene: open proclamation and real opposition coexist.
ALSO GROWS
agōnizomai: To strive or struggle.
ἀγωνίζομαι
It makes clear that the contest is an exertion the speakers are moving through as they speak.
agōnia: A state of acute struggle or distress.
ἀγωνία
This branch shows the weight carried by the word for contest; boldness here does not make the strain disappear.
ἐπαρρησιασάμεθα
eparrēsiasametha
GROWS FROM
παρρησιάζ- / παρρησία (parrēsiaz- / parrēsia)
Openness or frankness of speech; speaking freely.
“found our whole voice” in this verse is eparrēsiasametha. The verb describes speaking openly, not simply feeling fearless inside. Here that open speech is “in our God” while the ἀγών (agōn), the struggle, continues.
ALSO GROWS
parrēsia: Free and confident speech.
παρρησία
This noun names the openness carried by the verb translated “were bold.”
parrēsiazomai: To speak freely or frankly.
παρρησιάζομαι
This is the word family of the verse’s “were bold to speak,” joining courage to speech that remains unclosed.
THE PATTERN
A word grounded in God remains speakable under pressure, even while the struggle continues.
Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his nature. But his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it in, and I could not.And now, LORD, look upon their threats, and give your servants to speak your word with all boldness.And many of the brothers in the Lord, growing confident by my bonds, dare much more to speak the word without fear.THE THREAD
And for me, that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, so that I may make known with open speech the sealed thing of the gospel.“Boldly” translates παρρησία (parrēsia), the same Greek word family as the open speaking in this verse. Both passages show frank speech making the gospel known while hardship remains present.
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