What Does 1 Timothy 2:6 Mean?
Who gave himself as a ransom for all, a witness given in its own season.
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
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.THE KEY
The one who gives himself does not merely announce release; he becomes the ransom for all.
THE MEANING
The one who gives himself is the ransom, and the release this word carries is for all. Its testimony comes in appointed seasons: the gift is given, and its meaning becomes visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This dissolves the belief that the ransom is reserved for a favored few: the verse says it is for all.
THE ROOT
ἀντίλυτρον
antilytron
GROWS FROM
λύω (lyō) → λύτρ- (lytr-)
Loosen, release; the λύτρ- word family names the price by which release is secured.
“as a ransom” in this verse is antilytron. The word ἀντίλυτρον (antilytron, corresponding ransom) joins ἀντί (anti, in place of or corresponding to) with the λύτρ- release-price family. The wording holds giving oneself and another’s release together: the giver becomes the ransom, and that gift is for all.
ALSO GROWS
lytron: Ransom; the price of release.
λύτρον
Mark 10:45 uses this word for the life given as a ransom, making the release-price in this verse easier to see.
lytroō: To release by paying a ransom; redeem.
λυτρόω
This verb shows the movement carried by the ransom: a person is released.
apolytrōsis: Release; redemption.
ἀπολύτρωσις
This related word names release itself, the outcome held within the ransom word family.
THE PATTERN
Release for many comes through one who gives himself on their behalf.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong, because he poured out his living soul to death, and was counted with the rebels. He carried the falling short of many, and for the rebels he stepped in.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.Who gave himself for us, that he might loose us from all living without boundary, and cleanse for himself a people that is his own, burning for good works.THE THREAD
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.Mark uses λύτρον (lytron, ransom), from the same release-price word family as ἀντίλυτρον (antilytron) here. Mark names the life given as a ransom for many; this verse adds that the gift is for all and its testimony comes in appointed seasons.
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