What Does 2 Corinthians 1:21 Mean?
Now the one who makes us firm with you in the Anointed One, and who has anointed us, is God.
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
Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;THE KEY
The same Greek word-family names both Christ and God’s act upon you: in the Anointed One, God also anoints you.
THE MEANING
God makes you firm together with others in the Anointed One and anoints you. Your place in Christ and God’s action upon you are named together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that you must secure your own place in Christ: God is the one who establishes and anoints.
THE ROOT
χρίσας
chrisas
GROWS FROM
χρίω (chriō; stem χρι-)
to anoint, to rub with oil
“Christ” and “anointed” share this Greek word-family: Christos means “the Anointed One,” while chrio names the act of anointing. English makes them look like separate ideas, but the verse says that the God who places you in the Anointed One also anoints you.
ALSO GROWS
christos: The one who is anointed
χριστός
This is the title translated “Christ” in the verse; it shares its root with “hath anointed.”
chrisma: An anointing
χρῖσμα
The same word-family appears in 1 John 2:20, where the anointing is received from the Holy One.
βεβαιῶν
bebaiōn
GROWS FROM
βεβαιόω
bebaioō
to make firm, establish, confirm
“makes us firm” in this verse is bebaiōn. The word carries the sense of making something firm or confirmed. Its nearby word-family includes what is firm and the act of confirmation, so the verse presents your standing as something God makes secure.
ALSO GROWS
bebaios: Firm, secure, reliable
βέβαιος
It shows the quality implied by God’s establishing: your standing is made firm.
bebaiōsis: Confirmation, establishment
βεβαίωσις
It echoes the verse’s picture of God confirming and making firm what is shared.
THE PATTERN
Anointing comes from God and marks people as participants in the work given to them.
I have found David my servant; with my set-apart oil I have anointed him.How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Set-Apart Breath and with power, who went through, doing good and healing all who were pressed down by the Slanderer, for God was with him.But you have an anointing from the Set-Apart One, and you know all things.THE THREAD
But you have an anointing from the Set-Apart One, and you know all things.“Unction” translates chrisma, from the same word-family as chrio, “anoint,” and Christos, “the Anointed One.” The family link makes the shared movement visible: God establishes people in the Anointed One and gives them an anointing.
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