What Does 2 Peter 1:12 Mean?
Therefore I will not hold back from reminding you always of these things, though you know them and are made steady in the truth at hand.
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
Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.THE KEY
Being reminded is not evidence that you never knew the truth; it is how what is already known becomes firmly held.
THE MEANING
The truth is present with you, and what you already know can still be brought forward again. Remembrance steadies you in that truth. Here, being reminded serves what you know; it does not mean you failed to know it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that needing a reminder proves you never truly knew. This verse shows remembrance supporting what is already known.
THE ROOT
ἐστηριγμένους
estērიგmenous
GROWS FROM
στηρίζω
stērizō
To make firm, set in place, or support.
“made steady” in this verse is estērიგmenous. The word translated “established” belongs to a word family about making something firm. The verse joins that firmness to remembrance: truth already known is brought forward and held steady.
ALSO GROWS
epistērizō: Strengthen or support.
ἐπιστηρίζω
In Acts 14:22, this related verb describes strengthening disciples; here, remembrance supports what is already known.
stērigmos: Firmness or steadfastness.
στηριγμός
This related noun appears in 2 Peter 3:17, where the reader is warned against falling from their steadfastness, the very firmness this verse names.
ὑπομιμνῄσκειν
hypomimnēskein
GROWS FROM
μιμνῄσκω
mimnēskō
To remember or call to mind.
“put you always in remembrance” in this verse is hypomimnēskein. This word means to remind or bring something back to mind. Remembrance is active: what is already known returns to present awareness, where it can steady the reader.
ALSO GROWS
hypomnēsis: A reminder or recollection.
ὑπόμνησις
In 2 Peter 3:1, this related noun names a reminder that stirs the reader’s mind, showing that recall can awaken attention.
anamimnēskō: To remind or bring back to mind.
ἀναμιμνῄσκω
In 2 Timothy 1:6, this related verb brings something already received back into active view, much as this verse recalls truths already known.
THE PATTERN
What is already known is brought back to mind so it remains present and steady.
Then guard yourself lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.But the One who comes alongside, the Set-Apart Breath, which the Father will send in my nature, that one will teach you all things and will remind you of all that I said to you.Finally, brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you does not make me shrink back, and for you it is a sure footing.THE THREAD
You therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, guard yourselves, lest you also, carried off by the wandering of the lawless, fall from your own steadiness.The word translated “established” here and “stedfastness” in 2 Peter 3:17 belong to the στηρίζω (stērizō, make firm) word family. The later verse names the danger of being pulled away from that firmness even when these things are known, showing why remembrance keeps known truth present.
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