What Does 2 Thessalonians 2:15 Mean?

So then, brothers, stand firm and grip the handed-over things you were taught, whether through word or through our letter.

2 Thessalonians 2:15 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

THE KEY

What steadies you is something first handed to you.

THE MEANING

You stand now by holding what reaches you through teaching, whether spoken or written. The two channels carry what you have received and keep close.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that your footing must come only from ideas you generate yourself dissolves here: steadiness comes through holding what has already been taught and handed on.

THE ROOT

παραδόσεις

paradoseis

GROWS FROM

δίδωμι

didōmi

To give; in the compound ⁨παραδίδωμι⁩, to hand over.

“handed-over things” in this verse is paradoseis. The word translated “traditions” names what has been handed over to you. Its root keeps the movement of giving inside the teaching: it reaches you because it has been passed on.

ALSO GROWS

paradidōmi: Hand over; deliver.

παραδίδωμι

This verb is the source of the noun in the verse: the teaching is something handed over.

didōmi: Give; place; set.

δίδωμι

The basic root shows the act of giving beneath the transmission.

κρατεῖτε

krateite

GROWS FROM

κρατ-

krat-

Strength or might; the force to prevail and hold.

The verb ⁨κρατέω⁩ carries the sense of grasping or holding fast. Beside “stand fast,” it pictures steadiness as both a firm stance and an active grip.

ALSO GROWS

krateō: Grasp; hold fast.

κρατέω

This is the verb used here: the received teaching is something you keep hold of.

kratos: Strength; might; power.

κράτος

The related noun gives “hold fast” its sense of strength and staying power.

THE PATTERN

Received teaching becomes a living chain as it is held, spoken, and handed forward.

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers recounted to us.

Psalm 78:3 · SDVWhat is heard and known reaches the present through what has been told and carried forward.

For I handed down to you first of all what I also took from another's hand, that the Anointed One died for our shortcomings according to the writings.

1 Corinthians 15:3 · SDVThe verse joins receiving with delivering, showing teaching moving from one set of hands to another.

And these things you heard from me among many witnesses, place beside steady people who will be able to teach others also.

2 Timothy 2:2 · SDVWhat is heard is entrusted onward, forming a chain that continues through teaching.

THE THREAD

For I handed down to you first of all what I also took from another's hand, that the Anointed One died for our shortcomings according to the writings.

1 Corinthians 15:3 · SDV

“Delivered” comes from the same Greek root family as “traditions” here. The wording reveals a chain of reception and passing on: what steadies you has first been received, then carried forward.

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