What Does Acts 1:25 Mean?
That he may take hold of the place of this service and sending, from which Judas fell by stepping across, that he might go to his own place.
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
That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.THE KEY
Ministry is an entrusted share, not a permanent possession: the verse sets one person’s departure beside another’s reception of the work.
THE MEANING
A place in shared service can pass to another when someone turns aside from it. The verse names Judas’s own destination without defining it, while describing the ministry as a portion another receives.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Having held a role in sacred service does not make it permanently one’s own; the shared work can be entrusted to another.
THE ROOT
κλῆρον
klēron
GROWS FROM
κλῆρος
klēros
A lot, share, or allotted portion.
“place” in this verse is klēron. The English “part” is an allotted lot or share. Another receives a portion in both ministry and apostleship, so the role reads as something entrusted into service rather than a possession attached forever to one person.
ALSO GROWS
klēronomía: Inheritance or allotted possession.
κληρονομία
It carries the idea of a share received, illuminating how the ministry can be taken up by another.
klēronómos: Heir; a recipient of an inheritance.
κληρονόμος
It shows the receiving side of an allotted share: someone is entrusted with what belongs to the work.
παρέβη
parebē
GROWS FROM
βαίνω (bainō, to step or go), with παρά (para, beside or across)
To step or go; in this compound, the sense is stepping aside or overstepping.
“stepping across” in this verse is parebē. The verb behind “fell by transgression” carries the movement of stepping aside or overstepping. That movement sits beside Judas going to his own place, making his departure from the shared work part of the verse’s word-picture.
ALSO GROWS
parabasis: Transgression; an overstepping.
παράβασις
It names the same word-family’s crossing or stepping beyond a boundary.
metabainō: To pass from one place to another.
μεταβαίνω
It makes the movement in this verse’s departure and destination easier to hear.
διακονίας
diakonías
GROWS FROM
διακον-
diakon-
Service, attendance, practical ministry.
The role whose share is filled is named as service, and the same word-family names the person serving as a servant or minister. The replacement therefore takes up work given for service, not merely a prestigious seat.
ALSO GROWS
diákonos: Servant or minister.
διάκονος
It names the person whose role is defined by serving.
diakonéō: To serve or attend.
διακονέω
It makes the ministry in this verse an action of service, not only a title.
THE PATTERN
A place of service is an entrusted share that can pass to another when its holder turns aside.
Let his days be few, and let another take his post.Samuel said to him, The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.Lift the talent from him, and give it to the one who has ten talents.THE THREAD
What then is the instruction for? It was placed alongside for the sake of the trespasses, until the seed should come, to whom the promise was spoken; and it was arranged through messengers, in the hand of a go-between.Acts uses παρέβη (parebē, stepped aside or overstepped); Galatians uses παράβασις (parabasis, transgression), members of the same word-family built on stepping. The connection lets the reader hear Judas’s break as movement out of the ministry’s share, while Galatians names that same crossing as transgression.
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