What Does Acts 1:7 Mean?
He said to them, "It is not yours to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has set in his own power."
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
And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.THE KEY
Both the span of time and the appointed moment remain within the Father’s authority, even while they remain outside your knowledge.
THE MEANING
Your knowledge has a boundary here; the Father’s authority does not. Both the longer span of time and the appointed moment remain within his authority, even when their timing is not disclosed to you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that an undisclosed timeline means the Father has lost hold of events is undone: this verse places that timing in his own authority.
THE ROOT
γνῶναι
gnōnai
GROWS FROM
γινωσκ-
ginōsk-
To know or perceive.
“know” in this verse is gnōnai. The infinitive γνῶναι comes from the γινώσκω family, which can name knowing by encounter as well as knowing a fact. Here its object is specifically the times and seasons: that particular knowledge belongs to the Father’s authority.
ALSO GROWS
ginōskō: Know, perceive.
γινώσκω
This is the verb family behind “know”; its range keeps encounter alongside factual knowledge.
gnōsis: Knowledge.
γνῶσις
This related noun shows the same root can name knowledge itself, while the verse marks the timing as knowledge not given to the hearers.
gnōstos: Known, familiar.
γνωστός
This branch carries the sense of what is known, highlighting the verse’s boundary around what can be known about timing.
χρόνους
chronous
GROWS FROM
χρον-
chron-
Time as duration or passing span.
“Times” points to the stretches of time themselves. Paired with “seasons,” it covers more than one kind of timing: the span and the moment within it.
ALSO GROWS
chronizō: Delay, take time.
χρονίζω
This related verb makes the passage of time visible as something that can lengthen.
chronikos: Temporal, pertaining to time.
χρονικός
This adjective from the same stem keeps the focus on time as duration.
καιρούς
kairous
GROWS FROM
καιρ-
kair-
An occasion, season, or fitting moment.
“seasons” in this verse is kairous. The word can point to the moment or season when something comes to pass. Beside χρόνος, it makes the boundary comprehensive: both the passing span and the significant moment are held in the Father’s authority.
ALSO GROWS
eukairos: Opportune, well-timed.
εὔκαιρος
This branch shows how καιρός can carry the sense of a moment that is fitting.
akairos: Untimely, out of season.
ἄκαιρος
Its opposite prefix reveals the root’s connection to whether a moment is fitting or not.
THE PATTERN
The unfolding of time rests within God’s ordering, while people do not hold its full schedule.
To everything there is an appointed time, and a time for every delight under the heavens.And he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who know understanding.But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need for me to write to you.THE THREAD
But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need for me to write to you.The same Greek pair, χρόνοι and καιροί, appears here again: spans of time and appointed moments. Acts places both within the Father’s authority; the shared wording shows that this boundary around timing runs through both verses.
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