What Does Acts 1:8 Mean?
But you will take hold of power when the Set-Apart Breath comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the farthest edge of the ground.
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
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.THE KEY
The power is received capacity whose purpose is to turn the Set-Apart Breath into testimony that travels from the near place to the earth’s far edge.
THE MEANING
The Set-Apart Breath comes upon you as a gift, and with it you receive capacity. That capacity takes the form of testimony to Jesus and moves from the place nearest you through crossed boundaries toward the earth’s far edge. The verse holds the witness as something received and outward-facing at once.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that witness depends on self-generated force or stays confined to familiar people and places: its capacity is received, and its horizon reaches the earth’s edge.
THE ROOT
δύναμις
dynamis
GROWS FROM
δύναμαι
dynamai
Be able; have capacity.
“power” in this verse is dynamis. The word points to ability or capacity, not merely force. Here that capacity is received with the Breath and directed toward testimony.
ALSO GROWS
dynamai: Be able; have capacity.
δύναμαι
The related verb shows power as the ability to act, which the verse describes as received.
dynatos: Able, capable, powerful.
δυνατός
This related form keeps the emphasis on what can be done, clarifying the capacity behind the witness.
πνεῦμα
pneuma
GROWS FROM
πνέω
pneō
Breathe; blow.
The word carries breath, wind, and spirit together, so the presence that comes upon the disciples is named with the word for breathing or moving air. This brings the Set-Apart Breath into view as the source accompanying the capacity in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
pneuma: Breath, wind, or spirit.
πνεῦμα
This is the word in the verse; its range joins the arriving presence with breath and wind.
pnoē: Breath; blast of wind.
πνοή
This related word keeps breath and wind within the same family of images.
μάρτυρες
martyres
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ-
martyr-
Witness; testify.
“witnesses” in this verse is martyres. The word names those who testify, while its related forms name the act and content of testimony. Received capacity takes a public form and moves across the geography named in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
martyreō: Bear witness; testify.
μαρτυρέω
This related verb names the act carried out by the witnesses.
martyria: Testimony; witness.
μαρτυρία
This related noun shows that the witness is also the testimony being made visible and heard.
THE PATTERN
The divine work is received through the Breath and carried outward from a particular center toward all peoples.
Then he answered and said to me, This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by army, nor by strength, but by my breath, says the LORD of hosts.And he said, It is a light thing that you should be my servant, to stand up the tribes of Jacob, and to turn back the guarded ones of Israel. I will also set you as a light for the nations, that you may be my deliverance to the edge of the earth.Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, immersing them into the nature of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Set-Apart Breath.THE THREAD
And you also bear witness, because from the beginning you have been with me.Acts uses μάρτυρες (martyres, witnesses); John uses μαρτυρεῖτε (martyreite, bear witness), forms from the same μαρτυρ- (martyr-, witness and testimony) word family. Acts names the outward role; John shows the witness arising from having been with Jesus.
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