What Does Acts 14:1 Mean?
And it came to pass in Iconium that they went into the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a way that a great multitude, both of Jews and of Greeks, trusted.
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 it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.THE KEY
The word is spoken so that people from different peoples can place their trust in it together.
THE MEANING
The message reaches both Jews and Greeks, and a great multitude trusts what they hear. The verse holds their different backgrounds together in one shared response.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Trust is not confined to people who share one background.
THE ROOT
πιστεῦσαι
pisteusai
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
Trust, reliance: placing confidence or weight in someone or something.
“trusted” in this verse is pisteusai. The word translated “believed” belongs to the same Greek word family as trust. Here, belief is not merely hearing a claim or agreeing with it; the multitude leans its weight into what they hear. The verse joins the way the message is spoken to the trust that follows.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust; lean your full weight on.
πίστις
This noun names the trust enacted by the multitude’s believing.
pistos: Firm, steady; trustworthy.
πιστός
This related word shows the family’s connection between trusting and what is steady enough to rely on.
THE PATTERN
A heard word can gather people from different inheritances into a shared response.
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.So then trust comes out of hearing, and hearing comes through the word of God.While Peter was still speaking these words, the Set-Apart Breath fell upon all who heard the word.THE THREAD
For the good news was carried to us just as to them, but the word that was heard did not profit them, for it was not mixed with trust in those who heard.Hebrews uses the same Greek word family for “faith” as Acts uses for “believed.” It reveals the shared movement beneath both verses: a word is heard, and trust is what lets it take hold.
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