What Does Acts 14:26 Mean?
And from there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been handed over to the favor of God for the work they had filled up.
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 thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.THE KEY
The workers are already handed over to God’s favor before the verse names the work as completed.
THE MEANING
You meet work as someone already entrusted within God’s favor. Favor comes before the task, and the task reaches completion within that prior gift. The completed work reveals what was carried through; it does not become the price that purchased favor.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that God’s favor is a wage earned by finished work: here, being entrusted to favor comes before the work.
THE ROOT
παραδεδομένοι
paradedomenoi
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give or grant; in the verse’s compound, to hand over or entrust.
The word often translated “recommended” carries the sense of being handed over or entrusted, adding the image of being placed in another’s keeping. The work begins from that prior entrusting, rather than from the workers establishing their own standing.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: Hand over, deliver, entrust.
παραδίδωμι
This compound is the verb behind “recommended,” giving the commissioning the sense of being placed in God’s favor.
metadidōmi: Impart, share, give a portion.
μεταδίδωμι
This related form shows giving as placing something into another’s share, echoing the workers’ being entrusted to their task.
χάριτι
chariti
GROWS FROM
χάρις
charis
Favor, gracious regard, or a freely given gift.
The word rendered “grace” is favor, and its word family includes both a gift given freely and the act of granting favor. The workers’ commissioning belongs to what they receive; it is not compensation earned by completing the work.
ALSO GROWS
charisma: A gift freely given.
χάρισμα
This branch makes visible how favor can arrive as something received before it becomes service.
charizomai: Show favor, give freely, or forgive.
χαρίζομαι
The same word family joins favor with freely giving, deepening the sense of the workers being entrusted rather than paid in advance.
ἐπλήρωσαν
eplērōsan
GROWS FROM
πληρόω
plēroō
Fill, make full, bring to completion.
“filled up” in this verse is eplērōsan. The verb translated “fulfilled” also carries the image of filling to fullness. The work reaches its full measure after the workers have already been entrusted to favor, so completion is the fruit of what they received, not its price.
ALSO GROWS
plērōma: Fullness, that which fills.
πλήρωμα
This branch makes completion visible as reaching fullness, not merely checking off an assignment.
plērēs: Full, complete.
πλήρης
This related form reinforces the sense that the work has been brought to its full measure.
THE PATTERN
Work is entrusted within God’s favor, and its completion remains held by what was received first.
But by the favor of God I am what I am, and his favor toward me did not become empty; rather I toiled more abundantly than all of them, yet not I, but the favor of God that is with me.As each has received a gift, serve it to one another as good stewards of the many-colored favor of God.Let the sweetness of the LORD our God be upon us, and set firm upon us the work of our hands; the work of our hands, set it firm.THE THREAD
And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being handed over by the brethren to the favor of the Lord.This verse repeats the verb of being handed over and the same word for favor, showing that “recommended” carries more than spoken approval. The pairing reveals a cycle: workers are entrusted into favor, and that favor remains their frame as one work ends and another begins.
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