What Does Acts 14:3 Mean?
Therefore they lingered a long time, speaking openly in the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his favor and gave signs and wonders to come about through their hands.
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
Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.THE KEY
The Lord makes the word of favor visible: it is spoken openly, then witnessed through human hands.
THE MEANING
The Lord bears witness to the word of his favor while it is spoken openly in him. His testimony takes visible form through human hands, joining the spoken word and the work done through them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that bold speech depends on the speaker alone: the Lord himself bears witness to the message.
THE ROOT
χάρις
charis
GROWS FROM
χαρ-
char-
Favor or gracious regard freely given.
English “grace” can sound like an abstract quality attached to the message. The Greek word family also names favor given and gifts bestowed, fitting the verse’s movement from a word of favor to signs made visible through human hands.
ALSO GROWS
charizomai: To show favor or grant freely.
χαρίζομαι
This verb makes favor active: a gift can be given as an expression of favor.
charisma: A gift freely given, a favor bestowed.
χάρισμα
It names favor taking the form of a gift, echoing how the message’s witness becomes visible in the signs.
μαρτυροῦντι
martyrounti
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ-
martyr-
Witness or testify.
“bore witness” in this verse is martyrounti. The verse names the Lord as the one bearing witness; the testimony does not rest on the speakers’ boldness alone. The same word family links a witness with testimony, making the signs part of that public evidence.
ALSO GROWS
martys: A witness.
μάρτυς
The witness is the one who attests to what is true; here, the Lord himself bears witness to the message.
martyrion: Testimony or evidence.
μαρτύριον
It names the evidence that bears witness, illuminating the signs as visible testimony.
σημεῖα
sēmeia
GROWS FROM
σημει-
sēmei-
A sign or mark that indicates.
“signs and wonders” in this verse is sēmeia. A sign points beyond itself; it is not the whole message but an indication of what is at work. The signs here function as visible pointers to the word of favor they accompany.
ALSO GROWS
sēmainō: To indicate or make known.
σημαίνω
This related verb shows the sign’s role: it indicates and makes something known.
sēmasia: Signification or meaning.
σημασία
It names what a sign communicates, underscoring that these signs direct attention to the Lord’s testimony.
THE PATTERN
The Lord confirms a spoken word by making its testimony visible through human action.
And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses, and did the signs before the eyes of the people.God also bearing witness alongside them, with signs and wonders, and with many-colored powers, and portions of the Set-Apart Breath, according to his own will.And they went out and heralded everywhere, the Lord working alongside them and steadying the word with the signs that followed. Amen.THE THREAD
And the word became flesh and pitched a tent among us, and we beheld his weight, the weight as of the only-born from the Father, full of favor and truth.John joins λόγος (logos, word) and χάρις (charis, favor) in a word made flesh and seen; Acts 14:3 joins that same word-and-favor pair to witness through human hands. The signs make visible what the message carries.
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