What Does Acts 15:41 Mean?
And he went through Syria and Cilicia, steadying the assemblies.
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 went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.THE KEY
“Confirming” means making the assemblies firm: the verse describes living communities being strengthened through presence and support.
THE MEANING
An assembly is a gathered community, and its steadiness grows through reinforcing care. The verse joins movement among people with the strengthening of the communities where they gather.
THE ROOT
ἐπιστηρίζων
epistērizōn
GROWS FROM
στηρίζω
stērizō
Make firm, support, establish.
“steadying” in this verse is epistērizōn. The Greek verb translated “confirming” carries the sense of reinforcing and making firm. Its word family points to firmness itself, so the action is ongoing support for the assemblies, rather than a mere declaration that they are valid.
ALSO GROWS
stērizō: Strengthen, establish, make firm.
στηρίζω
This is the base verb behind “confirming”; it shows the action as support that steadies a community.
stereos: Firm, solid, steadfast.
στερεός
The related word family makes visible the quality the strengthening brings: a community made firm.
ἐκκλησίας
ekklēsias
GROWS FROM
καλέω (kaleō), in ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia)
Call, summon; ἐκκλησία means an assembly, a gathering of people.
The word rendered “churches” names assemblies of people. The strengthening reaches living communities wherever they gather.
ALSO GROWS
klēsis: Calling, invitation.
κλῆσις
It shares the kaleō word family and connects the assembly with the idea of being called together.
klētos: Called, invited.
κλητός
This related word shows the same family’s connection to people summoned into a gathering.
THE PATTERN
Communities become steady through repeated acts of strengthening and support.
Strengthen the hands that have let go, and steady the knees that buckle.Setting firm the living souls of the learners, urging them to remain upon the trust, and that through much pressing we must enter the governance of God.But the God of all favor, who called you into his weight of the ages in the Anointed One, after you have suffered for a little while, will himself mend you, steady you, strengthen you, and lay your foundation.THE THREAD
Setting firm the living souls of the learners, urging them to remain upon the trust, and that through much pressing we must enter the governance of God.Acts 14:22 uses the same Greek verb for “confirming,” from stērizō: to strengthen and make firm. Here that reinforcement reaches people directly, opening “confirming the churches” as care that steadies the gathered community.
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