What Does Acts 15:7 Mean?
And when there had been much searching, Peter rose up, and said to them, Men and brethren, you know that from ancient days God picked out among us that the nations through my mouth should hear the word of the good news and trust.
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 when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.THE KEY
The verse binds believing to hearing: trust takes shape as the message crosses a boundary.
THE MEANING
A spoken word reaches the ear, and trust takes shape in the hearing. God’s choice reaches people beyond the circle expected to receive the message. Access begins with being addressed, not with already belonging.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a person must already belong to the recognized circle before God’s message can reach them: here, the Gentiles hear and believe through Peter’s voice.
THE ROOT
πιστεῦσαι
pisteusai
GROWS FROM
πείθω
peithō
To persuade or win over; in this word family, to trust or be persuaded.
English “believe” can sound like agreement with a claim, while this Greek word family carries the sense of being persuaded and trusting. The verse joins that trust directly to hearing the message, presenting it as a response to what reaches the ear.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: Persuade, convince, or trust.
πείθω
The root holds both persuasion and trust, showing belief as a response to what persuades.
pistis: Trust, confidence, faith.
πίστις
This noun names the trust that the verse describes as arising after the message is heard.
pistos: Trustworthy, reliable, faithful.
πιστός
This branch connects trusting with the quality of being reliable, giving belief the texture of reliance rather than bare agreement.
THE PATTERN
Trust takes shape through hearing the message, and its reach crosses the boundary of expected belonging.
Bend your ear and come to me. Hear and respond, and your living soul shall live. I will cut a covenant of the ages with you, the steady faithful loves of David.While Peter was still speaking these words, the Set-Apart Breath fell upon all who heard the word.This alone I would learn from you. Did you take hold of the breath out of the works of instruction, or out of the hearing of trust?THE THREAD
So then trust comes out of hearing, and hearing comes through the word of God.The verb πιστεῦσαι (pisteusai, to believe or trust) here and the noun πίστις (pistis, trust) there belong to the same Greek word family. Romans makes the link visible: hearing and trust emerge together through the word.
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