What Does Acts 16:4 Mean?
And as they passed through the cities, they handed down the decrees to guard, which had been judged by the sent ones and elders in Jerusalem.
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 as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.THE KEY
The decrees do not stay with the people who decide them: they are given onward and guarded where the people live.
THE MEANING
What reaches a community is guidance already discerned together, carried beyond its source and held in practice. Receiving it is one moment; keeping it is the continuing work.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that hearing guidance is the same as preserving it dissolves here: the verse names handing it over and keeping it as separate acts.
THE ROOT
παρεδίδοσαν
paredidōsan
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give; παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), the verb in this verse, means to hand over or pass along.
The verb for “delivered” is built on giving: what has been decided reaches each city as something handed onward. The movement from Jerusalem into the cities is part of the verse’s meaning, the guidance travels through giving.
ALSO GROWS
metadidōmi: to share, impart
μεταδίδωμι
This compound uses the same giving root for passing something on to another.
paradosis: tradition; something handed down
παράδοσις
From the same παραδίδωμι family, it names what is carried forward through transmission.
φυλάσσειν
phylassein
GROWS FROM
φυλακ-
phylak-
Guard, watch, keep under watch; φυλάσσειν means to keep or guard.
“keep” in this verse is phylassein. The word carries the sense of active guarding, not simply having heard or remembered a decree. Paired with the handoff, it shows guidance moving from being entrusted to being held in the life of each city.
ALSO GROWS
phylakē: guard, watch; guard post or prison
φυλακή
It shares the φυλακ- family and shows the root’s association with guarding and keeping watch.
phylax: guard, watcher
φύλαξ
The same consonantal family names the one who keeps watch over what has been entrusted.
κεκριμένα
kekrimena
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
To distinguish, judge, or decide; κεκριμένα means things decided or determined.
“judged” in this verse is kekrimena. The decrees carry the settled result of discernment: they have been decided and now travel as guidance. The root also yields words for judgment and decision, linking the instruction to the act of weighing and determining it.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: judgment, decision
κρίσις
It shares the κρι- stem and names the act or outcome of judging.
kritēs: judge
κριτής
It shares the root and names one who distinguishes or decides.
krima: judgment, decision
κρίμα
It shares the root and names a judgment or determination.
THE PATTERN
Shared guidance takes root through transmission and continued observance.
And you shall shine the statutes and instructions into them, and show them the way they must walk, and the deed they must do.Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things and hold fast the things handed down, just as I handed them over to you.THE THREAD
So I judge that we should not press upon those from among the nations who are turning to God.James uses κρίνω (krinō, to decide or judge) in “my sentence,” from the same root as “ordained” here. Acts 15:19 shows the moment of discernment; Acts 16:4 shows the resulting decision carried into the cities to be kept.
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