What Does Acts 17:12 Mean?
Therefore many of them trusted; also of the women of good bearing who were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
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
Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.THE KEY
The word translated “believed” carries the sense of trust, and that trust takes root across lines of status and gender.
THE MEANING
Trust takes root as the message is received and examined, and its reach crosses lines of status and gender. Greek women of standing and many men are among those who believe.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that trust belongs only to one gender, ethnicity, or social rank.
THE ROOT
ἐπίστευσαν
episteusan
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
The Greek word family centers on trust and trustworthiness.
“trusted” in this verse is episteusan. The verb belongs to the same word family as trust and being trustworthy, so “believed” points to reliance, not merely accepting an idea. The verse shows that trust taking root among people of different backgrounds and standing.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: trust, reliance
πίστις
This noun names the trust expressed by the verb in the verse.
pistos: firm, trustworthy
πιστός
The related adjective shows the quality associated with trust: what can be relied upon.
THE PATTERN
Trust takes shape as the word is heard, received, and allowed to open understanding.
The opening of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the open ones.These were of nobler birth than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with all eagerness of heart, and sifted the writings daily, whether these things held so.So then trust comes out of hearing, and hearing comes through the word of God.THE THREAD
But these are written so that you might lean your full weight on this, that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of God, and that by leaning your weight you might have life in his nature.John uses the same πιστ- word family in “believe” and “believing”: trust is the response, and life is its fruit. “Through his name” opens the connection further: life comes through Jesus’ nature.
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