What Does Acts 17:18 Mean?
Certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Porch clashed with him. Some said, What would this seed-picker want to say? Others said, He seems to be a herald of foreign gods, because he brought good news of Jesus and of the standing up again.
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
Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.THE KEY
“Babbler” means seed-picker, while the disputed message centers on resurrection, literally, a standing up.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you when a message exceeds your categories: one voice reduces it to babbling, another calls it strange gods. At its center is Jesus and resurrection, a standing up that the listeners cannot yet place.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an unfamiliar claim must be either nonsense or a threat: both labels can miss the resurrection at the center of the message.
THE ROOT
ἀνάστασις
anastasis
GROWS FROM
ἵστημι (histēmi), through στάσις (stasis)
Stand; cause to stand.
“standing up again” in this verse is anastasis. The Greek noun is built on standing: ἀνάστασις pictures a standing up. The English can make resurrection sound abstract, while the Greek keeps the image of rising into a stand.
ALSO GROWS
stasis: A standing, position, or stance.
στάσις
It carries the standing image at the heart of the word translated “resurrection.”
anistēmi: Stand up, rise, or raise.
ἀνίστημι
This related verb makes the movement in resurrection concrete: someone stands up.
σπερμολόγος
spermologos
GROWS FROM
σπερ- (sper-), in the compound σπερμολόγος
Seed; the seed and sowing word family.
“seed-picker” in this verse is spermologos. The insult pictures someone picking up seeds, with the sense of gathering scraps. Its seed-root also belongs to the language of sowing, so the mockery carries an image of seed even as it dismisses the speaker.
ALSO GROWS
sperma: Seed.
σπέρμα
This is the seed element in “seed-picker,” the image behind the insult.
speirō: Sow, scatter seed.
σπείρω
This related seed-family verb evokes seed being spread, an image that sits beside the accusation of merely picking it up.
εὐηγγελίζετο
euēngelizeto
GROWS FROM
ἄγγελος (angelos), within εὐαγγελίζομαι (euangelizomai)
Messenger or announcement; with εὖ (eu), good, the verb means announce good news.
“brought good news of” in this verse is euēngelizeto. The verb translated “preached” is the good-news-announcing verb. Its wording makes the verse’s claim an announcement about Jesus and resurrection, even while hearers classify it as strange.
ALSO GROWS
angelos: Messenger.
ἄγγελος
It belongs to the messenger word family behind the verb for announcing good news.
angellō: Announce or report.
ἀγγέλλω
It shares the announcement family, bringing the act of speaking forward beneath the English word “preached.”
THE PATTERN
The announcement that the dead rise collides with familiar categories, while Scripture names it as awakening and life.
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground shall awake, some to the life of the ages, and some to exposure and contempt for the ages.Jesus said to her, I am the rising, and the life. Whoever leans their weight into me, even if they die, will live.When they heard of the standing up from the dead, some jeered, and others said, We will hear you again about this.THE THREAD
Jesus said to her, I am the rising, and the life. Whoever leans their weight into me, even if they die, will live.The same Greek noun, ἀνάστασις (anastasis, “a standing up”), appears here and in Acts 17:18. Acts places Jesus and resurrection together as the message being announced; here Jesus says, “I am the resurrection.”
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