What Does Acts 18:12 Mean?
And when Gallio was deputy of Achaia, the Jews fell upon Paul with one passion and brought him to the judgment step.
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 Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,THE KEY
“With one accord” means the crowd gathers its passion into one direction, but shared intensity does not make its judgment true.
THE MEANING
A shared passion can turn many people into one force, carrying accusation toward the seat of judgment. The verse shows that agreement can intensify opposition without proving that opposition is right.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a united crowd must be a truthful crowd.
THE ROOT
ὁμοθυμαδόν
homothymadon
GROWS FROM
ὁμός + θυμός (homos + thymos)
same + passion, impulse, heat
“with one passion” in this verse is homothymadon. The word gathers a group around one shared passion or impulse. English “one accord” can sound like harmony; the Greek names the crowd’s common intensity, leaving open what that intensity serves.
ALSO GROWS
homothymadon: With a shared passion or impulse, moving in a common direction.
ὁμοθυμαδόν
This is the phrase used here: the crowd’s alignment is forceful, but the word itself does not call that force just.
thymos: An inner surge or ardor that can appear as passion or anger.
θυμός
This is the force within the compound: the crowd’s common direction carries the heat of its action against Paul.
THE PATTERN
Collective agreement amplifies its chosen direction, whether it gathers against a witness or toward God.
The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers sit down together against the LORD and against his anointed one, saying,And when they heard this, they lifted up their voice to God with one passion and said, "Master, you are God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them."Then they cried out with a loud voice, and held shut their ears, and rushed upon him with one passion.THE THREAD
And when they heard this, they lifted up their voice to God with one passion and said, "Master, you are God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them."Acts 4:24 uses the same Greek word, homothymadon, for people raising one shared voice to God. The root names the force of their unity; its direction determines whether that force becomes accusation or praise.
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