What Does Acts 18:26 Mean?
And he began to speak with his whole voice in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him in and laid out for him more accurately the way of God.
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 he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.THE KEY
The bold speaker is still a traveler on the way he proclaims.
THE MEANING
You can speak boldly about God and still have more of God’s way opened to you. Apollos is heard, welcomed, and shown the way with greater precision. The verse holds bold speech and continued learning together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Confidence does not mean understanding is complete; the verse places bold speech alongside a fuller understanding.
THE ROOT
ὁδός
hodos
GROWS FROM
ὁδ-
hod-
Road, way, or course of movement.
“way of God” in this verse is hodos. Greek ὁδός (hodos) carries the sense of a road or course one travels. Its word family includes terms for traveling and guiding, so Apollos is shown farther along a path he already speaks about.
ALSO GROWS
hodeuō: Travel, journey.
ὁδεύω
This related verb makes the way an acted path: a course that is traveled.
hodēgeō: Guide, lead.
ὁδηγέω
This related verb carries the path into the act of guidance, echoing how Aquila and Priscilla help Apollos move further along it.
THE PATTERN
God’s way is a path that can be learned, embodied, and shared.
Show me your ways, LORD; teach me your paths.Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.And he asked of him letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, whether they were men or women, he might lead them bound to Jerusalem.THE THREAD
And he asked of him letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, whether they were men or women, he might lead them bound to Jerusalem.The word translated “way” in both verses is Greek ὁδός (hodos), a road or course of movement. Acts 9 calls it “this way,” while Acts 18 shows Apollos being guided further along it.
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