What Does Acts 20:35 Mean?
I have pointed out to you all things, that in this way, toiling, you must hold up those without strength, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, 'It is more flourishing to give than to take.'"
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
I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.THE KEY
The Greek word for “support” shares its root with “receive”: flourishing turns taking hold toward the weak.
THE MEANING
The verse places your flourishing in the movement of what you hold toward the one who is weak. In Greek, “support” carries the image of taking hold on another’s behalf, so giving is strength made available. Jesus’ words name this outward movement as more flourishing than receiving.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that receiving more is the surest measure of a full life: here, greater flourishing belongs to giving.
THE ROOT
ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι
antilambanesthai
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω
lambanō
To take hold, take, or receive; in the compound, to take hold for another, hence to help or support.
“take” in this verse is antilambanesthai. The word translated “support” carries the root of the verse’s “receive.” English separates helping from receiving, while Greek links both to taking hold, the difference is that support takes hold on behalf of the weak.
ALSO GROWS
lambanō: Take, receive, or get.
λαμβάνω
This is the base verb behind “receive” in the same verse, joining support and receiving at the root.
antilēmpsis: Helps or acts of assistance.
ἀντιλήμψεις
This related noun names help as a form of taking hold for another.
μακάριον
makarion
GROWS FROM
μακαρ
makar
Flourishing, fortunate, or in a state of well-being.
The verse describes giving as more flourishing, not as a transaction that guarantees a reward. Its measure of well-being appears in what reaches the weak through you.
ALSO GROWS
makarios: Flourishing or blessed.
μακάριος
This related adjective names the state Jesus associates here with giving.
makarizō: Call someone flourishing or blessed.
μακαρίζω
The verb shows how this word family can name the recognition of flourishing.
διδόναι
didonai
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, grant, or place.
“give” in this verse is didonai. The Greek sets giving beside receiving as two directions of movement. Read alongside “support,” giving becomes the movement by which what is held reaches the one who lacks strength.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: Giving or gift.
δόσις
This related noun carries the act of giving into a form that can be received.
doma: A gift or thing given.
δόμα
This branch names what comes from the movement of giving.
THE PATTERN
Flourishing moves through giving as what is held reaches another person’s need.
The living soul of blessing is made fat, and the one who waters is himself watered.Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and spilling over, they will give into your lap. For with the same measure you measure out, it will be measured back to you.THE THREAD
He has taken hold of Israel his servant, to remember his faithful love.The Greek verb behind “support” is ἀντιλαμβάνομαι (antilambanomai, “take hold to help”), the same verb rendered “holpen” here. The root links support for the weak with God taking hold of Israel.
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