What Does Acts 21:21 Mean?
And they have been told about you, that you teach all the Jews among the nations to stand away from Moses, saying they ought not to cut around their children, nor to walk in the customs.
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 they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.THE KEY
The verse marks “departure from Moses” as a report being repeated, not as a fact the sentence establishes.
THE MEANING
A report about you can present a teaching as a wholesale break from an inherited way of life: here, the claim is that you teach Jews among the nations to forsake Moses, circumcision, and customary practice. The words “they are informed” keep the charge in reported speech; its presence in the sentence does not itself establish it as fact.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A charge repeated as settled fact has therefore been verified.
THE ROOT
ἀποστασίαν
apostasian
GROWS FROM
ἀφίστημι (aphistēmi), from ἀπό (apo, away) + ἵστημι (histēmi, stand)
To stand away; withdraw or depart.
“stand away from” in this verse is apostasian. The underlying picture is a stance that has moved away: the word names separation from a teaching, without specifying whether that separation is true or justified. Since the sentence presents it inside “they are informed,” the force of the departure belongs to the report being repeated.
ALSO GROWS
aphistēmi: To withdraw or depart.
ἀφίστημι
This is the verb beneath the noun in the verse; it shows that “forsake” carries the image of moving away.
apostates: One who departs; a deserter.
ἀποστάτης
This related word names a person by the departure attributed to them, showing how a report can turn a claimed movement into a label.
ἔθεσιν
ethesin
GROWS FROM
ἔθος
ethos
Habitual practice or custom.
The verse pairs an alleged departure with a repeated practice: it describes both a break from Moses and a different way of walking through customs. The word carries the sense of habits practiced over time, so the charge concerns a pattern of life, not one isolated act.
ALSO GROWS
ethizō: To accustom or habituate.
ἐθίζω
This related verb makes visible how a custom becomes familiar through repetition.
ethismos: A custom or habitual practice.
ἔθισμος
This noun keeps the focus on repeated practice, clarifying what the reported charge says people are being taught to leave.
THE PATTERN
A report about someone can become a verdict before it has been tested against what is true.
The aligned one at the head of his own contention seems straight, but his neighbor comes and searches him out.And there was much murmuring about him among the crowd. Some said, He is good; others said, No, he leads the crowd off the path.Test everything, and hold fast to what is good.THE THREAD
Watch, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of not leaning your full weight, in stepping away from the living God.Acts uses ἀποστασία (apostasia, departure) for what the report says you teach; Hebrews uses ἀφίστημι (aphistēmi, depart) for turning away from the living God. The shared word-family reveals the weight of the accusation while Acts still presents it as a report, not a confirmed description.
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