What Does Acts 23:18 Mean?
So he took him and brought him to the commander of a thousand, and said, "Paul, the bound one, called me to himself and asked me to bring this young man to you, for he has something to say to you."
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
So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee.THE KEY
The same Greek summon-word makes Paul both the one who calls the centurion and the prisoner whose call the centurion carries forward.
THE MEANING
A confined person still sets a message in motion through someone with access to authority. The young man is carried into the exchange with something to say, and the commander is brought within reach of hearing him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that being confined leaves a person with no way to reach authority.
THE ROOT
προσκαλεσάμενος
proskalesamenos
GROWS FROM
καλέω
kaleō
To call or summon; προσκαλέομαι means to summon someone to oneself.
The Greek verb rendered “called” is προσκαλέομαι (proskaleomai): Paul summons the centurion to himself. Its base καλέω also appears in words for a calling and an assembly, linking a call with drawing people into relation; here, the first summons starts the relay that brings the young man’s words before the commander.
ALSO GROWS
klēsis: Calling, invitation
κλῆσις
This related noun shows how a call can invite someone into an exchange; Paul’s summons draws the centurion into the message’s path.
ekklēsia: Assembly
ἐκκλησία
This related compound names people gathered together; the same call-family evokes how a summons brings people into relation.
THE PATTERN
A decisive message travels through people who can carry it into the next circle of authority.
And she said to her mistress, Would that my lord might meet the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would gather him from his leprosy.He also gave him a copy of the writing of the decree given at Shushan to wipe them out, to show it to Esther and tell her, and to command her to go in to the king, to plead for favor before him, and to seek before him for her people.And when he heard about Jesus, he sent to him the elders of the Jews, asking him that he would come and bring his servant through.THE THREAD
Then Paul called one of the commanders of a hundred to himself and said, "Bring this young man to the commander of a thousand, for he has something to tell him."The Greek summon-word προσκαλέομαι appears in both verses: first Paul summons the centurion, then the centurion reports that Paul summoned him. The repeated word reveals the hinge by which the young man’s message travels from a prisoner toward the commander.
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