What Does Acts 26:15 Mean?
And I said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you pursue.
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 I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.THE KEY
Jesus names himself as the one being pursued: persecuting his followers reaches him.
THE MEANING
The answer to “Who art thou?” reveals that Jesus is not distant from the person being persecuted. When someone is targeted for belonging to him, Jesus names himself as the one being pursued. His identity is bound to those who bear his name.
THE ROOT
διώκεις
diōkeis
GROWS FROM
διωκ-
diōk-
to pursue, chase after
“pursue” in this verse is diōkeis. The Greek word carries the image of pursuit beneath the sense of persecution. Jesus turns that pursuit toward himself: the one being chased is not separate from the followers who are targeted.
ALSO GROWS
diōkō: to pursue or persecute
διώκω
This is the verb’s dictionary form: persecution is expressed as pursuit.
diōgmos: pursuit, persecution
διωγμός
This noun from the same word family names persecution as the act or experience of being pursued.
diōxis: pursuit
δίωξις
This related noun keeps the root’s image of chasing after someone, making the force of “persecutest” more concrete.
THE PATTERN
What is done to those who belong to Jesus is spoken of as done to Jesus himself.
And he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you pursue me?And the King answers and says to them, Truly, I say to you, Whatever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did to me.But when you miss the mark against the brothers and wound their weak shared sight within them, you miss the mark against the Anointed One.THE THREAD
And he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you pursue me?The Greek verb translated “persecutest” is from the same διωκ- (diōk-) word family in both verses. Acts 9 makes the identity in Acts 26 unmistakable: the one pursuing Jesus’ followers is, in Jesus’ own words, pursuing him.
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