What Does Acts 8:14 Mean?

Now when the sent ones who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had taken in the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.

Acts 8:14 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:

THE KEY

Samaria’s reception turns the apostles’ title into action: the sent ones hear, then send.

THE MEANING

Samaria receives the word of God, the news reaches the apostles in Jerusalem, and Peter and John are sent to those who received it. The verse holds welcome and sending together: what is received in one place draws others toward it.

THE ROOT

ἀπόστολοι

apostoloi

GROWS FROM

στελλ-

stell-

To send or dispatch; with apo-, to send out or away.

“apostles / sent” in this verse is apostoloi. The Greek noun for “apostles” and the verb translated “sent” belong to the same word family. The sent ones hear that Samaria has received the word, then send Peter and John: sending is not just their title, but an action passed on.

ALSO GROWS

apostolos: one sent; messenger

ἀπόστολος

This is the word rendered “apostles” at the start of the verse.

apostolē: sending; commission

ἀποστολή

This related noun makes the act of sending explicit in the same word family.

δέχομαι

dechomai

GROWS FROM

δεχ-

dech-

To receive, welcome, or accept.

“taken in” in this verse is dechomai. The verse uses dedektai, a form of dechomai: Samaria has received the word, and that reception stands as a present fact. The text distinguishes hearing about the word from welcoming it; the apostles hear the report of that welcome, and respond by sending others.

ALSO GROWS

apodechomai: receive; welcome

ἀποδέχομαι

This related verb carries the same sense of taking something in, echoing Samaria’s reception.

dektos: accepted; welcome

δεκτός

This adjective from the same family gives the receiving root the shade of welcome.

THE PATTERN

The word moves outward as people receive it and others are sent to meet them.

So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:11 · SDVGod’s word goes forth with purpose, expressing the outward movement that Acts 8 shows through those sent to its receivers.

And how will they herald unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!

Romans 10:15 · SDVThe verse links sending with the word reaching those who hear, the same movement visible in Peter and John being sent to Samaria.

THE THREAD

And the sent ones and brethren who were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also taken hold of the word of God.

Acts 11:1 · SDV

The same Greek verb, dechomai, describes the Gentiles receiving God’s word, and the phrase “received the word of God” recurs. The repeated root carries the pattern onward: the word is received across communities, and news of that reception travels.

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