What Does Acts 9:15 Mean?
But the Lord said to him, Go on your way, for he is a chosen vessel to me, to carry my name before the nations and kings and the children of Israel.
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
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:THE KEY
A chosen vessel carries the sender’s nature into public view through the name it bears.
THE MEANING
A chosen life is a vessel entrusted to carry the sender’s nature before people beyond its own circle, rulers, and its own kin. The name is not just a label; it is the identity and authority made visible through the bearer. Purpose takes shape in what moves through a person and reaches others.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that being chosen is a private badge of superiority dissolves here: the choice is defined by carrying the sender’s nature before others.
THE ROOT
ὄνομα
onoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνομ-
onom-
Name or designation; by extension, the identity and authority represented by the name.
The name is something the bearer carries into view, not a label kept separate from the one who bears it. Here, bearing the Lord’s name means making the Lord’s nature recognizable before others.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: to name, call
ὀνομάζω
Naming makes an identity known, connecting the name in the verse to the nature it represents.
onomastos: named, renowned
ὀνομαστός
A name can become what others recognize; the bearer makes the sender’s identity known in public.
σκεῦος
skeuos
GROWS FROM
σκευ-
skeu-
An implement, utensil, or piece of equipment fitted for use.
The word casts the person as an instrument entrusted with a task, not a trophy displaying a selection. The vessel’s purpose is bound to what it carries and where it is sent.
ALSO GROWS
skeuazō: to prepare, make ready
σκευάζω
The equipment family also carries the sense of readiness for use, illuminating the vessel as capacity fitted to its work.
kataskeuazō: to prepare, furnish, construct
κατασκευάζω
This related word extends the idea of equipment into preparation, echoing a vessel made ready for what it is entrusted to carry.
ἐκλογῆς
eklogēs
GROWS FROM
ἐκλεγ-
ekleg-
Choice or selection; in this phrase, “a vessel of choice.”
The Greek phrase joins selection to a vessel, and the next words name the vessel’s purpose: to bear the name. Being chosen is not detached from what this life is entrusted to carry.
ALSO GROWS
eklegomai: to choose, select
ἐκλέγομαι
The verb names the act of selection that lies beneath “chosen vessel.”
eklektos: chosen, selected
ἐκλεκτός
This related form describes one who has been selected, linking choice to the person entrusted with the task.
THE PATTERN
A life entrusted with a sender’s name becomes its witness before people beyond itself.
God also said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name for the ages, and this is my remembrance to all generations.But you will take hold of power when the Set-Apart Breath comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the farthest edge of the ground.And you will be led before governors and kings for my sake, as a witness to them and to the nations.THE THREAD
For I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake.This verse repeats the Greek word ὄνομα (onoma, name): the name carried before others in verse 15 is the name for which the bearer suffers in verse 16. The name is a lived identity with real exposure, not a detachable slogan.
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