What Does Acts 9:31 Mean?
Then the assemblies had wholeness throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were built up. And walking in the awe of the LORD and in the comfort of the Set-Apart Breath, they were multiplied.
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
Then had the churches rest throughout all Judæa and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.THE KEY
Rest is not the opposite of growth here; it is the space in which the assembly is built up and multiplied.
THE MEANING
When you gather with others, shared life can find rest, take shape together, and keep moving in awe of the Lord and the consolation of the Set-Apart Breath. Growth emerges within that life of rest, strengthening, and comfort.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A community must stay under pressure to remain spiritually productive; this verse shows growth alongside rest.
THE ROOT
οἰκοδομούμεναι
oikodomoumenai
GROWS FROM
οἰκοδομέω
oikodomeō
Build a house; build up.
“were built up” in this verse is oikodomoumenai. “Edified” can sound like receiving instruction, but this Greek word pictures the assemblies being built up, like a house taking shape. Rest and movement belong together here: the community is being built as it walks.
ALSO GROWS
oikodomē: Building; edification.
οἰκοδομή
The related noun makes the image of a community under construction explicit.
oikodomos: Builder; house-builder.
οἰκοδόμος
This branch shows the shared house-building image contained in “edified.”
Πνεύματος
pneumatos
GROWS FROM
πνεῦμα (pneuma), from πνέω (pneō)
Breath, wind, spirit.
“comfort of the Set-Apart Breath” in this verse is pneumatos. The word rendered “Ghost” is pneuma, which also means breath and wind. The comfort in this verse is joined to the living Breath; English separates meanings that Greek holds in one word.
ALSO GROWS
pneō: To blow or breathe.
πνέω
The verb preserves the word-family’s movement of air and breath.
pnoē: Breath; a blowing.
πνοή
This related noun makes the breath sense of pneuma visible.
παρακλήσει
paraklēsei
GROWS FROM
παράκλησις (paraklēsis), related to παρακαλέω (parakaleō)
Consolation or encouragement; depending on context, an urge or appeal.
“Comfort” here is not detached reassurance: it accompanies the assemblies as they keep moving. The same word-family can also express urging, holding consolation and forward motion together.
ALSO GROWS
parakaleō: Comfort, console, or urge.
παρακαλέω
The related verb carries the range behind this verse’s consolation.
paraklētos: Comforter; advocate.
παράκλητος
This related word shows the same family’s connection with support and consolation.
THE PATTERN
Shared life expands where rest and support allow people to be joined, strengthened, and present together.
The broad streets of the city shall be filled with boys and girls laughing in them.In whom the whole building, joined at the joints, grows into a set-apart temple in the Lord.from whom the whole body, joined together and knit by every joint that supplies, according to the working in the measure of each part, makes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.THE THREAD
In whom the whole building, joined at the joints, grows into a set-apart temple in the Lord.The Greek word-family behind “were edified” in Acts appears here in “building.” Both verses picture growth as a community taking shape together, so rest becomes room for a living structure to grow.
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