What Does Colossians 1:14 Mean?
In him we have the unbinding through his blood, the release of our shortcomings.
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
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:THE KEY
Redemption and forgiveness name one movement: release comes through his blood, and what you have missed is let go.
THE MEANING
In him, you have redemption through his blood. The phrase “forgiveness of sins” names this redemption as release from what you have missed. The missing does not get the last word; release does.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that what you have missed can never be released and must define you.
THE ROOT
ἄφεσις
áphesis
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι (aphiēmi), from ἀπό (apó, away) + ἵημι (híēmi, send or let go)
Send away; release, let go.
The word carries the sense of release and letting go. Set beside redemption, it shows that the ransom here includes release from what has been missed.
ALSO GROWS
aphiēmi: Send away, let go, forgive.
ἀφίημι
This verb reveals the action inside “forgiveness”: what is held is released.
áphesis: Release, remission.
ἄφεσις
The same word names release for captives in Luke 4:18, showing that this release is freedom, not merely a change in status.
ἀπολύτρωσις
apolýtrōsis
GROWS FROM
λυ-/λυτρ- (ly-/lytr-), from λύω (lyō, loosen or release)
Loosen and release; ransom that secures release.
“unbinding” in this verse is apolýtrōsis. The word holds liberation and ransom together. “Through his blood” keeps the release bound to the cost named in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
lyō: Loosen, release.
λύω
This root brings the sense of being loosened from what holds you.
lytron: Ransom; the means of release.
λύτρον
It connects redemption with the price or means by which release comes.
lytroō: Ransom, redeem, set free.
λυτρόω
This verb makes the link between ransom and liberation explicit.
ἁμαρτιῶν
hamartiōn
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ- (hamart-), from ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō)
Miss, fail to reach.
“shortcomings” in this verse is hamartiōn. The word comes from a verb meaning to miss or go wrong; its plural keeps the focus on the misses themselves. Beside release, those misses do not become the reader’s whole identity.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: Miss, err, go wrong.
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb makes “sins” concrete as acts of missing or going wrong.
hamartēma: An error or misdeed; a particular missing.
ἁμάρτημα
This branch points to individual misses that the verse says can be released.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance moves a person out from under what holds them, and scripture names that movement as release.
And the LORD spoke to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.The breath of the Lord LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the bowed ones; he has sent me to bind up the broken of heart, to proclaim flowing freedom to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are chained.The breath of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the emptied. He has sent me to heal the shattered in heart, to herald release to the captives, and the return of sight for the blind, to send the crushed away into release.THE THREAD
For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many, for the release of shortcomings.Matthew 26:28 repeats the phrase ἄφεσις ἁμαρτιῶν (áphesis hamartiōn, release of missing) and also names his blood. The repeated wording shows redemption through blood being described as release from what has been missed.
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