What Does Ephesians 6:21 Mean?
But so that you also may know the things concerning me, how I fare, Tychicus, the beloved brother and steady servant in the Lord, will make known to you all things.
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 that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:THE KEY
The Greek distinguishes knowing from making known, then shows hidden realities reaching others through a trusted messenger.
THE MEANING
Your knowledge of another person’s condition can come through someone who brings the unseen details into view. The messenger is beloved and steady in service, so dependability is part of how the whole account reaches you.
THE ROOT
γνωρίσει
gnōrisei
GROWS FROM
γνο-
gno-
To know or recognize; in γνωρίζω, to bring something into another person’s knowledge.
English repeats “know” in both parts of the sentence, but the Greek distinguishes εἰδῆτε (eidēte, “you may know”) from γνωρίσει (gnōrisei, “will make known”). The first names receiving knowledge; the second names actively bringing what is hidden into view.
ALSO GROWS
ginōskō: Know, perceive, recognize by encounter
γινώσκω
This related knowing-word carries the sense of recognition, showing that what is disclosed can become personally known.
gnōsis: Knowledge, recognition
γνῶσις
The account moves from being out of view into shared knowledge.
πιστὸς
pistos
GROWS FROM
πείθω (peithō), stem πειθ- (peith-)
To persuade or bring to trust; the related word family centers on trust and being trusted.
“steady servant” in this verse is pistos. “Faithful” can sound like a character label, while πιστός carries the sense of being firm and steady in trust. Here that steadiness makes the messenger dependable enough to carry the whole account.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust, reliance
πίστις
The related noun names the trust that makes a messenger’s word dependable.
pisteuō: To trust, put confidence in
πιστεύω
This verb shows trust as something placed in another, which is what the messenger’s steady service invites.
THE PATTERN
Trustworthy service carries what is hidden into what can be known.
Like the cold of snow in the day of harvest, so is a steady messenger to those who send him, for he brings back the living soul of his masters.All that lies upon me, Tychicus will make known to you, the beloved brother, a steady servant and fellow servant in the Lord.No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for all that I heard from my Father I have shown you.THE THREAD
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for all that I heard from my Father I have shown you.John 15:15 uses γνωρίζω (gnōrizō, “make known”), the same verb family as Ephesians 6:21. It opens the same movement: what is heard is brought into shared knowing.
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