What Does John 13:15 Mean?
For I have given you a pattern, that you also should do as I have done to you.
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
For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.THE KEY
Jesus gives you a pattern already embodied in his own act: what he does for you becomes visible in what you do for others.
THE MEANING
Jesus’ way of serving is already shown in an act you can see. The verse makes that act the shape of what passes between you and others.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false split is that Jesus’ teaching can be admired while his way of treating people remains unrelated to yours. Here, his own action becomes the model.
THE ROOT
ὑπόδειγμα
hypódeigma
GROWS FROM
δεικ- (deik-, from δείκνυμι / deiknymi)
show, point out, make visible
“pattern” in this verse is hypódeigma. The verse’s “example” is a displayed model, something made visible so its shape can be recognized and repeated. Here the model is Jesus’ own act, with the preceding sentence naming the washing of feet.
ALSO GROWS
deíknymi: to show, point out
δείκνυμι
Jesus’ action makes the way of serving visible.
deigma: a sample, specimen, or example
δεῖγμα
A concrete act can serve as a sample of how the pattern takes shape.
apódeixis: a demonstration or proof
ἀπόδειξις
The model is demonstrated through action, not left as an abstraction.
πεποίηκα
pepoíēka
GROWS FROM
ποιε- (poie-, from ποιέω / poieō)
do, make, bring about
“I have done” is a Greek perfect form: the act is completed, and its result remains. The word family links doing with making; Jesus’ action takes shape as a pattern that can continue between people.
ALSO GROWS
poiētēs: a maker or doer
ποιητής
The same word family joins action with the person who carries it out.
poiēma: a thing made or workmanship
ποίημα
Doing produces something shaped; here, the enacted pattern shapes how people serve one another.
THE PATTERN
A way is transmitted when a visible act becomes a pattern others carry forward.
According to all that I show you, the form of the dwelling and the form of all its vessels, so you make it.For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his living soul as a ransom for many.For to this you were called, because the Anointed One also suffered for us, leaving you a pattern to trace, so that you might follow in his footprints.THE THREAD
If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.This verse names the concrete act behind “example”: the Lord and Master washes feet, then connects that act to how his followers treat one another. It keeps the model embodied rather than abstract.
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