What Does John 15:15 Mean?
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.
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
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.THE KEY
The change from servant to friend is a change in access: the friend is brought inside what the master is doing.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as a friend who is trusted with what Jesus hears from the Father. Friendship here includes disclosure: what is received is made known to you. You are brought into the Father’s revealed purpose, not left with the task alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that closeness to God means carrying out instructions while being kept outside their meaning.
THE ROOT
ἐγνώρισα
egnōrisa
GROWS FROM
γνωρ-
gnōr-
Known, familiar; in this verb, to make known or bring into awareness.
“shown” in this verse is egnōrisa. The verb carries the movement from what is known by Jesus to what is now made known to you. The verse presents friendship as shared understanding, not simply a warmer title.
ALSO GROWS
gnōrizō: Make known, declare.
γνωρίζω
This is the verb’s dictionary form and names the act Jesus describes.
gnōstos: Known, familiar.
γνωστός
The word family holds both being known and making something known, joining intimacy with disclosure.
φίλους
philous
GROWS FROM
φιλ-
phil-
Affection, fondness, loving attachment.
“friends” in this verse is philous. The word names a bond of affection, and the sentence shows what that bond includes: access to what Jesus hears from the Father. Affection and disclosure meet in the way this friendship is described.
ALSO GROWS
phileō: Love, cherish.
φιλέω
This related verb gives the affection within the word for friend.
philia: Friendship, affection.
φιλία
This noun names the relationship that Jesus says now describes you.
δούλους
doulous
GROWS FROM
δουλ-
doul-
Bond-service or enslavement; a person bound to serve another.
“servants” in this verse is doulous. The Greek word can carry the concrete sense of a slave or bondservant, giving force to the contrast with friendship. The verse focuses on what defines that role here: the servant does not know what the master is doing, while the friend is told.
ALSO GROWS
douleuō: Serve as a bondservant.
δουλεύω
This related verb shows the service bound up with the noun.
douleia: Bondage, slavery.
δουλεία
This related noun makes the constraint in the servant image visible.
THE PATTERN
Closeness with God is shown through disclosure: what is hidden is opened to the one brought near.
And the LORD said, Shall I cover from Abraham what I am making?And the LORD spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. And he turned again into the camp, but Joshua son of Nun, the young man who served him, did not leave the tent.But God unveiled them to us through his breath, for the breath searches all things, even the depths of God.THE THREAD
I have made your nature known to them, and I will make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.“I have made known” here and “I have declared” there use the same Greek verb, γνωρίζω (gnōrizō), meaning “to make known.” John 17:26 centers that disclosure on the Father’s name, his nature, and says its aim is that the Father’s love may be in them.
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