What Does Acts 10:20 Mean in the King James?
Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
“Doubting nothing” carries a second edge: go with them without first drawing a line between who belongs and who does not.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into the moment when a next step leads toward people who feel unfamiliar or suspect. It places the weight on the sender’s authority and loosens the reflex to divide people before moving toward them. The command is direct: rise, go down, and go with them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The people I would instinctively keep at a distance cannot be part of God’s direction.
THE ROOT
διακρινόμενος
diakrinomenos
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
To separate, distinguish, decide, or judge.
The Greek participle can carry both hesitation and distinction. The English “doubting” conveys uncertainty; the word’s family also reveals the act of drawing a line between people before going with them.
ALSO GROWS
diakrisis: Discernment; distinction.
διάκρισις
This branch shows how the same word family can name the act of distinguishing.
adiakritos: Without partiality; impartial.
ἀδιάκριτος
The absence of distinction can extend beyond private hesitation to how people are received.
ἀπέσταλκα
apestalka
GROWS FROM
στέλλω
stellō
To send or dispatch; with ἀπό (apo), to send away or forth.
The form means “I have sent,” with the sending complete and its result still in force. The people Peter is told to meet arrive within that ongoing commission.
ALSO GROWS
apostolos: Messenger; delegate.
ἀπόστολος
A messenger carries the sending into an encounter with others.
apostolē: Sending; commission.
ἀποστολή
This branch names the commission that gives the movement its direction.
THE PATTERN
A sending from God turns movement toward another person into participation in the sender’s purpose.
Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.THE THREAD
And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house:Peter later repeats the same “nothing doubting” instruction, then describes going with the men and entering the house. The root’s double sense of hesitation and distinction becomes a lived crossing: he moves through the door without separating himself from those sent to him.
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