What Does Acts 10:34 Mean in the King James?
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
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
The Greek words behind “perceive” and “respecter” share a root: Peter grasps that God does not take a person’s face as a claim to favor.
THE MEANING
The reader meets a God whose regard is not tilted by a person’s visible identity or standing. Peter grasps that no face gives one person greater claim to God’s favor than another.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a more favored identity or higher standing earns more of God’s regard dissolves here.
THE ROOT
καταλαμβάνομαι
katalambanomai
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω
lambanō
To take or receive; figuratively, to grasp or comprehend.
The Greek word for “I perceive” carries the sense of grasping something. The word translated “respecter” comes from the same receive-and-take family, so Peter grasps that God does not receive people according to their faces.
ALSO GROWS
prosōpolēmptēs: Face-receiver; one who shows partiality.
προσωπολήμπτης
This is the word Acts uses for the posture Peter grasps: God does not receive a face as grounds for preference.
epilambanomai: Take hold of, seize.
ἐπιλαμβάνομαι
It keeps the root’s concrete sense visible: grasping mentally grows from the language of taking hold.
paralambanō: Receive or take along.
παραλαμβάνω
The same root can describe receiving someone into company; here, the verse reveals that a person’s face does not decide who receives God’s favor.
προσωπολήμπτης
prosōpolēmptēs
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω (lambanō), joined with πρόσωπον (prosōpon)
λαμβάνω (lambanō) means to take or receive; πρόσωπον (prosōpon) means face or visible presence. Together they form the image of receiving a face, the basis of the idiom for showing partiality.
The Greek compound gives “respecter of persons” a concrete image: receiving or taking account of a face. English can make the phrase sound like ordinary regard, while the root exposes the question underneath it, whether visible identity becomes grounds for preference.
ALSO GROWS
katalambanomai: Grasp or comprehend.
καταλαμβάνομαι
This is Peter’s “I perceive,” sharing the same receive-and-take family within the verse.
paralambanō: Receive or take along.
παραλαμβάνω
It shows the root can describe receiving someone; Acts denies that a person’s face determines God’s regard.
THE PATTERN
God’s judgment and regard are not tilted by a person’s face, rank, or wealth.
For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:For there is no respect of persons with God.My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.THE THREAD
My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.James uses the same “respect of persons” wording and brings its logic into human relationships. Acts reveals that God does not receive a face as grounds for preference; James shows how the same partiality appears when people rank one another.
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