What Does Acts 13:38 Mean in the King James?
Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
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 announcement is not that your missing never happened, but that it can be released through this man.
THE MEANING
Release from what you have missed is being announced to you through this man. The verse does not deny the missing; it says it need not remain held over you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that your failures must stay attached to you as a permanent sentence is undone here: release is proclaimed to you.
THE ROOT
ἄφεσις
áphesis
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
To release, let go, or send away.
The word translated “forgiveness” carries the sense of release. Joined to “sins”, what has been missed, the verse announces that the missing can be let go; it does not pretend it never occurred.
ALSO GROWS
aphiénai: To release or let go.
ἀφιέναι
This verb form makes the action inside “forgiveness” visible: something once held can be released.
áphesis: Release, remission.
ἄφεσις
This is the noun used in the verse, presenting release as what is proclaimed to you.
ἁμαρτιῶν
hamartiōn
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτάνω
hamartanō
To miss, err, or fail to attain.
The Greek word carries the sense of a missing or an error. English “sins” can sound like a fixed identity; the root keeps the focus on what has been missed, and on the release announced for it.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: To miss or err.
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb shows the action beneath the noun: the missing is something a person does, not the whole of who they are.
hamártēma: An error or failure.
ἁμάρτημα
This related noun names a particular failure, keeping the focus on what can be released.
THE PATTERN
What has been missed is met with a proclaimed release that opens the way out of what holds a person.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;THE THREAD
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,The same Greek noun, ἄφεσις (áphesis, release), is rendered “deliverance” here and “forgiveness” in Acts 13:38. The picture of captives being freed opens the verse further: forgiveness is release from what holds a person, not a denial that the missing occurred.
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