What Does Acts 14:23 Mean in the King James?
And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
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 elders are appointed, but the community is entrusted to the Lord.
THE MEANING
The community reading this now is not held together by leadership alone: elders are appointed, and the community is entrusted to the Lord they trust. Prayer and fasting mark that entrusting as an act of dependence. Human care and divine keeping stand together here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that appointed leaders must control a community for it to be safe: their role is stewardship, while the community is entrusted to the Lord.
THE ROOT
παρέθεντο
parethento
GROWS FROM
παρά (para, beside) + τίθημι (tithēmi, put or place)
Together, they carry the sense of placing something beside another or laying it into someone’s care: entrusting it.
The word translated “commended” carries the image of placing the community into the Lord’s care. Its sense of entrusting makes the verse’s handoff tangible.
ALSO GROWS
paratithemena: things set before someone
παρατιθέμενα
The same verb can describe food placed before a guest; here, people are placed into the Lord’s care.
parathēkē: a deposit entrusted for safekeeping
παραθήκη
This related word carries the image of something placed in another’s keeping.
πεπιστεύκεισαν
pepisteukeisan
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
Firm, reliable; in this word family, trust means leaning confidence on someone dependable.
“believed” in this verse is pepisteukeisan. The closing clause names the trust behind the handoff, not merely an idea they accept. Their entrusting of the community to the Lord grows from leaning their weight on him.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: trust, confidence
πίστις
This noun shares the word family that describes the trust supporting their act of entrusting.
pistos: firm, dependable
πιστός
This branch carries the sense of reliability that makes trust possible.
χειροτονήσαντες
cheirotonēsantes
GROWS FROM
χείρ (cheir, hand) + τείνω (teinō, stretch)
The compound’s image is a hand stretched out; the verb comes to mean selecting or appointing.
“ordained” in this verse is cheirotonēsantes. The Greek verb names appointment, with an image of a hand extended. It places the appointment in each assembly without specifying a particular ceremony.
ALSO GROWS
cheirotoneō: appoint, choose
χειροτονέω
This verb names the act of appointing elders in each assembly.
cheirotonia: appointment, election
χειροτονία
This related noun keeps the focus on selection or appointment rather than on a title alone.
THE PATTERN
A community’s care is shared through appointed stewards, while its belonging and final keeping remain with God.
And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;THE THREAD
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.The same verb translated “commended” here appears as “commit” there: both describe placing something entrusted into another’s care. Acts applies it to a community; Timothy applies it to teaching passed onward, so stewardship is a handoff rather than ownership.
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