What Does Acts 15:22 Mean in the King James?

Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:

Acts 15:22 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The whole assembly does not merely agree; it sends witnesses chosen from within its own company.

THE MEANING

The whole assembly’s agreement takes form in people it recognizes and sends alongside Paul and Barnabas. A shared conviction gains a human voice: the message is carried by the community and by those entrusted to represent it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that a community’s decision can be represented by its leaders alone: the whole assembly agrees, and its own members go as witnesses.

THE ROOT

ἐκλεξαμένους

eklexamenous

GROWS FROM

ἐκλέγομαι

eklegomai

To select or pick out.

English “chosen” can read like a bare status, while the Greek form carries the act of selecting. Paired with “of their own company,” the selection comes from within the assembly, so the people sent embody the community that has agreed.

ALSO GROWS

eklektos: Chosen or selected.

ἐκλεκτός

It shares the selecting word family and underscores that those sent are appointed from among others.

eklogē: Selection or choice.

ἐκλογή

It names the act of choosing, bringing the community’s discernment into focus.

THE PATTERN

A community’s discernment takes shape when it entrusts its work to people chosen from within its own body.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.

Numbers 11:16 · KJVRecognized elders are gathered from among the people to share the work with Moses.

Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

Acts 6:3 · KJVThe assembly identifies people from among itself and entrusts them with a shared responsibility.

And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind:

2 Corinthians 8:19 · KJVThe churches choose someone from within their communities to travel as their representative.

THE THREAD

And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:

Acts 6:5 · KJV

The verb behind “chose” is ⁨ἐκλέγομαι⁩ (eklegomai), meaning “to select,” the same Greek verb family as “chosen” in Acts 15:22. In both verses, the assembly’s approval and its selection of people belong together.

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