What Does Acts 15:26 Mean in the King James?
Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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
What the verse calls hazarding is a handing over: the living self is yielded for the nature carried in Jesus’ name.
THE MEANING
A name is more than a label here; it carries a nature. Jesus’ name holds deliverance, and this verse shows lives handed over for that nature.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that Jesus’ name is only a word to pronounce: here, the name is a nature that claims a whole life.
THE ROOT
παραδεδωκόσι
paradedōkosi
GROWS FROM
παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi; παρά + δίδωμι, para + didōmi)
Give over, hand over, or entrust; in this verse, hand over into danger.
The Greek verb pictures a handover beneath the danger that “hazarded” conveys. Their lives are given over for the nature named.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: To give.
δίδωμι
The base verb makes the act a giving over, not simply a gamble.
paradosis: A handing over, transmission, or tradition.
παράδοσις
The same handover can pass something on; here, what is handed over is life itself.
ψυχάς
psychas
GROWS FROM
ψυχή (psychē; Greek stem ψυχ-)
Life, soul, the living self.
The word translated “lives” can also name the living self or life. The verse speaks of whole selves put at stake, not an abstract idea detached from living.
ALSO GROWS
psychē: Life, soul, living self.
ψυχή
This singular form is the same word translated “life” in Matthew 16:25, where it is both lost and found.
psychikos: Pertaining to the natural or living self.
ψυχικός
This related form keeps the word’s connection to embodied life in view.
ὀνόματος
onomatos
GROWS FROM
ὄνομα (onoma; Greek stem ὀνοματ-)
Name; the identity or nature carried by a name.
“For the name” carries more than an allegiance to a spoken label: it points to the nature of the one named. Jesus (Ἰησοῦς, Iēsous; יֵשׁוּעַ, Yēshūaʿ) carries the name-sense of deliverance, from יָשַׁע (yāshaʿ), to deliver.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: To name or call.
ὀνομάζω
Naming makes an identity known; the verse ties the lives to the nature made known in Jesus.
onomastos: Named, renowned.
ὀνομαστός
A name can carry a recognized character, not merely a sound.
THE PATTERN
A person’s commitments become visible when the living self is handed over for another’s sake.
Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.THE THREAD
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.The Greek word ψυχή (psychē) appears in Acts as “lives” and in Matthew as “life.” The same living self is what can be handed over and what can be found.
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