What Does Acts 2:38 Mean in the King James?

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:38 · 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

Turning and immersion into Jesus’ deliverance-nature bring release to what misses the mark, opening the gift of the Set-Apart Breath.

Turning opens into immersion in Jesus Christ’s nature: deliverance from constriction toward spaciousness. What misses the mark is released, and the Set-Apart Breath is received as a gift. The sequence is subtractive: what binds is let go, and life is received.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that release is merely a verdict about the past: here release leads directly into receiving the Set-Apart Breath.

ἄφεσις

aphesis

GROWS FROM

ἀφίημι

aphiēmi

Release, send away, let go.

The word translated “remission” carries the sense of release. The same Greek noun is used for deliverance from captivity and liberty from crushing, so what is released here reaches beyond an accusation to what holds a person bound.

ALSO GROWS

aphiēmi: Release, send away, let go, forgive.

ἀφίημι

The verb behind aphesis shows release as an action: what is held can be let go.

aphesis: Release, remission, deliverance.

ἄφεσις

This noun appears in Luke 4:18 for deliverance and liberty, connecting release from missing the mark with release from captivity.

יֵשׁוּעַ

Yeshua

GROWS FROM

ישע

yasha

Deliver; bring out from constriction into spaciousness.

“Jesus” in this verse is Yeshua. A name carries nature here: immersion “in the name” is immersion in the character of the one named. Yeshua grows from yasha, deliverance from narrowness into spaciousness, so the verse describes entering into deliverance, not simply repeating a name.

ALSO GROWS

yeshuah: Deliverance.

יְשׁוּעָה

The name and the outcome share the same seed: Yeshua’s nature is deliverance.

moshia: Deliverer.

מוֹשִׁיעַ

This branch names the one who brings a person out, illuminating Jesus’ nature in the verse.

πνεῦμα

pneuma

GROWS FROM

πνέω

pneō

Blow, breathe.

“Ghost” in this verse is pneuma. The root carries breath and wind together with what English calls spirit. The gift received here is the Set-Apart Breath: divine life given as breath, not as an abstraction.

ALSO GROWS

pnoē: Breath, blast of wind.

πνοή

This related word names the rushing wind at Acts 2:2, holding breath and wind in one family.

pneumatikos: Of the breath; spiritual.

πνευματικός

This adjective keeps the same breath-root present in descriptions of what belongs to pneuma.

Renewal arrives as release and gift: what hardens is removed, and new life is received.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 55:7 · KJVThe turn is met by abundant pardon, so release is joined to the return itself.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26 · KJVThe hardened heart is removed and a living heart is given; renewal comes through release and gift.
To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
Acts 10:43 · KJVRemission is received through his name, joining release and reception in the same movement.
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,
Luke 4:18 · KJV

The noun rendered “remission” here is ⁨ἄφεσις⁩ (aphesis, release), the same Greek word rendered “deliverance” and “liberty” in Luke 4:18. This connection opens release from missing the mark onto freedom from captivity and crushing.

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Acts 2:38 KJV Meaning