What Does Acts 26:12 Mean in the King James?
Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
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 authority moving Paul toward Damascus is granted, and the verse names the institution that places it in his hands.
THE MEANING
The verse makes visible that authority has a source and a commission has a direction: the reach a person carries can be granted by someone else. Here both come from the chief priests, keeping the institution behind the action in view.
THE ROOT
ἐξουσία
exousia
GROWS FROM
ἔξεστιν
exestin
“It is permitted” or “it is possible”; ἐξουσία names the right or capacity to act.
The word holds permission inside authority: this is power to act that has been granted. Its source matters, because the verse traces that reach to the chief priests.
ALSO GROWS
exousiazō: to exercise authority or hold sway
ἐξουσιάζω
This verb shows the authority in motion: a granted right becomes the ability to act upon others.
exousia: authority, right, or capacity to act
ἐξουσία
This is the word in the verse; it names the reach Paul carries and leaves its source visible.
ἐπιτροπή
epitropē
GROWS FROM
ἐπιτρέπω
epitrepō
To entrust or permit; ἐπιτροπή is a charge or authorization handed to someone.
Commission adds an assigned charge to the capacity named by authority. The verse puts both together, showing that Paul carries not only permission to act but a task entrusted by its source.
ALSO GROWS
epitrepō: to entrust or permit
ἐπιτρέπω
The verb reveals the act behind a commission: someone entrusts another with a charge or allows an action.
epitropos: a steward, guardian, or person entrusted with oversight
ἐπίτροπος
This related word names someone who carries responsibility on another’s behalf, echoing the delegated character of the commission.
THE PATTERN
Authority is received, and its source and assignment show what that authority reaches toward.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.THE THREAD
Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.Luke uses the same word, ἐξουσία (exousia, authority), but says Jesus gives it to the Twelve and pairs it with a distinct purpose. The shared word makes the source visible: the word stays the same while the one who grants the authority and the work it enables change.
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