What Does Acts 7:55 Mean in the King James?
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
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 breath filling Stephen opens his sight to Jesus standing at God’s right hand: heaven is not empty distance but active presence.
THE MEANING
You are not enclosed by the visible scene alone: the Set-Apart Breath fills Stephen, and he sees God’s weight and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. Heaven appears as a present, occupied reality, with Jesus standing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God’s presence is distant and inactive: Jesus is seen standing at God’s right hand.
THE ROOT
πνεύματος
pneumatos
GROWS FROM
πνευ-
The πνευ- (pneu-) stem carries the movement of breath and blowing.
“Holy Ghost” in this verse is pneumatos. The Greek word translated here as Ghost is πνεῦμα (pneuma), breath. Its word family also names breathing and a breath or gust, so the verse keeps together what English can make sound separate: the breath that fills Stephen and the force moving through him.
ALSO GROWS
pneō: breathe; blow
πνέω
The shared πν consonants name both the act of breathing and wind in motion, so this is no inert presence.
pnoē: breath; a blowing
πνοή
This related noun makes breath itself the expressed force, fitting the image of Stephen being filled.
ἑστῶτα
hestōta
GROWS FROM
στα-
The στα- (sta-) stem means to stand, be set, or be established.
English can make standing sound like one posture among others, but this Greek family also gives ἀνάστασις (anastasis, resurrection, the rising or standing up). Jesus’ stance at God’s right hand carries an echo of standing from death.
ALSO GROWS
anastasis: rising; resurrection
ἀνάστασις
It combines the same standing root with the sense of rising up, making the posture of Jesus resonate with resurrection.
stasis: standing; stance; position
στάσις
This branch shows that standing can name a consequential position, not just a body at rest.
εἶδεν
eiden
GROWS FROM
εἰδ-
The εἰδ- (eid-) family centers on seeing and perceiving.
English can make saw sound like bare eyesight, but this Greek see-family also yields εἶδος (eidos, visible form) and οἶδα (oida, know or perceive). The family joins seeing to recognition: Stephen perceives God’s weight and Jesus standing there.
ALSO GROWS
eidos: form; visible appearance
εἶδος
This branch names what can be seen in form, linking the verse’s sight to a disclosed reality.
oida: know; perceive
οἶδα
This related form ties seeing to recognition, so the vision is apprehension, not merely a glance.
THE PATTERN
When divine presence opens human sight, God’s hidden weight becomes perceptible and changes how the scene is seen.
As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.THE THREAD
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:Both verses use the same Greek noun, πνεῦμα (pneuma, breath), in the phrase translated Holy Ghost. John pairs that noun with Jesus’ act of breathing, while Acts shows Stephen filled with it: the living breath is given and fills a person.
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