What Does Luke 1:1 Mean?
Since many have set their hands to arranging in order a narrative of the matters fully borne among us,
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,THE KEY
The things “most surely believed” are named with a Greek word of fullness: what is sure among us has been brought to full measure.
THE MEANING
Many take up the work of giving an ordered account of what has come to fullness among us. What is held as sure rests in realities taking shape within shared life, and an account lets those realities be seen together.
THE ROOT
πεπληροφορημένων
peplērophorēmenōn
GROWS FROM
πληροφορέω (plērophoreō), formed from πλήρης (plērēs, full) + φορέω (phoreō, carry)
Bring to fullness or full measure; the word can also mean fully assure or fulfill.
“fully borne” in this verse is peplērophorēmenōn. Luke’s word can carry both the sense of fulfillment and of full assurance. Its parts evoke what is full and what is carried, so certainty here has the texture of something brought to fullness among us, not a bare opinion.
ALSO GROWS
plēroō: Fill, fulfill
πληρόω
This branch echoes the sense of realities arriving at fullness and completion.
plērēs: Full, complete
πλήρης
It shows the fullness beneath the word for what is held as sure.
phoreō: Carry, bear
φορέω
The carrying image gives the word its sense of bearing something through to completion.
THE PATTERN
What is received as real becomes shareable when it is given an account and carried forward.
We will not hide them from their children, recounting to the generation that follows the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonders that he has done.But these are written so that you might lean your full weight on this, that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of God, and that by leaning your weight you might have life in his nature.That which we have perceived and heard, we declare to you, so that you also may share in common with us. And truly our sharing in common is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
And being filled and carried through, he was persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to do.Romans uses the same Greek word-family for being “fully persuaded,” while Luke uses it for things brought to fullness among us. The shared root holds fulfillment and settled assurance together, deepening Luke’s phrase without erasing its sense of conviction.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us