What Does Luke 1:3 Mean?
It seemed good to me as well, having followed all things closely from the first, to write for you in sequence, most mighty Theophilus,
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
It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,THE KEY
Luke’s “perfect understanding” carries the image of a mind that has followed every matter closely from its beginning, then set it in sequence.
THE MEANING
You meet an account traced closely from its beginning and laid out in sequence, so its parts can be followed. The name Theophilus carries the sense of “friend” or “dear one of God,” placing this careful telling within a personal address.
THE ROOT
παρακολουθηκότι
parēkolouthēkoti
GROWS FROM
παρά + ἀκολουθέω (pará + akolouthéō: beside + follow)
To follow alongside, keep close to a matter, and trace it carefully.
“having followed all things closely” in this verse is parēkolouthēkoti. The Greek pictures understanding as following the events closely enough to trace them. What the KJV calls “perfect understanding” includes the work of staying with the whole account.
ALSO GROWS
akolouthéō: Follow, accompany.
ἀκολουθέω
The base verb gives the word the image of staying with a path or person as the account unfolds.
parakolouthéō: Follow closely, trace, investigate.
παρακολουθέω
Luke’s wording presents his understanding as the result of closely tracking the whole matter.
Θεόφιλε
Theophile
GROWS FROM
θεός + φίλος (theós + phílos: God + friend/dear one)
The name joins God with the language of friendship or being dear.
“Theophilus” in this verse is Theophile. The name carries relational warmth within a formal address. The verse holds the honor of “most excellent” together with the closeness carried by the name.
ALSO GROWS
phílos: Friend, dear one.
φίλος
This is the relational half of the name and gives the address its sense of closeness.
philéō: Love, be fond of.
φιλέω
The related verb adds the sense of affection that sits alongside friendship in the name.
THE PATTERN
Clear testimony gains weight when its source, sequence, and purpose are made visible.
to make you know the firmness of the words of truth, and to return the words of truth to those who send you?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 was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have perceived with our eyes, which we have gazed upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the word of life.THE THREAD
The first word I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach,The same name, Theophilus, appears at the opening of Acts, which calls Luke a “former treatise.” That shared address shows Luke’s ordered account as the first movement of a telling that continues with what Jesus began to do and teach.
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