What Does Luke 18:26 Mean?
And those who heard it said, Then who can be delivered?
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
And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?THE KEY
The question turns on a hidden distinction: being delivered is not the same as being able to deliver yourself.
THE MEANING
When the way out seems larger than human capacity, this question is alive in you: who can be brought out? The word translated “saved” means being rescued or delivered, and its passive form presents the person as receiving that rescue. The answer that follows locates possibility with God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that if you cannot rescue yourself, rescue cannot happen.
THE ROOT
σωθῆναι
sōthēnai
GROWS FROM
σῴζω
To rescue, deliver, preserve, or heal; the form here means “to be rescued” or “to be delivered.”
“delivered” in this verse is sōthēnai. The same verb σῴζω (sōzō, rescue or deliver) appears in Luke 8:48, where the KJV says, “thy faith hath made thee whole.” Its range joins rescue with healing and restoration, so the question reaches beyond escape to who can be made whole.
ALSO GROWS
sōtēria: Deliverance or rescue; a noun in the same Greek word family.
σωτηρία
It names the rescue the question asks about, showing that “saved” and “deliverance” grow from the same word family.
sōtēr: One who rescues or delivers; a related Greek word.
σωτήρ
The question shifts attention from the rescued person’s capacity to the one able to rescue.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance becomes possible when its source exceeds the limits of human strength.
And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, take your stand, and see the deliverance of the LORD, which he will do for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again for the ages.And he said, The things without strength for humankind are possible for God.For by favor you have been delivered through leaning your full weight, and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God.THE THREAD
For by favor you have been delivered through leaning your full weight, and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God.Ephesians uses the same Greek verb, σῴζω (sōzō, rescue or deliver), in a passive form: the person receives deliverance. Its language of gift opens the question toward a rescue that does not depend on the rescued person producing it.
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