What Does Luke 23:25 Mean?
And he released to them the one who had been thrown into prison for rising and bloodshed, the one they had asked for, but he handed Jesus over to their will.
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 he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.THE KEY
Freedom is handed out selectively: the man they demand is released as Jesus is handed into their will.
THE MEANING
Whenever power answers a demand, freedom can be distributed unevenly: the person they want is released, while Jesus is handed to their will. The sentence holds both outcomes together, so one person’s release does not erase another’s exposure to violence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that releasing someone proves justice has been served; here, the requested prisoner is freed as Jesus is handed over.
THE ROOT
ἀπέλυσεν
apelysen
GROWS FROM
λύω
lyō
To loosen or untie; ἀπολύω means to release or dismiss.
“released” in this verse is apelysen. The Greek word pictures a loosening: the prisoner is let go. Beside Jesus being handed over, this release is selective, the loosening of one person does not free everyone caught in the same act of judgment.
ALSO GROWS
lyō: Loosen, untie
λύω
This base verb makes the physical sense of release visible beneath the English word.
apolysis: Release, dismissal
ἀπόλυσις
This related noun names the act of letting go, bringing the prisoner’s freedom into focus as one outcome among two.
παρέδωκεν
paredōken
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι (didōmi; δο-)
To give or grant; with παρά, to hand over or give into another’s keeping.
“handed ... over” in this verse is paredōken. The verb carries the sense of giving someone over, and the verse names where Jesus is given: to their will. Set beside the prisoner’s release, it shows two opposite fates in one decision, one is let go, the other placed in the hands of those demanding him.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: Give, grant
δίδωμι
This is the verb at the heart of “delivered”: Jesus is given over to the reach of their will.
paradosis: Handing over, transmission; tradition
παράδοσις
This related word for handing something on or over echoes the transfer in the verse: Jesus is passed into another’s keeping.
THE PATTERN
When desire bends judgment, the wicked can be released while the just are condemned.
He who aligns the wicked, and he who convicts the aligned one, both are loathed by the LORD.But you turned away from the Set-Apart One and the Aligned One, and you asked for a man of blood to be given to you as favor.THE THREAD
Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.Luke says Jesus is handed over to their will; John uses the same Greek verb, παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), “to hand over,” for his delivery to be crucified. The later verse makes the consequence of that transfer explicit.
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