What Does Luke 23:51 Mean?
He had not agreed with their plan and their deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, and he was himself reaching toward the governance of God.
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
(The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathæa, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.THE KEY
Waiting for God’s governance can itself take the form of refusing to join a group’s counsel and action.
THE MEANING
A person can withhold consent from a group’s judgment and action while remaining oriented toward God’s governance. Waiting here carries the sense of welcome and expectation: it is an active posture toward what is coming.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that waiting for God’s rule requires passive agreement with the actions of the group around you; the verse holds expectation together with refusal.
THE ROOT
προσεδέχετο
prosedecheto
GROWS FROM
δέχομαι
dechomai
to receive, accept, or welcome
The Greek verb translated as waited also carries the sense of receiving or welcoming what is expected. Waiting is not merely an empty interval; it is a receptive orientation toward God’s governance.
ALSO GROWS
apodechomai: to receive gladly, welcome, or accept
ἀποδέχομαι
This branch makes clear that receiving can be an engaged welcome, not just passive delay.
paradechomai: to accept or receive
παραδέχομαι
The shared root keeps the sense of welcome within the verse’s word for waiting.
συγκατατεθειμένος
synkatatethemenos
GROWS FROM
τίθημι
tithēmi
to put, set, or place
“consented” in this verse is synkatatethemenos. The Greek word for consent is built from a verb meaning to put or place, with the sense of joining in a shared decision. Its root gives the refusal a concrete shape: this person is not placed with the group’s counsel and action.
ALSO GROWS
tithēmi: to put, set, or place
τίθημι
The seed beneath consent is the act of taking a place or setting something in position.
syntithēmi: to put together or agree
συντίθημι
This related compound joins placing with agreement, illuminating the verse’s refusal to join in the group’s decision.
βασιλεία
basileia
GROWS FROM
βασιλεύς
basileus
king, and by extension royal rule or sovereignty
The word translated kingdom can name the act or authority of ruling, not only a territory. Here God’s kingdom is God’s governance: the rule toward which the person is waiting.
ALSO GROWS
basileus: king
βασιλεύς
The related word points to the ruler behind the idea of royal governance.
basileuō: to reign or rule
βασιλεύω
This branch brings the emphasis onto ruling itself, opening kingdom as governance.
THE PATTERN
Orientation toward God’s governance can be expressed by refusing to join a group’s demanded action.
My son, if those who miss the mark coax you, do not go along.But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor bow down to the golden image which you have set up.Then Peter and the other sent ones answered and said, We must obey God rather than humankind.THE THREAD
And look, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was aligned and reverent, awaiting the comfort of Israel, and the Set-Apart Breath was upon him.Luke 2:25 uses προσδέχομαι (prosdechomai, receive or welcome) for waiting, the same verb family as the word rendered waited here. That shared root presents waiting as a receptive posture toward what is expected; here, that expectation is directed toward God’s governance.
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