What Does Luke 7:20 Mean?
When the men came to him, they said, John the Immerser has sent us to you, saying, Are you the one who is coming, or do we wait for another?
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
When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?THE KEY
The expected one is named by movement, the one who is coming, while the question of recognition remains open.
THE MEANING
When what you expected and what is unfolding seem out of step, this verse gives the question a plain voice: “Are you the one who is coming, or should we expect another?” The question reaches Jesus through messengers, so uncertainty enters the encounter without first being hidden.
THE ROOT
ὁ ἐρχόμενος
ho erchomenos
GROWS FROM
ἔρχομαι
erchomai
To come or arrive; here it appears as “the one who is coming.”
“should come” in this verse is ho erchomenos. The Greek presents the expected one as arriving, not merely as a fixed title. That keeps the question open to what is actually unfolding: is this the one whose coming is underway, or should another be expected?
ALSO GROWS
eiserchomai: Enter, come in
εἰσέρχομαι
The shared verb makes entering a form of coming into a place or presence.
exerchomai: Go out, come forth
ἐξέρχομαι
The same verb also describes coming forth, showing how Greek keeps movement inside these different directions.
ἀπέστειλεν
apesteilen
GROWS FROM
στέλλω (stellō), in ἀποστέλλω (apostellō)
To send or dispatch; the compound ἀποστέλλω means to send forth.
The question itself is sent toward Jesus. The related noun ἀπόστολος names a messenger as one sent, so the verse presents the question as a message carried into an encounter.
ALSO GROWS
apostolos: Messenger; one sent
ἀπόστολος
The same sending word names the person who carries a message, as John’s men do here.
epistellō: Send word; write to
ἐπιστέλλω
This related form shows the sending root can carry words from one person to another.
THE PATTERN
Expectation takes the form of a question, and identity becomes visible through the work that arrives with it.
Then the eyes of the blind open, and the ears of the deaf open.Jesus answered and said to them, Go, and tell John what you have seen and heard, that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are roused, and the good news is brought to the emptied.Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not trust. The works that I do in my Father's nature bear witness to me.THE THREAD
The breath of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the emptied. He has sent me to heal the shattered in heart, to herald release to the captives, and the return of sight for the blind, to send the crushed away into release.The same Greek sending verb appears in John’s message and in Jesus’ account of being sent. The question “Are you the one who is coming?” meets a mission described through healing, release, and restored sight.
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