What Does Luke 8:38 Mean?
The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to be with him, but Jesus let him go, saying,
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
Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying,THE KEY
The man is freed, then released back toward his own life: closeness to Jesus takes the form of returning with a story.
THE MEANING
You may imagine that freedom means leaving your own life behind to stay near the one who frees you; here, the man’s release sends him back toward home. Jesus sends him away with words that the next verse gives: tell what God has done.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
To be close to Jesus, I must leave my own place and follow him. The man’s return home shows that being sent back can also carry his connection with Jesus.
THE ROOT
ἀπέλυσεν
apelysen
GROWS FROM
λύω
luō
To loose, untie, or release; the prefix ἀπό (apo, away or from) gives the compound the sense of releasing or dismissing.
“let him go” in this verse is apelysen. The verb translated “sent him away” carries the texture of release through λύω (luō, to loose). His freedom does not only mean release from what possessed him; he is released toward home, where the following verse gives him words to speak.
ALSO GROWS
apolysis: Release or dismissal
ἀπόλυσις
This related noun preserves the release within Jesus’ act of sending the man away.
lytron: Ransom, a price paid for release
λύτρον
This word from the same λυ- family shows release as the central image carried by the root.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance travels outward through the freed person’s own testimony.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he has redeemed from the hand of the one who presses.He answered, Whether he misses the mark or not, I do not know. One thing I know, that I was blind, and now I see.For we cannot keep from speaking what we have perceived and heard.THE THREAD
But Jesus did not allow him, and said to him, "Go to your house, to your own, and tell them how great things the Lord has done for you, and has had compassion on you."Mark gives the words Luke 8:38 is about to introduce: the man is sent home to tell what has happened. His return does not erase his connection with Jesus; it gives that connection a voice in his own place.
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