What Does Mark 1:15 Mean?
And saying, "The season has been filled, and the governance of God has drawn near. Turn, and lean your weight on the good news."
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 saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.THE KEY
The time is full: God’s governance has drawn near, and the fitting response is a turn that trusts the announcement.
THE MEANING
The time is full, and God’s governance is close enough to meet you now. The turn is a changed direction of perception; trust is the whole weight of you resting on the good announcement. The verse holds nearness, turning, and trust together as one present movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that God’s governance belongs only to a distant future dissolves here: the verse speaks of it as drawing near now.
THE ROOT
βασιλεία
basileia
GROWS FROM
βασιλ-
basil-
The word names kingship or royal authority, including the active exercise of rule.
“governance of God” in this verse is basileia. The English word can picture a realm; βασιλεία (basileia, kingship or royal rule) also names the rule itself. Paired with “is at hand,” it presents God’s governance as drawing near to the reader’s present.
ALSO GROWS
basileus: king, ruler
βασιλεύς
The related word names the one whose authority is expressed in the governance drawing near.
basileuō: to reign, to rule as king
βασιλεύω
This branch makes the active exercise of rule visible within the idea of God’s governance.
basileia: kingship, royal rule, kingdom
βασιλεία
The same word can name the authority and its reign, deepening what is coming near.
μετανοεῖτε
metanoeite
GROWS FROM
μετανοέω
metanoeō
To turn or change one’s mind; the word joins a change of direction with thought and perception.
The verb carries a change in thought and direction, with perception at its center. Beside trust in the good news, this turn is movement toward the reality the announcement names.
ALSO GROWS
noeō: to perceive, think, or understand
νοέω
This related word brings perception and understanding into the turn expressed by repent.
nous: mind, understanding
νοῦς
The mind is the field in which the change of direction becomes a changed way of seeing.
metanoia: turning, change of mind
μετάνοια
The related noun names the turning carried by the verb in this verse.
πιστεύετε
pisteuete
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
Trusting or relying; this word family also carries the sense of being firm or trustworthy.
“lean your weight on” in this verse is pisteuete. Here belief is trust that leans its weight on the announcement. It names reliance on the good news of God’s near rule.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: trust, confidence
πίστις
This related noun names the trust expressed by the verb believe.
pistos: firm, reliable, trustworthy
πιστός
The family’s sense of steadiness illuminates trust as something that can bear a person’s full weight.
pisteuō: to trust, believe, or rely on
πιστεύω
This is the verb’s dictionary form and carries the response named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
When God’s nearness is recognized, a turn opens toward life and renewal.
Seek the LORD while he may be found, call out to him while he is near. Let the wicked leave his way, and the man of crookedness his plans. Let him turn back to the LORD, and he will have compassion on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly release.For I do not delight in the death of the one who dies, says the Lord LORD. Therefore turn yourselves, and live.Turn around, then, and turn back, so that your shortcomings may be wiped away, and the times of breathing again may come from the face of the LORD.THE THREAD
Turn around, then, and turn back, so that your shortcomings may be wiped away, and the times of breathing again may come from the face of the LORD.Mark’s μετανοεῖτε (metanoeite, turn or change your mind) and Acts’ μετανοήσατε (metanoēsate, turn or change your mind) are forms of μετανοέω (metanoeō, to turn or change one’s mind). Acts pairs that turn with ἐπιστρέψατε (epistrepsate, turn back) and “times of refreshing,” showing the turn as movement into renewal.
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