What Does Mark 6:7 Mean?
And he called the twelve to himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over the unclean breaths.
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 called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;THE KEY
The ones who are sent carry authority that comes from the one who sends them, and they carry it together.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a living pattern: a call gathers people, then sends them outward in pairs with authority over unclean spirits. That authority is entrusted for the work; it does not originate in the ones who carry it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that authority must be self-generated or exercised alone: here it is received from the sender and carried together.
THE ROOT
ἀποστέλλειν
apostéllein
GROWS FROM
στέλλω
stéllō
To send or dispatch; ἀποστέλλω (apostéllō) sends someone outward from a sender.
“send them forth” in this verse is apostéllein. The Greek verb for sending belongs to the same word family as ἀπόστολος (apóstolos, a sent messenger) and ἀποστολή (apostolē, a sending or commission). The verse presents their outward movement as a commission they receive, not a mission they invent.
ALSO GROWS
apóstolos: sent messenger
ἀπόστολος
The messenger’s identity is tied to being sent; this makes the twelve’s movement an extension of the one who commissions them.
apostolē: sending, commission
ἀποστολή
The same word family names the act of sending itself, showing that their authority travels with their commission.
ἐξουσίαν
exousían
GROWS FROM
ἐξουσία
exousía
Authority or right to act; the permission or jurisdiction to exercise power.
“power” in this verse is exousían. The word points to authority to act, not merely force or strength. Here it is given to the sent ones, linking what they can do to the authority entrusted by the one who sends them.
ALSO GROWS
exousiázō: exercise authority
ἐξουσιάζω
The verb form makes clear that exousia is authority put into action.
exousiastḗs: holder or exerciser of authority
ἐξουσιαστής
This related noun names the one who exercises authority, bringing the verse’s received authority into focus.
ἀκάθαρτα
akátharta
GROWS FROM
καθαρός
katharós
Clean or pure; ἀκάθαρτος (akáthartos) means unclean, formed with a- before katharos.
“Unclean” remains connected in Greek to καθαρός (katharós, clean) and καθαρίζω (katharízō, cleanse). The verse places the sent ones’ authority over what is unclean, bringing the language of uncleanness and cleansing into the same word family.
ALSO GROWS
katharós: clean, pure
καθαρός
The positive form remains audible inside ἀκάθαρτος (akáthartos, unclean), so the two conditions share the same linguistic seed.
katharízō: cleanse, make clean
καθαρίζω
The verb names movement toward cleanness from the same word family used for what is unclean.
THE PATTERN
A commissioned work moves outward through shared presence, carrying authority beyond the one who sends.
Two are better than one, because they have good wages for their toil.After these things the Lord showed forth seventy others also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, where he himself was about to come.So they, sent out by the Set-Apart Breath, went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.THE THREAD
And he made twelve, so that they might be with him, and so that he might send them out to herald.Mark 3:14 uses the same Greek sending word family as Mark 6:7: ἀποστέλλω (apostéllō, send forth). It places being with him before being sent, so the authority and the outward work both grow from the same commission.
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