What Does Matthew 16:20 Mean?
Then he charged his disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Anointed One.
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
Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.THE KEY
The silence does not mute the title: Christ already means “the anointed one,” so the hidden identity is carried in the name itself.
THE MEANING
You can see here that recognition and announcement are distinct: Jesus is the anointed one, yet the name is not to be broadcast. What is true can be present before it becomes public speech; silence does not erase what the name holds.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that naming what is true means it must be announced at once.
THE ROOT
Χριστός
Christos
GROWS FROM
χρίω
To anoint, to apply oil.
Χριστός (Christos, “the anointed one”) grows from χρίω (chriō, “to anoint”). The title carries the action inside the identity: even when the name is not spoken publicly, its meaning is already present.
ALSO GROWS
chrisma: Anointing; anointing oil.
χρῖσμα
This related word names the anointing itself, showing that Χριστός carries an act within the title.
Christianos: A person identified with Christ; a Christian.
Χριστιανός
This derivative extends Χριστός into a name for people identified by their relation to the anointed one.
THE PATTERN
Recognition and disclosure do not have to occur at the same moment; speech has a fitting time.
A time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to hush, and a time to speak.And Jesus said to him, See that you tell no one. But go your way, show yourself to the priest, and bring near the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.And he healed many who were sick with various sicknesses, and threw out many demons. He did not let the demons speak, because they knew him.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.Luke uses ἔχρισέν (echrisen, “he anointed”), from χρίω (chriō, “to anoint”), the root carried by Χριστός (Christos, “the anointed one”). The title in Matthew names the same anointing that Luke expresses as an active sending.
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