What Does Matthew 18:27 Mean?
Then the lord of that servant was stirred in his inward parts, and let him go, and released the debt.
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 the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.THE KEY
Compassion releases two things at once: the debtor from the creditor and the debt from the account.
THE MEANING
Compassion moves the one holding the claim to release the person and let the debt go. The debtor is not shown paying it off; the obligation loses its hold because the creditor releases it. Here, release reaches both the person and what is owed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a person can be released only after paying what they owe. The creditor lets the person go while the debt remains unpaid.
THE ROOT
ἀφῆκεν
aphēken
GROWS FROM
ἵημι (hiēmi), within ἀφίημι (aphiēmi)
To send away or let go; with ἀπό (apo, away), to release.
“released the debt” in this verse is aphēken. The Greek verb translated “forgave” is release-language: the creditor lets the debt go. The verse makes the release concrete, the debtor is let go, and the debt is let go too.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: Release, remission
ἄφεσις
This noun from the same word family shows how the language of forgiveness also names release.
aphietai: Is released, is forgiven
ἀφίεται
This form of the same verb holds both meanings together: what is forgiven is let go.
ἀπέλυσεν
apelysen
GROWS FROM
λύω (lyō), within ἀπολύω (apolyō)
To loosen or unbind; with ἀπό (apo, away), to release or send away.
“let him go” in this verse is apelysen. The verse uses one release-word for the servant and another for the debt. English keeps the actions distinct, while the Greek lets their shared motion show: both are loosened from the creditor’s hold.
ALSO GROWS
lyō: Loosen, untie, unbind
λύω
This is the root sense beneath the servant being loosed.
apolysis: Release, dismissal
ἀπόλυσις
This related noun carries the sense of being released or sent away, echoing the servant’s release.
ἐσπλαγχνίσθη
esplagchnisthē
GROWS FROM
σπλάγχνα (splanchna), in the family of σπλαγχνίζομαι (splagchnizomai)
The inward parts or entrails; the verb describes being moved in one’s inward parts.
“stirred in his inward parts” in this verse is esplagchnisthē. Compassion here is not an abstract judgment: its Greek word pictures the inward parts being stirred. The release that follows begins as an inward movement and becomes an action toward the debtor.
ALSO GROWS
splanchna: Inward parts, entrails
σπλάγχνα
This noun gives compassion its bodily image: the feeling is located deep within.
eusplagchnos: Tenderhearted, compassionate
εὔσπλαγχνος
This related word describes a tender heart through the same inward-parts family.
THE PATTERN
Release ends a claim by letting the debt or burden go instead of collecting it.
And this is the word of the release. Every one whose hand has lent to his neighbor shall let it fall, and he shall not press it from his neighbor or from his brother, for it is called the LORD's release.As far as the east is from the west, so far he puts our rebellions from us.And you, being dead in your stumbles and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having released us from all our stumbles.THE THREAD
And release our debts, as we also release our debtors.The Greek verb translated “forgive” in both verses comes from ἀφίημι (aphiēmi), meaning “release” or “let go.” Here, that same release-language sits beside debts and debtors, making the link between forgiveness and relinquishing a claim especially clear.
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