What Does Matthew 28:18 Mean?
And Jesus came near and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in the heavens and upon the earth.
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 Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.THE KEY
The “power” given to Jesus is authority whose reach spans both heaven and earth.
THE MEANING
Jesus speaks to you now from authority that has been granted and stands established. Its scope reaches across heaven and earth, so no part of your life lies outside the reach named here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that Jesus’ authority belongs only to spiritual matters: the verse explicitly places heaven and earth within its reach.
THE ROOT
ἐξουσία
exousia
GROWS FROM
ἔξεστιν
exesti
It is permitted; one has the right or freedom to act.
The Greek word translated “power” carries the sense of authority or the right to act. Its word family connects that authority with permission, so the verse speaks of a granted right with reach across the whole of heaven and earth.
ALSO GROWS
exestin: It is permitted; one has the right to do something.
ἐξέστιν
This related form reveals the permission or right beneath the authority named in the verse.
exousiazō: To exercise authority or hold sway.
ἐξουσιάζω
The related verb shows authority moving from a granted right into action.
δέδοται
dedotai
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, grant, or bestow.
“is given” in this verse is dedotai. The verb is in a form that presents the giving as accomplished and its result as standing: the authority is granted and remains in force. Its root also appears in words for sharing and handing over, opening a picture of authority as something entrusted.
ALSO GROWS
metadidōmi: To share or impart.
μεταδίδωμι
This compound shows the same giving root carrying something onward to another.
paradidōmi: To hand over or deliver.
παραδίδωμι
This compound makes the act of transfer explicit: what is given passes into another’s keeping.
THE PATTERN
Authority in God’s order is granted, and its reach is named through what it is given to do.
And dominion was given to him, and weight, and a kingdom, so that all peoples, nations, and tongues should serve him. His dominion is a dominion of ages, which shall not be moved away, and his kingdom which shall not be destroyed.And has given him authority to do judgment also, because he is the Son of Man.And when he had called his twelve disciples to himself, he gave them power over unclean breaths, to cast them out and to heal every disease and every weakness.THE THREAD
And has given him authority to do judgment also, because he is the Son of Man.Matthew 28:18 and John 5:27 use the same Greek word, ἐξουσία (exousia), meaning authority or the right to act. John names one way that authority is exercised; Matthew names its full scope as heaven and earth.
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