What Does Matthew 3:15 Mean?
And Jesus answered him, Release it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fill up all alignment. Then he released him.
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 answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.THE KEY
The word translated “suffer” means “let go” or “permit,” and it frames the verse: fulfillment begins with permission and closes with the same act of letting.
THE MEANING
What seems out of order can still be fitting: Jesus names this moment as the way alignment reaches fullness for both of them. The same act of letting opens and closes the exchange, so fulfillment appears here as something shared.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that alignment is completed alone: Jesus names the act as fitting for both of them, and John’s response completes the shared exchange.
THE ROOT
Ἄφες
aphes
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
To send away, let go, leave, or permit.
“release it now” in this verse is aphes. The Greek verb translated “suffer” carries the sense of allowing or letting go. It appears again at the verse’s end, where John lets Jesus proceed; the repeated verb makes permission the frame around the fulfillment.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: Release; remission.
ἄφεσις
This word-family also names release as the letting go of what is held against someone, giving “suffer” a shade of release as well as permission.
aphiēsin: He lets go; he permits.
ἀφίησιν
This is the verb’s closing echo: John’s response repeats the permission Jesus names at the opening.
πληρῶσαι
plērōsai
GROWS FROM
πληρόω
plēroō
To fill, make full, or bring to fullness.
“fill up” in this verse is plērōsai. The verb pictures fulfillment as something brought to fullness, not merely a requirement checked off. Paired with “us,” it places that fullness in a shared act.
ALSO GROWS
plērēs: Full; complete.
πλήρης
The adjective makes the root’s image plain: what is fulfilled has become full.
plērōma: Fullness; that which fills.
πλήρωμα
This noun names the state or result of fullness, opening “fulfil” as movement toward something made complete.
δικαιοσύνην
dikaiosynēn
GROWS FROM
δίκαιος
dikaios
Right or just; in this verse, alignment.
The word carries the sense of rightness and justice, with alignment bringing its relational shade forward. Joined to “fulfil,” it presents alignment as something brought to fullness through what becomes fitting for both participants.
ALSO GROWS
dikaioō: To set right; to justify.
δικαιόω
This verb expresses movement into rightness, showing the family’s concern with a relation or condition being put in alignment.
dikaiōma: A just requirement; a right act.
δικαίωμα
This noun connects rightness to what is fittingly enacted, echoing the verse’s emphasis on what becomes fitting for both.
THE PATTERN
What is fitting reaches fullness through willing participation in the work already unfolding.
I delight to do what pleases you, O my God, and your instruction is within my inward parts.And Mary said, Behold, the servant of the LORD; let it become to me according to your word. And the messenger went away from her.Do not think that I came to loosen the instruction or the prophets. I came not to loosen, but to fill.THE THREAD
So that the alignment of the instruction might be filled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the breath.The same Greek word-family pair appears here: righteousness (dikaiosynē, alignment) is fulfilled (plēroō, brought to fullness). The phrase “in us” echoes Matthew’s “for us,” opening fulfillment as a shared reality.
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