What Does Matthew 4:22 Mean?
And straightway they let go of the boat and their father, and followed 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 they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.THE KEY
The Greek verb translated “left” also means to release, so following begins here as an act of letting go.
THE MEANING
In the reader’s present, following him means more than inward agreement: it takes shape as a release of what had held life in place. The ship and father keep that release concrete and costly, even as following begins alongside it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that following Jesus can remain only inward, leaving every visible attachment untouched.
THE ROOT
ἀφέντες
aphentes
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
to let go, release, or send away
“let go of” in this verse is aphentes. The verb translated “left” is also used for releasing debts and sins. That links departure with release: what is held is let go as the movement toward him begins.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: release, remission, forgiveness
ἄφεσις
This noun names as release what the verb enacts here, joining departure with the letting go of a claim.
apheis: having let go, having left
ἀφείς
This related participle makes the letting go an enacted threshold, as it is in this verse.
ἠκολούθησαν
ēkolouthēsan
GROWS FROM
ἀκολουθέω
akoloutheō
to go after or accompany as a follower
“followed” in this verse is ēkolouthēsan. The verb carries the sense of going with someone, not merely admiring from a distance. Its word family includes a follower and a sequence, making following a course of attachment.
ALSO GROWS
akolouthos: follower, attendant
ἀκόλουθος
This related noun makes the person who follows part of the same word family as the act of following.
akolouthia: sequence, order
ἀκολουθία
This related noun connects following with a course that unfolds, not a single passing glance.
THE PATTERN
A call into a new way becomes visible as an attachment is released.
And the LORD said to Abram, Go away from your land, from your land of birth, and from your father's house, to the land I will let you see.And when they had drawn the boats down to the land, they let go of everything and followed him.THE THREAD
And straightway they let go of the nets, and followed him.Matthew 4:20 uses the same Greek verbs for leaving and following, weaving release and following together in both call scenes. The repeated pairing reveals one movement: what is let go opens into the path taken with him.
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