What Does Philemon 1:22 Mean?
But prepare a guest room for me as well, for I hope that through your prayers I will be granted to you by favor.
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
But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.THE KEY
His hoped-for return is not claimed as something owed; the Greek names it as a favor granted through their prayers.
THE MEANING
You can make room for an encounter before you know how it will arrive. Here, the hoped-for return is received as favor through the prayers of others, while a place is prepared to welcome it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A return is not always secured by control or owed by entitlement; here it is received as favor carried through others’ prayers.
THE ROOT
χαρισθήσομαι
charisthēsomai
GROWS FROM
χαρίζομαι
charizomai
To grant freely as a favor; the verb is built on χάρις (charis), favor.
“granted by favor” in this verse is charisthēsomai. The word translated “given” carries the sense of being granted as a favor. English can make the return sound like a simple transfer, while the Greek holds it together with favor and release.
ALSO GROWS
charis: Favor or goodwill freely shown.
χάρις
This is the word-family beneath “given”: the hoped-for visit is described in the language of favor.
charizomai: To grant freely, or to release what is owed; in Luke 7:42, the KJV renders it “frankly forgave.”
χαρίζομαι
The same verb can describe releasing a debt, linking a gift received with the letting go of a claim.
charisma: A gift or freely given endowment from the same favor-family.
χάρισμα
This branch makes visible the gift already contained in the wording of the anticipated return.
ξενίαν
xenian
GROWS FROM
ξένος
xenos
A stranger, guest, or visitor.
“guest room” in this verse is xenian. The word for lodging belongs to the guest-and-stranger family: the place is defined by the person being welcomed. The prepared room and the hoped-for arrival are two sides of receiving someone.
ALSO GROWS
xenos: A stranger or guest.
ξένος
The lodging is not just a place to stay; it is room made for someone arriving from outside.
philoxenia: Hospitality, literally the welcoming of a stranger.
φιλοξενία
This related word frames preparing a place as an act of welcome toward the arriving guest.
THE PATTERN
Prayer can hold a hoped-for meeting open while welcome makes room for the arrival.
so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God, and rest together with you.At that very hour I sent to you; and you have done well in coming alongside. Now, then, we are all here before God, to hear all that has been commanded you by the Lord.And he said, My lord, if I have now found favor in your eyes, please do not pass by your servant.THE THREAD
He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all, how will he not also favor us with all things along with him?“Freely give” translates χαρίσεται (charisetai, will grant freely), from χαρίζομαι (charizomai, to grant as favor), the same Greek verb-family behind “I shall be given.” The shared root lets you hear the hoped-for visit as favor received, rather than a claim to what is owed.
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