What Does Philippians 4:21 Mean?
Embrace every set-apart one in Jesus the Anointed One. The brothers who are with me embrace you.
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
Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you.THE KEY
The same Greek greeting is sent outward and returned, showing that being set apart in Christ means being held in a people who reach toward one another.
THE MEANING
The greeting reaches you as a present sign of belonging: you are recognized among those set apart in Christ Jesus. The ones called brethren carry that recognition across the space between them, so kinship is something spoken and received.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being set apart does not mean being set alone; the verse holds each saint within a web of kinship, with recognition flowing both ways.
THE ROOT
Ἀσπάζονται
aspazontai
GROWS FROM
ἀσπάζ
greet, welcome
“Embrace” in this verse is aspazontai. The verse uses this Greek word family twice: first in the call to salute every saint, then in the greeting sent back. The repeated root makes welcome a shared act that moves in both directions.
ALSO GROWS
aspazomai: to greet, welcome
ἀσπάζομαι
This is the verb’s dictionary form and the root behind both greetings in the verse.
aspasasthe: greet, salute
Ἀσπάσασθε
This is the first greeting in the verse; it shares the verb family and sends welcome toward every saint.
ἅγιον
hagion
GROWS FROM
ἁγ
set apart; belonging to what is sacred
“set-apart one” in this verse is hagion. “Saint” carries the sense of being set apart, and the verse places that identity in Christ Jesus. The same word family describes a shared identity, not a private rank.
ALSO GROWS
hagiazō: set apart, sanctify
ἁγιάζω
The verb shows the same root as an action of setting apart, illuminating the identity named by “saint.”
hagiasmos: setting apart, sanctification
ἁγιασμός
This noun carries the same root into the condition of being set apart.
ἀδελφοί
adelphoi
GROWS FROM
δελφ
womb; the kinship image of siblings from one womb
“Brethren” carries more than the sense of companions: its Greek word family preserves an image of sibling kinship. The greeting comes from people named as family, making the reader’s belonging tangible.
ALSO GROWS
delphys: womb
δελφύς
The shared consonants reveal the womb image beneath the Greek word for sibling.
adelphē: sister
ἀδελφή
This related family word uses the same kinship root, showing that the bond named by “brethren” is familial.
THE PATTERN
Life set apart in God becomes visible in a people who recognize one another as kin and carry their welcome across distance.
To the assembly of God dwelling in Corinth, to those set apart in Jesus the Anointed One, called to be set-apart ones, with all who call upon the nature of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One in every place, both theirs and ours.A Song of degrees of David. Look, how good and how sweet it is for brothers to settle also together!Embrace one another with a set-apart kiss. The assemblies of the anointed one embrace you.THE THREAD
Embrace one another with a set-apart kiss. The assemblies of the anointed one embrace you.The Greek verb ἀσπάζομαι (aspazomai, “greet” or “welcome”) appears in both verses, carrying the same act of welcome in each. Romans repeats it within the verse too: greeting moves among people and then reaches them from the churches.
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