What Does Romans 1:16 Mean?
For I am not ashamed of the good news of the anointed one, for it is the power of God for deliverance to everyone who trusts, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
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
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.THE KEY
God’s power is deliverance that reaches everyone who trusts, with the Jew first and also the Greek.
THE MEANING
God’s power is present as deliverance for every person who trusts. It reaches the Jew first and also the Greek, so the reader stands inside a message whose reach crosses this named boundary.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the message is shameful weakness or that deliverance belongs to only one people: the verse names the Jew first and also the Greek.
THE ROOT
σωτηρία
sōtēria
GROWS FROM
σωζ-
sōz-
deliver, rescue, preserve
The word translated “salvation” carries the sense of deliverance and being kept safe. The verse lets God’s power take a concrete shape: deliverance received by the one who trusts, reaching the Jew first and also the Greek.
ALSO GROWS
sōzō: to deliver, rescue, or preserve
σῴζω
The verb makes the deliverance in this verse an active movement, not only a named outcome.
sōtēr: deliverer, rescuer
σωτήρ
This branch names the one who brings deliverance, echoing the verse’s source of power: God.
δύναμις
dynamis
GROWS FROM
δυνα-
dyna-
be able; have capacity
The word for power grows from the language of ability and capacity. God’s power here is the capacity that brings deliverance within reach of every person who trusts.
ALSO GROWS
dynamai: to be able, capable
δύναμαι
The shared word family links power with the ability to act.
dynatos: able, capable, powerful
δυνατός
This branch describes what has the capacity to act, reinforcing the active force of the deliverance named here.
πιστεύοντι
pisteuonti
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
trust, rely on
“trusts” in this verse is pisteuonti. The word translated “believeth” names trust and active reliance. Read beside deliverance, trust is the verse’s mode of receiving.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: trust, reliance
πίστις
The related noun shows that the verse speaks of reliance, not merely agreement with an idea.
pistos: firm, steady, trustworthy
πιστός
This branch carries the sense of steadiness that gives trust its footing.
THE PATTERN
God’s deliverance is received through trust and reaches across the boundaries that divide people.
Look, God is my deliverance. I will lean my full weight and not tremble, for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song, and he has become my deliverance.And they said, Lean your weight on the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, and you will be delivered, you and your house.THE THREAD
There is no deliverance in any other, for there is no other nature under heaven given among people by which we must be delivered."Romans uses σωτηρία (sōtēria, “deliverance”), while Acts uses σωθῆναι (sōthēnai, “to be delivered”) from the same root. English gives them different forms, but the Greek keeps the promised deliverance and the act of being delivered in one word family.
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