What Does Romans 14:12 Mean?
So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God.
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
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.THE KEY
Every person brings their own logos, their word and reckoning, to God, so another’s life is not theirs to account for.
THE MEANING
Your life stands answerable to God, and the account is yours to give. The word translated “account” is logos (λόγος, word or statement), bringing the sense of speech into the reckoning. In the surrounding passage, this personal answerability leaves the final judgment of another with God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that you must deliver the final verdict on someone else’s life. Each person gives their own account to God.
THE ROOT
λόγον
logon
GROWS FROM
λεγ-/λογ- (leg-/log-)
The word-family of saying and speaking; logos can mean a word, statement, or account.
The verse’s “account” is logos (λόγος, word or statement), joining a reckoning with something expressed. English “account” can hide that the answer is spoken as a word before God.
ALSO GROWS
legō: say, speak
λέγω
This related verb makes the spoken dimension of logos visible: an account is something expressed.
logizomai: reckon, consider
λογίζομαι
This related word brings reckoning alongside speech, showing the accounting sense within the logos word-family.
apología: defense, reasoned answer
ἀπολογία
This related word for an answer shows how logos can be a response given when one is called to account.
δώσει
dōsei
GROWS FROM
δο-/δω- (do-/dō-)
Give, grant, or render.
The verb δώσει (dōsei, will give) makes each person the giver of their own account. The word-family also includes giving and rendering, so the account appears as something each person renders to God.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: give, grant
δίδωμι
This is the verb’s lexical form; each person gives the logos named in the verse.
dosis: giving, gift
δόσις
This related noun keeps the act of giving in view, placing the account within a personal act of rendering.
apodidōmi: give back, render, repay
ἀποδίδωμι
This compound uses the same give-root and appears with logos in 1 Peter 4:5, where people render an account to God.
THE PATTERN
Every life is answerable before God, who sees both what is done and what is entrusted.
For God brings every making into judgment, upon every hidden thing, whether good or harm.And he called him and said to him, How is it that I hear this of you? Give back the accounting of your household management, for you can no longer manage.They give account to the one who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.THE THREAD
They give account to the one who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.The Greek pairs the same words, logos (λόγος, word or account) and give: Romans says each person will give a logos, and 1 Peter says people will give an account. The repeated word-pair makes the personal reckoning in Romans audible in another verse.
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