What Does Romans 15:15 Mean?
But I have written to you more boldly in part, as one reminding you again, because of the favor given to me by 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
Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God,THE KEY
Favor gives boldness its shape: the words return what is already known to present attention.
THE MEANING
You meet these words as a reminder: truth can return to the center of attention without being new. The boldness behind that reminder rests on favor given by God, so a direct word can arrive as a gift.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A reminder does not mean you never knew; it can bring what is already known back into your attention.
THE ROOT
ἐπαναμιμνῄσκων
epanamimnēskōn
GROWS FROM
μνη- (mnē-), the μιμνῄσκω (mimnēskō) word family
Remember, recall, bring to mind
“reminding you again” in this verse is epanamimnēskōn. The word carries a return to mind within it: this bold speech calls what has been heard before back into present awareness. Its work is renewed attention to what is already known.
ALSO GROWS
hypomimnēskō: Remind
ὑπομιμνῄσκω
Peter uses this same remembering family when he speaks of putting readers in remembrance, though they already know the things he recalls.
anamnēsis: Remembrance, recalling
ἀνάμνησις
This branch makes the connection between a reminder and memory explicit: what returns to mind can again be held in view.
χάρις
charis
GROWS FROM
χαρ- (char-), the χάρις (charis) word family
Favor, gracious gift
The verse names favor as something given by God and makes it the ground of the speaker’s bold reminder. The words that call truth back to mind grow from favor received.
ALSO GROWS
charizomai: Favor, grant freely
χαρίζομαι
This verb expresses favor as an act of giving; here the favor behind the reminder is explicitly given.
charisma: A gift freely given, a gracious gift
χάρισμα
This related word shows favor taking the form of a gift, echoing the verse’s description of grace as given.
THE PATTERN
Remembrance brings received truth back into present awareness.
And you shall remember the whole road the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to bend you low and to test you, to perceive what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.I remember the deeds of the LORD; surely I remember your wonders of old.But the One who comes alongside, the Set-Apart Breath, which the Father will send in my nature, that one will teach you all things and will remind you of all that I said to you.THE THREAD
Therefore I will not hold back from reminding you always of these things, though you know them and are made steady in the truth at hand.Peter’s “put you always in remembrance” is ὑπομιμνῄσκω (hypomimnēskō, “to remind”), from the same μνη- (mnē-, “memory”) family as ἐπαναμιμνῄσκων (epanamimnēskōn, “reminding again”) here. Peter says his readers already know these things, making the shared root visible: the reminder brings known truth back into the present.
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