What Does Romans 15:31 Mean?
that I may be brought out from those in Judea who refuse to hear and respond, and that my service to Jerusalem may be well received by the set-apart ones.
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
That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints;THE KEY
The Greek word for “accepted” means well-received: the work reaches the community through welcome.
THE MEANING
The verse holds two needs together: rescue from those who resist, and welcome from the people meant to receive the service. Service is neither automatically safe nor self-validating; its passage into the community depends on reception.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that good service automatically ensures protection and acceptance: both remain things the speaker asks for.
THE ROOT
εὐπρόσδεκτος
euprosdektos
GROWS FROM
δέχ
dech
Receive; welcome.
“well received” in this verse is euprosdektos. The word means “well-received,” placing acceptance in the act of receiving. The service reaches the saints and is welcomed into shared life.
ALSO GROWS
prosdechomai: Welcome; receive.
προσδέχομαι
It makes the connection between acceptance and receiving explicit.
apodechomai: Receive; welcome.
ἀποδέχομαι
It shows the same root at work when someone takes in what is offered.
ἀπειθούντων
apeithountōn
GROWS FROM
πειθ
peith
Persuade; be persuaded.
“refuse to hear and respond” in this verse is apeithountōn. The Greek word carries the added shade of refusing to be persuaded. Opposition has an active edge here, making the requested rescue concrete.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: Persuade; win over.
πείθω
It reveals the persuasion at the root of the word for resistance.
apeitheō: Refuse to be persuaded; disobey.
ἀπειθέω
It names the refusal expressed by the verse’s phrase “do not believe.”
διακονία
diakonia
GROWS FROM
διακον-
diakon
Service; ministry.
This word belongs to a family that names both service and the servant who performs it. It points to practical ministry as the work at stake, which is why the community’s welcome matters.
ALSO GROWS
diakonos: Servant; minister.
διάκονος
It names the person engaged in the service.
diakoneō: Serve; minister.
διακονέω
It shows the same family as an action carried out for others.
THE PATTERN
Movement from threat toward shared purpose includes both release from constriction and reception by others.
From the narrow place I call out to the LORD, and the LORD answers me in a wide place.Them also will I bring to my set-apart mountain, and gladden them in my house of prayer. Their ascending offerings and their sacrifices shall be received with favor upon my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.Begging us with much urging that we would receive the favor and take up the sharing in common of serving the set-apart ones.THE THREAD
That I should be a worker of Jesus, the Anointed One, among the nations, doing the sacred work of the good news of God, so that the drawing near of the nations might be well received, having been set apart in the Set-Apart Breath.Romans 15:16 uses the same word, εὐπρόσδεκτος (euprosdektos, well-received), for the offering of the Gentiles. The later request about service among the saints echoes that image: welcome is part of the work’s movement into the community.
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