What Does Romans 2:21 Mean?
Therefore you who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who cry out not to steal, do you steal?
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
Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?THE KEY
The teacher is not outside the lesson: the rule spoken to another circles back and asks what the speaker himself does.
THE MEANING
The question turns instruction back on the instructor: the one teaching another is also addressed as a learner. The verse asks whether the prohibition against stealing governs the speaker’s own acts. Its force is present now: knowing a true rule does not place its speaker beyond its measure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that knowing or teaching the right rule makes the speaker exempt from it.
THE ROOT
διδάσκων
didaskōn from didaskō
GROWS FROM
διδασκ-
didask-
Teach, instruct.
“teach another” in this verse is didaskōn from didaskō. The Greek repeats the same teaching verb for instructing another and instructing yourself. English can make the first sound like a public role; the repeated verb brings the teacher back inside the lesson.
ALSO GROWS
didaskalos: Teacher
διδάσκαλος
The teacher is named by the same word family as the act of teaching, keeping the person and the instruction joined.
didachē: Teaching, instruction
διδαχή
The instruction is not detached from its teacher here: the same teaching reaches the person who gives it.
κηρύσσων
kērussōn from kērussō
GROWS FROM
κηρυσσ-
kēryss-
Proclaim publicly, as a herald.
“cry out” in this verse is kērussōn from kērussō. The verse distinguishes proclaiming a rule from teaching it, then tests the speaker’s conduct against the announced words. A public declaration does not settle the question the verse asks of the speaker.
ALSO GROWS
kēryx: Herald, public messenger
κῆρυξ
The herald carries a message outward, which sharpens the contrast between public announcement and the speaker’s own conduct.
kērygma: Proclamation, announced message
κήρυγμα
The proclaimed message is the rule against stealing; the verse turns from the message to the one announcing it.
κλέπτειν
kleptein from kleptō
GROWS FROM
κλεπ-
klep-
Steal, take what belongs to another.
“steal” in this verse is kleptein from kleptō. The same verb names both the act the speaker forbids and the act the question asks whether he commits. The standard does not change as it moves from the hearer to the teacher.
ALSO GROWS
kleptēs: Thief
κλέπτης
The related noun names the person by the act, keeping the question focused on conduct rather than the speaker’s title.
klopē: Theft
κλοπή
This noun names the act itself, showing the same word family across the deed and its description.
THE PATTERN
A public rule is tested by the speaker’s own conduct; announcing it does not exempt the speaker from its measure.
When you see a thief, you take pleasure in him, and your portion is with adulterers.So whatever they tell you to guard, guard and do; but do not do according to their works, for they say and do not.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
Wishing to be teachers of the instruction, grasping neither what they say nor what they make firm.Romans uses didaskō for teaching another and oneself; 1 Timothy uses didaskaloi, from the same teaching word family, for people who want to teach without understanding what they assert. Together, the verses expose the gap between occupying the teacher’s place and being formed by the truth one teaches.
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