Open

Greek Word Pronunciation: dia-NOI-go
Strong's Number: 1272
Goodrich/Kohlenberger Number: 1380
Key Verse: “… the Lord opened her heart to respond …” -- Acts 16:14

Dianoigo is a compound word, comprised of dia, meaning “through” and anoigo, meaning “to open.” Thus, it means “to open up wide or completely” like a folding door. This word is found only 8 times in the New Testament. In Mark 7:34, Christ healed the deaf man and said, “be opened!” In Luke 2:23, the reference is to “every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.” And when Stephen was being martyred in Acts 7:56, he said, “I see the heavens opened up.”

In Luke 24:31, the disciples’ eyes “were opened” by the resurrected Christ so they could recognize Him as Messiah. Their doubts were gone, and they saw clearly that He was risen.

In Luke 24:32, they said to each other “were not our hearts burning within us ... while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” Christ literally “opened wide” the Old Testament to them to show that the very things which had happened were foretold. He then dissipated every doubt by showing “Himself” to them and convincing them that He was truly the Christ. In the same way in Acts 17:3, Paul was “explaining and giving evidence” of Christ to the Thessalonians. He “opened up” all the Scriptures that spoke of the Messiah, expounding them, giving the true sense of them.

The remaining two verses accentuate the work of Christ operating on people’s minds and hearts so that they may truly believe. In Luke 24:45, Christ “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” The disciples had been brought up reading the Scriptures, and had the advantage of Christ’s ministry for some years; yet there is the necessity for Christ to take the veil from the heart, by opening the mind. ACTS 16:14 speaks of Lydia, whose heart “the Lord opened ... to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” When the heart is thus opened to Christ, the ear is opened to His word, the lips opened in prayer, the hand opened in charity, and the steps enlarged in all manner of gospel obedience. The Lord opens our understanding, taking away the stony heart, removing unbelief, entered in Himself, making us willing to be saved by Him, and to serve Him.