προσλαμβάνω

G4355 describes taking someone or something to oneself. Its twelve governed forms range from taking Jesus aside, gathering men for a violent crowd, receiving fuller instruction, taking food, welcoming shipwrecked strangers, accepting fellow believers, and receiving Onesimus as Paul himself. The object and purpose determine whether the taking is misguided, hostile, nourishing, hospitable, instructive, or reconciliatory. The broad gloss "to take" is therefore too thin unless the relationship and action are named.

Romans 14 and 15 command believers to welcome one another because God has accepted them and Christ has accepted them for God's glory. The argument addresses disputes over food and days among servants answerable to the Lord. Welcome refuses contempt and judgment over the matters Paul places in that category, but it does not make every moral, doctrinal, criminal, or safeguarding concern disputable. It does not require unrestricted access, suppress testimony, or replace wise boundaries with forced closeness.

Philemon 17 asks Philemon to receive Onesimus as he would receive Paul. The appeal presses partnership and changed relation within a letter written amid slavery, but the verb does not bless enslavement, return ownership to enslavers, or make reconciliation safe by command. Acts likewise contrasts Priscilla and Aquila's private instruction of Apollos with a mob's recruitment of harmful men, ordinary eating during crisis, and the islanders' unusual kindness. Receiving can serve truth and life or recruit people into harm; Christian application must ask whom, for what, under whose power, and with what consequences.

Twelve governed forms describe taking aside, recruiting, eating, welcoming strangers, receiving instruction, accepting believers, and receiving Onesimus.