What Does 1 Corinthians 11:32 Mean?
But when we are judged, we are trained by the Lord, so that we would not be condemned with the world.
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
But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.THE KEY
The Lord’s judgment takes the form of training that keeps condemnation from being the outcome.
THE MEANING
When the Lord judges you, the verse describes that judgment as correction and formation. It distinguishes being chastened from being condemned with the world: the first is the process that keeps the second from being the outcome.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that being corrected by the Lord means you are rejected or already condemned; this verse presents chastening as distinct from condemnation.
THE ROOT
παιδευόμεθα
paideuometha
GROWS FROM
παιδ-
paid-
παιδεύω (paideuō) means to train, educate, or discipline; its word family is linked to παῖς (pais), “child.”
“Chastened” carries the sense of being trained or educated, with the image of a child being formed. The verse presents the Lord’s judgment as formative discipline, distinct from the condemnation it keeps from being the outcome.
ALSO GROWS
pais: Child, boy, or servant.
παῖς
The child in this word family helps reveal the formative sense behind being chastened.
paideia: Training, instruction, or upbringing.
παιδεία
This branch names the process of formation that the verse describes as the Lord’s chastening.
κρινόμενοι
krinomenoi
GROWS FROM
κριν-
krin-
κρίνω (krinō) means to separate, decide, or judge; κατακρίνω (katakrinō) means to condemn, to pronounce judgment against.
“Judged” and “condemned” share the κριν- root, while the latter adds κατα- to express a condemning verdict. The verse places the Lord’s judging and the world’s condemnation in distinct roles: one disciplines; the other is the outcome being avoided.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: Judgment or decision.
κρίσις
This branch shows judgment as the act of discerning or deciding.
kritēs: Judge, one who decides.
κριτής
It names the one who exercises judgment, the shared idea beneath both forms in the verse.
katakrinō: Condemn, pronounce a verdict against.
κατακρίνω
This is the intensified form used for “condemned,” clarifying how it differs from being judged and chastened.
THE PATTERN
The Lord’s judgment can take the form of correction that prevents condemnation.
My son, do not spurn the straightening of the LORD, and do not tire of his reproof.For whom the LORD loves, he trains, and he whips every son he takes to his side.For if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged.THE THREAD
For whom the LORD loves, he trains, and he whips every son he takes to his side.The same Greek word family, παιδ- (paid-, child and formative training), appears in the chastening described here. Hebrews pairs that training with being received, opening the distinction in this verse: correction belongs to formation, while condemnation is the outcome it prevents.
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