What Does 1 Corinthians 9:20 Mean?
And to the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain the Jews; to those under the instruction I became as one under it, so that I might gain those under the instruction.
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
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;THE KEY
The repeated “gain” reveals that becoming “as” another is a bridge toward the person, not an end in itself.
THE MEANING
This verse presents reaching another person as meeting them within the frame they inhabit. “Under the law” names a condition shaped by instruction, and the repeated aim is to gain the people living within it. Adaptation is proximity with a purpose: the person remains the one being reached.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that a person must first leave the frame they inhabit before they can be reached.
THE ROOT
κερδήσω
kerdēsō
GROWS FROM
κερδ-
kerd-
The Greek lexical stem carries the sense of gain or profit.
“gain” in this verse is kerdēsō. The same verb is repeated for both groups, tying the speaker’s likeness to the people he hopes to reach. The word’s other uses show that its object can be a person: in Matthew 18:15, a brother is “gained.”
ALSO GROWS
kerdos: gain, profit
κέρδος
This related noun names what is gained, showing the shared word family behind the verse’s repeated aim.
kerdainō: to gain, win
κερδαίνω
This is the verb’s dictionary form; κερδήσω (kerdēsō, “I may gain”) is its future form, repeated for both groups.
THE PATTERN
Another person becomes reachable when their condition is recognized from within.
Do not press a sojourner, for you know his living soul, since you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.And if your brother misses the mark against you, go and bring him into the light between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have won your brother.To the weak I became as they are, so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I might deliver some.THE THREAD
And if your brother misses the mark against you, go and bring him into the light between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have won your brother.Matthew uses the same gain-verb family in “thou hast gained thy brother.” That makes the relational object of the word explicit: the gain is a person restored to connection, which sharpens what it means to reach people by entering their frame.
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