What Does 1 Corinthians 9:3 Mean?
My answer to those who sift me is this.
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
Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,THE KEY
The word translated “examine” carries the sense of scrutiny that separates and judges, placing an answer inside the very process of being tested.
THE MEANING
When you are under scrutiny, an answer is still yours to give. The verse names the people examining you as actively testing your case; their scrutiny does not erase your voice. Your answer is brought into the open, where it can be heard.
THE ROOT
ἀνακρίνουσιν
anakrinousin
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
To separate, distinguish, or judge.
“sift” in this verse is anakrinousin. English “examine” can sound like neutral inspection, but this word’s root carries the movement from scrutiny toward judgment. The answer in the verse meets that process directly: examination is not merely looking; it sorts a matter.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: A judgment or decision reached by discerning a matter.
κρίσις
It shows that the root can name the outcome of scrutiny, not only the act of examining.
kritēs: One who judges or makes a decision.
κριτής
It reveals the person doing the examining as part of the same word family as the act and its judgment.
kritērion: A place or standard by which a matter is judged.
κριτήριον
It extends the root from personal scrutiny to the setting or measure used to reach a judgment.
THE PATTERN
Examination separates what is true from what is merely claimed, while the person or matter being examined remains open to an answer.
These were of nobler birth than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with all eagerness of heart, and sifted the writings daily, whether these things held so.But the one of the breath judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one.Examine me, O LORD, and test me; refine my kidneys and my heart.THE THREAD
But it is smallest to me that I should be judged by you, or by a human day. Nor do I even judge myself.The same verb translated “judged” here is translated “examine” in 1 Corinthians 9:3. Together, the verses show scrutiny and judgment as one process, while distinguishing the act of being examined from the authority to define the whole person.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us