What Does 2 Corinthians 13:4 Mean?
For though he was crucified out of weakness, yet he lives by the strength of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the strength of God toward you.
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
For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.THE KEY
Weakness and life meet in the same person: God’s power does not wait for weakness to disappear before life is present.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks of a life that remains joined to God’s power even through weakness and crucifixion. You can be weak in him and still share in the life that comes from God. The power that gives life is present in the relationship, even when weakness is real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that weakness means life or power is absent.
THE ROOT
δύναμις
dynamis
GROWS FROM
δύναμαι
dynamai
To be able; to have capacity.
“by the strength of God” in this verse is dynamis. The word translated “power” belongs to the family of being able and having capacity. The verse names God’s capacity as the source of life both in the crucified one and in those who are weak in him.
ALSO GROWS
dynamai: To be able; to have capacity.
δύναμαι
This verb is the root family behind the power named as the source of life.
dynatos: Able; capable; powerful.
δυνατός
This related word carries the same sense of capacity that underlies the verse’s “power.”
ἀσθένεια
astheneia
GROWS FROM
ἀσθενέω
astheneō
To be weak or without strength.
“out of weakness” in this verse is astheneia. The same word family describes the crucified one’s weakness and the weakness of those who are in him. The verse holds that weakness plainly beside life, without treating it as proof that God’s power has vanished.
ALSO GROWS
astheneō: To be weak; to be without strength.
ἀσθενέω
This verb shares the word family used for weakness in the verse.
asthenēs: Weak; without strength.
ἀσθενής
This related form shows that the verse’s weakness belongs to a broader word family, not a separate condition.
ζῇ
zē
GROWS FROM
ζάω
zaō
To live; to be alive.
“liveth” in this verse is zē. The verse repeats the verb of living: he lives, and we shall live with him. English marks one as present and the other as future, while the shared Greek verb ties both lives to God’s power.
ALSO GROWS
zōē: Life; living.
ζωή
This noun comes from the same word family as the verb translated “liveth.”
zōopoieō: To make alive; to give life.
ζωοποιέω
This related compound makes the life-giving dimension of the word family visible.
THE PATTERN
God’s life-giving power is present in weakness, so weakness does not have the final word.
And he said to me, "My favor is enough for you, for strength is carried to its end in weakness." Most gladly, then, I will boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the strength of the Anointed One may pitch its tent over me.He gives power to the faint, and to those without might he multiplies strength.Because the foolishness of God is wiser than humankind, and the weakness of God is stronger than humankind.THE THREAD
And he said to me, "My favor is enough for you, for strength is carried to its end in weakness." Most gladly, then, I will boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the strength of the Anointed One may pitch its tent over me.This verse repeats the pairing of weakness and power, using the same Greek word family for weakness and the same word for power. Together they show that weakness can be present while divine power is at work.
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