What Does John 5:41 Mean?
I do not receive weight from humankind.
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
I receive not honour from men.THE KEY
“Honour” is doxa, weight: the speaker is not drawing his weight from human approval.
THE MEANING
The speaker’s standing does not rise or fall with human regard. In your life now, praise can tell you how others see you, but it cannot supply your weight. The verse separates being regarded by people from being grounded in that regard.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being praised is what makes you matter, or that being overlooked makes you weightless.
THE ROOT
δόξαν
doxan
GROWS FROM
δοκ
To seem, think, or form an opinion; δόξα is regard or reputation, carrying the sense of weight here.
“honour, weight” in this verse is doxan. The word translated “honour” carries the sense of weight, while its Greek family connects it with how something is regarded or esteemed. The speaker is not taking his weight from people’s estimate of him.
ALSO GROWS
dokeō: To think, seem, or form an opinion
δοκέω
It shows the link between regard and the estimate people form; the speaker’s weight does not depend on that estimate.
doxazō: To honor or glorify
δοξάζω
This verb names the act of giving or recognizing doxa, clarifying what the speaker does not receive from people.
THE PATTERN
Human regard can describe a person’s reputation, but it cannot be the source of their weight.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have pushed him away. The LORD does not see as the human sees. The human sees what is outside, but the LORD sees the heart.For they loved the weight from humankind more than the weight of God.For now, do I persuade people or God? Or do I seek to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of the Anointed One.THE THREAD
How can you trust, when you receive weight from one another and do not seek the weight that comes from God alone?The same word, δόξα (doxa), appears in both verses: here the speaker receives no weight from people, and there people receive it from one another. Together they distinguish human approval from weight that comes from God.
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