What Does John 5:5 Mean?
Now a certain man was there, who had been without strength for thirty-eight years.
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 a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.THE KEY
Thirty-eight years measures the infirmity, not the man.
THE MEANING
The verse holds two things in view at once: a man, and an infirmity that has lasted thirty-eight years. A long-standing weakness can be named truthfully without becoming the whole name of the one who bears it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a weakness lasting for years has become the whole identity of the one who carries it.
THE ROOT
ἀσθένεια
astheneia
GROWS FROM
σθεν- (from σθένος, sthenos)
σθένος (sthenos) means strength, force, or vigor; the prefix ἀ- marks its absence.
“without strength” in this verse is astheneia. The Greek word carries the sense of strength being absent, as well as illness or weakness. Its word family describes both a condition and the experience of being weak, so the verse names what has persisted without making it the man’s whole identity.
ALSO GROWS
asthenēs: Weak, without strength
ἀσθενής
This related adjective makes the same absence of strength visible in the word family.
astheneō: To be weak or ill
ἀσθενέω
The related verb describes weakness as a condition someone experiences, rather than as the person’s entire nature.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names weakness plainly while placing it within a larger story of care or power.
So that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be filled, saying, He himself lifted our weaknesses and carried our sicknesses.For we do not have a high priest who cannot suffer alongside our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in every way as we are, apart from falling short.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.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.The Greek word translated “infirmities” belongs to the same word family as the infirmity named in John 5:5. There, its duration is thirty-eight years; here, weakness is spoken of alongside power.
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