What Does 1 Corinthians 1:14 Mean in the King James?

I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

1 Corinthians 1:14 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The act of immersion does not make the person who performs it the name people belong to.

THE MEANING

A sacred act can be real without its human performer becoming its center. Paul’s gratitude names his freedom from having those immersed through him gather under his name, as though his hands made them his.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that the person who immerses you becomes the owner or defining authority of your allegiance.

THE ROOT

ἐβάπτισα

ebáptisa

GROWS FROM

βάπτω

báptō

dip, immerse

“baptized” in this verse is ebáptisa. The verb names the concrete act of immersing. Beside the following verse, that physical act cannot be turned into a claim that the immersed belong to the person whose hands performed it.

ALSO GROWS

báptō: dip, immerse

βάπτω

This is the underlying action in Paul’s word for baptizing: to immerse.

báptisma: immersion

βάπτισμα

The related noun names the act itself, keeping the focus on what happens rather than on the status of the person who performs it.

εὐχαριστῶ

eucharistō

GROWS FROM

χάρις

cháris

favor, kindness freely shown

“thank” in this verse is eucharistō. Paul frames his relief as thanks directed to God, not as credit to himself. The word’s connection with favor places the good he recognizes in what he receives, not in the prestige of being the one who immerses others.

ALSO GROWS

cháris: favor

χάρις

This shared word family gives thanksgiving the shade of acknowledging favor received.

eucharistía: thanksgiving

εὐχαριστία

This related noun makes explicit the thanksgiving carried by Paul’s verb.

THE PATTERN

Immersion marks allegiance to the Lord without making the human messenger its owner.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Matthew 28:19 · KJVThe immersion is carried out by messengers, while the name it serves is the Father’s, the Son’s, and the Holy Ghost’s.

And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

Acts 10:48 · KJVPeter commands the immersion in the Lord’s name, so the act does not make the messenger its center.

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

1 Corinthians 1:17 · KJVPaul distinguishes his sending from the act of immersion, refusing to make it the badge of his own following.

THE THREAD

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

1 Corinthians 1:17 · KJV

The same verb for immersion appears again, and Paul names the boundary directly: his sending centers on announcing the good news, not making immersion his personal badge. That clarifies why he thanks God that so few were immersed by him.

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