What Does 1 Corinthians 10:14 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
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
Idolatry is image-service, and the beloved are told to flee its claim rather than negotiate with it.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as dearly loved while the verse names idolatry as something to flee. The word pictures active movement away from service given to an image or substitute. Belovedness and separation from that service stand together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that being beloved makes divided allegiance harmless dissolves here: the command to flee remains.
THE ROOT
εἰδωλολατρία
eidōlolatria
GROWS FROM
εἴδωλον + λατρεία (eidōlon + latreia)
A Greek compound meaning image + service or worship.
The word names more than the presence of an image: it names service given to one. English can make idolatry sound like a category of belief, while the Greek word also exposes the act of serving a representation.
ALSO GROWS
eidōlon: Image, idol.
εἴδωλον
This is the image named in the compound; the verse concerns more than an object standing nearby.
latreia: Service, worship.
λατρεία
This is the service named in the compound, bringing allegiance and practice into view.
eidōlothyton: Something offered in sacrifice to an idol.
εἰδωλόθυτον
This related compound appears in the surrounding passage and connects image-service with participation in an offering.
φεύγετε
pheugete
GROWS FROM
φευγ-/φυγ- (pheug-/phyg-)
To flee or escape; the Greek verbal stem appears in related forms.
“flee” in this verse is pheugete. The command pictures movement away, not a debate about the image. Related Greek words range from flight to fleeing for refuge, showing escape as a concrete departure.
ALSO GROWS
phygē: Flight, escape.
φυγή
This noun makes the movement contained in “flee” explicit.
katapheugō: Flee for refuge.
καταφεύγω
This related verb shows the same movement can include seeking shelter, even though this verse emphasizes departure from idolatry.
THE PATTERN
Turning toward the living God involves turning away from rival objects of service.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.THE THREAD
What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?The same εἴδωλον (eidōlon, “image” or “idol”) inside εἰδωλολατρία appears here as “idol,” alongside what is offered to it. This connects the command to flee with participation in image-service, not only with a belief about whether an image is divine.
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