What Does 1 Corinthians 10:17 Mean in the King James?
For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
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 Greek word translated “partakers” means to share in, so the one bread is not merely received by many people, it is what they share as one body.
THE MEANING
You belong to the many who share one bread and are one body. The shared bread holds your connection to one another: you are many, yet part of one common life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that becoming one means losing your distinctness; the verse calls the many one body while still calling them many.
THE ROOT
μετέχομεν
metechomen
GROWS FROM
μετέχω
metechō
To share in; to have a part in.
“Partakers” can sound like many people each taking something separately, but this verb carries the sense of sharing in it. That shared participation is the hinge of the verse: the many are one body because they share the one bread.
ALSO GROWS
metochos: Partner; participant.
μέτοχος
This related form names someone who shares in something, echoing how the many participate in one bread.
metochē: Participation; share.
μετοχή
This related noun makes the verse’s central idea explicit: oneness is expressed through sharing.
THE PATTERN
Many are joined as one body through sharing in a common life.
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;THE THREAD
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;The same share-language appears here as “partakers of Christ,” linking participation with belonging. In this verse, the shared reality is pictured as one bread and one body.
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