What Does 1 Corinthians 15:58 Mean in the King James?
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
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 risen life makes your labor in the Lord something death cannot empty.
THE MEANING
Your effort in the Lord is not hollow or lost. You can stand firm and overflow in that work because resurrection carries its fruit beyond what you can see now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that costly, unseen work disappears without consequence.
THE ROOT
κόπος
kopos
GROWS FROM
κόπτω
To strike or beat; κόπος (kopos) names the wear and toil of labor.
“labour” in this verse is kopos. The word holds the bodily cost of work: this is effort that wears on you, not an abstract task. Yet the verse says this real cost is not empty when it is in the Lord.
ALSO GROWS
kopiaō: To labor, grow weary through effort.
κοπιάω
It shares the κόπ- word family and shows that the labor named here can be felt as weariness.
koptō: To strike, beat, or mourn.
κόπτω
The root’s forceful image gives κόπος its sense of effort that takes something out of the body.
κενός
kenos
GROWS FROM
κεν-
Empty, hollow, or without content.
“in vain” in this verse is kenos. The Greek says your labor is not empty in the Lord. Its cost is not erased, and its meaning is not measured only by what is visible now.
ALSO GROWS
kenoō: To empty or make void.
κενόω
It makes the verse’s assurance vivid: the labor is not emptied of its worth.
kenodoxia: Empty glory or conceit.
κενοδοξία
This related word joins emptiness with hollow recognition, clarifying that labor’s worth rests in the Lord rather than in visible acclaim.
περισσεύοντες
perisseuontes
GROWS FROM
περισσ-
Surplus, abundance, more than enough.
“abounding” in this verse is perisseuontes. The word pictures more than merely continuing: your work can overflow. Joined to the promise that labor is not empty, abundance becomes possible without pretending the labor is effortless.
ALSO GROWS
perisseuō: To abound, overflow, or have in excess.
περισσεύω
This is the verb behind the verse’s image of work extending beyond a bare minimum.
perisseuma: Surplus or abundance.
περίσσευμα
This related noun helps show the sense of overflow carried by the work described here.
THE PATTERN
Labor rooted in God is not lost to present weariness; its fruit reaches beyond what is visible now.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.THE THREAD
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.The word translated “laboured” is κοπιάω (kopiaō), from the same word family as κόπος (kopos), “labour,” in this verse. The earlier line holds costly effort together with grace, showing how labor can be real without becoming empty.
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