What Does 1 Corinthians 2:13 Mean in the King James?
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
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
Greek binds “Holy Ghost” and “spiritual” through pneuma, the word-family for breath, wind, and spirit, joining the teacher to what is discerned.
THE MEANING
The verse describes speech now as receiving its teaching from the Spirit, while human wisdom is not its source. Greek links “Spirit” (pneuma) and “spiritual” (pneumatikos) through the language of breath, and the final verb can carry the sense of comparing or interpreting. Spiritual understanding appears as something discerned through what the Spirit teaches.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that spiritual understanding comes from human wisdom alone dissolves here: the verse names the Spirit as the teacher of the words.
THE ROOT
πνευματικοῖς
pneumatikois
GROWS FROM
πνεῦμα (pneuma), from πνέω (pneō)
Breath, wind, spirit; the movement of air, and by extension the spirit.
The verse names the teacher with pneumatos, “of the Spirit,” then uses pneumatikos for what is spiritual. English gives these different sounds, while Greek connects them through one breath-word family, joining the source of the teaching to what is discerned.
ALSO GROWS
pneō: To breathe or blow.
πνέω
The verb preserves the moving-breath image beneath the word for Spirit.
pneumatikos: Of or belonging to the Spirit; spiritual.
πνευματικός
This is the adjective used in the verse, sharing its word-family with the Spirit who teaches.
συγκρίνοντες
synkrinontes
GROWS FROM
κρίνω (krinō), in the compound σύν + κρίνω (syn + krinō)
To distinguish, decide, or judge; the compound can mean to compare or interpret.
The compound begins with syn, “together,” and carries krinō’s sense of discerning. So “comparing” can suggest bringing spiritual things together to recognize their relation, with interpretation also within the verb’s range.
ALSO GROWS
synkrinō: To compare, combine, or interpret.
συγκρίνω
This is the verb used in the verse and allows the closing phrase to carry more than simple likeness.
anakrinō: To examine, investigate, or discern.
ἀνακρίνω
This related compound shows the discerning sense within the krinō word-family.
THE PATTERN
Divine life and understanding move through breath-shaped speech, joining a word to its living source.
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:THE THREAD
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.In John, Jesus says his words are pneuma, the same Greek word-family behind “Spirit” in 1 Corinthians. Both verses join breath, speech, and life, so the Spirit’s teaching here is connected to words that are themselves spirit and life there.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us