What Does 1 Corinthians 6:17 Mean in the King James?
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
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
Being joined to the Lord is more than closeness: the verse describes a shared, living breath.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks of union with the Lord as a present reality: the one joined to him is one spirit. The word for spirit also carries the sense of breath, so this union reaches into the life that animates you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the Lord remains wholly external to the one who is joined to him.
THE ROOT
κολλάω
kollaō
GROWS FROM
κολλ-
koll-
To glue, adhere, or join closely.
English “joined” can sound like simple association, but the Greek word carries the image of adhesion. The verse describes a bond that makes union real, not merely a shared opinion.
ALSO GROWS
kolla: Glue or adhesive.
κόλλα
The image of adhesion gives “joined” a closeness that the English word can leave unstated.
proskollaō: To cling or cleave to.
προσκολλάω
This related form uses the same root to describe attachment, echoing the verse’s language of a bond with the Lord.
πνεῦμα
pneuma
GROWS FROM
πνε-
pne-
To breathe or blow; the living breath or wind.
The Greek word rendered “spirit” also names breath and wind. The verse’s “one spirit” therefore holds together inner life and living breath in a way the English word alone may conceal.
ALSO GROWS
pneō: To breathe or blow.
πνέω
This verb is the action behind pneuma: breath moving, as wind moves.
pnoē: Breath or a breath of air.
πνοή
This related noun makes the breath sense of pneuma visible and deepens what “one spirit” can hold.
THE PATTERN
Union turns what is separate into shared life.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;THE THREAD
What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.The word translated “joined” is from the same Greek root as in verse 17. The preceding verse shows that joining creates a real union; verse 17 turns that same force toward the Lord.
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