What Does 1 Corinthians 7:16 Mean in the King James?

For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

1 Corinthians 7:16 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verse holds a spouse’s deliverance as possible while refusing to make the other spouse its guarantor.

THE MEANING

Your presence may be one path through which your spouse is brought out, but you cannot know that outcome. The repeated question leaves another person’s deliverance beyond your certainty.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It loosens the belief that love or closeness can guarantee another person’s deliverance: the verse asks whether it will happen, not promising that it will.

THE ROOT

σώσεις

sōseis

GROWS FROM

σώζω

sōzō

Rescue; bring into safety.

The verb belongs to the same word family as deliverance and deliverer, so “save” carries the sense of being brought out into safety. Here the same verb appears in both questions, but neither question claims the outcome as certain.

ALSO GROWS

sōtēria: Deliverance; rescue.

σωτηρία

The related noun names the deliverance that the verse leaves open as a possibility.

sōtēr: Deliverer; rescuer.

σωτήρ

The related noun names the one who brings rescue, sharpening the question of whether a spouse can be that means of deliverance.

THE PATTERN

Deliverance opens a way out of danger, but no human being can claim certainty over its source or outcome.

To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

1 Corinthians 9:22 · KJVThe same Greek verb names deliverance as something a person hopes to serve, while “some” leaves the result open.

Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

Psalm 107:6 · KJVDeliverance is a way out of distress, and its source is named as the LORD.

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

James 5:20 · KJVAnother person’s action can be connected with deliverance, while the verse locates the outcome beyond a spouse’s certainty.

THE THREAD

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Acts 16:31 · KJV

Acts uses the same Greek verb, ⁨σώζω⁩ (sōzō), and places it beside a household. Here that deliverance word appears between spouses as a question, leaving the possibility visible without turning it into a guarantee.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us