What Does 1 Corinthians 7:19 Mean in the King James?

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

1 Corinthians 7:19 · 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.

THE KEY

The body’s mark and its absence carry the same little weight beside the active keeping of God’s commands.

THE MEANING

The reader’s religious identity does not rest on possessing or lacking a bodily sign; the verse calls both sides “nothing” beside keeping God’s commandments. “Keeping” means active guarding and observance, so the verse points to what is lived rather than which mark is carried.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that a religious mark, or the lack of one, proves a person’s standing with God.

THE ROOT

τήρησις

tērēsis

GROWS FROM

τηρ-

tēr-

To keep watch over, guard, observe.

“keeping” in this verse is tērēsis. The word carries the sense of guarding what has been entrusted, not merely possessing a rule or knowing it is there. The verse’s contrast is between a bodily sign and a lived attentiveness to God’s commands.

ALSO GROWS

tēreō: To keep watch over or observe.

τηρέω

This is the verb behind the noun in this verse; it makes “keeping” an active practice.

syntēreō: To preserve or keep something intact.

συντηρέω

It shares the same root and shows keeping as sustained care, illuminating the attentive sense of the verse’s “keeping.”

περιτομή

peritomē

GROWS FROM

⁨τεμ-⁩/⁨τομ-⁩ (tem-/tom-)

To cut; a cutting or incision.

“circumcision” in this verse is peritomē. The Greek word names a literal “cutting around,” a physical boundary mark. The verse places that mark and its absence side by side, then turns attention to the guarding of God’s commands; the sign remains a sign, but it does not carry the whole meaning.

ALSO GROWS

peritemnō: To make the circumcision cut.

περιτέμνω

It makes the physical action inside “circumcision” audible, setting the bodily mark against the ongoing action of keeping.

tomē: A cut or incision.

τομή

This related form keeps the concrete image of a cut in view while the verse locates its deeper emphasis in what is kept.

THE PATTERN

A bodily religious marker cannot stand in for the keeping of God’s commands.

To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

Deuteronomy 10:13 · KJVThe verse presents keeping God’s instruction as something that bears directly on the reader’s good.

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Galatians 5:6 · KJVLike the current verse, it gives neither circumcision nor uncircumcision the decisive place, and points instead to what is active.

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Revelation 14:12 · KJVThe same Greek root for “keep” appears here, joining keeping God’s commands with a steady, lived trust.

THE THREAD

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:15 · KJV

“Keep” translates ⁨τηρέω⁩ (tēreō), the verb from the same root as “keeping” in this verse. The shared word makes the connection visible: keeping God’s commands is an ongoing form of attentiveness, not a bodily marker.

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