What Does 1 Corinthians 7:21 Mean in the King James?
Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
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
Servitude may name your present condition, but it does not close the opening of freedom when it comes.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you in a condition you may not have chosen, without making that condition your whole identity. If freedom becomes available, it calls that opening worth taking. Present constraint and possible release stand together in the same sentence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that servitude must be treated as permanent, or that taking an available path to freedom means rejecting your calling.
THE ROOT
ἐλεύθερος
eleutheros
GROWS FROM
ἐλευθερ-
eleuther-
free; at liberty
The verse speaks of becoming free, so freedom appears as a possible change of condition. This word family names both liberty itself and the act of setting someone free, keeping the opening concrete.
ALSO GROWS
eleutheria: freedom, liberty
ἐλευθερία
This is the noun for the freedom named in the verse’s opportunity.
eleutheroō: to set free, liberate
ἐλευθερόω
It shows the same word family describing freedom as something that can happen to a person.
δοῦλος
doulos
GROWS FROM
δουλ-
doul-
bonded service; slavery
This word can name an enslaved person, so the verse holds a real condition of bondage in view. Its family keeps the bond visible even where the English word “servant” can sound broader or gentler.
ALSO GROWS
douleuō: to serve as a slave, be in bondage
δουλεύω
The verb shows the condition as lived service under a bond.
douleia: slavery, bondage
δουλεία
This noun makes the condition explicit and appears beside the same freedom family in Galatians 5:1.
χρῆσαι
chrēsai
GROWS FROM
χρη-
chrē-
use, employ, avail oneself
The command means to make use of something or avail yourself of it. The Greek leaves the object unstated; the KJV reads the available freedom in the preceding clause as what is to be used.
ALSO GROWS
chrēsis: use, employment
χρῆσις
This noun carries the same idea of putting something to use.
chrēsimos: useful, serviceable
χρήσιμος
This related adjective shows the family’s focus on practical use.
THE PATTERN
When release becomes available, scripture treats freedom as a real opening while naming bondage plainly.
If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.THE THREAD
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.“Liberty” and “made free” in Galatians belong to the same Greek word family as “free” here; bondage is named there with a word from the same family as “servant.” The shared roots open this verse as movement toward freedom while leaving the reality of bondage plainly in view.
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