What Does 1 Corinthians 7:31 Mean in the King James?
And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
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 world’s present shape is already passing, so using it need not become dependence on it.
THE MEANING
You can make use of what surrounds you without treating its current form as permanent shelter. The world’s pattern is already passing, and your grip cannot make it last.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the conditions and structures shaping your life now must remain stable for your life to hold together.
THE ROOT
χρώμενοι
chrōmenoi
GROWS FROM
χράομαι (χρα-)
to make use of, employ
“use / abusing” in this verse is chrōmenoi. The verse uses the same verb twice: χράομαι (chrōmenoi, “make use of”) and its prefixed form καταχράομαι (katachrōmenoi, “use fully,” “use up,” or “misuse”). The echo places ordinary use and its excess within one word family, allowing participation without consuming or clinging to what is used.
ALSO GROWS
chrēsis: use, employment
χρῆσις
This noun from the same word family makes the verse’s first action, making use, visible as a distinct way of relating to the world.
katachraomai: use fully, use up, or misuse
καταχράομαι
This is the intensified form used in the verse’s second clause, setting ordinary use beside its fuller or excessive form.
σχῆμα
schēma
GROWS FROM
σχημα-
schēma-
shape, form, visible configuration
“fashion” in this verse is schēma. The thing passing is the σχῆμα (schēma), the world’s form or configuration. The verse draws attention to the shape the world takes, a shape that changes even while you are living within it.
ALSO GROWS
schēmatizō: to form, fashion, or take on a pattern
σχηματίζω
This verb shows the same word family describing a shape being formed or assumed.
metaschēmatizō: to change or transform form
μετασχηματίζω
This compound makes the shape-changing sense explicit: a form can be altered rather than held as permanent.
κόσμος
kosmos
GROWS FROM
κοσμ-
kosm-
ordered arrangement, adornment; by extension, the world
κόσμος (kosmos) can name an ordered arrangement as well as the world. Beside σχῆμα (schēma), it evokes both the world you inhabit and the particular pattern it presently takes.
ALSO GROWS
kosmeō: to arrange or adorn
κοσμέω
This related verb carries the sense of placing things in order, illuminating κόσμος (kosmos) as an arranged world.
kosmios: orderly, well-arranged, decorous
κόσμιος
This related adjective preserves the family’s sense of order and arrangement, echoing the world’s patterned form.
THE PATTERN
The world’s visible forms pass, while what is rooted in God’s word and will endures.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.THE THREAD
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.John uses the same Greek word κόσμος (kosmos, “world”) and places it beside the passing of the world and the desires attached to it. What abides in John’s verse opens Paul’s image further: the world’s present form is not the only thing your life can rest upon.
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