What Does 1 Corinthians 9:15 Mean in the King James?
But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.
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 boast he will not let anyone empty is that the gospel can reach you without a price attached.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a right and its release together: the speaker can receive support, yet chooses not to claim it. That choice keeps the message arriving as a gift, not a bill. His boast is this freedom, and he would rather die than have anyone empty it into a transaction.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that having a right means exercising it, or that a gift loses its force when its giver declines repayment.
THE ROOT
καύχημά
kaúchēma
GROWS FROM
καυχ-
kauch-
Boast, exult, or take pride in something.
English “glorying” can sound like private self-congratulation, but καύχημα names what a person boasts in or can claim as grounds for pride. Here, the boast is the freedom to give the message without charge.
ALSO GROWS
kaucháomai: To boast or exult.
καυχάομαι
The verb names the act behind the “glorying”: taking pride in what one can claim.
kaúchēsis: Boasting or the act of boasting.
καύχησις
This related noun shows the same family can name the boast as an action, while καύχημα can name what the boast rests on.
κενώσει
kenōsei
GROWS FROM
κεν-
ken-
Empty; make empty.
“make void” in this verse is kenōsei. The Greek verb pictures emptying: anyone could drain the boast of its substance. “Void” here carries the sense of an emptied claim, not merely one that is challenged.
ALSO GROWS
kenós: Empty, without content; also vain or ineffective.
κενός
The adjective makes visible the emptiness that the verb warns could happen to the boast.
kenóō: To empty or make empty; in Philippians 2:7, ἐκένωσεν (ekénōsen) is rendered “made himself of no reputation.”
κενόω
This same verb family links the verse’s “void” with the language of being emptied.
THE PATTERN
A gift remains open to all when receiving it carries no price.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.THE THREAD
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.“Made of none effect” translates the same Greek verb family as “make void” here: κενόω (kenóō), to empty. In one verse the cross can be emptied by the manner of preaching; in the other, the boast can be emptied if the message becomes a transaction.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us