What Does 1 Corinthians 9:19 Mean in the King James?
For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
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
Freedom becomes a chosen enslavement to all, with the gain of more as its purpose.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks of freedom as the capacity to choose a bond of service. It names that bond with the force of enslavement, then gives it a purpose: gaining more people. The tension remains intact, the choice does not make the bond mild.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that freedom requires being answerable to no one: here, freedom can choose a bond of service to others.
THE ROOT
ἐδούλωσα
edoulōsa
GROWS FROM
δουλ-
doul-
Enslave; place under another’s service.
“made myself servant” in this verse is edoulōsa. The verb names an act stronger than general helpfulness: the free person places himself under a servant’s status for everyone. That force sits beneath “servant” without canceling the word; the sentence makes the surrender chosen.
ALSO GROWS
doulos: Servant; one who belongs in another’s service, with the word family also carrying the force of slave status.
δοῦλος
This is the noun in the same family, keeping the verse’s chosen service connected to a real surrender of status.
douleuō: To serve as a slave; to be in another’s service.
δουλεύω
This branch names the subjection that can sound mild when English says only “serve.”
douleia: Slavery; bondage.
δουλεία
The same word family names not only an act of service but also the condition of being bound to it.
κερδήσω
kerdēsō
GROWS FROM
κερδ-
kerd-
Gain; profit; acquire.
The aim is not simply to serve more people but to gain more of them. This word family also names profit, placing an unsettling edge beside the chosen service: people appear in the sentence as those to be gained.
ALSO GROWS
kerdos: Gain; profit.
κέρδος
Its profit sense adds an economic shade to the verse’s stated purpose.
kerdainō: To gain; to win or acquire.
κερδαίνω
This is the verb family behind “gain,” so the aim is framed as winning or acquiring more people.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents freedom as capable of choosing service that seeks another’s good.
And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.THE THREAD
For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.This verse repeats the same servant-and-free pairing in both directions: the servant is free in the Lord, and the free person is Christ’s servant. It makes 9:19’s paradox explicit while leaving the self-chosen service “unto all” as its particular edge.
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