What Does 1 Corinthians 9:20 Mean in the King James?
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
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 repeated “gain” reveals that becoming “as” another is a bridge toward the person, not an end in itself.
THE MEANING
This verse presents reaching another person as meeting them within the frame they inhabit. “Under the law” names a condition shaped by instruction, and the repeated aim is to gain the people living within it. Adaptation is proximity with a purpose: the person remains the one being reached.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that a person must first leave the frame they inhabit before they can be reached.
THE ROOT
κερδήσω
kerdēsō
GROWS FROM
κερδ-
kerd-
The Greek lexical stem carries the sense of gain or profit.
“gain” in this verse is kerdēsō. The same verb is repeated for both groups, tying the speaker’s likeness to the people he hopes to reach. The word’s other uses show that its object can be a person: in Matthew 18:15, a brother is “gained.”
ALSO GROWS
kerdos: gain, profit
κέρδος
This related noun names what is gained, showing the shared word family behind the verse’s repeated aim.
kerdainō: to gain, win
κερδαίνω
This is the verb’s dictionary form; κερδήσω (kerdēsō, “I may gain”) is its future form, repeated for both groups.
THE PATTERN
Another person becomes reachable when their condition is recognized from within.
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.THE THREAD
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.Matthew uses the same gain-verb family in “thou hast gained thy brother.” That makes the relational object of the word explicit: the gain is a person restored to connection, which sharpens what it means to reach people by entering their frame.
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