What Does 1 Corinthians 9:3 Mean in the King James?
Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,
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 word translated “examine” carries the sense of scrutiny that separates and judges, placing an answer inside the very process of being tested.
THE MEANING
When you are under scrutiny, an answer is still yours to give. The verse names the people examining you as actively testing your case; their scrutiny does not erase your voice. Your answer is brought into the open, where it can be heard.
THE ROOT
ἀνακρίνουσιν
anakrinousin
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
To separate, distinguish, or judge.
English “examine” can sound like neutral inspection, but this word’s root carries the movement from scrutiny toward judgment. The answer in the verse meets that process directly: examination is not merely looking; it sorts a matter.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: A judgment or decision reached by discerning a matter.
κρίσις
It shows that the root can name the outcome of scrutiny, not only the act of examining.
kritēs: One who judges or makes a decision.
κριτής
It reveals the person doing the examining as part of the same word family as the act and its judgment.
kritērion: A place or standard by which a matter is judged.
κριτήριον
It extends the root from personal scrutiny to the setting or measure used to reach a judgment.
THE PATTERN
Examination separates what is true from what is merely claimed, while the person or matter being examined remains open to an answer.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.THE THREAD
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.The same verb translated “judged” here is translated “examine” in 1 Corinthians 9:3. Together, the verses show scrutiny and judgment as one process, while distinguishing the act of being examined from the authority to define the whole person.
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