What Does 1 Peter 3:4 Mean in the King James?
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
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
What is hidden from human display remains fully visible to God, and its worth does not decay.
THE MEANING
The verse names a gentle, quiet breath within you as precious in God’s sight now. Its value belongs to the hidden center of your life and does not depend on outward display or on what can decay.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that what others cannot see has little worth.
THE ROOT
κρυπτὸς
kryptos
GROWS FROM
κρύπτω
To hide or conceal from view.
“hidden” in this verse is kryptos. The word family marks something kept out of sight. The verse holds that hiddenness together with God’s clear sight: what is concealed from display is not unseen or low in value.
ALSO GROWS
kryptō: To hide or conceal.
κρύπτω
The action behind “hidden” shows that the person’s inwardness is concealed from view, not absent.
apokryphos: Hidden away or secret.
ἀπόκρυφος
This related word carries the same sense of being out of sight, illuminating the difference between public visibility and inward worth.
πνεύματος
pneumatos
GROWS FROM
πνέω
To breathe or blow.
The word translated “spirit” is also breath and wind in Greek. Its gentleness and quietness describe the inward breath named here, joining the hidden life of the heart with the living movement of breath.
ALSO GROWS
pneuma: Breath, wind, or spirit.
πνεῦμα
This is the noun translated “spirit” here and “wind” in John 3:8, where English divides meanings held by the same Greek word.
pnoē: Breath or a blowing.
πνοή
This related noun makes the root’s breath-and-wind sense audible beneath the English rendering “spirit.”
ἀφθάρτῳ
aphthartō
GROWS FROM
φθείρω
To corrupt, destroy, or cause to decay.
“not corruptible” in this verse is aphthartō. The phrase identifies what cannot be worn down or ruined. Beside the hidden person’s inward life, it names a value that outlasts what decays.
ALSO GROWS
phthora: Decay, corruption, or destruction.
φθορά
This branch names the wearing down that the verse says does not define the inward quality.
aphtharsia: Incorruptibility or imperishability.
ἀφθαρσία
This related noun makes explicit the enduring quality carried by “not corruptible.”
THE PATTERN
The deepest value is formed within, where outward appearance cannot measure or secure it.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.THE THREAD
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.The Greek word κρυπτός (kryptos, “hidden” or “secret”) from this verse reappears in Matthew as “in secret.” In both verses, what remains out of public view is still seen by God, joining hiddenness with recognition rather than absence.
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