What Does 1 Thessalonians 2:5 Mean in the King James?
For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:
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
A cloak of greed may hide the motive from people, but not from the witness who sees beneath the words.
THE MEANING
This verse places your words and motives under one witness. Flattering speech can smooth what others hear, and a pretext can hide the appetite beneath it, but God sees the desire the words screen. What is said and what is wanted are both open before God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that polished or persuasive speech makes the motive behind it clean.
THE ROOT
πλεονεξία
pleonexia
GROWS FROM
πλέον + ἔχω (pleon + echō)
More + have: the grasping desire to have more.
“covetousness” in this verse is pleonexia. The word carries more than wanting possessions; it names an appetite for having more. Here that appetite wears a public cover, while God’s witness sees what the words cannot reveal.
ALSO GROWS
pleonekteō: To take advantage of or exploit.
πλεονεκτέω
This branch shows how the desire for more can reach beyond wanting and become taking from another.
pleonektēs: A covetous or grasping person.
πλεονέκτης
The same word family names the person shaped by that appetite, connecting hidden motive with the character it forms.
προφάσει
prophasei
GROWS FROM
φαν- (phan-, from φαίνω, phainō)
To appear or show; πρόφασις means a pretext or ostensible reason.
The Greek word rendered “cloke” means a pretext or ostensible reason. Its connection with showing or appearing brings the cover into the explanation offered: what appears to be the reason can conceal the appetite beneath it.
ALSO GROWS
phainō: To appear or show.
φαίνω
It gives the word family its sense of what comes into view, sharpening the contrast between an appearance and the concealed motive.
phaneroō: To make manifest or reveal.
φανερόω
This branch names the movement from appearance into what is disclosed, echoing the verse’s claim that God sees through the pretext.
THE PATTERN
What appears outwardly never hides the inward motive from God’s sight.
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.That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.THE THREAD
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:The same Greek word, πλεονεξία (pleonexia, covetousness), appears here, and the verse names its allegiance as idolatry. That opens 1 Thessalonians 2:5 further: a pretext may cover the appetite from people, but it does not change what the appetite serves.
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