What Does 1 Thessalonians 2:6 Mean in the King James?
Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.
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 verse places two kinds of weight side by side: recognition they do not seek from people and a burden they could have laid on them.
THE MEANING
Your attention and resources are not presented as something a messenger must extract. Being sent can carry real standing without turning that standing into a demand for your praise or support.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being sent or holding spiritual authority gives someone the right to claim your admiration and make you carry the cost of their standing.
THE ROOT
δόξαν
doxan
GROWS FROM
δοκ- (dok-, from δοκέω, dokeō)
To seem or be regarded; from this comes reputation or the esteem in which someone is held. In this verse, glory carries the sense of weight or recognition.
“glory” in this verse is doxan. The verse is not about lacking standing: it names recognition as a weight they could have sought from people, but did not. The next phrase brings another kind of weight into view, the burden they could have placed on others.
ALSO GROWS
dokeō: To seem, think, or be regarded.
δοκέω
It points toward the judgment or opinion from which public reputation grows.
doxazō: To glorify, honor, or treat as worthy of recognition.
δοξάζω
This branch shows how the weight of reputation can be given to someone by others.
ἐν βάρει
en barei
GROWS FROM
βαρ- (bar-, from βαρύς, barys)
Heavy; weight or something carried as a burden.
“burdensome” in this verse is en barei. The Greek phrase is literally “to be in weight.” This is not the same root as “glory,” but the two words echo each other: they do not seek weight from people, though they could have made themselves a weight to them.
ALSO GROWS
barys: Heavy or weighty.
βαρύς
It gives the basic sense of heaviness behind the burden in this verse.
bareō: To weigh down or burden.
βαρέω
This branch shows the burden as something one person can place on another.
ἀπόστολοι
apostoloi
GROWS FROM
στέλλω (stellō), with ἀπό- (apo-, away or forth)
To send or dispatch; an apostle is one sent forth.
“apostles” in this verse is apostoloi. The phrase locates their standing in being sent by the Anointed One, not in recognition taken from people. The authority of a sent one is present, yet the verse does not turn it into a claim for personal weight.
ALSO GROWS
apostellō: To send forth or dispatch.
ἀποστέλλω
It makes the apostle’s identity a matter of being sent, rather than self-promotion.
apostolē: A sending, mission, or commission.
ἀποστολή
This branch keeps the focus on the work entrusted to the sent one.
THE PATTERN
Authority serves without turning its standing into a claim on others’ honor, resources, or submission.
Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.THE THREAD
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;This verse brings together the same Greek words for “weight” (βάρος) and “glory” (δόξα) that stand side by side in 1 Thessalonians 2:6. There, glory is not sought from people and weight is not laid on them; here, the phrase “weight of glory” lets you hear the shared language clearly.
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