What Does 2 Corinthians 10:18 Mean in the King James?
For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.
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 same Greek verb describes both self-commendation and the Lord’s commendation, but self-praise cannot make someone approved.
THE MEANING
Self-praise does not establish you as approved; it only tells what you say about yourself. The Lord’s commendation identifies the one who stands as genuine under his regard.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You have to make a convincing case for yourself before you can be accepted.
THE ROOT
συνίστημι
synistēmi
GROWS FROM
συνίστημι (σύν + ἵστημι)
To stand together, establish, present, or commend.
Both instances of “commendeth” come from this same Greek word family: one describes a person presenting himself, the other the Lord presenting someone. Elsewhere the same family describes what holds together, revealing that true standing is not secured by self-presentation.
ALSO GROWS
synestēken: holds together, consists
συνέστηκεν
Colossians 1:17 uses this form for all things holding together in Christ, showing the root can describe what establishes or sustains a standing.
synistēsin: commends, presents
συνίστησιν
Romans 5:8 uses this form when God commends his love, echoing the Lord’s act of commendation in this verse.
δόκιμος
dokimos
GROWS FROM
δοκιμ-
Tested and found acceptable; proven genuine.
“Approved” carries the sense of something that has stood examination, not merely something that claims a good standing. The verse sets that tested genuineness against self-praise, which cannot serve as its own proof.
ALSO GROWS
dokimazō: to test, examine, or approve
δοκιμάζω
The related verb makes clear that approval involves examination, not just a favorable claim.
dokimē: proof or tested character
δοκιμή
This related noun describes the proven quality that follows testing, illuminating what “approved” means here.
THE PATTERN
Genuine approval comes from sound judgment beyond the self, not from self-promotion.
Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.THE THREAD
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.The Greek word family behind “commendeth” here also appears in the word translated “consist”: all things hold together in Christ. That shared root opens a deeper sense of standing, what truly holds is grounded in the Lord, not in a person’s self-presentation.
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