What Does 2 Corinthians 11:7 Mean in the King James?
Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?
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 message is given as a gift, and the speaker’s lowering is measured against the hearer’s rising, not against what the speaker receives.
THE MEANING
The question puts your being lifted beside the speaker’s own lowering, with the good news reaching you as a gift. It asks whether that lowering can rightly be called an offense when it makes room for your exaltation. The verse keeps the receiver’s rising in view, not the giver’s gain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a gift becomes suspect when its giver takes the lower place.
THE ROOT
δωρεάν
dōrean
GROWS FROM
δωρεά
dōrea
Gift; something given without payment.
“Freely” carries the sense of giving as a gift, not merely charging nothing. The good news arrives without a price attached, so the verse frames the exchange around what the hearer receives rather than what the speaker collects.
ALSO GROWS
dōrea: Gift, grant.
δωρεά
This noun makes the gift sense inside “freely” visible.
dōrēma: A gift, something bestowed.
δώρημα
It keeps the focus on what is given and received, rather than on payment.
ταπεινῶν
tapeinōn
GROWS FROM
ταπεινόω
tapeinoō
To bring low, humble.
“abasing” in this verse is tapeinōn. The word gives the speaker’s action a downward shape: he takes the low place. Set beside the hearer being exalted, that descent and rise form one striking movement in the sentence.
ALSO GROWS
tapeinos: Low, lowly, humble.
ταπεινός
It shows the basic low position carried by “abasing.”
tapeinōsis: Low estate, humiliation.
ταπείνωσις
It names the condition of being brought low that echoes the speaker’s action.
ὑψωθῆτε
hypsōthēte
GROWS FROM
ὑψόω
hypsoō
To lift high, raise up.
“Exalted” is literally language of being raised to a height. The verse places that upward movement on the hearer’s side of the exchange, opposite the speaker’s lowering.
ALSO GROWS
hypsos: Height, elevation.
ὕψος
It makes the vertical image inside “exalted” concrete.
hypsēlos: High, lofty.
ὑψηλός
It shares the language of height used for the hearer’s rising.
THE PATTERN
A gift can lift the receiver while the giver takes the lower place.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.THE THREAD
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.The same Greek word for “freely,” δωρεάν (dōrean, as a gift), appears here and twice in Matthew’s verse. That repeated word links receiving without payment to giving without payment, opening this verse’s gift beyond a single exchange.
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