What Does 2 Corinthians 2:3 Mean in the King James?
And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.
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
Joy here is not a private feeling but a bond whose fullness lives in everyone sharing it.
THE MEANING
Your joy is held in relationship: what brings gladness to the people with you can become part of your own gladness. Confidence in one another makes that joy something shared, rather than something one person possesses alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This dissolves the belief that joy must be solitary, that another person’s gladness belongs only to them.
THE ROOT
χαρά
chara
GROWS FROM
χαίρω
rejoice, be glad
The noun for joy belongs to the same word family as the verb for rejoicing. A related verb, συγχαίρω (synchairō), means to rejoice with someone, making shared gladness visible inside the word family itself.
ALSO GROWS
chairō: rejoice, be glad
χαίρω
The related verb shows joy as something expressed, not only felt.
synchairō: rejoice with someone
συγχαίρω
This branch makes explicit the shared joy the verse names: one person’s gladness can join another’s.
πεποιθώς
pepoithōs
GROWS FROM
πείθω
persuade, convince
The confidence described here carries the sense of settled persuasion. It is directed toward the people addressed, joining assurance to the shared joy rather than leaving it as an abstract feeling.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: persuade, convince
πείθω
The root suggests confidence grounded in being persuaded.
pepoitha: trust, be confident
πέποιθα
This related form shows the settled trust expressed by the writer’s confidence in them.
THE PATTERN
Shared joy grows when another person’s good becomes part of one’s own gladness.
The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.THE THREAD
Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.Philippians uses the same Greek word for “joy,” χαρά (chara), linking gladness with shared love and one accord. It opens the phrase “the joy of you all” as a joy that comes fully into view among people joined in it.
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