What Does 2 Corinthians 3:10 Mean in the King James?
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
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 former glory can be fully real and still lose all comparative weight when a surpassing glory enters the frame.
THE MEANING
What you recognize as glorious can be real, yet cease to be the measure when a greater glory comes into view. The verse speaks to your present comparisons: the fuller weight makes the earlier glory seem like no glory beside it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a former glory must remain the final standard.
THE ROOT
δόξα
doxa
GROWS FROM
δοξ-
dox-
Esteem, honor, or reputation, the standing and weight accorded to what is seen as worthy.
The Greek repeats the dox- family in “made glorious” and both occurrences of “glory”: the verse measures one honor against a greater one. The earlier glory is real, yet carries no comparative weight beside the surpassing glory.
ALSO GROWS
dedoxasmenon: Having been glorified or honored.
δεδοξασμένον
This is the word behind “made glorious,” echoing the same dox- stem as the glory that exceeds it.
doxazō: To glorify or honor.
δοξάζω
This verb shares the stem, showing that the verse’s repeated glory words belong to one family of honor and recognition.
ὑπερβαλλούσης
hyperballousēs
GROWS FROM
βάλλω
ballō
To throw or cast; with ὑπέρ (hyper), beyond.
The word rendered “excelleth” comes from ὑπερβάλλω (hyperballō), “to throw beyond” or “surpass.” The image makes the comparison vivid: the greater glory exceeds the former glory’s measure.
ALSO GROWS
hyperballō: To surpass or exceed.
ὑπερβάλλω
This is the verb family behind “excelleth,” describing glory that goes beyond the former measure.
hyperbolē: A surpassing measure or excess.
ὑπερβολή
This related noun appears in 2 Corinthians 4:17, where surpassing language joins directly to the “weight of glory.”
THE PATTERN
A greater glory changes the scale so that a real former glory no longer serves as the measure.
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.THE THREAD
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;The Greek ὑπερβολή (hyperbolē), “surpassing measure,” behind “far more exceeding” belongs to the same word family as ὑπερβάλλω (hyperballō), “surpass,” behind “excelleth” here. There the verse names a “weight of glory” outright, showing this comparison as a shift in weight without denying that the former glory was real.
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