What Does 2 Corinthians 5:14 Mean in the King James?
For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
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
Christ’s love does not merely persuade you; it holds you inside the consequence of one death shared by all.
THE MEANING
The love of Christ presses in on you and holds one conclusion together: one died for all, therefore all died. The verse names you among the “all” included in that one death.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that Christ’s death is an isolated event that leaves you untouched: the verse says the one death includes the many.
THE ROOT
συνέχει
synechei
GROWS FROM
συνέχω
synechō
To hold together, press, or constrain.
“constraineth” in this verse is synechei. The word carries the sense of being held or pressed in, not merely persuaded. Christ’s love holds the speaker within the force of the conclusion that one died for all.
ALSO GROWS
synechō: To press or crowd someone.
συνέχω
In Luke 8:45 it describes the crowd pressing around Jesus, giving “constraineth” the sense of pressure closing in.
synechomai: To be pressed or held in; rendered “in a strait.”
συνέχομαι
In Philippians 1:23 the same verb describes being pressed between two desires, showing how this word can name an inward force that holds a person.
ἀπέθανεν
apethanen
GROWS FROM
θνῄσκω (thnēskō), in ἀποθνῄσκω (apothnēskō)
To die.
The same Greek verb appears first for one, “he died”, and then for all, “all died.” The sentence shifts from singular to plural while keeping the same act of dying, joining the many to the one death.
ALSO GROWS
thanatos: Death.
θάνατος
The related noun names the event that the verse first assigns to one and then to all.
thnētos: Mortal; subject to death.
θνητός
This related word makes explicit the shared condition carried by the repeated verb: the many are included in death.
THE PATTERN
One bears what belongs to the many, gathering the many into the reach of one act.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:THE THREAD
For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:“In a strait” translates the same Greek verb as “constraineth”: to be held or pressed in. In this verse, Christ’s love is that pressing force, holding the speaker within the shared consequence of one death.
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