What Does 2 Thessalonians 2:14 Mean in the King James?
Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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 gospel’s call has a destination: your obtaining the weight of the Lord Jesus Christ.
THE MEANING
You are called through the gospel toward receiving the weight, the recognized worth and presence, of the Lord Jesus Christ. The call carries you toward sharing in what belongs to him; that destination gives the gospel’s summons its direction now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the gospel calls you only to hear a message while Christ’s glory remains someone else’s possession: the verse names that glory as the call’s destination.
THE ROOT
περιποίησις
peripoiēsis
GROWS FROM
περιποιέω
peripoieō
Acquire, secure, or preserve as one’s own.
The word points toward acquisition or possession, so the call is directed toward a real share in the Lord’s glory. It gives “obtaining” the sense of coming into possession, not merely approaching something that remains out of reach.
ALSO GROWS
peripoieomai: Acquire for oneself; preserve.
περιποιέομαι
This related verb holds acquisition and preservation together in the word family.
poieō: Make; do.
ποιέω
This verb lies in the family’s formation, while περιποίησις specifically carries the sense of acquisition or possession.
καλέω
kaleō
GROWS FROM
καλε-
kale-
Call, summon, invite.
“called” in this verse is kaleō. The same word family gives Greek its word for a calling and its word for an assembly. Here, the summons has a destination: through the gospel, it carries you toward the possession named in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
klēsis: Calling; invitation.
κλῆσις
This noun shows the call as an invitation with a direction and purpose.
ekklēsia: Assembly; gathered community.
ἐκκλησία
The assembly belongs to the same call-family, revealing how a summons can gather people into shared belonging.
δόξα
doxa
GROWS FROM
δοκ-
dok-
Think, seem, or be regarded.
δόξα carries senses of honor and recognized standing alongside glory. Read as “weight,” it brings out the recognized worth that belongs to the Lord Jesus and toward which the call is directed.
ALSO GROWS
doxazō: Glorify; honor.
δοξάζω
This verb describes giving or showing honor, a close kin to the recognized worth named by δόξα.
endoxos: Honored; held in honor.
ἔνδοξος
This related adjective shows glory as recognized standing, not merely outward radiance.
THE PATTERN
God’s call carries people toward receiving and sharing the glory that belongs to the Lord.
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.THE THREAD
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.Romans uses καλέω (kaleō, call), the same verb family as “called,” then δοξάζω (doxazō, glorify), from the family of δόξα (doxa, glory). Its sequence makes visible the movement compressed into this verse: the call leads toward glory.
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