What Does 2 Timothy 3:4 Mean in the King James?
Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
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 paired “lovers” share φιλ- (phil-, “love”), so the verse exposes affection changing its object: pleasure or God.
THE MEANING
This verse names a present pattern: betrayed loyalty, reckless impulse, inflated self-regard, and pleasure loved above God. Affection remains active; what changes is its object and rank.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that pleasure can take first place without affecting how you treat others; the verse places that preference alongside betrayal and reckless pride.
THE ROOT
φιλήδονοι
philēdonoi
GROWS FROM
φιλέω
phileō
To love or be fond of; here, the shared element forms compounds that name the object of affection.
“lovers of pleasures / lovers of God” in this verse is philēdonoi. Both compounds use the same love-element, but attach it to different objects: pleasure and God. The verse reveals that its contrast is not between loving and not loving, but between what receives the greater love.
ALSO GROWS
philēdonos: A person drawn to pleasure.
φιλήδονος
This is the verse’s first compound, naming pleasure as an object of love.
philotheos: One who loves God.
φιλόθεος
The matching compound sets God as the contrasting object of that same love.
philargyria: Love of money or silver.
φιλαργυρία
The same love-element joins another object in 1 Timothy 6:10.
προδόται
prodotai
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give; in προδίδωμι (prodidōmi), the compound means to betray or hand over.
The Greek word keeps the action of handing someone over visible inside “traitors.” Betrayal is made concrete: another person is given into someone else’s power.
ALSO GROWS
prodidōmi: To betray or give someone over.
προδίδωμι
This verb is the word family behind “traitors,” bringing the act of betrayal into view.
paradidōmi: To hand over or deliver.
παραδίδωμι
This related compound shows how the same “give” root can describe a transfer whose meaning depends on its object and context.
τετυφωμένοι
tetuphōmenoi
GROWS FROM
τύφος
typhos
Smoke or vapor; the related verb τυφόω (typhoō) means to fill with smoke or puff up with conceit.
The Greek form retains a smoke and puffing image beneath “highminded.” It pictures self-regard swelling until perception is clouded, rather than simply thinking highly of oneself.
ALSO GROWS
typhos: Smoke or vapor.
τύφος
This noun gives the image associated with the word’s smoke-like quality.
typhoō: To envelop in smoke or make conceited.
τυφόω
This is the verb whose perfect passive form appears in the verse.
THE PATTERN
What the heart loves most claims its allegiance and shapes its conduct.
He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.THE THREAD
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.Here love is compounded with its object: φιλαργυρία (philargyria) means “love of money,” just as φιλήδονοι (philēdonoi) means “pleasure-loving.” The connection shows how a particular desire can become a governing love, with sorrow following in its wake.
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