What Does Acts 23:8 Mean in the King James?
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.
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 verse gathers rising, messengers, and breath into one dispute over what exists beyond the body’s visible limits.
THE MEANING
This verse places three disputed realities side by side: rising from death, messengers, and breath beyond what can be seen. The disagreement exposes the boundary a person draws around what counts as real. That boundary remains in view now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that everyone shares one account of what exists beyond sight: the verse places denial and confession side by side.
THE ROOT
ἀνάστασις
anastasis
GROWS FROM
στη- (stē-; from ἵστημι, histēmi)
To stand or set in place; with ἀνά (ana), the word carries the sense of rising to stand up.
The word translated “resurrection” holds the image of standing up within it. The dispute is over whether a person can rise again, not merely whether an idea about life after death exists.
ALSO GROWS
anistēmi: To raise up or stand up.
ἀνίστημι
This verb shares the standing root and makes the movement inside “resurrection” audible.
stasis: A standing or position; by extension, a faction or dissension.
στάσις
The root can name a position people take, as well as standing itself; here, the disputed hope of rising divides positions.
πνεῦμα
pneuma
GROWS FROM
πνε- (pne-; from πνέω, pneō)
Blowing or breathing; πνεῦμα means breath, wind, or spirit.
The word rendered “spirit” is pneuma, rooted in the act of blowing or breathing. Breath is part of the reality under dispute, even where English can make the word sound wholly abstract.
ALSO GROWS
pneō: To breathe or blow.
πνέω
The verb shows the physical motion carried within the noun for breath or spirit.
pnoē: Breath or a blowing wind.
πνοή
This related word makes the breath-and-wind sense of pneuma concrete.
ἄγγελος
angelos
GROWS FROM
ἀγγελ-
angel-
Messenger, one who carries or announces a message.
Under “angel” is the concrete sense “messenger.” That sense adds a relation to the list: alongside rising and breath, the verse names a messenger who carries communication.
ALSO GROWS
angellō: To announce or report.
ἀγγέλλω
The verb shows the message-bearing action related to the messenger noun.
euangelion: Good news or good message.
εὐαγγέλιον
This compound retains the same message root, showing how the messenger word family carries an announcement.
THE PATTERN
Scripture places life beyond apparent death within the reach of God’s action.
Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:THE THREAD
Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.The Greek word for “resurrection” here is ἀνάστασις (anastasis), meaning a rising to stand, the same word used in Acts 23:8. Acts places that rising among realities some deny; Martha names it as the hope of one who will rise again.
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