What Does Acts 9:16 Mean in the King James?
For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.
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
His name is his nature, so suffering for it is the lived cost of bearing what that name represents.
THE MEANING
The verse names suffering plainly as part of the path tied to his nature. The cost is bound to what the name represents, not merely to repeating a label.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a divine calling guarantees a painless path; here, suffering is part of the calling.
THE ROOT
ὄνομα
onoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνοματ-
onoma-
Name, designation, or recognized character.
“For my name’s sake” can sound like suffering for a label, but ὄνομα (onoma, name) also holds the nature and character represented by that name. The verse links what he undergoes to the nature he bears.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: To name, designate, or invoke by name.
ὀνομάζω
Naming identifies what a person or thing is known as, bringing the represented character into view.
eponomazō: To name or designate someone by a title.
ἐπονομάζω
This branch shows how a name can mark the identity someone is recognized by, clarifying what it means to bear a name.
παθεῖν
pathein
GROWS FROM
πάσχω
paschō
To undergo or experience something; by extension, to suffer.
“suffer” in this verse is pathein. The Greek verb carries the sense of undergoing an experience, not a vague idea of hardship. Its connection to πάθημα (pathēma, suffering) keeps the cost concrete: what is borne is real and felt.
ALSO GROWS
pathēma: What is undergone; suffering or affliction.
πάθημα
This noun makes visible the concrete experience held within the verb “suffer.”
sympaschō: To suffer with or share in suffering.
συμπάσχω
The shared root shows that suffering can be an experience borne in relation to another, not an abstract label.
THE PATTERN
Those who bear the name meet the consequences of what that name represents.
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.THE THREAD
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.The same Greek word ὄνομα (onoma, name) links the verses, and both place suffering beside that name. Acts 5:41 makes the cost specific: bearing it can mean being shamed for what it represents.
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