What Does Colossians 1:10 Mean in the King James?
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge 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
Worthiness takes shape as a walk that bears fruit while its knowing of God keeps growing.
THE MEANING
You walk in a way that pleases the Lord as your work bears good fruit and your knowledge of God continues to grow. The verse holds action and knowing together: your walk produces fruit while your understanding keeps deepening.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that knowing God means collecting finished answers: here, that knowing keeps increasing as your life bears fruit.
THE ROOT
καρποφοροῦντες
karpophorountes
GROWS FROM
καρπός
karpos
Fruit or produce; in the verse, carried into the verb for bearing fruit.
“fruitful” in this verse is karpophorountes. The Greek verb makes fruit-bearing part of the walk itself, not a badge added afterward. The work is described by what it brings forth, while the knowing of God continues to grow alongside it.
ALSO GROWS
karpos: Fruit or produce.
καρπός
This is the fruit named in the verb; it makes the work’s visible result part of the verse’s picture of a worthy walk.
akarpos: Fruitless or unfruitful.
ἄκαρπος
The same fruit-word appears with a negating prefix, clarifying the contrast between bearing fruit and its absence.
περιπατῆσαι
peripatēsai
GROWS FROM
πατέω
pateō
To tread or walk; περιπατέω (peripateō) uses this word in a compound meaning to walk.
The word pictures worthiness as a way of moving through life, not a title held apart from one’s conduct. The verse’s fruit and growing knowledge belong to that ongoing walk.
ALSO GROWS
peripateō: Walk; also used for a way of life.
περιπατέω
This is the word-family form behind “walk,” keeping the verse’s image of a lived path.
katapateō: Tread down or trample.
καταπατέω
It shares the walking stem and makes the physical sense of treading audible beneath the verse’s image of a walk.
ἐπιγνώσει
epignōsei
GROWS FROM
γινώσκω
ginōskō
To know or recognize; the noun here belongs to this family of knowing.
The word-family centers on knowing and recognition, and the verse says this knowing increases. Knowledge of God is presented as growing perception, not a finished store of information.
ALSO GROWS
ginōskō: Know or come to know.
γινώσκω
This is the underlying verb-family that gives the verse’s “knowledge” its sense of knowing.
epiginōskō: Recognize or come to know.
ἐπιγινώσκω
This related verb keeps recognition in view, helping show why the knowledge in the verse can continue to grow.
THE PATTERN
A life rooted in God bears fruit while continuing to grow in knowing.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.THE THREAD
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.The same Greek fruit-word, καρπός (karpos), appears in both verses: Colossians uses it in “being fruitful,” and John names the fruit the branches bear. John opens the image further by showing fruit as the outgrowth of abiding in the vine.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us