What Does Colossians 3:11 Mean in the King James?
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
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
None of these labels carries the whole identity; the Anointed One is the whole and is present in all.
THE MEANING
Your ethnicity, ritual status, culture, and freedom status do not determine your place in this shared life. The Anointed One is its whole and is present in all the people named here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that one ethnicity, religious marker, culture, or legal status makes a person more entitled to belong.
THE ROOT
πᾶς
pas
GROWS FROM
πᾶς
All, each, the whole.
The Greek says “all things” and then “in all,” moving from the whole to its presence throughout. English keeps both uses of “all,” but the Greek makes the shift from totality to shared presence especially clear.
ALSO GROWS
ta panta: All things; the whole.
τὰ πάντα
This is the first “all” in the verse: the Anointed One is the whole.
en pasin: In all.
ἐν πᾶσιν
This is the second “all”: the Anointed One is present throughout the people the verse names.
Χριστός
Christos
GROWS FROM
χρίω
To anoint, to apply oil.
“Christ” in this verse is Christos. Χριστός means “the anointed one” and comes from χρίω, “to anoint.” Here, the title names the shared whole and presence that cross every division in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
chrisma: Anointing; an anointing.
χρίσμα
The related word names the anointing itself, keeping the title connected to the act it describes.
christos: Anointed one.
χριστός
This is the title in the verse: the Anointed One is named as all and present in all.
THE PATTERN
Human categories do not determine who belongs in the shared life of God.
Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.THE THREAD
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.Both verses use Χριστός (Christos, “the Anointed One”) and place Jew/Greek and bond/free distinctions within a common identity. Galatians adds male/female, showing that this shared identity spans another line people use to sort one another.
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