What Does Ephesians 2:9 Mean in the King James?
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
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
Works remain in view, but this verse removes them as a basis for claiming that you made yourself.
THE MEANING
Your standing before God does not rest on a record of deeds you can claim as your own. What you receive is not something you produce, so boasting loses its ground. The next verse keeps works in view as the prepared path for a life already given.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It overturns the belief that you must earn your standing and can then claim your life as self-made.
THE ROOT
καυχήσηται
kauchesētai
GROWS FROM
καυχ-
kauch-
Boast, glory in, or take pride.
“boast” in this verse is kauchesētai. The verse blocks boasting by removing the ground for claiming credit. The distinction is between doing good and treating what you do as proof that you are your own source.
ALSO GROWS
kauchema: A boast or ground for boasting.
καύχημα
It names the claim to credit that this verse leaves without a basis.
kauchēsis: Boasting or an expression of pride.
καύχησις
It shows that boasting is the result the verse says no one can make.
ἔργων
ergōn
GROWS FROM
ἐργ-
erg-
Work, deed, or task.
The same erg- word family appears in the next verse as “good works”: this verse removes work as a source of credit, while the next gives it as a prepared way of life. The contrast holds effort and merit apart without making effort meaningless.
ALSO GROWS
ergazomai: To work, do, or labor.
ἐργάζομαι
The verb shows the same root as active doing, which remains distinct from a claim to self-made standing.
ergatēs: A worker or laborer.
ἐργάτης
The worker belongs to the same word family, but the verse denies that work makes its doer the source of what is received.
THE PATTERN
What comes from God leaves no ground for claiming that human ability or achievement is its source.
Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.That no flesh should glory in his presence.THE THREAD
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.The Greek word ἔργοις (ergois, works) shares the ἐργ- (erg-, work or deed) root with “works” in this verse. Ephesians 2:9 removes works as a basis for boasting; 2:10 places good works on the prepared path of a life already made by God.
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