What Does Galatians 1:23 Mean in the King James?
But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
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
What he once tried to destroy is now the message he announces.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into the place where your past and present seem to name two different people: what you once opposed is now what you carry openly. It holds both truths in view, the old pursuit and the present announcement, without pretending the harm never happened.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the lie that a destructive past makes a changed present impossible.
THE ROOT
πίστις
pistis
GROWS FROM
πειθ- (peith-), the word family of πείθω (peithō)
To persuade, bring to trust; in passive use, to be persuaded or trust.
The word translated “faith” carries the sense of trust: leaning your full weight on what you are persuaded of. The trust he once worked to undo is now what he publicly announces.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: Persuade; be persuaded, trust.
πείθω
It shows trust as reliance that takes hold, not merely an idea held at a distance.
pepoithēsis: Confidence, trust.
πεποίθησις
This related word makes the family’s movement toward reliance visible in the trust he now proclaims.
διώκων
diōkōn
GROWS FROM
διωκ- (diōk-), from διώκω (diōkō)
To pursue, chase, press after.
Greek keeps the motion of pursuit inside “persecuted”: he is the one chasing the assembly. The verse’s turn is a change in the direction of that force: the pursuer now announces the trust he once ravaged.
ALSO GROWS
diōktēs: Persecutor, pursuer.
διώκτης
This related word names the pursuer directly, echoing the former role described here.
diōgmos: Persecution, pursuit.
διωγμός
It preserves the sense of persecution as active pursuit rather than a label detached from action.
THE PATTERN
What once carried harm can become a witness to the trust it sought to suppress.
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.THE THREAD
Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.“Persecutor” here is διώκτης (diōktēs), from the same word family as διώκων (diōkōn, the one pursuing) in Galatians 1:23. The shared root holds the old violence beside mercy, while Galatians shows the change as something others can hear.
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