What Does Galatians 3:18 Mean in the King James?
For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
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
God gives the promised inheritance as favor, so it arrives as a gift rather than wages earned by keeping rules.
THE MEANING
The inheritance rests on God’s promise, and God’s giving carries the sense of favor. It comes as a gift, not as payment produced by law.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that God’s gift becomes yours only after you have made yourself worthy through obedience dissolves here: a promised inheritance is given, not earned as a debt.
THE ROOT
κεχάρισται
kecharistai
GROWS FROM
χαρ
char
Favor; the word family of favorable giving.
The verb translated “gave” is κεχάρισται (kecharistai, has freely given), from χαρίζομαι (charizomai, to bestow as a favor), built on χάρις (charis, favor). The inheritance is presented as favor bestowed, not an amount earned under law.
ALSO GROWS
charis: Favor
χάρις
This noun names the favor carried in the verb for God’s giving.
charisma: Gift, gracious endowment
χάρισμα
The same word family names what is bestowed as a gift.
ἐπαγγελία
epangelia
GROWS FROM
ἀγγελ
angel
Announce, report, declare.
The word for promise belongs to a family of words for announcing and declaring. That echo keeps God’s spoken declaration audible within the inheritance: its source is what God promises, not what law earns.
ALSO GROWS
angellō: Announce, report
ἀγγέλλω
This verb makes the act of declaring audible within the promise word family.
angelos: Messenger
ἄγγελος
A messenger carries a declaration; the promise likewise arrives as God’s declared word.
κληρονομία
klēronomia
GROWS FROM
νεμ
nem
Allot, distribute.
The words translated “law” and “inheritance” share an etymological path through νέμω (nemō, to allot or distribute). This echo sharpens the verse’s fork: the inheritance is not sourced in law’s allotment, but in God’s promise.
ALSO GROWS
nomos: Law, ordinance
νόμος
This word for law is etymologically linked to νέμω (nemō, to allot), echoing the allotment within inheritance.
klēros: Lot, allotted share
κλῆρος
The share at the heart of inheritance is something received as an allotment.
klēronomos: Heir
κληρονόμος
An heir is one who receives an allotted share, illuminating inheritance as reception rather than wages.
THE PATTERN
What God promises is received as a gift, not secured as wages earned by human performance.
For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:THE THREAD
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.The Greek word for “grace” is χάρις (charis, favor), the noun behind κεχάρισται (kecharistai, has freely given) in Galatians 3:18. Romans sets that same word against a worker’s debt, exposing the hinge: favor given cannot be recast as wages owed.
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