What Does Galatians 4:29 Mean in the King James?
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
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
The clash is not past: life born according to the flesh pursues life born according to the breath, and the verse says it is happening now.
THE MEANING
This verse names a pressure that remains present: life born according to the flesh pursues life born according to the breath. “Persecuted” carries the force of being chased, not merely disagreed with.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that opposition means a person is not born of the breath: here, persecution falls directly on the one born according to it.
THE ROOT
πνεῦμα
pneuma
GROWS FROM
πνευ- (from πνέω, pneō)
Breathe, blow; breath in motion.
The phrase is κατὰ πνεῦμα (kata pneuma, “according to breath”). The word translated “Spirit” also carries the concrete sense of breath, so life according to the breath stands beside life according to the flesh.
ALSO GROWS
pneō: Breathe, blow.
πνέω
This verb keeps the root’s sense in motion: breath is something breathed or blown.
pnoē: Breath, blast.
πνοή
This branch names breath as the moving air that gives the word its tangible depth.
pneumatikos: Pertaining to the breath.
πνευματικός
The adjective carries the same root into descriptions of what belongs to or is shaped by the breath.
σάρξ
sarx
GROWS FROM
σαρκ-
Flesh; embodied human life.
The phrase κατὰ σάρκα (kata sarka, “according to flesh”) places embodied life alongside life according to the breath. The contrast is between two sources or modes of birth; the word itself does not make the body evil.
ALSO GROWS
sarkinos: Made of flesh.
σάρκινος
This branch keeps the root’s concrete, bodily sense visible.
sarkikos: Fleshly; belonging to the flesh.
σαρκικός
This branch shows how the same root can describe a way of life shaped by the flesh.
ἐδίωκεν
ediōken
GROWS FROM
διωκ-
Pursue, chase; in this context, persecute.
The verb behind “persecuted” is διώκω (diōkō, “pursue, chase”), so the word carries the image of active pursuit. The breath-born one is not simply opposed but chased by the flesh-born one.
ALSO GROWS
diōkō: Pursue, chase; persecute.
διώκω
This is the verb used in the verse, where pursuit becomes persecution.
diōgmos: Persecution.
διωγμός
This noun names the hostile pursuit that the verb depicts.
diōktēs: Persecutor; pursuer.
διώκτης
This branch names the one who carries out the pursuit.
THE PATTERN
Life born according to the flesh can press against life born according to the breath, and that conflict remains active in the present.
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.THE THREAD
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.This verse repeats the same Greek pair, σάρξ (sarx, “flesh”) and πνεῦμα (pneuma, “breath”), and makes their opposition explicit. Galatians 4:29 shows that same opposition taking an outward form: one kind of birth pursues the other.
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