What Does Galatians 5:14 Mean in the King James?
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
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 whole instruction reaches its fullness in how you meet the person near you.
THE MEANING
The instruction is not a scattered list detached from your life with others; its fullness is present in love for the person beside you. The measure named here holds your neighbor and yourself together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that you can fulfill the instruction while treating the person near you as separate from your own well-being.
THE ROOT
πεπλήρωται
peplērōtai
GROWS FROM
πληρ-
plēr-
Fill; make full.
“fulfilled” in this verse is peplērōtai. The word carries the sense of being filled to fullness. The instruction is not merely checked off; its whole shape is present in the one word that follows.
ALSO GROWS
plērēs: Full, complete.
πλήρης
It shares the language of fullness, echoing how the instruction reaches its complete expression.
plērōma: Fullness, that which fills.
πλήρωμα
It makes the verse’s image tangible: love is where the instruction’s fullness is found.
πλησίον
plēsion
GROWS FROM
πελ-
pel-
Near; close at hand.
“neighbour” in this verse is plēsion. The Greek word for neighbor carries the sense of the one who is near. The command’s reach is concrete: the person beside you is already within its scope.
ALSO GROWS
pélas: Near, close by.
πέλας
This related word makes the nearness inside “neighbour” visible.
pelázō: Come near, approach.
πελάζω
Its sense of drawing near highlights the closeness that makes the neighbor a person encountered, not an abstraction.
THE PATTERN
The whole instruction takes shape in love expressed toward the person near you.
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.THE THREAD
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.Galatians repeats this command from Leviticus, then names it as the fullness of the instruction. The line from Leviticus shows that this love includes releasing vengeance and grudges, not just affection.
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