What Does Galatians 5:2 Mean in the King James?
Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
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
When circumcision becomes the ground of standing, the verse says the Anointed One brings no advantage to that claim.
THE MEANING
When you seek right standing through circumcision, the Anointed One gives no benefit to that claim. A bodily mark cannot serve as an added credential beside him; the next verse makes the consequence explicit: the person circumcised is bound to do the whole law.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a ritual can secure standing while Christ remains an added source of advantage is undone: under that condition, the verse says he profits nothing.
THE ROOT
ὠφελήσει
ōphelēsei from
GROWS FROM
ὠφελέω
ōpheleō
The Greek verb means to benefit, help, or be of use.
The same word family can name profit, help, and usefulness: it asks what actually contributes benefit. Here Paul says the circumcision being relied on contributes none from the Anointed One.
ALSO GROWS
ophelos: Benefit or advantage.
ὄφελος
This noun names the very thing the verse says the circumcision claim fails to gain.
ōphelimos: Useful or beneficial.
ὠφέλιμος
This related word keeps the focus on what genuinely helps, rather than on a sign treated as a credential.
περιτέμνησθε
peritemnēsthe from
GROWS FROM
περιτέμνω (περί + τέμνω)
A Greek compound meaning to cut around: περί (peri), around, and τέμνω (temnō), cut.
“circumcised” in this verse is peritemnēsthe from. The English word can sound like a category or status; the Greek retains the concrete image of a cut made around the body. The verse’s force is that this outward mark, when made the basis of standing, adds no benefit beside the Anointed One.
ALSO GROWS
peritomē: Circumcision.
περιτομή
The noun form names the bodily mark whose claimed advantage Paul challenges.
tomōteros: Sharper, more cutting.
τομώτερος
This related form preserves the root’s image of cutting and makes the physical sense audible beneath the status implied by English.
Χριστός
Christos
GROWS FROM
χρίω
chriō
The Greek verb means to anoint; Χριστός (Christos) means anointed one.
“Christ” is a title carrying the sense of one who is anointed, not merely a name. The verse sets the Anointed One against a bodily sign treated as a competing ground of advantage.
ALSO GROWS
chriō: To anoint.
χρίω
This verb is the source of the title and shows it names a nature or commission.
chrisma: Anointing.
χρῖσμα
This related noun preserves the same anointing root, connecting the title in the verse to the act of anointing.
THE PATTERN
An outward mark cannot replace the inward relation it is meant to express.
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.THE THREAD
For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.Romans uses the same Greek verb for “profit” as Galatians 5:2, but says circumcision profits conditionally. Together the verses reveal that the mark has no independent power to confer advantage.
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