What Does Galatians 6:13 Mean in the King James?
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
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 demand for an outward mark can serve the demanders’ pride rather than the instruction they claim to honor.
THE MEANING
This verse names a pressure that still exists: someone can require a visible sign from you while failing to live the instruction they cite. Your flesh becomes the ground for their boasting. The verse exposes how a religious demand can serve the demander’s reputation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A visible mark does not prove that the people demanding it keep the instruction; here, they seek your mark as material for their own boast.
THE ROOT
καυχήσωνται
kauchēsōntai
GROWS FROM
καυχ-
kauch-
Boast; take pride in or exult over.
The verb translated “glory” also means to boast or take pride in something as a ground for confidence. Its word family includes καύχημα (kauchema), a boast or ground for boasting, and καύχησις (kauchēsis), boasting itself; here, another person’s marked flesh becomes that ground.
ALSO GROWS
kauchema: A boast or ground for boasting
καύχημα
It names what someone treats as a reason for pride, here the visible mark on another person’s body.
kauchēsis: Boasting
καύχησις
It names the act expressed by the verb in this verse: taking pride in that mark.
THE PATTERN
Scripture tests visible or social grounds for boasting against the inward reality they claim to display.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?THE THREAD
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.The same Greek boast family returns: in verse 13, the boast rests on another person’s flesh; in verse 14, the cross becomes the ground of boasting. The repeated word reveals the contrast already forming inside this verse.
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