What Does Hebrews 5:14 Mean in the King James?
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
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
Maturity is perception exercised until the senses themselves can distinguish good from evil.
THE MEANING
Strong nourishment belongs with faculties trained through use, so discernment develops through practiced perception. The verse presents maturity as a capacity to distinguish good from evil, not merely a label attached to a person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that age, rank, or information alone makes someone discerning; the verse ties discernment to perception trained through use.
THE ROOT
διάκρισιν
diakrisin
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
To separate, distinguish, or judge.
The word for discernment carries the idea of making distinctions. The verse describes good and evil as things the reader’s trained perception learns to tell apart.
ALSO GROWS
diakrinō: To distinguish or separate.
διακρίνω
This verb makes explicit the act of discerning that the verse names as a capacity.
krisis: Judgment or decision.
κρίσις
Judgment is a related act of distinguishing between possibilities.
kritikos: Able to judge or discern.
κριτικός
This is the word family behind “discerner” in Hebrews 4:12, linking trained discernment here with the Word’s power to discern.
γεγυμνασμένα
gegymnasmena
GROWS FROM
γυμνάζω
gymnazō
To train or exercise.
“exercised” in this verse is gegymnasmena. The Greek presents the faculties as trained, not simply active. Strong nourishment is joined to perception shaped through practice.
ALSO GROWS
gymnasia: Exercise or training.
γυμνασία
It carries the same training idea into the language of bodily exercise.
gymnastēs: A trainer or instructor.
γυμναστής
The related word names one who trains, underscoring that exercised faculties have been formed through practice.
αἰσθητήρια
aisthētēria
GROWS FROM
αἰσθάνομαι
aisthanomai
To perceive, feel, or notice.
“senses” in this verse is aisthētēria. The word names faculties of perception, the means by which something is felt and recognized. The verse locates discernment in practiced perception, not in an abstract badge of maturity.
ALSO GROWS
aisthēsis: Perception or discernment.
αἴσθησις
It names the act of sensing or perceiving that these faculties perform.
aisthētikos: Perceptive or capable of sensing.
αἰσθητικός
This related form describes the capacity to perceive, illuminating how the faculties can be trained.
THE PATTERN
Discernment takes shape as perception is exercised, tested, and formed through practice.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.THE THREAD
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.The word translated “discerner” is kritikos, from the same krinō word family as “discernment” here; both carry the idea of judging or separating. Hebrews 5:14 shows this capacity being trained in the reader, while Hebrews 4:12 describes the Word discerning what lies within.
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