What Does John 11:5 Mean in the King James?
Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
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 Greek imperfect presents Jesus’ love for Martha, her sister, and Lazarus as continuing within the scene.
THE MEANING
Love holds you while the outcome is still unfolding. Jesus’ love reaches Martha, her sister, and Lazarus together, and the Greek verb portrays that love as continuing within the scene.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that hardship means love is absent.
THE ROOT
ἠγάπα
ēgapa
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπ-
Love; to love or cherish with affection.
“loved” in this verse is ēgapa. The verb belongs to the same Greek word family as ἀγάπη (agapē, love) and ἀγαπητός (agapētos, beloved). Its imperfect form presents the love as continuing within the scene, holding three people together without making their circumstances the measure of that love.
ALSO GROWS
agapaō: To love.
ἀγαπάω
This is the verb’s lexical form, sharing the ἀγαπ- stem and showing the action behind “loved.”
agapē: Love.
ἀγάπη
The noun shares the same stem, showing the bond as both an action and a named reality.
agapētos: Beloved.
ἀγαπητός
This related word names the one who is loved, joining the act of loving to the person held in that bond.
THE PATTERN
Love holds a relationship through changing circumstances and precedes the response it awakens.
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.We love him, because he first loved us.THE THREAD
We love him, because he first loved us.The Greek ἀγαπ- family appears in ἠγάπα (ēgapa, loved) here and ἀγαπῶμεν (agapōmen, we love) and ἠγάπησεν (ēgapēsen, he loved) in 1 John. That verse makes the sequence visible: love already given is the ground from which love answers.
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