What Does John 13:16 Mean in the King James?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
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
A servant and an emissary carry authority that comes from another; neither becomes greater than the source that gives the role.
THE MEANING
Service and being sent both place you in relation to someone whose authority comes before yours. What you carry can be real and consequential without making you its source. The verse keeps the messenger connected to the one who sends.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being entrusted with a role or message makes you its source, or places you above the one from whom it comes.
THE ROOT
ἀπόστολος
apostolos
GROWS FROM
ἀποστέλλω
apostellō
To send forth, especially with a commission.
“he that is sent” in this verse is apostolos. The Greek names the person as an apostolos, a sent emissary whose role exists in relation to the sending. The verse pairs that received role with the servant’s relation to a master: both derive their place from another.
ALSO GROWS
apostellō: To dispatch or send out on a commission.
ἀποστέλλω
The sent person’s identity begins with the act of being sent, not with being the source.
apostolē: A sending or commission.
ἀποστολή
The commission remains connected to whoever gives it, echoing the verse’s link between messenger and sender.
δοῦλος
doulos
GROWS FROM
δουλ-
doul-
The Greek word family names bonded service and the condition of serving under another.
The word presents service as a relationship, not merely a task. Paired with κύριος (kyrios, “lord, master”), it makes the verse’s structure clear: the servant’s place is defined in relation to the one served, just as the emissary’s place is defined by the one who sends.
ALSO GROWS
douleuō: To serve in the condition of a servant.
δουλεύω
The related verb shows that the role and its action belong to the same word family.
douleia: The condition of serving under another.
δουλεία
This branch brings out the relational bond beneath the word servant in the verse.
THE PATTERN
A person who is sent carries a purpose received from the one who sends.
Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.THE THREAD
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.The Greek ἀπόστολος (apostolos, “sent one”) in this verse belongs to the same sending family as ἀποστέλλω (apostellō, “send forth”) in John 13:20; πέμπω (pempō, “send”) names the sender’s act in both. The next verse makes the connection tangible: receiving the sent one reaches the source who sent him.
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