What Does John 13:20 Mean in the King James?
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 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 welcome given to the one Jesus sends travels through Jesus to the Sender.
THE MEANING
When you receive someone Jesus sends, your welcome reaches Jesus; receiving Jesus reaches the One who sends him. The relationship of sending carries presence through each link, so reception does not stop at the person before you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that receiving a messenger is merely a human gesture, disconnected from the one who sent them.
THE ROOT
λαμβάνω
lambanō
GROWS FROM
λαβ
lab
Take, grasp, receive.
“receiveth” in this verse is lambanō. The verse uses one verb family throughout: λαμβάνων (lambanōn, receiving) and λαμβάνει (lambanei, receives), forms of λαμβάνω (lambanō, take in or receive). The family also includes words for receiving or taking alongside and for grasping or comprehending; here, the repeated verb makes reception the act that carries the relationship through every link.
ALSO GROWS
paralambanō: Receive or take alongside.
παραλαμβάνω
Its sense of taking someone alongside gives texture to receiving the one Jesus sends.
katalambanō: Seize, grasp, reach, or comprehend.
καταλαμβάνω
Its sense of grasping echoes the verse’s active movement of taking in the person who arrives.
THE PATTERN
Receiving or rejecting a sent representative extends through the relationship to the one who sent them.
And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.THE THREAD
I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.This verse repeats λαμβάνω (lambanō, receive), turning the same act into a contrast: Jesus is not received, while another is. It pairs reception with ὄνομα (onoma, name as nature), showing that what is received carries the nature of the one who comes.
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