What Does John 16:12 Mean in the King James?
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
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 verse separates the truth that remains to be said from what you can carry at this moment.
THE MEANING
There is more to say than you can carry right now. Your present limit does not erase what remains beyond it; the verse holds both truths together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a present limit means there is nothing beyond it: more remains to be said even when you cannot bear it now.
THE ROOT
βαστάζειν
bastazein
GROWS FROM
βαστάζω
bastazō
to carry, bear, or lift
The Greek verb pictures truth as something carried, with weight a person may or may not be able to bear. The same verb is used both for carrying a burden and for carrying the cross, so the word holds physical weight and what a person can endure together.
ALSO GROWS
bastazete: you bear, carry
βαστάζετε
Galatians 6:2 uses this form for carrying one another’s burdens, showing the same verb at work in shared bearing.
bastazōn: carrying, bearing
βαστάζων
John 19:17 uses this form for Jesus carrying his cross, making the verb’s sense of physical weight unmistakable.
δύνασθε
dynasthe
GROWS FROM
δύναμαι
dynamai
to be able, to have power
The phrase says you are not able to carry these things now; the Greek marks this as a limit of present capacity. Jesus does not describe the words as absent or untrue, but as more than you can carry at this moment.
ALSO GROWS
dynamis: power, ability
δύναμις
The related noun names capacity as power, clarifying that the verse concerns what you can bear now.
dynatos: able, capable
δυνατός
This related form describes capability, echoing the verse’s focus on what can presently be carried.
THE PATTERN
Truth is spoken in measure with what the hearer can presently receive.
The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.THE THREAD
Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.John’s word for “bear” is the same Greek verb Galatians uses for carrying one another’s burdens. Here it describes what the hearer can carry; there, it makes carrying another’s weight a shared act.
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