What Does John 16:3 Mean in the King James?
And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor 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
Hostility carried out in God’s name can reveal that the one acting does not know God’s nature.
THE MEANING
When someone acts against you with religious certainty, this verse names a hidden cause: they do not recognize the Father or Jesus. Knowing here is recognition through encounter, not simply having religious facts. The verse holds knowing the Father and knowing Jesus together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Religious certainty does not prove that someone knows God; a person can claim to serve God while failing to recognize the Father or Jesus.
THE ROOT
ἔγνωσαν
egnōsan
GROWS FROM
γινώσκω (ginōskō; stem γνω-)
To come to know, recognize, or perceive.
“known” in this verse is egnōsan. This word family points to knowing as recognition, not merely possessing information. Here the same knowing reaches both the Father and Jesus, so the verse describes a failure to recognize their nature.
ALSO GROWS
gnōsis: knowledge, knowing
γνῶσις
The noun shares the verb’s root, keeping the act of knowing connected to what is called knowledge.
gnōstos: known, familiar
γνωστός
This branch carries knowing into familiarity: the verse’s absence is a failure to recognize who the Father and Jesus are.
THE PATTERN
The absence of knowing God becomes visible in how people treat one another.
Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.THE THREAD
Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.John 8:19 uses the same Greek word family for knowing and brings the Father and Jesus together just as John 16:3 does. It makes the connection explicit: recognition of Jesus opens onto recognition of the Father.
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