What Does John 3:15 Mean in the King James?
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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 calls the life received through trust not merely endless duration, but the life of the age already held now.
THE MEANING
As you trust the Son, you are not on a path of being lost; you have the life of the ages. This life is present, not only a future state beyond death.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that the life of the ages belongs only to the future: the verse says that the one trusting already has it.
THE ROOT
πιστεύων
pisteuōn
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
Trust, confidence, reliance.
“believeth” in this verse is pisteuōn. The verb belongs to a word family that holds trust and steadiness together. The phrase ἐν αὐτῷ (en autō, “in him”) places that trust in relation to the Son; “believe” can sound thinner than the verse’s call to lean your full weight on him.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust, reliance.
πίστις
This noun names the trust enacted by the verb, not mere agreement with a claim.
pistos: Firm, steady, trustworthy.
πιστός
The same family describes what can be relied on, linking trust with steadiness.
αἰώνιον
aiōnion
GROWS FROM
αἰών
aiōn
An age, era, or span of time.
“eternal” in this verse is aiōnion. The adjective grows from the word for an age, so it carries more than duration counted by a clock. Joined to ζωή (zōē, “life”), it opens the phrase as “life of the ages”, a life the verse says the trusting person has now.
ALSO GROWS
aiōn: Age, era.
αἰών
This is the root word behind the adjective translated “eternal.”
aiōnios: Of or belonging to an age; age-long.
αἰώνιος
This adjective describes life in relation to the age, not merely as an indefinitely long duration.
ἀπόληται
apolētai
GROWS FROM
ἀπόλλυμι (apóllumi; ἀπό + ὄλλυμι)
To lose, ruin, or destroy; in the middle, to perish or be lost.
English “perish” can sound like simply reaching death, while ἀπόλλυμι (apóllumi, “to lose, ruin, or perish”) also carries the sense of being lost. The verse sets that loss against a life received through trust.
ALSO GROWS
apóllumi: Lose, destroy, perish.
ἀπόλλυμι
The same verb can describe losing something or being lost, widening “perish” beyond an endpoint.
apṓleia: Ruin, destruction, loss.
ἀπώλεια
This related noun makes the root’s language of loss visible beneath the English rendering.
THE PATTERN
Life appears through trustful attention to what God provides, even when the wound or danger remains real.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.THE THREAD
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.John 6:40 repeats the same Greek trust verb used here and pairs it with the same phrase for life of the ages. It adds seeing the Son, making trust a directed recognition, and again describes this life as something the believer has.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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