What Does John 3:17 Mean in the King James?
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
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 Son’s arrival is not God’s sentence descending on the world; it is God’s deliverance entering it.
THE MEANING
God sends the Son into the world now, not to condemn it, but so the world may be delivered through him. The world itself remains the object of that purpose: it is named as both the place the Son enters and the people God means to deliver.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that God’s nearness means the world is already under sentence, with condemnation as his first purpose.
THE ROOT
σωθῇ
sōthē
GROWS FROM
σῴζω
sōzō
deliver, rescue, preserve
The Greek verb can speak of rescue and preservation, carrying more than escape from a penalty. Its root family lets “saved” be heard as being brought through danger into wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
sōtēr: deliverer, rescuer
σωτήρ
The same root names the one who delivers, putting the focus on the person through whom the world’s rescue comes.
sōtēria: deliverance, rescue
σωτηρία
This noun names the deliverance itself, the purpose the verse says reaches the world through the Son.
ἀπέστειλεν
apesteilen
GROWS FROM
ἀποστέλλω
apostellō
send forth, dispatch with a purpose
The verse describes the Son’s entry into the world as a sending with a stated purpose. The root family keeps the sender, the one sent, and the mission connected.
ALSO GROWS
apostolos: sent one, messenger
ἀπόστολος
The same word family identifies someone by being sent, making the Son’s arrival an act of purposeful sending.
apostolē: sending, mission
ἀποστολή
This branch names the sending as a mission, which the verse defines by the world’s deliverance.
κρίνῃ
krinē
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
judge, decide
“condemn” in this verse is krinē. The Greek verb belongs to the family of judging and deciding. Set beside the verb for deliverance, it sharpens the verse’s distinction between judgment and the purpose for which the Son is sent.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: judgment, decision
κρίσις
This branch names the act of judgment that the verse distinguishes from the Son’s mission.
krima: judgment, verdict
κρίμα
This branch can name a verdict, illuminating the weight carried by the KJV’s word “condemn.”
THE PATTERN
Divine sending moves toward the world’s deliverance and restoration.
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.THE THREAD
And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.John 12:47 repeats the same Greek roots for judging (κρίνω, krinō) and saving (σῴζω, sōzō). The echo makes the distinction unmistakable: the Son’s coming is defined by deliverance for the world.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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