What Does John 3:33 Mean in the King James?
He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
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
Receiving the testimony turns you from its hearer into its confirmer: you set your seal to the truth that God is true.
THE MEANING
When you receive this testimony, you do more than hear a report about God; you affirm that God is true. Receiving and attesting are two sides of the same response.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that God’s truth remains someone else’s claim after you receive its testimony; reception carries personal affirmation.
THE ROOT
μαρτυρία
martyria
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ-
martyr-
witness; bearing witness
The word for testimony belongs to the same word family as the witness who bears it. Receiving the testimony draws you into that act of witness: you affirm what it declares about God.
ALSO GROWS
martys: witness
μάρτυς
The witness is the person behind the testimony; the verse shows the receiver taking up that witness’s claim.
martyreō: to bear witness, testify
μαρτυρέω
This verb names the act that produces testimony, linking the reported word to the act of affirming it.
ἐσφράγισεν
esphragisen
GROWS FROM
σφραγ-
sphrag-
seal; mark or authenticate with a seal
“set to his seal” in this verse is esphragisen. The seal makes the receiver’s response an act of confirmation: he marks the testimony as true. The image holds both reception and personal attestation in one movement.
ALSO GROWS
sphragis: seal, signet
σφραγίς
The seal or signet is the mark behind the verse’s image of confirming the testimony.
sphragizō: to seal, mark, authenticate
σφραγίζω
This is the verb family of the verse’s “set to his seal,” describing the receiver’s act of affirmation.
THE PATTERN
Received testimony becomes a witness within the receiver, affirming God’s truth.
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.THE THREAD
And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.“Testifieth” and “testimony” translate forms from the same Greek witness word family, μαρτυρ- (martyr-). This verse names the rejection of the testimony; the next shows what happens when it is received, the receiver seals it as true.
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