What Does John 5:34 Mean in the King James?
But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye 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
These words do not ask you to validate Jesus; they come to bring you into deliverance.
THE MEANING
Human testimony does not establish Jesus’ truth; he does not depend on another person’s endorsement. He speaks these things so you may be delivered, brought through danger into safety.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that Jesus speaks to win human approval or prove himself: he names your deliverance as the purpose of his words.
THE ROOT
σωθῆτε
sōthēte from sōzō
GROWS FROM
σῴζω
To rescue, preserve, or bring into safety.
“Saved” is a form of sōzō: brought through danger into safety. The same word family names deliverance itself and the deliverer, so Jesus’ words are aimed at rescue rather than human endorsement.
ALSO GROWS
sōtēria: deliverance, salvation
σωτηρία
The same word family names the rescue toward which Jesus says his words are directed.
sōtēr: deliverer, savior
σωτήρ
This branch names the one who brings about the deliverance expressed by sōzō.
THE PATTERN
Words that bear witness matter by where they lead: toward deliverance, not the speaker’s own standing.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.THE THREAD
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.John 3:17 uses the same Greek verb, sōzō (σῴζω), rendered “saved” here. It makes the purpose plain: the Son is sent so the world may be delivered through him, and his words in John 5:34 serve that same aim.
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