What Does John 6:29 Mean in the King James?
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
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
God’s work takes shape in trust that leans its full weight on the one God sends.
THE MEANING
You meet God’s work here as trust in the one God sends. This trust is more than assent at a distance: it rests on the sent one.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that God’s work is a stack of separate deeds you must perform: Jesus names trust in the one God sends as God’s work.
THE ROOT
πιστεύητε εἰς
pisteuēte eis
GROWS FROM
πιστ- (pist-, the πιστεύω / πίστις word family)
Trust placed in someone reliable; to entrust or rely.
“believe on” in this verse is pisteuēte eis. The Greek word for “believe” belongs to the same family as πίστις (pistis), trust, and πιστός (pistos), trustworthy or steady. English can make belief sound like an opinion; this word carries the sense of placing trust in someone.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust, reliance
πίστις
The related noun names the trust Jesus identifies as God’s work.
pistos: Trustworthy, steady
πιστός
This branch points to the reliability on which trust rests.
ἀπέστειλεν
apesteilen
GROWS FROM
ἀποστέλλω (apostellō), from ἀπό (apo) + στέλλω (stellō)
To send out or dispatch.
The verb presents Jesus as one sent by God, with a source and direction inside the word. The related name for a sent one keeps that relationship visible: the one trusted is also the one God sends.
ALSO GROWS
apostolos: A sent one, messenger
ἀπόστολος
This related word names someone defined by being sent, echoing Jesus’ relation to God in the verse.
apostolē: Sending, commission
ἀποστολή
This noun makes the act of sending explicit, keeping the sender and the sent one joined.
THE PATTERN
God’s work reaches people through a sent witness who is received with trust.
And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!THE THREAD
For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.John 17:8 repeats both word families from this verse: they trust (πιστεύω, pisteuō) that God sends (ἀποστέλλω, apostellō) Jesus. It adds that they receive the words, showing trust and sending joined in the same recognition.
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