What Does John 6:39 Mean in the King James?
And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
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 verb behind “lose” can also mean “perish,” and Jesus answers that possibility with a promise to raise the whole gift.
THE MEANING
The Father’s will holds together what can sound like two outcomes: the Son loses nothing given to him, and he raises it on the last day. For you, the promise reaches through death: what the Father gives to the Son is not abandoned to perishing. The keeping culminates in being raised.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that death makes the Father’s gift irretrievably lost. The verse places the final action with the Son, who raises what he does not lose.
THE ROOT
ἀπολέσω
apolesō
GROWS FROM
ἀπόλλυμι
apollymi
To lose, destroy, or perish.
The verb can name both losing something and perishing, so “lose nothing” reaches beyond careful possession to the threat of ruin. The next clause meets that threat with a positive act: Jesus raises what the Father gave him on the last day.
ALSO GROWS
apolōntai: Perish.
ἀπόλωνται
John 10:28 uses this same verb family when Jesus says his sheep will never perish, linking the promise here to protection from perishing.
apōleia: Destruction, ruin, or loss.
ἀπώλεια
This related noun shows the depth of the word’s range: what the Son does not lose is not surrendered to ruin.
ἀναστήσω
anastēsō
GROWS FROM
ἵστημι (histēmi), with ἀνά (ana, “up”)
To stand or set upright; with ἀνά, to raise or make stand.
“raise it up” in this verse is anastēsō. The verb carries the sense of making something stand. Paired with the word for losing or perishing, it holds loss and restored standing together in one promise.
ALSO GROWS
anastasis: Rising, resurrection.
ἀνάστασις
The noun names the raising promised here: the given are brought to stand again.
histēmi: Stand, set in place.
ἵστημι
This underlying verb makes the image concrete: the Son’s raising is an act that restores standing.
THE PATTERN
God’s keeping carries what belongs to him through death and into life.
The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.THE THREAD
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.“Perish” here comes from the same Greek verb family as “lose” in John 6:39. One verse promises that the Son loses none of what the Father gives him; the other says his sheep will never perish.
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