What Does John 7:21 Mean in the King James?
Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.
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
One work that makes a man whole is enough to expose how religious astonishment can coexist with a distorted measure of what is good.
THE MEANING
Jesus names one work, and the response is astonishment. Yet wonder does not itself mean recognition: the surrounding exchange shows a man made whole on the Sabbath becoming a test of how the rules are applied.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a righteous-looking rule is applied consistently: circumcision is permitted on the Sabbath, while making a man wholly well draws resentment.
THE ROOT
ἔργον
ergon
GROWS FROM
ἔργ-
erg-
Activity or deed; that which is done.
The Greek word points to an enacted deed, not just an abstract idea of work. Here the singular work is a visible act, and the reaction to it becomes part of what the verse exposes.
ALSO GROWS
ergazomai: To work, perform, or do.
ἐργάζομαι
The same root carries the deed into ongoing activity, linking a single work with the act of working.
energeia: Working, operation, active effect.
ἐνέργεια
This related form keeps the focus on work taking effect, illuminating the deed as something that acts upon a person.
θαυμάζετε
thaumazete
GROWS FROM
θαυμα-
thauma-
Wonder or astonishment.
“marvel” in this verse is thaumazete. The word names a response of astonishment, not an understanding of what the work means. The verse lets wonder stand beside the audience’s failure to apply its own standard consistently.
ALSO GROWS
thauma: A wonder, marvel.
θαῦμα
This noun shares the seed of astonishment and shows that marvel is the response gathered around the deed.
thaumastos: Wonderful, marvelous.
θαυμαστός
This related form describes what provokes wonder, keeping the response tied to what is seen.
THE PATTERN
A work that restores a person can be received as wonder by some and condemned by others, exposing the measure used to judge it.
This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.THE THREAD
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.The word for “work” shares the ἐργ- (erg-) root with the “one work” in John 7:21. The astonishing act belongs to a work already in motion, shifting attention from spectacle to the source and continuity of the deed.
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