What Does John 8:14 Mean in the King James?
Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.
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
A testimony can be true even when its hearers cannot trace the speaker’s source or destination.
THE MEANING
The verse places you before a witness whose truth rests in knowing the whole way, where he comes from and where he is going. Others cannot trace that way, but their inability to name it does not make the witness false.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If others cannot explain where a voice comes from or where it is going, that alone does not prove the voice is false.
THE ROOT
μαρτυρία
martyria
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ-
martyr- word family
Witness and testimony: the one who bears witness and the act or content of bearing witness.
Here, “record” is testimony borne by a witness, not merely information entered somewhere. The word family names both the witness and the act of testifying, tying the claim to the one who knows the path being witnessed.
ALSO GROWS
martureō: to testify, bear witness
μαρτυρέω
The same family makes the testimony an act of witnessing, not just a statement on a page.
martys: witness; the source of the English word “martyr”
μάρτυς
The testimony is bound to the person who stands as its witness, not only to the words spoken.
THE PATTERN
A testimony is established by knowledge and witness beyond what a single observer can see.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.THE THREAD
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.The same Greek witness word family appears here, but this line seems to reverse John 8:14: witness about oneself is not true. The surrounding lines in John 8 distinguish solitary self-assertion from witness confirmed by the Father, so the tension is about whether the witness stands alone.
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