What Does John 8:48 Mean in the King James?
Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
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
By calling him both an outsider and demon-bearing, his accusers shift the dispute from what he says to what kind of person they say he is.
THE MEANING
The verse exposes a move that still happens now: a speaker is marked as an outsider and as carrying a hostile spirit, so attention shifts from the words to the speaker. The accusation presents that label as obvious, but it does not answer the claim being made.
THE ROOT
δαιμόνιον
daimonion
GROWS FROM
δαίμων (daimōn), with word-family stem δαιμον-
A spirit-being or supernatural power; in this accusation, a hostile spirit.
“devil” in this verse is daimonion. The Greek wording says Jesus has a demon; it does not name Jesus himself as that being. The accusation frames his words as coming under hostile spiritual influence, shifting attention from what he says to the source they assign him.
ALSO GROWS
daimōn: A spirit-being or deity.
δαίμων
This related word shows the spirit-being at the center of the word family.
daimonizomai: To be under demonic influence or possessed.
δαιμονίζομαι
This related verb shows how the word family describes a person’s claimed relation to a hostile spirit.
daimoniōdēs: Demonic; belonging to a demon.
δαιμονιώδης
This adjective carries the same word family into a description of something as demonic.
ἔχεις
echeis
GROWS FROM
ἔχω
echō
To have, hold, or possess.
“hast” in this verse is echeis. The verb makes the demon something the accusers claim Jesus has. Their words cast him as bearing hostile agency, turning his identity into their answer to his speech.
ALSO GROWS
katechō: To hold fast, retain, or restrain.
κατέχω
This compound shows the root’s sense of holding or keeping something in hand.
metechō: To share in or partake of.
μετέχω
Here the same root extends from having something to sharing in it.
THE PATTERN
A word that unsettles its hearers can be met by discrediting or attacking the messenger who speaks it.
And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.THE THREAD
And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?The accusation repeats the same claim that Jesus “hath a devil,” then adds that he is mad and asks why anyone should hear him. That repetition reveals how the label works: it discredits the speaker so his words can be dismissed.
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