What Does John 8:51 Mean in the King James?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
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 promise turns on what is kept: Jesus’ word carries the reader beyond death’s horizon.
THE MEANING
Jesus speaks this promise to the reader now: whoever keeps his word will never see death. The claim is absolute in the sentence, and its closing phrase carries it “unto the age.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse undoes is that death has the final claim even over the one who keeps Jesus’ word.
THE ROOT
τηρήσῃ
tērēsē
GROWS FROM
τηρέω
tēreō
Keep watch over, guard, or observe.
The verb carries the sense of guarding and attending to something. “Keep my saying” pictures Jesus’ word as something held in careful keeping, not a passing sound.
ALSO GROWS
tērēsis: Keeping, custody, or observance.
τήρησις
This noun from the same word family makes the guarding sense of “keep” visible.
diatēreō: Preserve or keep intact.
διατηρέω
This compound carries the same keeping verb into the idea of preserving something through time.
λόγον
logon
GROWS FROM
λεγ-/λογ- (leg-/log-)
To say or speak; a word, message, or account.
The English “saying” can sound like one utterance, while λόγος can name an articulated message or account. The verse speaks of keeping the message itself.
ALSO GROWS
logion: A saying or oracle.
λόγιον
This related word shows λόγος language carrying spoken messages and sayings.
logikos: Reasonable, or belonging to reason.
λογικός
The same word family reaches from what is spoken to what is understood and reasoned through.
αἰῶνα
aiōna
GROWS FROM
αἰών
aiōn
An age, era, or span of time.
“never / unto the age” in this verse is aiōna. The emphatic “never” is expressed with a phrase that reaches “unto the age.” The age-language gives the promise its own duration-shaped expression.
ALSO GROWS
aiōnios: Age-long, or pertaining to an age.
αἰώνιος
This adjective belongs to the same age-word family that carries the promise’s enduring scope.
aiōnes: Ages.
αἰῶνες
The plural shows the same word extending across ages, keeping the verse’s time-language in view.
THE PATTERN
When the word that gives life is held fast, death does not stand as life’s final horizon.
I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?THE THREAD
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.The same Greek λόγος (logos, word or message) stands behind “my word” here and “my saying” in John 8:51. John 5:24 makes the movement explicit: the one who hears that word passes from death unto life.
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