What Does Jude 1:22 Mean in the King James?
And of some have compassion, making a difference:
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 phrase “making a difference” comes from a word that can mean discerning a distinction or wavering in doubt, so compassion meets uncertainty without pretending it is simple.
THE MEANING
You meet uncertainty in yourself and others, and this verse holds mercy beside discernment. Compassion can see that someone is wavering without reducing that person to the wavering. The words leave open whether the distinction belongs to your judgment or to the doubter’s state, but mercy is present either way.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that doubt or unsettled judgment makes someone undeserving of compassion.
THE ROOT
διακρινομένους
diakrinomenous
GROWS FROM
κρίνω (krinō), with διά- (dia-)
To separate, distinguish, or judge; διακρίνω can also mean to waver or doubt.
The word translated “making a difference” can describe discerning between things, while in other uses the same word family carries the sense of doubt or wavering. The phrase holds discernment and uncertainty close together: compassion sees what is happening without turning that perception into a verdict.
ALSO GROWS
krinō: judge, decide, distinguish
κρίνω
This root shows discernment as separating one matter from another.
diakrisis: discernment, distinction
διάκρισις
This related noun names the act of distinguishing, and appears in Romans 14:1 in the phrase “doubtful disputations.”
kritēs: judge, one who decides
κριτής
This related word shows how the same root can describe a person who makes distinctions or judgments.
ἐλεᾶτε
eleeate
GROWS FROM
ἐλε-
ele-
Mercy or compassion shown toward someone in need.
“have compassion” in this verse is eleeate. The verb belongs to the Greek family for mercy, so compassion here is an active response to another person’s need. It sits beside discernment: seeing uncertainty does not cancel the call for mercy.
ALSO GROWS
eleos: mercy
ἔλεος
This noun names the mercy expressed by the verb in Jude.
eleēmōn: merciful
ἐλεήμων
This related word describes the character that shows the compassion Jude calls for.
eleēmosynē: almsgiving, an act of mercy
ἐλεημοσύνη
This branch shows mercy taking concrete form toward someone in need.
THE PATTERN
Compassion meets weakness and uncertainty with care while discernment remains present.
Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.THE THREAD
Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.Jude’s “making a difference” and Romans’ “doubtful disputations” draw on the same Greek word family, διακρίνω (diakrinō), which can carry the sense of distinguishing or doubting. Romans opens Jude further: uncertainty is present, and the response named alongside it is welcome.
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