What Does Luke 18:17 Mean in the King James?
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
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
God’s reign is something to welcome, and receiving it with a child’s openness is the threshold of entry.
THE MEANING
God’s governance meets you now as something to receive. The little child shows the open dependence through which you enter; entry begins with welcome, not mastery.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you enter God’s reign by proving yourself worthy; the verse places receiving as a child at the threshold.
THE ROOT
δέξηται
dexētai
GROWS FROM
δεχ
dech
To receive, accept, or welcome.
“receive” in this verse is dexētai. The Greek verb makes entry begin with welcome: the kingdom is received before it is entered. Its related compounds keep that sense of acceptance, revealing a posture of reception beneath the English word.
ALSO GROWS
apodechomai: To receive or welcome.
ἀποδέχομαι
Its welcoming sense brings out the openness in receiving God’s reign.
paradechomai: To accept or receive something as valid.
παραδέχομαι
It echoes the verse’s picture of the kingdom being accepted rather than achieved.
βασιλείαν
basileian
GROWS FROM
βασιλευ
basileu
To rule or reign.
“kingdom” in this verse is basileian. The word carries the sense of a reign or governance, not only a place. The child receives God’s active rule; the verse’s movement is from welcoming that rule to entering it.
ALSO GROWS
basileus: A king, the one who rules.
βασιλεύς
It points to the ruler whose governance is received.
basileuō: To rule or reign.
βασιλεύω
It makes the kingdom’s living action visible: God’s reign is what the child receives.
THE PATTERN
Entry into God’s reign begins with receiving dependence rather than asserting self-sufficiency.
Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.THE THREAD
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.The same Greek verb, δέχομαι (dechomai), describes receiving God’s word there. The shared root shows the movement in Luke: God’s reign is welcomed as a word is welcomed, and what is received begins to work within.
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