What Does Luke 18:27 Mean in the King James?

And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

Luke 18:27 · KJV

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 verse makes “impossible” a measure of human capacity, then places it beside God’s capacity.

THE MEANING

Human capacity is real, and so are its limits; those limits do not define the whole field of possibility. What is impossible with people remains possible with God.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

“If no person can make this happen, it cannot happen at all.” The verse names human inability without making it the final measure of possibility.

THE ROOT

ἀδύνατα

adynata

GROWS FROM

δύναμαι

dýnamai

To be able; to have capacity.

“impossible / possible” in this verse is adynata. The paired adjectives come from one word-family: ⁨ἀδύνατα⁩ adds a negative prefix to the language of ability, while ⁨δυνατά⁩ names what can be done. English gives two opposite labels; Greek lets you hear one capacity being denied among people and affirmed with God.

ALSO GROWS

dynatos: Able; possible.

δυνατός

This is the positive form behind “possible,” naming capacity rather than a separate kind of event.

adynatos: Unable; impossible.

ἀδύνατος

The negative prefix turns the same language of capacity into human inability.

dynamis: Power; ability.

δύναμις

This related word makes the shared idea of capacity audible beneath both sides of the verse.

THE PATTERN

Human limits do not set the boundary of what is possible with God.

Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Genesis 18:14 · KJVThe question of what is too hard is measured against the LORD’s capacity, beyond what people expect.

I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

Job 42:2 · KJVJob names the same principle: no purpose exceeds God’s capacity.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

Ephesians 3:20 · KJVThe same Greek word-family describes God as able beyond what can be asked or imagined, with power at work within us.

THE THREAD

For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Luke 1:37 · KJV

Luke 1:37 uses the same Greek ability-word with a negative: nothing is unable with God. Beside Luke 18:27, it shows the shared root of “impossible” and “possible” under both statements.

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