What Does Luke 18:29 Mean in the King James?
And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake,
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 Greek word for “left” also carries the sense of letting go, so the verse names the kingdom’s claim as a costly release of close ties.
THE MEANING
Jesus names the real cost of God’s governance: a person may leave home and the closest bonds of kinship for its sake. The saying does not make those ties seem small or the departure painless; it names them plainly as part of the cost.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that commitment to God’s reign never disrupts the bonds that make a life feel secure.
THE ROOT
ἀφῆκεν
aphēken
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
To send away, leave, or let go; the word family also carries the sense of releasing or forgiving.
English “left” can sound like departure alone, but ἀφίημι (aphiēmi, leave or let go) also belongs to the word family behind Greek words for release and forgiveness. That shared language opens an echo of relinquishment without making the painful loss of family the same thing as forgiving a debt.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: Release or setting free; also forgiveness or remission.
ἄφεσις
This noun makes the family resemblance visible: the same word family can name release from captivity and the letting go of an offense.
aphes: Let go or release; in Matthew 6:12, forgive.
ἄφες
This form of ἀφίημι (aphiēmi, let go or forgive) appears in the Lord’s Prayer, linking the verse’s language of leaving with another use of the same verb family.
βασιλεία
basileia
GROWS FROM
βασιλε-
basile-
Kingship, rule, or royal governance.
βασιλεία (basileia, kingdom or rule) can name active governance as well as a realm. The homes and relationships named here stand within the claim of God’s rule, not merely at the edge of a destination.
ALSO GROWS
basileus: King.
βασιλεύς
The shared word family ties the kingdom to the one who rules, bringing authority into the verse’s phrase “for the kingdom of God’s sake.”
basileuō: To reign or rule as king.
βασιλεύω
This verb makes the active sense of the family clear: God’s kingdom concerns governance, not only a place.
THE PATTERN
When a call from God becomes decisive, familiar home and inherited belonging can be left behind.
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.THE THREAD
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,Luke 18:29 uses ἀφίημι (aphiēmi, leave or let go); Luke 4:18 twice uses ἄφεσις (aphesis, release), rendered “deliverance” and “liberty.” The shared word family links leaving with release, while the verses name different experiences: costly separation here and captives being set free there.
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