What Does Luke 2:15 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
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
What the Lord makes known is not a distant idea: it is a birth that has come into being and can be seen.
THE MEANING
When the message reaches you, it points toward a reality already present and perceptible. This verse holds hearing and seeing together: what is made known is met in the event itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that revelation is only information detached from life: what is made known here is already taking place and can be encountered.
THE ROOT
γεγονός
gegonos
GROWS FROM
γεν-
Come into being; become; what has happened or come to be.
“come to pass” in this verse is gegonos. The Greek names the announced reality with a form from the γεν- family: it is what has come to be, not a concept the shepherds must create. The related γεννάω (gennáō, give birth) brings Luke 2’s birth announcement into the same sound-family; Bethlehem (בֵּית לֶחֶם, Bēt Leḥem, “house of bread”) is where that disclosed word points to an embodied arrival.
ALSO GROWS
gínomai: Become, happen, come to be.
γίνομαι
This is the verb family behind the event the shepherds go to witness.
gennáō: Beget, give birth.
γεννάω
It links the event that has come to pass with the birth announced earlier in the chapter.
génesis: Birth, origin, coming into being.
γένεσις
This branch makes the event’s arrival sound like a beginning, not merely a report.
ἐγνώρισεν
egnōrisen
GROWS FROM
γνωρ-
Known or recognized; the base of words for making something known.
“made known” in this verse is egnōrisen. The root joins disclosure with recognition: the Lord makes the event knowable. The shepherds do not receive only a statement; they are pointed toward what they can recognize for themselves.
ALSO GROWS
gnōrízō: Make known, disclose.
γνωρίζω
This is the verb behind the Lord’s act of making the event known to the shepherds.
gnṓrimos: Known, familiar.
γνώριμος
It shows the same root moving from disclosure toward what is recognizable.
gnṓrisma: Sign, distinguishing mark.
γνώρισμα
It names what makes something recognizable, echoing the sign the shepherds are about to seek.
ἴδωμεν
idōmen
GROWS FROM
ἰδ-
See, perceive.
In this Greek word family, seeing stands close to knowing: οἶδα (oîda, know) is historically the perfect form of a verb meaning “see.” The shepherds’ movement to see is also a movement toward recognition, not passive looking.
ALSO GROWS
idéa: Form, appearance.
ἰδέα
This branch carries seeing into the shape or appearance that can be perceived.
eîdos: Form, appearance, what is seen.
εἶδος
It keeps the root’s link between sight and the recognizable form of a thing.
oîda: Know.
οἶδα
Historically formed from a verb meaning “see,” it preserves the link between seeing and knowing.
THE PATTERN
What is disclosed draws its hearers toward direct encounter with what has been made visible.
And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;THE THREAD
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.Luke’s Greek links “is born” with the “thing which is come to pass” through the γεν- word family. The birth announced in verse 11 is the event the shepherds move to see in verse 15.
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