What Does Luke 22:24 Mean in the King James?
And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
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
Their dispute turns belonging into a contest: the Greek word for greatest carries the force of asking who stands greater than the others.
THE MEANING
The verse names a live pressure: belonging can become a ranking contest when each person wants to be regarded as greater than the rest. Their strife is more than disagreement; it is rivalry over whose standing counts most.
THE ROOT
φιλονεικία
philoneikia
GROWS FROM
φιλό- + νεῖκος (philo- + neikos)
Fondness for contention: φιλό- (philo-, fond of or loving) joins νεῖκος (neikos, quarrel or strife).
“strife” in this verse is philoneikia. The Greek names more than a disagreement: it carries the sense of being drawn to contest. Here that contest centers on rank, exposing the desire to prevail beneath the quarrel.
ALSO GROWS
phileō: love, regard as dear
φιλέω
The compound begins with fondness, giving the contention an appetite for the contest.
neikos: quarrel, strife
νεῖκος
This names the conflict the compound describes.
philoneikos: contentious, fond of dispute
φιλόνεικος
This related form makes the contest-seeking quality explicit.
μείζων
meizōn
GROWS FROM
μεγ-
meg-
The Greek stem of μέγας (megas, great or large); μείζων (meizōn) carries comparative force, greater.
The form here asks who is greater, keeping attention on how each person ranks against the others. English greatest names the top place, while the Greek comparison makes the measuring between them audible.
ALSO GROWS
megas: great, large
μέγας
This is the base form from the same greatness-family.
megalosynē: greatness, majesty
μεγαλοσύνη
This related form names greatness as a quality, while the verse turns it into a comparison between people.
THE PATTERN
When worth is measured through rank, shared life breaks into rivalry.
Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.THE THREAD
And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.Luke 22:24 asks who is greater; Luke 9:48 uses the same Greek greatness-family to say the least among them is great. The shared root turns the ranking scale upside down: greatness appears where rank places someone at the bottom.
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