What Does Luke 22:57 Mean in the King James?

And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.

Luke 22:57 · 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 Greek makes “know” perception and “deny” an act of disowning, so recognition and refusal occupy one sentence.

THE MEANING

The verse names a present human capacity: the mouth can disown a person it recognizes. Denial is an active refusal of recognition, and the relationship remains legible in the very words that reject it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that saying “I do not know him” is merely a report of ignorance; denial can be an active refusal to acknowledge someone already known.

THE ROOT

ἠρνήσατο

ērnēsato

GROWS FROM

ἀρνέομαι

arneomai

to deny, disown, or refuse acknowledgment

“denied” in this verse is ērnēsato. The verb describes an active disavowal, not simply a lack of information. The sentence makes denial a refusal of relationship spoken aloud.

ALSO GROWS

árnēsis: denial

ἄρνησις

This noun preserves the sense of denial as a distinct act of refusal.

arnētēs: one who denies

ἀρνητής

The related noun names someone by the act of disowning, showing the weight the language gives this refusal.

οἶδα

oida

GROWS FROM

εἴδω

eídō

to see or perceive; ⁨οἶδα⁩ means to know or perceive

The word for “know” belongs to a Greek word family rooted in seeing and perceiving. That link gives “I know him not” the force of refusing recognition, not merely lacking information.

ALSO GROWS

eîdon: I saw

εἶδον

This form makes the seeing beneath the word for knowing audible.

eîdos: form, appearance

εἶδος

This related word keeps the family’s connection to what is seen or perceived in view.

THE PATTERN

Scripture presents denial as a spoken refusal to acknowledge a known relationship, with consequences that extend beyond the moment of speech.

Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

Proverbs 30:9 · KJVThe speaker fears that abundance can become a denial of the LORD, turning self-sufficiency into refusal to acknowledge dependence.

But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

Luke 12:9 · KJVThe same Greek verb frames denial as a public refusal of acknowledgment with a reciprocal consequence.

If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

2 Timothy 2:12 · KJVThe repeated deny-and-be-denied structure presents disavowal as a relational stance that returns from the other side.

THE THREAD

But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

Luke 12:9 · KJV

Luke uses the same Greek verb, ⁨ἀρνέομαι⁩ (arneomai), for denying in both verses. Here the denial is shown as an enacted refusal of relationship, not a neutral absence of knowledge.

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