What Does Luke 5:20 Mean in the King James?
And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
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 names forgiveness as release: what a person has missed can be let go rather than held as their permanent claim.
THE MEANING
The reader is addressed as someone whose missing is releasable, not as a person fixed by it. Trust is visible here in the shared carrying of a man who cannot get there alone, and Jesus’ words announce release as already accomplished and still standing. What was missed does not have to remain fastened to the person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that what you have missed remains attached to you as an irreversible verdict.
THE ROOT
ἀφέωνταί
aphéōntai
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
To send away, let go, release.
Beneath the familiar word “forgiven” is the movement of sending away, leaving behind, letting go. The Greek form presents this release as accomplished and still standing, so the missing does not remain fastened as his present claim.
ALSO GROWS
áphesis: Release, dismissal, remission.
ἄφεσις
This related noun names release directly; in Luke 4:18 it describes liberty for captives.
aphéntes: Having left, let go.
ἀφέντες
Matthew 4:20 uses this form when the disciples leave their nets, making the verb’s letting-go sense concrete.
πίστιν
pístin
GROWS FROM
πείθω
peíthō
To persuade, bring to trust.
“faith” in this verse is pístin. The verse calls their trust visible: it has taken form in the shared act of bringing the man to Jesus. Here, trust carries the weight of reliance, not only a statement held in the mind.
ALSO GROWS
peíthō: Persuade, win trust.
πείθω
The related verb links trust with being persuaded or won over, giving the word a relational dimension.
pisteúō: Trust, entrust oneself.
πιστεύω
This related verb shows trust as something a person places, not merely an idea they hold.
ἁμαρτίαι
hamartíai
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτάνω
hamartánō
To miss, err, fail.
“sins” in this verse is hamartíai. The word names what is missing or gone wrong; it does not rename the person. Paired with the release verb, it describes the missing as something that can be let go.
ALSO GROWS
hamartánō: To miss, err, fail.
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb keeps the word’s sense of missing or going wrong in view.
hamártēma: A fault, wrong, or failure.
ἁμάρτημα
This related noun names a particular wrong, keeping the focus on what happened rather than making it the person’s whole identity.
THE PATTERN
The missing is met by release: it is removed from its former hold rather than made the reader’s permanent identity.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:THE THREAD
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.The Greek verb ἀφίημι (aphiēmi, “release, let go”) is translated “forgiven” here and “remit” in John 20:23. John pairs release with retaining, making the word’s opposite a kind of holding fast; Luke speaks release over the man as already standing.
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