What Does Luke 5:32 Mean in the King James?
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
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 call meets the one who is missing and opens the very turn that leads away from the miss.
THE MEANING
The call reaches you while you are still missing; it does not wait for an already-aligned life. It opens a turn, reorienting how you see and where you are headed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Your missing disqualifies you from being called.
THE ROOT
ἁμαρτωλούς
hamartōlous
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ-
hamart-
To miss, fail to reach.
The word translated “sinners” belongs to the same family as the word for missing. The call addresses the person in the place of the miss; the miss does not have to be hidden before the call can reach them.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: To miss, err, or fail.
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb names the act beneath the label: the person is described through the missing.
hamartia: Missing, error, or failure.
ἁμαρτία
This noun lets the verse’s label be heard as missing, rather than only as a fixed identity of condemnation.
μετάνοιαν
metanoian
GROWS FROM
μετανο- (metano-; μετά + νοῦς, meta + nous)
Turning or reorienting the mind and perception.
“repentance” in this verse is metanoian. The call’s destination is a turn, not merely sorrow about what has happened. The word’s connection with mind and perception suggests a changed orientation: seeing and moving in a new direction.
ALSO GROWS
metanoeō: To turn or reconsider.
μετανοέω
This verb from the same word family names the movement that the noun “repentance” describes.
nous: Mind or perception.
νοῦς
This word is the core component of metanoia, showing that the turn reaches how reality is perceived.
δικαίους
dikaious
GROWS FROM
δικαι-
dikai-
Just, right, or aligned.
“righteous” in this verse is dikaious. The verse sets the aligned alongside the one who is missing, then names the latter as the direct recipient of the call. The contrast does not make alignment a prerequisite for being summoned toward a turn.
ALSO GROWS
dikaiosynē: Justice, righteousness, or alignment.
δικαιοσύνη
This related noun names the quality placed on the other side of the verse’s contrast with missing.
dikaioō: To justify or declare just.
δικαιόω
The verb shares the same word family and shows the language of being counted as just or aligned.
THE PATTERN
God’s call meets the one who is missing and opens a turn toward life.
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.THE THREAD
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;Luke uses μετάνοια (metanoia, turning), while Acts uses its verb form μετανοήσατε (metanoēsate, turn). Luke names the turn as the call’s destination; Acts makes the same movement explicit and links it with what is blotted out.
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