What Does Luke 6:40 Mean in the King James?
The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.
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
Here, perfection is the completion of formation: the learner bearing the teacher’s shape.
THE MEANING
You are being formed through what you learn, and maturity takes the shape of the one who teaches you. The word translated “perfect” also carries the sense of being fitted, equipped, or restored into readiness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse dissolves the belief that being fully formed means standing above the one who formed you; here, maturity is measured by resemblance.
THE ROOT
κατηρτισμένος
katērtismenos
GROWS FROM
καταρτίζω
katartizō
fit together, mend, restore, or equip
The word translated “perfect” describes someone fitted or equipped. Its word family also describes mending nets, giving maturity the texture of something restored and made ready for its purpose; here, the learner becomes like the teacher through that formation.
ALSO GROWS
katartizō: mend, restore, or fit together
καταρτίζω
The same verb family describes restoration, illuminating “perfect” as a state of being made ready and whole.
katartismos: equipping or preparation
καταρτισμός
This related noun names the work of equipping, showing the formative process within the learner’s maturity.
μαθητής
mathētēs
GROWS FROM
μανθάνω
manthanō
learn
A disciple is, at root, a learner. The word places the person inside an ongoing relationship with teaching, where maturity grows through being formed by what is learned.
ALSO GROWS
manthanō: learn or come to understand
μανθάνω
This verb makes learning the core of the disciple’s identity in the verse.
mathēteuō: make a disciple or train as a learner
μαθητεύω
The related verb shows that discipleship is a formative process, not merely a title.
THE PATTERN
Formation reaches its fullness as the learner comes to resemble the one who teaches.
Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.THE THREAD
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.“Restore” comes from the same Greek verb family as “perfect” in Luke 6:40: καταρτίζω (katartizō), to fit, mend, or restore. The shared root reveals maturity as a work of restoration and formation, bringing the learner into the teacher’s likeness.
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