What Does Luke 7:43 Mean in the King James?

Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.

Luke 7:43 · 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 love Simon identifies is not payment for release; it is what release awakens.

THE MEANING

The verse says that love answers to the release a heart recognizes: the one forgiven more loves more. Simon states this plainly, and Jesus confirms that he has judged rightly. The same measure of release is at work in your own capacity to love.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that love must be earned before release is given: here, release comes first, and love follows.

THE ROOT

χαρίζομαι

charizomai

GROWS FROM

χάρις

charis

Favor freely given; a gracious gift or benefit.

The verb translated “forgave” is built from ⁨χάρις⁩ (charis), “favor”: the debt is released as a favor freely extended, not as wages earned by loving well. Simon names the result, the one who receives the greater release loves more.

ALSO GROWS

charis: Favor, gracious giving.

χάρις

This is the source word behind charizomai; it shows the release as freely given favor.

charisma: A gift or gracious endowment.

χάρισμα

This related word keeps the same sense of something freely bestowed, illuminating how release can be received as a gift rather than earned.

THE PATTERN

A release received as freely given awakens love and becomes a pattern for extending love to others.

Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

Luke 7:47 · KJVJesus makes the link explicit: the scale of received release is reflected in the scale of love.

I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

Hosea 14:4 · KJVFreely given love meets the turning away of anger and the healing of what has gone crooked.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:32 · KJVThe release received becomes the pattern of release and tenderness extended to another.

THE THREAD

And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?

Luke 7:42 · KJV

The verb rendered “forgave” here is ⁨χαρίζομαι⁩ (charizomai), from ⁨χάρις⁩ (charis), “favor”, the same root family as the word Simon uses in his answer. Both debts are released when neither debtor can pay, so Simon recognizes that the greater freely given release awakens the greater love.

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