What Does Luke 7:47 Mean in the King James?
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.
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
Her abundant love is the visible shape of a release already given.
THE MEANING
Your many misses are held in the same sentence as their release: forgiveness is spoken as something accomplished and still standing. The love that becomes visible is proportionate to the release received, so a tangled past does not prevent a full-hearted response now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that her love earns forgiveness dissolves: the preceding debt story presents love as the response to release already received.
THE ROOT
ἀφέωνται
apheōntai
GROWS FROM
ἀπό + ἵημι (apo + hiēmi)
To send away or let go; the verb carries the sense of releasing what is held.
The Greek verb is in a perfect form: the release has happened, and its result stands now. English “forgiven” can sound like a verdict alone; this word also opens the image of something being let go.
ALSO GROWS
áphesis: release, remission
ἄφεσις
Luke 4:18 uses this same word family for release to captives, opening forgiveness here as a freeing.
aphiēmi: send away, leave, forgive
ἀφίημι
The verb’s range joins forgiving with letting go and sending away, so the many offenses no longer remain held against her.
ἁμαρτίαι
hamartíai
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτάνω
hamartanō
To miss, fail.
The word for her many sins belongs to a family that speaks of missing and failing. The verse holds those misses plainly, then speaks their release; they are not made her permanent name.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: miss, fail, sin
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb form keeps the idea active: these are failures that can be released, not an identity beyond change.
hamartōlos: sinner, one who misses
ἁμαρτωλός
This related word names a person through the same family, while this verse emphasizes that even many misses are released.
THE PATTERN
Release received makes love visible and becomes a pattern for releasing others.
And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.THE THREAD
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,Luke 4:18 uses ἄφεσις (áphesis, release) for the captives’ deliverance, from the same Greek word family as “forgiven” here. The shared root opens her forgiveness as release from captivity, and her love as the visible shape of that freedom.
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