What Does Mark 13:21 Mean in the King James?
And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not:
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
A location can be pointed out, but a pointer alone cannot authenticate the anointed one.
THE MEANING
A voice can point to a place and claim that the anointed one is there. This verse says the claim itself is not proof, and trust is not owed just because someone says “here” or “there.” The warning keeps identity from being reduced to a location someone advertises.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a confident claim to have located the Christ proves the claim is true.
THE ROOT
Χριστός
Christos
GROWS FROM
χρίω
to anoint
“Christ” in this verse is Christos. Christos means “the anointed one” and comes from chriō, “to anoint.” The verse sets that named identity beside a speaker’s claim about where he is: pointing to a place does not, by itself, establish the nature being claimed.
ALSO GROWS
chrisma: anointing
χρῖσμα
This related word keeps the title connected to anointing, rather than making it a personal name or a location.
Christos: anointed one
χριστός
The title names what is being claimed; the verse warns that repeating the title does not make a claimant trustworthy.
πιστεύσητε
pisteusēte
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
trust; be firm or reliable
The Greek word for “believe” belongs to the same word family as pistis, “trust,” and pistos, “firm, reliable.” The warning concerns where trust is placed: a claim about the anointed one does not become reliable simply because it is spoken with certainty.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: trust
πίστις
This related noun brings out the trust the verse says not to place in the claimant.
pistos: firm, reliable
πιστός
The family ties trust to reliability, which the speaker’s assertion alone cannot establish.
THE PATTERN
A claim to divine authority does not become trustworthy merely because a speaker supplies a sign, location, or spiritual label.
Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.THE THREAD
For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.The same word, Christos, appears in “false Christs”: the title is being claimed, but the claim does not prove itself true. This verse adds that signs and wonders can accompany the deception, so neither a location nor spectacle authenticates the anointed one.
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