What Does Matthew 10:3 Mean in the King James?

Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;

Matthew 10:3 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Greek says Lebbaeus is also called Thaddaeus, letting two names belong to one person without one erasing the other.

THE MEANING

This verse holds names beside the descriptions that locate people: Matthew’s work, James’s father, and Lebbaeus’s additional name. Your own name can sit alongside a role or history without being exhausted by either.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that a role or one familiar name is the whole of a person: the verse preserves several identifiers side by side.

THE ROOT

ἐπικληθείς

epiklētheis

GROWS FROM

καλέω

⁨καλέω⁩ (kaleō): to call, summon, or name.

The phrase rendered “whose surname was” is a passive form of ⁨ἐπικαλέω⁩: Lebbaeus is the one additionally called Thaddaeus. The ⁨καλέω⁩ family also names a calling and an assembly, placing this added name among words for naming, summoning, and gathering.

ALSO GROWS

epikaleō: to call by a name; to invoke

ἐπικαλέω

This compound is the direct source of the form translated “surname”: a person is called by an added name.

klēsis: calling; invitation

κλῆσις

This related form carries the same call-root, showing how naming and calling share a word-family.

ekklēsia: assembly

ἐκκλησία

This word belongs to the ⁨καλέω⁩ family; here, the roster of named people resonates with the word for an assembly.

τελώνην

telōnēn

GROWS FROM

τέλος

⁨τέλος⁩ (telos): an end or outcome; in fiscal usage, a due, tax, or levy.

The Greek title ⁨τελώνης⁩ belongs to the ⁨τέλος⁩ family, which carries both the sense of an end and the sense of dues or taxes. The KJV’s “publican” names Matthew’s role, while the Greek word also keeps the idea of what is collected or owed in view.

ALSO GROWS

telos: end, outcome; due or tax

τέλος

This base word holds the two senses that illuminate the tax collector’s title: an end or outcome, and a payment owed.

telōnion: tax office; customs house

τελώνιον

This related word names the place of tax collection, extending the same word-family into the setting of Matthew’s role.

THE PATTERN

Scripture places names beside roles, relationships, or additional names that show how a person is known.

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

Genesis 17:5 · KJVAbraham’s name is paired with the role “father of many nations,” joining a name to the nature it carries.

And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

Matthew 9:9 · KJVMatthew’s name sits beside his place at the receipt of custom, holding personal name and occupation together.

And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

John 1:42 · KJVSimon is identified by his father and given another name, just as Lebbaeus is named beside Thaddaeus.

THE THREAD

But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Matthew 9:13 · KJV

Matthew 9:13 uses ⁨καλέω⁩ (kaleō), the same root in the word for Lebbaeus being called Thaddaeus. Here the root names a summons; in the roster it marks an additional name, joining the act of calling with the way a person is named.

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