What Does Matthew 10:40 Mean in the King James?
He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
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
Welcome has a longer reach than the person at the door: it travels through the one sent, to the sender.
THE MEANING
When you receive the one sent to you, your welcome reaches Jesus; receiving Jesus reaches the One who sends him. The verse makes the person standing before you a point of contact with a presence beyond them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that welcome ends with the person who receives it.
THE ROOT
δεχόμενος
dechomenos
GROWS FROM
δέχομαι
dechomai
To receive, accept, welcome, take in.
“receiveth” in this verse is dechomenos. The same Greek verb repeats at every step: receiving you is receiving Jesus, and receiving Jesus is receiving the sender. It describes welcome that takes a person in, so its reach follows the one welcomed all the way to the one who sent him.
ALSO GROWS
apodechomai: Welcome, accept.
ἀποδέχομαι
This compound keeps the sense of taking someone in, illuminating the personal welcome at the center of the verse.
paradechomai: Accept, receive.
παραδέχομαι
This related form shows the same receiving family at work when something or someone is accepted.
ἀποστείλαντα
aposteilanta
GROWS FROM
ἀποστέλλω
apostellō
To send out or dispatch.
The one received is also the one sent: reception and sending form a single chain. The word carries the sense of being dispatched, so the welcome offered to the sent one reaches the sender.
ALSO GROWS
apostolos: A sent one, an envoy.
ἀπόστολος
The envoy carries the sender’s presence into the encounter.
apostolē: A sending, a commission.
ἀποστολή
This branch names the act that places someone in the role of the one welcomed.
THE PATTERN
Welcome offered to a person can reach beyond them to the one they represent.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.THE THREAD
And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.Luke makes the chain touch a child: welcome given to someone with no status reaches Jesus, then the sender. It uses the same Greek root, δέχομαι (dechomai, to receive or welcome), showing that the person’s smallness does not shorten the welcome’s reach.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us