What Does Matthew 14:2 Mean in the King James?
And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
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
Herod sees power at work, then mistakes his explanation of its source for the truth.
THE MEANING
This verse shows that an action can be real while the story told about its source is mistaken. Herod hears of mighty works and names them as John’s return from death; the powers are at work in Jesus, while that identification remains Herod’s inference.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Powerful activity does not prove the source you assign to it. Certainty about its source can still be an inference.
THE ROOT
δυνάμεις
dynameis
GROWS FROM
δύναμ-
dynam-
Ability or capacity to act; power.
“mighty works” in this verse is dynameis. The word names power as capacity, while the next verb says that power is actively at work in him. Herod recognizes the activity, then assigns it a source.
ALSO GROWS
dýnamai: To be able; to have power.
δύναμαι
The related verb presents power as the capacity to act, beneath the visible work.
dynatós: Able; powerful.
δυνατός
This related word describes a person or thing by what it is capable of doing.
ἐνεργοῦσιν
energousin
GROWS FROM
ἔργον
érgon
Work or deed; with ἐν (en), the sense is working within or operating.
“do shew forth themselves” in this verse is energousin. Under “shew forth themselves” is an active verb: the powers are operating in him. The verse distinguishes that activity from Herod’s explanation of who is acting.
ALSO GROWS
energéō: To work; to be active or operate.
ἐνεργέω
This is the verb form behind the verse’s description of the powers at work in him.
enérgeia: Working; operation or activity.
ἐνέργεια
The related noun names the activity itself, linking power with its operation.
THE PATTERN
Power becomes visible through its activity, though people can still misidentify its source.
Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.THE THREAD
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.The Greek word for “power” here belongs to the same word family as Matthew’s “mighty works.” Matthew describes that power operating in a person; Acts describes power received and expressed in witness.
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