What Does Matthew 25:11 Mean in the King James?
Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
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
“Afterward” makes timing decisive: they reach the door after the moment of entry has passed.
THE MEANING
The verse places you at a threshold where arrival and access are not the same. The women call the one they recognize as Lord, but their plea shows that recognition alone has not opened the door.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that saying the right title guarantees entry.
THE ROOT
ὕστερον
hysteron
GROWS FROM
ὑστερ-
hyster-
Later, behind; the same word family can also describe falling short or being in need.
“Afterward” in this verse is hysteron. The timing word carries an echo of being behind or falling short. Their arrival is not simply later on a timeline; it places them on the far side of the moment when the door was open.
ALSO GROWS
hysteros: Later; behind.
ὕστερος
This adjective makes the timing in “Afterward” vivid: they come from behind the moment of entry.
hystereō: To fall short, be behind, or be in need.
ὑστερέω
This related verb lets “afterward” echo a shortfall: the arrival reaches the door, but not the opening.
ἄνοιξον
anoixon
GROWS FROM
ἀνοιγ-
anoig-
To open or uncover.
“Open” in this verse is anoixon. The women ask for the threshold itself to change. The same verb can name an opening that happens, so their words expose the difference between asking for access and receiving it.
ALSO GROWS
anoigēsetai: It will be opened.
ἀνοιγήσεται
In the promise “it shall be opened unto you,” the same verb names the opening they ask for here.
aneōixen: He opened.
ἀνέῳξεν
This form shows the same root in an act of opening: the door’s change depends on an opening, not merely on calling.
THE PATTERN
Access turns on the threshold’s opening or closing, and a plea from outside does not itself change its state.
And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;THE THREAD
When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:Luke repeats the doubled address and the same Greek verb for “open.” Its parallel makes Matthew’s “Afterward” stand out as the hinge between calling at the threshold and entering through it.
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