What Does Matthew 25:44 Mean in the King James?
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
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
The Greek word for “stranger” also belongs to the language of receiving a guest, so the encounter turns on whether the unfamiliar person is welcomed.
THE MEANING
You can meet a person in need without recognizing who is being met through them. The question names hunger, thirst, unfamiliarity, exposure, illness, and confinement, then asks whether care was given. The speakers remember no such service to the Lord.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that you must recognize the Lord directly before your service can reach him.
THE ROOT
ξένον
xenon
GROWS FROM
ξεν
xen
Stranger, foreigner, or guest.
The word translated “stranger” belongs to a Greek word family that also speaks of receiving someone as a guest. The verse places the unfamiliar person within the language of welcome: the question is whether they were received and served.
ALSO GROWS
xenia: Hospitality toward a stranger or guest.
ξενία
This branch names the welcome that the unfamiliar person in the verse may need.
xenizō: To receive or entertain as a guest; in other uses, to be a stranger.
ξενίζω
The same word family can describe the stranger and the act of receiving one.
THE PATTERN
Receiving the stranger becomes a way of receiving the one whose presence is hidden in the encounter.
But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.THE THREAD
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.The Greek verb translated “entertained” belongs to the ξενίζω word family, linked to the ξεν- root behind “stranger” in Matthew. Both verses hold open the same discovery: a stranger can be received before the person’s hidden identity is known.
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