What Does Matthew 27:40 Mean in the King James?
And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
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 taunt turns deliverance into a test of self-preservation, as though the Son must escape the cross to prove who he is.
THE MEANING
The voice at the cross still sets this test before anyone under pain: if you belong to God, prove it by escaping. It narrows deliverance to self-preservation and makes suffering appear to disprove sonship. The verse exposes that demand without making it a measure of the sufferer’s identity.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If I truly belong to God, I will be spared suffering; if I suffer, my identity must be false.
THE ROOT
σῶσον
sōson
GROWS FROM
σῴζω
sōzō
To deliver, rescue, or bring safely out.
Here σῶσον (sōson, “save”) is an imperative of σῴζω (sōzō, “deliver, bring out”). The reflexive demand “thyself” narrows the word to self-rescue; the same root soon names deliverance offered to others.
ALSO GROWS
sōtēr: Deliverer; one who brings another out of danger.
σωτήρ
This branch names the one who delivers, opening the word beyond the taunt’s demand for self-rescue.
sōtēria: Deliverance, rescue.
σωτηρία
This branch names the act or outcome of deliverance, keeping “save” connected to more than escape from the cross.
THE PATTERN
The demand to prove trust or divine identity through visible escape returns at the point of danger.
He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.THE THREAD
He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.“Saved” and “save” are forms of σῴζω (sōzō, “deliver, bring out”), the same root as “save thyself” here. The next line makes the root’s tension explicit: it names deliverance for others, then demands self-rescue as proof.
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