What Does Matthew 5:46 Mean in the King James?

For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

Matthew 5:46 · KJV

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

Reciprocal affection can still be an exchange: the verse names its return as the reward.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks to the reader inside the familiar circle of returned affection: loving those who love you keeps love moving along the path of return. Its question makes the expected payoff visible; even the publicans named here mirror this exchange. The verse measures love by whether it crosses the boundary of what comes back.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

“I have done something exceptional simply by loving people who already love me.”

THE ROOT

μισθός

misthos

GROWS FROM

μισθ-

misth-

wages, pay, or recompense

The word for reward also carries the sense of wages: something returned for what was given. Beside love, that shade makes the exchange visible, the affection is real, but its return is already part of the bargain.

ALSO GROWS

misthoō: to hire or pay wages

μισθόω

This verb keeps the same root inside an explicit transaction, clarifying the exchange implied by reward.

misthios: a hired worker

μίσθιος

The hired worker receives pay in return for service; the verse asks whether affection that only comes back to you follows a similar pattern.

ἀγαπάω

agapaō

GROWS FROM

ἀγαπ-

agap-

to love or show affection

The same Greek verb describes both sides: you love those who love you. The wording does not separate your affection from theirs as different kinds of love; the difference the verse presses is whether love only mirrors what it receives.

ALSO GROWS

agapē: love

ἀγάπη

The noun shares the same stem, keeping the verse’s repeated act of loving connected to love as a named quality.

agapētos: beloved, loved

ἀγαπητός

This related word names the one who is loved, echoing the verse’s circle of those whose affection is already returned.

THE PATTERN

Love becomes visible beyond the familiar exchange when it reaches someone who cannot be counted on to return it.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Matthew 5:44 · KJVThe verse carries love beyond returned affection toward people who oppose or harm the reader.

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:

Proverbs 25:21 · KJVProvision reaches an enemy without requiring affection or gratitude in return.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 · KJVLove is shown while the reader is still outside the expected return of goodness.

THE THREAD

For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

Luke 6:32 · KJV

Luke repeats the same Greek verb, ⁨ἀγαπάω⁩ (agapaō, to love), for loving and being loved in return. Its parallel question exposes the same circuit: affection returned by affection is familiar exchange.

This reading is from Selah Verse.

You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.

Get Selah Verse

A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us