What Does Philemon 1:18 Mean in the King James?
If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;
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 verse places harm and debt under the same ledger, then moves their cost to the account of the one willing to answer for it.
THE MEANING
The wrong is real, and the debt is named; neither is covered over. Yet the verse holds open the possibility that another person can take the liability onto their own account. Responsibility shifts without making the injury unreal.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a wrong can only be addressed by leaving its full cost with the person who caused it.
THE ROOT
ἐλλόγα
elloga
GROWS FROM
λογίζομαι
logizomai
Count, reckon, or credit something to an account.
“put that on mine account” in this verse is elloga. The verb ἐλλόγα (elloga, charge to my account) puts both the wrong and the debt under one act of accounting. The harm is not denied; its liability is reassigned.
ALSO GROWS
logizomai: Count, reckon, consider, or credit.
λογίζομαι
The related verb makes the accounting image concrete: something is entered and reckoned.
logismos: A calculation or reckoning.
λογισμός
This related noun carries the same counting sense, showing that the charge has a place in an account.
ἠδίκησεν
ēdikēsen
GROWS FROM
δίκη
dikē
Right, justice, or what is due.
The verb ἠδίκησεν (ēdikēsen, wronged) is built around δίκη (dikē, right or justice), so the first part names a rupture of what is right. The next clause separately names what is owed, then one accounting action takes in both the injury and the debt.
ALSO GROWS
dikaios: Just, upright, aligned.
δίκαιος
Its contrast with wronging makes visible the question of what is right between people.
dikaiosynē: Justice, righteousness, alignment.
δικαιοσύνη
This related form points toward the order of right relationship that the wrong has disrupted.
THE PATTERN
A willing substitute bears another’s cost so the other can go free.
Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.THE THREAD
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.“Put that on mine account” and “imputed” translate the same Greek verb, ἐλλογέω (ellogeō), meaning to enter or charge something to an account. The shared word makes the image precise: the charge is reckoned, not erased.
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