What Does Philemon 1:23 Mean in the King James?
There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus;
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
“Fellowprisoner” names captivity as shared: Epaphras is confined, yet the greeting still reaches you.
THE MEANING
You receive a greeting from Epaphras, a captive alongside the speaker within Jesus, the anointed one. The confinement is real, and the connection is real too: the message reaches you through it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that imprisonment means isolation: the word names Epaphras as a captive alongside another, and his greeting crosses the confinement.
THE ROOT
συναιχμάλωτος
synaichmalōtos
GROWS FROM
αἰχμαλωτ-
aichmalōt-
The base names someone taken captive; it is formed from αἰχμή (aichmē, spear) and ἁλωτός (halōtos, captured). The prefix σύν (syn, with or together) makes the compound mean “captive alongside another.”
“fellowprisoner” in this verse is synaichmalōtos. The Greek word holds both forced confinement and sharedness in one name. Epaphras is not simply a prisoner near the speaker; the word places him in captivity with him.
ALSO GROWS
aichmalōtizō: To take captive or lead away as a captive.
αἰχμαλωτίζω
The verb shows the act behind the captive’s condition: being seized and held.
aichmalōsia: Captivity.
αἰχμαλωσία
This branch names the shared condition itself, the state that does not prevent a greeting from traveling.
THE PATTERN
Confinement can bind a body without stopping voice, message, or connection from moving.
Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.Where in I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.THE THREAD
Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister’s son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)Colossians uses the same Greek word, συναιχμάλωτος (synaichmalōtos, fellow captive), for Aristarchus. Its recurrence makes sharedness part of the captivity itself, while both verses carry a greeting across the confinement.
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