What Does Philippians 1:20 Mean in the King James?
According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
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 body can magnify the anointed one in life and in death, so death cannot make the witness small.
THE MEANING
In your body, the greatness of the anointed one becomes visible. That witness is not measured by survival: the verse holds life and death together as ways the same presence is made manifest. Open boldness takes the place of shame when the body is seen as the place of that disclosure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that only a long or successful life can make the anointed one visible; even death does not erase that witness.
THE ROOT
μεγαλυνθήσεται
megalynthēsetai
GROWS FROM
μεγαλ-
megal-
Great or large; to make greatness apparent.
“magnified” in this verse is megalynthēsetai. The verb comes from μεγαλύνω (megalynō, to make great or show as great). It does not mean the anointed one becomes larger; it means his greatness is made visible through the body, whether through life or death.
ALSO GROWS
megas: Great, large.
μέγας
The root carries the sense of greatness that the body makes visible.
megalōsynē: Greatness, majesty.
μεγαλωσύνη
This related noun names the greatness that the verse says is magnified through embodied life.
THE PATTERN
The anointed one’s greatness becomes visible through embodied existence, whether life continues or death comes.
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.THE THREAD
And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,Both verses use μεγαλύνω (megalynō, magnify); Luke locates it in ψυχή (psychē, living soul), while Philippians locates it in the body. Together they link inner life and embodied existence as places where divine greatness becomes visible.
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