What Does Philippians 2:6 Mean in the King James?
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
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 holds equality with God beside a refusal to treat it as something to seize for advantage.
THE MEANING
The verse places being in God’s form beside a refusal to treat equality with God as a thing to seize or exploit. Its contrast speaks now wherever status feels like a prize that must be captured: divine likeness is not reduced to grasping for advantage.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that worth or equality must be taken, defended, or turned into an advantage.
THE ROOT
ἁρπαγμόν
harpagmon
GROWS FROM
ἁρπάζω
harpazō
To seize or snatch.
KJV’s “robbery” preserves the image of taking, and this word family can also describe something seized as a prize. The line brings the question of grasping into its account of equality with God.
ALSO GROWS
harpazō: To seize or snatch away.
ἁρπάζω
This verb is from the same word family; in John 10:28, its form is translated “pluck.”
harpagē: Seizure or plunder.
ἁρπαγή
This related noun keeps the force of taking by seizure, making the word’s grasping image clearer.
μορφῇ
morphēi
GROWS FROM
μορφ-
morph-
Form or shape; the condition in which something exists.
English “form” can sound like an outline alone, while μορφή names the form or condition in which someone exists. Its word family links form with transformation, keeping the verse focused on an existing mode of being rather than a title to acquire.
ALSO GROWS
metamorphoō: To transform or change form.
μεταμορφόω
Romans 12:2 uses this related word for transformation, showing form as something that can be expressed in a changed state.
morphōsis: Form or outward shape.
μόρφωσις
In 2 Timothy 3:5, the related noun names a form of godliness, echoing the verse’s language of form.
ἡγήσατο
hēgēsato
GROWS FROM
ἡγέομαι
hēgeomai
To consider, regard, or count.
English “thought” can sound like a passing idea, but ἡγήσατο marks a reckoning: he did not count equality as something to seize. The word family makes the verse a statement about how equality is valued and held.
ALSO GROWS
hēgoumenoi: Considering or esteeming.
ἡγούμενοι
In Philippians 2:3, this same word family describes how each person regards others, linking judgment with how status is held.
hēgēmai: I have counted or regarded.
ἥγημαι
In Philippians 3:7, this form describes a deliberate reassessment, echoing the act of reckoning in this verse.
THE PATTERN
Status grounded in divine likeness is not secured by grasping.
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.THE THREAD
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.The Greek verb translated “pluck” belongs to the same word family as “robbery” in Philippians 2:6. Here no one can seize the sheep from Christ’s hand; in Philippians, equality with God is not treated as something to seize.
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