What Does Philippians 3:16 Mean in the King James?
Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
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 Greek word for “walk” pictures keeping in line: the shared path continues from the ground already reached.
THE MEANING
What is already reached gives the present step its line. The walk and the mind belong together: a shared course is both how you move and what you hold in view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that growth always requires abandoning the ground already reached dissolves here: what is attained can become the line for the next step.
THE ROOT
στοιχεῖν
stoichein
GROWS FROM
στοιχ-
stoich-
To stand or move in a row, keeping in line.
“walk” in this verse is stoichein. The word carries the image of ordered movement, not merely going from place to place. The verse pictures a shared course that continues from what has already been reached.
ALSO GROWS
stoicheō: To walk in line or keep in step.
στοιχέω
This is the verb behind the verse’s image of continuing along a common course.
systoicheō: To correspond or stand in the same row.
συστοιχέω
Its added sense of correspondence brings out how a shared walk can hold together through alignment.
κανόνι
kanoni
GROWS FROM
κανών
kanōn
A measuring rod, and by extension a standard or measure.
The “rule” is also a measure that gives the walk its line. The verse joins a common standard to a common movement, so what has been reached serves as a shared measure.
ALSO GROWS
kanōn: A measuring rod, standard, or boundary.
κανών
This noun names the measure that gives the continuing walk its shared line.
kanonizō: To measure or regulate according to a standard.
κανονίζω
This related verb shows the measuring sense carried by the word translated “rule.”
φρονεῖν
phronein
GROWS FROM
φρον-
phron-
To think, feel, or hold a practical orientation.
The verse pairs keeping in line with holding the same orientation. The shared path is inward as well as outward: the mind and the movement point in the same direction.
ALSO GROWS
phronēma: A mindset, inclination, or purpose.
φρόνημα
This noun makes clear that the shared “thing” includes a settled inward orientation.
phronimos: Prudent or discerning.
φρόνιμος
This related word shows the root’s connection to practical judgment, not thought as detached information.
THE PATTERN
A shared course holds when movement and inward direction remain aligned with the measure already reached.
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.THE THREAD
And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.Galatians uses the same Greek word for walking in line and the same word for rule. It opens Philippians’ phrase as a shared course measured by what has already been reached.
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