What Does Revelation 1:9 Mean in the King James?
I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
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 tribulation, the kingdom, and endurance together as shared participation in Jesus, so pressure itself does not mark exclusion from the kingdom.
THE MEANING
In Jesus, you are addressed through a shared life that holds pressure, the kingdom, and endurance together; difficulty does not by itself mean you are outside that life. The verse also keeps testimony concrete: John is on Patmos for God’s word and Jesus’ testimony.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that pressure means you have been excluded from God’s kingdom dissolves here: tribulation and kingdom appear as shared realities in Jesus.
THE ROOT
συγκοινωνός
synkoinōnos
GROWS FROM
κοινός
koinos
Common, shared; what is held in common.
The word joins σύν (syn, with) to κοινωνός (koinōnos, participant), describing someone who shares in common with others. Its family includes κοινωνία (koinōnia, sharing in common), so “companion” here carries participation, not mere proximity.
ALSO GROWS
koinōnia: Sharing in common
κοινωνία
This branch makes clear that John’s companionship means a life and experience held in common.
koinōnos: Partner, participant
κοινωνός
This is the shared-participation word inside συγκοινωνός, linking John’s identity to the readers’ experience.
θλῖψις
thlipsis
GROWS FROM
θλίβω
thlibō
To press, squeeze, or afflict.
The Greek word preserves an image of pressure, giving tribulation a physical force rather than leaving it as a general label for trouble. In this verse, that pressure is named alongside the kingdom and endurance within shared life in Jesus.
ALSO GROWS
thlibō: To press, squeeze, afflict
θλίβω
This verb carries the pressing image that gives θλῖψις its concrete sense.
thlibomenoi: Those being pressed or afflicted
θλιβόμενοι
This related form appears in 2 Corinthians 4:8 and describes people undergoing the pressure.
ὑπομονή
hypomonē
GROWS FROM
μένω (menō), within ὑπομένω (hypomenō)
To remain or stay; with ὑπό (hypo, under), to remain under or endure.
Here “patience” is ὑπομονή (hypomonē, steadfast endurance), a capacity to remain through pressure. It is a different Greek word from μακροθυμία (makrothumia, slow to heat), so the verse speaks of endurance, not a slow flare of anger.
ALSO GROWS
menō: Remain, stay, abide
μένω
This is the seed of the endurance word: patience holds the sense of remaining.
monē: Dwelling place, abode
μονή
This related word names a place of remaining, extending the root’s connection between staying and abiding.
THE PATTERN
Pressure does not prove exclusion from God’s life: scripture names affliction alongside deliverance, the kingdom, and endurance.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;THE THREAD
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.Both verses use θλῖψις (thlipsis, pressure or tribulation). Jesus names wholeness in him amid tribulation in the world; Revelation places tribulation beside kingdom and endurance in Jesus, showing that pressure does not cancel shared participation.
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