What Does Revelation 2:13 Mean in the King James?
I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
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 names a faithful witness as slain, so being seen is not a promise that faithful bodies are spared.
THE MEANING
You are seen where opposition has a seat and a dwelling, and the work you do there is known. The verse holds Antipas’s violent death beside your continued grip on the name and trust; being seen does not make the place safe. The name you keep is a nature still carried under pressure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that faithfulness guarantees bodily safety: Antipas is called faithful even as the verse says he is slain.
THE ROOT
ὄνομα
onoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνομ-
onom-
Name, designation, or reputation; here, a name bears the nature of the one named.
Here the name is more than a password or bare label: it carries the character and authority of the one named. Holding it fast means the nature it represents remains intact under opposition.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: To name, call, or designate.
ὀνομάζω
What is held fast remains identifiable and named, not merely privately imagined.
eponomazō: To give someone a name or call them by one.
ἐπονομάζω
The name marks an identity openly attached to the one who bears it.
πίστιν
pistin
GROWS FROM
πειθ-
peith-
Persuasion that wins confidence; trust and reliance.
“faith” in this verse is pistin. Pistis carries trust that leans its full weight, not bare agreement with an idea. The verse presents this trust as something that can be denied, a lived reliance maintained under pressure.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: To persuade, win over, or trust.
πείθω
Trust involves being persuaded into reliance, not simply recognizing a claim.
pistos: Firm, trustworthy, dependable.
πιστός
The related word describes the steadiness that gives trust something to rest upon.
κρατεῖς
krateis
GROWS FROM
κρατ-
krat-
Strength, power, and the capacity to hold or retain.
“holdest fast” in this verse is krateis. Krateō describes actively gripping or retaining, not merely feeling attached. The verse places that firm grasp inside the Adversary’s dwelling, where opposition and loss are named plainly.
ALSO GROWS
krateō: To hold, take hold of, or retain.
κρατέω
This is the verb used for keeping the name under pressure.
kratos: Strength, might, or power.
κράτος
The related noun gives the act of holding its force: what is retained has not been surrendered.
THE PATTERN
Trust shows itself as a bond held under pressure, even where opposition and loss are real.
I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.THE THREAD
I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.Both verses use the same Greek word, ὄνομα (onoma, name), and repeat the phrase hast not denied my name. Here the name is held fast; there it is kept through scant strength, so the nature carried by the name remains visible under pressure.
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