What Does Romans 11:21 Mean in the King James?
For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
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 same Greek verb stands behind both “spared” and “spare,” so natural origin gives no branch immunity from judgment.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to you as someone whose place among the branches does not put you beyond God’s judgment. The natural branches are not spared, and the same verb carries the warning directly to you. Your standing remains dependent rather than self-secured.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being included among God’s people means I am beyond the reach of judgment.
THE ROOT
ἐφείσατο
epheisato
GROWS FROM
φειδ- (pheid-), from φείδομαι (pheidomai)
To spare or refrain from withholding protection; the stem carries the idea of sparing.
“spared / spare” in this verse is epheisato. Both “spared” and “spare” translate forms of φείδομαι (pheidomai, to spare). The repeated verb places the natural branches and you under the same warning: neither origin nor inclusion guarantees that God will refrain from judgment.
ALSO GROWS
epheisato: spared; did not spare
ἐφείσατο
This is the verb’s past form in the first half of the verse.
pheisetai: will spare
φείσεται
This future form carries the warning forward to you.
pheidomenos: sparing; to spare
φειδόμενος
In 2 Corinthians 1:23 the same verb describes sparing someone, showing the shared root behind the different forms.
φύσιν
physin
GROWS FROM
φυ- (phy-), from φύω (phyō)
To grow or bring forth; φύσις (physis) is the nature or native kind that comes forth.
“Natural” translates κατὰ φύσιν (kata physin, according to nature): the branches belong to the tree by their native kind. The verse’s warning lands precisely because even native branches are not automatically spared.
ALSO GROWS
physis: nature; native constitution
φύσις
It is the noun behind φύσιν, naming the kind from which the branches naturally come.
phyteuō: to plant
φυτεύω
This related growth word makes the image of a branch’s source concrete: what grows from a stock still depends on its place in the tree.
THE PATTERN
Natural origin, position, or prior standing does not make anyone immune from God’s judgment.
The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;THE THREAD
Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.“Branches” is κλάδων (kladōn, branches) in both verses. Verse 18 shows the branch is carried by the root; verse 21 shows that dependence does not make it immune from the warning.
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