What Does Romans 14:4 Mean in the King James?
Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
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 one you judge belongs to another master, and the Lord who holds that authority is able to make them stand.
THE MEANING
You do not hold authority over the person you judge; that person answers to their own Lord. Their standing or falling is before him, and God is able to set them firmly on their feet. Your verdict is not what sustains them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that your judgment determines another person’s standing before God.
THE ROOT
στήκει
stēkei
GROWS FROM
στα-/στη- (ἵστημι, histēmi)
To stand, set upright, or establish.
“standeth / holden up / make him stand” in this verse is stēkei. The verse repeats forms of the same Greek root: the servant stands, is held up, and is made to stand. English can make these sound like separate actions, but the root binds them together: the master’s power is what establishes the servant’s standing.
ALSO GROWS
parístēmi: To stand beside, present, or stand before.
παρίστημι
Romans 14:10 uses this compound for everyone standing before Christ; the shared stand-root turns the question of another’s status back toward the reader.
anástasis: Rising, resurrection.
ἀνάστασις
This related word shows the root’s reach from standing to rising; here, God’s ability to make someone stand is more than a human verdict about them.
THE PATTERN
A person’s standing is under God’s authority, so another person cannot claim the master’s place.
But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?THE THREAD
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.The Greek phrase for “we shall all stand,” παραστησόμεθα (parastēsometha), shares the stand-root used here. The view widens: the person whose standing you assess is not the only one answerable; you also stand before Christ.
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