What Does Romans 14:8 Mean in the King James?
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
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
Life and death are two states of the same belonging: the verse ends not with what you do, but with whose you are.
THE MEANING
Your living and your dying both take place toward the Lord; neither state removes you from belonging to him. The verse moves from “unto the Lord” to “we are the Lord’s,” holding both states within the same claim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You do not belong to the Lord only while you are alive; dying does not put you beyond his claim.
THE ROOT
κυρίου
kyriou
GROWS FROM
κυρι-
kyri-
The stem of κύριος, carrying the sense of authority or mastery.
The verse first says you live and die “unto the Lord,” then ends by saying you are the Lord’s. The word’s sense of authority makes that ending a claim of belonging that holds across both states.
ALSO GROWS
kyrieuō: Rule over; exercise lordship.
κυριεύω
Its shared stem makes clear that the Lord’s claim is active, extending over both living and dying.
kyriotēs: Lordship; dominion.
κυριότης
This related noun names the authority under which the verse places both states.
ζῶμεν
zōmen
GROWS FROM
ζα-/ζω- (za-/zō-)
Live; be alive.
“live” in this verse is zōmen. The verse repeats the same construction for living and dying, directing both “unto the Lord.” English can make life and death feel like separate territories; here, living remains within the same belonging that holds through death.
ALSO GROWS
zōē: Life.
ζωή
This noun shares the life-word family, keeping the focus on life as a state held within the verse’s larger claim.
zōopoieō: Make alive; give life.
ζωοποιέω
The related verb shows how the life-word family can describe life as received, not merely possessed on one’s own terms.
ἀποθνῄσκωμεν
apothnēskōmen
GROWS FROM
θαν-/θνῃσκ- (than-/thnēsk-)
Die; be mortal.
“die” in this verse is apothnēskōmen. The death verb is paired with “live” in matching clauses, and both are directed to the same Lord. Its place in the sentence leaves death inside the reach of belonging rather than making it an exit from it.
ALSO GROWS
thnētos: Mortal.
θνητός
This related word names the mortal condition present in the verse’s mention of dying.
thanatos: Death.
θάνατος
The noun names death directly, placing it in the same word family as the verb used here.
THE PATTERN
The Lord’s claim holds across life and death, and life is oriented toward him.
See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.THE THREAD
For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.The next verse makes explicit the scope of the Lordship named here: it reaches both the dead and the living. Its repeated pairing of dying and living opens the meaning of “we are the Lord’s” across both states.
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