What Does Romans 4:13 Mean in the King James?
For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
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
Trust-shaped alignment opens the promise of inheritance as something received, not manufactured by instruction.
THE MEANING
The promise reaches you as an inheritance received through trust-shaped alignment, rather than as a status earned by fulfilling instruction. Abraham and his seed stand within the promise the verse places before you now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that you must become flawless before you can receive what God promises gives way here: inheritance comes through trust, not perfect rule-keeping.
THE ROOT
δικαιοσύνης
dikaiosynēs
GROWS FROM
δικαι-
dikai-
Rightness or being in a right relation.
The word often rendered “righteousness” carries the sense of alignment. Joined to trust, it describes a right relation through which the promise is received, not a score that purchases it.
ALSO GROWS
dikaios: just, right
δίκαιος
This adjective shows the rightness present in the verse’s idea of alignment.
dikaioō: justify, vindicate
δικαιόω
This verb belongs to the same word family and echoes the movement into a right standing.
πίστεως
pisteōs
GROWS FROM
πειθ-
peith-
Persuasion that brings confidence or trust.
The Greek word for faith belongs to a family of words about persuasion and trusting. It points beyond agreement in the mind toward reliance, which makes “trust” a living way to receive the promise.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: persuade, convince
πείθω
This related verb shows the confidence and persuasion carried within the family.
pisteuō: trust, believe
πιστεύω
This verb expresses the active reliance that the verse places at the heart of receiving.
κληρονόμος
klēronomos
GROWS FROM
κληρο- / νέμω (klēro- / nemō)
An allotted share that is distributed or received.
The Greek word for “heir” joins the idea of a share with the act of allotting it. The promise is therefore pictured as a real portion received, and “of the world” makes the scope of that inheritance expansive.
ALSO GROWS
klēros: lot, share, allotted portion
κλῆρος
This word supplies the share within the image of an heir.
nemō: allot, distribute
νέμω
This verb carries the act of assigning a portion that makes inheritance possible.
THE PATTERN
A promised inheritance is received through trust, which takes shape as alignment and response.
And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.THE THREAD
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.Romans 1:17 brings the same word families together: δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē, alignment) and πίστις (pistis, trust). It opens Romans 4:13 further by showing that alignment through trust is not merely a doorway to inheritance; it is also the way that life is lived.
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