What Does Romans 5:7 Mean in the King James?
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
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 distinguishes being aligned from being good, then says even goodness rarely calls forth a life laid down.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now to how rare costly devotion is: a person scarcely dies for someone regarded as right, and only some dare to die for someone regarded as good. Goodness can call forth courage, but the death remains an exception rather than an expectation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being good or right guarantees that others will readily risk their lives for you. The verse calls even this sacrifice scarce or daring.
THE ROOT
δικαίου
dikaiou
GROWS FROM
δικ
dik-
Right, just; what is in alignment with what is right.
“righteous” in this verse is dikaiou. The Greek word belongs to a family of rightness and alignment, while the verse uses a different root for “good.” It compares these distinct qualities before showing that neither makes a life laid down an ordinary response.
ALSO GROWS
dikē: justice, what is right
δίκη
This branch carries the sense of rightness beneath the description of the person for whom someone might die.
dikaiosynē: righteousness, alignment
δικαιοσύνη
The same family names a state of being aligned with what is right, giving “righteous” more depth than a general label of virtue.
ἀγαθοῦ
agathou
GROWS FROM
ἀγαθ
agath-
Good, beneficial, fitting for good.
“Good” is not a restatement of “righteous”; it belongs to its own word family. The shift lets the verse name goodness as a reason someone might dare, while the daring itself remains rare.
ALSO GROWS
agathōsynē: goodness
ἀγαθωσύνη
This branch names the quality attributed to the person who might draw such a costly act.
agathopoieō: do good
ἀγαθοποιέω
The root can describe goodness enacted, connecting the quality of the “good man” with beneficial action.
THE PATTERN
A life risked or laid down becomes a stark measure of costly devotion.
Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.THE THREAD
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.Verse 7 describes how rare it is for someone to die for a person regarded as right or good; the next verse says Christ dies for people still named sinners. The measure shifts from the recipient’s worth to the giver’s love.
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