Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 4:20
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian church, where factions are puffed up by human credentials and rhetorical display. He is about to visit and test whether their confidence has any real force behind it.
The words — "λόγῳ" (logō, dative of logos) means "word" or "speech," the thing Paul dismisses as the basis of the kingdom. Its dative marks the realm in which the kingdom does not reside, set against "δυνάμει" (dynamēi, "in power"), the realm where it does.
The thread — The same word-and-power contrast appears in 1 Corinthians 2:4 (preaching with a demonstration of the Spirit's power) and 1 Thessalonians 1:5 (the gospel coming in power, not only in word). 2 Corinthians 10:4 extends the principle to spiritual warfare: the weapons carry divine power, not human eloquence.
Why it lands — It is a test, not a comfort: if your faith is only talk, it has no claim on the kingdom. The reader is asked to measure their spiritual life by what it produces, not what it says.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
Cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 2:4 My message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,
- 1 Thessalonians 1:5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with great conviction—just as you know we lived among you for your sake.
- 2 Corinthians 10:4 The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the flesh. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
- Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek.
- Romans 15:19 by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.