Hello Momsage, and all else who might read these things I am sharing,
Beginning with Matthew, I am sharing some comparisons between what the Greek text says and what we read in our English translations, things that either enhance the meaning of what our English text is saying or changes the meaning all together. Other things I'll share may be things you already know, things that are not necessarily Greek to English comparisons, but just general information on things I find interesting.
Again, this is something I agreed to share with Momsage, but I am sharing with in the hope that others might find some of this helpful in your own studies. Please know that this is from my own personal studies with no intent to sway anyone from their own understanding of whatever English translation you may be studying from. As I move forward with this, all future posts will not be addressed to any specific person. I will simply title these posts "Biblical Greek Perspectives."
So, to begin with Matthew, (Part 1):
Matthew 1:18 - Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Notice it says, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, or more literally "in this way," because Matthew is explaining that little presentation in Verse 16 "from whom" or "of whom." The word "birth" in this verse is the Greek word GENESIS which means origin. The origin (not the birth) of Jesus Christ was in this way. Matthew is not calling it a birth. He is calling it an origin.
The word "generation" in Verse 1 is also the same Greek word GENESIS. It is not the word for birth. Matthew is purposely avoiding the word for birth. What Matthew is saying here is that this is the scroll of the origin of the Christ.
I will share why this is important in the next part.
I am not going to interfere in your posts about the grk text, but taking a chance from Chris' post, just to point to you that the word Genesis in Matthew 1:1 is not the same as in Matthew 1:18. Just check it.
Thanks for your input, as I do value your knowledge of the Greek language. I do see in Matthew 1:1 the word GENESEOS, and then in Verse 18 is the word GENESIS. My understanding is that although they are not the exact same word in spelling, these two words are associated with each other, GENESEOS being the lexical form of the word GENESIS.
The point I was trying to emphasize was that Matthew was calling it an origin, not a birth, because Jesus was not born but became flesh. He has always been in existence.
As I said in my previous post my intention is not to interfere in your posts about the grk, neither my intention is to correct you. But since Chris made an inquiry about it I thought it would be good to point that out to you. So don't be discouraged and keep posting. About Genesis and Gennesis as I said before, even most of grk people can not tell the difference. Unless one is a scholar or have read it somewhere they wouldn't know the difference. So don't put pressure on yourself about it and keep going. GBU
You have not discouraged me at all. As I have stated, I do value your input on the Greek language. Whether it be your intention to correct or not correct me, if I am in error with what I am sharing, I need to be corrected and shown why. Plus, and not to discredit anyone else here, but it means more coming from someone like you who has known the language their entire life.
I do have a couple questions for you. You gave the meanings of both Genesis and Gennesis, but why the double "nu" and why the eta instead of epsilon? How or why does this change the meaning of the word? Does adding the additional letter "nu" change the pronunciation of the word? I know in Koine Greek, the double gamma "yy" is pronounced with an "ng" sound, but why the double "nu" in Gennesis? Any help you can provide on this would be appreciated.
Well brother you got yourself in trouble by studying greek.
I am not a scholar but I will say what I have read about genesis and gennesis.
Genesis is related to the verb "gignomai" which means "to be made of". Gennesis comes from the verb "gennao" which means "to give birth". Genesis is not used in mod grk unless we reffer to the book of Genesis. But gennesis and genao are what we say for birth and giving birth. Because those two words are very similar most grks think that genesis means birth, which is wrong.
Now about the double N, I don't know how the anc grks used to pronounce it. In mod grk it is pronounced las a single N. Modern grk as well as Koine grk follow the orthography of anc grk but with different pronunciation.The "eta" letter was pronounced in classical times as a long "eh" and in mod grk as an "ee". The "epsilon" is pronounced as a short "eh"
But things are more complicated than that.
But how did the greeks of Jesus' time pronounce grk letters? As I can understand you (as well as Strong's concordance) use the classical pronounciation, that is from 3rd to 5th century BC. But by Jesus' time the pronunciation had changed dramatically. And Koine(common) greek was closer to mod grk than classical grk, although it carries many elements from clas grk. So genesis in clasical grk is Geh-neh-sis and gennesis as geh-neh(long)-sis(I don't know about the double N). And in mod grk genesis as Yeh-neh-sis, and gennesis as Yeh-nee-sis(both stressed at yeh). Very similar and because of that confusing. Well I don't want to discourage you with your studies in the grk language but I wish you good luck. Just joking. If you want to ask me something else I will answer tomorrow. It is 1:30 am here. Blessings.
Well, I must say that it's the kind of trouble I don't mind being in!
Thanks for that information. I know there are differences between modern Greek and koine Greek. I have not studied modern Greek at all. I was only taught koine. I was taught by a gentleman who has been in the ministry for over 50 years and has extensive training and knowledge in Biblical languages, both Greek and Hebrew. He served for several years as Professor of Biblical Greek at Master's Graduate School of Divinity. Very trustworthy teacher of Biblical languages. I myself did not attend Master's Graduate School where he taught. He now pastors a small community church on the west coast in California, where I used to live. That is where I was blessed to meet him and learn from him. Anyways, I know I am sharing too much and what I've just shared probably has no meaning for anyone else. But I do want to thank you for sharing your knowledge, especially with modern Greek! Someday (Lord willing), I may study some modern Greek.
I do not have any questions at the moment. I may hit you up later if you have any knowledge with Greek word association diagrams. Those are somewhat confusing to me!
No I don't know anything about grk word association diagrams. After reading your post I had a look on the net about them and found out that they'are about grammar and word syntax. Well I may have a more detailed look at them later, but not now since I am a bit busy for the time being.
Now if you don't mind I would like to say something about the KJB translation that makes me thinking about it. There is not a single greek scholar in the group of people that made that translation and to me this sounds a bit strange. Example, if I ever wanted to make a translation say of the OT I would primarily approach Hebrew people. But there is not a single greek name in those translators of the KJB. During that time there were very many of them in Europe. Especially after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 AD. Almost all of them fleeded Greece going West. And their descendants flourished in Europe. Were there political reasons that king James didn't invite even a single one of them? Maybe religious reasons, since grks were from the Eastern Orthodox region of Christianity whereas the English were protestants? I don't know really, but it makes me a bit cautious.
And something else. Maybe sometime later on we should start a discussion about what it means "God inspired", because I think many people got it completely wrong. Anyway we will talk about it later on .GBU
No worries, I was in no rush. I was just hoping you might have been exposed to some of those diagrams. I have several of them in my Greek study materials. I wish I were able to post one so you could see what I was talking about but there is no way to do so here.
Thanks for sharing that information on the KJB translators. It does seem sort of odd to have no one of Greek nationality in the list of translators. What was King James' motivation in giving the English-speaking people a new bible? Perhaps it might have been political. I have read that he relied heavily on the Bishop's Bible as a base text, but wanted the KJB to be without the study notes that were in the margins of the Bishop's Bible because he felt that some of those notes challenged his authority. So, it could have been somewhat political. After reading through what the KJB translators had to say, it seems to me as though the KJB was more of a revision of those previous English bibles, not that they intended it to be the only pure English Bible to be trusted throughout the ages.
And yes, I think a discussion on what "God inspired" means would be a good discussion. As you are aware, the phrase "God inspired" is only one word in the Greek that has significant meaning.
In Matthew 1:1 the scripture writes GENESEOS which means OF GENESIS. But in Matthew 1:18 it writes GENNESIS, with double "n", also the second "e" is written in grk with "eta", not "epsilon" as in GENESIS. It is not the same word. GENNESIS means birth . Also genesis which means origin or from the begining or creation from the beginning is often associated to birth. Those two different words which look almost the same confuse even grk people, many don't know the difference in meaning. GBU
MayI add my understanding of the word? The word Genesis given to the first book is given as 'in the beginning' with reference to the books of Moses collectively called the Pentateuch, a word of Greek origin meaning "the five-fold book. It refers to the everlasting covenant with everlasting life for the blessed and for those who rejected, everlasting punishment, The seven days are articles with regards to the day decreed for the Son.(Ps.2:7). Matthew 1:1 clearly states that the gospel is "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." This generation of Jesus covers the entire day decreed for him according to the covenant. So generations of Adam, Noah are all generations in context of Jesus Christ the same He.13:8 also Alpha Omega, the beginning and the ending.
It fits with the Pauline dictum. "And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."( Col.1:17)
I think the genealogy of Jesus listed in Matthew 1 has the purpose of showing to us that He descends from King David, thus Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. If you notice carefully the list says that all the generations from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations. Which are not. If one checks the list of kings during that period of time from the books of Kings they would realize that the list ommits few kings in order to end up with the number 14. I don't know why Matthew did that. Maybe because he wanted to end up with 3 sums of 14. Maybe for easeness to remember? But the list is not precise. Also we don't know where he got Jesus' genealogy after the Hebrews were brought to Babylon. Where there written records of generations in the Hebrew state written records? Did Matthew manipulate those records as well so to come up again with the number 14? Or not? Who knows?
The Christian Bible since ancient times, borrowed the titles of the various books of the Old Testament from the Septuagint. So even Bibles which use the Masoretic text still use the Septuagint titles. And they just translitarated the names from grk to English. So: Genesis-Genesis, Exodos(Exit)-Exodus, Arithmoi(numbers)-Numbers, Levitikon-Leviticus, Deuteronomion(Second Law)-Deuteronomy and so on. There are few differences though with the Septuagint. Those are: Jesus of Naui-Joshua(of Nan), Song of Songs-Song of Solomon, Also Samuel 1 and Samuel 2 are Kings 1 and Kings 2 in the Sept. And Kings 1 and Kings 2 are Kings 3 and Kings 4 in the Sept. Also the christian bibles follows the order of the books in the Sept. which is different from the order of books in the Masoretic.
The title of the first book in Hebrew is "Beresit" which means "in the begining" and was translated by the Sept as "Genesis". The very precise meaning of Genesis is "making form the begining" and it refers to the creation of the physical world from the very begining. GBU
You write,"Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham." That is not how the Spirit has organized the God document. First Jesus's assertion:"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you". Healso says, "Before Abraham was I am." (Jojn 15:16) St Paul also speaks, "God chose us before the worlds began." So what is keeping the lie of God's promise to Abraham as the beginning of blessings when the blessings began with God's command 'Let us make man 'in our image and after our lieness.' God blessed them'. The emblem of 'the slain Lamb before the foundation of the world' informs us there were many things going on in heaven before Abraham was chosen. Melchizedek the Priest of the most high coming to greet Abraham was confirmation of Gods promise. Bread and wine he brought are symbolic, it points out Jesus Christ the high priest of our profession was foreordained.'
Perhaps I can explain the matter of 14 generations in the gospel of St Matthew. There are three sets of 14 each and it gives us 14x3=42 . This serves no other purpose that a number.The Spirit sets tags in order to make his meaning clear. He is not giving the family tree as such but presenting the prince of life in direct context of every man who comes into the world. Consequently nations of Israel and the Gentiles.
I shall cite the number as used in the Bible. 2 Ki.2 As Elisha would go to Bethel number of children jeered at his baldness. "They hated me without cause" Jesus' quote. 42 is with reference to Israel. In Re.11 we have the court "and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." The temple is built in heaven with Most holy pace up, holy place below and the court on the earth. The Court belongs to Israel and the Gentiles both shallface the great tribulation. So Israel is once again under the tag 42. (Re.11:2) The reason lies in the beast with whom Israel shall have concord. The authority of the beast is from the great dragon and it is tagged as 42 as in v.5 "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months."(Re.13-5-6) Red dragon against saints in heaven. Who are they? Martyrs who were killed by Israel. So from Abel onwards all the martyrs, prophets and saints were killed before time for their testimony. That brings to the question. Why would Israel shed innocent blood or hate them without cause? The Spirit of the dragon, Satan who sins from the beginning. The conclusion is inescapable- 42 is a tag set on the complicity of the nation with devil. St May not have had any awareness why he arrived at the number. The Spirit chose it for him. For that matter the Number 3, a tag for the Son.
With regards to the temple being built in heaven, the matter of the holy place in the middle escaped me. The sea of glass, of sand on which St John has an altar for souls. The martyrs crying from below comes from mid-heaven. Od them we haven in this verse. "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." (Re.15:2) They are waiting, you see. After the great tribulation also there shall batches of martyrs and they have their place in the holy place. The court is for the Gentiles, the mingled people as in the Book of Ezra, both Israel and the gentiles
Matthew 5:22 - But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
In Greek, RAKA means good for nothing. It is an insult! So first you have inward anger. And then you begin to express it, and it becomes an insult, "you good for nothing!" And then you say, "thou fool," and if you say thou fool, that is slander. It's the Greek word MOREH where we get our word moron from in English. So you go from inner anger, to insult, then it comes to slander when you say you fool or more literally "you moron."
First, when you say Raca, you are in danger of the council, and that would be the supreme court of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, who's the head of all of the civil and religious affairs of the Jews. We see the word council and we may not catch that this is the Sanhedrin. The Greek text has the word SUNEDRION which is the word for Sanhedrin. The translators could have used Sanhedrin instead of council. So, the first one for anger, you come before the judge. If it is insult, then you come before the Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin. If you say, "thou fool" or "you moron," you are in danger of hell fire.
Matthew 5:48 - Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Here is where many disagree with what the word "perfect" means. People will say that you can become perfect just like God because it says so right here. But this is why you have to love the Greek text!
The Greek word for perfect means to function in purpose. It doesn't mean to be perfect. It means to function in purpose! Jesus is saying that we, under the influence of God's Spirit, should be functioning in purpose like Him, because that is what Jesus does. He's the representative of God's love.
I'll stop here and pick back up perhaps tomorrow, Lord willing!
Brother Jesse what I find interesting is as you stated "Jesus the representative of God's love.
That love was displayed on the cross.
If it was a way that Christ would have gave in to Satan when Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world, The unchangeable attribute of God towards the world would have not been displayed or represented on the cross.
There would be no cross.
Also all the sacrifices in the OT that foreshadowed Christ would have been for nothing.
Thank God that his attributes doesn't change and his representation of those attributes doesn't change.
Matthew 5:10 - Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The word persecuted, without getting sidetracked on a word study because I could go on for several posts just on this one Greek word and you guys wouldn't like me very much. DIOKO is the Greek word, and it means to chase or pursue. Our English understanding of the word "persecuted" may be different than what we get from the Greek.
When Satan persecutes us, he chases us. In Ephesians Chapter 6, Paul says, after having put on the armor, stand. Satan likes to get us on the run. He can't stop us, but he chases us. We get tired, weary, frustrated, discouraged, and we quit. We stop ourselves. He runs us ragged!
It is interesting that the word persecuted here is in the Perfect Tense. What that means in the Greek text is that the Perfect Tense expresses a present condition based upon past action. So, they have already been persecuted. Blessed are the ones who have already been persecuted. But it is not just general persecution. It is for righteousness' sake. It is for doing what is right in the eyes of God.
Matthew 5:11 - Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
The word "revile" means to insult someone. When they insult and persecute you, when they say all manner of evil. The King James says "falsely" which is not in the best manuscripts. It was added to show saying evil about you, the evil that you haven't done. They made it up!
Matthew 5:12 - Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
"Rejoice, and be glad" are the only two commands in the beatitudes. Both are Present Tense commands, which means be continually rejoicing, and continually be glad. The word "glad" in Greek, AGALLIASTHE means to celebrate. We don't catch this in our English translations.
Hello Brother Jesse. I've just gone through your four parts (thus far), & can see that your contribution will be a very useful, informative learning experience for us. I shall be noting in my Bible accordingly, if I can find space in the margins. Thank you for bringing this to us.
Just on your Matthew 1:18 reference: almost every Bible version that I could find, uses the 'birth' of Jesus in their translation. The exception being Douay Rheims, which reads, "the generation of Christ was on this wise". Even Young's Literal Translation (which can be included in the group of better translations), refers to the Birth of Christ. I find it interesting, if not worrying, why translators found it more expedient to opt for 'birth'. In attempting high accuracy in their work, I would have thought that this deviation from the Greek would raise red flags for them. GBU.
Matthew 5:3 - Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
MAKARIOS is the word that's translated blessed in our English bibles. In Greek, MAKARIOS means to experience the fullness of something. Many Bible translations and commentaries will tell you that it means "Oh how happy," and that the Lord is presenting how to have a happy life.
But technically from the original language and its presentation, what the Lord is saying here is how the disciples of the kingdom of God will experience all the fullness of who God is by these principles.
Matthew 5:5 - Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
This Greek word for meek (PRAOUS), means to be open, or to be receptive. Some commentaries say that it means humble or to be a nice guy. But that's not what it means, and we don't get the meaning from our English translations.
Matthew 5:6 - Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
The word filled is not the normal word for fill. KORTAHSTHAYSONTAI is the Greek word, and it means to be satisfied.
Matthew 5:9 - Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
The Greek word for peacemakers, which is the only place in the bible where it is found, is a special word. It has nothing to do with going out and making peace on the earth. Paul made reference to this in Ephesians 6:15, where he said one of the pieces of armor is to "have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace."
Peacemakers are Christians that go out with the gospel and say, "You can make peace with God through Jesus Christ." Later, Jesus says, "Don't think that I came to bring peace upon the earth." So, what He is telling us is that it is not earthly. It's coming to tell people that you are fighting against God. Romans 5:1 tells us that "after having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" Peacemakers!
Matthew 4:3 - And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Satan starts off by saying, "If" thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But there is a huge difference between saying "if" or saying "since." It would be like saying "if you are available Thursday night for a bible study," or saying, "since you are available for a bible study." Big difference!
I'll share with you a little technical information. The word "if" in the Greek text is what is called the first-class condition assumed to be true. It can and should be translated "since." Please take note that the devil, in tempting Jesus, was not tempting Him to prove that He was the Son of God. Satan is saying since you are the Son of God, then do this. Misuse your authority. Misuse your position. Be disobedient to your heavenly Father. But please take note that Satan is not asking Jesus to prove Himself to be the Son of God, but actually questioning Him, baiting Him to disobey the commandments of God.
Matthew 4:21 - And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
Now I want to share something interesting about the word mending. The word mending is the Greek word KATARTIDZO, and that is what this word means. It means "to mend." It is actually a medical term that means the mending of broken bones or the mending of the net. KATARTIDZO is the same word used by Paul in Ephesians Chapter 2 when he talked about the equipping of the saints, KATARTIDZO. Equipping does not mean that someone trains you how to go out and share the gospel. That is not what it means.
God's ministry is to mend us. His ministry is to mend the saints so that they will be functional members in the body of Christ. That is basically what this Paul is talking about, KATARTIDZO, the mending of the saints.
Matthew 2:7 - Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
In Verse 7, Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men or magi, he determined from them what time the star appeared. It is literally "What time of the appearing star." You might think it's being too technical to be literal, but that's literally how the Greek text reads. It was the appearing and the disappearing star. It is a word that describes what kind of star it was. So literally, in the Greek text, he says "What time of the appearing star?" They had seen this appearing star. It was the description of what kind of star it was.
Matthew 2:23 - And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
Now if you have the time to do a study on this, and you're checking out your bible references, you will come to a conclusion, after much frustration and research, that there's no place in the bible where it says, "And He shall be called a Nazarene," yet it's in quotes right before us in this verse.
There are several instances in which He is called a shoot, a rod of Jesse, etc. It is interesting that the Greek word NAZAR for Nazarene means a root or a shoot, which is a play on the Hebrew word NATZAR which means the same thing. This is not a quotation of the city that He would live in, but who He would be. He would be a root and shoot of Jesse who would live in the city that would symbolize who He is. Nowhere in the bible does it prophecy that He is going to be a Nazarene or live in Nazareth, so no prophecy was fulfilled in this verse. But it does say that He is going to be a NATZAR, a root or a shoot of Jesse, which is what the word Nazarene means.
What Matthew is presenting fits perfectly to what John said in John 1:14 that "The word became flesh and dwelt among us." You see, Jesus was not born. He became flesh. He has always been in existence. This is why Matthew avoids using the word for birth. He's presenting to us the origin of the Christ.
It also says that "before they came together," which is a Greek word that means before their marriage was consummated.
Matthew 1:20 - But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Verse 20, from a literal Greek translation says, "After thinking on these things." And the English text is really pretty sad here because most English translations say, "While he was thinking on these things." But it's not that way in the original Greek text. It is an Aorist Participle, which tells us that this was after he thought on these things, after he made the decision about what he was going to do.
Matthew 2:1 - Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, During the days of Herod's reign,
It says "Behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. Our English text says, "wise men," but the literal Greek word is the word MAGOI for wise men. It's where we get our English word magic and magician from. They were sorcerers. This could have been translated as "there came magicians (or sorcerers) from the east to Jerusalem." In the English, the words "wise men" sounds like these were just some smart dudes! We think of wise men, and we might think of the three men in our manger scenes, even though that's not even accurate. There were many more than three because they always travelled in large groups.
Hi Cheryl1655. I understand what you are thinking & could be confusing, as several verses in the NT have this phrase, "even Jesus" ( Acts 9:17, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, Hebrews 6:20, 1 John 5:6). I couldn't detect the word 'even' appearing in the Greek (our Greek reading/speaking brothers could verify this), so I surmise that the KJB translators added this word to emphasize the One Who was being spoken/written of. It's probably like us saying, "the Lord, that is, Jesus", or "Whither the forerunner is for us entered, the very One called Jesus", when we want to correctly or emphatically point to Jesus alone. So these verses don't speak of two different people, just the One called Jesus.
You are right, the word "even" doesn't appear in the grk text. As you said it was probably used to emphasize Jesus' person.
The grk says:
Acts 9:17,"...the Lord sent me, Jesus, who appeared to you on the way that you were coming..."
1 Thessalonians 1:10, "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who releases of us from the coming wrath."
Hebrews 6:20, " Where forerunner for us Jesus entered, becoming high priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedec".
1 John 5:6, "He is who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ; not in water only, but in water and blood. And the Spirit is that bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth."
The text I am using is the majority text which is almost the same as the received text.
Thanks brother for confirming that. It's always better to get the instruction from those who know the language, rather than simply from reference material, which, in this case, can source their information from sometimes dubious texts. Blessings.
Beginning with Matthew, I am sharing some comparisons between what the Greek text says and what we read in our English translations, things that either enhance the meaning of what our English text is saying or changes the meaning all together. Other things I'll share may be things you already know, things that are not necessarily Greek to English comparisons, but just general information on things I find interesting.
Again, this is something I agreed to share with Momsage, but I am sharing with in the hope that others might find some of this helpful in your own studies. Please know that this is from my own personal studies with no intent to sway anyone from their own understanding of whatever English translation you may be studying from. As I move forward with this, all future posts will not be addressed to any specific person. I will simply title these posts "Biblical Greek Perspectives."
So, to begin with Matthew, (Part 1):
Matthew 1:18 - Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Notice it says, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, or more literally "in this way," because Matthew is explaining that little presentation in Verse 16 "from whom" or "of whom." The word "birth" in this verse is the Greek word GENESIS which means origin. The origin (not the birth) of Jesus Christ was in this way. Matthew is not calling it a birth. He is calling it an origin.
The word "generation" in Verse 1 is also the same Greek word GENESIS. It is not the word for birth. Matthew is purposely avoiding the word for birth. What Matthew is saying here is that this is the scroll of the origin of the Christ.
I will share why this is important in the next part.
I am not going to interfere in your posts about the grk text, but taking a chance from Chris' post, just to point to you that the word Genesis in Matthew 1:1 is not the same as in Matthew 1:18. Just check it.
Thanks for your input, as I do value your knowledge of the Greek language. I do see in Matthew 1:1 the word GENESEOS, and then in Verse 18 is the word GENESIS. My understanding is that although they are not the exact same word in spelling, these two words are associated with each other, GENESEOS being the lexical form of the word GENESIS.
The point I was trying to emphasize was that Matthew was calling it an origin, not a birth, because Jesus was not born but became flesh. He has always been in existence.
Thanks again, brother.
God Bless!!!
As I said in my previous post my intention is not to interfere in your posts about the grk, neither my intention is to correct you. But since Chris made an inquiry about it I thought it would be good to point that out to you. So don't be discouraged and keep posting. About Genesis and Gennesis as I said before, even most of grk people can not tell the difference. Unless one is a scholar or have read it somewhere they wouldn't know the difference. So don't put pressure on yourself about it and keep going. GBU
You have not discouraged me at all. As I have stated, I do value your input on the Greek language. Whether it be your intention to correct or not correct me, if I am in error with what I am sharing, I need to be corrected and shown why. Plus, and not to discredit anyone else here, but it means more coming from someone like you who has known the language their entire life.
I do have a couple questions for you. You gave the meanings of both Genesis and Gennesis, but why the double "nu" and why the eta instead of epsilon? How or why does this change the meaning of the word? Does adding the additional letter "nu" change the pronunciation of the word? I know in Koine Greek, the double gamma "yy" is pronounced with an "ng" sound, but why the double "nu" in Gennesis? Any help you can provide on this would be appreciated.
Thanks, brother!
Well brother you got yourself in trouble by studying greek.
I am not a scholar but I will say what I have read about genesis and gennesis.
Genesis is related to the verb "gignomai" which means "to be made of". Gennesis comes from the verb "gennao" which means "to give birth". Genesis is not used in mod grk unless we reffer to the book of Genesis. But gennesis and genao are what we say for birth and giving birth. Because those two words are very similar most grks think that genesis means birth, which is wrong.
Now about the double N, I don't know how the anc grks used to pronounce it. In mod grk it is pronounced las a single N. Modern grk as well as Koine grk follow the orthography of anc grk but with different pronunciation.The "eta" letter was pronounced in classical times as a long "eh" and in mod grk as an "ee". The "epsilon" is pronounced as a short "eh"
But things are more complicated than that.
But how did the greeks of Jesus' time pronounce grk letters? As I can understand you (as well as Strong's concordance) use the classical pronounciation, that is from 3rd to 5th century BC. But by Jesus' time the pronunciation had changed dramatically. And Koine(common) greek was closer to mod grk than classical grk, although it carries many elements from clas grk. So genesis in clasical grk is Geh-neh-sis and gennesis as geh-neh(long)-sis(I don't know about the double N). And in mod grk genesis as Yeh-neh-sis, and gennesis as Yeh-nee-sis(both stressed at yeh). Very similar and because of that confusing. Well I don't want to discourage you with your studies in the grk language but I wish you good luck. Just joking. If you want to ask me something else I will answer tomorrow. It is 1:30 am here. Blessings.
Well, I must say that it's the kind of trouble I don't mind being in!
Thanks for that information. I know there are differences between modern Greek and koine Greek. I have not studied modern Greek at all. I was only taught koine. I was taught by a gentleman who has been in the ministry for over 50 years and has extensive training and knowledge in Biblical languages, both Greek and Hebrew. He served for several years as Professor of Biblical Greek at Master's Graduate School of Divinity. Very trustworthy teacher of Biblical languages. I myself did not attend Master's Graduate School where he taught. He now pastors a small community church on the west coast in California, where I used to live. That is where I was blessed to meet him and learn from him. Anyways, I know I am sharing too much and what I've just shared probably has no meaning for anyone else. But I do want to thank you for sharing your knowledge, especially with modern Greek! Someday (Lord willing), I may study some modern Greek.
I do not have any questions at the moment. I may hit you up later if you have any knowledge with Greek word association diagrams. Those are somewhat confusing to me!
Blessings!
Firstly sorry for my delayed answer.
No I don't know anything about grk word association diagrams. After reading your post I had a look on the net about them and found out that they'are about grammar and word syntax. Well I may have a more detailed look at them later, but not now since I am a bit busy for the time being.
Now if you don't mind I would like to say something about the KJB translation that makes me thinking about it. There is not a single greek scholar in the group of people that made that translation and to me this sounds a bit strange. Example, if I ever wanted to make a translation say of the OT I would primarily approach Hebrew people. But there is not a single greek name in those translators of the KJB. During that time there were very many of them in Europe. Especially after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 AD. Almost all of them fleeded Greece going West. And their descendants flourished in Europe. Were there political reasons that king James didn't invite even a single one of them? Maybe religious reasons, since grks were from the Eastern Orthodox region of Christianity whereas the English were protestants? I don't know really, but it makes me a bit cautious.
And something else. Maybe sometime later on we should start a discussion about what it means "God inspired", because I think many people got it completely wrong. Anyway we will talk about it later on .GBU
No worries, I was in no rush. I was just hoping you might have been exposed to some of those diagrams. I have several of them in my Greek study materials. I wish I were able to post one so you could see what I was talking about but there is no way to do so here.
Thanks for sharing that information on the KJB translators. It does seem sort of odd to have no one of Greek nationality in the list of translators. What was King James' motivation in giving the English-speaking people a new bible? Perhaps it might have been political. I have read that he relied heavily on the Bishop's Bible as a base text, but wanted the KJB to be without the study notes that were in the margins of the Bishop's Bible because he felt that some of those notes challenged his authority. So, it could have been somewhat political. After reading through what the KJB translators had to say, it seems to me as though the KJB was more of a revision of those previous English bibles, not that they intended it to be the only pure English Bible to be trusted throughout the ages.
And yes, I think a discussion on what "God inspired" means would be a good discussion. As you are aware, the phrase "God inspired" is only one word in the Greek that has significant meaning.
Blessings to you also!
In Matthew 1:1 the scripture writes GENESEOS which means OF GENESIS. But in Matthew 1:18 it writes GENNESIS, with double "n", also the second "e" is written in grk with "eta", not "epsilon" as in GENESIS. It is not the same word. GENNESIS means birth . Also genesis which means origin or from the begining or creation from the beginning is often associated to birth. Those two different words which look almost the same confuse even grk people, many don't know the difference in meaning. GBU
MayI add my understanding of the word? The word Genesis given to the first book is given as 'in the beginning' with reference to the books of Moses collectively called the Pentateuch, a word of Greek origin meaning "the five-fold book. It refers to the everlasting covenant with everlasting life for the blessed and for those who rejected, everlasting punishment, The seven days are articles with regards to the day decreed for the Son.(Ps.2:7). Matthew 1:1 clearly states that the gospel is "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." This generation of Jesus covers the entire day decreed for him according to the covenant. So generations of Adam, Noah are all generations in context of Jesus Christ the same He.13:8 also Alpha Omega, the beginning and the ending.
It fits with the Pauline dictum. "And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."( Col.1:17)
I think the genealogy of Jesus listed in Matthew 1 has the purpose of showing to us that He descends from King David, thus Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. If you notice carefully the list says that all the generations from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations. Which are not. If one checks the list of kings during that period of time from the books of Kings they would realize that the list ommits few kings in order to end up with the number 14. I don't know why Matthew did that. Maybe because he wanted to end up with 3 sums of 14. Maybe for easeness to remember? But the list is not precise. Also we don't know where he got Jesus' genealogy after the Hebrews were brought to Babylon. Where there written records of generations in the Hebrew state written records? Did Matthew manipulate those records as well so to come up again with the number 14? Or not? Who knows?
The Christian Bible since ancient times, borrowed the titles of the various books of the Old Testament from the Septuagint. So even Bibles which use the Masoretic text still use the Septuagint titles. And they just translitarated the names from grk to English. So: Genesis-Genesis, Exodos(Exit)-Exodus, Arithmoi(numbers)-Numbers, Levitikon-Leviticus, Deuteronomion(Second Law)-Deuteronomy and so on. There are few differences though with the Septuagint. Those are: Jesus of Naui-Joshua(of Nan), Song of Songs-Song of Solomon, Also Samuel 1 and Samuel 2 are Kings 1 and Kings 2 in the Sept. And Kings 1 and Kings 2 are Kings 3 and Kings 4 in the Sept. Also the christian bibles follows the order of the books in the Sept. which is different from the order of books in the Masoretic.
The title of the first book in Hebrew is "Beresit" which means "in the begining" and was translated by the Sept as "Genesis". The very precise meaning of Genesis is "making form the begining" and it refers to the creation of the physical world from the very begining. GBU
You write,"Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham." That is not how the Spirit has organized the God document. First Jesus's assertion:"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you". Healso says, "Before Abraham was I am." (Jojn 15:16) St Paul also speaks, "God chose us before the worlds began." So what is keeping the lie of God's promise to Abraham as the beginning of blessings when the blessings began with God's command 'Let us make man 'in our image and after our lieness.' God blessed them'. The emblem of 'the slain Lamb before the foundation of the world' informs us there were many things going on in heaven before Abraham was chosen. Melchizedek the Priest of the most high coming to greet Abraham was confirmation of Gods promise. Bread and wine he brought are symbolic, it points out Jesus Christ the high priest of our profession was foreordained.'
Perhaps I can explain the matter of 14 generations in the gospel of St Matthew. There are three sets of 14 each and it gives us 14x3=42 . This serves no other purpose that a number.The Spirit sets tags in order to make his meaning clear. He is not giving the family tree as such but presenting the prince of life in direct context of every man who comes into the world. Consequently nations of Israel and the Gentiles.
I shall cite the number as used in the Bible. 2 Ki.2 As Elisha would go to Bethel number of children jeered at his baldness. "They hated me without cause" Jesus' quote. 42 is with reference to Israel. In Re.11 we have the court "and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." The temple is built in heaven with Most holy pace up, holy place below and the court on the earth. The Court belongs to Israel and the Gentiles both shallface the great tribulation. So Israel is once again under the tag 42. (Re.11:2) The reason lies in the beast with whom Israel shall have concord. The authority of the beast is from the great dragon and it is tagged as 42 as in v.5 "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months."(Re.13-5-6) Red dragon against saints in heaven. Who are they? Martyrs who were killed by Israel. So from Abel onwards all the martyrs, prophets and saints were killed before time for their testimony. That brings to the question. Why would Israel shed innocent blood or hate them without cause? The Spirit of the dragon, Satan who sins from the beginning. The conclusion is inescapable- 42 is a tag set on the complicity of the nation with devil. St May not have had any awareness why he arrived at the number. The Spirit chose it for him. For that matter the Number 3, a tag for the Son.
With regards to the temple being built in heaven, the matter of the holy place in the middle escaped me. The sea of glass, of sand on which St John has an altar for souls. The martyrs crying from below comes from mid-heaven. Od them we haven in this verse. "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." (Re.15:2) They are waiting, you see. After the great tribulation also there shall batches of martyrs and they have their place in the holy place. The court is for the Gentiles, the mingled people as in the Book of Ezra, both Israel and the gentiles
Matthew 5:22 - But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
In Greek, RAKA means good for nothing. It is an insult! So first you have inward anger. And then you begin to express it, and it becomes an insult, "you good for nothing!" And then you say, "thou fool," and if you say thou fool, that is slander. It's the Greek word MOREH where we get our word moron from in English. So you go from inner anger, to insult, then it comes to slander when you say you fool or more literally "you moron."
First, when you say Raca, you are in danger of the council, and that would be the supreme court of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, who's the head of all of the civil and religious affairs of the Jews. We see the word council and we may not catch that this is the Sanhedrin. The Greek text has the word SUNEDRION which is the word for Sanhedrin. The translators could have used Sanhedrin instead of council. So, the first one for anger, you come before the judge. If it is insult, then you come before the Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin. If you say, "thou fool" or "you moron," you are in danger of hell fire.
Matthew 5:48 - Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Here is where many disagree with what the word "perfect" means. People will say that you can become perfect just like God because it says so right here. But this is why you have to love the Greek text!
The Greek word for perfect means to function in purpose. It doesn't mean to be perfect. It means to function in purpose! Jesus is saying that we, under the influence of God's Spirit, should be functioning in purpose like Him, because that is what Jesus does. He's the representative of God's love.
I'll stop here and pick back up perhaps tomorrow, Lord willing!
That love was displayed on the cross.
If it was a way that Christ would have gave in to Satan when Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world, The unchangeable attribute of God towards the world would have not been displayed or represented on the cross.
There would be no cross.
Also all the sacrifices in the OT that foreshadowed Christ would have been for nothing.
Thank God that his attributes doesn't change and his representation of those attributes doesn't change.
God bless.
That was very helpful.
Thanks again.
God bless.
Matthew 5:10 - Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The word persecuted, without getting sidetracked on a word study because I could go on for several posts just on this one Greek word and you guys wouldn't like me very much. DIOKO is the Greek word, and it means to chase or pursue. Our English understanding of the word "persecuted" may be different than what we get from the Greek.
When Satan persecutes us, he chases us. In Ephesians Chapter 6, Paul says, after having put on the armor, stand. Satan likes to get us on the run. He can't stop us, but he chases us. We get tired, weary, frustrated, discouraged, and we quit. We stop ourselves. He runs us ragged!
It is interesting that the word persecuted here is in the Perfect Tense. What that means in the Greek text is that the Perfect Tense expresses a present condition based upon past action. So, they have already been persecuted. Blessed are the ones who have already been persecuted. But it is not just general persecution. It is for righteousness' sake. It is for doing what is right in the eyes of God.
Matthew 5:11 - Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
The word "revile" means to insult someone. When they insult and persecute you, when they say all manner of evil. The King James says "falsely" which is not in the best manuscripts. It was added to show saying evil about you, the evil that you haven't done. They made it up!
Matthew 5:12 - Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
"Rejoice, and be glad" are the only two commands in the beatitudes. Both are Present Tense commands, which means be continually rejoicing, and continually be glad. The word "glad" in Greek, AGALLIASTHE means to celebrate. We don't catch this in our English translations.
Just on your Matthew 1:18 reference: almost every Bible version that I could find, uses the 'birth' of Jesus in their translation. The exception being Douay Rheims, which reads, "the generation of Christ was on this wise". Even Young's Literal Translation (which can be included in the group of better translations), refers to the Birth of Christ. I find it interesting, if not worrying, why translators found it more expedient to opt for 'birth'. In attempting high accuracy in their work, I would have thought that this deviation from the Greek would raise red flags for them. GBU.
Thank you so much for your words of encouragement!
Matthew 5:3 - Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
MAKARIOS is the word that's translated blessed in our English bibles. In Greek, MAKARIOS means to experience the fullness of something. Many Bible translations and commentaries will tell you that it means "Oh how happy," and that the Lord is presenting how to have a happy life.
But technically from the original language and its presentation, what the Lord is saying here is how the disciples of the kingdom of God will experience all the fullness of who God is by these principles.
Matthew 5:5 - Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
This Greek word for meek (PRAOUS), means to be open, or to be receptive. Some commentaries say that it means humble or to be a nice guy. But that's not what it means, and we don't get the meaning from our English translations.
Matthew 5:6 - Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
The word filled is not the normal word for fill. KORTAHSTHAYSONTAI is the Greek word, and it means to be satisfied.
Matthew 5:9 - Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
The Greek word for peacemakers, which is the only place in the bible where it is found, is a special word. It has nothing to do with going out and making peace on the earth. Paul made reference to this in Ephesians 6:15, where he said one of the pieces of armor is to "have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace."
Peacemakers are Christians that go out with the gospel and say, "You can make peace with God through Jesus Christ." Later, Jesus says, "Don't think that I came to bring peace upon the earth." So, what He is telling us is that it is not earthly. It's coming to tell people that you are fighting against God. Romans 5:1 tells us that "after having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" Peacemakers!
Matthew 4:3 - And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Satan starts off by saying, "If" thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But there is a huge difference between saying "if" or saying "since." It would be like saying "if you are available Thursday night for a bible study," or saying, "since you are available for a bible study." Big difference!
I'll share with you a little technical information. The word "if" in the Greek text is what is called the first-class condition assumed to be true. It can and should be translated "since." Please take note that the devil, in tempting Jesus, was not tempting Him to prove that He was the Son of God. Satan is saying since you are the Son of God, then do this. Misuse your authority. Misuse your position. Be disobedient to your heavenly Father. But please take note that Satan is not asking Jesus to prove Himself to be the Son of God, but actually questioning Him, baiting Him to disobey the commandments of God.
Matthew 4:21 - And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
Now I want to share something interesting about the word mending. The word mending is the Greek word KATARTIDZO, and that is what this word means. It means "to mend." It is actually a medical term that means the mending of broken bones or the mending of the net. KATARTIDZO is the same word used by Paul in Ephesians Chapter 2 when he talked about the equipping of the saints, KATARTIDZO. Equipping does not mean that someone trains you how to go out and share the gospel. That is not what it means.
God's ministry is to mend us. His ministry is to mend the saints so that they will be functional members in the body of Christ. That is basically what this Paul is talking about, KATARTIDZO, the mending of the saints.
Matthew 2:7 - Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
In Verse 7, Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men or magi, he determined from them what time the star appeared. It is literally "What time of the appearing star." You might think it's being too technical to be literal, but that's literally how the Greek text reads. It was the appearing and the disappearing star. It is a word that describes what kind of star it was. So literally, in the Greek text, he says "What time of the appearing star?" They had seen this appearing star. It was the description of what kind of star it was.
Matthew 2:23 - And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
Now if you have the time to do a study on this, and you're checking out your bible references, you will come to a conclusion, after much frustration and research, that there's no place in the bible where it says, "And He shall be called a Nazarene," yet it's in quotes right before us in this verse.
There are several instances in which He is called a shoot, a rod of Jesse, etc. It is interesting that the Greek word NAZAR for Nazarene means a root or a shoot, which is a play on the Hebrew word NATZAR which means the same thing. This is not a quotation of the city that He would live in, but who He would be. He would be a root and shoot of Jesse who would live in the city that would symbolize who He is. Nowhere in the bible does it prophecy that He is going to be a Nazarene or live in Nazareth, so no prophecy was fulfilled in this verse. But it does say that He is going to be a NATZAR, a root or a shoot of Jesse, which is what the word Nazarene means.
What Matthew is presenting fits perfectly to what John said in John 1:14 that "The word became flesh and dwelt among us." You see, Jesus was not born. He became flesh. He has always been in existence. This is why Matthew avoids using the word for birth. He's presenting to us the origin of the Christ.
It also says that "before they came together," which is a Greek word that means before their marriage was consummated.
Matthew 1:20 - But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Verse 20, from a literal Greek translation says, "After thinking on these things." And the English text is really pretty sad here because most English translations say, "While he was thinking on these things." But it's not that way in the original Greek text. It is an Aorist Participle, which tells us that this was after he thought on these things, after he made the decision about what he was going to do.
Matthew 2:1 - Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, During the days of Herod's reign,
It says "Behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. Our English text says, "wise men," but the literal Greek word is the word MAGOI for wise men. It's where we get our English word magic and magician from. They were sorcerers. This could have been translated as "there came magicians (or sorcerers) from the east to Jerusalem." In the English, the words "wise men" sounds like these were just some smart dudes! We think of wise men, and we might think of the three men in our manger scenes, even though that's not even accurate. There were many more than three because they always travelled in large groups.
You are right, the word "even" doesn't appear in the grk text. As you said it was probably used to emphasize Jesus' person.
The grk says:
Acts 9:17,"...the Lord sent me, Jesus, who appeared to you on the way that you were coming..."
1 Thessalonians 1:10, "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who releases of us from the coming wrath."
Hebrews 6:20, " Where forerunner for us Jesus entered, becoming high priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedec".
1 John 5:6, "He is who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ; not in water only, but in water and blood. And the Spirit is that bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth."
The text I am using is the majority text which is almost the same as the received text.
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