The Light and the Dark

#Matthew 6. 22 - 23 #bible study #greek #whatjesussaid

see also #Luke 11. 33 - 36

word for word translation

the lamp of the body is the eye
if therefore is (note subjunctive / conditional ) the eye of you open/ sincere/ simple (2nd declension adjective with multiple meanings) whole the body of you bright /shining will be.

if but the eye of you evil is whole the body of you dark will be.
if therefore the light to you dark is the dark how much !?


Note the parallelism and the subjunctives.

Lamp often gets translates as Light but the greek is luknos!

Here is the ancient concept of the eye being a gate or link to the soul.

I think however given the subjunctives our Lord is talking as much about spiritual as physical perception. Letting in the light? He is not linking physical disability to sin as a cause or effect!

This is light as an energizing force as much spiritual as physical?

Think of those verses in which he or others spoke of the Light of the World?


A note for fellow Whovians.  Last week the Doctor spoke of never seeing paradise and this week he's into the darkness! We joke What would the Doctor do?

It would seem this season our favorite Gallifreyan is seeking redemption and healing for himself and others.

We don't need a Tardis for that and have a Companion and Friend to call on for help!

Heracles and Athena An Image

with the new Heracles movie coming soon I thought for my middle week post I might look at some images of Heracles. Here's the son of Zeus and his half sister.

Notice he's not the pumped up wrestler of later Hellenistic and Roman art but more svelte! That lion skin is suppose to act as armor as the Nemean lion allegedly had a hide so thick Heracles had to spear or stab it down its throat to kill it.

MMM no one ever dares suggest Mycenaean  aristos may have been such lousy hunters they celebrated lion hunts cos they weren't very good at catching them?

Iatros Tis

ΙΑΤΡΟΣ ΤΙΣ

#DoctorWho Premiere Today!

Whats this got to do with #Greek?

Yeah I know Sunday is normally a bible study in the  Greek NT relate dpost however I'm working my way  thru Clarke's book on Matthew.

No I'm NOT about to suggest the Dr should be compared to JC!

What I am going to say is that don't let anyone tell you its a sin to enjoy SF&F.

Appreciate the Classics Ancient or Modern Secular or Spiritual

Where's your Treasure?

#Gospel of Matthew 6: 19 - 21.

Where's Your Treasure ?

Word for word translation

not make treasure for you plural treasures upon the earth
where moth and corrosion / rust "eating" spoil
and where thieves dig through and steal
make treasure and / but for you plural treasures in heaven
where neither moth nor rust spoil
and where thieves not dig through nor steal
where for is the treasure of you
there will be and / also the heart of you.

Why did I type make treasure ?
the greek verb has a izoo suffix  its theesaurizoo

note also what digging through means ... many of the people listening would have had homes made of sun dried brick or stucco or clay over a wooden frame or stone loosely packed

for them no gold just coins of metal that might tarnish or a valuable item might be a chest full of high quality linen or wool or an embroidered festival robe

again consider making treasure

we attribute value to various material objects  but we need to invest in spiritual treasures as well ?!

Jesus on Fasting

Matthew 6: 16 - 18

#Jesus on #Fasting #Biblestudy #greeknewtestament #gospel

Neesteuoo fast or abstain

Judging from the pair of verses here jesus is talking from ritual fasting perhaps for funerals?

Word for word

whenever and you plural are fasting not become like the hypocrites adjective sullen angry sad faces they hide for the faces of them so that they appear / are obviously to humans / people to be fasting.

So do not "make a song and dance" of fasting.

Note the use of ginesthe in Greek this verb ginomai  in late greek seems to be used in a way that overlaps or replaces more classical poieoo or prassoo. Its like the English usage of do particularly here.

Do not become / be / act like / behave like ...

Notice how Jesus focuses on actions ? !

skuthroopoi to look sullen angry sad resentful

aphanizoo may refer to covering one's face making it unseen unclear by covering it with ashes or dirt or letting your face hang loose

In verse 17 Jesus asks us to instead when fasting to do it in private

you and when fasting anoint of you the head and the face of you wash ...

if you're doing it for god and not appearances sake  then god will see !

notice the emphasis and contrast once again between public and private rituals and behaviour a theme throughout this chapter.

What are modern parallels?

Perhaps the person who insists on telling everyone about their new "healthy" diet or the vegetarian or vegan who thinks dieting makes them spiritually or ethically superior?

You don't fast to be superior or get praised?

Yes you can encourage people to try a limited fast for health reasons but don't make a performance of it!

Finally and off topic don't forget to pray for peace and healing for everyone in gaza israel iraq or syria Christian Muslim Yazidi or Jew !

Hallowed be your name

I'v been thinking about Matthew 6: 9

   HALLOWED BE THE NAME OF YOU

   Hallowed be holy.  Hagiasthoo. Make Sacred.

Its a command to respect and KEEP on respecting the Holy Name.

the stem of this *Hag is related distantly to English AWE which was spelt in a g in the Middle Ages and Gothic has a word agis. Note also Latin Sacer *SAK.

So the Divine is awesome! We know that or should? How do we show it?

Ritual Prayer Forgiveness of others Action COMPASSION

Remember jesus ends this section after moving onto the topic of fasting by reminding us about forgiveness an ACTION?

At the VERY least try to refrain from any outbreaks of obscenity or oath taking and breaking that "Disses" the Holy Name?