good and goodness and galatians 5:22

Galatians 5: 22 includes one of THOSE Greek words. Yes by THOSE I mean one of those words that seems to vary in translation.

In Verse 22 khreestotees is followed by agathosunee and khreestotees and jhreestos generally get translated as kindness or gentefulness or some benefical or useful or honest.

Why is Paul using two words and not just aaying goodness?

Perhaps he is trying to point out goodness is not just a idea but also an action ?

It is part of a list of fruits of the spirit including love peace and  forbearance or longsuffering are alternative translations of makrothumia and then we have khreestotees followed by agathosunee and finally faith.

I suspect Paul is trying to express the idea of goodness leading to being useful king honest gentke and ethical and linking it to goodness as a general concept thats its something you have as a spiritual condition but also a gift expressed by actions ?

Or perhaps not? 

How do you interpret that word ? 

STAUROS

#stauros #cross #origin #usage #koinegreek

STAUROS

What a strange word #stauros is!

While studying Luke 9:23 I reread the dictionary entry for STAUROS which is "cross" in Greek.

... well it is ... now but its probably a distant cousin of stave and staff and originally it meant upright stake pole or part of a palisade or fence of wood. If stauros is not cognate to stave and staff it could be sta - standing plus ouros boundary hind end the upright thing that marks a edge?

The Greek verb is also an o-stem contract stauro+oo

Whatever its origin its meaning and usage has changed from poles and pieces of timber in Homer to a singular usage in Koine of a pole or piece of timber used for punishment.

I think we can blame the Romans love of cruel punishments for this one.

Latin has crux for cross so why did stauros be used to translate this?

How could Roman usage have  changed Greek?

I suspect its a case of semantic transfer via slang.

Executioners referring to criminals and rebels as being "staked" since crosses originally were a tau shape and maybe if there was a shortage of nails wooden stakes could have been used to fasten victims to the top bar.

When Jesus asked others to raise p a cross or piece of timber to follow him he was not just asking people to take on a heavy burden but pain and suffering.

Our "crosses to bear" fortunately is usually metaphors not actual torture equipment.

This is however also prophecy since we know several of the disciples and other early Christians were crucified by the Romans.

Our Holy Cross is a symbol of both suffering and protection.

Lent is coming and soon Easter. Contemplate the Cross.

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 8

#Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 8

Blessed (are) the pure in (the) heart for they God will see.

μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θεὸν ὄψονται.

A simple straightforward verse expressing a beautiful idea.

The dative form of καρδία means no preposition ἐν is necessary in  Greek.

Ὄψονται is indeed the future form of horaoo ὁραω despite its p stem.

Its one of those irregular verbs you need to learn more details of so please consult your dictionary and grammar for full details.

Ὁραω is the present but in other tenses the stem is op – οπ – or heo when the augment is added leading to ἑόρακα. 

My next post for Christmas Eve will be about Luke Chapter 2 and the Angels

and there will a xmas ecard watch out for it !

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 6 hunger and thirst

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 6

Blessed (are) those who hunger and those who thirst

for righteousness for they will be satisfied

μακάριοι οἱ πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες τὴν δικαιοσύνην,

ὅτι αὐτοὶ χορτασθήσονται.

Luke 6:21 has those who thirst now you will be however it is a plural you so perhaps this minor difference could be explained by Luke's informant perhaps being someone standing further away from Jesus who didn't hear or remember all of the Sermon? 

πεινάω hunger and διψάω thirst two new contract verbs this time with A stems and yes διψάω is a present form not future.

The σύνη suffix is usually translated as – ness. Δικαιοσύνη comes from Δικαιος.

Χορτάζω to feed until full to be full to be satisfied.

Note the future passive.

Desire can be a good thing if focused on an ethical goal?

This has been your Sunday Bible Study Aid. Looking for something more secular?

Midweek I'm running a post series on the 3 Grace Classical theme and how its been used in Art over the centuries. 

Dative Spirit Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 3 some notes

DATIVE SPIRIT

MATTHEW Ch. 5 Verse 3

μακαριοι οἱ πτωχοι τῷ πνευματι

Blessed (are) the poor in spirit for theirs is the realm of the heavens

The parallel section in Luke 6. 20 – 23 omits pneumati

Now πνευματι is dative rather than genitive. Why?

Greek can use dative without a preposition.

This could be a dative of place, cause, means, or respect.

Matthew stresses poverty of spirit but the other kind of poverty is meant as well.

As a matter of style the use of the dative also contrasts with the genitive forms in the secondary subordinate clause.

Was Jesus bilingual in Greek? Could the minor differences between verses from Gospel to Gospel reflect jesus speaking first in Greek or Aramaic depending on his audience and then repeating himself in the other language?

However the primary message is the important one.

BLESSED ARE THE POOR

and it is a lovely example of the dative form too!

gegraptai it is written

Matthew 4: 4

The Temptation of Christ or should that be the testing of the devil?

Jesus responds to temptation by citing mainly Deuteronomy.

So whats interesting about his use of the word GEGRAPTAI

translated It is written

Its not Aorist or Present in Greek.

Its Perfect Passive a rarer form and why?


The Greek Perfect is often defined as a verb describing or expressing the

PRESENT STATE RESULTING FROM A PAST ACTION.

... it was written by someone  with the implication that it is active real true valid

the ancient past continuing into the future !