Hot answers tagged new-testament
14
The Greek word for robber in John 18:40 is λῃστής. This word is defined by Strong's Enhanced Lexicon this way:
3027 ἀρχιλῃστής, λῃστής [lestes /lace·tace/] n m. From leizomai (to
plunder);15 occurrences; AV translates as “thief” 11 times, and
“robber” four times. 1 a robber, plunderer, freebooter, brigand.
The Greek word used as murder here is ...
14
My impression is that Aramaic primacy is not taken very seriously among experts, so there's not much in the way of scholarly works debunking it. (This is not unusual, compare to say mythicism or the theory that Jesus and Mary Magdaline were married, neither of which had scholarly debunkings until recently.) So rather than citing experts, I'm just going to ...
13
The footnote exists because textual variants exist (different manuscripts have different words). Although "son" and "god" seem different, μονογενὴς θεός (the only God) and ὁ μονογενὴς υἱός (the only son) are actually not far off. In fact, in some of the manuscripts, they are contracted such that only one letter distinguishes them. We cannot be certain which ...
13
To answer your first question, we should not simply accept Sinaiticus as the source of the truth for the New Testament. It has great weight in debates from its age, but age is not the final arbiter in textual considerations.
Codex Sinaiticus was made in the 4th century on parchment using capital letters (a manuscript in all capitals is called an "uncial"). ...
11
Translation
From the Apostolic Bible:
Your first question is in regards to the translation. It seems that all three would be pretty valid translations. The original Greek for "the beginnings" here is arche:
Strings G746
1. beginning, origin
2. the person or thing that commences, the first person or thing in a series, the leader
3. that by ...
8
I. Howard Marshall gives a concise statement of the options for harmonization in his commentary:
It is quite possible that Matthew or Luke is simply reporting what was commonly said in Jerusalem, and that we are not meant to harmonize the two accounts. If we do try to harmonzie (sic) them, the following possibilities arise: (1). Judas hanged himself ...
7
Typically the word "righteous" or "just" are simply alternative translations of the same word, "dikaios" (δικαιος and cognate verbs and such). There is simply no difference.
I'll go ahead and add an analogous example that people also often confuse, and that is the difference between "faith" and "belief". In Greek they are translations of the same root. In ...
6
The book was accepted into the canon at the Council of Carthage in 397 AD.
It was, at the time when the canon was being constructed, believed to be authored by the Apostle John. Anything written by one of the disciples of Jesus tends to be held sacred.
There was some opposition to its inclusion. One of the views against this was that it was one of the ...
6
Although Frank has a great answer above, I thought I'd add a couple of things. The question of the proximity of a text to the original depends on a number of factors, age being an important one, but certainly not the only one.
To think about this, it is necessary to think about the process of manuscript manufacture in the early years of the church. ...
6
The early christians made a tradition out of meeting on "the first day of the week", which is Sunday, because Saturday is the last day of the week (you can compare this to an American calendar which start the week on a Sunday and ends it on a Saturday.)
Acts 20:7:
On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul
spoke to the people ...
5
Jesus seems to have followed, out of courtesy, the taboo by the Rabbis on pronouncing the Lords name (יהוה) Yahweh as though there was something sacred about it. This was not the original practice of the Hebrews but a ban on pronouncing the name started to appear around the time of Antiochus IV (175 BC).
Simply from the fact that the New Testament never ...
5
Dr. Sebastian P. Brock, who retired from teaching at Oxford University, has demonstrated that the Peshitta New Testament was translated from the Greek into Syriac. The name of Jesus in the Syriac Peshitta text is ܝܫܘܥ (Jesu). This is how it is rendered in Matthew 1:21. However, the name 'Joshua' is not consistently rendered in this way in Syriac, presumably ...
5
In the New Testament, it's found in Matthew 28:18-20:
"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I ...
5
Noah has given an excellent answer, but I would like to give other issues with Aramaic primacy.
There are NT fragments in Greek that are older than anything in Aramaic. Very early fragments. The John Rylands fragment of John's Gospel, P52 (AD ~125), is older by centuries than any copy of the Peshitta that has survived, and even older than the work in the ...
4
Certainly it changes the passage from being descriptive to being prescriptive. The intent of that section (6:3-10) seems to be to contrast two types of people: 1) those with unsound doctrine who pursue "godliness" as a means to financial gain, and 2) those with sound teaching who pursue contentment for a different kind of gain. If the phrase is kept, it ...
4
To build on blundin's answer, the most likely sense of the word in this context is "brigand". The NET Bible includes this footnote:
It is possible that Barabbas was merely a robber or highwayman, but more likely, given the use of the term ληστής (lhsth") in Josephus and other early sources, that he was a guerrilla warrior or revolutionary leader. See ...
4
God proclaims his name to Moses as
Yahweh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. (Ex 34:6-7a, NIV)
A few verses beforehand we read
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will ...
4
As GalacticCowboy's answer suggests, the phrase seems to be related to commissioning elders. Given that Paul was a student of Gamaliel (Acts 22) and the author of Hebrews seems deeply knowledgeable about Jewish sacrificial rites and uses arguments similar to Paul's in Galatians, it seems possible that both are referencing the rabbinic practice of semikhah ...
4
The oldest and most studied claim of this sort is that there was an Aramaic gospel which served as a source for the synoptics. In particular, many early church fathers believed that the original version of Matthew was written in Aramaic based in part on the writings of Papias who said: "For Matthew composed the logia [sayings] in Hebrew style; but each ...
3
Check out James R. Edwards' book, The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition. From my review in the Stone-Campbell Journal, 14:2 Fall, 2011:
This volume presents an older idea concerning the formation of the Synoptic Gospels, while connecting the data in a new way. The current volume resurrects an older idea concerning the formation ...
3
In 1 Timothy 5:22, the context (starting from verse 17) appears to be focused upon the appointment of elders (presbuteros). It seems from various passages (Acts 6:6, 13:3; 1 Timothy 4:14) that this act (laying on of hands) symbolized the dedication or commissioning of an individual to a task - in this case, leading the church.
2 Timothy 1:6 apparently ...
3
Sometimes robber is generally used as a collective term to refer to rebels or outlaws in a rebellion who steal, kill, and destroy... After all, they steal lives and property.
So in this case, I would venture to say that Barabbas, in the rebellion, went through the countryside, stealing from the people and killed as well.
3
INDICATIONS OF LXX PROVERBS 1:7 IN GREEK NEW TESTAMENT(?)
Conlusion:
There are indications (reasons) to believe the LXX of Proverbs 1:7 has an canonical-theological influence, but the specific evidence of a references to this verse in the Gk. New Testament appears to be indeterminate. Nevertheless, we ourselves, may be reminded, wherever we read εὐσέβεια ...
2
Starting with the basic textual criticism, here's a note from the NET Bible:
Although most witnesses, including some early versions and fathers (D2 Ψ Ï sy Cyp Lcf Ambst), have ἀφίστασο ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων (afistaso apo’ twn toioutwn, “stay away from such things!”) after εὐσεβείαν (eusebeian, “godliness”; thus, “who suppose that godliness is a way of making ...
2
The source of this additional clause is the following bit of Greek:
ἀφιστασο ἀπο των τοιουτων
Which means essentially "keep away from them", with the key word being ἀφιστημι. This clause appears in the majority of manuscripts, but not in the best ones. Among the great uncials, it is present only in a ninth-century emendation to Codex Bezae. Codex ...
2
This may be what you were thinking of. Although Jesus told his disciples to baptize, the New Testament doesn't spell out exactly how baptism should be done. Detailed instructions can be found in chapter 7 of the Didache:
And concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and ...
2
There seems to be a certain amount of ambiguity in the Greek. My knowledge of Greek grammar has room for improvement, but here's a shot at it.
δοῦλος ἐκλήθης, μή σοι μελέτω·
ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ δύνασαι ἐλεύθερος γενέσθαι,
μᾶλλον χρῆσαι.
I have added paragraph breaks to highlight the three clauses of the sentence. χρῆσαι is χράομαι, the root meaning of which is to ...
2
καταλλάγητε is the 2nd plural aorist passive imperative of καταλλάσσω.
Breaking this down, 2nd plural is you (all) "y'all." Passive makes the subject of the verb the recipient of the action. Imperatives are commands and aorist imperatives generally indicate a command to start something.
So what would "we reconcile them" look like? καταλλάσoμεν αὐτοῦς.
...
2
I am drawing on some portions of notes that I had to present in a class. As such, there are sentence fragments and other oddities in it that I've yet to edit out. There's a lot more information than is required in order to answer your questions, but setting the context is always a default that I have.
Ultimately, I don't really believe that there is any ...
1
The problem with these verses is that they are somewhat exposed to two interpretations in the Greek. In the Greek is more like this:
If anyone thinks he is behaving unseemly to ‘the virgin’ (either daughter or spouse) and if to be ‘beyond prime’ and so it ought to be what he wants. (my paraphrase from the Greek English interlinear Bible)
The key points ...
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