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Below I show a more accurate translation of each line of the Lord’s Prayer and how that translation lines up with the original Greek. I then provide a standard ancient Greek definition of that line’s key words. Many of the translation issues here can be explored in other articles on this site. Links are provided.

Matthew 6:9

Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς:
Father of ours, that one in the skies,

“Skies“ is the Greek ouranos, which means, in common usage, “sky”, “vault of the sky”, “heaven as the seat of the gods”, “the universe” and “the climate”. It is plural. It does not refer to the afterlife. See this article.

Ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου,
It must be sanctified, this name of yours.

The “it must be” is from the form of the verb. It is a “third-party command”, a Greek verb form that works like our “it must”. The verbs in these first three sentences —“be sanctified”, “show up” and “happen”,— are all third-party commands. See this article.

“Be sanctified” is from hagiazo, which means “to separate from profane things and dedicate to God”, “to dedicate people to God”, “to purify” and “to cleanse externally or internally”. It is not an adjective nor the Greek word that means “hallowed”.

Matthew 6:10

ἐλθάτω ἡ βασιλεία σου,
It must show up, this realm of yours.

“Show up“ is from erchomai, which means “to start”, “to set out”, “to come”, “to go” and any kind of motion. It means both “to start” on a journey and “to arrive” at a place. Our English word “show up” captures both the “start” and “come” ideas. See this article for more.

γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς:
It must happen, this will of yours, as in sky also on earth.

“Happen“ is from ginomai, which means “to become”, “to come into being”, “to happen” and “to be produced”. It means changing into a new state of being. It is the complementary opposite of the verb “to be” (eimi) which indicates existence in the same state. It does not mean “done”. See this article for more.

Matthew 6:11

Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον:
This bread of ours, the existing upon, give us this day.

“Existing upon“ is from epiousios, which first appears here. This word is likely from epi (“upon”) and the gerund form of eimi, (“to be”) meaning literally “upon being” or “being upon”. Some suggest it means “over being” or “above being” from the meaning of epi as “over”, with the sense of meaning “supernatural” or “super-essential”. Discussion about its possible meanings go back to the very early Christian writers. See these two articles discussing its mystery: part one, part two.

Matthew 6:12

καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν,
Also, let go for us those debts of ours.

“Let go” is from aphiemi, which means “to let fall”, “to send away”, “to discharge”, “to give up”, “hand over”, “to let loose”, “to get rid of”, “to leave alone”, “to pass by”, “to permit” and “to send forth from oneself”. It does not mean “forgive”. See this article.

“Debts” is from opheilema, which means “that which is owed” and “debt”. See this article.

ὡς κaὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν:
as even we ourselves let go of those debtors of ours.

“We ourselves” is from hemeis, the first person plural pronoun, “we”, “us”. When used as a subject, it has the sense of “we ourselves” because the pronoun is also a part of the verb. See this article.

“Debtors” is from opheiletes, which means “a debtor”, “a person who owes a debt” or “one who is under a bond”.

Matthew 6:13

καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν,
Also, not you might bring us into a trial.

“Might” is from the subjective form of the verb.

“Bring” is eisphero, which means “to carry in”, “to bring in”, “to contribute”, “to bring into”, “to introduce”, “to bring forward”, “to propose”, “to carry with one”, “to bring with”, “to draw a break”, “to drink” [water], “to sweep along” [as a river] and “to nominate”.

“Trial“ is from peirasmos, which means a “trial”, “worry”, “an experiment”, and “an attempt”. The root word is the verb peirazo, which means “make a proof”, “to try”, “to test a person” and “to attempt”.

ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.
Instead, rescue us from this worthless one.

“Rescue“ is from rhyomai, which means “to draw to oneself”, “to draw out of danger”, “to rescue”, “to save”, “to deliver”, “to save from an illness”, “to shield”, “to guard”, “to protect”, “to draw back”, “to hold back”, “to check” and “to keep off”.

“The…one” is the Greek definite article, hos, (”the”), which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of “the one” or, in the plural, “the ones”.

“Worthless ” is from poneros, an adjective, which we discuss on this page. In a moral sense, it means “worthless”, “base” and “cowardly”.

Conclusion

As you can see from the definitions above, these key words can have a variety of meanings, but a useful version is:

This is my first article in several weeks. I have been in the hospital with both lung and heart problems. Hope to be posting more regularly from now on, but I have another heart procedure next week but I should be in the hospital for one night, but who know about recovery time.

In Matthew, this verse comes after the Pharisees attack Jesus, saying that he casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub. Jesus responds with his verses about the demon’s house falling if it is divided against itself. He ends his defense by saying that if he casts out demons by the power of God, the kingdom of heaven has come to them. This verse seems related but disconnected from what went before.

Matthew 12:29

NIV: Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

This verse tells us something important about “casting out demons” (see this article), but does it tell us what the demon does in possessing a person or what Jesus does in casting demons out?

The Greek word translated as "can" means “having the power.” This verb has the same root as the Greek noun that means “power.” This Greek word is the source of our words “dynamo” and “dynamic.” Here, it is the power to overcome the “strong man”.

The word that connects this verse to what comes before is the word translated as “house.” The Greek word refers to the building itself and all the people that dwell in it, including slaves and servants. In the “house divided” verses, its meaning was the “household,” referring to a group of demons. Their connection is what falls. However, in this verse, the “house” is what contains property. It is this property, which can be removed, that is the focus of the action.

Unusual Words

This verse has four Greek words that are unusual for Jesus. All four are more common in the Greek Old Testament(OT), the Septuagint, but I have been unable to find an OT Greek verse that uses any two of them together as Jesus does here.

The Greek word translated as “strong man” appears only in this verse and in the similar verse in Mark 3:27. It is ischuros, from the Greek noun ischus, meaning “strength.” In this form it is an adjective. As an adjective, it means “strong,” “mighty,” and “powerful.” Since it is preceded by an article, it acts like a noun, “the strong one” or “the powerful one.”

The next two uncommon words in the verse are translated as “carry off” and “possessions.”

“Carry off” is from harpazo, which means to “snatch away,” “carry off,” and “overpower.” This word is only used in six verses, half of them forms of this verse. It is usually translated as “snatched away.” This word is also related to the final word in the verse, the punchline.

“Possessions” is skeuos, which means a “vessel,” “house-gear,” “utensils,” and “equipment.” This word is common in the Greek OT, used to describe the property that people carry with them. Translating it as “possessions,” however, makes it sound like those who are possessed, but it is unrelated to the Greek word meaning “possess.” Its form is singular, not plural so perhaps our word, “property,” works best for translating it.

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The Punchline

Like “strong man,” the word translated as “can plunder,” appears only in this verse and in the similar verse in Mark 3:27. It is from diarpazo, which means, “tear to pieces,” “carry away,” and “seize as plunder.” It is a form of the Greek word, harpazo above translated as “carry off”. It has an added prefix, dia, that means “through”. In the Old Testament, it is used to translate several different Hebrew words including those for “rob” and “spoil.”

However, there is no Greek word meaning “can” in the last line. The form of “plunder” is the future tense so the word means “will plunder” instead of “can plunder.” The object of this plundering is the “house” but logically what is being “carried away” by this plundering is the property.

A more literal translation of this verse would be:

Listeners Heard: Or how does anyone have the power to go into the house of the strong one and to carry off that property of his when he doesn’t first tie up the strong one? And then he will plunder that house of his.

Conclusions

This verse is about having power.

It could be about the power of Jesus. If we assume the house is that of the demons, the “strong one” becomes the prince of demons, Beelzebub. The “property” is those who have been possessed, and “carrying them off” becomes freeing them from the demon. Jesus says that he does this by first “tying up” the strong one. His power will take away what Beelzebub possesses.

This verse could also be about the power of a demon, who goes into the “house” of a person’s mind. There he ties up the strength of a person and “plunders” his house in the sense of controlling him.

There are arguments for and against both of these interpretations (see these commentaries), which is what makes this verse so interesting. Perhaps knowing the range of meanings for the key words involved, you can develop your own opinions.

The word discussed in this article is airo, ἀράτω. This Greek word is used by Jesus in fifty-six verses. This makes it the eighteenth most popular Greek verb he uses. In the King James version, this word is usually translated as “take”, but in Greek it means “to pick up”, “to lift up”, “to take”, “to raise”, “to raise up”, “to exalt”, “to lift and take away”, “to remove”, “elevate”, “to bear”, “to carry off”, “to take and apply to any use”, “lifted” and “to cause to cease”. It is also one of the words translated as “forgive” when related to “sins”. (More about that in this article.)

Lifted Up

In Greek, this word has a strong sense of “elevating” something. Jesus clearly used it that way in John 3:14, which occurs early in Jesus’s discussion with Nicodemus, after Jesus says that he has been in heaven, which is why he understands heavenly things:

NIV: Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

Moses raised a brass image of a snake in the wilderness to cure a plague of serpents in the desert. Jesus may be using this as an analogy for his being lifted on the cross, but it could also be a reference to his being raised up into the heavenly realm. In another verse, Jesus uses this word to describe what more clearly appears to be his ascension into the heavenly realm in John 6:62:

NIV: Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!

Jesus said this after scaring many followers away by saying that they had to eat his body and drink his blood (see this article). He was talking about his coming down from the sky.

These are the two verses where Jesus this verb in its primary sense of “raising” something up to the sky. Both seem to refer to him being elevated or lifted up, but in a very vague way.

To “Take”

This word, airo, is usually not used in the Bible in its primary sense of “to elevate”. Instead, it is used primarily to mean “to pick up” in the sense of “take”. A good example is in Luke 9:3:

NIV: Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt.

Such translation as “take” is commonly done with supporting adverbs. In English, “take” can mean very different things based upon what adverb it is used with. The KJV frequently uses “up” [take up (32x)], “away” [take away (25x)], as well as “take” without an adverb (25x).

Translation as “take” is especially confusing because another one of Jesus’s favorite multi-meaning words, lambano, also is translated as to “take”. It means “take” more in the sense of “take hold of”, “grasp”, “seize”, “catch”, “overtake”, “find out”, “detect” and so on. This verb is used by Jesus in fifty-four verses. So, these two different Greek words were used by Jesus with similar frequency. Most commonly, the airo “take” is used to describe things that we pick up to “take”. It does not usually describe an exchange between people. The lambano “take” is used to describe things we take because they are given to us. To add to this fun, lambano can also be translated as “receive”, the opposite of “take”, depending on the context. It works like our word “get”, which can mean both to “take” and “receive”.

Many newer English Bibles occasionally translate airo as other words besides “take”. Sometimes, the words can bring us closer to the primary meaning of the words as “lift”. For example, when the KJV describes collecting fragments at the feeding of the four thousand as “take up”, the NIV describes it differently:

NIV: And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?

“Pick up” is certainly a more common phrase today than “take up” and it echoes the primary meaning of the word as “lift”.

However, newer bibles can also change this word based upon the context so that English readers cannot even recognize what Greek word may have been used in the source. For example, can you find the airo in John 15:2?

NIV: He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

The “cuts off” is airo while the “prunes” is a Greek word the Jesus only uses once, in this verse, that primarily means “cleanse” and “purify”. We can see which is airo by checking the KJV, which translated the “cuts off” more consistently as ““takes away.”

Conclusion

Sadly, the airo sense of being “lifted” could be preserved easily by using words like “picked up” rather than “takes up”. The KJV preference for using some form of “takes” seems to have obscured the larger sense of the word. This “take” has been largely copied by modern translations. Modern bibles may occasionally, however, use words like “picks up” which give us the original sense in which Jesus spoke, but they can also give us translations such as “cuts off,” which give no sense of something being lifted away. They do not seem interested in preserving the word’s sense of being lifted at all.

This article covers a series of Jesus’s verses about the “Holy Spirit,” though that term is not used. In the previous verse, John 16:7, Jesus says that he must go so that he can send the “Advocate/Comforter” to them. The Greek word translated as (KJV) “advocate” and (NIV) “comforter,” means a “summoned assistant”. It was used primarily to describe a professional who assists with legal trials.

Jesus describes the role of this advocate in John 16:8:

NIV: When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:

• The words in boldface are explained in this article.

The “he” here is the “advocate/comforter”. However, his role is not what is described in Biblical translation because Jesus did not say what Biblical translators wanted him to say.

The Greek word translated as “prove to be in the wrong” simply means “to disgrace” or “to shame”. “The world” is the social order, “society”, that is, the standards of society. Those were controlled by the Pharisees and Sadducees, those who maintain the religious order of Judea.

A more accurate translation of this verse would be:

Listeners Heard: And, showing up, that one there will disgrace this society about mistakes, and about virtue and about judgment.

“That one there” is in a form that refers back to the previous verse’s advocate/comforter.

Not “Sin” But “Mistakes”

Then, Jesus goes on to explain these three ideas that disgrace this social order. He starts with “sin” in John 16:9:

NIV: .. about sin, because people do not believe in me;

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Jesus was not as quick as the clerics translating the Bible to accuse people of “sin”. The word that he used means “mistakes” (see this article). The Greek word meaning “truly” or “certainly” follows “mistakes”, but it is not translated. It is repeated in each of the following verses, but, for some reason, never included in the English translation.

There is no Greek word for “people” in this verse. It comes from the plural form of the verb. The verb means “trust” rather than “believe.” The Greek preposition translated as “in” with this verb more likely had the sense of “trust as much as” (see this article).

Listeners Heard: About mistakes, truly, because they do not trust as much as me.

The “they” refers to those in Judean society. Jesus defines their common mistake as not trusting. This is a lot less egocentric than Jesus defining “sin” as people not “believing in” him. Especially since in Matthew 12:32 and Luke 12:10, Jesus said that those speaking against the son of the man will be let go.

Understanding Virtue

In the next verse, Matthew 16:10, Jesus describes the role of the Consular/Advocate in disgracing the world as related to “righteousness”.

NIV about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;

The Greek word translated as “righteousness” means “justice”, “fulfillment of the law” and “being in an ideal state”. In today’s English, we would say “virtue”. The Greek word meaning “truly” or “certainly” follows “righteousness”, but it is not translated. We saw this same omission in the previous verse.

The Greek word translated as “see” is not one of the common words meaning “see”. It has the sense of “observe”, that is, watching something carefully. It is the Greek root of our word “theater”.

Jesus has been performing the role of acting as an example, one who we must emulate to be virtuous.

Listeners Heard: ...concerning virtue, truly, because I go into the presence of the Father, and no longer do you observe me...

The Advocate/Comforter will not act as an exemplar of virtue, like Jesus did, but guide people towards virtue in another way.

Judgment Not Condemn

This brings us to the final verse, John 16:11:

NIV: And about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

The Greek word translated as “judgment” is krisis. It means distinguishing among choices and “separating” things. Jesus uses it in a variety of ways, though the Bible usually translates it as “judgment”. The Greek word meaning “truly” or “certainly” follows “judgment” but, again, it is not translated.

The word translated as “prince” means “high one” and could refer to anyone with the highest authority in a given area, Caesar or a high priest. “Stands condemned” is the verb form of the noun translated as “judgment”. Its form means “has been judged”. Jesus chose not to use the Greek word meaning “found guilty”.

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A more accurate translation of what Jesus said would be:

Listeners Heard: ..concerning judgment, truly, because the high one of the social order, of this one here, has been judged.

Notice that this last verb describes an action completed in the past. This judgment doesn’t come after Jesus’s passion and death, but before. The “high one” therefore seems to be the chief priest, who has already given the order for Jesus’s arrest.

One last word about the missing “truly” and “certainly”, following the three key words here. Jesus clearly wanted to emphasize these words, but his translators did not want to do so. Was it because they didn’t quite understand his point in each line?

This post explains, briefly, almost a whole chapter of verses, focusing on how they fit together and what Jesus is trying to do.

Know an interesting Jesus verse? Write me in a comment so I can analyze its Greek in a future article.

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Looking at this series of verses, we could say that Jesus was teasing his listeners but his goal may have been more than that. In this chapter, he explores all the ramifications of describing himself as “bread”. This interchange recorded some of the audience’s reactions as well as what Jesus said to them.

We think that Jesus worked during his lifetime to obtain followers, that is, to grow his movement. This is not always the case. After he fed the five thousand in John’s gospel, he went alone to a mountain because the people wanted to make him king. The apostles boarded a boat and crossed the lake to Capernaum, and Jesus walked on water to join them there. People from Tiberias and some of the five thousand whom he had fed got on boats to join them.

Talking to the crowd, Jesus describes them as wanting to find him because he fed them bread, but he says that they should seek the bread that will not spoil. The people asked him what they must do to get bread that would not spoil, and he says that they must trust in him. They then ask him for a sign so that they can trust in him. Their request began a long section of Jesus’s verses where he describes himself as the bread that came down from the sky. Some of the people to whom he was speaking complained that this didn’t make any sense because they knew his mother and father.

Ignoring this, Jesus describes himself as bread over and over again (John 6:48, 6:50) and then, to make this idea of “bread” even more tangible, he said that they must eat his flesh in John 6:51. In John 6:52, the people wonder how Jesus can give them his flesh to eat. Rather than explain, Jesus doubles down, adding the even more dramatic idea of drinking his blood in John 6:53 (see this article). Then, Jesus changes the Greek verb translated as “eat” in John 6:54:

NIV: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

In the earlier verses of this chapter, Jesus used the common Greek verb meaning “to eat”, but the Greek verb translated as “eat” in this verse means “to gnaw” and “to munch”. This verb is used to specifically describe the eating of vegetables and fruit. This verb was often used to describe the grazing of animals because they eat “vegetables”. It was a strange word to apply to eating “flesh”, creating a funny contradiction.

Today, we hear all this talk of eating his flesh and drinking his blood as an analogy and as a reference to the communion of the Last Supper. This dialogue, however, was long before the Last Supper. The people to whom he was talking might have suspected that it was an analogy, especially when Jesus uses a strange word to describe eating flesh, but then Jesus did his best to deny this in the following verse, John 6:55 (see this article),

NIV: For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

This is especially confusing because the word that is translated as “food” here primarily means “meat”, though it can be applied generally to eating. So, Jesus used a verb describing eating fruits and vegetables to specifically eating meat. This emphasizes the contradiction of telling people that they must eat his flesh. This verb suggests he is talking about bread more than flesh. Depending on his tone of voice, it could have been clear that he was teasing them with all this wordplay.

Jesus then goes on to say in John 6:56 that those munching on his flesh and drinking his blood remain in him and he in them. Thinking about this, what we eat remains in us, but how do we remain in it? This is another difficult phrase, hinting that Jesus means more by “eating” or “munching” than simply putting something inside of us.

Jesus then goes on to say that he lives because he was sent down by the “living Father” and that people will live if they feed on him. He then returns to describing himself as the bread that came down from the sky like manna, but those who ate manna in the desert died while those who eat his bread will have perpetual life. In John 6:60, his listeners said that this was a hard saying, and they had trouble hearing to it.

At this point, Jesus relents, pointing out that all this talk of “flesh” is an analogy, saying in John 6:63:

NIV: The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.

After thirteen verses in this chapter describing how they need to eat his “flesh,” Jesus contradicts himself saying that the flesh is of no use or benefit. The crowd’s negative reaction to this contradiction is reasonable. Jesus said in John 6:64, that there were some of them who didn’t trust him. At this point, what he said would have been hard to trust. Jesus then says that no one has the power to come to him unless his Father gives them that power. That power may have been the ability to tell when he was speaking realistically or symbolically, or, taking his words another way, speaking light-heartedly or seriously.

His statements caused many of the students who were listening to him to leave. Jesus asked the apostles if they would leave him too but they say that only he has the words of perpetual life. However, we must remember that Jesus started this whole discussion saying that many of those who had come to hear him did so because he fed them bread. Getting some of those people to leave may have been his purpose.

All along in this chapter, Jesus dropped hints that the “bread” that he is talking about is symbolic. This starts by his saying that it does not spoil, but that the “work of God” is believing in him. The Greek word translated as “believe” doesn’t mean religious faith but trusting in a person, especially his words. After this point, Jesus plays with his words in such extreme ways so as to make them difficult to trust. He hints again at his symbolic meaning when he says that those who eat of his flesh are “in him”. This is the reverse of eating normal food just as spirit is the reverse of flesh.

This article covers a series of Jesus’s verses about the “Holy Spirit,” though that term is not used. In the previous verse, John 16:7, Jesus says that he must go so that he can send the “Advocate/Comforter” to them. The Greek word translated as (KJV) “advocate” and (NIV) “comforter,” means a “summoned assistant”. It was used primarily to describe a professional who assists with legal trials.

Jesus describes the role of this advocate in John 16:8:

NIV: When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:

• The words in boldface are explained in this article.

The “he” here is the “advocate/comforter”. However, his role is not what is described in Biblical translation because Jesus did not say what Biblical translators wanted him to say.

The Greek word translated as “prove to be in the wrong” simply means “to disgrace” or “to shame”. “The world” is the social order, “society”, that is, the standards of society. Those were controlled by the Pharisees and Sadducees, those who maintain the religious order of Judea.

A more accurate translation of this verse would be:

Listeners Heard: And, showing up, that one there will disgrace this society about mistakes, and about virtue and about judgment.

“That one there” is in a form that refers back to the previous verse’s advocate/comforter.

Not “Sin” But “Mistakes”

Then, Jesus goes on to explain these three ideas that disgrace this social order. He starts with “sin” in John 16:9:

NIV: .. about sin, because people do not believe in me;

This post is public so feel free to share it.

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Jesus was not as quick as the clerics translating the Bible to accuse people of “sin”. The word that he used means “mistakes” (see this article). The Greek word meaning “truly” or “certainly” follows “mistakes”, but it is not translated. It is repeated in each of the following verses, but, for some reason, never included in the English translation.

There is no Greek word for “people” in this verse. It comes from the plural form of the verb. The verb means “trust” rather than “believe.” The Greek preposition translated as “in” with this verb more likely had the sense of “trust as much as” (see this article).

Listeners Heard: About mistakes, truly, because they do not trust as much as me.

The “they” refers to those in Judean society. Jesus defines their common mistake as not trusting. This is a lot less egocentric than Jesus defining “sin” as people not “believing in” him. Especially since in Matthew 12:32 and Luke 12:10, Jesus said that those speaking against the son of the man will be let go.

Understanding Virtue

In the next verse, Matthew 16:10, Jesus describes the role of the Consular/Advocate in disgracing the world as related to “righteousness”.

NIV about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;

The Greek word translated as “righteousness” means “justice”, “fulfillment of the law” and “being in an ideal state”. In today’s English, we would say “virtue”. The Greek word meaning “truly” or “certainly” follows “righteousness” but it is not translated. We saw this same omission in the previous verse.

The Greek word translated as “see” is not one of the common words meaning “see”. It has the sense of “observe”, that is, watching something carefully. It is the Greek root of our word “theater”.

Jesus has been performing the role of acting as an example, one who we must emulate to be virtuous.

Listeners Heard: ...concerning virtue, truly, because I go into the presence of the Father, and no longer do you observe me...

The Advocate/Comforter will not act as an exemplar of virtue, like Jesus did, but guide people towards virtue in another way.

Judgment Not Condemn

This brings us to the final verse, John 16:11:

NIV: And about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

The Greek word translated as “judgment” is krisis. It means distinguishing among choices and “separating” things. Jesus uses it in a variety of ways, though the Bible usually translates it as “judgment”. The Greek word meaning “truly” or “certainly” follows “judgment” but, again, it is not translated.

The word translated as “prince” means “high one” and could refer to anyone with the highest authority in a given area, Caesar or a high priest. “Stands condemned” is the verb form of the noun translated as “judgment”. Its form means “has been judged”. Jesus chose not to use the Greek word meaning “found guilty”.

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A more accurate translation of what Jesus said would be:

Listeners Heard: ..concerning judgment, truly, because the high one of the social order, of this one here, has been judged.

Notice that this last verb describes an action completed in the past. This judgment doesn’t come after Jesus’s passion and death, but before. The “high one” therefore seems to be the chief priest, who has already given the order for Jesus’s arrest.

One last word about the missing “truly” and “certainly”, following the three key words here. Jesus clearly wanted to emphasize this words, but his translators did not want to do so. Was it because they didn’t quite understand his point in each line?

The concept of “clothing” had a wider variety of meaning in Judean culture

This article has two parts. The first gives examples of Jesus’s verses about clothing. These verses are from one small part of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. The purpose of these examples is to demonstrate some of the many different words Jesus used to describe clothing. There are over a dozen words that are translated as “clothed” or “clothes” in Greek and dozens of examples of Jesus’s verses using them. in contrast, there are only two verbs Jesus used to describe eating and only one that he used to describe drinking.

The second part is about the meaning of clothing, not only in Jesus’s time, but throughout most of human history. As people, we are usually judged by two things: what we wear, and how well we speak. These things not only reflect our place in society, but they can determine it.

Coverings

This first verse comes from Matthew 6:25:

NIV: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

• The words in boldface are explained in this article.

The verb, endyo, translated as “will wear” means “get into”. It is used in the sense of “enter”, “press into”, “enter upon it”, “undertake it” and “insinuate oneself into”. It does not refer to clothing specifically, and it is not used exclusively about clothes by Jesus.

The noun, endyma, translated as “clothing” is from the Greek noun that means “garment” and “covering”. It is from the same root as the verb.

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A more literal English translation of what Jesus said in the Greek would be:

Listeners Heard: By this I teach you: Don’t worry, about that self of yours, what you should eat [or what you should drink]. Nor for that body of yours: how you should cover yourself. Certainly not! The self is greater than the meat. And this body? Part of the covering!

The final line is Jesus’s punchline in this verse: that our bodies and clothes are our covering in this life, what hides us.

Matthew 6:28-29

The next verses to mention clothing are Matthew 6:28 and Matthew 6:29:

NIV: And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. NIV: Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

Matthew 6:28 uses the same noun for clothes as the first verse above, endyma, but the following verse uses a different Greek verb for “dressed.” This verb is periballo, which means “to throw around”, “to put on”, “to surround”, “to bring under one’s power”, “to comprehend” and “to excel”. In the passive, it means “to have put around oneself”, “to be involved in” and “to have come into possession of one”.

Notice how many of these meanings relate to ideas other than clothing, but in Judean times, clothing was connected to everything from power to mental and physical acuity.

Matthew 6:30-31

The next two verses mentioning clothes, are Matthew 6:30 and Matthew 6:31:

NIV: If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? NIV: So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

In the first verse, Matthew 6:30, “clothes” is from the Greek amphiennymi, which means “put round”, “clothed in”, “wearing” and “dress oneself in”. This verb is uncommon for Jesus.

In the following verse, Matthew 6:31, the verb translated as “wear” is periballo, used earlier about the splendor of Solomon but used here to describe how people thought about their own clothing.

As I said, we could find dozens of different Greek words related to putting on clothes. The question is why so many different words for clothing and getting dressed? Why do so many of these words about clothing involve power and getting control of people?

The Meaning of Clothes

When it comes to the clothing itself, Jesus uses relatively few words, primarily a word that is best translated as “robe” or “cape” worn over other clothing and “tunic,” which is the garment worn beneath the robe. These were worn by both sexes and all levels of society.

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Cloth was expensive. In Jesus’s time, most people wore wool or linen. Sheep and goat wool came in various grades with the best grades being cashmere and mohair from goats. The finer the thread and the closer the weave, the better for both wool and linen.

In each category of clothing, there were many differences that made it easy to distinguish between different classes of people. Women were responsible for shearing, cleaning, spinning and weaving wool into fabric for their families. The women were generally concerned about what their clothing said about the family’s status.

Generally speaking, poorer, more common people wore cheaper types of cloth, most commonly wool, and less of it. For example, a worker’s tunic tended to be short, made of a coarser wool, while a merchant’s tunic was long, usually made of fine linen. Common people wore less dyed cloth and more natural colors. People higher on the social scale, wore more clothing such as scarves, belts, and head coverings.

Judean clothing was easily distinguished from that of the foreigners that lived among them. Judeans could not mix plant-fiber with animal wool in their cloth. Their outer garments, a cloak or cape, had tassels, know was tzitzit, in its four corners. Many groups had their own clothing designs. For example, the Pharisees wore robes with a black and white pattern. The temple priests wore fine linen modeled after the Torah’s description of the high priest’s attire.

Different guilds, and perhaps even different villages, could have their own standardized look. For example, people who raised horses might have worn bright yellow since the yellow dye of the era was basically horse urine. Since many dyes of the time were made of common elements, like types of dirt and insects, they were accessible to all. Jesus uses the worm used for red dye in his teaching (see this article). Only a few dyes, such as blue and especially purples were uncommon, which restricted them to the wealthy.

Conclusions

As Jesus said, “clothing is a covering.” It displayed how people could afford to appear to others. The importance of clothing is reflected in the variety of the language. As a social concern, Jesus was generally disparaging of appearance. However, clothing indicated power, as we see in people trying to touch Jesus’s robe in order to be healed. His authority, however, did not come from the look of his clothing but his divine power, which people trusted bled into it.

Luke 6:43

A good example of this begins with the verse, Luke 6:43. This verse appears in Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain”, which covers many of the same topics as Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount but more briefly. Before this verse, we have the verses about removing a speck in your brother’s eye, which starts with Jesus’s statement about the blind leading the blind. Then, Jesus says Luke 6:43:

NIV: No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

This has nothing to do with seeing or being blind, the previous topics. What changed the subject? Was Jesus in the habit, when he was teaching, of simply jumping from on topic to an unrelated one, confusing his audience? This seems unlikely for a popular speaker.

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It seems more likely that a question from his listeners suggested a change. The topic was good sight. This may well have triggered a question about how we can know whose sight can be trusted. A follower of John the Baptist might have suggested the topic of trees because the Baptist was the first to teach about Judea having become a defective tree, using a tree as an another for. Whatever the question, Jesus answered with a statement beginning with “because”, but we cannot see this in English translations. Here is a better translation of this verse.

Listeners Heard: Because a fine quality tree doesn’t exist producing putrid fruit nor, in turn, a putrid tree producing fine quality fruit

This version shows the “because” as the beginning of the verse that was left out. It also translates the generic “good” (see kalos) and a less common word for “bad” (see sapros) into words that are more in context with trees and fruit, “fine-quality” and “putrid”.

Luke 6:44

Jesus goes onto say in the beginning of Luke 6:44:

NIV: Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.

This statement doesn’t appear to answer a question, but if we translate the Greek more completely and accurately, we have the following statement:

Listeners Heard: Because every tree is known from its own fruit.

Once more, the “because” at the beginning of the clause makes this feel much more like the answer to a question. The Greek verb more accurately translated as “is known” makes it sound like the question triggering this answer was about how trees are known. The Greek word here means “known” in the sense that we learn to know things. Here, people learn to know trees by their fruit.

However, the rest of Luke 6:44 seems to be another change in topic.

NIV: People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers.

Doesn’t this second sentence about thorns and briars seem disconnected from the first statement about recognizing trees? It seems even stranger if we add in the missing “because”.

Listeners Heard: Because they do not collect figs from thorn bushes, nor do they pick grapes from brambles.

What triggers this because and the change in topic? We can easily imagine that after Jesus points out that growers make the decisions about what trees to keep after judging quality of the fruit that each tree produces, someone could have pointed out that not all fruit is produced by plants that seem good. Good fruit can come from cactuses and blackberry bushes.

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Again, this verse begins with “because” because it appears to answer such a question. Jesus’s answer focuses on the two most popular fruits in Judea, grapes and figs. These were cultivated but cactuses and the thorny berry bushes were not because they were too painful to harvest.

The Common Missing “Because”

In two verses, we have three examples of a missing “because.” How many such verses are there? More than eighty of Jesus’s verses because I got bored and stopped counting. There are perhaps many more.

This fits in with my earlier article about Unrecorded Dialogue. This theory maintains that only Jesus’s part of these discussions was recorded and preserved. The questions people asked as part of the dialogue were not preserved, but those questions can be deduced from the nature of Jesus’s answers. However, we cannot know where Jesus’s answers are without the missing “because”.

This explains why many long sections of Jesus’s words seem to change topics suddenly over and over. They are much easier to understand if we assume missing connective questions. The reason “because” is so often left out or changed may be because these words make the missing questions more obvious.

In this article, we examine another common Greek preposition, ἀπὸ (apo), which is also commonly translated as “from.” This word has fewer English meanings, but translators can still confuse its meaning. However, a bigger problem is that those reading the Bible in translation cannot really tell when Jesus is using ἐκ or ἀπὸ, though both mean slightly different types of “from” in English. However they translated this Greek preposition in confusing ways just like they do the ἐκ (ek).

Jesus uses ek in 121 verses. Jesus uses apo in 190 verses, so he uses it more often than ek. And, in choosing this verse for examination, I made a mistake of thinking that one of its translation as “from” was from apo when a third Greek preposition was used. This made me sorry I got into the thorny thicket of Greek prepositions and their meaning.

Why should we care which of these prepositions is used? Because by changing the translation of a preposition, we can change Jesus’s meaning entirely. One example is explored in these two articles, (here and here) on changing the translation of a Greek preposition believe in me” to “believe as much as me.” In giving readers the variety of meanings that these prepositions can have at the Greek analyses a christswords.com, we invite you to look for the alternatives that Jesus’s words might imply.

To demonstrate the preposition, apo, we look at a verse from the Gospel of John. Before speaking this verse, Jesus gives his lesson on his being the good shepherd to the critical Pharisees after he cures a blind man. That lesson ends with his saying that he will lay down his life for his sheep and for that reason the Father loves him. He goes on to say that he gives up his life only to take it up again. Then he ends this message by saying in John 10:18:

NIV: No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.

The highlighted words are discussed in this article.

The Use of Apo

We looked at this verse briefly in a long article discussing Jesus’s authority. In this article, we look at Jesus’s use the Greek preposition, ἀπὸ. This preposition apo, indicates separation and means 1) “from” or “away from” from when referring to place or motion, 2) “from” or “after” when referring to time, 3) “from” as an origin or cause. 4) It also means the instrument “by” which a thing is done. 5) Referring to time, it means “from,” and “after.” 6) As a prefix, means “asunder,” “completing,” “ceasing,” “back again,” and “by way of abuse.”

Apo is used the first time in this verse to say, “No one takes it from me.” The pronoun, "it", refers to the Greek word psyche used in the previous verse. This word refers to Jesus's “self,” that is, his unique role in this world (see this article). The verb translated as “take” primarily means “to lift.” It is used to mean “remove” or “take” as we use the word “lift” in our word “shoplifting”.

Next, this preposition, apo, is then translated as “of” in the clause, “I lay it down of my own accord.” The translation as “of” is very common for both apo and ek, especially in the KJV translations of the bible even though neither word means “of” exactly. Some of these “of” translations are corrected in modern versions, but these “of” translations are often simply copied from the KJV as we see here. The phrase, “my own accord,” is from a Greek word that means “myself” and “my own.”

A Different Preposition

In the clause, “I received from my Father,” neither ek nor apo are translated as “from”. Instead, a third Greek preposition is used. So, there are at least three prepositions that are commonly and correctly translated as “from.”

The Greek preposition here is παρὰ (para). It is less common than both ek and apo, used by Jesus in only 45 verses. Like most prepositions, it has many meanings. Here, the form (case) of “the Father”, always has the sense of motion, 1) "from the side of", "from beside", "issuing from", and generally "from".

Para also means 2) With an indirect object, the sense is always static, "by the side of", "near", "in the presence of" and "before". 3) With the form of a standard object, it has a number of specialized meanings depending on the character of the verb, with coming/going "near", "beside", with placing "side-by-side", 4) as a metaphor, "like" or "as a parody of", of comparison, "compared with" 5) and many more including "along", "past", "beyond", "parallel" (geometry), "precisely at the moment of" (time), and "throughout" (time).

There are probably other prepositions that can be translated as “from” as well, but this is already more complicated than I planned when I started these articles. Over time, I will do more work to see if I can come up with English translations for these three prepositions that are more unique.

What Listeners Heard

You can see a detailed analysis of every Greek word in this verse at christswords.com, at John 10:18. Based on that analysis, this is what Jesus’s listeners probably heard:

No one removes it, [my “self”], from me. Instead, I myself surrender it from myself. I possess authority to surrender it and I have authority to get it back here. I get this commandment from that Father of mine.

Preposition meanings often are connected with the verb used and the preposition’s object. And both the verb’s and the preposition’s meanings can change depending on the verb/preposition/object combination. This is true both in Greek and English. For example, in English, “I came in,” is not the opposite of “I came out.”

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The fact that prepositions have many different meanings give translators a lot of freedom in how they translate Jesus’s words. Translators like freedom . However, the specific meaning attached to certain verb/preposition/object groups limits that freedom. Translators don’t particularly like this.

For example, in this article, Biblical translators translate the Greek preposition, ἐκ, in a number of different ways in a series of connected verses. We simplify this to the single English word, “from”, but another common Greek preposition, ἀπὸ, is also commonly translated as “from,” and since this alternative preposition has fewer meanings, it is often less troublesome for translators. We will look at that preposition next week.

A Series of Verses

To demonstrate this issue, we look at a series of three verses from the Gospel of John. After the Last Supper, Jesus prays to his Father. He said that he and his apostles were sent into the world. He then said these verses (to get more complete information on any of these verses, click on these links): John 17:14, John 17:15, and John 17:16.

NIV: (John 17:14) I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. (John 17:15): My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. (John 17:16) They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

John 17:14

In the first verse (17:14), there are two prepositional phrases, “not of the world” describing Jesus’s followers and describing Jesus himself.

NIV: (John 17:14) I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

This phrase uses the Greek preposition, ἐκ, which means 1) [of motion] “out of”, “from”, “by”, “away from”; 2) [of place] “outside of”, “beyond”; 3) [of succession] “after”, “from”; 4) [of rest] “on”, “in”; 5) [of time] “since”, “from”, “at”, “in”; 5) [of materials] “out of”, “made from”; 6) cause, instrument, or means “by”. This preposition was used in 121 verses of Jesus’s words.

In this verse, biblical translators translate this preposition as “of,” but it doesn’t mean “of” except in the sense of “out of”. If Jesus had wanted to say “of” meaning “belonging to”, he would have left out the preposition entirely. The genitive form of “the world” when used with the verb “to be” means “belonging to” without the preposition. Jesus did not mean, “they do not belong to the world as I do not belong to the world.”

Being used with the verb “to be” narrows the possible meanings of this preposition. As in English, “being from” somewhere in Greek implies a past motion, so a more common translation would mean, “…they are not from the world any more than I am from this world.” This section starts with Jesus saying that he and his apostles were sent into the world. Where are they from? John 3:3 said that those destined for the kingdom must be born from “above”.

However, these phrases could also be translated as “out of” giving them the meaning of “…they are not out of the world any more than I am out of this world.” This has the sense that the apostles and Jesus are in danger because they are in the world.

If we translated the preposition differently in each phrase, Jesus could be saying that his apostles are not “out of” the world just as he is not “from” the world. However, this makes the use of the same preposition confusing because it is not used consistently.

John 17:15

Jesus uses the same Greek preposition twice again in the next verse, John 17:15:

(John 17:15): My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

The phrases “out of the world” and “from the evil one” use the same Greek preposition, ἐκ, which was translated in the previous verse as “of”. However, here, two different verbs are used, one translated as “take” and the other is translated confusingly as “protect.”

The word translated as “take” is not the common Greek word meaning “take”. It primarily means “to lift up” and can mean “remove”. However it is translated, this “take” has a clear sense of motion, so we can again use “from”, which works with the English words “take from”, “lift up from” and “remove from”. Jesus implies that the social world was a threat, but that he didn’t want his apostles removed from it.

Instead, his alternative is explained in the next phrase. He is seeking “protection” for them. The verb translated as “protect” actually means “to watch over”, “to guard”, “to take care of” and “to observe”. And the word translated as “evil” means “worthless”, but since it is a masculine adjective used as a singular noun, the sense is “worthlessness” or “the worthless one”. (See this article for more.)

Here, this phrase has the sense of guarding the apostles from the motion of “the worthless one” (see this article). And, as in Greek, the idea of “guarding” someone works well with “from” when used with a word that indicates a threat, “the worthless one”.

John 17:16

This preposition is used twice again in John 17:16.

(John 17:16):They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

This verse echoes the end of John 17:14 above. Again, the translation of the Greek preposition as “of” doesn’t work, but its translation as “from” does.

Listeners Heard

So, throughout these three verses, the proposition has a strong sense of “from.” If we correct all the confusing translations in these verses, the verse that his apostles heard was something closer to:

I myself have given them this logic of yours, and this society hated them because they are not from this society even as I myself am not from this society. I don’t ask that you might lift them from this society, but that you might guard them from this worthlessness. They are not from this society just as I myself am not from this society.

From this we might think that this Greek preposition means always “from”, but there is another preposition that means “from” more consistently. We will look at next week and why it was not used here.

This verse is interesting because the concept of “fruit” has such a broad intellectual meaning in Greek.

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This chapter of Luke begins with someone asking Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus then goes through Luke’s shorter version of the Lord’s Prayer. He continues to discuss a few of the same topics that he covered in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. Just prior to this verse, Jesus talks about removing a speck from a brother’s eye. Then, he says that a good tree doesn’t exist producing rotten fruit nor a rotten tree producing good fruit. Then Jesus adds in Luke 6:44:

NIV: Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers.

• The words in boldface are explained in this article.

A similar verse appears in Matthew 7:16 as part of the Sermon on the Mount. It is in the section where Jesus is discussing how we identify false prophets, before the verse about wolves in sheep’s clothing. This makes it a good double check for Jesus’s meaning here.

Tree Recognized by Its Fruit

The Greek word for “tree” used here most commonly means fruit-bearing trees. The tree was a symbol for the naturally productive assets of nature, as opposed to fields which must be planted each year. However, both assets were planted by men. The orchards of Jesus’s time were all built by men. In his era, the most common tree bearing “fruit” was the olive tree. It takes years to bear its first crop. Strangely enough, however, this fruit was not the example that he cites here, but the two fruits mentioned, figs and grapes, can also take years to produce an initial crop.

The next word is a clue that Jesus isn’t referring simply to “fruit” and the “trees” that bear them. The term translated as “recognized” is usually translated as “know” in the Bible. However, it is not the most common Greek verb translated as “know”. This more common “know” is the past perfect tense form of “to see”. What someone “has seen” is what they “know”. Most knowing of a specific fruit tree requires simply having seen it in the past. However, this is NOT the word Jesus used here. He used the less common verb here that means “learned to know”. This is “knowing” that requires more study. This is the first indication that this isn’t about identifying trees by their fruit, which requires only having seem them. The knowing discussed here does not refer to knowing simply by seeing, but by studying something over time, that is, “learning to know” it.

The word translated as “fruit” primarily means “fruit”, “seed” or “offspring”, but its secondary meaning is “returns”, specifically, “profit”, as we would say “fruits of our labors”. The “tree” that produces the “return” here is the value of the tree. This requires study. Notice the Jesus does not use the ideas of “good” and “bad” here. Those ideas were used in the previous verse that sets up this one. The contrast here is the comparison of that which produces good and bad to identify them.

The Punchline

The last line, where Jesus commonly offers his humorous twist first states that “figs” are not gathered from thorn bushes. The word translated as “gathered” is not the word usually translated as “gather”. It specifically means collecting something for use. The word means a selective choosing rather than an indiscriminate gathering. The selection of ripe grapes and figs requires this type of selection. The Greek word translated as “figs” is pretty straight-forward, and figs do come from trees. Jesus says that they are not gathered from “thorn-bushes”. The Greek word used for “thorn bush” is very broad, referring to a single thorn or any plant with thorns.

The word translated as “grapes” is the common word referring to grapes. Grapes, of course, always come from vines not a “brier”. The word translated as “brier” here specifically means “brier bush”, a “bramble bush” or, even more specifically a “blackberry bush”. Left out of this phrase is the verb meaning “picked”. It is a different verb from the “gathered” above. This verb does not appear in the Matthew 7:16 version because the Matthew version is more of a direct reference to Genesis 3:18, which did not have this word for “picked” either.

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A more accurate English translation of what Jesus said in the Greek would be:

NIV: Each tree is identified by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, nor grapes from briers.

Both Jesus and John the Baptist referred to the current state of Judean religion, controlled by the Sadducees and Pharisees, as a tree that would soon fall. Jesus’s teaching was a new tree. In his discussion of “fruit”, Jesus was asking his listeners to compare his “fruit”, that is, the results of his teaching with that of the Sadducees and Pharisees. To make this lesson even clearer, after both the Luke and Matthew versions, he compared someone using his teachings with someone building on rock, and those who do not use his teachings with those building on sand. A Greek speaker of the time would have recognized both those philosophies as both bearing “fruit”. The fruit of one is a house that stands. The fruit of the other was a house that falls.

Know a confusing Jesus verse? Write me in a comment so I can analyze its Greek in a future article.

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This chapter of Luke begins with someone asking Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus then goes through Luke’s shorter version of the Lord’s Prayer. He then continues to discuss some of the same topics that he covered in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. Prior to this verse, he tells his audience that everyone asking, gets. Right before this verse, Jesus talks about how fathers give good things such as fish and eggs to their children, not snakes and scorpions. Then, Jesus says in Luke 11:13:

NIV: If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

• The words in boldface are explained in this article.

A similar verse appears in Matthew 7:11, but that verse has a punchline that doesn’t reference a “holy spirit.” However, this makes it a good double check for Jesus’s meaning here.

“Are Evil”

The first “you” here is emphasized in the Greek. The pronoun is used here explicitly as the subject of the sentence. Since this information is already in the second-person form verb, the sense is repetitive, as we say "you yourselves."

The Greek verb translated as “are" is not the verb “to be.” It is an uncommon verb that means "to take the initiative," "to begin," and "to already be in existence." As a participle, which is the form Jesus used here, it means, “being at the beginning.” This word is interesting because it strongly suggests a situation that changes after the beginning. What is the initial situation here?

The word translated as “evil” here means “useless,” and “worthless.” Applied to people, it means “worthless,” “burdened by toil,” “base,” and “cowardly.” If this doesn’t sound much like “evil,” that is because this Greek adjective really doesn’t mean “evil” at all Though this adjective is often translated as “evil,” this is because the Biblical translators focus on “good” and “evil” in a way that Jesus didn’t. This idea of evil doesn’t work in many of Jesus’s verses, including this one, because his focus was more on what was “valuable” and what was not. This will become more obvious here as we continue. There is another Greek adjective that does mean morally “evil” that Jesus used, but that isn’t the word that Jesus used here. See this article for more.

This part of the verse tells us more about Jesus’s humor than it does about his idea of “evil.” It starts with him saying that his audience starts out as “worthless,” not “evil.” This is a tease, but it is also a commonsense bit of philosophy. In the beginning, we are all worthless, developing our abilities over time. Despite this, he makes a point of us still knowing enough to give what is worthwhile despite being worthless themselves. After this light-hearted ridicule, he goes on to say that, despite this weakness, they still know how to give valuable gifts to their children instead of worthless ones.

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Knowing “Good” Gifts

The word translated as “good” means “beneficial” when applied to things like “gifts.” To make it the opposite of “worthless,” we can translate it as “worthwhile.” So, Jesus gives us a play on words. This is a typical Jesus wordplay contrast of “good” and “evil” or, more accurately here, “worthwhile” and “worthless.” Those who start out as worthless can give worthwhile gifts to their children.

The next contrast is with a worthwhile giver, the Father from the skies. This Father is the opposite of a worthless giver. The Greek translated as “heaven” means “skies” in the plural. Its form is unusual here because the Greek says “from skies” rather than the more common “in the skies” phrase. However, in English, we add “the” before “skies” because of its plural form. This is not something we do before singular words like “a spirit.”

Many of Jesus’s lessons are economic. This contrast of “worthwhile” with “worthless” is a good example. This verse is essentially a play on words that says that those who are worthless themselves can give value to others. It goes on to suggest that the Father always gives worthwhile gives. This is an important insight that is lost in translation.

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The Punchline

Instead of giving “worthwhile” gifts, as described in the parallel verse in Matthew 7:11, the Father in this verse gives “a holy spirit.” There is no definitive article, “the,” before the Greek words for “spirit” followed by the adjective, “holy.” The “the” was added in translation to make this “holy spirit” sound like a title and a name of the third person of the Trinity. However, “a holy spirit” is neither at title or a name. Instead, it is a description. It describes a valuable gift: a spirit of holiness. This is something that many people can be given as a “worthwhile gift”. Read more about this word in this article on “holy spirit.”

A more accurate translation of what Jesus said in the Greek would be:

Listeners Heard: If certainly you yourselves, being in the beginning worthless, know worthwhile gifts to give those kids of yours, how much more will that Father, the one from the skies, give a holy spirit to those begging him.

In the last phrase, “to those begging him,” the verb is a participle meaning “beg” and it is a bit stronger than several other Greek words commonly translated as “ask.” Those receiving a holy spirit are those who go further than merely asking for a valuable gift. This is one of the few verses spoken by Jesus that supports that idea of the third person of the Trinity as “the holy spirt.” But those of Jesus’s era would not have recognized such a reference.

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This article covers a Jesus verse that discusses sex in a very odd way: by discussing those who are sexless. This verse comes after Jesus discusses marriage saying marriage unites a man and a woman into one flesh, which is literally true, describing the DNA of their children. He goes onto say that divorce is wrong, even though Moses allowed it in his Law. To this, one of his disciples commented in what sounds like a typical marriage joke, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.(NIV)” I imagine that this was spoken by one of the unmarried disciples as a jab at the married ones. Jesus then responded by saying in Matthew 19:11,

NIV: “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.”

Then, Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 19:12 something that seems strange in a discussion of men, women, marriage and divorce:

NIV: For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.

• The words in boldface are explained in this article.

Castration

There is a unique word for Jesus here, “eunuchs,” that is used in both the form of a noun and a verb (“have been made eunuchs”). The English noun is adopted from Greek rather than translated. The Greek word literally means “bed holder” or “bed watcher.” Eunuchs were originally guards for a harem. The word is uncommon in ancient Greek literature. In ancient times, the defining characteristic of a eunuch was the inability to have children. Jesus uses the noun to refer to people who are born disinterested in sex, those who are castrated, and those who avoid sex.

Interestingly, he traces a disinterest in sex to the womb. While the phrase “born that way” sounds like a reference to a Lady Gaga song, the original Greek is more descriptive. It says “from the womb of a mother born this way.” This seems to pinpoint the prenatal environment as the key to a disinterest in procreative sex.

The verb form of this same word, translated as “have been made eunuchs” in this verse, is commonly translated as “castrate.” The noun form was used before Jesus, but the use of the verb form appears for the first time in this verse and appears in ancient Greek less than a dozen times afterwards.

The final group is described as “who choose to live like eunuchs” but the Greek actually says “castrate themselves,” which sounds a lot more painful. Nor does it say, “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” There is a Greek word that means “for the sake of,” but that word is not used here. The word used here means “through” and “by” in the sense of a cause. So, the sense is that they castrate themselves “by the kingdom of heaven” or, more accurately, “by the realm of the skies,” as if the realm can be used for castration.

Notice that in all three of these examples, Jesus attributes castration to a force outside of our power. We are castrated in the womb, by other people, or by the realm of the skies. None of this is controlled by one’s own power. This is part of the setup for the final line, which has many different meanings.

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The Punchline

Another rare verb, translated as “accept.” is used twice in the final line, the punchline. It is in two different forms. This same verb is translated as “accept” in the prior verse, Matthew 19:11. This word is essentially comical, having the sense of being able to “stomach” or “digest” something. Using this verb twice in a row, in two different forms, is especially caustic, “If you can stomach it, you must stomach it.”

Humorous meaning aside, the verb also means both “to contain” and “to make room for another.” When referring to sex and marriage, all three meanings work at once. We can room for another, which describes a wife and a child, or we can contain ourselves. So, “If you can make room [for another], you must make room” or “if you can contain it [your sexual desire], you must contain it.” Of course, you will trust these are true only if you can stomach it.

A more accurate translation of what Jesus said would be:

Listeners Heard: Because there are eunuchs who from a womb of a mother were born in this way. And there are eunuchs who been castrated by those men. And there are eunuchs that castrate themselves by the realm of the skies.

Let he who has himself the ability to make room [for another], make room. OR Let he who has the ability to contain himself, contain himself. OR Let he who has the ability to stomach this, stomach it.

This last line describes an ability within us, not coming from the outside.

This article is part of a series explaining Jesus’s Confusing Sayings.

Know a confusing Jesus verse? Write me in a comment so I can analyze its Greek in a future article.

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This article discusses a verse that, as translated in modern Bibles, seems to indicate that people are forcing their way into the kingdom of God. Before this verse, Jesus tells the Parable of the Shrewd Manager (aka the Unjust Steward (see this article). After that parable, Jesus says that no one can see rve two masters (the Matthew version of that verse is discussed here). Hearing this, the Pharisees derided him. He responded with Luke 16:16:

NIV: The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it.

• The words in boldface are explained in this article.

The last line here is translated several different ways in modern Bibles, trying to make more sense of it, but when they do, they use fewer and fewer of Jesus’s words and add more and more of their own.

Until John

“The Law” and “the prophets” refers to the books of the Old Testament. Read this article for more information. There is no verb in this sentence. The “were proclaimed” was added by the translators. The words “law” and “prophets” are in the form of subjects, but when subjects appear in Greek without a corresponding verb, the verb “to be” or “to exist” is assumed. We cannot add any verb we want, such as “were proclaimed.” The Greek only said that these things existed. The main teaching of the Pharisees was obedience to the Law of Moses and the commands of the prophets.

The Kingdom of God

The words “the kingdom of God” are also in the form of a subject, but the verb, translated as “is being preached” does not fit with it. The subject “kingdom” is singular, but the verb, “is being preached” is plural. So this sentence is like the first one, saying only that “the kingdom of God exists.”

Nor is “good news” the subject of this sentence. It is a part of the verb. This verb is plural. It means “they bring good news” or, in the passive used here, “they receive good news.” This verb is usually used to describe a messenger bringing news. There is no word that can be translated as “preached.” While we hear “good news” as a reference to the Gospels, we must remember that Jesus was the first Judean to apply this idea to a message from the Divine. Historically, the law and the prophets were not “good news” but commands to be followed. Jesus does not say that this “good news” replaces the Law and the prophets. He only said that it now exists along with them.

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The Punchline

The most confusing part of this verse comes from the last line, translated in the NIV as, “and everyone is forcing their way into it.” This sounds like people are forcing their way into the kingdom of the Divine, suggesting that the kingdom can be entered by force. The problem is the Greek word translated as “is forcing.” The Greek verb means “to constrain,” “to force,” and “to use violence.” The phrase, “their way” was added to change the meaning of “forcing.” This “constrain” verb is uncommon for Jesus, only used by him twice. This verb’s primary meaning, “constrain,” means “restrain” or “restrict.”

In Greek the verb form used here is either passive voice, “is constrained” or the “middle” voice where the subject is acted upon by or for himself, “constrains himself.” The sense is either “is restrained” or “restrains himself.” The commandments of the “law and the prophets” were enforced by authorities. The good news is a contrast because those in the realm of the Divine depend on internal restraint rather than external. The last two words “in it,” refer to “the realm” because only those words match the feminine form of the pronoun.

Listeners Heard: ..The Laws and the luminaries existed until John. Since then, the realm of the Divine exists. They receive good news. Everyone constrains himself in it.

The sense is that the “realm of the Divine,” came into existence with John. And simply following the commandments is now superseded by a new type of virtue: being in the realm of the Divine. Those in that realm do not simply follow the letter of the law. They control themselves as guided by the spirit of the Law.

This article is part of a series explaining Jesus’s Obscured Sayings.

Know a confusing Jesus verse? Write me in a comment so I can analyze its Greek in a future article.

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This is the first in a new series of articles about verses where the translators intentionally obscure Jesus’s meaning. In this verse, its meaning is obscured in a blatant way we seldom see as well as in a common way in which many verses are distorted. This is a criticism that we can only make when the intended meaning is subverted in such an obvious way that it can only be intentional.

This verse is part of one of Jesus’s long diatribes against the Pharisees, It occurs after he challenges them to throw the first stone at the young woman accused of cheating on her husband. He starts this discussion by telling the crowd that he is the light of the world. He is then challenged by the Pharisees for giving testimony about himself. This leads to a long discussion that goes several different directions, much of it covering his relationship with the Father and the truth. However, John 8:51 stands by itself, having little to do with the surrounding discussion. It is shown below:

NIV: Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.

• The words in boldface are explained in this article.

On these surface, the appears to be a bold promise of immortality. However, it is intentionally made to sound that way in translation, but what this verse translates of the Greek is not as bad as what it chooses to leave out at the very end of the verse. The end is what Jesus uses to create his punchlines. But before getting to the key words that are left out at the end, let us discuss the rest of the verse to provide some context.

First, we should note that the verse starts with Jesus’s most common catchphrase, the “amen” statement. This catchphrase is primarily humorous (see this article), and Jesus uses it to make it easier for his listeners to accept it when he says something particularly difficult.

Not About “Obeying”

The Greek word translated as “obeys” here in the NIV means "to keep watch", "to guard." The sense is to protect and preserve his teaching. The idea of "keeping watch" plays against the verb translated as "see" later in the verse. There is an obvious connection between “keeping watch” and “seeing” that is lost in translation.

What is being watched or guarded is Jesus’s “word.” The Greek word translated as “word” means "calculation" or "reasoning". It is the source of our word "logic" and is the root word for all the English words that end in "-ology," referring to a specific area of knowledge (“theology,” “oncology,” “proctology,” etc.). More about this Greek word in this article. In English, we might say "ideas" to translate it in its plural form, but in the singular form, used here, "message" or “teaching” often works better. So, Jesus is referring to those who guard or watch over his “teaching” or “message,” which is my mission here.

Translating this “watch over” as “obeys” is an ordinary mistranslation. Those translating the Bible want Jesus to speak about obedience to rules, when that is seldom his focus. Biblical translators, however, like the Pharisees before them, want us to read Jesus as though he was teaching obedience, something that those in authority always prefer.

Not About “Seeing” in the Future

The Greek word translated as “will see” here is not the common Greek word usually translated as “see.” It means “viewing” or “gazing” at something as a spectator. It comes from the word that is our source for the English word "theater". There is something humorous in using this term to describe viewing death, especially our own deaths, since it sounds like something we do for entertainment.

The “will” that precedes “see” makes this sound like a prophecy or a promise by Jesus about the future. It is much less than this. Both the verbs here, “watch over/guard” and “view,” are in the form of possibility. This verb form describes something that “should” or “might” happen. The people who might watch over Jesus’s teaching “might” never view death.” Notice that Jesus did not say that these people might never “suffer” or “experience” death. Instead, he said that they might never “view” it. Perhaps this implies that we can die without recognizing it.

The Censored Punchline

In all common English translations, the verse ends after “death.” The original end of this verse is left off. What did Jesus say that none of them want us to hear? Nothing terribly scandalous, just three Greek words that mean “for this lifetime.”

The word translated as “lifetime” here can also mean "life", "lifetime", "age" or "generation". It is the Greek source of our word “era,” so, “for this age” or “for this era” also works. The point is that this is not forever. Jesus specified a period of time for which those who keep his message might not view death. In eleven other verses, the translators translate this phrase “for this lifetime” as “for ever,” which is misleading in a similar way. See this article.

Listeners Heard: Amen, Amen, I tell you, when someone watches over this mine own message, he might never view death for this lifetime.

At the time, this verse generated a new barrage of attacks from the Pharisees, who pointed out that Abraham and all the prophets died. This means that they, too, thought Jesus was saying that they shouldn’t have died. However, they might have understood the phrase “for the age” in a more specific way. Today, Israelite ancient history is divided into seven main “ages” or “eras”: the Patriarchal Era, the Period of the Judges, the United Monarchy, the Divided Kingdom, the Exile and Diaspora; the Hellenistic Period, and the Roman Occupation. In a similar way, Judeans of his era may have seen an “age” as lasting for a similar periods of time.

In any case, there is no excuse for all translations leaving off this phrase.

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Upsetting People

My approach upsets some. I translate the Greek to reflect the most common meaning of his words at the time, consistent with the situation’s context, but not necessarily consistent with other New Testament writings, which all came after Jesus and should all reflect his words. Biblical Greek lexicons, such as Strong’s Lexicon, tell us only how the Greek is commonly translated in the Bible, but that translation is designed to promote Christian teaching, which goes beyond what Christ taught. I use other more general lexicons for translating ancient Greek. This doesn’t always make a big difference, but sometimes it does.

Biblical translators seek to promote a certain view of Jesus. This view is “religious” according to certain standards. Many Greek words are replaced with more religious words rather than their simple meaning in Greek. When we read “disciple”, the Greek reads “student”. Where we read “scripture”, the Greek says “writings”. Even the words for “believe” and “belief”, have more the sense of “trust” especially trusting someone’s words. Many words have changed their meaning over time because of the influence of the Bible, and many Greek words have been adopted into English with meanings different than what they meant in Jesus’s time. Bible translators will also translate Jesus’s words as much to conform to Christian teaching, even when their plain meaning of his Greek words doesn’t. The assumption is that Christian teaching is correct, so, when Jesus’s words don’t conform to it, we need to correct the translation.

As I said, for those that care more about Christian teaching than Jesus’s words, my version can be upsetting. In a particular case last week, a commenter was upset because I said that one verse of Jesus’s words appears to support reincarnation. That verse was what he said about John the Baptist in Matthew 11:14:

NIV: And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.

Listeners Heard: And, if you wanted to welcome him, he himself is Elijah, the one being destined to show up by himself.”

To me, saying that John the Baptist was Elijah is the same as saying that he was a reincarnation of Elijah. Some aren’t willing to accept this, as Jesus warned us.

My Faults

My role is only as a translator, not a teacher, not an opinion maker, and not promoting a set of beliefs. I translate Jesus’s words. Yes, I write about the implications of the Greek words because many shades of their meaning don’t translate into English. At ChristsWords.com, I also list the translation problems in the KJV, the NIV, and occasionally other English translations so people can know what the translation adds, leaves out, confuses, or changes for each verse. In this way, readers know what they are getting.

Of course, the disagreement of Jesus’s words and Christian teaching is what upsets people, leading them to think the problem is my understanding. I know that Christian teaching disagrees with reincarnation. This is what makes Matthew 11:14 so interesting. However, all I know is that Jesus said John was reincarnated. I have no idea what that means concerning the rest of us. I make no assumptions about the afterlife except what Jesus said about it. While I must admit that the Christian formulation of heaven and hell has less support in Jesus’s words than in Zoroastrianism, the fact that John the Baptist was reincarnated says nothing about any other part of the afterlife or the existence of heaven or hell.

Another common criticism is that I misunderstand what Jesus’s words “meant”. The fact is, I try as little as possible to write about what Jesus “means” beyond the plain meaning of the Greek in English. Jesus’s words have all types of philosophical implications that I have no interest in promoting. I will, however, comment when the meaning of his Greek contradicts Biblical translation. No Biblical translation, however, changes the meaning of Jesus’s words in Matthew 11:14 above. They are too straightforward. I have also neither read nor heard any Christian teacher deal with this verse. Such verses are usually ignored rather than discussed, which is too bad.

Another criticism is that I cannot tell the difference between “literal statements and figurative statements”. This is true. If we can categorize any of Jesus’s statements as “figurative,” we are basically saying, “he didn’t really mean what he said but something else”. My job is not to tell anyone how to interpret Jesus’s statements. I just want others to hear what he said as the first generation of Christians heard him. I will explain when he uses a Greek word form that indicates a non-literal meaning, but Jesus was not trying to trick anyone. He knew and said that his words would last for all time. He spoke as plainly as he could to the ages, using the language of his era.

My Limited Trust

My trust is more limited than that of most Christians. I trust very little Christian teaching, not because it is wrong, but because I don’t think we humans know as much about the Divine or the spirit world as some claim we do. Church leaders down through the centuries have claimed to know things that Jesus didn’t teach. They also claim that previous generations got it wrong, but what they teach today is right and true. I don’t trust that their selfish desires to enhance their power and prestige don’t play into their teachings.

Jesus was actively opposed to the “church leaders” of his era. Most of his teaching was a reaction against the way they taught religion. He was asked a what-if question at the end of the Sermon on the Mount about whether others wouldn’t twist his teaching in a similar way as the Pharisees twisted the meaning of Moses’s laws. He didn’t deny that they would.

This article is part of a series explaining Jesus’s Confusing Sayings.

Know a confusing Jesus verse? Write me in a comment so I can analyze its Greek in a future article.

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John 6:63 is a short, fun play on words, which also reveals a key that unlocks a number of confusing statements in John’s gospel. This verse also demonstrates how hard it is to translate Greek to English. The translators’ motivation to reinforce church teaching makes it even more difficult. This verse comes after the verses where Jesus tells his followers that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood. He said his flesh was true food. These earlier verses are confusing, and Jesus recognized that they confused many of his listeners. This verse, John 6:63, explains these earlier statements but in a way most find confusing.

NIV: The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.

• The words in boldface are explained in this article.

Spirit and Flesh

The keyword here is “spirit. Christian teaching wants this to refer to the “Holy Spirit,” the third person of the Trinity (see this article for much more). However, the Greek noun translated as “spirit” primarily means “breath”, “wind”, “blast,” and, on another level, a “non-material being.”

On the surface, the first clause is a truism. On one level. The Greek says, “the spirit is the thing giving life,” but, on another level, it says, “the breath is the thing giving life.” Since “breath” is what gives all animals life, this is physically true. The idea is that when we die, the breath leaves our body. That “breath of life” was the non-physical element that kept us alive. The Judean idea was that we are brought to life by the breath of the Divine.

The translation then goes on to say, “the flesh counts for nothing.” The problem is that the verb, “counts.” is mistranslated and a negative is left out. The Greek verb means “to help”, “to aid”, and “to benefit”. With the negative, the Greek says, ”the flesh doesn’t help nothing.” In translation, we often use the word “never” to capture these Greek double negatives in English. A clearer way to translate this phrase might be to use “never” and, then, convert the second negative, “nothing,” to “anything.” So the sense is, “the flesh never helps anything.”

This appears to contradict his earlier statements about eating his flesh as a path to perpetual life (John 6:53 ...Except ye eat the flesh, John 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, John 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, John 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, etc.) Notice that he started this series of “flesh” verses with his “honestly” phrase, which indicates he was being light-hearted (see this article).

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The Words

Jesus then goes on to refer to the “words” that he has spoken. However, the Greek word translated as “words,” means “that which is spoken,” “subject of speech,” and “matter”. It is the source for our English word, “remarks.”

The Greek verb translated as “that I have spoken” is a word with a comical edge. The word translated as “speak” means both “idle chatter”, “gossip” and “the proclamations of an oracle.” Its general sense is passing on information from one source to another. In everyday speech, this idea was applied more to gossip than the statements of an oracle. It is a comical word that downplays the seriousness of Jesus’s words. By using it, Jesus is making it clear that these ideas are not his own, but that he gets them from somewhere else, in his case, the Divine.

Words are Breath

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The idea that “words are spirit,” sounds deeply philosophical, but they have a light-hearted side. The Greek also says that “words are breath.” This is a basic truth: when we speak, we are putting our ideas into our breath. There is no “the Spirit” here. The “the” before “spirit,” was added to make it seem as though Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit instead of just a “spirit” or “breath.”

Jesus taught by speaking to people, not writing. By saying that words are “breath” he is simply describing them. To look at this from a more humorous angle, he was also saying his remarks are hot air. However, he is also saying that his words are the breath of life. He gave his listeners a choice about how seriously they take his ideas.

He then finishes by saying that “this is life.” The word translated as “life” has the same root as the earlier verb meaning “making life.” Jesus uses it to mean the “existence” of physical life, “spirit” plus “body.” To learn more read this article on life eternal, For more on how Christ uses “spirit” with other words about human existence (soul, heart, spirit, body, etc.), read this article.

Here is what Jesus’s listeners heard:

Listeners Heard: ..The breath is the thing making life. The flesh never helps anything. The remarks that I myself have passed on to you are breath. And it is life.

Listeners Also Heard: ..The spirit is the thing making life. The flesh never helps anything. The remarks that I myself have passed on to you are spirit. And it is life.

Jesus’s listeners heard both of these verses at once. On one hand, they heard him stating an obvious truth: that we must breathe to live and our words a created by our breath. On the other hand, they heard him attributing life to our spirit and elevating his words to the level of creating life. Both of these statements also disparage the idea of “flesh,” which he had elevated in his earlier statements about eating his flesh to gain perpetual life. It was, after this verse, not those earlier ones about eating his flesh, that he lost his audience.

Another way to understand this verse, however, is to understand that John said that “the Word was made flesh.” That is the context in which we understand this verse and all there earlier ones about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. He was talking about feeding on his teaching.

Know a confusing Jesus verse? Write me in a comment so I can analyze its Greek in a future article.

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The context of this verse is that Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. His opponents attacked him for violating the day of rest. He responded that God works on the Sabbath so he does as well. His critics then attack him for making himself equal to God.

This verse begins Jesus’s defense against that accusation. He said in John 5:19

NIV: Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

• The words in boldface are explained in this article.

There are many problems with the translation of this verse because it ignores several keywords. This defense argues against Jesus being equal to the Father, but it does so in a more light-hearted and unusual way than the English translation presents it. Jesus begins this with his catchphrase, “Amen, I say to you.” This phrase is used by Jesus humorously, often to start verses with difficult ideas to lighten the discussion (see this article).

Not Power

There are two negatives in the first part of this verse. The one before the word translated as “can” is left out of English translations. This isn’t an error as much as a common translation convention, but it distorts the meaning of this particular verse.

The Greek verb translated as “can” has a different meaning and use in Greek that our “can.” The Greek word means “to have power by virtue of your own capabilities”, “to be able” and “to be strong enough”. It is the verb form of the common Greek word that means “power” or “strength.” This verb is the main verb here, instead of a helper verb, as “can” is in English. This verb is negated by a preceding negative that is left out of the translation. The Greek says, “The son doesn’t have the power”.

However, there is also a second negative in this clause. It is the Greek word meaning “nothing.” In English, the double negative converts into a positive, but, in Greek, a double negative is a more extreme negative. This extreme negative makes more sense than the English idea that two negatives make a positive.. A child must be “educated” out of the natural idea that more negatives are more negative. A child may say, “he is not doing nothing,” which expresses his negative feeling more succinctly.

This more extreme negative is hard to capture in English while using “good” grammar. In translation, we often use the word “never” to capture these Greek double negatives in English. A clearer way to translate this might be to use “never” and, then, convert the second negative, “nothing,” to “anything.” So the sense is, “the Son never has the power to do anything by himself.”

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Doing and Performing

The various repetitions of different forms of “to do” in this verse are from the common Greek word usually translated as “to do.” The Greek verb, however, means “to make”, “to produce”, “to create”, “to perform”, and, finally, “to do”. Our “to do” has a much broader meaning and use than this Greek verb. This verb is used four times in this verse, in a variety of forms.

The first time in which this verb appears, it describes the son’s inability regarding his lack of power. He certainly doesn’t lack the power “to do anything.” He can, after all, do many things, but that is not the point here. The translation of this Greek verb “to perform” would work better than “to do” because Jesus was referring to the wonders that people saw him perform, in this case, the healing of the invalid by the pool.

The second time this “to do” verb is used is when Jesus said he can do what he watches the Father do. This clause doesn’t begin with the translation’s phrase, “he can only do.” Those words don’t exist in the Greek. The Greek starts more simply with the untranslated idea of except, “except what he sees the Father doing.” The verb translated as “see” in this phrase is not the common Greek word, “see,” but a more specific word that means “watch.” So, Jesus watched the Father performing these acts.

The third time “to do” is used is in the phrase, “whatever the Father does,” but the Greek doesn’t say “the Father.” Instead, the subject is “that one there.” This is from a pronoun that Jesus uses to describe both himself and the Father, but it clearly refers to the Father here because the Son is referenced in the next phrase. The “whatever” that begins this phrase is in a form that refers to many things.

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The fourth time this verb “to do” is used is in the clause, “the Son also does.” Again, this clause also leaves out a couple keywords. In the Greek, the Son does “these things,” which is left out of the English translation. The form of “these things” matches the “whatever” in the previous clause. By “these things,” Jesus is referring to wonders such as the healing of the lame man. The translation also leaves out an adverb that means “in this same way.” This adverb is the punchline, that is, the final word in the verse. The Greek says, “also the Son does these things in the same way.”

Here is what Jesus’s listeners heard:

Listeners Heard: ...Amen, Amen, I tell you. The Son never has the power to perform anything by himself, except what he watches the Father performing. Because whatever that one there performs, the son also performs these things in the same way.

What is Jesus saying here? Does the Son do similar wonders after watching how the Father does things? Or does the Son do “the same” wonders? If the Father does “these things,” does the Son do them again? Or, when we see the works of the Son, are we really seeing the works of the Father, which are being attributed to the Son?

Going back to the argument about working on the Sabbath and making himself equal to the Father, is Jesus saying that he isn’t working at all because what they are seeing are the works of the Father?