An "End" or a "Purpose"
Jesus uses very interesting words that are translated in the most boring ways. A good example of this is the word usually translated as “end.” This word in Greek is telos, (τέλος). Jesus use it in only eleven verses. In the KJV it is translated as “end” in nine of them, “custom” meaning “taxes” in one verse, and as an adjective “continual” in another verse. If you wonder how it can mean all of these different things, the answer is that it doesn't really mean any of them.
Telos, despite being translated usually as “end” is not, for example, the Greek word translated as “end” in the phrase “end of the world,” which is synteleia (see this article). There are also a number of other words translated as “end” including prothesis, akron. and eschatos. But of all these words, telos,is the most interesting because it is an extremely philosophical idea, but all of its philosophical content is drained away by translating it simple as “end.” Telos is the root of the modern English term teleology, the study of purposes and goals, or of objects trying to understand the aims, purposes, or intentions behind them.
The Definition
In Greek, telos means "fulfillment," "performance," "consummation," "result," "product," "outcome," "end," "achievement," "attainment," "goal," "state of completion," "maturity," "services rendered," "something done," "task," "duty," "toll," and "custom." Telos is more of an accomplishment than simply ending a task. In some contexts, it refers to "having the power of deciding" and “judicial power,” so it can mean "decision" and even "doom." It can mean what is "due" to the gods or the state. This is how it comes to mean “custom” or “taxes.
However, telos took on a greater meaning because of its use in Greek philosophy by Aristotle. Trigger warning: these ideas speak against the concept of evolution as an undirected and random process, which is the religion of many today. Aristotle saw telos as important in all his scientific analysis, from plant and animal biology, to human ethics, and even as the basis for plot structure in his work, Poetics. It was the final and most important of his four causes that bring about change: the physical cause, the formal cause, that is, the ideal form after the change, the causal agent, the one making the change, and, finally, the telos, that is, purpose and goal of the action.
Jesus’s Use of the Word
We can, of course, as the English translators of the Bible do, assume that Jesus’s use of this word was non-philosophical and boring. However, we also have the option of seeing his use of the word was interesting and deeply philosophical.
Let us start with the first use of the telos in Matthew 10:22:
KJV: And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Listeners Heard: And you will exist being hated, beneath all, through this name of mine. The one, however, standing one's ground for a purpose, this one will be rescued.
Notice how the idea of a purpose changes the meaning here. It isn’t just lasting for a period of time, but lasting to serve a specific goal, to serve a purpose.
Another good example is in Luke 22:37:
KJV: For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.
Listeners Heard: Because I say to you in order that this one, this having been written, needs to be accomplish by me. This: "And among lawless ones he is counted." And because this has a purpose concerning me.
The idea here is that the quote has a purpose or a meaning concerning Jesus’s fate. “End” fits poorly at best. This verse is also interesting because it contains the verb form of telos, teleo, (τελεσθῆναι). It is translated here as “to be accomplished,” and it also means "to complete" and "to fulfill."
I am at a loss to understand why the Bible’s translators avoid this impactful idea of purpose. Most of Jesus’s verses using this word are affected in the same way by translating the word correctly.
So let’s look at one of the verses where telos is not translated as “end.” This is Matthew 17:25 where it is translated as “custom” and, in the NIV, as “duty”:
KJV: What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?
NIV: What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?
Listeners Heard: What do you yourself expect, Simon? Do the rulers of the earth get purpose from everyone or this tax from those children of theirs, or from those strangers?
While “custom” or “duty” are acceptable, notice again how the substitution of “purpose” broadens the issues here. Biblical translations try to equate “custom” with “taxes” despite the “or” separating them instead of an “and.” The NIV version dishonestly fixes this problem by replacing the “or” in the text with an “and” in the translation that isn’t there.
Conclusion
While all the verses in which telos appears are simplified by translating the Greek word as “end,” they are also made more boring, with less depth of meaning. Clearly, the simple meaning is not what Jesus was going for because he could have chosen a word with fewer implications to express the simple idea of the termination of something. He was more concerned with reaching a goal rather than the end of the activity.
Jesus saw his life in terms of its purpose, but he didn’t harp on it. Note that neither the noun or the verb are very commonly used. We might want to do the same.