Tossed in the Fire: Part 1
Translating Jesus’s words, I often feel like an archeologist, removing centuries of accumulated crust to reveal the shiny treasures hidden within. Lately, I have been working on John, Jesus’s words to the Apostles after the Last Supper. Just finished John 15:6, which starts with a play on words, connecting the “tossed out” with being “dried out.” Jesus uses this “tossed” verb in a light-hearted way, often to lighten verses that would otherwise seem threatening. Of course, this little bit of fun is lost in translation.
However, what got me interested in doing an article on “fire” is the end of that verse. It connects the light-hearted verb meaning “tossed” to being “burned.” I knew that Jesus often used this “tossed” verb, ballo, with the Greek word for “fire (pyr). That got me interested in how many often Jesus used ballo with pyr. The answer was surprising: seven out of fourteen. In those verses, Jesus is using the idea of being "tossed into a fire" as a punchline.
Of course, for modern Christianity, this “fire” is a threat. “Being tossed into a fire” is the equivalent to being tossed hell. However, as I explain in this series of article (Hell Part 1, Hell Part 2, Hell Part 3, Hell Part 4) I think the whole idea of “hell” was manufactured out of mistranslation. In Hell Part 3, I discuss the destructive and productive uses of fire, but not any of the verse that references it. I want to correct that here.
The Greek
As always, we should start defining the Greek word more carefully. The word fire is pyr (πῦρ). It is used to mean which means "fire," "sacrificial fire," "funeral fire," "cooking fire," "lightning," "the light of torches," and "heat of fever." It is the source of our English word, “pyre” as in a funeral pyre.
Three definitions are important to the way Jesus uses pyr. Mostly, he uses fire to refer cooking. This is the clearest the “furnace” in Matthew 13:42 and Matthew 13:50. The Greek word is κάμινον (κάμινον), which refers specifically to a type of clay bread oven.
KJV: And they will toss them into the bread-oven for fire. In that place, there will be lamentation and the mastication of teeth.
Literal:
What is Tossed
In this article, I am going to focus on the “tossed in the fire” verses. In the KJV, the word “tossed” is usually translated as “cast,” but in more modern versions as “thrown.” However, when that doesn’t fit the meaning that the translators want, they will try other things, such as the “send” in Luke. These verses are:
The first five of these are from Matthew. The first, Matthew 7:19, is part of the Sermon on the Mount, referencing John the Dunker, tossing non-productive trees in the fire. The next two are both identical and both from parables. The first, Matthew 13:42, is from the Parable of the Weeds, tossing weeds into the fire. The next, Matthew 13:50, from the Parable of the Net, tossing bad fish into the fire. The last may refer to using these fish for their oil, which was burned. All of these verses are about using non-productive things productively, as fuel for a fire.
The last two verses are also connected, one follows the other in the text. In the first, cut-off hands and feet are tossed in the fire. In the second, plucked-out eyes are tossed in the fire. These verses are later versions of lines Jesus first used in the Sermon on the Mount where “fire” replaces the “Gehenna” (Hell Part 1). To me both are clearly comic exaggerations.
Thanks Gary, a much needed article. I think it’s so sad how the Church so readily uses the word fire to present a God so ready to destroy people instead of a God who wants so much to refine and save people.
Roger