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Luca 17

¹ Isus a zis ucenicilor Săi: ,,Este cu neputinţă să nu vină prilejuri de păcătuire; dar vai de acela prin care vin!

² Ar fi mai de folos pentru el să i se lege o piatră de moară de gât, şi să fie aruncat în mare, decât să facă pe unul din aceşti micuţi să păcătuiască.

³ Luaţi seama la voi înşivă! Dacă fratele tău păcătuieşte împotriva ta, mustră-l! Şi dacă-i pare rău, iartă-l!

⁴ Şi chiar dacă păcătuieşte împotriva ta de şapte ori pe zi, şi de şapte ori pe zi se întoarce la tine şi zice: ,Îmi pare rău!` -să-l ierţi.

⁵ Apostolii au zis Domnului: ,,Măreşte-ne credinţa!``

⁶ Şi Domnul a zis: ,,Dacă aţi avea credinţă cât un grăunte de muştar, aţi zice dudului acestuia: ,Desrădăcinează-te şi sădeşte-te în mare`, şi v-ar asculta.

⁷ Cine dintre voi, dacă are un rob, care ară sau paşte oile, îi va zice, când vine dela câmp: ,,Vino îndată, şi şezi la masă?``

⁸ Nu-i va zice mai degrabă: ,,Găteşte-mi să mănânc, încinge-te, şi slujeşte-mi până voi mânca şi voi bea eu; după aceea, vei mânca şi vei bea şi tu?``

⁹ Va rămânea el îndatorat faţă de robul acela, pentrucă robul a făcut ce-i fusese poruncit? Nu cred.

¹⁰ Tot aşa şi voi, dupăce veţi face tot ce vi s-a poruncit, să ziceţi: ,,Sântem nişte robi netrebnici; am făcut ce eram datori să facem.``

¹¹ Isus mergea spre Ierusalim, şi a trecut printre Samaria şi Galilea.

¹² Pe când intra într-un sat, L-au întâmpinat zece leproşi. Ei au stătut departe,

¹³ şi-au ridicat glasul, şi au zis: ,,Isuse, Învăţătorule, ai milă de noi!``

¹⁴ Când i-a văzut Isus, le-a zis: ,,Duceţi-vă şi arătaţi-vă preoţilor!`` Şi pe când se duceau, au fost curăţiţi.

¹⁵ Unul din ei, când s-a văzut vindecat, s-a întors, slăvind pe Dumnezeu cu glas tare.

¹⁶ S-a aruncat cu faţa la pământ la picioarele lui Isus, şi I-a mulţămit. Era Samaritean.

¹⁷ Isus a luat cuvântul, şi a zis: ,,Oare n-au fost curăţiţi toţi cei zece? Dar ceilalţi nouă, unde sânt?

¹⁸ Nu s-a găsit decât străinul acesta să se întoarcă şi să dea slavă lui Dumnezeu?``

¹⁹ Apoi i-a zis: ,,Scoală-te şi pleacă; credinţa ta te-a mântuit.``

²⁰ Fariseii au întrebat pe Isus când va veni Împărăţia lui Dumnezeu. Drept răspuns, El le-a zis: ,,Împărăţia lui Dumnezeu nu vine în aşa fel ca să izbească privirile.

²¹ Nu se va zice: ,Uite-o aici`, sau: ,Uite-o acolo!` Căci iată că Împărăţia lui Dumnezeu este înlăuntrul vostru.``

²² Şi a zis ucenicilor: ,,Vor veni zile când veţi dori să vedeţi una din zilele Fiului omului, şi n-o veţi vedea.

²³ Vi se va zice: ,Iată -L aici, iată -L acolo!` Să nu vă duceţi, nici să nu-i urmaţi.

²⁴ Căci, cum iese fulgerul şi luminează dela o margine a cerului până la cealaltă, aşa va fi şi Fiul omului în ziua Sa.

²⁵ Dar mai întâi trebuie să sufere multe, şi să fie lepădat de neamul acesta.

²⁶ Ce s-a întâmplat în zilele lui Noe, se va întâmpla la fel şi în zilele Fiului omului:

²⁷ mâncau, beau, se însurau şi se măritau până în ziua când a intrat Noe în corabie; şi a venit potopul şi i-a prăpădit pe toţi.

²⁸ Ce s-a întâmplat în zilele lui Lot, se va întâmpla aidoma: oamenii mâncau, beau, cumpărau, vindeau, sădeau, zideau;

²⁹ dar, în ziua când a ieşit Lot din Sodoma, a plouat foc şi pucioasă din cer, şi i-a pierdut pe toţi.

³⁰ Tot aşa va fi şi în ziua când Se va arăta Fiul omului.

³¹ În ziua aceea, cine va fi pe acoperişul casei, şi îşi va avea vasele în casă, să nu se pogoare să le ia; şi cine va fi pe câmp, de asemenea, să nu se mai întoarcă.

³² Aduceţi-vă aminte de nevasta lui Lot.

³³ Oricine va căuta să-şi scape viaţa, o va pierde; şi oricine o va pierde, o va găsi.

³⁴ Vă spun că, în noaptea aceea, doi inşi vor fi în acelaş pat, unul va fi luat şi altul va fi lăsat;

³⁵ două femei vor măcina împreună: una va fi luată, şi alta va fi lăsată.

³⁶ Doi bărbaţi vor fi la câmp: unul va fi luat şi altul va fi lăsat.``

³⁷ Ucenicii L-au întrebat: ,,Unde, Doamne?`` Iar El a răspuns: ,,Unde va fi trupul acolo se vor strânge vulturii.``

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See Matt 18:21-22.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"6":[{"id":30659,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Plants","title_en":"Plants","content_ro":"<h3>PLANTS<\/h3>\nIdentifying biblical plants has always been a difficult task, partly because people continue to identify the biblical elm, sycamore, lily, rose, and vine with modern plants, and also because they assume that all the plants now growing in the Holy Land were there in ancient biblical days, or that the plants referred to in the Bible are still to be found there today. Unfortunately, many plants now quite common in the Holy Land were not there in biblical days. Many plants that once grew in abundance in the Holy Land are now extinct. Some have been driven out by foreign invaders; others have been exterminated or nearly exterminated by overcultivation of the land, the destruction of forests, and the resulting changes in climatic and other environmental conditions. At one time the Holy Land was a land of palm trees, with the date palm as abundant and characteristic there as it was in Egypt, but today the date palm is much less common. Similarly, in antiquity, the towering cedars clothed the slopes of Lebanon and other mountain ranges. Now the few remaining specimens must be carefully fenced in to protect them against trampling and the ravages of goats.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Acacia<\/p>\n• Acanthus<\/p>\n• Algum<\/p>\n• Almond<\/p>\n• Almug<\/p>\n• Aloe<\/p>\n• Apple<\/p>\n• Apricot<\/p>\n• Ash<\/p>\n• Aspen<\/p>\n• Balm<\/p>\n• Barley<\/p>\n• Bdellium<\/p>\n• Bean<\/p>\n• Bitter Herbs<\/p>\n• Boxthorn, European<\/p>\n• Box Tree<\/p>\n• Bramble<\/p>\n• Broom<\/p>\n• Buckthorn<\/p>\n• Bush<\/p>\n• Buttercup<\/p>\n• Calamus<\/p>\n• Cane<\/p>\n• Caper Plant<\/p>\n• Carob Tree<\/p>\n• Cassia<\/p>\n• Castor Oil Plant<\/p>\n• Cedar<\/p>\n• Chicory<\/p>\n• Cinnamon<\/p>\n• Citron Tree<\/p>\n• Coriander<\/p>\n• Cotton<\/p>\n• Cucumber<\/p>\n• Cummin<\/p>\n• Cypress<\/p>\n• Dandelion<\/p>\n• Darnel Grass<\/p>\n• Dill<\/p>\n• Ebony<\/p>\n• Endive<\/p>\n• Fig, Fig Tree<\/p>\n• Fir Tree<\/p>\n• Flax<\/p>\n• Frankincense<\/p>\n• Galbanum<\/p>\n• Garlic<\/p>\n• Gourd, Wild<\/p>\n• Hedge<\/p>\n• Henna<\/p>\n• Hyacinth<\/p>\n• Hyssop<\/p>\n• Juniper<\/p>\n• Laurel or Sweet Bay<\/p>\n• Leek<\/p>\n• Lentil<\/p>\n• Lettuce<\/p>\n• Lily<\/p>\n• Lotus Bush<\/p>\n• Mallow<\/p>\n• Mandrake<\/p>\n• Melon<\/p>\n• Millet<\/p>\n• Mint<\/p>\n• Mulberry<\/p>\n• Mustard<\/p>\n• Myrrh<\/p>\n• Myrtle<\/p>\n• Narcissus<\/p>\n• Nard<\/p>\n• Nettle<\/p>\n• Nutmeg Flower<\/p>\n• Oak<\/p>\n• Oil Tree, Oleaster<\/p>\n• Oleander<\/p>\n• Olive, Olive Tree<\/p>\n• Onion<\/p>\n• Palm<\/p>\n• Papyrus<\/p>\n• Pine Tree<\/p>\n• Pistachio<\/p>\n• Plane Tree<\/p>\n• Pomegranate<\/p>\n• Poplar<\/p>\n• Quince<\/p>\n• Reed<\/p>\n• Rue<\/p>\n• Rush<\/p>\n• Saffron<\/p>\n• Sage<\/p>\n• Spelt<\/p>\n• Storax Tree<\/p>\n• Sycamore<\/p>\n• Tamarisk<\/p>\n• Terebinth<\/p>\n• Thistle, Thorn<\/p>\n• Tulip<\/p>\n• Tumbleweed<\/p>\n• Vegetable<\/p>\n• Vine<\/p>\n• Walnut<\/p>\n• Water Lily<\/p>\n• Wheat<\/p>\n• Wormwood<\/p>\nAcacia (Acacia tortilis<\/em> and A. seyal)<\/em><\/p>\nAny tree or shrub of the mimosa family of plants growing in warm regions. The plant referred to in the kjv<\/span> as “shittah” (singular) or “shittim” (plural) is undoubtedly the acacia tree, the only timber tree of any considerable size in the Arabian desert. Acacia tortilis<\/em> is by far the largest and most common tree in the desert in which the Israelites wandered for 40 years. It is especially conspicuous on Mt Sinai and was probably the species used for the tabernacle furnishings. A. seyal<\/em> is less common, at least today. It can grow as high as 25 feet (7.6 meters), and bears yellow flowers on twisted branches. The wood is close grained, heavy and hard, orange-brown in color, and much valued in cabinetwork. The ancient Egyptians clamped shut mummy coffins with acacia wood.<\/p>\nAcanthus (Acanthus syriacus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe acanthus, perhaps referred to in Job 30:7 and Zephaniah 2:9, is a perennial thistlelike herb or small shrub about three feet (.9 meter) tall, and is a common weed in all Eastern countries. It has been used since time immemorial as a model for the leaf or scroll decorations in art.<\/p>\nAlgum (Juniperus excelsa Bieb)<\/em><\/p>\nThe timber from Lebanon referred to in 2 Chronicles 2:8 is probably the juniper. Some translators hold, however, that algum and almug are Hebrew variants for the same tree (see nlt<\/span> mg, 2 Chr 2:8).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Almug (below).<\/p>\nAlmond (Amygdalus communis)<\/em><\/p>\nThe almond is a peachlike tree with saw-toothed pointed leaves and gray bark. It grows to a height of from 10 to 25 feet (3 to 7.6 meters). It blooms very early in the year; its Hebrew name has its roots in “watch for.” To the Jews it was a welcome harbinger of spring (Jer 1:11).<\/p>\n\nAlmug (Pterocarpus santalinus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe precious wood imported by King Solomon and used in making the pillars for the temple and for making harps and psalteries (1 Kgs 10:11-12). This timber was brought by sea from Ophir to Ezion-geber, near Elath. Modern authorities suggest that Ophir was either in Arabia, India, or East Africa near Mozambique. The reference to “algum“ in 2 Chronicles 2:8 is possibly to this tree. See<\/em> Algum (above).<\/p>\nAloe (Aloe succotrina, Aquilaria agallocha)<\/em><\/p>\nChiefly African, lilylike plant of the genus Aloes,<\/em> certain species of which yield a drug and a fiber. Aloe is an aromatic substance mentioned in the Bible, together with myrrh, balm, and other fragrant plants (Ps 45:8; Prv 7:17; Sg 4:14; Jn 19:39). Most scholars think these passages refer to two different plants. The OT plant is likely to have been Aquilaria agallocha,<\/em> the eaglewood, a large tree growing up to 120 feet (36.6 meters) tall with a trunk 12 feet (3.7 meters) in circumference. It is native to northern India, Malaya, and Indochina. The decaying wood is highly fragrant, and as such is highly valued as perfume and incense and for fumigation.<\/p>\nThe aloe of John 19:39 is thought to be the true aloe (Aloe succotrina),<\/em> the juice of which was used by the Egyptians in embalming. Its smell, however, is not very agreeable, and it has a bitter taste. It is sometimes used by veterinarians as a horse medicine.<\/p>\nApple (Malus sylvestris)<\/em><\/p>\nThe identity of the fruit identified by the Hebrew word tappuach<\/span> (Prv 25:11; Sg 2:3, 5; 7:8; 8:5) continues to be debated. In most English translations it has been rendered “apple” because of its close linguistic tie to the Arabic word tuffah.<\/em> Many scholars identify this tree as the apricot, questioning whether apples fit the biblical description “apples of gold” and whether the apple tree was cultivated in ancient Palestine. Recent excavations at Kadesh-barnea, however, have uncovered carbonized apples, probably a crab apple (Malus sylvestris),<\/em> dating to the ninth century BC<\/span>. This would certainly allow for this ornamental apple’s cultivation in Solomon’s gardens.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Apricot (below).<\/p>\nApricot (Prunus armeniaca)<\/em><\/p>\nThe identification of the Hebrew word tappuach<\/span> with the apricot continues to be debated. The apricot tree produces yellow-orange peachlike edible fruit and is native to western Asia and Africa. It is abundant in the Holy Land and probably has been so since early biblical times. The tree is a round-headed reddish-barked tree growing 30 feet (9.1 meters) tall. Most translations render this Hebrew word “apple,” though many scholars identify it with the apricot because of its descriptions in the biblical text (see Prv 25:11; Sg 2:3, 5; 7:8; 8:5; Jl 1:12).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Apple (above).<\/p>\nAsh (Alhagi maurorum, Fraxinus ornus, Tamarix mannifera)<\/em><\/p>\nThere are several ash trees found in the Near East. One of these, the prickly alhagi (Alhagi maurorum),<\/em> is a member of the pea family. It is a low, many-stemmed, much-branched shrub growing about three feet (.9 meter) tall with somewhat hairy twigs and pealike flowers. During the heat of the day, leaves exude a sweet, gummy substance that hardens in the air and is collected by shaking the bushes over a spread-out cloth.<\/p>\nThe manna tamarisk (Tamarix mannifera)<\/em> is a multibranched shrub or a small tree 9 to 15 feet (2.7 to 4.6 meters) tall with rigid branches that have tiny pink flowers. It is found on deserts from the Holy Land to Arabia and the Sinai.<\/p>\nThe flowering or manna ash (Fraxinus ornus)<\/em> is a tree that grows from 15 to 50 feet (4.6 to 15.2 meters) tall. The fruits are very similar to those produced by our species of ash. The ash of Isaiah 44:14 (kjv<\/span>) is believed to be the Aleppo pine.<\/p>\nAspen (Populus euphratica<\/em> or P. tremula)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several trees of the genus Populus<\/em> with leaves attached by flattened leafstalks so that they tremble or “quake” in the wind.<\/p>\nBalm (Balanites aegyptiaca, Pistacia lentiscus, Commiphora opobalsamum<\/em>)<\/em><\/p>\nAn oily aromatic resin exuded by chiefly tropical trees and shrubs and used medicinally; trees and shrubs producing this substance. References in Genesis 37:25, Jeremiah 8:22, 46:11, and 51:8 are thought to be either the Jericho balsam (Balanites aegyptiaca)<\/em> or the lentisk or mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus).<\/em> The Jericho balsam is very common in Egypt, North Africa, the plains of Jericho, and the hot plains bordering on the Dead Sea. It is a small desert-loving plant, 9 to 15 feet (2.7 to 4.6 meters) tall, with slender, thorny branches and small clusters of green flowers.<\/p>\nThe lentisk or mastic tree is native to the Holy Land, and the reference in Genesis 43:11 is probably to this plant, since the implication is that this is a native product of the Holy Land unknown in Egypt at the time. This tree is a shrubby or bushy tree 3 to 10 feet (.9 to 3 meters) tall with evergreen leaves. The “balm” is a fragrant gummy exudation of the sap secured by making incisions in the stems and branches, usually in August. The best grades are in the form of yellow-white translucent tears or drops; they are employed in medicine as an astringent. The poorer grades are used extensively as a varnish. Children in the East use it as chewing gum.<\/p>\nReferences to spices in 1 Kings 10:10, 2 Kings 20:13, Song of Songs 3:6, Isaiah 39:2, and Ezekiel 27:17 are thought to be the balm of Gilead (Commiphora opobalsamum),<\/em> which in spite of its name is not a native of Gilead or even of the Holy Land but is indigenous to Arabia, especially the mountainous regions of Yemen. The trees were still in existence on the plain of Jericho at the time of the Roman conquest. The Roman conquerors carried branches to Rome as trophies of their victory over the Jews.<\/p>\nThis tree is a small, stiff-branched evergreen tree seldom more than 15 feet (4.6 meters) high with straggling branches. The “balm” is obtained by making incisions in the stem and branches of the tree. The sap soon hardens into small irregular nodules that are collected. Gum is also procured from green and ripe fruit.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Myrrh (below).<\/p>\nBarley (Hordeum distichon)<\/em><\/p>\nA cereal grass bearing bearded flower spikes and edible seeds. The common barley (Hordeum distichon),<\/em> the winter barley (H. hex<\/em>astichon),<\/em> and the spring barley (H. vulgare)<\/em> have been cultivated in temperate regions of the world since time immemorial and today still constitute one of the principal grain foods. Barley and wheat were the two staple cereal crops of Egypt and the Holy Land. Being less expensive, barley was mostly used for feeding cattle, although it was also used by itself or mixed with wheat and other seed as food for man (Ez 4:9-12). Barley is mentioned in the Bible over 30 times, either as a plant growing in the fields or in reference to products made from it, such as barley meal, barley bread, barley cakes, and barley loaves. As the common food of the poor, barley was also regarded as a symbol of poverty and cheapness or worthlessness (Hos 3:2).<\/p>\nBdellium (Commiphora africana)<\/em><\/p>\nAromatic gum resin similar to myrrh, produced by various trees of the genus Commiphora<\/em> of Africa and western Asia. The reference in Genesis 2:12 and Numbers 11:7 to bdellium is thought by most scholars today to refer to a gum resin, obtained from a shrub, Commiphora africana<\/em>, that grows in south Arabia and northeastern Africa. The resin is yellowish, transparent, and fragrant, and looks like a pearl.<\/p>\nBean (Faba vulgaris)<\/em><\/p>\nThe references in 2 Samuel 17:27-28 and Ezekiel 4:9 are generally regarded as referring to the broad bean. This species, an annual plant, is thought originally to have grown in northern Persia, but it was extensively cultivated in western Asia in very early times as a food plant. Beans have been found in the mummy coffins of Egyptian tombs, and they were also cultivated by the Greeks and Romans.<\/p>\nBitter Herbs (Cichorium endivia, Taraxacum officinale, Lactuca sativa)<\/em><\/p>\nThe “bitter herbs” of Exodus 12:8 and Numbers 9:11 seem to have been plants like endive (Cichorium endivia),<\/em> the common chicory (Cichorium intybus),<\/em> lettuce (Lactuca sativa),<\/em> or the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).<\/em> These are all weedy plants common in modern Egypt and western Asia and are still eaten by people living there. The leaves of the ordinary garden lettuce are intensely bitter when bleached. This is also true of the common dandelion. Others suggest that the bitter herbs were derived from thorns and thistles.<\/p>\nBoxthorn, European (Lycium europaeum)<\/em><\/p>\nVarious thorny shrubs, some species of which bear purplish flowers and brightly colored berries. The reference in Judges 9:14-15 is thought to be to the European boxthorn or desert-thorn. It is a thorny shrub 6 to 12 feet (1.8 to 3.7 meters) tall with clustered leaves and small violet flowers eventually producing small globular red berries. It is native to and common throughout the Holy Land, especially in the region from Lebanon to the Dead Sea.<\/p>\nBox Tree (Buxus longifolia)<\/em><\/p>\nThe long-leaved box tree is a hardy evergreen tree found in the mountainous regions of the northern part of the Holy Land, the Galilean hills, and Lebanon. It grows to a height of about 20 feet (6.1 meters) with a slender trunk seldom more than six to eight inches (15.2 to 20.3 centimeters) in diameter. Its wood is very hard and takes a fine polish. It was cultivated by the Romans for its hard wood, which they inlaid with ivory for cabinets and jewel caskets. Scriptural references include Isaiah 41:19 and 60:13.<\/p>\nBramble (Rubus sanctus, R. ulmifolius)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Palestinian bramble (Rubus sanctus)<\/em> and the closely related elm-leaf bramble (R. ulmifolius)<\/em> are prickly evergreen shrubs that spread by means of suckers. The stems and young shoots are covered with a characteristic bloom or whitish powder and short hairs. The prickles are strong, erect, and hairy. The flowers are white, pink, rose, or purple in color, and the fruit is round and black.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Thistle, Thorn (below).<\/p>\nBroom (Retama raetam)<\/em><\/p>\nA shrub native to Eurasia. The word translated “juniper” in the kjv<\/span> has nothing to do with the true junipers but refers rather to a species of broom, known as the white broom (Retama raetam).<\/em> Its branches are longer and flexible, forming an erect, dense bush 3 to 12 feet (.9 to 3.7 meters) tall. The leaves are small and sparse, yet it forms an agreeable shade in a desert region. The white pealike flowers are sweet and very fragrant and are borne in clusters along the twigs. It is a beautiful shrub that grows in the desert regions of Palestine, Syria, and Persia. In many desert areas it is the only bush that affords any shade (1 Kgs 19:4-5).<\/p>\nThe “juniper roots” of Job 30:4 are not the roots of either the juniper or white broom. The roots of the latter are very nauseating and could not be eaten in the manner described by Job. Job’s “juniper roots” were probably an edible parasitic plant (Cynomorium coccineum).<\/em> This plant grows in salt marshes and maritime sands. It is frequently eaten in times of food scarcity and at one time was highly prized for its supposed medicinal value in the treatment of dysentery.<\/p>\nBuckthorn (Rhamnus palaestina)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Palestinian buckthorn is a shrub or small tree attaining a height of three to six feet (.9 to 1.8 meters) with velvety, thorny branches, evergreen leaves, and clusters of small flowers blooming in March or April. It grows in thickets and on hillsides from Syria and Lebanon through the Holy Land to Arabia and the Sinai.<\/p>\nBush (Acacia nilotica, Loranthus acaciae)<\/em><\/p>\nLow, branching, woody plant, usually smaller than a tree. There are differences of opinion in regard to the bush out of which the Lord appeared to Moses (Ex 3:2-4). From the biblical account, it seems most likely that the event was a miraculous one. However, some seek a natural explanation and believe that the burning bush may have been the crimson-flowered mistletoe or acacia strap flower (Loranthus acaciae),<\/em> which grows in great profusion as a partial parasite on the various acacia shrubs, such as the thorny acacia (Acacia nilotica),<\/em> in the Holy Land and Sinai. When in full bloom, the mistletoe imparts to the shrub or tree the appearance of being on fire because its brilliant flame-colored blossoms stand out against the green foliage and yellow flowers of the host plants.<\/p>\nButtercup (Ranunculus asiaticus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Persian buttercup is one of the flowers or grasses of the field (Mt 6:28-30). It is a showy plant blooming in all brilliant colors except blue, with double flowers sometimes measuring two inches (5.1 centimeters) across.<\/p>\nCalamus (Acorus calamus, Andropogon aroma<\/em>ticus)<\/em><\/p>\nA plant, or its aromatic root; any of a variety of tropical Asiatic palms. One of the plants that grew in Solomon’s garden (Sg 4:14). The sweet flag (Acorus<\/em> calamus)<\/em> and the beardgrass (Andropogon aromaticus)<\/em> have been suggested as the plants from which calamus came. The sweet flag is highly aromatic and grows in Europe and Asia, but it is not known in the Holy Land. Indigenous to India, beardgrass is highly odoriferous when bruised and is thought to have furnished the calamus of the Bible. It yields an oil known as ginger-grass oil.<\/p>\nCane (Saccharum officinarum)<\/em><\/p>\nIt is thought that there were two species of sugarcane indigenous to and growing wild in the Holy Land. One of these, Saccharum sara,<\/em> is known to be only from Lebanon. The other native species is S. biflorum,<\/em> which grows on the banks of ditches and streams from Syria and Lebanon through the Holy Land south to Stony Arabia and the Sinai. This may be the wild cane familiar to the Jews. Most authorities, however, think that the “sweet cane” of Isaiah 43:24 was the true sugarcane (S. officinarum).<\/em> This plant is thought to have originated in the tropics of the eastern hemisphere. It has been cultivated by people since time immemorial and is not now known in the wild state anywhere. It is a tall, stout perennial grass, maizelike in aspect with many jointed stems and a large plumelike terminal cluster of flowers.<\/p>\nCaper Plant (Capparis sincula)<\/em><\/p>\nSpiny, trailing shrub of Mediterranean region; the flower bud of this shrub. The word “desire” in Ecclesiastes 12:5 may actually refer to the caper berry. The common caper or caper berry grows profusely in Syria, Lebanon, the Holy Land, and in the mountain valleys of Sinai. The plant may sometimes grow upright but more generally spreads itself weakly over the ground like a vine, covering rocks, ruins, and old walls like ivy. The young flower buds, pickled in vinegar, were used by the ancients as a condiment for meat. The berries were also used in cooking.<\/p>\nCarob Tree (Ceratonia siliqua)<\/em><\/p>\nEvergreen of the Mediterranean region having edible pods. Scholars generally agree that the pods of the carob or locust tree were the “husks” of Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:16). The carob is an attractive evergreen leguminous tree that is very common throughout the Holy Land, Syria, and Egypt. The pods are most abundant in April and May and contain numerous pealike seeds embedded in an agreeably flavored mucilaginous sweetish pulp. The pods are also used abundantly now as they were in antiquity for feeding cattle, horses, and pigs. In time of scarcity, they are used as human food and perhaps even regularly by the very poor. The carob is frequently mentioned in the Talmud as a source of good food for domestic animals. The seeds of the carob were formerly employed as a standard of weight and are the source of the term “carat.” Some commentators suggest that the “locusts” eaten by John the Baptist (Mt 3:4) were not insects but the fruit of the carob tree.<\/p>\nCassia (Cinnamomum cassia, Saussurea lappa)<\/em><\/p>\nTree of tropical Asia with bark similar but inferior to cinnamon. The “cassia” of Exodus 30:24 and Ezekiel 27:19 is the cassia bark tree, Cinnamomum cassia.<\/em> In Psalm 45:8 the reference seems to be to the Indian orris, Saussurea lappa.<\/em><\/p>\nCastor Oil Plant (Ricinus communis)<\/em><\/p>\nLarge plant, native to tropical Africa and Asia, cultivated for ornamental reasons and for extraction of oil from its seeds. The gourd of Jonah 4:6-7 was probably the ordinary castor bean. The castor bean is a tender shrub, growing 3 to 12 or more feet (.9 to 3.7 meters) tall with huge leaves that resemble the outstretched human hand. The castor bean plant is found in waste places, especially near water, in both Lebanon and the Holy Land and often is cultivated. In hot climates it becomes treelike and affords a dense shade by the abundance of its huge, umbrella-like leaves. It is known in the Orient for the rapidity of its growth. The oil extracted from the seeds of the castor bean was used by the Jews in ceremonial rites and is mentioned among the five kinds of oil that rabbinical tradition sanctioned for such use. The seeds themselves are poisonous when eaten.<\/p>\nCedar (Cedrus libani)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several coniferous evergreen trees of the genus native to the Old World. With few exceptions, the references to “cedar” are to the well-known cedar of Lebanon. This is a noble tree, the tallest and most massive with which the Israelites were acquainted. It grows quite rapidly, attaining a height of up to 120 feet (36.6 meters) with a trunk diameter of as much as 8 feet (2.4 meters). In Solomon’s day these trees were obviously abundant on the mountains of Lebanon, but now, because of excessive lumbering, they are very rare. The cedar of Lebanon was held in high esteem not only for its vigor, beauty, and age but also for the fragrance and remarkable lasting qualities of the wood. It symbolizes grandeur, might, majesty, dignity, lofty stature, and wide expansion. References in Ezekiel 17:3, 22-24, and 31:3-18 beautifully illustrate how these lofty kings of the forest symbolize and typify worldly strength, power, and glory.<\/p>\nChicory (Cichorium intybus)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Bitter Herbs (above).<\/p>\nCinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)<\/em><\/p>\nTwo varieties of trees of this genus, native to tropical Asia, with aromatic bark that, when ground, is used as a spice. The cinnamon of Exodus 30:23, Proverbs 7:17, Song of Songs 4:14, and Revelation 18:13 is undoubtedly Cinnamomum zeylanicum.<\/em> The tree is a rather low-growing one, never getting more than 30 feet (9.1 meters) high, with a smooth, ash-colored bark and widespread branches and white flowers. Its shiny, beautifully veined evergreen leaves grow about nine inches (22.9 centimeters) long and two inches (5.1 centimeters) wide.<\/p>\nThe Jews always regarded cinnamon as a deliciously fragrant substance and valued it highly as a spice and a perfume. It was one of the principal ingredients used in the manufacture of the precious ointments, or “holy oil,” that Moses was commanded to use in the tabernacle for anointing the sacred vessels and officiating priests. It was undoubtedly very costly and precious.<\/p>\nCitron Tree (Tetraclinis articulata)<\/em><\/p>\nTree native to Asia bearing lemonlike fruit with a thick, fragrant rind. It seldom exceeds a height of 30 feet (9.1 meters) and has hard, dark-colored, durable, fragrant wood that takes a fine polish. The wood was one of the most highly prized woods of the ancients, who employed it extensively for cabinetwork. It was commonly referred to as being worth its weight in gold. The wood, owing to its resinous properties, is slow to decay and remains practically uninjured by insects.<\/p>\nCoriander (Coriandrum sativum)<\/em><\/p>\nThe references in Exodus 16:31 and Numbers 11:7 are clearly to the common coriander plant. The coriander was found quite commonly growing along with grain in cultivated fields throughout the Holy Land. It grows wild in Egypt and was used by the ancients both as condiment and as a medicine. The leaves are quite aromatic and are used in soups and for flavoring puddings, curries, and wines. The coriander is still used today as a spice by the Arabs. In Scripture it is mentioned only in connection with manna, which was said to resemble coriander seeds in size, shape, and color.<\/p>\nCotton (Gossypium herbaceum)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of various plants or shrubs of this genus grown in warm climates for the soft white fiber attached to their seeds and the oil from these seeds. The “green” of the kjv<\/span> in Esther 1:6 is undoubtedly a reference to the Levant cotton (Gossypium herbaceum)<\/em> that was cultivated since time immemorial in the Far East. Alexander the Great brought it back from India. It is probable that the Jews became acquainted with cotton during the period of their Persian captivity under King Ahasuerus.<\/p>\nCucumber (Cucumis chate, C. sativus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe cucumber is an annual climbing or trailing vine, the origin of which is unknown. It has been cultivated in all the warm countries of the Old World since prehistoric times. Cucumbers are usually eaten raw; a cucumber and a barley cake or some other kind of bread often constitute a meal. The reference to “a lodge in a garden of cucumbers” (Is 1:8) refers to the crudely built small house or lodge often set up in Palestinian cucumber fields and vineyards.<\/p>\nCummin (Cuminum cyminum)<\/em><\/p>\nThe references in Isaiah 28:25-27 and Matthew 23:23 are clearly to the cummin—a common, annual plant of the carrot family said to be native to Egypt and the region of the eastern Mediterranean. It has long been cultivated for its powerfully aromatic and pungent seeds, which are similar to caraway seeds but larger. They do not have as agreeable a taste as caraway seeds but nevertheless were used extensively as a flavor or spice and sometimes were even mixed with flour in making bread. Cummin was also used medicinally and as a condiment with fish and meats.<\/p>\nCypress (Cupressus sempervirens horizontalis)<\/em><\/p>\nThe cypress is a massive, tall-growing evergreen with scalelike leaves and is widely distributed in the mountainous regions of the Holy Land. On Mt Lebanon and Mt Hermon it grows together with the cedar and oak. Its usual height is 50 to 60 feet (15.2 to 18.3 meters), but it may grow as tall as 80 feet (24.2 meters). It is said to have been used extensively in shipbuilding by the Phoenicians, Cretans, and Greeks. There is general agreement that the “gopher wood” of Genesis 6:14 is cypress because the wood is very durable.<\/p>\nDandelion (Taraxacum officinale)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Bitter Herbs (above).<\/p>\nDarnel Grass (Lolium temulentum)<\/em><\/p>\nIt is generally agreed that the “tares” of the kjv<\/span> (Mt 13:24-30) are the annual or bearded darnel grass. It is a strong grass closely resembling wheat or rye in appearance. The seeds are much smaller than those of wheat or rye, but it is extremely difficult to distinguish it from wheat or rye in its early stages. If it is not eradicated early but is left until the time of harvest, it is cut down with the wheat and the two are subsequently very difficult to separate. The seeds are poisonous, either due to some chemicals naturally present or because of a fungus that grows within the seeds.<\/p>\nDill (Anethum graveolens)<\/em><\/p>\nDill is a weedy annual plant resembling parsley and fennel, 12 to 20 inches (30.5 to 50.8 centimeters) tall with yellow flowers. The reference in Matthew 23:23 (kjv<\/span>) to anise is probably a reference to dill. This plant is widely cultivated for seeds that are aromatic and carminative.<\/p>\nEbony (Diospyros ebenaster, D. ebenum, D. mela<\/em>noxylon)<\/em><\/p>\nChiefly tropical tree of southern Asia with hard, dark-colored heartwood. Ebony comes from the date plum or date tree (Diospyros ebenaster<\/em> and D. melanoxylon)<\/em> of India and is quite different from the date palm. It was sent by Phoenician ships across the Arabian Sea and up the Red Sea to the market in Tyre, from which it was carried overland by camel caravans. The outer wood of these trees is white and soft, but when old, the interior wood becomes hard, black, heavy, and durable and still constitutes most of the costly ebony of commerce. Ebony takes on a fine polish and is highly valued for cabinetwork, for turnery, for the manufacture of fancy ornamental articles and instruments, and as a veneer for other woods.<\/p>\nEzekiel mentions ivory and ebony together (Ez 27:15). Ebony was and still is frequently inlaid with ivory, with which it contrasts so strikingly in color.<\/p>\nEndive (Cichorium endivia)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Bitter Herbs (above).<\/p>\nFig, Fig Tree (Ficus carica)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several trees or shrubs of this genus, native to the Mediterranean region; its edible fruit. The common fig, mentioned some 60 times in the Bible, is one of the most important Bible plants. Its leaves are spoken of first in Genesis 3:7. The fig is generally regarded as native to southwestern Asia and Syria, but already in early times it was also cultivated extensively in Egypt and the Holy Land, where it was one of the principal foods. First Samuel 25:18 states that a part of the gift sent by Abigail to David consisted of 200 cakes of figs.<\/p>\nThe fig tree has a very peculiar type of fruit called a syconium, which is actually a very much enlarged and fleshy receptacle. It is pollinated by a wasp, without which it cannot get its fruit; this was discovered when it was first transplanted to California.<\/p>\nThe fig puts out its earliest fruit buds before its leaves, the former in February and the latter in April or May. When the leaves are out, the fruit ought to be ripe (Mt 21:19).<\/p>\nWhenever the prophets of old berated the people for their wickedness, they often threatened that the vine and the fig crops would be destroyed. And when they held out the promise of great rewards, they said that the vine and fig crop would be restored (Jer 8:13; Hos 2:12; Jl 1:7, 12; Mi 4:4; Zec 3:10).<\/p>\nFir Tree (Abies cilicica)<\/em><\/p>\nThis a generic term for various evergreen trees having flat needles and erect cones. In all probability, most of the references in Scripture to the fir are references to the pine, cypress, or juniper. The only true fir in the Holy Land grows in the higher parts of Lebanon and the mountains northward. It attains a height of 30 to 75 feet (9.1 to 22.9 meters) and is widely cultivated.<\/p>\nFlax (Linum usitatissimum)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several plants of this genus, one particularly being widely cultivated for the linseed oil from its seeds and the fine textile fibers from its stems. Flax is the oldest known of the textile fibers. Cotton is identified only once in the Bible (Est 1:6). There is no mention of any other fiber plant being cultivated in Egypt or the Holy Land in biblical days, and for that reason it is thought that linen was the material out of which clothes other than woolen ones were made. Linen was also used for domestic purposes such as towels (Jn 13:4-5), napkins (11:44), girdles and undergarments (Is 3:23; Mk 14:51), nets (Is 19:8-9), and measuring lines (Ez 40:3). The priests serving in the temple were to wear nothing but linen clothes; a mixed cloth of wool and flax together was strictly forbidden to the Jews (Lv 19:19; Dt 22:11).<\/p>\nAt least three kinds of linen were used in biblical times, and apparently there were particular uses for each kind. Ordinary linen of coarsest texture is mentioned in Leviticus 6:10, Ezekiel 9:2, Daniel 10:5, and Revelation 15:6. The second type of linen of superior quality is mentioned in Exodus 26:1 and 39:27. A third type of linen of finest texture and high cost is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 15:27, Esther 8:15, and Revelation 19:8.<\/p>\nThe common flax plant grows from one to four feet (.3 to 1.2 meters) tall with a simple, slender, wirelike stem and numerous small, pale, lancelike green leaves. The failure of the flax crop is listed as one of God’s punishments (Hos 2:9). The manufacture of linen from flax fibers was a domestic industry of Jewish women (Prv 31:13, 19), ranging from ordinary clothing to the robes and aprons worn by the priest and temple attendants. Linen was also used for wicks in lamps (Is 42:3).<\/p>\nFrankincense (Boswellia)<\/em><\/p>\nAromatic genus resin used chiefly as incense. Frankincense is obtained from three species of a single genus of plants that grow in southern Arabia, Ethiopia, Somaliland, India, and the East Indies. The trees are large in size, related to the turpentine or terebinth tree and to those that produce balsam and myrrh. The gum has a bitter taste and gives off a strong odor in the form of a volatile oil when warmed or burned. It is obtained by successive incisions in the bark of the trunk and in the branches of living trees. It is thought that the Hebrews imported all their frankincense from Arabia, especially from the region about Sheba.<\/p>\nFrankincense is mentioned 21 times in the Bible (e.g., Ex 30:34; 1 Chr 9:29; Neh 13:9; Sg 3:6; 4:6, 14; Mt 2:11; Rv 18:13) and was probably employed almost exclusively in the sacrificial services of the tabernacle and temple until the time of Solomon. It has always been the most important incense resin in the world.<\/p>\nGalbanum (Ferula galbaniflua)<\/em><\/p>\nGalbanum is a malodorous yellowish or brownish gum resin containing the chemical substance umbelliferone, obtained from several species of plants related to the fennel, native to Syria and Persia. The gum is a natural exudation of the stem or is obtained by making a transverse incision in the young stem a few inches above the ground. The milky juice soon hardens and forms one of the kinds of commercial galbanum. Its odor is strongly balsamic, pungent, and disagreeable when burned. Galbanum was one of the ingredients used to form the “holy incense” (Ex 30:34).<\/p>\nGarlic (Allium sativum)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Onion (below).<\/p>\nGourd, Wild (Citrullus colocynthis)<\/em><\/p>\nThere has been considerable difference of opinion regarding the meaning of the words translated “wild gourds” (2 Kgs 4:39) or “gall” (Dt 29:18; 32:32; Ps 69:21; Jer 8:14; 9:15; 23:15; Lam 3:5, 19; Am 6:12; Mt 27:34; Acts 8:23). Most scholars today believe the plant referred to was the colocynth, a cucumber-like vine that trails on the ground or climbs over shrubs and fences. The fruit contains a soft spongy pulp, which is intensely bitter, strongly cathartic, and sometimes poisonous.<\/p>\nHedge (Rhamnus palaestina, Balanites aegyptiaca, Lycium europaeum)<\/em><\/p>\nRow of closely planted shrubs or low-growing trees forming a fence or boundary. A number of plants were used to provide hedges in Bible times. One of these was the Palestine buckthorn, Rhamnus palaestina.<\/em> This plant is a shrub or a small tree growing from three to six feet (.9 to 1.8 meters) tall with velvety, thorny branches, evergreen leaves, and clusters of small flowers blooming in March and April. It grows in thickets and on hillsides from Syria through the Holy Land to Arabia and the Sinai. The Jericho balsam (Balanites aegyptiaca)<\/em> and the European boxthorn (Lycium europaeum)<\/em> are also prickly shrubs widely used as hedges in the Holy Land and may be the plants referred to in Proverbs 15:19 and Hosea 2:6.<\/p>\nHenna (Lawsonia inermis)<\/em><\/p>\nTree or shrub of Asia and northern Africa with fragrant reddish or white flowers and leaves from which a reddish dye is made. The plant referred to in Song of Songs 1:14 and 4:13 and translated as “camphire” (kjv<\/span>) is thought by scholars today to refer to the henna plant. It is a native of northern India and grows wild in the Sudan, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, and the Holy Land. It grows from 4 to 12 feet (1.2 to 3.7 meters) tall, and its scent is similar to that of roses.<\/p>\nHenna leaves are dried, crushed into a powder, mixed with water, and made into a paste that has been used since time immemorial as a cosmetic. A number of mummies have been found decorated with henna. Henna was used to provide a bright yellow, orange, or red color to the fingernails, toenails, the tips of the fingers, the palms of the hand, and the soles of the feet of young girls. Men also used it for coloring their beards and the manes and tails of horses. The dye had to be renewed once every two or three weeks. This use of henna as a cosmetic was common in Egypt at the time the children of Israel were there as slaves; they were undoubtedly familiar with it.<\/p>\nHyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis)<\/em><\/p>\nThe lily referred to in Song of Songs 2:1-2, 16; 4:5; and 6:2-4 may well be the garden hyacinth. It is native to, and very common in, the fields and rocky places in the Holy Land, Lebanon, and northward. Its flowers in the wild form are always deep blue and very fragrant.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Lily (below).<\/p>\nHyssop (Origanum maru)<\/em><\/p>\nWoody plant native to Asia with spikes of small blue flowers and aromatic leaves used as a condiment and in perfumery. There is little agreement among botanists as to the exact identity of the biblical “hyssop.” Some have suggested Hyssopus offici<\/em>nalis,<\/em> the well-known garden herb now called hyssop. However, this plant is not native either to the Holy Land or Egypt, being found only in southern Europe. Moreover, it does not fit the requirements of the biblical plant.<\/p>\nThe “hyssop” of the OT is likely the Syrian or Egyptian marjoram (Origanum maru).<\/em> It is referred to in Exodus 12:22; Leviticus 14:4-6, 52; Numbers 19:6, 18; 1 Kings 4:33; Psalm 51:7; and Hebrews 9:19. The marjorams are mints growing (under favorable conditions) about two or three feet (.6 to .9 meter) tall, but more often are dwarfed when growing in rock crevices and walls (cf. 1 Kgs 4:33). An aromatic substance is obtained from the crushed and dried leaves. If gathered together in a bunch with leaves and flowers, the hairy stems of the marjoram would hold liquid very well and would make an excellent sprinkler.<\/p>\n\nThe hyssop of the crucifixion passage in the NT (Jn 19:29) is probably the sorghum, a tall cereal plant grown primarily for food but also used for brushes and mops.<\/p>\nJuniper (Juniperus)<\/em><\/p>\nVariety of evergreen tree or shrub. The plant referred to in Jeremiah 17:6 and 48:6 and translated in the kjv<\/span> “heath” is probably the savin or Phoenician juniper. The Phoenician juniper, Juniperus phoenicia,<\/em> is found in the hills and rocky places of Arabia. The savin juniper, J. sabina,<\/em> is common throughout the deserts, plains, and rocky places of Syria and Palestine. These references are to the brown-berried cedar, or sharp cedar.<\/p>\nLaurel or Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis)<\/em><\/p>\nShrub or tree native to the Mediterranean region. While the reference in Psalm 37:35 may be to the cedar of Lebanon, most scholars refer the “green bay tree” (kjv<\/span>) of the psalmist to the sweet bay, a native of the Holy Land, inhabiting thickets and woods from the coast to the middle montane zone. It is an evergreen tree attaining a height from 40 to 60 feet (12.2 to 18.3 meters).<\/p>\nEven though the tree is abundant on Mt Carmel and around Hebron, it is generally not common in the Holy Land. Its leaves are still used as a condiment, and its fruit, leaves, and bark have long been used in medicine.<\/p>\nLeek (Allium porrum)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Onion (below).<\/p>\nLentil (Lens esculenta)<\/em><\/p>\nThe lentil plant to which Genesis 25:29-34, 2 Samuel 17:27-29, 23:11, and Ezekiel 4:9 refer is a small, erect, annual, vetchlike plant with slender stems and tendril-bearing leaves. It produces small, white, violet-striped flowers with flat, pealike pods in which the lentils are borne.<\/p>\nLettuce (Lactuca sativa)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Bitter Herbs (above).<\/p>\nLily (Lilium)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of various plants of the genus Lilium<\/em> having large, variously colored, trumpet-shaped flowers; and related plants. The lily is one of the most famous of all the plants in the Bible, but it is also one about which there has been considerable difference of opinion. It seems probable that several kinds of plants, perhaps five or six, are called lilies in the kjv<\/span>. Most authorities regard the Palestine anemone or wind flower, Anemone coronaria,<\/em> as the “lily of the field” (Mt 6:28, kjv<\/span>) that surpassed Solomon in all his glory. These flowers are found in every part of the Holy Land in profusion; the most common forms are scarlet or yellow, but the Palestine anemone may also be blue, purple, rose, or white in color. The flower attains a diameter of two and three-quarter inches (7 centimeters).<\/p>\nAn alternative suggestion is the Palestinian chamomile, Anthemis palaestina,<\/em> a common, white, daisylike plant. The chamomile is gathered like dry grass and thrown into the furnace when it dries up.<\/p>\nAnother proposed plant is Lilium chalcedonicum,<\/em> the scarlet or Martagon lily. The statement in Song of Songs 5:13—“his lips like lilies”—would better fit this plant than the Palestine anemone. The reference is apparently to a rare plant of exceptional beauty. The scarlet lily is rare in the Holy Land; indeed, some botanists doubt that it lives there.<\/p>\nThe references in 1 Kings 7:19, 22, 26 and 2 Chronicles 4:5 are probably to the water lily, Nymphaea alba,<\/em> which served as the pattern. The water lily is quite common in Europe and also in the Holy Land and northern Africa.<\/p>\nLotus Bush (Zizyphus lotus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe “shady trees” of Job 40:21-22 (kjv<\/span>; cf. nlt<\/span> “lotus plants”) may refer to the lotus bush of the Middle East, Zizyphus lotus,<\/em> a shrub or low tree that grows to a height of about five feet (1.5 meters) with smooth, zigzag, whitish branches.<\/p>\nOther commentators believe that the shady trees of Job are large-leafed trees such as the plane tree, Platanus orientalis,<\/em> or the oleander, Nerium oleander.<\/em> This suggestion is based on the assumption that the animal described in Job 40 is the hippopotamus, and it seems unlikely that the hippopotamus would live under a lotus bush or even be found in places where this shrub grows. These individuals regard the plane tree or the oleander as more likely.<\/p>\nMallow (Atriplex)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Hebrew word used in Job 30:4 implies saltiness, and for this reason botanists believe that it refers to one of the species of the saltwort or orach. Twenty-one species of saltwort occur in the Holy Land, almost all of which are common and could well meet the requirements of the text. Atriplex halimus<\/em> is the species usually suggested, a strong-growing bushy shrub related to the spinach.<\/p>\nMandrake (Mandragora officinarum)<\/em><\/p>\nThe mandrake or love apple is a stemless herbaceous perennial related to the nightshade, potato, and tomato. It has a large, beetlike, often forked taproot from the top of which arise many dark leaves about a foot (30.5 centimeters) long and four inches (10.2 centimeters) wide. The plant is slightly poisonous, and the thick taproots have some resemblance in shape to the lower parts of the human body. For this reason certain aphrodisiac properties were ascribed to it (cf. Gn 30:14-16).<\/p>\nThe love apple was a common plant in deserted fields throughout the Holy Land. It is native to the entire Mediterranean region, southern Europe, and Asia Minor. The mandrake is mentioned in Song of Songs 7:13, though some scholars believe the writer may actually have been referring to the citron or to the common edible field mushroom, Agaricus campestris.<\/em><\/p>\nMelon (Cucumis melo, Citrullus vulgaris)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several varieties of these two related vines having a hard rind and juicy flesh. The melons of Numbers 11:5 may be either the muskmelon (Cucumis melo)<\/em> or the watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris).<\/em> It may be that both fruits are referred to.<\/p>\n\nMillet (Panicum miliaceum)<\/em><\/p>\nA grass grown in Eurasia for its edible seed. Millet seeds are the smallest of all the grass seeds cultivated as food but are produced profusely. Millet is an annual grass seldom more that two feet (.6 meter) tall. The small seeds of the millet are used on cakes and eaten uncooked by the poor of the land.<\/p>\nMint (Mentha)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of various plants of this family with aromatic foliage that is processed for flavoring. Quite a few mints are common in the Holy Land, but the horse mint (Mentha longifolia)<\/em> is probably the one referred to in Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42. Mints were employed by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans for flavoring, as a carminative in medicine, and as a condiment in cooking.<\/p>\nMulberry (Morus nigra)<\/em><\/p>\nAny tree of this family, some bearing dark-purple fruit and one bearing white fruit, having leaves used as food for silkworms. The sycamine tree of Luke 17:6 (kjv<\/span>) is evidently the black mulberry, Morus nigra.<\/em> It is a low-growing, thick-crowned, stiff-branched tree standing from 24 to 35 feet (7.3 to 10.7 meters) tall, though rarely more than 30 feet (9.1 meters) tall. Originally native to northern Persia, it is now cultivated throughout the Middle East for its fruit. The Chinese or Indian species, M. alba,<\/em> was until recently widely cultivated in Syria and the Holy Land but is not indigenous.<\/p>\nMustard (Brassica nigra, B. arvensis)<\/em><\/p>\nVarious plants of this genus are native to Eurasia, some of which are cultivated for their edible seeds. While there is disagreement about the identity of the “mustard” of Matthew 13:31-32, 17:20, Mark 4:31, Luke 13:19, and 17:6, it is generally thought to be the ordinary black mustard, Brassica nigra.<\/em><\/p>\nThe mustard Jesus referred to may be the charlock or wild mustard, B. arvensis,<\/em> which normally grows from one to three feet (.3 to .9 meter) tall. Some have suggested that it was actually Salvadora persica,<\/em> found in thickets around the Dead Sea. The plant has a pleasant aromatic taste resembling that of mustard, and if taken in considerable quantity, it will produce an irritation of the nose and eyes similar to that of mustard. However, this plant does not grow as far north as Galilee, and the fruits are rather large and stony, thus hardly fitting the description of the parable.<\/p>\nWhile the seeds of the mustard are not the smallest known, they were probably the smallest familiar to the common people who comprised Jesus’ audience in Galilee.<\/p>\nMyrrh (Commiphora myrrha, C. kataf)<\/em><\/p>\nShrub or tree exuding an aromatic gum resin used in perfume and incense. Most of the references in Scripture to myrrh are to Commiphora myrrha,<\/em> although C. kataf<\/em> may also be involved since it grows in the same region and is similar. The two trees are native to Arabia, Ethiopia, and the Somali coast of east Africa. They yield a gummy exudation that constitutes most of the myrrh of commerce. Both species are low, scrubby, thick- and stiff-branched thorny shrubs or small trees that grow in rocky places, especially on limestone hills. In the East it is highly regarded as an aromatic substance, perfume, and medicine. The ancient Egyptians burned it in their temples and embalmed their dead with it; the Jews also used it for embalming (Jn 19:39). The Hebrews held it in high regard as a perfume (Ps 45:8).<\/p>\n\nMyrtle (Myrtus communis)<\/em><\/p>\nThe myrtle tree is common in the Holy Land, especially around Bethlehem, Lebanon, Hebron, and the slopes of Mt Carmel and Mt Tabor. It is native to western Asia and in good environments grows into a small evergreen tree 20 to 30 feet (6.2 to 9.1 meters) tall. More often, however, it is a straggling bush 1½ to 4 feet (.5 to 1.2 meters) tall.<\/p>\nIn the Bible, myrtle is referred to chiefly as a symbol of God’s generosity. Branches of myrtle trees were included among those that Nehemiah ordered to be gathered for the Feast of Tabernacles (Neh 8:15). The myrtle was symbolic not only of peace but also of justice.<\/p>\n\nNarcissus (Narcissus tazetta)<\/em><\/p>\nWidely cultivated plant of this family with narrow leaves and usually white or yellow flowers with a cup-crown or trumpet-shaped crown. The polyanthus narcissus (Narcissus tazetta)<\/em> appears to be the plant referred to in Isaiah 35:1. This narcissus grows abundantly on the plains of Sharon and elsewhere in Palestine. Being sweet-smelling, it is a great favorite.<\/p>\nNard (Nardostachys jatamansi)<\/em><\/p>\nThe nard is a perennial herb with strong, pleasantly scented roots. It is native to high altitudes in the Himalayas, and its range extends from there into western Asia. The roots and spikelike wooly young stems are dried before the leaves unfold and are used for making perfume. It is still used in India as a perfume for the hair, and there is every reason to believe that the spikenard of Scripture (Sg 1:12; 4:13-14; Mk 14:3; Jn 12:3) came originally from India.<\/p>\nNettle (Urtica)<\/em><\/p>\nPlant of this genus having toothed leaves covered with hairs that exude a stinging flush. Four species of nettle are found in the Holy Land: the common or great nettle, Urtica dioica;<\/em> the Roman nettle, U. pilulifera;<\/em> the small nettle, U. urens;<\/em> and U. caudata,<\/em> which is similar to the small nettle. Some nettles attain a height of five to six feet (1.5 to 1.8 meters). They are common pests of waste places and fields. They are often seen occupying ground that was once cultivated but has since been neglected (Is 34:13; Hos 9:6).<\/p>\nNutmeg Flower (Nigella sativa)<\/em><\/p>\nThe “fitches” of Isaiah 28:25-27 (kjv<\/span>) are probably the nutmeg flower, an annual plant of the buttercup family. The plant grows wild in southern Europe, Syria, Egypt, north Africa, and other Mediterranean lands, where it is extensively cultivated for its strongly pungent, pepperlike aromatic seeds. These are sprinkled over some kinds of bread and cakes in the East and are used for flavoring curries and other dishes in the Holy Land and Egypt. Cummin and nutmeg flowers are still gathered in the Holy Land in the same way described by Isaiah.<\/p>\nOak (Quercus)<\/em><\/p>\nAt least five species of oaks are found in Palestine. One of these is the kermes oak (Quercus coccifera),<\/em> the host of the insect Coccus ilicis,<\/em> which produces the scarlet dye used in coloring linen and wool (Gn 38:28-30; Ex 25:4; 26:1; 28:33; 35:23; 39:24; Lv 14:4-6, 51-52; Nm 19:6; 2 Chr 2:7, 14; 3:14; Is 1:18; Heb 9:19; Rv 18:12). The kermes oak grows from 6 to 35 feet (1.8 to 10.7 meters) tall and is found in the mountainous regions of Syria, Lebanon, and the Holy Land. When it grows alone, the kermes oak often becomes a large tree. It was regularly planted by tombs in the East. The oak was always respected and even venerated in biblical times for its large size and strength, and great men were usually buried in its shade. Abraham’s oak in Hebron is an example.<\/p>\nA second oak is the valonia oak (Q. aegilops),<\/em> perhaps the oak of Isaiah 2:13 and 44:14. It is common in the middle montane zones and probably was abundant in the area around Bashan. The oak of Genesis 35:4, 8 is thought to have been the holm oak (Q. ilex),<\/em> an evergreen oak that grows to a height of 60 feet (18.3 meters). Still another oak is Q. lusitanica,<\/em> the cypress oak, a small deciduous tree seldom more than 20 feet (6.1 meters) tall. The very large acorns of this tree were sometimes eaten.<\/p>\nThe word translated “plain” (kjv<\/span>) in Genesis 12:6, 13:18, 14:13, and 18:1 should probably be translated “oak.”<\/p>\nThe many references to “groves” in the OT, usually in connection with the worship of Baal or other heathen gods (Ex 34:13; Dt 16:21; Jgs 3:7; 1 Kgs 14:23; 18:19; 2 Kgs 17:16—all kjv<\/span>), were probably groves of sacred oak trees.<\/p>\nOil Tree, Oleaster (Elaeagnus angustifolia)<\/em><\/p>\nSmall Eurasian tree with oblong silvery leaves, greenish flowers, and olivelike fruit. There is question as to which tree is referred to when 1 Kings 6:23, 31-33 and 1 Chronicles 27:28 refer to “olive trees.” The same word occurs in Isaiah 41:19 and Micah 6:7. The plant referred to is probably the narrow-leaved oleaster (Elaeagnus angustifolia),<\/em> a small stiff-branched tree or graceful shrub growing from 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 meters) tall, common in all parts of the Holy Land except in the Jordan Valley. At one time it was particularly common on Mt Tabor and at Hebron and Samaria. The wood is hard and fine-grained and therefore well suited for carving of images and figures. The oil that it yields is a rather inferior type used in medication but not for food; this may be the oil of Micah 6:7.<\/p>\nOleander (Nerium oleander)<\/em><\/p>\nAny poisonous evergreen shrub of this genus growing in warm climates. One of the suggestions for the plants identified as “roses” in various translations (Ecclus 24:14, kjv<\/span>) is the oleander. This plant, originally native to the East Indies, has been cultivated throughout the warm regions of the world for centuries. It flourishes in the Holy Land today and forms dense thickets in some parts of the Jordan Valley. It is usually a shrub from 3 to 12 feet (.9 to 3.7 meters) tall. Every part of the plant is dangerously poisonous.<\/p>\nOlive, Olive Tree (Olea europaea)<\/em><\/p>\nOld world semitropical evergreen tree bearing edible fruit. The olive, Olea europaea,<\/em> was unquestionably one of the most valuable trees known to the Jews. There are innumerable references to it in Scripture, as well as to olive oil, which was used for anointing. The tree is quite common in the Holy Land, and in many places it is the only tree of any substantial size. The branches of the wild olive are rather stiff and spinescent, and the typical cultivated tree is a multi-branched evergreen, 20 or more feet (6.1 meters) tall, with a gnarled trunk and smooth, ash-colored bark. The leaves are leathery and the flowers are small, yellow or white. The fruits are large, black or violet, ripening in September, and it is the outer fleshy parts of the fruit that yield the valuable olive oil of commerce. Thirty-one percent of the ripe fruit is oil. The ripe fruit is eaten raw, as is the green, unripe fruit. The wood of the trunk and limbs is hard, rich yellow or amber in color, and fine-grained, often handsomely variegated. It is still used today for the finest cabinetwork and turnery. The tree grows very slowly, but it attains a great age. It is difficult to kill the olive tree by cutting it down, because new sprouts are sent up from the root and all around the margins of the old stump, often forming a grove of two to five trunks, all from a single root that originally supported only one tree.<\/p>\nOnion (Allium)<\/em><\/p>\nThe onions referred to in Numbers 11:5 are undoubtedly Allium cepa,<\/em> the Egyptian onion, which is made up of a compact coated bulb formed of layers consisting of broad fleshy bases of closely overlapping leaves. The leaves are slender and hollow. The entire plant has a characteristic pungent taste and odor.<\/p>\n\nClosely related to the onion is the garlic, A. sativum.<\/em> The common garlic is a hardy, bulbous perennial plant that is cultivated in Europe, western Asia, and Egypt. The leaves are narrow, flat, and ribbonlike. It is extremely popular with people of the Mediterranean region.<\/p>\nStill another one of the onions is the leek, A. porrum.<\/em> The bulb of the leek differs from that of the onion and garlic in that it is slender, cylindrical, and more than six inches (15.2 centimeters) in length. The flavor resembles that of the onion but is more pungent. The leaves are eaten as a relish or are cooked in soups. The bulbs are cut into small pieces and employed as seasoning for meat.<\/p>\nPalm (Phoenix dactylifera)<\/em><\/p>\nThe palm tree of the Bible is undoubtedly the date palm. At one time it was as characteristic of the Holy Land as it is still today of Egypt. It is characterized by a branchless, tapering stem of up to 80 feet (24.2 meters) or more in height and a large terminal cluster of feathery leaves, each six to nine feet (1.8 to 2.7 meters) or more long. Because of its height and unusual structure, it was natural that it should be used as a form of ornamentation in Eastern architecture. The stem and leaves were favorite subjects of architectural embellishment. The immense, branchlike leaves that are referred to as branches in the Bible were symbols of triumph and were used on occasions of great rejoicing (Jn 12:13; Rv 7:9). The large leaves are still used to cover the roofs and sides of houses and to give solidity to reed fences. Mats, baskets, and even dishes are made of them. Small leaves are used as dusters, and the wood of the trunk is used for timber. Rope is made from the weblike integument in the crown. The fruit, borne in an immense drooping cluster, which may weigh from 30 to 50 pounds (13.6 to 22.7 kilograms), is the chief food of many natives of Arabia and north Africa. A single tree may yield up to 200 pounds (90.7 kilograms) of dates a year. They may be dried for future use.<\/p>\nPapyrus (Cyperus papyrus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Egyptian bulrush or papyrus (Ex 2:3-5; Jb 8:11; Is 18:2; 19:6-7; 35:7; 58:5) has smooth three-sided stems ordinarily attaining a height of 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3 meters), but sometimes even 16 feet (4.9 meters), and a thickness of two to three inches (5.1 to 7.6 centimeters) at the base with a large tuft of florets at the end. The papyrus formerly grew in great abundance along the banks of the Nile, forming what was almost a dense jungle. Today it is practically extinct in lower Egypt, although it is still found along the White Nile and in the Sudan. The papyrus still grows in parts of the Holy Land, especially around the north end of the plain of Galilee and the Huleh swamps.<\/p>\n\nIn addition to being used for making small vessels to float in water (Ex 2:3), for mats, and for various other domestic purposes, it is best known as the source of ancient paper. In manufacturing paper from papyrus, the stems of the plant were first peeled and the pitch then cut longitudinally into thin slices that were laid side by side. These were then sprinkled with water and pressed to unite the whole into one piece. The sheet was then dried and cut into pieces of the required size. In the better grades of papyrus paper, several layers of stem slices were laid crosswise on each other.<\/p>\nThe pale, fawn-colored, tassel-like inflorescences at the summit of the stems were used to adorn Egyptian temples and to crown the statues of gods. They were also worn as crowns by famous men and national heroes.<\/p>\nPine Tree (Pinus brutia, P. halepensis)<\/em><\/p>\nVarious evergreen trees of this family with needle-shaped leaves in clusters and seed-bearing cones. While there is considerable confusion concerning the conifers of the Bible, it seems apparent that pines are referred to in such passages as Leviticus 23:40; Nehemiah 8:15; Isaiah 41:19; and 60:13. One of the Holy Land’s pines is the Brutian pine (Pinus brutia),<\/em> a mountain-inhabiting species of the northern regions of Palestine. It attains a height of 10 to 35 feet (3 to 10.7 meters) with a rather diffuse growth and branches in whorls.<\/p>\nAnother of the pines is the Aleppo pine, Pinus halepensis.<\/em> Most of the instances of the occurrence of “fir” or “fir tree” in the kjv<\/span> probably refer to the Aleppo pine (2 Sm 6:5; 1 Kgs 5:8, 10; 6:34; 2 Kgs 19:23; 2 Chr 2:8; Ps 104:17; Sg 1:17; Is 14:8; 37:24; 55:13; 60:13; Ez 27:5; 31:8; Hos 14:8; Na 2:3; Zec 11:2). It grows from 9 to 60 feet (2.7 to 18.3 meters) tall with diffuse ascending branches and yellowish or brownish branchlets.<\/p>\nPistachio (Pistacia terebinthus, P. vera)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Palestine terebinth or turpentine tree is a large deciduous tree with straggling boughs. In the winter, without its leaves, it looks much like the oak. It grows from 12 to 25 feet (3.7 to 7.6 meters) tall. Every part of the tree contains a fragrant, resinous juice. It is common on the lower slopes of the hills throughout Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Arabia, generally growing as a solitary tree and found mostly in localities too warm or too dry for the oak that it generally replaces. Since it is native to Gilead, it is quite probable that its resinous juice formed part of the spicery that the Israelites carried to Egypt from Gilead (Gn 37:25).<\/p>\nThe nuts of Genesis 43:11 are apparently pistachio nuts from the pistachio tree, Pistacia vera,<\/em> closely related to the terebinth. It attains a height of 10 to 30 feet (3 to 9.1 meters) with a spreading top. It is found wild in many rocky parts of Lebanon and the Holy Land. The nut has a light-colored shell and the kernel has a sweet delicate flavor much relished wherever it grows.<\/p>\nPlane Tree (Platanus orientalis)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several trees of this family with bell-shaped fruit clusters and usually an outer bark that flakes off in patches or strips. The references in Genesis 30:37 and Ezekiel 31:8 are apparently not to the chestnut tree, which is not indigenous to Palestine, but to the oriental plane tree, Platanus orientalis.<\/em><\/p>\nThe plane tree is a massive tree 60 feet (18.3 meters) or more tall with a trunk often of vast circumference, sometimes as much as 40 feet (12.2 meters). The outer bark peels off in sheets or scales, thus exposing a smooth whitish or yellowish inner bark. The tree is common throughout Lebanon, Syria, and the Holy Land, growing even in subalpine regions. However, it is primarily a tree of the plains and lowlands, growing on the edges of streams and lakes and in marshy places.<\/p>\nPomegranate (Punica granatum)<\/em><\/p>\nThe pomegranate is usually a small, bushlike tree but may occasionally become a large, branching shrub or small tree reaching a height of 20 to 30 feet (6.1 to 9.1 meters). The branches are often thorny. The showy bell-like flowers are usually scarlet, though sometimes yellow or white. The globular fruit is as large as an orange or medium-size apple. It has a hard rind of a bright red or yellowish color when ripe and is surmounted by the dry sepals that resemble a crown. The fruit itself is a crimson juicy pulp in which many red seeds are imbedded. The flowers of the pomegranate undoubtedly served as a pattern for the golden bells referred to in Exodus 28:33-34 and 39:24-26, and the open flowers of 1 Kings 6:32. The erect calyx lobes on the fruit served as a model for crowns of kings.<\/p>\nThe pomegranate is native to Asia, but it has been cultivated since prehistoric times and is now quite common in the Holy Land, in Egypt, and along the shores of the Mediterranean. It is listed as one of the pleasant fruits of Egypt (Nm 20:5) and one of the promised blessings of the Holy Land (Dt 8:8).<\/p>\nPoplar (Populus euphratica, P. alba)<\/em><\/p>\nFast-growing deciduous tree of the same genus as the aspen and cottonwood. The kjv<\/span> references in 2 Samuel 5:23-24 and 1 Chronicles 14:14-15 to mulberry trees are more probably to the Euphrates poplar or aspen, Populus euphratica.<\/em> This tree grows to a height of 30 to 45 feet (9.1 to 13.7 meters) with spreading branches. The Euphrates aspen is found only on rivers and stream banks throughout the area from Syria through the Holy Land to Stony Arabia. It is especially common in the Jordan Valley.<\/p>\nThe white poplar (Populus alba)<\/em> is common in wet places in Syria, Lebanon, the Holy Land, and Sinai. It attains a height of 30 to 60 feet (9.1 to 18.3 meters) with spreading branches. Some suggest that the altars of various pagan religions were usually erected on the top of a hill and in the shade of a poplar grove.<\/p>\nQuince (Cydonia oblonga)<\/em><\/p>\nTree native to western Asia, having white flowers and applelike fruit that is edible when cooked. Some believe that the “apples” of the OT were quinces, Cydonia oblonga.<\/em> The quince tree is quite common in the Holy Land, though chiefly as a cultivated tree. It may occur wild in the northern parts of Syria. It is native to northern Persia and Asia Minor. The fruit is yellowish and highly fragrant, and it is the fragrance that caused it to be held in high regard by the ancients.<\/p>\nReed (Juncus, Scirpus, Typha angustata, Arundo donax)<\/em><\/p>\nNumerous species of the rush and bulrush grow in the Holy Land. There are at least 21 varieties of rushes. The common soft rush or bog rush (Juncus effusus)<\/em> is found in wet places, even in the Sinai and other deserts. The sea or hard rush (J. maritimus)<\/em> is found in damp places throughout the Holy Land and even in Sinai.<\/p>\nAt least 15 kinds of bulrushes (Scirpus)<\/em> are known in the Holy Land. The cluster-headed club rush (Scirpus holoschoenus)<\/em> is common in damp places throughout the Holy Land to the Sinai. The lake club rush or tall bulrush (S. lacustris)<\/em> is found in swamps and ditches throughout northern Africa to the Dead Sea. The sea club rush or salt marsh club rush (S. maritimus)<\/em> is found in ditches and swamps in many places of the Holy Land. Any of these species may be the one referred to in Job 8:11; Isaiah 9:14; 19:6, 15.<\/p>\nThe reference in Genesis 41:2 to the feeding of cattle in the meadow seems to be to the tall reed (Arundo donax),<\/em> which grows 18 feet (5.5 meters) or more in height. This plant is also known as the Persian reed and is common throughout the Holy Land, Syria, and the Sinai peninsula. It is a gigantic grass that may have a stem diameter of two or three inches (5.1 to 7.6 centimeters) at the base and is terminated by a plume of white flowers similar to those of the sugarcane or pampas grass. The plant was used for many purposes by the ancients: for walking sticks, fishing rods, measuring rods, and musical pipes. It is, therefore, quite possible that the “reed” of Matthew 27:48 and Mark 15:36 was a carpenter’s reed or measuring rod.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Papyrus.<\/p>\nRue (Ruta chalepensis, R. graveolens)<\/em><\/p>\nAromatic Eurasian plant with evergreen leaves that yield an acrid, volatile oil once used in medicine. There is little question as to the correctness of the translation of “rue” in Luke 11:42, but there is some doubt as to the exact species. Most writers think that it was the common rue (Rue graveolens),<\/em> a perennial shrubby plant with erect stems two to three feet (.6 to .9 meter) tall and deeply cut leaves. A very strong odor emanates from the foliage. This species is native to the Mediterranean region and grows wild in the Holy Land, especially on Mt Tabor.<\/p>\nRue was highly thought of by the ancients as a medicinal, supposed to prevent dizziness, dumbness, epilepsy, eye inflammations, insanity, and the “evil eye.” Rue was also used for seasoning dishes.<\/p>\nRush (Butomus umbellatus)<\/em><\/p>\nGeneric term for any of various grasslike marsh plants having pliant, hollow, or pithy stems. There is considerable uncertainty about the identification of the plant referred to in Genesis 41:2 translated in the kjv<\/span> as “meadow,” and in Job 8:11 as “flag.” Since it is mentioned along with the papyrus in the Job passage, it seems that it refers to a specific kind of plant rather than to an aggregate of plants in a meadow. From the description in Genesis as being a plant on which Pharaoh’s cattle might feed along the banks of the Nile and yet not the papyrus, it may refer to the flowering rush or water gladiola (Butomus umbellatus),<\/em> which flourishes both in Egypt and in the Holy Land, along with the papyrus.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Reed.<\/p>\nSaffron (Crocus sativus)<\/em><\/p>\nSaffron, referred to in Song of Songs 4:14, is the product of several species of Crocus,<\/em> especially of the blue-flowered saffron crocus (C. sativus),<\/em> which is native to Greece and Asia Minor. The commercial product consists of the stigma and upper portions of the style, the top parts of the flower ovary, which are collected shortly after the flower opens. It requires at least 4,000 stigmas to make an ounce of saffron. After being gathered, the stigmas are dried in the sun, pounded, and made into small cakes. Saffron is used principally as a yellow dye and also as a fruit coloring for curries and stews.<\/p>\nAnother, entirely different kind of dye-producing plant (Carthamus tinctorius)<\/em> called carthamine, bastard saffron, or safflower is a member of the thistle family. Its red florets yield a dye used extensively for coloring silk, in cooking, and for adulterating genuine saffron. It is an annual spiny plant three to four and a half feet (1.4 meters) tall, native to Syria and Egypt. In Egypt the grave clothes of mummies were dyed with this material, and it is quite possible that this plant may also have been the saffron of the Bible.<\/p>\nSage (Salvia judaica)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Judean sage grows to three feet (.9 meter) tall in the mountains and hills of Palestine. Its stems are four-angled, stiff, and rough. The plant grows from Syria south through Nazareth, Hebron, Tiberius, Samaria, and Judea.<\/p>\nThis plant is the origin of the design of the seven-branched lampstand of Exodus 37:17-18, which is known as the menorah, the traditional Jewish symbol. The inflorescence of the plant, when pressed flat, has almost exactly the same shape and form as the seven-branched candlestick, with its central spike and three pairs of side branches each bending upward and inward in a symmetrical fashion. On each branch of the plant’s inflorescence are whorls or buds that perhaps give the idea for the “knops” (kjv<\/span>) or “knobs” on the biblical golden candlesticks.<\/p>\nSpelt (Triticum aestivum)<\/em><\/p>\nHardy member of the wheat family. The rye of Exodus 9:32 and Isaiah 28:25, as well as the fitches of Ezekiel 4:9 (all kjv<\/span>) are thought to be spelt. It is a hard-grained species of wheat with loose ears and grains triangular in cross-section, and was the most common form of wheat in early times. It has a stouter stem than wheat and strong spikes of grain. Bread made of its flour is much inferior to that made from wheat, but spelt will thrive in almost any kind of soil and will yield a crop on land that is unfit for wheat. The ancients preferred it to barley for bread.<\/p>\nStorax Tree (Styrax officinalis)<\/em><\/p>\nVarious trees of this genus yielding an aromatic resin. Today it is thought that the stacte of Exodus 30:34 was derived from the storax tree. It is an irregularly stiff-branched shrub or small tree 9 to 20 feet (2.7 to 6.1 meters) tall. This tree is abundant on low hills and rocky places from Lebanon through the Holy Land. Its gum is obtained by making incisions in the stems and branches. It is highly perfumed and is still prized today as a perfume.<\/p>\nSycamore-fig (Ficus sycomorus)<\/em><\/p>\nTree of northeastern Africa and adjacent Asia, related to the fig. The word translated “sycamore” in 1 Kings 10:27; 1 Chronicles 27:28; 2 Chronicles 1:15; 9:27; Psalm 78:47; Isaiah 9:10; Amos 7:14; and Luke 19:4 undoubtedly refers to the well-known sycamore-fig, which is also known as the mulberry-fig or fig-mulberry. It should not be confused with the common sycamore of the North American continent, which is actually a plane tree. The sycamore-fig of the Bible is a strong-growing, robust, wide-spreading tree growing 30 to 40 feet (9.1 to 12.2 meters) tall and sometimes attaining a trunk circumference of 20 feet (6.1 meters) or more with a crown 120 feet (36.6 meters) in diameter. It is a tree that is easily climbed and is frequently planted along roadsides, which accounts for the reference in Luke 19:4. It produces an abundant amount of fruit in clusters on all parts of the tree, on both young and old branches and even on the trunk itself. It is very similar to the common fig, only smaller and much inferior in quality. In David’s day it was so valuable that he appointed a special overseer for the sycamore trees (1 Chr 27:28). It is thought that Amos was not a gatherer of sycamore fruit but rather a dresser of sycamore trees.<\/p>\nTamarisk (Tamarix)<\/em><\/p>\nThe references in Genesis 21:33 and 1 Samuel 22:6 and 31:13 seem to be to the tamarisk. These trees or shrubs are small and fast-growing with a durable wood. They are abundant in deserts, dunes, and salt marshes. Tamarix aphylla<\/em> is leafless and has small white flowers. These trees or shrubs often provide a soothing touch of green foliage and a promise of cooling shade to the traveler. Tamarisks are able to survive because they either have small, scalelike leaves, which lose little moisture by transpiration, or no leaves at all. The larger of the tamarisks are valued for their wood in a region where wood is scarce. The wood was used for building and also as a source of an excellent type of charcoal.<\/p>\nTerebinth (Pistacia terebinthus)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Pistachio (above).<\/p>\nThistle, Thorn (Lycium europaeum, Solanum incanum, Centaurea, Silybum marianum, Ruscus aculeatus, Agrostemma githago, Paliurus spina-christi, Zizyphus spina-christi)<\/em><\/p>\nThere are 22 different Hebrew and Greek words used in Scripture to refer to spiny or prickly shrubs or weeds, and these are translated as “bramble,” “brier,” “cockle,” “thorn,” and “thistle.” At present, there are about 125 species of thorns and thistles that grow in the Holy Land.<\/p>\nThe bramble in the allegory of Judges 9:14-15 is believed to refer to the European boxthorn or desert-thorn, Lycium europaeum.<\/em><\/p>\nThe general consensus is that the “briers” of Isaiah 10:17, 55:13, Micah 7:4, and Hebrews 6:8 are the Palestine nightshade (Solanum incanum),<\/em> or “Jericho potato.”<\/p>\nThe thistles of Genesis 3:17-18, 2 Kings 14:9, 2 Chronicles 25:18, Hosea 10:8, and Matthew 7:16, as well as the thorns of Matthew 13:7 and Hebrews 6:8, are thought to be one of the species of the thistle, Centaurea.<\/em> Among the more common thistles in the Holy Land are the true star-thistle (Centaurea calcitrapa),<\/em> the dwarf centaury (C. verutum),<\/em> the Iberian centaury (C. iberica),<\/em> and the lady’s thistle (Silybum marianum).<\/em> Some thistles attain a height of five to six feet (.9 to 1.8 meters). Thistles are characteristic of an area that is uncultivated and neglected. Many have beautiful flowers, but all are covered with sharp spines.<\/p>\nThe references in Ezekiel 2:6 to “briers” and Ezekiel 28:24 to a “pricking brier” may be to the prickly butchers-broom or knee-holly, Ruscus aculeatus.<\/em> The plant is common in rocky woods in the northern regions of the Holy Land, especially around Mt Tabor and Mt Carmel.<\/p>\nThe cockle of Job 31:40 (nlt<\/span> “weeds”) perhaps refers to the corn cockle, Agrostemma githago.<\/em> This plant is common in grainfields throughout the Holy Land. It is a strong-growing and troublesome weed in grainfields, growing from one to three feet (.3 to .9 meter) tall.<\/p>\nMany commentators think that the “thorns” out of which the crown of thorns (Mt 27:29; Jn 19:2) was made were from the Christ-thorn (Paliurus spina-christi).<\/em> This belief has led to its specific name; the Christ-thorn is a spiny plant that ordinarily grows as a straggling shrub three to nine feet (.9 to 2.7 meters) tall. The flexible branches are armed at the base of each leaf with a pair of unequal, stiff, sharp spines. The unusual pliable texture of the young branches renders it particularly easy to plait into a crownlike wreath.<\/p>\nThe thorns of Judges 8:7, Isaiah 7:19, 9:18, 55:13, and Matthew 7:16 may refer to the Syrian Christ-thorn (Zizyphus spina-christi),<\/em> a shrub or small tree 9 to 15 feet (2.7 to 4.6 meters) tall, sometimes growing into a 40-foot (12.2-meter) tree with smooth white branches bearing a pair of stout, unequal, recurved spines at the back of each leaf.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Bramble; Buckthorn (above).<\/p>\nTulip (Tulipa montana, T. sharonensis)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several bulbous plants of this family native to Asia. The rose of Sharon in Song of Songs 2:1 may be the mountain tulip, Tulipa montana,<\/em> or the closely related Sharon tulip, T. sharonensis.<\/em> The former is an attractive plant that grows from a bulb and has leaves that are often wavy-margined. The species is common in the mountainous regions of Syria, Lebanon, and the Anti-Lebanon. It is primarily a mountainous species. The Sharon tulip (T. sharonensis)<\/em> is found in sandy places on the Sharon coastal plains.<\/p>\nTumbleweed (Gundelia tournefortii, Anastatica hierochuntica)<\/em><\/p>\nThe references in Psalm 83:13 to “whirling dust” and in Isaiah 17:13 to “wheel” or “rolling thing” (niv<\/span> “tumbleweed”) seem to be to the Palestinian tumbleweed (Gundelia tournefortii),<\/em> a member of the thistle family. It is a prickly herb with milky juice. It rolls over the land and gathers in tremendous heaps in hollows.<\/p>\nVegetable<\/p>\nScriptural references to vegetables are probably, in most cases, to the dried leguminous seeds of beans and lentils.<\/p>\nVine (Vitis vinifera)<\/em><\/p>\nAny plant with a flexible stem that climbs, twines, or creeps along a surface or support. The common grapevine (Vitis vinifera)<\/em> is mentioned throughout the Bible. The fruitful vine (Ez 17:5-10) and the vine brought out of Egypt (Ps 80:8) were symbolic of the Jewish people. Jesus compares himself to the true vine, of which his disciples were the branches (Jn 15:1-6).<\/p>\nThe grapevine of the Old World sometimes assumes the characteristics of a tree, with stems up to a foot and a half (45.7 centimeters) in diameter, the branches then being trained on a trellis and bearing bunches of grapes 10 to 12 pounds (4.5 to 5.4 kilograms) in weight, with the individual grapes the size of small plums. Bunches have been produced weighing as much as 26 pounds (11.8 kilograms). The vines of the Holy Land were always renowned both for the luxuriance of their growth and for the immense clusters of grapes they produced. Thus it does not seem improbable that the spies sent to the Promised Land should have employed a pole to transport some of the clusters home (Nm 13:23-24).<\/p>\nThe wild grape (Vitis orientalis)<\/em> is referred to in Isaiah 5:2-4, Jeremiah 2:21, and Ezekiel 15:2-6. It is known as the native wild fox grape and has small, black, acidic berries about the size of currants with little juice.<\/p>\nWalnut (Juglans regia)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several trees of this genus having round, sticky fruit enclosing an edible nut. The reference in Song of Songs 6:11 to “nuts” is thought to refer to the Persian or common walnut, Juglans regia.<\/em> The tree is believed to have been indigenous to northern Persia, but it is actually found wild in many parts of northern India, eastward as far as China, and westward through Persia. At the time of Solomon, it was widely cultivated for its fruit throughout the East. Perhaps Solomon’s garden of nuts was a part of his extensive gardens at Etham, six miles (9.7 kilometers) from Jerusalem.<\/p>\nWater Lily (Nymphaea)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of numerous aquatic plants of this genus with floating leaves and showy flowers. The carved lily ornamentation of 1 Kings 7:19-26 and 2 Chronicles 4:5 was probably patterned after the flowers of the water lily. Few flowers can equal the Egyptian lotus or water lily (Nymphaea lotus)<\/em> in beauty. It looks very much like a large white rose and at one time floated in profusion on the waters of the Nile.<\/p>\nThe common European white water lily (N. alba)<\/em> was also familiar to the children of Israel. It grows not only in Europe but also in the Holy Land and North Africa. It is, however, not as common in Egypt as is the white lotus.<\/p>\nAnother water lily with which the Israelites were probably familiar is the blue lotus, N. caerulea.<\/em> Its leaves are 12 to 16 inches (30.5 to 40.6 centimeters) across and it has light-blue flowers that are three to six inches (7.6 to 15.2 centimeters) in diameter.<\/p>\nWheat (Triticum aestivum, T. compositum)<\/em><\/p>\nVarious cereal grasses of this family widely cultivated for its edible grain. Five kinds of wheat are native to—and still wild in—the Holy Land, and at least eight others are cultivated there today; probably most, if not all, were known in Bible times. The wild varieties were probably more abundant then than they are today. Among these are the einkorn (T. monococcum),<\/em> the thaoudar (T. thaoudar),<\/em> and the wild emmer (T. dicoccoides).<\/em> The composite wheat (T. compositum),<\/em> with its branched spikes, often bearing as many as seven heads per stalk, is definitely referred to in Genesis 41:5-57. It is depicted on numerous Egyptian monuments and on inscriptions and is still commonly seen in the Nile Delta, where it is known as “mummy wheat.” It is also cultivated in the Holy Land.<\/p>\nThe most frequently mentioned wheat of the Bible is undoubtedly the commonly cultivated summer and winter wheat, Triticum aestivum.<\/em> It is an abundant annual grass cultivated in Egypt and other Eastern lands since earliest times. The exact place of its origin is unknown. Grains of wheat have been found in the most ancient Egyptian tombs and in the remains of prehistoric lake dwellings in Switzerland. It was certainly the chief grain of Mesopotamia in Jacob’s time (Gn 30:14).<\/p>\nCorn in biblical days often included a mixture of peas, beans, lentils, cummin, barley, millet, and spelt, but wheat was always its main constituent. Egypt was a great grain-producing country, and Abram (Gn 12:10) and Joseph’s brothers (ch 42) naturally turned to Egypt for wheat when famine visited Canaan.<\/p>\nThe mills, millstones, granaries, and threshing floors mentioned in the Bible all refer to equipment employed in processing grain to produce flour. The fine flour of which the showbread loaves were made (Lv 24:5) was unquestionably wheat flour. Wheat intended for home consumption was often stored in the central part of the house; this explains the story told in 2 Samuel 4:6. It was also sometimes stored in dry wells (2 Sm 17:19).<\/p>\nWormwood (Artemisia judaica, A. herba-alba)<\/em><\/p>\nWormwood is a general name given to a group of woody plants with a strong aromatic odor. Wormwood plants have a strong, bitter taste, and their young shoots and branch tips furnish the “wormwood” of commerce. Its bitter taste accounts for its being spoken of with gall—as being symbolic of bitter calamity and sorrow (Prv 5:4; Jer 9:15; 23:15; Lam 3:15, 19). Artemisia herba-alba<\/em> is the common species of wormwood in the Holy Land today. It is strongly aromatic, smelling like camphor, and bitter. A. judaica<\/em> occurs only in the Sinai.<\/p>\nAbsinthe is made from species of this group. It first leads to greater activity and pleasant sensations and fills the mind with grandiose ideas (Lam 3:15). The habitual use of it, however, brings on a stupor and gradual diminution of intellectual faculties, ending in delirium and even death. Perhaps the hemlock of Amos 6:12 was wormwood.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>PLANTS<\/h3>\nIdentifying biblical plants has always been a difficult task, partly because people continue to identify the biblical elm, sycamore, lily, rose, and vine with modern plants, and also because they assume that all the plants now growing in the Holy Land were there in ancient biblical days, or that the plants referred to in the Bible are still to be found there today. Unfortunately, many plants now quite common in the Holy Land were not there in biblical days. Many plants that once grew in abundance in the Holy Land are now extinct. Some have been driven out by foreign invaders; others have been exterminated or nearly exterminated by overcultivation of the land, the destruction of forests, and the resulting changes in climatic and other environmental conditions. At one time the Holy Land was a land of palm trees, with the date palm as abundant and characteristic there as it was in Egypt, but today the date palm is much less common. Similarly, in antiquity, the towering cedars clothed the slopes of Lebanon and other mountain ranges. Now the few remaining specimens must be carefully fenced in to protect them against trampling and the ravages of goats.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Acacia<\/p>\n• Acanthus<\/p>\n• Algum<\/p>\n• Almond<\/p>\n• Almug<\/p>\n• Aloe<\/p>\n• Apple<\/p>\n• Apricot<\/p>\n• Ash<\/p>\n• Aspen<\/p>\n• Balm<\/p>\n• Barley<\/p>\n• Bdellium<\/p>\n• Bean<\/p>\n• Bitter Herbs<\/p>\n• Boxthorn, European<\/p>\n• Box Tree<\/p>\n• Bramble<\/p>\n• Broom<\/p>\n• Buckthorn<\/p>\n• Bush<\/p>\n• Buttercup<\/p>\n• Calamus<\/p>\n• Cane<\/p>\n• Caper Plant<\/p>\n• Carob Tree<\/p>\n• Cassia<\/p>\n• Castor Oil Plant<\/p>\n• Cedar<\/p>\n• Chicory<\/p>\n• Cinnamon<\/p>\n• Citron Tree<\/p>\n• Coriander<\/p>\n• Cotton<\/p>\n• Cucumber<\/p>\n• Cummin<\/p>\n• Cypress<\/p>\n• Dandelion<\/p>\n• Darnel Grass<\/p>\n• Dill<\/p>\n• Ebony<\/p>\n• Endive<\/p>\n• Fig, Fig Tree<\/p>\n• Fir Tree<\/p>\n• Flax<\/p>\n• Frankincense<\/p>\n• Galbanum<\/p>\n• Garlic<\/p>\n• Gourd, Wild<\/p>\n• Hedge<\/p>\n• Henna<\/p>\n• Hyacinth<\/p>\n• Hyssop<\/p>\n• Juniper<\/p>\n• Laurel or Sweet Bay<\/p>\n• Leek<\/p>\n• Lentil<\/p>\n• Lettuce<\/p>\n• Lily<\/p>\n• Lotus Bush<\/p>\n• Mallow<\/p>\n• Mandrake<\/p>\n• Melon<\/p>\n• Millet<\/p>\n• Mint<\/p>\n• Mulberry<\/p>\n• Mustard<\/p>\n• Myrrh<\/p>\n• Myrtle<\/p>\n• Narcissus<\/p>\n• Nard<\/p>\n• Nettle<\/p>\n• Nutmeg Flower<\/p>\n• Oak<\/p>\n• Oil Tree, Oleaster<\/p>\n• Oleander<\/p>\n• Olive, Olive Tree<\/p>\n• Onion<\/p>\n• Palm<\/p>\n• Papyrus<\/p>\n• Pine Tree<\/p>\n• Pistachio<\/p>\n• Plane Tree<\/p>\n• Pomegranate<\/p>\n• Poplar<\/p>\n• Quince<\/p>\n• Reed<\/p>\n• Rue<\/p>\n• Rush<\/p>\n• Saffron<\/p>\n• Sage<\/p>\n• Spelt<\/p>\n• Storax Tree<\/p>\n• Sycamore<\/p>\n• Tamarisk<\/p>\n• Terebinth<\/p>\n• Thistle, Thorn<\/p>\n• Tulip<\/p>\n• Tumbleweed<\/p>\n• Vegetable<\/p>\n• Vine<\/p>\n• Walnut<\/p>\n• Water Lily<\/p>\n• Wheat<\/p>\n• Wormwood<\/p>\nAcacia (Acacia tortilis<\/em> and A. seyal)<\/em><\/p>\nAny tree or shrub of the mimosa family of plants growing in warm regions. The plant referred to in the kjv<\/span> as “shittah” (singular) or “shittim” (plural) is undoubtedly the acacia tree, the only timber tree of any considerable size in the Arabian desert. Acacia tortilis<\/em> is by far the largest and most common tree in the desert in which the Israelites wandered for 40 years. It is especially conspicuous on Mt Sinai and was probably the species used for the tabernacle furnishings. A. seyal<\/em> is less common, at least today. It can grow as high as 25 feet (7.6 meters), and bears yellow flowers on twisted branches. The wood is close grained, heavy and hard, orange-brown in color, and much valued in cabinetwork. The ancient Egyptians clamped shut mummy coffins with acacia wood.<\/p>\nAcanthus (Acanthus syriacus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe acanthus, perhaps referred to in Job 30:7 and Zephaniah 2:9, is a perennial thistlelike herb or small shrub about three feet (.9 meter) tall, and is a common weed in all Eastern countries. It has been used since time immemorial as a model for the leaf or scroll decorations in art.<\/p>\nAlgum (Juniperus excelsa Bieb)<\/em><\/p>\nThe timber from Lebanon referred to in 2 Chronicles 2:8 is probably the juniper. Some translators hold, however, that algum and almug are Hebrew variants for the same tree (see nlt<\/span> mg, 2 Chr 2:8).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Almug (below).<\/p>\nAlmond (Amygdalus communis)<\/em><\/p>\nThe almond is a peachlike tree with saw-toothed pointed leaves and gray bark. It grows to a height of from 10 to 25 feet (3 to 7.6 meters). It blooms very early in the year; its Hebrew name has its roots in “watch for.” To the Jews it was a welcome harbinger of spring (Jer 1:11).<\/p>\n\nAlmug (Pterocarpus santalinus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe precious wood imported by King Solomon and used in making the pillars for the temple and for making harps and psalteries (1 Kgs 10:11-12). This timber was brought by sea from Ophir to Ezion-geber, near Elath. Modern authorities suggest that Ophir was either in Arabia, India, or East Africa near Mozambique. The reference to “algum“ in 2 Chronicles 2:8 is possibly to this tree. See<\/em> Algum (above).<\/p>\nAloe (Aloe succotrina, Aquilaria agallocha)<\/em><\/p>\nChiefly African, lilylike plant of the genus Aloes,<\/em> certain species of which yield a drug and a fiber. Aloe is an aromatic substance mentioned in the Bible, together with myrrh, balm, and other fragrant plants (Ps 45:8; Prv 7:17; Sg 4:14; Jn 19:39). Most scholars think these passages refer to two different plants. The OT plant is likely to have been Aquilaria agallocha,<\/em> the eaglewood, a large tree growing up to 120 feet (36.6 meters) tall with a trunk 12 feet (3.7 meters) in circumference. It is native to northern India, Malaya, and Indochina. The decaying wood is highly fragrant, and as such is highly valued as perfume and incense and for fumigation.<\/p>\nThe aloe of John 19:39 is thought to be the true aloe (Aloe succotrina),<\/em> the juice of which was used by the Egyptians in embalming. Its smell, however, is not very agreeable, and it has a bitter taste. It is sometimes used by veterinarians as a horse medicine.<\/p>\nApple (Malus sylvestris)<\/em><\/p>\nThe identity of the fruit identified by the Hebrew word tappuach<\/span> (Prv 25:11; Sg 2:3, 5; 7:8; 8:5) continues to be debated. In most English translations it has been rendered “apple” because of its close linguistic tie to the Arabic word tuffah.<\/em> Many scholars identify this tree as the apricot, questioning whether apples fit the biblical description “apples of gold” and whether the apple tree was cultivated in ancient Palestine. Recent excavations at Kadesh-barnea, however, have uncovered carbonized apples, probably a crab apple (Malus sylvestris),<\/em> dating to the ninth century BC<\/span>. This would certainly allow for this ornamental apple’s cultivation in Solomon’s gardens.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Apricot (below).<\/p>\nApricot (Prunus armeniaca)<\/em><\/p>\nThe identification of the Hebrew word tappuach<\/span> with the apricot continues to be debated. The apricot tree produces yellow-orange peachlike edible fruit and is native to western Asia and Africa. It is abundant in the Holy Land and probably has been so since early biblical times. The tree is a round-headed reddish-barked tree growing 30 feet (9.1 meters) tall. Most translations render this Hebrew word “apple,” though many scholars identify it with the apricot because of its descriptions in the biblical text (see Prv 25:11; Sg 2:3, 5; 7:8; 8:5; Jl 1:12).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Apple (above).<\/p>\nAsh (Alhagi maurorum, Fraxinus ornus, Tamarix mannifera)<\/em><\/p>\nThere are several ash trees found in the Near East. One of these, the prickly alhagi (Alhagi maurorum),<\/em> is a member of the pea family. It is a low, many-stemmed, much-branched shrub growing about three feet (.9 meter) tall with somewhat hairy twigs and pealike flowers. During the heat of the day, leaves exude a sweet, gummy substance that hardens in the air and is collected by shaking the bushes over a spread-out cloth.<\/p>\nThe manna tamarisk (Tamarix mannifera)<\/em> is a multibranched shrub or a small tree 9 to 15 feet (2.7 to 4.6 meters) tall with rigid branches that have tiny pink flowers. It is found on deserts from the Holy Land to Arabia and the Sinai.<\/p>\nThe flowering or manna ash (Fraxinus ornus)<\/em> is a tree that grows from 15 to 50 feet (4.6 to 15.2 meters) tall. The fruits are very similar to those produced by our species of ash. The ash of Isaiah 44:14 (kjv<\/span>) is believed to be the Aleppo pine.<\/p>\nAspen (Populus euphratica<\/em> or P. tremula)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several trees of the genus Populus<\/em> with leaves attached by flattened leafstalks so that they tremble or “quake” in the wind.<\/p>\nBalm (Balanites aegyptiaca, Pistacia lentiscus, Commiphora opobalsamum<\/em>)<\/em><\/p>\nAn oily aromatic resin exuded by chiefly tropical trees and shrubs and used medicinally; trees and shrubs producing this substance. References in Genesis 37:25, Jeremiah 8:22, 46:11, and 51:8 are thought to be either the Jericho balsam (Balanites aegyptiaca)<\/em> or the lentisk or mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus).<\/em> The Jericho balsam is very common in Egypt, North Africa, the plains of Jericho, and the hot plains bordering on the Dead Sea. It is a small desert-loving plant, 9 to 15 feet (2.7 to 4.6 meters) tall, with slender, thorny branches and small clusters of green flowers.<\/p>\nThe lentisk or mastic tree is native to the Holy Land, and the reference in Genesis 43:11 is probably to this plant, since the implication is that this is a native product of the Holy Land unknown in Egypt at the time. This tree is a shrubby or bushy tree 3 to 10 feet (.9 to 3 meters) tall with evergreen leaves. The “balm” is a fragrant gummy exudation of the sap secured by making incisions in the stems and branches, usually in August. The best grades are in the form of yellow-white translucent tears or drops; they are employed in medicine as an astringent. The poorer grades are used extensively as a varnish. Children in the East use it as chewing gum.<\/p>\nReferences to spices in 1 Kings 10:10, 2 Kings 20:13, Song of Songs 3:6, Isaiah 39:2, and Ezekiel 27:17 are thought to be the balm of Gilead (Commiphora opobalsamum),<\/em> which in spite of its name is not a native of Gilead or even of the Holy Land but is indigenous to Arabia, especially the mountainous regions of Yemen. The trees were still in existence on the plain of Jericho at the time of the Roman conquest. The Roman conquerors carried branches to Rome as trophies of their victory over the Jews.<\/p>\nThis tree is a small, stiff-branched evergreen tree seldom more than 15 feet (4.6 meters) high with straggling branches. The “balm” is obtained by making incisions in the stem and branches of the tree. The sap soon hardens into small irregular nodules that are collected. Gum is also procured from green and ripe fruit.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Myrrh (below).<\/p>\nBarley (Hordeum distichon)<\/em><\/p>\nA cereal grass bearing bearded flower spikes and edible seeds. The common barley (Hordeum distichon),<\/em> the winter barley (H. hex<\/em>astichon),<\/em> and the spring barley (H. vulgare)<\/em> have been cultivated in temperate regions of the world since time immemorial and today still constitute one of the principal grain foods. Barley and wheat were the two staple cereal crops of Egypt and the Holy Land. Being less expensive, barley was mostly used for feeding cattle, although it was also used by itself or mixed with wheat and other seed as food for man (Ez 4:9-12). Barley is mentioned in the Bible over 30 times, either as a plant growing in the fields or in reference to products made from it, such as barley meal, barley bread, barley cakes, and barley loaves. As the common food of the poor, barley was also regarded as a symbol of poverty and cheapness or worthlessness (Hos 3:2).<\/p>\nBdellium (Commiphora africana)<\/em><\/p>\nAromatic gum resin similar to myrrh, produced by various trees of the genus Commiphora<\/em> of Africa and western Asia. The reference in Genesis 2:12 and Numbers 11:7 to bdellium is thought by most scholars today to refer to a gum resin, obtained from a shrub, Commiphora africana<\/em>, that grows in south Arabia and northeastern Africa. The resin is yellowish, transparent, and fragrant, and looks like a pearl.<\/p>\nBean (Faba vulgaris)<\/em><\/p>\nThe references in 2 Samuel 17:27-28 and Ezekiel 4:9 are generally regarded as referring to the broad bean. This species, an annual plant, is thought originally to have grown in northern Persia, but it was extensively cultivated in western Asia in very early times as a food plant. Beans have been found in the mummy coffins of Egyptian tombs, and they were also cultivated by the Greeks and Romans.<\/p>\nBitter Herbs (Cichorium endivia, Taraxacum officinale, Lactuca sativa)<\/em><\/p>\nThe “bitter herbs” of Exodus 12:8 and Numbers 9:11 seem to have been plants like endive (Cichorium endivia),<\/em> the common chicory (Cichorium intybus),<\/em> lettuce (Lactuca sativa),<\/em> or the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).<\/em> These are all weedy plants common in modern Egypt and western Asia and are still eaten by people living there. The leaves of the ordinary garden lettuce are intensely bitter when bleached. This is also true of the common dandelion. Others suggest that the bitter herbs were derived from thorns and thistles.<\/p>\nBoxthorn, European (Lycium europaeum)<\/em><\/p>\nVarious thorny shrubs, some species of which bear purplish flowers and brightly colored berries. The reference in Judges 9:14-15 is thought to be to the European boxthorn or desert-thorn. It is a thorny shrub 6 to 12 feet (1.8 to 3.7 meters) tall with clustered leaves and small violet flowers eventually producing small globular red berries. It is native to and common throughout the Holy Land, especially in the region from Lebanon to the Dead Sea.<\/p>\nBox Tree (Buxus longifolia)<\/em><\/p>\nThe long-leaved box tree is a hardy evergreen tree found in the mountainous regions of the northern part of the Holy Land, the Galilean hills, and Lebanon. It grows to a height of about 20 feet (6.1 meters) with a slender trunk seldom more than six to eight inches (15.2 to 20.3 centimeters) in diameter. Its wood is very hard and takes a fine polish. It was cultivated by the Romans for its hard wood, which they inlaid with ivory for cabinets and jewel caskets. Scriptural references include Isaiah 41:19 and 60:13.<\/p>\nBramble (Rubus sanctus, R. ulmifolius)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Palestinian bramble (Rubus sanctus)<\/em> and the closely related elm-leaf bramble (R. ulmifolius)<\/em> are prickly evergreen shrubs that spread by means of suckers. The stems and young shoots are covered with a characteristic bloom or whitish powder and short hairs. The prickles are strong, erect, and hairy. The flowers are white, pink, rose, or purple in color, and the fruit is round and black.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Thistle, Thorn (below).<\/p>\nBroom (Retama raetam)<\/em><\/p>\nA shrub native to Eurasia. The word translated “juniper” in the kjv<\/span> has nothing to do with the true junipers but refers rather to a species of broom, known as the white broom (Retama raetam).<\/em> Its branches are longer and flexible, forming an erect, dense bush 3 to 12 feet (.9 to 3.7 meters) tall. The leaves are small and sparse, yet it forms an agreeable shade in a desert region. The white pealike flowers are sweet and very fragrant and are borne in clusters along the twigs. It is a beautiful shrub that grows in the desert regions of Palestine, Syria, and Persia. In many desert areas it is the only bush that affords any shade (1 Kgs 19:4-5).<\/p>\nThe “juniper roots” of Job 30:4 are not the roots of either the juniper or white broom. The roots of the latter are very nauseating and could not be eaten in the manner described by Job. Job’s “juniper roots” were probably an edible parasitic plant (Cynomorium coccineum).<\/em> This plant grows in salt marshes and maritime sands. It is frequently eaten in times of food scarcity and at one time was highly prized for its supposed medicinal value in the treatment of dysentery.<\/p>\nBuckthorn (Rhamnus palaestina)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Palestinian buckthorn is a shrub or small tree attaining a height of three to six feet (.9 to 1.8 meters) with velvety, thorny branches, evergreen leaves, and clusters of small flowers blooming in March or April. It grows in thickets and on hillsides from Syria and Lebanon through the Holy Land to Arabia and the Sinai.<\/p>\nBush (Acacia nilotica, Loranthus acaciae)<\/em><\/p>\nLow, branching, woody plant, usually smaller than a tree. There are differences of opinion in regard to the bush out of which the Lord appeared to Moses (Ex 3:2-4). From the biblical account, it seems most likely that the event was a miraculous one. However, some seek a natural explanation and believe that the burning bush may have been the crimson-flowered mistletoe or acacia strap flower (Loranthus acaciae),<\/em> which grows in great profusion as a partial parasite on the various acacia shrubs, such as the thorny acacia (Acacia nilotica),<\/em> in the Holy Land and Sinai. When in full bloom, the mistletoe imparts to the shrub or tree the appearance of being on fire because its brilliant flame-colored blossoms stand out against the green foliage and yellow flowers of the host plants.<\/p>\nButtercup (Ranunculus asiaticus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Persian buttercup is one of the flowers or grasses of the field (Mt 6:28-30). It is a showy plant blooming in all brilliant colors except blue, with double flowers sometimes measuring two inches (5.1 centimeters) across.<\/p>\nCalamus (Acorus calamus, Andropogon aroma<\/em>ticus)<\/em><\/p>\nA plant, or its aromatic root; any of a variety of tropical Asiatic palms. One of the plants that grew in Solomon’s garden (Sg 4:14). The sweet flag (Acorus<\/em> calamus)<\/em> and the beardgrass (Andropogon aromaticus)<\/em> have been suggested as the plants from which calamus came. The sweet flag is highly aromatic and grows in Europe and Asia, but it is not known in the Holy Land. Indigenous to India, beardgrass is highly odoriferous when bruised and is thought to have furnished the calamus of the Bible. It yields an oil known as ginger-grass oil.<\/p>\nCane (Saccharum officinarum)<\/em><\/p>\nIt is thought that there were two species of sugarcane indigenous to and growing wild in the Holy Land. One of these, Saccharum sara,<\/em> is known to be only from Lebanon. The other native species is S. biflorum,<\/em> which grows on the banks of ditches and streams from Syria and Lebanon through the Holy Land south to Stony Arabia and the Sinai. This may be the wild cane familiar to the Jews. Most authorities, however, think that the “sweet cane” of Isaiah 43:24 was the true sugarcane (S. officinarum).<\/em> This plant is thought to have originated in the tropics of the eastern hemisphere. It has been cultivated by people since time immemorial and is not now known in the wild state anywhere. It is a tall, stout perennial grass, maizelike in aspect with many jointed stems and a large plumelike terminal cluster of flowers.<\/p>\nCaper Plant (Capparis sincula)<\/em><\/p>\nSpiny, trailing shrub of Mediterranean region; the flower bud of this shrub. The word “desire” in Ecclesiastes 12:5 may actually refer to the caper berry. The common caper or caper berry grows profusely in Syria, Lebanon, the Holy Land, and in the mountain valleys of Sinai. The plant may sometimes grow upright but more generally spreads itself weakly over the ground like a vine, covering rocks, ruins, and old walls like ivy. The young flower buds, pickled in vinegar, were used by the ancients as a condiment for meat. The berries were also used in cooking.<\/p>\nCarob Tree (Ceratonia siliqua)<\/em><\/p>\nEvergreen of the Mediterranean region having edible pods. Scholars generally agree that the pods of the carob or locust tree were the “husks” of Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:16). The carob is an attractive evergreen leguminous tree that is very common throughout the Holy Land, Syria, and Egypt. The pods are most abundant in April and May and contain numerous pealike seeds embedded in an agreeably flavored mucilaginous sweetish pulp. The pods are also used abundantly now as they were in antiquity for feeding cattle, horses, and pigs. In time of scarcity, they are used as human food and perhaps even regularly by the very poor. The carob is frequently mentioned in the Talmud as a source of good food for domestic animals. The seeds of the carob were formerly employed as a standard of weight and are the source of the term “carat.” Some commentators suggest that the “locusts” eaten by John the Baptist (Mt 3:4) were not insects but the fruit of the carob tree.<\/p>\nCassia (Cinnamomum cassia, Saussurea lappa)<\/em><\/p>\nTree of tropical Asia with bark similar but inferior to cinnamon. The “cassia” of Exodus 30:24 and Ezekiel 27:19 is the cassia bark tree, Cinnamomum cassia.<\/em> In Psalm 45:8 the reference seems to be to the Indian orris, Saussurea lappa.<\/em><\/p>\nCastor Oil Plant (Ricinus communis)<\/em><\/p>\nLarge plant, native to tropical Africa and Asia, cultivated for ornamental reasons and for extraction of oil from its seeds. The gourd of Jonah 4:6-7 was probably the ordinary castor bean. The castor bean is a tender shrub, growing 3 to 12 or more feet (.9 to 3.7 meters) tall with huge leaves that resemble the outstretched human hand. The castor bean plant is found in waste places, especially near water, in both Lebanon and the Holy Land and often is cultivated. In hot climates it becomes treelike and affords a dense shade by the abundance of its huge, umbrella-like leaves. It is known in the Orient for the rapidity of its growth. The oil extracted from the seeds of the castor bean was used by the Jews in ceremonial rites and is mentioned among the five kinds of oil that rabbinical tradition sanctioned for such use. The seeds themselves are poisonous when eaten.<\/p>\nCedar (Cedrus libani)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several coniferous evergreen trees of the genus native to the Old World. With few exceptions, the references to “cedar” are to the well-known cedar of Lebanon. This is a noble tree, the tallest and most massive with which the Israelites were acquainted. It grows quite rapidly, attaining a height of up to 120 feet (36.6 meters) with a trunk diameter of as much as 8 feet (2.4 meters). In Solomon’s day these trees were obviously abundant on the mountains of Lebanon, but now, because of excessive lumbering, they are very rare. The cedar of Lebanon was held in high esteem not only for its vigor, beauty, and age but also for the fragrance and remarkable lasting qualities of the wood. It symbolizes grandeur, might, majesty, dignity, lofty stature, and wide expansion. References in Ezekiel 17:3, 22-24, and 31:3-18 beautifully illustrate how these lofty kings of the forest symbolize and typify worldly strength, power, and glory.<\/p>\nChicory (Cichorium intybus)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Bitter Herbs (above).<\/p>\nCinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)<\/em><\/p>\nTwo varieties of trees of this genus, native to tropical Asia, with aromatic bark that, when ground, is used as a spice. The cinnamon of Exodus 30:23, Proverbs 7:17, Song of Songs 4:14, and Revelation 18:13 is undoubtedly Cinnamomum zeylanicum.<\/em> The tree is a rather low-growing one, never getting more than 30 feet (9.1 meters) high, with a smooth, ash-colored bark and widespread branches and white flowers. Its shiny, beautifully veined evergreen leaves grow about nine inches (22.9 centimeters) long and two inches (5.1 centimeters) wide.<\/p>\nThe Jews always regarded cinnamon as a deliciously fragrant substance and valued it highly as a spice and a perfume. It was one of the principal ingredients used in the manufacture of the precious ointments, or “holy oil,” that Moses was commanded to use in the tabernacle for anointing the sacred vessels and officiating priests. It was undoubtedly very costly and precious.<\/p>\nCitron Tree (Tetraclinis articulata)<\/em><\/p>\nTree native to Asia bearing lemonlike fruit with a thick, fragrant rind. It seldom exceeds a height of 30 feet (9.1 meters) and has hard, dark-colored, durable, fragrant wood that takes a fine polish. The wood was one of the most highly prized woods of the ancients, who employed it extensively for cabinetwork. It was commonly referred to as being worth its weight in gold. The wood, owing to its resinous properties, is slow to decay and remains practically uninjured by insects.<\/p>\nCoriander (Coriandrum sativum)<\/em><\/p>\nThe references in Exodus 16:31 and Numbers 11:7 are clearly to the common coriander plant. The coriander was found quite commonly growing along with grain in cultivated fields throughout the Holy Land. It grows wild in Egypt and was used by the ancients both as condiment and as a medicine. The leaves are quite aromatic and are used in soups and for flavoring puddings, curries, and wines. The coriander is still used today as a spice by the Arabs. In Scripture it is mentioned only in connection with manna, which was said to resemble coriander seeds in size, shape, and color.<\/p>\nCotton (Gossypium herbaceum)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of various plants or shrubs of this genus grown in warm climates for the soft white fiber attached to their seeds and the oil from these seeds. The “green” of the kjv<\/span> in Esther 1:6 is undoubtedly a reference to the Levant cotton (Gossypium herbaceum)<\/em> that was cultivated since time immemorial in the Far East. Alexander the Great brought it back from India. It is probable that the Jews became acquainted with cotton during the period of their Persian captivity under King Ahasuerus.<\/p>\nCucumber (Cucumis chate, C. sativus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe cucumber is an annual climbing or trailing vine, the origin of which is unknown. It has been cultivated in all the warm countries of the Old World since prehistoric times. Cucumbers are usually eaten raw; a cucumber and a barley cake or some other kind of bread often constitute a meal. The reference to “a lodge in a garden of cucumbers” (Is 1:8) refers to the crudely built small house or lodge often set up in Palestinian cucumber fields and vineyards.<\/p>\nCummin (Cuminum cyminum)<\/em><\/p>\nThe references in Isaiah 28:25-27 and Matthew 23:23 are clearly to the cummin—a common, annual plant of the carrot family said to be native to Egypt and the region of the eastern Mediterranean. It has long been cultivated for its powerfully aromatic and pungent seeds, which are similar to caraway seeds but larger. They do not have as agreeable a taste as caraway seeds but nevertheless were used extensively as a flavor or spice and sometimes were even mixed with flour in making bread. Cummin was also used medicinally and as a condiment with fish and meats.<\/p>\nCypress (Cupressus sempervirens horizontalis)<\/em><\/p>\nThe cypress is a massive, tall-growing evergreen with scalelike leaves and is widely distributed in the mountainous regions of the Holy Land. On Mt Lebanon and Mt Hermon it grows together with the cedar and oak. Its usual height is 50 to 60 feet (15.2 to 18.3 meters), but it may grow as tall as 80 feet (24.2 meters). It is said to have been used extensively in shipbuilding by the Phoenicians, Cretans, and Greeks. There is general agreement that the “gopher wood” of Genesis 6:14 is cypress because the wood is very durable.<\/p>\nDandelion (Taraxacum officinale)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Bitter Herbs (above).<\/p>\nDarnel Grass (Lolium temulentum)<\/em><\/p>\nIt is generally agreed that the “tares” of the kjv<\/span> (Mt 13:24-30) are the annual or bearded darnel grass. It is a strong grass closely resembling wheat or rye in appearance. The seeds are much smaller than those of wheat or rye, but it is extremely difficult to distinguish it from wheat or rye in its early stages. If it is not eradicated early but is left until the time of harvest, it is cut down with the wheat and the two are subsequently very difficult to separate. The seeds are poisonous, either due to some chemicals naturally present or because of a fungus that grows within the seeds.<\/p>\nDill (Anethum graveolens)<\/em><\/p>\nDill is a weedy annual plant resembling parsley and fennel, 12 to 20 inches (30.5 to 50.8 centimeters) tall with yellow flowers. The reference in Matthew 23:23 (kjv<\/span>) to anise is probably a reference to dill. This plant is widely cultivated for seeds that are aromatic and carminative.<\/p>\nEbony (Diospyros ebenaster, D. ebenum, D. mela<\/em>noxylon)<\/em><\/p>\nChiefly tropical tree of southern Asia with hard, dark-colored heartwood. Ebony comes from the date plum or date tree (Diospyros ebenaster<\/em> and D. melanoxylon)<\/em> of India and is quite different from the date palm. It was sent by Phoenician ships across the Arabian Sea and up the Red Sea to the market in Tyre, from which it was carried overland by camel caravans. The outer wood of these trees is white and soft, but when old, the interior wood becomes hard, black, heavy, and durable and still constitutes most of the costly ebony of commerce. Ebony takes on a fine polish and is highly valued for cabinetwork, for turnery, for the manufacture of fancy ornamental articles and instruments, and as a veneer for other woods.<\/p>\nEzekiel mentions ivory and ebony together (Ez 27:15). Ebony was and still is frequently inlaid with ivory, with which it contrasts so strikingly in color.<\/p>\nEndive (Cichorium endivia)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Bitter Herbs (above).<\/p>\nFig, Fig Tree (Ficus carica)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several trees or shrubs of this genus, native to the Mediterranean region; its edible fruit. The common fig, mentioned some 60 times in the Bible, is one of the most important Bible plants. Its leaves are spoken of first in Genesis 3:7. The fig is generally regarded as native to southwestern Asia and Syria, but already in early times it was also cultivated extensively in Egypt and the Holy Land, where it was one of the principal foods. First Samuel 25:18 states that a part of the gift sent by Abigail to David consisted of 200 cakes of figs.<\/p>\nThe fig tree has a very peculiar type of fruit called a syconium, which is actually a very much enlarged and fleshy receptacle. It is pollinated by a wasp, without which it cannot get its fruit; this was discovered when it was first transplanted to California.<\/p>\nThe fig puts out its earliest fruit buds before its leaves, the former in February and the latter in April or May. When the leaves are out, the fruit ought to be ripe (Mt 21:19).<\/p>\nWhenever the prophets of old berated the people for their wickedness, they often threatened that the vine and the fig crops would be destroyed. And when they held out the promise of great rewards, they said that the vine and fig crop would be restored (Jer 8:13; Hos 2:12; Jl 1:7, 12; Mi 4:4; Zec 3:10).<\/p>\nFir Tree (Abies cilicica)<\/em><\/p>\nThis a generic term for various evergreen trees having flat needles and erect cones. In all probability, most of the references in Scripture to the fir are references to the pine, cypress, or juniper. The only true fir in the Holy Land grows in the higher parts of Lebanon and the mountains northward. It attains a height of 30 to 75 feet (9.1 to 22.9 meters) and is widely cultivated.<\/p>\nFlax (Linum usitatissimum)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several plants of this genus, one particularly being widely cultivated for the linseed oil from its seeds and the fine textile fibers from its stems. Flax is the oldest known of the textile fibers. Cotton is identified only once in the Bible (Est 1:6). There is no mention of any other fiber plant being cultivated in Egypt or the Holy Land in biblical days, and for that reason it is thought that linen was the material out of which clothes other than woolen ones were made. Linen was also used for domestic purposes such as towels (Jn 13:4-5), napkins (11:44), girdles and undergarments (Is 3:23; Mk 14:51), nets (Is 19:8-9), and measuring lines (Ez 40:3). The priests serving in the temple were to wear nothing but linen clothes; a mixed cloth of wool and flax together was strictly forbidden to the Jews (Lv 19:19; Dt 22:11).<\/p>\nAt least three kinds of linen were used in biblical times, and apparently there were particular uses for each kind. Ordinary linen of coarsest texture is mentioned in Leviticus 6:10, Ezekiel 9:2, Daniel 10:5, and Revelation 15:6. The second type of linen of superior quality is mentioned in Exodus 26:1 and 39:27. A third type of linen of finest texture and high cost is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 15:27, Esther 8:15, and Revelation 19:8.<\/p>\nThe common flax plant grows from one to four feet (.3 to 1.2 meters) tall with a simple, slender, wirelike stem and numerous small, pale, lancelike green leaves. The failure of the flax crop is listed as one of God’s punishments (Hos 2:9). The manufacture of linen from flax fibers was a domestic industry of Jewish women (Prv 31:13, 19), ranging from ordinary clothing to the robes and aprons worn by the priest and temple attendants. Linen was also used for wicks in lamps (Is 42:3).<\/p>\nFrankincense (Boswellia)<\/em><\/p>\nAromatic genus resin used chiefly as incense. Frankincense is obtained from three species of a single genus of plants that grow in southern Arabia, Ethiopia, Somaliland, India, and the East Indies. The trees are large in size, related to the turpentine or terebinth tree and to those that produce balsam and myrrh. The gum has a bitter taste and gives off a strong odor in the form of a volatile oil when warmed or burned. It is obtained by successive incisions in the bark of the trunk and in the branches of living trees. It is thought that the Hebrews imported all their frankincense from Arabia, especially from the region about Sheba.<\/p>\nFrankincense is mentioned 21 times in the Bible (e.g., Ex 30:34; 1 Chr 9:29; Neh 13:9; Sg 3:6; 4:6, 14; Mt 2:11; Rv 18:13) and was probably employed almost exclusively in the sacrificial services of the tabernacle and temple until the time of Solomon. It has always been the most important incense resin in the world.<\/p>\nGalbanum (Ferula galbaniflua)<\/em><\/p>\nGalbanum is a malodorous yellowish or brownish gum resin containing the chemical substance umbelliferone, obtained from several species of plants related to the fennel, native to Syria and Persia. The gum is a natural exudation of the stem or is obtained by making a transverse incision in the young stem a few inches above the ground. The milky juice soon hardens and forms one of the kinds of commercial galbanum. Its odor is strongly balsamic, pungent, and disagreeable when burned. Galbanum was one of the ingredients used to form the “holy incense” (Ex 30:34).<\/p>\nGarlic (Allium sativum)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Onion (below).<\/p>\nGourd, Wild (Citrullus colocynthis)<\/em><\/p>\nThere has been considerable difference of opinion regarding the meaning of the words translated “wild gourds” (2 Kgs 4:39) or “gall” (Dt 29:18; 32:32; Ps 69:21; Jer 8:14; 9:15; 23:15; Lam 3:5, 19; Am 6:12; Mt 27:34; Acts 8:23). Most scholars today believe the plant referred to was the colocynth, a cucumber-like vine that trails on the ground or climbs over shrubs and fences. The fruit contains a soft spongy pulp, which is intensely bitter, strongly cathartic, and sometimes poisonous.<\/p>\nHedge (Rhamnus palaestina, Balanites aegyptiaca, Lycium europaeum)<\/em><\/p>\nRow of closely planted shrubs or low-growing trees forming a fence or boundary. A number of plants were used to provide hedges in Bible times. One of these was the Palestine buckthorn, Rhamnus palaestina.<\/em> This plant is a shrub or a small tree growing from three to six feet (.9 to 1.8 meters) tall with velvety, thorny branches, evergreen leaves, and clusters of small flowers blooming in March and April. It grows in thickets and on hillsides from Syria through the Holy Land to Arabia and the Sinai. The Jericho balsam (Balanites aegyptiaca)<\/em> and the European boxthorn (Lycium europaeum)<\/em> are also prickly shrubs widely used as hedges in the Holy Land and may be the plants referred to in Proverbs 15:19 and Hosea 2:6.<\/p>\nHenna (Lawsonia inermis)<\/em><\/p>\nTree or shrub of Asia and northern Africa with fragrant reddish or white flowers and leaves from which a reddish dye is made. The plant referred to in Song of Songs 1:14 and 4:13 and translated as “camphire” (kjv<\/span>) is thought by scholars today to refer to the henna plant. It is a native of northern India and grows wild in the Sudan, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, and the Holy Land. It grows from 4 to 12 feet (1.2 to 3.7 meters) tall, and its scent is similar to that of roses.<\/p>\nHenna leaves are dried, crushed into a powder, mixed with water, and made into a paste that has been used since time immemorial as a cosmetic. A number of mummies have been found decorated with henna. Henna was used to provide a bright yellow, orange, or red color to the fingernails, toenails, the tips of the fingers, the palms of the hand, and the soles of the feet of young girls. Men also used it for coloring their beards and the manes and tails of horses. The dye had to be renewed once every two or three weeks. This use of henna as a cosmetic was common in Egypt at the time the children of Israel were there as slaves; they were undoubtedly familiar with it.<\/p>\nHyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis)<\/em><\/p>\nThe lily referred to in Song of Songs 2:1-2, 16; 4:5; and 6:2-4 may well be the garden hyacinth. It is native to, and very common in, the fields and rocky places in the Holy Land, Lebanon, and northward. Its flowers in the wild form are always deep blue and very fragrant.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Lily (below).<\/p>\nHyssop (Origanum maru)<\/em><\/p>\nWoody plant native to Asia with spikes of small blue flowers and aromatic leaves used as a condiment and in perfumery. There is little agreement among botanists as to the exact identity of the biblical “hyssop.” Some have suggested Hyssopus offici<\/em>nalis,<\/em> the well-known garden herb now called hyssop. However, this plant is not native either to the Holy Land or Egypt, being found only in southern Europe. Moreover, it does not fit the requirements of the biblical plant.<\/p>\nThe “hyssop” of the OT is likely the Syrian or Egyptian marjoram (Origanum maru).<\/em> It is referred to in Exodus 12:22; Leviticus 14:4-6, 52; Numbers 19:6, 18; 1 Kings 4:33; Psalm 51:7; and Hebrews 9:19. The marjorams are mints growing (under favorable conditions) about two or three feet (.6 to .9 meter) tall, but more often are dwarfed when growing in rock crevices and walls (cf. 1 Kgs 4:33). An aromatic substance is obtained from the crushed and dried leaves. If gathered together in a bunch with leaves and flowers, the hairy stems of the marjoram would hold liquid very well and would make an excellent sprinkler.<\/p>\n\nThe hyssop of the crucifixion passage in the NT (Jn 19:29) is probably the sorghum, a tall cereal plant grown primarily for food but also used for brushes and mops.<\/p>\nJuniper (Juniperus)<\/em><\/p>\nVariety of evergreen tree or shrub. The plant referred to in Jeremiah 17:6 and 48:6 and translated in the kjv<\/span> “heath” is probably the savin or Phoenician juniper. The Phoenician juniper, Juniperus phoenicia,<\/em> is found in the hills and rocky places of Arabia. The savin juniper, J. sabina,<\/em> is common throughout the deserts, plains, and rocky places of Syria and Palestine. These references are to the brown-berried cedar, or sharp cedar.<\/p>\nLaurel or Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis)<\/em><\/p>\nShrub or tree native to the Mediterranean region. While the reference in Psalm 37:35 may be to the cedar of Lebanon, most scholars refer the “green bay tree” (kjv<\/span>) of the psalmist to the sweet bay, a native of the Holy Land, inhabiting thickets and woods from the coast to the middle montane zone. It is an evergreen tree attaining a height from 40 to 60 feet (12.2 to 18.3 meters).<\/p>\nEven though the tree is abundant on Mt Carmel and around Hebron, it is generally not common in the Holy Land. Its leaves are still used as a condiment, and its fruit, leaves, and bark have long been used in medicine.<\/p>\nLeek (Allium porrum)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Onion (below).<\/p>\nLentil (Lens esculenta)<\/em><\/p>\nThe lentil plant to which Genesis 25:29-34, 2 Samuel 17:27-29, 23:11, and Ezekiel 4:9 refer is a small, erect, annual, vetchlike plant with slender stems and tendril-bearing leaves. It produces small, white, violet-striped flowers with flat, pealike pods in which the lentils are borne.<\/p>\nLettuce (Lactuca sativa)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Bitter Herbs (above).<\/p>\nLily (Lilium)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of various plants of the genus Lilium<\/em> having large, variously colored, trumpet-shaped flowers; and related plants. The lily is one of the most famous of all the plants in the Bible, but it is also one about which there has been considerable difference of opinion. It seems probable that several kinds of plants, perhaps five or six, are called lilies in the kjv<\/span>. Most authorities regard the Palestine anemone or wind flower, Anemone coronaria,<\/em> as the “lily of the field” (Mt 6:28, kjv<\/span>) that surpassed Solomon in all his glory. These flowers are found in every part of the Holy Land in profusion; the most common forms are scarlet or yellow, but the Palestine anemone may also be blue, purple, rose, or white in color. The flower attains a diameter of two and three-quarter inches (7 centimeters).<\/p>\nAn alternative suggestion is the Palestinian chamomile, Anthemis palaestina,<\/em> a common, white, daisylike plant. The chamomile is gathered like dry grass and thrown into the furnace when it dries up.<\/p>\nAnother proposed plant is Lilium chalcedonicum,<\/em> the scarlet or Martagon lily. The statement in Song of Songs 5:13—“his lips like lilies”—would better fit this plant than the Palestine anemone. The reference is apparently to a rare plant of exceptional beauty. The scarlet lily is rare in the Holy Land; indeed, some botanists doubt that it lives there.<\/p>\nThe references in 1 Kings 7:19, 22, 26 and 2 Chronicles 4:5 are probably to the water lily, Nymphaea alba,<\/em> which served as the pattern. The water lily is quite common in Europe and also in the Holy Land and northern Africa.<\/p>\nLotus Bush (Zizyphus lotus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe “shady trees” of Job 40:21-22 (kjv<\/span>; cf. nlt<\/span> “lotus plants”) may refer to the lotus bush of the Middle East, Zizyphus lotus,<\/em> a shrub or low tree that grows to a height of about five feet (1.5 meters) with smooth, zigzag, whitish branches.<\/p>\nOther commentators believe that the shady trees of Job are large-leafed trees such as the plane tree, Platanus orientalis,<\/em> or the oleander, Nerium oleander.<\/em> This suggestion is based on the assumption that the animal described in Job 40 is the hippopotamus, and it seems unlikely that the hippopotamus would live under a lotus bush or even be found in places where this shrub grows. These individuals regard the plane tree or the oleander as more likely.<\/p>\nMallow (Atriplex)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Hebrew word used in Job 30:4 implies saltiness, and for this reason botanists believe that it refers to one of the species of the saltwort or orach. Twenty-one species of saltwort occur in the Holy Land, almost all of which are common and could well meet the requirements of the text. Atriplex halimus<\/em> is the species usually suggested, a strong-growing bushy shrub related to the spinach.<\/p>\nMandrake (Mandragora officinarum)<\/em><\/p>\nThe mandrake or love apple is a stemless herbaceous perennial related to the nightshade, potato, and tomato. It has a large, beetlike, often forked taproot from the top of which arise many dark leaves about a foot (30.5 centimeters) long and four inches (10.2 centimeters) wide. The plant is slightly poisonous, and the thick taproots have some resemblance in shape to the lower parts of the human body. For this reason certain aphrodisiac properties were ascribed to it (cf. Gn 30:14-16).<\/p>\nThe love apple was a common plant in deserted fields throughout the Holy Land. It is native to the entire Mediterranean region, southern Europe, and Asia Minor. The mandrake is mentioned in Song of Songs 7:13, though some scholars believe the writer may actually have been referring to the citron or to the common edible field mushroom, Agaricus campestris.<\/em><\/p>\nMelon (Cucumis melo, Citrullus vulgaris)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several varieties of these two related vines having a hard rind and juicy flesh. The melons of Numbers 11:5 may be either the muskmelon (Cucumis melo)<\/em> or the watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris).<\/em> It may be that both fruits are referred to.<\/p>\n\nMillet (Panicum miliaceum)<\/em><\/p>\nA grass grown in Eurasia for its edible seed. Millet seeds are the smallest of all the grass seeds cultivated as food but are produced profusely. Millet is an annual grass seldom more that two feet (.6 meter) tall. The small seeds of the millet are used on cakes and eaten uncooked by the poor of the land.<\/p>\nMint (Mentha)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of various plants of this family with aromatic foliage that is processed for flavoring. Quite a few mints are common in the Holy Land, but the horse mint (Mentha longifolia)<\/em> is probably the one referred to in Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42. Mints were employed by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans for flavoring, as a carminative in medicine, and as a condiment in cooking.<\/p>\nMulberry (Morus nigra)<\/em><\/p>\nAny tree of this family, some bearing dark-purple fruit and one bearing white fruit, having leaves used as food for silkworms. The sycamine tree of Luke 17:6 (kjv<\/span>) is evidently the black mulberry, Morus nigra.<\/em> It is a low-growing, thick-crowned, stiff-branched tree standing from 24 to 35 feet (7.3 to 10.7 meters) tall, though rarely more than 30 feet (9.1 meters) tall. Originally native to northern Persia, it is now cultivated throughout the Middle East for its fruit. The Chinese or Indian species, M. alba,<\/em> was until recently widely cultivated in Syria and the Holy Land but is not indigenous.<\/p>\nMustard (Brassica nigra, B. arvensis)<\/em><\/p>\nVarious plants of this genus are native to Eurasia, some of which are cultivated for their edible seeds. While there is disagreement about the identity of the “mustard” of Matthew 13:31-32, 17:20, Mark 4:31, Luke 13:19, and 17:6, it is generally thought to be the ordinary black mustard, Brassica nigra.<\/em><\/p>\nThe mustard Jesus referred to may be the charlock or wild mustard, B. arvensis,<\/em> which normally grows from one to three feet (.3 to .9 meter) tall. Some have suggested that it was actually Salvadora persica,<\/em> found in thickets around the Dead Sea. The plant has a pleasant aromatic taste resembling that of mustard, and if taken in considerable quantity, it will produce an irritation of the nose and eyes similar to that of mustard. However, this plant does not grow as far north as Galilee, and the fruits are rather large and stony, thus hardly fitting the description of the parable.<\/p>\nWhile the seeds of the mustard are not the smallest known, they were probably the smallest familiar to the common people who comprised Jesus’ audience in Galilee.<\/p>\nMyrrh (Commiphora myrrha, C. kataf)<\/em><\/p>\nShrub or tree exuding an aromatic gum resin used in perfume and incense. Most of the references in Scripture to myrrh are to Commiphora myrrha,<\/em> although C. kataf<\/em> may also be involved since it grows in the same region and is similar. The two trees are native to Arabia, Ethiopia, and the Somali coast of east Africa. They yield a gummy exudation that constitutes most of the myrrh of commerce. Both species are low, scrubby, thick- and stiff-branched thorny shrubs or small trees that grow in rocky places, especially on limestone hills. In the East it is highly regarded as an aromatic substance, perfume, and medicine. The ancient Egyptians burned it in their temples and embalmed their dead with it; the Jews also used it for embalming (Jn 19:39). The Hebrews held it in high regard as a perfume (Ps 45:8).<\/p>\n\nMyrtle (Myrtus communis)<\/em><\/p>\nThe myrtle tree is common in the Holy Land, especially around Bethlehem, Lebanon, Hebron, and the slopes of Mt Carmel and Mt Tabor. It is native to western Asia and in good environments grows into a small evergreen tree 20 to 30 feet (6.2 to 9.1 meters) tall. More often, however, it is a straggling bush 1½ to 4 feet (.5 to 1.2 meters) tall.<\/p>\nIn the Bible, myrtle is referred to chiefly as a symbol of God’s generosity. Branches of myrtle trees were included among those that Nehemiah ordered to be gathered for the Feast of Tabernacles (Neh 8:15). The myrtle was symbolic not only of peace but also of justice.<\/p>\n\nNarcissus (Narcissus tazetta)<\/em><\/p>\nWidely cultivated plant of this family with narrow leaves and usually white or yellow flowers with a cup-crown or trumpet-shaped crown. The polyanthus narcissus (Narcissus tazetta)<\/em> appears to be the plant referred to in Isaiah 35:1. This narcissus grows abundantly on the plains of Sharon and elsewhere in Palestine. Being sweet-smelling, it is a great favorite.<\/p>\nNard (Nardostachys jatamansi)<\/em><\/p>\nThe nard is a perennial herb with strong, pleasantly scented roots. It is native to high altitudes in the Himalayas, and its range extends from there into western Asia. The roots and spikelike wooly young stems are dried before the leaves unfold and are used for making perfume. It is still used in India as a perfume for the hair, and there is every reason to believe that the spikenard of Scripture (Sg 1:12; 4:13-14; Mk 14:3; Jn 12:3) came originally from India.<\/p>\nNettle (Urtica)<\/em><\/p>\nPlant of this genus having toothed leaves covered with hairs that exude a stinging flush. Four species of nettle are found in the Holy Land: the common or great nettle, Urtica dioica;<\/em> the Roman nettle, U. pilulifera;<\/em> the small nettle, U. urens;<\/em> and U. caudata,<\/em> which is similar to the small nettle. Some nettles attain a height of five to six feet (1.5 to 1.8 meters). They are common pests of waste places and fields. They are often seen occupying ground that was once cultivated but has since been neglected (Is 34:13; Hos 9:6).<\/p>\nNutmeg Flower (Nigella sativa)<\/em><\/p>\nThe “fitches” of Isaiah 28:25-27 (kjv<\/span>) are probably the nutmeg flower, an annual plant of the buttercup family. The plant grows wild in southern Europe, Syria, Egypt, north Africa, and other Mediterranean lands, where it is extensively cultivated for its strongly pungent, pepperlike aromatic seeds. These are sprinkled over some kinds of bread and cakes in the East and are used for flavoring curries and other dishes in the Holy Land and Egypt. Cummin and nutmeg flowers are still gathered in the Holy Land in the same way described by Isaiah.<\/p>\nOak (Quercus)<\/em><\/p>\nAt least five species of oaks are found in Palestine. One of these is the kermes oak (Quercus coccifera),<\/em> the host of the insect Coccus ilicis,<\/em> which produces the scarlet dye used in coloring linen and wool (Gn 38:28-30; Ex 25:4; 26:1; 28:33; 35:23; 39:24; Lv 14:4-6, 51-52; Nm 19:6; 2 Chr 2:7, 14; 3:14; Is 1:18; Heb 9:19; Rv 18:12). The kermes oak grows from 6 to 35 feet (1.8 to 10.7 meters) tall and is found in the mountainous regions of Syria, Lebanon, and the Holy Land. When it grows alone, the kermes oak often becomes a large tree. It was regularly planted by tombs in the East. The oak was always respected and even venerated in biblical times for its large size and strength, and great men were usually buried in its shade. Abraham’s oak in Hebron is an example.<\/p>\nA second oak is the valonia oak (Q. aegilops),<\/em> perhaps the oak of Isaiah 2:13 and 44:14. It is common in the middle montane zones and probably was abundant in the area around Bashan. The oak of Genesis 35:4, 8 is thought to have been the holm oak (Q. ilex),<\/em> an evergreen oak that grows to a height of 60 feet (18.3 meters). Still another oak is Q. lusitanica,<\/em> the cypress oak, a small deciduous tree seldom more than 20 feet (6.1 meters) tall. The very large acorns of this tree were sometimes eaten.<\/p>\nThe word translated “plain” (kjv<\/span>) in Genesis 12:6, 13:18, 14:13, and 18:1 should probably be translated “oak.”<\/p>\nThe many references to “groves” in the OT, usually in connection with the worship of Baal or other heathen gods (Ex 34:13; Dt 16:21; Jgs 3:7; 1 Kgs 14:23; 18:19; 2 Kgs 17:16—all kjv<\/span>), were probably groves of sacred oak trees.<\/p>\nOil Tree, Oleaster (Elaeagnus angustifolia)<\/em><\/p>\nSmall Eurasian tree with oblong silvery leaves, greenish flowers, and olivelike fruit. There is question as to which tree is referred to when 1 Kings 6:23, 31-33 and 1 Chronicles 27:28 refer to “olive trees.” The same word occurs in Isaiah 41:19 and Micah 6:7. The plant referred to is probably the narrow-leaved oleaster (Elaeagnus angustifolia),<\/em> a small stiff-branched tree or graceful shrub growing from 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 meters) tall, common in all parts of the Holy Land except in the Jordan Valley. At one time it was particularly common on Mt Tabor and at Hebron and Samaria. The wood is hard and fine-grained and therefore well suited for carving of images and figures. The oil that it yields is a rather inferior type used in medication but not for food; this may be the oil of Micah 6:7.<\/p>\nOleander (Nerium oleander)<\/em><\/p>\nAny poisonous evergreen shrub of this genus growing in warm climates. One of the suggestions for the plants identified as “roses” in various translations (Ecclus 24:14, kjv<\/span>) is the oleander. This plant, originally native to the East Indies, has been cultivated throughout the warm regions of the world for centuries. It flourishes in the Holy Land today and forms dense thickets in some parts of the Jordan Valley. It is usually a shrub from 3 to 12 feet (.9 to 3.7 meters) tall. Every part of the plant is dangerously poisonous.<\/p>\nOlive, Olive Tree (Olea europaea)<\/em><\/p>\nOld world semitropical evergreen tree bearing edible fruit. The olive, Olea europaea,<\/em> was unquestionably one of the most valuable trees known to the Jews. There are innumerable references to it in Scripture, as well as to olive oil, which was used for anointing. The tree is quite common in the Holy Land, and in many places it is the only tree of any substantial size. The branches of the wild olive are rather stiff and spinescent, and the typical cultivated tree is a multi-branched evergreen, 20 or more feet (6.1 meters) tall, with a gnarled trunk and smooth, ash-colored bark. The leaves are leathery and the flowers are small, yellow or white. The fruits are large, black or violet, ripening in September, and it is the outer fleshy parts of the fruit that yield the valuable olive oil of commerce. Thirty-one percent of the ripe fruit is oil. The ripe fruit is eaten raw, as is the green, unripe fruit. The wood of the trunk and limbs is hard, rich yellow or amber in color, and fine-grained, often handsomely variegated. It is still used today for the finest cabinetwork and turnery. The tree grows very slowly, but it attains a great age. It is difficult to kill the olive tree by cutting it down, because new sprouts are sent up from the root and all around the margins of the old stump, often forming a grove of two to five trunks, all from a single root that originally supported only one tree.<\/p>\nOnion (Allium)<\/em><\/p>\nThe onions referred to in Numbers 11:5 are undoubtedly Allium cepa,<\/em> the Egyptian onion, which is made up of a compact coated bulb formed of layers consisting of broad fleshy bases of closely overlapping leaves. The leaves are slender and hollow. The entire plant has a characteristic pungent taste and odor.<\/p>\n\nClosely related to the onion is the garlic, A. sativum.<\/em> The common garlic is a hardy, bulbous perennial plant that is cultivated in Europe, western Asia, and Egypt. The leaves are narrow, flat, and ribbonlike. It is extremely popular with people of the Mediterranean region.<\/p>\nStill another one of the onions is the leek, A. porrum.<\/em> The bulb of the leek differs from that of the onion and garlic in that it is slender, cylindrical, and more than six inches (15.2 centimeters) in length. The flavor resembles that of the onion but is more pungent. The leaves are eaten as a relish or are cooked in soups. The bulbs are cut into small pieces and employed as seasoning for meat.<\/p>\nPalm (Phoenix dactylifera)<\/em><\/p>\nThe palm tree of the Bible is undoubtedly the date palm. At one time it was as characteristic of the Holy Land as it is still today of Egypt. It is characterized by a branchless, tapering stem of up to 80 feet (24.2 meters) or more in height and a large terminal cluster of feathery leaves, each six to nine feet (1.8 to 2.7 meters) or more long. Because of its height and unusual structure, it was natural that it should be used as a form of ornamentation in Eastern architecture. The stem and leaves were favorite subjects of architectural embellishment. The immense, branchlike leaves that are referred to as branches in the Bible were symbols of triumph and were used on occasions of great rejoicing (Jn 12:13; Rv 7:9). The large leaves are still used to cover the roofs and sides of houses and to give solidity to reed fences. Mats, baskets, and even dishes are made of them. Small leaves are used as dusters, and the wood of the trunk is used for timber. Rope is made from the weblike integument in the crown. The fruit, borne in an immense drooping cluster, which may weigh from 30 to 50 pounds (13.6 to 22.7 kilograms), is the chief food of many natives of Arabia and north Africa. A single tree may yield up to 200 pounds (90.7 kilograms) of dates a year. They may be dried for future use.<\/p>\nPapyrus (Cyperus papyrus)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Egyptian bulrush or papyrus (Ex 2:3-5; Jb 8:11; Is 18:2; 19:6-7; 35:7; 58:5) has smooth three-sided stems ordinarily attaining a height of 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3 meters), but sometimes even 16 feet (4.9 meters), and a thickness of two to three inches (5.1 to 7.6 centimeters) at the base with a large tuft of florets at the end. The papyrus formerly grew in great abundance along the banks of the Nile, forming what was almost a dense jungle. Today it is practically extinct in lower Egypt, although it is still found along the White Nile and in the Sudan. The papyrus still grows in parts of the Holy Land, especially around the north end of the plain of Galilee and the Huleh swamps.<\/p>\n\nIn addition to being used for making small vessels to float in water (Ex 2:3), for mats, and for various other domestic purposes, it is best known as the source of ancient paper. In manufacturing paper from papyrus, the stems of the plant were first peeled and the pitch then cut longitudinally into thin slices that were laid side by side. These were then sprinkled with water and pressed to unite the whole into one piece. The sheet was then dried and cut into pieces of the required size. In the better grades of papyrus paper, several layers of stem slices were laid crosswise on each other.<\/p>\nThe pale, fawn-colored, tassel-like inflorescences at the summit of the stems were used to adorn Egyptian temples and to crown the statues of gods. They were also worn as crowns by famous men and national heroes.<\/p>\nPine Tree (Pinus brutia, P. halepensis)<\/em><\/p>\nVarious evergreen trees of this family with needle-shaped leaves in clusters and seed-bearing cones. While there is considerable confusion concerning the conifers of the Bible, it seems apparent that pines are referred to in such passages as Leviticus 23:40; Nehemiah 8:15; Isaiah 41:19; and 60:13. One of the Holy Land’s pines is the Brutian pine (Pinus brutia),<\/em> a mountain-inhabiting species of the northern regions of Palestine. It attains a height of 10 to 35 feet (3 to 10.7 meters) with a rather diffuse growth and branches in whorls.<\/p>\nAnother of the pines is the Aleppo pine, Pinus halepensis.<\/em> Most of the instances of the occurrence of “fir” or “fir tree” in the kjv<\/span> probably refer to the Aleppo pine (2 Sm 6:5; 1 Kgs 5:8, 10; 6:34; 2 Kgs 19:23; 2 Chr 2:8; Ps 104:17; Sg 1:17; Is 14:8; 37:24; 55:13; 60:13; Ez 27:5; 31:8; Hos 14:8; Na 2:3; Zec 11:2). It grows from 9 to 60 feet (2.7 to 18.3 meters) tall with diffuse ascending branches and yellowish or brownish branchlets.<\/p>\nPistachio (Pistacia terebinthus, P. vera)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Palestine terebinth or turpentine tree is a large deciduous tree with straggling boughs. In the winter, without its leaves, it looks much like the oak. It grows from 12 to 25 feet (3.7 to 7.6 meters) tall. Every part of the tree contains a fragrant, resinous juice. It is common on the lower slopes of the hills throughout Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Arabia, generally growing as a solitary tree and found mostly in localities too warm or too dry for the oak that it generally replaces. Since it is native to Gilead, it is quite probable that its resinous juice formed part of the spicery that the Israelites carried to Egypt from Gilead (Gn 37:25).<\/p>\nThe nuts of Genesis 43:11 are apparently pistachio nuts from the pistachio tree, Pistacia vera,<\/em> closely related to the terebinth. It attains a height of 10 to 30 feet (3 to 9.1 meters) with a spreading top. It is found wild in many rocky parts of Lebanon and the Holy Land. The nut has a light-colored shell and the kernel has a sweet delicate flavor much relished wherever it grows.<\/p>\nPlane Tree (Platanus orientalis)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several trees of this family with bell-shaped fruit clusters and usually an outer bark that flakes off in patches or strips. The references in Genesis 30:37 and Ezekiel 31:8 are apparently not to the chestnut tree, which is not indigenous to Palestine, but to the oriental plane tree, Platanus orientalis.<\/em><\/p>\nThe plane tree is a massive tree 60 feet (18.3 meters) or more tall with a trunk often of vast circumference, sometimes as much as 40 feet (12.2 meters). The outer bark peels off in sheets or scales, thus exposing a smooth whitish or yellowish inner bark. The tree is common throughout Lebanon, Syria, and the Holy Land, growing even in subalpine regions. However, it is primarily a tree of the plains and lowlands, growing on the edges of streams and lakes and in marshy places.<\/p>\nPomegranate (Punica granatum)<\/em><\/p>\nThe pomegranate is usually a small, bushlike tree but may occasionally become a large, branching shrub or small tree reaching a height of 20 to 30 feet (6.1 to 9.1 meters). The branches are often thorny. The showy bell-like flowers are usually scarlet, though sometimes yellow or white. The globular fruit is as large as an orange or medium-size apple. It has a hard rind of a bright red or yellowish color when ripe and is surmounted by the dry sepals that resemble a crown. The fruit itself is a crimson juicy pulp in which many red seeds are imbedded. The flowers of the pomegranate undoubtedly served as a pattern for the golden bells referred to in Exodus 28:33-34 and 39:24-26, and the open flowers of 1 Kings 6:32. The erect calyx lobes on the fruit served as a model for crowns of kings.<\/p>\nThe pomegranate is native to Asia, but it has been cultivated since prehistoric times and is now quite common in the Holy Land, in Egypt, and along the shores of the Mediterranean. It is listed as one of the pleasant fruits of Egypt (Nm 20:5) and one of the promised blessings of the Holy Land (Dt 8:8).<\/p>\nPoplar (Populus euphratica, P. alba)<\/em><\/p>\nFast-growing deciduous tree of the same genus as the aspen and cottonwood. The kjv<\/span> references in 2 Samuel 5:23-24 and 1 Chronicles 14:14-15 to mulberry trees are more probably to the Euphrates poplar or aspen, Populus euphratica.<\/em> This tree grows to a height of 30 to 45 feet (9.1 to 13.7 meters) with spreading branches. The Euphrates aspen is found only on rivers and stream banks throughout the area from Syria through the Holy Land to Stony Arabia. It is especially common in the Jordan Valley.<\/p>\nThe white poplar (Populus alba)<\/em> is common in wet places in Syria, Lebanon, the Holy Land, and Sinai. It attains a height of 30 to 60 feet (9.1 to 18.3 meters) with spreading branches. Some suggest that the altars of various pagan religions were usually erected on the top of a hill and in the shade of a poplar grove.<\/p>\nQuince (Cydonia oblonga)<\/em><\/p>\nTree native to western Asia, having white flowers and applelike fruit that is edible when cooked. Some believe that the “apples” of the OT were quinces, Cydonia oblonga.<\/em> The quince tree is quite common in the Holy Land, though chiefly as a cultivated tree. It may occur wild in the northern parts of Syria. It is native to northern Persia and Asia Minor. The fruit is yellowish and highly fragrant, and it is the fragrance that caused it to be held in high regard by the ancients.<\/p>\nReed (Juncus, Scirpus, Typha angustata, Arundo donax)<\/em><\/p>\nNumerous species of the rush and bulrush grow in the Holy Land. There are at least 21 varieties of rushes. The common soft rush or bog rush (Juncus effusus)<\/em> is found in wet places, even in the Sinai and other deserts. The sea or hard rush (J. maritimus)<\/em> is found in damp places throughout the Holy Land and even in Sinai.<\/p>\nAt least 15 kinds of bulrushes (Scirpus)<\/em> are known in the Holy Land. The cluster-headed club rush (Scirpus holoschoenus)<\/em> is common in damp places throughout the Holy Land to the Sinai. The lake club rush or tall bulrush (S. lacustris)<\/em> is found in swamps and ditches throughout northern Africa to the Dead Sea. The sea club rush or salt marsh club rush (S. maritimus)<\/em> is found in ditches and swamps in many places of the Holy Land. Any of these species may be the one referred to in Job 8:11; Isaiah 9:14; 19:6, 15.<\/p>\nThe reference in Genesis 41:2 to the feeding of cattle in the meadow seems to be to the tall reed (Arundo donax),<\/em> which grows 18 feet (5.5 meters) or more in height. This plant is also known as the Persian reed and is common throughout the Holy Land, Syria, and the Sinai peninsula. It is a gigantic grass that may have a stem diameter of two or three inches (5.1 to 7.6 centimeters) at the base and is terminated by a plume of white flowers similar to those of the sugarcane or pampas grass. The plant was used for many purposes by the ancients: for walking sticks, fishing rods, measuring rods, and musical pipes. It is, therefore, quite possible that the “reed” of Matthew 27:48 and Mark 15:36 was a carpenter’s reed or measuring rod.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Papyrus.<\/p>\nRue (Ruta chalepensis, R. graveolens)<\/em><\/p>\nAromatic Eurasian plant with evergreen leaves that yield an acrid, volatile oil once used in medicine. There is little question as to the correctness of the translation of “rue” in Luke 11:42, but there is some doubt as to the exact species. Most writers think that it was the common rue (Rue graveolens),<\/em> a perennial shrubby plant with erect stems two to three feet (.6 to .9 meter) tall and deeply cut leaves. A very strong odor emanates from the foliage. This species is native to the Mediterranean region and grows wild in the Holy Land, especially on Mt Tabor.<\/p>\nRue was highly thought of by the ancients as a medicinal, supposed to prevent dizziness, dumbness, epilepsy, eye inflammations, insanity, and the “evil eye.” Rue was also used for seasoning dishes.<\/p>\nRush (Butomus umbellatus)<\/em><\/p>\nGeneric term for any of various grasslike marsh plants having pliant, hollow, or pithy stems. There is considerable uncertainty about the identification of the plant referred to in Genesis 41:2 translated in the kjv<\/span> as “meadow,” and in Job 8:11 as “flag.” Since it is mentioned along with the papyrus in the Job passage, it seems that it refers to a specific kind of plant rather than to an aggregate of plants in a meadow. From the description in Genesis as being a plant on which Pharaoh’s cattle might feed along the banks of the Nile and yet not the papyrus, it may refer to the flowering rush or water gladiola (Butomus umbellatus),<\/em> which flourishes both in Egypt and in the Holy Land, along with the papyrus.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Reed.<\/p>\nSaffron (Crocus sativus)<\/em><\/p>\nSaffron, referred to in Song of Songs 4:14, is the product of several species of Crocus,<\/em> especially of the blue-flowered saffron crocus (C. sativus),<\/em> which is native to Greece and Asia Minor. The commercial product consists of the stigma and upper portions of the style, the top parts of the flower ovary, which are collected shortly after the flower opens. It requires at least 4,000 stigmas to make an ounce of saffron. After being gathered, the stigmas are dried in the sun, pounded, and made into small cakes. Saffron is used principally as a yellow dye and also as a fruit coloring for curries and stews.<\/p>\nAnother, entirely different kind of dye-producing plant (Carthamus tinctorius)<\/em> called carthamine, bastard saffron, or safflower is a member of the thistle family. Its red florets yield a dye used extensively for coloring silk, in cooking, and for adulterating genuine saffron. It is an annual spiny plant three to four and a half feet (1.4 meters) tall, native to Syria and Egypt. In Egypt the grave clothes of mummies were dyed with this material, and it is quite possible that this plant may also have been the saffron of the Bible.<\/p>\nSage (Salvia judaica)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Judean sage grows to three feet (.9 meter) tall in the mountains and hills of Palestine. Its stems are four-angled, stiff, and rough. The plant grows from Syria south through Nazareth, Hebron, Tiberius, Samaria, and Judea.<\/p>\nThis plant is the origin of the design of the seven-branched lampstand of Exodus 37:17-18, which is known as the menorah, the traditional Jewish symbol. The inflorescence of the plant, when pressed flat, has almost exactly the same shape and form as the seven-branched candlestick, with its central spike and three pairs of side branches each bending upward and inward in a symmetrical fashion. On each branch of the plant’s inflorescence are whorls or buds that perhaps give the idea for the “knops” (kjv<\/span>) or “knobs” on the biblical golden candlesticks.<\/p>\nSpelt (Triticum aestivum)<\/em><\/p>\nHardy member of the wheat family. The rye of Exodus 9:32 and Isaiah 28:25, as well as the fitches of Ezekiel 4:9 (all kjv<\/span>) are thought to be spelt. It is a hard-grained species of wheat with loose ears and grains triangular in cross-section, and was the most common form of wheat in early times. It has a stouter stem than wheat and strong spikes of grain. Bread made of its flour is much inferior to that made from wheat, but spelt will thrive in almost any kind of soil and will yield a crop on land that is unfit for wheat. The ancients preferred it to barley for bread.<\/p>\nStorax Tree (Styrax officinalis)<\/em><\/p>\nVarious trees of this genus yielding an aromatic resin. Today it is thought that the stacte of Exodus 30:34 was derived from the storax tree. It is an irregularly stiff-branched shrub or small tree 9 to 20 feet (2.7 to 6.1 meters) tall. This tree is abundant on low hills and rocky places from Lebanon through the Holy Land. Its gum is obtained by making incisions in the stems and branches. It is highly perfumed and is still prized today as a perfume.<\/p>\nSycamore-fig (Ficus sycomorus)<\/em><\/p>\nTree of northeastern Africa and adjacent Asia, related to the fig. The word translated “sycamore” in 1 Kings 10:27; 1 Chronicles 27:28; 2 Chronicles 1:15; 9:27; Psalm 78:47; Isaiah 9:10; Amos 7:14; and Luke 19:4 undoubtedly refers to the well-known sycamore-fig, which is also known as the mulberry-fig or fig-mulberry. It should not be confused with the common sycamore of the North American continent, which is actually a plane tree. The sycamore-fig of the Bible is a strong-growing, robust, wide-spreading tree growing 30 to 40 feet (9.1 to 12.2 meters) tall and sometimes attaining a trunk circumference of 20 feet (6.1 meters) or more with a crown 120 feet (36.6 meters) in diameter. It is a tree that is easily climbed and is frequently planted along roadsides, which accounts for the reference in Luke 19:4. It produces an abundant amount of fruit in clusters on all parts of the tree, on both young and old branches and even on the trunk itself. It is very similar to the common fig, only smaller and much inferior in quality. In David’s day it was so valuable that he appointed a special overseer for the sycamore trees (1 Chr 27:28). It is thought that Amos was not a gatherer of sycamore fruit but rather a dresser of sycamore trees.<\/p>\nTamarisk (Tamarix)<\/em><\/p>\nThe references in Genesis 21:33 and 1 Samuel 22:6 and 31:13 seem to be to the tamarisk. These trees or shrubs are small and fast-growing with a durable wood. They are abundant in deserts, dunes, and salt marshes. Tamarix aphylla<\/em> is leafless and has small white flowers. These trees or shrubs often provide a soothing touch of green foliage and a promise of cooling shade to the traveler. Tamarisks are able to survive because they either have small, scalelike leaves, which lose little moisture by transpiration, or no leaves at all. The larger of the tamarisks are valued for their wood in a region where wood is scarce. The wood was used for building and also as a source of an excellent type of charcoal.<\/p>\nTerebinth (Pistacia terebinthus)<\/em><\/p>\nSee<\/em> Pistachio (above).<\/p>\nThistle, Thorn (Lycium europaeum, Solanum incanum, Centaurea, Silybum marianum, Ruscus aculeatus, Agrostemma githago, Paliurus spina-christi, Zizyphus spina-christi)<\/em><\/p>\nThere are 22 different Hebrew and Greek words used in Scripture to refer to spiny or prickly shrubs or weeds, and these are translated as “bramble,” “brier,” “cockle,” “thorn,” and “thistle.” At present, there are about 125 species of thorns and thistles that grow in the Holy Land.<\/p>\nThe bramble in the allegory of Judges 9:14-15 is believed to refer to the European boxthorn or desert-thorn, Lycium europaeum.<\/em><\/p>\nThe general consensus is that the “briers” of Isaiah 10:17, 55:13, Micah 7:4, and Hebrews 6:8 are the Palestine nightshade (Solanum incanum),<\/em> or “Jericho potato.”<\/p>\nThe thistles of Genesis 3:17-18, 2 Kings 14:9, 2 Chronicles 25:18, Hosea 10:8, and Matthew 7:16, as well as the thorns of Matthew 13:7 and Hebrews 6:8, are thought to be one of the species of the thistle, Centaurea.<\/em> Among the more common thistles in the Holy Land are the true star-thistle (Centaurea calcitrapa),<\/em> the dwarf centaury (C. verutum),<\/em> the Iberian centaury (C. iberica),<\/em> and the lady’s thistle (Silybum marianum).<\/em> Some thistles attain a height of five to six feet (.9 to 1.8 meters). Thistles are characteristic of an area that is uncultivated and neglected. Many have beautiful flowers, but all are covered with sharp spines.<\/p>\nThe references in Ezekiel 2:6 to “briers” and Ezekiel 28:24 to a “pricking brier” may be to the prickly butchers-broom or knee-holly, Ruscus aculeatus.<\/em> The plant is common in rocky woods in the northern regions of the Holy Land, especially around Mt Tabor and Mt Carmel.<\/p>\nThe cockle of Job 31:40 (nlt<\/span> “weeds”) perhaps refers to the corn cockle, Agrostemma githago.<\/em> This plant is common in grainfields throughout the Holy Land. It is a strong-growing and troublesome weed in grainfields, growing from one to three feet (.3 to .9 meter) tall.<\/p>\nMany commentators think that the “thorns” out of which the crown of thorns (Mt 27:29; Jn 19:2) was made were from the Christ-thorn (Paliurus spina-christi).<\/em> This belief has led to its specific name; the Christ-thorn is a spiny plant that ordinarily grows as a straggling shrub three to nine feet (.9 to 2.7 meters) tall. The flexible branches are armed at the base of each leaf with a pair of unequal, stiff, sharp spines. The unusual pliable texture of the young branches renders it particularly easy to plait into a crownlike wreath.<\/p>\nThe thorns of Judges 8:7, Isaiah 7:19, 9:18, 55:13, and Matthew 7:16 may refer to the Syrian Christ-thorn (Zizyphus spina-christi),<\/em> a shrub or small tree 9 to 15 feet (2.7 to 4.6 meters) tall, sometimes growing into a 40-foot (12.2-meter) tree with smooth white branches bearing a pair of stout, unequal, recurved spines at the back of each leaf.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Bramble; Buckthorn (above).<\/p>\nTulip (Tulipa montana, T. sharonensis)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several bulbous plants of this family native to Asia. The rose of Sharon in Song of Songs 2:1 may be the mountain tulip, Tulipa montana,<\/em> or the closely related Sharon tulip, T. sharonensis.<\/em> The former is an attractive plant that grows from a bulb and has leaves that are often wavy-margined. The species is common in the mountainous regions of Syria, Lebanon, and the Anti-Lebanon. It is primarily a mountainous species. The Sharon tulip (T. sharonensis)<\/em> is found in sandy places on the Sharon coastal plains.<\/p>\nTumbleweed (Gundelia tournefortii, Anastatica hierochuntica)<\/em><\/p>\nThe references in Psalm 83:13 to “whirling dust” and in Isaiah 17:13 to “wheel” or “rolling thing” (niv<\/span> “tumbleweed”) seem to be to the Palestinian tumbleweed (Gundelia tournefortii),<\/em> a member of the thistle family. It is a prickly herb with milky juice. It rolls over the land and gathers in tremendous heaps in hollows.<\/p>\nVegetable<\/p>\nScriptural references to vegetables are probably, in most cases, to the dried leguminous seeds of beans and lentils.<\/p>\nVine (Vitis vinifera)<\/em><\/p>\nAny plant with a flexible stem that climbs, twines, or creeps along a surface or support. The common grapevine (Vitis vinifera)<\/em> is mentioned throughout the Bible. The fruitful vine (Ez 17:5-10) and the vine brought out of Egypt (Ps 80:8) were symbolic of the Jewish people. Jesus compares himself to the true vine, of which his disciples were the branches (Jn 15:1-6).<\/p>\nThe grapevine of the Old World sometimes assumes the characteristics of a tree, with stems up to a foot and a half (45.7 centimeters) in diameter, the branches then being trained on a trellis and bearing bunches of grapes 10 to 12 pounds (4.5 to 5.4 kilograms) in weight, with the individual grapes the size of small plums. Bunches have been produced weighing as much as 26 pounds (11.8 kilograms). The vines of the Holy Land were always renowned both for the luxuriance of their growth and for the immense clusters of grapes they produced. Thus it does not seem improbable that the spies sent to the Promised Land should have employed a pole to transport some of the clusters home (Nm 13:23-24).<\/p>\nThe wild grape (Vitis orientalis)<\/em> is referred to in Isaiah 5:2-4, Jeremiah 2:21, and Ezekiel 15:2-6. It is known as the native wild fox grape and has small, black, acidic berries about the size of currants with little juice.<\/p>\nWalnut (Juglans regia)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of several trees of this genus having round, sticky fruit enclosing an edible nut. The reference in Song of Songs 6:11 to “nuts” is thought to refer to the Persian or common walnut, Juglans regia.<\/em> The tree is believed to have been indigenous to northern Persia, but it is actually found wild in many parts of northern India, eastward as far as China, and westward through Persia. At the time of Solomon, it was widely cultivated for its fruit throughout the East. Perhaps Solomon’s garden of nuts was a part of his extensive gardens at Etham, six miles (9.7 kilometers) from Jerusalem.<\/p>\nWater Lily (Nymphaea)<\/em><\/p>\nAny of numerous aquatic plants of this genus with floating leaves and showy flowers. The carved lily ornamentation of 1 Kings 7:19-26 and 2 Chronicles 4:5 was probably patterned after the flowers of the water lily. Few flowers can equal the Egyptian lotus or water lily (Nymphaea lotus)<\/em> in beauty. It looks very much like a large white rose and at one time floated in profusion on the waters of the Nile.<\/p>\nThe common European white water lily (N. alba)<\/em> was also familiar to the children of Israel. It grows not only in Europe but also in the Holy Land and North Africa. It is, however, not as common in Egypt as is the white lotus.<\/p>\nAnother water lily with which the Israelites were probably familiar is the blue lotus, N. caerulea.<\/em> Its leaves are 12 to 16 inches (30.5 to 40.6 centimeters) across and it has light-blue flowers that are three to six inches (7.6 to 15.2 centimeters) in diameter.<\/p>\nWheat (Triticum aestivum, T. compositum)<\/em><\/p>\nVarious cereal grasses of this family widely cultivated for its edible grain. Five kinds of wheat are native to—and still wild in—the Holy Land, and at least eight others are cultivated there today; probably most, if not all, were known in Bible times. The wild varieties were probably more abundant then than they are today. Among these are the einkorn (T. monococcum),<\/em> the thaoudar (T. thaoudar),<\/em> and the wild emmer (T. dicoccoides).<\/em> The composite wheat (T. compositum),<\/em> with its branched spikes, often bearing as many as seven heads per stalk, is definitely referred to in Genesis 41:5-57. It is depicted on numerous Egyptian monuments and on inscriptions and is still commonly seen in the Nile Delta, where it is known as “mummy wheat.” It is also cultivated in the Holy Land.<\/p>\nThe most frequently mentioned wheat of the Bible is undoubtedly the commonly cultivated summer and winter wheat, Triticum aestivum.<\/em> It is an abundant annual grass cultivated in Egypt and other Eastern lands since earliest times. The exact place of its origin is unknown. Grains of wheat have been found in the most ancient Egyptian tombs and in the remains of prehistoric lake dwellings in Switzerland. It was certainly the chief grain of Mesopotamia in Jacob’s time (Gn 30:14).<\/p>\nCorn in biblical days often included a mixture of peas, beans, lentils, cummin, barley, millet, and spelt, but wheat was always its main constituent. Egypt was a great grain-producing country, and Abram (Gn 12:10) and Joseph’s brothers (ch 42) naturally turned to Egypt for wheat when famine visited Canaan.<\/p>\nThe mills, millstones, granaries, and threshing floors mentioned in the Bible all refer to equipment employed in processing grain to produce flour. The fine flour of which the showbread loaves were made (Lv 24:5) was unquestionably wheat flour. Wheat intended for home consumption was often stored in the central part of the house; this explains the story told in 2 Samuel 4:6. It was also sometimes stored in dry wells (2 Sm 17:19).<\/p>\nWormwood (Artemisia judaica, A. herba-alba)<\/em><\/p>\nWormwood is a general name given to a group of woody plants with a strong aromatic odor. Wormwood plants have a strong, bitter taste, and their young shoots and branch tips furnish the “wormwood” of commerce. Its bitter taste accounts for its being spoken of with gall—as being symbolic of bitter calamity and sorrow (Prv 5:4; Jer 9:15; 23:15; Lam 3:15, 19). Artemisia herba-alba<\/em> is the common species of wormwood in the Holy Land today. It is strongly aromatic, smelling like camphor, and bitter. A. judaica<\/em> occurs only in the Sinai.<\/p>\nAbsinthe is made from species of this group. It first leads to greater activity and pleasant sensations and fills the mind with grandiose ideas (Lam 3:15). The habitual use of it, however, brings on a stupor and gradual diminution of intellectual faculties, ending in delirium and even death. Perhaps the hemlock of Amos 6:12 was wormwood.<\/p>","summary_ro":"PLANTS Identifying biblical plants has always been a difficult task, partly because people continue to identify the biblical elm, sycamore, lily, rose, and vine with modern plants, and also because they assume that all the plants now growing in the Holy Land were there in ancient biblical days, or that the plants referred to in the Bible are still to be found there today. Unfortunately, many plants now quite common in the Holy Land were not there in biblical days. Many plants that once grew i...","summary_en":"PLANTS Identifying biblical plants has always been a difficult task, partly because people continue to identify the biblical elm, sycamore, lily, rose, and vine with modern plants, and also because they assume that all the plants now growing in the Holy Land were there in ancient biblical days, or that the plants referred to in the Bible are still to be found there today. Unfortunately, many plants now quite common in the Holy Land were not there in biblical days. Many plants that once grew i...","source":"Articles\/P.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":36491,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Sycamine*","title_en":"Sycamine*","content_ro":"<h3>SYCAMINE*<\/h3>\nBlack mulberry tree, valued for its fruit (Lk 17:6). See<\/em> Plants (Mulberry).<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>SYCAMINE*<\/h3>\nBlack mulberry tree, valued for its fruit (Lk 17:6). See<\/em> Plants (Mulberry).<\/p>","summary_ro":"SYCAMINE* Black mulberry tree, valued for its fruit (Lk 17:6). See Plants (Mulberry).","summary_en":"SYCAMINE* Black mulberry tree, valued for its fruit (Lk 17:6). See Plants (Mulberry).","source":"Articles\/S.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":56057,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:6","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:6","content_ro":"17:6<\/strong> A mustard seed<\/em> was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’:<\/em> Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you:<\/em> This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.<\/p>","content_en":"17:6<\/strong> A mustard seed<\/em> was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’:<\/em> Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you:<\/em> This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:6 A mustard seed was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’: Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you: This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.","summary_en":"17:6 A mustard seed was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’: Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you: This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83683,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:6","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:6","content_ro":"17:6<\/strong> A mustard seed<\/em> was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’:<\/em> Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you:<\/em> This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.<\/p>","content_en":"17:6<\/strong> A mustard seed<\/em> was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’:<\/em> Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you:<\/em> This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:6 A mustard seed was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’: Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you: This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.","summary_en":"17:6 A mustard seed was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’: Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you: This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111309,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:6","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:6","content_ro":"17:6<\/strong> A mustard seed<\/em> was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’:<\/em> Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you:<\/em> This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.<\/p>","content_en":"17:6<\/strong> A mustard seed<\/em> was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’:<\/em> Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you:<\/em> This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:6 A mustard seed was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’: Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you: This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.","summary_en":"17:6 A mustard seed was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’: Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you: This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138935,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:6","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:6","content_ro":"17:6<\/strong> A mustard seed<\/em> was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’:<\/em> Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you:<\/em> This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.<\/p>","content_en":"17:6<\/strong> A mustard seed<\/em> was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’:<\/em> Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you:<\/em> This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:6 A mustard seed was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’: Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you: This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.","summary_en":"17:6 A mustard seed was proverbial for something very small (see 13:19). • you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted’: Black mulberry trees can live for hundreds of years and have a vast root system, making them very difficult to uproot. • it would obey you: This is not a call to use faith for arbitrary miracles. God has unlimited power, and those who trust in him will see him use it.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"7":[{"id":14558,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Gospel","title_en":"Gospel","content_ro":"<h3>GOSPEL<\/h3>\nWord derived from the Anglo-Saxon godspell<\/em> denoting “glad tidings” or “good news.”<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• The Gospel Message of Isaiah<\/p>\n• The Gospel in the New Testament<\/p>\n• The Good News of Christ’s Coming<\/p>\n• The Gospel according to Jesus<\/p>\n• The Gospel after Jesus’ Resurrection<\/p>\nThe Gospel Message of Isaiah<\/p>\nOf all the passages cited, those of Isaiah provide the most important background for the gospel in the NT. According to Isaiah’s gospel, it is God alone who saves, and there is no explanation for his saving action except in his own nature. Israel’s deliverance is undeserved; she is no more worthy of the divine love now than when she went into captivity. In whatever measure she has paid the just due for her past sins (Is 40:2), she remains a sinful people (42:25; 46:12-13; 48:1). It is only by God’s grace that she is saved (55:1-7). By God’s design, Israel’s salvation depends not upon her own righteousness but upon his (41:10; 45:24; 46:13; 51:5-6). There being no righteousness to reward, the Lord acts to create<\/em> righteousness in Israel (45:8; 61:3, 10-11). Yet as these references indicate, salvation is not accomplished at the expense of justice. The penalty for Israel’s sins is to be paid in full. God’s mercy is not hereby called into question. On the contrary, it is precisely here that his mercy is most poignantly expressed, for the penalty is exacted not from his people but from the Servant appointed to stand in their place (53:4-12). Through the Servant’s work, many shall be justified (53:11). The coming of the Evangelist—the preacher of the good news—is predicted in Isaiah 61. He is called the anointed One (v 1) who proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor (v 2). God will be glorified through his preaching (v 3).<\/p>\nThe Gospel in the New Testament<\/p>\nIn only two places (Gal 3:8; Heb 4:2, 6) does the NT speak of the proclamation of the gospel prior to the Christian era. This is quite remarkable, given (1) the unmistakable presence of the gospel in the OT, (2) the extent of gospel terminology in the NT (in the Greek the noun appears 76 times; and the verb, 54), and (3) the fact that the NT presents Christ as the fulfillment of the OT and draws heavily on the OT to interpret his person and work. Not only is it remarkable; it is very significant. It indicates that the NT usage depends not only upon the character<\/em> of the message (truth about salvation) but also upon historical events.<\/em> Almost without exception, the NT restricts its application of gospel terminology to proclamations made during the time of fulfillment—the age in which the salvation promised in the OT is actually accomplished. The NT is preoccupied, not with promises of salvation, but with news of salvation. According to Mark 1:1-4, the gospel “begins” not in the OT but with John the Baptist, in whose work OT prophecy is fulfilled. In Romans 1:1-5 the gospel is represented as a blessing promised in the OT but not actually given until Jesus comes (see also Acts 13:32-33).<\/p>\nThe Good News of Christ’s Coming<\/p>\nThe promised birth of John the Baptist is good news (Lk 1:19), not only for his parents (vv 7, 24-25) but for all the people: John is sent to prepare them for Messiah’s coming (vv 14-17, 67-79). John’s own preaching is gospel (3:18) for the same reason. The Messiah would be coming to execute judgment, a process that involves both condemnation and salvation (vv 3-17). John’s message is gospel for sinners in that they are warned of impending doom and urged to repent before the ax falls (vv 7-9); it is gospel for the repentant in that they are promised forgiveness (v 3) and membership in Messiah’s community (v 17). The birth of the Savior himself is announced as good news bringing great joy (2:10-11).<\/p>\nThe Gospel according to Jesus<\/p>\n<h5>The Coming of the Kingdom of God<\/h5>\nJesus was authorized by God and anointed by the Spirit to proclaim the gospel (Mk 1:14; Lk 4:18). At the heart of his preaching stands the announcement “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15). (For further references to this gospel, see Mt 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; 26:13; Mk 8:35; 10:29; 13:10; 14:9; Lk 4:43; 8:1; 16:16.) The message is good news for several reasons: (1) The kingdom is coming. The God whom Jesus proclaims is sovereign over all he has made. Yet paradoxically his rule is incomplete: his will is not done on earth as it is in heaven; wrong, not right, prevails. But these conditions are not final, according to Jesus. With the coming of the kingdom, God’s rule will be completed; wrong will be judged, righteousness established, and his people blessed. (2) The kingdom is now<\/em> being inaugurated. “The time is fulfilled,” declares Jesus (Mk 1:15a). The time appointed for the fulfillment of the OT promises has arrived. (3) The consummation of the kingdom is therefore no longer a distant prospect; the full realization of God’s rule is “at hand” (Mk 1:15b). (4) God is establishing his rule for a saving purpose. This is implied in Jesus’ call to repentance (Mk 1:15c). It is especially clear in the passages to which we now turn.<\/p>\n<h5>The Salvation of the Poor<\/h5>\nInvited to read the Scripture in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus turns to Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19, rsv<\/span>). Having read the prophecy, Jesus announces its fulfillment in his own ministry (v 21). Included among those whom Jesus has come to free are the physically infirm, such as the blind (v 18) and the leprous (v 27) (cf. the references to healing miracles in vv 23, 33-41; the close connection between evangelizing and healing in Mt 4:23; 9:35; 11:5; Lk 7:21-22; 9:6; and the description in Mt 12:22-29; Lk 13:11-16, of the physically afflicted as captives of Satan now liberated by Jesus). Also included are the materially poor—people like the widow helped by Elijah during the famine (Lk 4:25-26). It is the literally poor and hungry whom Jesus pronounces “blessed” in Luke 6:20-21. Yet it is primarily “spiritual” poverty that is in view. Still applying Isaiah 61, Jesus speaks in Matthew 5:3 of the “poor in spirit.” These are people broken and grieved by misery and poverty, oppression and injustice, suffering and death, national apostasy and personal sin—people who in their extremity turn to God and longingly wait for him to bring forth justice, bestow his mercy, and establish his kingdom. It is to just such people that Jesus brings good news (Mt 5:3-10). God sent him to usher in the kingdom, to rescue the lost, to liberate the enslaved, to cure the afflicted, to bind up hearts that are broken, and to forgive the guilty (Mk 2:5, 10, 17; 10:45; Lk 4:18-21; 7:48-49; 15:1-32; 19:10).<\/p>\n<h5>The Gift of Grace<\/h5>\nThe coming of the kingdom is not the effect or the reward of human effort but God’s answer to the human predicament—the gift of his favor (Lk 12:32). Correspondingly, the explanation for the salvation of the poor lies nowhere but in God’s own character. As the prodigal himself recognized, he hardly deserved to be his father’s servant, much less his son. Nothing he did, not even his repentance, accounted for the father’s love (15:11-32). In the parable of Matthew 20:1-16, it is owing entirely to the goodness of the employer that the last workers to be hired receive a full day’s wages. The first debtor in the story of Matthew 18:23-35 earned nothing but the right to be sold into slavery; instead, the king canceled his enormous debt. The publican, who had nothing to offer God but a confession of sin and plea for mercy, went home justified (Lk 18:13-14). The same holds true for the more virtuous among the poor, such as the persons described in Matthew 5:7-10. Their virtue is real, not imagined. Yet in keeping God’s commands, they do not put him in their debt; they are simply doing their duty (Lk 17:7-10). Furthermore, even the most merciful need divine mercy (Mt 5:7). For even those most zealous to obey God’s law are unable to fulfill all its requirements (cf. 11:28-30). The first servant in Matthew 18:23-35 owes far more money than someone in such a situation could possibly pay—which serves to magnify the generosity of the king. Grace depends for its exercise upon the inability of its objects (Lk 14:12-14).<\/p>\n<h5>The Call to Salvation<\/h5>\nThe Israelites are without exception a sinful people, all of them needing the salvation that Jesus brings (Mt 1:21; Lk 1:77). In demonstration of God’s grace, Jesus proclaimed his gospel to the entire nation (Mt 4:23; 9:35; 15:24; Lk 4:43; 9:6; 20:1). From the most respectable to the least, all are summoned to submit to God’s rule, all are invited to come and partake freely of the banquet he has spread (Lk 14:16-24). But the gift of salvation must be received if it is to be experienced (Mk 10:15). And while it is indeed a gift that costs nothing, it is also a priceless treasure for which a wise person will freely sacrifice everything else (Mt 13:44-46), a sacrifice exceeded only by the cost of rejecting the gospel (Mt 11:20-24; Mk 8:34-39; Lk 14:24, 33). “Repent and believe in the gospel,” Jesus commands (Mk 1:15). The self-righteous and the self-sufficient must be jolted out of their false sense of security and humbly recognize their need for God (Lk 6:24-26). Only then will Jesus’ message to the poor be seen as gospel. An announcement of liberation (4:18-19) is good news only to people who are enslaved and know they are. The command applies also to the destitute and the afflicted. Those among them who bemoan their lot must repent of their sins. But something further is needed for the response to be complete: a person cannot believe Jesus’ gospel without a commitment to the Person<\/em> of Christ (Jn 3:16). Even those who are already “poor in spirit,” in the sense defined earlier, are not really “blessed” until they acknowledge the truth of Jesus’ claims (Mt 11:6) and commit themselves to a life of obedience on his terms (7:21-27). This prepares us for the next point.<\/p>\n<h5>Summary<\/h5>\nThroughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, the theme of his gospel remains the dawning of God’s kingdom (Mt 4:23; 24:14; Lk 4:43; 16:16), a message that is preached almost exclusively to Jews (Mt 10:5-6; 15:24). Yet Jesus also provides glimpses into what the gospel was to become once his work on earth was accomplished: (1) In Mark 8:35 and 10:29 Jesus speaks of individuals who needed to make great sacrifices “for my sake and for the gospel.” While distinguished from each other, the person of Jesus and the gospel are here associated in the closest possible way. The time was approaching when the Proclaimer of the gospel would become the Proclaimed. (2) In Mark 13:10 and Matthew 24:14 (and the textually doubtful Mk 16:15) Jesus foretells the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom to the gentile nations. (3) In Mark 14, having interpreted a woman’s action (v 3) as an anointing of his body beforehand for burial (v 8), Jesus declares, “And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (v 9, rsv<\/span>; cf. Mt 26:13). This statement strongly implies that both the person of Jesus and the event of his death will figure prominently in the message that is to be proclaimed; otherwise, it is strange that the gospel and this particular act should be so solemnly bound together. Thus, here in the text already is an indication of how crucial Jesus’ death is both for the provision of the salvation announced in his gospel (cf. Mk 14:22-24) and for the launching of the evangelistic mission to the Gentiles (Mt 20:28 is vital for explaining the shift from Mt 15:24 to 28:18-20).<\/p>\nThe Gospel after Jesus’ Resurrection<\/p>\nAfter the resurrection of Jesus, the gospel was proclaimed by his eyewitnesses. The contents of this gospel are recorded in the book of Acts and in Paul’s letters. Of the 43 instances of euangelizomai<\/span> (“evangelize”) beyond the Gospels, 15 occur in Acts and 21 in Paul’s writings; of the 64 instances of euangelion<\/span> (“gospel”), 2 occur in Acts and no fewer than 60 in Paul.<\/p>\n<h5>The Gospel of Christ<\/h5>\nHaving risen from the dead, Jesus Christ again evangelizes (Eph 2:16-17), doing so now through his appointed representatives (Rom 15:16-18; 1 Cor 1:17; 9:12-18; Gal 4:13-14; Eph 4:11; 2 Tm 1:9-11). More than that, Christ has become the central theme of the gospel; the Proclaimer is now the Proclaimed. This is repeatedly affirmed in Acts (5:42; 8:4-5, 35; 11:20; 17:18) and in Paul’s writings (Rom 1:1-4; 10:8-17; 15:19-20; 2 Cor 4:4-6; 11:4; Gal 1:16; Eph 3:8; Phil 1:15-18; 2 Tm 2:8). The NT always speaks of the gospel<\/em>—never the gospels—of Christ. A second gospel is as inconceivable and as unnecessary as a second Christ. This is the one gospel that God authorizes (e.g., Rom 1:1-17) and proclaims (e.g., 2 Thes 2:13-14). Galatians 2:7-9 speaks not of two gospels but of two mission fields. Paul (the apostle to the uncircumcised) and Peter (the apostle to the circumcised) are both entrusted with “the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:7; cf. 1 Cor 15:1-11), the message that God has ordained for the salvation of Jews and Gentiles alike (Rom 1:16). The “different gospel” that Paul denounces in Galatians 1:6-9 and 2 Corinthians 11:4 is not another gospel about Jesus but a message about “another Jesus”—not the real one, but one who exists only in the minds and the messages of those who proclaim him. To preach the true Christ is to preach the true gospel, however questionable one’s motives (Phil 1:15-18, 27), and to respond rightly to the gospel is to turn to Christ (Acts 11:20-21; Rom 10:8-17; Gal 2:14-16).<\/p>\n<h5>The Gospel as a Witness to Saving Events<\/h5>\nThe gospel bears witness to every aspect of Christ’s saving work, from his birth (Rom 1:3; 2 Tm 2:8) and public ministry (Mk 1:1; Acts 10:36-38) to his second coming (Col 1:5, 23; cf. 3:1-4; 1 Thes 1:5-10) and the last judgment (Rom 2:16). But it is the death and the resurrection of Christ that are most crucial for the accomplishment of salvation, and that are therefore most prominent in the gospel’s witness. These are the events with which Mark’s proclamation climaxes (chs 15–16), and for which everything else prepares (8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34; 12:6-8); special stress is placed upon Jesus’ death as the means of salvation from sin (10:45; 14:3-9, 22-24). In Paul’s gospel, too, the death and resurrection of Jesus are central (Rom 4:25; 1 Cor 15:1-4), with the cross occupying the very center (1 Cor 1:17–2:5). Had Christ not risen from the dead, Paul argues, the preaching of the cross would be a waste of time (1 Cor 15:14, 17; cf. Rom 6:3-11). However, now that Christ has risen, his death deserves special emphasis as the place where God provides atonement for sins (Rom 3:21-26; 5:6-11; 2 Cor 5:14-21; Eph 1:7). The gospel according to Acts proclaims Jesus’ death (Acts 8:25; 20:24, 28; cf. 10:36-43) and preeminently his resurrection, the event by which he conquered death and was exalted as Lord and coming Judge (10:36-43; 13:32-33; 17:18, 31). According to 1 Peter, the bearers of the gospel (1 Pt 1:12) concentrated, as had the OT prophets, on “the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory” (1:11; cf. 1:18-19; 2:21-24; 3:18-22).<\/p>\n<h5>The Gospel as a Power for Salvation<\/h5>\nThe gospel is much more than a report of past events and an exposition of doctrine. Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 1:17-18 and again in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is “the power of God”—not merely a witness to his power but an expression<\/em> of his power. Thus, it cannot be fettered (2 Tm 2:8-9). “Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power,” Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 1:5. His point is not that the gospel was accompanied by mighty works (though this happened; cf. Rom 15:18-19), but that the gospel itself is a mighty work. God makes it so through his Holy Spirit (Rom 15:18-19; 1 Cor 2:1-5; 1 Thes 1:6). Furthermore, God’s singular purpose in exercising his power is to change people’s lives, to liberate them from sin and death, and to reconcile them to himself—in short, to save them. The gospel has power to effect the salvation it announces and to impart the life it promises (e.g., Rom 1:16; 10:8-17; 1 Cor 1:17-18; 15:1-2; Eph 1:13; 2 Thes 2:13-14; 2 Tm 1:8-11; 1 Pt 1:23-25). If people are to experience salvation, they must hear and believe the gospel. It is precisely in and through this message that the saving power manifested in the person and work of Christ (especially in his death and resurrection) is conveyed to men and made effective in their lives. Similarly it is in association with the gospel, or as a direct result of the reception of the gospel, that the Holy Spirit is imparted to believers (Acts 10:36-44; 15:7-8; 2 Cor 11:4; Gal 3:1-2). In short, the gospel is the decisive place of encounter between the sinner and God the Savior.<\/p>\n<h5>The Gospel of Grace<\/h5>\nAccording to Peter’s testimony at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:7-11), an essential part of the gospel—for Gentiles and Jews alike—is salvation “through the grace of the Lord Jesus.” Toward the close of his missionary career, Paul states that his basic concern has been “to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24, rsv<\/span>). This statement can be understood only in relation to Paul’s concept of the righteousness of God, particularly as set forth in Romans. Paul is here not merely expounding a divine attribute. Rather, he is dramatizing a divine activity—the manifestation of God’s righteousness now, “in the present time” (Rom 3:26), in the new age inaugurated by the coming of Jesus. The manifestation is twofold. Viewing the two aspects together, and doing so in the light of the gospel declared by Isaiah and by Jesus (both of whom strongly influenced Paul), respectively, will help us to understand why Paul speaks of “the gospel of the grace of God.”<\/p>\nFirst, the gospel is a witness<\/em> to God’s grace. In offering his Son as a sacrifice for sins (Rom 3:25a), God demonstrates his righteousness (vv 25b-26). That is, in the death of Jesus sins formerly “passed over” (v 25c) become the object of God’s wrath (cf. 1:18) and judgment. Yet in the very place where God deals justly and decisively with sins, he shows his grace to sinners. For the judgment against sin is focused not upon the sinners themselves but upon the One appointed to act on their behalf and to stand in their place (Rom 4:25; 5:6, 11; cf. 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13). On this basis, sinners are freely pardoned (Rom 3:24). “The grace of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 15:11) toward the sinful is also in evidence, for he willingly bears their iniquities and suffers the consequences of their wrongdoing (Gal 2:20; cf. 2 Cor 8:9; Phil 2:6-8).<\/p>\nSecond, the gospel is a channel<\/em> of God’s grace. “The righteousness of God is revealed” in the gospel, says Paul (Rom 1:17). By this he means, not that the gospel talks about the righteousness of God (though it does), but that God’s righteousness is actively at work in the gospel. This activity in turn explains how the gospel becomes “the power of God for salvation” (v 16). And just how does God demonstrate his righteousness at this stage? In short, by bestowing it as a free gift on sinful human beings. It remains the righteousness of God, but by God’s grace, it is a righteousness in which humans may share. Furthermore, partaking of God’s righteousness depends on being personally united with Jesus Christ. In Paul’s view the saved person is one who has been acquitted, justified, “declared righteous” by God the judge. The basis for the verdict is not that I in myself am righteous (God justifies the ungodly, Rom 4:5). Nor does God treat me as though I were righteous. According to Paul I am declared righteous because I really am<\/em> righteous—not in myself but in Christ (1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9). This union is established through the revelation—and the free offer—of God’s righteousness in the gospel (Rom 1:16-17).<\/p>\n<h5>Responding to the Gospel<\/h5>\nThe gospel calls for a threefold response:<\/p>\n1. Believing.<\/em> The gospel, says Paul, is “the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith” (Rom 1:16). For Paul, faith is the abandonment of all reliance upon “works of law” for justification (3:28) and utter dependence upon the grace of God as demonstrated in the work of Christ, especially his death (v 25). Accordingly, the “different gospel” of Galatians 1:6 and 2 Corinthians 11:4 is spurious, for it preaches salvation by personal merit rather than (or together with) the work of Christ (cf. Gal 2:16). Ultimately faith rests upon God (Rom 4:24; 1 Thes 1:8-9) and upon Christ (Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20). Yet it is imperative that one believe the gospel also (Acts 8:12; 11:20-21; 15:7; Rom 1:16; 10:8-17; 1 Cor 1:17-24; Phil 1:27; Heb 4:2), for it is just by this means that God’s salvation is made known and mediated. Moreover, believing the gospel entails repentance (Acts 14:15; 20:21, 24; 1 Thes 1:5-10) and obedience (Rom 1:5; 15:16-18; Heb 4:6). Those who refuse to obey the gospel are imperiling their lives (2 Thes 1:5-10; 1 Pt 4:17).<\/p>\n2. Growing.<\/em> The Gospel is more than a message to be received—it is also a place in which to stand (1 Cor 15:1-2). It is sustainer of life as well as giver of life. One grows as a Christian not by turning from the gospel to other things (to turn away from the gospel is to abandon God and Christ, Gal 1:6), but by going ever more deeply into the gospel. In Romans 1:15 Paul expresses his eagerness to proclaim the gospel to the Christians in Rome. In the following chapters, anticipating his visit, he offers one of his most profound expositions of the gospel—one whose truth has never been fathomed and whose power has never been exhausted.<\/p>\n3. Hoping.<\/em> “The hope of the gospel” (Col 1:23) includes not only the return of Christ and the glory of heaven (Col 1:5; 3:1-4; 2 Thes 2:14-16) but the final judgment as well. For those who embrace the gospel, the last judgment holds no terrors, because the Judge is the very one who rescues them from the wrath to come (1 Thes 1:10). Those who are united to him need not dread condemnation now or at the end (Rom 8:1). Instead, the last judgment will mark their final vindication (1 Cor 4:5; Gal 5:5). Accordingly, this theme is not just a corollary but an integral part of the Good News (Rom 2:16). Those who have died since believing the gospel (1 Pt 4:6) may seem to have suffered a fate common to all people, or even the condemnation reserved for the lawless; in fact, their response to the gospel assures them of approval by the coming Lord (4:5-6; 5:4) and of a share in the imperishable inheritance of heaven (1:4).<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>GOSPEL<\/h3>\nWord derived from the Anglo-Saxon godspell<\/em> denoting “glad tidings” or “good news.”<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• The Gospel Message of Isaiah<\/p>\n• The Gospel in the New Testament<\/p>\n• The Good News of Christ’s Coming<\/p>\n• The Gospel according to Jesus<\/p>\n• The Gospel after Jesus’ Resurrection<\/p>\nThe Gospel Message of Isaiah<\/p>\nOf all the passages cited, those of Isaiah provide the most important background for the gospel in the NT. According to Isaiah’s gospel, it is God alone who saves, and there is no explanation for his saving action except in his own nature. Israel’s deliverance is undeserved; she is no more worthy of the divine love now than when she went into captivity. In whatever measure she has paid the just due for her past sins (Is 40:2), she remains a sinful people (42:25; 46:12-13; 48:1). It is only by God’s grace that she is saved (55:1-7). By God’s design, Israel’s salvation depends not upon her own righteousness but upon his (41:10; 45:24; 46:13; 51:5-6). There being no righteousness to reward, the Lord acts to create<\/em> righteousness in Israel (45:8; 61:3, 10-11). Yet as these references indicate, salvation is not accomplished at the expense of justice. The penalty for Israel’s sins is to be paid in full. God’s mercy is not hereby called into question. On the contrary, it is precisely here that his mercy is most poignantly expressed, for the penalty is exacted not from his people but from the Servant appointed to stand in their place (53:4-12). Through the Servant’s work, many shall be justified (53:11). The coming of the Evangelist—the preacher of the good news—is predicted in Isaiah 61. He is called the anointed One (v 1) who proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor (v 2). God will be glorified through his preaching (v 3).<\/p>\nThe Gospel in the New Testament<\/p>\nIn only two places (Gal 3:8; Heb 4:2, 6) does the NT speak of the proclamation of the gospel prior to the Christian era. This is quite remarkable, given (1) the unmistakable presence of the gospel in the OT, (2) the extent of gospel terminology in the NT (in the Greek the noun appears 76 times; and the verb, 54), and (3) the fact that the NT presents Christ as the fulfillment of the OT and draws heavily on the OT to interpret his person and work. Not only is it remarkable; it is very significant. It indicates that the NT usage depends not only upon the character<\/em> of the message (truth about salvation) but also upon historical events.<\/em> Almost without exception, the NT restricts its application of gospel terminology to proclamations made during the time of fulfillment—the age in which the salvation promised in the OT is actually accomplished. The NT is preoccupied, not with promises of salvation, but with news of salvation. According to Mark 1:1-4, the gospel “begins” not in the OT but with John the Baptist, in whose work OT prophecy is fulfilled. In Romans 1:1-5 the gospel is represented as a blessing promised in the OT but not actually given until Jesus comes (see also Acts 13:32-33).<\/p>\nThe Good News of Christ’s Coming<\/p>\nThe promised birth of John the Baptist is good news (Lk 1:19), not only for his parents (vv 7, 24-25) but for all the people: John is sent to prepare them for Messiah’s coming (vv 14-17, 67-79). John’s own preaching is gospel (3:18) for the same reason. The Messiah would be coming to execute judgment, a process that involves both condemnation and salvation (vv 3-17). John’s message is gospel for sinners in that they are warned of impending doom and urged to repent before the ax falls (vv 7-9); it is gospel for the repentant in that they are promised forgiveness (v 3) and membership in Messiah’s community (v 17). The birth of the Savior himself is announced as good news bringing great joy (2:10-11).<\/p>\nThe Gospel according to Jesus<\/p>\n<h5>The Coming of the Kingdom of God<\/h5>\nJesus was authorized by God and anointed by the Spirit to proclaim the gospel (Mk 1:14; Lk 4:18). At the heart of his preaching stands the announcement “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15). (For further references to this gospel, see Mt 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; 26:13; Mk 8:35; 10:29; 13:10; 14:9; Lk 4:43; 8:1; 16:16.) The message is good news for several reasons: (1) The kingdom is coming. The God whom Jesus proclaims is sovereign over all he has made. Yet paradoxically his rule is incomplete: his will is not done on earth as it is in heaven; wrong, not right, prevails. But these conditions are not final, according to Jesus. With the coming of the kingdom, God’s rule will be completed; wrong will be judged, righteousness established, and his people blessed. (2) The kingdom is now<\/em> being inaugurated. “The time is fulfilled,” declares Jesus (Mk 1:15a). The time appointed for the fulfillment of the OT promises has arrived. (3) The consummation of the kingdom is therefore no longer a distant prospect; the full realization of God’s rule is “at hand” (Mk 1:15b). (4) God is establishing his rule for a saving purpose. This is implied in Jesus’ call to repentance (Mk 1:15c). It is especially clear in the passages to which we now turn.<\/p>\n<h5>The Salvation of the Poor<\/h5>\nInvited to read the Scripture in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus turns to Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19, rsv<\/span>). Having read the prophecy, Jesus announces its fulfillment in his own ministry (v 21). Included among those whom Jesus has come to free are the physically infirm, such as the blind (v 18) and the leprous (v 27) (cf. the references to healing miracles in vv 23, 33-41; the close connection between evangelizing and healing in Mt 4:23; 9:35; 11:5; Lk 7:21-22; 9:6; and the description in Mt 12:22-29; Lk 13:11-16, of the physically afflicted as captives of Satan now liberated by Jesus). Also included are the materially poor—people like the widow helped by Elijah during the famine (Lk 4:25-26). It is the literally poor and hungry whom Jesus pronounces “blessed” in Luke 6:20-21. Yet it is primarily “spiritual” poverty that is in view. Still applying Isaiah 61, Jesus speaks in Matthew 5:3 of the “poor in spirit.” These are people broken and grieved by misery and poverty, oppression and injustice, suffering and death, national apostasy and personal sin—people who in their extremity turn to God and longingly wait for him to bring forth justice, bestow his mercy, and establish his kingdom. It is to just such people that Jesus brings good news (Mt 5:3-10). God sent him to usher in the kingdom, to rescue the lost, to liberate the enslaved, to cure the afflicted, to bind up hearts that are broken, and to forgive the guilty (Mk 2:5, 10, 17; 10:45; Lk 4:18-21; 7:48-49; 15:1-32; 19:10).<\/p>\n<h5>The Gift of Grace<\/h5>\nThe coming of the kingdom is not the effect or the reward of human effort but God’s answer to the human predicament—the gift of his favor (Lk 12:32). Correspondingly, the explanation for the salvation of the poor lies nowhere but in God’s own character. As the prodigal himself recognized, he hardly deserved to be his father’s servant, much less his son. Nothing he did, not even his repentance, accounted for the father’s love (15:11-32). In the parable of Matthew 20:1-16, it is owing entirely to the goodness of the employer that the last workers to be hired receive a full day’s wages. The first debtor in the story of Matthew 18:23-35 earned nothing but the right to be sold into slavery; instead, the king canceled his enormous debt. The publican, who had nothing to offer God but a confession of sin and plea for mercy, went home justified (Lk 18:13-14). The same holds true for the more virtuous among the poor, such as the persons described in Matthew 5:7-10. Their virtue is real, not imagined. Yet in keeping God’s commands, they do not put him in their debt; they are simply doing their duty (Lk 17:7-10). Furthermore, even the most merciful need divine mercy (Mt 5:7). For even those most zealous to obey God’s law are unable to fulfill all its requirements (cf. 11:28-30). The first servant in Matthew 18:23-35 owes far more money than someone in such a situation could possibly pay—which serves to magnify the generosity of the king. Grace depends for its exercise upon the inability of its objects (Lk 14:12-14).<\/p>\n<h5>The Call to Salvation<\/h5>\nThe Israelites are without exception a sinful people, all of them needing the salvation that Jesus brings (Mt 1:21; Lk 1:77). In demonstration of God’s grace, Jesus proclaimed his gospel to the entire nation (Mt 4:23; 9:35; 15:24; Lk 4:43; 9:6; 20:1). From the most respectable to the least, all are summoned to submit to God’s rule, all are invited to come and partake freely of the banquet he has spread (Lk 14:16-24). But the gift of salvation must be received if it is to be experienced (Mk 10:15). And while it is indeed a gift that costs nothing, it is also a priceless treasure for which a wise person will freely sacrifice everything else (Mt 13:44-46), a sacrifice exceeded only by the cost of rejecting the gospel (Mt 11:20-24; Mk 8:34-39; Lk 14:24, 33). “Repent and believe in the gospel,” Jesus commands (Mk 1:15). The self-righteous and the self-sufficient must be jolted out of their false sense of security and humbly recognize their need for God (Lk 6:24-26). Only then will Jesus’ message to the poor be seen as gospel. An announcement of liberation (4:18-19) is good news only to people who are enslaved and know they are. The command applies also to the destitute and the afflicted. Those among them who bemoan their lot must repent of their sins. But something further is needed for the response to be complete: a person cannot believe Jesus’ gospel without a commitment to the Person<\/em> of Christ (Jn 3:16). Even those who are already “poor in spirit,” in the sense defined earlier, are not really “blessed” until they acknowledge the truth of Jesus’ claims (Mt 11:6) and commit themselves to a life of obedience on his terms (7:21-27). This prepares us for the next point.<\/p>\n<h5>Summary<\/h5>\nThroughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, the theme of his gospel remains the dawning of God’s kingdom (Mt 4:23; 24:14; Lk 4:43; 16:16), a message that is preached almost exclusively to Jews (Mt 10:5-6; 15:24). Yet Jesus also provides glimpses into what the gospel was to become once his work on earth was accomplished: (1) In Mark 8:35 and 10:29 Jesus speaks of individuals who needed to make great sacrifices “for my sake and for the gospel.” While distinguished from each other, the person of Jesus and the gospel are here associated in the closest possible way. The time was approaching when the Proclaimer of the gospel would become the Proclaimed. (2) In Mark 13:10 and Matthew 24:14 (and the textually doubtful Mk 16:15) Jesus foretells the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom to the gentile nations. (3) In Mark 14, having interpreted a woman’s action (v 3) as an anointing of his body beforehand for burial (v 8), Jesus declares, “And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (v 9, rsv<\/span>; cf. Mt 26:13). This statement strongly implies that both the person of Jesus and the event of his death will figure prominently in the message that is to be proclaimed; otherwise, it is strange that the gospel and this particular act should be so solemnly bound together. Thus, here in the text already is an indication of how crucial Jesus’ death is both for the provision of the salvation announced in his gospel (cf. Mk 14:22-24) and for the launching of the evangelistic mission to the Gentiles (Mt 20:28 is vital for explaining the shift from Mt 15:24 to 28:18-20).<\/p>\nThe Gospel after Jesus’ Resurrection<\/p>\nAfter the resurrection of Jesus, the gospel was proclaimed by his eyewitnesses. The contents of this gospel are recorded in the book of Acts and in Paul’s letters. Of the 43 instances of euangelizomai<\/span> (“evangelize”) beyond the Gospels, 15 occur in Acts and 21 in Paul’s writings; of the 64 instances of euangelion<\/span> (“gospel”), 2 occur in Acts and no fewer than 60 in Paul.<\/p>\n<h5>The Gospel of Christ<\/h5>\nHaving risen from the dead, Jesus Christ again evangelizes (Eph 2:16-17), doing so now through his appointed representatives (Rom 15:16-18; 1 Cor 1:17; 9:12-18; Gal 4:13-14; Eph 4:11; 2 Tm 1:9-11). More than that, Christ has become the central theme of the gospel; the Proclaimer is now the Proclaimed. This is repeatedly affirmed in Acts (5:42; 8:4-5, 35; 11:20; 17:18) and in Paul’s writings (Rom 1:1-4; 10:8-17; 15:19-20; 2 Cor 4:4-6; 11:4; Gal 1:16; Eph 3:8; Phil 1:15-18; 2 Tm 2:8). The NT always speaks of the gospel<\/em>—never the gospels—of Christ. A second gospel is as inconceivable and as unnecessary as a second Christ. This is the one gospel that God authorizes (e.g., Rom 1:1-17) and proclaims (e.g., 2 Thes 2:13-14). Galatians 2:7-9 speaks not of two gospels but of two mission fields. Paul (the apostle to the uncircumcised) and Peter (the apostle to the circumcised) are both entrusted with “the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:7; cf. 1 Cor 15:1-11), the message that God has ordained for the salvation of Jews and Gentiles alike (Rom 1:16). The “different gospel” that Paul denounces in Galatians 1:6-9 and 2 Corinthians 11:4 is not another gospel about Jesus but a message about “another Jesus”—not the real one, but one who exists only in the minds and the messages of those who proclaim him. To preach the true Christ is to preach the true gospel, however questionable one’s motives (Phil 1:15-18, 27), and to respond rightly to the gospel is to turn to Christ (Acts 11:20-21; Rom 10:8-17; Gal 2:14-16).<\/p>\n<h5>The Gospel as a Witness to Saving Events<\/h5>\nThe gospel bears witness to every aspect of Christ’s saving work, from his birth (Rom 1:3; 2 Tm 2:8) and public ministry (Mk 1:1; Acts 10:36-38) to his second coming (Col 1:5, 23; cf. 3:1-4; 1 Thes 1:5-10) and the last judgment (Rom 2:16). But it is the death and the resurrection of Christ that are most crucial for the accomplishment of salvation, and that are therefore most prominent in the gospel’s witness. These are the events with which Mark’s proclamation climaxes (chs 15–16), and for which everything else prepares (8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34; 12:6-8); special stress is placed upon Jesus’ death as the means of salvation from sin (10:45; 14:3-9, 22-24). In Paul’s gospel, too, the death and resurrection of Jesus are central (Rom 4:25; 1 Cor 15:1-4), with the cross occupying the very center (1 Cor 1:17–2:5). Had Christ not risen from the dead, Paul argues, the preaching of the cross would be a waste of time (1 Cor 15:14, 17; cf. Rom 6:3-11). However, now that Christ has risen, his death deserves special emphasis as the place where God provides atonement for sins (Rom 3:21-26; 5:6-11; 2 Cor 5:14-21; Eph 1:7). The gospel according to Acts proclaims Jesus’ death (Acts 8:25; 20:24, 28; cf. 10:36-43) and preeminently his resurrection, the event by which he conquered death and was exalted as Lord and coming Judge (10:36-43; 13:32-33; 17:18, 31). According to 1 Peter, the bearers of the gospel (1 Pt 1:12) concentrated, as had the OT prophets, on “the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory” (1:11; cf. 1:18-19; 2:21-24; 3:18-22).<\/p>\n<h5>The Gospel as a Power for Salvation<\/h5>\nThe gospel is much more than a report of past events and an exposition of doctrine. Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 1:17-18 and again in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is “the power of God”—not merely a witness to his power but an expression<\/em> of his power. Thus, it cannot be fettered (2 Tm 2:8-9). “Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power,” Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 1:5. His point is not that the gospel was accompanied by mighty works (though this happened; cf. Rom 15:18-19), but that the gospel itself is a mighty work. God makes it so through his Holy Spirit (Rom 15:18-19; 1 Cor 2:1-5; 1 Thes 1:6). Furthermore, God’s singular purpose in exercising his power is to change people’s lives, to liberate them from sin and death, and to reconcile them to himself—in short, to save them. The gospel has power to effect the salvation it announces and to impart the life it promises (e.g., Rom 1:16; 10:8-17; 1 Cor 1:17-18; 15:1-2; Eph 1:13; 2 Thes 2:13-14; 2 Tm 1:8-11; 1 Pt 1:23-25). If people are to experience salvation, they must hear and believe the gospel. It is precisely in and through this message that the saving power manifested in the person and work of Christ (especially in his death and resurrection) is conveyed to men and made effective in their lives. Similarly it is in association with the gospel, or as a direct result of the reception of the gospel, that the Holy Spirit is imparted to believers (Acts 10:36-44; 15:7-8; 2 Cor 11:4; Gal 3:1-2). In short, the gospel is the decisive place of encounter between the sinner and God the Savior.<\/p>\n<h5>The Gospel of Grace<\/h5>\nAccording to Peter’s testimony at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:7-11), an essential part of the gospel—for Gentiles and Jews alike—is salvation “through the grace of the Lord Jesus.” Toward the close of his missionary career, Paul states that his basic concern has been “to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24, rsv<\/span>). This statement can be understood only in relation to Paul’s concept of the righteousness of God, particularly as set forth in Romans. Paul is here not merely expounding a divine attribute. Rather, he is dramatizing a divine activity—the manifestation of God’s righteousness now, “in the present time” (Rom 3:26), in the new age inaugurated by the coming of Jesus. The manifestation is twofold. Viewing the two aspects together, and doing so in the light of the gospel declared by Isaiah and by Jesus (both of whom strongly influenced Paul), respectively, will help us to understand why Paul speaks of “the gospel of the grace of God.”<\/p>\nFirst, the gospel is a witness<\/em> to God’s grace. In offering his Son as a sacrifice for sins (Rom 3:25a), God demonstrates his righteousness (vv 25b-26). That is, in the death of Jesus sins formerly “passed over” (v 25c) become the object of God’s wrath (cf. 1:18) and judgment. Yet in the very place where God deals justly and decisively with sins, he shows his grace to sinners. For the judgment against sin is focused not upon the sinners themselves but upon the One appointed to act on their behalf and to stand in their place (Rom 4:25; 5:6, 11; cf. 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13). On this basis, sinners are freely pardoned (Rom 3:24). “The grace of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 15:11) toward the sinful is also in evidence, for he willingly bears their iniquities and suffers the consequences of their wrongdoing (Gal 2:20; cf. 2 Cor 8:9; Phil 2:6-8).<\/p>\nSecond, the gospel is a channel<\/em> of God’s grace. “The righteousness of God is revealed” in the gospel, says Paul (Rom 1:17). By this he means, not that the gospel talks about the righteousness of God (though it does), but that God’s righteousness is actively at work in the gospel. This activity in turn explains how the gospel becomes “the power of God for salvation” (v 16). And just how does God demonstrate his righteousness at this stage? In short, by bestowing it as a free gift on sinful human beings. It remains the righteousness of God, but by God’s grace, it is a righteousness in which humans may share. Furthermore, partaking of God’s righteousness depends on being personally united with Jesus Christ. In Paul’s view the saved person is one who has been acquitted, justified, “declared righteous” by God the judge. The basis for the verdict is not that I in myself am righteous (God justifies the ungodly, Rom 4:5). Nor does God treat me as though I were righteous. According to Paul I am declared righteous because I really am<\/em> righteous—not in myself but in Christ (1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9). This union is established through the revelation—and the free offer—of God’s righteousness in the gospel (Rom 1:16-17).<\/p>\n<h5>Responding to the Gospel<\/h5>\nThe gospel calls for a threefold response:<\/p>\n1. Believing.<\/em> The gospel, says Paul, is “the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith” (Rom 1:16). For Paul, faith is the abandonment of all reliance upon “works of law” for justification (3:28) and utter dependence upon the grace of God as demonstrated in the work of Christ, especially his death (v 25). Accordingly, the “different gospel” of Galatians 1:6 and 2 Corinthians 11:4 is spurious, for it preaches salvation by personal merit rather than (or together with) the work of Christ (cf. Gal 2:16). Ultimately faith rests upon God (Rom 4:24; 1 Thes 1:8-9) and upon Christ (Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20). Yet it is imperative that one believe the gospel also (Acts 8:12; 11:20-21; 15:7; Rom 1:16; 10:8-17; 1 Cor 1:17-24; Phil 1:27; Heb 4:2), for it is just by this means that God’s salvation is made known and mediated. Moreover, believing the gospel entails repentance (Acts 14:15; 20:21, 24; 1 Thes 1:5-10) and obedience (Rom 1:5; 15:16-18; Heb 4:6). Those who refuse to obey the gospel are imperiling their lives (2 Thes 1:5-10; 1 Pt 4:17).<\/p>\n2. Growing.<\/em> The Gospel is more than a message to be received—it is also a place in which to stand (1 Cor 15:1-2). It is sustainer of life as well as giver of life. One grows as a Christian not by turning from the gospel to other things (to turn away from the gospel is to abandon God and Christ, Gal 1:6), but by going ever more deeply into the gospel. In Romans 1:15 Paul expresses his eagerness to proclaim the gospel to the Christians in Rome. In the following chapters, anticipating his visit, he offers one of his most profound expositions of the gospel—one whose truth has never been fathomed and whose power has never been exhausted.<\/p>\n3. Hoping.<\/em> “The hope of the gospel” (Col 1:23) includes not only the return of Christ and the glory of heaven (Col 1:5; 3:1-4; 2 Thes 2:14-16) but the final judgment as well. For those who embrace the gospel, the last judgment holds no terrors, because the Judge is the very one who rescues them from the wrath to come (1 Thes 1:10). Those who are united to him need not dread condemnation now or at the end (Rom 8:1). Instead, the last judgment will mark their final vindication (1 Cor 4:5; Gal 5:5). Accordingly, this theme is not just a corollary but an integral part of the Good News (Rom 2:16). Those who have died since believing the gospel (1 Pt 4:6) may seem to have suffered a fate common to all people, or even the condemnation reserved for the lawless; in fact, their response to the gospel assures them of approval by the coming Lord (4:5-6; 5:4) and of a share in the imperishable inheritance of heaven (1:4).<\/p>","summary_ro":"GOSPEL Word derived from the Anglo-Saxon godspell denoting “glad tidings” or “good news.” Preview • The Gospel Message of Isaiah • The Gospel in the New Testament • The Good News of Christ’s Coming • The Gospel according to Jesus • The Gospel after Jesus’ Resurrection The Gospel Message of Isaiah Of all the passages cited, those of Isaiah provide the most important background for the gospel in the NT. According to Isaiah’s gospel, it is God alone who saves, and there is no explanation for his...","summary_en":"GOSPEL Word derived from the Anglo-Saxon godspell denoting “glad tidings” or “good news.” Preview • The Gospel Message of Isaiah • The Gospel in the New Testament • The Good News of Christ’s Coming • The Gospel according to Jesus • The Gospel after Jesus’ Resurrection The Gospel Message of Isaiah Of all the passages cited, those of Isaiah provide the most important background for the gospel in the NT. According to Isaiah’s gospel, it is God alone who saves, and there is no explanation for his...","source":"Articles\/G.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":56058,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:7","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:7","content_ro":"17:7-10<\/strong> In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.<\/p>","content_en":"17:7-10<\/strong> In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:7-10 In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.","summary_en":"17:7-10 In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83684,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:7","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:7","content_ro":"17:7-10<\/strong> In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.<\/p>","content_en":"17:7-10<\/strong> In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:7-10 In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.","summary_en":"17:7-10 In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111310,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:7","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:7","content_ro":"17:7-10<\/strong> In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.<\/p>","content_en":"17:7-10<\/strong> In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:7-10 In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.","summary_en":"17:7-10 In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138936,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:7","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:7","content_ro":"17:7-10<\/strong> In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.<\/p>","content_en":"17:7-10<\/strong> In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:7-10 In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.","summary_en":"17:7-10 In Greco-Roman culture, servants existed to serve their masters faithfully. Faith (17:5-6) entails obedient submission to Christ and his commands.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":65744,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"The Messianic Banquet","title_en":"The Messianic Banquet","content_ro":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","summary_en":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":93370,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"The Messianic Banquet","title_en":"The Messianic Banquet","content_ro":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","summary_en":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":120996,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"The Messianic Banquet","title_en":"The Messianic Banquet","content_ro":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","summary_en":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":148622,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"The Messianic Banquet","title_en":"The Messianic Banquet","content_ro":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","summary_en":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"8":[{"id":65753,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"The Messianic Banquet","title_en":"The Messianic Banquet","content_ro":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","summary_en":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":93379,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"The Messianic Banquet","title_en":"The Messianic Banquet","content_ro":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","summary_en":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":121005,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"The Messianic Banquet","title_en":"The Messianic Banquet","content_ro":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","summary_en":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":148631,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"The Messianic Banquet","title_en":"The Messianic Banquet","content_ro":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Messianic Banquet<\/h3>\nThrough his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom.<\/p>\nJesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29-32; 7:36-50; 11:37-41; 14:1-6). Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teaching and parables (5:33-35; 12:35-38; 14:7-14, 15-24; 17:7-10; 22:28-30). And he fed vast multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (9:10-17).<\/p>\nThe Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isa 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The Lord<\/span> of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (see also Isa 65:13-14).<\/p>\nJesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom” and “sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30; see also Rev 19:7-9).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 25:6; 65:13-14; Luke 5:29-35; 6:21; 7:36-50; 9:10-17; 11:37-41; 12:35-40; 13:24-30; 14:1-24; 17:8; 22:30<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","summary_en":"The Messianic Banquet Through his teaching and miracles, Jesus announced that the messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described his ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom (Luke 5:33-35) and the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come (Luke 14:15-24; see also Matt 8:11-12). Jesus often ate with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees (5:29...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"9":[{"id":33038,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Reward","title_en":"Reward","content_ro":"<h3>REWARD<\/h3>\nRecompense for good or evil; most often it suggests a benefit for favorable compensation. Both good and evil are rewarded or punished, and man’s responsibility and accountability are involved in an ethical sense. Related terms such as “wages,” “hire,” “recompense,” or “requital” are a part of the broader concept. In this fullest sense, the operation of reward ranges from the consequences resulting from dealings between people to God’s compensation for obedience or disobedience, from the consequences of actions felt in this life to divine recompense in the life to come.<\/p>\nTo Greek and Hebrew minds, the concept of reward suggested the ideal of the wholeness of an action, the completion of a deed. Just as work was completed for a man in the payment of wages, so it was assumed that an action naturally carried certain results, either reward or punishment. The overtones of commercial transactions were not absent, as when the reward is referred to as “wages.” Thus Paul says, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). The idea involves an equal return commensurate with the action performed.<\/p>\nThe biblical conception of reward was both ethical and religious. The covenant of God made with Israel was evidence of God’s loving favor; it promised good things to Israel on the condition of their obedience to God’s commands. Disobedience was a violation of the covenant and would bring disaster and death. Deuteronomy 28 spells out the blessings that obedience would bring and also the national disasters that would come upon Israel if they did not observe what was right and good in the sight of the Lord (see also Lv 26). In the period of the wilderness wanderings, failure to obey on the part of the people and their leaders brought suffering and death. The history of the judges and the kings was written in terms of reward for faithfulness and punishment for sin and idolatry. Earthly victory and the national welfare depended on obedience and faithfulness to the Lord (Jos 1:7-9; cf. Jgs 2).<\/p>\nThe pattern of reward and punishment was not always carried out. The Jews believed that God would be a merciful, forgiving God. Forgiveness involved the removal of the punishment for sin. “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities” (Ps 103:10, rsv<\/span>).<\/p>\nThe writer of Ecclesiastes found that life did not work out so neatly and that the doctrine of retribution did not always apply in the span of an individual life. There is a somewhat cynical note when the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. Job’s friends take the position that his sickness is the result of some hidden sin. Job maintains his integrity, and for him the answer lies outside the pattern of strict reward for righteousness and punishment for evil. In the outcome Job is rewarded for his good life.<\/p>\nIn Jesus’ day Judaism had changed significantly. The legal system of the judges had been replaced with Roman law. But Judaism had no hesitation about recognizing the merit of good works and exhorting people to accumulate a store of merit on a basis of which God would bless them (Tb 4:7-10; Ecclus 51:30). The Pharisees believed that accurate and conscientious observance of the law would oblige God to recompense them for their performances. The individual who did much was to expect reward from God, while every transgression entailed its corresponding recompense for evil. What was not repaid in this life would be a part of a future reward.<\/p>\nReward was a significant part of Jesus’ teaching, especially in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5–7). The Beatitudes proclaimed that the blessing of God would come upon all people who exhibited certain moral characteristics (Mt 5:1-12). The individual who acts to receive the praise of others shall receive that and nothing more, but the one whose motives call him to please God shall be rewarded by God (6:1, 4, 6, 18). However, Jesus sharply curbed this idea when he taught the parable of the laborers (20:1-16). Here each was paid the same amount no matter how long he had worked. Jesus calls us to work for motives higher than reward. In the discourse on the good shepherd, the hireling who only works for wages is contrasted with the shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for the sheep (Jn 10:11-14). The servant who had only done his duty deserves no reward (Lk 17:9-10).<\/p>\nBeginning with Paul, the idea of reward, especially as it relates to salvation, is seen in a drastically different light. No longer is salvation considered to be the result of an individual having done more good than evil in life. Salvation is an act of divine favor that no one can earn (Rom 4:4-5). Salvation is not earned but given by a loving, beneficent God. The idea of reward does not disappear. Reward results from good done after salvation is attained. First Corinthians 3:8-14 teaches that the quality of a person’s works will be examined and rewarded but that salvation does not hinge upon good works. However, works do have an important place in one’s eternal destiny (Col 3:24; Rv 14:13).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Crown; Judgment.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>REWARD<\/h3>\nRecompense for good or evil; most often it suggests a benefit for favorable compensation. Both good and evil are rewarded or punished, and man’s responsibility and accountability are involved in an ethical sense. Related terms such as “wages,” “hire,” “recompense,” or “requital” are a part of the broader concept. In this fullest sense, the operation of reward ranges from the consequences resulting from dealings between people to God’s compensation for obedience or disobedience, from the consequences of actions felt in this life to divine recompense in the life to come.<\/p>\nTo Greek and Hebrew minds, the concept of reward suggested the ideal of the wholeness of an action, the completion of a deed. Just as work was completed for a man in the payment of wages, so it was assumed that an action naturally carried certain results, either reward or punishment. The overtones of commercial transactions were not absent, as when the reward is referred to as “wages.” Thus Paul says, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). The idea involves an equal return commensurate with the action performed.<\/p>\nThe biblical conception of reward was both ethical and religious. The covenant of God made with Israel was evidence of God’s loving favor; it promised good things to Israel on the condition of their obedience to God’s commands. Disobedience was a violation of the covenant and would bring disaster and death. Deuteronomy 28 spells out the blessings that obedience would bring and also the national disasters that would come upon Israel if they did not observe what was right and good in the sight of the Lord (see also Lv 26). In the period of the wilderness wanderings, failure to obey on the part of the people and their leaders brought suffering and death. The history of the judges and the kings was written in terms of reward for faithfulness and punishment for sin and idolatry. Earthly victory and the national welfare depended on obedience and faithfulness to the Lord (Jos 1:7-9; cf. Jgs 2).<\/p>\nThe pattern of reward and punishment was not always carried out. The Jews believed that God would be a merciful, forgiving God. Forgiveness involved the removal of the punishment for sin. “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities” (Ps 103:10, rsv<\/span>).<\/p>\nThe writer of Ecclesiastes found that life did not work out so neatly and that the doctrine of retribution did not always apply in the span of an individual life. There is a somewhat cynical note when the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. Job’s friends take the position that his sickness is the result of some hidden sin. Job maintains his integrity, and for him the answer lies outside the pattern of strict reward for righteousness and punishment for evil. In the outcome Job is rewarded for his good life.<\/p>\nIn Jesus’ day Judaism had changed significantly. The legal system of the judges had been replaced with Roman law. But Judaism had no hesitation about recognizing the merit of good works and exhorting people to accumulate a store of merit on a basis of which God would bless them (Tb 4:7-10; Ecclus 51:30). The Pharisees believed that accurate and conscientious observance of the law would oblige God to recompense them for their performances. The individual who did much was to expect reward from God, while every transgression entailed its corresponding recompense for evil. What was not repaid in this life would be a part of a future reward.<\/p>\nReward was a significant part of Jesus’ teaching, especially in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5–7). The Beatitudes proclaimed that the blessing of God would come upon all people who exhibited certain moral characteristics (Mt 5:1-12). The individual who acts to receive the praise of others shall receive that and nothing more, but the one whose motives call him to please God shall be rewarded by God (6:1, 4, 6, 18). However, Jesus sharply curbed this idea when he taught the parable of the laborers (20:1-16). Here each was paid the same amount no matter how long he had worked. Jesus calls us to work for motives higher than reward. In the discourse on the good shepherd, the hireling who only works for wages is contrasted with the shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for the sheep (Jn 10:11-14). The servant who had only done his duty deserves no reward (Lk 17:9-10).<\/p>\nBeginning with Paul, the idea of reward, especially as it relates to salvation, is seen in a drastically different light. No longer is salvation considered to be the result of an individual having done more good than evil in life. Salvation is an act of divine favor that no one can earn (Rom 4:4-5). Salvation is not earned but given by a loving, beneficent God. The idea of reward does not disappear. Reward results from good done after salvation is attained. First Corinthians 3:8-14 teaches that the quality of a person’s works will be examined and rewarded but that salvation does not hinge upon good works. However, works do have an important place in one’s eternal destiny (Col 3:24; Rv 14:13).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Crown; Judgment.<\/p>","summary_ro":"REWARD Recompense for good or evil; most often it suggests a benefit for favorable compensation. Both good and evil are rewarded or punished, and man’s responsibility and accountability are involved in an ethical sense. Related terms such as “wages,” “hire,” “recompense,” or “requital” are a part of the broader concept. In this fullest sense, the operation of reward ranges from the consequences resulting from dealings between people to God’s compensation for obedience or disobedience, from th...","summary_en":"REWARD Recompense for good or evil; most often it suggests a benefit for favorable compensation. Both good and evil are rewarded or punished, and man’s responsibility and accountability are involved in an ethical sense. Related terms such as “wages,” “hire,” “recompense,” or “requital” are a part of the broader concept. In this fullest sense, the operation of reward ranges from the consequences resulting from dealings between people to God’s compensation for obedience or disobedience, from th...","source":"Articles\/R.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"10":[{"id":17652,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"State*, Intermediate","title_en":"State*, Intermediate","content_ro":"<h3>INTERMEDIATE STATE*<\/h3>\nState of the human person after death and before the final resurrection. Such teaching is more developed in the NT than in the OT, though it is a mistake to think that reference to it is totally absent in the OT (Jb 19:25). According to Christ, the intermediate state is deducible from such texts as Exodus 3:6 (Mt 22:32). Even in the NT, an account of the intermediate state is not given explicitly but may be inferred from teaching about the physical death and resurrection of all people, but especially of believers. This is taught by Christ himself (Mt 22:30-32) and by the apostles, particularly Paul (1 Cor 15). In addition, the biblical teaching that the human being is a unity of soul and body and not simply a soul that happens to be embodied (Gn 2:7) has implications for a person’s state after death. From such data two conclusions regarding the intermediate state may be drawn. The first is that physical death is not the total cessation of the life of the individual but that the person lives on, not merely in the memories of those who survive, but as a distinct personality, and in the case of believers with awareness of the loving presence of God (Phil 1:23). The second conclusion is that such an existence is not a fully human existence but is incomplete or anomalous, since being embodied is essential for an individual to be in God’s image. The individual, surviving death, awaits the resurrection of the body when, in the case of a Christian, he or she will experience complete redemption, a state of complete emancipation from sin in the presence of Christ (1 Cor 15:50-58). The biblical data regarding the character of the intermediate state of those who are outside Christ is less clear, including as it does the difficult reference to Christ’s preaching to the “imprisoned” spirits (1 Pt 3:19-20).<\/p>\nScripture is restrained in its portrayal of what life in the intermediate state is like. Paul says of himself that after his death he will be “with Christ, which is far better” (Phil 1:23) but he gives no details. Nor is it wise to look for such details in such biblical incidents as that of Saul and the medium at Endor (1 Sm 28:7), which is subject to a number of different interpretations. Even Christ’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31), because of its obviously symbolic character and its avowed purpose of teaching about the importance of the present life for a person’s eternal destiny, must be treated with caution. Perhaps the most that can be said is that the dead in Christ are “immediately with God” and that they rest in his loving presence until the resurrection, while the unsaved are in a comfortless condition awaiting their resurrection to judgment (Jn 5:29).<\/p>\nDiscussion of the intermediate state in the history of Christian thought has focused upon three separate aspects that may help to clarify the biblical data further. First, under the influence of Greek philosophical ideas, there has been a recurring Platonic influence in Christian theology in which the Pauline contrast between the flesh and the spirit has been misinterpreted and the soul has been emphasized at the expense of the body, with the result that the prospective resurrection of the dead and its eschatological setting has either been played down or eliminated altogether because of its allegedly physical (and therefore unspiritual) aspect. The doctrine of the immortality of the disembodied soul is sometimes substituted for the idea of an intermediate state prior to resurrection, but without any warrant from Scripture. In modern theology a tendency to discount the historical has tended to displace the earlier discounting of the physical, but with much the same effect, at best a spiritualizing of postmortem existence, at worst a denial of any such existence. But it is clear from Scripture that the intermediate state is a state between two phases of embodiment, the present state of physical embodiment and that of “spiritual embodiment” (1 Cor 15:44), which is to occur at Christ’s second coming (v 23).<\/p>\nSecond, during the Reformation, a controversy arose between John Calvin and some of the Anabaptists over “soul sleep.” Calvin vehemently maintained that the intermediate state is one of conscious awareness of God’s presence—something his opponents denied. For Calvin such a denial was equivalent to holding that the soul is annihilated at death and to denying that Christ exercises rule over the dead before they are resurrected. Calvin’s view is supported by Paul’s affirmation that nothing separates the believer from the love of God—not even death (Rom 8:35-39). The biblical teaching that upon death the believer “sleeps” (1 Thes 4:14) is interpreted to mean that the dead no longer communicate with the living on earth and no longer engage in labor, but are in repose. To “fall asleep in Jesus” is thus to enjoy the presence of Jesus in a disembodied state, the nearest analogy of which in present experience may be found in dreaming when the awareness of the dreamer does not depend upon the functioning of any of the bodily senses.<\/p>\nA third focus for Christian thought has been on whether or not a person’s eternal state is fixed at the time of death, or whether repentance and spiritual growth and purgation are possible or inevitable after death. It is the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that death is followed by purgatory for all who are imperfect. In purgatory the soul is freed from the remnants of sin, and the period of purgation may be lessened by the gifts, prayers, and masses of those who survive the deceased. Such a view is rejected by most Protestants as being inconsistent with the biblical teaching on the complete and finished work of Christ (Heb 9:28), on the impossibility of one human being meriting or otherwise gaining grace for another (Lk 17:10), and on the biblical teaching that the eternal state of the soul is determined by its condition at death (Heb 9:27).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Dead, Place of the; Hades; Heaven; Hell; Paradise; Sheol.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>INTERMEDIATE STATE*<\/h3>\nState of the human person after death and before the final resurrection. Such teaching is more developed in the NT than in the OT, though it is a mistake to think that reference to it is totally absent in the OT (Jb 19:25). According to Christ, the intermediate state is deducible from such texts as Exodus 3:6 (Mt 22:32). Even in the NT, an account of the intermediate state is not given explicitly but may be inferred from teaching about the physical death and resurrection of all people, but especially of believers. This is taught by Christ himself (Mt 22:30-32) and by the apostles, particularly Paul (1 Cor 15). In addition, the biblical teaching that the human being is a unity of soul and body and not simply a soul that happens to be embodied (Gn 2:7) has implications for a person’s state after death. From such data two conclusions regarding the intermediate state may be drawn. The first is that physical death is not the total cessation of the life of the individual but that the person lives on, not merely in the memories of those who survive, but as a distinct personality, and in the case of believers with awareness of the loving presence of God (Phil 1:23). The second conclusion is that such an existence is not a fully human existence but is incomplete or anomalous, since being embodied is essential for an individual to be in God’s image. The individual, surviving death, awaits the resurrection of the body when, in the case of a Christian, he or she will experience complete redemption, a state of complete emancipation from sin in the presence of Christ (1 Cor 15:50-58). The biblical data regarding the character of the intermediate state of those who are outside Christ is less clear, including as it does the difficult reference to Christ’s preaching to the “imprisoned” spirits (1 Pt 3:19-20).<\/p>\nScripture is restrained in its portrayal of what life in the intermediate state is like. Paul says of himself that after his death he will be “with Christ, which is far better” (Phil 1:23) but he gives no details. Nor is it wise to look for such details in such biblical incidents as that of Saul and the medium at Endor (1 Sm 28:7), which is subject to a number of different interpretations. Even Christ’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31), because of its obviously symbolic character and its avowed purpose of teaching about the importance of the present life for a person’s eternal destiny, must be treated with caution. Perhaps the most that can be said is that the dead in Christ are “immediately with God” and that they rest in his loving presence until the resurrection, while the unsaved are in a comfortless condition awaiting their resurrection to judgment (Jn 5:29).<\/p>\nDiscussion of the intermediate state in the history of Christian thought has focused upon three separate aspects that may help to clarify the biblical data further. First, under the influence of Greek philosophical ideas, there has been a recurring Platonic influence in Christian theology in which the Pauline contrast between the flesh and the spirit has been misinterpreted and the soul has been emphasized at the expense of the body, with the result that the prospective resurrection of the dead and its eschatological setting has either been played down or eliminated altogether because of its allegedly physical (and therefore unspiritual) aspect. The doctrine of the immortality of the disembodied soul is sometimes substituted for the idea of an intermediate state prior to resurrection, but without any warrant from Scripture. In modern theology a tendency to discount the historical has tended to displace the earlier discounting of the physical, but with much the same effect, at best a spiritualizing of postmortem existence, at worst a denial of any such existence. But it is clear from Scripture that the intermediate state is a state between two phases of embodiment, the present state of physical embodiment and that of “spiritual embodiment” (1 Cor 15:44), which is to occur at Christ’s second coming (v 23).<\/p>\nSecond, during the Reformation, a controversy arose between John Calvin and some of the Anabaptists over “soul sleep.” Calvin vehemently maintained that the intermediate state is one of conscious awareness of God’s presence—something his opponents denied. For Calvin such a denial was equivalent to holding that the soul is annihilated at death and to denying that Christ exercises rule over the dead before they are resurrected. Calvin’s view is supported by Paul’s affirmation that nothing separates the believer from the love of God—not even death (Rom 8:35-39). The biblical teaching that upon death the believer “sleeps” (1 Thes 4:14) is interpreted to mean that the dead no longer communicate with the living on earth and no longer engage in labor, but are in repose. To “fall asleep in Jesus” is thus to enjoy the presence of Jesus in a disembodied state, the nearest analogy of which in present experience may be found in dreaming when the awareness of the dreamer does not depend upon the functioning of any of the bodily senses.<\/p>\nA third focus for Christian thought has been on whether or not a person’s eternal state is fixed at the time of death, or whether repentance and spiritual growth and purgation are possible or inevitable after death. It is the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that death is followed by purgatory for all who are imperfect. In purgatory the soul is freed from the remnants of sin, and the period of purgation may be lessened by the gifts, prayers, and masses of those who survive the deceased. Such a view is rejected by most Protestants as being inconsistent with the biblical teaching on the complete and finished work of Christ (Heb 9:28), on the impossibility of one human being meriting or otherwise gaining grace for another (Lk 17:10), and on the biblical teaching that the eternal state of the soul is determined by its condition at death (Heb 9:27).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Dead, Place of the; Hades; Heaven; Hell; Paradise; Sheol.<\/p>","summary_ro":"INTERMEDIATE STATE* State of the human person after death and before the final resurrection. Such teaching is more developed in the NT than in the OT, though it is a mistake to think that reference to it is totally absent in the OT (Jb 19:25). According to Christ, the intermediate state is deducible from such texts as Exodus 3:6 (Mt 22:32). Even in the NT, an account of the intermediate state is not given explicitly but may be inferred from teaching about the physical death and resurrection o...","summary_en":"INTERMEDIATE STATE* State of the human person after death and before the final resurrection. Such teaching is more developed in the NT than in the OT, though it is a mistake to think that reference to it is totally absent in the OT (Jb 19:25). According to Christ, the intermediate state is deducible from such texts as Exodus 3:6 (Mt 22:32). Even in the NT, an account of the intermediate state is not given explicitly but may be inferred from teaching about the physical death and resurrection o...","source":"Articles\/I.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"11":[{"id":23674,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Gospel of Luke","title_en":"Gospel of Luke","content_ro":"<h3>LUKE, Gospel of<\/span><\/h3>\nThird book of the NT; also the third of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke).<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Author<\/p>\n• Date, Origin, and Destination<\/p>\n• Background<\/p>\n• Purpose and Theological Teaching<\/p>\n• Content<\/p>\nAuthor<\/p>\nTradition attributes the authorship of the Gospel to the esteemed companion of Paul, Luke the physician (Col 4:14). The Gospel does not identify its author by name, but he is apparently well known in the company of early believers. He had obviously been gathering information for his project for some time. In both Luke and Acts the recipient is identified as Theophilus.<\/p>\nThe internal testimony of Acts for Lucan authorship must also be weighed, since there is a close relationship between the two books. In three extensive “we” passages the author reports his presence (Acts 16:10-17; 20:5–21:18; 27:1–28:16). These appear to be excerpts from a travel diary; the last of them places the author in Rome with the apostle Paul. We can, by the process of elimination, virtually establish Luke as the author.<\/p>\nDate, Origin, and Destination<\/p>\nThe dating of Luke is debatable. Some argue for a date after AD<\/span> 70, but this robs Luke 21:20 of its predictive value. Others suggest a date prior to the death of Paul (AD<\/span> 64). The latter would readily account for Acts concluding with his ministry in Rome while in prison.<\/p>\nThe Gospel may have been written in Rome, but this is by no means certain. Asia Minor and Greece have also been suggested as possibilities. The Monarchian Prologue to Luke<\/em> promotes the latter option, but its reliability is suspect. It was at Rome that Luke could have used the time profitably to put the finishing touches on the third Gospel.<\/p>\nLuke wrote to Theophilus. Theophilus (“beloved of God”) is probably not, as some suggest, a generic term for all believers. He was a person apparently unfamiliar with the geography of Palestine, for Luke takes care to detail it from time to time. He has a much better grasp of the Greco-Roman world as a whole, for Luke predictably assumes his reader’s familiarity with it. Luke also avoids terms that might prove puzzling to a gentile reader, such as “hosanna” in connection with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.<\/p>\nIn all probability the third Gospel was composed in Rome while Paul awaited trial, on or before AD<\/span> 64. It was dedicated to the “most excellent Theophilus” (Lk 1:3), as an appropriate custom of the time. He was a prominent Gentile who had become a believer. Luke wanted to instruct him (and others) more carefully in the faith.<\/p>\nBackground<\/p>\nJesus lived out his life within an area roughly 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) wide and 150 miles (241.4 kilometers) long, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south. Apart from Jerusalem, the places he is reported to have visited are not important to the secular history of the region. He was raised in the humble village of Nazareth and lived there until about 30 years of age. Capernaum became the center for his Galilean ministry. He passed through Samaria on occasion, and he ministered in Perea. He was betrayed and crucified in Jerusalem. He was raised in triumph on the third day.<\/p>\nLuke writes in retrospect. His perspective had shifted during the interim—geographically from Palestine to the Roman Empire, politically from Israel to Rome, socially from Jewish society to pagan, and religiously from the temple to the horizon of Christian mission. It is as if one era were superimposed on the other, so that the significance of the life and ministry of Jesus can be seen for the early church.<\/p>\nPurpose and Theological Teaching<\/p>\nSimeon beautifully expressed the redemptive theme of Luke’s Gospel when he held Jesus in his arms and exclaimed: “I have seen the Savior you have given to all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” (Lk 2:30-32, nlt<\/span>). He pointed to Jesus as the long-anticipated Savior, the hope of Gentiles and Jews alike.<\/p>\nLuke wove the work of the Holy Spirit into the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35); the Spirit descended on him at his baptism (3:22); he was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted (4:2); he was anointed by the Spirit for his ministry (v 18). The Spirit is, as it were, in the background with regard to Jesus’ subsequent labors, but the relationship is understood even when it is not repeated.<\/p>\nLuke accented the experience of messianic joy. The angelic host announced Jesus’ birth with the words, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors” (2:14, nlt<\/span>). Then, as he was approaching Jerusalem, the multitude that accompanied him began to praise God, saying, “Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven!” (19:38, nlt<\/span>).<\/p>\nAll this suggests that the redemptive theme in Luke is complex in character. It points to Jesus as the Christ. It invites the favorable response of Gentiles no less than Jews. It blends in the empowering of the Holy Spirit for Jesus’ ministry and that of his disciples. It emphasizes the joy that accompanies the publication of the gospel. These are simply variations on the one redemptive design of Luke.<\/p>\nOther concerns surface incidentally. Luke’s interest in historical accuracy is one of these. His apologetic burden is another. The critical place he gives to prayer is a third. The list could be extended.<\/p>\nContent<\/p>\n<h5>Prologue (1:1-4)<\/h5>\nThe Gospel begins with a formal prologue. Luke sought to record in orderly fashion what others had handed down as a legacy of faith. He did so in order to establish the historical credentials of the faith and to assure his readers of their validity.<\/p>\n\n<h5>Nativity and Childhood of Jesus (1:5–2:52)<\/h5>\nNone of the Gospels is a thoroughgoing biography of Jesus. But Luke took a special interest in historical incidents, first with regard to the nativity and childhood narratives. He recounted 10 episodes in all: the annunciation of John the Baptist’s birth as the forerunner of Christ; the announcement of Jesus’ birth to Mary; the visit of Mary to Elizabeth; the birth of John the Baptist; John the Baptist’s time in the wilderness; the birth of Jesus; the visit of the shepherds; the circumcision of Jesus; Jesus’ presentation in the temple; and the visit to the temple as a youth.<\/p>\nJohn the Baptist received considerable attention from the outset. Luke recorded that it was during the reign of Herod (Herod the Great, 37–4 BC<\/span>) that Zechariah the priest was ministering in the temple. (Twenty-four platoons of priests served in this capacity for two separate weeks out of the year. The privilege of burning incense was determined by casting lots, and once the priest had done so, he was disqualified from repeating the act.) An angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah as he was about to burn incense, announcing that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a son, whose name should be John. He was to live as a Nazirite (see Nm 6:1-4) and prepare the way for the Messiah. When Zechariah was reluctant to believe (he and Elizabeth were of advanced age), the angel struck him dumb until the time of the promised birth.<\/p>\nWe next hear of John in connection with Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. The baby leaped within Elizabeth’s womb as she heard Mary’s greeting (Lk 1:41). Luke immediately followed this account with the birth of John the Baptist. Zechariah named the child as he had been directed, received back his speech, and proceeded to prophesy concerning the coming Messiah and the preparatory role his son would play. The child grew and became “strong in spirit,” abiding in the wilderness until his public ministry began.<\/p>\nLuke told the nativity story from the perspective of Mary. The angel Gabriel visited her and announced that she would give birth to the Messiah (1:26-38). She would conceive miraculously by the Holy Spirit. Mary is portrayed as being devoutly submissive to the purposes of God.<\/p>\nThe birth is said to have taken place when Quirinius was governor of Syria, and persons had to travel to their ancestral towns to register for a census. Mary gave birth in a Bethlehem stable. Angels announced the birth to shepherds, who left their flocks to observe the child. Mary treasured these events and continued to ponder their significance.<\/p>\nAfter Mary had observed her 40 days of ritual purification, she went with Joseph to the temple to present Jesus to the Lord (2:21-40). There Simeon and Anna, two elderly and devout persons, recognized the infant as the promised Messiah. Simeon concluded that Jesus would cause many in Israel to fall and rise, and would bring deep sorrow to the heart of Mary.<\/p>\nThe nativity and childhood narratives close with Jesus’ visit to the temple at age 12 to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. Joseph and Mary left Jesus behind in the temple, supposing that he was among relatives or friends. They retraced their steps and found him in the temple conversing with the rabbis—listening to them and amazing them with his own understanding. Luke concluded by saying that “Jesus grew both in height and in wisdom, and he was loved by God and by all who knew him” (2:52, nlt<\/span>).<\/p>\n<h5>Beginning of the Public Ministry (3:1–4:30)<\/h5>\nLuke then recorded those events related to the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry. These include the ministry of John the Baptist, the baptism of Jesus, his genealogy, his temptation, and the public announcement in Nazareth. Luke dated the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry in no fewer than six ways: with the terms of office of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod Antipas, Philip, Lysanias, and Annas and Caiaphas. John came preaching a baptism of repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Multitudes came out into the wilderness to hear him and to be baptized by him.<\/p>\nJesus also came to be baptized. (Luke does not record John’s protest that Jesus ought rather to baptize him, or Jesus’ insistence that it had to be done—apparently to identify with the people and anticipate his vicarious death on their behalf.) The baptism marked Jesus’ entry into public ministry. Luke inserted what may be the genealogical record through Mary, consistent with his earlier efforts to narrate the events from her perspective.<\/p>\nThe temptation of Jesus was a probationary test of his messianic ministry. The introduction to two of the temptations, “If you are the Son of God,” was calculated to make him doubt the words heard at his baptism, “You are my Son” (3:22; 4:3, 9). Satan hoped to persuade Jesus to seek to fulfill his calling and yet avoid the cross. Each time Jesus parried the temptation with a quotation from Scripture.<\/p>\nJesus returned to Galilee and to the synagogue in Nazareth. Here he announced his public ministry in words borrowed from the jubilee observance and associated with the messianic age (4:18-19; cf. Is 61:1-2). They reflected both the religious focus and broad social implications of the ministry to come. The announcement especially held out hope to those who were downtrodden and ostracized by society. When those in attendance challenged his credentials, Jesus replied, “No prophet is accepted in his own hometown” (Lk 4:24). And when they would have cast him from the brow of a hill, he passed through their midst and went on his way.<\/p>\n<h5>The Galilean Ministry (4:31–9:50)<\/h5>\nJesus moved the center of his activity to Capernaum. Luke records a variety of episodes associated with the Galilean ministry that follows. Approximately 30 instances are mentioned. About a third involve some extraordinary occurrence, such as healing, exorcism, raising from the dead, or feeding a multitude. These were events associated with the messianic age.<\/p>\nHowever, it was Jesus’ teaching that first seems to have caught the people’s attention. He did not teach as the rabbis, by drawing upon traditional precedent, but he taught in the authority of his messianic office. Luke interlaced his narrative with a considerable amount of Jesus’ teaching. There is a fairly extended section on the observance of the Sabbath (6:1-11). But it is less prominent than Jesus’ sermon “on the plain,” with its extended comments concerning blessings and woes, love for enemies, judging others, knowing one by his fruit, and wise and foolish builders (6:12-49). Jesus taught by way of parables, and Luke recorded those of the sower and lamp (8:1-18). In the former instance, the seed represents the word of God, and the soil the varying preparation to receive the Word. Thereby the disciples might better understand the mixed results of Jesus’ ministry and their own. Others would be perplexed by the parables.<\/p>\nLuke described the calling of select disciples. He mentioned Peter, James, and John, and at a later point Levi (5:1-11, 27-32). The former were called from their fishing boats and the latter from his tax booth. All were summoned to follow Christ in his messianic ministry through the Galilean countryside. Later on, when there were 12 disciples, Jesus sent them out to preach the kingdom and heal the sick (9:1-11). No doubt many contributed to the extended ministry. Luke recorded certain women who traveled with them and “were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples” (8:3, nlt<\/span>).<\/p>\nOne senses a rising tide of enthusiasm with regard to the Galilean enterprise. It begins with Jesus alone, working in obscurity; it terminates with a faithful band of followers, multitudes hanging on his words, and his name circulated throughout the region. The section peaks with Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ and the transfiguration of Jesus (9:10-36). The presence of Moses and Elijah represents the Law and Prophets as subordinate to the Messiah.<\/p>\nThe scene shifts abruptly to the foot of the mount, where the disciples have been ineffective in delivering a demon-possessed boy. Here Jesus pointed out the need for spiritual resources to accomplish kingdom needs, and thereafter (in response to the disciples’ argument over who would be greatest) an appeal to humility.<\/p>\n<h5>The Journey toward Jerusalem (9:51–19:27)<\/h5>\nLuke next reported Jesus’ ministry on the way to Jerusalem. This has sometimes been called the Perean ministry, assuming that much of it took place across the Jordan in the district of Perea. It has also been graphically described as “the road to the cross.” The number of incidents are roughly the same as those in the preceding section, although the text is about 25 percent longer.<\/p>\nOpposition is seen building at the outset. Jesus sent messengers ahead to prepare for his arrival at a Samaritan village. But the inhabitants would not welcome him, because he was on the way to Jerusalem. There was bad blood between the Jews and Samaritans. The latter had been settled in the land during the Assyrian occupation and brought with them foreign religious and social customs, resulting in a syncretism repugnant to the Jews. Certain disciples asked if Jesus would have them bring down fire from heaven on the village, but Jesus rebuked them. He evidenced a more conciliatory spirit.<\/p>\nLuke reintroduced the Samaritans in connection with a story Jesus tells (10:25-37). It seems that a man was attacked by thieves, who left him for dead. First a priest and then a Levite came along, each walking by on the opposite side of the road. Another passed that way and took pity on the injured stranger. He bound up his wounds and brought him to an inn where he could be cared for at the expense of his benefactor. Jesus added the detail that the man who stopped to help was a Samaritan. He alone understood that a neighbor is the one we befriend rather than the one who befriends us. (The Samaritans reappear once more in the account of 10 lepers who were healed, of whom only a Samaritan returned to give thanks—17:11-19.)<\/p>\nThe story of the good Samaritan suggests the opposition Jesus was encountering from the religious establishment centered in Jerusalem. Even as the crowds increased, Jesus observed: “The queen of Sheba will rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And now someone greater than Solomon is here—and you refuse to listen to him” (11:31, nlt<\/span>). So also will the men of Nineveh stand to condemn the present generation, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.<\/p>\nJesus reserved the severest rebuke for those Pharisees who had come to contest his every move. Jesus and the Pharisees traveled in much the same circles. Some had been sympathetic to his message, but these seem to have been in the minority. Jesus pictured the Pharisees as meticulous legalists (11:37-44). Events were building to a climax. Jesus had prophesied his impending death and subsequent resurrection. His face was set toward Jerusalem. When some solicitous Pharisees warned him of Herod Antipas’s plan to have him killed, he refused to be intimidated (13:32-33).<\/p>\nParables abound in this section of the Gospel. They include those of the Good Samaritan, mustard seed, yeast, narrow door, invitation to a marriage feast, great banquet, tower builder, king who goes to war, lost sheep, lost coin, Prodigal Son, unjust steward, rich man and Lazarus, Pharisee and publican, and ten minas. These seem to fall into one of three categories, although perhaps not exclusively so. The one has to do with accepting sinners. (While Scripture reveals that we are all sinners, “sinners” in the synoptic Gospels refers to nonobservant Jews.) A classic instance is the story of the Prodigal Son (15:11-32).<\/p>\nThe second category might be called kingdom parables. They suggest that while the kingdom begins in some relatively insignificant fashion, it will expand to incredible proportions. They also warn that not all that seems a part of the growth is a true extension of the kingdom. These emphases can be recognized by comparing the parables of the mustard seed, yeast, and narrow door (13:18-30).<\/p>\nThe third category deals with stewardship. Jesus told one such parable as they neared Jerusalem (19:11-27). It involved a man of noble birth who went to a far country, leaving his servants with ten minas each (a mina was about a three-month wage for laborers). They were to invest the minas so that the man would have a good profit when he came back. Upon returning, the nobleman called his servants to get an accounting from them. Those who were found faithful in lesser things were given greater opportunity, but one who failed lost even that which he had been given.<\/p>\nThere are some especially touching scenes in the Gospel narrative. One shows Jesus welcoming little children (18:15-17). Another describes a rich ruler who inquired of Jesus how he might obtain eternal life (vv 18-30). Still another episode concerns a tax collector called Zacchaeus (19:1-10). These help us to gain a better appreciation of Jesus’ diversified ministry.<\/p>\nSlowly but surely Jesus had worked his way to Jerusalem. He had met increasing opposition. The cross was just over the horizon. He ministered while time allowed.<\/p>\n<h5>Jesus’ Death and Resurrection (19:28–24:53)<\/h5>\nLuke concluded his account with the Passion week. First is the Triumphal Entry of Christ (19:28-44). As those with Jesus came over the crest of the Mt of Olives, they began to praise God for all the miracles they had seen: “Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven!” (19:38, nlt<\/span>). The jubilation of the multitude stands in sharp contrast to Jesus’ weeping over an unrepentant city and lamenting the destruction to be visited upon it.<\/p>\nEntering the temple area, Jesus began driving out those who were selling goods there. God’s house should be a house of prayer, but—Jesus protests—they have made it a den of robbers. He continued to teach daily in the temple precincts, while the religious leaders plotted how to put him to death without inciting the anger of the people.<\/p>\nLuke recorded some of the interchange with the leaders and people (chs 20–21). This includes a challenge to Jesus’ authority, the parable of the wicked tenants, the question about paying taxes to Caesar, another question concerning the resurrection, Jesus’ question about how to understand the Messiah’s Davidic ancestry and lordship, warning against the scribes, comments on the widow’s offering, and discourse on the end of the age. This broad range of topics is related to the messianic disputation in progress.<\/p>\nThe problem as Luke represents it seems less an intellectual than a moral one. The religious establishment was determined to retain its privileged position at all costs. This Galilean rabbi was a serious threat that had to be eliminated. It was only a matter of waiting for the right opportunity. It appeared when Judas Iscariot offered to betray Jesus (22:1-6).<\/p>\nThe Last Supper and the prayer vigil in Gethsemane intervene between the plot of the leaders and the arrest of Jesus (22:7-46). From the upper room Jesus and the disciples made their way across the Kidron Valley to the Mt of Olives. Here Jesus prayed in preparation for the crucifixion to follow. The disciples slept, being weary from the heavy demands of those days. Soon Judas appeared to point Jesus out, and the soldiers rushed him away to stand before the high priest. Peter denied Christ, fearing for his own life. Jesus was condemned by the Sanhedrin. (Commentators debate whether this was a formal session of the council of Jewish elders.) He was sent to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, then to Herod Antipas, and back again to Pilate. Pilate saw no reason for putting Jesus to death, but the multitude was stirred up by the Jewish leaders to demand his crucifixion. Pilate yielded to their pressure when alternatives seemed to escape him.<\/p>\nJesus was led away to be crucified. Luke alone mentioned those who mourned him (23:27). Jesus warned them rather to mourn for themselves and their children. Here and hereafter we see Jesus’ concern for others in the midst of his own agony: those crucifying him, the repentant criminal, and his mother, Mary.<\/p>\nLuke records a mixed response to the crucifixion. The people stood watching, as if immobilized by the rush of events. They may have felt helpless to intervene even if disposed to do so. Some of the religious leaders went so far as to mock Jesus; “He saved others, . . . let him save himself if he is really God’s Chosen One, the Messiah” (23:35, nlt<\/span>). One hardened criminal joined in their derision; the other asked for clemency.<\/p>\nDarkness shrouded the scene. The curtain of the temple was torn, as if to suggest that access was being made available through the shed blood of Christ. Jesus commended his spirit to the Father. He breathed his last. His body was laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Women went to prepare spices and perfumes for the interment, but they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.<\/p>\nEarly on the first day of the week the women approached the tomb, only to find the stone guarding its entrance rolled away and the body of Jesus missing. Suddenly two figures in gleaming array stood by them. They announced to the frightened women: “He isn’t here! He has risen from the dead!” (24:6, nlt<\/span>). The women returned to report to the apostles. Peter ran to confirm their findings. He discovered the strips of linen laid out as they had been, but with the body absent. He wondered what had happened.<\/p>\nThe same day two disciples were going to a village called Emmaus. They were discussing what had happened in Jerusalem when Jesus joined them. They were kept from recognizing him until later on when he broke bread with them. They hurriedly returned to Jerusalem to reassure the fellowship that it was true that the Lord was risen.<\/p>\nWhile they were still talking, Jesus appeared in their midst. “Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do!” (24:39, nlt<\/span>). Then he helped them understand the implications of what had happened: “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day. With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.’ You are witnesses of all these things. And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven” (vv 46-49, nlt<\/span>).<\/p>\nLuke concludes his Gospel with an account of the ascension (24:50-53). It was as Jesus blessed them that he was lifted up before their eyes. They worshiped him as the ascended Lord and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. There they remained in the temple precinct, praising God and anticipating the coming of the Holy Spirit to empower them for witnessing to all the world.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Acts of the Apostles, Book of the; Jesus Christ, Life and Teachings of; Luke (Person); Synoptic Gospels.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>LUKE, Gospel of<\/span><\/h3>\nThird book of the NT; also the third of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke).<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Author<\/p>\n• Date, Origin, and Destination<\/p>\n• Background<\/p>\n• Purpose and Theological Teaching<\/p>\n• Content<\/p>\nAuthor<\/p>\nTradition attributes the authorship of the Gospel to the esteemed companion of Paul, Luke the physician (Col 4:14). The Gospel does not identify its author by name, but he is apparently well known in the company of early believers. He had obviously been gathering information for his project for some time. In both Luke and Acts the recipient is identified as Theophilus.<\/p>\nThe internal testimony of Acts for Lucan authorship must also be weighed, since there is a close relationship between the two books. In three extensive “we” passages the author reports his presence (Acts 16:10-17; 20:5–21:18; 27:1–28:16). These appear to be excerpts from a travel diary; the last of them places the author in Rome with the apostle Paul. We can, by the process of elimination, virtually establish Luke as the author.<\/p>\nDate, Origin, and Destination<\/p>\nThe dating of Luke is debatable. Some argue for a date after AD<\/span> 70, but this robs Luke 21:20 of its predictive value. Others suggest a date prior to the death of Paul (AD<\/span> 64). The latter would readily account for Acts concluding with his ministry in Rome while in prison.<\/p>\nThe Gospel may have been written in Rome, but this is by no means certain. Asia Minor and Greece have also been suggested as possibilities. The Monarchian Prologue to Luke<\/em> promotes the latter option, but its reliability is suspect. It was at Rome that Luke could have used the time profitably to put the finishing touches on the third Gospel.<\/p>\nLuke wrote to Theophilus. Theophilus (“beloved of God”) is probably not, as some suggest, a generic term for all believers. He was a person apparently unfamiliar with the geography of Palestine, for Luke takes care to detail it from time to time. He has a much better grasp of the Greco-Roman world as a whole, for Luke predictably assumes his reader’s familiarity with it. Luke also avoids terms that might prove puzzling to a gentile reader, such as “hosanna” in connection with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.<\/p>\nIn all probability the third Gospel was composed in Rome while Paul awaited trial, on or before AD<\/span> 64. It was dedicated to the “most excellent Theophilus” (Lk 1:3), as an appropriate custom of the time. He was a prominent Gentile who had become a believer. Luke wanted to instruct him (and others) more carefully in the faith.<\/p>\nBackground<\/p>\nJesus lived out his life within an area roughly 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) wide and 150 miles (241.4 kilometers) long, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south. Apart from Jerusalem, the places he is reported to have visited are not important to the secular history of the region. He was raised in the humble village of Nazareth and lived there until about 30 years of age. Capernaum became the center for his Galilean ministry. He passed through Samaria on occasion, and he ministered in Perea. He was betrayed and crucified in Jerusalem. He was raised in triumph on the third day.<\/p>\nLuke writes in retrospect. His perspective had shifted during the interim—geographically from Palestine to the Roman Empire, politically from Israel to Rome, socially from Jewish society to pagan, and religiously from the temple to the horizon of Christian mission. It is as if one era were superimposed on the other, so that the significance of the life and ministry of Jesus can be seen for the early church.<\/p>\nPurpose and Theological Teaching<\/p>\nSimeon beautifully expressed the redemptive theme of Luke’s Gospel when he held Jesus in his arms and exclaimed: “I have seen the Savior you have given to all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” (Lk 2:30-32, nlt<\/span>). He pointed to Jesus as the long-anticipated Savior, the hope of Gentiles and Jews alike.<\/p>\nLuke wove the work of the Holy Spirit into the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35); the Spirit descended on him at his baptism (3:22); he was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted (4:2); he was anointed by the Spirit for his ministry (v 18). The Spirit is, as it were, in the background with regard to Jesus’ subsequent labors, but the relationship is understood even when it is not repeated.<\/p>\nLuke accented the experience of messianic joy. The angelic host announced Jesus’ birth with the words, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors” (2:14, nlt<\/span>). Then, as he was approaching Jerusalem, the multitude that accompanied him began to praise God, saying, “Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven!” (19:38, nlt<\/span>).<\/p>\nAll this suggests that the redemptive theme in Luke is complex in character. It points to Jesus as the Christ. It invites the favorable response of Gentiles no less than Jews. It blends in the empowering of the Holy Spirit for Jesus’ ministry and that of his disciples. It emphasizes the joy that accompanies the publication of the gospel. These are simply variations on the one redemptive design of Luke.<\/p>\nOther concerns surface incidentally. Luke’s interest in historical accuracy is one of these. His apologetic burden is another. The critical place he gives to prayer is a third. The list could be extended.<\/p>\nContent<\/p>\n<h5>Prologue (1:1-4)<\/h5>\nThe Gospel begins with a formal prologue. Luke sought to record in orderly fashion what others had handed down as a legacy of faith. He did so in order to establish the historical credentials of the faith and to assure his readers of their validity.<\/p>\n\n<h5>Nativity and Childhood of Jesus (1:5–2:52)<\/h5>\nNone of the Gospels is a thoroughgoing biography of Jesus. But Luke took a special interest in historical incidents, first with regard to the nativity and childhood narratives. He recounted 10 episodes in all: the annunciation of John the Baptist’s birth as the forerunner of Christ; the announcement of Jesus’ birth to Mary; the visit of Mary to Elizabeth; the birth of John the Baptist; John the Baptist’s time in the wilderness; the birth of Jesus; the visit of the shepherds; the circumcision of Jesus; Jesus’ presentation in the temple; and the visit to the temple as a youth.<\/p>\nJohn the Baptist received considerable attention from the outset. Luke recorded that it was during the reign of Herod (Herod the Great, 37–4 BC<\/span>) that Zechariah the priest was ministering in the temple. (Twenty-four platoons of priests served in this capacity for two separate weeks out of the year. The privilege of burning incense was determined by casting lots, and once the priest had done so, he was disqualified from repeating the act.) An angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah as he was about to burn incense, announcing that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a son, whose name should be John. He was to live as a Nazirite (see Nm 6:1-4) and prepare the way for the Messiah. When Zechariah was reluctant to believe (he and Elizabeth were of advanced age), the angel struck him dumb until the time of the promised birth.<\/p>\nWe next hear of John in connection with Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. The baby leaped within Elizabeth’s womb as she heard Mary’s greeting (Lk 1:41). Luke immediately followed this account with the birth of John the Baptist. Zechariah named the child as he had been directed, received back his speech, and proceeded to prophesy concerning the coming Messiah and the preparatory role his son would play. The child grew and became “strong in spirit,” abiding in the wilderness until his public ministry began.<\/p>\nLuke told the nativity story from the perspective of Mary. The angel Gabriel visited her and announced that she would give birth to the Messiah (1:26-38). She would conceive miraculously by the Holy Spirit. Mary is portrayed as being devoutly submissive to the purposes of God.<\/p>\nThe birth is said to have taken place when Quirinius was governor of Syria, and persons had to travel to their ancestral towns to register for a census. Mary gave birth in a Bethlehem stable. Angels announced the birth to shepherds, who left their flocks to observe the child. Mary treasured these events and continued to ponder their significance.<\/p>\nAfter Mary had observed her 40 days of ritual purification, she went with Joseph to the temple to present Jesus to the Lord (2:21-40). There Simeon and Anna, two elderly and devout persons, recognized the infant as the promised Messiah. Simeon concluded that Jesus would cause many in Israel to fall and rise, and would bring deep sorrow to the heart of Mary.<\/p>\nThe nativity and childhood narratives close with Jesus’ visit to the temple at age 12 to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. Joseph and Mary left Jesus behind in the temple, supposing that he was among relatives or friends. They retraced their steps and found him in the temple conversing with the rabbis—listening to them and amazing them with his own understanding. Luke concluded by saying that “Jesus grew both in height and in wisdom, and he was loved by God and by all who knew him” (2:52, nlt<\/span>).<\/p>\n<h5>Beginning of the Public Ministry (3:1–4:30)<\/h5>\nLuke then recorded those events related to the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry. These include the ministry of John the Baptist, the baptism of Jesus, his genealogy, his temptation, and the public announcement in Nazareth. Luke dated the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry in no fewer than six ways: with the terms of office of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod Antipas, Philip, Lysanias, and Annas and Caiaphas. John came preaching a baptism of repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Multitudes came out into the wilderness to hear him and to be baptized by him.<\/p>\nJesus also came to be baptized. (Luke does not record John’s protest that Jesus ought rather to baptize him, or Jesus’ insistence that it had to be done—apparently to identify with the people and anticipate his vicarious death on their behalf.) The baptism marked Jesus’ entry into public ministry. Luke inserted what may be the genealogical record through Mary, consistent with his earlier efforts to narrate the events from her perspective.<\/p>\nThe temptation of Jesus was a probationary test of his messianic ministry. The introduction to two of the temptations, “If you are the Son of God,” was calculated to make him doubt the words heard at his baptism, “You are my Son” (3:22; 4:3, 9). Satan hoped to persuade Jesus to seek to fulfill his calling and yet avoid the cross. Each time Jesus parried the temptation with a quotation from Scripture.<\/p>\nJesus returned to Galilee and to the synagogue in Nazareth. Here he announced his public ministry in words borrowed from the jubilee observance and associated with the messianic age (4:18-19; cf. Is 61:1-2). They reflected both the religious focus and broad social implications of the ministry to come. The announcement especially held out hope to those who were downtrodden and ostracized by society. When those in attendance challenged his credentials, Jesus replied, “No prophet is accepted in his own hometown” (Lk 4:24). And when they would have cast him from the brow of a hill, he passed through their midst and went on his way.<\/p>\n<h5>The Galilean Ministry (4:31–9:50)<\/h5>\nJesus moved the center of his activity to Capernaum. Luke records a variety of episodes associated with the Galilean ministry that follows. Approximately 30 instances are mentioned. About a third involve some extraordinary occurrence, such as healing, exorcism, raising from the dead, or feeding a multitude. These were events associated with the messianic age.<\/p>\nHowever, it was Jesus’ teaching that first seems to have caught the people’s attention. He did not teach as the rabbis, by drawing upon traditional precedent, but he taught in the authority of his messianic office. Luke interlaced his narrative with a considerable amount of Jesus’ teaching. There is a fairly extended section on the observance of the Sabbath (6:1-11). But it is less prominent than Jesus’ sermon “on the plain,” with its extended comments concerning blessings and woes, love for enemies, judging others, knowing one by his fruit, and wise and foolish builders (6:12-49). Jesus taught by way of parables, and Luke recorded those of the sower and lamp (8:1-18). In the former instance, the seed represents the word of God, and the soil the varying preparation to receive the Word. Thereby the disciples might better understand the mixed results of Jesus’ ministry and their own. Others would be perplexed by the parables.<\/p>\nLuke described the calling of select disciples. He mentioned Peter, James, and John, and at a later point Levi (5:1-11, 27-32). The former were called from their fishing boats and the latter from his tax booth. All were summoned to follow Christ in his messianic ministry through the Galilean countryside. Later on, when there were 12 disciples, Jesus sent them out to preach the kingdom and heal the sick (9:1-11). No doubt many contributed to the extended ministry. Luke recorded certain women who traveled with them and “were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples” (8:3, nlt<\/span>).<\/p>\nOne senses a rising tide of enthusiasm with regard to the Galilean enterprise. It begins with Jesus alone, working in obscurity; it terminates with a faithful band of followers, multitudes hanging on his words, and his name circulated throughout the region. The section peaks with Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ and the transfiguration of Jesus (9:10-36). The presence of Moses and Elijah represents the Law and Prophets as subordinate to the Messiah.<\/p>\nThe scene shifts abruptly to the foot of the mount, where the disciples have been ineffective in delivering a demon-possessed boy. Here Jesus pointed out the need for spiritual resources to accomplish kingdom needs, and thereafter (in response to the disciples’ argument over who would be greatest) an appeal to humility.<\/p>\n<h5>The Journey toward Jerusalem (9:51–19:27)<\/h5>\nLuke next reported Jesus’ ministry on the way to Jerusalem. This has sometimes been called the Perean ministry, assuming that much of it took place across the Jordan in the district of Perea. It has also been graphically described as “the road to the cross.” The number of incidents are roughly the same as those in the preceding section, although the text is about 25 percent longer.<\/p>\nOpposition is seen building at the outset. Jesus sent messengers ahead to prepare for his arrival at a Samaritan village. But the inhabitants would not welcome him, because he was on the way to Jerusalem. There was bad blood between the Jews and Samaritans. The latter had been settled in the land during the Assyrian occupation and brought with them foreign religious and social customs, resulting in a syncretism repugnant to the Jews. Certain disciples asked if Jesus would have them bring down fire from heaven on the village, but Jesus rebuked them. He evidenced a more conciliatory spirit.<\/p>\nLuke reintroduced the Samaritans in connection with a story Jesus tells (10:25-37). It seems that a man was attacked by thieves, who left him for dead. First a priest and then a Levite came along, each walking by on the opposite side of the road. Another passed that way and took pity on the injured stranger. He bound up his wounds and brought him to an inn where he could be cared for at the expense of his benefactor. Jesus added the detail that the man who stopped to help was a Samaritan. He alone understood that a neighbor is the one we befriend rather than the one who befriends us. (The Samaritans reappear once more in the account of 10 lepers who were healed, of whom only a Samaritan returned to give thanks—17:11-19.)<\/p>\nThe story of the good Samaritan suggests the opposition Jesus was encountering from the religious establishment centered in Jerusalem. Even as the crowds increased, Jesus observed: “The queen of Sheba will rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And now someone greater than Solomon is here—and you refuse to listen to him” (11:31, nlt<\/span>). So also will the men of Nineveh stand to condemn the present generation, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.<\/p>\nJesus reserved the severest rebuke for those Pharisees who had come to contest his every move. Jesus and the Pharisees traveled in much the same circles. Some had been sympathetic to his message, but these seem to have been in the minority. Jesus pictured the Pharisees as meticulous legalists (11:37-44). Events were building to a climax. Jesus had prophesied his impending death and subsequent resurrection. His face was set toward Jerusalem. When some solicitous Pharisees warned him of Herod Antipas’s plan to have him killed, he refused to be intimidated (13:32-33).<\/p>\nParables abound in this section of the Gospel. They include those of the Good Samaritan, mustard seed, yeast, narrow door, invitation to a marriage feast, great banquet, tower builder, king who goes to war, lost sheep, lost coin, Prodigal Son, unjust steward, rich man and Lazarus, Pharisee and publican, and ten minas. These seem to fall into one of three categories, although perhaps not exclusively so. The one has to do with accepting sinners. (While Scripture reveals that we are all sinners, “sinners” in the synoptic Gospels refers to nonobservant Jews.) A classic instance is the story of the Prodigal Son (15:11-32).<\/p>\nThe second category might be called kingdom parables. They suggest that while the kingdom begins in some relatively insignificant fashion, it will expand to incredible proportions. They also warn that not all that seems a part of the growth is a true extension of the kingdom. These emphases can be recognized by comparing the parables of the mustard seed, yeast, and narrow door (13:18-30).<\/p>\nThe third category deals with stewardship. Jesus told one such parable as they neared Jerusalem (19:11-27). It involved a man of noble birth who went to a far country, leaving his servants with ten minas each (a mina was about a three-month wage for laborers). They were to invest the minas so that the man would have a good profit when he came back. Upon returning, the nobleman called his servants to get an accounting from them. Those who were found faithful in lesser things were given greater opportunity, but one who failed lost even that which he had been given.<\/p>\nThere are some especially touching scenes in the Gospel narrative. One shows Jesus welcoming little children (18:15-17). Another describes a rich ruler who inquired of Jesus how he might obtain eternal life (vv 18-30). Still another episode concerns a tax collector called Zacchaeus (19:1-10). These help us to gain a better appreciation of Jesus’ diversified ministry.<\/p>\nSlowly but surely Jesus had worked his way to Jerusalem. He had met increasing opposition. The cross was just over the horizon. He ministered while time allowed.<\/p>\n<h5>Jesus’ Death and Resurrection (19:28–24:53)<\/h5>\nLuke concluded his account with the Passion week. First is the Triumphal Entry of Christ (19:28-44). As those with Jesus came over the crest of the Mt of Olives, they began to praise God for all the miracles they had seen: “Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven!” (19:38, nlt<\/span>). The jubilation of the multitude stands in sharp contrast to Jesus’ weeping over an unrepentant city and lamenting the destruction to be visited upon it.<\/p>\nEntering the temple area, Jesus began driving out those who were selling goods there. God’s house should be a house of prayer, but—Jesus protests—they have made it a den of robbers. He continued to teach daily in the temple precincts, while the religious leaders plotted how to put him to death without inciting the anger of the people.<\/p>\nLuke recorded some of the interchange with the leaders and people (chs 20–21). This includes a challenge to Jesus’ authority, the parable of the wicked tenants, the question about paying taxes to Caesar, another question concerning the resurrection, Jesus’ question about how to understand the Messiah’s Davidic ancestry and lordship, warning against the scribes, comments on the widow’s offering, and discourse on the end of the age. This broad range of topics is related to the messianic disputation in progress.<\/p>\nThe problem as Luke represents it seems less an intellectual than a moral one. The religious establishment was determined to retain its privileged position at all costs. This Galilean rabbi was a serious threat that had to be eliminated. It was only a matter of waiting for the right opportunity. It appeared when Judas Iscariot offered to betray Jesus (22:1-6).<\/p>\nThe Last Supper and the prayer vigil in Gethsemane intervene between the plot of the leaders and the arrest of Jesus (22:7-46). From the upper room Jesus and the disciples made their way across the Kidron Valley to the Mt of Olives. Here Jesus prayed in preparation for the crucifixion to follow. The disciples slept, being weary from the heavy demands of those days. Soon Judas appeared to point Jesus out, and the soldiers rushed him away to stand before the high priest. Peter denied Christ, fearing for his own life. Jesus was condemned by the Sanhedrin. (Commentators debate whether this was a formal session of the council of Jewish elders.) He was sent to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, then to Herod Antipas, and back again to Pilate. Pilate saw no reason for putting Jesus to death, but the multitude was stirred up by the Jewish leaders to demand his crucifixion. Pilate yielded to their pressure when alternatives seemed to escape him.<\/p>\nJesus was led away to be crucified. Luke alone mentioned those who mourned him (23:27). Jesus warned them rather to mourn for themselves and their children. Here and hereafter we see Jesus’ concern for others in the midst of his own agony: those crucifying him, the repentant criminal, and his mother, Mary.<\/p>\nLuke records a mixed response to the crucifixion. The people stood watching, as if immobilized by the rush of events. They may have felt helpless to intervene even if disposed to do so. Some of the religious leaders went so far as to mock Jesus; “He saved others, . . . let him save himself if he is really God’s Chosen One, the Messiah” (23:35, nlt<\/span>). One hardened criminal joined in their derision; the other asked for clemency.<\/p>\nDarkness shrouded the scene. The curtain of the temple was torn, as if to suggest that access was being made available through the shed blood of Christ. Jesus commended his spirit to the Father. He breathed his last. His body was laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Women went to prepare spices and perfumes for the interment, but they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.<\/p>\nEarly on the first day of the week the women approached the tomb, only to find the stone guarding its entrance rolled away and the body of Jesus missing. Suddenly two figures in gleaming array stood by them. They announced to the frightened women: “He isn’t here! He has risen from the dead!” (24:6, nlt<\/span>). The women returned to report to the apostles. Peter ran to confirm their findings. He discovered the strips of linen laid out as they had been, but with the body absent. He wondered what had happened.<\/p>\nThe same day two disciples were going to a village called Emmaus. They were discussing what had happened in Jerusalem when Jesus joined them. They were kept from recognizing him until later on when he broke bread with them. They hurriedly returned to Jerusalem to reassure the fellowship that it was true that the Lord was risen.<\/p>\nWhile they were still talking, Jesus appeared in their midst. “Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do!” (24:39, nlt<\/span>). Then he helped them understand the implications of what had happened: “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day. With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.’ You are witnesses of all these things. And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven” (vv 46-49, nlt<\/span>).<\/p>\nLuke concludes his Gospel with an account of the ascension (24:50-53). It was as Jesus blessed them that he was lifted up before their eyes. They worshiped him as the ascended Lord and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. There they remained in the temple precinct, praising God and anticipating the coming of the Holy Spirit to empower them for witnessing to all the world.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Acts of the Apostles, Book of the; Jesus Christ, Life and Teachings of; Luke (Person); Synoptic Gospels.<\/p>","summary_ro":"LUKE, Gospel of Third book of the NT; also the third of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke). Preview • Author • Date, Origin, and Destination • Background • Purpose and Theological Teaching • Content Author Tradition attributes the authorship of the Gospel to the esteemed companion of Paul, Luke the physician (Col 4:14). The Gospel does not identify its author by name, but he is apparently well known in the company of early believers. He had obviously been gathering information for his...","summary_en":"LUKE, Gospel of Third book of the NT; also the third of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke). Preview • Author • Date, Origin, and Destination • Background • Purpose and Theological Teaching • Content Author Tradition attributes the authorship of the Gospel to the esteemed companion of Paul, Luke the physician (Col 4:14). The Gospel does not identify its author by name, but he is apparently well known in the company of early believers. He had obviously been gathering information for his...","source":"Articles\/L.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":33672,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Samaritans","title_en":"Samaritans","content_ro":"<h3>SAMARITANS<\/h3>\nSchismatic group from the Jews. The group resided north of Judea and south of Galilee in hostile tension with its Jewish neighbors. Jesus’ attitude toward this despised group radically contrasted with contemporary sentiment.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Origins of the Sect<\/p>\n• Relations between the Samaritans and the Jews<\/p>\n• Samaritan Beliefs<\/p>\n• Jesus and the Samaritans<\/p>\n• Samaria in the Mission of the Early Church<\/p>\nOrigins of the Sect<\/p>\nIt is difficult to determine precisely when the Samaritan sect arose and when the final break with Judaism occurred. The OT conception of the origin of the Samaritan sect is that they stemmed from repopulated foreign peoples whose worship of God was only a veneer for underlying idolatry. According to 2 Kings 17, the Samaritan sect arose from the exchange of peoples following Israel’s defeat by Assyria in 722 BC<\/span>. Removing the Israelites from the land, the king of Assyria repopulated the area with conquered peoples from Babylon, Cuthah, and various other nations.<\/p>\nThe Samaritans offer a vastly different interpretation of their origin. They claim descent from the Jewish tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (see Jn 4:12) and hold that the exile of Israelites in 722 BC<\/span> by Assyria was neither full-scale nor permanent. To account for the mutual hostility that developed between their group and the Jews, the Samaritan version holds that the Jews were guilty of apostasy, setting up heretical sanctuaries during the time of Eli, rather than staying with the only holy place on Mt Gerizim. The Samaritans therefore considered themselves true Israelites in descent and worship.<\/p>\nFrom Assyrian records of this period, an exchange of population is in fact affirmed for the northern kingdom, but apparently a total deportation was not carried out (see 2 Chr 34:9). This would suggest that there were two elements in the land: first, the native Israelite remnant not exiled; and second, the foreign exiles who were gradually won over to the faith of the native residents, although syncretism no doubt existed during the early period of assimilation.<\/p>\nRelations between the Samaritans and the Jews<\/p>\nThe history of relations between the Samaritans—situated on the north around Mt Gerizim (their holy mountain), Shechem, and Samaria—and Jewish populations in Judea and then later in Galilee is one of fluctuating tensions. The ancient tension between the northern and southern kingdoms was revived with the return of exiles to Jerusalem under the Persian ruler Cyrus’s edict (c. 538 BC<\/span>). The entire southern area was at the time being governed from Samaria in the north by Sanballat, a native ruler of Palestine under Persian authority. The return of exiles to Jerusalem, particularly with their intentions of rebuilding the Jerusalem temple, posed an obvious political threat to his leadership in the north (Ezr 4:7-24; Neh 4:1-9).<\/p>\nOpposition was at first politically motivated but became religious when sometime later, possibly in the fifth century BC<\/span>, a rival temple was erected on Mt Gerizim. An example of Jewish hostility toward the Samaritans about this time comes from Ecclesiasticus 50:25-26 (written approximately 200 BC<\/span>), where the Samaritans are placed below the Edomites and Philistines in esteem and are termed a “foolish people” (cf. Test. Levi 7:2).<\/p>\nJewish disregard for the Samaritans was increased by the Samaritans’ lack of resistance to Antiochus Epiphanes’ campaign (c. 167 BC<\/span>) to promote Hellenistic worship in the area. While part of the Jewish community resisted the transforming of the Jerusalem temple to a temple for Zeus (1 Macc 1:62-64) and eventually followed the Maccabees in revolt (1 Macc 2:42-43), sources suggest that the Samaritans did not (see 1 Macc 6:2).<\/p>\nPoor relations came to a climax during the brief period of Jewish independence under the Hasmoneans, when the Jewish ruler, John Hyrcanus, marched against Shechem, conquering and destroying the Samaritan temple on Mt Gerizim (c. 128 BC<\/span>).<\/p>\nUnder Herod the Great, Samaria’s fortunes improved, although animosity still continued between the Samaritans and Jews in Judea and Galilee. Holding the Jerusalem temple to be a false cultic center, and excluded from the inner courts by the Jerusalem authorities, a group of Samaritans desecrated the Jerusalem temple in approximately AD<\/span> 6 by spreading human bones within the temple porches and sanctuary during Passover. Hostility toward Galilean Jews traveling through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem for various feasts was also not uncommon (Lk 9:51-53).<\/p>\nThis animosity continued in Jesus’ day. Both groups excluded the other from their respective cultic centers, the Jerusalem temple and the Samaritan temple on Mt Gerizim. The Samaritans, for example, were forbidden access to the inner courts of the temple, and any offering they might give was considered as if it were from a Gentile. Thus, although probably more accurately defined as “schismatics,” it appears Samaritans were in practice treated as Gentiles. All marriage between the groups was therefore forbidden, and social relations were greatly restricted (Jn 4:9). With such proscribed separation, it is not surprising that any interaction between the two groups was strained. The mere term Samaritan was one of contempt on the lips of Jews (8:48), and among some scribes it possibly would not even be uttered (see the apparent circumlocution in Lk 10:37). The disciples’ reaction to the Samaritan refusal of lodging (9:51-55) is a good example of the animosity felt by Jews for Samaritans at the time.<\/p>\nAlthough there is less evidence for similar attitudes from the Samaritan side, we can assume they existed. It is probable to speculate, therefore, that the Samaritan shunning of hospitality in Luke 9:51-55 was not uncommon toward other Jews whose “face was set toward Jerusalem.”<\/p>\nSamaritan Beliefs<\/p>\nThe main beliefs of the Samaritans demonstrate both the close affinities with and obvious divergences from mainstream Judaism. They held in common with Judaism a strong monotheistic faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In contrast, however, there was an elevating of Mt Gerizim in the north as the only holy place for sacrifice, based on several divergent passages in Deuteronomy and Exodus in the Samaritan text. Mt Gerizim came to be identified with the site of Abel’s first altar (Gn 4:4), the site of Noah’s sacrifice after the Flood (8:20), the meeting place of Abraham and Melchizedek (14:18), the site of Isaac’s intended sacrifice (ch 22), and many other associations.<\/p>\nThe Samaritans held only the first five biblical books (Pentateuch) to be inspired and based their dogma and practice exclusively on these books. Such a narrow canon not only determined the direction of Samaritan theology but further separated them from contemporary Jewish thought. Moses, for example, was more highly exalted by the Samaritans than by the Jews. He was considered not only the chief prophet but also, in later thought, was described as the choicest of men, preexisting from Creation, interceding with God for Israel, and being to man “the light of the world.” The messianic hope of Samaritan theology also reflects this narrow canon. A Messiah from the house of David could not be anticipated, as no evidence for such could be found in the Pentateuch. Rather, the Samaritans awaited a “prophet like Moses” based on Deuteronomy 18:15-18. This anticipated prophet was also designated the “Taheb,” the Restorer, for he would in the last days restore proper cultic worship on Mt Gerizim and bring the worship of the heathen to that site.<\/p>\nIt is clear, therefore, that it was primarily the claim of supremacy for Mt Gerizim that separated this group theologically and culturally from their Jewish neighbors.<\/p>\nJesus and the Samaritans<\/p>\nThe common Jewish perspective on Samaritans as being nearly Gentile was evidently held to some extent by Jesus as well. Jesus refers to the Samaritan leper as “this foreigner” (Lk 17:18) and prohibits his disciples, during their commissioning, from taking the message of the kingdom to either the Samaritans or the Gentiles (Mt 10:5).<\/p>\nYet the overwhelming evidence in the Gospels is that Jesus’ attitude toward the Samaritans differed radically from that of his Jewish contemporaries. When his disciples display the usual Jewish animosity in asking to have the “fire of judgment” rain down upon the inhospitable Samaritans, Jesus “rebuked them” (Lk 9:55). Moreover, he did not refuse to heal the Samaritan leper but honored him as the only one of the ten who remembered to give glory to God (17:11-19). So also in the parable of the Good Samaritan (10:30-37) Jesus clearly breaks through the traditional prejudices in portraying the despised Samaritan, not the respected Jewish priest or Levite, as the true neighbor to the man in need. Here as elsewhere, Jesus, in confronting his audience with God’s demand, breaks through traditional definitions of “righteous” and “outcast.”<\/p>\nJohn 4:4-43 records not only the fascinating exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman but also Jesus’ subsequent two-day stay in the town of Sychar, a Samaritan city. Here we see Jesus not only risking ritual uncleanness by contact with the Samaritan woman at the well (vv 7-9) but also offering the gift of salvation to her (v 10) and the entire Samaritan town (vv 39-41). Through Jesus’ knowledge of her marital life (vv 16-18), the woman concludes he must be a “prophet.” Remembering that the Samaritans were expecting a “prophet like Moses” in the last days, it is possible that the woman was wondering if Jesus was their long-awaited prophetic Messiah (vv 19, 25-26). Jesus not only breaks through the rigid animosity of Jews toward Samaritans by doing the unthinkable in staying with this despised people, but he also accepts their faith in him as “Messiah” (v 26) and “Savior of the world” (v 42). Here, as with his association with the outcasts of Jewish society, Jesus redefines righteousness not according to descent or religious practice but according to faith in himself. In so doing, he shatters the racial and cultural distinctions of his day and lays the foundation for the gospel’s subsequent spread to the entire gentile world.<\/p>\nSamaria in the Mission of the Early Church<\/p>\nIn the great commission given prior to his ascension, Jesus told his disciples to take the gospel to Samaria (Acts 1:8). The missionary activity of the early church did indeed include this region. When, following the martyrdom of Stephen, many Christians were forced to leave Jerusalem (8:1), one such Christian, Philip, spread the gospel in the city of Samaria (v 5). The response was so great to the miracles performed that Peter and John (representing the apostles in Jerusalem) were sent to investigate and to confirm the presence of the Holy Spirit among them. Evidence from the second century AD<\/span> suggests, however, that Christianity did not gain a strong foothold among the Samaritans. For the most part, the Samaritans retained their own religion. A small remnant of the Samaritan sect continues to exist to this day, living near Mt Gerizim (Shechem) and in various cities in Israel.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Bible, Manuscripts and Text of the (Old Testament); Samaria.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>SAMARITANS<\/h3>\nSchismatic group from the Jews. The group resided north of Judea and south of Galilee in hostile tension with its Jewish neighbors. Jesus’ attitude toward this despised group radically contrasted with contemporary sentiment.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Origins of the Sect<\/p>\n• Relations between the Samaritans and the Jews<\/p>\n• Samaritan Beliefs<\/p>\n• Jesus and the Samaritans<\/p>\n• Samaria in the Mission of the Early Church<\/p>\nOrigins of the Sect<\/p>\nIt is difficult to determine precisely when the Samaritan sect arose and when the final break with Judaism occurred. The OT conception of the origin of the Samaritan sect is that they stemmed from repopulated foreign peoples whose worship of God was only a veneer for underlying idolatry. According to 2 Kings 17, the Samaritan sect arose from the exchange of peoples following Israel’s defeat by Assyria in 722 BC<\/span>. Removing the Israelites from the land, the king of Assyria repopulated the area with conquered peoples from Babylon, Cuthah, and various other nations.<\/p>\nThe Samaritans offer a vastly different interpretation of their origin. They claim descent from the Jewish tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (see Jn 4:12) and hold that the exile of Israelites in 722 BC<\/span> by Assyria was neither full-scale nor permanent. To account for the mutual hostility that developed between their group and the Jews, the Samaritan version holds that the Jews were guilty of apostasy, setting up heretical sanctuaries during the time of Eli, rather than staying with the only holy place on Mt Gerizim. The Samaritans therefore considered themselves true Israelites in descent and worship.<\/p>\nFrom Assyrian records of this period, an exchange of population is in fact affirmed for the northern kingdom, but apparently a total deportation was not carried out (see 2 Chr 34:9). This would suggest that there were two elements in the land: first, the native Israelite remnant not exiled; and second, the foreign exiles who were gradually won over to the faith of the native residents, although syncretism no doubt existed during the early period of assimilation.<\/p>\nRelations between the Samaritans and the Jews<\/p>\nThe history of relations between the Samaritans—situated on the north around Mt Gerizim (their holy mountain), Shechem, and Samaria—and Jewish populations in Judea and then later in Galilee is one of fluctuating tensions. The ancient tension between the northern and southern kingdoms was revived with the return of exiles to Jerusalem under the Persian ruler Cyrus’s edict (c. 538 BC<\/span>). The entire southern area was at the time being governed from Samaria in the north by Sanballat, a native ruler of Palestine under Persian authority. The return of exiles to Jerusalem, particularly with their intentions of rebuilding the Jerusalem temple, posed an obvious political threat to his leadership in the north (Ezr 4:7-24; Neh 4:1-9).<\/p>\nOpposition was at first politically motivated but became religious when sometime later, possibly in the fifth century BC<\/span>, a rival temple was erected on Mt Gerizim. An example of Jewish hostility toward the Samaritans about this time comes from Ecclesiasticus 50:25-26 (written approximately 200 BC<\/span>), where the Samaritans are placed below the Edomites and Philistines in esteem and are termed a “foolish people” (cf. Test. Levi 7:2).<\/p>\nJewish disregard for the Samaritans was increased by the Samaritans’ lack of resistance to Antiochus Epiphanes’ campaign (c. 167 BC<\/span>) to promote Hellenistic worship in the area. While part of the Jewish community resisted the transforming of the Jerusalem temple to a temple for Zeus (1 Macc 1:62-64) and eventually followed the Maccabees in revolt (1 Macc 2:42-43), sources suggest that the Samaritans did not (see 1 Macc 6:2).<\/p>\nPoor relations came to a climax during the brief period of Jewish independence under the Hasmoneans, when the Jewish ruler, John Hyrcanus, marched against Shechem, conquering and destroying the Samaritan temple on Mt Gerizim (c. 128 BC<\/span>).<\/p>\nUnder Herod the Great, Samaria’s fortunes improved, although animosity still continued between the Samaritans and Jews in Judea and Galilee. Holding the Jerusalem temple to be a false cultic center, and excluded from the inner courts by the Jerusalem authorities, a group of Samaritans desecrated the Jerusalem temple in approximately AD<\/span> 6 by spreading human bones within the temple porches and sanctuary during Passover. Hostility toward Galilean Jews traveling through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem for various feasts was also not uncommon (Lk 9:51-53).<\/p>\nThis animosity continued in Jesus’ day. Both groups excluded the other from their respective cultic centers, the Jerusalem temple and the Samaritan temple on Mt Gerizim. The Samaritans, for example, were forbidden access to the inner courts of the temple, and any offering they might give was considered as if it were from a Gentile. Thus, although probably more accurately defined as “schismatics,” it appears Samaritans were in practice treated as Gentiles. All marriage between the groups was therefore forbidden, and social relations were greatly restricted (Jn 4:9). With such proscribed separation, it is not surprising that any interaction between the two groups was strained. The mere term Samaritan was one of contempt on the lips of Jews (8:48), and among some scribes it possibly would not even be uttered (see the apparent circumlocution in Lk 10:37). The disciples’ reaction to the Samaritan refusal of lodging (9:51-55) is a good example of the animosity felt by Jews for Samaritans at the time.<\/p>\nAlthough there is less evidence for similar attitudes from the Samaritan side, we can assume they existed. It is probable to speculate, therefore, that the Samaritan shunning of hospitality in Luke 9:51-55 was not uncommon toward other Jews whose “face was set toward Jerusalem.”<\/p>\nSamaritan Beliefs<\/p>\nThe main beliefs of the Samaritans demonstrate both the close affinities with and obvious divergences from mainstream Judaism. They held in common with Judaism a strong monotheistic faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In contrast, however, there was an elevating of Mt Gerizim in the north as the only holy place for sacrifice, based on several divergent passages in Deuteronomy and Exodus in the Samaritan text. Mt Gerizim came to be identified with the site of Abel’s first altar (Gn 4:4), the site of Noah’s sacrifice after the Flood (8:20), the meeting place of Abraham and Melchizedek (14:18), the site of Isaac’s intended sacrifice (ch 22), and many other associations.<\/p>\nThe Samaritans held only the first five biblical books (Pentateuch) to be inspired and based their dogma and practice exclusively on these books. Such a narrow canon not only determined the direction of Samaritan theology but further separated them from contemporary Jewish thought. Moses, for example, was more highly exalted by the Samaritans than by the Jews. He was considered not only the chief prophet but also, in later thought, was described as the choicest of men, preexisting from Creation, interceding with God for Israel, and being to man “the light of the world.” The messianic hope of Samaritan theology also reflects this narrow canon. A Messiah from the house of David could not be anticipated, as no evidence for such could be found in the Pentateuch. Rather, the Samaritans awaited a “prophet like Moses” based on Deuteronomy 18:15-18. This anticipated prophet was also designated the “Taheb,” the Restorer, for he would in the last days restore proper cultic worship on Mt Gerizim and bring the worship of the heathen to that site.<\/p>\nIt is clear, therefore, that it was primarily the claim of supremacy for Mt Gerizim that separated this group theologically and culturally from their Jewish neighbors.<\/p>\nJesus and the Samaritans<\/p>\nThe common Jewish perspective on Samaritans as being nearly Gentile was evidently held to some extent by Jesus as well. Jesus refers to the Samaritan leper as “this foreigner” (Lk 17:18) and prohibits his disciples, during their commissioning, from taking the message of the kingdom to either the Samaritans or the Gentiles (Mt 10:5).<\/p>\nYet the overwhelming evidence in the Gospels is that Jesus’ attitude toward the Samaritans differed radically from that of his Jewish contemporaries. When his disciples display the usual Jewish animosity in asking to have the “fire of judgment” rain down upon the inhospitable Samaritans, Jesus “rebuked them” (Lk 9:55). Moreover, he did not refuse to heal the Samaritan leper but honored him as the only one of the ten who remembered to give glory to God (17:11-19). So also in the parable of the Good Samaritan (10:30-37) Jesus clearly breaks through the traditional prejudices in portraying the despised Samaritan, not the respected Jewish priest or Levite, as the true neighbor to the man in need. Here as elsewhere, Jesus, in confronting his audience with God’s demand, breaks through traditional definitions of “righteous” and “outcast.”<\/p>\nJohn 4:4-43 records not only the fascinating exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman but also Jesus’ subsequent two-day stay in the town of Sychar, a Samaritan city. Here we see Jesus not only risking ritual uncleanness by contact with the Samaritan woman at the well (vv 7-9) but also offering the gift of salvation to her (v 10) and the entire Samaritan town (vv 39-41). Through Jesus’ knowledge of her marital life (vv 16-18), the woman concludes he must be a “prophet.” Remembering that the Samaritans were expecting a “prophet like Moses” in the last days, it is possible that the woman was wondering if Jesus was their long-awaited prophetic Messiah (vv 19, 25-26). Jesus not only breaks through the rigid animosity of Jews toward Samaritans by doing the unthinkable in staying with this despised people, but he also accepts their faith in him as “Messiah” (v 26) and “Savior of the world” (v 42). Here, as with his association with the outcasts of Jewish society, Jesus redefines righteousness not according to descent or religious practice but according to faith in himself. In so doing, he shatters the racial and cultural distinctions of his day and lays the foundation for the gospel’s subsequent spread to the entire gentile world.<\/p>\nSamaria in the Mission of the Early Church<\/p>\nIn the great commission given prior to his ascension, Jesus told his disciples to take the gospel to Samaria (Acts 1:8). The missionary activity of the early church did indeed include this region. When, following the martyrdom of Stephen, many Christians were forced to leave Jerusalem (8:1), one such Christian, Philip, spread the gospel in the city of Samaria (v 5). The response was so great to the miracles performed that Peter and John (representing the apostles in Jerusalem) were sent to investigate and to confirm the presence of the Holy Spirit among them. Evidence from the second century AD<\/span> suggests, however, that Christianity did not gain a strong foothold among the Samaritans. For the most part, the Samaritans retained their own religion. A small remnant of the Samaritan sect continues to exist to this day, living near Mt Gerizim (Shechem) and in various cities in Israel.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Bible, Manuscripts and Text of the (Old Testament); Samaria.<\/p>","summary_ro":"SAMARITANS Schismatic group from the Jews. The group resided north of Judea and south of Galilee in hostile tension with its Jewish neighbors. Jesus’ attitude toward this despised group radically contrasted with contemporary sentiment. Preview • Origins of the Sect • Relations between the Samaritans and the Jews • Samaritan Beliefs • Jesus and the Samaritans • Samaria in the Mission of the Early Church Origins of the Sect It is difficult to determine precisely when the Samaritan sect arose an...","summary_en":"SAMARITANS Schismatic group from the Jews. The group resided north of Judea and south of Galilee in hostile tension with its Jewish neighbors. Jesus’ attitude toward this despised group radically contrasted with contemporary sentiment. Preview • Origins of the Sect • Relations between the Samaritans and the Jews • Samaritan Beliefs • Jesus and the Samaritans • Samaria in the Mission of the Early Church Origins of the Sect It is difficult to determine precisely when the Samaritan sect arose an...","source":"Articles\/S.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":37628,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Travel","title_en":"Travel","content_ro":"<h3>TRAVEL<\/h3>\nIn biblical times travelers found roads bad and often impassable. Sea voyages were made in comparatively small ships, usually by military and commercial personnel, and hardly ever for simple tourist traffic. With little reason to travel, ordinary citizens tended to remain in fairly limited areas. From time to time, there were group migrations, and sometimes people traveled for religious festivals or fled from war or famine.<\/p>\n\nTravel in Old Testament Times<\/p>\nSeveral accounts depict the people of Israel moving over restricted areas to graze their flocks. Joseph’s brothers took their flocks from the south of the land up to Shechem and then to Dothan (Gn 37:12-17), but this was a mere 60 miles (96.5 kilometers). David traveled around Palestine and even went to Moab (1 Sm 22:3). The Danites moved from their home southwest of Jerusalem to the north, just south of the Lebanon Mountains (Jgs 18).<\/p>\nExamples of travel for pasturage, migration, and protection could be multiplied. Such travelers would normally walk, though the ass was used both for riding and as a pack animal. The ox was employed for transporting heavy loads and sometimes for people (Gn 46:5). Later the camel came into general use (1 Kgs 10:2; 2 Kgs 8:9). Little is known of resting places for travelers in OT times. There are only a few references to a “lodging place” (malon<\/span>) in OT narratives (Gn 42:27; 43:21; Ex 4:24).<\/p>\nTravel in New Testament Times<\/p>\nThe Roman world knew a great deal of travel: to fulfill religious obligations at festival time, for trade, for government administration, for military purposes. Not the least among first-century travelers were the early Christian missionaries.<\/p>\nThe advent of Roman peace and authority and the construction of well-made stone roads made travel relatively safe and quick. The modes of travel improved over that known in OT times. Long distances were traveled within the Roman Empire over good roads and in comparative safety. There were some hazards, however, notably in sea travel, from wind, storms, and pirates (Acts 15:39; 18:18-22; Rom 15:24-25; 2 Cor 11:25-26). Paul’s sea journey to Rome, for example, was perilous (Acts 27:1–28:14).<\/p>\nThe NT mentions a number of journeys on foot. Mary journeyed from Galilee to Judea to visit Elizabeth (Lk 1:39-40, 56). The baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the census (2:1-7); Jesus was brought to Jerusalem to comply with the Jewish purification law (v 22). Thus three trips were made from Nazareth to Jerusalem, a distance of about 70 miles (112.6 kilometers), from the time of Jesus’ conception to Mary’s purification. The annual Passover visit was made by Joseph and Mary (vv 41-51). Other journeys are mentioned (Jn 2:13; 5:1; 7:1-10; 12:1). Jesus himself walked to Jericho from Galilee (Mk 1:1-11) and also to the region of Tyre and Sidon (7:24). He was in Samaria more than once (Lk 17:11; Jn 4:4). His last journey to Jerusalem was via Jericho and up through the hills to Jerusalem (Mk 10:1, 46; 11:1). His last journey after the resurrection was to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35).<\/p>\nPaul traveled by sea on each of his missionary journeys (Acts 13:1-14; 15:41–18:22; 18:23–21:17), generally accompanied by friends. He also made many journeys on foot in Palestine, Asia Minor, and the Greek peninsula. But not all travel was on foot in NT times. The ass, used for carrying loads, often carried people. Jesus once rode from Bethphage to Jerusalem, a short but highly symbolic journey (Mt 21:2-7; Mk 11:1-11; Jn 12:12-15). When Joseph traveled with his pregnant wife, Mary, to Bethlehem for the census at the time of Jesus’ birth, Mary probably rode on an ass. The Ethiopian eunuch was riding in a chariot after worshiping at Jerusalem and was joined by Philip traveling on foot (Acts 8:26-38). Roman soldiers both marched and made wide use of horses. When Paul was brought to Caesarea from Jerusalem, mounts were prepared for him (23:23-24).<\/p>\nRoads and Sea Lanes<\/p>\nThe roads of biblical times figured prominently in the geography, topography, and history of Palestine—a land that served as a bridge between Egypt and centers of civilization and trade in the Middle East. Many of the roads were strategically important, both commercially and militarily. Some roads gained significance as pilgrim routes to facilitate travel to religious centers like Jerusalem. Roads in biblical times were of three main types: long-distance international roads, medium-distance intraregional roads, and a variety of roads inside each region or state.<\/p>\n<h5>Great International Roads<\/h5>\nThese linked the Mediterranean coast to the northern Tigris Valley and southern Mesopotamia. Some linked Mesopotamia to Asia Minor, while others led south to Egypt, either along the coast or east of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea and across the Sinai Peninsula. There were trade routes between Anatolia and Assyria early in the second millennium BC<\/span>. Apparently the military campaign referred to in Genesis 14 aimed to secure the great trade route, the King’s Highway, from northern Mesopotamia to Egypt. Military invaders and travelers from Babylonia, Assyria, and Persia would head across the hinterlands of Syria toward the coast before turning south into Palestine and Egypt. The advent of European powers, Greece and Rome, into the Middle East opened up another vast network of international roads for the peoples of the East. Until Roman times, these roads were not surfaced with stone but were cleared pathways. They were very rough, ungraded, and in wet weather, impassable in many places. But they were evidently well defined by “waymarks” and “guideposts” (Jer 31:21). With the coming of the Romans, important roads were built with deep foundations and with large blocks of flat stone at the surface. The remains of these roads are still seen in many places in the Middle East and in Europe. Distance markers or milestones were regularly placed along the roads.<\/p>\n<h5>International North-South Roads in Palestine<\/h5>\nThe roads that linked countries to the north with Egypt passed through Palestine, a natural land bridge. There were three major roads. The coastal road began in Damascus and passed via Hazor across the plain of Esdraelon, through the Megiddo Pass, down the coast past Gaza and into Egypt. This was probably “the way of the sea” (Is 9:1). The Sinai road led from Egypt into the southern Negev and then to Kadesh-barnea, Beersheba, Hebron, Jerusalem, Shechem, Acco, Tyre, and Sidon. The Red Sea road entered the Palestine area from the Gulf of Aqaba, where the ancient port of Elath and Solomon’s port of Ezion-geber stood (Nm 33:35; 2 Chr 8:17). From there it led through the mountainous areas of Transjordan, crossing the deep wadis and then north through the Hauran region to Damascus. This was the road taken by caravans from southern Arabia to Damascus, the ancient King’s Highway (Nm 20:17; 21:22).<\/p>\nThere were other north-south roads of lesser importance. One coastal road led from Joppa via Caesarea and Dor to Acco, where it linked with the Sinai road. Evidently it was not very significant until Roman times, when the port of Caesarea was built. The marshes in the plain of Sharon posed many problems. The plain of Esdraelon was also marshy and interrupted the roads north in bad seasons. A raised road across the swampy sections was eventually constructed. Another road led north from Hazor, branching off the main trunk road to Damascus. The Jordan Valley road skirted the southwestern part of Galilee and led down the Jordan Valley to Jericho.<\/p>\n<h5>East-West Roads<\/h5>\nSeveral important roads ran east-west, intersecting the larger roads leading north. One such road led from Gaza to Beersheba and then down the Arabah, with an offshoot to Petra. Another led from Ashkelon, via Gath, to Hebron and on to En-gedi on the Dead Sea. Another road led from Joppa east up the valley of Aijalon (Jos 10:6-14) to Bethel and on to Jericho. One well-used road led from Joppa to Shechem, across the Jordan at Adam (3:16) and into Gilead in Transjordan. Other roads led from Acco eastward to Galilee and also up the coast to Tyre and Sidon. There were, indeed, numerous east-west roads that provided contact between various parts of Palestine. In Roman times, when the speedy movement of armies was essential, some of the old roads were greatly improved and new ones built.<\/p>\n<h5>Sea Lanes<\/h5>\nThe people of Israel, unlike the Phoenicians, seldom used the sea lanes. When Solomon planned to send ships down the Red Sea to Ophir (1 Kgs 9:26-28), he used Phoenician seamen. Jehoshaphat planned a similar expedition, but his ships were wrecked (22:48-49). Coastal traffic in OT times was in the hands of Philistines and Phoenicians. There were several ports along the Mediterranean Sea coast, such as Gaza, Joppa, Dor, and Acco, but none was very good. There were also sea lanes linking the Mediterranean coast with Egypt and distant Tarshish (probably Spain). The other coastal water was the Gulf of Aqaba with its two ports—Ezion-geber for Transjordan, and Elath for west of the Jordan. Solomon’s fleet used Ezion-geber as its home port.<\/p>\n\nIn NT times things changed considerably. The Middle East produced commodities used by peoples farther west, especially the Romans. Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria handled both cargo and travelers. Smaller ports like those in Palestine and many others around the coast of Asia Minor provided a haven for ships. One ingenious scheme to avoid a 200-mile (321.8-kilometer) journey around the Greek peninsula was to drag small boats across the five-mile- (8-kilometer-) wide isthmus at Corinth. Even the largest ship in NT times was in danger from wind and storm at sea (Acts 27), so sea travel was undertaken preferably when the risk of storms was minimal, roughly from November to March. There was a lot of sea traffic in the Mediterranean Sea at appropriate seasons, largely for trade. Grain ships crossed regularly from Rome to Egypt and to the east.<\/p>\nShips were driven by sail power supplemented as necessary by oars operated by slaves. Some indication of the size of ships comes from the discovery of ancient wrecks and from Latin and Greek literature. An old dry dock 130 feet (39.6 meters) long found near Athens was once used for Greek war vessels, which were smaller than the cargo vessels. The Roman writer Lucian refers to an Alexandrian grain ship 180 feet (54.9 meters) long, suggesting a capacity of about 1,200 tons (1,088.6 metric tons). Paul’s ship carried 276 persons (Acts 27:37). Modern underwater archaeology is providing valuable information about these ancient ships.<\/p>\n<h5>Reasons for Travel<\/h5>\nThe most important reason for travel in NT times was for trade and commerce, which involved far more than merely transporting goods. There were agents, supervisors, insurers of cargo, bankers, and a whole range of people involved in the acquisition and safe delivery of the cargo.<\/p>\nMilitary travel was considerable. A wide variety of tasks had to be undertaken in the way of reconnaissance, procuring of supplies, forward arrangements for the bivouacking of troops, and the transport of both troops and equipment.<\/p>\nSome travelers were tradespeople changing their place of employment, like Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2-3). Aquila had traveled from Pontus on the Black Sea to Rome and then, in a time of persecution, he had fled to Corinth with his wife. Many others traveled for similar reasons.<\/p>\nPeople on religious pilgrimage traveled by land or sea. Jews from many lands journeyed to Jerusalem for the annual Passover festivities (cf. Acts 2:5-11). Non-Jews went to religious centers at Ephesus, Athens, and Eleusis, where there were important temples. Many minor temples also attracted pilgrims. The construction of new temples and a variety of government administration buildings brought craftsmen from afar. Often the materials used in construction had to be transported to the site. Some people made trips for health reasons to temples famed for healing miracles or to enjoy the benefits of hot springs like those at Capernaum or Tiberias. Athletes traveled to centers for important contests like the Olympic games, and crowds of people flocked to witness the spectacle. Some travelers were students or teachers going to great centers of learning—the universities of those times. Yet others traveled as official emissaries bearing important government and commercial documents. Despite all this activity, vast numbers of ordinary citizens hardly ever traveled more than a few miles from their homes.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>TRAVEL<\/h3>\nIn biblical times travelers found roads bad and often impassable. Sea voyages were made in comparatively small ships, usually by military and commercial personnel, and hardly ever for simple tourist traffic. With little reason to travel, ordinary citizens tended to remain in fairly limited areas. From time to time, there were group migrations, and sometimes people traveled for religious festivals or fled from war or famine.<\/p>\n\nTravel in Old Testament Times<\/p>\nSeveral accounts depict the people of Israel moving over restricted areas to graze their flocks. Joseph’s brothers took their flocks from the south of the land up to Shechem and then to Dothan (Gn 37:12-17), but this was a mere 60 miles (96.5 kilometers). David traveled around Palestine and even went to Moab (1 Sm 22:3). The Danites moved from their home southwest of Jerusalem to the north, just south of the Lebanon Mountains (Jgs 18).<\/p>\nExamples of travel for pasturage, migration, and protection could be multiplied. Such travelers would normally walk, though the ass was used both for riding and as a pack animal. The ox was employed for transporting heavy loads and sometimes for people (Gn 46:5). Later the camel came into general use (1 Kgs 10:2; 2 Kgs 8:9). Little is known of resting places for travelers in OT times. There are only a few references to a “lodging place” (malon<\/span>) in OT narratives (Gn 42:27; 43:21; Ex 4:24).<\/p>\nTravel in New Testament Times<\/p>\nThe Roman world knew a great deal of travel: to fulfill religious obligations at festival time, for trade, for government administration, for military purposes. Not the least among first-century travelers were the early Christian missionaries.<\/p>\nThe advent of Roman peace and authority and the construction of well-made stone roads made travel relatively safe and quick. The modes of travel improved over that known in OT times. Long distances were traveled within the Roman Empire over good roads and in comparative safety. There were some hazards, however, notably in sea travel, from wind, storms, and pirates (Acts 15:39; 18:18-22; Rom 15:24-25; 2 Cor 11:25-26). Paul’s sea journey to Rome, for example, was perilous (Acts 27:1–28:14).<\/p>\nThe NT mentions a number of journeys on foot. Mary journeyed from Galilee to Judea to visit Elizabeth (Lk 1:39-40, 56). The baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the census (2:1-7); Jesus was brought to Jerusalem to comply with the Jewish purification law (v 22). Thus three trips were made from Nazareth to Jerusalem, a distance of about 70 miles (112.6 kilometers), from the time of Jesus’ conception to Mary’s purification. The annual Passover visit was made by Joseph and Mary (vv 41-51). Other journeys are mentioned (Jn 2:13; 5:1; 7:1-10; 12:1). Jesus himself walked to Jericho from Galilee (Mk 1:1-11) and also to the region of Tyre and Sidon (7:24). He was in Samaria more than once (Lk 17:11; Jn 4:4). His last journey to Jerusalem was via Jericho and up through the hills to Jerusalem (Mk 10:1, 46; 11:1). His last journey after the resurrection was to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35).<\/p>\nPaul traveled by sea on each of his missionary journeys (Acts 13:1-14; 15:41–18:22; 18:23–21:17), generally accompanied by friends. He also made many journeys on foot in Palestine, Asia Minor, and the Greek peninsula. But not all travel was on foot in NT times. The ass, used for carrying loads, often carried people. Jesus once rode from Bethphage to Jerusalem, a short but highly symbolic journey (Mt 21:2-7; Mk 11:1-11; Jn 12:12-15). When Joseph traveled with his pregnant wife, Mary, to Bethlehem for the census at the time of Jesus’ birth, Mary probably rode on an ass. The Ethiopian eunuch was riding in a chariot after worshiping at Jerusalem and was joined by Philip traveling on foot (Acts 8:26-38). Roman soldiers both marched and made wide use of horses. When Paul was brought to Caesarea from Jerusalem, mounts were prepared for him (23:23-24).<\/p>\nRoads and Sea Lanes<\/p>\nThe roads of biblical times figured prominently in the geography, topography, and history of Palestine—a land that served as a bridge between Egypt and centers of civilization and trade in the Middle East. Many of the roads were strategically important, both commercially and militarily. Some roads gained significance as pilgrim routes to facilitate travel to religious centers like Jerusalem. Roads in biblical times were of three main types: long-distance international roads, medium-distance intraregional roads, and a variety of roads inside each region or state.<\/p>\n<h5>Great International Roads<\/h5>\nThese linked the Mediterranean coast to the northern Tigris Valley and southern Mesopotamia. Some linked Mesopotamia to Asia Minor, while others led south to Egypt, either along the coast or east of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea and across the Sinai Peninsula. There were trade routes between Anatolia and Assyria early in the second millennium BC<\/span>. Apparently the military campaign referred to in Genesis 14 aimed to secure the great trade route, the King’s Highway, from northern Mesopotamia to Egypt. Military invaders and travelers from Babylonia, Assyria, and Persia would head across the hinterlands of Syria toward the coast before turning south into Palestine and Egypt. The advent of European powers, Greece and Rome, into the Middle East opened up another vast network of international roads for the peoples of the East. Until Roman times, these roads were not surfaced with stone but were cleared pathways. They were very rough, ungraded, and in wet weather, impassable in many places. But they were evidently well defined by “waymarks” and “guideposts” (Jer 31:21). With the coming of the Romans, important roads were built with deep foundations and with large blocks of flat stone at the surface. The remains of these roads are still seen in many places in the Middle East and in Europe. Distance markers or milestones were regularly placed along the roads.<\/p>\n<h5>International North-South Roads in Palestine<\/h5>\nThe roads that linked countries to the north with Egypt passed through Palestine, a natural land bridge. There were three major roads. The coastal road began in Damascus and passed via Hazor across the plain of Esdraelon, through the Megiddo Pass, down the coast past Gaza and into Egypt. This was probably “the way of the sea” (Is 9:1). The Sinai road led from Egypt into the southern Negev and then to Kadesh-barnea, Beersheba, Hebron, Jerusalem, Shechem, Acco, Tyre, and Sidon. The Red Sea road entered the Palestine area from the Gulf of Aqaba, where the ancient port of Elath and Solomon’s port of Ezion-geber stood (Nm 33:35; 2 Chr 8:17). From there it led through the mountainous areas of Transjordan, crossing the deep wadis and then north through the Hauran region to Damascus. This was the road taken by caravans from southern Arabia to Damascus, the ancient King’s Highway (Nm 20:17; 21:22).<\/p>\nThere were other north-south roads of lesser importance. One coastal road led from Joppa via Caesarea and Dor to Acco, where it linked with the Sinai road. Evidently it was not very significant until Roman times, when the port of Caesarea was built. The marshes in the plain of Sharon posed many problems. The plain of Esdraelon was also marshy and interrupted the roads north in bad seasons. A raised road across the swampy sections was eventually constructed. Another road led north from Hazor, branching off the main trunk road to Damascus. The Jordan Valley road skirted the southwestern part of Galilee and led down the Jordan Valley to Jericho.<\/p>\n<h5>East-West Roads<\/h5>\nSeveral important roads ran east-west, intersecting the larger roads leading north. One such road led from Gaza to Beersheba and then down the Arabah, with an offshoot to Petra. Another led from Ashkelon, via Gath, to Hebron and on to En-gedi on the Dead Sea. Another road led from Joppa east up the valley of Aijalon (Jos 10:6-14) to Bethel and on to Jericho. One well-used road led from Joppa to Shechem, across the Jordan at Adam (3:16) and into Gilead in Transjordan. Other roads led from Acco eastward to Galilee and also up the coast to Tyre and Sidon. There were, indeed, numerous east-west roads that provided contact between various parts of Palestine. In Roman times, when the speedy movement of armies was essential, some of the old roads were greatly improved and new ones built.<\/p>\n<h5>Sea Lanes<\/h5>\nThe people of Israel, unlike the Phoenicians, seldom used the sea lanes. When Solomon planned to send ships down the Red Sea to Ophir (1 Kgs 9:26-28), he used Phoenician seamen. Jehoshaphat planned a similar expedition, but his ships were wrecked (22:48-49). Coastal traffic in OT times was in the hands of Philistines and Phoenicians. There were several ports along the Mediterranean Sea coast, such as Gaza, Joppa, Dor, and Acco, but none was very good. There were also sea lanes linking the Mediterranean coast with Egypt and distant Tarshish (probably Spain). The other coastal water was the Gulf of Aqaba with its two ports—Ezion-geber for Transjordan, and Elath for west of the Jordan. Solomon’s fleet used Ezion-geber as its home port.<\/p>\n\nIn NT times things changed considerably. The Middle East produced commodities used by peoples farther west, especially the Romans. Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria handled both cargo and travelers. Smaller ports like those in Palestine and many others around the coast of Asia Minor provided a haven for ships. One ingenious scheme to avoid a 200-mile (321.8-kilometer) journey around the Greek peninsula was to drag small boats across the five-mile- (8-kilometer-) wide isthmus at Corinth. Even the largest ship in NT times was in danger from wind and storm at sea (Acts 27), so sea travel was undertaken preferably when the risk of storms was minimal, roughly from November to March. There was a lot of sea traffic in the Mediterranean Sea at appropriate seasons, largely for trade. Grain ships crossed regularly from Rome to Egypt and to the east.<\/p>\nShips were driven by sail power supplemented as necessary by oars operated by slaves. Some indication of the size of ships comes from the discovery of ancient wrecks and from Latin and Greek literature. An old dry dock 130 feet (39.6 meters) long found near Athens was once used for Greek war vessels, which were smaller than the cargo vessels. The Roman writer Lucian refers to an Alexandrian grain ship 180 feet (54.9 meters) long, suggesting a capacity of about 1,200 tons (1,088.6 metric tons). Paul’s ship carried 276 persons (Acts 27:37). Modern underwater archaeology is providing valuable information about these ancient ships.<\/p>\n<h5>Reasons for Travel<\/h5>\nThe most important reason for travel in NT times was for trade and commerce, which involved far more than merely transporting goods. There were agents, supervisors, insurers of cargo, bankers, and a whole range of people involved in the acquisition and safe delivery of the cargo.<\/p>\nMilitary travel was considerable. A wide variety of tasks had to be undertaken in the way of reconnaissance, procuring of supplies, forward arrangements for the bivouacking of troops, and the transport of both troops and equipment.<\/p>\nSome travelers were tradespeople changing their place of employment, like Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2-3). Aquila had traveled from Pontus on the Black Sea to Rome and then, in a time of persecution, he had fled to Corinth with his wife. Many others traveled for similar reasons.<\/p>\nPeople on religious pilgrimage traveled by land or sea. Jews from many lands journeyed to Jerusalem for the annual Passover festivities (cf. Acts 2:5-11). Non-Jews went to religious centers at Ephesus, Athens, and Eleusis, where there were important temples. Many minor temples also attracted pilgrims. The construction of new temples and a variety of government administration buildings brought craftsmen from afar. Often the materials used in construction had to be transported to the site. Some people made trips for health reasons to temples famed for healing miracles or to enjoy the benefits of hot springs like those at Capernaum or Tiberias. Athletes traveled to centers for important contests like the Olympic games, and crowds of people flocked to witness the spectacle. Some travelers were students or teachers going to great centers of learning—the universities of those times. Yet others traveled as official emissaries bearing important government and commercial documents. Despite all this activity, vast numbers of ordinary citizens hardly ever traveled more than a few miles from their homes.<\/p>","summary_ro":"TRAVEL In biblical times travelers found roads bad and often impassable. Sea voyages were made in comparatively small ships, usually by military and commercial personnel, and hardly ever for simple tourist traffic. With little reason to travel, ordinary citizens tended to remain in fairly limited areas. From time to time, there were group migrations, and sometimes people traveled for religious festivals or fled from war or famine. Travel in Old Testament Times Several accounts depict the peop...","summary_en":"TRAVEL In biblical times travelers found roads bad and often impassable. Sea voyages were made in comparatively small ships, usually by military and commercial personnel, and hardly ever for simple tourist traffic. With little reason to travel, ordinary citizens tended to remain in fairly limited areas. From time to time, there were group migrations, and sometimes people traveled for religious festivals or fled from war or famine. Travel in Old Testament Times Several accounts depict the peop...","source":"Articles\/T.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":56059,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:11","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:11","content_ro":"17:11-19<\/strong> This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.<\/p>","content_en":"17:11-19<\/strong> This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:11-19 This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.","summary_en":"17:11-19 This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":56060,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:11","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:11","content_ro":"17:11<\/strong> As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem:<\/em> See study note on 9:51–19:44.<\/p>","content_en":"17:11<\/strong> As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem:<\/em> See study note on 9:51–19:44.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem: See study note on 9:51–19:44.","summary_en":"17:11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem: See study note on 9:51–19:44.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83685,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:11","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:11","content_ro":"17:11-19<\/strong> This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.<\/p>","content_en":"17:11-19<\/strong> This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:11-19 This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.","summary_en":"17:11-19 This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83686,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:11","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:11","content_ro":"17:11<\/strong> As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem:<\/em> See study note on 9:51–19:44.<\/p>","content_en":"17:11<\/strong> As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem:<\/em> See study note on 9:51–19:44.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem: See study note on 9:51–19:44.","summary_en":"17:11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem: See study note on 9:51–19:44.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111311,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:11","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:11","content_ro":"17:11-19<\/strong> This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.<\/p>","content_en":"17:11-19<\/strong> This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:11-19 This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.","summary_en":"17:11-19 This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111312,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:11","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:11","content_ro":"17:11<\/strong> As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem:<\/em> See study note on 9:51–19:44.<\/p>","content_en":"17:11<\/strong> As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem:<\/em> See study note on 9:51–19:44.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem: See study note on 9:51–19:44.","summary_en":"17:11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem: See study note on 9:51–19:44.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138937,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:11","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:11","content_ro":"17:11-19<\/strong> This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.<\/p>","content_en":"17:11-19<\/strong> This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:11-19 This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.","summary_en":"17:11-19 This healing reveals Jesus’ compassion and power; in Luke, the blessings of salvation are joyfully received by many outside Israel.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138938,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:11","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:11","content_ro":"17:11<\/strong> As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem:<\/em> See study note on 9:51–19:44.<\/p>","content_en":"17:11<\/strong> As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem:<\/em> See study note on 9:51–19:44.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem: See study note on 9:51–19:44.","summary_en":"17:11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem: See study note on 9:51–19:44.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"12":[{"id":56061,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:12","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:12","content_ro":"17:12<\/strong> ten men with leprosy stood at a distance:<\/em> See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).<\/p>","content_en":"17:12<\/strong> ten men with leprosy stood at a distance:<\/em> See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:12 ten men with leprosy stood at a distance: See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).","summary_en":"17:12 ten men with leprosy stood at a distance: See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83687,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:12","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:12","content_ro":"17:12<\/strong> ten men with leprosy stood at a distance:<\/em> See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).<\/p>","content_en":"17:12<\/strong> ten men with leprosy stood at a distance:<\/em> See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:12 ten men with leprosy stood at a distance: See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).","summary_en":"17:12 ten men with leprosy stood at a distance: See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111313,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:12","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:12","content_ro":"17:12<\/strong> ten men with leprosy stood at a distance:<\/em> See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).<\/p>","content_en":"17:12<\/strong> ten men with leprosy stood at a distance:<\/em> See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:12 ten men with leprosy stood at a distance: See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).","summary_en":"17:12 ten men with leprosy stood at a distance: See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138939,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:12","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:12","content_ro":"17:12<\/strong> ten men with leprosy stood at a distance:<\/em> See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).<\/p>","content_en":"17:12<\/strong> ten men with leprosy stood at a distance:<\/em> See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:12 ten men with leprosy stood at a distance: See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).","summary_en":"17:12 ten men with leprosy stood at a distance: See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"14":[{"id":56062,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:14","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:14","content_ro":"17:14<\/strong> Go show yourselves to the priests:<\/em> Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went:<\/em> To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).<\/p>","content_en":"17:14<\/strong> Go show yourselves to the priests:<\/em> Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went:<\/em> To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:14 Go show yourselves to the priests: Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went: To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).","summary_en":"17:14 Go show yourselves to the priests: Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went: To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83688,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:14","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:14","content_ro":"17:14<\/strong> Go show yourselves to the priests:<\/em> Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went:<\/em> To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).<\/p>","content_en":"17:14<\/strong> Go show yourselves to the priests:<\/em> Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went:<\/em> To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:14 Go show yourselves to the priests: Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went: To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).","summary_en":"17:14 Go show yourselves to the priests: Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went: To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111314,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:14","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:14","content_ro":"17:14<\/strong> Go show yourselves to the priests:<\/em> Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went:<\/em> To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).<\/p>","content_en":"17:14<\/strong> Go show yourselves to the priests:<\/em> Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went:<\/em> To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:14 Go show yourselves to the priests: Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went: To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).","summary_en":"17:14 Go show yourselves to the priests: Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went: To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138940,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:14","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:14","content_ro":"17:14<\/strong> Go show yourselves to the priests:<\/em> Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went:<\/em> To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).<\/p>","content_en":"17:14<\/strong> Go show yourselves to the priests:<\/em> Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went:<\/em> To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:14 Go show yourselves to the priests: Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went: To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).","summary_en":"17:14 Go show yourselves to the priests: Leviticus 14:2-32 sets out guidelines for priests to use in diagnosing leprosy and pronouncing a leper clean (see study notes on Luke 5:12, 14). • as they went: To leave without yet being healed required faith, which Jesus was testing (cp. 2 Kgs 5:9-14).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"15":[{"id":65658,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke–Acts","title_en":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke–Acts","content_ro":"<h3>Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts<\/h3>\nThroughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20).<\/p>\nThis motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoicing. This theme emerges toward the beginning of the Gospel in the songs of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67-79). The Old Testament prophets had predicted that nature itself would break forth in songs of praise when God’s salvation arrived (see Isa 55:12). When Jesus entered Jerusalem at the end of his ministry, his disciples shouted and sang, “praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37). The Pharisees called on Jesus to rebuke his disciples, but he responded, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (19:37-40). At the end of the Gospel, the disciples “returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God” (24:52-53). The arrival of God’s marvelous salvation is a cause for rejoicing and praise.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 55:12; Luke 1:44-47, 64, 68; 2:13-14, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37-40; 24:51-53; Acts 2:47; 3:8-9; 4:21; 11:18; 13:48; 21:20<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts<\/h3>\nThroughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20).<\/p>\nThis motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoicing. This theme emerges toward the beginning of the Gospel in the songs of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67-79). The Old Testament prophets had predicted that nature itself would break forth in songs of praise when God’s salvation arrived (see Isa 55:12). When Jesus entered Jerusalem at the end of his ministry, his disciples shouted and sang, “praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37). The Pharisees called on Jesus to rebuke his disciples, but he responded, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (19:37-40). At the end of the Gospel, the disciples “returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God” (24:52-53). The arrival of God’s marvelous salvation is a cause for rejoicing and praise.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 55:12; Luke 1:44-47, 64, 68; 2:13-14, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37-40; 24:51-53; Acts 2:47; 3:8-9; 4:21; 11:18; 13:48; 21:20<\/p>","summary_ro":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts Throughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20). This motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoic...","summary_en":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts Throughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20). This motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoic...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":93284,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke–Acts","title_en":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke–Acts","content_ro":"<h3>Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts<\/h3>\nThroughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20).<\/p>\nThis motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoicing. This theme emerges toward the beginning of the Gospel in the songs of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67-79). The Old Testament prophets had predicted that nature itself would break forth in songs of praise when God’s salvation arrived (see Isa 55:12). When Jesus entered Jerusalem at the end of his ministry, his disciples shouted and sang, “praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37). The Pharisees called on Jesus to rebuke his disciples, but he responded, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (19:37-40). At the end of the Gospel, the disciples “returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God” (24:52-53). The arrival of God’s marvelous salvation is a cause for rejoicing and praise.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 55:12; Luke 1:44-47, 64, 68; 2:13-14, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37-40; 24:51-53; Acts 2:47; 3:8-9; 4:21; 11:18; 13:48; 21:20<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts<\/h3>\nThroughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20).<\/p>\nThis motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoicing. This theme emerges toward the beginning of the Gospel in the songs of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67-79). The Old Testament prophets had predicted that nature itself would break forth in songs of praise when God’s salvation arrived (see Isa 55:12). When Jesus entered Jerusalem at the end of his ministry, his disciples shouted and sang, “praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37). The Pharisees called on Jesus to rebuke his disciples, but he responded, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (19:37-40). At the end of the Gospel, the disciples “returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God” (24:52-53). The arrival of God’s marvelous salvation is a cause for rejoicing and praise.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 55:12; Luke 1:44-47, 64, 68; 2:13-14, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37-40; 24:51-53; Acts 2:47; 3:8-9; 4:21; 11:18; 13:48; 21:20<\/p>","summary_ro":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts Throughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20). This motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoic...","summary_en":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts Throughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20). This motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoic...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":120910,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke–Acts","title_en":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke–Acts","content_ro":"<h3>Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts<\/h3>\nThroughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20).<\/p>\nThis motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoicing. This theme emerges toward the beginning of the Gospel in the songs of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67-79). The Old Testament prophets had predicted that nature itself would break forth in songs of praise when God’s salvation arrived (see Isa 55:12). When Jesus entered Jerusalem at the end of his ministry, his disciples shouted and sang, “praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37). The Pharisees called on Jesus to rebuke his disciples, but he responded, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (19:37-40). At the end of the Gospel, the disciples “returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God” (24:52-53). The arrival of God’s marvelous salvation is a cause for rejoicing and praise.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 55:12; Luke 1:44-47, 64, 68; 2:13-14, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37-40; 24:51-53; Acts 2:47; 3:8-9; 4:21; 11:18; 13:48; 21:20<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts<\/h3>\nThroughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20).<\/p>\nThis motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoicing. This theme emerges toward the beginning of the Gospel in the songs of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67-79). The Old Testament prophets had predicted that nature itself would break forth in songs of praise when God’s salvation arrived (see Isa 55:12). When Jesus entered Jerusalem at the end of his ministry, his disciples shouted and sang, “praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37). The Pharisees called on Jesus to rebuke his disciples, but he responded, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (19:37-40). At the end of the Gospel, the disciples “returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God” (24:52-53). The arrival of God’s marvelous salvation is a cause for rejoicing and praise.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 55:12; Luke 1:44-47, 64, 68; 2:13-14, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37-40; 24:51-53; Acts 2:47; 3:8-9; 4:21; 11:18; 13:48; 21:20<\/p>","summary_ro":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts Throughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20). This motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoic...","summary_en":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts Throughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20). This motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoic...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":148536,"type":"theme_note","type_label":"Temă biblică","type_icon":"🎯","type_color":"#ef4444","title_ro":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke–Acts","title_en":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke–Acts","content_ro":"<h3>Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts<\/h3>\nThroughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20).<\/p>\nThis motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoicing. This theme emerges toward the beginning of the Gospel in the songs of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67-79). The Old Testament prophets had predicted that nature itself would break forth in songs of praise when God’s salvation arrived (see Isa 55:12). When Jesus entered Jerusalem at the end of his ministry, his disciples shouted and sang, “praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37). The Pharisees called on Jesus to rebuke his disciples, but he responded, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (19:37-40). At the end of the Gospel, the disciples “returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God” (24:52-53). The arrival of God’s marvelous salvation is a cause for rejoicing and praise.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 55:12; Luke 1:44-47, 64, 68; 2:13-14, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37-40; 24:51-53; Acts 2:47; 3:8-9; 4:21; 11:18; 13:48; 21:20<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts<\/h3>\nThroughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20).<\/p>\nThis motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoicing. This theme emerges toward the beginning of the Gospel in the songs of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67-79). The Old Testament prophets had predicted that nature itself would break forth in songs of praise when God’s salvation arrived (see Isa 55:12). When Jesus entered Jerusalem at the end of his ministry, his disciples shouted and sang, “praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37). The Pharisees called on Jesus to rebuke his disciples, but he responded, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (19:37-40). At the end of the Gospel, the disciples “returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God” (24:52-53). The arrival of God’s marvelous salvation is a cause for rejoicing and praise.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nIsa 55:12; Luke 1:44-47, 64, 68; 2:13-14, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37-40; 24:51-53; Acts 2:47; 3:8-9; 4:21; 11:18; 13:48; 21:20<\/p>","summary_ro":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts Throughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20). This motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoic...","summary_en":"Praise and Rejoicing in Luke—Acts Throughout Luke’s Gospel, the recipients of God’s grace praise him for his wonderful deeds (Luke 1:44, 46, 64, 68; 2:13, 38; 5:25-26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15-18; 18:43; 19:37; 24:53). In Acts, praise accompanies healings (3:8-9; 4:21-22) and the salvation of the Gentiles (Acts 11:18; 13:48; 21:19-20). This motif of praise is closely linked to a key theme in Luke, that the fulfillment of God’s promise in the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a cause for joy and rejoic...","source":"ThemeNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"16":[{"id":56063,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:16","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:16","content_ro":"17:16<\/strong> The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan<\/em>,<\/em> a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).<\/p>","content_en":"17:16<\/strong> The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan<\/em>,<\/em> a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:16 The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan, a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).","summary_en":"17:16 The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan, a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83689,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:16","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:16","content_ro":"17:16<\/strong> The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan<\/em>,<\/em> a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).<\/p>","content_en":"17:16<\/strong> The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan<\/em>,<\/em> a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:16 The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan, a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).","summary_en":"17:16 The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan, a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111315,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:16","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:16","content_ro":"17:16<\/strong> The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan<\/em>,<\/em> a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).<\/p>","content_en":"17:16<\/strong> The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan<\/em>,<\/em> a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:16 The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan, a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).","summary_en":"17:16 The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan, a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138941,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:16","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:16","content_ro":"17:16<\/strong> The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan<\/em>,<\/em> a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).<\/p>","content_en":"17:16<\/strong> The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan<\/em>,<\/em> a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:16 The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan, a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).","summary_en":"17:16 The one man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan, a hated foreigner in the eyes of most Jews (see study note on 10:33).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"18":[{"id":33669,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Samaritans","title_en":"Samaritans","content_ro":"<h3>SAMARITANS<\/h3>\nSchismatic group from the Jews. The group resided north of Judea and south of Galilee in hostile tension with its Jewish neighbors. Jesus’ attitude toward this despised group radically contrasted with contemporary sentiment.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Origins of the Sect<\/p>\n• Relations between the Samaritans and the Jews<\/p>\n• Samaritan Beliefs<\/p>\n• Jesus and the Samaritans<\/p>\n• Samaria in the Mission of the Early Church<\/p>\nOrigins of the Sect<\/p>\nIt is difficult to determine precisely when the Samaritan sect arose and when the final break with Judaism occurred. The OT conception of the origin of the Samaritan sect is that they stemmed from repopulated foreign peoples whose worship of God was only a veneer for underlying idolatry. According to 2 Kings 17, the Samaritan sect arose from the exchange of peoples following Israel’s defeat by Assyria in 722 BC<\/span>. Removing the Israelites from the land, the king of Assyria repopulated the area with conquered peoples from Babylon, Cuthah, and various other nations.<\/p>\nThe Samaritans offer a vastly different interpretation of their origin. They claim descent from the Jewish tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (see Jn 4:12) and hold that the exile of Israelites in 722 BC<\/span> by Assyria was neither full-scale nor permanent. To account for the mutual hostility that developed between their group and the Jews, the Samaritan version holds that the Jews were guilty of apostasy, setting up heretical sanctuaries during the time of Eli, rather than staying with the only holy place on Mt Gerizim. The Samaritans therefore considered themselves true Israelites in descent and worship.<\/p>\nFrom Assyrian records of this period, an exchange of population is in fact affirmed for the northern kingdom, but apparently a total deportation was not carried out (see 2 Chr 34:9). This would suggest that there were two elements in the land: first, the native Israelite remnant not exiled; and second, the foreign exiles who were gradually won over to the faith of the native residents, although syncretism no doubt existed during the early period of assimilation.<\/p>\nRelations between the Samaritans and the Jews<\/p>\nThe history of relations between the Samaritans—situated on the north around Mt Gerizim (their holy mountain), Shechem, and Samaria—and Jewish populations in Judea and then later in Galilee is one of fluctuating tensions. The ancient tension between the northern and southern kingdoms was revived with the return of exiles to Jerusalem under the Persian ruler Cyrus’s edict (c. 538 BC<\/span>). The entire southern area was at the time being governed from Samaria in the north by Sanballat, a native ruler of Palestine under Persian authority. The return of exiles to Jerusalem, particularly with their intentions of rebuilding the Jerusalem temple, posed an obvious political threat to his leadership in the north (Ezr 4:7-24; Neh 4:1-9).<\/p>\nOpposition was at first politically motivated but became religious when sometime later, possibly in the fifth century BC<\/span>, a rival temple was erected on Mt Gerizim. An example of Jewish hostility toward the Samaritans about this time comes from Ecclesiasticus 50:25-26 (written approximately 200 BC<\/span>), where the Samaritans are placed below the Edomites and Philistines in esteem and are termed a “foolish people” (cf. Test. Levi 7:2).<\/p>\nJewish disregard for the Samaritans was increased by the Samaritans’ lack of resistance to Antiochus Epiphanes’ campaign (c. 167 BC<\/span>) to promote Hellenistic worship in the area. While part of the Jewish community resisted the transforming of the Jerusalem temple to a temple for Zeus (1 Macc 1:62-64) and eventually followed the Maccabees in revolt (1 Macc 2:42-43), sources suggest that the Samaritans did not (see 1 Macc 6:2).<\/p>\nPoor relations came to a climax during the brief period of Jewish independence under the Hasmoneans, when the Jewish ruler, John Hyrcanus, marched against Shechem, conquering and destroying the Samaritan temple on Mt Gerizim (c. 128 BC<\/span>).<\/p>\nUnder Herod the Great, Samaria’s fortunes improved, although animosity still continued between the Samaritans and Jews in Judea and Galilee. Holding the Jerusalem temple to be a false cultic center, and excluded from the inner courts by the Jerusalem authorities, a group of Samaritans desecrated the Jerusalem temple in approximately AD<\/span> 6 by spreading human bones within the temple porches and sanctuary during Passover. Hostility toward Galilean Jews traveling through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem for various feasts was also not uncommon (Lk 9:51-53).<\/p>\nThis animosity continued in Jesus’ day. Both groups excluded the other from their respective cultic centers, the Jerusalem temple and the Samaritan temple on Mt Gerizim. The Samaritans, for example, were forbidden access to the inner courts of the temple, and any offering they might give was considered as if it were from a Gentile. Thus, although probably more accurately defined as “schismatics,” it appears Samaritans were in practice treated as Gentiles. All marriage between the groups was therefore forbidden, and social relations were greatly restricted (Jn 4:9). With such proscribed separation, it is not surprising that any interaction between the two groups was strained. The mere term Samaritan was one of contempt on the lips of Jews (8:48), and among some scribes it possibly would not even be uttered (see the apparent circumlocution in Lk 10:37). The disciples’ reaction to the Samaritan refusal of lodging (9:51-55) is a good example of the animosity felt by Jews for Samaritans at the time.<\/p>\nAlthough there is less evidence for similar attitudes from the Samaritan side, we can assume they existed. It is probable to speculate, therefore, that the Samaritan shunning of hospitality in Luke 9:51-55 was not uncommon toward other Jews whose “face was set toward Jerusalem.”<\/p>\nSamaritan Beliefs<\/p>\nThe main beliefs of the Samaritans demonstrate both the close affinities with and obvious divergences from mainstream Judaism. They held in common with Judaism a strong monotheistic faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In contrast, however, there was an elevating of Mt Gerizim in the north as the only holy place for sacrifice, based on several divergent passages in Deuteronomy and Exodus in the Samaritan text. Mt Gerizim came to be identified with the site of Abel’s first altar (Gn 4:4), the site of Noah’s sacrifice after the Flood (8:20), the meeting place of Abraham and Melchizedek (14:18), the site of Isaac’s intended sacrifice (ch 22), and many other associations.<\/p>\nThe Samaritans held only the first five biblical books (Pentateuch) to be inspired and based their dogma and practice exclusively on these books. Such a narrow canon not only determined the direction of Samaritan theology but further separated them from contemporary Jewish thought. Moses, for example, was more highly exalted by the Samaritans than by the Jews. He was considered not only the chief prophet but also, in later thought, was described as the choicest of men, preexisting from Creation, interceding with God for Israel, and being to man “the light of the world.” The messianic hope of Samaritan theology also reflects this narrow canon. A Messiah from the house of David could not be anticipated, as no evidence for such could be found in the Pentateuch. Rather, the Samaritans awaited a “prophet like Moses” based on Deuteronomy 18:15-18. This anticipated prophet was also designated the “Taheb,” the Restorer, for he would in the last days restore proper cultic worship on Mt Gerizim and bring the worship of the heathen to that site.<\/p>\nIt is clear, therefore, that it was primarily the claim of supremacy for Mt Gerizim that separated this group theologically and culturally from their Jewish neighbors.<\/p>\nJesus and the Samaritans<\/p>\nThe common Jewish perspective on Samaritans as being nearly Gentile was evidently held to some extent by Jesus as well. Jesus refers to the Samaritan leper as “this foreigner” (Lk 17:18) and prohibits his disciples, during their commissioning, from taking the message of the kingdom to either the Samaritans or the Gentiles (Mt 10:5).<\/p>\nYet the overwhelming evidence in the Gospels is that Jesus’ attitude toward the Samaritans differed radically from that of his Jewish contemporaries. When his disciples display the usual Jewish animosity in asking to have the “fire of judgment” rain down upon the inhospitable Samaritans, Jesus “rebuked them” (Lk 9:55). Moreover, he did not refuse to heal the Samaritan leper but honored him as the only one of the ten who remembered to give glory to God (17:11-19). So also in the parable of the Good Samaritan (10:30-37) Jesus clearly breaks through the traditional prejudices in portraying the despised Samaritan, not the respected Jewish priest or Levite, as the true neighbor to the man in need. Here as elsewhere, Jesus, in confronting his audience with God’s demand, breaks through traditional definitions of “righteous” and “outcast.”<\/p>\nJohn 4:4-43 records not only the fascinating exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman but also Jesus’ subsequent two-day stay in the town of Sychar, a Samaritan city. Here we see Jesus not only risking ritual uncleanness by contact with the Samaritan woman at the well (vv 7-9) but also offering the gift of salvation to her (v 10) and the entire Samaritan town (vv 39-41). Through Jesus’ knowledge of her marital life (vv 16-18), the woman concludes he must be a “prophet.” Remembering that the Samaritans were expecting a “prophet like Moses” in the last days, it is possible that the woman was wondering if Jesus was their long-awaited prophetic Messiah (vv 19, 25-26). Jesus not only breaks through the rigid animosity of Jews toward Samaritans by doing the unthinkable in staying with this despised people, but he also accepts their faith in him as “Messiah” (v 26) and “Savior of the world” (v 42). Here, as with his association with the outcasts of Jewish society, Jesus redefines righteousness not according to descent or religious practice but according to faith in himself. In so doing, he shatters the racial and cultural distinctions of his day and lays the foundation for the gospel’s subsequent spread to the entire gentile world.<\/p>\nSamaria in the Mission of the Early Church<\/p>\nIn the great commission given prior to his ascension, Jesus told his disciples to take the gospel to Samaria (Acts 1:8). The missionary activity of the early church did indeed include this region. When, following the martyrdom of Stephen, many Christians were forced to leave Jerusalem (8:1), one such Christian, Philip, spread the gospel in the city of Samaria (v 5). The response was so great to the miracles performed that Peter and John (representing the apostles in Jerusalem) were sent to investigate and to confirm the presence of the Holy Spirit among them. Evidence from the second century AD<\/span> suggests, however, that Christianity did not gain a strong foothold among the Samaritans. For the most part, the Samaritans retained their own religion. A small remnant of the Samaritan sect continues to exist to this day, living near Mt Gerizim (Shechem) and in various cities in Israel.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Bible, Manuscripts and Text of the (Old Testament); Samaria.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>SAMARITANS<\/h3>\nSchismatic group from the Jews. The group resided north of Judea and south of Galilee in hostile tension with its Jewish neighbors. Jesus’ attitude toward this despised group radically contrasted with contemporary sentiment.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Origins of the Sect<\/p>\n• Relations between the Samaritans and the Jews<\/p>\n• Samaritan Beliefs<\/p>\n• Jesus and the Samaritans<\/p>\n• Samaria in the Mission of the Early Church<\/p>\nOrigins of the Sect<\/p>\nIt is difficult to determine precisely when the Samaritan sect arose and when the final break with Judaism occurred. The OT conception of the origin of the Samaritan sect is that they stemmed from repopulated foreign peoples whose worship of God was only a veneer for underlying idolatry. According to 2 Kings 17, the Samaritan sect arose from the exchange of peoples following Israel’s defeat by Assyria in 722 BC<\/span>. Removing the Israelites from the land, the king of Assyria repopulated the area with conquered peoples from Babylon, Cuthah, and various other nations.<\/p>\nThe Samaritans offer a vastly different interpretation of their origin. They claim descent from the Jewish tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (see Jn 4:12) and hold that the exile of Israelites in 722 BC<\/span> by Assyria was neither full-scale nor permanent. To account for the mutual hostility that developed between their group and the Jews, the Samaritan version holds that the Jews were guilty of apostasy, setting up heretical sanctuaries during the time of Eli, rather than staying with the only holy place on Mt Gerizim. The Samaritans therefore considered themselves true Israelites in descent and worship.<\/p>\nFrom Assyrian records of this period, an exchange of population is in fact affirmed for the northern kingdom, but apparently a total deportation was not carried out (see 2 Chr 34:9). This would suggest that there were two elements in the land: first, the native Israelite remnant not exiled; and second, the foreign exiles who were gradually won over to the faith of the native residents, although syncretism no doubt existed during the early period of assimilation.<\/p>\nRelations between the Samaritans and the Jews<\/p>\nThe history of relations between the Samaritans—situated on the north around Mt Gerizim (their holy mountain), Shechem, and Samaria—and Jewish populations in Judea and then later in Galilee is one of fluctuating tensions. The ancient tension between the northern and southern kingdoms was revived with the return of exiles to Jerusalem under the Persian ruler Cyrus’s edict (c. 538 BC<\/span>). The entire southern area was at the time being governed from Samaria in the north by Sanballat, a native ruler of Palestine under Persian authority. The return of exiles to Jerusalem, particularly with their intentions of rebuilding the Jerusalem temple, posed an obvious political threat to his leadership in the north (Ezr 4:7-24; Neh 4:1-9).<\/p>\nOpposition was at first politically motivated but became religious when sometime later, possibly in the fifth century BC<\/span>, a rival temple was erected on Mt Gerizim. An example of Jewish hostility toward the Samaritans about this time comes from Ecclesiasticus 50:25-26 (written approximately 200 BC<\/span>), where the Samaritans are placed below the Edomites and Philistines in esteem and are termed a “foolish people” (cf. Test. Levi 7:2).<\/p>\nJewish disregard for the Samaritans was increased by the Samaritans’ lack of resistance to Antiochus Epiphanes’ campaign (c. 167 BC<\/span>) to promote Hellenistic worship in the area. While part of the Jewish community resisted the transforming of the Jerusalem temple to a temple for Zeus (1 Macc 1:62-64) and eventually followed the Maccabees in revolt (1 Macc 2:42-43), sources suggest that the Samaritans did not (see 1 Macc 6:2).<\/p>\nPoor relations came to a climax during the brief period of Jewish independence under the Hasmoneans, when the Jewish ruler, John Hyrcanus, marched against Shechem, conquering and destroying the Samaritan temple on Mt Gerizim (c. 128 BC<\/span>).<\/p>\nUnder Herod the Great, Samaria’s fortunes improved, although animosity still continued between the Samaritans and Jews in Judea and Galilee. Holding the Jerusalem temple to be a false cultic center, and excluded from the inner courts by the Jerusalem authorities, a group of Samaritans desecrated the Jerusalem temple in approximately AD<\/span> 6 by spreading human bones within the temple porches and sanctuary during Passover. Hostility toward Galilean Jews traveling through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem for various feasts was also not uncommon (Lk 9:51-53).<\/p>\nThis animosity continued in Jesus’ day. Both groups excluded the other from their respective cultic centers, the Jerusalem temple and the Samaritan temple on Mt Gerizim. The Samaritans, for example, were forbidden access to the inner courts of the temple, and any offering they might give was considered as if it were from a Gentile. Thus, although probably more accurately defined as “schismatics,” it appears Samaritans were in practice treated as Gentiles. All marriage between the groups was therefore forbidden, and social relations were greatly restricted (Jn 4:9). With such proscribed separation, it is not surprising that any interaction between the two groups was strained. The mere term Samaritan was one of contempt on the lips of Jews (8:48), and among some scribes it possibly would not even be uttered (see the apparent circumlocution in Lk 10:37). The disciples’ reaction to the Samaritan refusal of lodging (9:51-55) is a good example of the animosity felt by Jews for Samaritans at the time.<\/p>\nAlthough there is less evidence for similar attitudes from the Samaritan side, we can assume they existed. It is probable to speculate, therefore, that the Samaritan shunning of hospitality in Luke 9:51-55 was not uncommon toward other Jews whose “face was set toward Jerusalem.”<\/p>\nSamaritan Beliefs<\/p>\nThe main beliefs of the Samaritans demonstrate both the close affinities with and obvious divergences from mainstream Judaism. They held in common with Judaism a strong monotheistic faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In contrast, however, there was an elevating of Mt Gerizim in the north as the only holy place for sacrifice, based on several divergent passages in Deuteronomy and Exodus in the Samaritan text. Mt Gerizim came to be identified with the site of Abel’s first altar (Gn 4:4), the site of Noah’s sacrifice after the Flood (8:20), the meeting place of Abraham and Melchizedek (14:18), the site of Isaac’s intended sacrifice (ch 22), and many other associations.<\/p>\nThe Samaritans held only the first five biblical books (Pentateuch) to be inspired and based their dogma and practice exclusively on these books. Such a narrow canon not only determined the direction of Samaritan theology but further separated them from contemporary Jewish thought. Moses, for example, was more highly exalted by the Samaritans than by the Jews. He was considered not only the chief prophet but also, in later thought, was described as the choicest of men, preexisting from Creation, interceding with God for Israel, and being to man “the light of the world.” The messianic hope of Samaritan theology also reflects this narrow canon. A Messiah from the house of David could not be anticipated, as no evidence for such could be found in the Pentateuch. Rather, the Samaritans awaited a “prophet like Moses” based on Deuteronomy 18:15-18. This anticipated prophet was also designated the “Taheb,” the Restorer, for he would in the last days restore proper cultic worship on Mt Gerizim and bring the worship of the heathen to that site.<\/p>\nIt is clear, therefore, that it was primarily the claim of supremacy for Mt Gerizim that separated this group theologically and culturally from their Jewish neighbors.<\/p>\nJesus and the Samaritans<\/p>\nThe common Jewish perspective on Samaritans as being nearly Gentile was evidently held to some extent by Jesus as well. Jesus refers to the Samaritan leper as “this foreigner” (Lk 17:18) and prohibits his disciples, during their commissioning, from taking the message of the kingdom to either the Samaritans or the Gentiles (Mt 10:5).<\/p>\nYet the overwhelming evidence in the Gospels is that Jesus’ attitude toward the Samaritans differed radically from that of his Jewish contemporaries. When his disciples display the usual Jewish animosity in asking to have the “fire of judgment” rain down upon the inhospitable Samaritans, Jesus “rebuked them” (Lk 9:55). Moreover, he did not refuse to heal the Samaritan leper but honored him as the only one of the ten who remembered to give glory to God (17:11-19). So also in the parable of the Good Samaritan (10:30-37) Jesus clearly breaks through the traditional prejudices in portraying the despised Samaritan, not the respected Jewish priest or Levite, as the true neighbor to the man in need. Here as elsewhere, Jesus, in confronting his audience with God’s demand, breaks through traditional definitions of “righteous” and “outcast.”<\/p>\nJohn 4:4-43 records not only the fascinating exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman but also Jesus’ subsequent two-day stay in the town of Sychar, a Samaritan city. Here we see Jesus not only risking ritual uncleanness by contact with the Samaritan woman at the well (vv 7-9) but also offering the gift of salvation to her (v 10) and the entire Samaritan town (vv 39-41). Through Jesus’ knowledge of her marital life (vv 16-18), the woman concludes he must be a “prophet.” Remembering that the Samaritans were expecting a “prophet like Moses” in the last days, it is possible that the woman was wondering if Jesus was their long-awaited prophetic Messiah (vv 19, 25-26). Jesus not only breaks through the rigid animosity of Jews toward Samaritans by doing the unthinkable in staying with this despised people, but he also accepts their faith in him as “Messiah” (v 26) and “Savior of the world” (v 42). Here, as with his association with the outcasts of Jewish society, Jesus redefines righteousness not according to descent or religious practice but according to faith in himself. In so doing, he shatters the racial and cultural distinctions of his day and lays the foundation for the gospel’s subsequent spread to the entire gentile world.<\/p>\nSamaria in the Mission of the Early Church<\/p>\nIn the great commission given prior to his ascension, Jesus told his disciples to take the gospel to Samaria (Acts 1:8). The missionary activity of the early church did indeed include this region. When, following the martyrdom of Stephen, many Christians were forced to leave Jerusalem (8:1), one such Christian, Philip, spread the gospel in the city of Samaria (v 5). The response was so great to the miracles performed that Peter and John (representing the apostles in Jerusalem) were sent to investigate and to confirm the presence of the Holy Spirit among them. Evidence from the second century AD<\/span> suggests, however, that Christianity did not gain a strong foothold among the Samaritans. For the most part, the Samaritans retained their own religion. A small remnant of the Samaritan sect continues to exist to this day, living near Mt Gerizim (Shechem) and in various cities in Israel.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Bible, Manuscripts and Text of the (Old Testament); Samaria.<\/p>","summary_ro":"SAMARITANS Schismatic group from the Jews. The group resided north of Judea and south of Galilee in hostile tension with its Jewish neighbors. Jesus’ attitude toward this despised group radically contrasted with contemporary sentiment. Preview • Origins of the Sect • Relations between the Samaritans and the Jews • Samaritan Beliefs • Jesus and the Samaritans • Samaria in the Mission of the Early Church Origins of the Sect It is difficult to determine precisely when the Samaritan sect arose an...","summary_en":"SAMARITANS Schismatic group from the Jews. The group resided north of Judea and south of Galilee in hostile tension with its Jewish neighbors. Jesus’ attitude toward this despised group radically contrasted with contemporary sentiment. Preview • Origins of the Sect • Relations between the Samaritans and the Jews • Samaritan Beliefs • Jesus and the Samaritans • Samaria in the Mission of the Early Church Origins of the Sect It is difficult to determine precisely when the Samaritan sect arose an...","source":"Articles\/S.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"19":[{"id":33616,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Salvation","title_en":"Salvation","content_ro":"<h3>SALVATION<\/h3>\nGod’s way of providing people deliverance from sin and death. Scripture reveals God but it also reveals his plan to save the human race. In that sense, salvation is a major theme in both the OT and NT.<\/p>\nIn the Old Testament<\/p>\nThe concept of salvation is represented by various terms and situations in both Testaments. Among several Hebrew words that mean “deliver” or “save,” the Hebrew verb yasha‘<\/span> and derivatives are most frequently translated by English versions as “save” or “salvation.” Frequency in the English Bible depends upon the version considered. For example, in the OT “salvation” is found 74 times in the nlt<\/span>, 80 times in the niv<\/span>, 90 times in the rsv<\/span>, 111 times in the nasb<\/span>, and 119 times in the kjv<\/span>. Salvation is not used as a technical term in the OT and is ascribed to both individuals and God. Leaders like Samson (Jgs 13:5) or David (2 Sm 8:6) are used of the Lord to bring deliverance to God’s people.<\/p>\nIsrael’s concept of salvation was rooted in the historical experience of the exodus. This momentous occasion was an opportunity to witness the salvation of the Lord (Ex 14:13) firsthand. Poets (Ps 106:8) and prophets (Is 43:3; Hos 13:4) later reiterated God’s salvation when recalling the exodus experience. Israel’s understanding of salvation was worked out in historical instances like Sennacherib’s attack on Jerusalem in 701 BC<\/span>, when the Lord declared that he would save the city for his name’s sake (2 Kgs 19:34; cf. 18:30, 35). Israel’s opportunity to see God’s salvation through various leaders and situations corroborated this understanding of God as the God of salvation.<\/p>\nIsrael’s response to God’s deliverance was primarily praise, as evidenced so often in the psalms (Pss 3:8; 9:14; 21:1) and earlier poetic passages (Ex 15:2; 1 Sm 2:1). In addition, they directed petitions and pleas for help to the Lord for his salvation—whether from enemies (Pss 35:3; 38:22), sickness (69:29), or battle (140:7; 144:10-11)—and in faith expected his deliverance (35:9; 65:5).<\/p>\nThe prophets emphasized the eschatological (end-time) aspect of salvation. God’s ability to save was revealed by his great works in the past, which thus promoted the anticipation of his work of deliverance in the future. This future hope was for the nation of Israel (Is 45:17) but anticipated universal deliverance (49:6). The prophets looked forward to deliverance and return from exile in Babylon (Is 49:25-26; Jer 46:27), yet they also spoke of an abiding future salvation (Is 45:17; 51:6-8). The messianic hope is indicated in passages that speak of an individual who will bring God’s salvation. Isaiah speaks of the Servant who brings salvation to the ends of the earth (49:6), while Jeremiah writes of deliverance by God’s righteous Branch (Jer 23:5-6). The mention of the king who brings salvation in Zechariah 9:9 reflects this messianic theme and is applied to Jesus Christ in Matthew 21:4-5.<\/p>\nIn the New Testament<\/p>\nIn classical Greek the verb sozo<\/span> (“to save”) and noun soteria<\/span> (“salvation”) are used for the concept of “rescue,” “deliverance” or “salvation,” and even “well-being” or “health.” The Septuagint most frequently uses sozo<\/span> to render the Hebrew yasha‘<\/span> (“to save”), and the NT primarily employs sozo<\/span> and its derivatives for the idea of salvation.<\/p>\nThese Greek terms are generally used theologically in the NT, but examples of nontheological usage occur. In Acts 27, these words refer to the threat and deliverance of the soldiers, sailors, and prisoners from shipwreck (vv 20, 31), as well as their well-being (v 34).<\/p>\nIn the Gospels “salvation” is clearly connected with the OT concept of salvation; it is applied to the coming of Christ in Zechariah’s prophecy (Lk 1:69, 71; cf. Pss 106:10; 132:17) and in Simeon’s hymn of praise (Lk 2:30). While soteria<\/span> does not occur frequently in the Gospels, the concept of salvation is implied in Jesus’ statement about entrance into the kingdom of God (Mt 19:24-26) and his miracles of healing (Lk 17:19; 18:42).<\/p>\nThe NT teaches that salvation has its source in Jesus Christ (2 Tm 2:10; Heb 5:9), who is the “author” and mediator of salvation (Heb 2:10; 7:25). Salvation is God’s work (1 Thes 5:9) and is offered by his grace (Eph 2:8-9). The message of salvation is contained in the Scriptures (2 Tm 3:15) and is carried by those who proclaim the word of truth (Eph 1:13). The appropriate response is repentance (2 Cor 7:10) and faith (2 Tm 3:15; 1 Pt 1:9). This was the preaching of the early church as it proclaimed the Savior Jesus (Acts 4:12; 13:23-26; 16:30-31). Paul especially proclaimed the universality of God’s offer of salvation (Rom 1:16; Ti 2:11). His desire was for Jews to be saved (Rom 10:1), though he primarily preached the message of salvation to the Gentiles (11:11-13).<\/p>\nWithin the Scriptures there are many other terms associated with the concept of salvation. The new birth speaks of being made alive in Christ (“born again,” Jn 3:3). Justification envisions one’s legal standing before God, while redemption speaks more of the means of salvation—the payment of a price to bring one back to God. Reconciliation speaks of a change in relationship and propitiation, which evokes the OT sacrificial system and points to the turning away of God’s wrath. These terms and others share some common ground with the biblical concept of salvation, but all point to the person and work of Jesus Christ the Savior.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Justification, Justified; Reconciliation; Redeemer, Redemption; Savior.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>SALVATION<\/h3>\nGod’s way of providing people deliverance from sin and death. Scripture reveals God but it also reveals his plan to save the human race. In that sense, salvation is a major theme in both the OT and NT.<\/p>\nIn the Old Testament<\/p>\nThe concept of salvation is represented by various terms and situations in both Testaments. Among several Hebrew words that mean “deliver” or “save,” the Hebrew verb yasha‘<\/span> and derivatives are most frequently translated by English versions as “save” or “salvation.” Frequency in the English Bible depends upon the version considered. For example, in the OT “salvation” is found 74 times in the nlt<\/span>, 80 times in the niv<\/span>, 90 times in the rsv<\/span>, 111 times in the nasb<\/span>, and 119 times in the kjv<\/span>. Salvation is not used as a technical term in the OT and is ascribed to both individuals and God. Leaders like Samson (Jgs 13:5) or David (2 Sm 8:6) are used of the Lord to bring deliverance to God’s people.<\/p>\nIsrael’s concept of salvation was rooted in the historical experience of the exodus. This momentous occasion was an opportunity to witness the salvation of the Lord (Ex 14:13) firsthand. Poets (Ps 106:8) and prophets (Is 43:3; Hos 13:4) later reiterated God’s salvation when recalling the exodus experience. Israel’s understanding of salvation was worked out in historical instances like Sennacherib’s attack on Jerusalem in 701 BC<\/span>, when the Lord declared that he would save the city for his name’s sake (2 Kgs 19:34; cf. 18:30, 35). Israel’s opportunity to see God’s salvation through various leaders and situations corroborated this understanding of God as the God of salvation.<\/p>\nIsrael’s response to God’s deliverance was primarily praise, as evidenced so often in the psalms (Pss 3:8; 9:14; 21:1) and earlier poetic passages (Ex 15:2; 1 Sm 2:1). In addition, they directed petitions and pleas for help to the Lord for his salvation—whether from enemies (Pss 35:3; 38:22), sickness (69:29), or battle (140:7; 144:10-11)—and in faith expected his deliverance (35:9; 65:5).<\/p>\nThe prophets emphasized the eschatological (end-time) aspect of salvation. God’s ability to save was revealed by his great works in the past, which thus promoted the anticipation of his work of deliverance in the future. This future hope was for the nation of Israel (Is 45:17) but anticipated universal deliverance (49:6). The prophets looked forward to deliverance and return from exile in Babylon (Is 49:25-26; Jer 46:27), yet they also spoke of an abiding future salvation (Is 45:17; 51:6-8). The messianic hope is indicated in passages that speak of an individual who will bring God’s salvation. Isaiah speaks of the Servant who brings salvation to the ends of the earth (49:6), while Jeremiah writes of deliverance by God’s righteous Branch (Jer 23:5-6). The mention of the king who brings salvation in Zechariah 9:9 reflects this messianic theme and is applied to Jesus Christ in Matthew 21:4-5.<\/p>\nIn the New Testament<\/p>\nIn classical Greek the verb sozo<\/span> (“to save”) and noun soteria<\/span> (“salvation”) are used for the concept of “rescue,” “deliverance” or “salvation,” and even “well-being” or “health.” The Septuagint most frequently uses sozo<\/span> to render the Hebrew yasha‘<\/span> (“to save”), and the NT primarily employs sozo<\/span> and its derivatives for the idea of salvation.<\/p>\nThese Greek terms are generally used theologically in the NT, but examples of nontheological usage occur. In Acts 27, these words refer to the threat and deliverance of the soldiers, sailors, and prisoners from shipwreck (vv 20, 31), as well as their well-being (v 34).<\/p>\nIn the Gospels “salvation” is clearly connected with the OT concept of salvation; it is applied to the coming of Christ in Zechariah’s prophecy (Lk 1:69, 71; cf. Pss 106:10; 132:17) and in Simeon’s hymn of praise (Lk 2:30). While soteria<\/span> does not occur frequently in the Gospels, the concept of salvation is implied in Jesus’ statement about entrance into the kingdom of God (Mt 19:24-26) and his miracles of healing (Lk 17:19; 18:42).<\/p>\nThe NT teaches that salvation has its source in Jesus Christ (2 Tm 2:10; Heb 5:9), who is the “author” and mediator of salvation (Heb 2:10; 7:25). Salvation is God’s work (1 Thes 5:9) and is offered by his grace (Eph 2:8-9). The message of salvation is contained in the Scriptures (2 Tm 3:15) and is carried by those who proclaim the word of truth (Eph 1:13). The appropriate response is repentance (2 Cor 7:10) and faith (2 Tm 3:15; 1 Pt 1:9). This was the preaching of the early church as it proclaimed the Savior Jesus (Acts 4:12; 13:23-26; 16:30-31). Paul especially proclaimed the universality of God’s offer of salvation (Rom 1:16; Ti 2:11). His desire was for Jews to be saved (Rom 10:1), though he primarily preached the message of salvation to the Gentiles (11:11-13).<\/p>\nWithin the Scriptures there are many other terms associated with the concept of salvation. The new birth speaks of being made alive in Christ (“born again,” Jn 3:3). Justification envisions one’s legal standing before God, while redemption speaks more of the means of salvation—the payment of a price to bring one back to God. Reconciliation speaks of a change in relationship and propitiation, which evokes the OT sacrificial system and points to the turning away of God’s wrath. These terms and others share some common ground with the biblical concept of salvation, but all point to the person and work of Jesus Christ the Savior.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Justification, Justified; Reconciliation; Redeemer, Redemption; Savior.<\/p>","summary_ro":"SALVATION God’s way of providing people deliverance from sin and death. Scripture reveals God but it also reveals his plan to save the human race. In that sense, salvation is a major theme in both the OT and NT. In the Old Testament The concept of salvation is represented by various terms and situations in both Testaments. Among several Hebrew words that mean “deliver” or “save,” the Hebrew verb yasha‘ and derivatives are most frequently translated by English versions as “save” or “salvation....","summary_en":"SALVATION God’s way of providing people deliverance from sin and death. Scripture reveals God but it also reveals his plan to save the human race. In that sense, salvation is a major theme in both the OT and NT. In the Old Testament The concept of salvation is represented by various terms and situations in both Testaments. Among several Hebrew words that mean “deliver” or “save,” the Hebrew verb yasha‘ and derivatives are most frequently translated by English versions as “save” or “salvation....","source":"Articles\/S.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":56064,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:19","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:19","content_ro":"17:19<\/strong> Your faith has healed you<\/em> (or Your faith has saved you<\/em>): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.<\/p>","content_en":"17:19<\/strong> Your faith has healed you<\/em> (or Your faith has saved you<\/em>): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:19 Your faith has healed you (or Your faith has saved you): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.","summary_en":"17:19 Your faith has healed you (or Your faith has saved you): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83690,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:19","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:19","content_ro":"17:19<\/strong> Your faith has healed you<\/em> (or Your faith has saved you<\/em>): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.<\/p>","content_en":"17:19<\/strong> Your faith has healed you<\/em> (or Your faith has saved you<\/em>): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:19 Your faith has healed you (or Your faith has saved you): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.","summary_en":"17:19 Your faith has healed you (or Your faith has saved you): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111316,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:19","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:19","content_ro":"17:19<\/strong> Your faith has healed you<\/em> (or Your faith has saved you<\/em>): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.<\/p>","content_en":"17:19<\/strong> Your faith has healed you<\/em> (or Your faith has saved you<\/em>): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:19 Your faith has healed you (or Your faith has saved you): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.","summary_en":"17:19 Your faith has healed you (or Your faith has saved you): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138942,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:19","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:19","content_ro":"17:19<\/strong> Your faith has healed you<\/em> (or Your faith has saved you<\/em>): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.<\/p>","content_en":"17:19<\/strong> Your faith has healed you<\/em> (or Your faith has saved you<\/em>): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:19 Your faith has healed you (or Your faith has saved you): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.","summary_en":"17:19 Your faith has healed you (or Your faith has saved you): The Greek verb can refer to either physical or spiritual healing. Jesus’ physical healings illustrate the salvation that his Kingdom brings.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"20":[{"id":42066,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"The Pharisees","title_en":"The Pharisees","content_ro":"<h3>The Pharisees<\/h3>\nThe Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim<\/em> (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC<\/span>.<\/p>\nThe Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obedient Jews. They taught strict adherence to the law, not only the written law of Moses (torah<\/em>), but also the oral traditions which they claimed Moses had passed down to them. Their goal was to defend the written law against any possible infringement. They were God-fearing and law-abiding people. They were known for passing their interpretations from generation to generation by word of mouth, establishing an oral tradition concerning legal matters. They made the law applicable by extracting from it specific guidelines for many possible situations. They argued that if the law were obeyed by all, the nation would be purged of sin and God would establish his Kingdom over all the nations. This gave their concern for obedience a goal in the future. The traditions of the Pharisees developed into the rabbinic writings known as the Mishnah<\/em> and the Talmud<\/em>.<\/p>\nAlthough the Pharisees were small in number, their influence on Israel was widespread (see Matt 15:12-14; see also Josephus, War<\/em> 2.8.14; Antiquities<\/em> 13.10.5). The primary influence of the Pharisees was in the local synagogue communities, while the Sadducees were more influential in the worship at the Temple in Jerusalem and in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council.<\/p>\nUnlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees had a strong belief in the resurrection of the dead (see Acts 23:6-8). After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD<\/span> 70, the Pharisees provided leadership and direction for the people of Israel.<\/p>\nJesus often came into conflict with the Pharisees, accusing them of hypocrisy and of elevating human rules over God’s righteous standards. Jesus opposed the Pharisees because they were leading people away from God’s plan for redemption. They were the theological shepherds of Israel, but Jesus castigated them as hypocrites for their perversions of doctrine and practice (see Matt 23). And the Pharisees were antagonistic toward Jesus, rejecting both him and his work, largely because of his shocking disregard of their traditions (see e.g., Matt 15:1-20).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nMatt 3:7; 5:20; 9:10-14, 34; 12:1-14, 22-24, 38-40; 15:1-14; 16:1-12; 19:3; 21:45; 22:15, 34; 23:1-7, 13-31; 27:62-64; Mark 2:23-25; 3:1-6; 7:1-13; 8:11-12; 12:13-17; Luke 5:17-21, 29-32; 6:6-11; 7:28-30, 36-49; 11:37-54; 12:1-3; 13:31; 14:1-6; 15:1-2; 16:13-15; 17:20-21; 18:9-14; 19:38-40; John 1:24-25; 3:1; 7:31-32, 45-52; 8:3-10, 13; 9:13-34, 40; 11:46-57; 12:17-19, 42; 18:3; Acts 5:27-40; 15:5; 23:6-10; 26:4-5; Phil 3:5-7<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Pharisees<\/h3>\nThe Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim<\/em> (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC<\/span>.<\/p>\nThe Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obedient Jews. They taught strict adherence to the law, not only the written law of Moses (torah<\/em>), but also the oral traditions which they claimed Moses had passed down to them. Their goal was to defend the written law against any possible infringement. They were God-fearing and law-abiding people. They were known for passing their interpretations from generation to generation by word of mouth, establishing an oral tradition concerning legal matters. They made the law applicable by extracting from it specific guidelines for many possible situations. They argued that if the law were obeyed by all, the nation would be purged of sin and God would establish his Kingdom over all the nations. This gave their concern for obedience a goal in the future. The traditions of the Pharisees developed into the rabbinic writings known as the Mishnah<\/em> and the Talmud<\/em>.<\/p>\nAlthough the Pharisees were small in number, their influence on Israel was widespread (see Matt 15:12-14; see also Josephus, War<\/em> 2.8.14; Antiquities<\/em> 13.10.5). The primary influence of the Pharisees was in the local synagogue communities, while the Sadducees were more influential in the worship at the Temple in Jerusalem and in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council.<\/p>\nUnlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees had a strong belief in the resurrection of the dead (see Acts 23:6-8). After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD<\/span> 70, the Pharisees provided leadership and direction for the people of Israel.<\/p>\nJesus often came into conflict with the Pharisees, accusing them of hypocrisy and of elevating human rules over God’s righteous standards. Jesus opposed the Pharisees because they were leading people away from God’s plan for redemption. They were the theological shepherds of Israel, but Jesus castigated them as hypocrites for their perversions of doctrine and practice (see Matt 23). And the Pharisees were antagonistic toward Jesus, rejecting both him and his work, largely because of his shocking disregard of their traditions (see e.g., Matt 15:1-20).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nMatt 3:7; 5:20; 9:10-14, 34; 12:1-14, 22-24, 38-40; 15:1-14; 16:1-12; 19:3; 21:45; 22:15, 34; 23:1-7, 13-31; 27:62-64; Mark 2:23-25; 3:1-6; 7:1-13; 8:11-12; 12:13-17; Luke 5:17-21, 29-32; 6:6-11; 7:28-30, 36-49; 11:37-54; 12:1-3; 13:31; 14:1-6; 15:1-2; 16:13-15; 17:20-21; 18:9-14; 19:38-40; John 1:24-25; 3:1; 7:31-32, 45-52; 8:3-10, 13; 9:13-34, 40; 11:46-57; 12:17-19, 42; 18:3; Acts 5:27-40; 15:5; 23:6-10; 26:4-5; Phil 3:5-7<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Pharisees The Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC. The Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obed...","summary_en":"The Pharisees The Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC. The Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obed...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":69692,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"The Pharisees","title_en":"The Pharisees","content_ro":"<h3>The Pharisees<\/h3>\nThe Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim<\/em> (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC<\/span>.<\/p>\nThe Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obedient Jews. They taught strict adherence to the law, not only the written law of Moses (torah<\/em>), but also the oral traditions which they claimed Moses had passed down to them. Their goal was to defend the written law against any possible infringement. They were God-fearing and law-abiding people. They were known for passing their interpretations from generation to generation by word of mouth, establishing an oral tradition concerning legal matters. They made the law applicable by extracting from it specific guidelines for many possible situations. They argued that if the law were obeyed by all, the nation would be purged of sin and God would establish his Kingdom over all the nations. This gave their concern for obedience a goal in the future. The traditions of the Pharisees developed into the rabbinic writings known as the Mishnah<\/em> and the Talmud<\/em>.<\/p>\nAlthough the Pharisees were small in number, their influence on Israel was widespread (see Matt 15:12-14; see also Josephus, War<\/em> 2.8.14; Antiquities<\/em> 13.10.5). The primary influence of the Pharisees was in the local synagogue communities, while the Sadducees were more influential in the worship at the Temple in Jerusalem and in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council.<\/p>\nUnlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees had a strong belief in the resurrection of the dead (see Acts 23:6-8). After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD<\/span> 70, the Pharisees provided leadership and direction for the people of Israel.<\/p>\nJesus often came into conflict with the Pharisees, accusing them of hypocrisy and of elevating human rules over God’s righteous standards. Jesus opposed the Pharisees because they were leading people away from God’s plan for redemption. They were the theological shepherds of Israel, but Jesus castigated them as hypocrites for their perversions of doctrine and practice (see Matt 23). And the Pharisees were antagonistic toward Jesus, rejecting both him and his work, largely because of his shocking disregard of their traditions (see e.g., Matt 15:1-20).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nMatt 3:7; 5:20; 9:10-14, 34; 12:1-14, 22-24, 38-40; 15:1-14; 16:1-12; 19:3; 21:45; 22:15, 34; 23:1-7, 13-31; 27:62-64; Mark 2:23-25; 3:1-6; 7:1-13; 8:11-12; 12:13-17; Luke 5:17-21, 29-32; 6:6-11; 7:28-30, 36-49; 11:37-54; 12:1-3; 13:31; 14:1-6; 15:1-2; 16:13-15; 17:20-21; 18:9-14; 19:38-40; John 1:24-25; 3:1; 7:31-32, 45-52; 8:3-10, 13; 9:13-34, 40; 11:46-57; 12:17-19, 42; 18:3; Acts 5:27-40; 15:5; 23:6-10; 26:4-5; Phil 3:5-7<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Pharisees<\/h3>\nThe Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim<\/em> (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC<\/span>.<\/p>\nThe Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obedient Jews. They taught strict adherence to the law, not only the written law of Moses (torah<\/em>), but also the oral traditions which they claimed Moses had passed down to them. Their goal was to defend the written law against any possible infringement. They were God-fearing and law-abiding people. They were known for passing their interpretations from generation to generation by word of mouth, establishing an oral tradition concerning legal matters. They made the law applicable by extracting from it specific guidelines for many possible situations. They argued that if the law were obeyed by all, the nation would be purged of sin and God would establish his Kingdom over all the nations. This gave their concern for obedience a goal in the future. The traditions of the Pharisees developed into the rabbinic writings known as the Mishnah<\/em> and the Talmud<\/em>.<\/p>\nAlthough the Pharisees were small in number, their influence on Israel was widespread (see Matt 15:12-14; see also Josephus, War<\/em> 2.8.14; Antiquities<\/em> 13.10.5). The primary influence of the Pharisees was in the local synagogue communities, while the Sadducees were more influential in the worship at the Temple in Jerusalem and in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council.<\/p>\nUnlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees had a strong belief in the resurrection of the dead (see Acts 23:6-8). After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD<\/span> 70, the Pharisees provided leadership and direction for the people of Israel.<\/p>\nJesus often came into conflict with the Pharisees, accusing them of hypocrisy and of elevating human rules over God’s righteous standards. Jesus opposed the Pharisees because they were leading people away from God’s plan for redemption. They were the theological shepherds of Israel, but Jesus castigated them as hypocrites for their perversions of doctrine and practice (see Matt 23). And the Pharisees were antagonistic toward Jesus, rejecting both him and his work, largely because of his shocking disregard of their traditions (see e.g., Matt 15:1-20).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nMatt 3:7; 5:20; 9:10-14, 34; 12:1-14, 22-24, 38-40; 15:1-14; 16:1-12; 19:3; 21:45; 22:15, 34; 23:1-7, 13-31; 27:62-64; Mark 2:23-25; 3:1-6; 7:1-13; 8:11-12; 12:13-17; Luke 5:17-21, 29-32; 6:6-11; 7:28-30, 36-49; 11:37-54; 12:1-3; 13:31; 14:1-6; 15:1-2; 16:13-15; 17:20-21; 18:9-14; 19:38-40; John 1:24-25; 3:1; 7:31-32, 45-52; 8:3-10, 13; 9:13-34, 40; 11:46-57; 12:17-19, 42; 18:3; Acts 5:27-40; 15:5; 23:6-10; 26:4-5; Phil 3:5-7<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Pharisees The Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC. The Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obed...","summary_en":"The Pharisees The Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC. The Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obed...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":97318,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"The Pharisees","title_en":"The Pharisees","content_ro":"<h3>The Pharisees<\/h3>\nThe Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim<\/em> (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC<\/span>.<\/p>\nThe Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obedient Jews. They taught strict adherence to the law, not only the written law of Moses (torah<\/em>), but also the oral traditions which they claimed Moses had passed down to them. Their goal was to defend the written law against any possible infringement. They were God-fearing and law-abiding people. They were known for passing their interpretations from generation to generation by word of mouth, establishing an oral tradition concerning legal matters. They made the law applicable by extracting from it specific guidelines for many possible situations. They argued that if the law were obeyed by all, the nation would be purged of sin and God would establish his Kingdom over all the nations. This gave their concern for obedience a goal in the future. The traditions of the Pharisees developed into the rabbinic writings known as the Mishnah<\/em> and the Talmud<\/em>.<\/p>\nAlthough the Pharisees were small in number, their influence on Israel was widespread (see Matt 15:12-14; see also Josephus, War<\/em> 2.8.14; Antiquities<\/em> 13.10.5). The primary influence of the Pharisees was in the local synagogue communities, while the Sadducees were more influential in the worship at the Temple in Jerusalem and in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council.<\/p>\nUnlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees had a strong belief in the resurrection of the dead (see Acts 23:6-8). After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD<\/span> 70, the Pharisees provided leadership and direction for the people of Israel.<\/p>\nJesus often came into conflict with the Pharisees, accusing them of hypocrisy and of elevating human rules over God’s righteous standards. Jesus opposed the Pharisees because they were leading people away from God’s plan for redemption. They were the theological shepherds of Israel, but Jesus castigated them as hypocrites for their perversions of doctrine and practice (see Matt 23). And the Pharisees were antagonistic toward Jesus, rejecting both him and his work, largely because of his shocking disregard of their traditions (see e.g., Matt 15:1-20).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nMatt 3:7; 5:20; 9:10-14, 34; 12:1-14, 22-24, 38-40; 15:1-14; 16:1-12; 19:3; 21:45; 22:15, 34; 23:1-7, 13-31; 27:62-64; Mark 2:23-25; 3:1-6; 7:1-13; 8:11-12; 12:13-17; Luke 5:17-21, 29-32; 6:6-11; 7:28-30, 36-49; 11:37-54; 12:1-3; 13:31; 14:1-6; 15:1-2; 16:13-15; 17:20-21; 18:9-14; 19:38-40; John 1:24-25; 3:1; 7:31-32, 45-52; 8:3-10, 13; 9:13-34, 40; 11:46-57; 12:17-19, 42; 18:3; Acts 5:27-40; 15:5; 23:6-10; 26:4-5; Phil 3:5-7<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Pharisees<\/h3>\nThe Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim<\/em> (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC<\/span>.<\/p>\nThe Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obedient Jews. They taught strict adherence to the law, not only the written law of Moses (torah<\/em>), but also the oral traditions which they claimed Moses had passed down to them. Their goal was to defend the written law against any possible infringement. They were God-fearing and law-abiding people. They were known for passing their interpretations from generation to generation by word of mouth, establishing an oral tradition concerning legal matters. They made the law applicable by extracting from it specific guidelines for many possible situations. They argued that if the law were obeyed by all, the nation would be purged of sin and God would establish his Kingdom over all the nations. This gave their concern for obedience a goal in the future. The traditions of the Pharisees developed into the rabbinic writings known as the Mishnah<\/em> and the Talmud<\/em>.<\/p>\nAlthough the Pharisees were small in number, their influence on Israel was widespread (see Matt 15:12-14; see also Josephus, War<\/em> 2.8.14; Antiquities<\/em> 13.10.5). The primary influence of the Pharisees was in the local synagogue communities, while the Sadducees were more influential in the worship at the Temple in Jerusalem and in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council.<\/p>\nUnlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees had a strong belief in the resurrection of the dead (see Acts 23:6-8). After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD<\/span> 70, the Pharisees provided leadership and direction for the people of Israel.<\/p>\nJesus often came into conflict with the Pharisees, accusing them of hypocrisy and of elevating human rules over God’s righteous standards. Jesus opposed the Pharisees because they were leading people away from God’s plan for redemption. They were the theological shepherds of Israel, but Jesus castigated them as hypocrites for their perversions of doctrine and practice (see Matt 23). And the Pharisees were antagonistic toward Jesus, rejecting both him and his work, largely because of his shocking disregard of their traditions (see e.g., Matt 15:1-20).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nMatt 3:7; 5:20; 9:10-14, 34; 12:1-14, 22-24, 38-40; 15:1-14; 16:1-12; 19:3; 21:45; 22:15, 34; 23:1-7, 13-31; 27:62-64; Mark 2:23-25; 3:1-6; 7:1-13; 8:11-12; 12:13-17; Luke 5:17-21, 29-32; 6:6-11; 7:28-30, 36-49; 11:37-54; 12:1-3; 13:31; 14:1-6; 15:1-2; 16:13-15; 17:20-21; 18:9-14; 19:38-40; John 1:24-25; 3:1; 7:31-32, 45-52; 8:3-10, 13; 9:13-34, 40; 11:46-57; 12:17-19, 42; 18:3; Acts 5:27-40; 15:5; 23:6-10; 26:4-5; Phil 3:5-7<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Pharisees The Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC. The Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obed...","summary_en":"The Pharisees The Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC. The Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obed...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":124944,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"The Pharisees","title_en":"The Pharisees","content_ro":"<h3>The Pharisees<\/h3>\nThe Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim<\/em> (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC<\/span>.<\/p>\nThe Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obedient Jews. They taught strict adherence to the law, not only the written law of Moses (torah<\/em>), but also the oral traditions which they claimed Moses had passed down to them. Their goal was to defend the written law against any possible infringement. They were God-fearing and law-abiding people. They were known for passing their interpretations from generation to generation by word of mouth, establishing an oral tradition concerning legal matters. They made the law applicable by extracting from it specific guidelines for many possible situations. They argued that if the law were obeyed by all, the nation would be purged of sin and God would establish his Kingdom over all the nations. This gave their concern for obedience a goal in the future. The traditions of the Pharisees developed into the rabbinic writings known as the Mishnah<\/em> and the Talmud<\/em>.<\/p>\nAlthough the Pharisees were small in number, their influence on Israel was widespread (see Matt 15:12-14; see also Josephus, War<\/em> 2.8.14; Antiquities<\/em> 13.10.5). The primary influence of the Pharisees was in the local synagogue communities, while the Sadducees were more influential in the worship at the Temple in Jerusalem and in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council.<\/p>\nUnlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees had a strong belief in the resurrection of the dead (see Acts 23:6-8). After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD<\/span> 70, the Pharisees provided leadership and direction for the people of Israel.<\/p>\nJesus often came into conflict with the Pharisees, accusing them of hypocrisy and of elevating human rules over God’s righteous standards. Jesus opposed the Pharisees because they were leading people away from God’s plan for redemption. They were the theological shepherds of Israel, but Jesus castigated them as hypocrites for their perversions of doctrine and practice (see Matt 23). And the Pharisees were antagonistic toward Jesus, rejecting both him and his work, largely because of his shocking disregard of their traditions (see e.g., Matt 15:1-20).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nMatt 3:7; 5:20; 9:10-14, 34; 12:1-14, 22-24, 38-40; 15:1-14; 16:1-12; 19:3; 21:45; 22:15, 34; 23:1-7, 13-31; 27:62-64; Mark 2:23-25; 3:1-6; 7:1-13; 8:11-12; 12:13-17; Luke 5:17-21, 29-32; 6:6-11; 7:28-30, 36-49; 11:37-54; 12:1-3; 13:31; 14:1-6; 15:1-2; 16:13-15; 17:20-21; 18:9-14; 19:38-40; John 1:24-25; 3:1; 7:31-32, 45-52; 8:3-10, 13; 9:13-34, 40; 11:46-57; 12:17-19, 42; 18:3; Acts 5:27-40; 15:5; 23:6-10; 26:4-5; Phil 3:5-7<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>The Pharisees<\/h3>\nThe Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim<\/em> (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC<\/span>.<\/p>\nThe Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obedient Jews. They taught strict adherence to the law, not only the written law of Moses (torah<\/em>), but also the oral traditions which they claimed Moses had passed down to them. Their goal was to defend the written law against any possible infringement. They were God-fearing and law-abiding people. They were known for passing their interpretations from generation to generation by word of mouth, establishing an oral tradition concerning legal matters. They made the law applicable by extracting from it specific guidelines for many possible situations. They argued that if the law were obeyed by all, the nation would be purged of sin and God would establish his Kingdom over all the nations. This gave their concern for obedience a goal in the future. The traditions of the Pharisees developed into the rabbinic writings known as the Mishnah<\/em> and the Talmud<\/em>.<\/p>\nAlthough the Pharisees were small in number, their influence on Israel was widespread (see Matt 15:12-14; see also Josephus, War<\/em> 2.8.14; Antiquities<\/em> 13.10.5). The primary influence of the Pharisees was in the local synagogue communities, while the Sadducees were more influential in the worship at the Temple in Jerusalem and in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council.<\/p>\nUnlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees had a strong belief in the resurrection of the dead (see Acts 23:6-8). After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD<\/span> 70, the Pharisees provided leadership and direction for the people of Israel.<\/p>\nJesus often came into conflict with the Pharisees, accusing them of hypocrisy and of elevating human rules over God’s righteous standards. Jesus opposed the Pharisees because they were leading people away from God’s plan for redemption. They were the theological shepherds of Israel, but Jesus castigated them as hypocrites for their perversions of doctrine and practice (see Matt 23). And the Pharisees were antagonistic toward Jesus, rejecting both him and his work, largely because of his shocking disregard of their traditions (see e.g., Matt 15:1-20).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nMatt 3:7; 5:20; 9:10-14, 34; 12:1-14, 22-24, 38-40; 15:1-14; 16:1-12; 19:3; 21:45; 22:15, 34; 23:1-7, 13-31; 27:62-64; Mark 2:23-25; 3:1-6; 7:1-13; 8:11-12; 12:13-17; Luke 5:17-21, 29-32; 6:6-11; 7:28-30, 36-49; 11:37-54; 12:1-3; 13:31; 14:1-6; 15:1-2; 16:13-15; 17:20-21; 18:9-14; 19:38-40; John 1:24-25; 3:1; 7:31-32, 45-52; 8:3-10, 13; 9:13-34, 40; 11:46-57; 12:17-19, 42; 18:3; Acts 5:27-40; 15:5; 23:6-10; 26:4-5; Phil 3:5-7<\/p>","summary_ro":"The Pharisees The Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC. The Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obed...","summary_en":"The Pharisees The Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects, along with the Sadducees and the Essenes. The Pharisees comprised a non-political lay movement within Judaism. They arose from the hasidim (pious ones), who opposed the syncretizing (combining together) of Greek culture and religion with Judaism in the second century BC. The Pharisees attempted, by rigorous examination of the details of the Old Testament law, to make the law accessible and practical to people seeking to be obed...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":19628,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Teachings of Jesus Christ","title_en":"Teachings of Jesus Christ","content_ro":"<h3>JESUS CHRIST, Teachings of<\/h3>\nBecause of the wide variety of forms in which the teachings of Jesus have been preserved, it is difficult to bring out the essence of that teaching in a systematic way. Jesus did not present us with a theological system. His words were essentially practical in intent. Yet from all the variety of sayings it is possible to extract a clear idea of what Jesus thought about a number of important issues. What was his teaching about God? What did he think about himself? What did he mean when he spoke about the kingdom? What light does his teaching throw on the meaning of his death? What did he say about the Holy Spirit? How did he describe human beings and their needs? Did he anticipate the Christian church? Did he teach anything about the end of the world? What were the main features of his moral teaching? The following sections will seek to answer these important questions.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Teachings about God<\/p>\n• Teachings about Himself<\/p>\n• Teachings about the Kingdom of God<\/p>\n• Teachings about His Own Death<\/p>\n• Teachings about the Holy Spirit<\/p>\n• Teachings about Humanity<\/p>\n• Teachings about the Church<\/p>\n• Teachings about the Future<\/p>\n• Teachings about Moral Issues<\/p>\nTeachings about God<\/p>\nAnyone who comes to the teachings of Jesus after reading the OT will at once recognize that much of his teaching about God is the same. Since Jesus, as all orthodox Jews of his day, accepted the testimony of the OT as inspired, it is not surprising that his approach to God was similar. This is especially true of his assumption that God was Creator. He taught a special providential care over the created order and affirmed that God watched over such small creatures as the sparrow (Mt 10:29). There is no support in the teachings of Jesus for the view that God is uninterested in the world he made.<\/p>\nOne of the most characteristic titles Jesus used for God was Father. This was not new, for the idea occurs in the OT, where God is seen as Father of his people Israel. This kind of fatherhood was national rather than personal. In the intertestamental period the Jews came to regard God as so holy that he was removed from direct contact with human affairs. There had to be mediators between God and people. This exalted notion of God was not conducive to the idea of God as Father, and it is against this background that the uniqueness of the personal fatherhood of God in the teaching of Jesus must be seen. There is some evidence in Judaism that prayer to God as “Our Father” was known, but what distinguishes Jesus’ teachings from that of his contemporaries is that the fatherhood of God was central to what he taught.<\/p>\nThe father-son relationship is particularly vivid in John’s Gospel, where Jesus as Son is seen to be in close communion with God as Father. This comes out strongly in Jesus’ prayer in John 17 and in the frequent assertions that the Father had sent the Son and that the Son was doing the will of the Father. It is this strong relationship between God and Jesus in terms of fatherhood and sonship that led Jesus to teach men to approach God in the same way. The Lord’s Prayer at once recognizes this in its opening words. It is particularly important to note that “Our Father” precedes “hallowed be thy name,” for the more intimate idea prepares the way for the more remote. Jesus never taught men to approach God with terror.<\/p>\nAlthough there is a connection between the way in which Jesus addressed God as Father and the way in which he taught his disciples to approach God, there is also a distinction. Jesus spoke of “my Father and your Father” when he appeared to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection (Jn 20:17), but he did not say “our Father.” His sonship was unique, for he claimed that he and the Father were one (Jn 10:30).<\/p>\nIn the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus assured his followers that their heavenly Father knows about their needs (Mt 6:32; Lk 12:30), on the strength of which they are exhorted not to be anxious. This gives some insight into the way in which Jesus’ teachings about God has a bearing on practical issues.<\/p>\nTeachings about Himself<\/p>\nWhat Jesus said about himself is of great importance, for this undoubtedly formed the basis of what the early church came to teach about him.<\/p>\nJesus used certain titles of himself or accepted them as descriptions of himself when they were used by others. The most widely used is Son of Man. This title was used by Jesus to refer to himself but was not used by anyone else. It was used, moreover, in several different kinds of sayings. Sometimes the sayings related directly to the public ministry of Jesus, like the saying that the Son of Man was Lord of the Sabbath (Mk 2:28), or that the Son of Man had authority to forgive sins (v 10). Sometimes the sayings had a direct bearing on the Passion, as when Jesus said that the Son of Man must suffer many things (Mk 8:31; note that Mt 16:21 has “he” instead of “Son of Man”). At other times the reference is to a future appearance, as when Jesus declared to the high priest that he would see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven (Mk 14:62). What did Jesus mean by the title, and why did he use it?<\/p>\nThe title “Son of Man” had been used before. The phrase occurs in Psalm 8:4, where it refers to man or humans. Again, the expression is used many times in Ezekiel as a mode of address to the prophet, but here also it means man. A rather different use occurs in Daniel 7:13, where one like a son of man comes with the clouds before the Ancient of Days. There is a strong similarity between this passage and the words of Jesus in Mark 14:62. But an important difference is that whereas Son of Man becomes a title in Mark, it is not so in Daniel. There is some evidence for the title in Jewish apocalyptic literature (e.g., in the Similitudes of Enoch), where it represents a preexistent being who will come to judge and overthrow the enemies of God. It seems evident from this that Jesus’ use of Son of Man as a title is unique.<\/p>\nThe Son of Man sayings are distributed throughout the four Gospels, and there are no appreciable differences in their uses. What is at first astonishing is that though the title is so widespread in the Gospels on the lips of Jesus, it never became a name by which Jesus was known by the early Christians. In fact, only in Acts 7:56 does the title appear, in this case used by Stephen. It is clear, therefore, that it had a special meaning for Jesus that it did not have for others. There is no doubt that he was referring to himself and not to someone else, as a careful study of all the Son of Man sayings shows. Those who think that Jesus was referring to someone else arrive at this conclusion only after first dispensing with some of the sayings. The most probable reason why he used the title Son of Man was because he wanted to avoid a term like Messiah, which carried with it too many political overtones. But what did Son of Man mean to Jesus? It is rich with the idea of humanness, possibly allusions to Daniel’s “son of man,” and perhaps a touch of the Suffering Servant idea from Isaiah 53. It is most likely that Jesus saw it in terms of his mission in a way that his hearers could not fully appreciate. It is also probable that the early church preferred Messiah because this title carried the meaning of a royal deliverer; also, after the death of Jesus, there would be no further fear of political misunderstanding.<\/p>\nThe term Messiah, or Christ, does not belong strictly to the teachings of Jesus, since he himself never used it. The most striking instance where he accepted the ascription of Messiah was in Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi. All the synoptic Gospels record the confession “You are the Christ,” while Matthew adds the significant comment by Jesus that flesh and blood had not revealed it but “my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 16:17). He certainly accepted the confession and regarded it as revelation. One other case in the Synoptics where he does not specifically refute messiahship is his answer to the high priest’s question “Are you the Messiah?” (Mk 14:61). In John’s Gospel, Andrew tells Peter that he had found the Messiah (Jn 1:41); the woman at Samaria talks to Jesus, and he reveals that he is the Messiah (4:25-26). There was a widespread expectation among the Jews that a deliverer would come to overthrow their political enemies, the Romans. There were various ideas about his origin (a military leader or a heavenly warrior) and his methods (the Zealots believed that deliverance could come only through armed revolution). The reticence of Jesus concerning messiahship is therefore readily understandable.<\/p>\nAnother title of utmost importance is Son of God, although it occurs mainly in John’s Gospel. That both Mark and John regarded Jesus in this light is clear from explicit statements in their Gospels (cf. Mk 1:1; Jn 20:30-31). There are certainly passages where Messiah is linked with Son of God and where Jesus rejects neither title (cf. Mt 16:16). But in the teachings of Jesus one passage makes abundantly clear the special relationship that Jesus had with God as Son—namely, Matthew 11:27 (also Lk 10:22, a parallel passage), where Jesus implies that he is the Son of the Father.<\/p>\nMany similar passages in John’s Gospel are, however, more explicit. The Son is unquestionably preexistent, because he knows he came from the Father and returns to the Father. It is not possible from the many references to sonship in John’s Gospel to come to any other conclusion than that Jesus regarded himself as divine. It is particularly important to note that it is also in this Gospel that Jesus is portrayed most clearly in his human nature with its attendant weaknesses. Nowhere in the teachings of Jesus did he explain how God could become man, but he assumed this as a fact. He taught with the authority of God.<\/p>\nTeachings about the Kingdom of God<\/p>\nNo one can read the synoptic Gospels without being impressed with the frequency with which the expression “kingdom of God” (or of heaven) occurs. It was clearly an important theme in the whole teaching of Jesus. It is less evident in John’s Gospel but is nevertheless still present. Many of the parables of Jesus are specifically called parables of the kingdom. Jesus’ concept of the kingdom provided a foundational idea to the Christian gospel.<\/p>\nThe main idea is the rule of God over people rather than a realm that belongs to God. In other words, the emphasis is on the active reigning of the King. This is important because it means that the kingdom is inextricably affected by relationships between the members and the King. It also means the kingdom will not be expressed in institutional terms.<\/p>\nThere is one problem with the kingdom teachings that must be faced: its timing. Some sayings imply that it is already present, while others suggest that it will not come until the future. Some scholars disavow the idea that present and future can be held together; therefore, they reject one and concentrate on the other. Those who maintain a present understanding of the kingdom developed the idea of a social gospel, since Christianity was defined as the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. According to this view, there is no place for a future arrival of the kingdom. On the other hand, some have denied altogether the present aspect and concentrate on the future. In this case, it is difficult to see in what sense the kingdom teachings are relevant.<\/p>\nYet others have insisted that since both present and future aspects are found in the Gospel records, no explanation is satisfying that denies one at the expense of the other. One possible solution is to regard the present aspects as applying to this age but as not reaching their fulfillment until the future establishment of the kingdom. A similar solution, expressed differently, is to maintain that the reality is a future kingdom but that it has spilled over into the present. Jesus intentionally included both present and future aspects.<\/p>\nThat the kingdom was a theme of common interest is clear from Luke 17:20-21, where the Pharisees asked Jesus when it was coming. His answer, that it was among them, shows unmistakably a present idea. This is equally true of the statement that in the exorcism of evil spirits the kingdom had arrived (Mt 12:28; Lk 11:20). Moreover, Jesus mentioned that the kingdom has been forcefully advancing (Mt 11:12), by which he did not mean by revolutionary methods, although he clearly implied that something dynamic was already happening. This idea of dynamic power is one of the most characteristic features of the kingdom. Jesus spoke of binding the strong, armed man (Lk 11:21-22), which shows that in his ministry he expected to give a powerful demonstration against the forces of darkness.<\/p>\nIt is evident that the kingdom Jesus proclaimed was a kingdom in which God was supreme. It was inseparably linked with his redemptive mission, in which God was bringing spiritual deliverance to his people. Moreover, the kingdom teachings of Jesus cannot be regarded in isolation. It is part of the total message; no part of that message can be divorced from any other part without distorting the whole.<\/p>\nThe clearest teachings on the future aspect of the kingdom are to be found in some of the parables (Mt 13) and in the discourse on the Mt of Olives (Mt 24–25; Mk 13; Lk 21). In the latter, Jesus spoke of the future using imagery drawn from Jewish literature, like the references to clouds, to glory, and to angels in relation to the coming of the Son of Man (Mk 13:26-27). In Matthew’s account there is reference to a trumpet call, another familiar feature (Mt 24:31).<\/p>\nVarious features from the kingdom parables give the clearest idea of the nature of the kingdom. Membership in the kingdom is not considered to be universal, for in the parable of the sower not all the soils are productive. The same separation is seen in the parable of the tares and the parable of the dragnet. The tares are destroyed and only the wheat is harvested, while the bad fish are discarded. The members of the kingdom are those who hear and understand the word of the kingdom (Mt 13:23). It is clear, therefore, that a response is necessary if the benefits of the kingdom are to be enjoyed.<\/p>\nThere is an emphasis on growth in the parable of the mustard seed, where rapid development occurs from small beginnings. The parables of the treasure and the pearl are intended to underline the value of the kingdom. The universal character of the kingdom comes out sharply in the parable of the vineyard, where the kingdom is said to be taken away from the Jews and given to another “nation,” presumably an allusion to the Gentiles (Mt 21:43). This is in line with the great commission Jesus gave to his disciples to preach to all nations (28:19). A universal kingdom would certainly be entirely different from the messianic kingdom idea of Judaism, in which Israel was to be the central unit. It is not easy to appreciate how revolutionary the idea was of a worldwide kingdom with Gentiles and Jews on the same footing.<\/p>\nTeachings about His Own Death<\/p>\nThe announcement of the kingdom must be linked with Jesus’ approach to his own death. Did Jesus see his death as an integral part of his mission? Some have maintained that he ended his life in disillusionment, but a brief survey of his teaching about his own destiny is sufficient to dispel such a theory. To the further question, “What meaning did Jesus attach to his forthcoming death?” he gave a series of passing indications that, when taken together, supply us with a basis on which to reconstruct some idea of the place of his death within the entire range of his mission.<\/p>\nIt is important to note that many times Jesus showed his awareness that details of his life were a fulfillment of Scripture (cf. Mt 26:24, 56; Mk 9:12; Lk 18:31; 24:25-27, 44-45). In all the instances cited, the suffering of Jesus is referred to as the subject of OT prophecy. This must mean that he had reflected on OT predictions and recognized that they could be fulfilled only through his own sufferings. In this case the Passion must be regarded as an indispensable part of Jesus’ consciousness of his own mission.<\/p>\nThis emphasis on fulfillment of Scripture is also seen in John’s Gospel. His statement that the Son of Man must be lifted up even as Moses lifted up the serpent (Jn 3:14) illustrates this point. Most of the passages where fulfillment of Scripture is mentioned are the comments of the Evangelist, John. But there can be no doubt that the fulfillment motive played a vital part both in Jesus’ own understanding of his mission and in the early Christians’ understanding of his death. In this connection, some hold that John puts more stress on the Incarnation as a means of salvation in that he sees it as an illumination of the mind. But this is only part of the truth, for there is more on the meaning of the death of Jesus in John’s Gospel than in the others.<\/p>\nThe Gospels emphasize the divine necessity of the death of Jesus. In addition to the fulfillment motive, the idea of necessity is strong in the first prediction by Jesus of his approaching death. In John’s Gospel Jesus speaks of his “hour” several times in the earlier stages of his ministry as “not yet,” but in the later stages as having arrived. There is a sense of definite movement toward a climax, the hour undoubtedly being the hour of the Passion (cf. Jn 17:1). There is not room for any disillusionment here. Jesus knew that only through the hour of death could the Father be glorified. The climax was according to an orderly plan.<\/p>\nJesus evidently regarded his death as in some ways a sacrifice. The clearest indication of this is in the words of institution at the Last Supper. The cup is connected with the blood of the new covenant, which is said to be for the “remission of sins” (Mt 26:26-28). No explanation is given of the way in which the coming death, signified by the broken bread and poured-out wine, would bring about forgiveness of sins. But the immediate realization by the early church that Christ died for our sins (cf. 1 Cor 15:3) shows that the importance of what Jesus said had been clearly grasped. The new covenant idea is parallel to the old covenant, which according to Exodus 24 was sealed with sacrificial blood; there can be little doubt that Jesus had this in mind when he spoke the words about the new covenant. It was also akin to the ideas expressed in Jeremiah 31, referring to a covenant written on the heart rather than graven in stone.<\/p>\nAnother aspect of the death of Christ seen especially in John’s Gospel is the sense of completion that went with it. In Jesus’ prayer in John 17, as he faces the cross, he declares that he has finished the work that the Father had given him to do (Jn 17:4). This is reinforced by the cry from the cross, “It is finished,” which only John records (19:30). This sense of accomplishment gives an air of triumph to what might otherwise have been considered a disaster.<\/p>\nTeachings about the Holy Spirit<\/p>\nAt several of the major events in the life of Jesus, the Evangelists note the activity of the Spirit (e.g., the Virgin Birth, the Baptism, the Temptation). It is to be expected, therefore, that Jesus would have instructed his disciples about the Spirit. However, there is surprisingly little in the synoptic Gospels on this theme. Most of the teachings come from John’s Gospel.<\/p>\nWhen Jesus began his preaching ministry in Nazareth, according to Luke, he read the statement in Isaiah 61:1-2 about the Spirit of God and applied it to himself. He saw his ministry as being inaugurated by the Spirit. This becomes clear in the way in which he responded to the charge that he cast out demons by means of Beelzebub, prince of the demons. He identified the reality of the coming of the kingdom by the fact that he was casting out evil spirits by the Spirit of God (Mt 12:28). He was, moreover, sensitive to the seriousness of blaspheming the Spirit, which he implies his accusers were in danger of doing. Whatever he did in his ministry he saw as an activity of the Spirit, and this was especially so in the contest with evil spirits.<\/p>\nWhile warning his disciples that they would meet with opposition, Jesus assured them of the Spirit’s support when they were forced to appear before kings or governors (Mt 10:19-20; Mk 13:11). Indeed, he told them that the Spirit would speak through them, thus emphasizing that he expected a continuation of the Spirit’s activity in the future. Luke records one instance in which Jesus comments on what fathers will do for their children and asks whether God will not give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Lk 11:13). The assumption is that God regards the Holy Spirit as the best gift to give his children. On yet another occasion, Jesus recognized that David was inspired by the Holy Spirit when he wrote Psalm 110 (Mk 12:36), reflecting Jesus’ belief in the Spirit’s agency in the production of Scripture.<\/p>\nThe Gospel of John provides a more detailed development of what Jesus taught about the Spirit. Teachings about the Spirit are usually linked to Jesus’ teachings about giving eternal life to those who believe in him and receive him. At the same time he spoke of the new birth and eternal life to Nicodemus, Jesus also spoke of the Spirit (Jn 3:3-8, 15-16). When he spoke of water of life to the Samaritan woman, he also spoke of the Spirit (4:14, 23-24). The same holds true for the discourses on the bread of life (6:48-63) and river of life (7:37-39). Throughout the Gospel, Jesus declares to various people that he can give them eternal life if they would believe in him. He promises them the water of life, the bread of life, and the light of life, but no one could really partake of these until after the Lord was resurrected. As a foretaste, as a sample, they could receive a certain measure of life via the Lord’s words, because his words were themselves spirit and life (6:63), but it was not until the Spirit would become available that the believers could actually become the recipients of the divine, eternal life.<\/p>\nAfter the Lord’s discourse in John 6 (a discourse that was very troubling and offensive to most of his disciples), Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives eternal life” (6:63). When the Spirit became available, they could have life. Again, Jesus offered the water of life—even life flowing like rivers of living water—to the Jews assembled at the Feast of Tabernacles. He told them to come and drink of him. But no one could, then and there, come and drink of him. So John added a note: “This He spoke of the Spirit, . . . for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (7:39, nasb<\/span>). Once Jesus would be glorified through resurrection, the Spirit of the glorified Jesus would be available for men to drink. In John 6, Jesus offered himself as the bread of life to be eaten by men; and in John 7, he offered himself as the water of life to refresh men. But no one could eat of him or drink of him until the Spirit of the glorified Jesus was made available, as was intimated in John 6:63 and then stated plainly in John 7:39.<\/p>\nIn John 14:16-18, Jesus went one step further in identifying himself with the Spirit. He told the disciples that he would give them another Comforter. Then he told them that they should know who this Comforter was because he was, then and there, abiding with them and would, in the near future, be in them. Who else but Jesus was abiding with them at that time? Then after telling the disciples that the Comforter would come to them, he said, “I am coming to you.” First he said that the Comforter would come to them and abide in them, and then in the same breath he said that he would come to them and abide in them (see 14:20). In short, the coming of the Comforter to the disciples was one and the same as the coming of Jesus to the disciples. The Comforter who was dwelling with the disciples that night was the Spirit in Christ; the Comforter who would be in the disciples (after the resurrection) would be Christ in the Spirit.<\/p>\nOn the evening of the resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples and then breathed into them the Holy Spirit. This inbreathing, reminiscent of God’s breathing into Adam the breath of life (Gn 2:7), became the fulfillment of all that had been promised and anticipated earlier in John’s Gospel. Through this impartation, the disciples were regenerated and indwelt by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This historical event marked the genesis of the new creation. Jesus could now be realized as the bread of life, the water of life, and the light of life. The believers now possessed his divine, eternal, risen life. From that time forward, Christ as Spirit indwelt his believers. Thus, in his first epistle John could say, “We know he lives in us because the Holy Spirit lives in us” (1 Jn 3:24).<\/p>\nThe indwelling Spirit helped the disciples remember Jesus’ words and actions (Jn 14:26) so that they could teach and write about them with acumen. This means that Jesus did not intend that the preservation of his teachings should be left to chance. All too often theories attempting to explain the way in which the traditions about Jesus and his teachings were transmitted in the period before there were any written Gospels are suggested without any reference to the Holy Spirit. It is not acceptable to concentrate on so-called laws of oral tradition and pay no attention to the unique factor in this case—the Holy Spirit. It is part of the Spirit’s mission to preserve and transmit the teaching of Jesus. What Jesus says in this passage about the Spirit has far-reaching significance for the formation of the Gospels.<\/p>\nAnother important function is the activity of the Spirit in the world. Jesus made it clear that the Spirit would convict of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (Jn 16:8). Without the activity of the Spirit, there would be no possibility of the disciples making any impact on the world. Nevertheless, Jesus warned that the world could not receive the Spirit because it did not know him (14:17). The mystery of the Spirit is that he dwells in every believer. This indwelling aspect is of great importance and was particularly developed in the writings of Paul.<\/p>\nTeachings about Humanity<\/p>\nJesus taught about God’s providential care over all human beings. A person’s hairs are all numbered (Mt 10:30), which is a vivid way of saying that God is concerned about the details of human life. But God is far more concerned with the eternal soul. Jesus made it clear that it would be unprofitable for anyone to gain the world and to lose his or her soul (Mt 16:26; Mk 8:36; Lk 9:25). The focus falls on what a person is and not what he or she has. Jesus even said that a maimed body was preferable to a forfeited life (Mk 9:43-47). One’s total fulfillment depends more on one’s spiritual condition than on one’s environment or physical well-being. He was not, of course, unconcerned about people’s physical state, as his many healings show, but his major concern was with people’s relationship with God.<\/p>\nJesus never viewed humans as isolated individuals. Within God’s community people were expected to have responsibility toward one another. The Sermon on the Mount illustrated this social emphasis in the teaching of Jesus. Those who are merciful to others will obtain mercy (Mt 5:7). There is special commendation for peacemakers (v 9). The disciples of Jesus are expected to bring light to others (v 16). They are expected to give more than expected (v 40). Jesus is clearly saying that people have responsibility beyond themselves.<\/p>\nThe relation of people to God is one of dependence. Jesus taught men and women to pray to God for daily bread (Mt 6:11) as a reminder that they cannot be wholly self-sufficient. He allowed no place in his teaching for humans to boast in their own achievements.<\/p>\nJesus had some specific things to say about home life. He accepted the sanctity of the marriage contract (Mt 5:31-32; cf. 19:3-9) and therefore showed a high regard for the honor and rights of the wife. It was more in his actions and attitudes rather than his specific teachings that Jesus showed his regard for the status of women. When he spoke of men, he often used the term in the sense of people, including both men and women. There is no suggestion that in matters of faith women were in the least inferior to men. Moreover, Luke points out how many women supported Jesus and his disciples in their travels.<\/p>\nJesus had a high view of the human potential but also acknowledged their present condition. The stress on repentance (Mt 4:17) shows a sinfulness of which people need to repent. This sense of need is implicit in the instances where Jesus pronounces forgiveness (e.g., to the paralytic, Mt 9:1-8; and to the woman who anointed him, Lk 7:47-48). In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus instructs his disciples to pray for forgiveness (Mt 6:12; Lk 11:4). He takes for granted that they need it and desire to obtain it.<\/p>\nJesus gives no support to any self-righteousness in men or women. This is the burden of his criticism of the religious leaders in various sayings, but particularly in Matthew 23. He was critical of Jewish teachers because they placed so much importance on works of merit as contributing to salvation. His whole approach depended on humans casting themselves on the mercy of God. This is vividly illustrated in the parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector at prayer (Lk 18:10-14). It was the latter who threw himself on the mercy of God and who was commended by Jesus.<\/p>\nUndoubtedly, Jesus regarded sin as universal. He never suggested that there was anyone who was exempt from it. The major concept of sin in his teachings was alienation from God. This comes out clearly in John’s Gospel, with its strong antithesis between light and darkness, life and death (cf. Jn 5:24). Indeed, the “world” in John’s Gospel represents the system that takes no account of God. But sin is also seen as enslavement to Satan. The life and teachings of Jesus are seen against the background of spiritual conflict. Jesus can even say to his opponents, “You are of your father the devil” (Jn 8:44). He assumes throughout that there are hostile forces bringing man into subjection.<\/p>\nIn the parable of the prodigal son, sin against God is linked with sin before the father. In other words, it is regarded in terms of rebellion and revolt (Lk 15:21). This is a different assessment of the son’s offense than the one arrived at by the elder brother, who could see it only in terms of property. The view that humans are essentially in a state of rebellion against God is a basic tenet of Paul’s theological position, and it is important to note that it finds its root in the teachings of Jesus.<\/p>\nThere is no question that Jesus had much to say about condemnation. Those who did not believe and were therefore outside the provision of salvation that Jesus had made are declared to be already condemned (Jn 3:18). At various times Jesus mentioned judgment to come, which shows that a person’s destiny is related to his or her present spiritual condition. Against this background of humanity’s spiritual need, the whole mission of Jesus must be seen. A person, if left to himself or herself, would be totally unable to achieve salvation, but Jesus came to offer eternal life to those who believe in him (Jn 3:16).<\/p>\nTeachings about the Church<\/p>\nSome have supposed that Jesus did not predict that there would be a church. But on two occasions he used the word “church,” which means a people called out by God. On one of the occasions—at Caesarea Philippi—Jesus told Peter that he would build his church upon the rock (Mt 16:16-19). It seems most probable that “rock” was intended to link the foundation of the church to Peter’s particular confession about Jesus. It is certain that the later church was a community that affirmed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. It is important to note that it is Christ himself who is the builder of the church. He assured his disciples that it would be impregnable (the gates of hades would not overcome it). Moreover, one of the functions of the church was to proclaim forgiveness of sins, and this is implied in what Jesus said to Peter. That the words were not intended to refer exclusively to him is clear from Matthew 18:18, where similar words were addressed to all the disciples. The church, according to Matthew 18:17, was to be a community that could settle disputes between believers.<\/p>\nIn addition to these specific references to the church, Jesus assumed that his followers would meet together in his name (Mt 18:19-20). In his final words in Matthew’s account, he commissioned them to teach what he had taught them and to baptize new disciples (Mt 28:19-20). He promised his presence would be with them. The command to baptize was reinforced by Jesus’ own example in submitting to John’s baptism. One other special rite that Jesus expected his disciples to observe was the Lord’s Supper. His instructions about this presuppose a later community that could observe it. Since the form of words used in the institution point to the meaning of the death of Christ, it is clear that Jesus intended the future community to be frequently reminded of the center of the faith. The Christian church was to be a group of people who knew that through Christ they had entered into a new relationship with God.<\/p>\nAlthough there are no references to the church in John’s Gospel, there are certainly hints that support the community idea. Jesus introduced himself as the Shepherd and spoke of his followers as forming a flock (Jn 10:16). The sheep imagery occurs again in this Gospel when Peter is instructed three times by the risen Lord to feed the sheep (Jn 21:15-17). Another figure of speech that Jesus used to bring out the group idea is that of the many branches that draw their life from the vine, and therefore belong to each other because of their common life in the vine.<\/p>\nJesus recognized that the future community would need the aid of the Spirit. His teachings on this subject laid the foundation for the evident dependence of the early church on the Spirit, as seen in the book of Acts. Finally, it should be noted that there is a close connection between the church and the kingdom, although they are not identical. The kingdom is more comprehensive than the church, which is included within it.<\/p>\nTeachings about the Future<\/p>\nJesus thought of the kingdom in terms of both present realization and future hope. The future aspect is related to the end of the age. Although he did not spell it out in specific terms, Jesus did not leave his disciples without any knowledge of how the present age would end. He gave firm assurance that he would return at some time in the future.<\/p>\nHe told the disciples that the Son of Man would come with his angels in his Father’s glory (Mt 16:27). In the discourse in which he answers the disciples’ question about the end of the world, he speaks again of the Son of Man coming in clouds with power and glory (Mk 13:26), probably drawn from the familiar language of Daniel 7. Jesus described various signs that would precede his own coming. He spoke of wars, conflicts, earthquakes, famines, and disturbances in the heavens. The gospel was to be preached to all nations. At the same time many false Christs would arise.<\/p>\nJesus gave such details about his return to encourage his disciples in the face of persecution. The future hope had a definitely practical purpose. The disciples were urged to watch. The coming would happen as unexpectedly as a thief in the night. Jesus said that even he himself did not know when the coming would take place (Mk 13:32).<\/p>\nAnother important theme affecting the future is emphasized in Jesus’ teachings about resurrection. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the body. They attempted to trap Jesus with a question about a woman who had been married seven times. They wanted to know whose husband she would be at the resurrection (Mk 12:18-27). Jesus pointed out that there would be no marriage when the dead rise. The Sadducees’ idea about resurrection was clearly wrong. Jesus’ teaching was that the resurrected would be like the angels. There is no doubt about the resurrection of the dead, although no information is given about the resurrection body. Jesus told a story about a rich man and a poor man who both died (Lk 16:19-31). In the afterlife the rich man cries out in torment, while the poor man enjoys a state of blessedness. What is most clear from this is the certainty of the afterlife and the fact of a distinction between the two men, although we are not told on what grounds the distinction is made. Elsewhere in his teachings, Jesus suggested that the most vital requirement is faith in himself. The conversation between Jesus and the dying thief on the cross suggests that paradise for the latter consisted in an awareness of the presence of Jesus (Lk 23:42-43).<\/p>\nThe theme of rewards and punishment occurs in many passages. In Matthew 16:27 Jesus says that the Son of Man will reward everyone according to what he or she has done. Those who are worthless are promised punishment in darkness (Mt 25:30). Moreover, Jesus spoke of a day of judgment on which men and women must give an account, even of all their careless words (12:36-37). In the parable of the sheep and the goats, he spoke of a separation that the Son of Man will make when he comes. Those commended are those who have shown concern for the believers (25:31-46).<\/p>\nAmong Jesus’ most solemn statements are those that speak of hell. There is no way of getting around his teachings about eternal punishment for the unrighteous (as in Mt 25:41, 46), which is opposite to the eternal life promised to the righteous. He taught that his disciples would have a place prepared for them in heaven (Jn 14:2), and spoke of a Book of Life in which the names of his disciples were written (Lk 10:20).<\/p>\nTeachings about Moral Issues<\/p>\nMuch of the teaching of Jesus is concerned with moral issues—so much so that some scholars have concluded that this was the main burden of his teaching. But the moral teachings cannot be considered apart from the many facets of his teachings outlined above. It has been said that there are close parallels between the teachings of Jesus and the moral teachings of Judaism. What is distinctive about Jesus’ teachings about morality is that the motive and power behind moral conduct is not conceived in terms of laws that must be obeyed. Right conduct is seen to be the result of a right relationship with God.<\/p>\nJesus was himself the pattern for moral behavior. He made clear that his aim was to fulfill the will of God. There is no sense of legalism in his approach to ethical decisions. When—in the Sermon on the Mount—he compared his own teaching with that of Moses, he showed the importance of penetrating to the inner meaning (cf. Mt 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32). On the face of it, Jesus made more rigorous demands than the Mosaic law, because he was concerned with probing the motives as well as the actions. Many have dismissed the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount as entirely impractical, but Jesus never intended that his teaching would be easy; he set as a target nothing less than the perfection of God himself (Mt 5:48). Nevertheless, he called his yoke easy and his burden light (11:29-30), which suggests that he was not setting out an impossible ethical pattern. It must be remembered that he was not producing a manifesto for society. His concern was that each individual should have powerful motives for right decisions on matters of conduct. His reaction against a rigid application of Sabbath observance at the expense of the welfare of a needy person illustrates this point. Concern for others was rated higher than ritual correctness.<\/p>\nConclusion<\/p>\nNo account of the life and teachings of Jesus would be complete without some indication of the place that Jesus Christ gained in the developing church. Such a quest naturally takes us outside the scope of the Gospels into the testimony of the book of Acts and Paul’s letters. There we can see whether the predictions of Jesus were fulfilled and whether in fact the early Christians took his teaching seriously. Although there can be no question that Jesus Christ became central to the faith of the early Christians, he was regarded from many points of view. He was seen as Messiah in the sense of a spiritual deliverer, as Lord in the sense of being sovereign over his people, as Servant in the sense of his obedience to suffering, as Son in his relation to his Father. In many ways the full understanding of what and who he was could not have occurred until after the resurrection. Therefore, we find that many facets of his teachings about himself were more fully developed in the reflections of his people. This is true in a special sense of the writings of the apostle Paul.<\/p>\nMany have found a problem in linking the Gospels with their detailed presentation of the acts and teachings of Jesus with the Christ who is so central in Paul’s beliefs. The problem arises because the apostle does not refer to any specific incident in the life of Jesus and does not reflect in his epistles any acquaintance with the large amount of teaching material in the Gospels. Does this suggest that Paul had no interest in the historical Jesus? Or could it be maintained that he knew nothing about him? Those who have driven a wedge between Paul and Jesus have not given sufficient weight to those incidental indications that Paul knew a great deal more about the historical Jesus than he states in his letters. He writes, for instance, about the meekness and gentleness of Christ (2 Cor 10:1), suggesting that he knew that Jesus had said of himself that he was meek and lowly of heart (Mt 11:29). Moreover, Paul speaks of the poverty of Christ (2 Cor 8:9) and must have known that the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head. He certainly knows the details of how Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:23-26), and he knows of his death by crucifixion. It seems reasonable to conclude that Paul assumes that his readers will be acquainted with the Gospel material.<\/p>\nIt is perhaps useful in this connection to inquire whether the life and teachings of Jesus played a significant part in the early Christian proclamation. One passage that is valuable in this respect is Acts 10:36-38. In Peter’s address to Cornelius, he spoke of God’s having anointed Jesus of Nazareth, and of Jesus’ having gone about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil. It is clear that some account of the acts of Jesus was included in the early preaching, and there is no reason to suppose that this was not a regular procedure.<\/p>\nThere is no doubt that the example of Jesus was a powerful motive for promoting right behavior. Peter appeals to it in encouraging Christians who were suffering for their faith (1 Pt 2:21). Paul also knows the value of imitation (1 Cor 11:1; 1 Thes 1:6). Since Jesus was recognized as being a man who did not sin (cf. 2 Cor 5:21), his behavior patterns would have proved invaluable for those who needed a new standard for moral action. While this idea of example is unquestionably present in the Epistles, it would be quite wrong to suppose that it formed a major part of Christian doctrine.<\/p>\nThere are a few references to the teachings of Jesus in the non-Gospel portion of the NT. In the Letter of James, which is almost wholly practical, there are more allusions to the teachings of Jesus than anywhere else in the NT. This is especially true in echoes of the Sermon on the Mount, and it shows the strong contribution that the moral teaching of Jesus had on the ethical values of the early Christians. Most of the expositions of doctrine in the Epistles find their basis in some aspect of the teachings of Jesus. These teachings have an ongoing significance for the development of the church.<\/p>\nTo what extent is knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus relevant to the 21st century? Existential theologians have driven such a wedge between the Christ of faith and the Jesus of history that the latter has ceased to have any importance for them. Christians today, no less than their first-century predecessors, need to know that the object of their faith is the same one who lived and taught in Galilee and Judea.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Ascension of Christ; Christ; Christology; Genealogy of Jesus Christ; Incarnation; Jesus Christ; Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven; Messiah; Parable; Savior; Son of God; Son of Man; Virgin Birth of Jesus.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>JESUS CHRIST, Teachings of<\/h3>\nBecause of the wide variety of forms in which the teachings of Jesus have been preserved, it is difficult to bring out the essence of that teaching in a systematic way. Jesus did not present us with a theological system. His words were essentially practical in intent. Yet from all the variety of sayings it is possible to extract a clear idea of what Jesus thought about a number of important issues. What was his teaching about God? What did he think about himself? What did he mean when he spoke about the kingdom? What light does his teaching throw on the meaning of his death? What did he say about the Holy Spirit? How did he describe human beings and their needs? Did he anticipate the Christian church? Did he teach anything about the end of the world? What were the main features of his moral teaching? The following sections will seek to answer these important questions.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Teachings about God<\/p>\n• Teachings about Himself<\/p>\n• Teachings about the Kingdom of God<\/p>\n• Teachings about His Own Death<\/p>\n• Teachings about the Holy Spirit<\/p>\n• Teachings about Humanity<\/p>\n• Teachings about the Church<\/p>\n• Teachings about the Future<\/p>\n• Teachings about Moral Issues<\/p>\nTeachings about God<\/p>\nAnyone who comes to the teachings of Jesus after reading the OT will at once recognize that much of his teaching about God is the same. Since Jesus, as all orthodox Jews of his day, accepted the testimony of the OT as inspired, it is not surprising that his approach to God was similar. This is especially true of his assumption that God was Creator. He taught a special providential care over the created order and affirmed that God watched over such small creatures as the sparrow (Mt 10:29). There is no support in the teachings of Jesus for the view that God is uninterested in the world he made.<\/p>\nOne of the most characteristic titles Jesus used for God was Father. This was not new, for the idea occurs in the OT, where God is seen as Father of his people Israel. This kind of fatherhood was national rather than personal. In the intertestamental period the Jews came to regard God as so holy that he was removed from direct contact with human affairs. There had to be mediators between God and people. This exalted notion of God was not conducive to the idea of God as Father, and it is against this background that the uniqueness of the personal fatherhood of God in the teaching of Jesus must be seen. There is some evidence in Judaism that prayer to God as “Our Father” was known, but what distinguishes Jesus’ teachings from that of his contemporaries is that the fatherhood of God was central to what he taught.<\/p>\nThe father-son relationship is particularly vivid in John’s Gospel, where Jesus as Son is seen to be in close communion with God as Father. This comes out strongly in Jesus’ prayer in John 17 and in the frequent assertions that the Father had sent the Son and that the Son was doing the will of the Father. It is this strong relationship between God and Jesus in terms of fatherhood and sonship that led Jesus to teach men to approach God in the same way. The Lord’s Prayer at once recognizes this in its opening words. It is particularly important to note that “Our Father” precedes “hallowed be thy name,” for the more intimate idea prepares the way for the more remote. Jesus never taught men to approach God with terror.<\/p>\nAlthough there is a connection between the way in which Jesus addressed God as Father and the way in which he taught his disciples to approach God, there is also a distinction. Jesus spoke of “my Father and your Father” when he appeared to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection (Jn 20:17), but he did not say “our Father.” His sonship was unique, for he claimed that he and the Father were one (Jn 10:30).<\/p>\nIn the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus assured his followers that their heavenly Father knows about their needs (Mt 6:32; Lk 12:30), on the strength of which they are exhorted not to be anxious. This gives some insight into the way in which Jesus’ teachings about God has a bearing on practical issues.<\/p>\nTeachings about Himself<\/p>\nWhat Jesus said about himself is of great importance, for this undoubtedly formed the basis of what the early church came to teach about him.<\/p>\nJesus used certain titles of himself or accepted them as descriptions of himself when they were used by others. The most widely used is Son of Man. This title was used by Jesus to refer to himself but was not used by anyone else. It was used, moreover, in several different kinds of sayings. Sometimes the sayings related directly to the public ministry of Jesus, like the saying that the Son of Man was Lord of the Sabbath (Mk 2:28), or that the Son of Man had authority to forgive sins (v 10). Sometimes the sayings had a direct bearing on the Passion, as when Jesus said that the Son of Man must suffer many things (Mk 8:31; note that Mt 16:21 has “he” instead of “Son of Man”). At other times the reference is to a future appearance, as when Jesus declared to the high priest that he would see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven (Mk 14:62). What did Jesus mean by the title, and why did he use it?<\/p>\nThe title “Son of Man” had been used before. The phrase occurs in Psalm 8:4, where it refers to man or humans. Again, the expression is used many times in Ezekiel as a mode of address to the prophet, but here also it means man. A rather different use occurs in Daniel 7:13, where one like a son of man comes with the clouds before the Ancient of Days. There is a strong similarity between this passage and the words of Jesus in Mark 14:62. But an important difference is that whereas Son of Man becomes a title in Mark, it is not so in Daniel. There is some evidence for the title in Jewish apocalyptic literature (e.g., in the Similitudes of Enoch), where it represents a preexistent being who will come to judge and overthrow the enemies of God. It seems evident from this that Jesus’ use of Son of Man as a title is unique.<\/p>\nThe Son of Man sayings are distributed throughout the four Gospels, and there are no appreciable differences in their uses. What is at first astonishing is that though the title is so widespread in the Gospels on the lips of Jesus, it never became a name by which Jesus was known by the early Christians. In fact, only in Acts 7:56 does the title appear, in this case used by Stephen. It is clear, therefore, that it had a special meaning for Jesus that it did not have for others. There is no doubt that he was referring to himself and not to someone else, as a careful study of all the Son of Man sayings shows. Those who think that Jesus was referring to someone else arrive at this conclusion only after first dispensing with some of the sayings. The most probable reason why he used the title Son of Man was because he wanted to avoid a term like Messiah, which carried with it too many political overtones. But what did Son of Man mean to Jesus? It is rich with the idea of humanness, possibly allusions to Daniel’s “son of man,” and perhaps a touch of the Suffering Servant idea from Isaiah 53. It is most likely that Jesus saw it in terms of his mission in a way that his hearers could not fully appreciate. It is also probable that the early church preferred Messiah because this title carried the meaning of a royal deliverer; also, after the death of Jesus, there would be no further fear of political misunderstanding.<\/p>\nThe term Messiah, or Christ, does not belong strictly to the teachings of Jesus, since he himself never used it. The most striking instance where he accepted the ascription of Messiah was in Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi. All the synoptic Gospels record the confession “You are the Christ,” while Matthew adds the significant comment by Jesus that flesh and blood had not revealed it but “my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 16:17). He certainly accepted the confession and regarded it as revelation. One other case in the Synoptics where he does not specifically refute messiahship is his answer to the high priest’s question “Are you the Messiah?” (Mk 14:61). In John’s Gospel, Andrew tells Peter that he had found the Messiah (Jn 1:41); the woman at Samaria talks to Jesus, and he reveals that he is the Messiah (4:25-26). There was a widespread expectation among the Jews that a deliverer would come to overthrow their political enemies, the Romans. There were various ideas about his origin (a military leader or a heavenly warrior) and his methods (the Zealots believed that deliverance could come only through armed revolution). The reticence of Jesus concerning messiahship is therefore readily understandable.<\/p>\nAnother title of utmost importance is Son of God, although it occurs mainly in John’s Gospel. That both Mark and John regarded Jesus in this light is clear from explicit statements in their Gospels (cf. Mk 1:1; Jn 20:30-31). There are certainly passages where Messiah is linked with Son of God and where Jesus rejects neither title (cf. Mt 16:16). But in the teachings of Jesus one passage makes abundantly clear the special relationship that Jesus had with God as Son—namely, Matthew 11:27 (also Lk 10:22, a parallel passage), where Jesus implies that he is the Son of the Father.<\/p>\nMany similar passages in John’s Gospel are, however, more explicit. The Son is unquestionably preexistent, because he knows he came from the Father and returns to the Father. It is not possible from the many references to sonship in John’s Gospel to come to any other conclusion than that Jesus regarded himself as divine. It is particularly important to note that it is also in this Gospel that Jesus is portrayed most clearly in his human nature with its attendant weaknesses. Nowhere in the teachings of Jesus did he explain how God could become man, but he assumed this as a fact. He taught with the authority of God.<\/p>\nTeachings about the Kingdom of God<\/p>\nNo one can read the synoptic Gospels without being impressed with the frequency with which the expression “kingdom of God” (or of heaven) occurs. It was clearly an important theme in the whole teaching of Jesus. It is less evident in John’s Gospel but is nevertheless still present. Many of the parables of Jesus are specifically called parables of the kingdom. Jesus’ concept of the kingdom provided a foundational idea to the Christian gospel.<\/p>\nThe main idea is the rule of God over people rather than a realm that belongs to God. In other words, the emphasis is on the active reigning of the King. This is important because it means that the kingdom is inextricably affected by relationships between the members and the King. It also means the kingdom will not be expressed in institutional terms.<\/p>\nThere is one problem with the kingdom teachings that must be faced: its timing. Some sayings imply that it is already present, while others suggest that it will not come until the future. Some scholars disavow the idea that present and future can be held together; therefore, they reject one and concentrate on the other. Those who maintain a present understanding of the kingdom developed the idea of a social gospel, since Christianity was defined as the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. According to this view, there is no place for a future arrival of the kingdom. On the other hand, some have denied altogether the present aspect and concentrate on the future. In this case, it is difficult to see in what sense the kingdom teachings are relevant.<\/p>\nYet others have insisted that since both present and future aspects are found in the Gospel records, no explanation is satisfying that denies one at the expense of the other. One possible solution is to regard the present aspects as applying to this age but as not reaching their fulfillment until the future establishment of the kingdom. A similar solution, expressed differently, is to maintain that the reality is a future kingdom but that it has spilled over into the present. Jesus intentionally included both present and future aspects.<\/p>\nThat the kingdom was a theme of common interest is clear from Luke 17:20-21, where the Pharisees asked Jesus when it was coming. His answer, that it was among them, shows unmistakably a present idea. This is equally true of the statement that in the exorcism of evil spirits the kingdom had arrived (Mt 12:28; Lk 11:20). Moreover, Jesus mentioned that the kingdom has been forcefully advancing (Mt 11:12), by which he did not mean by revolutionary methods, although he clearly implied that something dynamic was already happening. This idea of dynamic power is one of the most characteristic features of the kingdom. Jesus spoke of binding the strong, armed man (Lk 11:21-22), which shows that in his ministry he expected to give a powerful demonstration against the forces of darkness.<\/p>\nIt is evident that the kingdom Jesus proclaimed was a kingdom in which God was supreme. It was inseparably linked with his redemptive mission, in which God was bringing spiritual deliverance to his people. Moreover, the kingdom teachings of Jesus cannot be regarded in isolation. It is part of the total message; no part of that message can be divorced from any other part without distorting the whole.<\/p>\nThe clearest teachings on the future aspect of the kingdom are to be found in some of the parables (Mt 13) and in the discourse on the Mt of Olives (Mt 24–25; Mk 13; Lk 21). In the latter, Jesus spoke of the future using imagery drawn from Jewish literature, like the references to clouds, to glory, and to angels in relation to the coming of the Son of Man (Mk 13:26-27). In Matthew’s account there is reference to a trumpet call, another familiar feature (Mt 24:31).<\/p>\nVarious features from the kingdom parables give the clearest idea of the nature of the kingdom. Membership in the kingdom is not considered to be universal, for in the parable of the sower not all the soils are productive. The same separation is seen in the parable of the tares and the parable of the dragnet. The tares are destroyed and only the wheat is harvested, while the bad fish are discarded. The members of the kingdom are those who hear and understand the word of the kingdom (Mt 13:23). It is clear, therefore, that a response is necessary if the benefits of the kingdom are to be enjoyed.<\/p>\nThere is an emphasis on growth in the parable of the mustard seed, where rapid development occurs from small beginnings. The parables of the treasure and the pearl are intended to underline the value of the kingdom. The universal character of the kingdom comes out sharply in the parable of the vineyard, where the kingdom is said to be taken away from the Jews and given to another “nation,” presumably an allusion to the Gentiles (Mt 21:43). This is in line with the great commission Jesus gave to his disciples to preach to all nations (28:19). A universal kingdom would certainly be entirely different from the messianic kingdom idea of Judaism, in which Israel was to be the central unit. It is not easy to appreciate how revolutionary the idea was of a worldwide kingdom with Gentiles and Jews on the same footing.<\/p>\nTeachings about His Own Death<\/p>\nThe announcement of the kingdom must be linked with Jesus’ approach to his own death. Did Jesus see his death as an integral part of his mission? Some have maintained that he ended his life in disillusionment, but a brief survey of his teaching about his own destiny is sufficient to dispel such a theory. To the further question, “What meaning did Jesus attach to his forthcoming death?” he gave a series of passing indications that, when taken together, supply us with a basis on which to reconstruct some idea of the place of his death within the entire range of his mission.<\/p>\nIt is important to note that many times Jesus showed his awareness that details of his life were a fulfillment of Scripture (cf. Mt 26:24, 56; Mk 9:12; Lk 18:31; 24:25-27, 44-45). In all the instances cited, the suffering of Jesus is referred to as the subject of OT prophecy. This must mean that he had reflected on OT predictions and recognized that they could be fulfilled only through his own sufferings. In this case the Passion must be regarded as an indispensable part of Jesus’ consciousness of his own mission.<\/p>\nThis emphasis on fulfillment of Scripture is also seen in John’s Gospel. His statement that the Son of Man must be lifted up even as Moses lifted up the serpent (Jn 3:14) illustrates this point. Most of the passages where fulfillment of Scripture is mentioned are the comments of the Evangelist, John. But there can be no doubt that the fulfillment motive played a vital part both in Jesus’ own understanding of his mission and in the early Christians’ understanding of his death. In this connection, some hold that John puts more stress on the Incarnation as a means of salvation in that he sees it as an illumination of the mind. But this is only part of the truth, for there is more on the meaning of the death of Jesus in John’s Gospel than in the others.<\/p>\nThe Gospels emphasize the divine necessity of the death of Jesus. In addition to the fulfillment motive, the idea of necessity is strong in the first prediction by Jesus of his approaching death. In John’s Gospel Jesus speaks of his “hour” several times in the earlier stages of his ministry as “not yet,” but in the later stages as having arrived. There is a sense of definite movement toward a climax, the hour undoubtedly being the hour of the Passion (cf. Jn 17:1). There is not room for any disillusionment here. Jesus knew that only through the hour of death could the Father be glorified. The climax was according to an orderly plan.<\/p>\nJesus evidently regarded his death as in some ways a sacrifice. The clearest indication of this is in the words of institution at the Last Supper. The cup is connected with the blood of the new covenant, which is said to be for the “remission of sins” (Mt 26:26-28). No explanation is given of the way in which the coming death, signified by the broken bread and poured-out wine, would bring about forgiveness of sins. But the immediate realization by the early church that Christ died for our sins (cf. 1 Cor 15:3) shows that the importance of what Jesus said had been clearly grasped. The new covenant idea is parallel to the old covenant, which according to Exodus 24 was sealed with sacrificial blood; there can be little doubt that Jesus had this in mind when he spoke the words about the new covenant. It was also akin to the ideas expressed in Jeremiah 31, referring to a covenant written on the heart rather than graven in stone.<\/p>\nAnother aspect of the death of Christ seen especially in John’s Gospel is the sense of completion that went with it. In Jesus’ prayer in John 17, as he faces the cross, he declares that he has finished the work that the Father had given him to do (Jn 17:4). This is reinforced by the cry from the cross, “It is finished,” which only John records (19:30). This sense of accomplishment gives an air of triumph to what might otherwise have been considered a disaster.<\/p>\nTeachings about the Holy Spirit<\/p>\nAt several of the major events in the life of Jesus, the Evangelists note the activity of the Spirit (e.g., the Virgin Birth, the Baptism, the Temptation). It is to be expected, therefore, that Jesus would have instructed his disciples about the Spirit. However, there is surprisingly little in the synoptic Gospels on this theme. Most of the teachings come from John’s Gospel.<\/p>\nWhen Jesus began his preaching ministry in Nazareth, according to Luke, he read the statement in Isaiah 61:1-2 about the Spirit of God and applied it to himself. He saw his ministry as being inaugurated by the Spirit. This becomes clear in the way in which he responded to the charge that he cast out demons by means of Beelzebub, prince of the demons. He identified the reality of the coming of the kingdom by the fact that he was casting out evil spirits by the Spirit of God (Mt 12:28). He was, moreover, sensitive to the seriousness of blaspheming the Spirit, which he implies his accusers were in danger of doing. Whatever he did in his ministry he saw as an activity of the Spirit, and this was especially so in the contest with evil spirits.<\/p>\nWhile warning his disciples that they would meet with opposition, Jesus assured them of the Spirit’s support when they were forced to appear before kings or governors (Mt 10:19-20; Mk 13:11). Indeed, he told them that the Spirit would speak through them, thus emphasizing that he expected a continuation of the Spirit’s activity in the future. Luke records one instance in which Jesus comments on what fathers will do for their children and asks whether God will not give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Lk 11:13). The assumption is that God regards the Holy Spirit as the best gift to give his children. On yet another occasion, Jesus recognized that David was inspired by the Holy Spirit when he wrote Psalm 110 (Mk 12:36), reflecting Jesus’ belief in the Spirit’s agency in the production of Scripture.<\/p>\nThe Gospel of John provides a more detailed development of what Jesus taught about the Spirit. Teachings about the Spirit are usually linked to Jesus’ teachings about giving eternal life to those who believe in him and receive him. At the same time he spoke of the new birth and eternal life to Nicodemus, Jesus also spoke of the Spirit (Jn 3:3-8, 15-16). When he spoke of water of life to the Samaritan woman, he also spoke of the Spirit (4:14, 23-24). The same holds true for the discourses on the bread of life (6:48-63) and river of life (7:37-39). Throughout the Gospel, Jesus declares to various people that he can give them eternal life if they would believe in him. He promises them the water of life, the bread of life, and the light of life, but no one could really partake of these until after the Lord was resurrected. As a foretaste, as a sample, they could receive a certain measure of life via the Lord’s words, because his words were themselves spirit and life (6:63), but it was not until the Spirit would become available that the believers could actually become the recipients of the divine, eternal life.<\/p>\nAfter the Lord’s discourse in John 6 (a discourse that was very troubling and offensive to most of his disciples), Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives eternal life” (6:63). When the Spirit became available, they could have life. Again, Jesus offered the water of life—even life flowing like rivers of living water—to the Jews assembled at the Feast of Tabernacles. He told them to come and drink of him. But no one could, then and there, come and drink of him. So John added a note: “This He spoke of the Spirit, . . . for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (7:39, nasb<\/span>). Once Jesus would be glorified through resurrection, the Spirit of the glorified Jesus would be available for men to drink. In John 6, Jesus offered himself as the bread of life to be eaten by men; and in John 7, he offered himself as the water of life to refresh men. But no one could eat of him or drink of him until the Spirit of the glorified Jesus was made available, as was intimated in John 6:63 and then stated plainly in John 7:39.<\/p>\nIn John 14:16-18, Jesus went one step further in identifying himself with the Spirit. He told the disciples that he would give them another Comforter. Then he told them that they should know who this Comforter was because he was, then and there, abiding with them and would, in the near future, be in them. Who else but Jesus was abiding with them at that time? Then after telling the disciples that the Comforter would come to them, he said, “I am coming to you.” First he said that the Comforter would come to them and abide in them, and then in the same breath he said that he would come to them and abide in them (see 14:20). In short, the coming of the Comforter to the disciples was one and the same as the coming of Jesus to the disciples. The Comforter who was dwelling with the disciples that night was the Spirit in Christ; the Comforter who would be in the disciples (after the resurrection) would be Christ in the Spirit.<\/p>\nOn the evening of the resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples and then breathed into them the Holy Spirit. This inbreathing, reminiscent of God’s breathing into Adam the breath of life (Gn 2:7), became the fulfillment of all that had been promised and anticipated earlier in John’s Gospel. Through this impartation, the disciples were regenerated and indwelt by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This historical event marked the genesis of the new creation. Jesus could now be realized as the bread of life, the water of life, and the light of life. The believers now possessed his divine, eternal, risen life. From that time forward, Christ as Spirit indwelt his believers. Thus, in his first epistle John could say, “We know he lives in us because the Holy Spirit lives in us” (1 Jn 3:24).<\/p>\nThe indwelling Spirit helped the disciples remember Jesus’ words and actions (Jn 14:26) so that they could teach and write about them with acumen. This means that Jesus did not intend that the preservation of his teachings should be left to chance. All too often theories attempting to explain the way in which the traditions about Jesus and his teachings were transmitted in the period before there were any written Gospels are suggested without any reference to the Holy Spirit. It is not acceptable to concentrate on so-called laws of oral tradition and pay no attention to the unique factor in this case—the Holy Spirit. It is part of the Spirit’s mission to preserve and transmit the teaching of Jesus. What Jesus says in this passage about the Spirit has far-reaching significance for the formation of the Gospels.<\/p>\nAnother important function is the activity of the Spirit in the world. Jesus made it clear that the Spirit would convict of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (Jn 16:8). Without the activity of the Spirit, there would be no possibility of the disciples making any impact on the world. Nevertheless, Jesus warned that the world could not receive the Spirit because it did not know him (14:17). The mystery of the Spirit is that he dwells in every believer. This indwelling aspect is of great importance and was particularly developed in the writings of Paul.<\/p>\nTeachings about Humanity<\/p>\nJesus taught about God’s providential care over all human beings. A person’s hairs are all numbered (Mt 10:30), which is a vivid way of saying that God is concerned about the details of human life. But God is far more concerned with the eternal soul. Jesus made it clear that it would be unprofitable for anyone to gain the world and to lose his or her soul (Mt 16:26; Mk 8:36; Lk 9:25). The focus falls on what a person is and not what he or she has. Jesus even said that a maimed body was preferable to a forfeited life (Mk 9:43-47). One’s total fulfillment depends more on one’s spiritual condition than on one’s environment or physical well-being. He was not, of course, unconcerned about people’s physical state, as his many healings show, but his major concern was with people’s relationship with God.<\/p>\nJesus never viewed humans as isolated individuals. Within God’s community people were expected to have responsibility toward one another. The Sermon on the Mount illustrated this social emphasis in the teaching of Jesus. Those who are merciful to others will obtain mercy (Mt 5:7). There is special commendation for peacemakers (v 9). The disciples of Jesus are expected to bring light to others (v 16). They are expected to give more than expected (v 40). Jesus is clearly saying that people have responsibility beyond themselves.<\/p>\nThe relation of people to God is one of dependence. Jesus taught men and women to pray to God for daily bread (Mt 6:11) as a reminder that they cannot be wholly self-sufficient. He allowed no place in his teaching for humans to boast in their own achievements.<\/p>\nJesus had some specific things to say about home life. He accepted the sanctity of the marriage contract (Mt 5:31-32; cf. 19:3-9) and therefore showed a high regard for the honor and rights of the wife. It was more in his actions and attitudes rather than his specific teachings that Jesus showed his regard for the status of women. When he spoke of men, he often used the term in the sense of people, including both men and women. There is no suggestion that in matters of faith women were in the least inferior to men. Moreover, Luke points out how many women supported Jesus and his disciples in their travels.<\/p>\nJesus had a high view of the human potential but also acknowledged their present condition. The stress on repentance (Mt 4:17) shows a sinfulness of which people need to repent. This sense of need is implicit in the instances where Jesus pronounces forgiveness (e.g., to the paralytic, Mt 9:1-8; and to the woman who anointed him, Lk 7:47-48). In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus instructs his disciples to pray for forgiveness (Mt 6:12; Lk 11:4). He takes for granted that they need it and desire to obtain it.<\/p>\nJesus gives no support to any self-righteousness in men or women. This is the burden of his criticism of the religious leaders in various sayings, but particularly in Matthew 23. He was critical of Jewish teachers because they placed so much importance on works of merit as contributing to salvation. His whole approach depended on humans casting themselves on the mercy of God. This is vividly illustrated in the parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector at prayer (Lk 18:10-14). It was the latter who threw himself on the mercy of God and who was commended by Jesus.<\/p>\nUndoubtedly, Jesus regarded sin as universal. He never suggested that there was anyone who was exempt from it. The major concept of sin in his teachings was alienation from God. This comes out clearly in John’s Gospel, with its strong antithesis between light and darkness, life and death (cf. Jn 5:24). Indeed, the “world” in John’s Gospel represents the system that takes no account of God. But sin is also seen as enslavement to Satan. The life and teachings of Jesus are seen against the background of spiritual conflict. Jesus can even say to his opponents, “You are of your father the devil” (Jn 8:44). He assumes throughout that there are hostile forces bringing man into subjection.<\/p>\nIn the parable of the prodigal son, sin against God is linked with sin before the father. In other words, it is regarded in terms of rebellion and revolt (Lk 15:21). This is a different assessment of the son’s offense than the one arrived at by the elder brother, who could see it only in terms of property. The view that humans are essentially in a state of rebellion against God is a basic tenet of Paul’s theological position, and it is important to note that it finds its root in the teachings of Jesus.<\/p>\nThere is no question that Jesus had much to say about condemnation. Those who did not believe and were therefore outside the provision of salvation that Jesus had made are declared to be already condemned (Jn 3:18). At various times Jesus mentioned judgment to come, which shows that a person’s destiny is related to his or her present spiritual condition. Against this background of humanity’s spiritual need, the whole mission of Jesus must be seen. A person, if left to himself or herself, would be totally unable to achieve salvation, but Jesus came to offer eternal life to those who believe in him (Jn 3:16).<\/p>\nTeachings about the Church<\/p>\nSome have supposed that Jesus did not predict that there would be a church. But on two occasions he used the word “church,” which means a people called out by God. On one of the occasions—at Caesarea Philippi—Jesus told Peter that he would build his church upon the rock (Mt 16:16-19). It seems most probable that “rock” was intended to link the foundation of the church to Peter’s particular confession about Jesus. It is certain that the later church was a community that affirmed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. It is important to note that it is Christ himself who is the builder of the church. He assured his disciples that it would be impregnable (the gates of hades would not overcome it). Moreover, one of the functions of the church was to proclaim forgiveness of sins, and this is implied in what Jesus said to Peter. That the words were not intended to refer exclusively to him is clear from Matthew 18:18, where similar words were addressed to all the disciples. The church, according to Matthew 18:17, was to be a community that could settle disputes between believers.<\/p>\nIn addition to these specific references to the church, Jesus assumed that his followers would meet together in his name (Mt 18:19-20). In his final words in Matthew’s account, he commissioned them to teach what he had taught them and to baptize new disciples (Mt 28:19-20). He promised his presence would be with them. The command to baptize was reinforced by Jesus’ own example in submitting to John’s baptism. One other special rite that Jesus expected his disciples to observe was the Lord’s Supper. His instructions about this presuppose a later community that could observe it. Since the form of words used in the institution point to the meaning of the death of Christ, it is clear that Jesus intended the future community to be frequently reminded of the center of the faith. The Christian church was to be a group of people who knew that through Christ they had entered into a new relationship with God.<\/p>\nAlthough there are no references to the church in John’s Gospel, there are certainly hints that support the community idea. Jesus introduced himself as the Shepherd and spoke of his followers as forming a flock (Jn 10:16). The sheep imagery occurs again in this Gospel when Peter is instructed three times by the risen Lord to feed the sheep (Jn 21:15-17). Another figure of speech that Jesus used to bring out the group idea is that of the many branches that draw their life from the vine, and therefore belong to each other because of their common life in the vine.<\/p>\nJesus recognized that the future community would need the aid of the Spirit. His teachings on this subject laid the foundation for the evident dependence of the early church on the Spirit, as seen in the book of Acts. Finally, it should be noted that there is a close connection between the church and the kingdom, although they are not identical. The kingdom is more comprehensive than the church, which is included within it.<\/p>\nTeachings about the Future<\/p>\nJesus thought of the kingdom in terms of both present realization and future hope. The future aspect is related to the end of the age. Although he did not spell it out in specific terms, Jesus did not leave his disciples without any knowledge of how the present age would end. He gave firm assurance that he would return at some time in the future.<\/p>\nHe told the disciples that the Son of Man would come with his angels in his Father’s glory (Mt 16:27). In the discourse in which he answers the disciples’ question about the end of the world, he speaks again of the Son of Man coming in clouds with power and glory (Mk 13:26), probably drawn from the familiar language of Daniel 7. Jesus described various signs that would precede his own coming. He spoke of wars, conflicts, earthquakes, famines, and disturbances in the heavens. The gospel was to be preached to all nations. At the same time many false Christs would arise.<\/p>\nJesus gave such details about his return to encourage his disciples in the face of persecution. The future hope had a definitely practical purpose. The disciples were urged to watch. The coming would happen as unexpectedly as a thief in the night. Jesus said that even he himself did not know when the coming would take place (Mk 13:32).<\/p>\nAnother important theme affecting the future is emphasized in Jesus’ teachings about resurrection. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the body. They attempted to trap Jesus with a question about a woman who had been married seven times. They wanted to know whose husband she would be at the resurrection (Mk 12:18-27). Jesus pointed out that there would be no marriage when the dead rise. The Sadducees’ idea about resurrection was clearly wrong. Jesus’ teaching was that the resurrected would be like the angels. There is no doubt about the resurrection of the dead, although no information is given about the resurrection body. Jesus told a story about a rich man and a poor man who both died (Lk 16:19-31). In the afterlife the rich man cries out in torment, while the poor man enjoys a state of blessedness. What is most clear from this is the certainty of the afterlife and the fact of a distinction between the two men, although we are not told on what grounds the distinction is made. Elsewhere in his teachings, Jesus suggested that the most vital requirement is faith in himself. The conversation between Jesus and the dying thief on the cross suggests that paradise for the latter consisted in an awareness of the presence of Jesus (Lk 23:42-43).<\/p>\nThe theme of rewards and punishment occurs in many passages. In Matthew 16:27 Jesus says that the Son of Man will reward everyone according to what he or she has done. Those who are worthless are promised punishment in darkness (Mt 25:30). Moreover, Jesus spoke of a day of judgment on which men and women must give an account, even of all their careless words (12:36-37). In the parable of the sheep and the goats, he spoke of a separation that the Son of Man will make when he comes. Those commended are those who have shown concern for the believers (25:31-46).<\/p>\nAmong Jesus’ most solemn statements are those that speak of hell. There is no way of getting around his teachings about eternal punishment for the unrighteous (as in Mt 25:41, 46), which is opposite to the eternal life promised to the righteous. He taught that his disciples would have a place prepared for them in heaven (Jn 14:2), and spoke of a Book of Life in which the names of his disciples were written (Lk 10:20).<\/p>\nTeachings about Moral Issues<\/p>\nMuch of the teaching of Jesus is concerned with moral issues—so much so that some scholars have concluded that this was the main burden of his teaching. But the moral teachings cannot be considered apart from the many facets of his teachings outlined above. It has been said that there are close parallels between the teachings of Jesus and the moral teachings of Judaism. What is distinctive about Jesus’ teachings about morality is that the motive and power behind moral conduct is not conceived in terms of laws that must be obeyed. Right conduct is seen to be the result of a right relationship with God.<\/p>\nJesus was himself the pattern for moral behavior. He made clear that his aim was to fulfill the will of God. There is no sense of legalism in his approach to ethical decisions. When—in the Sermon on the Mount—he compared his own teaching with that of Moses, he showed the importance of penetrating to the inner meaning (cf. Mt 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32). On the face of it, Jesus made more rigorous demands than the Mosaic law, because he was concerned with probing the motives as well as the actions. Many have dismissed the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount as entirely impractical, but Jesus never intended that his teaching would be easy; he set as a target nothing less than the perfection of God himself (Mt 5:48). Nevertheless, he called his yoke easy and his burden light (11:29-30), which suggests that he was not setting out an impossible ethical pattern. It must be remembered that he was not producing a manifesto for society. His concern was that each individual should have powerful motives for right decisions on matters of conduct. His reaction against a rigid application of Sabbath observance at the expense of the welfare of a needy person illustrates this point. Concern for others was rated higher than ritual correctness.<\/p>\nConclusion<\/p>\nNo account of the life and teachings of Jesus would be complete without some indication of the place that Jesus Christ gained in the developing church. Such a quest naturally takes us outside the scope of the Gospels into the testimony of the book of Acts and Paul’s letters. There we can see whether the predictions of Jesus were fulfilled and whether in fact the early Christians took his teaching seriously. Although there can be no question that Jesus Christ became central to the faith of the early Christians, he was regarded from many points of view. He was seen as Messiah in the sense of a spiritual deliverer, as Lord in the sense of being sovereign over his people, as Servant in the sense of his obedience to suffering, as Son in his relation to his Father. In many ways the full understanding of what and who he was could not have occurred until after the resurrection. Therefore, we find that many facets of his teachings about himself were more fully developed in the reflections of his people. This is true in a special sense of the writings of the apostle Paul.<\/p>\nMany have found a problem in linking the Gospels with their detailed presentation of the acts and teachings of Jesus with the Christ who is so central in Paul’s beliefs. The problem arises because the apostle does not refer to any specific incident in the life of Jesus and does not reflect in his epistles any acquaintance with the large amount of teaching material in the Gospels. Does this suggest that Paul had no interest in the historical Jesus? Or could it be maintained that he knew nothing about him? Those who have driven a wedge between Paul and Jesus have not given sufficient weight to those incidental indications that Paul knew a great deal more about the historical Jesus than he states in his letters. He writes, for instance, about the meekness and gentleness of Christ (2 Cor 10:1), suggesting that he knew that Jesus had said of himself that he was meek and lowly of heart (Mt 11:29). Moreover, Paul speaks of the poverty of Christ (2 Cor 8:9) and must have known that the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head. He certainly knows the details of how Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:23-26), and he knows of his death by crucifixion. It seems reasonable to conclude that Paul assumes that his readers will be acquainted with the Gospel material.<\/p>\nIt is perhaps useful in this connection to inquire whether the life and teachings of Jesus played a significant part in the early Christian proclamation. One passage that is valuable in this respect is Acts 10:36-38. In Peter’s address to Cornelius, he spoke of God’s having anointed Jesus of Nazareth, and of Jesus’ having gone about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil. It is clear that some account of the acts of Jesus was included in the early preaching, and there is no reason to suppose that this was not a regular procedure.<\/p>\nThere is no doubt that the example of Jesus was a powerful motive for promoting right behavior. Peter appeals to it in encouraging Christians who were suffering for their faith (1 Pt 2:21). Paul also knows the value of imitation (1 Cor 11:1; 1 Thes 1:6). Since Jesus was recognized as being a man who did not sin (cf. 2 Cor 5:21), his behavior patterns would have proved invaluable for those who needed a new standard for moral action. While this idea of example is unquestionably present in the Epistles, it would be quite wrong to suppose that it formed a major part of Christian doctrine.<\/p>\nThere are a few references to the teachings of Jesus in the non-Gospel portion of the NT. In the Letter of James, which is almost wholly practical, there are more allusions to the teachings of Jesus than anywhere else in the NT. This is especially true in echoes of the Sermon on the Mount, and it shows the strong contribution that the moral teaching of Jesus had on the ethical values of the early Christians. Most of the expositions of doctrine in the Epistles find their basis in some aspect of the teachings of Jesus. These teachings have an ongoing significance for the development of the church.<\/p>\nTo what extent is knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus relevant to the 21st century? Existential theologians have driven such a wedge between the Christ of faith and the Jesus of history that the latter has ceased to have any importance for them. Christians today, no less than their first-century predecessors, need to know that the object of their faith is the same one who lived and taught in Galilee and Judea.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Ascension of Christ; Christ; Christology; Genealogy of Jesus Christ; Incarnation; Jesus Christ; Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven; Messiah; Parable; Savior; Son of God; Son of Man; Virgin Birth of Jesus.<\/p>","summary_ro":"JESUS CHRIST, Teachings of Because of the wide variety of forms in which the teachings of Jesus have been preserved, it is difficult to bring out the essence of that teaching in a systematic way. Jesus did not present us with a theological system. His words were essentially practical in intent. Yet from all the variety of sayings it is possible to extract a clear idea of what Jesus thought about a number of important issues. What was his teaching about God? What did he think about himself? Wh...","summary_en":"JESUS CHRIST, Teachings of Because of the wide variety of forms in which the teachings of Jesus have been preserved, it is difficult to bring out the essence of that teaching in a systematic way. Jesus did not present us with a theological system. His words were essentially practical in intent. Yet from all the variety of sayings it is possible to extract a clear idea of what Jesus thought about a number of important issues. What was his teaching about God? What did he think about himself? Wh...","source":"Articles\/J.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":36099,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Spirit of God","title_en":"Spirit of God","content_ro":"<h3>SPIRIT OF GOD<\/h3>\nDescription of God in action, God in motion. The word “spirit” (Hebrew, ruach<\/span>;<\/em> Greek, pneuma<\/span>) is the word used from ancient times to describe and explain the experience of divine power working in, upon, and around people.<\/p>\nIn the Old Testament<\/p>\nThere are three basic meanings evident in the use of “spirit” from the earliest Hebrew writings: It was a wind from God, it was the breath of life, and it was a spirit of ecstasy.<\/p>\nFirst, it was a wind from God (the same Hebrew word translated “Spirit” in Gn 1:2) that caused the waters of the Flood to subside (8:1). A wind from God blew locusts over Egypt (Ex 10:13) and quail over the camp of Israel. The blast of his nostrils separated the waters of the Red Sea at the exodus (14:21).<\/p>\nSecond, it was the breath of God that made man a living being (Gn 2:7). It is one of the earliest perceptions of Hebrew faith that humans live only because of the stirring of the divine breath or spirit within them (Gn 6:3; Jb 33:4; 34:14-15; Ps 104:29-30). Later, a clearer distinction was drawn between divine Spirit and human spirit, and between spirit and soul, but at the earliest stage these were all more or less perceived to be synonymous manifestations of the same divine power, the source of all life—animal as well as human (Gn 7:15, 22; see Eccl 3:19-21).<\/p>\nThird, there were occasions when this divine power seemed to overtake and possess an individual fully, so that his or her words or actions far transcended those of normal behavior. Such a person was clearly marked as an agent of God’s purpose and given respect. This was apparently how leaders were recognized in the premonarchy period—Othniel (Jgs 3:10), Gideon (6:34), Jephthah (11:29), and the first king, Saul (1 Sm 11:6), as well. So, too, the earliest prophets were those whose inspiration came in ecstasy (1 Sm 19:20-24).<\/p>\nIn the earlier stages of Hebrew thought, ecstatic experience was seen as the direct effect of divine power. This was true even when the ecstasy was recognized as evil in character, as in the case of Saul’s seizure by the Spirit (1 Sm 16:14-16). A spirit from God could be for evil as well as for good (see Jgs 9:23; 1 Kgs 22:19-23).<\/p>\n<h5>In the Writings of the Prophets<\/h5>\nFor Isaiah, the spirit was that which characterized God and distinguished him and his actions from human affairs (Is 31:3). Later, the adjective “holy” appeared as that which distinguished the Spirit of God from any other spirit, human or divine (Ps 51:11; Is 63:10-11).<\/p>\nThe problem of false prophecy emphasized the danger of assuming that every message delivered in ecstasy was the word of the Lord. Thus, tests of prophecy evaluated the content of the message delivered or the character of the prophet’s life, not the degree or quality of inspiration (see Dt 13:1-5; 18:22; Jer 23:14; Mi 3:5). This sense of a need to discriminate between true and false inspiration and to distinguish the word of God from the merely ecstatic oracle may help to explain the otherwise puzzling reluctance of the major eighth- and seventh-century BC<\/span> prophets to attribute their inspiration to the Spirit.<\/p>\n<h5>In the Exilic and Postexilic Writings<\/h5>\nIn exilic and postexilic literature, the role of the Spirit is narrowed to two major functions: that of the prophetic Spirit and that of the Spirit of the age to come.<\/p>\nThe later prophets again spoke of the Spirit in explicit terms as the inspirer of prophecy (see Ez 3:1-4, 22-24; Hg 2:5; Zec 4:6). As they looked back to the preexilic period, these prophets freely attributed the inspiration of “the former prophets” to the Spirit as well (Zec 7:12).<\/p>\nThis tendency to exalt the Spirit’s role as the inspirer of prophecy became steadily stronger in the period between the OT and NT, until in rabbinic Judaism the Spirit was almost exclusively the inspirer of the prophetic writings now regarded as Scripture.<\/p>\nThe other understanding of the Spirit’s role during exilic and postexilic times was that the Spirit would be the manifestation of the power of God in the age to come. That eschatological hope of divine power effecting a final cleansing and a renewed creation is rooted principally in Isaiah’s prophecies (Is 4:4; 32:15; 44:3-4). Isaiah speaks of one anointed by the Spirit to accomplish complete and final salvation (11:2; 42:1; 61:1). Elsewhere, the same longing is expressed in terms of the Spirit being freely dispensed to all Israel (Ez 39:29; Jl 2:28-29; Zec 12:10) in the new covenant (Jer 31:31-34; Ez 36:26-27).<\/p>\nIn the period prior to Jesus, the understanding of the Spirit as the Spirit of prophecy and as the Spirit of the age to come had developed into the widespread dogma that the Spirit was no longer to be experienced in the present. The Spirit had been known in the past as the inspirer of prophetic writings, but after Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the Spirit had withdrawn (1 Macc 4:44-46; 9:27; 2 Bar 85:1-3; see also Ps 74:9; Zec 13:2-6). The Spirit would be known again in the age of the Messiah, but in the interim the Spirit was absent from Israel. Even the great Hillel (learned Jewish leader and teacher, 60? BC<\/span>–AD<\/span> 20?), a near contemporary of Jesus, had not received the Spirit—though if anyone was worthy of the Spirit, it was he. There is a tradition that at a meeting of Hillel and other wise men, a voice from heaven said, “Among those here present is one who would have deserved the Holy Spirit to rest upon him, if his time had been worthy of it.” The wise men all looked at Hillel.<\/p>\nThe consequence of this accepted dearth of the Spirit was that the Spirit in effect became subordinated to the law. The Spirit was the inspirer of the law, but since the Spirit could no longer be experienced directly, the law became the sole voice of the Spirit. It was this increasing dominance of the law and its authoritative interpreters that provided the background for the mission of Jesus and the initial spread of Christianity.<\/p>\nIn the New Testament<\/p>\nIf we are to understand the NT’s teaching on the Spirit, we must recognize both its continuity and discontinuity with the OT. At many points NT usage cannot be fully understood except against the background of OT concepts or passages. For example, the ambiguity of John 3:8 (“wind,” “Spirit”), 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (“breath”), and Revelation 11:11 (“breath of life”) takes us back to the basic Hebrew meanings of “spirit.” Acts 8:39 and Revelation 17:3 and 21:10 reflect the same conception of the Spirit that we find in 1 Kings 18:12, 2 Kings 2:16, and Ezekiel 3:14. The NT writers generally share the rabbinic view that Scripture has the authority of the Spirit behind it (see Mk 12:36; Acts 28:25; Heb 3:7; 2 Pt 1:21). The principal continuity is that the NT brings the fulfillment of what the OT writers looked forward to. At the same time, Christianity is not simply fulfilled Judaism. Jesus’ coming and his giving of his Spirit to live within his believers marks off the new faith as something new and distinct.<\/p>\n<h5>The Spirit of the New Age<\/h5>\nThe most striking feature of Jesus’ ministry and of the message of the earliest Christians was their conviction and proclamation that the blessings of the new age were already present, that the eschatological Spirit had already been poured out. With the exception of the Essenes at Qumran, no other group or individual within the Jewish religion of that time had dared to make such a bold claim. The prophets and the rabbis looked for a messianic age yet to come, and the apocalyptic writers warned of its imminent arrival, but none thought of it as already present. Even John the Baptist spoke only of one about to come and of the Spirit’s operation in the imminent future (Mk 1:8). But for Jesus and first-century Christians, the longed for hope was a living reality, and the claim carried with it the exciting sense of being in “the last days.” Without some recognition of that eschatological dimension of the Christians’ faith and life, we cannot understand this teaching on, and experience of, the Spirit.<\/p>\nJesus clearly thought of his teachings and healings as fulfillment of the prophetic hope (Mt 12:41-42; 13:16-17; Lk 17:20-21). In particular, he saw himself as the one anointed by the Spirit to provide salvation (Mt 5:3-6; 11:5; Lk 4:17-19). So, too, Jesus understood his exorcisms as the effect of the power of God and as manifestations of the end-time rule of God (Mt 12:27-28; Mk 3:22-26). The Gospel writers, especially Luke, emphasize the eschatological character of Jesus’ life and ministry by stressing the role of the Spirit in his birth (Mt 1:18; Lk 1:35, 41, 67; 2:25-27), his baptism (Mk 1:9-10; Acts 10:38), and his ministry (Mt 4:1; 12:18; Mk 1:12; Lk 4:1, 14; 10:21; Jn 3:34).<\/p>\nThe Christian church began with the in-breathing of the Holy Spirit on the day of Christ’s resurrection (Jn 20:22), followed by the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost “in the last days.” The overwhelming experience of vision and inspired utterance was taken as proof positive that the new age prophesied by Joel had now arrived (Acts 2:2-5, 17-18). Similarly, in Hebrews the gift of the Spirit is spoken of as “the powers of the age to come” (Heb 6:4-5). More striking still is Paul’s understanding of the Spirit as the guarantee of God’s complete salvation (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:13-14), and as the first installment of the believer’s inheritance of God’s kingdom (Rom 8:15-17; 1 Cor 6:9-11; 15:42-50; Gal 4:6-7; 5:16-18, 21-23; Eph 1:13-14). The Spirit is here again thought of as the power of the age to come, as that power (which will characterize God’s rule at the end of time) already shaping and transforming the lives of believers.<\/p>\nFor Paul, this means also that the gift of the Spirit is but the beginning of a lifelong process that will not end until the believer’s whole person is brought under the Spirit’s power (Rom 8:11, 23; 1 Cor 15:44-49; 2 Cor 3:18; 5:1-5). It also means that the present experience of faith is one of lifelong tension between what God has already begun to bring about in the believer’s life and what has not yet been brought under God’s grace (Phil 1:6). It is this tension between life “in the Spirit” and life “in the flesh” (see Gal 2:20) that comes to poignant expression in Romans 7:24 and 2 Corinthians 5:2-4.<\/p>\n<h5>The Spirit of New Life<\/h5>\nSince the Spirit is the mark of the new age, it is not surprising that the NT writers understood the gift of the Spirit to be that which brings an individual into the new age. John the Baptist described the way the coming one would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Mt 3:11). According to Acts 1:5 and 11:16, this imagery was taken up by Jesus, and the promise is seen as fulfilled at Pentecost—the outpouring of the Spirit here being understood as the risen Christ’s action in drawing his disciples into the new age (Acts 2:17, 33).<\/p>\nIt seems to be one of Luke’s aims in the book of Acts to highlight the central importance of the gift of the Spirit in conversion-initiation—it is that decisive “gift of the Holy Spirit” that makes one a Christian (Acts 2:38-39). People could have been followers of Jesus on earth, but it was only when they received the gift of the Spirit that they could be said to have “believed in the Lord Jesus Christ” (11:16-17). When the Spirit’s presence was manifested in and upon a person’s life, that was recognized by Peter as proof enough that God had accepted that person, even though he or she had not yet made any formal profession of faith or been baptized (10:44-48; 11:15-18; 15:7-9). So too Apollos, already aglow with the Spirit (18:25), even though his knowledge of “the way of God” was slightly defective (vv 24-26), apparently was not required to supplement his “baptism of John” with Christian baptism. However, the 12 so-called disciples at Ephesus proved by their very ignorance of the Spirit that they were not yet disciples of the Lord Jesus (19:1-6). Paul asked these 12 men, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (19:2).<\/p>\nThis accords with Paul’s emphasis in his letters. Belief and reception of the Spirit go together: to receive the Spirit is to begin the Christian life (Gal 3:2-3); to be baptized in the Spirit is to become a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:13); to “have the Spirit of Christ” is to belong to Christ (Rom 8:9-11); to receive the Spirit is tantamount to becoming a child of God (Rom 8:14-17; Gal 4:6-7). The Spirit so characterizes the new age and the life of the new age that only the gift of the Spirit can bring a person into the new age to experience the life of the new age. For the Spirit is distinctively and peculiarly the life-giver; the Spirit indeed is<\/em> the life of the new age (Rom 8:2, 6, 10; 1 Cor 15:45; 2 Cor 3:6; Gal 5:25).<\/p>\nIn just the same way in John’s writings, the Spirit is characteristically the life-giving Spirit (Jn 6:63), the power from above, the seed of divine life that brings about the new birth (Jn 3:3-8; 1 Jn 3:9), and a river of living water that brings life when one believes in Christ (Jn 7:37-39; so also 4:10, 14). Or again, reception of the Spirit in John 20:22 is depicted as a new creation analogous to Genesis 2:7. Consequently, in 1 John 3:24 and 4:13, possession and experience of the Spirit count as one of the “tests of life” listed in that letter.<\/p>\n<h5>Manifestations of the Spirit<\/h5>\nIt will be clear from what has already been said that when the first Christians, like the ancient Hebrews, spoke of the Spirit, they were thinking of experiences of divine power. In the NT, as in the OT, “Spirit” is the word used to explain the experience of new life and vitality (see above), of liberation from legalism (e.g., Rom 8:2; 2 Cor 3:17), of spiritual refreshing and renewal (cf. e.g., Is 32:15; Ez 39:29 with Jn 7:37-39; Rom 5:5; 1 Cor 12:13; 1 Tm 3:5-6). It is important to realize how wide a range of experiences were attributed to the Spirit: ecstatic experiences (Acts 2:24; 10:43-47; 19:6; cf. 10:10; 22:17—“in ecstasy”; 2 Cor 12:1-4; Rv 1:10), emotional experiences (e.g., love—Rom 5:5; joy—Acts 13:52; 1 Thes 1:6; see also Gal 5:22; Phil 2:1-2), experiences of illumination (2 Cor 3:14-17; Eph 1:17-18; Heb 6:4-5; 1 Jn 2:20-21), and experiences issuing in moral transformation (1 Cor 6:9-11). Likewise, when Paul speaks of spiritual gifts, called charismata<\/span> (acts or words that bring divine grace to concrete expression), he evidently has a wide range of actual events in mind: inspired speech (1 Cor 12:8-10; 1 Thes 1:5), miracles and healings (1 Cor 12:9; Gal 3:5; cf. Heb 2:4), and various acts of service and help, of counsel and administration, and of aid and mercy (Rom 12:7-8; 1 Cor 12:28).<\/p>\nIn talking thus of the Spirit in terms of experience, we should not overemphasize particular experiences or manifestations, as though earliest Christianity consisted of a sequence of mountaintop experiences or spiritual highs. There clearly were such experiences, indeed a wide range of experiences, but no one experience is singled out to be sought by all (except prophecy). There is no distinctively second (or third) experience of the Spirit in the NT, and Paul warned against overvaluing particular manifestations of the Spirit (1 Cor 14:6-19; 2 Cor 12:1-10; cf. Mk 8:11-13). Where particular experiences are valued, it is as manifestations of a more sustained experience, particular expressions of an underlying relationship (cf. Acts 6:3-5; 11:24—“full of the Spirit”; Eph 5:18). What we are in touch with here is the vigor of the experiential dimension of earliest Christianity. If the Spirit is the breath of the new life in Christ (cf. Ez 37:9-10, 14; Jn 20:22; 1 Cor 15:45), then presumably the analogy extends further, and the experience of the Spirit is like the experience of breathing: one is not conscious of it all the time, but if one is not conscious of it, at least sometimes, something is wrong.<\/p>\n<h5>The Fellowship of the Spirit<\/h5>\nIt was out of this shared experience of the Spirit that the earliest Christian community grew and developed, for this is what “the fellowship [koinonia<\/span>] of the Spirit” properly means: common participation in the same Spirit (Phil 2:1; cf. Acts 2:42; 1 Cor 1:4-9). It was the gift of the Spirit that brought those in Samaria, Caesarea, and elsewhere effectively into the community of the Spirit (Act 8, 10). So also, it was the experience of the one Spirit that provided the unifying bond in the churches of Paul’s mission (1 Cor 12:13; Eph 4:3-4; Phil 2:1-2). Here we see the real importance of the divine manifestations of the Spirit for Paul: it is out of the diversity of these particular manifestations that the body of Christ grows in unity (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12:12-17; Eph 4:4-16).<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>SPIRIT OF GOD<\/h3>\nDescription of God in action, God in motion. The word “spirit” (Hebrew, ruach<\/span>;<\/em> Greek, pneuma<\/span>) is the word used from ancient times to describe and explain the experience of divine power working in, upon, and around people.<\/p>\nIn the Old Testament<\/p>\nThere are three basic meanings evident in the use of “spirit” from the earliest Hebrew writings: It was a wind from God, it was the breath of life, and it was a spirit of ecstasy.<\/p>\nFirst, it was a wind from God (the same Hebrew word translated “Spirit” in Gn 1:2) that caused the waters of the Flood to subside (8:1). A wind from God blew locusts over Egypt (Ex 10:13) and quail over the camp of Israel. The blast of his nostrils separated the waters of the Red Sea at the exodus (14:21).<\/p>\nSecond, it was the breath of God that made man a living being (Gn 2:7). It is one of the earliest perceptions of Hebrew faith that humans live only because of the stirring of the divine breath or spirit within them (Gn 6:3; Jb 33:4; 34:14-15; Ps 104:29-30). Later, a clearer distinction was drawn between divine Spirit and human spirit, and between spirit and soul, but at the earliest stage these were all more or less perceived to be synonymous manifestations of the same divine power, the source of all life—animal as well as human (Gn 7:15, 22; see Eccl 3:19-21).<\/p>\nThird, there were occasions when this divine power seemed to overtake and possess an individual fully, so that his or her words or actions far transcended those of normal behavior. Such a person was clearly marked as an agent of God’s purpose and given respect. This was apparently how leaders were recognized in the premonarchy period—Othniel (Jgs 3:10), Gideon (6:34), Jephthah (11:29), and the first king, Saul (1 Sm 11:6), as well. So, too, the earliest prophets were those whose inspiration came in ecstasy (1 Sm 19:20-24).<\/p>\nIn the earlier stages of Hebrew thought, ecstatic experience was seen as the direct effect of divine power. This was true even when the ecstasy was recognized as evil in character, as in the case of Saul’s seizure by the Spirit (1 Sm 16:14-16). A spirit from God could be for evil as well as for good (see Jgs 9:23; 1 Kgs 22:19-23).<\/p>\n<h5>In the Writings of the Prophets<\/h5>\nFor Isaiah, the spirit was that which characterized God and distinguished him and his actions from human affairs (Is 31:3). Later, the adjective “holy” appeared as that which distinguished the Spirit of God from any other spirit, human or divine (Ps 51:11; Is 63:10-11).<\/p>\nThe problem of false prophecy emphasized the danger of assuming that every message delivered in ecstasy was the word of the Lord. Thus, tests of prophecy evaluated the content of the message delivered or the character of the prophet’s life, not the degree or quality of inspiration (see Dt 13:1-5; 18:22; Jer 23:14; Mi 3:5). This sense of a need to discriminate between true and false inspiration and to distinguish the word of God from the merely ecstatic oracle may help to explain the otherwise puzzling reluctance of the major eighth- and seventh-century BC<\/span> prophets to attribute their inspiration to the Spirit.<\/p>\n<h5>In the Exilic and Postexilic Writings<\/h5>\nIn exilic and postexilic literature, the role of the Spirit is narrowed to two major functions: that of the prophetic Spirit and that of the Spirit of the age to come.<\/p>\nThe later prophets again spoke of the Spirit in explicit terms as the inspirer of prophecy (see Ez 3:1-4, 22-24; Hg 2:5; Zec 4:6). As they looked back to the preexilic period, these prophets freely attributed the inspiration of “the former prophets” to the Spirit as well (Zec 7:12).<\/p>\nThis tendency to exalt the Spirit’s role as the inspirer of prophecy became steadily stronger in the period between the OT and NT, until in rabbinic Judaism the Spirit was almost exclusively the inspirer of the prophetic writings now regarded as Scripture.<\/p>\nThe other understanding of the Spirit’s role during exilic and postexilic times was that the Spirit would be the manifestation of the power of God in the age to come. That eschatological hope of divine power effecting a final cleansing and a renewed creation is rooted principally in Isaiah’s prophecies (Is 4:4; 32:15; 44:3-4). Isaiah speaks of one anointed by the Spirit to accomplish complete and final salvation (11:2; 42:1; 61:1). Elsewhere, the same longing is expressed in terms of the Spirit being freely dispensed to all Israel (Ez 39:29; Jl 2:28-29; Zec 12:10) in the new covenant (Jer 31:31-34; Ez 36:26-27).<\/p>\nIn the period prior to Jesus, the understanding of the Spirit as the Spirit of prophecy and as the Spirit of the age to come had developed into the widespread dogma that the Spirit was no longer to be experienced in the present. The Spirit had been known in the past as the inspirer of prophetic writings, but after Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the Spirit had withdrawn (1 Macc 4:44-46; 9:27; 2 Bar 85:1-3; see also Ps 74:9; Zec 13:2-6). The Spirit would be known again in the age of the Messiah, but in the interim the Spirit was absent from Israel. Even the great Hillel (learned Jewish leader and teacher, 60? BC<\/span>–AD<\/span> 20?), a near contemporary of Jesus, had not received the Spirit—though if anyone was worthy of the Spirit, it was he. There is a tradition that at a meeting of Hillel and other wise men, a voice from heaven said, “Among those here present is one who would have deserved the Holy Spirit to rest upon him, if his time had been worthy of it.” The wise men all looked at Hillel.<\/p>\nThe consequence of this accepted dearth of the Spirit was that the Spirit in effect became subordinated to the law. The Spirit was the inspirer of the law, but since the Spirit could no longer be experienced directly, the law became the sole voice of the Spirit. It was this increasing dominance of the law and its authoritative interpreters that provided the background for the mission of Jesus and the initial spread of Christianity.<\/p>\nIn the New Testament<\/p>\nIf we are to understand the NT’s teaching on the Spirit, we must recognize both its continuity and discontinuity with the OT. At many points NT usage cannot be fully understood except against the background of OT concepts or passages. For example, the ambiguity of John 3:8 (“wind,” “Spirit”), 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (“breath”), and Revelation 11:11 (“breath of life”) takes us back to the basic Hebrew meanings of “spirit.” Acts 8:39 and Revelation 17:3 and 21:10 reflect the same conception of the Spirit that we find in 1 Kings 18:12, 2 Kings 2:16, and Ezekiel 3:14. The NT writers generally share the rabbinic view that Scripture has the authority of the Spirit behind it (see Mk 12:36; Acts 28:25; Heb 3:7; 2 Pt 1:21). The principal continuity is that the NT brings the fulfillment of what the OT writers looked forward to. At the same time, Christianity is not simply fulfilled Judaism. Jesus’ coming and his giving of his Spirit to live within his believers marks off the new faith as something new and distinct.<\/p>\n<h5>The Spirit of the New Age<\/h5>\nThe most striking feature of Jesus’ ministry and of the message of the earliest Christians was their conviction and proclamation that the blessings of the new age were already present, that the eschatological Spirit had already been poured out. With the exception of the Essenes at Qumran, no other group or individual within the Jewish religion of that time had dared to make such a bold claim. The prophets and the rabbis looked for a messianic age yet to come, and the apocalyptic writers warned of its imminent arrival, but none thought of it as already present. Even John the Baptist spoke only of one about to come and of the Spirit’s operation in the imminent future (Mk 1:8). But for Jesus and first-century Christians, the longed for hope was a living reality, and the claim carried with it the exciting sense of being in “the last days.” Without some recognition of that eschatological dimension of the Christians’ faith and life, we cannot understand this teaching on, and experience of, the Spirit.<\/p>\nJesus clearly thought of his teachings and healings as fulfillment of the prophetic hope (Mt 12:41-42; 13:16-17; Lk 17:20-21). In particular, he saw himself as the one anointed by the Spirit to provide salvation (Mt 5:3-6; 11:5; Lk 4:17-19). So, too, Jesus understood his exorcisms as the effect of the power of God and as manifestations of the end-time rule of God (Mt 12:27-28; Mk 3:22-26). The Gospel writers, especially Luke, emphasize the eschatological character of Jesus’ life and ministry by stressing the role of the Spirit in his birth (Mt 1:18; Lk 1:35, 41, 67; 2:25-27), his baptism (Mk 1:9-10; Acts 10:38), and his ministry (Mt 4:1; 12:18; Mk 1:12; Lk 4:1, 14; 10:21; Jn 3:34).<\/p>\nThe Christian church began with the in-breathing of the Holy Spirit on the day of Christ’s resurrection (Jn 20:22), followed by the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost “in the last days.” The overwhelming experience of vision and inspired utterance was taken as proof positive that the new age prophesied by Joel had now arrived (Acts 2:2-5, 17-18). Similarly, in Hebrews the gift of the Spirit is spoken of as “the powers of the age to come” (Heb 6:4-5). More striking still is Paul’s understanding of the Spirit as the guarantee of God’s complete salvation (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:13-14), and as the first installment of the believer’s inheritance of God’s kingdom (Rom 8:15-17; 1 Cor 6:9-11; 15:42-50; Gal 4:6-7; 5:16-18, 21-23; Eph 1:13-14). The Spirit is here again thought of as the power of the age to come, as that power (which will characterize God’s rule at the end of time) already shaping and transforming the lives of believers.<\/p>\nFor Paul, this means also that the gift of the Spirit is but the beginning of a lifelong process that will not end until the believer’s whole person is brought under the Spirit’s power (Rom 8:11, 23; 1 Cor 15:44-49; 2 Cor 3:18; 5:1-5). It also means that the present experience of faith is one of lifelong tension between what God has already begun to bring about in the believer’s life and what has not yet been brought under God’s grace (Phil 1:6). It is this tension between life “in the Spirit” and life “in the flesh” (see Gal 2:20) that comes to poignant expression in Romans 7:24 and 2 Corinthians 5:2-4.<\/p>\n<h5>The Spirit of New Life<\/h5>\nSince the Spirit is the mark of the new age, it is not surprising that the NT writers understood the gift of the Spirit to be that which brings an individual into the new age. John the Baptist described the way the coming one would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Mt 3:11). According to Acts 1:5 and 11:16, this imagery was taken up by Jesus, and the promise is seen as fulfilled at Pentecost—the outpouring of the Spirit here being understood as the risen Christ’s action in drawing his disciples into the new age (Acts 2:17, 33).<\/p>\nIt seems to be one of Luke’s aims in the book of Acts to highlight the central importance of the gift of the Spirit in conversion-initiation—it is that decisive “gift of the Holy Spirit” that makes one a Christian (Acts 2:38-39). People could have been followers of Jesus on earth, but it was only when they received the gift of the Spirit that they could be said to have “believed in the Lord Jesus Christ” (11:16-17). When the Spirit’s presence was manifested in and upon a person’s life, that was recognized by Peter as proof enough that God had accepted that person, even though he or she had not yet made any formal profession of faith or been baptized (10:44-48; 11:15-18; 15:7-9). So too Apollos, already aglow with the Spirit (18:25), even though his knowledge of “the way of God” was slightly defective (vv 24-26), apparently was not required to supplement his “baptism of John” with Christian baptism. However, the 12 so-called disciples at Ephesus proved by their very ignorance of the Spirit that they were not yet disciples of the Lord Jesus (19:1-6). Paul asked these 12 men, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (19:2).<\/p>\nThis accords with Paul’s emphasis in his letters. Belief and reception of the Spirit go together: to receive the Spirit is to begin the Christian life (Gal 3:2-3); to be baptized in the Spirit is to become a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:13); to “have the Spirit of Christ” is to belong to Christ (Rom 8:9-11); to receive the Spirit is tantamount to becoming a child of God (Rom 8:14-17; Gal 4:6-7). The Spirit so characterizes the new age and the life of the new age that only the gift of the Spirit can bring a person into the new age to experience the life of the new age. For the Spirit is distinctively and peculiarly the life-giver; the Spirit indeed is<\/em> the life of the new age (Rom 8:2, 6, 10; 1 Cor 15:45; 2 Cor 3:6; Gal 5:25).<\/p>\nIn just the same way in John’s writings, the Spirit is characteristically the life-giving Spirit (Jn 6:63), the power from above, the seed of divine life that brings about the new birth (Jn 3:3-8; 1 Jn 3:9), and a river of living water that brings life when one believes in Christ (Jn 7:37-39; so also 4:10, 14). Or again, reception of the Spirit in John 20:22 is depicted as a new creation analogous to Genesis 2:7. Consequently, in 1 John 3:24 and 4:13, possession and experience of the Spirit count as one of the “tests of life” listed in that letter.<\/p>\n<h5>Manifestations of the Spirit<\/h5>\nIt will be clear from what has already been said that when the first Christians, like the ancient Hebrews, spoke of the Spirit, they were thinking of experiences of divine power. In the NT, as in the OT, “Spirit” is the word used to explain the experience of new life and vitality (see above), of liberation from legalism (e.g., Rom 8:2; 2 Cor 3:17), of spiritual refreshing and renewal (cf. e.g., Is 32:15; Ez 39:29 with Jn 7:37-39; Rom 5:5; 1 Cor 12:13; 1 Tm 3:5-6). It is important to realize how wide a range of experiences were attributed to the Spirit: ecstatic experiences (Acts 2:24; 10:43-47; 19:6; cf. 10:10; 22:17—“in ecstasy”; 2 Cor 12:1-4; Rv 1:10), emotional experiences (e.g., love—Rom 5:5; joy—Acts 13:52; 1 Thes 1:6; see also Gal 5:22; Phil 2:1-2), experiences of illumination (2 Cor 3:14-17; Eph 1:17-18; Heb 6:4-5; 1 Jn 2:20-21), and experiences issuing in moral transformation (1 Cor 6:9-11). Likewise, when Paul speaks of spiritual gifts, called charismata<\/span> (acts or words that bring divine grace to concrete expression), he evidently has a wide range of actual events in mind: inspired speech (1 Cor 12:8-10; 1 Thes 1:5), miracles and healings (1 Cor 12:9; Gal 3:5; cf. Heb 2:4), and various acts of service and help, of counsel and administration, and of aid and mercy (Rom 12:7-8; 1 Cor 12:28).<\/p>\nIn talking thus of the Spirit in terms of experience, we should not overemphasize particular experiences or manifestations, as though earliest Christianity consisted of a sequence of mountaintop experiences or spiritual highs. There clearly were such experiences, indeed a wide range of experiences, but no one experience is singled out to be sought by all (except prophecy). There is no distinctively second (or third) experience of the Spirit in the NT, and Paul warned against overvaluing particular manifestations of the Spirit (1 Cor 14:6-19; 2 Cor 12:1-10; cf. Mk 8:11-13). Where particular experiences are valued, it is as manifestations of a more sustained experience, particular expressions of an underlying relationship (cf. Acts 6:3-5; 11:24—“full of the Spirit”; Eph 5:18). What we are in touch with here is the vigor of the experiential dimension of earliest Christianity. If the Spirit is the breath of the new life in Christ (cf. Ez 37:9-10, 14; Jn 20:22; 1 Cor 15:45), then presumably the analogy extends further, and the experience of the Spirit is like the experience of breathing: one is not conscious of it all the time, but if one is not conscious of it, at least sometimes, something is wrong.<\/p>\n<h5>The Fellowship of the Spirit<\/h5>\nIt was out of this shared experience of the Spirit that the earliest Christian community grew and developed, for this is what “the fellowship [koinonia<\/span>] of the Spirit” properly means: common participation in the same Spirit (Phil 2:1; cf. Acts 2:42; 1 Cor 1:4-9). It was the gift of the Spirit that brought those in Samaria, Caesarea, and elsewhere effectively into the community of the Spirit (Act 8, 10). So also, it was the experience of the one Spirit that provided the unifying bond in the churches of Paul’s mission (1 Cor 12:13; Eph 4:3-4; Phil 2:1-2). Here we see the real importance of the divine manifestations of the Spirit for Paul: it is out of the diversity of these particular manifestations that the body of Christ grows in unity (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12:12-17; Eph 4:4-16).<\/p>","summary_ro":"SPIRIT OF GOD Description of God in action, God in motion. The word “spirit” (Hebrew, ruach; Greek, pneuma) is the word used from ancient times to describe and explain the experience of divine power working in, upon, and around people. In the Old Testament There are three basic meanings evident in the use of “spirit” from the earliest Hebrew writings: It was a wind from God, it was the breath of life, and it was a spirit of ecstasy. First, it was a wind from God (the same Hebrew word translat...","summary_en":"SPIRIT OF GOD Description of God in action, God in motion. The word “spirit” (Hebrew, ruach; Greek, pneuma) is the word used from ancient times to describe and explain the experience of divine power working in, upon, and around people. In the Old Testament There are three basic meanings evident in the use of “spirit” from the earliest Hebrew writings: It was a wind from God, it was the breath of life, and it was a spirit of ecstasy. First, it was a wind from God (the same Hebrew word translat...","source":"Articles\/S.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":56065,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:20","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:20","content_ro":"17:20-37<\/strong> This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).<\/p>","content_en":"17:20-37<\/strong> This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:20-37 This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).","summary_en":"17:20-37 This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":56066,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:20","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:20","content_ro":"17:20-21<\/strong> When will the Kingdom of God come?<\/em> The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdom (see Luke 21:27; Matt 24:30-31) but pointed out that the Kingdom of God was being revealed to them through his ministry, though they were missing it. • The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs:<\/em> Jewish apocalyptic literature of Jesus’ day looked for visible signs in the heavens to signal the coming of the Messiah’s kingdom. Jesus elsewhere affirmed that such signs would appear (see Luke 17:24; 21:25; Acts 2:19-20), but the Pharisees were missing the manifestation of the Kingdom in Jesus’ immediate ministry (cp. Luke 7:22). • the Kingdom of God is already among you<\/em> (or is within you,<\/em> or is in your grasp<\/em>): The Kingdom of God was already being revealed through Jesus’ words and actions. It is unlikely that Jesus would say, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” to those who were rejecting his message.<\/p>","content_en":"17:20-21<\/strong> When will the Kingdom of God come?<\/em> The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdom (see Luke 21:27; Matt 24:30-31) but pointed out that the Kingdom of God was being revealed to them through his ministry, though they were missing it. • The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs:<\/em> Jewish apocalyptic literature of Jesus’ day looked for visible signs in the heavens to signal the coming of the Messiah’s kingdom. Jesus elsewhere affirmed that such signs would appear (see Luke 17:24; 21:25; Acts 2:19-20), but the Pharisees were missing the manifestation of the Kingdom in Jesus’ immediate ministry (cp. Luke 7:22). • the Kingdom of God is already among you<\/em> (or is within you,<\/em> or is in your grasp<\/em>): The Kingdom of God was already being revealed through Jesus’ words and actions. It is unlikely that Jesus would say, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” to those who were rejecting his message.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:20-21 When will the Kingdom of God come? The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdo...","summary_en":"17:20-21 When will the Kingdom of God come? The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdo...","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83691,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:20","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:20","content_ro":"17:20-37<\/strong> This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).<\/p>","content_en":"17:20-37<\/strong> This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:20-37 This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).","summary_en":"17:20-37 This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83692,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:20","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:20","content_ro":"17:20-21<\/strong> When will the Kingdom of God come?<\/em> The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdom (see Luke 21:27; Matt 24:30-31) but pointed out that the Kingdom of God was being revealed to them through his ministry, though they were missing it. • The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs:<\/em> Jewish apocalyptic literature of Jesus’ day looked for visible signs in the heavens to signal the coming of the Messiah’s kingdom. Jesus elsewhere affirmed that such signs would appear (see Luke 17:24; 21:25; Acts 2:19-20), but the Pharisees were missing the manifestation of the Kingdom in Jesus’ immediate ministry (cp. Luke 7:22). • the Kingdom of God is already among you<\/em> (or is within you,<\/em> or is in your grasp<\/em>): The Kingdom of God was already being revealed through Jesus’ words and actions. It is unlikely that Jesus would say, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” to those who were rejecting his message.<\/p>","content_en":"17:20-21<\/strong> When will the Kingdom of God come?<\/em> The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdom (see Luke 21:27; Matt 24:30-31) but pointed out that the Kingdom of God was being revealed to them through his ministry, though they were missing it. • The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs:<\/em> Jewish apocalyptic literature of Jesus’ day looked for visible signs in the heavens to signal the coming of the Messiah’s kingdom. Jesus elsewhere affirmed that such signs would appear (see Luke 17:24; 21:25; Acts 2:19-20), but the Pharisees were missing the manifestation of the Kingdom in Jesus’ immediate ministry (cp. Luke 7:22). • the Kingdom of God is already among you<\/em> (or is within you,<\/em> or is in your grasp<\/em>): The Kingdom of God was already being revealed through Jesus’ words and actions. It is unlikely that Jesus would say, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” to those who were rejecting his message.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:20-21 When will the Kingdom of God come? The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdo...","summary_en":"17:20-21 When will the Kingdom of God come? The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdo...","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111317,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:20","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:20","content_ro":"17:20-37<\/strong> This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).<\/p>","content_en":"17:20-37<\/strong> This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:20-37 This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).","summary_en":"17:20-37 This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111318,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:20","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:20","content_ro":"17:20-21<\/strong> When will the Kingdom of God come?<\/em> The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdom (see Luke 21:27; Matt 24:30-31) but pointed out that the Kingdom of God was being revealed to them through his ministry, though they were missing it. • The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs:<\/em> Jewish apocalyptic literature of Jesus’ day looked for visible signs in the heavens to signal the coming of the Messiah’s kingdom. Jesus elsewhere affirmed that such signs would appear (see Luke 17:24; 21:25; Acts 2:19-20), but the Pharisees were missing the manifestation of the Kingdom in Jesus’ immediate ministry (cp. Luke 7:22). • the Kingdom of God is already among you<\/em> (or is within you,<\/em> or is in your grasp<\/em>): The Kingdom of God was already being revealed through Jesus’ words and actions. It is unlikely that Jesus would say, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” to those who were rejecting his message.<\/p>","content_en":"17:20-21<\/strong> When will the Kingdom of God come?<\/em> The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdom (see Luke 21:27; Matt 24:30-31) but pointed out that the Kingdom of God was being revealed to them through his ministry, though they were missing it. • The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs:<\/em> Jewish apocalyptic literature of Jesus’ day looked for visible signs in the heavens to signal the coming of the Messiah’s kingdom. Jesus elsewhere affirmed that such signs would appear (see Luke 17:24; 21:25; Acts 2:19-20), but the Pharisees were missing the manifestation of the Kingdom in Jesus’ immediate ministry (cp. Luke 7:22). • the Kingdom of God is already among you<\/em> (or is within you,<\/em> or is in your grasp<\/em>): The Kingdom of God was already being revealed through Jesus’ words and actions. It is unlikely that Jesus would say, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” to those who were rejecting his message.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:20-21 When will the Kingdom of God come? The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdo...","summary_en":"17:20-21 When will the Kingdom of God come? The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdo...","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138943,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:20","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:20","content_ro":"17:20-37<\/strong> This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).<\/p>","content_en":"17:20-37<\/strong> This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:20-37 This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).","summary_en":"17:20-37 This is the first of two discourses in Luke’s Gospel on the coming of the Kingdom and the return of the Son of Man (see also ch 21).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138944,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:20","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:20","content_ro":"17:20-21<\/strong> When will the Kingdom of God come?<\/em> The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdom (see Luke 21:27; Matt 24:30-31) but pointed out that the Kingdom of God was being revealed to them through his ministry, though they were missing it. • The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs:<\/em> Jewish apocalyptic literature of Jesus’ day looked for visible signs in the heavens to signal the coming of the Messiah’s kingdom. Jesus elsewhere affirmed that such signs would appear (see Luke 17:24; 21:25; Acts 2:19-20), but the Pharisees were missing the manifestation of the Kingdom in Jesus’ immediate ministry (cp. Luke 7:22). • the Kingdom of God is already among you<\/em> (or is within you,<\/em> or is in your grasp<\/em>): The Kingdom of God was already being revealed through Jesus’ words and actions. It is unlikely that Jesus would say, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” to those who were rejecting his message.<\/p>","content_en":"17:20-21<\/strong> When will the Kingdom of God come?<\/em> The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdom (see Luke 21:27; Matt 24:30-31) but pointed out that the Kingdom of God was being revealed to them through his ministry, though they were missing it. • The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs:<\/em> Jewish apocalyptic literature of Jesus’ day looked for visible signs in the heavens to signal the coming of the Messiah’s kingdom. Jesus elsewhere affirmed that such signs would appear (see Luke 17:24; 21:25; Acts 2:19-20), but the Pharisees were missing the manifestation of the Kingdom in Jesus’ immediate ministry (cp. Luke 7:22). • the Kingdom of God is already among you<\/em> (or is within you,<\/em> or is in your grasp<\/em>): The Kingdom of God was already being revealed through Jesus’ words and actions. It is unlikely that Jesus would say, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” to those who were rejecting his message.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:20-21 When will the Kingdom of God come? The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdo...","summary_en":"17:20-21 When will the Kingdom of God come? The common understanding among Jews was that the Messiah would establish God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem; he would defeat Israel’s enemies and bring in a period of peace, prosperity, justice, and righteousness (see 3:15; cp. Acts 1:6). The Pharisees were apparently challenging Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he was not defeating the Romans or establishing his Kingdom physically on earth. Jesus did not reject this future manifestation of the Kingdo...","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"21":[{"id":4903,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"of the (English) Bible*, Versions","title_en":"of the (English) Bible*, Versions","content_ro":"<h3>BIBLE*, Versions of the (English)<\/span><\/h3>\nTranslations of the Bible in the English language.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\nVersions Discussed Below:<\/p>\n• Early Translations: Caedmon’s, Bede’s, Alfred the Great’s<\/p>\n• Other Early Versions: Lindisfarne Gospels, Shoreham’s Psalms, Rolle’s Psalms<\/p>\n• Wycliffe’s Version<\/p>\n• Tyndale’s Translation<\/p>\n• Coverdale’s Version<\/p>\n• Thomas Matthew’s Version: The Great Bible<\/p>\n• The Geneva Bible and the Bishops’ Bible<\/p>\n• The King James Version<\/p>\n• The English Revised Version and the American Standard Version<\/p>\n• The Twentieth Century New Testament<\/p>\n• The New Testament in Modern Speech<\/em><\/p>\n• The New Testament: A New Translation<\/em><\/p>\n• The Complete Bible: An American Translation<\/em><\/p>\n• The Revised Standard Version<\/p>\n• The New English Bible<\/em><\/p>\n• The Good News Bible:<\/em> Today’s English Version<\/p>\n• The Living Bible<\/em><\/p>\n• The New American Standard Bible<\/em><\/p>\n• The New International Version<\/p>\n• The Jerusalem Bible<\/em> and The New American Bible<\/em><\/p>\n• The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, A New Translation<\/em><\/p>\n• The New King James Version<\/p>\n• The Revised English Bible<\/p>\n• New Revised Standard Version<\/p>\n• New Living Translation<\/p>\nEarly Translations: Caedmon’s, Bede’s, Alfred the Great’s<\/p>\nAs the gospel spread and churches multiplied in the early centuries of the Christian era, Christians in various countries wanted to read the Bible in their own language. As a result, many translations were made in several different languages—as early as the second century. For example, there were translations done in Coptic for the Egyptians, in Syriac for those whose language was Aramaic, in Gothic for the Germanic people called the Goths, and in Latin for the Romans and Carthaginians. The most famous Latin translation was done by Jerome around 400. This translation, known as the Latin Vulgate (vulgate<\/em> meaning “common”—hence, the Latin text for the common man), was used extensively in the Roman Catholic Church for centuries and centuries.<\/p>\nThe gospel was brought to England by missionaries from Rome in the sixth century. The Bible they carried with them was the Latin Vulgate. The Christians living in England at that time depended on monks for any kind of instruction from the Bible. The monks read and taught the Latin Bible. After a few centuries, when more monasteries were founded, the need arose for translations of the Bible in English. The earliest English translation, as far as we know, is one done by a seventh-century monk named Caedmon, who made a metrical version of parts of the Old and New Testaments. Another English churchman, named Bede, is said to have translated the Gospels into English. Tradition has it that he was translating the Gospel of John on his deathbed in 735. Another translator was Alfred the Great (reigned 871–99), who was regarded as a very literate king. He included in his laws parts of the Ten Commandments translated into English, and he also translated the Psalms.<\/p>\nOther Early Versions: Lindisfarne Gospels, Shoreham’s Psalms, Rolle’s Psalms<\/p>\nAll translations of the English Bible prior to the work of Tyndale (discussed later) were done from the Latin text. Some Latin versions of the Gospels with word-for-word English translations written between the lines, which are called interlinear translations, survive from the 10th century. The most famous translation of this period is called the Lindisfarne Gospels (950). In the late 10th century, Aelfric (c. 955–1020), abbot of Eynsham, made idiomatic translations of various parts of the Bible. Two of these translations still exist. Later, in the 1300s, William of Shoreham translated the Psalms into English and so did Richard Rolle, whose editions of the Psalms included a verse-by-verse commentary. Both of these translations, which were metrical and therefore called Psalters, were popular when John Wycliffe was a young man.<\/p>\n\nWycliffe’s Version<\/p>\nJohn Wycliffe (c. 1329–84), the most eminent Oxford theologian of his day, and his associates were the first to translate the entire Bible from Latin into English. Wycliffe has been called the “Morning Star of the Reformation” because he boldly questioned papal authority, criticized the sale of indulgences (which were supposed to release a person from punishment in purgatory), denied the reality of transubstantiation (the doctrine that the bread and wine are changed into Jesus Christ’s body and blood during Communion), and spoke out against church hierarchies. The pope reproved Wycliffe for his “heretical” teachings and asked that Oxford University dismiss him. But Oxford and many government leaders stood with Wycliffe, so he was able to survive the pope’s assaults.<\/p>\nWycliffe believed that the way to prevail in his struggle with the church’s abusive authority was to make the Bible available to the people in their own language. Then they could read for themselves about how each one of them could have a personal relationship with God through Christ Jesus—apart from any ecclesiastical authority. Wycliffe, with his associates, completed the NT around 1380 and the OT in 1382. Wycliffe concentrated his labors on the NT, while an associate, Nicholas of Hereford, did a major part of the OT. Wycliffe and his coworkers, unfamiliar with the original Hebrew and Greek, translated the Latin text into English.<\/p>\nAfter Wycliffe finished the translation work, he organized a group of poor parishioners, known as Lollards, to go throughout England preaching Christian truths and reading the Scriptures in their mother tongue to all who would hear God’s Word. As a result the Word of God, through Wycliffe’s translation, became available to many Englishmen. He was loved and yet hated. His ecclesiastical enemies did not forget his opposition to their power or his successful efforts in making the Scriptures available to all. Several decades after he died, they condemned him for heresy, dug up his body, burned it, and threw his ashes into the Swift River.<\/p>\nOne of Wycliffe’s close associates, John Purvey (c. 1353–1428), continued Wycliffe’s work by producing a revision of his translation in 1388. Purvey was an excellent scholar; his work was very well received by his generation and following generations. Within less than a century, Purvey’s revision had replaced the original Wycliffe Bible.<\/p>\nAs was stated before, Wycliffe and his associates were the first Englishmen to translate the entire Bible into English from Latin. Therefore, their Bible was a translation of a translation, not a translation of the original languages. With the coming of the Renaissance came the resurgence of the study of the classics—and with it the resurgence of the study of Greek as well as Hebrew. Thus, for the first time in nearly 1,000 years (500–1500—the approximate time when Latin was the dominant language for scholarship, except in the Greek church) scholars began to read the NT in its original language, Greek. By 1500, Greek was being taught at Oxford.<\/p>\nTyndale’s Translation<\/p>\nWilliam Tyndale was born in the age of the Renaissance. He graduated in 1515 from Oxford, where he had studied the Scriptures in Greek and in Hebrew. By the time he was 30, Tyndale had committed his life to translating the Bible from the original languages into English. His heart’s desire is exemplified in a statement he made to a clergyman when refuting the view that only the clergy were qualified to read and correctly interpret the Scriptures. Tyndale said, “If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than thou dost.”<\/p>\nIn 1523 Tyndale went to London seeking a place to work on his translation. When the bishop of London would not give him hospitality, he was provided a place by Humphrey Monmouth, a cloth merchant. Then, in 1524, Tyndale left England for Germany because the English church, which was still under the papal authority of Rome, strongly opposed putting the Bible into the hands of the laity. Tyndale first settled in Hamburg, Germany. Quite possibly, he met Luther in Wittenberg soon thereafter. Even if he didn’t meet Luther, he was well acquainted with Luther’s writings and Luther’s German translation of the NT (published in 1522). Throughout his lifetime, Tyndale was harassed for propagating Luther’s ideas. Both Luther and Tyndale used the same Greek text (one compiled by Erasmus in 1516) in making their translations.<\/p>\nTyndale completed his translation of the NT in 1525. Fifteen thousand copies, in six editions, were smuggled into England between the years 1525 and 1530. Church authorities did their best to confiscate copies of Tyndale’s translation and burn them, but they couldn’t stop the flow of Bibles from Germany into England. Tyndale himself could not return to England because his life was in danger since his translation had been banned. However, he continued to work abroad—correcting, revising, and reissuing his translation until his final revision appeared in 1535. Shortly thereafter, in May of 1535, Tyndale was arrested and carried off to a castle near Brussels. After being in prison for over a year, he was tried and condemned to death. He was strangled and burned at the stake on October 6, 1536. His final words were so very poignant: “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.”<\/p>\nAfter finishing the NT, Tyndale had begun work on a translation of the Hebrew OT, but he did not live long enough to complete his task. He had, however, translated the Pentateuch (the first five books of the OT), Jonah, and some historical books. While Tyndale was in prison, an associate of his named Miles Coverdale (1488–1569) brought to completion an entire Bible in English—based largely on Tyndale’s translation of the NT and other OT books. In other words, Coverdale finished what Tyndale had begun.<\/p>\nCoverdale’s Version<\/p>\nMiles Coverdale was a Cambridge graduate who, like Tyndale, was forced to flee England because he had been strongly influenced by Luther to the extent that he was boldly preaching against Roman Catholic doctrine. While he was abroad, Coverdale met Tyndale and then served as an assistant—especially helping Tyndale translate the Pentateuch. By the time Coverdale produced a complete translation (1537), the king of England, Henry VIII, had broken all ties with the pope and was ready to see the appearance of an English Bible. Perhaps Tyndale’s prayer had been answered—with a very ironic twist. The king gave his royal approval to Coverdale’s translation, which was based on the work done by Tyndale, the man Henry VIII had earlier condemned.<\/p>\nThomas Matthew’s Version: The Great Bible<\/p>\nIn the same year that Coverdale’s Bible was endorsed by the king (1537), another Bible was published in England. This was the work of one called Thomas Matthew, a pseudonym for John Rogers (c. 1500–55), a friend of Tyndale. Evidently, Rogers used Tyndale’s unpublished translation of the OT historical books, other parts of Tyndale’s translation, and still other parts of Coverdale’s translation, to form an entire Bible. This Bible also received the king’s approval. Matthew’s Bible was revised in 1538 and printed for distribution in the churches throughout England. This Bible, called the Great Bible because of its size and costliness, became the first English Bible authorized for public use.<\/p>\nMany editions of the Great Bible were printed in the early 1540s. However, its distribution was limited. Furthermore, King Henry’s attitude about the new translation changed. As a result, the English Parliament passed a law in 1543 restricting the use of any English translation. It was a crime for any unlicensed person to read or explain the Scriptures in public. Many copies of Tyndale’s NT and Coverdale’s Bible were burned in London.<\/p>\nGreater repression was to follow. After a short period of leniency (during the reign of Edward VI, 1547–53), severe persecution came from the hands of Queen Mary. She was a Roman Catholic who was determined to restore Catholicism to England and repress Protestantism. Many Protestants were executed, including John Rogers, the Bible translator. Coverdale was arrested, then released. He fled to Geneva, a sanctuary for English Protestants.<\/p>\nThe Geneva Bible and the Bishops’ Bible<\/p>\nThe English exiles in Geneva chose William Whittingham (c. 1524–79) to make an English translation of the NT for them. He used Theodore Beza’s Latin translation and consulted the Greek text. This Bible became very popular because it was small and moderately priced. The preface to the Bible and its many annotations were affected by a strong evangelical influence, as well as by the teachings of John Calvin. Calvin was one of the greatest thinkers of the Reformation, a renowned biblical commentator, and the principal leader in Geneva during those days.<\/p>\nWhile the Geneva Bible was popular among many English men and women, it was not acceptable among many leaders in the Church of England because of its Calvinistic notes. These leaders, recognizing that the Great Bible was inferior to the Geneva Bible in style and scholarship, initiated a revision of the Great Bible. This revised Bible, published in 1568, became known as the Bishops’ Bible; it continued in use until it was superseded by the King James Version of 1611.<\/p>\n\nThe King James Version<\/p>\nAfter James VI of Scotland became the king of England (known as James I), he invited several clergymen from Puritan and Anglican factions to meet together with the hope that differences could be reconciled. The meeting did not achieve this. However, during the meeting one of the Puritan leaders, John Reynolds, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, asked the king to authorize a new translation because he wanted to see a translation that was more accurate than previous translations. King James liked this idea because the Bishops’ Bible had not been successful and because he considered the notes in the Geneva Bible to be seditious. The king initiated the work and took an active part in planning the new translation. He suggested that university professors work on the translation to assure the best scholarship, and he strongly urged that they should not have any marginal notes besides those pertaining to literal renderings from the Hebrew and Greek. The absence of interpretive notes would help the translation be accepted by all the churches in England.<\/p>\nMore than 50 scholars, trained in Hebrew and Greek, began the work in 1607. The translation went through several committees before it was finalized. The scholars were instructed to follow the Bishops’ Bible as the basic version, as long as it adhered to the original text, and to consult the translations of Tyndale, Matthew, and Coverdale, as well as the Great Bible and the Geneva Bible when they appeared to contain more accurate renderings of the original languages. This dependence on other versions is expressed in the preface to the King James Version: “Truly, good Christian reader, we never thought from the beginning that we should need to make a new translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one . . . but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones one principal good one.”<\/p>\nThe King James Version, known in England as the Authorized Version because it was authorized by the king, captured the best of all the preceding English translations and far exceeded all of them. It was the culmination of all the previous English Bible translations; it united high scholarship with Christian devotion and piety. It came into being at a time when the English language was vigorous and beautiful—the age of Elizabethan English and Shakesperean English. This version has justifiably been called “the noblest monument of English prose.” Indeed, the King James Version has become an enduring monument of English prose because of its gracious style, majestic language, and poetic rhythms. No other book has had such a tremendous influence on English literature, and no other translation has touched the lives of so many English-speaking people for centuries and centuries, even until the present day.<\/p>\nThe 18th and 19th Centuries: New Discoveries of Earlier Manuscripts and Increased Knowledge of the Original Languages<\/p>\nThe King James Version became the most popular English translation in the 17th and 18th centuries. It acquired the stature of becoming the standard English Bible. But the King James Version had deficiencies that did not go unnoticed by certain scholars. First, knowledge of Hebrew was inadequate in the early 17th century. The Hebrew text they used (i.e., the Masoretic Text) was adequate, but their understanding of the Hebrew vocabulary was insufficient. It would take many more years of linguistic studies to enrich and sharpen understanding of the Hebrew vocabulary. Second, the Greek text underlying the NT of the King James Version was an inferior text. The King James translators basically used a Greek text known as the Textus Receptus (or, the “Received Text”), which came from the work of Erasmus, who compiled the first Greek text to be produced on a printing press. When Erasmus compiled this text, he used five or six very late manuscripts dating from the 10th to the 13th centuries. These manuscripts were far inferior to earlier manuscripts.<\/p>\nThe King James translators had done well with the resources that were available to them, but those resources were insufficient, especially with respect to the NT text. After the King James Version was published, earlier and better manuscripts were discovered. Around 1630, Codex Alexandrinus was brought to England. A fifth-century manuscript containing the entire NT, it provided a fairly good witness to the NT text, especially the original text of Revelation. Two hundred years later, a German scholar named Constantin von Tischendorf discovered Codex Sinaiticus in St Catherine’s Monastery. The manuscript, dated around AD<\/span> 350, is one of the two oldest manuscripts of the Greek NT. The earliest manuscript, Codex Vaticanus, had been in the Vatican’s library since at least 1475, but it was not made available to scholars until the middle of the 19th century. This manuscript, dated slightly earlier (AD<\/span> 325) than Codex Sinaiticus, is one of the most reliable copies of the Greek NT.<\/p>\nAs these manuscripts (and others) were discovered and made public, certain scholars labored to compile a Greek text that would more closely represent the original text than did the Textus Receptus. Around 1700 John Mill produced an improved Textus Receptus, and in the 1730s Johannes Albert Bengel, known as the father of modern textual and philological studies in the NT, published a text that deviated from the Textus Receptus according to the evidence of earlier manuscripts.<\/p>\nIn the 1800s certain scholars began to abandon the Textus Receptus. Karl Lachman, a classical philologist, produced a fresh text in 1831 that represented the fourth-century manuscripts. Samuel Tregelles, self-taught in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek, laboring throughout his entire lifetime, concentrated all of his efforts in publishing one Greek text, which came out in six parts, from 1857 to 1872. Tischendorf devoted a lifetime of labor to discovering manuscripts and producing accurate editions of the Greek NT. He not only discovered Codex Sinaiticus, he also deciphered the palimpsest Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, collated countless manuscripts, and produced several editions of the Greek NT (the eighth edition is considered the best). Aided by the work of these scholars, two British men, Brooke Westcott and Fenton Hort, worked together for 28 years to produce a volume entitled The New Testament in the Original Greek<\/em> (1881). This edition of the Greek NT, based largely on Codex Vaticanus, became the standard text that was responsible for dethroning the Textus Receptus.<\/p>\nThe English Revised Version and the American Standard Version<\/p>\nBy the latter part of the 19th century, the Christian community had been given three very good Greek NT texts: Tregelles’s, Tischendorf’s, and Westcott and Hort’s. These texts were very different from the Textus Receptus. And as was mentioned earlier, the scholarly community had accumulated more knowledge about the meaning of various Hebrew words and Greek words. Therefore, there was a great need for a new English translation based upon a better text—and with more accurate renderings of the original languages.<\/p>\nA few individuals attempted to meet this need. In 1871 John Nelson Darby, leader of the Plymouth Brethren movement, produced a translation called the New Translation,<\/em> which was largely based on Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. In 1872 J. B. Rotherham published a translation of Tregelles’s text, in which he attempted to reflect the emphasis inherent in the Greek text. This translation is still being published under the title The Emphasized Bible.<\/em> And in 1875 Samuel Davidson produced a NT translation of Tischendorf’s text.<\/p>\nThe first major corporate effort was initiated in 1870 by the Convocation of Canterbury, which decided to sponsor a major revision of the King James Version. Sixty-five British scholars, working in various committees, made significant changes in the King James Version. The OT scholars corrected mistranslations of Hebrew words and reformatted poetic passages into poetic form. The NT scholars made thousands of changes based upon better textual evidence. Their goal was to make the NT revision reflect not the Textus Receptus but the texts of Tregelles, Tischendorf, and Westcott and Hort. When the complete Revised Version appeared in 1885, it was received with great enthusiasm. Over three million copies sold in the first year of its publication. Unfortunately, its popularity was not long lasting because most people continued to prefer the King James Version over all other translations.<\/p>\nSeveral American scholars had been invited to join the revision work, with the understanding that any of their suggestions not accepted by the British scholars would appear in an appendix. Furthermore, the American scholars had to agree not to publish their own American revision until after 14 years. When the time came (1901), the American Standard Version was published by several surviving members of the original American committee. This translation, generally regarded as superior to the English Revised Version, is an accurate, literal rendering of very trustworthy texts both in the OT and the New.<\/p>\nThe 20th Century: New Discoveries and New Translations<\/p>\nThe 19th century was a fruitful era for the Greek NT and subsequent English translations; it was also a century in which Hebrew studies were greatly advanced. The 20th century has also been fruitful—especially for textual studies. Those living in the 20th century have witnessed the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, the Chester Beatty Papyri, and the Bodmer Papyri. These amazing discoveries, providing scholars with hundreds of ancient manuscripts, have greatly enhanced the effort to recover the original wording of the Old and New Testaments. At the same time, other archaeological discoveries have validated the historical accuracy of the Bible and helped Bible scholars understand the meaning of certain ancient words. For example, the Greek word parousia<\/span> (usually translated “coming”) was found in many ancient documents dated around the time of Christ; very often the word indicated the visitation of royalty. When this word was used in the NT concerning Christ’s second coming, the readers would think of his coming as being the visitation of a king. Another example is that in koine Greek, the expression entos humon<\/span> (literally, “inside of you”) often meant “within reach.” Thus, Jesus’ statement in Luke 17:21 could mean “The kingdom is within reach.”<\/p>\nAs earlier and better manuscripts of the Bible have emerged, scholars have been engaged in updating the Bible texts. OT scholars have still used the Masoretic Text but have noted significant differences found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The current edition used by OT scholars is called Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.<\/em> NT scholars, for the most part, have come to rely upon an edition of the Greek NT known as the Nestle-Aland text. Eberhard Nestle used the best editions of the Greek NT produced in the 19th century to compile a text that represented the majority consensus. The work of making new editions was carried on by his son for several years and then came under the care of Kurt Aland. The latest edition (the 27th) of Nestle-Aland’s Novum Testamentum Graece<\/em> appeared in 1993. The same Greek text appears in another popular volume published by the United Bible Societies, called the Greek New Testament<\/em> (fourth edition—1983).<\/p>\nEarly 20th-Century Translations in the Language of the People<\/p>\nThe thousands and thousands of papyri that were discovered in Egypt around the turn of the century displayed a form of Greek called koine Greek. Koine (meaning “common”) Greek was everyman’s Greek; it was the common language of almost everybody living in the Graeco-Roman world from the second century BC<\/span> to the third century AD<\/span>. In other words, it was the lingua franca<\/em> of the Mediterranean world. Every educated person back then could speak, read, and write in Greek just like every educated person in modern times can speak a little English, read some English, and perhaps write in English. Koine Greek was not literary Greek (i.e., the kind of Greek written by the Greek poets and tragedians); it was the kind of Greek used in personal letters, legal documents, and other nonliterary texts.<\/p>\nNT scholars began to discover that most of the NT was written in koine Greek—the language of the people. As a result, there was a strong prompting to translate the NT into the language of the people. Various translators chose to divorce themselves from the traditional Elizabethan English as found in the King James Version (and even in the English Revised Version and American Standard Version) and produce fresh renderings in the common idiom.<\/p>\nThe Twentieth Century New Testament<\/p>\nThe first of these new translations was The Twentieth Century New Testament<\/em> (1902). The preface to a new edition of this translation provides an excellent description of the work:<\/p>\nThe Twentieth Century New Testament<\/em> is a smooth-flowing, accurate, easy-to-read translation that captivates its readers from start to finish. Born out of a desire to make the Bible readable and understandable, it is the product of the labors of a committee of twenty men and women who worked together over many years to construct, we believe under divine surveillance, this beautifully simple rendition of the word of God. (Preface to the new edition—1961—published by Moody Press)<\/p>\nThe New Testament in Modern Speech<\/em><\/p>\nA year after the publication of The Twentieth Century New Testament,<\/em> Richard Weymouth published The New Testament in Modern Speech<\/em> (1903). Weymouth, who had received the first doctor of literature degree from the University of London, was headmaster of a private school in London. During his life, he spent time producing an edition of the Greek text (published in 1862) that was more accurate than the Textus Receptus, and then he labored to produce an English translation of this Greek text (called The Resultant Greek Testament<\/em>) in a modern speech version. His translation was very well received; it has gone through several editions and many printings.<\/p>\nThe New Testament: A New Translation<\/em><\/p>\nAnother new and fresh translation to appear in the early years of this century was one written by James Moffatt, a brilliant Scottish scholar. In 1913 he published his first edition of The New Testament: A New Translation.<\/em> This was actually his second translation of the NT; his first was done in 1901, called The Historical New Testament.<\/em> In his New Translation<\/em> Moffatt’s goal was “to translate the NT exactly as one would render any piece of contemporary Hellenistic prose.” His work displays brilliance and marked independence from other versions; unfortunately it was based on Hermann von Soden’s Greek NT, which, as all scholars now know, is quite defective.<\/p>\nThe Complete Bible: An American Translation<\/em><\/p>\nThe earliest American modern speech translation was produced by Edgar J. Goodspeed, a professor of NT at the University of Chicago. He had criticized The Twentieth Century New Testament,<\/em> Weymouth’s version, and Moffatt’s translation. As a consequence, he was challenged by some other scholars to do better. He took up the challenge and in 1923 published The New Testament: An American Translation.<\/em> When he made this translation, he said that he wanted to give his “version something of the force and freshness that reside in the original Greek.” He said, “I wanted my translation to make on the reader something of the impression the NT must have made on its earliest readers, and to invite the continuous reading of the whole book at a time.” His translation was a success. An OT translation followed, produced by J. M. Powis Smith and three other scholars. The Complete Bible: An American Translation<\/em> was published in 1935.<\/p>\nThe Revised Standard Version<\/p>\nThe English Revised Version and the American Standard Version had gained a reputation of being accurate study texts but very “wooden” in their construction. The translators who worked on the Revised Versions attempted to translate words consistently from the original language regardless of their context and sometimes even followed the word order of the Greek. This created a very unidiomatic version and called for a new revision.<\/p>\nThe demand for revision was strengthened by the fact that several important biblical manuscripts had been discovered in the 1930s and 1940s—namely, the Dead Sea Scrolls for the OT and the Chester Beatty Papyri for the NT. It was felt that the fresh evidence displayed in these documents should be reflected in a revision. The revision showed some textual changes in the book of Isaiah due to the Isaiah Scroll and several changes in the Pauline Epistles based on the Chester Beatty Papyrus, P46. There were other significant revisions. The story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:52–8:11) was not included in the text but in the margin because none of the early manuscripts contain this story, and the ending to Mark (16:9-20) was not included in the text because it is not found in the two earliest manuscripts, Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus.<\/p>\nThe organization that held the copyright to the American Standard Version, called the International Council of Religious Education, authorized a new revision in 1937. The NT translators generally followed the 17th edition of the Nestle Text (1941), while the OT translators followed the Masoretic Text. Both groups, however, adopted readings from other ancient sources when they were considered to be more accurate. The NT was published in 1946, and the entire Bible with the OT in 1952.<\/p>\nThe principles of the revision were specified in the preface to the Revised Standard Version:<\/p>\nThe Revised Standard Version is not a new translation in the language of today. It is not a paraphrase which aims at striking idioms. It is a revision which seeks to preserve all that is best in the English Bible as it has been known and used throughout the years.<\/p>\nThis revision was well received by many Protestant churches and soon became their “standard” text. The Revised Standard Version was later published with the Apocrypha of the OT (1957), in a Catholic Edition (1965), and in what is called the Common Bible,<\/em> which includes the OT, the NT, the Apocrypha, and the deuterocanonical books, with international endorsements by Protestants, Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholics. Evangelical and fundamental Christians, however, did not receive the Revised Standard Version very well—primarily because of one verse, Isaiah 7:14, which reads, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” Evangelicals and fundamentalists contend that the text should read “virgin,” not “young woman.” As a result, the Revised Standard Version was panned, if not banned, by many evangelical and fundamental Christians.<\/p>\nThe New English Bible<\/em><\/p>\nIn the year that the NT of the Revised Standard Version was published (1946), the Church of Scotland proposed to other churches in Great Britain that it was time for a completely new translation of the Bible to be done. Those who initiated this work asked the translators to produce a fresh translation in modern idiom of the original languages; this was not to be a revision of any foregoing translation, nor was it to be a literal translation. The translators, under the direction of C. H. Dodd, were called upon to translate the meaning of the text into modern English. The preface to the NT (published in 1961), written by C. H. Dodd, explains this more fully:<\/p>\nThe older translators, on the whole, considered that fidelity to the original demanded that they should reproduce, as far as possible, characteristic features of the language in which it was written, such as the syntactical order of words, the structure and division of sentences, and even such irregularities of grammar as were indeed natural enough to authors writing in the easy idiom of popular Hellenistic Greek, but less natural when turned into English. The present translators were enjoined to replace Greek constructions and idioms by those of contemporary English.<\/p>\n<blockquote>This meant a different theory and practice of translation, and one which laid a heavier burden on the translators. Fidelity in translation was not to mean keeping the general framework of the original intact while replacing Greek words by English words more or less equivalent. . . . Thus we have not felt obliged (as did the Revisers of 1881) to make an effort to render the same Greek word everywhere by the same English word. We have in this respect returned to the wholesome practice of King James’s men, who (as they expressly state in their preface) recognized no such obligation. We have conceived our task to be that of understanding the original as precisely as we could (using all available aids), and then saying again in our own native idiom what we believed the author to be saying in his.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe entire New English Bible<\/em> was published in 1970; it was well received in Great Britain and in the United States (even though its idiom is extremely British) and was especially praised for its good literary style. The translators were very experimental, producing renderings never before printed in an English version and adopting certain readings from various Hebrew and Greek manuscripts never before adopted. As a result, The New English Bible<\/em> was both highly praised for its ingenuity and severely criticized for its liberty.<\/p>\nThe Good News Bible:<\/em> Today’s English Version<\/p>\nThe NT in Today’s English Version, also known as Good News for Modern Man<\/em>,<\/em> was published by the American Bible Society in 1966. The translation was originally done by Robert Bratcher, a research associate of the translations department of the American Bible Society, and then further refined by the American Bible Society. The translation, heavily promoted by several Bible societies and very affordable, sold more than 35 million copies within six years of the time of printing. The NT translation, based upon the first edition of the Greek New Testament<\/em> (the United Bible Societies, 1966), is an idiomatic version in modern and simple English. The translation was greatly influenced by the linguistic theory of dynamic equivalence and was quite successful in providing English readers with a translation that, for the most part, accurately reflects the meaning of the original texts. This is explained in the preface to the NT:<\/p>\nThis translation of the NT has been prepared by the American Bible Society for people who speak English as their mother tongue or as an acquired language. As a distinctly new translation, it does not conform to traditional vocabulary or style, but seeks to express the meaning of the Greek text in words and forms accepted as standard by people everywhere who employ English as a means of communication. Today’s English Version of the NT attempts to follow, in this century, the example set by the authors of the NT books, who, for the most part, wrote in the standard, or common, form of the Greek language used throughout the Roman Empire.<\/p>\nBecause of the success of the NT, the American Bible Society was asked by other Bible societies to make an OT translation following the same principles used in the NT. The entire Bible was published in 1976, and is known as the Good News Bible:<\/em> Today’s English Version.<\/p>\nThe Living Bible<\/em><\/p>\nIn 1962 Kenneth Taylor published a paraphrase of the NT epistles in a volume called Living Letters.<\/em> This new dynamic paraphrase, written in common vernacular, became well received and widely acclaimed—especially for its ability to communicate the message of God’s Word to the common man. In the beginning its circulation was greatly enhanced by the endorsement of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which did much to publicize the book and distributed thousands of free copies. Taylor continued to paraphrase other portions of the Bible and publish successive volumes: Living Prophecies<\/em> (1965), Living Gospels<\/em> (1966), Living Psalms<\/em> (1967), Living Lessons of Life and Love<\/em> (1968), Living Books of Moses<\/em> (1969), and Living History of Moses<\/em> (1970). The entire Living Bible was published in 1971 (the Living New Testament<\/em> was printed in 1966).<\/p>\nUsing the American Standard Version as his working text, Taylor rephrased the Bible into modern speech—such that anyone, even a child, could understand the message of the original writers. In the preface to The Living Bible<\/em>,<\/em> Taylor explains his view of paraphrasing:<\/p>\nTo paraphrase is to say something in different words than the author used. It is a restatement of the author’s thoughts, using different words than he did. This book is a paraphrase of the Old and New Testaments. Its purpose is to say as exactly as possible what the writers of the Scriptures meant, and to say it simply, expanding where necessary for a clear understanding by the modern reader.<\/p>\nEven though many modern readers have greatly appreciated the fact that The Living Bible<\/em> made God’s Word clear to them, Taylor’s paraphrase has been criticized for being too interpretive. But that is the nature of paraphrases—and the danger as well. Taylor was aware of this when he made the paraphrase. Again, the preface clarifies:<\/p>\nThere are dangers in paraphrases, as well as values. For whenever the author’s exact words are not translated from the original languages, there is a possibility that the translator, however honest, may be giving the English reader something that the original writer did not mean to say.<\/p>\nThe Living Bible<\/em> has been very popular among English readers worldwide. More than 40 million copies have been sold by the publishing house Taylor specifically created to publish The Living Bible.<\/em> The company is called Tyndale House Publishers—named after William Tyndale, the father of modern English translations of the Bible.<\/p>\n\nThe New American Standard Bible<\/em><\/p>\nThere are two modern translations that are both revisions of (or based on) the American Standard Version (1901): the Revised Standard Version (1952) and the New American Standard Bible<\/em> (1971). The Lockman Foundation, a nonprofit Christian corporation committed to evangelism, promoted this revision of the American Standard Version because “the producers of this translation were imbued with the conviction that interest in the American Standard Version 1901 should be renewed and increased” (from the preface). Indeed, the American Standard Version was a monumental work of scholarship and a very accurate translation. However, its popularity was waning, and it was fast disappearing from the scene. Therefore, the Lockman Foundation organized a team of 32 scholars to prepare a new revision. These scholars, all committed to the inspiration of Scripture, strove to produce a literal translation of the Bible in the belief that such a translation “brings the contemporary reader as close as possible to the actual wording and grammatical structure of the original writers” (ibid.).<\/p>\nThe translators of the New American Standard Bible<\/em> were instructed by the Lockman Foundation to adhere to the original languages of the Holy Scriptures as closely as possible and at the same time to obtain a fluent and readable style according to current English usage. After the New American Standard Bible<\/em> was published (1963 for the NT and 1971 for the entire Bible), it received a mixed response. Some critics applauded its literal accuracy, while others sharply criticized its language for hardly being contemporary or modern.<\/p>\nOn the whole, the New American Standard Bible<\/em> became respected as a good study Bible that accurately reflects the wording of the original languages yet is not a good translation for Bible reading. Furthermore, it must be said that this translation which was originally supposed to follow the 23d edition of the Nestle text, tends to follow the Textus Receptus, especially in its inclusion of passages considered spurious by most modern scholars.<\/p>\nThe New International Version<\/p>\nThe New International Version is a completely new rendering of the original languages done by an international group of more than 100 scholars. These scholars worked many years and in several committees to produce an excellent thought-for-thought translation in contemporary English for private and public use. The New International Version is called “international” because it was prepared by distinguished scholars from English-speaking countries such as the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, and because the translators sought to use vocabulary common to the major English-speaking nations of the world.<\/p>\nThe translators of the New International Version sought to make a version that was midway between a literal rendering (as in the New American Standard Bible<\/em>) and a free paraphrase (as in The Living Bible<\/em>). Their goal was to convey in English the thought of the original writers. This is succinctly explained in the original preface to the NT:<\/p>\nCertain convictions and aims guided the translators. They are all committed to the full authority and complete trustworthiness of the Scriptures. Therefore, their first concern was the accuracy of the translation and its fidelity to the thought of the New Testament writers. While they weighed the significance of the lexical and grammatical details of the Greek text, they have striven for more than a word-for-word translation. Because thought patterns and syntax differ from language to language, faithful communication of the meaning of the writers of the New Testament demanded frequent modifications in sentence structure and constant regard for the contextual meanings of words.<\/p>\nConcern for clarity of style—that it should be idiomatic without being idiosyncratic, contemporary without being dated—also motivated the translators and their consultants. They have consistently aimed at simplicity of expression, with sensitive attention to the connotation and sound of the chosen word. At the same time, they endeavored to avoid a sameness of style in order to reflect the varied styles and moods of the NT writers.<\/p>\nThe NT of the New International Version was published in 1973, and the entire Bible in 1978. This version has been phenomenally successful. Millions and millions of readers have adopted the New International Version as their “Bible.” Since 1987 it has outsold the King James Version, the best-seller for centuries—a remarkable indication of its popularity and acceptance in the Christian community. The New International Version, sponsored by the New York Bible Society (now the International Bible Society) and published by Zondervan Publishing House, has become a standard version used for private reading and pulpit reading in many English-speaking countries.<\/p>\nTwo Modern Catholic Translations: The Jerusalem Bible<\/em> and The New American Bible<\/em><\/p>\nIn 1943 Pope Pius XII issued the famous encyclical encouraging Roman Catholics to read and study the Scriptures. At the same time, the pope recommended that the Scriptures should be translated from the original languages. Previously, all Catholic translations were based on the Latin Vulgate. This includes Knox’s translation, which was begun in 1939 and published in 1944 (the NT) and in 1955 (the whole Bible).<\/p>\nThe first complete Catholic Bible to be translated from the original languages is The Jerusalem Bible,<\/em> published in England in 1966. The Jerusalem Bible<\/em> is the English counterpart to a French translation entitled La Bible de Jerusalem.<\/em> The French translation was “the culmination of decades of research and biblical scholarship” (from the preface to The Jerusalem Bible<\/em>), published by the scholars of the Dominican Biblical School of Jerusalem. This Bible, which includes the Apocrypha and deuterocanonical books, contains many study helps—such as introductions to each book of the Bible, extensive notes on various passages, and maps. The study helps are an intricate part of the whole translation because it is the belief of Roman Catholic leadership that laypeople should be given interpretive helps in their reading of the sacred text. The study helps in The Jerusalem Bible<\/em> were translated from the French, whereas the Bible text itself was translated from the original languages with the help of the French translation. The translation of the text produced under the editorship of Alexander Jones is considerably freer than other translations, such as the Revised Standard Version, because the translators sought to capture the meaning of the original writings in a “vigorous, contemporary literary style” (from the preface to The Jerusalem Bible<\/em>).<\/p>\nThe first American Catholic Bible to be translated from the original languages is The New American Bible<\/em> (not to be confused with the New American Standard Bible<\/em>). Although this translation was published in 1970, work had begun on this version several decades before. Prior to Pope Pius’s encyclical, an American translation of the NT based on the Latin Vulgate was published—known as the Confraternity Version. After the encyclical, the OT was translated from the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the NT redone, based on the 25th edition of the Greek Nestle-Aland text. The New American Bible<\/em> has short introductions to each book of the Bible and textual notes. Kubo and Specht provide a just description of the translation itself:<\/p>\nThe translation itself is simple, clear, and straightforward and reads very smoothly. It is good American English, not as pungent and colorful as the N.E.B. [New English Bible]. Its translations are not striking but neither are they clumsy. They seem to be more conservative in the sense that they tend not to stray from the original. That is not to say that this is a literal translation, but it is more faithful. (So Many Versions?<\/em> p 165)<\/p>\nJewish Translations<\/p>\nIn the 20th century some very important Jewish translations of the Bible were published. The Jewish Publication Society created a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures called The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, A New Translation<\/em> (published in 1917). The preface to this translation explains its purpose:<\/p>\nIt aims to combine the spirit of Jewish tradition with the results of biblical scholarship, ancient, medieval and modern. It gives to the Jewish world a translation of the Scriptures done by men imbued with the Jewish consciousness, while the non-Jewish world, it is hoped, will welcome a translation that presents many passages from the Jewish traditional point of view.<\/p>\nIn 1955 the Jewish Publication Society appointed a new committee of seven eminent Jewish scholars to make a new Jewish translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. The translation called the New Jewish Version was published in 1962. A second, improved edition was published in 1973. This work is not a revision of The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text;<\/em> it is a completely new translation in modern English. The translators attempted to produce a version that would carry the same message to modern man as the original did to the world of ancient times.<\/p>\nRevisions of the Late 20th Century<\/p>\nIn the 1980s several significant revisions appeared: The New King James Version (1982); The New Jerusalem Bible<\/em> (1986); The New American Bible,<\/em> revised NT (1986); and The Revised English Bible (1989), which is a radical revision of The New English Bible.<\/em> Other translations, such as the New International Version and Today’s English Version, were also revised in the 1980s but not publicized as such. Two other important revisions in the late 1980s and1990s are the New Revised Standard Version and the New Living Translation.<\/p>\nOne reason for this continual influx of new revisions and translations is the ever-changing consensus regarding the original text of the Bible. Most contemporary translators of the OT use the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible because it is generally considered the most authoritative standard text of the OT. At the same time, they make use of the findings of the Dead Sea Scrolls and a few other important versions, including the Septuagint. The Masoretic Text, with up-to-date textual notes, is published in an edition called Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia<\/em> (1967, 1977).<\/p>\nMost translators of the NT use two standard editions of the Greek NT, which are the Greek New Testament<\/em> published by the United Bible Societies (fourth revised edition, 1993) and Novum Testamentum Graece,<\/em> edited by Nestle and Aland (27th edition, 1993). These two volumes, which have the same text but differ in punctuation and textual notes, represent the latest in modern textual scholarship.<\/p>\nMost contemporary translators and revisers also make it their goal to reflect the changes that have occurred in the English language. One of the most obvious recent changes has been in the area of gender-inclusive language. Today’s English readers have come to expect that translations will not employ unnecessarily male-dominant language. This creates problems for modern translators of the ancient biblical text, which was originally written in a male-oriented culture. Modern translators must respect both the ancient milieu and the modern audience. Often the original language itself allows a rendering that is gender-inclusive. For example, the Greek word anthropos<\/span>,<\/em> traditionally rendered “man,” really means “human being” or “person.” (A different Greek word, aner<\/span>,<\/em> specifically refers to a male.) Likewise, in Hebrew the word ’adam<\/span>,<\/em> traditionally translated “man,” usually means “human being,” while ’ish<\/span> specifically designates an adult male. There are other occasions where the original language is male-oriented primarily because there is no neutral gender to be used. In these cases, the biblical writers defaulted to the masculine gender. For example, in the Pentateuch most of the laws are stated in language that is replete with masculine pronouns. Since it is clear that the recipients of these laws were both males and females, however, many translators generally use gender-neutral language.<\/p>\nThe New King James Version<\/p>\nThe New King James Version (nkjv<\/span>), published in 1982, is a revision of the King James Version, which is itself a literal translation. As such, the New King James Version follows the historic precedent of the Authorized Version in maintaining a literal approach to translation. The revisers have called this method of translation “complete equivalence.” This means that the revisers sought to provide a complete representation of all the information in the original text with respect to the history of usage and etymology of words in their contexts.<\/p>\nThe most distinctive feature of the nkjv<\/span> is its underlying original text. The revisers of the nkjv<\/span> NT have chosen to use the Textus Receptus rather than modern critical editions, including the Majority Text and the Nestle-Aland text. By way of concession, they have footnoted any significant textual variation from the Majority Text and modern critical editions. The Majority Text, which is the text supported by the majority of all known NT manuscripts, hardly differs from the Textus Receptus; thus, there are few significant differences noted. There are well over a thousand differences footnoted regarding the Nestle-Aland\/United Bible Societies’ text. This means that there are at least that many significant differences between the Textus Receptus and these modern critical editions.<\/p>\nThough exhibiting an antiquated text, the language of the nkjv<\/span> is modern. All the Elizabethan English of the original King James Version has been replaced with contemporary American English. Though much of the sentence structure of the nkjv<\/span> is still dated and stilted, contemporary readers who favor the spirit of the King James Version but can’t understand much of its archaic language will appreciate this revision.<\/p>\nThe Revised English Bible<\/p>\nThe Revised English Bible (1989) is a revision of The New English Bible<\/em> (neb<\/span>), which was published in 1971. Because the neb<\/span> gained such popularity in British churches and was being regularly used for public reading, several British churches decided there should be a revision of the neb<\/span> to keep the language current and the text up-to-date with modern biblical scholarship.<\/p>\nFor the OT, the revisers used the Masoretic Text as it appears in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia<\/em> (1967, 1977). They also made use of the Dead Sea Scrolls and a few other important versions, including the Septuagint. The revisers of the NT used Nestle-Aland’s Novum Testamentum Graece<\/em> (27th edition, 1993) as their base text. This choice resulted in several textual changes from The New English Bible<\/em> text, which followed a very eclectic text. The Greek text used by the neb<\/span> was produced by R. V. G. Tasker after<\/em> the English translation had been published. This Greek text was decided upon by the translation committee on a verse-by-verse basis. The resulting Greek text was very uneven and yet very interesting. The translators of the neb<\/span> adopted readings never before put into print by English translators. The scholars working on The Revised English Bible eliminated many of these readings, however, in the interest of providing a more balanced text.<\/p>\nNew Revised Standard Version<\/p>\nThe New Revised Standard Version (nrsv<\/span>), published in 1989, is an excellent example of the current trend to publish revisions rather than new translations. In the preface to this revision, Bruce Metzger, chair of the original revision committee, wrote:<\/p>\nThe New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is an authorized revision of the Revised Standard Version, published in 1952, which was a revision of the American Standard Version, published in 1901, which, in turn, embodied earlier revisions of the King James Version, published in 1611.<\/p>\n<blockquote>The need for issuing a revision of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible arises from three circumstances: (a) the acquisition of still older Biblical manuscripts, (b) further investigation of linguistic features of the text, and (c) changes in preferred English usage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nMetzger’s three reasons for producing the New Revised Standard Version are essentially the same reasons behind all revisions of Bible translations.<\/p>\nOf all the translations, the nrsv<\/span> most closely follows the text of NA26<\/span>\/UBS3<\/span>. No doubt this is due to Bruce Metzger’s involvement in both editorial committees—a leading member of the NA26<\/span>\/UBS3<\/span> committee and the chair for the nrsv<\/span> committee.<\/p>\nPerhaps the most notable feature of the nrsv<\/span> is its attention to gender-inclusive language. While respecting the historicity of the ancient texts, the nrsv<\/span> translators attempted to make this new revision more palpable to readers who prefer gender-inclusive language. They did this by avoiding unnecessarily masculine renderings wherever possible. For example, in the NT epistles, the believers are referred to with a word that is traditionally rendered “brothers” (<\/em>adelphoi<\/span>),<\/em> yet it is clear that these epistles were addressed to all the believers—both male and female. Thus, the nrsv<\/span> translators have used such phrases as “brothers and sisters” or “friends” (always with a footnote saying “Greek, brothers”) in order to represent the historical situation while remaining sensitive to modern readers.<\/p>\nMetzger and the other translators were careful, however, not to overemphasize the gender-inclusiveness principle. Some readers had been hoping for a more radical revision regarding gender-inclusiveness. Many of these readers were hoping that the revision would incorporate this principle with language about God, changing phrases such as “God our father” to “God our parent.” But the nrsv<\/span> revisers, under the leadership of Metzger, decided against this approach, considering it an inaccurate reflection of the original text’s intended meaning.<\/p>\nNew Living Translation<\/p>\nWith over 40 million copies in print, The Living Bible<\/em> has been a very popular version of the Bible for more than 30 years. But various criticisms spurred the translator of The Living Bible,<\/em> Kenneth Taylor, to produce a revision of his paraphrase. Under the sponsorship of Tyndale House Publishers, Taylor’s company, The Living Bible<\/em> underwent a thorough revision. More than 90 evangelical scholars from various theological backgrounds and denominations worked for seven years to produce the New Living Translation (nlt<\/span>). As a result, the nlt<\/span> is a version that is exegetically accurate and idiomatically powerful.<\/p>\nThe scholars carefully revised the text of The Living Bible<\/em> according to the most reliable editions of the Hebrew and Greek texts. For the OT, the revisers used the Masoretic Text as it appears in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia<\/em> (1967, 1977). They also made use of the Dead Sea Scrolls and a few other important versions, including the Septuagint. The revisers of the NT used the text of NA27<\/span>\/UBS4<\/span> as their base text.<\/p>\nThe translation method behind the nlt<\/span> has been described as “dynamic equivalence” or “functional equivalence.” The goal of this kind of translation is to produce in English the closest natural equivalent of the message of the Hebrew and Greek texts—both in meaning and in style. Such a translation should attempt to have the same impact upon modern readers as the original had upon its audience. To translate the Bible in this manner requires that the text be interpreted accurately and then rendered in understandable, current English. In doing this, the translators attempted to enter into the same thought pattern as the author and present the same idea, connotation, and effect in the receptor language. To guard against personal subjectivism and insure accuracy of message, the nlt<\/span> was produced by a large group of scholars who were each well studied in his or her particular area. To ensure that the translation would be extremely readable and understandable, a group of stylists adjusted the wording to make it clear and fluent.<\/p>\nA thought-for-thought translation created by a group of capable scholars has the potential to represent the intended meaning of the original text even more accurately than a word-for-word translation. This is illustrated by the various renderings of the Hebrew word hesed<\/span>.<\/em> This term cannot be adequately translated by any single English word because it can connote love, mercy, grace, kindness, faithfulness, and loyalty. The context—not the lexicon—must determine which English term is selected for translation.<\/p>\nThe value of a thought-for-thought translation can be illustrated by comparing 1 Kings 2:10 in the King James Version, the New International Version, and the New Living Translation. “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David” (kjv<\/span>). “Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David” (niv<\/span>). “Then David died and was buried in the City of David” (nlt<\/span>). Only the New Living Translation clearly translates the intended meaning of the Hebrew idiom “slept with his fathers” into contemporary English (from the introduction to the New Living Translation).<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>BIBLE*, Versions of the (English)<\/span><\/h3>\nTranslations of the Bible in the English language.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\nVersions Discussed Below:<\/p>\n• Early Translations: Caedmon’s, Bede’s, Alfred the Great’s<\/p>\n• Other Early Versions: Lindisfarne Gospels, Shoreham’s Psalms, Rolle’s Psalms<\/p>\n• Wycliffe’s Version<\/p>\n• Tyndale’s Translation<\/p>\n• Coverdale’s Version<\/p>\n• Thomas Matthew’s Version: The Great Bible<\/p>\n• The Geneva Bible and the Bishops’ Bible<\/p>\n• The King James Version<\/p>\n• The English Revised Version and the American Standard Version<\/p>\n• The Twentieth Century New Testament<\/p>\n• The New Testament in Modern Speech<\/em><\/p>\n• The New Testament: A New Translation<\/em><\/p>\n• The Complete Bible: An American Translation<\/em><\/p>\n• The Revised Standard Version<\/p>\n• The New English Bible<\/em><\/p>\n• The Good News Bible:<\/em> Today’s English Version<\/p>\n• The Living Bible<\/em><\/p>\n• The New American Standard Bible<\/em><\/p>\n• The New International Version<\/p>\n• The Jerusalem Bible<\/em> and The New American Bible<\/em><\/p>\n• The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, A New Translation<\/em><\/p>\n• The New King James Version<\/p>\n• The Revised English Bible<\/p>\n• New Revised Standard Version<\/p>\n• New Living Translation<\/p>\nEarly Translations: Caedmon’s, Bede’s, Alfred the Great’s<\/p>\nAs the gospel spread and churches multiplied in the early centuries of the Christian era, Christians in various countries wanted to read the Bible in their own language. As a result, many translations were made in several different languages—as early as the second century. For example, there were translations done in Coptic for the Egyptians, in Syriac for those whose language was Aramaic, in Gothic for the Germanic people called the Goths, and in Latin for the Romans and Carthaginians. The most famous Latin translation was done by Jerome around 400. This translation, known as the Latin Vulgate (vulgate<\/em> meaning “common”—hence, the Latin text for the common man), was used extensively in the Roman Catholic Church for centuries and centuries.<\/p>\nThe gospel was brought to England by missionaries from Rome in the sixth century. The Bible they carried with them was the Latin Vulgate. The Christians living in England at that time depended on monks for any kind of instruction from the Bible. The monks read and taught the Latin Bible. After a few centuries, when more monasteries were founded, the need arose for translations of the Bible in English. The earliest English translation, as far as we know, is one done by a seventh-century monk named Caedmon, who made a metrical version of parts of the Old and New Testaments. Another English churchman, named Bede, is said to have translated the Gospels into English. Tradition has it that he was translating the Gospel of John on his deathbed in 735. Another translator was Alfred the Great (reigned 871–99), who was regarded as a very literate king. He included in his laws parts of the Ten Commandments translated into English, and he also translated the Psalms.<\/p>\nOther Early Versions: Lindisfarne Gospels, Shoreham’s Psalms, Rolle’s Psalms<\/p>\nAll translations of the English Bible prior to the work of Tyndale (discussed later) were done from the Latin text. Some Latin versions of the Gospels with word-for-word English translations written between the lines, which are called interlinear translations, survive from the 10th century. The most famous translation of this period is called the Lindisfarne Gospels (950). In the late 10th century, Aelfric (c. 955–1020), abbot of Eynsham, made idiomatic translations of various parts of the Bible. Two of these translations still exist. Later, in the 1300s, William of Shoreham translated the Psalms into English and so did Richard Rolle, whose editions of the Psalms included a verse-by-verse commentary. Both of these translations, which were metrical and therefore called Psalters, were popular when John Wycliffe was a young man.<\/p>\n\nWycliffe’s Version<\/p>\nJohn Wycliffe (c. 1329–84), the most eminent Oxford theologian of his day, and his associates were the first to translate the entire Bible from Latin into English. Wycliffe has been called the “Morning Star of the Reformation” because he boldly questioned papal authority, criticized the sale of indulgences (which were supposed to release a person from punishment in purgatory), denied the reality of transubstantiation (the doctrine that the bread and wine are changed into Jesus Christ’s body and blood during Communion), and spoke out against church hierarchies. The pope reproved Wycliffe for his “heretical” teachings and asked that Oxford University dismiss him. But Oxford and many government leaders stood with Wycliffe, so he was able to survive the pope’s assaults.<\/p>\nWycliffe believed that the way to prevail in his struggle with the church’s abusive authority was to make the Bible available to the people in their own language. Then they could read for themselves about how each one of them could have a personal relationship with God through Christ Jesus—apart from any ecclesiastical authority. Wycliffe, with his associates, completed the NT around 1380 and the OT in 1382. Wycliffe concentrated his labors on the NT, while an associate, Nicholas of Hereford, did a major part of the OT. Wycliffe and his coworkers, unfamiliar with the original Hebrew and Greek, translated the Latin text into English.<\/p>\nAfter Wycliffe finished the translation work, he organized a group of poor parishioners, known as Lollards, to go throughout England preaching Christian truths and reading the Scriptures in their mother tongue to all who would hear God’s Word. As a result the Word of God, through Wycliffe’s translation, became available to many Englishmen. He was loved and yet hated. His ecclesiastical enemies did not forget his opposition to their power or his successful efforts in making the Scriptures available to all. Several decades after he died, they condemned him for heresy, dug up his body, burned it, and threw his ashes into the Swift River.<\/p>\nOne of Wycliffe’s close associates, John Purvey (c. 1353–1428), continued Wycliffe’s work by producing a revision of his translation in 1388. Purvey was an excellent scholar; his work was very well received by his generation and following generations. Within less than a century, Purvey’s revision had replaced the original Wycliffe Bible.<\/p>\nAs was stated before, Wycliffe and his associates were the first Englishmen to translate the entire Bible into English from Latin. Therefore, their Bible was a translation of a translation, not a translation of the original languages. With the coming of the Renaissance came the resurgence of the study of the classics—and with it the resurgence of the study of Greek as well as Hebrew. Thus, for the first time in nearly 1,000 years (500–1500—the approximate time when Latin was the dominant language for scholarship, except in the Greek church) scholars began to read the NT in its original language, Greek. By 1500, Greek was being taught at Oxford.<\/p>\nTyndale’s Translation<\/p>\nWilliam Tyndale was born in the age of the Renaissance. He graduated in 1515 from Oxford, where he had studied the Scriptures in Greek and in Hebrew. By the time he was 30, Tyndale had committed his life to translating the Bible from the original languages into English. His heart’s desire is exemplified in a statement he made to a clergyman when refuting the view that only the clergy were qualified to read and correctly interpret the Scriptures. Tyndale said, “If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than thou dost.”<\/p>\nIn 1523 Tyndale went to London seeking a place to work on his translation. When the bishop of London would not give him hospitality, he was provided a place by Humphrey Monmouth, a cloth merchant. Then, in 1524, Tyndale left England for Germany because the English church, which was still under the papal authority of Rome, strongly opposed putting the Bible into the hands of the laity. Tyndale first settled in Hamburg, Germany. Quite possibly, he met Luther in Wittenberg soon thereafter. Even if he didn’t meet Luther, he was well acquainted with Luther’s writings and Luther’s German translation of the NT (published in 1522). Throughout his lifetime, Tyndale was harassed for propagating Luther’s ideas. Both Luther and Tyndale used the same Greek text (one compiled by Erasmus in 1516) in making their translations.<\/p>\nTyndale completed his translation of the NT in 1525. Fifteen thousand copies, in six editions, were smuggled into England between the years 1525 and 1530. Church authorities did their best to confiscate copies of Tyndale’s translation and burn them, but they couldn’t stop the flow of Bibles from Germany into England. Tyndale himself could not return to England because his life was in danger since his translation had been banned. However, he continued to work abroad—correcting, revising, and reissuing his translation until his final revision appeared in 1535. Shortly thereafter, in May of 1535, Tyndale was arrested and carried off to a castle near Brussels. After being in prison for over a year, he was tried and condemned to death. He was strangled and burned at the stake on October 6, 1536. His final words were so very poignant: “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.”<\/p>\nAfter finishing the NT, Tyndale had begun work on a translation of the Hebrew OT, but he did not live long enough to complete his task. He had, however, translated the Pentateuch (the first five books of the OT), Jonah, and some historical books. While Tyndale was in prison, an associate of his named Miles Coverdale (1488–1569) brought to completion an entire Bible in English—based largely on Tyndale’s translation of the NT and other OT books. In other words, Coverdale finished what Tyndale had begun.<\/p>\nCoverdale’s Version<\/p>\nMiles Coverdale was a Cambridge graduate who, like Tyndale, was forced to flee England because he had been strongly influenced by Luther to the extent that he was boldly preaching against Roman Catholic doctrine. While he was abroad, Coverdale met Tyndale and then served as an assistant—especially helping Tyndale translate the Pentateuch. By the time Coverdale produced a complete translation (1537), the king of England, Henry VIII, had broken all ties with the pope and was ready to see the appearance of an English Bible. Perhaps Tyndale’s prayer had been answered—with a very ironic twist. The king gave his royal approval to Coverdale’s translation, which was based on the work done by Tyndale, the man Henry VIII had earlier condemned.<\/p>\nThomas Matthew’s Version: The Great Bible<\/p>\nIn the same year that Coverdale’s Bible was endorsed by the king (1537), another Bible was published in England. This was the work of one called Thomas Matthew, a pseudonym for John Rogers (c. 1500–55), a friend of Tyndale. Evidently, Rogers used Tyndale’s unpublished translation of the OT historical books, other parts of Tyndale’s translation, and still other parts of Coverdale’s translation, to form an entire Bible. This Bible also received the king’s approval. Matthew’s Bible was revised in 1538 and printed for distribution in the churches throughout England. This Bible, called the Great Bible because of its size and costliness, became the first English Bible authorized for public use.<\/p>\nMany editions of the Great Bible were printed in the early 1540s. However, its distribution was limited. Furthermore, King Henry’s attitude about the new translation changed. As a result, the English Parliament passed a law in 1543 restricting the use of any English translation. It was a crime for any unlicensed person to read or explain the Scriptures in public. Many copies of Tyndale’s NT and Coverdale’s Bible were burned in London.<\/p>\nGreater repression was to follow. After a short period of leniency (during the reign of Edward VI, 1547–53), severe persecution came from the hands of Queen Mary. She was a Roman Catholic who was determined to restore Catholicism to England and repress Protestantism. Many Protestants were executed, including John Rogers, the Bible translator. Coverdale was arrested, then released. He fled to Geneva, a sanctuary for English Protestants.<\/p>\nThe Geneva Bible and the Bishops’ Bible<\/p>\nThe English exiles in Geneva chose William Whittingham (c. 1524–79) to make an English translation of the NT for them. He used Theodore Beza’s Latin translation and consulted the Greek text. This Bible became very popular because it was small and moderately priced. The preface to the Bible and its many annotations were affected by a strong evangelical influence, as well as by the teachings of John Calvin. Calvin was one of the greatest thinkers of the Reformation, a renowned biblical commentator, and the principal leader in Geneva during those days.<\/p>\nWhile the Geneva Bible was popular among many English men and women, it was not acceptable among many leaders in the Church of England because of its Calvinistic notes. These leaders, recognizing that the Great Bible was inferior to the Geneva Bible in style and scholarship, initiated a revision of the Great Bible. This revised Bible, published in 1568, became known as the Bishops’ Bible; it continued in use until it was superseded by the King James Version of 1611.<\/p>\n\nThe King James Version<\/p>\nAfter James VI of Scotland became the king of England (known as James I), he invited several clergymen from Puritan and Anglican factions to meet together with the hope that differences could be reconciled. The meeting did not achieve this. However, during the meeting one of the Puritan leaders, John Reynolds, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, asked the king to authorize a new translation because he wanted to see a translation that was more accurate than previous translations. King James liked this idea because the Bishops’ Bible had not been successful and because he considered the notes in the Geneva Bible to be seditious. The king initiated the work and took an active part in planning the new translation. He suggested that university professors work on the translation to assure the best scholarship, and he strongly urged that they should not have any marginal notes besides those pertaining to literal renderings from the Hebrew and Greek. The absence of interpretive notes would help the translation be accepted by all the churches in England.<\/p>\nMore than 50 scholars, trained in Hebrew and Greek, began the work in 1607. The translation went through several committees before it was finalized. The scholars were instructed to follow the Bishops’ Bible as the basic version, as long as it adhered to the original text, and to consult the translations of Tyndale, Matthew, and Coverdale, as well as the Great Bible and the Geneva Bible when they appeared to contain more accurate renderings of the original languages. This dependence on other versions is expressed in the preface to the King James Version: “Truly, good Christian reader, we never thought from the beginning that we should need to make a new translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one . . . but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones one principal good one.”<\/p>\nThe King James Version, known in England as the Authorized Version because it was authorized by the king, captured the best of all the preceding English translations and far exceeded all of them. It was the culmination of all the previous English Bible translations; it united high scholarship with Christian devotion and piety. It came into being at a time when the English language was vigorous and beautiful—the age of Elizabethan English and Shakesperean English. This version has justifiably been called “the noblest monument of English prose.” Indeed, the King James Version has become an enduring monument of English prose because of its gracious style, majestic language, and poetic rhythms. No other book has had such a tremendous influence on English literature, and no other translation has touched the lives of so many English-speaking people for centuries and centuries, even until the present day.<\/p>\nThe 18th and 19th Centuries: New Discoveries of Earlier Manuscripts and Increased Knowledge of the Original Languages<\/p>\nThe King James Version became the most popular English translation in the 17th and 18th centuries. It acquired the stature of becoming the standard English Bible. But the King James Version had deficiencies that did not go unnoticed by certain scholars. First, knowledge of Hebrew was inadequate in the early 17th century. The Hebrew text they used (i.e., the Masoretic Text) was adequate, but their understanding of the Hebrew vocabulary was insufficient. It would take many more years of linguistic studies to enrich and sharpen understanding of the Hebrew vocabulary. Second, the Greek text underlying the NT of the King James Version was an inferior text. The King James translators basically used a Greek text known as the Textus Receptus (or, the “Received Text”), which came from the work of Erasmus, who compiled the first Greek text to be produced on a printing press. When Erasmus compiled this text, he used five or six very late manuscripts dating from the 10th to the 13th centuries. These manuscripts were far inferior to earlier manuscripts.<\/p>\nThe King James translators had done well with the resources that were available to them, but those resources were insufficient, especially with respect to the NT text. After the King James Version was published, earlier and better manuscripts were discovered. Around 1630, Codex Alexandrinus was brought to England. A fifth-century manuscript containing the entire NT, it provided a fairly good witness to the NT text, especially the original text of Revelation. Two hundred years later, a German scholar named Constantin von Tischendorf discovered Codex Sinaiticus in St Catherine’s Monastery. The manuscript, dated around AD<\/span> 350, is one of the two oldest manuscripts of the Greek NT. The earliest manuscript, Codex Vaticanus, had been in the Vatican’s library since at least 1475, but it was not made available to scholars until the middle of the 19th century. This manuscript, dated slightly earlier (AD<\/span> 325) than Codex Sinaiticus, is one of the most reliable copies of the Greek NT.<\/p>\nAs these manuscripts (and others) were discovered and made public, certain scholars labored to compile a Greek text that would more closely represent the original text than did the Textus Receptus. Around 1700 John Mill produced an improved Textus Receptus, and in the 1730s Johannes Albert Bengel, known as the father of modern textual and philological studies in the NT, published a text that deviated from the Textus Receptus according to the evidence of earlier manuscripts.<\/p>\nIn the 1800s certain scholars began to abandon the Textus Receptus. Karl Lachman, a classical philologist, produced a fresh text in 1831 that represented the fourth-century manuscripts. Samuel Tregelles, self-taught in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek, laboring throughout his entire lifetime, concentrated all of his efforts in publishing one Greek text, which came out in six parts, from 1857 to 1872. Tischendorf devoted a lifetime of labor to discovering manuscripts and producing accurate editions of the Greek NT. He not only discovered Codex Sinaiticus, he also deciphered the palimpsest Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, collated countless manuscripts, and produced several editions of the Greek NT (the eighth edition is considered the best). Aided by the work of these scholars, two British men, Brooke Westcott and Fenton Hort, worked together for 28 years to produce a volume entitled The New Testament in the Original Greek<\/em> (1881). This edition of the Greek NT, based largely on Codex Vaticanus, became the standard text that was responsible for dethroning the Textus Receptus.<\/p>\nThe English Revised Version and the American Standard Version<\/p>\nBy the latter part of the 19th century, the Christian community had been given three very good Greek NT texts: Tregelles’s, Tischendorf’s, and Westcott and Hort’s. These texts were very different from the Textus Receptus. And as was mentioned earlier, the scholarly community had accumulated more knowledge about the meaning of various Hebrew words and Greek words. Therefore, there was a great need for a new English translation based upon a better text—and with more accurate renderings of the original languages.<\/p>\nA few individuals attempted to meet this need. In 1871 John Nelson Darby, leader of the Plymouth Brethren movement, produced a translation called the New Translation,<\/em> which was largely based on Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. In 1872 J. B. Rotherham published a translation of Tregelles’s text, in which he attempted to reflect the emphasis inherent in the Greek text. This translation is still being published under the title The Emphasized Bible.<\/em> And in 1875 Samuel Davidson produced a NT translation of Tischendorf’s text.<\/p>\nThe first major corporate effort was initiated in 1870 by the Convocation of Canterbury, which decided to sponsor a major revision of the King James Version. Sixty-five British scholars, working in various committees, made significant changes in the King James Version. The OT scholars corrected mistranslations of Hebrew words and reformatted poetic passages into poetic form. The NT scholars made thousands of changes based upon better textual evidence. Their goal was to make the NT revision reflect not the Textus Receptus but the texts of Tregelles, Tischendorf, and Westcott and Hort. When the complete Revised Version appeared in 1885, it was received with great enthusiasm. Over three million copies sold in the first year of its publication. Unfortunately, its popularity was not long lasting because most people continued to prefer the King James Version over all other translations.<\/p>\nSeveral American scholars had been invited to join the revision work, with the understanding that any of their suggestions not accepted by the British scholars would appear in an appendix. Furthermore, the American scholars had to agree not to publish their own American revision until after 14 years. When the time came (1901), the American Standard Version was published by several surviving members of the original American committee. This translation, generally regarded as superior to the English Revised Version, is an accurate, literal rendering of very trustworthy texts both in the OT and the New.<\/p>\nThe 20th Century: New Discoveries and New Translations<\/p>\nThe 19th century was a fruitful era for the Greek NT and subsequent English translations; it was also a century in which Hebrew studies were greatly advanced. The 20th century has also been fruitful—especially for textual studies. Those living in the 20th century have witnessed the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, the Chester Beatty Papyri, and the Bodmer Papyri. These amazing discoveries, providing scholars with hundreds of ancient manuscripts, have greatly enhanced the effort to recover the original wording of the Old and New Testaments. At the same time, other archaeological discoveries have validated the historical accuracy of the Bible and helped Bible scholars understand the meaning of certain ancient words. For example, the Greek word parousia<\/span> (usually translated “coming”) was found in many ancient documents dated around the time of Christ; very often the word indicated the visitation of royalty. When this word was used in the NT concerning Christ’s second coming, the readers would think of his coming as being the visitation of a king. Another example is that in koine Greek, the expression entos humon<\/span> (literally, “inside of you”) often meant “within reach.” Thus, Jesus’ statement in Luke 17:21 could mean “The kingdom is within reach.”<\/p>\nAs earlier and better manuscripts of the Bible have emerged, scholars have been engaged in updating the Bible texts. OT scholars have still used the Masoretic Text but have noted significant differences found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The current edition used by OT scholars is called Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.<\/em> NT scholars, for the most part, have come to rely upon an edition of the Greek NT known as the Nestle-Aland text. Eberhard Nestle used the best editions of the Greek NT produced in the 19th century to compile a text that represented the majority consensus. The work of making new editions was carried on by his son for several years and then came under the care of Kurt Aland. The latest edition (the 27th) of Nestle-Aland’s Novum Testamentum Graece<\/em> appeared in 1993. The same Greek text appears in another popular volume published by the United Bible Societies, called the Greek New Testament<\/em> (fourth edition—1983).<\/p>\nEarly 20th-Century Translations in the Language of the People<\/p>\nThe thousands and thousands of papyri that were discovered in Egypt around the turn of the century displayed a form of Greek called koine Greek. Koine (meaning “common”) Greek was everyman’s Greek; it was the common language of almost everybody living in the Graeco-Roman world from the second century BC<\/span> to the third century AD<\/span>. In other words, it was the lingua franca<\/em> of the Mediterranean world. Every educated person back then could speak, read, and write in Greek just like every educated person in modern times can speak a little English, read some English, and perhaps write in English. Koine Greek was not literary Greek (i.e., the kind of Greek written by the Greek poets and tragedians); it was the kind of Greek used in personal letters, legal documents, and other nonliterary texts.<\/p>\nNT scholars began to discover that most of the NT was written in koine Greek—the language of the people. As a result, there was a strong prompting to translate the NT into the language of the people. Various translators chose to divorce themselves from the traditional Elizabethan English as found in the King James Version (and even in the English Revised Version and American Standard Version) and produce fresh renderings in the common idiom.<\/p>\nThe Twentieth Century New Testament<\/p>\nThe first of these new translations was The Twentieth Century New Testament<\/em> (1902). The preface to a new edition of this translation provides an excellent description of the work:<\/p>\nThe Twentieth Century New Testament<\/em> is a smooth-flowing, accurate, easy-to-read translation that captivates its readers from start to finish. Born out of a desire to make the Bible readable and understandable, it is the product of the labors of a committee of twenty men and women who worked together over many years to construct, we believe under divine surveillance, this beautifully simple rendition of the word of God. (Preface to the new edition—1961—published by Moody Press)<\/p>\nThe New Testament in Modern Speech<\/em><\/p>\nA year after the publication of The Twentieth Century New Testament,<\/em> Richard Weymouth published The New Testament in Modern Speech<\/em> (1903). Weymouth, who had received the first doctor of literature degree from the University of London, was headmaster of a private school in London. During his life, he spent time producing an edition of the Greek text (published in 1862) that was more accurate than the Textus Receptus, and then he labored to produce an English translation of this Greek text (called The Resultant Greek Testament<\/em>) in a modern speech version. His translation was very well received; it has gone through several editions and many printings.<\/p>\nThe New Testament: A New Translation<\/em><\/p>\nAnother new and fresh translation to appear in the early years of this century was one written by James Moffatt, a brilliant Scottish scholar. In 1913 he published his first edition of The New Testament: A New Translation.<\/em> This was actually his second translation of the NT; his first was done in 1901, called The Historical New Testament.<\/em> In his New Translation<\/em> Moffatt’s goal was “to translate the NT exactly as one would render any piece of contemporary Hellenistic prose.” His work displays brilliance and marked independence from other versions; unfortunately it was based on Hermann von Soden’s Greek NT, which, as all scholars now know, is quite defective.<\/p>\nThe Complete Bible: An American Translation<\/em><\/p>\nThe earliest American modern speech translation was produced by Edgar J. Goodspeed, a professor of NT at the University of Chicago. He had criticized The Twentieth Century New Testament,<\/em> Weymouth’s version, and Moffatt’s translation. As a consequence, he was challenged by some other scholars to do better. He took up the challenge and in 1923 published The New Testament: An American Translation.<\/em> When he made this translation, he said that he wanted to give his “version something of the force and freshness that reside in the original Greek.” He said, “I wanted my translation to make on the reader something of the impression the NT must have made on its earliest readers, and to invite the continuous reading of the whole book at a time.” His translation was a success. An OT translation followed, produced by J. M. Powis Smith and three other scholars. The Complete Bible: An American Translation<\/em> was published in 1935.<\/p>\nThe Revised Standard Version<\/p>\nThe English Revised Version and the American Standard Version had gained a reputation of being accurate study texts but very “wooden” in their construction. The translators who worked on the Revised Versions attempted to translate words consistently from the original language regardless of their context and sometimes even followed the word order of the Greek. This created a very unidiomatic version and called for a new revision.<\/p>\nThe demand for revision was strengthened by the fact that several important biblical manuscripts had been discovered in the 1930s and 1940s—namely, the Dead Sea Scrolls for the OT and the Chester Beatty Papyri for the NT. It was felt that the fresh evidence displayed in these documents should be reflected in a revision. The revision showed some textual changes in the book of Isaiah due to the Isaiah Scroll and several changes in the Pauline Epistles based on the Chester Beatty Papyrus, P46. There were other significant revisions. The story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:52–8:11) was not included in the text but in the margin because none of the early manuscripts contain this story, and the ending to Mark (16:9-20) was not included in the text because it is not found in the two earliest manuscripts, Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus.<\/p>\nThe organization that held the copyright to the American Standard Version, called the International Council of Religious Education, authorized a new revision in 1937. The NT translators generally followed the 17th edition of the Nestle Text (1941), while the OT translators followed the Masoretic Text. Both groups, however, adopted readings from other ancient sources when they were considered to be more accurate. The NT was published in 1946, and the entire Bible with the OT in 1952.<\/p>\nThe principles of the revision were specified in the preface to the Revised Standard Version:<\/p>\nThe Revised Standard Version is not a new translation in the language of today. It is not a paraphrase which aims at striking idioms. It is a revision which seeks to preserve all that is best in the English Bible as it has been known and used throughout the years.<\/p>\nThis revision was well received by many Protestant churches and soon became their “standard” text. The Revised Standard Version was later published with the Apocrypha of the OT (1957), in a Catholic Edition (1965), and in what is called the Common Bible,<\/em> which includes the OT, the NT, the Apocrypha, and the deuterocanonical books, with international endorsements by Protestants, Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholics. Evangelical and fundamental Christians, however, did not receive the Revised Standard Version very well—primarily because of one verse, Isaiah 7:14, which reads, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” Evangelicals and fundamentalists contend that the text should read “virgin,” not “young woman.” As a result, the Revised Standard Version was panned, if not banned, by many evangelical and fundamental Christians.<\/p>\nThe New English Bible<\/em><\/p>\nIn the year that the NT of the Revised Standard Version was published (1946), the Church of Scotland proposed to other churches in Great Britain that it was time for a completely new translation of the Bible to be done. Those who initiated this work asked the translators to produce a fresh translation in modern idiom of the original languages; this was not to be a revision of any foregoing translation, nor was it to be a literal translation. The translators, under the direction of C. H. Dodd, were called upon to translate the meaning of the text into modern English. The preface to the NT (published in 1961), written by C. H. Dodd, explains this more fully:<\/p>\nThe older translators, on the whole, considered that fidelity to the original demanded that they should reproduce, as far as possible, characteristic features of the language in which it was written, such as the syntactical order of words, the structure and division of sentences, and even such irregularities of grammar as were indeed natural enough to authors writing in the easy idiom of popular Hellenistic Greek, but less natural when turned into English. The present translators were enjoined to replace Greek constructions and idioms by those of contemporary English.<\/p>\n<blockquote>This meant a different theory and practice of translation, and one which laid a heavier burden on the translators. Fidelity in translation was not to mean keeping the general framework of the original intact while replacing Greek words by English words more or less equivalent. . . . Thus we have not felt obliged (as did the Revisers of 1881) to make an effort to render the same Greek word everywhere by the same English word. We have in this respect returned to the wholesome practice of King James’s men, who (as they expressly state in their preface) recognized no such obligation. We have conceived our task to be that of understanding the original as precisely as we could (using all available aids), and then saying again in our own native idiom what we believed the author to be saying in his.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe entire New English Bible<\/em> was published in 1970; it was well received in Great Britain and in the United States (even though its idiom is extremely British) and was especially praised for its good literary style. The translators were very experimental, producing renderings never before printed in an English version and adopting certain readings from various Hebrew and Greek manuscripts never before adopted. As a result, The New English Bible<\/em> was both highly praised for its ingenuity and severely criticized for its liberty.<\/p>\nThe Good News Bible:<\/em> Today’s English Version<\/p>\nThe NT in Today’s English Version, also known as Good News for Modern Man<\/em>,<\/em> was published by the American Bible Society in 1966. The translation was originally done by Robert Bratcher, a research associate of the translations department of the American Bible Society, and then further refined by the American Bible Society. The translation, heavily promoted by several Bible societies and very affordable, sold more than 35 million copies within six years of the time of printing. The NT translation, based upon the first edition of the Greek New Testament<\/em> (the United Bible Societies, 1966), is an idiomatic version in modern and simple English. The translation was greatly influenced by the linguistic theory of dynamic equivalence and was quite successful in providing English readers with a translation that, for the most part, accurately reflects the meaning of the original texts. This is explained in the preface to the NT:<\/p>\nThis translation of the NT has been prepared by the American Bible Society for people who speak English as their mother tongue or as an acquired language. As a distinctly new translation, it does not conform to traditional vocabulary or style, but seeks to express the meaning of the Greek text in words and forms accepted as standard by people everywhere who employ English as a means of communication. Today’s English Version of the NT attempts to follow, in this century, the example set by the authors of the NT books, who, for the most part, wrote in the standard, or common, form of the Greek language used throughout the Roman Empire.<\/p>\nBecause of the success of the NT, the American Bible Society was asked by other Bible societies to make an OT translation following the same principles used in the NT. The entire Bible was published in 1976, and is known as the Good News Bible:<\/em> Today’s English Version.<\/p>\nThe Living Bible<\/em><\/p>\nIn 1962 Kenneth Taylor published a paraphrase of the NT epistles in a volume called Living Letters.<\/em> This new dynamic paraphrase, written in common vernacular, became well received and widely acclaimed—especially for its ability to communicate the message of God’s Word to the common man. In the beginning its circulation was greatly enhanced by the endorsement of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which did much to publicize the book and distributed thousands of free copies. Taylor continued to paraphrase other portions of the Bible and publish successive volumes: Living Prophecies<\/em> (1965), Living Gospels<\/em> (1966), Living Psalms<\/em> (1967), Living Lessons of Life and Love<\/em> (1968), Living Books of Moses<\/em> (1969), and Living History of Moses<\/em> (1970). The entire Living Bible was published in 1971 (the Living New Testament<\/em> was printed in 1966).<\/p>\nUsing the American Standard Version as his working text, Taylor rephrased the Bible into modern speech—such that anyone, even a child, could understand the message of the original writers. In the preface to The Living Bible<\/em>,<\/em> Taylor explains his view of paraphrasing:<\/p>\nTo paraphrase is to say something in different words than the author used. It is a restatement of the author’s thoughts, using different words than he did. This book is a paraphrase of the Old and New Testaments. Its purpose is to say as exactly as possible what the writers of the Scriptures meant, and to say it simply, expanding where necessary for a clear understanding by the modern reader.<\/p>\nEven though many modern readers have greatly appreciated the fact that The Living Bible<\/em> made God’s Word clear to them, Taylor’s paraphrase has been criticized for being too interpretive. But that is the nature of paraphrases—and the danger as well. Taylor was aware of this when he made the paraphrase. Again, the preface clarifies:<\/p>\nThere are dangers in paraphrases, as well as values. For whenever the author’s exact words are not translated from the original languages, there is a possibility that the translator, however honest, may be giving the English reader something that the original writer did not mean to say.<\/p>\nThe Living Bible<\/em> has been very popular among English readers worldwide. More than 40 million copies have been sold by the publishing house Taylor specifically created to publish The Living Bible.<\/em> The company is called Tyndale House Publishers—named after William Tyndale, the father of modern English translations of the Bible.<\/p>\n\nThe New American Standard Bible<\/em><\/p>\nThere are two modern translations that are both revisions of (or based on) the American Standard Version (1901): the Revised Standard Version (1952) and the New American Standard Bible<\/em> (1971). The Lockman Foundation, a nonprofit Christian corporation committed to evangelism, promoted this revision of the American Standard Version because “the producers of this translation were imbued with the conviction that interest in the American Standard Version 1901 should be renewed and increased” (from the preface). Indeed, the American Standard Version was a monumental work of scholarship and a very accurate translation. However, its popularity was waning, and it was fast disappearing from the scene. Therefore, the Lockman Foundation organized a team of 32 scholars to prepare a new revision. These scholars, all committed to the inspiration of Scripture, strove to produce a literal translation of the Bible in the belief that such a translation “brings the contemporary reader as close as possible to the actual wording and grammatical structure of the original writers” (ibid.).<\/p>\nThe translators of the New American Standard Bible<\/em> were instructed by the Lockman Foundation to adhere to the original languages of the Holy Scriptures as closely as possible and at the same time to obtain a fluent and readable style according to current English usage. After the New American Standard Bible<\/em> was published (1963 for the NT and 1971 for the entire Bible), it received a mixed response. Some critics applauded its literal accuracy, while others sharply criticized its language for hardly being contemporary or modern.<\/p>\nOn the whole, the New American Standard Bible<\/em> became respected as a good study Bible that accurately reflects the wording of the original languages yet is not a good translation for Bible reading. Furthermore, it must be said that this translation which was originally supposed to follow the 23d edition of the Nestle text, tends to follow the Textus Receptus, especially in its inclusion of passages considered spurious by most modern scholars.<\/p>\nThe New International Version<\/p>\nThe New International Version is a completely new rendering of the original languages done by an international group of more than 100 scholars. These scholars worked many years and in several committees to produce an excellent thought-for-thought translation in contemporary English for private and public use. The New International Version is called “international” because it was prepared by distinguished scholars from English-speaking countries such as the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, and because the translators sought to use vocabulary common to the major English-speaking nations of the world.<\/p>\nThe translators of the New International Version sought to make a version that was midway between a literal rendering (as in the New American Standard Bible<\/em>) and a free paraphrase (as in The Living Bible<\/em>). Their goal was to convey in English the thought of the original writers. This is succinctly explained in the original preface to the NT:<\/p>\nCertain convictions and aims guided the translators. They are all committed to the full authority and complete trustworthiness of the Scriptures. Therefore, their first concern was the accuracy of the translation and its fidelity to the thought of the New Testament writers. While they weighed the significance of the lexical and grammatical details of the Greek text, they have striven for more than a word-for-word translation. Because thought patterns and syntax differ from language to language, faithful communication of the meaning of the writers of the New Testament demanded frequent modifications in sentence structure and constant regard for the contextual meanings of words.<\/p>\nConcern for clarity of style—that it should be idiomatic without being idiosyncratic, contemporary without being dated—also motivated the translators and their consultants. They have consistently aimed at simplicity of expression, with sensitive attention to the connotation and sound of the chosen word. At the same time, they endeavored to avoid a sameness of style in order to reflect the varied styles and moods of the NT writers.<\/p>\nThe NT of the New International Version was published in 1973, and the entire Bible in 1978. This version has been phenomenally successful. Millions and millions of readers have adopted the New International Version as their “Bible.” Since 1987 it has outsold the King James Version, the best-seller for centuries—a remarkable indication of its popularity and acceptance in the Christian community. The New International Version, sponsored by the New York Bible Society (now the International Bible Society) and published by Zondervan Publishing House, has become a standard version used for private reading and pulpit reading in many English-speaking countries.<\/p>\nTwo Modern Catholic Translations: The Jerusalem Bible<\/em> and The New American Bible<\/em><\/p>\nIn 1943 Pope Pius XII issued the famous encyclical encouraging Roman Catholics to read and study the Scriptures. At the same time, the pope recommended that the Scriptures should be translated from the original languages. Previously, all Catholic translations were based on the Latin Vulgate. This includes Knox’s translation, which was begun in 1939 and published in 1944 (the NT) and in 1955 (the whole Bible).<\/p>\nThe first complete Catholic Bible to be translated from the original languages is The Jerusalem Bible,<\/em> published in England in 1966. The Jerusalem Bible<\/em> is the English counterpart to a French translation entitled La Bible de Jerusalem.<\/em> The French translation was “the culmination of decades of research and biblical scholarship” (from the preface to The Jerusalem Bible<\/em>), published by the scholars of the Dominican Biblical School of Jerusalem. This Bible, which includes the Apocrypha and deuterocanonical books, contains many study helps—such as introductions to each book of the Bible, extensive notes on various passages, and maps. The study helps are an intricate part of the whole translation because it is the belief of Roman Catholic leadership that laypeople should be given interpretive helps in their reading of the sacred text. The study helps in The Jerusalem Bible<\/em> were translated from the French, whereas the Bible text itself was translated from the original languages with the help of the French translation. The translation of the text produced under the editorship of Alexander Jones is considerably freer than other translations, such as the Revised Standard Version, because the translators sought to capture the meaning of the original writings in a “vigorous, contemporary literary style” (from the preface to The Jerusalem Bible<\/em>).<\/p>\nThe first American Catholic Bible to be translated from the original languages is The New American Bible<\/em> (not to be confused with the New American Standard Bible<\/em>). Although this translation was published in 1970, work had begun on this version several decades before. Prior to Pope Pius’s encyclical, an American translation of the NT based on the Latin Vulgate was published—known as the Confraternity Version. After the encyclical, the OT was translated from the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the NT redone, based on the 25th edition of the Greek Nestle-Aland text. The New American Bible<\/em> has short introductions to each book of the Bible and textual notes. Kubo and Specht provide a just description of the translation itself:<\/p>\nThe translation itself is simple, clear, and straightforward and reads very smoothly. It is good American English, not as pungent and colorful as the N.E.B. [New English Bible]. Its translations are not striking but neither are they clumsy. They seem to be more conservative in the sense that they tend not to stray from the original. That is not to say that this is a literal translation, but it is more faithful. (So Many Versions?<\/em> p 165)<\/p>\nJewish Translations<\/p>\nIn the 20th century some very important Jewish translations of the Bible were published. The Jewish Publication Society created a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures called The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, A New Translation<\/em> (published in 1917). The preface to this translation explains its purpose:<\/p>\nIt aims to combine the spirit of Jewish tradition with the results of biblical scholarship, ancient, medieval and modern. It gives to the Jewish world a translation of the Scriptures done by men imbued with the Jewish consciousness, while the non-Jewish world, it is hoped, will welcome a translation that presents many passages from the Jewish traditional point of view.<\/p>\nIn 1955 the Jewish Publication Society appointed a new committee of seven eminent Jewish scholars to make a new Jewish translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. The translation called the New Jewish Version was published in 1962. A second, improved edition was published in 1973. This work is not a revision of The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text;<\/em> it is a completely new translation in modern English. The translators attempted to produce a version that would carry the same message to modern man as the original did to the world of ancient times.<\/p>\nRevisions of the Late 20th Century<\/p>\nIn the 1980s several significant revisions appeared: The New King James Version (1982); The New Jerusalem Bible<\/em> (1986); The New American Bible,<\/em> revised NT (1986); and The Revised English Bible (1989), which is a radical revision of The New English Bible.<\/em> Other translations, such as the New International Version and Today’s English Version, were also revised in the 1980s but not publicized as such. Two other important revisions in the late 1980s and1990s are the New Revised Standard Version and the New Living Translation.<\/p>\nOne reason for this continual influx of new revisions and translations is the ever-changing consensus regarding the original text of the Bible. Most contemporary translators of the OT use the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible because it is generally considered the most authoritative standard text of the OT. At the same time, they make use of the findings of the Dead Sea Scrolls and a few other important versions, including the Septuagint. The Masoretic Text, with up-to-date textual notes, is published in an edition called Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia<\/em> (1967, 1977).<\/p>\nMost translators of the NT use two standard editions of the Greek NT, which are the Greek New Testament<\/em> published by the United Bible Societies (fourth revised edition, 1993) and Novum Testamentum Graece,<\/em> edited by Nestle and Aland (27th edition, 1993). These two volumes, which have the same text but differ in punctuation and textual notes, represent the latest in modern textual scholarship.<\/p>\nMost contemporary translators and revisers also make it their goal to reflect the changes that have occurred in the English language. One of the most obvious recent changes has been in the area of gender-inclusive language. Today’s English readers have come to expect that translations will not employ unnecessarily male-dominant language. This creates problems for modern translators of the ancient biblical text, which was originally written in a male-oriented culture. Modern translators must respect both the ancient milieu and the modern audience. Often the original language itself allows a rendering that is gender-inclusive. For example, the Greek word anthropos<\/span>,<\/em> traditionally rendered “man,” really means “human being” or “person.” (A different Greek word, aner<\/span>,<\/em> specifically refers to a male.) Likewise, in Hebrew the word ’adam<\/span>,<\/em> traditionally translated “man,” usually means “human being,” while ’ish<\/span> specifically designates an adult male. There are other occasions where the original language is male-oriented primarily because there is no neutral gender to be used. In these cases, the biblical writers defaulted to the masculine gender. For example, in the Pentateuch most of the laws are stated in language that is replete with masculine pronouns. Since it is clear that the recipients of these laws were both males and females, however, many translators generally use gender-neutral language.<\/p>\nThe New King James Version<\/p>\nThe New King James Version (nkjv<\/span>), published in 1982, is a revision of the King James Version, which is itself a literal translation. As such, the New King James Version follows the historic precedent of the Authorized Version in maintaining a literal approach to translation. The revisers have called this method of translation “complete equivalence.” This means that the revisers sought to provide a complete representation of all the information in the original text with respect to the history of usage and etymology of words in their contexts.<\/p>\nThe most distinctive feature of the nkjv<\/span> is its underlying original text. The revisers of the nkjv<\/span> NT have chosen to use the Textus Receptus rather than modern critical editions, including the Majority Text and the Nestle-Aland text. By way of concession, they have footnoted any significant textual variation from the Majority Text and modern critical editions. The Majority Text, which is the text supported by the majority of all known NT manuscripts, hardly differs from the Textus Receptus; thus, there are few significant differences noted. There are well over a thousand differences footnoted regarding the Nestle-Aland\/United Bible Societies’ text. This means that there are at least that many significant differences between the Textus Receptus and these modern critical editions.<\/p>\nThough exhibiting an antiquated text, the language of the nkjv<\/span> is modern. All the Elizabethan English of the original King James Version has been replaced with contemporary American English. Though much of the sentence structure of the nkjv<\/span> is still dated and stilted, contemporary readers who favor the spirit of the King James Version but can’t understand much of its archaic language will appreciate this revision.<\/p>\nThe Revised English Bible<\/p>\nThe Revised English Bible (1989) is a revision of The New English Bible<\/em> (neb<\/span>), which was published in 1971. Because the neb<\/span> gained such popularity in British churches and was being regularly used for public reading, several British churches decided there should be a revision of the neb<\/span> to keep the language current and the text up-to-date with modern biblical scholarship.<\/p>\nFor the OT, the revisers used the Masoretic Text as it appears in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia<\/em> (1967, 1977). They also made use of the Dead Sea Scrolls and a few other important versions, including the Septuagint. The revisers of the NT used Nestle-Aland’s Novum Testamentum Graece<\/em> (27th edition, 1993) as their base text. This choice resulted in several textual changes from The New English Bible<\/em> text, which followed a very eclectic text. The Greek text used by the neb<\/span> was produced by R. V. G. Tasker after<\/em> the English translation had been published. This Greek text was decided upon by the translation committee on a verse-by-verse basis. The resulting Greek text was very uneven and yet very interesting. The translators of the neb<\/span> adopted readings never before put into print by English translators. The scholars working on The Revised English Bible eliminated many of these readings, however, in the interest of providing a more balanced text.<\/p>\nNew Revised Standard Version<\/p>\nThe New Revised Standard Version (nrsv<\/span>), published in 1989, is an excellent example of the current trend to publish revisions rather than new translations. In the preface to this revision, Bruce Metzger, chair of the original revision committee, wrote:<\/p>\nThe New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is an authorized revision of the Revised Standard Version, published in 1952, which was a revision of the American Standard Version, published in 1901, which, in turn, embodied earlier revisions of the King James Version, published in 1611.<\/p>\n<blockquote>The need for issuing a revision of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible arises from three circumstances: (a) the acquisition of still older Biblical manuscripts, (b) further investigation of linguistic features of the text, and (c) changes in preferred English usage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nMetzger’s three reasons for producing the New Revised Standard Version are essentially the same reasons behind all revisions of Bible translations.<\/p>\nOf all the translations, the nrsv<\/span> most closely follows the text of NA26<\/span>\/UBS3<\/span>. No doubt this is due to Bruce Metzger’s involvement in both editorial committees—a leading member of the NA26<\/span>\/UBS3<\/span> committee and the chair for the nrsv<\/span> committee.<\/p>\nPerhaps the most notable feature of the nrsv<\/span> is its attention to gender-inclusive language. While respecting the historicity of the ancient texts, the nrsv<\/span> translators attempted to make this new revision more palpable to readers who prefer gender-inclusive language. They did this by avoiding unnecessarily masculine renderings wherever possible. For example, in the NT epistles, the believers are referred to with a word that is traditionally rendered “brothers” (<\/em>adelphoi<\/span>),<\/em> yet it is clear that these epistles were addressed to all the believers—both male and female. Thus, the nrsv<\/span> translators have used such phrases as “brothers and sisters” or “friends” (always with a footnote saying “Greek, brothers”) in order to represent the historical situation while remaining sensitive to modern readers.<\/p>\nMetzger and the other translators were careful, however, not to overemphasize the gender-inclusiveness principle. Some readers had been hoping for a more radical revision regarding gender-inclusiveness. Many of these readers were hoping that the revision would incorporate this principle with language about God, changing phrases such as “God our father” to “God our parent.” But the nrsv<\/span> revisers, under the leadership of Metzger, decided against this approach, considering it an inaccurate reflection of the original text’s intended meaning.<\/p>\nNew Living Translation<\/p>\nWith over 40 million copies in print, The Living Bible<\/em> has been a very popular version of the Bible for more than 30 years. But various criticisms spurred the translator of The Living Bible,<\/em> Kenneth Taylor, to produce a revision of his paraphrase. Under the sponsorship of Tyndale House Publishers, Taylor’s company, The Living Bible<\/em> underwent a thorough revision. More than 90 evangelical scholars from various theological backgrounds and denominations worked for seven years to produce the New Living Translation (nlt<\/span>). As a result, the nlt<\/span> is a version that is exegetically accurate and idiomatically powerful.<\/p>\nThe scholars carefully revised the text of The Living Bible<\/em> according to the most reliable editions of the Hebrew and Greek texts. For the OT, the revisers used the Masoretic Text as it appears in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia<\/em> (1967, 1977). They also made use of the Dead Sea Scrolls and a few other important versions, including the Septuagint. The revisers of the NT used the text of NA27<\/span>\/UBS4<\/span> as their base text.<\/p>\nThe translation method behind the nlt<\/span> has been described as “dynamic equivalence” or “functional equivalence.” The goal of this kind of translation is to produce in English the closest natural equivalent of the message of the Hebrew and Greek texts—both in meaning and in style. Such a translation should attempt to have the same impact upon modern readers as the original had upon its audience. To translate the Bible in this manner requires that the text be interpreted accurately and then rendered in understandable, current English. In doing this, the translators attempted to enter into the same thought pattern as the author and present the same idea, connotation, and effect in the receptor language. To guard against personal subjectivism and insure accuracy of message, the nlt<\/span> was produced by a large group of scholars who were each well studied in his or her particular area. To ensure that the translation would be extremely readable and understandable, a group of stylists adjusted the wording to make it clear and fluent.<\/p>\nA thought-for-thought translation created by a group of capable scholars has the potential to represent the intended meaning of the original text even more accurately than a word-for-word translation. This is illustrated by the various renderings of the Hebrew word hesed<\/span>.<\/em> This term cannot be adequately translated by any single English word because it can connote love, mercy, grace, kindness, faithfulness, and loyalty. The context—not the lexicon—must determine which English term is selected for translation.<\/p>\nThe value of a thought-for-thought translation can be illustrated by comparing 1 Kings 2:10 in the King James Version, the New International Version, and the New Living Translation. “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David” (kjv<\/span>). “Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David” (niv<\/span>). “Then David died and was buried in the City of David” (nlt<\/span>). Only the New Living Translation clearly translates the intended meaning of the Hebrew idiom “slept with his fathers” into contemporary English (from the introduction to the New Living Translation).<\/p>","summary_ro":"BIBLE*, Versions of the (English) Translations of the Bible in the English language. Preview Versions Discussed Below: • Early Translations: Caedmon’s, Bede’s, Alfred the Great’s • Other Early Versions: Lindisfarne Gospels, Shoreham’s Psalms, Rolle’s Psalms • Wycliffe’s Version • Tyndale’s Translation • Coverdale’s Version • Thomas Matthew’s Version: The Great Bible • The Geneva Bible and the Bishops’ Bible • The King James Version • The English Revised Version and the American Standard Versi...","summary_en":"BIBLE*, Versions of the (English) Translations of the Bible in the English language. Preview Versions Discussed Below: • Early Translations: Caedmon’s, Bede’s, Alfred the Great’s • Other Early Versions: Lindisfarne Gospels, Shoreham’s Psalms, Rolle’s Psalms • Wycliffe’s Version • Tyndale’s Translation • Coverdale’s Version • Thomas Matthew’s Version: The Great Bible • The Geneva Bible and the Bishops’ Bible • The King James Version • The English Revised Version and the American Standard Versi...","source":"Articles\/B.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"22":[{"id":56067,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:22","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:22","content_ro":"17:22<\/strong> you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns<\/em> (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man<\/em>): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man,<\/em> which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.<\/p>","content_en":"17:22<\/strong> you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns<\/em> (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man<\/em>): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man,<\/em> which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:22 you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man, which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.","summary_en":"17:22 you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man, which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83693,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:22","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:22","content_ro":"17:22<\/strong> you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns<\/em> (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man<\/em>): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man,<\/em> which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.<\/p>","content_en":"17:22<\/strong> you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns<\/em> (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man<\/em>): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man,<\/em> which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:22 you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man, which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.","summary_en":"17:22 you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man, which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111319,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:22","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:22","content_ro":"17:22<\/strong> you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns<\/em> (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man<\/em>): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man,<\/em> which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.<\/p>","content_en":"17:22<\/strong> you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns<\/em> (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man<\/em>): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man,<\/em> which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:22 you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man, which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.","summary_en":"17:22 you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man, which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138945,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:22","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:22","content_ro":"17:22<\/strong> you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns<\/em> (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man<\/em>): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man,<\/em> which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.<\/p>","content_en":"17:22<\/strong> you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns<\/em> (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man<\/em>): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man,<\/em> which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:22 you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man, which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.","summary_en":"17:22 you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns (or you will long for even one day with the Son of Man): The Greek says simply, you will long to see the days of the Son of Man, which may refer to his time on earth with his disciples or to the time of his second coming.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"23":[{"id":56068,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:23","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:23","content_ro":"17:23-24<\/strong> People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’:<\/em> False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes:<\/em> Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be evident to everyone.<\/p>","content_en":"17:23-24<\/strong> People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’:<\/em> False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes:<\/em> Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be evident to everyone.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:23-24 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’: False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes: Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be ...","summary_en":"17:23-24 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’: False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes: Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be ...","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83694,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:23","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:23","content_ro":"17:23-24<\/strong> People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’:<\/em> False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes:<\/em> Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be evident to everyone.<\/p>","content_en":"17:23-24<\/strong> People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’:<\/em> False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes:<\/em> Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be evident to everyone.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:23-24 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’: False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes: Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be ...","summary_en":"17:23-24 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’: False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes: Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be ...","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111320,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:23","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:23","content_ro":"17:23-24<\/strong> People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’:<\/em> False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes:<\/em> Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be evident to everyone.<\/p>","content_en":"17:23-24<\/strong> People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’:<\/em> False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes:<\/em> Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be evident to everyone.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:23-24 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’: False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes: Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be ...","summary_en":"17:23-24 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’: False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes: Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be ...","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138946,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:23","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:23","content_ro":"17:23-24<\/strong> People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’:<\/em> False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes:<\/em> Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be evident to everyone.<\/p>","content_en":"17:23-24<\/strong> People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’:<\/em> False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes:<\/em> Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be evident to everyone.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:23-24 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’: False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes: Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be ...","summary_en":"17:23-24 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man’: False Messiahs have arisen throughout history, but expectations for the Messiah were particularly high in the first century, as a variety of figures claimed to be God’s agents of deliverance (see Acts 5:36-37; 21:38). Jesus warned his disciples not to follow these imposters. • For as the lightning flashes: Lightning lights up the whole sky and is visible to everyone in the area. Similarly, when Jesus suddenly returns, it will be ...","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"24":[{"id":31631,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Prophecy","title_en":"Prophecy","content_ro":"<h3>PROPHECY<\/h3>\nTerm, along with its English cognates (“prophet,” “to prophesy,” “prophetism,” and “prophetic”), derived from a group of Greek words that, in secular Greek, mean “speak forth,” “proclaim,” “announce.” In biblical Greek, however, these terms always carry the connotation of speaking, proclaiming, or announcing something under the influence of spiritual inspiration.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Prophecy in the Old Testament<\/p>\n• Types of Old Testament Prophets<\/p>\n• The Message of the Prophets<\/p>\n• Prophecy in the New Testament<\/p>\n• The Role of the Christian Prophet<\/p>\nProphecy in the Old Testament<\/p>\nOne of the clearest and most significant statements on the nature of prophetic inspiration in the OT is found in Numbers 12:6-8: “The Lord<\/span> said to them, ‘Now listen to me! Even with prophets, I the Lord<\/span> communicate by visions and dreams. But that is not how I communicate with my servant Moses. He is entrusted with my entire house. I speak to him face to face, directly and not in riddles! He sees the Lord<\/span> as he is’ ” (nlt<\/span>). Several important insights into the nature of prophetic inspiration are found in this passage: (1) The prophetic gift of Moses was unique in that he alone received revelations directly from God. (2) Ordinarily, prophetic revelation was received through the medium of a dream or a vision. (3) The meaning of prophetic revelation is not always completely clear; prophecy is sometimes ambiguous.<\/p>\nFurther insight into the nature of prophetic revelation is found in Deuteronomy 18:18: “I [God] will raise up for them a prophet like you [Moses] from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (rsv<\/span>). While this passage is of interest because Jesus was identified as “the prophet like Moses” who came in fulfillment of this prediction (Acts 3:22; 7:37), the more immediate historical reference is to the succession of prophets that guided Israel from Joshua to Malachi. The phrase “I will put my words in his mouth” refers to the process of divine inspiration and is reminiscent of the common OT prophetic formula “the word of the Lord came to [such and such a prophet]” (for examples, see 1 Sm 15:10; 2 Sm 24:11; 1 Kgs 19:9; Jon 1:1; Hg 1:1; 2:1, 20; Zec 7:1, 8; 8:1). A true prophet is one who speaks (or repeats) all that God has told him.<\/p>\n<h5>Modes of Prophetic Inspiration<\/h5>\nDreams were a commonly recognized mode of inspiration throughout the ancient world, though they were more highly regarded in Greece than in ancient Israel. Revelatory dreams in the Bible fall into two major categories: (1) dreams whose meaning is self-evident, and (2) symbolic dreams that usually require the expertise of an interpreter of dreams. Both types normally involve both visual and auditory elements. In those dreams whose meaning is self-evident, normally a supernatural being (God or an angel) appears to the dreamer and speaks to him or her in a straightforward manner.<\/p>\nMore frequently, revelatory dreams have symbolic elements that require interpretation. The two great dream interpreters of the OT are Joseph and Daniel; the latter is clearly a prophet. The two symbolic dreams that Joseph himself dreamed (Gn 37:5-11) had sufficiently self-evident meaning so that his brothers and father were able to interpret them immediately. More complex were the dreams of the butler and baker (40:1-19) and of Pharaoh (41:1-36), which Joseph was able to interpret with the help of God. Similarly, Daniel was enabled to interpret the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar (Dn 2:25-45; 4:4-27). The skill in interpreting such dreams was attributed by both Joseph and Daniel to God (Gn 40:8; 41:16, 25; Dn 2:27-30; cf. 4:9). While dreams are used almost interchangeably with visions in referring to modes of prophetic inspiration (Jl 2:28), dreams do not occupy a significant part in the prophetic revelations of any of the OT prophets, with the exception of Daniel.<\/p>\nOne of the most characteristic modes of prophetic inspiration was the vision (Nm 12:6; 24:4, 16; Hos 12:10). The revelatory visions experienced by the prophets were not limited to visual phenomena alone but also included the auditory dimension as well. In Isaiah 1:1, the author describes his entire prophetic book as a “vision”: “These visions concerning Judah and Jerusalem came to Isaiah son of Amoz during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah—all kings of Judah” (nlt<\/span>). Yet in the very next verse, Isaiah says, “Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! This is what the Lord<\/span> says.” Again, in Amos 1:1, “The words<\/em> of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw<\/em> concerning Israel” (rsv<\/span>, emphasis added).<\/p>\n<h5>Manifestations of Prophetic Inspiration<\/h5>\nAll prophecy, whether biblical or not, presupposes that the prophet either possessed or was possessed by a personal supernatural power. The external behavioral manifestations of this possession can exhibit great variety.<\/p>\nThe prophetic phenomenon generally designated “ecstatic” prophecy appears to have existed in Canaan prior to the arrival of the Hebrew tribes in the 13th century BC<\/span>. The first reference to ecstatic prophecy in Israel occurs in 1 Samuel 10:5-13 (11th century BC<\/span>), and it persisted at least till the sixth century BC<\/span> (Jer 29:26).<\/p>\nThe ecstatic prophet achieves a trancelike state by self-induced means. The most common devices used to achieve a state of ecstasy were musical instruments, such as the harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre (1 Sm 10:5). Among the prophets of Baal, self-flagellation was another means of inducing ecstasy (1 Kgs 18:28-29).<\/p>\nThis kind of prophetic ecstasy was usually practiced by groups of prophets (1 Sm 10:5), and such ecstasy was contagious. When Saul met a band of such prophets, the Spirit of God came upon him and he, too, began to prophesy (vv 10-13), a phenomenon that occurred repeatedly to various messengers sent by Saul on a later occasion (19:20-22). At that time Saul again prophesied, and his ecstatic behavior is described in 1 Samuel 19:24. When Elisha was asked to prophesy for King Jehoram of Israel, he first requested a minstrel. When the minstrel played, the power of the Lord came upon him (2 Kgs 3:15).<\/p>\nTypes of Old Testament Prophets<\/p>\nThere are two basic types of prophetic commission in the OT. One type is that of a narrative call by God to a particular individual whose objections to the call are gradually overcome in a dialogue between himself and God. The classic example of this type of prophetic commission is found in Jeremiah 1:4-8:<\/p>\nThe Lord<\/span> gave me a message. He said, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.”<\/p>\n<blockquote>“O Sovereign Lord<\/span>,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>“Don’t say that,” the Lord<\/span> replied, “for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and take care of you. I, the Lord<\/span>, have spoken!” (nlt<\/span>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nSimilar prophetic commissions including such dialogues are associated with the calls of Moses (Ex 3:1–4:17) and Gideon (Jgs 6:11-17).<\/p>\nThe second major form of prophetic commission is the “throne vision.” An outstanding example is Isaiah 6:1-8:<\/p>\nIn the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. . . .<\/p>\n<blockquote>Then I said, “My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord<\/span> Almighty!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>Then one of the seraphim flew over to the altar, and he picked up a burning coal with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go for us?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>And I said, “Lord, I’ll go! Send me.” (nlt<\/span>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHere we have an account of the visionary presence of a prophet in the heavenly council; in this case, however, the prophet participates in the deliberations and thereby receives a prophetic commission. Though few prophets have left accounts of their divine commissions, most of them appear to have been conscious of having been “sent” by God (Is 48:16; Hos 8:1; Am 7:14-15). According to Jeremiah, false prophets did not receive such divine commissions (Jer 23:21, 32; 28:15).<\/p>\nThe Message of the Prophets<\/p>\n<h5>The Form of the Message<\/h5>\nThe most common introductory formula for prophetic oracles in the OT is the phrase “Thus says the Lord,” which occurs hundreds of times in prophetic contexts. This formula clearly implies that the pronouncement so introduced is not the word of the prophet who utters the oracle but of the God of Israel who delivered his word to his prophet. The use of this formula also reiterates the prophet’s sense of divine commission. In oracles introduced in this manner, God speaks in the first person. In fact, virtually all Israelite prophetic utterance is formulated as the direct speech of the God of Israel.<\/p>\nThe prophets used many literary forms in which to express their oracles. Two of the more widely used forms of prophetic speech are the judgment speech and the oracle of salvation. The judgment speech is composed of at least two central elements: the speech of rebuke or invective, and the pronouncement of judgment (see 2 Kgs 1:3-4). The second common prophetic speech form is the oracle of salvation (see Is 41:8-13). Other fixed forms of prophetic speech include the prophecy of salvation (43:14-21), the proclamation of salvation (41:17-20; 42:14-17; 43:16-21; 49:7-12), and the woe oracle (Is 5:8-10; 10:1-4; Am 5:18-24; 6:1-7; Mi 2:1-5).<\/p>\n<h5>The Content of the Message<\/h5>\nThe common adage that OT prophets were not “foretellers” but “forthtellers” is not strictly correct. All of the prophets predict the future. Such prediction, however, is based not on human curiosity of what the future will hold but rather is rooted in the future consequences of past or present violations of the covenant, or on a future act of deliverance that will provide hope for a discouraged people. Most of the prophetic speeches that have been preserved in the OT were originally delivered as public proclamations or sermons. Most of these prophetic proclamations were evoked by the iniquity and apostasy of Israel. Hosea and Jeremiah condemned Israel because she had broken the covenant (Jer 11:2-3; Hos 8:1).<\/p>\nThe prophets are frequently associated with social justice and social reform, and these elements were unquestionably an important dimension of their message. Amos denounced the rich who afflicted the poor (Am 2:6-8; 4:1; 5:11; 8:4-6). He railed against sexual immorality (2:6-8) and against those who take bribes (5:12). Hosea provided a list of prevalent vices, including lying, killing, stealing, adultery, and idolatry (Hos 4:2). Idolatry was a particular target for his denunciations (8:5; 11:2). The background for such heated denunciations of Israel’s behavior is God’s unquenchable love for Israel (Is 43:4; Jer 31:3; Hos 3:1; 11:1-4; 14:4; Mal 1:2), which is inseparable from his election of Israel (Is 43:1; Jer 33:24; Ez 20:5; Hos 3).<\/p>\nThe prophets were concerned not only with the transgressions of Israel and the historical judgment that would inevitably follow but also with the achievement of a final future time of bliss. The message of many of the prophets is thoroughly eschatological (i.e., pertaining to the end times). One such eschatological concept is that of the Day of the Lord. The concept of the Day of the Lord first appears in Amos, where the emphasis lies on the disaster that will befall Israel on that day. Amos’s emphasis on disaster notwithstanding, the Day of the Lord is a conception that had both salvific as well as judgmental overtones for Israel. While the disaster that will occur in the Day of the Lord can be viewed in terms of a literal historical fulfillment in the tragic events of 722 BC<\/span> (the fall of Samaria) and 586 BC<\/span> (the fall of Judah), there are nevertheless features of these predictions that transcend historical fulfillment and reach toward eschatological fulfillment.<\/p>\nSince the Israelite conception of “salvation” was largely temporal in its dimensions, it included such blessings as length of life, fruitfulness of the womb and field, peace and victory over one’s enemies, the abundance of water, and so on. In harmony with this conception of salvation, the future age is conceived in precisely those terms, as in Amos 9:13-15.<\/p>\nThe prophets pictured a time when David himself, or someone very much like him, would return and inaugurate a golden era reminiscent of the great Davidic and Solomonic period. The covenant of God with David was not a conditional covenant but rather one that was absolutely inviolable (2 Sm 7:4-17; Ps 89; Jer 33:19-22), and it was with this knowledge that the prophets could look forward confidently to a restoration of David’s throne (Jer 17:24-26; 23:5-6; 33:14-15).<\/p>\n\nProphecy in the New Testament<\/p>\nIn contrast to the few self-proclaimed prophets of the intertestamental period, early Christianity began with a flurry of prophetic activity that lasted well into the second century AD<\/span>. Jesus, his disciples and followers, and the early Christians were convinced that the times in which they lived were times in which OT prophecy was being fulfilled (Mk 1:14-15; Acts 2:16-21; Rom 16:25-27; 1 Cor 10:11). Yet this era was not only one of fulfillment but also one of the renewal of the prophetic gift.<\/p>\n<h5>John the Baptist<\/h5>\nJohn the Baptist is remembered in the NT primarily as the forerunner of Jesus whose coming was predicted by Malachi (Mal 4:5-6). Yet, in his own right, John proclaimed the imminent judgment of God with a flair of denunciation and rebuke reminiscent of the OT prophets. John’s costume, consisting of a hairy cloak and a leather girdle (Mk 1:6), was reminiscent of the typical garb of OT prophets (1 Kgs 19:19; 2 Kgs 1:8; 2:13-14; Zec 13:4). John was regarded as a prophet by people everywhere (Mt 14:5; 17:10-13; Mk 9:11-13; 11:32; Lk 1:76; 7:26). Luke reports, in a style similar to the OT prophetic narratives, that “the word of God came to John” (Lk 3:2). Two short prophetic speeches have been preserved in Matthew 3:7-10 (cf. Lk 3:7-9) and Mark 1:7-8 (cf. Mt 3:11-12; Lk 3:15-18). In the first speech, John denounced those of his generation who had transgressed the covenant law and exhorted them to change their manner of life. In the second speech, John predicted the coming of the Mighty One, Jesus (Mt 3:11; Mk 1:7; Lk 3:16; Jn 1:15, 27, 30; Acts 13:25). John’s style, however, was not precisely that of the OT prophets. His pronouncements were made on his own authority; never did he use formulas such as “thus says the Lord,” or present his prophetic utterances as if they were speeches made by God. Yet, in spite of these differences, John is appropriately regarded as the last representative of the OT prophetic tradition (Mt 11:13; Lk 16:16).<\/p>\n<h5>Jesus of Nazareth<\/h5>\nJesus was popularly regarded as a prophet (Mt 16:14; 21:10-11; Mk 6:14-15; 8:28; Lk 7:16, 39; 9:8, 19; Jn 6:14; 7:40, 52). This assessment was based as much on the mighty deeds Jesus performed as on his prophetic speeches and predictions. Though Jesus nowhere claimed prophetic status directly, that claim is implicit in Mark 6:4: “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown” (cf. Mt 13:57; Lk 4:24). It is implicit as well in Luke 13:33: “Yes, today, tomorrow, and the next day I must proceed on my way. For it wouldn’t do for a prophet of God to be killed except in Jerusalem!” (nlt<\/span>). In Acts, Jesus is regarded as “the prophet like Moses” predicted in Deuteronomy 18:18 (Acts 3:22; 7:37). Matthew presents Jesus as the New Moses, but he does not particularly emphasize his prophetic role. John, however, like Luke, emphasizes Jesus’ role as the prophet (Jn 4:19; 6:14-15; 7:40).<\/p>\nWhile the Gospels and Acts reflect the notion that Jesus was a prophet, they also emphasize the fact that he was much more than a prophet. Nevertheless, the notion of prophetism was sufficiently important in early Judaism that Jesus’ recognition as a prophet is very significant. There are 12 solid reasons for regarding Jesus as a prophet in the OT tradition: (1) The sovereign authority of Jesus’ teaching (Mk 1:27), a feature underlined by his use of the introductory formula “(Amen) I say to you,” which is reminiscent of the formula “thus says the Lord” used by the OT prophets. (2) The poetic character of many of Jesus’ sayings is unlike contemporary rabbinic teaching but is similar to the poetic rhetoric of the OT prophets. (3) Jesus experienced visions (Lk 10:18) like the ancient prophets. (4) Jesus, like the prophets, made many predictions (Mt 23:38; Mk 13:2; 14:58; Lk 13:35; etc.). (5) Like the OT prophets, Jesus performed symbolic acts (such as the cleansing of the temple, the entry into Jerusalem, and the Last Supper). (6) Jesus, like the prophets, when necessary, rejected the formal observance of religious ritual and emphasized the moral and spiritual dimensions of obedience to God. (7) Jesus announced the imminent arrival of the kingdom of God—an eschatological proclamation similar to those made by the prophets. (8) Like the OT prophets, Jesus functioned as a preacher of repentance. (9) Jesus, like many of the prophets, was conscious of a special calling of God (Mt 15:24; Mk 8:31; 9:37; 14:36; Lk 4:18-26). (10) Jesus, like the prophets, received divine revelation through intimate communion with God (Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22). (11) Like the prophets, Jesus represented God; to obey him was to obey God, to reject him was to reject God (Mk 9:37; cf. Ez 33:30-33). (12) Like the prophets, Jesus was conscious of a mission to all Israel (Mt 15:24; 19:28; Lk 22:30).<\/p>\nAmong the many prophetic predictions of Jesus are the following:<\/p>\n1. Predictions of the imminent arrival of the kingdom of God (Mt 10:7-8, 23; 23:39; Mk 1:15; 9:1; 13:28-29)<\/p>\n<li>2. Predictions of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (Mt 23:37-39; 24:2; 26:61; 27:40; Mk 13:2; 14:58; 15:29; Lk 13:34-35; 21:6; Jn 2:19-21)<\/li>\n<li>3. Predictions of the coming of the Son of Man (Mt 10:23, 32-33; 12:40; 13:40-41; 16:27; 24:27, 37-39; Mk 8:38; 13:26-27; 14:62; Lk 9:26; 11:30; 12:8-9; 17:24, 26)<\/li>\n<li>4. Predictions of the end of the age. The longest prophetic section in the Gospels is the eschatological discourse of Jesus in Mark 13:1-32 (cf. Mt 24:1-36; Lk 21:5-33), in which a number of predictions concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the age are woven into a lengthy discourse to the disciples.<\/li>\n<h5>Prophecy as a Gift for the Believers<\/h5>\nThe beginning of prophetic activity in early Christianity, according to Acts, coincided with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the earliest Christians on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21). Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost indicates that the outpouring of the Spirit fulfilled Joel’s prophecy (Acts 2:4, 17-21; cf. Jl 2:28-32). Further, since the Spirit had been poured out upon all early Christians (that Spirit being a Spirit of prophecy), all are actual or potential prophets.<\/p>\nAccording to 1 Corinthians 12:28 (see also Rom 12:6; Eph 4:11), God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, and third teachers. The names of several early Christian prophets have been preserved. These include Agabus (Acts 11:27-28; 21:10-11); Judas and Silas (15:32); Barnabas, Simeon Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, and Paul (13:1); and the four virgin daughters of Philip the evangelist (21:8-9). John, the author of Revelation, was certainly a prophet (Rv 1:3; 22:9, 18), though he never directly assumed that title.<\/p>\nThe Role of the Christian Prophet<\/p>\nChristian prophets were leaders in early Christian communities (1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11), who exercised their gift in church gatherings (Acts 13:1-3; 11:27-28; 1 Cor 12–14; Rv 1:10). Since the Spirit of God was particularly active in Christian worship, prophecy was a major means whereby God communicated with his people. Prophets, like apostles and teachers, did not hold offices in local communities like bishops, elders, and deacons. Rather, they were chosen, not by individual congregations, but by divine commission and so were honored and accepted in all local communities.<\/p>\nEarly Christian prophets were both itinerant and settled, though itinerant prophets seem to have been more prevalent in Syria-Palestine and Asia Minor than in the European churches.<\/p>\n<h5>The Function of Prophecy<\/h5>\nAccording to Paul, the central purpose of prophecy (as of all other spiritual gifts) is that of building up or edifying the church. According to 1 Corinthians 14:3, “one who prophesies is helping others grow in the Lord, encouraging and comforting them” (nlt<\/span>). Again, in 1 Corinthians 14:4, Paul states that the “one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.” Paul discussed the subject of spiritual gifts, particularly tongues speaking and prophecy, because the Corinthians had placed an excessive emphasis on speaking in tongues. Paul did not object to speaking in tongues (1 Cor 14:18, 39), but he did point out that, since it was generally incomprehensible, the church could not be edified by it. Prophecy, which consisted of comprehensible speech inspired by the Spirit, contributed to the mutual edification, encouragement, and consolation of all present (1 Cor 14:20-25, 39).<\/p>\n<h5>The Content of Christian Prophecy<\/h5>\nWe know only a little about the content of prophecies uttered in the first-century church. Prophetic utterance occasionally provided divine guidance in making important decisions in early Christianity. Through a prophetic utterance, Paul and Barnabas were selected for a particular mission (Acts 13:1-3; cf. 1 Tm 1:18; 4:14). Probably through prophetic utterance, Paul and Timothy were forbidden to preach the gospel in Asia (Acts 16:6), and they were similarly forbidden by the Spirit of Jesus to go into Bithynia (v 7). Perhaps the most frequent use of prophecy is the prediction of the future. Agabus predicted a universal famine (11:28) and the imminent arrest of Paul (21:11). Other prophets had also predicted his impending imprisonment (20:23). The prophecies contained in the Revelation of John are all oriented toward the future events that will gradually unfold in the last days. Yet the purpose of John’s elaborate prophecy is not to satisfy the curiosity of his audience but rather to comfort and encourage them in the midst of persecution.<\/p>\n<h5>The Form of Christian Prophecy<\/h5>\nUnlike the prophets of the OT, Christian prophets did not always present their message in the form of a direct speech from God or Jesus. There are few, if any, formal indicators of the presence of prophetic speech in early Christian literature. The book of Revelation is one notable exception.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Dreams; Oracle; Promise; Prophet, Prophetess; Prophets, False; Visions.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>PROPHECY<\/h3>\nTerm, along with its English cognates (“prophet,” “to prophesy,” “prophetism,” and “prophetic”), derived from a group of Greek words that, in secular Greek, mean “speak forth,” “proclaim,” “announce.” In biblical Greek, however, these terms always carry the connotation of speaking, proclaiming, or announcing something under the influence of spiritual inspiration.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Prophecy in the Old Testament<\/p>\n• Types of Old Testament Prophets<\/p>\n• The Message of the Prophets<\/p>\n• Prophecy in the New Testament<\/p>\n• The Role of the Christian Prophet<\/p>\nProphecy in the Old Testament<\/p>\nOne of the clearest and most significant statements on the nature of prophetic inspiration in the OT is found in Numbers 12:6-8: “The Lord<\/span> said to them, ‘Now listen to me! Even with prophets, I the Lord<\/span> communicate by visions and dreams. But that is not how I communicate with my servant Moses. He is entrusted with my entire house. I speak to him face to face, directly and not in riddles! He sees the Lord<\/span> as he is’ ” (nlt<\/span>). Several important insights into the nature of prophetic inspiration are found in this passage: (1) The prophetic gift of Moses was unique in that he alone received revelations directly from God. (2) Ordinarily, prophetic revelation was received through the medium of a dream or a vision. (3) The meaning of prophetic revelation is not always completely clear; prophecy is sometimes ambiguous.<\/p>\nFurther insight into the nature of prophetic revelation is found in Deuteronomy 18:18: “I [God] will raise up for them a prophet like you [Moses] from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (rsv<\/span>). While this passage is of interest because Jesus was identified as “the prophet like Moses” who came in fulfillment of this prediction (Acts 3:22; 7:37), the more immediate historical reference is to the succession of prophets that guided Israel from Joshua to Malachi. The phrase “I will put my words in his mouth” refers to the process of divine inspiration and is reminiscent of the common OT prophetic formula “the word of the Lord came to [such and such a prophet]” (for examples, see 1 Sm 15:10; 2 Sm 24:11; 1 Kgs 19:9; Jon 1:1; Hg 1:1; 2:1, 20; Zec 7:1, 8; 8:1). A true prophet is one who speaks (or repeats) all that God has told him.<\/p>\n<h5>Modes of Prophetic Inspiration<\/h5>\nDreams were a commonly recognized mode of inspiration throughout the ancient world, though they were more highly regarded in Greece than in ancient Israel. Revelatory dreams in the Bible fall into two major categories: (1) dreams whose meaning is self-evident, and (2) symbolic dreams that usually require the expertise of an interpreter of dreams. Both types normally involve both visual and auditory elements. In those dreams whose meaning is self-evident, normally a supernatural being (God or an angel) appears to the dreamer and speaks to him or her in a straightforward manner.<\/p>\nMore frequently, revelatory dreams have symbolic elements that require interpretation. The two great dream interpreters of the OT are Joseph and Daniel; the latter is clearly a prophet. The two symbolic dreams that Joseph himself dreamed (Gn 37:5-11) had sufficiently self-evident meaning so that his brothers and father were able to interpret them immediately. More complex were the dreams of the butler and baker (40:1-19) and of Pharaoh (41:1-36), which Joseph was able to interpret with the help of God. Similarly, Daniel was enabled to interpret the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar (Dn 2:25-45; 4:4-27). The skill in interpreting such dreams was attributed by both Joseph and Daniel to God (Gn 40:8; 41:16, 25; Dn 2:27-30; cf. 4:9). While dreams are used almost interchangeably with visions in referring to modes of prophetic inspiration (Jl 2:28), dreams do not occupy a significant part in the prophetic revelations of any of the OT prophets, with the exception of Daniel.<\/p>\nOne of the most characteristic modes of prophetic inspiration was the vision (Nm 12:6; 24:4, 16; Hos 12:10). The revelatory visions experienced by the prophets were not limited to visual phenomena alone but also included the auditory dimension as well. In Isaiah 1:1, the author describes his entire prophetic book as a “vision”: “These visions concerning Judah and Jerusalem came to Isaiah son of Amoz during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah—all kings of Judah” (nlt<\/span>). Yet in the very next verse, Isaiah says, “Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! This is what the Lord<\/span> says.” Again, in Amos 1:1, “The words<\/em> of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw<\/em> concerning Israel” (rsv<\/span>, emphasis added).<\/p>\n<h5>Manifestations of Prophetic Inspiration<\/h5>\nAll prophecy, whether biblical or not, presupposes that the prophet either possessed or was possessed by a personal supernatural power. The external behavioral manifestations of this possession can exhibit great variety.<\/p>\nThe prophetic phenomenon generally designated “ecstatic” prophecy appears to have existed in Canaan prior to the arrival of the Hebrew tribes in the 13th century BC<\/span>. The first reference to ecstatic prophecy in Israel occurs in 1 Samuel 10:5-13 (11th century BC<\/span>), and it persisted at least till the sixth century BC<\/span> (Jer 29:26).<\/p>\nThe ecstatic prophet achieves a trancelike state by self-induced means. The most common devices used to achieve a state of ecstasy were musical instruments, such as the harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre (1 Sm 10:5). Among the prophets of Baal, self-flagellation was another means of inducing ecstasy (1 Kgs 18:28-29).<\/p>\nThis kind of prophetic ecstasy was usually practiced by groups of prophets (1 Sm 10:5), and such ecstasy was contagious. When Saul met a band of such prophets, the Spirit of God came upon him and he, too, began to prophesy (vv 10-13), a phenomenon that occurred repeatedly to various messengers sent by Saul on a later occasion (19:20-22). At that time Saul again prophesied, and his ecstatic behavior is described in 1 Samuel 19:24. When Elisha was asked to prophesy for King Jehoram of Israel, he first requested a minstrel. When the minstrel played, the power of the Lord came upon him (2 Kgs 3:15).<\/p>\nTypes of Old Testament Prophets<\/p>\nThere are two basic types of prophetic commission in the OT. One type is that of a narrative call by God to a particular individual whose objections to the call are gradually overcome in a dialogue between himself and God. The classic example of this type of prophetic commission is found in Jeremiah 1:4-8:<\/p>\nThe Lord<\/span> gave me a message. He said, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.”<\/p>\n<blockquote>“O Sovereign Lord<\/span>,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>“Don’t say that,” the Lord<\/span> replied, “for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and take care of you. I, the Lord<\/span>, have spoken!” (nlt<\/span>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nSimilar prophetic commissions including such dialogues are associated with the calls of Moses (Ex 3:1–4:17) and Gideon (Jgs 6:11-17).<\/p>\nThe second major form of prophetic commission is the “throne vision.” An outstanding example is Isaiah 6:1-8:<\/p>\nIn the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. . . .<\/p>\n<blockquote>Then I said, “My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord<\/span> Almighty!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>Then one of the seraphim flew over to the altar, and he picked up a burning coal with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go for us?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>And I said, “Lord, I’ll go! Send me.” (nlt<\/span>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHere we have an account of the visionary presence of a prophet in the heavenly council; in this case, however, the prophet participates in the deliberations and thereby receives a prophetic commission. Though few prophets have left accounts of their divine commissions, most of them appear to have been conscious of having been “sent” by God (Is 48:16; Hos 8:1; Am 7:14-15). According to Jeremiah, false prophets did not receive such divine commissions (Jer 23:21, 32; 28:15).<\/p>\nThe Message of the Prophets<\/p>\n<h5>The Form of the Message<\/h5>\nThe most common introductory formula for prophetic oracles in the OT is the phrase “Thus says the Lord,” which occurs hundreds of times in prophetic contexts. This formula clearly implies that the pronouncement so introduced is not the word of the prophet who utters the oracle but of the God of Israel who delivered his word to his prophet. The use of this formula also reiterates the prophet’s sense of divine commission. In oracles introduced in this manner, God speaks in the first person. In fact, virtually all Israelite prophetic utterance is formulated as the direct speech of the God of Israel.<\/p>\nThe prophets used many literary forms in which to express their oracles. Two of the more widely used forms of prophetic speech are the judgment speech and the oracle of salvation. The judgment speech is composed of at least two central elements: the speech of rebuke or invective, and the pronouncement of judgment (see 2 Kgs 1:3-4). The second common prophetic speech form is the oracle of salvation (see Is 41:8-13). Other fixed forms of prophetic speech include the prophecy of salvation (43:14-21), the proclamation of salvation (41:17-20; 42:14-17; 43:16-21; 49:7-12), and the woe oracle (Is 5:8-10; 10:1-4; Am 5:18-24; 6:1-7; Mi 2:1-5).<\/p>\n<h5>The Content of the Message<\/h5>\nThe common adage that OT prophets were not “foretellers” but “forthtellers” is not strictly correct. All of the prophets predict the future. Such prediction, however, is based not on human curiosity of what the future will hold but rather is rooted in the future consequences of past or present violations of the covenant, or on a future act of deliverance that will provide hope for a discouraged people. Most of the prophetic speeches that have been preserved in the OT were originally delivered as public proclamations or sermons. Most of these prophetic proclamations were evoked by the iniquity and apostasy of Israel. Hosea and Jeremiah condemned Israel because she had broken the covenant (Jer 11:2-3; Hos 8:1).<\/p>\nThe prophets are frequently associated with social justice and social reform, and these elements were unquestionably an important dimension of their message. Amos denounced the rich who afflicted the poor (Am 2:6-8; 4:1; 5:11; 8:4-6). He railed against sexual immorality (2:6-8) and against those who take bribes (5:12). Hosea provided a list of prevalent vices, including lying, killing, stealing, adultery, and idolatry (Hos 4:2). Idolatry was a particular target for his denunciations (8:5; 11:2). The background for such heated denunciations of Israel’s behavior is God’s unquenchable love for Israel (Is 43:4; Jer 31:3; Hos 3:1; 11:1-4; 14:4; Mal 1:2), which is inseparable from his election of Israel (Is 43:1; Jer 33:24; Ez 20:5; Hos 3).<\/p>\nThe prophets were concerned not only with the transgressions of Israel and the historical judgment that would inevitably follow but also with the achievement of a final future time of bliss. The message of many of the prophets is thoroughly eschatological (i.e., pertaining to the end times). One such eschatological concept is that of the Day of the Lord. The concept of the Day of the Lord first appears in Amos, where the emphasis lies on the disaster that will befall Israel on that day. Amos’s emphasis on disaster notwithstanding, the Day of the Lord is a conception that had both salvific as well as judgmental overtones for Israel. While the disaster that will occur in the Day of the Lord can be viewed in terms of a literal historical fulfillment in the tragic events of 722 BC<\/span> (the fall of Samaria) and 586 BC<\/span> (the fall of Judah), there are nevertheless features of these predictions that transcend historical fulfillment and reach toward eschatological fulfillment.<\/p>\nSince the Israelite conception of “salvation” was largely temporal in its dimensions, it included such blessings as length of life, fruitfulness of the womb and field, peace and victory over one’s enemies, the abundance of water, and so on. In harmony with this conception of salvation, the future age is conceived in precisely those terms, as in Amos 9:13-15.<\/p>\nThe prophets pictured a time when David himself, or someone very much like him, would return and inaugurate a golden era reminiscent of the great Davidic and Solomonic period. The covenant of God with David was not a conditional covenant but rather one that was absolutely inviolable (2 Sm 7:4-17; Ps 89; Jer 33:19-22), and it was with this knowledge that the prophets could look forward confidently to a restoration of David’s throne (Jer 17:24-26; 23:5-6; 33:14-15).<\/p>\n\nProphecy in the New Testament<\/p>\nIn contrast to the few self-proclaimed prophets of the intertestamental period, early Christianity began with a flurry of prophetic activity that lasted well into the second century AD<\/span>. Jesus, his disciples and followers, and the early Christians were convinced that the times in which they lived were times in which OT prophecy was being fulfilled (Mk 1:14-15; Acts 2:16-21; Rom 16:25-27; 1 Cor 10:11). Yet this era was not only one of fulfillment but also one of the renewal of the prophetic gift.<\/p>\n<h5>John the Baptist<\/h5>\nJohn the Baptist is remembered in the NT primarily as the forerunner of Jesus whose coming was predicted by Malachi (Mal 4:5-6). Yet, in his own right, John proclaimed the imminent judgment of God with a flair of denunciation and rebuke reminiscent of the OT prophets. John’s costume, consisting of a hairy cloak and a leather girdle (Mk 1:6), was reminiscent of the typical garb of OT prophets (1 Kgs 19:19; 2 Kgs 1:8; 2:13-14; Zec 13:4). John was regarded as a prophet by people everywhere (Mt 14:5; 17:10-13; Mk 9:11-13; 11:32; Lk 1:76; 7:26). Luke reports, in a style similar to the OT prophetic narratives, that “the word of God came to John” (Lk 3:2). Two short prophetic speeches have been preserved in Matthew 3:7-10 (cf. Lk 3:7-9) and Mark 1:7-8 (cf. Mt 3:11-12; Lk 3:15-18). In the first speech, John denounced those of his generation who had transgressed the covenant law and exhorted them to change their manner of life. In the second speech, John predicted the coming of the Mighty One, Jesus (Mt 3:11; Mk 1:7; Lk 3:16; Jn 1:15, 27, 30; Acts 13:25). John’s style, however, was not precisely that of the OT prophets. His pronouncements were made on his own authority; never did he use formulas such as “thus says the Lord,” or present his prophetic utterances as if they were speeches made by God. Yet, in spite of these differences, John is appropriately regarded as the last representative of the OT prophetic tradition (Mt 11:13; Lk 16:16).<\/p>\n<h5>Jesus of Nazareth<\/h5>\nJesus was popularly regarded as a prophet (Mt 16:14; 21:10-11; Mk 6:14-15; 8:28; Lk 7:16, 39; 9:8, 19; Jn 6:14; 7:40, 52). This assessment was based as much on the mighty deeds Jesus performed as on his prophetic speeches and predictions. Though Jesus nowhere claimed prophetic status directly, that claim is implicit in Mark 6:4: “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown” (cf. Mt 13:57; Lk 4:24). It is implicit as well in Luke 13:33: “Yes, today, tomorrow, and the next day I must proceed on my way. For it wouldn’t do for a prophet of God to be killed except in Jerusalem!” (nlt<\/span>). In Acts, Jesus is regarded as “the prophet like Moses” predicted in Deuteronomy 18:18 (Acts 3:22; 7:37). Matthew presents Jesus as the New Moses, but he does not particularly emphasize his prophetic role. John, however, like Luke, emphasizes Jesus’ role as the prophet (Jn 4:19; 6:14-15; 7:40).<\/p>\nWhile the Gospels and Acts reflect the notion that Jesus was a prophet, they also emphasize the fact that he was much more than a prophet. Nevertheless, the notion of prophetism was sufficiently important in early Judaism that Jesus’ recognition as a prophet is very significant. There are 12 solid reasons for regarding Jesus as a prophet in the OT tradition: (1) The sovereign authority of Jesus’ teaching (Mk 1:27), a feature underlined by his use of the introductory formula “(Amen) I say to you,” which is reminiscent of the formula “thus says the Lord” used by the OT prophets. (2) The poetic character of many of Jesus’ sayings is unlike contemporary rabbinic teaching but is similar to the poetic rhetoric of the OT prophets. (3) Jesus experienced visions (Lk 10:18) like the ancient prophets. (4) Jesus, like the prophets, made many predictions (Mt 23:38; Mk 13:2; 14:58; Lk 13:35; etc.). (5) Like the OT prophets, Jesus performed symbolic acts (such as the cleansing of the temple, the entry into Jerusalem, and the Last Supper). (6) Jesus, like the prophets, when necessary, rejected the formal observance of religious ritual and emphasized the moral and spiritual dimensions of obedience to God. (7) Jesus announced the imminent arrival of the kingdom of God—an eschatological proclamation similar to those made by the prophets. (8) Like the OT prophets, Jesus functioned as a preacher of repentance. (9) Jesus, like many of the prophets, was conscious of a special calling of God (Mt 15:24; Mk 8:31; 9:37; 14:36; Lk 4:18-26). (10) Jesus, like the prophets, received divine revelation through intimate communion with God (Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22). (11) Like the prophets, Jesus represented God; to obey him was to obey God, to reject him was to reject God (Mk 9:37; cf. Ez 33:30-33). (12) Like the prophets, Jesus was conscious of a mission to all Israel (Mt 15:24; 19:28; Lk 22:30).<\/p>\nAmong the many prophetic predictions of Jesus are the following:<\/p>\n1. Predictions of the imminent arrival of the kingdom of God (Mt 10:7-8, 23; 23:39; Mk 1:15; 9:1; 13:28-29)<\/p>\n<li>2. Predictions of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (Mt 23:37-39; 24:2; 26:61; 27:40; Mk 13:2; 14:58; 15:29; Lk 13:34-35; 21:6; Jn 2:19-21)<\/li>\n<li>3. Predictions of the coming of the Son of Man (Mt 10:23, 32-33; 12:40; 13:40-41; 16:27; 24:27, 37-39; Mk 8:38; 13:26-27; 14:62; Lk 9:26; 11:30; 12:8-9; 17:24, 26)<\/li>\n<li>4. Predictions of the end of the age. The longest prophetic section in the Gospels is the eschatological discourse of Jesus in Mark 13:1-32 (cf. Mt 24:1-36; Lk 21:5-33), in which a number of predictions concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the age are woven into a lengthy discourse to the disciples.<\/li>\n<h5>Prophecy as a Gift for the Believers<\/h5>\nThe beginning of prophetic activity in early Christianity, according to Acts, coincided with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the earliest Christians on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21). Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost indicates that the outpouring of the Spirit fulfilled Joel’s prophecy (Acts 2:4, 17-21; cf. Jl 2:28-32). Further, since the Spirit had been poured out upon all early Christians (that Spirit being a Spirit of prophecy), all are actual or potential prophets.<\/p>\nAccording to 1 Corinthians 12:28 (see also Rom 12:6; Eph 4:11), God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, and third teachers. The names of several early Christian prophets have been preserved. These include Agabus (Acts 11:27-28; 21:10-11); Judas and Silas (15:32); Barnabas, Simeon Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, and Paul (13:1); and the four virgin daughters of Philip the evangelist (21:8-9). John, the author of Revelation, was certainly a prophet (Rv 1:3; 22:9, 18), though he never directly assumed that title.<\/p>\nThe Role of the Christian Prophet<\/p>\nChristian prophets were leaders in early Christian communities (1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11), who exercised their gift in church gatherings (Acts 13:1-3; 11:27-28; 1 Cor 12–14; Rv 1:10). Since the Spirit of God was particularly active in Christian worship, prophecy was a major means whereby God communicated with his people. Prophets, like apostles and teachers, did not hold offices in local communities like bishops, elders, and deacons. Rather, they were chosen, not by individual congregations, but by divine commission and so were honored and accepted in all local communities.<\/p>\nEarly Christian prophets were both itinerant and settled, though itinerant prophets seem to have been more prevalent in Syria-Palestine and Asia Minor than in the European churches.<\/p>\n<h5>The Function of Prophecy<\/h5>\nAccording to Paul, the central purpose of prophecy (as of all other spiritual gifts) is that of building up or edifying the church. According to 1 Corinthians 14:3, “one who prophesies is helping others grow in the Lord, encouraging and comforting them” (nlt<\/span>). Again, in 1 Corinthians 14:4, Paul states that the “one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.” Paul discussed the subject of spiritual gifts, particularly tongues speaking and prophecy, because the Corinthians had placed an excessive emphasis on speaking in tongues. Paul did not object to speaking in tongues (1 Cor 14:18, 39), but he did point out that, since it was generally incomprehensible, the church could not be edified by it. Prophecy, which consisted of comprehensible speech inspired by the Spirit, contributed to the mutual edification, encouragement, and consolation of all present (1 Cor 14:20-25, 39).<\/p>\n<h5>The Content of Christian Prophecy<\/h5>\nWe know only a little about the content of prophecies uttered in the first-century church. Prophetic utterance occasionally provided divine guidance in making important decisions in early Christianity. Through a prophetic utterance, Paul and Barnabas were selected for a particular mission (Acts 13:1-3; cf. 1 Tm 1:18; 4:14). Probably through prophetic utterance, Paul and Timothy were forbidden to preach the gospel in Asia (Acts 16:6), and they were similarly forbidden by the Spirit of Jesus to go into Bithynia (v 7). Perhaps the most frequent use of prophecy is the prediction of the future. Agabus predicted a universal famine (11:28) and the imminent arrest of Paul (21:11). Other prophets had also predicted his impending imprisonment (20:23). The prophecies contained in the Revelation of John are all oriented toward the future events that will gradually unfold in the last days. Yet the purpose of John’s elaborate prophecy is not to satisfy the curiosity of his audience but rather to comfort and encourage them in the midst of persecution.<\/p>\n<h5>The Form of Christian Prophecy<\/h5>\nUnlike the prophets of the OT, Christian prophets did not always present their message in the form of a direct speech from God or Jesus. There are few, if any, formal indicators of the presence of prophetic speech in early Christian literature. The book of Revelation is one notable exception.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Dreams; Oracle; Promise; Prophet, Prophetess; Prophets, False; Visions.<\/p>","summary_ro":"PROPHECY Term, along with its English cognates (“prophet,” “to prophesy,” “prophetism,” and “prophetic”), derived from a group of Greek words that, in secular Greek, mean “speak forth,” “proclaim,” “announce.” In biblical Greek, however, these terms always carry the connotation of speaking, proclaiming, or announcing something under the influence of spiritual inspiration. Preview • Prophecy in the Old Testament • Types of Old Testament Prophets • The Message of the Prophets • Prophecy in the ...","summary_en":"PROPHECY Term, along with its English cognates (“prophet,” “to prophesy,” “prophetism,” and “prophetic”), derived from a group of Greek words that, in secular Greek, mean “speak forth,” “proclaim,” “announce.” In biblical Greek, however, these terms always carry the connotation of speaking, proclaiming, or announcing something under the influence of spiritual inspiration. Preview • Prophecy in the Old Testament • Types of Old Testament Prophets • The Message of the Prophets • Prophecy in the ...","source":"Articles\/P.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":35883,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Son of Man","title_en":"Son of Man","content_ro":"<h3>SON OF MAN<\/h3>\nMessianic title used by Jesus to express his heavenly origin, earthly mission, and glorious future coming. It does not refer merely to his human nature or humanity, as some church fathers or contemporary scholars believe. Rather, it reflects on the heavenly origin and divine dignity of Jesus, on the mystery of his manifestation in human form, and on his earthly mission that took him to the cross and then into glory.<\/p>\nThe background of the term “Son of Man” is to be found in the OT. The book of Ezekiel is the general source, since this prophet was referred to as “son of man” 90 times. For example, God addressed him, “Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak with you” (Ez 2:1, rsv<\/span>). Jesus’ use of the term “Son of Man” and numerous themes from Ezekiel suggest his desire to identify himself as the eschatological prophet who, like Ezekiel (chs 4, 7, 10, 22, 40–48), had the last word about the destruction of Jerusalem and the restoration of the kingdom of God to Israel (Mt 23–24; Acts 1:6-8).<\/p>\nThe specific source of the term is Daniel 7:13-14, with its vision of one “like a son of man” who “comes with the clouds” into the presence of “the Ancient of Days,” who gives him the universal and eternal kingdom of God. Jesus repeatedly quoted parts of this text in teaching about his second coming (Mt 16:27; 19:28; 24:30; 25:31; 26:64). Clearly, Jesus understood this passage as a prophetic portrayal of his own person: his incarnation, ascension, and inheritance of the kingdom of God.<\/p>\nIn the Gospels, the term “Son of Man” is used by Jesus about 80 times as a mysterious, indirect way of speaking about himself (Mt, 32 times; Mk, 14 times; Lk, 26 times; Jn, 10 times). In all these texts, Jesus was always the speaker, and no one ever addressed him as “Son of Man.” In some texts the reference is cryptic enough for some interpreters to insist that Jesus was speaking about another person. Such uncertainty is recorded in only one text in John, where the crowd asks Jesus, “Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” (Jn 12:34). In most texts, the identification is clear. In some it is explicit: “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?”—followed by, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:13, 15). The conclusion generally drawn is that Jesus used the term as a messianic title for himself, so that he could speak modestly about his person and mission yet convey the exalted content he wished to reveal about himself. He could do this with considerable originality because the term was not fraught with popular misconceptions concerning the Messiah.<\/p>\nThe term occurs only four other times in the NT. In Acts 7:56, Stephen says, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” (nlt<\/span>). Hebrews 2:6 quotes Psalm 8:4 as applying to Jesus. Finally, Revelation 1:13 and 14:14 record visions of someone “like a son of man,” who is undoubtedly the glorified Jesus.<\/p>\nIn the synoptic Gospels, the first theme in Jesus’ self-revelation connected with his use of the title “Son of Man” concerns his coming to earth to accomplish his messianic mission. A general comparison of Jesus’ present earthly condition with that of his previous heavenly glory is expressed in the saying “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Mt 8:20; see Lk 9:58). This saying indicates that the Son of Man gave up his heavenly home to suffer all the humiliations of his earthly ministry (Phil 2:5-11).<\/p>\nJesus used the title to claim divine prerogatives, saying, “The Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath” (Mt 12:8; Mk 2:28; Lk 6:5). The Sabbath, a divine institution, may not be revised by ordinary men. But since Jesus is the Son of Man from heaven, he is free to rule as Lord even of the Sabbath, because he is the same Lord who instituted the Sabbath (Gn 2:2; Ex 20:8-11). After healing the paralytic at Capernaum, Jesus claimed that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Mt 9:6; Mk 2:10; Lk 5:24). Previously, forgiveness of sins came from heaven and from God, but now forgiveness comes from Capernaum and is given by Jesus.<\/p>\nThe second aspect of Jesus’ use of the “Son of Man” title concerns his suffering, death, and glorious resurrection as the mysterious method he would use to fulfill his earthly mission as the Son of Man. Jesus began expounding this passion theme after Peter confessed him to be Messiah and Son of God (Mt 16:16). Jesus’ prediction of his passion as the Son of Man begins in Mark 8:31-32 and is repeated in several other texts. The Gospels expand the theme to include his suffering of mockery and scourging (Mt 17:12; 20:18; Mk 8:31; Lk 9:22), betrayal by Judas (Mt 17:22; 26:24-25; Mk 14:21, 41), rejection by the Jewish leaders (Mt 20:18), death by crucifixion (Mt 20:19; Mk 9:12, 31; 10:33), burial for three days (Mt 12:40; Lk 11:30), and resurrection (Mt 17:22-23; Mk 8:31).<\/p>\nIn the famous text “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45), Jesus teaches that his death was a vicarious sacrifice for the salvation of his people. This idea of substitutionary atonement is a new element in the Son of Man material and derives from Jesus’ understanding of himself as the suffering Servant of the Lord (Is 53).<\/p>\nJesus also used the “Son of Man” title to teach about his second coming. As the Son of Man, Jesus will return to earth from heaven in the glory of his Father with the angels (Mt 16:27; Mk 8:38; Lk 9:26). First, he will be seated at the right hand of God, and then he will come again (Mt 26:64; Mk 14:62; Lk 22:69) with the clouds (Mt 24:30; Mk 13:26; Lk 21:27). This coming will be unexpected (Mt 24:27; Lk 12:40), like a flash of lightning or the flood of Noah (Mt 24:37; Lk 17:24). His coming will be for the gathering of the elect, the judgment of all the nations of the earth (Mt 19:28; 25:32), and the restoration of final righteousness in the world (19:28; 25:46).<\/p>\nIn these passages, Jesus’ focus shifts from the provisional victory in his passion and resurrection to the final victory of the Son of Man at his second coming. Here again, the dramatic emphasis is on the heavenly origin and divine prerogatives of the Son of Man. This man Jesus, the Son of Man, will be the final judge (cf. Acts 17:31).<\/p>\nThe Gospel of John has its own distinctive material concerning the Son of Man. The angels are said to ascend and descend on the Son of Man (Jn 1:51), thereby signifying that he is a preexistent person who has come from heaven to earth (3:13; 6:62). His being lifted up (by crucifixion) will bring about eternal life for all who believe in him (3:14). The Son of Man (3:14) is also the Son of God (3:16), God’s one and only Son (1:18; 3:18). Quite simply, in John’s Gospel, the “Son of Man” title is equivalent to the title “Son of God.” It reveals his divinity, preexistence, heavenly origin, and divine prerogatives. It affirms his present earthly condition for revelation and passion, and his future eschatological glory. The Father has given the Son of Man authority to raise the dead and to judge the world (5:25-27).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Christology; Jesus Christ, Teachings of; Messiah; Son of God.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>SON OF MAN<\/h3>\nMessianic title used by Jesus to express his heavenly origin, earthly mission, and glorious future coming. It does not refer merely to his human nature or humanity, as some church fathers or contemporary scholars believe. Rather, it reflects on the heavenly origin and divine dignity of Jesus, on the mystery of his manifestation in human form, and on his earthly mission that took him to the cross and then into glory.<\/p>\nThe background of the term “Son of Man” is to be found in the OT. The book of Ezekiel is the general source, since this prophet was referred to as “son of man” 90 times. For example, God addressed him, “Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak with you” (Ez 2:1, rsv<\/span>). Jesus’ use of the term “Son of Man” and numerous themes from Ezekiel suggest his desire to identify himself as the eschatological prophet who, like Ezekiel (chs 4, 7, 10, 22, 40–48), had the last word about the destruction of Jerusalem and the restoration of the kingdom of God to Israel (Mt 23–24; Acts 1:6-8).<\/p>\nThe specific source of the term is Daniel 7:13-14, with its vision of one “like a son of man” who “comes with the clouds” into the presence of “the Ancient of Days,” who gives him the universal and eternal kingdom of God. Jesus repeatedly quoted parts of this text in teaching about his second coming (Mt 16:27; 19:28; 24:30; 25:31; 26:64). Clearly, Jesus understood this passage as a prophetic portrayal of his own person: his incarnation, ascension, and inheritance of the kingdom of God.<\/p>\nIn the Gospels, the term “Son of Man” is used by Jesus about 80 times as a mysterious, indirect way of speaking about himself (Mt, 32 times; Mk, 14 times; Lk, 26 times; Jn, 10 times). In all these texts, Jesus was always the speaker, and no one ever addressed him as “Son of Man.” In some texts the reference is cryptic enough for some interpreters to insist that Jesus was speaking about another person. Such uncertainty is recorded in only one text in John, where the crowd asks Jesus, “Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” (Jn 12:34). In most texts, the identification is clear. In some it is explicit: “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?”—followed by, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:13, 15). The conclusion generally drawn is that Jesus used the term as a messianic title for himself, so that he could speak modestly about his person and mission yet convey the exalted content he wished to reveal about himself. He could do this with considerable originality because the term was not fraught with popular misconceptions concerning the Messiah.<\/p>\nThe term occurs only four other times in the NT. In Acts 7:56, Stephen says, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” (nlt<\/span>). Hebrews 2:6 quotes Psalm 8:4 as applying to Jesus. Finally, Revelation 1:13 and 14:14 record visions of someone “like a son of man,” who is undoubtedly the glorified Jesus.<\/p>\nIn the synoptic Gospels, the first theme in Jesus’ self-revelation connected with his use of the title “Son of Man” concerns his coming to earth to accomplish his messianic mission. A general comparison of Jesus’ present earthly condition with that of his previous heavenly glory is expressed in the saying “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Mt 8:20; see Lk 9:58). This saying indicates that the Son of Man gave up his heavenly home to suffer all the humiliations of his earthly ministry (Phil 2:5-11).<\/p>\nJesus used the title to claim divine prerogatives, saying, “The Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath” (Mt 12:8; Mk 2:28; Lk 6:5). The Sabbath, a divine institution, may not be revised by ordinary men. But since Jesus is the Son of Man from heaven, he is free to rule as Lord even of the Sabbath, because he is the same Lord who instituted the Sabbath (Gn 2:2; Ex 20:8-11). After healing the paralytic at Capernaum, Jesus claimed that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Mt 9:6; Mk 2:10; Lk 5:24). Previously, forgiveness of sins came from heaven and from God, but now forgiveness comes from Capernaum and is given by Jesus.<\/p>\nThe second aspect of Jesus’ use of the “Son of Man” title concerns his suffering, death, and glorious resurrection as the mysterious method he would use to fulfill his earthly mission as the Son of Man. Jesus began expounding this passion theme after Peter confessed him to be Messiah and Son of God (Mt 16:16). Jesus’ prediction of his passion as the Son of Man begins in Mark 8:31-32 and is repeated in several other texts. The Gospels expand the theme to include his suffering of mockery and scourging (Mt 17:12; 20:18; Mk 8:31; Lk 9:22), betrayal by Judas (Mt 17:22; 26:24-25; Mk 14:21, 41), rejection by the Jewish leaders (Mt 20:18), death by crucifixion (Mt 20:19; Mk 9:12, 31; 10:33), burial for three days (Mt 12:40; Lk 11:30), and resurrection (Mt 17:22-23; Mk 8:31).<\/p>\nIn the famous text “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45), Jesus teaches that his death was a vicarious sacrifice for the salvation of his people. This idea of substitutionary atonement is a new element in the Son of Man material and derives from Jesus’ understanding of himself as the suffering Servant of the Lord (Is 53).<\/p>\nJesus also used the “Son of Man” title to teach about his second coming. As the Son of Man, Jesus will return to earth from heaven in the glory of his Father with the angels (Mt 16:27; Mk 8:38; Lk 9:26). First, he will be seated at the right hand of God, and then he will come again (Mt 26:64; Mk 14:62; Lk 22:69) with the clouds (Mt 24:30; Mk 13:26; Lk 21:27). This coming will be unexpected (Mt 24:27; Lk 12:40), like a flash of lightning or the flood of Noah (Mt 24:37; Lk 17:24). His coming will be for the gathering of the elect, the judgment of all the nations of the earth (Mt 19:28; 25:32), and the restoration of final righteousness in the world (19:28; 25:46).<\/p>\nIn these passages, Jesus’ focus shifts from the provisional victory in his passion and resurrection to the final victory of the Son of Man at his second coming. Here again, the dramatic emphasis is on the heavenly origin and divine prerogatives of the Son of Man. This man Jesus, the Son of Man, will be the final judge (cf. Acts 17:31).<\/p>\nThe Gospel of John has its own distinctive material concerning the Son of Man. The angels are said to ascend and descend on the Son of Man (Jn 1:51), thereby signifying that he is a preexistent person who has come from heaven to earth (3:13; 6:62). His being lifted up (by crucifixion) will bring about eternal life for all who believe in him (3:14). The Son of Man (3:14) is also the Son of God (3:16), God’s one and only Son (1:18; 3:18). Quite simply, in John’s Gospel, the “Son of Man” title is equivalent to the title “Son of God.” It reveals his divinity, preexistence, heavenly origin, and divine prerogatives. It affirms his present earthly condition for revelation and passion, and his future eschatological glory. The Father has given the Son of Man authority to raise the dead and to judge the world (5:25-27).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Christology; Jesus Christ, Teachings of; Messiah; Son of God.<\/p>","summary_ro":"SON OF MAN Messianic title used by Jesus to express his heavenly origin, earthly mission, and glorious future coming. It does not refer merely to his human nature or humanity, as some church fathers or contemporary scholars believe. Rather, it reflects on the heavenly origin and divine dignity of Jesus, on the mystery of his manifestation in human form, and on his earthly mission that took him to the cross and then into glory. The background of the term “Son of Man” is to be found in the OT. ...","summary_en":"SON OF MAN Messianic title used by Jesus to express his heavenly origin, earthly mission, and glorious future coming. It does not refer merely to his human nature or humanity, as some church fathers or contemporary scholars believe. Rather, it reflects on the heavenly origin and divine dignity of Jesus, on the mystery of his manifestation in human form, and on his earthly mission that took him to the cross and then into glory. The background of the term “Son of Man” is to be found in the OT. ...","source":"Articles\/S.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"25":[{"id":56069,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:25","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:25","content_ro":"17:25<\/strong> suffer terribly:<\/em> Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).<\/p>","content_en":"17:25<\/strong> suffer terribly:<\/em> Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:25 suffer terribly: Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).","summary_en":"17:25 suffer terribly: Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83695,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:25","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:25","content_ro":"17:25<\/strong> suffer terribly:<\/em> Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).<\/p>","content_en":"17:25<\/strong> suffer terribly:<\/em> Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:25 suffer terribly: Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).","summary_en":"17:25 suffer terribly: Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111321,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:25","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:25","content_ro":"17:25<\/strong> suffer terribly:<\/em> Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).<\/p>","content_en":"17:25<\/strong> suffer terribly:<\/em> Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:25 suffer terribly: Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).","summary_en":"17:25 suffer terribly: Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138947,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:25","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:25","content_ro":"17:25<\/strong> suffer terribly:<\/em> Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).<\/p>","content_en":"17:25<\/strong> suffer terribly:<\/em> Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:25 suffer terribly: Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).","summary_en":"17:25 suffer terribly: Jesus would soon suffer crucifixion (see study note on 9:22).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"26":[{"id":40494,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"Noah","title_en":"Noah","content_ro":"<h3>Noah<\/h3>\nNoah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil.<\/p>\nGod intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for building the ark in which only the eight people of his family would be saved, along with every kind of creature (Gen 6:14–8:19). When Noah and his family finally emerged from the ark after the flood, Noah pleased God by building an altar and sacrificing burnt offerings. God promised that he would never again flood the whole earth or disrupt the sequence of the seasons, despite human sin (Gen 8:20–9:17).<\/p>\nNoah’s sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All the nations of the earth descended from them (Gen 9:18-19). When Noah became drunk on wine from his vineyard, his sons and their descendants were cursed or blessed in accord with how they responded to him (Gen 9:20-27). Noah lived for 950 years, including 350 years after the flood (Gen 9:28-29). He is an example of righteousness, obedience, courage, and faith (see Ezek 14:12-20; Heb 11:7; 2 Pet 2:5).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 5:28–10:1; 1 Chr 1:4; Isa 54:9; Ezek 14:12-20; Matt 24:37-38; Luke 3:36; 17:26-27; Heb 11:7; 1 Pet 3:20-21; 2 Pet 2:5<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Noah<\/h3>\nNoah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil.<\/p>\nGod intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for building the ark in which only the eight people of his family would be saved, along with every kind of creature (Gen 6:14–8:19). When Noah and his family finally emerged from the ark after the flood, Noah pleased God by building an altar and sacrificing burnt offerings. God promised that he would never again flood the whole earth or disrupt the sequence of the seasons, despite human sin (Gen 8:20–9:17).<\/p>\nNoah’s sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All the nations of the earth descended from them (Gen 9:18-19). When Noah became drunk on wine from his vineyard, his sons and their descendants were cursed or blessed in accord with how they responded to him (Gen 9:20-27). Noah lived for 950 years, including 350 years after the flood (Gen 9:28-29). He is an example of righteousness, obedience, courage, and faith (see Ezek 14:12-20; Heb 11:7; 2 Pet 2:5).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 5:28–10:1; 1 Chr 1:4; Isa 54:9; Ezek 14:12-20; Matt 24:37-38; Luke 3:36; 17:26-27; Heb 11:7; 1 Pet 3:20-21; 2 Pet 2:5<\/p>","summary_ro":"Noah Noah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil. God intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for b...","summary_en":"Noah Noah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil. God intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for b...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":68120,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"Noah","title_en":"Noah","content_ro":"<h3>Noah<\/h3>\nNoah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil.<\/p>\nGod intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for building the ark in which only the eight people of his family would be saved, along with every kind of creature (Gen 6:14–8:19). When Noah and his family finally emerged from the ark after the flood, Noah pleased God by building an altar and sacrificing burnt offerings. God promised that he would never again flood the whole earth or disrupt the sequence of the seasons, despite human sin (Gen 8:20–9:17).<\/p>\nNoah’s sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All the nations of the earth descended from them (Gen 9:18-19). When Noah became drunk on wine from his vineyard, his sons and their descendants were cursed or blessed in accord with how they responded to him (Gen 9:20-27). Noah lived for 950 years, including 350 years after the flood (Gen 9:28-29). He is an example of righteousness, obedience, courage, and faith (see Ezek 14:12-20; Heb 11:7; 2 Pet 2:5).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 5:28–10:1; 1 Chr 1:4; Isa 54:9; Ezek 14:12-20; Matt 24:37-38; Luke 3:36; 17:26-27; Heb 11:7; 1 Pet 3:20-21; 2 Pet 2:5<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Noah<\/h3>\nNoah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil.<\/p>\nGod intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for building the ark in which only the eight people of his family would be saved, along with every kind of creature (Gen 6:14–8:19). When Noah and his family finally emerged from the ark after the flood, Noah pleased God by building an altar and sacrificing burnt offerings. God promised that he would never again flood the whole earth or disrupt the sequence of the seasons, despite human sin (Gen 8:20–9:17).<\/p>\nNoah’s sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All the nations of the earth descended from them (Gen 9:18-19). When Noah became drunk on wine from his vineyard, his sons and their descendants were cursed or blessed in accord with how they responded to him (Gen 9:20-27). Noah lived for 950 years, including 350 years after the flood (Gen 9:28-29). He is an example of righteousness, obedience, courage, and faith (see Ezek 14:12-20; Heb 11:7; 2 Pet 2:5).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 5:28–10:1; 1 Chr 1:4; Isa 54:9; Ezek 14:12-20; Matt 24:37-38; Luke 3:36; 17:26-27; Heb 11:7; 1 Pet 3:20-21; 2 Pet 2:5<\/p>","summary_ro":"Noah Noah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil. God intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for b...","summary_en":"Noah Noah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil. God intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for b...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":95746,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"Noah","title_en":"Noah","content_ro":"<h3>Noah<\/h3>\nNoah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil.<\/p>\nGod intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for building the ark in which only the eight people of his family would be saved, along with every kind of creature (Gen 6:14–8:19). When Noah and his family finally emerged from the ark after the flood, Noah pleased God by building an altar and sacrificing burnt offerings. God promised that he would never again flood the whole earth or disrupt the sequence of the seasons, despite human sin (Gen 8:20–9:17).<\/p>\nNoah’s sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All the nations of the earth descended from them (Gen 9:18-19). When Noah became drunk on wine from his vineyard, his sons and their descendants were cursed or blessed in accord with how they responded to him (Gen 9:20-27). Noah lived for 950 years, including 350 years after the flood (Gen 9:28-29). He is an example of righteousness, obedience, courage, and faith (see Ezek 14:12-20; Heb 11:7; 2 Pet 2:5).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 5:28–10:1; 1 Chr 1:4; Isa 54:9; Ezek 14:12-20; Matt 24:37-38; Luke 3:36; 17:26-27; Heb 11:7; 1 Pet 3:20-21; 2 Pet 2:5<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Noah<\/h3>\nNoah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil.<\/p>\nGod intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for building the ark in which only the eight people of his family would be saved, along with every kind of creature (Gen 6:14–8:19). When Noah and his family finally emerged from the ark after the flood, Noah pleased God by building an altar and sacrificing burnt offerings. God promised that he would never again flood the whole earth or disrupt the sequence of the seasons, despite human sin (Gen 8:20–9:17).<\/p>\nNoah’s sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All the nations of the earth descended from them (Gen 9:18-19). When Noah became drunk on wine from his vineyard, his sons and their descendants were cursed or blessed in accord with how they responded to him (Gen 9:20-27). Noah lived for 950 years, including 350 years after the flood (Gen 9:28-29). He is an example of righteousness, obedience, courage, and faith (see Ezek 14:12-20; Heb 11:7; 2 Pet 2:5).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 5:28–10:1; 1 Chr 1:4; Isa 54:9; Ezek 14:12-20; Matt 24:37-38; Luke 3:36; 17:26-27; Heb 11:7; 1 Pet 3:20-21; 2 Pet 2:5<\/p>","summary_ro":"Noah Noah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil. God intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for b...","summary_en":"Noah Noah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil. God intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for b...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":123372,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"Noah","title_en":"Noah","content_ro":"<h3>Noah<\/h3>\nNoah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil.<\/p>\nGod intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for building the ark in which only the eight people of his family would be saved, along with every kind of creature (Gen 6:14–8:19). When Noah and his family finally emerged from the ark after the flood, Noah pleased God by building an altar and sacrificing burnt offerings. God promised that he would never again flood the whole earth or disrupt the sequence of the seasons, despite human sin (Gen 8:20–9:17).<\/p>\nNoah’s sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All the nations of the earth descended from them (Gen 9:18-19). When Noah became drunk on wine from his vineyard, his sons and their descendants were cursed or blessed in accord with how they responded to him (Gen 9:20-27). Noah lived for 950 years, including 350 years after the flood (Gen 9:28-29). He is an example of righteousness, obedience, courage, and faith (see Ezek 14:12-20; Heb 11:7; 2 Pet 2:5).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 5:28–10:1; 1 Chr 1:4; Isa 54:9; Ezek 14:12-20; Matt 24:37-38; Luke 3:36; 17:26-27; Heb 11:7; 1 Pet 3:20-21; 2 Pet 2:5<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Noah<\/h3>\nNoah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil.<\/p>\nGod intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for building the ark in which only the eight people of his family would be saved, along with every kind of creature (Gen 6:14–8:19). When Noah and his family finally emerged from the ark after the flood, Noah pleased God by building an altar and sacrificing burnt offerings. God promised that he would never again flood the whole earth or disrupt the sequence of the seasons, despite human sin (Gen 8:20–9:17).<\/p>\nNoah’s sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All the nations of the earth descended from them (Gen 9:18-19). When Noah became drunk on wine from his vineyard, his sons and their descendants were cursed or blessed in accord with how they responded to him (Gen 9:20-27). Noah lived for 950 years, including 350 years after the flood (Gen 9:28-29). He is an example of righteousness, obedience, courage, and faith (see Ezek 14:12-20; Heb 11:7; 2 Pet 2:5).<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 5:28–10:1; 1 Chr 1:4; Isa 54:9; Ezek 14:12-20; Matt 24:37-38; Luke 3:36; 17:26-27; Heb 11:7; 1 Pet 3:20-21; 2 Pet 2:5<\/p>","summary_ro":"Noah Noah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil. God intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for b...","summary_en":"Noah Noah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth (Gen 5:3-29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah (whose name means “rest” or “relief”) would ease the curse of hardship in working the ground. Instead, God used Noah to help relieve the world of evil. God intended to destroy creation because of pervasive human wickedness (Gen 6:1-7; see Matt 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27), but he decided to preserve Noah (Gen 6:8). God gave Noah, a righteous and blameless man (Gen 6:9), precise instructions for b...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":27625,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Noah","title_en":"Noah","content_ro":"<h3>NOAH<\/h3>\n<li>1. Son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah, a descendant of Seth, third son of Adam (Gn 5:3-20). Lamech named his son Noah, a name that sounds like a Hebrew term that can mean “relief” or “comfort.” When Lamech gave him this name, he said, “He will bring us relief from the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord<\/span> has cursed” (v 29, nlt<\/span>).<\/li>\nDetermined to destroy creation because of rampant wickedness (cf. Mt 24:37-39; Lk 17:26-27), God made an exception with Noah, a man righteous in God’s sight and blameless before people (Gn 6:3-9). Following God’s precise instructions, Noah constructed an ark into which went only eight people—Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives—and all kinds of creatures in pairs. They were thus protected from the ensuing deluge in which all other living things perished (6:14–8:19). When they emerged from the ark, Noah built an altar and sacrificed burnt offerings that pleased God, who promised that the Flood would never be repeated or the sequence of the seasons disrupted, despite man’s sin (8:20–9:17).<\/p>\nNoah had withstood mighty temptations, but, whether through carelessness or old age, he became drunk. Family members reacted differently and were judged accordingly. Shem and Japheth received blessing. Ham received no blessing, but his son Canaan was cursed (9:20-27). Noah was 950 years old when he died, 350 years after the Flood.<\/p>\nNoah, Daniel, and Job are specifically cited for “their righteousness” in Ezekiel 14:12-14, 19-20. The Letter to the Hebrews commends Noah, who by faith, holy fear, and rejection of the world became the heir of righteousness (11:7), and 2 Peter 2:5 calls him “a preacher of righteousness.”<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Flood, The; Gilgamesh Epic.<\/p>\n<li>2. Daughter of Zelophehad of Manasseh’s tribe (Nm 26:33). When their father died without a son, she and her four sisters successfully petitioned for a change in the law that would protect their inheritance rights (Nm 27:1-11; cf. Jos 17:3-6). They were, however, restricted to marrying within their own tribe (Nm 36:1-12).<\/li>","content_en":"<h3>NOAH<\/h3>\n<li>1. Son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah, a descendant of Seth, third son of Adam (Gn 5:3-20). Lamech named his son Noah, a name that sounds like a Hebrew term that can mean “relief” or “comfort.” When Lamech gave him this name, he said, “He will bring us relief from the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord<\/span> has cursed” (v 29, nlt<\/span>).<\/li>\nDetermined to destroy creation because of rampant wickedness (cf. Mt 24:37-39; Lk 17:26-27), God made an exception with Noah, a man righteous in God’s sight and blameless before people (Gn 6:3-9). Following God’s precise instructions, Noah constructed an ark into which went only eight people—Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives—and all kinds of creatures in pairs. They were thus protected from the ensuing deluge in which all other living things perished (6:14–8:19). When they emerged from the ark, Noah built an altar and sacrificed burnt offerings that pleased God, who promised that the Flood would never be repeated or the sequence of the seasons disrupted, despite man’s sin (8:20–9:17).<\/p>\nNoah had withstood mighty temptations, but, whether through carelessness or old age, he became drunk. Family members reacted differently and were judged accordingly. Shem and Japheth received blessing. Ham received no blessing, but his son Canaan was cursed (9:20-27). Noah was 950 years old when he died, 350 years after the Flood.<\/p>\nNoah, Daniel, and Job are specifically cited for “their righteousness” in Ezekiel 14:12-14, 19-20. The Letter to the Hebrews commends Noah, who by faith, holy fear, and rejection of the world became the heir of righteousness (11:7), and 2 Peter 2:5 calls him “a preacher of righteousness.”<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Flood, The; Gilgamesh Epic.<\/p>\n<li>2. Daughter of Zelophehad of Manasseh’s tribe (Nm 26:33). When their father died without a son, she and her four sisters successfully petitioned for a change in the law that would protect their inheritance rights (Nm 27:1-11; cf. Jos 17:3-6). They were, however, restricted to marrying within their own tribe (Nm 36:1-12).<\/li>","summary_ro":"NOAH 1. Son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah, a descendant of Seth, third son of Adam (Gn 5:3-20). Lamech named his son Noah, a name that sounds like a Hebrew term that can mean “relief” or “comfort.” When Lamech gave him this name, he said, “He will bring us relief from the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord has cursed” (v 29, nlt). Determined to destroy creation because of rampant wickedness (cf. Mt 24:37-39; Lk 17:26-27), God made an exception with Noah, a man right...","summary_en":"NOAH 1. Son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah, a descendant of Seth, third son of Adam (Gn 5:3-20). Lamech named his son Noah, a name that sounds like a Hebrew term that can mean “relief” or “comfort.” When Lamech gave him this name, he said, “He will bring us relief from the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord has cursed” (v 29, nlt). Determined to destroy creation because of rampant wickedness (cf. Mt 24:37-39; Lk 17:26-27), God made an exception with Noah, a man right...","source":"Articles\/N.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":27653,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Noe*","title_en":"Noe*","content_ro":"<h3>NOE*<\/h3>\nKJV rendering of Noah in Matthew 24:37-38 and Luke 3:36; 17:26-27. See<\/em> Noah #1.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>NOE*<\/h3>\nKJV rendering of Noah in Matthew 24:37-38 and Luke 3:36; 17:26-27. See<\/em> Noah #1.<\/p>","summary_ro":"NOE* KJV rendering of Noah in Matthew 24:37-38 and Luke 3:36; 17:26-27. See Noah #1.","summary_en":"NOE* KJV rendering of Noah in Matthew 24:37-38 and Luke 3:36; 17:26-27. See Noah #1.","source":"Articles\/N.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":56070,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:26","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:26","content_ro":"17:26-29<\/strong> in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot:<\/em> See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.<\/p>","content_en":"17:26-29<\/strong> in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot:<\/em> See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:26-29 in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot: See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.","summary_en":"17:26-29 in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot: See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83696,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:26","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:26","content_ro":"17:26-29<\/strong> in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot:<\/em> See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.<\/p>","content_en":"17:26-29<\/strong> in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot:<\/em> See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:26-29 in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot: See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.","summary_en":"17:26-29 in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot: See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111322,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:26","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:26","content_ro":"17:26-29<\/strong> in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot:<\/em> See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.<\/p>","content_en":"17:26-29<\/strong> in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot:<\/em> See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:26-29 in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot: See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.","summary_en":"17:26-29 in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot: See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138948,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:26","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:26","content_ro":"17:26-29<\/strong> in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot:<\/em> See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.<\/p>","content_en":"17:26-29<\/strong> in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot:<\/em> See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:26-29 in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot: See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.","summary_en":"17:26-29 in Noah’s day . . . in the days of Lot: See Gen 6–9 for Noah and Gen 18:16–19:29 for Lot; both are stories of God’s cataclysmic judgment against human wickedness.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"27":[{"id":10039,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Book of Ecclesiastes","title_en":"Book of Ecclesiastes","content_ro":"<h3>ECCLESIASTES, Book of<\/h3>\nOT book of Wisdom Literature. Ecclesiastes is philosophical in character, posing deep questions about the meaning and nature of human existence.<\/p>\n“Ecclesiastes” is the Greek title for the book and has come into English from the Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT). In keeping with an early Jewish practice of adopting the first few words of a book as the title, the Hebrew title of Ecclesiastes is “The Words of Koheleth, the Son of David, King in Jerusalem.” It is also known simply as “Koheleth.”<\/p>\nThe term “Koheleth” is the author’s title for himself throughout the book (Eccl 1:1-2, 12; 7:27; 12:8-10). It is the Hebrew participial form of a verb meaning “to assemble,” and thus it seems to designate one who speaks in an assembly. The word has often been translated “the Preacher” in English. Because of the philosophical nature of the book, however, the title possibly indicates the author’s function or station as a leader in the community of wise men.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Author<\/p>\n• Date<\/p>\n• Purpose and Theological Teaching<\/p>\n• Content<\/p>\nAuthor<\/p>\nThe authorship of Ecclesiastes presents complex questions, on which biblical scholars disagree. Early Jewish tradition was divided over the issue, ascribing the book to King Hezekiah and his school, as well as to King Solomon.<\/p>\nInternal evidence is often appealed to for support of Solomon as the author of Ecclesiastes. The first verse ascribes the authorship of the book to “the son of David.” Other passages (e.g., 1:16-17; 2:6-7) also seem to refer to Solomon, who succeeded David as king of the united kingdom of Israel. Those who reject Solomonic authorship interpret such references as literary devices, written by a later unknown author in order to use Solomon’s devotion to wisdom as a context for his own ideas about life’s purpose and meaning.<\/p>\nA number of passages in the book have been appealed to in support of non-Solomonic authorship. Some scholars allege that if the book had been written by Solomon, he would not have used the past tense about his reign “over Israel in Jerusalem” (1:12). Proponents of Solomonic authorship point out, however, that the Hebrew verb “was” can also mean “became,” thus stating that Solomon had become king in Jerusalem.<\/p>\nIt is also alleged that 1:16 supports a date of writing by an author who lived much later than Solomon. They say that Solomon could not have said that he was wiser than “all who were over Jerusalem before me,” for that would point to a long succession of kings before him. But the author may have meant prominent wise men rather than kings (see 1 Kgs 4:31).<\/p>\nOne of the chief difficulties with Solomonic authorship is the fact that OT history does not record a period of spiritual revival in Solomon’s life as a context for the book of Ecclesiastes. That is not a conclusive argument, however, for the thoughts recorded in the book are intensely personal in nature. The historical books of the OT deal primarily with historical developments, mentioning personal aspects of human life only where they bear upon God’s purposes as reflected in the national history. It would, in fact, be surprising if the extremely personal struggles recorded in Ecclesiastes were cited by the historical writers.<\/p>\nThe question of authorship is a difficult one, but there seems to be no conclusive evidence against Solomon as the author of Ecclesiastes.<\/p>\nDate<\/p>\nThe majority of scholars who hold to the Solomonic authorship of Ecclesiastes date the book in Solomon’s final years as king (c. 940 BC<\/span>). The book would then have been written in the golden era of Israelite wisdom, by one of the foremost proponents of wisdom teaching.<\/p>\nThose who deny Solomonic authorship disagree among themselves as to when the book was written, but most date it in the postexilic period. A Maccabean date (c. 165 BC<\/span>) is difficult to maintain, because fragments of the book, dated in the second century BC<\/span>, have been found at the Dead Sea site of Qumran. Also, the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, probably written in the early second century BC<\/span>, was heavily influenced by Ecclesiastes. Such factors would allow little time for the writing and circulation of the book in the Maccabean period.<\/p>\nA number of conservative scholars, such as Franz Delitzsch and E. J. Young, have assigned a fifth-century BC<\/span> date to the book. Many others consider it a third-century BC<\/span> document.<\/p>\n<h5>Internal Evidence<\/h5>\nAttempts have been made to determine the date of the book of Ecclesiastes from alleged historical allusions. But the somewhat gloomy observations found in such passages as 1:2-11 and 3:1-15 need be nothing more than the author’s conclusions about the emptiness of life. They do not necessarily indicate that the book was written in a time of national decline or social decay within Israel, a time that would not fit with the reign of Solomon.<\/p>\nIt is also alleged that the book contains allusions to Greek philosophical concepts. That would indicate that it was written sometime after the Hellenization of the Syro-Palestinian world effected by the conquests of Alexander the Great (356–323 BC<\/span>).<\/p>\nOne of those philosophical concepts is the “golden mean” propounded by Aristotle. The golden mean calls for avoiding extremes in the pursuit of satisfaction in life, and it is reflected in Ecclesiastes 7:14-18. The same concept is found in Egyptian wisdom literature (Instruction of Amen-em-opet<\/em> 9.14), as well as in Aramaic wisdom literature. In one of the finest examples of Aramaic wisdom, The Words of Ahiqar,<\/em> the golden mean is expressed in the words “Be not (too) sweet, lest they [swallow you]; be not (too) bitter [lest they spit you out<\/em>].” But the golden mean concept need not indicate one particular period of thought; it may simply represent a basic kind of wisdom shared by people of all times and all ethnic backgrounds.<\/p>\n<h5>Linguistic Considerations<\/h5>\nThe most critical issue in dating Ecclesiastes is the nature of the book’s language. The Hebrew of Ecclesiastes is unique, differing stylistically and linguistically from such fifth-century OT books as Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zechariah.<\/p>\nSome scholars maintain that the language of Ecclesiastes was heavily influenced by Aramaic, and thus the book was written at a time when the Aramaic language was influential in the Hebrew-speaking world. Others have argued that the peculiarities of the Hebrew should be understood as affinities with Canaanite-Phoenician dialects.<\/p>\nIt is often asserted that the Hebrew of the book is similar to later Mishnaic Hebrew, particularly in its use of the relative pronoun. Yet the language of Ecclesiastes is dissimilar to the Mishnah in other ways.<\/p>\nThe linguistic evidence could point to a late date for the book, but it is also possible that Solomon wrote in a literary style that was heavily influenced by Phoenician literature. Such a style may have become a standard for the literary genre into which Ecclesiastes falls. During the reign of Solomon, contacts between Palestine and Phoenicia were quite common.<\/p>\nPurpose and Theological Teaching<\/p>\nThe book of Ecclesiastes demonstrates the meaninglessness of a worldview that does not press beyond the limits of human experience to include God. It seeks to show that meaningful satisfaction may be attained in a universe that seems to be nothing more than a succession of wearying cycles—a universe into which people are locked with no apparent means of escape. According to Koheleth, freedom can be achieved by fearing God and believing that God will ultimately judge everything fairly. Thus, life has a goal and purpose that it will reach, although in the course of history and the processes of the physical world, it may not look that way.<\/p>\nThe book’s chief theological tenet is that God is not disinterested in the course of human events with its gross injustices. He will judge every deed. Life, therefore, has a purpose, and human deeds have meaning.<\/p>\nKoheleth is often accused of having a pessimistic view of life. One cannot read such passages as 1:12-14, 18 and 2:1-9, 18-23 without feeling his helplessness as he viewed what seemed an empty existence. But Koheleth’s pessimism had to do with life apart from God. To him such a life had no meaning.<\/p>\nA positive good emerges from the book, however, even though it is often overlooked. Koheleth speaks in terms of absolutes as he spins his argument. There is an absolute good for people as they live in a seemingly meaningless world. That good is the enjoyment of God’s gifts to his people. Thus Koheleth is not an utter pessimist. When he lifts the horizons of his worldview to include the hand of God at work in the world, he becomes an optimist. But when he looks at life without God, he is pessimistic, for such a view offers only despair.<\/p>\nKoheleth’s “theology of contentment” is clear in such passages as 2:24-25, 3:10-13, and 3:22. The first passage seems to express a hedonistic view of life, making eating and drinking the main purpose. The expression “eat and drink” is a Semitic idiom that seems to express the everyday routines of life (cf. Jer 22:15; Lk 17:27-28). Koheleth’s use of the phrase, then, simply means that one should enjoy God’s providence. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not endured.<\/p>\nIn 3:10-13 Koheleth sets forth the great enigma of humankind: God has put the knowledge of eternity in the human mind. That is, he has made the mind able to go beyond the limits of physical existence. Yet even that ability to conceptualize the eternal does not explain all of God’s purposes. Therefore, it is good for a person simply to accept human limitation and enjoy whatever knowledge God gives.<\/p>\nEcclesiastes 3:16–4:3 is a difficult section of the book. There Koheleth observes the inequities of life and concludes that God allows such things for the purpose of “sifting” people to show them that they are no more than animals. The same principle appears in 8:11, where Koheleth observes that when evil goes unpunished, the wicked are encouraged to continue to do evil. In 3:18 he asserts that injustice is present in the world to distinguish the good from the wicked. The Hebrew in that assertion should be translated “in and of themselves.” That is, viewed alone, apart from God, humankind is no better than animals. If one adopts a worldview that omits God, there can be no way of knowing what lies beyond the grave (3:21). The inequities that Koheleth observes will be corrected only in the Day of Judgment. Thus, it is best for a person to be content with God’s providence and not to be anxious about tomorrow (3:22).<\/p>\nThe key to understanding the book of Ecclesiastes is the recurring phrase “under the sun.” That phrase defines Koheleth’s perspective. He is not judging all human experience as vain. Rather, he is observing life “under the sun,” or apart from God, as vain. The apostle Paul rendered the same verdict on the created world in Romans 8:20-23, but he went on to say that God uses all things in his world to work out good results for his people (Rom 8:28). Koheleth’s viewpoint is similarly helpful.<\/p>\nKoheleth has often been interpreted as expressing an Epicurean view of life, that eating and drinking are humanity’s highest good. In 2:1-8, however, he tests pleasure and finds it futile. He concludes that pleasure is not an absolute good. The passages that speak of eating and drinking refer only to the enjoyment of those good and necessary things that come from God’s hand.<\/p>\nContent<\/p>\n<h5>The Vanity of the Cycle of History and Nature (1:1-11)<\/h5>\nKoheleth begins his recital of the vanity of life by observing its emptiness and the apparent lack of purpose in the processes of nature. Human toil is fruitless (1:3), and the endless cycle of life and history is meaningless (1:4-11).<\/p>\n<h5>The Vanity of Koheleth’s Own Experience (1:12–2:26)<\/h5>\nIn this dramatic section Koheleth looks back to observe the futility of aspects of his life that some might have regarded as possessing great value. He recalls his search for wisdom, but pronounces human philosophy futile (1:12-18). His search for pleasure (2:1-11) also ended in futility. In the light of this conclusion, Koheleth hardly sets forth the attainment of pleasure as life’s highest good. The search for valid philosophical verities is wearisome and futile in its outcome (vv 12-17). Human toil is also vain (vv 18-23), because one can never be sure who will inherit the reward of one’s toil (v 21). Koheleth concludes that the greatest good is to accept God’s providence joyfully (vv 24-26), an optimistic note in his message.<\/p>\n<h5>The Plight of Humanity apart from God (3:1-22)<\/h5>\nKoheleth’s familiar statement that everything in life has its time (3:1-9) has often been interpreted as crassly fatalistic. But those verses more probably set forth the unalterability of life’s circumstances. Humankind is locked into a continuum from which there is no escape, yet people are able to think in terms that go beyond the physical (v 11). That is the enigma of humankind. Viewed apart from God, people really are no better than animals (vv 19-20).<\/p>\n<h5>Conclusions Resulting from Koheleth’s Observations (4:1-16)<\/h5>\nThe author begins with a gloomy outlook on life (4:1-3) but goes on to draw conclusions of permanent value. He points out, for example, that life’s difficulties are better faced with a partner than alone (vv 9-12).<\/p>\n<h5>The Vanity of Living Only for Oneself (5:1–6:12)<\/h5>\nKoheleth gives a powerful denunciation of a self-seeking life by focusing on God (5:1-2, 4-6). His condemnation of the misuse of riches and his concern for the poor (5:8–6:9) are themes later emphasized in the NT.<\/p>\n<h5>Wisdom for Living (7:1–8:17)<\/h5>\nThis fine example of OT Wisdom Literature uses a proverbial pattern (7:1-13) and personal references (vv 23-29) to give insight into how one may find true satisfaction. The whole passage upholds the virtue of godly wisdom. Koheleth’s theology of contentment underlies his observation that God is the source of adversity as well as prosperity (v 14). He affirms that one should accept both as coming from God. Applying wisdom to governmental authority (8:2-9), Koheleth counsels the reader to obey the authorities. The apostle Paul gave the same advice in Romans 13. Koheleth strikes an optimistic note (Eccl 8:13), exalting the fear of God. The author is not totally pessimistic, for he shows that fearing God leads to genuine satisfaction.<\/p>\n<h5>Observations on Life’s Seeming Injustices (9:1-18)<\/h5>\n“Under the sun,” that is, apart from God, there are no apparent differences among human beings (9:1-6, 11-12). Great deeds often go unnoticed and unthanked (vv 13-16). A person should nonetheless be content, for life does offer certain benefits (vv 7-10).<\/p>\n<h5>Wisdom and Folly (10:1-20)<\/h5>\nWisdom in the OT basically means knowing God, and folly is rejection of God. Koheleth shows how wisdom can lead to honor and satisfaction, and folly can lead to ruin.<\/p>\n<h5>Koheleth’s Conclusion—Fear God (11:1–12:14)<\/h5>\nThe book of Ecclesiastes began with a pronouncement of vanity on all creation, and it ends with Koheleth looking beyond his gloomy vistas to see God. Chapter 11 begins with a statement of human inability to understand the ways of God. Though people are meant to enjoy life, they must remember that the future will bring God’s judgment (11:9-10). After giving a beautiful description of old age (12:1-8) and encouraging the reader to fear God in youth, Koheleth states his conclusion. A person’s whole duty is to fear God (vv 13-14). The pleasure of youth will burst like a bubble and, without God, one will finally have nothing. Satisfaction can come only as one fears God. Life without God is the ultimate vanity.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Solomon (Person); Wisdom; Wisdom Literature.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>ECCLESIASTES, Book of<\/h3>\nOT book of Wisdom Literature. Ecclesiastes is philosophical in character, posing deep questions about the meaning and nature of human existence.<\/p>\n“Ecclesiastes” is the Greek title for the book and has come into English from the Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT). In keeping with an early Jewish practice of adopting the first few words of a book as the title, the Hebrew title of Ecclesiastes is “The Words of Koheleth, the Son of David, King in Jerusalem.” It is also known simply as “Koheleth.”<\/p>\nThe term “Koheleth” is the author’s title for himself throughout the book (Eccl 1:1-2, 12; 7:27; 12:8-10). It is the Hebrew participial form of a verb meaning “to assemble,” and thus it seems to designate one who speaks in an assembly. The word has often been translated “the Preacher” in English. Because of the philosophical nature of the book, however, the title possibly indicates the author’s function or station as a leader in the community of wise men.<\/p>\nPreview<\/p>\n• Author<\/p>\n• Date<\/p>\n• Purpose and Theological Teaching<\/p>\n• Content<\/p>\nAuthor<\/p>\nThe authorship of Ecclesiastes presents complex questions, on which biblical scholars disagree. Early Jewish tradition was divided over the issue, ascribing the book to King Hezekiah and his school, as well as to King Solomon.<\/p>\nInternal evidence is often appealed to for support of Solomon as the author of Ecclesiastes. The first verse ascribes the authorship of the book to “the son of David.” Other passages (e.g., 1:16-17; 2:6-7) also seem to refer to Solomon, who succeeded David as king of the united kingdom of Israel. Those who reject Solomonic authorship interpret such references as literary devices, written by a later unknown author in order to use Solomon’s devotion to wisdom as a context for his own ideas about life’s purpose and meaning.<\/p>\nA number of passages in the book have been appealed to in support of non-Solomonic authorship. Some scholars allege that if the book had been written by Solomon, he would not have used the past tense about his reign “over Israel in Jerusalem” (1:12). Proponents of Solomonic authorship point out, however, that the Hebrew verb “was” can also mean “became,” thus stating that Solomon had become king in Jerusalem.<\/p>\nIt is also alleged that 1:16 supports a date of writing by an author who lived much later than Solomon. They say that Solomon could not have said that he was wiser than “all who were over Jerusalem before me,” for that would point to a long succession of kings before him. But the author may have meant prominent wise men rather than kings (see 1 Kgs 4:31).<\/p>\nOne of the chief difficulties with Solomonic authorship is the fact that OT history does not record a period of spiritual revival in Solomon’s life as a context for the book of Ecclesiastes. That is not a conclusive argument, however, for the thoughts recorded in the book are intensely personal in nature. The historical books of the OT deal primarily with historical developments, mentioning personal aspects of human life only where they bear upon God’s purposes as reflected in the national history. It would, in fact, be surprising if the extremely personal struggles recorded in Ecclesiastes were cited by the historical writers.<\/p>\nThe question of authorship is a difficult one, but there seems to be no conclusive evidence against Solomon as the author of Ecclesiastes.<\/p>\nDate<\/p>\nThe majority of scholars who hold to the Solomonic authorship of Ecclesiastes date the book in Solomon’s final years as king (c. 940 BC<\/span>). The book would then have been written in the golden era of Israelite wisdom, by one of the foremost proponents of wisdom teaching.<\/p>\nThose who deny Solomonic authorship disagree among themselves as to when the book was written, but most date it in the postexilic period. A Maccabean date (c. 165 BC<\/span>) is difficult to maintain, because fragments of the book, dated in the second century BC<\/span>, have been found at the Dead Sea site of Qumran. Also, the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, probably written in the early second century BC<\/span>, was heavily influenced by Ecclesiastes. Such factors would allow little time for the writing and circulation of the book in the Maccabean period.<\/p>\nA number of conservative scholars, such as Franz Delitzsch and E. J. Young, have assigned a fifth-century BC<\/span> date to the book. Many others consider it a third-century BC<\/span> document.<\/p>\n<h5>Internal Evidence<\/h5>\nAttempts have been made to determine the date of the book of Ecclesiastes from alleged historical allusions. But the somewhat gloomy observations found in such passages as 1:2-11 and 3:1-15 need be nothing more than the author’s conclusions about the emptiness of life. They do not necessarily indicate that the book was written in a time of national decline or social decay within Israel, a time that would not fit with the reign of Solomon.<\/p>\nIt is also alleged that the book contains allusions to Greek philosophical concepts. That would indicate that it was written sometime after the Hellenization of the Syro-Palestinian world effected by the conquests of Alexander the Great (356–323 BC<\/span>).<\/p>\nOne of those philosophical concepts is the “golden mean” propounded by Aristotle. The golden mean calls for avoiding extremes in the pursuit of satisfaction in life, and it is reflected in Ecclesiastes 7:14-18. The same concept is found in Egyptian wisdom literature (Instruction of Amen-em-opet<\/em> 9.14), as well as in Aramaic wisdom literature. In one of the finest examples of Aramaic wisdom, The Words of Ahiqar,<\/em> the golden mean is expressed in the words “Be not (too) sweet, lest they [swallow you]; be not (too) bitter [lest they spit you out<\/em>].” But the golden mean concept need not indicate one particular period of thought; it may simply represent a basic kind of wisdom shared by people of all times and all ethnic backgrounds.<\/p>\n<h5>Linguistic Considerations<\/h5>\nThe most critical issue in dating Ecclesiastes is the nature of the book’s language. The Hebrew of Ecclesiastes is unique, differing stylistically and linguistically from such fifth-century OT books as Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zechariah.<\/p>\nSome scholars maintain that the language of Ecclesiastes was heavily influenced by Aramaic, and thus the book was written at a time when the Aramaic language was influential in the Hebrew-speaking world. Others have argued that the peculiarities of the Hebrew should be understood as affinities with Canaanite-Phoenician dialects.<\/p>\nIt is often asserted that the Hebrew of the book is similar to later Mishnaic Hebrew, particularly in its use of the relative pronoun. Yet the language of Ecclesiastes is dissimilar to the Mishnah in other ways.<\/p>\nThe linguistic evidence could point to a late date for the book, but it is also possible that Solomon wrote in a literary style that was heavily influenced by Phoenician literature. Such a style may have become a standard for the literary genre into which Ecclesiastes falls. During the reign of Solomon, contacts between Palestine and Phoenicia were quite common.<\/p>\nPurpose and Theological Teaching<\/p>\nThe book of Ecclesiastes demonstrates the meaninglessness of a worldview that does not press beyond the limits of human experience to include God. It seeks to show that meaningful satisfaction may be attained in a universe that seems to be nothing more than a succession of wearying cycles—a universe into which people are locked with no apparent means of escape. According to Koheleth, freedom can be achieved by fearing God and believing that God will ultimately judge everything fairly. Thus, life has a goal and purpose that it will reach, although in the course of history and the processes of the physical world, it may not look that way.<\/p>\nThe book’s chief theological tenet is that God is not disinterested in the course of human events with its gross injustices. He will judge every deed. Life, therefore, has a purpose, and human deeds have meaning.<\/p>\nKoheleth is often accused of having a pessimistic view of life. One cannot read such passages as 1:12-14, 18 and 2:1-9, 18-23 without feeling his helplessness as he viewed what seemed an empty existence. But Koheleth’s pessimism had to do with life apart from God. To him such a life had no meaning.<\/p>\nA positive good emerges from the book, however, even though it is often overlooked. Koheleth speaks in terms of absolutes as he spins his argument. There is an absolute good for people as they live in a seemingly meaningless world. That good is the enjoyment of God’s gifts to his people. Thus Koheleth is not an utter pessimist. When he lifts the horizons of his worldview to include the hand of God at work in the world, he becomes an optimist. But when he looks at life without God, he is pessimistic, for such a view offers only despair.<\/p>\nKoheleth’s “theology of contentment” is clear in such passages as 2:24-25, 3:10-13, and 3:22. The first passage seems to express a hedonistic view of life, making eating and drinking the main purpose. The expression “eat and drink” is a Semitic idiom that seems to express the everyday routines of life (cf. Jer 22:15; Lk 17:27-28). Koheleth’s use of the phrase, then, simply means that one should enjoy God’s providence. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not endured.<\/p>\nIn 3:10-13 Koheleth sets forth the great enigma of humankind: God has put the knowledge of eternity in the human mind. That is, he has made the mind able to go beyond the limits of physical existence. Yet even that ability to conceptualize the eternal does not explain all of God’s purposes. Therefore, it is good for a person simply to accept human limitation and enjoy whatever knowledge God gives.<\/p>\nEcclesiastes 3:16–4:3 is a difficult section of the book. There Koheleth observes the inequities of life and concludes that God allows such things for the purpose of “sifting” people to show them that they are no more than animals. The same principle appears in 8:11, where Koheleth observes that when evil goes unpunished, the wicked are encouraged to continue to do evil. In 3:18 he asserts that injustice is present in the world to distinguish the good from the wicked. The Hebrew in that assertion should be translated “in and of themselves.” That is, viewed alone, apart from God, humankind is no better than animals. If one adopts a worldview that omits God, there can be no way of knowing what lies beyond the grave (3:21). The inequities that Koheleth observes will be corrected only in the Day of Judgment. Thus, it is best for a person to be content with God’s providence and not to be anxious about tomorrow (3:22).<\/p>\nThe key to understanding the book of Ecclesiastes is the recurring phrase “under the sun.” That phrase defines Koheleth’s perspective. He is not judging all human experience as vain. Rather, he is observing life “under the sun,” or apart from God, as vain. The apostle Paul rendered the same verdict on the created world in Romans 8:20-23, but he went on to say that God uses all things in his world to work out good results for his people (Rom 8:28). Koheleth’s viewpoint is similarly helpful.<\/p>\nKoheleth has often been interpreted as expressing an Epicurean view of life, that eating and drinking are humanity’s highest good. In 2:1-8, however, he tests pleasure and finds it futile. He concludes that pleasure is not an absolute good. The passages that speak of eating and drinking refer only to the enjoyment of those good and necessary things that come from God’s hand.<\/p>\nContent<\/p>\n<h5>The Vanity of the Cycle of History and Nature (1:1-11)<\/h5>\nKoheleth begins his recital of the vanity of life by observing its emptiness and the apparent lack of purpose in the processes of nature. Human toil is fruitless (1:3), and the endless cycle of life and history is meaningless (1:4-11).<\/p>\n<h5>The Vanity of Koheleth’s Own Experience (1:12–2:26)<\/h5>\nIn this dramatic section Koheleth looks back to observe the futility of aspects of his life that some might have regarded as possessing great value. He recalls his search for wisdom, but pronounces human philosophy futile (1:12-18). His search for pleasure (2:1-11) also ended in futility. In the light of this conclusion, Koheleth hardly sets forth the attainment of pleasure as life’s highest good. The search for valid philosophical verities is wearisome and futile in its outcome (vv 12-17). Human toil is also vain (vv 18-23), because one can never be sure who will inherit the reward of one’s toil (v 21). Koheleth concludes that the greatest good is to accept God’s providence joyfully (vv 24-26), an optimistic note in his message.<\/p>\n<h5>The Plight of Humanity apart from God (3:1-22)<\/h5>\nKoheleth’s familiar statement that everything in life has its time (3:1-9) has often been interpreted as crassly fatalistic. But those verses more probably set forth the unalterability of life’s circumstances. Humankind is locked into a continuum from which there is no escape, yet people are able to think in terms that go beyond the physical (v 11). That is the enigma of humankind. Viewed apart from God, people really are no better than animals (vv 19-20).<\/p>\n<h5>Conclusions Resulting from Koheleth’s Observations (4:1-16)<\/h5>\nThe author begins with a gloomy outlook on life (4:1-3) but goes on to draw conclusions of permanent value. He points out, for example, that life’s difficulties are better faced with a partner than alone (vv 9-12).<\/p>\n<h5>The Vanity of Living Only for Oneself (5:1–6:12)<\/h5>\nKoheleth gives a powerful denunciation of a self-seeking life by focusing on God (5:1-2, 4-6). His condemnation of the misuse of riches and his concern for the poor (5:8–6:9) are themes later emphasized in the NT.<\/p>\n<h5>Wisdom for Living (7:1–8:17)<\/h5>\nThis fine example of OT Wisdom Literature uses a proverbial pattern (7:1-13) and personal references (vv 23-29) to give insight into how one may find true satisfaction. The whole passage upholds the virtue of godly wisdom. Koheleth’s theology of contentment underlies his observation that God is the source of adversity as well as prosperity (v 14). He affirms that one should accept both as coming from God. Applying wisdom to governmental authority (8:2-9), Koheleth counsels the reader to obey the authorities. The apostle Paul gave the same advice in Romans 13. Koheleth strikes an optimistic note (Eccl 8:13), exalting the fear of God. The author is not totally pessimistic, for he shows that fearing God leads to genuine satisfaction.<\/p>\n<h5>Observations on Life’s Seeming Injustices (9:1-18)<\/h5>\n“Under the sun,” that is, apart from God, there are no apparent differences among human beings (9:1-6, 11-12). Great deeds often go unnoticed and unthanked (vv 13-16). A person should nonetheless be content, for life does offer certain benefits (vv 7-10).<\/p>\n<h5>Wisdom and Folly (10:1-20)<\/h5>\nWisdom in the OT basically means knowing God, and folly is rejection of God. Koheleth shows how wisdom can lead to honor and satisfaction, and folly can lead to ruin.<\/p>\n<h5>Koheleth’s Conclusion—Fear God (11:1–12:14)<\/h5>\nThe book of Ecclesiastes began with a pronouncement of vanity on all creation, and it ends with Koheleth looking beyond his gloomy vistas to see God. Chapter 11 begins with a statement of human inability to understand the ways of God. Though people are meant to enjoy life, they must remember that the future will bring God’s judgment (11:9-10). After giving a beautiful description of old age (12:1-8) and encouraging the reader to fear God in youth, Koheleth states his conclusion. A person’s whole duty is to fear God (vv 13-14). The pleasure of youth will burst like a bubble and, without God, one will finally have nothing. Satisfaction can come only as one fears God. Life without God is the ultimate vanity.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Solomon (Person); Wisdom; Wisdom Literature.<\/p>","summary_ro":"ECCLESIASTES, Book of OT book of Wisdom Literature. Ecclesiastes is philosophical in character, posing deep questions about the meaning and nature of human existence. “Ecclesiastes” is the Greek title for the book and has come into English from the Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT). In keeping with an early Jewish practice of adopting the first few words of a book as the title, the Hebrew title of Ecclesiastes is “The Words of Koheleth, the Son of David, King in Jerusalem.” It is also ...","summary_en":"ECCLESIASTES, Book of OT book of Wisdom Literature. Ecclesiastes is philosophical in character, posing deep questions about the meaning and nature of human existence. “Ecclesiastes” is the Greek title for the book and has come into English from the Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT). In keeping with an early Jewish practice of adopting the first few words of a book as the title, the Hebrew title of Ecclesiastes is “The Words of Koheleth, the Son of David, King in Jerusalem.” It is also ...","source":"Articles\/E.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":12449,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"the Flood","title_en":"the Flood","content_ro":"<h3>FLOOD, The<\/h3>\nRising and overflowing of water to cover the land, specifically the flood of Noah.<\/p>\nBiblical Account<\/p>\nThe narrative of Noah’s flood, found in Genesis 6–9, is referred to frequently elsewhere in the Bible, in each case being mentioned as a historical event (Gn 10:1, 32; 11:10; Mt 24:38-39; Lk 17:27; 2 Pt 2:5). According to the biblical account, God brought about the Flood because of human society’s increasing deterioration, which finally reached a point where “the wickedness of man was great in the earth” (Gn 6:5, rsv<\/span>). God determined to destroy the race and to begin again with a new people who would obey him (cf. Gn 1:26-28). Of all the people on earth, only Noah, his sons, and their wives remained faithful to the Lord. They became God’s means of repopulating the earth following its watery destruction. After a period of 120 years’ preparation, during which Noah built a great ship and preached God’s coming judgment (Gn 6:3; cf. Heb 11:7; 1 Pt 3:20; 2 Pt 2:5), the Flood came in the form of heavy rain, giving rise to subterranean waters (Gn 7:11). Only the selected pairs of land animals brought aboard the vessel were saved from the onslaught. For more than a year the waters prevailed, until finally the waters receded and the earth was dry and habitable again (Gn 7:6-12, 24; 8:3-6, 10-14). When Noah and his family left the ark, they offered sacrifices to God in thanksgiving. God then promised that he would never again destroy the earth by a flood.<\/p>\nExtent of the Flood<\/p>\nScholars who view the flood account as history are divided as to its geographical extent. An objective reading of the story would seem to indicate that the whole earth was flooded, even to the height of the highest mountains (Gn 7:17-20; 8:4). Some have argued that waters high enough to cover “all the high mountains under the whole heaven” (7:19, rsv<\/span>) would extend over the entire earth. Some advocates of a local flood respond that the narrative uses the language of appearance (that is, to Noah it appeared<\/em> that all the earth was flooded). Thus a universal flood was unnecessary, for God wished to destroy only the human race, which at that time may have lived only in Mesopotamia. Others point out translation difficulties in the use of the word “earth.” In Genesis 1:1, it is part of an ancient idiomatic expression denoting totality (“heaven and earth” means “cosmos”). Sometimes “earth” describes a person’s country (Gn 47:13), the soil itself (23:15), and so on. Thus, one should not necessarily assume that the use of the word in the Genesis flood story implies the complete inundation of the world.<\/p>\nSome advocates of a universal flood use the presence of marine fossils on the tops of the world’s highest mountains in support of their arguments. But others disagree, saying that since all the mountains originally emerged from the seas, they would be expected to preserve traces of their marine ancestry on their summits. One’s view on the matter must be determined in the final analysis on theological considerations as well as interpretive factors. See<\/em> “Scientific Evidence for the Flood?”.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Gilgamesh Epic; Noah #1.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>FLOOD, The<\/h3>\nRising and overflowing of water to cover the land, specifically the flood of Noah.<\/p>\nBiblical Account<\/p>\nThe narrative of Noah’s flood, found in Genesis 6–9, is referred to frequently elsewhere in the Bible, in each case being mentioned as a historical event (Gn 10:1, 32; 11:10; Mt 24:38-39; Lk 17:27; 2 Pt 2:5). According to the biblical account, God brought about the Flood because of human society’s increasing deterioration, which finally reached a point where “the wickedness of man was great in the earth” (Gn 6:5, rsv<\/span>). God determined to destroy the race and to begin again with a new people who would obey him (cf. Gn 1:26-28). Of all the people on earth, only Noah, his sons, and their wives remained faithful to the Lord. They became God’s means of repopulating the earth following its watery destruction. After a period of 120 years’ preparation, during which Noah built a great ship and preached God’s coming judgment (Gn 6:3; cf. Heb 11:7; 1 Pt 3:20; 2 Pt 2:5), the Flood came in the form of heavy rain, giving rise to subterranean waters (Gn 7:11). Only the selected pairs of land animals brought aboard the vessel were saved from the onslaught. For more than a year the waters prevailed, until finally the waters receded and the earth was dry and habitable again (Gn 7:6-12, 24; 8:3-6, 10-14). When Noah and his family left the ark, they offered sacrifices to God in thanksgiving. God then promised that he would never again destroy the earth by a flood.<\/p>\nExtent of the Flood<\/p>\nScholars who view the flood account as history are divided as to its geographical extent. An objective reading of the story would seem to indicate that the whole earth was flooded, even to the height of the highest mountains (Gn 7:17-20; 8:4). Some have argued that waters high enough to cover “all the high mountains under the whole heaven” (7:19, rsv<\/span>) would extend over the entire earth. Some advocates of a local flood respond that the narrative uses the language of appearance (that is, to Noah it appeared<\/em> that all the earth was flooded). Thus a universal flood was unnecessary, for God wished to destroy only the human race, which at that time may have lived only in Mesopotamia. Others point out translation difficulties in the use of the word “earth.” In Genesis 1:1, it is part of an ancient idiomatic expression denoting totality (“heaven and earth” means “cosmos”). Sometimes “earth” describes a person’s country (Gn 47:13), the soil itself (23:15), and so on. Thus, one should not necessarily assume that the use of the word in the Genesis flood story implies the complete inundation of the world.<\/p>\nSome advocates of a universal flood use the presence of marine fossils on the tops of the world’s highest mountains in support of their arguments. But others disagree, saying that since all the mountains originally emerged from the seas, they would be expected to preserve traces of their marine ancestry on their summits. One’s view on the matter must be determined in the final analysis on theological considerations as well as interpretive factors. See<\/em> “Scientific Evidence for the Flood?”.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Gilgamesh Epic; Noah #1.<\/p>","summary_ro":"FLOOD, The Rising and overflowing of water to cover the land, specifically the flood of Noah. Biblical Account The narrative of Noah’s flood, found in Genesis 6–9, is referred to frequently elsewhere in the Bible, in each case being mentioned as a historical event (Gn 10:1, 32; 11:10; Mt 24:38-39; Lk 17:27; 2 Pt 2:5). According to the biblical account, God brought about the Flood because of human society’s increasing deterioration, which finally reached a point where “the wickedness of man wa...","summary_en":"FLOOD, The Rising and overflowing of water to cover the land, specifically the flood of Noah. Biblical Account The narrative of Noah’s flood, found in Genesis 6–9, is referred to frequently elsewhere in the Bible, in each case being mentioned as a historical event (Gn 10:1, 32; 11:10; Mt 24:38-39; Lk 17:27; 2 Pt 2:5). According to the biblical account, God brought about the Flood because of human society’s increasing deterioration, which finally reached a point where “the wickedness of man wa...","source":"Articles\/F.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"28":[{"id":40601,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"Lot","title_en":"Lot","content_ro":"<h3>Lot<\/h3>\nLot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt.<\/p>\nWhen Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord<\/span>” (Gen 13:10), and eventually he took up residence in Sodom. Lot’s increasing involvement with the completely corrupt cities of the plain compromised him.<\/p>\nWhile Lot lived in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings defeated the kings of five towns in the area; in the subsequent plundering, they carried off Lot, his family, and his possessions (Gen 14:1-12). When word of this reached Abraham, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered the prisoners and property (14:13-16).<\/p>\nBecause of the wickedness of Sodom and the neighboring city of Gomorrah, God decided to destroy these towns. He sent two angelic visitors to Lot in Sodom to encourage his departure from the doomed city (Gen 19:1-15). The city’s depravity became even more evident in an attempted homosexual attack on the visitors. Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters, along with his reluctance to leave Sodom, shows how corrupt and compromised he had become. No one but his immediate family accompanied him, and his wife was destroyed when she turned back in disobedience. Soon after the destruction of Sodom, Lot’s daughters, despairing of having no husbands, got Lot drunk enough to have sexual relations with them. Their two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, were ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites (Gen 19:30-38), two nations that became inveterate enemies of Israel (see Deut 23:3-6). Despite Lot’s waywardness, Peter declares that Lot was a “righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day” (see 2 Pet 2:6-9). This analysis of Lot may stem from Jewish interpretive tradition, as it is difficult to see in the Genesis account.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 11:27, 31; 12:4-5; 13:1-14; 14:12-16; 19:1-38; Deut 2:9, 17-19; Ps 83:4-8; Luke 17:28-33; 2 Pet 2:6-9<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Lot<\/h3>\nLot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt.<\/p>\nWhen Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord<\/span>” (Gen 13:10), and eventually he took up residence in Sodom. Lot’s increasing involvement with the completely corrupt cities of the plain compromised him.<\/p>\nWhile Lot lived in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings defeated the kings of five towns in the area; in the subsequent plundering, they carried off Lot, his family, and his possessions (Gen 14:1-12). When word of this reached Abraham, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered the prisoners and property (14:13-16).<\/p>\nBecause of the wickedness of Sodom and the neighboring city of Gomorrah, God decided to destroy these towns. He sent two angelic visitors to Lot in Sodom to encourage his departure from the doomed city (Gen 19:1-15). The city’s depravity became even more evident in an attempted homosexual attack on the visitors. Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters, along with his reluctance to leave Sodom, shows how corrupt and compromised he had become. No one but his immediate family accompanied him, and his wife was destroyed when she turned back in disobedience. Soon after the destruction of Sodom, Lot’s daughters, despairing of having no husbands, got Lot drunk enough to have sexual relations with them. Their two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, were ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites (Gen 19:30-38), two nations that became inveterate enemies of Israel (see Deut 23:3-6). Despite Lot’s waywardness, Peter declares that Lot was a “righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day” (see 2 Pet 2:6-9). This analysis of Lot may stem from Jewish interpretive tradition, as it is difficult to see in the Genesis account.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 11:27, 31; 12:4-5; 13:1-14; 14:12-16; 19:1-38; Deut 2:9, 17-19; Ps 83:4-8; Luke 17:28-33; 2 Pet 2:6-9<\/p>","summary_ro":"Lot Lot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt. When Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord” (Gen 1...","summary_en":"Lot Lot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt. When Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord” (Gen 1...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":68227,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"Lot","title_en":"Lot","content_ro":"<h3>Lot<\/h3>\nLot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt.<\/p>\nWhen Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord<\/span>” (Gen 13:10), and eventually he took up residence in Sodom. Lot’s increasing involvement with the completely corrupt cities of the plain compromised him.<\/p>\nWhile Lot lived in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings defeated the kings of five towns in the area; in the subsequent plundering, they carried off Lot, his family, and his possessions (Gen 14:1-12). When word of this reached Abraham, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered the prisoners and property (14:13-16).<\/p>\nBecause of the wickedness of Sodom and the neighboring city of Gomorrah, God decided to destroy these towns. He sent two angelic visitors to Lot in Sodom to encourage his departure from the doomed city (Gen 19:1-15). The city’s depravity became even more evident in an attempted homosexual attack on the visitors. Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters, along with his reluctance to leave Sodom, shows how corrupt and compromised he had become. No one but his immediate family accompanied him, and his wife was destroyed when she turned back in disobedience. Soon after the destruction of Sodom, Lot’s daughters, despairing of having no husbands, got Lot drunk enough to have sexual relations with them. Their two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, were ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites (Gen 19:30-38), two nations that became inveterate enemies of Israel (see Deut 23:3-6). Despite Lot’s waywardness, Peter declares that Lot was a “righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day” (see 2 Pet 2:6-9). This analysis of Lot may stem from Jewish interpretive tradition, as it is difficult to see in the Genesis account.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 11:27, 31; 12:4-5; 13:1-14; 14:12-16; 19:1-38; Deut 2:9, 17-19; Ps 83:4-8; Luke 17:28-33; 2 Pet 2:6-9<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Lot<\/h3>\nLot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt.<\/p>\nWhen Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord<\/span>” (Gen 13:10), and eventually he took up residence in Sodom. Lot’s increasing involvement with the completely corrupt cities of the plain compromised him.<\/p>\nWhile Lot lived in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings defeated the kings of five towns in the area; in the subsequent plundering, they carried off Lot, his family, and his possessions (Gen 14:1-12). When word of this reached Abraham, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered the prisoners and property (14:13-16).<\/p>\nBecause of the wickedness of Sodom and the neighboring city of Gomorrah, God decided to destroy these towns. He sent two angelic visitors to Lot in Sodom to encourage his departure from the doomed city (Gen 19:1-15). The city’s depravity became even more evident in an attempted homosexual attack on the visitors. Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters, along with his reluctance to leave Sodom, shows how corrupt and compromised he had become. No one but his immediate family accompanied him, and his wife was destroyed when she turned back in disobedience. Soon after the destruction of Sodom, Lot’s daughters, despairing of having no husbands, got Lot drunk enough to have sexual relations with them. Their two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, were ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites (Gen 19:30-38), two nations that became inveterate enemies of Israel (see Deut 23:3-6). Despite Lot’s waywardness, Peter declares that Lot was a “righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day” (see 2 Pet 2:6-9). This analysis of Lot may stem from Jewish interpretive tradition, as it is difficult to see in the Genesis account.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 11:27, 31; 12:4-5; 13:1-14; 14:12-16; 19:1-38; Deut 2:9, 17-19; Ps 83:4-8; Luke 17:28-33; 2 Pet 2:6-9<\/p>","summary_ro":"Lot Lot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt. When Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord” (Gen 1...","summary_en":"Lot Lot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt. When Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord” (Gen 1...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":95853,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"Lot","title_en":"Lot","content_ro":"<h3>Lot<\/h3>\nLot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt.<\/p>\nWhen Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord<\/span>” (Gen 13:10), and eventually he took up residence in Sodom. Lot’s increasing involvement with the completely corrupt cities of the plain compromised him.<\/p>\nWhile Lot lived in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings defeated the kings of five towns in the area; in the subsequent plundering, they carried off Lot, his family, and his possessions (Gen 14:1-12). When word of this reached Abraham, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered the prisoners and property (14:13-16).<\/p>\nBecause of the wickedness of Sodom and the neighboring city of Gomorrah, God decided to destroy these towns. He sent two angelic visitors to Lot in Sodom to encourage his departure from the doomed city (Gen 19:1-15). The city’s depravity became even more evident in an attempted homosexual attack on the visitors. Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters, along with his reluctance to leave Sodom, shows how corrupt and compromised he had become. No one but his immediate family accompanied him, and his wife was destroyed when she turned back in disobedience. Soon after the destruction of Sodom, Lot’s daughters, despairing of having no husbands, got Lot drunk enough to have sexual relations with them. Their two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, were ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites (Gen 19:30-38), two nations that became inveterate enemies of Israel (see Deut 23:3-6). Despite Lot’s waywardness, Peter declares that Lot was a “righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day” (see 2 Pet 2:6-9). This analysis of Lot may stem from Jewish interpretive tradition, as it is difficult to see in the Genesis account.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 11:27, 31; 12:4-5; 13:1-14; 14:12-16; 19:1-38; Deut 2:9, 17-19; Ps 83:4-8; Luke 17:28-33; 2 Pet 2:6-9<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Lot<\/h3>\nLot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt.<\/p>\nWhen Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord<\/span>” (Gen 13:10), and eventually he took up residence in Sodom. Lot’s increasing involvement with the completely corrupt cities of the plain compromised him.<\/p>\nWhile Lot lived in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings defeated the kings of five towns in the area; in the subsequent plundering, they carried off Lot, his family, and his possessions (Gen 14:1-12). When word of this reached Abraham, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered the prisoners and property (14:13-16).<\/p>\nBecause of the wickedness of Sodom and the neighboring city of Gomorrah, God decided to destroy these towns. He sent two angelic visitors to Lot in Sodom to encourage his departure from the doomed city (Gen 19:1-15). The city’s depravity became even more evident in an attempted homosexual attack on the visitors. Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters, along with his reluctance to leave Sodom, shows how corrupt and compromised he had become. No one but his immediate family accompanied him, and his wife was destroyed when she turned back in disobedience. Soon after the destruction of Sodom, Lot’s daughters, despairing of having no husbands, got Lot drunk enough to have sexual relations with them. Their two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, were ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites (Gen 19:30-38), two nations that became inveterate enemies of Israel (see Deut 23:3-6). Despite Lot’s waywardness, Peter declares that Lot was a “righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day” (see 2 Pet 2:6-9). This analysis of Lot may stem from Jewish interpretive tradition, as it is difficult to see in the Genesis account.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 11:27, 31; 12:4-5; 13:1-14; 14:12-16; 19:1-38; Deut 2:9, 17-19; Ps 83:4-8; Luke 17:28-33; 2 Pet 2:6-9<\/p>","summary_ro":"Lot Lot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt. When Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord” (Gen 1...","summary_en":"Lot Lot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt. When Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord” (Gen 1...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":123479,"type":"profile","type_label":"Profil","type_icon":"👤","type_color":"#f59e0b","title_ro":"Lot","title_en":"Lot","content_ro":"<h3>Lot<\/h3>\nLot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt.<\/p>\nWhen Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord<\/span>” (Gen 13:10), and eventually he took up residence in Sodom. Lot’s increasing involvement with the completely corrupt cities of the plain compromised him.<\/p>\nWhile Lot lived in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings defeated the kings of five towns in the area; in the subsequent plundering, they carried off Lot, his family, and his possessions (Gen 14:1-12). When word of this reached Abraham, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered the prisoners and property (14:13-16).<\/p>\nBecause of the wickedness of Sodom and the neighboring city of Gomorrah, God decided to destroy these towns. He sent two angelic visitors to Lot in Sodom to encourage his departure from the doomed city (Gen 19:1-15). The city’s depravity became even more evident in an attempted homosexual attack on the visitors. Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters, along with his reluctance to leave Sodom, shows how corrupt and compromised he had become. No one but his immediate family accompanied him, and his wife was destroyed when she turned back in disobedience. Soon after the destruction of Sodom, Lot’s daughters, despairing of having no husbands, got Lot drunk enough to have sexual relations with them. Their two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, were ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites (Gen 19:30-38), two nations that became inveterate enemies of Israel (see Deut 23:3-6). Despite Lot’s waywardness, Peter declares that Lot was a “righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day” (see 2 Pet 2:6-9). This analysis of Lot may stem from Jewish interpretive tradition, as it is difficult to see in the Genesis account.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 11:27, 31; 12:4-5; 13:1-14; 14:12-16; 19:1-38; Deut 2:9, 17-19; Ps 83:4-8; Luke 17:28-33; 2 Pet 2:6-9<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>Lot<\/h3>\nLot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt.<\/p>\nWhen Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord<\/span>” (Gen 13:10), and eventually he took up residence in Sodom. Lot’s increasing involvement with the completely corrupt cities of the plain compromised him.<\/p>\nWhile Lot lived in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings defeated the kings of five towns in the area; in the subsequent plundering, they carried off Lot, his family, and his possessions (Gen 14:1-12). When word of this reached Abraham, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered the prisoners and property (14:13-16).<\/p>\nBecause of the wickedness of Sodom and the neighboring city of Gomorrah, God decided to destroy these towns. He sent two angelic visitors to Lot in Sodom to encourage his departure from the doomed city (Gen 19:1-15). The city’s depravity became even more evident in an attempted homosexual attack on the visitors. Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters, along with his reluctance to leave Sodom, shows how corrupt and compromised he had become. No one but his immediate family accompanied him, and his wife was destroyed when she turned back in disobedience. Soon after the destruction of Sodom, Lot’s daughters, despairing of having no husbands, got Lot drunk enough to have sexual relations with them. Their two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, were ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites (Gen 19:30-38), two nations that became inveterate enemies of Israel (see Deut 23:3-6). Despite Lot’s waywardness, Peter declares that Lot was a “righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day” (see 2 Pet 2:6-9). This analysis of Lot may stem from Jewish interpretive tradition, as it is difficult to see in the Genesis account.<\/p>\nPassages for Further Study<\/strong><\/p>\nGen 11:27, 31; 12:4-5; 13:1-14; 14:12-16; 19:1-38; Deut 2:9, 17-19; Ps 83:4-8; Luke 17:28-33; 2 Pet 2:6-9<\/p>","summary_ro":"Lot Lot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt. When Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord” (Gen 1...","summary_en":"Lot Lot was Abraham’s nephew and the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites. Like Abraham, Lot was born in Ur and accompanied Terah to Haran (Gen 11:27-32). After Terah’s death, he joined Abraham in journeying to Canaan and Egypt. When Lot and Abraham returned from Egypt to Canaan, their flocks and herds grew too numerous for them to live together, so Abraham gave Lot his choice of land on which to settle. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan that was like “the garden of the Lord” (Gen 1...","source":"Profiles.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":23531,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Lot","title_en":"Lot","content_ro":"<h3>LOT<\/h3>\nAbraham’s nephew; progenitor of both the Moabites and the Ammonites. Like Abraham, he was born in Ur. When his father died, he was put in the care of his grandfather Terah, and accompanied him and his uncle Abram to Haran (Gn 11:27-32). After the death of Terah, he joined Abram in the journey to Canaan and subsequently to Egypt and back to Canaan.<\/p>\nBy the time the pair returned to Canaan, their flocks and herds were too numerous for them to live together in a single area. Generously, Abram gave Lot his choice of where he would like to settle; Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan, which was like a “garden of the Lord” (Gn 13:10) before the divine judgment and catastrophe fell on the region. Thus, Lot became increasingly involved with and contaminated by the corruption of the cities of the plain and took up his residence in Sodom.<\/p>\nWhile Lot was living in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings (probably of small city-states) defeated the kings of the five towns in the area in battle, and in the subsequent plundering they carried off Lot and his family and possessions. When word of the loss reached Abram, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered all the prisoners and the loot at Hobah, north of Damascus (Gn 14).<\/p>\nSubsequently, two angelic visitors called on Lot in Sodom to hasten his departure from the doomed city. The homosexual attack on them illustrated the depravity of the city, and Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters shows how the corruption of his environment was rubbing off on him. As further evidence of the evil influence, Lot was unwilling to leave Sodom; his future sons-in-law refused to accompany him; and his wife looked back and was turned to a pillar of salt (Gn 19).<\/p>\nThe sequel to the story was as sordid as the scene at Lot’s door. His daughters, despairing of husbands of their own, got him drunk enough to engage in sexual relations with them. The result was the birth of two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites, inveterate enemies of Israel (Gn 19:30-38).<\/p>\nIn spite of his waywardness the NT declares that Lot was a “righteous man” (2 Pt 2:7-9), apparently meaning that his faith in God was sufficient to guarantee his salvation. To critics who question the historicity of Lot and the destruction of Sodom, it must be noted that Jesus vouched for both in Luke 17:28-29.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Sodom and Gomorrah.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>LOT<\/h3>\nAbraham’s nephew; progenitor of both the Moabites and the Ammonites. Like Abraham, he was born in Ur. When his father died, he was put in the care of his grandfather Terah, and accompanied him and his uncle Abram to Haran (Gn 11:27-32). After the death of Terah, he joined Abram in the journey to Canaan and subsequently to Egypt and back to Canaan.<\/p>\nBy the time the pair returned to Canaan, their flocks and herds were too numerous for them to live together in a single area. Generously, Abram gave Lot his choice of where he would like to settle; Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan, which was like a “garden of the Lord” (Gn 13:10) before the divine judgment and catastrophe fell on the region. Thus, Lot became increasingly involved with and contaminated by the corruption of the cities of the plain and took up his residence in Sodom.<\/p>\nWhile Lot was living in Sodom, four Mesopotamian kings (probably of small city-states) defeated the kings of the five towns in the area in battle, and in the subsequent plundering they carried off Lot and his family and possessions. When word of the loss reached Abram, he launched a rearguard action against the invaders and recovered all the prisoners and the loot at Hobah, north of Damascus (Gn 14).<\/p>\nSubsequently, two angelic visitors called on Lot in Sodom to hasten his departure from the doomed city. The homosexual attack on them illustrated the depravity of the city, and Lot’s willingness to sacrifice his daughters shows how the corruption of his environment was rubbing off on him. As further evidence of the evil influence, Lot was unwilling to leave Sodom; his future sons-in-law refused to accompany him; and his wife looked back and was turned to a pillar of salt (Gn 19).<\/p>\nThe sequel to the story was as sordid as the scene at Lot’s door. His daughters, despairing of husbands of their own, got him drunk enough to engage in sexual relations with them. The result was the birth of two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites, inveterate enemies of Israel (Gn 19:30-38).<\/p>\nIn spite of his waywardness the NT declares that Lot was a “righteous man” (2 Pt 2:7-9), apparently meaning that his faith in God was sufficient to guarantee his salvation. To critics who question the historicity of Lot and the destruction of Sodom, it must be noted that Jesus vouched for both in Luke 17:28-29.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Sodom and Gomorrah.<\/p>","summary_ro":"LOT Abraham’s nephew; progenitor of both the Moabites and the Ammonites. Like Abraham, he was born in Ur. When his father died, he was put in the care of his grandfather Terah, and accompanied him and his uncle Abram to Haran (Gn 11:27-32). After the death of Terah, he joined Abram in the journey to Canaan and subsequently to Egypt and back to Canaan. By the time the pair returned to Canaan, their flocks and herds were too numerous for them to live together in a single area. Generously, Abram...","summary_en":"LOT Abraham’s nephew; progenitor of both the Moabites and the Ammonites. Like Abraham, he was born in Ur. When his father died, he was put in the care of his grandfather Terah, and accompanied him and his uncle Abram to Haran (Gn 11:27-32). After the death of Terah, he joined Abram in the journey to Canaan and subsequently to Egypt and back to Canaan. By the time the pair returned to Canaan, their flocks and herds were too numerous for them to live together in a single area. Generously, Abram...","source":"Articles\/L.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"29":[{"id":5713,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Brimstone*","title_en":"Brimstone*","content_ro":"<h3>BRIMSTONE*<\/h3>\nOld name for the nonmetallic element sulfur, literally “the stone that burns.” Sulfur ignites at a relatively low temperature and burns to produce acrid fumes of sulfur dioxide. Sulfur occurs naturally in volcanic regions such as the valley of the Dead Sea. “Fire and brimstone” are strongly associated in the Bible with divine retribution (Gn 19:24; Dt 29:23; Jb 18:15; Ps 11:6; Ez 38:22; and in kjv<\/span>, Lk 17:29; Rv 9:17-18; 14:10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:8). The last volcanic eruptions in Israel, which radiocarbon dating indicates took place about 4,000 years ago, probably left an impression on the inhabitants of the area that was passed on for generations. See<\/em> Minerals and Metals.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>BRIMSTONE*<\/h3>\nOld name for the nonmetallic element sulfur, literally “the stone that burns.” Sulfur ignites at a relatively low temperature and burns to produce acrid fumes of sulfur dioxide. Sulfur occurs naturally in volcanic regions such as the valley of the Dead Sea. “Fire and brimstone” are strongly associated in the Bible with divine retribution (Gn 19:24; Dt 29:23; Jb 18:15; Ps 11:6; Ez 38:22; and in kjv<\/span>, Lk 17:29; Rv 9:17-18; 14:10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:8). The last volcanic eruptions in Israel, which radiocarbon dating indicates took place about 4,000 years ago, probably left an impression on the inhabitants of the area that was passed on for generations. See<\/em> Minerals and Metals.<\/p>","summary_ro":"BRIMSTONE* Old name for the nonmetallic element sulfur, literally “the stone that burns.” Sulfur ignites at a relatively low temperature and burns to produce acrid fumes of sulfur dioxide. Sulfur occurs naturally in volcanic regions such as the valley of the Dead Sea. “Fire and brimstone” are strongly associated in the Bible with divine retribution (Gn 19:24; Dt 29:23; Jb 18:15; Ps 11:6; Ez 38:22; and in kjv, Lk 17:29; Rv 9:17-18; 14:10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:8). The last volcanic eruptions in Isr...","summary_en":"BRIMSTONE* Old name for the nonmetallic element sulfur, literally “the stone that burns.” Sulfur ignites at a relatively low temperature and burns to produce acrid fumes of sulfur dioxide. Sulfur occurs naturally in volcanic regions such as the valley of the Dead Sea. “Fire and brimstone” are strongly associated in the Bible with divine retribution (Gn 19:24; Dt 29:23; Jb 18:15; Ps 11:6; Ez 38:22; and in kjv, Lk 17:29; Rv 9:17-18; 14:10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:8). The last volcanic eruptions in Isr...","source":"Articles\/B.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":35714,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Sodom and Gomorrah","title_en":"Sodom and Gomorrah","content_ro":"<h3>SODOM AND GOMORRAH<\/h3>\nTwo of the “cities of the plain [valley]” referred to in Genesis 13:12. There were five cities—Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela or Zoar (Gn 14:2)—all situated in the valley of Siddim (i.e., the Salt Sea). Of these, Sodom is mentioned most frequently in Genesis—36 times in all, of which 16 references are to Sodom alone. Sodom became known in biblical literature as the supreme example of a wicked city, and its destruction (19:24) was used as a warning of God’s judgment in other biblical writings (Dt 29:23; Is 1:9-10; Jer 23:14; 49:18; Lam 4:6; Am 4:11; Zep 2:9). The story of Sodom’s destruction found its place also in the NT (Mt 10:15; Lk 10:12; 17:29; Rom 9:29; 2 Pt 2:6; Jude 1:7; Rv 11:8).<\/p>\n\nThe primary story of Sodom and Gomorrah occurs in Genesis 18 and 19, although the biblical interest in the city begins in chapter 13 with the decision of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, to settle in the Jordan Valley, in the vicinity of Sodom, among people who were notorious sinners. It becomes clear that one of Sodom’s most grievous sins was sexual perversion, especially homosexuality. Lot’s offer of his virgin daughters to the men of Sodom to turn their attention away from his heavenly visitors is an indication of the demoralizing influence of the city.<\/p>\nFour rulers from the East descended on the region of Sodom and Gomorrah sometime after Lot settled there and subdued the area. They returned 14 years later to quell a rebellion (Gn 14:1-5). Among their captives was Lot, who was (subsequently) rescued by Abraham. The evil of Sodom and Gomorrah was so great that the Lord determined to destroy them. Abraham pleaded for mercy for them if ten righteous men could be found (18:20-33). The two heavenly visitors who went from Abraham to Sodom found Lot sitting in the gate of Sodom (19:1), revealed God’s intentions to him, and persuaded Lot and his wife and two daughters to flee the city. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. The next morning Abraham saw the smoke from the destroyed cities rising like the smoke of a furnace.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Cities of the Plain.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>SODOM AND GOMORRAH<\/h3>\nTwo of the “cities of the plain [valley]” referred to in Genesis 13:12. There were five cities—Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela or Zoar (Gn 14:2)—all situated in the valley of Siddim (i.e., the Salt Sea). Of these, Sodom is mentioned most frequently in Genesis—36 times in all, of which 16 references are to Sodom alone. Sodom became known in biblical literature as the supreme example of a wicked city, and its destruction (19:24) was used as a warning of God’s judgment in other biblical writings (Dt 29:23; Is 1:9-10; Jer 23:14; 49:18; Lam 4:6; Am 4:11; Zep 2:9). The story of Sodom’s destruction found its place also in the NT (Mt 10:15; Lk 10:12; 17:29; Rom 9:29; 2 Pt 2:6; Jude 1:7; Rv 11:8).<\/p>\n\nThe primary story of Sodom and Gomorrah occurs in Genesis 18 and 19, although the biblical interest in the city begins in chapter 13 with the decision of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, to settle in the Jordan Valley, in the vicinity of Sodom, among people who were notorious sinners. It becomes clear that one of Sodom’s most grievous sins was sexual perversion, especially homosexuality. Lot’s offer of his virgin daughters to the men of Sodom to turn their attention away from his heavenly visitors is an indication of the demoralizing influence of the city.<\/p>\nFour rulers from the East descended on the region of Sodom and Gomorrah sometime after Lot settled there and subdued the area. They returned 14 years later to quell a rebellion (Gn 14:1-5). Among their captives was Lot, who was (subsequently) rescued by Abraham. The evil of Sodom and Gomorrah was so great that the Lord determined to destroy them. Abraham pleaded for mercy for them if ten righteous men could be found (18:20-33). The two heavenly visitors who went from Abraham to Sodom found Lot sitting in the gate of Sodom (19:1), revealed God’s intentions to him, and persuaded Lot and his wife and two daughters to flee the city. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. The next morning Abraham saw the smoke from the destroyed cities rising like the smoke of a furnace.<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Cities of the Plain.<\/p>","summary_ro":"SODOM AND GOMORRAH Two of the “cities of the plain [valley]” referred to in Genesis 13:12. There were five cities—Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela or Zoar (Gn 14:2)—all situated in the valley of Siddim (i.e., the Salt Sea). Of these, Sodom is mentioned most frequently in Genesis—36 times in all, of which 16 references are to Sodom alone. Sodom became known in biblical literature as the supreme example of a wicked city, and its destruction (19:24) was used as a warning of God’s judgme...","summary_en":"SODOM AND GOMORRAH Two of the “cities of the plain [valley]” referred to in Genesis 13:12. There were five cities—Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela or Zoar (Gn 14:2)—all situated in the valley of Siddim (i.e., the Salt Sea). Of these, Sodom is mentioned most frequently in Genesis—36 times in all, of which 16 references are to Sodom alone. Sodom became known in biblical literature as the supreme example of a wicked city, and its destruction (19:24) was used as a warning of God’s judgme...","source":"Articles\/S.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"30":[{"id":8830,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Day","title_en":"Day","content_ro":"<h3>DAY<\/h3>\nMost literally, a period of time delimited by the earth’s rotation around its axis, such as the period between two consecutive sunrises; also, the portion of that period in which the sun is visible, the other portion being called “night.” The word “day” occurs over 2,000 times in the OT, over 350 times in the NT. The Hebrew word for “day” is used in a variety of ways, not merely in the literal sense. The Hebrew day began in the evening and continued until the following evening, a reckoning presumably based on the Torah (cf. Gn 1:14, 19). That kind of literal solar (24-hour) day is known as a civil day. Among other ancient Near Eastern nations the civil day began at different times. Greek custom agreed with that of the Hebrews; the Babylonians started their day at sunrise; the Egyptian and Roman day stretched from one midnight to the next.<\/p>\nBiblical Days and Weeks<\/p>\nCommonly recognized units of the visible (12-hour) day were morning, noonday, and evening (Ps 55:17). Those divisions were sometimes defined by terms for dawn (Jb 3:9), the heat of the day (1 Sm 11:11), noon (Gn 43:16), the cool of the day (3:8), and evening (Ru 2:17). The Hebrew phrase “between the two evenings” (Ex 12:6, rsv<\/span> mg) probably referred to dusk, the dark part of twilight (Ex 16:12). Division of days into consecutive hours did not take place until the time of Christ. The closest OT approximation to such a unit was the division of the day into quarters (Neh 9:3), perhaps a counterpart of the preexilic division of the night into watches.<\/p>\nThe ancient Hebrews did not name the days of the week other than the Sabbath. Rather, they referred to them numerically, a practice carried over into NT times (Lk 24:1). Because of the traditional Hebrew emphasis on the Sabbath, it was important for the Jews to know the exact time when the Sabbath began. The Pharisees therefore decided that the appearance of three stars following sunset would determine the Sabbath day’s beginning.<\/p>\nDays of Creation<\/p>\nMany people believe that the days mentioned in the Genesis Creation narrative were 24-hour periods. The phrase “there was evening, there was morning” is used to support that idea. That expression, however, is actually a Sumerian literary figure that pairs opposites together to describe totality. Thus “evening-morning” means a complete phase of time within the total creative cycle; it emphasizes the completeness or comprehensiveness of the process, not the specific period of time in which that process was accomplished. The totality of Creation, phase by phase, may have been thus depicted without any necessary reference to a defined time period.<\/p>\nSince the Sumerian civil day included only the visible (12-hour) period, a legal day of other nations was actually a “double day” (24 hours). If the early Genesis material reflects Sumerian culture, the use of “evening-morning” would preclude current concepts of a civil day and point instead to a phase or general time period.<\/p>\nOld Testament<\/p>\nIn the OT, “day” frequently has a figurative meaning—for example, the “day of the Lord” (Jl 1:15; Am 5:18), the “day of trouble” (Ps 20:1), and the “day of God’s wrath” (Jb 20:28). The plural form is sometimes used to describe a king’s reign (1 Kgs 10:21) or the extent of an individual’s life (Gn 5:4; 1 Kgs 3:14; Ps 90:12). God is described in the book of Daniel as the “Ancient of Days” (Dn 7:9, 13).<\/p>\nIn addition to the Sabbath (Gn 2:3; Ex 20:8-11), which was reserved for rest and worship, “day” was applied to the Passover celebration each spring (Ex 12:14; Lv 23:5) and the Day of Atonement (Lv 16:29-31) each autumn. As with the Sabbath, no work was performed on those occasions; prescribed religious rituals were observed.<\/p>\nNew Testament<\/p>\nIn the NT the use of “day” followed Semitic usage to some extent, although the four military night watches were of Greek and Roman origin. The 12-hour day of NT times was a legacy of Babylonian astronomy (cf. Jn 11:9).<\/p>\nIn addition to the literal usage of “day,” NT authors sometimes employed it figuratively, as in such expressions as the “day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2) and the “day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). Or they described specified periods of time, as in the “days of his Temple duties” (Lk 1:23, tlb<\/span>). Special feasts mentioned include the Passover (Jn 12:1), the days of Unleavened Bread (Acts 12:3), and the Day of Pentecost (2:1).<\/p>\nAs in the OT, the period of human life is described as days (Jn 9:4). Christians are called “children of the light and of the day” (1 Thes 5:5, nlt<\/span>). Longer periods or eras are referred to as days (2 Cor 6:2; Eph 5:16; 6:13; Heb 5:7). The ominous note struck by the Hebrew prophets about a day of judgment is matched by NT stress on a day of final divine judgment when the Son of Man (Jesus) will reveal himself as Lord (Lk 17:30; Jn 6:39-44; 1 Cor 5:5; 1 Thes 5:2; 2 Pt 2:9; 3:7, 12; 1 Jn 4:17; Rv 16:14). The “day of eternity” marks that point at which time will become eternity (2 Pt 3:18, rsv<\/span>). The new Jerusalem, dwelling place of God’s people, is described as a place of perpetual day (Rv 21:25).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Calendars, Ancient and Modern; Day of the Lord; Eschatology.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>DAY<\/h3>\nMost literally, a period of time delimited by the earth’s rotation around its axis, such as the period between two consecutive sunrises; also, the portion of that period in which the sun is visible, the other portion being called “night.” The word “day” occurs over 2,000 times in the OT, over 350 times in the NT. The Hebrew word for “day” is used in a variety of ways, not merely in the literal sense. The Hebrew day began in the evening and continued until the following evening, a reckoning presumably based on the Torah (cf. Gn 1:14, 19). That kind of literal solar (24-hour) day is known as a civil day. Among other ancient Near Eastern nations the civil day began at different times. Greek custom agreed with that of the Hebrews; the Babylonians started their day at sunrise; the Egyptian and Roman day stretched from one midnight to the next.<\/p>\nBiblical Days and Weeks<\/p>\nCommonly recognized units of the visible (12-hour) day were morning, noonday, and evening (Ps 55:17). Those divisions were sometimes defined by terms for dawn (Jb 3:9), the heat of the day (1 Sm 11:11), noon (Gn 43:16), the cool of the day (3:8), and evening (Ru 2:17). The Hebrew phrase “between the two evenings” (Ex 12:6, rsv<\/span> mg) probably referred to dusk, the dark part of twilight (Ex 16:12). Division of days into consecutive hours did not take place until the time of Christ. The closest OT approximation to such a unit was the division of the day into quarters (Neh 9:3), perhaps a counterpart of the preexilic division of the night into watches.<\/p>\nThe ancient Hebrews did not name the days of the week other than the Sabbath. Rather, they referred to them numerically, a practice carried over into NT times (Lk 24:1). Because of the traditional Hebrew emphasis on the Sabbath, it was important for the Jews to know the exact time when the Sabbath began. The Pharisees therefore decided that the appearance of three stars following sunset would determine the Sabbath day’s beginning.<\/p>\nDays of Creation<\/p>\nMany people believe that the days mentioned in the Genesis Creation narrative were 24-hour periods. The phrase “there was evening, there was morning” is used to support that idea. That expression, however, is actually a Sumerian literary figure that pairs opposites together to describe totality. Thus “evening-morning” means a complete phase of time within the total creative cycle; it emphasizes the completeness or comprehensiveness of the process, not the specific period of time in which that process was accomplished. The totality of Creation, phase by phase, may have been thus depicted without any necessary reference to a defined time period.<\/p>\nSince the Sumerian civil day included only the visible (12-hour) period, a legal day of other nations was actually a “double day” (24 hours). If the early Genesis material reflects Sumerian culture, the use of “evening-morning” would preclude current concepts of a civil day and point instead to a phase or general time period.<\/p>\nOld Testament<\/p>\nIn the OT, “day” frequently has a figurative meaning—for example, the “day of the Lord” (Jl 1:15; Am 5:18), the “day of trouble” (Ps 20:1), and the “day of God’s wrath” (Jb 20:28). The plural form is sometimes used to describe a king’s reign (1 Kgs 10:21) or the extent of an individual’s life (Gn 5:4; 1 Kgs 3:14; Ps 90:12). God is described in the book of Daniel as the “Ancient of Days” (Dn 7:9, 13).<\/p>\nIn addition to the Sabbath (Gn 2:3; Ex 20:8-11), which was reserved for rest and worship, “day” was applied to the Passover celebration each spring (Ex 12:14; Lv 23:5) and the Day of Atonement (Lv 16:29-31) each autumn. As with the Sabbath, no work was performed on those occasions; prescribed religious rituals were observed.<\/p>\nNew Testament<\/p>\nIn the NT the use of “day” followed Semitic usage to some extent, although the four military night watches were of Greek and Roman origin. The 12-hour day of NT times was a legacy of Babylonian astronomy (cf. Jn 11:9).<\/p>\nIn addition to the literal usage of “day,” NT authors sometimes employed it figuratively, as in such expressions as the “day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2) and the “day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). Or they described specified periods of time, as in the “days of his Temple duties” (Lk 1:23, tlb<\/span>). Special feasts mentioned include the Passover (Jn 12:1), the days of Unleavened Bread (Acts 12:3), and the Day of Pentecost (2:1).<\/p>\nAs in the OT, the period of human life is described as days (Jn 9:4). Christians are called “children of the light and of the day” (1 Thes 5:5, nlt<\/span>). Longer periods or eras are referred to as days (2 Cor 6:2; Eph 5:16; 6:13; Heb 5:7). The ominous note struck by the Hebrew prophets about a day of judgment is matched by NT stress on a day of final divine judgment when the Son of Man (Jesus) will reveal himself as Lord (Lk 17:30; Jn 6:39-44; 1 Cor 5:5; 1 Thes 5:2; 2 Pt 2:9; 3:7, 12; 1 Jn 4:17; Rv 16:14). The “day of eternity” marks that point at which time will become eternity (2 Pt 3:18, rsv<\/span>). The new Jerusalem, dwelling place of God’s people, is described as a place of perpetual day (Rv 21:25).<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Calendars, Ancient and Modern; Day of the Lord; Eschatology.<\/p>","summary_ro":"DAY Most literally, a period of time delimited by the earth’s rotation around its axis, such as the period between two consecutive sunrises; also, the portion of that period in which the sun is visible, the other portion being called “night.” The word “day” occurs over 2,000 times in the OT, over 350 times in the NT. The Hebrew word for “day” is used in a variety of ways, not merely in the literal sense. The Hebrew day began in the evening and continued until the following evening, a reckonin...","summary_en":"DAY Most literally, a period of time delimited by the earth’s rotation around its axis, such as the period between two consecutive sunrises; also, the portion of that period in which the sun is visible, the other portion being called “night.” The word “day” occurs over 2,000 times in the OT, over 350 times in the NT. The Hebrew word for “day” is used in a variety of ways, not merely in the literal sense. The Hebrew day began in the evening and continued until the following evening, a reckonin...","source":"Articles\/D.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":34252,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Coming of Christ*, Second","title_en":"Coming of Christ*, Second","content_ro":"<h3>SECOND COMING OF CHRIST*<\/h3>\nThe return of Jesus Christ to earth to complete the work of salvation.<\/p>\nTerms Used<\/p>\nThe doctrine is expressed by verbs such as “come,” “descend,” “appear,” and “is revealed” with Christ as the subject (e.g., “I will come again,” Jn 14:3; “the Lord himself will descend,” 1 Thes 4:16; “when he appears,” 1 Jn 2:28; 3:2; “the day when the Son of man is revealed,” Lk 17:30; “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven,” 2 Thes 1:7). It is expressed also by a variety of nouns, principally by “coming” (which is the regular translation of the Greek word parousia<\/span>,<\/em> meaning “presence,” “visit,” “arrival,” “advent,” especially of a royal or distinguished person) but also by “appearing” (as in 2 Tm 4:8; Ti 2:13), “revealing,” or “revelation” (1 Cor 1:7). These different verbs and nouns point to the same event but highlight different aspects of it, especially the manifestation of God’s glory in Christ when he comes. The time of this event is repeatedly referred to as “the Day,” sometimes absolutely (as in Rom 13:12; 1 Cor 3:13; Heb 10:25), more often with a qualification, such as “the day of Christ” (Phil 1:10; 2:16), “the day of the Lord” (1 Thes 5:2; 2 Thes 2:2), “the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 5:5; 2 Cor 1:14), “the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6), and “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:8). When such expressions are used, there is often some reference to the judgment to be passed at the coming of Christ: his day is “the day of judgment” (1 Jn 4:17) or “the day of wrath” (Rom 2:5). For the people of God, however, it is “the day of redemption” (Eph 4:30).<\/p>\nThe Proclamation of the New Testament<\/p>\nThat the second coming of Christ was an essential element in the gospel as preached in the apostolic age is clear from many NT writings (quoted below from the rsv<\/span>).<\/p>\nThe origin of the Second Coming is found in the teachings of Jesus before his death. Speaking of himself as the Son of Man, Jesus said, “The day when the Son of man is revealed” (Lk 17:30) he will come “in clouds with great power and glory” (Mk 13:26). This language is derived from the OT, especially from Daniel’s vision in which “one like a son of man” is brought “with the clouds of heaven” to receive everlasting dominion from the Ancient of Days (Dn 7:13-14). A cloud or clouds regularly enveloped the divine glory in the OT (as in Ex 40:34; 1 Kgs 8:10-11); their mention in connection with the coming of the Son of Man indicates that, when he comes, the glory of God will be manifested in him. Jesus’ last reference to his second coming came at his trial before the Jewish authorities when, asked by the high priest to say whether or not he was “the Christ, the Son of the Blessed,” he replied, “I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mk 14:61-62).<\/p>\nAfter the Gospels, the rest of the NT affirms the eventuality of Christ’s second coming. The record of Acts begins with the angels’ assurance at the ascension of Christ that “this Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The summaries of apostolic addresses that the book contains make repeated references to Jesus as “the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (10:42; cf. 17:31).<\/p>\nWriting to his converts in Thessalonica (c. AD<\/span> 51) a few weeks after they first heard and believed the gospel, Paul reminds them how they had “turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thes 1:9-10). Here Jesus’ expected deliverance of his people from end-time judgment is put on the same plane as his historical resurrection; the Christian way of life embraces both serving God and waiting for Christ. This note of waiting for Christ is repeated and amplified several times in this short letter. A few years later Paul uses similar language when writing to his converts in Corinth (cf. Acts 18:1-18): “You are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:7). And in what may have been his last letter he speaks of “the crown of righteousness” that the Lord will award him “on that Day, and not only to me,” he adds, “but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Tm 4:8). To love his appearing and to wait for him are two different ways of expressing the same attitude.<\/p>\nThe writer to the Hebrews encourages his readers with the assurance that in a little while “the coming one shall come and shall not tarry” (Heb 10:37). James says that “the coming of the Lord is at hand” (Jas 5:8). Peter speaks of the time “when the chief Shepherd is manifested” (1 Pt 5:4). The Revelation to John ends with the risen Lord’s promise, “Surely I am coming soon,” and the church’s response, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rv 22:20).<\/p>\nThe Second Coming and the Resurrection<\/p>\nIn 1 Thessalonians, written not more than 20 years after the death and resurrection of Christ, his coming again is presented by way of comfort and encouragement to those whose Christian friends had died. Paul had been compelled to leave Thessalonica before he had time to give his converts there as much teaching as they required, and when some of their number died shortly after his departure, their friends wondered if they would suffer some serious disadvantage at the Second Coming, in contrast to those who would still be alive to greet the returning Lord. No, says Paul, “those who have fallen asleep” will suffer no disadvantage. On the contrary, the first thing to happen when “the Lord himself will descend from heaven” is that “the dead in Christ will rise.” Only after that will those who survive until then be caught away to join them and be forever “with the Lord” (1 Thes 4:15-17). Fuller information on the same subject is given in 1 Corinthians, written about five years later. There the resurrection of believers is the full harvest that was inaugurated by the resurrection of Christ: “Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (1 Cor 15:23). An additional revelation is imparted: not only will each believer who has died be raised in a “spiritual body” (v 44) but also those who are still alive will be “changed” so as to have bodies suitable for life in resurrection. For dead and living believers alike, Paul proclaimed that “as we have borne the image of the man of dust [i.e., Adam; cf. Gn 2:7], we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven [i.e., the risen Christ]” (1 Cor 15:49). To the same effect, Paul writes (a few years later still) in Philippians 3:20-21 that from heaven “we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body.” A deeper unveiling of what this will involve is made in Romans 8:18-23, where the resurrection of the people of Christ is the catalyst for the liberation and glorious renewal of all creation.<\/p>\n<h5>The Second Coming and Judgment<\/h5>\nThe association of judgment with the Second Coming arises in Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels. The association is equally plain in the epistles of the NT. Paul, in particular, put the subject on a personal level. He forbade premature judgment of fellow Christians: “Do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes” (1 Cor 4:5). The Lord will conduct an investigation that will bring to light the hidden motives of the heart. Paul knew that his own apostolic work would be assessed on “the day of Christ” (Phil 2:16; 1 Thes 2:19). Elsewhere, Paul urges his converts to bear in mind that they, with himself, must appear before the divine tribunal, variously called “the judgment seat of God” (where “each of us shall give account of himself,” Rom 14:10-12) or “the judgment seat of Christ” (where each will “receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body,” 2 Cor 5:10). It seems clear that this judgment is to take place at the second coming of Christ, who will then “judge the living and the dead” (2 Tm 4:1). Because Paul was writing to Christians, he tended to concentrate on the judgment or assessment that the believers would experience at the Lord’s return. But he also made it plain that the same coming would bring judgment to those who opposed the Christian faith (2 Thes 1:6-10). This is made explicit in Acts 17:31, where Paul told the Athenians that God “has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.”<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Day of the Lord; Eschatology; Judgment; Judgment Seat; Last Days; Rapture; Resurrection; Revelation, Book of; Tribulation.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>SECOND COMING OF CHRIST*<\/h3>\nThe return of Jesus Christ to earth to complete the work of salvation.<\/p>\nTerms Used<\/p>\nThe doctrine is expressed by verbs such as “come,” “descend,” “appear,” and “is revealed” with Christ as the subject (e.g., “I will come again,” Jn 14:3; “the Lord himself will descend,” 1 Thes 4:16; “when he appears,” 1 Jn 2:28; 3:2; “the day when the Son of man is revealed,” Lk 17:30; “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven,” 2 Thes 1:7). It is expressed also by a variety of nouns, principally by “coming” (which is the regular translation of the Greek word parousia<\/span>,<\/em> meaning “presence,” “visit,” “arrival,” “advent,” especially of a royal or distinguished person) but also by “appearing” (as in 2 Tm 4:8; Ti 2:13), “revealing,” or “revelation” (1 Cor 1:7). These different verbs and nouns point to the same event but highlight different aspects of it, especially the manifestation of God’s glory in Christ when he comes. The time of this event is repeatedly referred to as “the Day,” sometimes absolutely (as in Rom 13:12; 1 Cor 3:13; Heb 10:25), more often with a qualification, such as “the day of Christ” (Phil 1:10; 2:16), “the day of the Lord” (1 Thes 5:2; 2 Thes 2:2), “the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 5:5; 2 Cor 1:14), “the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6), and “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:8). When such expressions are used, there is often some reference to the judgment to be passed at the coming of Christ: his day is “the day of judgment” (1 Jn 4:17) or “the day of wrath” (Rom 2:5). For the people of God, however, it is “the day of redemption” (Eph 4:30).<\/p>\nThe Proclamation of the New Testament<\/p>\nThat the second coming of Christ was an essential element in the gospel as preached in the apostolic age is clear from many NT writings (quoted below from the rsv<\/span>).<\/p>\nThe origin of the Second Coming is found in the teachings of Jesus before his death. Speaking of himself as the Son of Man, Jesus said, “The day when the Son of man is revealed” (Lk 17:30) he will come “in clouds with great power and glory” (Mk 13:26). This language is derived from the OT, especially from Daniel’s vision in which “one like a son of man” is brought “with the clouds of heaven” to receive everlasting dominion from the Ancient of Days (Dn 7:13-14). A cloud or clouds regularly enveloped the divine glory in the OT (as in Ex 40:34; 1 Kgs 8:10-11); their mention in connection with the coming of the Son of Man indicates that, when he comes, the glory of God will be manifested in him. Jesus’ last reference to his second coming came at his trial before the Jewish authorities when, asked by the high priest to say whether or not he was “the Christ, the Son of the Blessed,” he replied, “I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mk 14:61-62).<\/p>\nAfter the Gospels, the rest of the NT affirms the eventuality of Christ’s second coming. The record of Acts begins with the angels’ assurance at the ascension of Christ that “this Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The summaries of apostolic addresses that the book contains make repeated references to Jesus as “the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (10:42; cf. 17:31).<\/p>\nWriting to his converts in Thessalonica (c. AD<\/span> 51) a few weeks after they first heard and believed the gospel, Paul reminds them how they had “turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thes 1:9-10). Here Jesus’ expected deliverance of his people from end-time judgment is put on the same plane as his historical resurrection; the Christian way of life embraces both serving God and waiting for Christ. This note of waiting for Christ is repeated and amplified several times in this short letter. A few years later Paul uses similar language when writing to his converts in Corinth (cf. Acts 18:1-18): “You are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:7). And in what may have been his last letter he speaks of “the crown of righteousness” that the Lord will award him “on that Day, and not only to me,” he adds, “but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Tm 4:8). To love his appearing and to wait for him are two different ways of expressing the same attitude.<\/p>\nThe writer to the Hebrews encourages his readers with the assurance that in a little while “the coming one shall come and shall not tarry” (Heb 10:37). James says that “the coming of the Lord is at hand” (Jas 5:8). Peter speaks of the time “when the chief Shepherd is manifested” (1 Pt 5:4). The Revelation to John ends with the risen Lord’s promise, “Surely I am coming soon,” and the church’s response, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rv 22:20).<\/p>\nThe Second Coming and the Resurrection<\/p>\nIn 1 Thessalonians, written not more than 20 years after the death and resurrection of Christ, his coming again is presented by way of comfort and encouragement to those whose Christian friends had died. Paul had been compelled to leave Thessalonica before he had time to give his converts there as much teaching as they required, and when some of their number died shortly after his departure, their friends wondered if they would suffer some serious disadvantage at the Second Coming, in contrast to those who would still be alive to greet the returning Lord. No, says Paul, “those who have fallen asleep” will suffer no disadvantage. On the contrary, the first thing to happen when “the Lord himself will descend from heaven” is that “the dead in Christ will rise.” Only after that will those who survive until then be caught away to join them and be forever “with the Lord” (1 Thes 4:15-17). Fuller information on the same subject is given in 1 Corinthians, written about five years later. There the resurrection of believers is the full harvest that was inaugurated by the resurrection of Christ: “Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (1 Cor 15:23). An additional revelation is imparted: not only will each believer who has died be raised in a “spiritual body” (v 44) but also those who are still alive will be “changed” so as to have bodies suitable for life in resurrection. For dead and living believers alike, Paul proclaimed that “as we have borne the image of the man of dust [i.e., Adam; cf. Gn 2:7], we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven [i.e., the risen Christ]” (1 Cor 15:49). To the same effect, Paul writes (a few years later still) in Philippians 3:20-21 that from heaven “we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body.” A deeper unveiling of what this will involve is made in Romans 8:18-23, where the resurrection of the people of Christ is the catalyst for the liberation and glorious renewal of all creation.<\/p>\n<h5>The Second Coming and Judgment<\/h5>\nThe association of judgment with the Second Coming arises in Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels. The association is equally plain in the epistles of the NT. Paul, in particular, put the subject on a personal level. He forbade premature judgment of fellow Christians: “Do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes” (1 Cor 4:5). The Lord will conduct an investigation that will bring to light the hidden motives of the heart. Paul knew that his own apostolic work would be assessed on “the day of Christ” (Phil 2:16; 1 Thes 2:19). Elsewhere, Paul urges his converts to bear in mind that they, with himself, must appear before the divine tribunal, variously called “the judgment seat of God” (where “each of us shall give account of himself,” Rom 14:10-12) or “the judgment seat of Christ” (where each will “receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body,” 2 Cor 5:10). It seems clear that this judgment is to take place at the second coming of Christ, who will then “judge the living and the dead” (2 Tm 4:1). Because Paul was writing to Christians, he tended to concentrate on the judgment or assessment that the believers would experience at the Lord’s return. But he also made it plain that the same coming would bring judgment to those who opposed the Christian faith (2 Thes 1:6-10). This is made explicit in Acts 17:31, where Paul told the Athenians that God “has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.”<\/p>\nSee also<\/em> Day of the Lord; Eschatology; Judgment; Judgment Seat; Last Days; Rapture; Resurrection; Revelation, Book of; Tribulation.<\/p>","summary_ro":"SECOND COMING OF CHRIST* The return of Jesus Christ to earth to complete the work of salvation. Terms Used The doctrine is expressed by verbs such as “come,” “descend,” “appear,” and “is revealed” with Christ as the subject (e.g., “I will come again,” Jn 14:3; “the Lord himself will descend,” 1 Thes 4:16; “when he appears,” 1 Jn 2:28; 3:2; “the day when the Son of man is revealed,” Lk 17:30; “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven,” 2 Thes 1:7). It is expressed also by a variety of nouns...","summary_en":"SECOND COMING OF CHRIST* The return of Jesus Christ to earth to complete the work of salvation. Terms Used The doctrine is expressed by verbs such as “come,” “descend,” “appear,” and “is revealed” with Christ as the subject (e.g., “I will come again,” Jn 14:3; “the Lord himself will descend,” 1 Thes 4:16; “when he appears,” 1 Jn 2:28; 3:2; “the day when the Son of man is revealed,” Lk 17:30; “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven,” 2 Thes 1:7). It is expressed also by a variety of nouns...","source":"Articles\/S.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"32":[{"id":56071,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:32","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:32","content_ro":"17:32-33<\/strong> Lot’s wife<\/em> turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to<\/em> . . . life<\/em>.<\/p>","content_en":"17:32-33<\/strong> Lot’s wife<\/em> turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to<\/em> . . . life<\/em>.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:32-33 Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to . . . life.","summary_en":"17:32-33 Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to . . . life.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83697,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:32","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:32","content_ro":"17:32-33<\/strong> Lot’s wife<\/em> turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to<\/em> . . . life<\/em>.<\/p>","content_en":"17:32-33<\/strong> Lot’s wife<\/em> turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to<\/em> . . . life<\/em>.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:32-33 Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to . . . life.","summary_en":"17:32-33 Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to . . . life.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111323,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:32","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:32","content_ro":"17:32-33<\/strong> Lot’s wife<\/em> turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to<\/em> . . . life<\/em>.<\/p>","content_en":"17:32-33<\/strong> Lot’s wife<\/em> turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to<\/em> . . . life<\/em>.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:32-33 Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to . . . life.","summary_en":"17:32-33 Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to . . . life.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138949,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:32","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:32","content_ro":"17:32-33<\/strong> Lot’s wife<\/em> turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to<\/em> . . . life<\/em>.<\/p>","content_en":"17:32-33<\/strong> Lot’s wife<\/em> turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to<\/em> . . . life<\/em>.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:32-33 Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to . . . life.","summary_en":"17:32-33 Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked longingly back at Sodom (Gen 19:26). She exemplifies those who cling to . . . life.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"34":[{"id":12962,"type":"article","type_label":"Articol","type_icon":"📖","type_color":"#d4af37","title_ro":"Furniture","title_en":"Furniture","content_ro":"<h3>FURNITURE<\/h3>\nItems of material culture used in homes, palaces, and temples. Because of its close geographical proximity to other nations, Israel had extensive contact with neighboring cultures. Historical surveys document parallels between the furniture of Israel and that of other tribes and countries.<\/p>\nPalestine in Old Testament Times<\/p>\nOT passages supply most of the information about furniture in ancient Palestine, although there are also significant archaeological data. There are many references to beds in the OT, using at least three Hebrew nouns. Jacob is pictured as sitting up in bed (Gn 48:2) and as dying on his bed (49:33). Moses threatened that frogs would invade the bedroom and bed of the Egyptian pharaoh (Ex 8:3). Michal, Saul’s daughter, placed an effigy in David’s bed (1 Sm 19:11-17) when Saul sent messengers to capture him there. King David condemned the practice of killing a defenseless person sleeping in bed (2 Sm 4:7, 11). The prophet Elijah laid a dead boy on his bed and revived him (1 Kgs 17:19).<\/p>\nKing Ahab sulked on his bed (1 Kgs 21:4), and King Ahaziah lay on his sick bed (2 Kgs 1:4-6, 16). The prophet Amos criticized the rich who lay on beds of ivory and stretched out on their couches (Am 6:4). The prophet Ezekiel spoke symbolically of disobedient Jerusalem as a prostitute sitting on a stately couch with the Lord’s incense and oil on a table nearby (Ez 23:41). Isaiah promised that the righteous would rest in their beds (Is 57:2) and also spoke of the unrighteous setting their beds among false worshipers (vv 7-8). The psalmist flooded his bed with tears (Ps 6:6), and Proverbs refers to a sluggard on his bed (Prv 26:14).<\/p>\n“Table” in the OT refers both to the temple table for the bread of the Presence and to the table used in the palace or home for meals or banquets. King Adoni-bezek had his captives scrambling for scraps under his table (Jgs 1:7). Jonathan’s disabled son Mephibosheth was allowed to sit at David’s table (2 Sm 9:7, 10-13; 19:28). Solomon’s table is described several times (1 Kgs 2:7; 4:27). The queen of Sheba was particularly impressed by the food and table service in Solomon’s palace (10:5). The prophets frequently refer to tables (Is 21:5; 28:8; 65:11; Ez 40:39-43). The few references to chairs describe people reclining at meals and indicate couches rather than actual chairs (Am 6:4).<\/p>\nThere are numerous mentions of thrones, including those of the pharaoh (Gn 41:40; Ex 11:5), David (2 Sm 3:10; 7:13), Solomon (1 Kgs 10:18), the kings of Israel and Judah (1 Kgs 22:10), and God (1 Kgs 22:19; Pss 9:4, 7; 11:4; 93:2). The OT writers sometimes indicate thrones decorated with ivory (1 Kgs 10:18).<\/p>\nThe exact character of furniture in Palestine is difficult to determine. Bas-reliefs and wall paintings are more common among Israel’s neighbors. Excavations in Jericho, however, have unearthed some valuable archaeological clues. Tombs of the middle Bronze Age produced reasonably well-preserved tables, stools, and boxes, making possible a study of ancient joinery methods. A variety of small trinket boxes show evidence of bone inlay and incised decoration. Some large slabs of timber may have been beds. Although primarily Canaanite styles, the furniture reflects the household furniture used in Israel in the centuries to follow.<\/p>\nGreek and Roman<\/p>\nHistorians are quite informed about Greek furniture because of the abundance of decorated vases, bas-reliefs, bronze and terra-cotta statuettes, and literary descriptions. That archaeological evidence indicates that Greek furniture was influenced by preceding civilizations. The picture is generally one of comparative simplicity, far removed from the cluttered and crowded rooms of later civilizations.<\/p>\nThe Greeks made several types of seats: (1) the throne, often with a back, legs of various shapes, and armrests; (2) the lighter curved-back chair with arm supports; (3) the four-legged stool; (4) the folding stool with crossed legs traceable to Egyptian models; and (5) the bench. Representations that regularly appear on monuments dating from the eighth to the second century BC<\/span> link Greek chairs to Egyptian and Assyrian prototypes.<\/p>\nGreeks used couches for sleeping and for reclining at meals. Footstools were used to rest the feet or as a step up to higher couches. Like chair legs, couch legs varied in style. Some were carved in the shape of animal legs, some were turned, some were rectangular. From about the sixth century BC<\/span>, the legs projected above the frame. Such projections later became headboards and footboards. In Hellenistic times these headrests and footrests were carved and carried bronze medallions in high relief depicting children, satyrs, and animals. Turned legs replaced the rectangular ones. Couches were normally in wood, although bronze and marble couches are known.<\/p>\nTables were used during meals to hold dishes and food and were removed after the meal. They were made of wood, bronze, and marble and normally had four legs, but three-legged tables were occasionally used. Chests, large and small, served to store clothes, jewelry, and other articles. They were normally of wood, although some were bronze.<\/p>\nRome<\/p>\nRoman furniture continued many Greek patterns. The eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in AD<\/span> 79 preserved actual pieces of Roman furniture in its lava flow.<\/p>\nChairs with backs were heavier than their Greek counterparts and widely used. There were several types of stools: the folding stool, mostly wooden, though sometimes metal; and a newly developed decorative stool, often of bronze, that was supported by four curved legs ornamented with scrolls.<\/p>\nA variety of couches were in use. Some followed Greek models, but others were of Roman invention. Excellent examples of bronze bed frames have been preserved. Presumably, interlaced strips of leather or cords were stretched crisscross on the frame. Gold, silver, tortoiseshell, bone, and ivory decoration were used along with veneer work in rare timber. Later, couches in Italy and in other lands had high backs and sides. The Romans seem to have used tables more widely than Greeks. They appear often as permanent supports for vases and other possessions. Tables were normally rectangular with four legs, but table makers also constructed some with three legs, or even resting on a single support. Round tabletops and legs of animals became popular from the fourth century BC<\/span> on. Plain, undecorated wooden tables and benches were used in kitchens and workshops. Outdoor tables were usually of marble with carved animal legs or decorative figures of animals and monsters.<\/p>\nThere were various chests and boxes in daily use. Shelves and cupboards became much more popular than in Greek times.<\/p>\nPalestine in New Testament Times<\/p>\nThe nature of furniture in the NT is probably best understood in relation to contemporaneous Roman models. The NT refers to beds in several passages. People brought a paralytic lying on his bed to Jesus (Mt 9:2, 6; Lk 5:18). When the apostles went into Solomon’s portico, people brought the sick to them on beds (Acts 5:15). A Syro-Phoenician woman’s sick child lay on a bed (Mk 7:30). Jesus spoke of setting a lamp on a stand and not placing it under a bed (Mk 4:21; Lk 8:16), and described what would happen to people in bed when the Day of the Lord came (Lk 17:34). In another parable Jesus spoke of a needy person begging for bread at midnight from a friend who was already in bed with his family (Lk 11:7). Beds of the poor and sick were probably only pallets or mattresses (Mk 6:55; Jn 5:8). When people reclined at meals, they would have been lying on a couch (Jn 13:23).<\/p>\nThere are numerous NT references to tables. Jesus mentioned crumbs falling from a rich man’s table (Mt 15:27; Mk 7:28; Lk 16:21). Jesus overthrew the money changers’ tables in the temple (Mt 21:12; Mk 11:15). Jesus sat with his disciples at a table for the Passover meal (Lk 22:21) and promised his disciples that they would sit at his table in God’s kingdom. The apostles were relieved of serving tables in order to preach (Acts 6:2).<\/p>\nThe household lamp is referred to a number of times (Mt 25:1; Mk 4:21). Terra-cotta domestic lamps have been found in abundance in excavations.<\/p>","content_en":"<h3>FURNITURE<\/h3>\nItems of material culture used in homes, palaces, and temples. Because of its close geographical proximity to other nations, Israel had extensive contact with neighboring cultures. Historical surveys document parallels between the furniture of Israel and that of other tribes and countries.<\/p>\nPalestine in Old Testament Times<\/p>\nOT passages supply most of the information about furniture in ancient Palestine, although there are also significant archaeological data. There are many references to beds in the OT, using at least three Hebrew nouns. Jacob is pictured as sitting up in bed (Gn 48:2) and as dying on his bed (49:33). Moses threatened that frogs would invade the bedroom and bed of the Egyptian pharaoh (Ex 8:3). Michal, Saul’s daughter, placed an effigy in David’s bed (1 Sm 19:11-17) when Saul sent messengers to capture him there. King David condemned the practice of killing a defenseless person sleeping in bed (2 Sm 4:7, 11). The prophet Elijah laid a dead boy on his bed and revived him (1 Kgs 17:19).<\/p>\nKing Ahab sulked on his bed (1 Kgs 21:4), and King Ahaziah lay on his sick bed (2 Kgs 1:4-6, 16). The prophet Amos criticized the rich who lay on beds of ivory and stretched out on their couches (Am 6:4). The prophet Ezekiel spoke symbolically of disobedient Jerusalem as a prostitute sitting on a stately couch with the Lord’s incense and oil on a table nearby (Ez 23:41). Isaiah promised that the righteous would rest in their beds (Is 57:2) and also spoke of the unrighteous setting their beds among false worshipers (vv 7-8). The psalmist flooded his bed with tears (Ps 6:6), and Proverbs refers to a sluggard on his bed (Prv 26:14).<\/p>\n“Table” in the OT refers both to the temple table for the bread of the Presence and to the table used in the palace or home for meals or banquets. King Adoni-bezek had his captives scrambling for scraps under his table (Jgs 1:7). Jonathan’s disabled son Mephibosheth was allowed to sit at David’s table (2 Sm 9:7, 10-13; 19:28). Solomon’s table is described several times (1 Kgs 2:7; 4:27). The queen of Sheba was particularly impressed by the food and table service in Solomon’s palace (10:5). The prophets frequently refer to tables (Is 21:5; 28:8; 65:11; Ez 40:39-43). The few references to chairs describe people reclining at meals and indicate couches rather than actual chairs (Am 6:4).<\/p>\nThere are numerous mentions of thrones, including those of the pharaoh (Gn 41:40; Ex 11:5), David (2 Sm 3:10; 7:13), Solomon (1 Kgs 10:18), the kings of Israel and Judah (1 Kgs 22:10), and God (1 Kgs 22:19; Pss 9:4, 7; 11:4; 93:2). The OT writers sometimes indicate thrones decorated with ivory (1 Kgs 10:18).<\/p>\nThe exact character of furniture in Palestine is difficult to determine. Bas-reliefs and wall paintings are more common among Israel’s neighbors. Excavations in Jericho, however, have unearthed some valuable archaeological clues. Tombs of the middle Bronze Age produced reasonably well-preserved tables, stools, and boxes, making possible a study of ancient joinery methods. A variety of small trinket boxes show evidence of bone inlay and incised decoration. Some large slabs of timber may have been beds. Although primarily Canaanite styles, the furniture reflects the household furniture used in Israel in the centuries to follow.<\/p>\nGreek and Roman<\/p>\nHistorians are quite informed about Greek furniture because of the abundance of decorated vases, bas-reliefs, bronze and terra-cotta statuettes, and literary descriptions. That archaeological evidence indicates that Greek furniture was influenced by preceding civilizations. The picture is generally one of comparative simplicity, far removed from the cluttered and crowded rooms of later civilizations.<\/p>\nThe Greeks made several types of seats: (1) the throne, often with a back, legs of various shapes, and armrests; (2) the lighter curved-back chair with arm supports; (3) the four-legged stool; (4) the folding stool with crossed legs traceable to Egyptian models; and (5) the bench. Representations that regularly appear on monuments dating from the eighth to the second century BC<\/span> link Greek chairs to Egyptian and Assyrian prototypes.<\/p>\nGreeks used couches for sleeping and for reclining at meals. Footstools were used to rest the feet or as a step up to higher couches. Like chair legs, couch legs varied in style. Some were carved in the shape of animal legs, some were turned, some were rectangular. From about the sixth century BC<\/span>, the legs projected above the frame. Such projections later became headboards and footboards. In Hellenistic times these headrests and footrests were carved and carried bronze medallions in high relief depicting children, satyrs, and animals. Turned legs replaced the rectangular ones. Couches were normally in wood, although bronze and marble couches are known.<\/p>\nTables were used during meals to hold dishes and food and were removed after the meal. They were made of wood, bronze, and marble and normally had four legs, but three-legged tables were occasionally used. Chests, large and small, served to store clothes, jewelry, and other articles. They were normally of wood, although some were bronze.<\/p>\nRome<\/p>\nRoman furniture continued many Greek patterns. The eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in AD<\/span> 79 preserved actual pieces of Roman furniture in its lava flow.<\/p>\nChairs with backs were heavier than their Greek counterparts and widely used. There were several types of stools: the folding stool, mostly wooden, though sometimes metal; and a newly developed decorative stool, often of bronze, that was supported by four curved legs ornamented with scrolls.<\/p>\nA variety of couches were in use. Some followed Greek models, but others were of Roman invention. Excellent examples of bronze bed frames have been preserved. Presumably, interlaced strips of leather or cords were stretched crisscross on the frame. Gold, silver, tortoiseshell, bone, and ivory decoration were used along with veneer work in rare timber. Later, couches in Italy and in other lands had high backs and sides. The Romans seem to have used tables more widely than Greeks. They appear often as permanent supports for vases and other possessions. Tables were normally rectangular with four legs, but table makers also constructed some with three legs, or even resting on a single support. Round tabletops and legs of animals became popular from the fourth century BC<\/span> on. Plain, undecorated wooden tables and benches were used in kitchens and workshops. Outdoor tables were usually of marble with carved animal legs or decorative figures of animals and monsters.<\/p>\nThere were various chests and boxes in daily use. Shelves and cupboards became much more popular than in Greek times.<\/p>\nPalestine in New Testament Times<\/p>\nThe nature of furniture in the NT is probably best understood in relation to contemporaneous Roman models. The NT refers to beds in several passages. People brought a paralytic lying on his bed to Jesus (Mt 9:2, 6; Lk 5:18). When the apostles went into Solomon’s portico, people brought the sick to them on beds (Acts 5:15). A Syro-Phoenician woman’s sick child lay on a bed (Mk 7:30). Jesus spoke of setting a lamp on a stand and not placing it under a bed (Mk 4:21; Lk 8:16), and described what would happen to people in bed when the Day of the Lord came (Lk 17:34). In another parable Jesus spoke of a needy person begging for bread at midnight from a friend who was already in bed with his family (Lk 11:7). Beds of the poor and sick were probably only pallets or mattresses (Mk 6:55; Jn 5:8). When people reclined at meals, they would have been lying on a couch (Jn 13:23).<\/p>\nThere are numerous NT references to tables. Jesus mentioned crumbs falling from a rich man’s table (Mt 15:27; Mk 7:28; Lk 16:21). Jesus overthrew the money changers’ tables in the temple (Mt 21:12; Mk 11:15). Jesus sat with his disciples at a table for the Passover meal (Lk 22:21) and promised his disciples that they would sit at his table in God’s kingdom. The apostles were relieved of serving tables in order to preach (Acts 6:2).<\/p>\nThe household lamp is referred to a number of times (Mt 25:1; Mk 4:21). Terra-cotta domestic lamps have been found in abundance in excavations.<\/p>","summary_ro":"FURNITURE Items of material culture used in homes, palaces, and temples. Because of its close geographical proximity to other nations, Israel had extensive contact with neighboring cultures. Historical surveys document parallels between the furniture of Israel and that of other tribes and countries. Palestine in Old Testament Times OT passages supply most of the information about furniture in ancient Palestine, although there are also significant archaeological data. There are many references...","summary_en":"FURNITURE Items of material culture used in homes, palaces, and temples. Because of its close geographical proximity to other nations, Israel had extensive contact with neighboring cultures. Historical surveys document parallels between the furniture of Israel and that of other tribes and countries. Palestine in Old Testament Times OT passages supply most of the information about furniture in ancient Palestine, although there are also significant archaeological data. There are many references...","source":"Articles\/F.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":56072,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:34","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:34","content_ro":"17:34-35<\/strong> one will be taken, the other left:<\/em> Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).<\/p>","content_en":"17:34-35<\/strong> one will be taken, the other left:<\/em> Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:34-35 one will be taken, the other left: Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).","summary_en":"17:34-35 one will be taken, the other left: Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83698,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:34","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:34","content_ro":"17:34-35<\/strong> one will be taken, the other left:<\/em> Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).<\/p>","content_en":"17:34-35<\/strong> one will be taken, the other left:<\/em> Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:34-35 one will be taken, the other left: Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).","summary_en":"17:34-35 one will be taken, the other left: Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111324,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:34","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:34","content_ro":"17:34-35<\/strong> one will be taken, the other left:<\/em> Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).<\/p>","content_en":"17:34-35<\/strong> one will be taken, the other left:<\/em> Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:34-35 one will be taken, the other left: Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).","summary_en":"17:34-35 one will be taken, the other left: Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138950,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:34","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:34","content_ro":"17:34-35<\/strong> one will be taken, the other left:<\/em> Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).<\/p>","content_en":"17:34-35<\/strong> one will be taken, the other left:<\/em> Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:34-35 one will be taken, the other left: Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).","summary_en":"17:34-35 one will be taken, the other left: Some consider this separation to refer to the Rapture of the church, but the parallels drawn to God’s judgment in the Flood and against Sodom (17:26-29), as well as the reference to vultures and a dead body (17:37), suggest that it occurs at the final judgment (see Mal 3:18; Matt 25:32).","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}],"37":[{"id":56073,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:37","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:37","content_ro":"17:37<\/strong> so these signs indicate that the end is near:<\/em> This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.<\/p>","content_en":"17:37<\/strong> so these signs indicate that the end is near:<\/em> This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:37 so these signs indicate that the end is near: This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.","summary_en":"17:37 so these signs indicate that the end is near: This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":83699,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:37","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:37","content_ro":"17:37<\/strong> so these signs indicate that the end is near:<\/em> This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.<\/p>","content_en":"17:37<\/strong> so these signs indicate that the end is near:<\/em> This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:37 so these signs indicate that the end is near: This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.","summary_en":"17:37 so these signs indicate that the end is near: This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":111325,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:37","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:37","content_ro":"17:37<\/strong> so these signs indicate that the end is near:<\/em> This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.<\/p>","content_en":"17:37<\/strong> so these signs indicate that the end is near:<\/em> This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:37 so these signs indicate that the end is near: This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.","summary_en":"17:37 so these signs indicate that the end is near: This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false},{"id":138951,"type":"study_note","type_label":"Notă de studiu","type_icon":"📝","type_color":"#06b6d4","title_ro":"Notă de studiu: Luca 17:37","title_en":"Study Note: Luca 17:37","content_ro":"17:37<\/strong> so these signs indicate that the end is near:<\/em> This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.<\/p>","content_en":"17:37<\/strong> so these signs indicate that the end is near:<\/em> This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.<\/p>","summary_ro":"17:37 so these signs indicate that the end is near: This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.","summary_en":"17:37 so these signs indicate that the end is near: This clause, which does not appear explicitly in the Greek, explains the significance of the cryptic saying about the vulture.","source":"StudyNotes.xml","external_url":null,"has_map":false,"has_picture":false}]},"labels":{"article":"Articol","map":"Hartă","chart":"Diagramă","textbox":"Notă explicativă","picture":"Imagine","profile":"Profil","study_note":"Notă de studiu","theme_note":"Temă biblică"},"icons":{"article":"📖","map":"🗺️","chart":"📊","textbox":"💡","picture":"🖼️","profile":"👤","study_note":"📝","theme_note":"🎯"},"typeColors":{"article":"#d4af37","map":"#2d7d46","chart":"#3b82f6","textbox":"#8b5cf6","picture":"#ec4899","profile":"#f59e0b","study_note":"#06b6d4","theme_note":"#ef4444"}}

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