Christ Had No Home to Lean On

Mat 8:20 The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air [have] nests; but the Son of man has no place to lay [his] head.

Alopex, the word "fox" is, in Greek as English, the metaphor for a sly, crafty man. The term translated as "holes" is pholeos, which means "den," or "lair," and interestingly enough, "schoolhouse." The word for "birds" is peteinon which literally means "winged" or "able to fly." (Christs words often us an adjectival description where we should a noun in English.) The "of the air" is ouranos, which, of course, is the term usually intepreted as "heaven." So combining the terms, peteinon (winged) ouranos (of the heavens), Christ is using birds as a metaphor for angels in contrast to those foxes, the sly crafty men. The term translated as "nests" is kataskenosis means literally "the pitching of tents," "taking one's quarters," and "to camp." In Greek literature, the only use of this word to mean "nests" was in this verse.

The term translated as "to lay" is klino, which means to "lean one thing against another." It is the source of the English terms "incline," and "recline." The term translated as "head" is kephale. The term is also a metaphor for life ("losing your head" in Greek doesn't mean an emotional outburst, but being killed). It also means "completion," "total," or "extremity."

So, what is Christ saying. He is saying that criminals have their lairs and that even angels have a resting place, but the he stood apart and alone, depending on no particular place of time. This might even be a prediction that he would have no physical resting place on earth, no grave.

Christ's Statement about Our Confidence Shaping Reality

Mat 8:13 Go your way; and as you have believed, [so] be it done to you.

"Go your way" is hupago, which means literally "to go under" or "to bring under," but also means "to go away" and "to depart." "You have believed" is pisteuo, which means "to put faith in" or "to fell confident that," "to entrust," and "to comply." It has the sense of trusting in a person. "Be it done" is ginomai [gignomai], which, as we discussed in the Lord's Prayer, means "to become," or "to come into existence," "to be produced," (when referring to events) "to come to pass."

For me the context of Christ speaking to the centurion here about his sick servant is completely irrelevant. For me, this isn't even about faith. Christ is statement is about the nature of reality. As you go through life, what you believe will happen to you is what really happens to you. It means that what you have confidence in is what you make happen.

Weeping and Nashing of Teeth

Mat 8:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The term for "children" here is huios, which literally means "sons." The term for kingdom is basileia ("kingdom," "reign," or "rule") and it is the same term used for "kingdom of heaven" and "kingdom of God." Here, Christ seems to be calling the Jews that children of the kingdom.

"Caste out" is ekballo. Ek means "out of," "from," and "away from." Ballo is "to throw" or "to scatter." The general idea of ballo is "to throw without caring where something falls," so it isn't like putting something into a specific place.

The "outer darkness," exoteros skotos, is a literal translation, though the skotos also literally means "blindness." It is a metaphor in Greek for ignorance.

The "weeping and gnashing of teeth" is from klauthmos ("weeping") kai ("and") brugmos ("gnashing") odous ("teeth"). The term brumos means "biting," "gobbling," "chattering," and "shivering." The phase could indicate that those who are weeping are getting bitten or chattering their teeth from the cold. Christ consistently describes the rejection of the kingdom of heaven in these terms. Others have written on what is might signify.

My take is that those who reject the universal rule (that is, "the kingdom of heaven") are left in ignorance, sadness, and in a place where the rules is "dog eat dog." The more I read Christ's words in the original, the more convinced that being in "the kingdom of heaven" refers as much a way of living as it is does the afterlife.

Christ's Followers from All Regions and All Times

Mat 8:7 [To the centurion about his palsied servant] I will come and heal him.
Mat 8:10 [After the centurion says he isn't worthy] Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Mat 8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

The term translated as "heal" is therapeuo, which means "to provide service," and "to be an attendant." It also means "to do service for the gods," "to pay court to," "to consult," and "to attend to a person." A related word, the noun, therapeia, means "service," "medical treatment," and "the care of aninals." It is the source of the English word "therapy." So, when Christ offer to go to see the servant, he offers to attend to him. He doesn't promise a cure as you might think from the English translation.

In the second verse, the term translated as "found" is heurisko, which we have discussed before and means "to come upon," "to meet with," "to acquire," and "discover." "Faith" is pistis, which means "the conviction of the truth of anything," "confidence," "belief," and, as a character trait, "faithfulness."

"Come" is heko, which means "to arrive," and, as a metaphor, to be a follower, but it does have the specific sense in Greek of coming to a table. The term translated as "east" is anatole, which means literally, the rising of the sun or stars above the horizon. The term translated as "west" is dusme, which means "the setting." Anaklino is the term translated as "sit down," but it means "to lean one thing upon another," "to recline," or "to lean back." Of course, at the time, people reclined to eat, but the sense of leaning upon the patriarchs is also part of the sense of the phrase.

I am especially intrigued by the use of anatole and dusme, because they refer not only to the regions where the rising and setting take place, but they also suggest people in acendence and in deline and the ages past and future as in the dawn and dusk of time.

Going to a Priest for Judgment

Mat 8:4 See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.

The Greek word horao is "to see" or "to perceive." Epo is "to speak." Nedeis is "no one." The term "but" is alla, which is a conjuction that also means "except." "Go your way" is hupago, which means literally "to lead under" or "to bring under," also means "to withdraw" or "retire." Deiknuo is translated as "show," but also means "to give evidence or proof." The term used for "priest" is hiereus, which was used to refer to priests of both the Jews and Gentiles. The term translated as "offer" is prosphero, which means "to bring to" and "to lead to." Interestingly, both hapago and prosphero are used to refer to bringing people to judgment.

The last phrase "for a testimony to them" is eis (for or because) marturion (testimony, proof) autos (itself, themselves, the same). Again, these is a relationship between deiknuo and marturion in that both are both concerned with giving proof.

The first part of this verse, "See that you tell no one..." is a little misleading because the phrase horao (to see) epo (to speak) nedeis (no one) is closer in sense to "see and tell no one..."

The greater sense of the phrase is that when God transforms us, we are not supposed to reveal it or talk about it to others. The lone exception is that we should take ourself for judgment to a priest, that we should show proof of our transformation to that priest, and offering gifts as further proof that we have been cured.

This is the first time that Christ has mentioned the role of priests in religion. Here, they are men of judgment, acting as an intermediary of gifts to God, both in verifying the gifts we have received and blessing the gifts we offer. The gifts that we offer to God themselves become proof of the gifts we have received.

Christ's Wish for Cleaning up our Lives

Mat 8:3 I will; be clean.

I got started on this project because I found that everything Christ said made sense even when it was taken out of the context of the Christ story, that is, if it was spoken to us rather than to the characters in Christ's life. Here we have a good example. A leper recognizes that Christ has the power to remove his disease and Christ cleans him. However, the phrase applies to Christ's feeling for us all. Thelo (I will) katharizo (make clean).

Thelo means not an expression of personal desire ("I want") but the expression of consent ("I wish").

Katharizo means to remove dirt. It is also used for removing the inedible parts from grain (winn0wing), clearing weeds from a field, pruning a plant and so on. It is also used for cleansing a person of leperosy. (It is interesting that Christ doesn't use the related word, katharopoieô, which means to cleanse but also has an economic meaning, removing encumbrances from property since these are often the version of these words we find in the Gospels.)

As an injunction to us all, this statement means that it is Christ's wish for us all to be clean, to remove what is unnecessary and unhealthy from our lives. The idea equates disease with that which is extraneous in our lives and the idea that we must remove that which is unnecessary to become more whole. In English, we have the term cathartic, which comes from the same root idea of cleansing.

Christ Says the Fools Build Their Future on a Race-Course

Mat 7:26 And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them is like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand:
Mat 7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Most of these words were covered in our previous post about the wise man who listens to Christ's words.

The wise man from the previous verses is now the foolish man. The Greek words translated as "foolish" is moros, which is normally used as a noun means "fate" or "destiny," but which here is used as a adjective form of morion which means "fool." The form is interesting simply because it isn't commonly used. It makes me suspect that the connection to the noun moros, which also means "death," "doom," and "corpse," as well as "fate." The term for "sand" is ammos, which also means sandy ground or, interestingly, a race-course because race courses were built on sandy ground.

There is also an interesting change in the second verse from prospipto ("fall upon" or "fall before") to proskopto, which means "to beat upon." This means that, without a firm foundation, disasters do not fall before you, but beat on you. This is another nice play on words.

Here, Christ is saying that the destiny of the foolish man is to have the difficulties of life beat upon him instead of fall before him because he based his future upon gournd that wasn't solid, or, more subtly, ground that was too competitive, a race-course.

A House Built on Rock

Mat 7:24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them is like a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mat 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it did not fall: for it was founded upon a rock.

The word translated as "hears" is akouo, which means "having the ability to hear," "to hear," "to understand," and "to learn." The word translated as "sayings" is logos, which in Greek means "words." The word translated as "does" is poieo, which meads "to do," "to make," or "to produce." The word translated as "is like" is homoioo, which means both "to be made like," "to liken or compare to," or "to be like." The word translated as "wise" is phronimos, which means "to be in one's right mind," "to be prudent," and "to be sensible." It refers to a practical wisdom. A person with this quality knows how to take care of his or her interests.

In the first part of this verse, Christ is telling us that when we learn from his words, we are both "like" and "made like" someone who is prudent and sensible. He is specifically saying that he is imparting practical wisdom not just spiritual wisdom.

The world translated as "built" is oikodomeo, which means "to build" specifically a house, but is also a metaphor meaning "to found," "to edify," and "to build up." The word translated as "house" is oikia, which is the root for the previous word. It means a dwelling or the family in a dwelling, but it also means "property" in general. The word used for "rock," petras, is also a metaphor for "firmness" and "hard-heartedness."

In the second part of the first verse, we are being told that a prudent person builds up his house, his family, and property on something that is solid, but also has a certain toughness. Christ's teaching is often confused with a certain soft-heartedness, but though Christ teaches us to care deeply about other people, his teaching isn't easy. It is tough. It takes a firmness and resolution to hold to it.

In the second verse, all the disasters are translated in the past tense, but the actual tense of these verbs is what is called the "aorist" tense, which has no sense of past, present, or future.
These misfortunes "beat upon" the house, but the term used in Greek is prospipto, which means literally "fall onto." It is a play on the house that doesn't "fall" or pipto. The term translated as "was founded" is themelioo, which means literally to be built upon a firm foundation.

In this verse, Christ is saying that, though misfortunes are bound to fall upon us, we do not have to fall with them. Our foundation can hold us up, but here, that foundation is not faith, but understanding of the knowledge that Christ is teaching us.

These two verses were one of the reasons I began studying the words of Christ more closely.

Does Using Christ's Name Create Anarchy?

Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then I will tell them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.

The word translated as "prophesied" is propheteuo, which has a broader meaning in the original Greek than in English. In English, it is limited to foreseeing the future, but in Greek it means acting as a prophet, that is, having a spiritual impulse "to teach, refute, reprove, admonish, comfort others." Today, we might call this spiritually ministering to others.

The word translated as "wonderful works" is dunamis, which means "power" and "ability." It means both the spiritual power to create miracles and the kind of earthly power held by the wealthy or armies. It isn't any kind of "works" at all.

The word translated as "done" is poieo, which as we have explained before means also "to make" or "produce."

Also, an interesting feature of the first verse is that the word "in" has been added to the phrase "in your name." In the original Greek, the verse actually says "...have we not acted as prophets your name: your name casts out demons and your name produces power." These people are those who recognize Christ as "Lord," kurios, and specifically recognize his power.

In the second verse, the term translated as "profess" is homologeo, which means literally, "to say the same." It also means "to concede," "not to deny," and "to praise." It means "to profess" in the sense of speaking openly as well, but often in the sense of professing oneself a worshipper.

The word translated as "know" is ginosko, which means "come to know," "to understand," and "to be acquainted with."

The term translated as "work" is ergazomai, which is another of those very businesslike words that Christ often uses. It means "to labor," "to trade," "to do business," "to earn by working," and "to acquire."

The term translated as "iniquity" is anomia, literally "the condition of being without law.' In English, the term for this is "anarchy," which comes from the same Greek word, an, which means "without." It also means being in contempt or violation of the law, that idea of lawlessness.

So a closer translation of this sencond verse is "Get away from me, you who produce lawlessness." This indicates that those who simply call upon Christ's name and recognize him as a source of power without recognizing the laws of God are a type of anarchist. Christ is saying that these people will use the name of God to justify whatever they want to do, but Christ is saying specifically that we cannot do whatever we want, even in God's name.

The Kingdom of Heaven and Where God Is

Mat 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father in heaven.

We have written before about the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. The term, ouranos, doesn't have the purely spiritual connotation that word has assumed over the centuries. It means literally "the heavens" in the sense of the sky and is used to indicate the universe. I personally like the idea of passing from this worldly realm to "the kingdom of the universe." It is like the idea of becoming a citizen of the world only less provincial.

We should also recognize that the term, en, translated as "in" also have a range of meanings that make the phase more interesting. It does mean "within the limits of some space," but certainly Christ was not saying that God is confined to some restricted region we call "heaven." En also means an intimate connection between things, which more accurately describes God's connection with the universe.

After all, Christ live in a time where gods were connected with specific places and regions. There were the gods of Rome, the gods of Greece, the gods of specific cities and town. In describing our God as the "Father in the universe," Christ was describing his Father as the universal God, and the Father of the universe. God the Father is the creator and sustainer of the universe as a father of the family is the creator and sustainer of the family.

The Fire of Hell or Coming to Nothing

Mat 7:19 Every tree that does not bring not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Therefore by their fruits you shall know them.

The only new term here is ekkopto, which means "to cut down," "to cut off," or "to cut out." It is also a metaphor for "to make an end of."

Interesting as well, is that the term for fire, pur, also means a funeral fire or sacrificial fire. It is part of a common phrase, en (into) puri (fire) genesthai (come into being), which means to come to nothing or to be consumed.

In other words, those trees that produce nothing of value will end up coming to nothing.

Christ's Teaches That False Prophets Produce False Profits

Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16 You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, nor a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

For some reason, I am reading a lot of Matthew Chapter 7 like a lesson in economics. Here the relevant word is "fruit," which in the original Greek is karpos. Karpos primary meaning is "fruit," "seed," or "offspring," but its secondary meaning is "returns," specifically, "profit," as we would say "fruit of our labors."

The term used for "good," as in "good fruit" is kalos, which means "beautiful," "good," "virtuous," and "comforting." It is frequently pair with the term megas, which means "great" for the classical characterization of people and enterprises as "great and good." While the "good" used to describe the "good tree" is agathos, which when applied to things means "good" in the sense of a good sense of "good constitution," "useful," and "morally good." When applied to people, which is real meaning here, it means "well-born," "capable," and "morally good."

The terms used for "corrupt" describing the tree is sapros , which means "rotten," "putrid," and "worn-out." It is often used as the opposite of sapros and used specifically to describe fruit, but here it is contrasted with agathos and it describes, not the fruit, but the tree. Again the sense is that sapros is used here to describe people who Christ is likening to the tree than the tree itself. The idea is very clearly one of something beyond its prime.

The "evil" in the "evil fruit" is poneros, which often used for "evil" but which really means "burdened," "oppressed by toil," and "useless." In a moral sense, it means "worthless," and "cowardly." As we have pointed out before, it isn't "evil" in the sense of malicious, which is another word, kakia. So the fruit here is practically useless and morally worthless.

The terms translated as "brings forth" is a term we have seen before poieo, which before was translated as "do," but as we pointed out also means "produce." It is the word used in Mat 7:12 "Therefore all things whatsoever that you want others to do for you, you should do for them: for this is the law and the prophets."

So what is Christ saying here? He is saying that false prophets are hungry wolves, that is, only interested in satisfying their own desires. Further more, he is saying that we can recognize these worthless people by how we profit from them. False prophets are worn-out and rotten "trees" that produce worthless fruit. They are the opposite from as sound and capable "trees" who produce beautify and high-quality things.

Is it just my imagination here or does this sound like a judgment of not only prophets but of organizations?

Christ Describes Spiritual Dynamics Like Contrarian Investing

Mat 7:13 Enter in at the narrow gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leads to destruction, and many are there who will go in by it:
Mat 7:14 Because narrow [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leads to life, and few there are that find it.

The term translated here as "gate" is pule, which means specifically the entry to a town or palace. It is from a time when cities were walled and guarded. The gates of the city or palace were the way that those in charge controlled entry. The gate marked the transition point into a new society or realm.

The term translated as "the way" is hodos, which means not only a route or path, but a manner of behavior or a method or system. The sense is the same as we use the term in "a way of life" or "a way of thinking." It also has some of the sense of a philosophy like the Chinese term for "the way," tao, which is also used to describe the way the universe works.

The term used for "destruction" is apoleia, which is often used to describe the destruction of sea vessels in the sames sense we would used "wrecked." And, like so many of Christ's words, this has a secondary economic meaning of financial ruin.

The term used for "go in" is eiserchomai, which means to go in or out of a place, but it also means entering into a state especially coming into existence, like coming to life or coming to public attention.

Juxtaposed to "destruction" is "life," which is the term zoe, which primarily means "a living," very much like we would use the term in "making a living." It means a person's property and substance. So here, the economic meaning comes first. The term's secondary meaning is life and existence, that is, the opposite of death.

The term used for "find" is the same find as we saw in the post about discovering the secrets of science, heurisko.

This phrase is often used to describe the harder road to heaven, but one a more basic level, it describes a financial reality. If you follow the crowd, it will lead to your financial destruction. If you go your own way, you will discover a living. This very much has the sense of avoiding areas where you will have a lot of competition and going into areas where there is less competition. These later areas are where you discover opportunities. So Christ is describing the spiritual truth as the same terms as economic truth. Our success does not come from following the crowd. It comes from avoiding the crowd.

This is again very consistend with Christ's general message in this sermon of distrusting social values and instead going another way. Society is, in Christ's eyes, inherently flawed. That which is socially popular is inherently destructive.

A legitimate economic translation: Make something of yourself using the road less traveled for wide [is] the entry, and broad [is] the path that leads to financial ruin, and many are transformed by it: because narrow [is] the entry, and narrow [is] the way, which leads to making a living, and few there are that discover it.

Free Markets and Christ's Teachings

Mat 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever that you want others to do for you, you should do for them: for this is the law and the prophets.

I have often commented on the economic meanings in many of Christ's teachings that are lost in our religious translation of his words. Here, we have the famouse Golden Rule, teaching that we should treat others how they would treat us. However, when we look at the Greek, the term translated as "do," poieo, has a primary meaning of "to make," or "to produce." It has a host of meanings related to the creative acts of production. It also means "to do" and can specifically mean doing things for or to others.

It is the primary meaning of poieo that interests me because its use in this verse defines a free economy. Using this primary meaning, this verse becomes: "Therefore for all things that you would want other to produce for you, you should produce [what they want] for them."

As always, I prefer the whole range of Christ's meaning. I think he was teaching the Golden Rule, but using words that described how economic relationships between people makig free choices should work. This is very consistent with his messages about human society: that it is in the actions of individuals acting freely with other individuals that society is defined, not in social constraints and systems.

However, this verse (like oh, so many), is not quite that simple. There are always interesting problems in translating because some ideas cannot quite be captured in moving from one language to the next. In this verse, the most interesting phrase is pas an hosos thelo, which is translated as "all things whatsoever that you want." Pas is translated as "all things," but it is an adjective that means "each," "every," or "some of a group." An is a particle with no exact translation in English meaning "something that can or could occur under certain conditions." Hosos is a pronoun that means "as great as," "as far as," "how much," "how many," "whoever." Thelo, translated as "want," means "to will," "to intend," "to desire," "to love," and "to take delight in." So a more complete translation of the first part of this verse might be something like "Each or every possible thing that you want so much for others to make or do for you..."

How Christ Teaches Us Optimism

Mat 7:9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Mat 7:10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
Mat 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?

It is interesting the the terms for "bread," artos, and "stone," lithos, are both used in the Gospels as metaphors for Christ. The "fish," ichthus, also later became a metaphor for Christ, but the "serpent" ophis, was used both as a metaphor for wisdom (Mat.10:16) and, of course, an evil cunning.

However, the third verse is more interesting because the term translated as evil is poneros primarily means burdened and full of hardship. It is not kakia, (Mat 6:34) which has a more malicious sense of evil. Poneros also means physically bad, like we would use the term handicapped, which is I think what Christ is saying here. We cannot give our children what God can because we are limited not because we are malicious.

This idea is extended in the next part of the phrase. Christ points to other differences between the good people give and the good that God gives. In the Greek, people give "good" (agathos) "gifts" (doma), but God gives "good"(agathos) without any related noun, which is why the translator adds "things." Why is this important? First, the term doma, means "gifts" but it also means "payment." which is consistent with all the economic terms Christs uses to describe human interactions. Second, agathos has a slightly different meaning when applied to things and people. When it is applied to things, as it is for the gifts we give our children, it means everything from "serviceable" to "morally good," but when agathos is applied to people, it also means being of virtuous character. The missing noun would indicate that it can be applied in both senses to God's giving. God gives us both good things, but he also gives us gifts that improve our character, which our earthly parents cannot do.

Christ's Prediction on the Advancement of Science

Mat 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you:
Mat 7:8 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.

It is interesting that the word used for "ask," aiteo, and for "seek," zeteo, both have secondary meanings of "desire" or "crave," indicating that there is nothing wrong with having human desires. Even more interesting, the word used for "knock," krouo, is a metaphor for "examining," "trying," or "proving" something. This idea comes from tapping an earthen vessel to see if it "rings true."

The term for "given," is didomi, which is the same term Matthew always uses for give, but the term use for "find" is heurisko, which means "find" in the sense of finding something that is lost or finding something by accident. It also specifically means finding by intellectual inquiry, as in analyzing and understanding something. It is the source word for our idea of heuristic methods, that is, testing our ideas. The term for "open" is anoigo, which metaphorically means "to disclose" or "to lay open."

Since I love science, I have always looked at this statement as Christ's prediction about the future of science, that, if we study the natural world, we will discover its secrets. The original Greek actually strengthens this view. The use of krouo is especially telling because, unlike English, the Greek term describes testing appearances. The idea of physical testing as a form of advancing scientific knowledge is the foundation of our modern scientific method but was quite different than the ancient view of science, which was based more upon intellectual analysis, the huerisko, which is also mentioned in this verse.

This prediction of learning if we search and test has certainly held true in ways that no one in Christ's time could have foreseen. It is also interesting, and I suspect no coincidence, that the Christian world has been the prime mover in advancing science for the last several hundred years since the Bible was made generally available to common people. This phrase also encourages physical exploration, in ways that most "civilized" people tended to avoid. I think this one line of truth has sparked countless investigations down through the centuries, where people, encouraged by Christ's message, have gone exploring and gone searching for the truth about the world.

Christ Doesn't Seem to Regard Dogs and Swine that Highly

Mat 7:6 Do not give that which is holy to the dogs, nor should you cast your pearls before swine, for they will trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

The word used for holy is the adjective hagios , which applies to either a holy objects or a holy people. It means literally, "devoted to the gods."

The word used for dogs, kuon , means a dog but as in English, it was also the metaphor for a certain type of less than wholesome person, though most frequently in the feminine form kunas, in more or less the same way as we would use the term "bitch."

The word used for swine was choiros, which wasn't really used as an unflattering characterization in Greek but was, of course, considered to be an unclear animal by the Jews and we may assume was used by them as a derogatory term.

The world for pearl is margarites, which means pearl, but again, as in English, also means a piece of wisdom, as in a "pearl of wisdom."

The word for "trample" is katapateo, which also is also a metaphor for treating someone rudely or spurning them, treating them with neglect.

The term for "rend" rhegnumi also means to "tear apart," but also means to distort or to throw down on the ground.

So the metaphorical meaning of this passage about giving wisdom to a certain type of person is even clearer in the original Greek. Christ is not only saying that a certain type of person doesn't recognize what is holy, but if you give these people wisdom, they will treat you rudely for it and try to either tear down that wisdom or turn it against you.

The immediate context here is "you hypocrites" who Christ addressed in the previous verse as being blind to their shortcomings. Here, he extends the idea telling us that these people do not recognize wisdom when they see it.

Does Christ Teach our Blindness is Structural?

Mat 7:3 And why do you see the mote in your brother's eye, but do not consider the beam that is in your own eye?
Mat 7:4 Or how do you say to you brother, Let me pull the mote out of you eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in you own eye?
Mat 7:5 You hypocrite, first cast the beam out of your own eye; and then you can see clearly to cast out the mote out of your brother's eye.

The Greek term translated as "mote" is karphos, which means "twig," "straw," or "chaff." The term translated as "beam" is dokos, which is a main bearing beam in a house that holds up the roof or floor or any beam or rafter. It is also the beam that bars a door.

Reading the English translation, I was always stuck by the extreme use of the term "beam" to describe something in a person's eye. Looking at the Greek, however, it seems clear that he chose the word (that is, its Aramaic equivelent) carefully.

The topic here is blindness, that is, our inability to see our own situation. While it is generally true that we see the flaws of others much more clearly than we see our own flaws, no matter what their relative sizes, by choosing the term dokos, Christ is telling us something more about our blindness. What we cannot see is the support that holds up our thinking. We are blind to it because it is the foundation of our viewpoint. It is buried deep in our assumptions. If we take away that beam, the entire stucture of the way of seeing the world collapses.

Christ is saying that our blindness is not a minor affliction, like a piece of chaff blown into our eye, but a structural defect. Even the meaning of dokos as a beam that bars the door makes sense. This defect that causes our blindness doesn't let anything new in.

The larger context of this chapter seven and this verse is society, that is, our relationships with other people. Christ starts by saying that we cannot judge other people. Now he is explaining why. Just like beams and building are human inventions, society is also a human invention and the flaws in our social structures are foundational. The ways we try to use society to correct our fellows are also flawed. Social judgments don't work because of a kind of structural blindness.

What is that blindness? Our inability to know what others are thinking is part of it. However, Christ is saying something more here: he is saying the problem is with our inability to see the flaws in our own thinking. Yes, we are aware of our own minds, but we cannot see the foundations of our thought, our subconscious is as hidden to us as the thoughts of other people.

Did Christ Teach Moral Relativity and that We can Escape Judgment?

Mat 7:1 Judge not, so that you will be not judged.
Mat 7:2 For with the judgment that you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you use, it shall be measured to you again.

The terms used here for "judge" and "judgment" are krino and krima, respectively. Krima means "decision" or "judgment," but krino is a much more complicated idea. Krino primarily means "to separate," "to put asunder," and "to distinguish." It has a lot of other secondary meanings, including "to pick out," "to choose," "to decide" disputes or accounts, "to win" a battle, "to judge" especially in the sense of "estimate," "to expound," or "to interpret" in a particular way. The primary meaning of "to separate" here is important because that is how Christ consistently describes God's judgment of people: separating good people from bad people, this idea of putting people into clear categories.

Is Christ saying that if we don't judge other people that God will not judge us? If you believe, as I do, that Christ does not contradict himself, this cannot be the meaning. So, what is Christ saying? He is saying that if we don't separate others into groups, other people will be less inclined to define us on the basis of one group or another. In our modern era, we have a term for trying to characterize people completely on the basis of one group or another that they happen to belong to. This term is "discrimination" in the negative sense of racial discrimination.

This interpretation is very consistent with what Christ says everywhere else in the Bible. His position is that only God can see into our hearts and only God can know us completely. For us to categorize others on the basis of the little we know, primarily on people's external features, is a mistake. That mistake leads to a world divided in meaningless ways. God can judge because only God has a complete picture. We cannot judge because by our very natures, our picture is an illusion, a small fraction of the reality.

This idea is consistent with the last part of the second verse. Again, is Christ saying that God will measure (metreo) with whatever measure (metron) we use? This would be the ultimate of moral relativism. It would mean that if we accept immorality in others, God will accept our immorality. That again, would be inconsistent with everything that Christ teaches about the law. The only way to understand this statement is that Christ is speaking about the measurements that we make in our society. In other words, people will treat us in the same way that we treat them. This is very consistent with everything else Christ teaches.

This connects again with the entire message of this sermon, that the world is divided into the physical, the spiritual, and the social. Here, Christ is not speaking about the physical world or spiritual world, whose rules are set by God. He is talking about the social world, where the rules are set by mere mortals. What Christ is saying is that good societies arise from good people, but that we cannot create perfect godlike rules by which society runs. Instead, we have to build our society upon the recognition that human judgments are far from perfect.

The first way we recognize this imperfection of human judgment is to avoid lumping people into general categories. We must we respect everyone as an individual as we would wish to be respected. We cannot divide people artificially and create a working society. We cannot apply different rules to different groups of people. In other words, we must treat all people the same under the law. This idea should be familiar to every American, since it is one of America's founding principles, and it is traced directly to this verse.

The second important aspect of this verse is that we make laws that we would accept for ourselves. We should not make punishments or rewards for others that we would not accept for ourselves. Christ continually accuses his opponents of being hypocrites because they used one set of rules for themselves and another set for other people. Christ, in his role as the historical catalyst changing human society, insists that, in our roles as social rule-makers we only make rules for others that we would gladly accept for ourselves.

In the previous verses at the end of Matthew Chapter 6, Christ says that we must trust God's working of the physical world to provide for us, but that we shape our social worlds ourselves an that we cannot accept God to make things in society right for us. Instead, we must follow his rules.

Did Christ Teach Short-Term Thinking?

Mat 6:34 Therefore do not think about tomorrow: for tomorrow shall take care of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof.

In all my basic translations I try to stay close to the King James Version because it is the source book for all English translations and, for phrases like this, there are many phrasing, but in almost all, the idea is the same. Christ seems to be saying that we do not have to think long term. Is that really what Christ wants?

Let us look at the original Greek. the term translated in various version as "thinking," "taking care," and "worry" is merimnao , which means to be troubled with cares, caring for someone, to care about something, and to be careful.

However the term translated as "tomorrow," aurion, may be the closest Greek comes to "tomorrow," but it is not a noun. Instead, it is an adverb meaning something more like "until tomorrow," "until the morning" meaning "shortly" or "presently." Unlike the noun "tomorrow" in English, this adverb doesn't take in the entire future, just the opposite. I searched out the way it was used in several Greek classics and it always communicate this idea of "in a short time." The term indicates not now but the immediate future. So the meaning of this phrase is almost the opposite of the way it is translated. A better translation would be "Don't worry about the immediate future for it will shortly take care of itself." The way that this phrase is usually translated may be one of the most misleading abuses of Christ's words. Especially since it flies in the face of so much else of what Christ says.

This brings us to the second phrase which consists of four words in Greek: arketos (sufficient) hemera (day) kakia (evil) autos (itself).

Arketos means "sufficient," "enough," or, when applied to people, "satisfactory."

The first problem here is hemera, which doesn't mean today in the sense of now, this day. Hemera means "day" or (more precisely) "daybreak" or "daytime" and has the specific meaning of the 24-hour day, but it is used to refer to a stage of life as well. For example, the Greeks would refer to your old age as your "old days." So it is used to refer to time. What the term doesn't have the "nowness" that is indicated in the translation. It isn't used to contrast now with the future: today versus tomorrow. For example, you couldn't say "ten todays in December" because "today" indicates now. However, you can say "ten days in December," which is the sense of hemera. Hemera is used to indicate "today" but usually with the term meaning "this" so you are saying "this day" for "today." Notice, no such phrasing is used here.

Also interesting is the term for evil. The usual term that the Bible translates as "evil" is poneros, which we have explained, means "burden" like the burdens of life. However, kakia means plain old "badness" and "evil," specifically moral evil, character flaws and defects. It also means "ill-repute" and "cowardice." It also means the hurt or damage done by evil.

And finally, auto, means "himself," "herself," "itself," or "the same."

That is it: sufficient day evil itself. Without a verb and adverbs to tie this all together, we gravitate to the meaning we have always heard: This day offers enough of its own evils. However, it could also mean: Enough days are their own evil, which makes more sense if we put it together with a more accurate translation of the first line. "Don't worry about the immediate future for it will shortly take care of itself. Enough days offer their own evil."