Mat 10:9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
Mat 10:10 Nor bag for [your] journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.

This English translation is very misleading. The term translated as "provide" is ktaomai, which means "to acquire," "to get specifically for oneself," and "to possess. It has the special meaning of procuring a wife.

"Gold" is chrusos, which means things made of gold, including stamped coins. "Silver" is arguros, and "brass" is chalkos. Both of these two latter terms mean the metal as well as objects made from the metal, specifically, coins.

"Purses" is zone, which was actually a belt or girdle used to restrain flowing garments. It was a rolled piece of cloth, so it was hollow inside and used for securing money.

In this first verse, Christ was not telling the apostles (and us) not to acquire money for their journey. However, this is a different idea from providing money.

"Bag" is pera, which was specifically a leather bag to carry provisions for traveling. We might call this a knapsack.

"Journey" is hodos, which, as we have discussed before, means "the way," which in Greek has the same two meanings that "way" has in English, both the idea of a road and a way of living, a path you take in life.

"Coats" is really a bad translation. The Greek word is chiton which is an undergarment, not an over garment. Christ is literally saying, "Don't take two pairs of underwear." There is a certain humor in this that I am sure was intentional.

"Shoes" is hupodema, which are sandals you tie on.

"Staves" is rhabdos, which has a lot of meanings. Basically, it means a "rod" or "wand." It is used for a rod that you use to chastise people, a magic wand, and a staff of office. It is not just a walking stick, but very much a sign of power and authority. However, it is also used to describe a fishing rod and a shepard's staff.

Notice that Christ doesn't say not to take two pairs of shoes or two staffs as this verse is often translated in some Bible versions. He says that his apostles should go barefoot and without a staff, which was a sign of authority.

"Workman" is ergates in Greek. It means workers, but it more specifically means a "doer," a "producer," or one who practices an art. As in some many of the words in Matthew, it has a very economic flavor. In this case, it separates people that do the work from those who supervise. Supervisors are the ones with the shoes and staff. There is an important message here for "the church" where the staff became a symbol of a bishop's authority.

Axios is translated here as "worthy," but its literal meaning is "couterbalancing." It is the idea of weighing the sames as something of equal value. From this comes the idea of "being worthy" or "due," not from inherent worth but because you give values for equal value.

"Meat" is from trophe, which means "nourishment" and "food." The Greeks used this word like we say "earning a living" in phrases meaning "earning your keep."

These two verses end up saying that the apostles not only needed to travel and preach, but they needed to make an act of faith. They needed to trust that other people would see the value in what they were doing and reward them for it. They were not to ask for these rewards. They were not to act as if they were in authority and "taxing" the people (like the Jewish priests). Instead, they were simple workmen who must trust that people would recognize the value of the acts they were to perform (see the previous verse.)

Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely you have received, freely give.

This phrase is an exciting example of how Christ's words in the original Greek have a series of double or deeper meanings that are often lost in English translation.

"Heal" is therapeuo, which means "to serve" and "to treat" in a medical sense.
"The sick" is astheneo, "to be weak," "to be powerless," "to be sick."
So the first phrase means "heal the sick" but its primary meaning is "serve the powerless."
"Cleanse" is katharizo, which means to "to clean" is both a physical and metaphorical sense. It is the base for the catharsis, which is a transformation.
"Lepers" is lepros, which means "scaly" and "rough" as well as those infected with leprosy.
So the phrase means both "cleanse the lepers" and "transform the rough."
"Raise" is egeiro, which means "to arouse" and "to awaken."
"The dead" is nekros, which means both the physical dead or dying and the spiritually dead.
So the phrase means both "raise the dying" and "arouse the spiritually dead."
"Cast out" is ekballo, which also means "to throw out of society" and "to draw out." It has a sense of violence in its use as "cast out" but no sense of violence when used as "to draw out."
"Devils" is daimonion, which means "divine power," "divinity," as well as "a spirit inferior to God," or an "evil spirit."
So "cast out devils" also means "to draw out divinity."
"Freely" is dorean, which means "as a free gift," and "undeserved," from dorea, "gift."
"You have received" is lambano, which primarily means "to take" and also means "to receive."
""Give" is didomi, which means "to give as a gift" but also "to pay what is owed."
So "freely you have received, freely give" also means that since we have taken much, we also own much.

Mat 10:7 And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The word translated as "preach" is kerusso, which means "to act as a herald," "to proclaim," and "to declare."

We have already written extensively about the meaning of "the kingdom of heaven" (basileia (reign, rule, or kingdom) ouranos (heavens, sky, universe).

The word translated as "at hand" is eggizo (engizo), which means "to bring near," "to approach," "to bring up to," and "to be imminent."

So Christ isn't telling the apostles (or us) to preach in the traditional sense. He is simply teaching us to be heralds for the new age, the imminent age where the universal rule comes into its own.

Mat 10:6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

The word translated as "go" here is poreuomai, which means to "to proceed, "to carry over," or "to convey." "Rather" is mallon, which means "more," "to a greater degree," and "rather."

The word translated as "lost" is apollumi, which means "to destroy' or "to kill." (It was used a few verses ago to describe what happens to old wineskins filled with new wine.")

So Christ isn't just describing the sheep (probaton) of Israel as just astray, but as destroyed.

Mat 10:5 Do not go to the way of the Gentiles and to a Samaritan city, do not enter.

"Go" is aperchomai, which means "go away" and "depart from." With the Greek word eis, (the word translated here as "onto" here), however, it implies departure from one place and arrival at another. So the phrase says Do not depart by the road and arrive at a Samaritan city.

"Way" is hodos, which means both a road and a way of thinking, like our English word "way."

The word translated as "Gentiles" is ethnos, which does not mean gentiles or even foreigners. Its primary meaning is "a group of people living together," a nation, a tribe, or a cast of people. Later it came to mean "barbarous nations" similar to our idea of ethnic people.

"Enter" is eiserchomai, which means both "to go out" and "to enter in," but it is also a metaphor for "coming to mind."

So, for the apostles this line was an instuction for avoiding the main roads and staying out of the Samaritan cities. However, for us, it is also an instruction for avoiding the mindset of the crowd, group think.

Mat 9:22 Daughter, be of good comfort; your faith has made you whole.

"Daughter" is the Greek, thugater, which is generally a female descendant. It is only interesting because the term translated as "son" that Christ used to address the cripple in Matt: 9:2 was teknon, which means offspring. We take it for granted that Christ addresses people of any age as descendants not brothers and sisters, but is interesting.

"Be of good comfort" is tharseo, which means in a good sense, having courage, and in a bad sense, being over-bold. In general, it means not being afraid and having confidence.

"Faith" is pistis, the Greek term that means at once believing in something and faithfulness.

"Made whole" is from the Greek, sozo (soizo), which means "to keep alive" when applied to people or "to keep safe" when applied to things. It also mean"keeping" the law.

Christ here is first connecting faith with courage. Saying you believes something is not the same as acting upon it. Acting on your faith is a sign of confidence. Next, Christ say that it is our faith that keeps us alive. So cowardliness leads to death. Several words translated as "evil" in the Gospels, including the most common, poneros, have a secondary meaning of "cowardly." Christ clearly equated courage, boldness, and confidence with his sense of how people should behave.

Mat 9:17 Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins: else the wineskines break, and the wine runs out, and the wineskins perish: but they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

The Greek word translated as "new" in this verse, neos, actually does mean "new," unlike the word translated as "new" in the last verse which meant "unfinished," BUT "new wine" is a parallel to the "patch of unfinished remnant" in the last verse. When wine is new, it is not very good, in many cases, not even drinkable. Wine must age to become good. Again, John the Baptist's teaching is not to just something new but something unfinished.

The term for "old" is palaios, meaning "old," "ancient," or "worn," which is the same term used to describe the mantle in the last verse. The term for "wineskins" is askos, which were the leather containers for wine used in Christ's time. This is again, a metaphor for Judaism and the practice of fasting. In this version, however, the holes are not just made worse by the unfinished material, but the wineskins "burst" (rhegnumi, "break forth") and "perish" (apollumi, "to destroy").

The solution to preserving the new (neos) wine is not just "new" wineskins. The term used to describe the wineskins is not neos. It is kainos, which means "newly made" and "fresh" but goes further meaning "of a new kind," "unheard of," "uncommon," and "novel." The choice of words here clearly is not an accident.

What Christ is saying is that John's teaching was incomplete and that it was never meant for the reformation of Judaism. Judaism was too old and worn and the teaching itself was too unfinished.

To finish John the Baptist's teaching about the coming of the kingdom of heaven, a new and novel container was required. That new and novel container was the new framework or context of Christ's teachings.

What was Christ saying to us, now? This verse and the previous are metaphors for how the newness of Christ's teaching helps us. We cannot just take part of what Christ says and patch up our lives. The old habits just don't fit. Instead, we must exchange our old lives for new ones to hold Christ's teachings, otherwise, Christ's teaching will destroy us.

Mat 9:16 No man puts a patch of new cloth onto an old garment, for that patch lifts up from the garment, and the hole is made worse.

This verse seems to contrast the idea of mending old ideas with new ones in the original translation, but it doesn't mean that at all in Greek.

The term translated as "new" is agnaphos, which means "unmilled," "unfulled," "undressed," and "unprocessed." "Cloth" is rhakos, which means a "rag," "remnant," or a "tattered garment." So Christ wasn't saying "a patch of new cloth" but "a patch from an unprocessed remnant." The "old garment" is palaios ("old," "ancient," "worn") himation, which is an outer garment of cloth, like a mantle or cloak.

The term for "lifts us" is airo, which means "to elevate," "to bear," and "to carry off." The term for "hole" is schisma, which means "division" and "dissention." The idea is that is you use an the unprocessed remnant for a patch, it will shrink as the mantle is washed, making the hole you are trying to patch worse than before.

So what is Christ talking about here? He is talking about an old cloak with a hole in it, but the cloak is good quality cloth. He is saying that you don't patch that old, good cloak with a remnant of unmilled cloth because that will make its hole worse. The larger context is the question about the difference between Christ and John's the Baptist's teachings. John the Baptist's teaching about the coming of the kingdom of heaven was the patch and the old garment of the traditional practices of Judaism, which include fasting. Then the larger message would be that John the Baptist had only a part of the message ("remnant") and that it was unfinished. Judaism isn't made better by trying to patch it with this unfinished part but made weaker.

A minor note: The term translated as "puts" is epiballo, which means "to cast on," or "to lay on." The term translated as "patch" is epiblema, which means "that which is thrown over" and it is used to refer to patches, bedspreads, headcoverings, tapestries, etc. The two terms a play on world. Kind of "You don't throw on a throw over." The feel of this reinforces what Christ was saying about not using a hasty patch on Judaism.

Mat 9:15 Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

"Mourn" is from pentheô (pentheo), which means "to bewail," "to mourn," "to go into mounring," and "to lament." It is the same word used for "mourn" in the Beatitudes (Mat 5:4).

The term translated as "bridechamber" is numphon, which can either be the room of the marriage bed or marriage ceremony. It means simply "brideroom." Numphios is "bridegroom."

The term translated as "shall be taken" is apairo, which means "to lift off," "to carry off," and "to lead away."

The term translated as "fast" is nesteuo, which specifically means a religious fast.

This blog is written from the point of view that Christ's words were directed not only at those around him during his life but at us today. What is the message in this statement for us?

The most interesting part of this statement is that it is the first time that Christ refers to himself as a "bridegroom." Of all the metaphors Christ's uses for his mission, this is the most interesting if only because it raises the issue about who the bride is. The historical answer is the Christian church, but Christ gives no clue here. Are we the "sons of the bridechamber" like the apostles are are we Christ's bride? Christ uses the metaphor of the wedding feast as a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven. Are we guests at the feast? Is so, we should be joyful.

Also interesting is the choice of apairo as the term for being taken away. This word seems to refer both to the crucifixion ("lead away") but also to the ascension after the resurrection ("lift off"). There were actually two separations in the Christ story. However, how does this description fit our relationship with Christ? After the joy of knowing Christ, when will we be sad? How will he be taken from us?

Historically, Christ was saying why his followers are not ascetics like John the Baptist's were. When it comes to his message for us today, do we celebrate or do we fast? Perhaps the easiest way to think is that as long as we are with Christ in spirit, we should celebrate. When we feel ourselves moving away from Christ, we should fast and do penance.

Mat 9:13 But go and learn what this means, I will have mercy and not sacrifice: for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

This verse has so much that I have to cut it into three parts, beginning, the middle, and the end.

In the beginning, "go" is from the Greek poreuomai, which isn't the term that Matthew usually translates as "go" (hupago). Poreuomai means "to lead over," and "to carry over." It means both "to pursue a course" and "to depart from life." "To learn" is manthano, which means "to learn from study or by practice."

The first part of this verse tells people to continue from their life and learn from it.

The middle of the verse is clearly a reference to the transition from OT sacrifice to the focus in the NT on relationships between people.

"I will" is thelo, which means "I desire" or "I like." The Greek term translated as "have mercy" is eleos, which specifically means "good will toward the afflicted." Interesting, the Greek terms translated as "sacrifice," thusia, does not refer to the act of sacrifice but to "a burnt offering" or "victim."

So the line can also be translated as "I desire good will toward the afflicted and not victims," which applauds people for helping victims but at the same time makes it clear that no one should want to be a victim in order to qualify for mercy.

The next part adds another layer of sophistication to this idea.

The term translated as "call" is kaleo, which like our word "call" means both "to summon" and also "to name." The term translated as "righteous" is dikaios, which means "those who observe the laws," "well-balanced," and "meet and fitting." "Sinners" is from hamartolos, which means "erroneous" or "erring." It also means "of bad character" but with the sense of being a slave or low-born not evil. Only in biblical translations is this term given the sense of wickedness. The term translated are "repentance" is metanoia, which literally means "a change of mind" but also means "regret" and "repentance."

This second part of the verse might be translated as "I have not come to call anyone law-abiding but to call those who are making mistakes to change their mind."

Again, as we have noted in our article, Misconceptions of Good and Evil, the concepts in Greek regarding good and evil in the NT are not quite the sense that they have taken on in English.

Mat 9:12 Those who are whole do not need a physician, but those who are sick.

The word translated "are" is echo, which means "to have."
The word translated as "whole" is ischuo, which means "to be strong," "to be able," or "to have powerful."
The word translated as "physician" is iatros, which means "healer," "medic," or "physician."
The word translated as "sick" is kakos, which means many different forms of "bad," including "ugly," "low born," "craven," "evil," and "ill." It is from the same root as kakia, which, as we have said before, is much closer in sense to our idea of "evil" (and is translated that way in the Bible) than poneros, the most common word translated as evil in the NT, but which means "oppressed by toil."

Another version: Those who have power have no need of a healer but those who have weaknesses.

The larger sense of what Christ is saying is that he didn't come for the strong and powerful. He came to heal to the bad, low-born, and sick. I think he is also hinting the people are ever not as strong and powerful as they think. We are all in need of healing. This fits perfectly with Christ's larger message, that his goal is the perfection of humanity.

Mat 9:9 Follow me.

In Greek, akoloutheo moi. These are the first words that Christ spoke directly to the evangelist. We cannot know for certain if Matthew listened to any of Christ's sermons, but given the detail in which Matthew reports on the Sermon on the Mount that came before Christ called him directly, we can assume that he did. I would even speculate that Christ saw him taking notes at the sermon and asked him to join as a follower for the specific reason of writing Matthew.

Given the context, akoloutheo, is an interesting word. It means "follow" in the physical sense, but metaphorically it means "to be guided by," which is Christ's calling not only to Matthew, but to all of us. Even more interesting for me, the term also specifically means "to follow the thread" of a discourse, which is exactly what we are trying to do in this blog.

There is a common thread to Christ's teaching that must be followed closely. The tragedy is the hardly anyone spends time today actually studying Christ's words alone. Paul gets far more attention at Sunday services. The Christ story gets far more attention. Somehow, Christ's words, the ideas he was sent to earth to communicate (John called Christ "The Word"), are often overlooked because they are difficult.

Many of the "problems" of Christ's words are resolved in reading him in the original Greek (as the early Church members all did), but it is still work to understand what Christ was saying about the nature of reality.

Mat 9:6 But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.

The term translated as "know" is eido, which means literally "to see."

The term translated as "power" is exousia, which means "authority," "power of choice," and "resources."

"Forgive sins" is aphiemi hamartia means "to send away failure."

The world translated as "bed" is kline, which means "that on which one lies," but it also means a "grave-niche."

Here, Christ fulfills the promise made in the last verse. He literally shows the scribes his power so that they can see it. He demonstrate that he has the power to put people's mistakes behind them by giving this man the power to walk, which means to live and make progress. He metaphorically tells the man to pick up his that bed (that was his grave) and go to his house (oikos, which also means "family").

Mat 9:5 For what is easier, to say, [your] sins are forgiven you; or to say, Arise, and walk?

As we have said before, "sins are forgiven" is from the phrase hamartia aphiemi, which means something closer "your mistakes have left you."

"Arise and walk" is egeiro (to rise up) kai (and) peripateo (to walk up and down), but peripateo is also a metaphor meaning "making your way," "progress," "to use your opportunities," and "to live."

So, after Christ has accused the scribes of seeing the base motives in others and carrying a burden in their hearts, he asks which of two alternatives are easier:
- Proclaiming that someone's problems are behind them, or
- Proclaiming is going to rise up and make progress.

This is answering the scribes' negativism with an even greater form of positivism. It is like a poker game. "You can to think poorly of me for saying something positive? Well, I am going to say something even more positive."

Mat 9:4 Why do you think evil in your hearts?

The term translated as "think" is enthumeomai, which means "to ponder," "to notice," or "to infer." Here, the sense it that the scribes who think that Christ is blaspheming are quick to infer things about others.

What do they infer? The term translated as "evil" is poneros, the adhective most commonly translated as the noun "evil" in Matthew. It means "oppressed by toils," "worthless," "base," or "cowardly." It doesn't mean evil in a malicious sense (except as it has been translated in Matthew). Even in Matthew uses another term for that type of evil, kakia.

My sense is that Christ is saying that the scribes are quick to see base motives on the part of others, as well being burdened in their hearts.

Why does the scribes accuse Christ of blaspheming for saying that the invalid's failures have left him? Because only God can reward or punish or know the future. At the time, people thought that afflictions were punishments from God. Those who spoke against those afflictions were speaking against the will of God.

Mat 9:2 Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.

This is the first mention of sin by Christ in the Gospels. I mention this because I have been waiting and waiting. Churches throughout history have made the focus of Christianity sin and redemption from sin, but Christ has laid out all his major themes by this point, and sin is not among them.

The word translated as "sin" is the Greek hamartia, which is a form of hamartano, which means "to fail in one's purpose," "to neglect," and "to be deprived of." It has no sense of
doing malicious evil in Greek. Best English translation? I would say, "failures" rather than what we commonly think of as the evils of "sin."

The word translated as "forgive" is aphiemi, which we have seen several times before. It means to "let go," "to leave," "to depart," "to give up a debt," "to leave on dying", "to pass by," and "to get rid of."

So the phrase works out to, "Child, take courage, your failures have left you."

Mat 8:32 Go.

The term translated as "go" is hupago, which means "to lead under," "to go under," or "to depart." It means to bring under one's power and to lead on.

Here, it is spoken to the demons, casting them into pigs.

How does it apply to us? Is it spoken to our weaknesses? Or more?

Mat 8:26 Why are you fearful, Oh you of little faith?

The term translated as "why" is tis, is an indefinite pronoun which means "any one" or "any thing." Interrogatively, it means "who" or "what?" Deilos means "cowardly" or "worthless."

So the first phrase is "What are you? Cowardly?" Christ is asking his disciples and us, if we are cowardly and worthless.

Oligopistos is a word built of two words. We have covered pistos before. It is a passive verb meaning "to be trusted" or "to be believed." As an adjective, it means both "trustworthy" and "trusting." It is a great word because it equates trusting others with being faithful to them and worth of their trust. I wonder how this sense of the word got lost in English. Pistos offers both sides of the coin of faith as one. God has as much faith in us as we have in Him. As an adverb, pistos means "faithfully" or "loyally." Oligo is a Greek prefix used to mean "lacking," "wanting," or "having little."

So the complete verse equates cowardliness and worthlessness with a lack of trust. However, it challenges us to ask ourselves what we are.

Mat 8:22 Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Much of the beauty of the phrase is lost in English. In English, it almost comes across as conceited or heartless, because Christ is telling a son not to attend to his dead father. This is a great example of why we need to understand that Christ wasn't just addressing those around him at the time, but all people in all times and especially use in our lives. It is also a great example of why the actual Greek matters.

The term "follow" is akoloutheo meaning "to follow," or "go with," in a physical sense, but it is also a metaphor meaning "to be guided by" or "to follow the meaning of."

However, the term translated as "let" is aphiemi, which means "to send away," "to put away," as well as "to permit." Biblically, it is most often translated as "leave" but very often translated as "forgive." It is from the noun aphesis, which means "letting go" or "release." It is the opposite of the idea of "following" which proceeds it. The phase translated as "let the dead" is aphiemi nekros (the dead), which also means "send away the dead" or "leave the dead."

The contrast of these two terms sets up the idea that you can follow Christ or you can follow the dead. You can follow what is coming or follow what has been. Christ's advice is to follow him, because he represents the future and to leave the dead, who represent the past.

The word translated as "bury" is thapto, which also means "to pay the last dues to a corpse," "to honor with funeral rites."

The phrase translated as "their dead" is heautou (themselves) nekros (the dead).

So the sense is that the dead themselves pay honor to the dead. This is not a negative thing. In creating a dividing line between the past and the future, Christ did not turn his back on the past. However, he clearly separated what was honor in the past from what was honored in the future.

A more comprehensive translation of the verse might be: Follow me and leave behind the dead; the dead themselves honor the dead.