Friday, November 25, 2005

Mat 13:52 Therefore every scribe [who is] instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a man [that is] an householder, which brings forth out of his treasure [things] new and old.

In the previous verse, Christ suggests that understanding his analogies about the kingdom of heaven requires mastering the system that he uses in his symbols. Here, he extends that idea by saying that a person who understand these concepts about the kingdom of heaven can both understand what has been written about it in the past and generate new ways to express the power of spirit.

Alternative version: Therefore every writer who is a pupil of the kingdom of heaven is like a man, an householder, which brings out of storage both the new and the old.

"Scribe" is from grammateus, which is generally a "secretary," "recorder," and "scholar," but specifically means someone who uses gramma which is Greek for "drawings," "a letter," (as in an alphabet)"diagrams," and "letters" (as in correspondence).

"Instructed" is from mathêteuô, which means "to be a pupil."