Thursday, August 31, 2006

Mat 19:26 With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Alternative version: From men, this is impossible, but from God, everything is possible."

In response to Christ's statement about the problem with wealth, the apostles ask how anyone can be saved. (The word used is sozo or more precisely, sôizô, which means "to be safe from death," "to preseve," and "to maintain.") Christ response is that this safety from death does not come from men but from God.

This seems to be a simple idea on the surface, but Christ is speaking to the age-old delusion, more common today than ever, that lives can be saved. We talk constantly about medicine saving lives, good laws saving lives, good habits saving lives. How many people think that having money can save your life? Christ is pointing out that this is all an illusion. Since the beginning of time, not a single life has been saved. Everyone who has been born has died.

No matter how long the average person lives, life is short, an eyeblink in eternity. In comparison with the vast expanse of time, the longest surviving person doesn't live much longer than a baby who dies at birth. There is no value to any single life or life in general in a physical sense alone. Life only has meaning because life is bigger than the physical world alone. Every life spans the vast distance between the physical world to the timeless realm of God.

"With" is from para, which means "besides," "from," "near," and "by the side of."

"Impossible" is from adunatos, which means "unable to do a thing," "without power," "powerless," "impossible," and "unrealizable."

"Possibel" is from dunatos, which means "strong," "mighty," "possible," and "practicable."