Hard sayings of Jesus: The conditional fulfillment by John the Baptist as Elijah revealed

Most Christians are already familiar with John the Baptist and how that he quotes the passages from Isaiah 40 about a voice crying in the wilderness, and that every hill shall be made low or flat, and every valley uplifted, etc.   Or so it says in the Hebrew via a word picture exposition.

I wish to introduce the readers here to a "conditional" something about Elijah being applied to John the Baptist that Jesus referred to.

 Technically, this "conditional" prophecy is so stated as conditional by Jesus...."if you will receive it", He says.  It must also be noted that this "conditional" so acts as a more general fulfillment that will specifically so apply as a first (shorter term prophetic) means of answering a prophecy dually.  In this instance, the latter day or second fulfillment becomes a specific literal in which Elijah himself is expected to fulfill the prophecy.  Irregardless, it is clear that even the "conditional" Elijah prophecies are dual prophecies.

  Dual prophecies may often refer to nations such as Babylon in the short term, and of the last days Babylon in the end of days...or may refer to a person who is punished short term, and to the anti-Christ in the end of days having the same nature, general actions, characteristics, or what have you.  Studies of which are often met with hostile resistance or apathy and disinterest by those within the Church.  So much so, that if we have even 10% of those professing to be born-again Christians in the United Staes actually raptured, even that high a percentage (as low as that number is) might be in itself a miracle. 

  The short term coming of John the Baptist as Elijah, was in that he (John) was the last Old Testament prophet; and he, John, closed the Old Testament era.   In effect, John was in himself a type of sum figure of all the Old Testament Prophets who looked toward the coming of Christ / Messiah or "Messhiach".  The nation of Israel in the late 20s A.D. counted John as a Prophet of the G-D of Israel.  Even years after his death, they attributed calamities or were told to attribute calamities to his martyr's death and innocent blood being shed, in order to deflect believing into Yeshua / Jesus the Messiah whom he (John) so proclaimed, and whom was never disproven to be Messiah in their generation, nor the one following. 


Matthew 11:11-15 (King James Version)

{Jesus speaking}
11  Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

13  For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

14  And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

15  He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.



Matthew 17:1-12a  (King James Version)

1  And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

2  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

3  And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

4  Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

5  While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

6  And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.

7  And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.

8  And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.

9  And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.

10  And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

11  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

12  But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed…


Can a case be made that such an interpretation would have been acceptable among the sons of Israel in that time period?  Yes. 
About 1000 years after the above text, Rashi in his commentary on Genesis 9:12  reads the verse and then comments a relevant understanding to our revealing the above text:

Genesis 9:12 -  And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant, which I am placing between Me and between you, and between every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations.

"for everlasting generations:
 It [the word דֹרֹת] is written defectively [without the letter “vav”] because there were generations that did not require the sign..."

Rashi uses the word "oth"/ "sign", or more precisely "L'oth" / "the sign"
לאות

in discussing prophetical significance of future signs of the heavens when the lights of the heavens that shine upon the Earth are stricken in regards to the "oth" of Genesis 1:14. 

The writing of a Biblical word with the absence of the "vav" when the Biblical it was normally written with a "vav"

ו

was termed a "defective" by the rabbis. But in reality, the "defective" in which the "vav" or "hook" was stricken from the name Eliyahu,

אליהו


so the it reads EL-YH   [G-D YH....or Jehovah G-D]

אליה

 translated still as Elijah, is "the sign" or "oth" that reveals future events concerning this one and his proto-type. 

In Revelation 19:10 c, the angel informs John that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy".  Or inverse, "the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus".  The entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments,  and all its prophecies centers on or revolves around and finds fulfillment in Jesus.

In the Hebrew of Genesis 1:1, there is an arugument that can be made that the Alef-Tav which follows Elohim (G-D) refers to Jesus, the Alef-Vav-Tav ("oth" - sign) that "is to come".  An "oth" is viewed by the rabbis in prophetical translation as a signal, a banner, a miracle that is to come in the distant future


The root word "to come" / "athah" in Hebrew is spelled as Alef-Tav-He. If taken in that context...we can jump to Revelation 1:11 with Jesus declaring himself as the Alpha and the Omega, the extreme beginning and origin as well as the extreme finality or end, and apply the same equivalent of the Hebraic Alef-Tav as found in Genesis 1:1. Hence...from the very Beginning...the Bible speaks of an oft passed over "Oth" or "sign" that the creating of both the Heavens and the Earth was clearly and specifically meant to testify as G-D's sign "to come" is revealed as having been fulfilled in Jesus, with Jesus, and through Jesus as also testified to in John 1:1.

The significance of Elijah is not that he was "just a prophet" or that he performed miracles, but that prophecy designates such a one to precede the coming of the Messiah,

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the L-RD" (Malachi 4:5)

and that Messiah whom Elijah of the defective writing of the name precedes, is He whom is identified as the very one who spake with Moses on Mount Sinai,

"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the L-RD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His Temple, even [He]...whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the L-RD of Hosts."

and the one who breathed into Adam the breath of lives (Lamentaions 4:20, Genesis 2:7), and gave Adam both a living soul and "reason" (an impartation of the logos into his very being, unlike any animal or creature upon, above, or under the face of the earth.).
See also:
http://brianroysinput.blogspot.com/2009/11/psalm-114s-incarnation-prophecy-et-al.html


Jesus declared that if you will receive this saying, John the Baptist, who came fasting regularly ("neither eating or drinking") fulfilled the prophesy of Elijah in Malachi 4:5. John the Baptist fulfilled all the Old Testament prophets,
http://brianroysinput.blogspot.com/2009/09/luke-1616-and-easier-entering-into-g-ds.html
 and must precede the one whose goings forth were not only from of old, but eternity...born and clothed with human flesh at Bethlehem of Ephratah in Judea (Micah 5:2, et al.).

But we will also need to look at other passages where the defective of Elijah as "El-YH" is written:

1)    But the Angel of the L-RD 
      [G-D or YHVH who spoke with Moses from the midst of the Burning Bush]
     said to Elijah      אליה
    the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them,
    Is it  not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of  Ekron?   (2 Kings 1:3)

As Elijah heard from G-D via the Holy Spirit upon him (like Ezekiel's example), so too would John the Baptists communed with and heard from G-D via the Holy Spirit.


2)   Now therefore thus saith the L-RD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art
      gone up,  but shalt surely die.
    And Elijah  אליה
    departed.
    (2 Kings 1:4)

As Elijah had the power to prophesy on life and death, so too, would have John the Baptist the same ability as G-D's announcer of the Messiah.


3)   And they answered him,
      He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins.
      And he said, It is Elijah אליה
      the Tishbite.
      (2 Kings 1:8)

In this instance, we see that John the Baptist was hairy like Esau in Genesis 27:11,16.  Where Esau had hair like a goat covering his flesh from head to foot, and Elijah likewise was so marked...John the Baptist was covered in a coat of natural hair like that of a Camel (like Elijah and Esau before him).  In effect, the passage of Matthew 3:4 probably should read (in light of the Elijah prophecies) that John the Baptist had himself a natural clothing out from himself like the hairs from a camel, and that his only external clothing was a a belt of leather about his loins.  In other words, Esau, Elijah, and John the Baptist had a sheen of hair that made their bodies look more like the skins of animals than that of humans.  Perhaps this un-natural natural condition led to mythologies about those who were half-human and half animal.  Labeled currently as hypertrichosis, at least  50 cases have been known in the last 1,000 years, and these are often labeled as wolf people, and their condition shunned as a genetic disease.  
(Cf. article translated from German at: 
http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?48769-hypertrichosis-The-Curse-of-the-Hair
)

4)  And Elijah  אליה
     answered and said unto them,
     If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty.
    And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
    (2 Kings 1:12)  

Because John was sent to announce the Messiah, and the good news, it is unlikely that he would have called fire down from heaven.  If he did, we have no record of it.  Such a miracle is not precluded by the absence of its mention, because the disciples of Jesus were cognizant of such a demonstration, but it is uncertain if it was also a current awareness via John like Elijah, or just the Old Testament passages, and the desire to see a demonstration of such miracle powers regardless of who besides them might have suffered from such a judgment.  After the resurrection, then Jesus disciples truly understood what "spirit" they were to be of, and what message they were to preach, and the gentleness by which they were to go about delivering that good news / Gospel.

5)   And Elijah  אליה
      said unto her,
      Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first,
      and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
     (1 Kings 17:13)


Based on the conditional prophetical, and the fact that John was proclaiming good news as the forerunner of Messiah...it seems to me that (and this is my opinion and speculation based on the biblical texts and prophecies) John the Baptist would have likely been able to also have been used to manifest a smaller scale miracle of food multiplication by prayer as Elijah experienced, and on a much smaller scale than the Messiah Jesus performed.   But if he did, it is not mentioned, and can only be presumed as possible.

In the Gospel of John, John 10:41,  there were many of those who claimed that John the Baptist did no miraculous sign  ("semeion"), but in the context of the passage in which it is found, we cannot rule out all miracles or signs as unperformed by John.  Only that if he did so, they were not performed for the masses as Jesus did; but on a much smaller scale, if, he did so perform miracles.  I believe that this is the correct context of the Scripture, even as within the context of Elijah with the widow and her son in 1 Kings 17:13 above, and a literal fulfillment after that sense.  Because John the Apostle does NOT state that John the Baptist did no miracles, only that crowds who came out and were at one time baptized by John the Baptist stated that they themselves in mass gatherings in throngs of hundreds of thousands going to be baptized in John the Baptist's sight and within the sound of his voice...that such as these at such events or before, neither themselves heard or  saw any miraculous signs being done by John the Baptist at any time.  This does not rule out that some could have been done privately among his disciples and recipients, and John the Apostle makes no mention of what he or others (including actual John the Baptist disciples like the Apostle Andrew, or even the L-RD Jesus)  knew about whether or not John the Baptist did or did not do

I state this in such a way, because I neither wish to add to -- nor to take away from Scripture.  Many have strayed in the faith by taking broad commentaries on a level as being more authoratative than the Scriptures themselves.  When in doubt, check and rely on the Scriptures. In all likelihood, John performed no "public" miracles during his ministry, miracles expected of Elijah...but I cannot say that this is absolutely so, even as I cannot absolutely say that it was NOT so at a lesser known or unknown event to the individuals that made their declarative utterance to Jesus that they themselves  neither  heard or saw any miraculous signs being done by John the Baptist at any time.

Why is this clarification necessary?   For even Jesus...who multiplied the bread loaves and the fishes for many thousands from a very few which he broke by hand, or raised the dead, or healed those blind from birth, healed even the maimed, and struck those who sought to kill Him with the blindness that was stricked upon the Sodomites at Lot's House...even the miracles of Jesus were as brushed aside by Pharisees and Sadducees as if no signs or miracles.  We see this same callous attitude in Matthew 16:1-4, where even the miracles of Jesus are brushed aside as if "no signs", but only a "sign from Heaven" or in the sky would be accepted.  Of couse, even then, they would be the still unbelieving "hypocrites" that Jesus said they would be.   Indeed, these same Pharisees and Sadducees would later get the moon of blood and the black sun for 3 hours at the Cross; but in Matthew 16:1-4, the true "miraculous sign", says Jesus, would not be the one that the hypocrites would see and then rationalize away, but rather the true miraculous sign would be the sign of the prophet Jonah.  That is, of the one who was cast away and sealed for three days and nights in the depths, and who came forth again by G-D's will.  The resurrection, not the signs of blood and fire and vapor of smoke, the resurrection would be the seal that Christ is true. 

The spirit of prophecy in Scripture must always give tesimony of Jesus in some way (cf. Revelation 19:10c).




6)  Behold, I will send you Elijah  אליה
     the prophet before the coming
     of the great and dreadful day of the L-RD.

  which should literally be translated into English as

   Lo / Behold, I am sending to you Elijah the prophet,
   Before the coming of the day of  YHVeH
   The great and the fearful.
   (Malachi 4:5, KJV and a literal translation)

As we have seen, in the prophecies of John the Baptist, hidden in the spelling of Elijah after the defective (without the "u" sounding vav -- instead of a "v" in this instance -- on the end of Eliyahu), John the Baptist meets the "conditional fulfillment" as being in the spirit of Elijah.  But if we were to take the verse of Malachi literally, we might read EL YH instead as its literal of "Jehovah G-D".


Lo / Behold, I am sending to you Jehovah G-D the prophet,    Before the coming of the day of  YHVeH
   The great and the fearful.

In effect, this would lead us to a dual fulfillment of John the Baptist and Jesus before the Day of the Cross, and eternal atonement;  as specified by Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 in stopping short on the Isaiah 61:1-2 prophecy,

and a later fulfillment at the end of days when the Elijah who was raptured in 2 Kings chapter 2 returns at the end of days as one of the 2 Great Witnesses of Revelation, before the Great Judgment Day of the L-RD's Wrath in which the Earth's population will likely dwindle to well less than 1 billion people, and perhaps less than 100 million as specified by the continuation of the Isaiah 61:2 prophecy as divided and specified by Jesus himself.


Luke 4:16-21

16 And he  [Jesus]  came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.



17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,


18 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,


19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.'


20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Isaiah 61


1 The Spirit of the Lord G-D is upon me; because the L-RD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;


2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;"

Jesus did not come to proclaim the Day of Vengeance, nor to comfort those who mourn as if mourning for an only son they had lost, as is spoken in Zechariah 12:10 ff.

Zechariah 12: 10-14

10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.


11 (And) IN THAT DAY shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;

13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;

14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

That time of "mourning" is for the end of Days, after that of Elijah the Tishbite's return, death, the following Day of Wrath for 3 1/2 years (ca. 1335 days upon the Earth), and the return of Christ and the period of mourning over humanity's having rejected Him in the form of religious ritual, and so forth.

  It is too difficult to at this time discern, other than that the Earth's population will at Christ's Mount of Olives return AFTER 3 1/2 years of total Judgment and wrath, be NO MORE than a billion in number it seems to me,  and likely not near that much.  The Bible indicate that the majority of those repopulating will likely be the Russians and Eastern and Middle Europeans, those of Gog and Magog, so I would expect the numbers to be perhaps even under 50 million for those in humanity surviving, or perhaps those at least able to procreate after nuclear and biological wars, and so on. 
    These comparatively few by today's near or past 7 billion population standards,  these surviving few as it were, along with the children of Israel's tribes regathered,  will be those who will repopulate the Earth and have the life expectancies of their children  -- for those who become believers into Jesus -- multiplied by as many as ten-fold so that a child who is born in the Kingdom of Christ might grow at such a slower rate, that at 100 years old, they are as a child of 10 in our day, and age at such a rate. But the Bible specifies that unbelievers will age at our current rate, and call those who still will not believe, as accursed.  And yes, there will be some, even many in the Kingdom of Christ, who will still be unbelievers and untrusting into Him, though living under His Sovereignty and Laws in that Day, because even then, man will still be allowed the grace of having free will and suffering damnation in this life and after death. 
 
As it even specifies and infers in  Isaiah 65:20  There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
 
Even in the Kingdom, there will be those who live as accursed, and multiply and rebel and are entirely removed only at the very end.   But that is for another discussion.


But regarding the former (peaceful / good news / i.e., the Cross) condition of the Malachi 4:5 prophecy:
Lo / Behold, I am sending to you Elijah the prophet,

Before the coming of the DAY of  YHVeH
The great and the fearful.


Jesus said, that:
"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My Day: and he saw it, and was glad." (John 8:56)

Again we should ask:  What if the prophecy was more specifically geared to the coming of the Messiah and his Day upon the Cross in which He paid for the sins of all mankind, rather than a focus on Elijah?  What if the rabbis actually got it wrong, and incorporated a looking for Elijah in the Pesach / the Passover Seder as a means of replacing a looking for the Messiah who already came?

It may be argued that Paul revealed a rabbinical belief present in the First Century A.D., that G-D raised Isaac from the dead after that his heart was once pierced by the knife of Abraham and stopped its beating upon the wood of the altar of sacrifice, and that Abraham was stopped from striking a second blow (much like the rod of Moses upon the Rock later, Abraham obeyed and did not strike, where Moses in his anger struck when told to speak to the rock).

17  By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac:
      and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
18  Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
19  Accounting that G-D was able to raise him up, even from the dead;
      from whence also he received him in a figure.
                                                (Hebrews 11:17-19, the Gospel of Paul as written down by Luke)

From where did the well-spring of resurrection life come forth, but from within, because of a trusting faith into G-D upon His promises when G-D himself called for it? Isaac, therefore, was a type of the Christ who was to come...innocent, sacrificed, and who rose from the dead after paying the obligations of another.

Thus as Revelation 1:5 puts it, when we properly translate and understand proto-tokos:
"...Jesus Christ the Faithful Witness,
before the birth / the First-born
out of the dead...."

Before the birth, the One from eternity (Micah 5:2) and the first in pre-eminence and order thereafter as well...He who was before the birth called by prophecy and in the mind and will of G-D, who now is and is to come ever the pre-eminent and first in order out of the dead ones...Christ Jesus the Faithful Witness and Messenger, the Logos of the Father and G-D with the Father and the Holy Spirit.   He it is whom is coming again for HIS Church:


 Psalm 68:4 Sing unto G-D, sing praises to His name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name YH, and rejoice before him.

Thus, we see, that John the Baptist and the Day of Jesus announced in Malachi 4:5, is revealed by a more thorough knowledge of both Hebrew and Rabbinic Judaism...and the insight G-D gives to show us where Rabbinic  Judaism gets it wrong because they have ignored and persecuted both their Messiah and their G-D in order that they might have the inheritance and ruler-ship of and among themselves, themselves, instead of yielding to their G-D and their Messiah, Christ Jesus: i.e., Yeshua.

Sanctus Real: Everything About You

An exceptional Christian Rock Worship song.

Mark 1:41 and the first 66 of the "P" classisfied (2nd - 4th century AD) Biblical manuscript fragments

Mark 1:41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. (KJV)

Was it really compassion, or was anger first used, and then changed to mean something else?

A similar remark or challenge (as stated in the above question) was made to me about Mark 1:41. And there is a vaguery in my recollection at this time as to whether the person attacking Mark 1:41, whether they had either stated or made the direct inference that Mark 1:41 was part of the P45 fragment, or simply used a generalization of THE earliest Mark (fragment or otherwise), which P45 is.

But for whatever reason, I decided to pursue the Mark 1:41 accusation, as it is now used by some trying to uncovert Christians to an apostasy without Jesus, and at least several people referenced (by an organization that shall remain nameless, with whose leader I had traded several e-mails with years ago) had chosen to deny Christ and damn their souls...and every soul who believes into Christ is so precious to G-D, that their names are written and announced in Heaven before the angels, and joyful shouts of approval sound forth for each and every name (Luke 12:8, 15:10; Revelation 3:5, 5:11, et al.). How many will there be whose names were read and blotted out later, and angels and loved ones who heard the names look for their arrival and find that they chose not to come to Heaven to be with the L-RD? Even one is "one too many", it seems to me.

P 45 is basically a surviving incomplete early portion of the New Testament Gospels, and has been displayed in Dublin and in Vienna, and may or may not still be at the Chester Beatty library. Various early 200's A.D. dates have been assigned to it, sometimes late 100's A.D. But leaving any argument for an even earlier dating aside, P45 does NOT have a portion of Mark 1:41 to it (as was emphasized by my counter-missionary anti-New Testament opponent in our discussion, as I recall).

Manuscript fragment P45 contains Mark 4:36-40; 5:15-26; 5:38-6:3,16-25,36-50; 7:3-15; 7:25-8:1,10-26; 8:34-9:9,18-31; 11:27-12:1,5-8,13-19,24-28; Luke 6:31-41; 6:45-7:7; 9:26-41; 9:45-10:1,6-22; 10:26-11:1,6-25,28-46; 11:50-12:12,18-37; 12:42-13:1,6-24; 13:29-14:10,17-33

There are currently P assignments to 126, and none of them contain Mark 1:41. I will list the first 66 of the P fragments so that the reader can get an idea of what bits and pieces of the New Testament made up the pre-collection wholesome copies or collections of the 4th Century in the Alexandrian Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, and Byzantine.

In regards to seeking Mark 1:41 in its oldest extant (still existing) form , we would next seek out the ca. 325 AD (Alexandrian) Vaticanus, which reads: και σπλαγχνισθεις εκτεινας την χειρα αυτου ηψατο και λεγει αυτω θελω καθαρισθητι


The mid-300s AD (Western) Sinaiticus reads: και σπλαγχνισθεις εκτινας την χειρα αυτου ηψατο και λεγει θελω καθαρισθητι

The late-300s AD (Byzantine) Alexandrinus reads: ο δε ις σπλαγχνισθεις εκτεινας την χειρα ηψατο αυτου· και λεγει αυτω θελω καθαρι̣σθητι·

After doing thus, we may best compare these to the Received 1881 Westcott-Hort Text reads: και σπλαγχνισθεις εκτεινας την χειρα αυτου ηψατο και λεγει αυτω θελω καθαρισθητι and see that Westcott and Hort follow the Vaticanus.

Stephanus in 1550 and 1551 followed the Byzantine Alexandrinus of the later 300s A.D., as did Scrivener in 1894.

What did the earliest souces look like? The Codex Sinaiticus, by example, has pages or leaves 15" x 14", listing Scripture in 4 columns by 48 lines to the column, ca. 12-16 letters to the line jammed together without spacings within the column. http://www.earlham.edu/~seidti/iam/tc_codexs.html

Previously I was able to refer others to be able to pull up the specific folio copies online, but now the link does not work. But I digress.


The (Western) Codex Bezae, dates to the 5th Century (ca. AD 450) and is the first to contain the entire Gospel of Mark as we now have it; however, this still precedes the entire Old Testament (including the 5 books of the Torah), in manuscript form, (which dates no earlier than AD 900) by some 450 years or more. So, even with a ritual worship and preservation of the Old Testament books in the last 2,000 years by observant Jews of the dispersion (diaspora) among the nations, we still have only an earliest manuscript extant that does not precede ca. 1110 years ago.

But the question was: Was Jesus angry only and did Christians "change" the Biblical text to one of compassion to cover up Jesus' being "angry"? The answer is: No.

The essential act of pity, even if there are synonymous anger overtones, in the Koine Greek are not contradictory. We can compare -- splagchuistheis, the second word in all but the (Byzantine) Alexandrinus in the three 4th Century and the 1881 W-H examples above.

By example, we see that this same word is also used in Luke 10:33 where the good Samaritan binds up the Jew's wounds. The anger is at the sin of those who are so callous as to act inhumanely toward one of their own, and follow their own code of ethics; but the pity is upon the victim of the sin as well.

So again, we see that when anti-Christians "go off" and rant and rail on the Bible as being full of contradictions or errors, we most often find by careful examination, that the error and the hypocritical double-standards lies with the accusers...not with the Biblical Texts themselves.

P Fragments will commonly not have complete verses; nor is this uncommon with Greek and Roman fragments. The secular and other manuscript fragments of the ancient Greek and Romans are categorized much like the Biblical fragments of the New Testament.
http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/NRWakademie/papyrologie/Karte/band1.html

Manuscript Fragment Reference: P 1 - 66 below.


P 1 Matthew 1:1-9.12; 1:14-20.23

Matthew 1:1-9.12;
http://images.library.upenn.edu/mrsidsceti/bin/image_jpeg2.pl?coll=manuscripts;subcoll=e2746;image=e2746_wk1_body0001.sid;level=1;degree=0

Matthew 1:14-20.23
http://images.library.upenn.edu/mrsidsceti/bin/image_jpeg2.pl?coll=manuscripts;subcoll=e2746;image=e2746_wk1_body0002.sid;level=1;degree=0

P 2 Matthew 12:12-15

P 3 Luke 7:36-45; 10:38-42

P 4 Luke 1:58-59,62-2:1,6-7; 3:8-4:2,29-32,34-35; 5:3-8; 5:30-6:16


P 5 John 1:23-31; 16:22-30; 20:19-20, 22-25
John 1:33-40; 16:14-22; 20:11-17

P 6 John 10:1-2, 4-7, 9-10; 11:1-8, 45-52

P 7 Luke 4:1-3

P 8 Acts 4:31-37;6:8-15
Acts 5:2-9; 6:1-6

P 9 1 John 4:11-12;
1 John 4:14-17

P 10 Romans 1:1-7

P 11 1 Corinthians 1:17-22; 2:9-12,14; 3:1-3,5-6; 4:3-5:5,7-8; 6:5-9,11-18; 7:3-6,10-14

P 12 Hebrews 1:1

P 13 Hebrews 2:14-5:5; 10:8-22; 10:29-11:13; 11:28-12:17

P 15 1 Corinthians 7:18-32;
I Corinthians 7:33-8:4

P 16 Phillipians 3:10-17;
Phillipians 4:2-8

P 17 Hebrews 9:2-14;
9:15-19

P 18 Revelation 1:4-7

P 19 Matthew 10:32-40;
Matthew 10:41-11:5

P 20 James 2:26-3:9;
http://www.princeton.edu/~dcskemer/APISJames1.html

P 21 Matthew 12:24-26, 31-33.
http://faculty.bbc.edu/rdecker/classes/p21.htm

P 22 John 15:25-16:2;
John 16:21-32
http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/treasures/papyrus.html

P 23 James 1:10-12;
James 1:15-18

P 24 Revelation 5:5-8;
Revelation 6:5-8

P 25 Matthew 18:32-34
Matthew 19:5-7,9-10

P 26 Romans 1: 1-16
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?view=entry;subview=detail;cc=apis;entryid=X-3991;c=apis;start=1

P 27 Romans 8:12-22,24-27;
Romans 8:33-9:3,5-9

P 28 John 6:8-12;
John 6:17-22

P 29 Acts 26:7-8;
Acts 26:20

P 30 1 Thessalonians 4:12-13, 16-17; 5:3, 8-10, 12-18, 25-28; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-2

P 31 Romans 12:3-8

P 32 Titus 1:11-15;
Titus 2:3-8

P 33 Acts 7:6-10; 15:21-24
Acts 7:13-18; 15:26-32

P 34 1 Corinthians 16,4-7,10;
2 Corinthians 5:18-19, 19-21; 10:13-14; 11:2;
2 Corintians 11:4, 6-7


P 35 Matthew 25:12-15;
Matthew 25:20-23

P 36 John 3:14-17,34-35
John 3:17-18,31-32

P 37 Matthew 26:19-37;
Matthew 26:37-52
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?g=archaeol-ic;med=1;c=apis;q1=P.Mich.inv.%201570;rgn1=apis_inv;size=50;start=1;type=boolean;view=thumbfull


P 38 Acts 18:27-19:6
Acts 19:12-16


P 39 John 8:14-18;
John 8:18-22

P 40 Matthew 18:32-34; 19:1-3;
Matthew 19:5-7; 19:9-10

P 41 Acts 17:28-18:2, 18:17-18,22-25,27; 19:1-4,6-8,13-16,18-19; 20:9-13,15-16, 22-24,26-38; 21:1-4,26-27; 22:11-14,16-17

P 42 Luke 1:54-55;
Luke 2:29-32

P 43 Revelation 2:12-13,15

P 44 Matthew 17:1-3, 6-7; 18:15-17, 19; 25:8-10; John 9:3-4; 10:8-14; 12:16-18

P 45 Matthew 20:24-32; 21:13-19; 25:41-26:39; Mark 4:36-40; 5:15-26; 5:38-6:3,16-25,36-50; 7:3-15; 7:25-8:1,10-26; 8:34-9:9,18-31; 11:27-12:1,5-8,13-19,24-28; Luke 6:31-41; 6:45-7:7; 9:26-41; 9:45-10:1,6-22; 10:26-11:1,6-25,28-46; 11:50-12:12,18-37; 12:42-13:1,6-24; 13:29-14:10,17-33; John 4:51,54; 5:21,24; 10:7-25; 10:30-11:10,18-36,42-57; Acts 4:27-36; 5:10-21,30-39; 6:7-7:2,10-21,32-41; 7:52-8:1,14-25; 8:34-9:6,16-27; 9:35-10:2,10-23,31-41; 11:2-14; 11:24-12:5,13-22; 13:6-16,25-36; 13:46-14:3,15-23; 15:2-7,19-27; 15:38-16:4,15-21,32-40; 17:9-17

P 46 Romans 5:17-6:3; 6:5-14; 8:15-25,27-35; 8:37-9:32; 10:1-11:22,24-33; 11:35-15:9; 15:11-33; 16:25-27; 16:1-23; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9:2; 9:4-14:14; 14:16-15:15; 15:17-16:22; 2 Cor 1:1-11:10,12-21; 11:23-13:13; Galatians 1:1-8; 1:10-2:9,12-21; 3:2-29; 4:2-18; 4:20-5:17; 5:20-6:8,10-18; Ephesians 1:1-2:7; 2:10-5:6; 5:8-6:6,8-18,20-24; Phillipians 1:1,5-15,17-28; 1:30-2:12,14-27; 2:29-3:8,10-21; 4:2-12,14-23; Colossians 1:1-2,5-13,16-24; 1:27-2:19; 2:23-3:11,13-24; 4:3-12,16-18; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 1:9-2:3; 5:5-9,23-28; Hebrews 1:1-9:16; 9:18-10:20,22-30; 10:32-13:25;

P 47 Revelation 9:10-11:3; 11,5-16:15; 16:17-17:2

P 48 Acts 23:11-17; 23:23-29

P 49 Ephesians 4:16-29; 4:31-5:13

P 50 Acts 8:26-30 (col. 1), 10:30-31 (col. 4) and
8:30-32 (col. 2); 10:26-27 (col. 2,); 10:27-30 (col. 3)

P 51 Galatians 1:2-10; 1:13,16-20

http://163.1.169.40/cgi-bin/library?a=q&r=1&hs=1&e=p-000-00---0POxy--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-about---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&h=ded&t=1&q=POxy+2157&ifl=l

P 52 John 18:31-33; http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/specialcollections/collections/stjohnfragment/recto/

John 18:37-38
http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/specialcollections/collections/stjohnfragment/verso/

P 53 Matthew 26:29-35v; Acts 9:33-38
Matthew 26:36-40; Acts 9:40-10:1

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?g=archaeol-ic;med=1;c=apis;q1=P.Mich.inv.%206652;rgn1=apis_inv;size=50;start=1;type=boolean;view=thumbfull

P 54 James 2:16-18,22-23; and 2:24-26; 3:2-4.
http://www.princeton.edu/~dcskemer/APISJames2.html


P 55 John 1:31-33; 1:35-38

P 56 Acts 1:1-5; 1:7-11

P 57 Acts 4:36-5:2; 5:8-10

P 59 (14 fragments)
John 1:26,28,48,51; 2:15-16; 11:40-52; 12:25,29,31,35; 17:24-26; 18:1-2,16-17, 22; 21:7,12-13,15,17-20,23.

P 60 (20 fragments) John 16:29-30; 16:32-17:6,8-9,11-15,18-25; 18:1-2,4-5,7-16,18-20,23-29,31-37,39-40; 19:2-3,5-8,10-18,20,23-26

P 61 Romans 16:23-27; 1 Corinthians 1:1-2,4-6; 5:1-3,5-6,9-13; Phillipians 3:5-9,12-16; Colossians 1:3-7,9-13; 4:15; 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3; Titus 3:1-5,8-11,14-15; Philemon 4-7

P 62 Matthew 11:25-30

P 63 John 3:14-15,16-18; 4:9,10

P 64 / P 67 (5 Fragments) Matthew 3:9,15; 5:20-22,25-28; 26:7-8,10,14-15,22-23,31-33

P 65 1 Thessalonians 1:3-10; 2:1,6-13

P 66 John 1:1-6:11; 6:35-14:26,29-30; 15:2-26; 16:2-4,6-7; 16:10-20:20,22-23; 20:25-21:9

P 66 Dates to style in use by the end of Trajan's reign (Roman Emperor Trajan died ca. 8 August 117 A.D.), to as early as 115-116 A.D.

Some early epigraphers had dated P66 to Hadrian in the 130s A.D. The question of P66 among Conservative Scholarship is whether it was within 20 years of John's death, or within 40 years.

The question of P66 for the Liberal apostates who wish to date P66 as late as 200 A.D. and then pooh-pooh the gap of a single century (by their own pretentions) is "what better examples have they got of ancient works, even fragments that virtually coincide with their ancient Roman or Greek authors in anywhere near the closeness as P66 with John"? Knowing that they cannot even bridge the gap of 300, or 500 years, they have no room to criticize the New Testament where a manuscript fragment may be within 20 years of the author to whom it was attributed or as far along as 102 years from the author to whom it was attributed.

The New Testament had some 24,000 plus whole and fragmentary manuscripts (inclusive of lectionaries) still in existence, which have now increased beyond 25,000 with the Albanian National Archives find of 2007. Some of the Middle Ages Albanian copies may be viewed via links at:
http://www.csntm.org/manuscript

My Conversion Testimony, by Brianroy

Many people write and confess their sins to the world, and the world knit-picks at those confessions. And perhaps some of the things and experiences I survived wouldn't be believed anyway. Those are external factors, outside the body (after a sense) or of the body (physical) happenings.

But faith and trust are matters that cannot be expressed by external elements often used in testimonials. Faith is an internal engine, and everyone of us has a G-D shaped spiritual dwelling place within us that needs G-D to come in and dwell (John 14:23,17), in order for us to be made complete, and to light the pilot of eternal life (that lays ever extinguished in those who reject Jesus Christ, the Creator who in His preincarnate state, breathed into the nostrils of Adam, and gave Adam his eternal soul) -- cf. Lamentations 4:20, Genesis 2:7, John 1:3-4.


In 1986, I began to be truly drawn toward the L-RD Jesus after a long absence based on many circumstances, experiences, and so forth. I had thought at one point over the several years past, that the height of "intellectualism" and "advanced thought" was to be found in an agnostic view of the world. Agnostic is simply the placing of an alpha-privitive (or prefix letter "a" as a negative in the Koine Greek) before the Greek word for "knowledge" or "knowing". Thus, to be an agnostic, is to profess ignorance and say, "Gee, I just don't know".

I did what I perceived as somewhat intense research and thought on the matter, and found that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was and is woven into the very Fabric of the Creation, and is inescapable to those truly looking. It is not just that "there is a G-D", but there is a G-D and His Christ as revealed by the Holy Spirit.

The Churches I sought out were ill equipped, and a few television ministries I sought help from in understanding how to bridge the gap from being unsaved to being "born again" was never fully realized via the D. James Kennedy (Presbyterian) or the Jack Van Impe (prophetical combination of Baptist and Pentecostal) ministries. Other ministries over the years were used like the evangelist of John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" helping to point the way. There were probably many of them, from people I met to those whom I read or heard or saw or knew about (either up close or at a distance).

But, for whatever reason, G-D used Jimmy Swaggart's Television Ministries to both properly walk me through a believing Romans 10:9-10,(13) prayer of confession on Easter Sunday 1987 (April 17, 1987, the Leviticus 23 holiday for the same is the Spring Festival of Firstfruits, and is the day used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 to explain the Resurrection, as Christ rose from the dead on "Firstfruits" in A.D. 30).

For me, personally, the first two intense New Testament works I was drawn to were Galatians and Ephesians, followed by a reading of Ezekiel and Isaiah in the Old Testament (as I recall). Even though I would read other works, it seemed that (at my new born again state), I personally was drawn back to these 4 works in my own personal study and Christian growth.

One of the songs that struck a resonance in my soul at the time, and still does today, is "We shall see Jesus", taken from the inspiration of 1 John 3:2.



For the believer, our job while on Earth is to make a difference for the better, while preparing ourselves for any moment to depart this life as if peacefully going on a journey, to join Jesus in Heaven. We have our reservation, and our spiritual bags are packed. Instead of looking for a Tahiti or Cayman, or other tropical island "paradise", we find ourselves looking for that city, the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21 - 22, which Christ is preparing for us (John 14:2-3, 12:26, et al.).



We tire of the sin in this world, even when we are flawed with its traps as well. Choosing to avoid the practicings of sins to what degree as according to each one's ability, we are judged not by our transgressions, but are forgiven of our sins constantly by confession, prayer, and dedication to the minimizing of such things that are either consciously or unconsciously said or done. But our victory is not by our "works", it is by G-D's gift of the ransom paid by Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:8,9). That is why we can joy daily, hourly, and even through the moments, that though Jesus and what he did in being our scapegoat and our Paschal Lamb upon the Cross...and sing "Hallelujah, my sins, they're gone at last."



I am glad, and blessed to be born again. Therefore part of my character and nature is to extend the invitation and teachings of and about Christ Jesus, and to extend freely (without money, without price -- Isaiah 55:1) that which uplifts and confirm why we should believe into Him and His Bible (etc.). In order that by the call of of Isaiah 55:6, the seeking of the L-RD while He is near, as Zephaniah 2:3 completes the verse, that "it may be ye shall be hid in the Day of the L-RD's anger."

Regardless of your skin color, or wealth status, but based on your humanity, I would wish the best both physically,, and spiritually for you in the most equitable and righteous manner possible. The greatest gift is one that Christ paid for, your eternal soul. By faith, if you seek to be transformed and made born again (John 3:5,7), and confess and believe into the L-Rd Jesus, what he did at the Cross, and that He was raised again from the dead, and call upon Him (read and do Romans 10:9-10,13)...you shall be saved. All the spiritual leprosy of sins shall be washed away, like Na'aman in the Jordan River (2 Kings 5:1-14)...and you too, can sing about the joy of being "freed from sin, and born again".



The Bible says that we are as pilgrims and strangers passing through this life (e.g., Hebrews 11:13), and as a child gets homesick for his parents, so too do we Christians sometimes get homesick for G-D the Father and Jesus Christ the Son of G-D. And we can even sing about such as part of our expression of faith and trust into the L-RD, as well.

Jesus loves you. Peace. Shalom. Amen.

2 Corinthians 4:4

In the Westcott-Hort Greek NT:
εν οις ο θεος του αιωνος τουτου ετυφλωσεν τα νοηματα των απιστων εις το μη αυγασαι τον φωτισμον του ευαγγελιου της δοξης του χριστου ος εστιν εικων του θεου


2 Corinthians 4:4 in the KJV reads:
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of G-D, should shine unto them.





When examining the Greek, the Latin, and the Context of Paul's teachings, and especially those of Jesus, a red flag goes up on all 4 flag-poles. To read a little "god" here in the above...something's wrong, it is an anomaly that doesn't fit, nor should it.

Many are mistaken in regard to Paul's teaching in regard to Satan in 2 Corinthians 4:4.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4, ho Theos is "G-D", and not "god". It is to be taken in the same vein as "G-D who blinds sinners" in Romans Chapter 1.

Irenaeus clearly makes this exposition in Against Hereies, Book 3, Chapter 7, Section 1; declaring Paul to use a transposition of words and pointing it off, making a slight interval. That is, the first half of 2 Corinthians 4:4 reading...

εν οις ο θεος του αιωνος

en ois ho Theos tou aionos -- Wherein has G-D eternal {break},


τουτου ετυφλωσεν τα νοηματα των απιστων

toutou etufelose ta noemata ton apiston -- after this manner has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving....

Cf. discourse of Romans 1:18-32.

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
(King James Version)


The Greek phrase which Irenaeus speaks of, in which Paul is pointing off in 2 Corinthians 4:4, so as to express G-D as the one who brings about blindness upon those who willingly reject His Son, is:

En ois ho Theos tou aionos toutou etufelose ta noemata ton apiston
Translated as:

"In whichever ones has G-D Eternal, at this time, blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving"



En ois
in whichever ones Also translated as "in whom"

Ho Theos
(the one and only) G-D


[In John 1:1, the Logos is pros ton Theon, "up alongside and with G-D", as well as being G-D. The definite article is missing
on Theos in John 1:1c, because in kai Theos een ho Logos, the highlight or
line of thought is on Logos being G-D alongside G-D, and NOT the
subsumation of G-D. Cf. Psalm 45:6,7; Hebrews chapter 1].


Tou aionos
"He who possesses the ages"

["The Eternal master / Master of eternity"...cf. "YHVeH" which subsumes all three tenses of the verb "to be" in Hebrew. Tou aionos is respective of such a similar statement of He who was, and is, and ever shall be. In other words, G-D...and NOT a created being.
Aionos is the synonym of the Hebraic "olam" in the LXX. The contrast is that while "olam" speaks of eternity being hidden and concealed; aionos speaks of a future where eternity is revealed (as it were).]

Toutou
"a manner or attitude of permissiveness, of allowing something to occur"

Etufelose
"Blindness"

[Note the active aorist tense of tuphloo: not just Blindness, or obscurity; but a Blindness that is actively and willing accepted. It is as if with pleasure in an outward expression of rebellion: i.e., an inward determination to disagree even before any conversation is exchanged is seen as a form of "blindness".]



Ta noemata
"Those being without a sure faith, double-minded ones, ever swaying and
changing values and precepts."


Ton apiston
"those who exercise and practice a willful choice to not believe."

[Pistos preceded by the alpha-privitive, negating belief into �unbelief�. (Cf.
Romans 1:21a, 24a)].




Irenaeus was the disciple of Polycarp, who was the disciple of the Apostle John, who was the disciple of Jesus. John knew Paul, and assumed the ministry of Asia and was possessor of numerous original transcripts by Paul's hand and first manuscript copies of Paul.

Irenaeus tells us in Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 7 (regarding 2 Corinthins 4:4)...in circa 178-181 A.D.:

1. "As to their affirming that Paul said plainly in the Second [Epistle] to the Corinthians, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not,” and maintaining that there is indeed one god of this world, but another who is beyond all principality, and beginning, and power, we are not to blame if they, who give out that they do themselves know mysteries beyond God, know not how to read Paul.

For if any one read the passage thus—according to Paul’s custom, as I show elsewhere, and by many examples, that he uses transposition of words —“In whom God,” then pointing it off, and making a slight interval, and at the same time read also the rest [of the sentence] in one [clause], “hath blinded the minds of them of this world that believe not,” he shall find out the true [sense]; that it is contained in the expression, “God hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers of this world.” And this is shown by means of the little interval [between the clause].

For Paul does NOT say, “the God of this world,” as if recognising any other beyond Him; but he confessed God as indeed God. And he says, “the unbelievers of this world,” because they shall not inherit the future age of incorruption. I shall show from Paul himself, how it is that God has blinded the minds of them that believe not, [cf. Romans 1:18 ff. ] in the course of this work, that we may not just at present distract our mind from the matter in hand, [by wandering] at large.

2. ...So therefore, in such passages, the hyperbaton must be exhibited by the reading, and the apostle’s meaning following on, preserved; and thus we do NOT read in that passage, “the god of this world,” but, “God,” whom we do truly call God; and we hear [it declared of] the unbelieving and the blinded of this world, that they shall not inherit the world of life which is to come."


In 2 Corinthians 4:4, ho Theos is "G-D", and not "god". It is "G-D who blinds sinners" in Romans 1:18-32. In Romans 1:21 "when they knew G-D, they glorified Him not as G-D" is responded to blindness in verse 24 where "G-D also gave them up to uncleaness" or sorts and variations of Spiritual Blindness. Cf. John 3:19-21.

Irenaeus clearly relates Paul's intent and one of the ways Paul taught (before that nuance was lost on later generations) in Against Hereies, Book 3, Chapter 7, Section 1; declaring Paul sometimes would use a transposition of words and pointing it off, making a slight interval. That is,

en ois ho Theos tou aionos -- Wherein has G-D eternal
{break},
toutou etufelose ta noemata ton apiston -- after this manner has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving....

In fact, tou aionos as used in the Greek by Paul, means having in his possession an age or ages AND the outpourings (giving) of life.

Since Satan can only, steal, kill, destroy and accuse (John 10:10, Revelation 12:10), he cannot fit the designation of being a life giver, only a life destroyer or life taker.

But after the aid of Irenaeus also, we now can read this verse now to the expanded effect as something like:

"But, indeed, if our Gospel is being hidden, it is hidden to those [who are] being lost;
In whom G-D -- He who possesses the ages at this time -- has blinded the (willing) minds of the unbelieving (and without a sure faith who were eagerly willing to be made blind);
that the brightness of the Gospel of Christ's glory, who is the exact Image (and representation) of G-D, should dawn not on them." (2 Corinthians 4:4).

But after the amplified Greek word study, we would perhaps read 2 Cor. 4:4 more as:

"In whichever ones or whom G-D, who possesses the ages, permissively allowed Blindness to occur upon those being without a sure faith, double-minded ones, ever swaying and changing values and precepts, who exercise and practice a willful choice to not believe, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the exact imprint image / reflection and representation of G-D, should shine unto them."

Compare this with Paul's theology in 2 Thessalonians 2:

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the L-RD shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause G-D shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.



In either case, clearly Satan is NOT implied by Paul as the "god of this world" in 2 Cor. 4:4. The one blinding the sinners is G-D, because the sinners took pleasure in being deceived and in acts of unrighteousness to NOT believe Christ Jesus.

In fact, we can even look at where Paul cites Christ as being the "prototokos" of Creation in Colossians 1:15, the first-born who is "before the birth" of Creation.

Can't make the connection? Think in context of the time period the letter was writen. The First Citizen of Rome was Caesar in Paul's day. It was easy for the connection to be made that if Christ is the "prototokos", then HE is essentially the "G-D of this world" with the Father, being the exact imprint and representation of the Father in His person.


Where did modern Christianity get sidetracked?
The 1599 Geneva Bible, for example, was wrong to translate and comment that Satan was a god that blinded etc. in 2 Cor. 4:4 following the Latin Vulgate's example. Others have followed this reasoning.

Probably the translation to "a god" happened because of a single scribal choice to a master copy that headed a family of manuscripts, for whatever reason, did not capitalize a crucial letter D (as we would understand it), writing "deus" instead of "Deus", centuries before.

The Latin Vulgate when updated to both large and small lettering usage read: in quibus deus huius saeculi excaecavit mentes infidelium ut non fulgeat inluminatio evangelii gloriae Christi qui est imago Dei, and at that time, the scribe should have used a capitalized D to declare the Divine as Deus so as to avert later confusion.

In John 8:44, we see that Satan is a liar and has no truth in him. Hence, in Matthew 4:8-9 and Luke 4:5-7, Satan lied as to even possessing ownership over ALL the kingdoms of this world. Thus, he is not any sort of a "theos" but a "theoi", a disposer or one who runs back and forth, pretending to be as if a g-d, though of a flawed and created substance; and retaining a nature of a flawed and limited in power creature (even though at times an evil and hidden emperor over limited parts of the earth) who pretends deity upon himself.


In Paul's theology, if we were to apply any smallness of deity of him who blinds, then we should look first to Adam, as it regards Paul's teachings. For in Romans 5:12 he tells us to the effect - Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: That man was clearly Adam.

Hence, there was a reasoning and debate that infiltrated the Church since at least the Second Century that reasoned a misinterpretation on 2 Cor 4:4.


Again, I reiterate, that Irenaeus gives the true meaning of Paul's intent in regards to 2 Cor. 4:4, especially when G-D blinds man by removing His light from their hearts in Romans 1:18ff.

Paul wrote both these letters to members of the Corinth Churches (e.g. Romans 16:3,5, etc.). Paul also states in Ephesians 1:21, that Christ is Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

In I Corinthians 15:27 - Paul precedes 2 Cor. 4:4 with the first epistle to Corinth in which he says in regard to Christ: For He hath put all things under His feet. but clarifies that He has not yet taken possession or exercised His full authority to rule and reign what belongs to Him, as yet.

The Gospels state of Christ:
Mat. 11:27 - All things, including principalities, are delivered unto Him
Mat. 28:18 - All power on Earth is given to Christ
Luke 10:22, John 3:35 - The Father entrusts all power and dominion as part of the "all things" into Christ.
John 17:2 - Jesus has power over all flesh, hence He is THE G-D of this world.

It makes all the more sense in 2 Corinthians 4:4 then, that we follow the theology of the Bible left us in the greater context of the texts of the Bible, and of the teachings of the Bible from the Bible itself. What does Paul really teach in context? What does the L-RD Jesus really teach us in context? How does that relate to the passage? The answers are there, and sometimes it is dependant upon whether we have ears to hear, are willing to ask the L-RD for the answer, and truly be willing to listen, examine, and understand the answer. And the joy in discovering and finding is a privilege some of us just don't want to ever give up. But the joy in discovering passages, in G-D's Kingdom, is also in the sharing (as it were) of that which you have found in the L-RD. As a believer, it helps you enable and lift up others, while helping you to grow in a healthy and spiritual way. At least it seems so to me. Peace.