Christ's Words
These posts under this menu item look at the original Greek of Christ's words on a verse-by-verse basis, starting at the beginning of Matthew. These posts examine the original meaning of the Greek words used, which often dramatically differ from the usual English translations. When appropriate, the post offers an alternative translation of the verse to illustrate how the Greek can be translated very differently from what we normally see. This work is based on a number of principles:
- Christ's words are the most important part of the whole Bible because Christ was the Word made flesh.
- Christ's words can get overlooked because their meaning is complex and not easily expressed in a 20 minute sermon.
- When Christ spoke, he was speaking about his current situation and for all people at all times.
- The authors of the Gospels arranged Christ's words in different contexts, recapturing the different contexts in which they were actually spoken, to highlight the shade of meanings of these words.
- The more we study Christ's words, the more levels of meaning we discover and the clearer our vision of his message for the world.
- Translations from the Greek (and Latin) were all made after over a millenia of Christian cultural dominance that affected how all translations were made, separating their translated meaning from the way they would have been heard and read by early Christians.
