medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I don't think that there is any serious scripture scholarship that would say
that the greek word for "camel" was really supposed to be "rope." At the same
time, the idea that "needle's eye" refers to a pedestrian port in a city wall
is held by extremely few.
It would be just as impossible to thread a rope through a sewing needle, as it
would be to put a camel through it. Not nearly as colorful a contrast,
however.
Jesus does use a camel for a point in another place, too: "Ye blind guides,
which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel." (Mt 23:24)
We have an expression in modern American English, "He swallowed the whole
hog." No, "hog" is not a typo for, for example, a "fig," which could be
swallowed whole, albeit with difficulty.
What we have in the scriptural example of a camel going through a needle's eye
(Matt. 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25) is a contrastive phrase of
impossibility, to show that a rich man's salvation is not according to his
wealth but rather by the graciousness of God. That is the point of the
pericope. Consequently, I would think of Jesus' statement in scripture to be,
for all intents and purposes, a parabolic proverb employed to explicate a
soteriological reality.
Bill????
Terrill
-----------------
John Briggs wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Christopher Crockett wrote:
> > From: Jim Bugslag
> >>
> >> I recently read that the Greek word for "camel" is similar to that for
> >> "rope", and that Christ's famous -- and, as it stands, rather curious --
> >> parable about a camel passing through the eye of a needle may have
> >> initially been enunciated by Christ himself, in somewhat more sensible
> >> terms, as a rope passing through the eye of a needle.
> >
> > wow.
> >
> > who would have thought that a simple mis-translation could have
> > distorted a text?
> >
> > how could the Holy Spirit have allowed *that* to happen??
>
> And in all three Synoptic Gospels at that...
>
> Any offers for the correct reading of Matthew 23:24?
>
> John Briggs
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