Jun 27, 2020
1KINGS 8:
Yesterday we heard lots and lots of details
about the building of the temple. A man from Tyre, Huram, must have
been an efficient and artistic technician in working with bronze
casting. He corresponds to the two craftsmen who designed and
constructed the first tabernacle.
PSALM 119:97-112:
Again we are focussing on what God’s Word means
to us. A favorite verse from yesterday’s portion is verse
89:
Ps. 119:89 “Your word, O Lord, will last forever; it is eternal in heaven.”
JOHN 6b:
There is an important play on words between
Jesus and the crowd in Capernaum which does not come out clearly in
either the NLT or the GNT. It involves the word ‘work’. Observe
verses 27-29:
John
6:27 GNT Do not work for food that spoils; instead,
work for the food
that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man
will give you, because God, the Father, has put his mark of
approval on him.”
28So
they asked him, “What [work] can we do in order to do
[the work//what] God wants us to
do?”
29 Jesus answered,
“[The work//What] God wants you to do is to believe in
[me,] the one [whom] he sent.”
The irony captured in this play on words is that normally the act of believing is not considered a ‘work’. In fact, in later NT writings there is a strong contrast between working for salvation vs. believing for salvation. (As we have said before, this is not really a contradiction.) I bring this up to remind us that ‘believing’ is an act of the will. It is something one can choose to do, and therefore it can be called a ‘work’.
GNT Translation
notes:
John 6:33 PET I am
that bread from heaven, because I came down from heaven to give
true life to the people in this world.”
46 [PET There is no one who has ever seen the
Father except Me, who came from Him. I am the only one who has seen
Him.//This does not mean that anyone has seen the Father; [I who
have come from God am//he who is from God is] the only one who has
seen the Father.]
53
Jesus said to them, “I[— the Son of Man] am telling you the truth:
if you do not eat [my/the] flesh [0//of the Son of Man] and drink
[my/his] blood, you will not have life in
yourselves.
56 Those who
eat my flesh and drink my blood live in [union with] me, and I live
in [union with] them.
[Another word that might be used is ‘joined
to’. We are talking of the kind of union that a branch has with a
tree, like in John 15.]
65 And he added, “This is the very reason I
told you that [[no one among you//no people] can come to me unless
the Father makes it possible for [you//them] to do
so.”
NLT Translation
notes:
John 6:27
[Don’t//But don’t] be so concerned about perishable things like
food. [Work instead to gain//Spend your energy seeking] the eternal
life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given
me the seal of his approval.”
53
So Jesus said again, “I [, the Son of Man,] tell you the truth,
unless you eat [my flesh//the flesh of the Son of Man] and drink
[My/his] blood, you cannot have eternal life within
you.
56 Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains [joined to//in] me, and I [remain joined to//in]
him.
62 Then what will you think if you see [Me, the
Son of Man, ascending//the Son of Man ascend] to heaven
again?
68
Simon [who is also called] Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we
go? You have the words that give eternal life.
71
He was speaking of Judas, son of [the] Simon [that was from the
village of Cariot//Iscariot], one of the Twelve, who would later
betray him.