Author Archives: jonmkiwi

Mark 1:1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God (Mark 1:1 NIV) Ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ. (Mark 1:1 SBL Greek Testament) Amazing how many questions a short statement can raise, but on this occasion I am not interested in whether we should accept the readings which addContinue reading “Reward”

John 21 I have always loved the afterword to John’s Gospel. There is a clear closing paragraph at the end of John 20, in verses 30-31. So why John 21? The last two verses of 21 (24-25) are apparently in another hand – you would have to be a strange person to say of yourContinue reading “Breakfast at Tiberias’s”

John 20:21-23 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” John 20;21-23 NIV εἶπενContinue reading “If you forgive…”

John 16:33 and John 19:30 Last few weeks I have had several passages I wanted to write on, but haven’t managed to get a space in which to write. In the meantime I have been reading on and have nearly reached the end of John 19. But here is an interesting question which ties someContinue reading “When does Victory happen?”

John 15:1-7 John 15 has always been a favourite chapter for me; apart from anything else, I memorised most of it in French while staying in Provence, among the vineyards of the Vaucluse – a long, long time ago. But there are some things worth noting… Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή, καὶ ὁ πατήρContinue reading “En attendant Godot? Non.”

John 14:29-31 This short passage highlights a principle that Jesus observed all of the time and which we would do well to imitate; namely, that you share information on a need-to-know basis, and that your enemy needs to know nothing. I will confess that when I first heard this principle taught, I thought it wasContinue reading “He gets nothing”

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demonsContinue reading “It’s not what you do, it’s who knows you”

John 14:1 One of my favourite phrases in the Gospels: Μὴ ταρασσέσθω ὑμῶν ἡ καρδία· The third person imperative is shrinkingly rare in English (Wilfred E. Major and Michael Laughy’s excellent Ancient Greek for Everyone suggests “someone help him!” and “nobody move!” as examples) and is more usually rendered with “Let”, as in “Let notContinue reading “No churn”

John 12:25 If you have read the previous post on John 12:24, especially if you did so with your Bible open, there is just the faintest chance that you have been shouting “hey! you! What about the next verse?” Because here is how it reads in the NIV: Anyone who loves their life will loseContinue reading “Yes, but…”

John 12:24 ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν μὴ ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου πεσὼν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀποθάνῃ, αὐτὸς μόνος μένει· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ, πολὺν καρπὸν φέρει. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces manyContinue reading “A seed, falling”