ON MATTHEW 24:34:
Shane it is very telling that translations don't ever "correct" Matthew 24:34 to mean "THAT FUTURE" generation. If anything, they go just the opposite:
New English Bible:
"I tell you this: the present generation will live to see it all."
Today's English Version:
"Remember this! All these things will happen before the people now living have all died."
Moffatt's Translation:
"I tell you truly, the present generation will not pass away, till all this happens."
Contemporary English Version:
I can promise you that some of the people of this generation will still be alive when all this happens.
Weymouth's Translation:
"I tell you in solemn truth that the present generation will certainly not pass away until all this has taken place."
King James:
"Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
It is interesting to see that many well-known leaders of Church history understood the plain meaning of Matthew 24:34. See the following:
The full force of this passage cannot be denied, and great men of faith have never tried to play with it so as to distort it. Even the Church's early fathers saw this verse for what it is:
There are many more I could cite. But, Jesus cleary spoke concerning his own generation. Matt 24:33 even states that the apostles would see the endtimes happen! So why shouldn't that even further demand a fulfillment in the 1st century?
Shane it is very telling that translations don't ever "correct" Matthew 24:34 to mean "THAT FUTURE" generation. If anything, they go just the opposite:
New English Bible:
"I tell you this: the present generation will live to see it all."
Today's English Version:
"Remember this! All these things will happen before the people now living have all died."
Moffatt's Translation:
"I tell you truly, the present generation will not pass away, till all this happens."
Contemporary English Version:
I can promise you that some of the people of this generation will still be alive when all this happens.
Weymouth's Translation:
"I tell you in solemn truth that the present generation will certainly not pass away until all this has taken place."
King James:
"Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
It is interesting to see that many well-known leaders of Church history understood the plain meaning of Matthew 24:34. See the following:
John Wesley (1754)
-- Comment on Matthew 24:34--
"This generation of men now living shall not pass till all these things be done
- The expression implies that great part of that generation would be passed away, but not the whole. Just so it was; for the city and temple were destroyed thirty-nine or forty years after."
The full force of this passage cannot be denied, and great men of faith have never tried to play with it so as to distort it. Even the Church's early fathers saw this verse for what it is:
Chrysostom (375) -- ON MATTHEW 24:34
"But of wars in Jerusalem is He speaking; for it is not surely of those without, and everywhere in the world; for what did they care for these? And besides, He would thus say nothing new, if He were speaking of the calamities of the world at large, which are happening always. For before this, were wars, and tumults, and fightings; but He speaks of the Jewish wars coming upon them at no great distance, for henceforth the Roman arms were a matter of anxiety. Since then these things also were sufficient to confound them, He foretells them all.
Therefore He saith, they shall come not by themselves or at once, but with signs. For that the Jews may not say, that they who then believed were the authors of these evils, therefore hath He told them also of the cause of their coming upon them. "For verily I say unto you," He said before, "all these things shall come upon this generation," having made mention of the stain of blood on them. " (Homilies)
There are many more I could cite. But, Jesus cleary spoke concerning his own generation. Matt 24:33 even states that the apostles would see the endtimes happen! So why shouldn't that even further demand a fulfillment in the 1st century?
Upvote
0