Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus

As I read 2 Timothy this morning, I thought it would be good to write what I have learned about these terms – Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus. To be perfectly clear, Jesus is the Christ/Messiah. He was born of the Virgin Mary, was killed on Good Friday for our sins, and rose in victory on Easter morning. He has sent His Spirit to those who chose to believe and would have everyone repent and follow Him.

In a little naivety I thought this would be an uneventfully study. I was almost correct. First, Jesus is His name. There are a few variants of that name in Hebrew and in Greek, like Joshua and Justus. Christ (Greek) or Messiah (Hebrew) is a title that connects to God. So, Jesus Christ could be understood as the Man-God while Christ Jesus should be thought of as God-Man. I looked for my reference on that and could not find it, I thought it was from the Vine’s Dictionary in my Strong’s Concordance.

Then I went to step-two in the study and was going to list Scripture verses. My reading this morning was in the NIV. The references I started to compile were in the KJV. I soon found out that the editors of the KJV seemed to have followed the 1599 Geneva Bible (GNV). The Greek Interlinear in Bible Hub is in agreement with the NIV and NASB and many others. I will offer what may have happened and some other things I noticed.

  • The Gospels and the Letters from Hebrews to Revelation use Christ or Messiah when referring to the One who will redeem mankind.
  • Jesus (by itself) is used in the narratives of the Gospels.
  • Paul in his Letters use Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. He is specific when he uses them. I have found that reading Man-God where Jesus Christ is written and God-Man where Christ Jesus is written adds to the understanding of the text.
  • If you use BibleGateway you will see different totals in the numbers of times the terms are used between translations. The first thing to remember is that some of them use headings in their writing and this can add up quickly. Even the 1599 Geneva has commentaries, and they use the terms Jesus and Christ in them. I did read that one reason for the King James being written was to get rid of those Commentaries. The English Crown did not like them.
  • I may not be perfect in my observations; I looked through several translations.

Was there anything nefarious going on, no. I believe it was a matter of keeping it simple for the readers (not sure on that point). Society was coming out of the Dark Ages and being able to read God’s Word in your own language and home was a big deal. We take so much for granted.   

In 2 Timothy Paul uses Christ Jesus the most and Jesus Christ only in 2:8. Paul had been in prison for a while and I think it shows in how he wrote to Timothy and where his thoughts were.

Epiousios a Second Thought

Bread in the Bible – Epiousios is my post on this great concept that first appeared in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew. My second thought about this word/concept comes as I have mused on its possible meanings and origins. I will count myself as one who sees if it is in the New Testament, it has as a foundation in our Old Testament. So, what was Jesus thinking about in the Sermon on the Mount, and saying in Hebrew or Aramaic, that Matthew wrote in Greek with a brand-new word? I hope this gives you something to think about.

There are two separate provisions for food that caught my attention. I will say that even these flow from Father God’s desire for our faith to be proved as we pray for the miracle.

Manna for the Sabbath

Israel had seen the power of their God in the plagues He used to set them free. They walked through the Red Sea and danced about because of the deliverance. Then they complained instead of seeking that awesome God about water and food. What if? Father may your will be done and forgive us our debts. Yes, I have come a long way and still have some to go.

Exodus 16:22 is the instructions to collect a double portion AND that it would stay good for the seventh day. Work for six and fellowship on the seventh, nobody went hungry and not a lot of cooking. Prep and planning were needed, but that was still on the workday.  

The Year of Jubilee – This event/term gets thrown around a lot, but I am not sure that the “resting” part is properly brought into the sermons. See Leviticus 25:8. Jubilee is a second year of rest FOR THE LAND and the Children of God. It only happens every 50th year and follows the Sabbath Year of rest, see Leviticus 25:1. Yes, the Father wanted His land to rest eight years out of every fifty. The exile to Babylon is tied to Israel’s failure to give the land its rest (See 2 Chronicles 36:21). Yes, there is more to that story. Yes, other things happened during Jubilee.

Work six and rest one, does that sound familiar? The Children had to have the faith that God would provide in the sixth year for the seventh, and in Jubilee that the sixth year would produce enough for two years and the following year until the crop had matured.

I want to believe that during Joshua’s lifetime that it was observed. We have to remember that in the travels of the Exodus they did not plant or store supplies. It is not recorded anywhere that Jubilee was observed. “What if” is the only thought that echoes in my mind.

One for a Gentile Widow and Elijah

1 Kings 17 has two narratives about miraculous provision. Elijah was fed by the ravens and the widow was able to feed Elijah and her family during a drought because of believing God’s word. These may not fit the pattern I gave, but they are still part of the lesson for faith and provision.

Give us today our epiousios bread.

Hard or Harden in Exodus 1 – 14

This study help is for Exodus 911 (will be live 10/1) and The Wonders that Plagued Egypt. These listing from the Strong’s are for hard or harden, and several other words in the Exodus 1 – 14. The list of verses at the bottom are every time the Hebrew words were used. (God bless translators.) Not all of the listing will show “hard” I saw things like the staff being in the hand. I did put biblehub.com and blueletterbible.org listings; both are great, and I have no connection to either, they are just great study aids.

Looking at other references that use these words can give you an idea of the scope of what God did with Pharoah and how he reacted. you will notice that the Hebrew has good and bad side to each of these words.

H 2388 – chazaq: to be or grow firm or strong, strengthen

H3513 – kabad or kabed: to be heavy, weighty, or burdensome

H3515 – kabed: heavy

H7185 – qashah: to be hard, severe or fierce the word for Rachael’s labor Gen.35:16, before the plagues began Ex 7:3, and what the fathers told children about leaving Egypt13:15

qasheh: hard, severe

Exodus

  • 1:14 – 7186
  • 4:10 – 3515
  • 4:21 – 2388
  • 4:21 – 2388
  • 4:4 – 2388
  • 5:9 – 3513
  • 6:9 – 7186
  • 7:3 – 7185
  • 7:13 – 2388
  • 7:13 -2388
  • 7:14 -3515
  • 7:22 – 2388
  • 8:15 – 3513
  • 8:15 – 3515
  • 8:19 – 2388
  • 8:19 – 2388
  • 8:24 – 3515
  • 8:32 – 3513
  • 8:32 – 3515
  • 9:2 – 2388
  • 9:3 – 3515
  • 9:7 – 3513
  • 9:7 – 3515
  • 9:12 – 2388
  • 9:18 –3515
  • 9:24 – 3515
  • 9:34 – 3513
  • 9:35 – 2388
  • 9:35 – 2388
  • 10:1 – 3513
  • 10:14 – 3515
  • 10:20 – 2388
  • 10:20 – 2388
  • 10:27 – 2388
  • 10:27 – 2388
  • 11:10 – 2388
  • 11:10 – 2388
  • 12:33 – 2388
  • 12:38 – 3515
  • 13:15 – 7185
  • 14:4 – 2388
  • 14:4 – 3513
  • 14:8 – 2388
  • 14:8 – 2388
  • 14:17 – 2388
  • 14:17 – 3513
  • 14:18 – 3513

H__llow – A or O, You Decide?

Hallow or hollow as a question comes from a study on the Lord’s Prayer, Hebrew 10:14, and a short night of sleep. Grammer, tenses, and etymology are not real big in this study.

Hollow has several uses, but they revolve around something having an empty or not filled space inside.  

Websters Dictionary 1828 – Webster’s Dictionary 1828 – Hollow

Hallow is associated with being set apart as holy or sacred.

Websters Dictionary 1828 – Webster’s Dictionary 1828 – Hallow

The 1828 Websters’ is a good resource; it has Bible references, when appropriate, and is missing 200 years of humanism and cultural references. The contrast can be striking at times.

Hallow is what caught my attention. It is a good 1500’s Geneva and King James Bible word and is used in many modern translations. If you continue on your internet search, you might find a few references to the Lord’s Prayer or Father God. That may not be inappropriate, I just found it a bit odd to purposely leave them out. There were videos on hallowing the Name of the Lord.

This post started as a pointed and cute question on whether you are empty or filled with the Holy Spirit because of Jesus. We are holy because of Jesus’ sacrifice and His blood covering us in the sight of the Father. So, are you hollow or hallow?

Father God is holy, and He has agape for us; He loves righteousness and justice. These are important to Him. So, they should be important to us. The Father and Jesus wants a family that chooses to belong to Them and allows the Holy Spirit to work in them and through them.

Yes, things and places are holy and hallowed in the Bible. I see that as occurring because God ordered them that way, but He wants a holy people. In Man’s attempt to prove ourselves holy we add things to God’s Word and Works. An example is the Sabbath. God declared it holy and said to rest; Man, then started listing things to make sure that we “rest”. Jesus even talked about Man making the gold in the Temple more important than the Temple or Altar it was on (Matthew 23:16 +17), or gifts that should be helping Family but were being withheld. To put this into perspective, God paved the streets in heaven with gold, has a glassy sea (sapphire?) that His throne sits on, and pearls for gates. They are holy because He is in Heaven, the Holy City. (On a science note, glassy may just be smooth and something can be clear and have a color.)

To further your study, use this as a help.

Leviticus 22:32 Hebrew Text Analysis (biblehub.com) This passage has both words in it.    

Strong’s Hebrew: 6942. קָדַשׁ (qadash) — to be set apart or consecrated (biblehub.com)

Strong’s Hebrew: 6944. קֹ֫דֶשׁ (qodesh) — apartness, sacredness (biblehub.com)

To make holy.  ἁγιάζω | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com

Perisseuō

This is more than enough post about Greek words! Okay, my pun will be clear later. My objective in this post is to talk about perisseuō, Strong’s number: G4052, and give some tools for understanding our study helps, like Strong’s and Mounce’s Greek Dictionary.

Concordances do not list every form of a word. That is why they will have more than one definition in a listing. Especially in the On-line Mounce Dictionary you will see something that looks like this: fut pass ind 3 sg. Ignoring those is easy, after all its Greek to me, right. But those strange letters behind some italicized words can further your study, if you take the time to do look that up. These may help. Do not feel bad if, like me, it takes a while.

Matthew 13:12 shared the word perisseuthēsetai with Matthew 25:29 and my study overflowed into this post. My reference tool was – περισσεύω | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com

Depending on your translation those two verses are saying the exact same thing – If you have it, you will get more and have an ABUNDANCE; if you don’t have it, even that is taken away. (Mark’s Translation) Then I noticed (fut pass ind 3 sg) for both of them and decided to learn something new. I possibly learned about parsing in high school, enough said. This is from the Lesson V link above.

  • The future is used to describe a simple or ongoing action in the future.
  • The passive voice is used to show that the subject of the verb is acted on.
  • The indicative is the most common verb form you will encounter. It is used for simple statements and questions.
  • The English third person singular (3 sg) pronouns are ‘he’, ‘she’, and ‘it’.

Yes, both are in Matthew but the “where and who” really pushed me to look further in. The back story of 13:12 is it is early in Jesus’ ministry; I call it the Second Block of Kingdom Teaching. This story seems to start in Chapter 12 and may cover only a few days. Jesus has upset the Religious; healings, casting out demons, not preforming on-demand miracles, and taking care of business on the Sabbath. This verse is referring to knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom and why He speaks in parables. Jesus then goes on to talk about more seeds, weeds, treasure, pearls, and nets. After all of this He leaves for Nazareth. Block Three more or less starts with John’s beheading, Chapter 14.

Matthew 25:29 is in His last block of kingdom teaching, and I have been referring to them being His Sermons on Two Mounts. This verse is in the Parable of the Talents and this sermon was given to His followers on the Mount of Olives after He left the Temple Mount. Money or using your gifts and giving them back to God are two favorite lessons taught from one of the last teachings He gave before His death.

Jesus wants an ABUNDANCE of knowledge of His Kingdom and your talents used in His Kingdom for every one of us. He rode into Jerusalem to pay the Bride’s Price so He could gather His Family in advance of His Second Return.

If you continue studying perisseuō, you will find it associated with the bread in the feeding of the four and five thousand, and Paul uses it 1 and 2 Corinthians several times. I hope I have given you more than enough for you to continue this study.