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NASB | Matthew 12:34 "You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 12:34 "You brood of vipers, how can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. |
Subject: Where's the LOVE |
Bible Note: And I never said that you stated in so many words that the New Testament is not scripture, but the implication was nonetheless apparent enough to lead one to infer as much. Such was the thrust of my response, which I submitted in an attempt to point out what I believe to be the proper egegetical treatment of 2 Timothy 3:16. What you have said of the New Testament writers' ignorance of their works eventually being canonized and called Scripture may be true, but then again it may not. Peter, in his second epistle (3:16) seems to reflect a clear sense of awareness that at least some of the apostolic writings (Paul's in this instance) were indeed to be viewed as Scripture. Otherwise, why would he have placed the revealing phrase, "the rest of the Scriptures" in juxtaposition to his reference to Paul's writings? Had he referred to Paul's writings and added the phrase, "as they do also the Scriptures" it would have altered dramatically the grammatical dynamic and materially changed Peter's meaning. But that's not what he said. He said, "as they do also the rest of the Scriptures." The phrase fragment "rest of" makes all the difference in the message. As my friend Tim Moran is fond of pointing out, -- and it's an excellent point -- it is always prudent to pay painstaking attention to grammatical construction and the crucial part it plays in enabling the reader to extract from the printed word the precise meaning that the author intended to convey. Language is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing if one is equipped to understand it correctly. A curse if one is not. Time is never squandered that is used in learning how to enhance one's ability to handle language. This includes not only a thorough knowledge of its grammar and vocabulary, but also a knowledge of the syntactical usage of words in a sentence and beyond that, to pay particular attention to how words and phrases are often defined by the broader context of the passage in which the sentence appears. Without contextual definition, words and the ideas expressed by them can be, and frequently are, subjects of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of what the writer actually is saying. --Hank |