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NASB | John 3:13 "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:13 "No one has gone up into heaven, but there is One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man [Himself--whose home is in heaven]. |
Subject: Enoch and Elijah didn't see God yet? |
Bible Note: Hi EdB, Good to hear from you my friend. Here's some observations from my own studies of this passage. (limited for time's sake). Notwithstanding what ecclesia.org/truth/enoch says about this passage I'd have to take issue on a few points. 1. Why would it be careless to assume without proof he (Enoch) didn't die? The text itself says he didn't- Heb 11:5, By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God." (NASB) Would we not understand this to mean exactly what it says? Granted the passage here in Hebrews doesn't say he went to heaven, but it does certainly say "he should not see death"! I believe when he explains that "God took him", and "he was not found", it clearly means that Enoch did "NOT SEE DEATH" at all, but that he was taken bodily from the earth. As Bullinger notes in his tremendous exposition, "Great Cloud of Witnesses", "Of each of the six patriarchs before him, it is recorded "and he died" (Gen. 5:5; 8; 11; 14; 17; 20). but of Enoch it is written, that he did "not see death" and the reason given is that "God, took him," and "he was not found". This implies that men looked everywhere for him but the search parties could not find him dead or alive." [Pg 96] Regarding his translation. Gen. 5:24 simply notes, "...and he was not, for God took him." We're not provided any further detail. However, Hebrews 11:5, does note "God took him up", the verb 'metathemi' meaning "to effect a change of location in space, with the implication that the two locations are significantly different—‘to move from one place to another, to change one’s location, to depart, departure." [Louw, J. P., and Nida, E. A. (1996). Vol. 1: Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament] Agreed, there's no sense of making any one immortal from 'metathemi', but that misses the point. The context of the passage clearly says he did not see death! 2. The word "translated" [metathemi] in Heb 11:5, differs in both meaning and sense from that of "ascended", [anabaino] in John 3:13. Again, effect(ing) a change of location in space, with the implication that the two locations are significantly different does no violation to what is stated in John 3:13. Metathemi simply describes the action that, "By faith he was taken up so that he would not see death". Significantly, the verb here is also in the passive mood, which shows (indicates) the action was performed on him (Enoch) by an outside force. He didn't do this himself! However, "ascended" [anabaino] in John 3:13 is a completely different action. Here it conveys the meaning 'to move up—‘to come up, to go up, to ascend.’ The upward movement may be of almost any gradient, for example, in going up a road to Jerusalem (Gal. 1:17) or in going up into a tree (Lk 19:4) or in ascending into heaven (Acts 2:34).' The verb is in the active sense, denoting action performed by the individual himself. So, Enoch, though definitely "translated", did not "ascend" to heaven. A significant, but important distinction I believe. 3. I don't find any biblical (or textual) support for stating "God took Enoch and buried him somewhere so as not to be found,". Translation does not entail he was in any way, shape or sense of the term, buried. Simply because Jacob was translated (and the term fits well in Acts 7:16 as he was moved from one place to another) does not imply that such was the case for Enoch! Speaking the aTruth in Love, BradK |