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NASB | 2 Timothy 4:1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Timothy 4:1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: |
Subject: will there be a judgement of the jews |
Bible Note: Dear DOC2, Ah! Thank you for citing the reference for me. I can see where one might arrive at the conclusion as you've stated it. The word ethnos is translated as "Gentiles" in many passages and "nations" in many others. However, before you assume that it is always referring only to Gentiles as opposed to Jews, remember that this very word is used of the Jewish peoples (cf Luke 7:5 and John 11:48). More specifically, though, if we look at the verse you cited (Matthew 25:32) we see the word ethnos preceded by the word pas. This would be translated "all nations" or, "all of the nations." Indeed, Matthew 24:14 is the previous passage that uses this phrase. (Now, I'm certainly not much of a student of Greek. Our Brother Tim on the forum may be persuaded to comment if we ask him to do so. He's one of the few forum members that reads Koine Greek about as well as you and I read English!) "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14 ESV) For comparison, we see the same phrase, pas ethnos, as follows: "Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." (Luke 24:45-48 ESV) A more sound exegesis, therefore, of Matthew 25:32 would be that Christ will judge everyone, Gentiles and Jews; i.e., everyone from all people groups (nations). Consequently, we would not see separate times of judgment of differing people groups. Instead, at our Savior's second coming, He will be coming to judge everyone. In Him, Doc PS I'd like to encourage you not to impute modern connotations to the word "nation" when you encounter it in Scripture. What you and I generally think of as "nations" reflect ideas that are relatively -- only a matter of a handful of centuries old. |