[B-Greek] PERI in Matthew 24:36

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Wed Mar 19 04:43:57 EST 2003


The beginning of Matt 24:36 in the Greek text is:

PERI DE THS hHMERAS EKEINOS KAI hWRAS OUDEIS OIDEN

The PERI DE often introduces an answer to a question. The question is found
in 24:3 EIPE hHMIN POTE TAUTA ESTAI 	(Tell us when will these things take
place.)

I don't see the problem. Jesus says that he does not know when it will
happen, but he did give some signs that would suggest the nearness of it. I
don't think we can put any emphasis on the fact than only "day" and "hour"
is mentioned, and not "year" or "decade" or "century".

The day/event will come "soon", but no one knows how soon. Those who have
tried to fix a date, year or even century have so far been wrong. The whole
point of the section is: Be ready at ANY time, because you will never know
when it will happen, and it will come as a surprise in terms of the actual
time.

Iver Larsen



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