[B-Greek] Luke 9:27

David Phillips davidbwphillips at gmail.com
Wed Mar 18 15:52:24 EDT 2009


I think it may also be worthwhile to look at the two other NT passages
(apart from the synoptic parallels) where the phrase occurs - Hebrews 2:9
and John 8:52.

Dave Phillips

On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 3:36 PM, Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com> wrote:

>
> On Mar 18, 2009, at 2:38 PM, Thomas Hagen wrote:
>
> > At a Bible study recently, we were looking at Luke 9:23-27 where
> > Jesus talks about carrying one’s own cross daily after him and the
> > possibility of  losing one’s life when you try to save it or of
> > saving it when you lose it for his sake. The passage concludes with
> > verse 27:
> >
> > But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not
> > taste death until they see the kingdom of God.
> >
> > λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ἀληθῶς, εἰσίν τινες
> > τῶν αὐτοῦ ἑστηκότων οἳ οὐ μὴ
> > γεύσωνται θανάτου ἕως ἂν ἴδωσιν
> > τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ.
> >
> > LEGW DE hUMIN ALHQWS EISIN TINES TWN AUTOU hESTHKOTWN hOI OU MH
> > GEUSWNTAI QANATOU hEWS AN IDWSIN THN BASILEIAN TOU QEOU.
> >
> > Someone suggested that the “death” in verse 27 might refer to the
> > existential death to our own ego and will that Jesus refers to
> > through the reference to the cross and losing one’s own life. In
> > this case, verse 27 would be a negative, rather bitter admission on
> > the part of Jesus that some of his listeners would not succeed in
> > achieving that kind of death until they were, in a sense, smacked in
> > the face or, perhaps better, kicked in the seat (!) by the kingdom
> > of God where, standing before the glory of God, they will have no
> > choice but to relinquish all claims to their own ego.
> >
> > Is there anything in the text that might suggest this kind of
> > reading? Or is this simply an expression of Jesus’ conviction that
> > the kingdom was to come shortly in all its power?
>
> I think that you are raising some questions here that lie outside the
> realm of what the Greek text itself can clarify. You might, however,
> look at other passages in Luke using the phrase hH BASILEIA TOU QEOU;
> you also might want to compare Luke's formulation of this Jesus-saying
> with the formulation of the same saying in Matthew and Mark. But how
> you resolve the question to your own satisfaction will depend upon
> your own hermeneutical assumptions rather than upon the Greek text
> itself -- and we don't discuss hermeneutics in this forum.
>
> Carl W. Conrad
>
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
>
>
>
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