[B-Greek] Luke 9:27

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Wed Mar 18 16:56:38 EDT 2009


Matt. 16:28 Mark 9:1 Luke 9:27 John 8:52 Heb. 2:9

While I agree with Carl that THN BASILEIAN TOU QEOU is an  
innapropriate problem to take on in this forum, the semantics of   
GEUSWNTAI QANATOU is not. Having reviewed the NT use of this  
expression, it seems to me that physical death is one semantic  
component. In other words physical death does not exhaust the meaning  
of the phrase but it is included. I cannot see any support for  
"existential death to our own ego" which sounds like a rather fanciful  
modernist psychological extrapolation.

Elizabeth Kline


On Mar 18, 2009, at 11:38 AM, 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?









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