Posted by Three Different Ends on March 15, 1999 at 19:52:46 {MWKglaQqh7SVg}:
In Reply to: A Tale of Three ENDS posted by J.H. on March 15, 1999 at 14:52:44:
JH�s Conclusion ***
The only way to avoid having the verses we have quoted above contradicting themselves is to
accept what a plain and simple reading of any New Testament will reveal: the terms synteleia,
parousia and erchomai,
along with certain other words and expressions, all refer to the same
event. They do not refer to any invisible "presence," but a miraculous and very visible coming
in the clouds. This should happen without direct forewarning, �like a
thief in the night.� The
harvest after the conclusion (sunteleia) would then not be a period of evangelizing, but exactly
like Jesus said, a gathering done by angels. And Jesus would be with his disciples all days until
this sudden
coming (parousia, erchomai).
The mess WTS eschatology has gotten itself into with such unreasonable interpretations of key
words demonstrate that a desire to cover up for false date prophecies is a very bad reason to
rewrite your
private dictionary.
*************************************************
The following information demonstrates clearly that these terms do not refer to the same
things. It is also clear that NWT rendering of the cited verses is not
unique.
Matt 24:3
3 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying,
"Tell us, when will these things be, and what {will be} the sign of Your coming, and of the end
of the
age?"
(NAS)
Matt 24:3
3 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying,
"Tell us, when will these things be, and what {will be} the sign of Your coming, and of the end
of the
age?"
(NAS)
Matt 24:3
3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell
us, when will these things happen, and what {will be} the sign of Your coming, and of the end
of the
age?"
(NAU)
Matt 24:3
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us,"
they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of
the
age?"
(NIV)
Matthew 24:3
[As he sat] [katheemenou (grk 2521)]. Genitive absolute. Picture of Jesus sitting on the Mount
of Olives looking down on Jerusalem and the temple which he had just left. After the climb up
the
mountain four of the disciples (Peter, James, John, Andrew) come to Jesus with the problem
raised by his solemn words. They ask these questions about the destruction of Jerusalem and the
temple, his own second coming [parousia (grk
3952), presence, common in the papyri for the
visit of the emperor), and the end of the world. Did they think that they were all to take place
simultaneously? There is no way to answer. At any rate Jesus treats all three in this
great
eschatological discourse, the most difficult problem in the Synoptic Gospels. Many theories are
advanced that impugn the knowledge of Jesus or of the writers or of both. It is sufficient for our
purpose to think of Jesus as
using the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem which did
happen in that generation in A.D. 70, as also a symbol of his own second coming and of the end
of the world [sunteleias (grk 4930) tou (grk 3588) aioonos (grk 165)] or
consummation of the
age.
In a painting the artist by skillful perspective may give on the same surface the inside of a room, (from Robertson's Word Pictures in the New
Testament) Matthew 24:3 PP1 Matthew 24:3 [When shall these things be?] There are three questions here: 1. when those things should take place 2. what should be the signs of his own coming 3. what should be the signs that
the end of the world was near To these questions He replies in this and the following chapters. This He does, not by noticing (from Barnes' Notes) COMING (NOUN) 3. parousia ^3952^, lit., "a presence," para, "with," and ousia, "being" (from eimi, "to be"), The word is also used of the Lawless One, the Man of Sin, his access to power and his doings (from Vine's
Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words) END, ENDING A. Nouns. 2. sunteleia ^4930^ signifies "a bringing to completion together" (sun "with," teleo, "to WORLD 2. aion
^165^, "an age, a period of time," marked in the NT usage by spiritual or moral Aion is always to be
distinguished from kosmos, even where the two seem to express the same (from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words) Matt 24:42, 46 42 "So be prepared, for you don't know what day your Lord is coming. 46 Blessings on you if I return and find
you faithfully doing your work. (TLB) Matt 24:42, 46 42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he
returns. (NIV) Phillips and the Jerusalem Bible use come in verse 42 and arrival in verse 46. So given The 1. erchomai ^2064^, the most frequent verb, denoting either "to come, or to go," signifies the act, (from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words) (Copyright (C) 1985, Thomas Nelson
Publishers)
the fields outside the window, and the sky far beyond. Certainly in this discourse Jesus blends
in
apocalyptic language the background of his death on the cross, the coming destruction of
Jerusalem, his own second coming and the end of the world. He now touches one, now the other.
It is not easy for us to separate clearly
the various items. It is enough if we get the picture as a
whole as it is here drawn with its lessons of warning to be ready for his coming and the end.
The destruction of Jerusalem came as he foretold. There are some who would date
the Synoptic
Gospels after A.D. 70 in order to avoid the predictive element involved in the earlier date. But
that is to limit the foreknowledge of Jesus to a merely human basis. The word [parousia] (grk
3952) occurs in this
chapter alone
Epistles, either of presence as opposed to absence
<2 Thes 2:1>.
them distinctly, but by intermingling the descriptions of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the
end of
the world, so that it is sometimes difficult to tell to what particular subject his remarks
apply. The PRINCIPLE on which this combined description of two events was spoken appears
to be, that "they could be described in the same
words," and therefore the accounts are
intermingled. A similar use of language is found in some parts of Isaiah, where the same
language will describe the return from the Babylonian captivity, and deliverance by the
Messiah. See
Introduction to Isaiah, section 7.
denotes both an "arrival" and a consequent "presence with."
For instance, in a papyrus letter a
lady speaks of the necessity of her parousia in a place in order to attend to matters relating to
her property there. Paul speaks of his parousia in Philippi,
apousia, "his absence"; see ABSENCE). Other words denote "the arrival" (see eisodos and
eleusis, above). Parousia is used to describe the presence of Christ with His disciples on the
Mount of Transfiguration, <2 Pet. 1:16>.
When used of the return of Christ, at the rapture of the
church, it signifies, not merely His momentary "coming" for His saints, but His presence with
them from that moment until His revelation and manifestation to the world. In some
passages
the word gives prominence to the beginning of that period, the course of the period being
implied, <1 Cor. 15:23; 1 Thes. 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thes. 2:1; Jas. 5:7-8; 2 Pet. 3:4>. In some, the
course is prominent,
period,
in the world during his parousia, <2
Thes. 2:9>. In addition to
in the same way of the apostle, or his companions, in <1 Cor. 16:17; 2 Cor. 7:6-7; 10:10; Phil.
1:26>; of the Day of God, <2 Pet. 3:12>. See PRESENCE.
complete," akin to No. 1), marking the "completion" or consummation of the
various parts of a
scheme. In
RV, text) is misleading; the RV marg., "the consummation of the age," is correct. The word does
not denote a
termination, but the heading up of events to the appointed climax. Aion is not the
world, but a period or epoch or era in which events take place. In
translated "world" (KJV) is in the plural, and the phrase is
"the consummation of the ages." It
was at the heading up of all the various epochs appointed by divine counsels that Christ was
manifested (i. e., in His Incarnation) "to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."#
characteristics, is sometimes translated "world"; the RV marg. always has "age." The following
are details concerning the world in this respect; its
cares,
be rendered "the end of the age," in most places (see END, A, No. 2); in <1 Cor. 10:11>, KJV,
"the ends (tele) of the world," RV, "the ends of the ages," probably signifies the fulfillment of
the divine purposes concerning
the ages in regard to the church [this would come under END, A,
No. 1, (c)]. In
successive periods contain; cf. <1:2>.
idea, e. g., <1 Cor. 3:18>, aion,
"the age of this world." For a list of phrases containing aion,
with their respective meanings, see
EVER, B.
Living Bible and the New International Version, as well as others and the addition of alternative
renderings, NWT usage is
hardly unique or in any sense "carefully hiding" something.
in contrast with heko (see No. 22, below), which stresses the arrival, as,
e. g., "I am come and
am here,"
PASS, RESORT.