Meaning of "even unto those that believe on his name"?

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posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
36,680
13,131
113
#21
The word translated "in" is eis in Greek. It frequently translated "into". So it is more emphatic than what is implied by "in". The Amplified Bible puts it like this:
“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life."

It's too easy to overthink and over complicate God's word. "Receive" is a word we don't use in the same way now as historically. When someone wanted to see someone for business, they would give the receptionist their business card. The receptionist would give the card to whoever. If "whoever" was willing to see the person calling on them, the receptionist would say, "He will receive you now". That's how we should view receiving Jesus.
i dunno why but good grief every time I see the amplified quoted i find it very difficult to read until i cross out all the inserted 'amplifications'

they're so diatracting, to me, and i don't like the idea of someone thinking they need to add a bunch of words to the scripture.. that's overcomplicating things.

but on the other hand i consider it impossible to overthink the scripture. we're meant to meditate on it :)
 

notmyown

Senior Member
May 26, 2016
4,717
1,142
113
#22
i dunno why but good grief every time I see the amplified quoted i find it very difficult to read until i cross out all the inserted 'amplifications'

they're so diatracting, to me, and i don't like the idea of someone thinking they need to add a bunch of words to the scripture.. that's overcomplicating things.

but on the other hand i consider it impossible to overthink the scripture. we're meant to meditate on it :)
post, dear, you're a gem. :) can't overthink it, but can misunderstand it. (not you who's doing this)

it's the amplified. gets Jn 3:16 dead wrong. "God so [greatly]" ? "and dearly prized" ?
nah, lol, that Greek adverb translated "so", houtós, is not an adverb of degree; it's an adverb of manner. we have these in English, also, as you know.

it isn't saying God loved the world so very, very much. it's saying something like, this is the way in which God loved the world. God loved the world HOW? He gave the Son, the monogenés! amazing! wonderful!

to my mind, this understanding makes the giving of the Son much more precious. we ought to be kinda shocked about the whole thing. :)
 

Gideon300

Well-known member
Mar 18, 2021
4,947
2,871
113
#23
i dunno why but good grief every time I see the amplified quoted i find it very difficult to read until i cross out all the inserted 'amplifications'

they're so diatracting, to me, and i don't like the idea of someone thinking they need to add a bunch of words to the scripture.. that's overcomplicating things.

but on the other hand i consider it impossible to overthink the scripture. we're meant to meditate on it :)
We have the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to us. Sure, meditation of the right kind is good, but over analysing is not. The Bible is a spiritual book for spiritual people. You can spend hours in study or the Holy Spirit can reveal the meaning in a moment. If you don't like the Amplified, ignore it. I refer to it rarely myself, but it can be helpful, for me anyway.

I suppose you could learn Greek. I'm happy that other scholars have done that for me.

God is well able to lead you to people who can help. I got into a discussion at a vet clinic, with some Greek Orthodox people. They were of Greek descent and spoke Greek as well as English. I was curious to know how they interpreted a particular word. I never expected a theological discussion while waiting for the dog to be looked at by a vet!
 

Gideon300

Well-known member
Mar 18, 2021
4,947
2,871
113
#24
I don't know much about Greek, but that might just be how the language works, eis can be used for in as it can be used for other purposes. The KJV translators thought it appropriate to translate the words to "believe in" without putting extra requirements on what Jesus was saying. The immediate meaning of the word pisteuōn is apparently to have faith in, I don't understand where the correlation that Strong's has for it comes from. If that is a natural correlation, wow, Greek is a heavy language to have one word mean both of those things and wow that people could talk like that. If someone asked me if I believe in Jesus I would know exactly what they mean so long as they were using the word in a clear manner.
English is no different. Many of our word are of Greek origin anyway. I would hate to be learning English from scratch. How many languages could say "There are two too many to fit in the container"?

Many people say they believe in Jesus. I wonder how many in reality believe the facts about Jesus and no more.