What to do?
This sunday or next, not sure which right now, I plan on preaching on Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:12
. I have always been facinated by this text since I, unfortunately, saw it in John Eldridge’s book, “Wild at Heart”. The text reads, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” I have run into a problem that stems from how to read the Greek.
The crux of the issue is this. The first verb is the Greek verb biazetai, which the ESV translates as “suffered violence,” is a present tense verb. In the present tense, the passive and middle voices are spelled the same. My first problem arises in trying to determine if this verb is a middle voice verb, which would be read as a positive “advances forcefully.” Or is it a passive voice verb which is to read in the negative “suffers violence.” The second issue is similar but deals with the ending of the verse. Do I translate the phrase biastai arpazousin auten in the positive sense of “violent people take it by force” or in the negative sense “violent people plunder it?” This gives me four possibilities to chose from: + +, “kingdom advances forcefully…violent people take it by force;” - -, “suffers violence…violent people plunder it;” + -, “kingdom advances forcefully…violent people plunder it;” - +, “suffers violence…violent people take it by force.”
There are many reasons for translating for translating the verb biazetai in the positive, as the NIV does. First and foremost is in the context of Matthew 11:2-6 and the kingdom coming with the powerful miracles of Christ, thus the kingdom coming forcefully. Also, this verb is used in a parallel text in Luke 16:16 in which it is taken in a positive, middle voice. But then there are reasons for taking the verb as a passive. The closer context of John the Baptizer comes in a time when he is imprisoned for his ministry, Jesus is constantly at odds with the Pharisees and Zealots over his message, Jesus warns the 12 in Matthew 10 to be cunning in their travels and to fear not those who persecute them in their preaching. Luke’s text is in a completely different context. Also, with the subject of the verb being “he basileia ton ouranon,” does it make sense to say that God’s kingdom violently advances? Obviously not. I am at an impossible decision. Most people opt for the passive rendering, like the ESV and the NASB and the Word Biblical Commentary. But there are many who opt for the middle rendering of the verb as well.
Then we have whether or not not to take biastai arpazousin auten as a positive or a negative. To take it positively speaks of the type of discipleship required of Jesus’ followers, militant in their pursuit of Christ. They take hold of the kingdom and press into it. This does not refer to being a jihadist but if radically following Christ with a dedication of that similar to the radical Islamists, serving to the point of self-sacrifice. If we take the text in a negative sense, we learn that people plunder the kingdom of God. Most likely Jesus would be referring to Herod Antipas with John, the Pharisees and Zealots in their misunderstanding of Jesus’ ministry and mission. Reasons for translating this phrase in the positive are that it is the more traditional view. One cannot just take a confusing grammar and make a decision, but needs to look at this in light of one’s own theology. Luke 16:16 seems to indicate that this term biastai would be used in that kind of positive light. The reasoning behind the negative view is that the verb arpazousin is never used in such a positive light as would be required.
My question for any who dare, which of the four possibilities should one chose to properly translate this verse: + +, - -, + -, - +? If you were going to preach this text, which route would you take? I am waiting on some more sources for this text before I make my decision, thus I might preach this text in two sundays instead of this sunday.
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