What Does Matthew 19:16 Mean?
And look, one came near and said to him, Good teacher, what good thing shall I do, so that I may hold the life of the ages?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?THE KEY
He treats the life of the ages as a prize one good deed can secure, and the question leaves that assumption exposed.
THE MEANING
Your hunger for a life that lasts can meet the urge to secure it through one good act. “Eternal life” carries the sense of “life of the ages”: a life belonging to God’s age, not only endless duration. The question holds both desires open.
THE ROOT
αἰώνιον
aiōnion
GROWS FROM
αἰών (aiōn), stem αἰων-
Age, era, or order of time; αἰώνιον is an adjective formed from this word.
“the life of the ages” in this verse is aiōnion. “Eternal” can make the phrase sound like it speaks only about duration. The word also carries the sense of life belonging to an age, opening the question of what kind of life this man seeks.
ALSO GROWS
aiōn: An age or era.
αἰών
This noun is the seed of the adjective in the verse, bringing the idea of an age into the phrase translated “eternal life.”
aiōnios: Of or belonging to an age; age-lasting.
αἰώνιος
This is the adjective behind “eternal”; here it describes a life that belongs to the ages.
THE PATTERN
Life is found in God’s presence and relationship, and is described as a gift rather than a human achievement.
You make me perceive the path of life; before your face is the fullness of joy, and at your right hand are sweetnesses forever.And this is the life of the ages, that they might know you, the only God of truth, and Jesus, the Anointed One, whom you have sent.For the pay of falling short is death, but the gift of God is the life of the ages in Jesus, the Anointed One, our Lord.THE THREAD
And this is the life of the ages, that they might know you, the only God of truth, and Jesus, the Anointed One, whom you have sent.John repeats the phrase ζωὴ αἰώνιος (zōē aiōnios, “life of the ages”) and describes it as knowing God and Jesus, whom God sends. That opens the man’s question beyond the search for one decisive deed: the life he seeks is also a life of relationship.
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