What Does Matthew 21:28 Mean?
But what seems to you? A man had two children, and he came to the first and said, Child, go and work today in my vineyard.
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
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.THE KEY
The call joins being named a son with being sent to work today, while leaving the answer open.
THE MEANING
The verse places you inside a question: you are addressed as a child and given a concrete task for today. The vineyard is where the response to that call will become visible, but this verse leaves the response unresolved.
THE ROOT
ἐργάζου
ergazou
GROWS FROM
ἔργον
ergon
work, deed; that which is done
The command ἐργάζου (ergazou, work) belongs to the same word family as ἔργον (ergon, deed or work). The language holds the labor and the deed it produces close together: the father’s request is meant to take shape in what happens in the vineyard today.
ALSO GROWS
deed: Work, deed, or action.
ἔργον
The same seed names both the work requested and what is done.
worker: A laborer or worker.
ἐργάτης
The worker is named from the same family as the work itself, linking the person to the task.
THE PATTERN
A call becomes visible in the work and fruit that follow it.
What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I waited for it to bring forth grapes, did it bring forth stinking grapes?So also trust, if it has no works, is dead, by itself.Which of the two did the will of his father? They said to him, The first. Jesus said to them, Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go ahead of you into the governance of God.THE THREAD
So also trust, if it has no works, is dead, by itself.The command translated “work” here, ἐργάζου (ergazou, work), shares its word family with ἔργον (ergon, deed or work), the word James uses for “works.” Both verses connect what is held inwardly with what takes form in action.
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