Language Studies

Aramaic Thoughts

Idioms in the Bible - Part 11

Luke 23:31 says, "For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" Lamsa identifies these figures as follows. The green tree stands for an innocent man. The dry tree stands for an evil man. It is not clear to me how he came to this conclusion. The context is that of Jesus being led away for crucifixion. As he is led away, many women are weeping and mourning for him. In response, Jesus directs them not to weep for him, but for themselves and for their children, because more terrible days are coming. He concludes his remarks with the statement already quoted.

From the context, the green tree refers to the present time, when things are difficult, but not as much as they will be. The dry tree refers to the future, when the time will be ripe for judgment. In other words, at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, the tree is still green. It has not yet completely died. But the time is coming when the tree will have died and will be dry, ready to be quickly consumed by the fires of judgment. Jesus likely had in mind here the period surrounding AD 70, when Rome attacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, carrying out God’s judgment on the nation that had rejected its Messiah.

John 1:18 in the King James Version says, "No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." The statement about the only begotten Son Lamsa interprets as, "The first who recognized the fatherhood of God. The only God-like man; hence, a spiritual Son of God." Leaving aside for the time being the text-critical difficulties of the verse, for which I refer the reader to Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, pp. 107-126. This section of Morris’s commentary includes not only a good brief discussion of the textual matter at verse 18; it also includes a very helpful note on the Logos in John. I would also direct the reader’s attention to D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, pp. 134-139.

My greater concern is with Lamsa’s serious doctrinal deficiency in his statements with regard to this verse. Lamsa’s first statement is simply false. Jesus was not the first to recognize the fatherhood of God. The Jews recognized God as their father, as it is explicitly stated in De 32:6 as well as Isa 63:16; 64:8. Nor could it be argued that Jesus was simply the first to really teach on the subject, as the citations from Deuteronomy and Isaiah show. Nor does John 1:18 simply identify Jesus as the only God-like man, whatever that may mean. Lamsa himself seems to indicate that "God-like" man means "a spiritual son of God." But there is nothing either in the Greek or in the Syriac translation that would indicate this. Rather, the language not only of John 1:18, but the language of all of John 1:1-18 is constructed such that the reader is driven to the conclusion that the Logos, Jesus, is "the unique and beloved one, himself God" (Carson, p. 139). In other words, this passage is about asserting the deity of Jesus, not simply some God-likeness in Jesus.

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