O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ...

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disciples, those who accept the teachings of Jesus (Schrenk 1967:91 0). The motif ofGod as Father and it’s pertinence for Matthew 6:19-34 will be explored in greaterdetail in the next chapter.The third reason related to the prohibition is found in verse 27 where Jesus askrhetorically if His disciples can add one cubit to their stature by worrying (Talbert2006:126). Cubit is translated from pechus (Unger and White 1985:140). Pechusrefers to a measure of length the distance of a forearm. This is approximately justless than two feet.Tasker (1971:77) reasons that cubit in verse 27 is better translated as referring to thelength of life than height, as people are more likely to worry about the length of theirlives than their height. Blomberg (1992:125) agrees with Tasker as he argues thatwhile the reference to height is the “more natural translation” from the Greek, theidea of long life fits better with the concerns of food and clothing.However Henry, (1960:1233) staying true to the natural translation of the textremains with the height metaphor and argues that one does not arrive at their heightby one’s own work, but by God’s providence. It is apparent that helikia whichtranslates to stature in Luke (which contains a similar saying) refers to height(France 1985:140).However one could ask if such an extra length on a person’s height is evensomething a person would want (France 1985:140)? France believes the contextdemands that an extra cubit of height is something that some one wants. It is theposition of this thesis that is better to stay with the most natural translation from theGreek which is that Jesus is talking about adding extras height to one’s physicalstature.There are a couple reasons for this. Firstly, while France’s (1985:140) point above isnoted, perhaps the context does not demand that some one would want so muchextra height. It could be possible that people would not want that much extra heightand so Jesus is showing how worry in this case is ridiculous.57
Secondly, Henry’s argument that our physical height falls under the realm of God’ssustaining providence, fits the context. There is a middle ground worth noting. Lioy(2004:170) notes that whichever translation of pechus one prefers the point remainsthe same, “worry does not change things (Lioy 2004:170).”One could say that implications attached to this reason are as follows:a) As one has no control over one’s height, Jesus is saying that a reason thatone should not worry, is that it is useless (Lioy 2004:170). There is no point inworrying about things that are clearly outside of the disciple’s control.b) Worrying about areas of life where God is sovereign is an attempt tooverthrow God’s authority rather than trust God (Carter 2000:177).The fourth reason related to the prohibition is found in verse 28-30 (Talbert2006:126). This is where Jesus encouraged His disciples not to be anxious forclothing. He told them to examine the lilies of the filed which do not toil nor spin, andyet Solomon was not arrayed as one of these.This vegetation metaphor is used by Jesus to prohibit a disciple’s anxiety overclothing (France 1985:141). Jesus again argues from the lesser to the greater, i.e. ifGod cares for lilies and grass He will clearly also care for His own (p. 140). Considercomes from katamanthano (Hill 1977:144). The implication is that one pays closeattention with the aim to learn.Lily is translated from krinon (Unger and White 1985:372). Lilies could include thegladiolus species which are found in wheat fields in Galilee. While the modern dayreader cannot be sure if Jesus is referring to a specific species these plants would fitJesus illustration well as when in bloom they bring fantastic colour to theirenvironment, but also have a stem that when dried would be used well in ovens.The oven is in fact their final destination (Matt. 6:30).Ryken, Wilhoit and Longman III (1998:294) say that it is common to use “lilies of thefield,” in a generic sense to refer to any good looking flowers. If flowers areconsidered in the generic sense, and thus not a specific type, the saying “flowers of58
Page 1 and 2:
A BIBLICAL-THEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF
Page 3 and 4:
ACKOWLEDGEMENTSI am eternally grate
Page 5 and 6:
TABLE OF CONTENTSCHAPTER 1: Introdu
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6.2.5 Discipleship and Community…
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sinfulness and pushes people toward
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discourses in Matthew, is meant to
Page 13 and 14: Christian disciple and money was an
Page 15 and 16: NT text actually did occur and did
Page 17 and 18: to have used it as a source (France
Page 19 and 20: almost no evidence outside of the N
Page 21 and 22: addressed.Jesus says things in the
Page 23 and 24: The Jewish community was taxed very
Page 25 and 26: finding the origin and purpose of M
Page 27: instruction for the believing commu
Page 31 and 32: Matthew will have continued pertine
Page 33 and 34: Chapter 3Literary Analysis - Struct
Page 35 and 36: etween 6:19-24 and 7:1-11 that is c
Page 37 and 38: would not have ever found such a li
Page 39 and 40: and 7:7-11 are worth noting:a) Both
Page 41 and 42: appealing. He seems to at times ack
Page 43 and 44: three parts.While the literary appr
Page 45 and 46: Chapter 4Literary Analysis - Matthe
Page 47 and 48: common to a teacher like Jesus woul
Page 49 and 50: treasures would be, but agrees that
Page 51 and 52: Blomberg (1992:123) shows that the
Page 53 and 54: Talbert (2006:122) argues this by r
Page 55 and 56: for God’s kingdom, it is in a bad
Page 57 and 58: The statement that one cannot serve
Page 59 and 60: Chapter FiveLiterary Analysis - Mat
Page 61 and 62: Moses. Even more significant is tha
Page 63: ightly notes that humans are more v
Page 67 and 68: Perhaps the point is not to cast So
Page 69 and 70: The second reason related to this p
Page 71 and 72: the scriptures that even the great
Page 73 and 74: more than what one eats and wears.
Page 75 and 76: CHAPTER SIXTHEOLOGICAL MOTIFS OF MA
Page 77 and 78: 6:19-34 and that this chapter would
Page 79 and 80: It has now been established that Th
Page 81 and 82: Kingdom requires its citizens to ha
Page 83 and 84: “our Father,” i.e. the Father o
Page 85 and 86: It must be noted that the Father-So
Page 87 and 88: Matthew 25:31-36 presents Jesus as
Page 89 and 90: unanimous among scholars. These rea
Page 91 and 92: Unger and White (1985:171) note tha
Page 93 and 94: interdependent interpersonal relati
Page 95 and 96: examples of how a disciple may prov
Page 97 and 98: Chapter SevenConclusion7.1 Introduc
Page 99 and 100: the accumulation of wealth over and
Page 101 and 102: them. The historical analyses highl
Page 103 and 104: preparedness to give up monetary pu
Page 105 and 106: e for the benefit of the believing
Page 107 and 108: captivity to sin. The SOM itself wa
Page 109 and 110: APPENDIX ONETALBERTS FORMAL DIVISIO
Page 111 and 112: BIBLIOGRAPHYAchtemeier PJ, Green JB
Page 113 and 114: Clowney EP 1988. Church. In SB Ferg
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Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishi
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Peter Laing Publishing.Lloyd-Jones
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73-97.Smith KG 2008. Academic Writi
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