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Forgiveness and Diseases
Matthew 9:2 “When Yeshua saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.””
See our previous post from Matthew 7 about Judgement, and when we judge each other. From the beginning Yeshua is teaching forgiveness, even in the Prayer in Matthew 6:12, “Forgive us as we forgive others”. From that post we also saw that Yeshua has been given the right to Judge, therefor He has the right to forgive sins. But when we seek forgiveness from YHWH, we need to “Teshuva” – the Hebrew word for “Return to Him“. In english we have learned this word as “repentance“, and most understand it as a emotion of feeling sorry, but true repentance (Hebrew word Teshuvah) means to turn your ways around. You need to prove that you change the way you think and act. Click here to see previous posts about “Repentance” as explained in the old testament Scriptures. The greek word for repentance is Metanoia G3341 – metanoia, meaning to change your mind, a reversal or turn around. The Hebrew says it so much better : Change the way you Think AND Act.
Here, and in every case where Yeshua is forgiving sins, it has directly to do with healing some kind of disease or problem. The old testament calls these “curses”, and from Deuteronomy 11 we learn that we have a choice between curses and blessings, depending whether you are Righteous and follow the Law or not. The curses are also explained in Deuteronomy 30 what those curses are, like sickness. Deuteronomy 30:19, states, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse“. We can clearly see that when people have faith, they change the way they think and return their ways to YHWH. This Faith (repentance) allows Yeshua to forgive and release the curse.
Mercy, Not Sacrifice
Matthew 9:13 “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance”. This quote from Yeshua is from Hosea 6:6, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings”. It has often happened, that those who are priests and constantly in the Temple, made a worship of the Temple and seen themselves as being so righteous for bringing all their offerings. So much so, that YHWH warned He was going to destroy the Temple and hates their sacrifices.
The greek word for righteous from Matthew 9:13 is Dikaios G1342 – dikaios, meaning those who observe the Law, the upright, righteous, virtuous, keeping the commands of YHWH. Obviously the righteous is saved already, so Yeshua came for the “sinners”, greek word Hamartolos G268 – hamartōlos, meaning those devoted to sin, stained with crimes, to have missed the mark, to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour. He calls them to “repent”, and like we have seen repentance in greek is Metanoia G3341 – metanoia, meaning to change your mind, a reversal or turn around. So there are two choices or paths – the path of those who follow the law, and those who don’t. Sacrifices are not going to save them, only Mercy if they answer the call to Repentance/Turning around.
Disciples and Apostles
Matthew 10:1-2 “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these..”
The greek word for Disciple is Mathetes G3101 – mathētēs, from the root word Manthano G3129 – manthanō, meaning a learner, pupil, to learn, to increase one’s knowledge, to hear, be informed, to learn by use and practice. It has mostly to do with being a student, listening and learning, following the teacher.
The greek word for Apostle is Apostolos G652 – apostolos, from the root word Apostello G649 – apostellō, meaning a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders, to order (one) to go to a place appointed, to send away. An apostle, like we see here in Matthew 1:1, Yeshua gave special authority and a specific mission.
Unlike with the 12 tribes of Israel, where we had names and meanings, history and even signs for each tribe, as well as prophecies, with the Apostles we have very little information, making it clear that the Apostels are not assigned to replace the old testament tribes. They were told in Matthew 10:6, “instead, go to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel”. That is the 10 tribes of the North, which you can read from posts about the 2 Kingdoms, North and South when Israel split into two Kingdoms (click here to read more). From Matthew 19:28 we do read something interesting, confirming the 12 tribes still continue in the future, “So Yeshua said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Another translation difference, from Matthew 10:37-38 some translations say “does not deserve to be my disciple”. However the original rather says, if you love others more than Him/Yeshua, you are not worthy of Him.
In Luke 6, we learn that after Yeshua spent a whole night in prayer, He called all the disciples (the learners), and chose out them twelve Apostles. Luke 6:13, “He chose twelve of them and called them apostles”, those who are delegated to be messengers, sent forth with orders.
The Cross, Translation issues
Matthew 10:38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”
Reading this verse about the cross might seem so trivial, especially if you have heard it for years. But, actually it doesn’t make sense that Yeshua would say this statement. So we did some research and immediately came upon new translation issues!! First of all, the “cross” is not a cross like we have learned, from Strong’s Number: g4716 Greek: stauros. It denotes, primarily, “an upright pale or stake.” The two beamed “cross” had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. But during the early centuries, pagan signs and symbols, was adopted to stand for the “cross” of Christ.
Apart from the visuals of the cross, another problem is that MOST manuscripts that were found, did not have this phrase “take up his cross” in this verse, and it is agreed that someone or group of people have added it later. See the results from the research, where this phrase is appearing also in Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23 and 14:27 :
- Result 1 – not all manuscripts of Matthew 10:38 include the phrase “take up [your] cross,” as some older Greek manuscripts do not contain it, while others, like the one underlying the King James Version, do. The phrase is present in the Westcott-Hort Greek text and versions such as the KJV, NIV, and others, but variations exist in biblical scholarship and translation due to differences in the available manuscripts.
- Result 2 – not all manuscripts of Matthew 16:24 include the phrase “take up your cross”; while the phrase is in the Received Text (used for the King James Version) and many modern translations, most ancient Greek manuscripts do not contain it. Critical scholarship suggests the phrase may not be original to the text, potentially being a later addition from the Gospel of Luke or Mark, which did include it.
- Result 3 – not all manuscripts of Mark 8:34 include the phrase “take up his cross” in the same way that translations like the KJV do; while the phrase is present in the Received Text and thus appears in the KJV, most ancient Greek manuscripts, including the important Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, omit this phrase. Some scholars believe the phrase may have been added by scribes later.
- Result 4 – not all manuscripts of Luke 9:23 contain the phrase “take up his cross daily”; the phrase is present in the Textus Receptus, which forms the basis of the King James Version (KJV), but most ancient Greek manuscripts omit it. While modern translations like the ESV and NIV include the phrase, many early witnesses, including Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, do not, indicating it may be a later addition to the text.
When it comes to the old testament, there are also many translation issues, but generally most of the Scriptures agree and are trustworthy, especially comparing to the original Hebrew. The big problem is relying on the new testament, that doesn’t have any original manuscripts to rely on, and there are hundreds of thousands of different copies in different languages. If relying only on the new testament as Scripture for your faith, you might be in trouble – as all Scripture must agree, and if one are not familiar with the old testament, one will not know if the words you read from the new testament agrees or disagrees with the old testament. We cannot have one Bible with two opposing messages – they must agree with one message.
