The eighth of The Articles of Faith as written by Joseph Smith reads:
We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
I have grown up in the faith as restored by Joseph Smith. Having been taught this principle from my youth, I have a healthy skepticism of the English translation of the Bible. In that vein, I have begun a project to link the English of the Inspired Version to the Greek language the New Testament scriptures were recorded in. I am doing this to more deeply understand the word of God as the authors speak for themselves in their original language.
This study stems from that project. This article goes through the Greek word-by-word to, as far as I am able, enable you to fully understand this verse.
In English, Matthew 5:19 reads:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
This verse in Greek reads:
μη [meh] is translated "not." It is a conditional negative adverb. An adverb modifies the action of a verb. A conditional negative means that rather than being an absolute "no" it modifies the associated verb as a "not."
νομισητε [nom-is'-say-teh] is translated "think," but it actually has a different meaning. Looking closely, it is an inflection of 3543 νομιζω [nom-id'-zō]. Inflections are words that have the same basic meaning, but are different in how they are used.
Both words νομιζω and νομισητε are derived from 3551 νομος [no'-mos] which is the Greek word for "law" in the general sense, meaning any kind of law.
So, where νομος means "law" generally, νομιζω is the related verb meaning "to do by law" and νομισητε is an inflection with a different morphology.
The morphology of a word is the perspective it is used from, so where νομιζω is used from a first person, singular, present perspective, or "what I can do by law," the morphology of νομισητε is:
οτι [hot'-ee] is translated "that." It is a conjunction, a word which connects words, phrases or clauses. It is the neuter form inflection of 3748 οστις [hos'-tis]. A neuter form refers to the word portraying neither masculine nor feminine attributes.
The word οστις is a combination of two words: ος [hos] and τις [tis]. The first part ος means who, which, what or that. It is a relative pronoun. A pronoun is a word that is substituted for a noun to avoid repetition. A relative pronoun is used to begin a relative clause. A relative clause adds more information about the subject of the sentence.
The second part τις is an enclitic indefinite pronoun meaning some or any person or object. An enclitic is a word that has been chopped off and added to the word ahead of it, or the second part of a contraction. A good example is the southern contraction "that'n" meaning "that one." The clipped "one" is the enclitic. An indefinite pronoun refers to the subject without assigning any masculine or feminine traits.
So, οτι acts like a contraction of "that" and "thing." As a conjunction, it begins the next phrase of the sentence which will add information to the subject "not" "what you could have done by law."
ηλθον [el'-thon] is translated "I am come." It is a verb which generally means "to come or to go." It depends upon the context of the sentence to determine whether the meaning is "to come" or "to go." The context of this sentence seems to indicate Jesus, the speaker, is "coming closer" rather than "going away."
The specific morphology of ηλθον is:
καταλυσαι [kat-al-oo'-sahee] is translated "destroy." It is a verb, composed of two words κατα [kat-ah'] and λυω [loo'-ō]. The word κατα is a primary particle meaning "down." The word λυω is a primary verb meaning to "loosen." Together these words literally mean to "down loosen," but it's understanding is to "loosen down." An example of this is pulling on a tie to let down the knot and unbuttoning the top button of a shirt to loosen the pressure on the neck.
The specific morphology of καταλυσαι is:
It is significant to note that the verbs in this sentence, which have been translated:
This language also seems to be a subtle reference to authority he already has to enforce the law in connection with God. Because only God himself can enforce his law, yet Jesus is saying he has not come to loosen what could have been done by law. This subtly places Jesus in the law enforcement role of God himself.
Here is where there is a change in the direction of action in the sentence. Until now the case has been nominative, the "'Not' 'what you could have done in the past by the law' 'that thing' 'I have come' 'to have loosened down'" perform the action. The next clause receives the action.
The next two words τον [ton] νομον [nom'-on] work together to describe something specific. The word τον is the definite article, "the." In Greek, placing a definite article before the object point to a specific "one" - a specific person, place, thing or action, whether in an individual or collective sense. It points to νομον, which is translated "law," meaning law in a general sense. In Greek, the morphologies of two words have to match in order for them to work together.
The specific morphology of of both τον and νομον are:
η [ay] is translated "or." It is a primary particle of distinction between two connected terms. That means it both connects the preceding and following objects and yet distinguishes between them.
The specific morphology of η is:
The two words τους [toos] προφητας [prof-ay'-tas] work together to specify a specific set of people. The word τους is an inflection of ο [ho] the definite article "the," in this case pointing to the προφητας translated "prophets"
The word προφητας is a compound of 4253 προ [pro], a primary preposition meaning "fore", i.e. "in front of" and 5346 φημι [fay-mee'] meaning to show or make known one's thoughts.
The morphologies of both τους and προφητας are:
According to the grammar of the sentence, "the law or the prophets" are accusative, the receivers of the action Jesus is performing. Since the object:
(Matthew 5:20-21):
Sit with that for a moment. Given this context, Jesus is saying he has not come to loosen down what could have been done under the law as it was given from Sinai to Israel through Moses. Jesus is saying he has not come to loosen down what has been prophesied by the prophets.
If Jesus is saying he has not come to loosen down, then that means conversely he has come to tighten up, or in other words, to enforce. Even the least commandment of the law. Even the smallest detail of prophecy. More subtly, he is implying he already has the authority to do so, and he is saying this very early in his ministry.
The thought that Jesus already has the authority to, and has come to fully execute what could be done under the law and what is prophesied in the prophets, is lost in the translation "Think not that I am come to destroy..." The translation "think" is an obfuscation that, by itself, changes the original meaning of the sentence, and it is only the first.
The next two words ουκ [ook] ηλθον [el'-thon] are translated "I am not come." The word ουκ is an absolute negative adverb which modifies the verb. This is a hard "NO!"
This is the second useage of ηλθον. It is translated "I am come" wrapped around the hard "NO" of the modifying adverb ουκ to say "I am NOT come..." Since ηλθον is used in the same manner as it previously occurred, and its' tense is aorist (occurence in the past), then a more accurate rendering is "I have NOT come."
καταλυσαι [kat-al-oo'-sahee] is used a second time in this sentence. It is again translated "destroy," when the actual meaning of the word is to "loosen down." This second useage is to emphatically reinforce the previous useage. It has the same morphology of the previous useage and therfore a more accurate past tense rendering of "to have loosened down."
αλλα [al-lah'] is translated "but." It is the neuter plural of the adjective αλλος. In this case αλλα is used adverbially as the conjuction "but" to contrast the two surrounding verbs.
πληρωσαι [play-ro'-say] is translated "fulfill." It is a verb which comes fom the word 4134 πληρης [play'-race] meaning "full" as a completed action. But πληρωσαι is the action "to fill up," or the process of filling.
The morphology of πληρωσαι is:
Let's put together the modified translations of each word.
Now putting the modified translation together you get:
But compare that to the translation:
On the first point: I originally thought that "what you could have done by law" was what the reader was, unknowingly, supposed to "think," thereby giving the translators the benefit of the doubt. However, as I got deeper into the sentence, I began to understand that "what you could have done by law," coupled with "loosened down" work together to imply that Jesus will, in due process of time, in fact be tightening up the enforcement of the law.
On the second point: The word "destroy" describes a harsh ending of what, in the Greek, is actually describing a diminishing of the enforcement of even the lesser laws of the Torah. Jesus himself alludes to this in the following verses (Matthew 5:20-21):
On the third point: The word "fulfilled" carries a sense of having been completed. Indeed a commom Christian understanding of this verse is that Jesus' work was completed on the cross, that the law of Moses is no longer in force. The meaning of the Greek word used has the sense of being in the process of filling up, of the work not yet having been completed, but still ongoing, yet, oddly, somehow in the past.
These three points of language entirely change the meaning of the verse from what the writer intended. While the translation says the reader is supposed to contemplate Jesus did not come to destroy the law, the common understanding is that, in the next breath, Jesus does away with the law of God, given through Moses at the foot of mount Sinai because, when he dies on the cross, he "fulfilled" the law. The original language warns the readers they cannot neglect the lesser commandments of the law because Jesus is there specifically to see that every statute of the law will be filled, that is Jesus will, in due process of time, enforce every statute of the law and fulfill every prophecy of the prophets.
μη νομισητε οτι ηλθον καταλυσαι τον νομον η τους προφητας ουκ ηλθον καταλυσαι αλλα πληρωσαι
[Click on each word to see its' analysis]
The English translation "think not" reverses the order of the first two Greek words "μη νομισητε" [meh nom-is'-say-teh]. A word-for-word translation would read "not think."
[Click on each word to see its' analysis]
μη [meh] is translated "not." It is a conditional negative adverb. An adverb modifies the action of a verb. A conditional negative means that rather than being an absolute "no" it modifies the associated verb as a "not."
νομισητε [nom-is'-say-teh] is translated "think," but it actually has a different meaning. Looking closely, it is an inflection of 3543 νομιζω [nom-id'-zō]. Inflections are words that have the same basic meaning, but are different in how they are used.
Both words νομιζω and νομισητε are derived from 3551 νομος [no'-mos] which is the Greek word for "law" in the general sense, meaning any kind of law.
So, where νομος means "law" generally, νομιζω is the related verb meaning "to do by law" and νομισητε is an inflection with a different morphology.
The morphology of a word is the perspective it is used from, so where νομιζω is used from a first person, singular, present perspective, or "what I can do by law," the morphology of νομισητε is:
- 2nd Person - An action carried out, not by the speaker but by those he is speaking to.
- Plural - An action done by more than one person
- Active - An action directed at others
- Subjunctive - A potential action - Not something that has happened, but how it could have happened.
- Aorist - An action done in the past
οτι [hot'-ee] is translated "that." It is a conjunction, a word which connects words, phrases or clauses. It is the neuter form inflection of 3748 οστις [hos'-tis]. A neuter form refers to the word portraying neither masculine nor feminine attributes.
The word οστις is a combination of two words: ος [hos] and τις [tis]. The first part ος means who, which, what or that. It is a relative pronoun. A pronoun is a word that is substituted for a noun to avoid repetition. A relative pronoun is used to begin a relative clause. A relative clause adds more information about the subject of the sentence.
The second part τις is an enclitic indefinite pronoun meaning some or any person or object. An enclitic is a word that has been chopped off and added to the word ahead of it, or the second part of a contraction. A good example is the southern contraction "that'n" meaning "that one." The clipped "one" is the enclitic. An indefinite pronoun refers to the subject without assigning any masculine or feminine traits.
So, οτι acts like a contraction of "that" and "thing." As a conjunction, it begins the next phrase of the sentence which will add information to the subject "not" "what you could have done by law."
ηλθον [el'-thon] is translated "I am come." It is a verb which generally means "to come or to go." It depends upon the context of the sentence to determine whether the meaning is "to come" or "to go." The context of this sentence seems to indicate Jesus, the speaker, is "coming closer" rather than "going away."
The specific morphology of ηλθον is:
- 1st Person - An action done by the person speaking
- Singular - The action done by that person alone
- Aorist - An action done in the past
- Active - An action carried out at other persons
- Indicative - An action that actually happened, as opposed to potentially could have happened.
καταλυσαι [kat-al-oo'-sahee] is translated "destroy." It is a verb, composed of two words κατα [kat-ah'] and λυω [loo'-ō]. The word κατα is a primary particle meaning "down." The word λυω is a primary verb meaning to "loosen." Together these words literally mean to "down loosen," but it's understanding is to "loosen down." An example of this is pulling on a tie to let down the knot and unbuttoning the top button of a shirt to loosen the pressure on the neck.
The specific morphology of καταλυσαι is:
- Aorist - An action done in the past
- Active - An action carried out at other persons
- Infinitive - An action affecting an indeterminate number of people
It is significant to note that the verbs in this sentence, which have been translated:
- think not
- I am come
- to destroy
- μη νομισητε - 'not' 'what you could have done by law'
- ηλθον - 'I have come'
- καταλυσαι - 'to have loosened down'
This language also seems to be a subtle reference to authority he already has to enforce the law in connection with God. Because only God himself can enforce his law, yet Jesus is saying he has not come to loosen what could have been done by law. This subtly places Jesus in the law enforcement role of God himself.
Here is where there is a change in the direction of action in the sentence. Until now the case has been nominative, the "'Not' 'what you could have done in the past by the law' 'that thing' 'I have come' 'to have loosened down'" perform the action. The next clause receives the action.
The next two words τον [ton] νομον [nom'-on] work together to describe something specific. The word τον is the definite article, "the." In Greek, placing a definite article before the object point to a specific "one" - a specific person, place, thing or action, whether in an individual or collective sense. It points to νομον, which is translated "law," meaning law in a general sense. In Greek, the morphologies of two words have to match in order for them to work together.
The specific morphology of of both τον and νομον are:
- Accusative - The object receiving the action
- Singular - They are acting as a single object
- Masculine - They are masculine in traits
η [ay] is translated "or." It is a primary particle of distinction between two connected terms. That means it both connects the preceding and following objects and yet distinguishes between them.
The specific morphology of η is:
- Conjunction - Connecting words, phrases or clauses
- Disjunctive - Indicating a separation or alternative
The two words τους [toos] προφητας [prof-ay'-tas] work together to specify a specific set of people. The word τους is an inflection of ο [ho] the definite article "the," in this case pointing to the προφητας translated "prophets"
The word προφητας is a compound of 4253 προ [pro], a primary preposition meaning "fore", i.e. "in front of" and 5346 φημι [fay-mee'] meaning to show or make known one's thoughts.
The morphologies of both τους and προφητας are:
- Accusative - The object receiving the action
- Plural - An action done by more than one person
- Masculine - They are masculine in traits
According to the grammar of the sentence, "the law or the prophets" are accusative, the receivers of the action Jesus is performing. Since the object:
"the law or the prophets"
and the nominative, the subject which is is acting upon it is:
"'not' 'what you could have done in the past by the law'"
and Jesus says his actions were:
"'that thing' 'I have come' 'to have loosened down'"
then there is an odd word in the sentence; οτι, the contraction of "that thing." It follows νομισητε - "what you could have done in the past by the law," and according to the grammar, is acting upon it. The next two sentences Jesus says provide context for what "that thing" is.
(Matthew 5:20-21):
20 For verily I say unto you, heaven and earth must pass away, but one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, until all be fulfilled.
21 Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so to do, he shall in no wise be saved in the kingdom of heaven;...
So, according to the context given in these sentences, "that thing" refers to the jots and tittles and the least commandments of the law, given in the "the law" or the prophecy of "the prophets" which Jesus says are "'not' 'what you could have done in the past by the law' 'I have come' 'to have loosened down'."
21 Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so to do, he shall in no wise be saved in the kingdom of heaven;...
Sit with that for a moment. Given this context, Jesus is saying he has not come to loosen down what could have been done under the law as it was given from Sinai to Israel through Moses. Jesus is saying he has not come to loosen down what has been prophesied by the prophets.
If Jesus is saying he has not come to loosen down, then that means conversely he has come to tighten up, or in other words, to enforce. Even the least commandment of the law. Even the smallest detail of prophecy. More subtly, he is implying he already has the authority to do so, and he is saying this very early in his ministry.
The thought that Jesus already has the authority to, and has come to fully execute what could be done under the law and what is prophesied in the prophets, is lost in the translation "Think not that I am come to destroy..." The translation "think" is an obfuscation that, by itself, changes the original meaning of the sentence, and it is only the first.
The next two words ουκ [ook] ηλθον [el'-thon] are translated "I am not come." The word ουκ is an absolute negative adverb which modifies the verb. This is a hard "NO!"
This is the second useage of ηλθον. It is translated "I am come" wrapped around the hard "NO" of the modifying adverb ουκ to say "I am NOT come..." Since ηλθον is used in the same manner as it previously occurred, and its' tense is aorist (occurence in the past), then a more accurate rendering is "I have NOT come."
καταλυσαι [kat-al-oo'-sahee] is used a second time in this sentence. It is again translated "destroy," when the actual meaning of the word is to "loosen down." This second useage is to emphatically reinforce the previous useage. It has the same morphology of the previous useage and therfore a more accurate past tense rendering of "to have loosened down."
αλλα [al-lah'] is translated "but." It is the neuter plural of the adjective αλλος. In this case αλλα is used adverbially as the conjuction "but" to contrast the two surrounding verbs.
πληρωσαι [play-ro'-say] is translated "fulfill." It is a verb which comes fom the word 4134 πληρης [play'-race] meaning "full" as a completed action. But πληρωσαι is the action "to fill up," or the process of filling.
The morphology of πληρωσαι is:
- Aorist - An action done in the past
- Active - An action carried out at other persons
- Infinitive - An action affecting an indeterminate number of people
Let's put together the modified translations of each word.
- μη [meh] - Not
- νομισητε [nom-is'-say-teh] - what you could have done by law
- οτι [hot'-ee] - that (thing)
- ηλθον [el'-thon] - I have come
- καταλυσαι [kat-al-oo'-sahee] - to have loosened down
- (Here the action shifts from the subject performing to the object receiving)
- τον [ton] - the
- νομον [nom'-on] - law
- η [ay] - or
- τους [toos] - the
- προφητας [prof-ay'-tas] - prophets
- (Here the original statement ends and a re-emphasis begins)
- ουκ [ook] - NO!
- ηλθον [el'-thon] - I have (NOT) come
- καταλυσαι [kat-al-oo'-sahee] - to have loosened down
- αλλα [al-lah'] - but
- πληρωσαι [play-ro'-say] - to have filled (still in process)
Now putting the modified translation together you get:
Not what you could have done by law, that (thing) I have come to have loosened down, the law or the prophets; NO! I have NOT come to have loosened down but to have filled.
Yeah, the English is a bit awkward, so rearranging the English to be more readable would be something like:
I have not come to loosen down that thing which you could have done by the law or the prophets, I have absolutely not come to have loosened, but to have filled up.
and even that doesn't convey the full meaning.
But compare that to the translation:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
And you see that there is ALOT lost in the translation of this verse. While much of the verse is unchanged there are several important differences in the English translation from the original meaning
- "Think not that" vs. "Not what you could have done by law (that (thing)).
- "Destroy" vs."loosened down"
- "Fulfilled (In the sense of having been filled)" vs "Have filled (In the sense of the the process of filling, yet somehow in the past)
On the first point: I originally thought that "what you could have done by law" was what the reader was, unknowingly, supposed to "think," thereby giving the translators the benefit of the doubt. However, as I got deeper into the sentence, I began to understand that "what you could have done by law," coupled with "loosened down" work together to imply that Jesus will, in due process of time, in fact be tightening up the enforcement of the law.
On the second point: The word "destroy" describes a harsh ending of what, in the Greek, is actually describing a diminishing of the enforcement of even the lesser laws of the Torah. Jesus himself alludes to this in the following verses (Matthew 5:20-21):
20 For verily I say unto you, heaven and earth must pass away, but one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, until all be fulfilled.
21 Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so to do, he shall in no wise be saved in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach these commandments of the law until it be fulfilled, the same shall be called great, and shall be saved in the kingdom of heaven.
In these verses Jesus speaks of not even the least part of the law passing before it is all fulfilled. He contrasts the breaking of the least commandments. Those who keep them and teach others to do so will be saved into the kingdom. Those who break them and teach others to do so, will not be saved into the kingdom.
21 Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so to do, he shall in no wise be saved in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach these commandments of the law until it be fulfilled, the same shall be called great, and shall be saved in the kingdom of heaven.
On the third point: The word "fulfilled" carries a sense of having been completed. Indeed a commom Christian understanding of this verse is that Jesus' work was completed on the cross, that the law of Moses is no longer in force. The meaning of the Greek word used has the sense of being in the process of filling up, of the work not yet having been completed, but still ongoing, yet, oddly, somehow in the past.
These three points of language entirely change the meaning of the verse from what the writer intended. While the translation says the reader is supposed to contemplate Jesus did not come to destroy the law, the common understanding is that, in the next breath, Jesus does away with the law of God, given through Moses at the foot of mount Sinai because, when he dies on the cross, he "fulfilled" the law. The original language warns the readers they cannot neglect the lesser commandments of the law because Jesus is there specifically to see that every statute of the law will be filled, that is Jesus will, in due process of time, enforce every statute of the law and fulfill every prophecy of the prophets.
