John Reece
March 28th 2003, 08:52 AM
The following has been copied and pasted from my web page, for Dee Dee:
Recovery from disillusionment after the Resurrection did not cure the disciples of their expectation that the Kingdom of God would be established on earth in the form of a temporal kingdom centered in national Israel with Jesus in a visible body ruling from headquarters located in Jerusalem - with his disciples in seats of honor on his right and on his left. (Matthew 20:20-21). They remembered the time when Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things (εν τη παλινγενεσια) when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matthew 19:28 NRSV).
No wonder they asked Jesus Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? They were in the time period of the most radical governmental transition in the history of the world (not referring to politics but to the government/Kingdom of God). Jesus, in union with the Father, was committed to helping the Jews make that transition without being stumbled and lost in the process. That necessarily meant maintaining the language and imagery of the prophetic symbolism of the Old Covenant/Testament scriptures, so as to impress upon the minds of the Jews (including the disciples) the fact of fulfillment and continuity. The disciples, understandably, had difficulty comprehending the scope and implications of the symbolic imagery, as do modern Christians 1900+ years later.
Perhaps we should take time here to do an exegesis of the Greek phrase in the paragraph above. The first word εν is a preposition translated as "at" or "in". The middle word τη is the definite article "the". The third word παλινγενεσια is a compound word consisting of two parts; the first part is παλιν, which in this case bears the sense of "again" or "anew"; the second part is γενεσια, which here carries the sense of "creation".
The word παλινγενεσια occurs in only one other verse in the Bible, Titus 3:5 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness we had done, but according to his mercy, through the washing of rebirth παλινγενεσια and renewal by the Holy Spirit (NRSV).
An incisive translation and comment on παλινγενεσια in Matthew 19:28 is provided by the renowned archaeologist and Professor of Semitic Languages William Foxwell Albright: "28. the new creation (Gr. παλινγενεσια ) ... The Syriac version substitutes for this word halmah chadthah, which is archaic in form and might have been used many centuries earlier. In view of the Matthean tradition this is what we would expect. It is more than likely that misunderstanding has arisen about this saying because some commentators have insisted on reading into it the presuppositions of a post-Hellenistic idealist philosophy, presuppositions having to do with the end of the temporal order, rather than seeing in this saying an assertion of the new creation, the new age, to be inaugurated by the exaltation of The Man [= Albright's term for the Son of Man in Daniel 7:9-14, which Matthew and Albright understand to have been fulfilled circa AD 30 - JR]" The Anchor Bible: Matthew, page 234.
It is through the washing of rebirth παλινγενεσια and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) that Christians enter into the cosmic renewal παλινγενεσια (Matthew 19:28 NRSV) in Christ.
According to Jesus, the time of the fulfillment of Matthew 19:28 is when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory.
Jesus began his prayer to the Father in John 17 with these words, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now (νυν = definite reference to present time), Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. (John 17:1b-5 NRSV).
Jesus said to the chief priests and scribes from now (νυν) on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. (Luke 22:69 NRSV). Jesus has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 NRSV).
According to Paul, God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ...and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6 NRSV). That is Paul's depiction of the same reality described by Jesus in terms of the Old Testament prophetic symbolism of the language used in Matthew 19:28: Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things παλινγενεσια, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Recovery from disillusionment after the Resurrection did not cure the disciples of their expectation that the Kingdom of God would be established on earth in the form of a temporal kingdom centered in national Israel with Jesus in a visible body ruling from headquarters located in Jerusalem - with his disciples in seats of honor on his right and on his left. (Matthew 20:20-21). They remembered the time when Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things (εν τη παλινγενεσια) when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matthew 19:28 NRSV).
No wonder they asked Jesus Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? They were in the time period of the most radical governmental transition in the history of the world (not referring to politics but to the government/Kingdom of God). Jesus, in union with the Father, was committed to helping the Jews make that transition without being stumbled and lost in the process. That necessarily meant maintaining the language and imagery of the prophetic symbolism of the Old Covenant/Testament scriptures, so as to impress upon the minds of the Jews (including the disciples) the fact of fulfillment and continuity. The disciples, understandably, had difficulty comprehending the scope and implications of the symbolic imagery, as do modern Christians 1900+ years later.
Perhaps we should take time here to do an exegesis of the Greek phrase in the paragraph above. The first word εν is a preposition translated as "at" or "in". The middle word τη is the definite article "the". The third word παλινγενεσια is a compound word consisting of two parts; the first part is παλιν, which in this case bears the sense of "again" or "anew"; the second part is γενεσια, which here carries the sense of "creation".
The word παλινγενεσια occurs in only one other verse in the Bible, Titus 3:5 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness we had done, but according to his mercy, through the washing of rebirth παλινγενεσια and renewal by the Holy Spirit (NRSV).
An incisive translation and comment on παλινγενεσια in Matthew 19:28 is provided by the renowned archaeologist and Professor of Semitic Languages William Foxwell Albright: "28. the new creation (Gr. παλινγενεσια ) ... The Syriac version substitutes for this word halmah chadthah, which is archaic in form and might have been used many centuries earlier. In view of the Matthean tradition this is what we would expect. It is more than likely that misunderstanding has arisen about this saying because some commentators have insisted on reading into it the presuppositions of a post-Hellenistic idealist philosophy, presuppositions having to do with the end of the temporal order, rather than seeing in this saying an assertion of the new creation, the new age, to be inaugurated by the exaltation of The Man [= Albright's term for the Son of Man in Daniel 7:9-14, which Matthew and Albright understand to have been fulfilled circa AD 30 - JR]" The Anchor Bible: Matthew, page 234.
It is through the washing of rebirth παλινγενεσια and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) that Christians enter into the cosmic renewal παλινγενεσια (Matthew 19:28 NRSV) in Christ.
According to Jesus, the time of the fulfillment of Matthew 19:28 is when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory.
Jesus began his prayer to the Father in John 17 with these words, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now (νυν = definite reference to present time), Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. (John 17:1b-5 NRSV).
Jesus said to the chief priests and scribes from now (νυν) on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. (Luke 22:69 NRSV). Jesus has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 NRSV).
According to Paul, God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ...and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6 NRSV). That is Paul's depiction of the same reality described by Jesus in terms of the Old Testament prophetic symbolism of the language used in Matthew 19:28: Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things παλινγενεσια, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.