St Mark 9: 38-50
Warnings to those who obstruct faith
9:38John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.”
9:39But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.
9:40Whoever is not against us is for us.
9:41For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
9:42″If any of you cause one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.
9:43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.
9:45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.
9:47And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,
9:48where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.
9:49 For everyone will be salted with fire.
9:50 Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
[38]᾿Απεκρίθη αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιωάννης λέγων· διδάσκαλε, εἴδομέν τινα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου ἐκβάλλοντα δαιμόνια, ὃς οὐκ ἀκολουθεῖ ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐκωλύσαμεν αὐτόν, ὅτι οὐκ ἀκολουθεῖ ἡμῖν.
[39]ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπε· μὴ κωλύετε αὐτόν· οὐδεὶς γάρ ἐστιν ὃς ποιήσει δύναμιν ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου καὶ δυνήσεται ταχὺ κακολογῆσαί με.
[40]ὃς γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι καθ᾿ ὑμῶν, ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐστιν.
[41]ὃς γὰρ ἂν ποτίσῃ ὑμᾶς ποτήριον ὕδατος ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ὅτι Χριστοῦ ἐστε, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐ μὴ ἀπολέσῃ τὸν μισθὸν αὐτοῦ.
[42]Καὶ ὃς ἂν σκανδαλίσῃ ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν τούτων τῶν πιστευόντων εἰς ἐμέ, καλόν ἐστιν αὐτῷ μᾶλλον εἰ περίκειται λίθος μυλικὸς περὶ τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ καὶ βέβληται εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν.
[43]καὶ ἐὰν σκανδαλίζῃ σε ἡ χείρ σου, ἀπόκοψον αὐτήν· καλὸν σοί ἐστι κυλλὸν εἰς τὴν ζωὴν εἰσελθεῖν, ἢ τὰς δύο χεῖρας ἔχοντα ἀπελθεῖν εἰς τὴν γέενναν, εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ ἄσβεστον,
[44]ὅπου ὁ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτᾷ καὶ τὸ πῦρ οὐ σβέννυται.
[45]καὶ ἐὰν ὁ πούς σου σκανδαλίζῃ σε, ἀπόκοψον αὐτόν· καλὸν σοί ἐστιν εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν ζωὴν χωλόν, ἢ τοὺς δύο πόδας ἔχοντα βληθῆναι εἰς τὴν γέενναν, εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ ἄσβεστον,
[46]ὅπου ὁ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτᾷ καὶ τὸ πῦρ οὐ σβέννυται.
[47]καὶ ἐὰν ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου σκανδαλίζῃ σε, ἔκβαλε αὐτόν· καλὸν σοί ἐστι μονόφθαλμον εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἢ τοὺς δύο ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχοντα ἀπελθεῖν εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός,
[48]ὅπου ὁ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτᾷ καὶ τὸ πῦρ οὐ σβέννυται.
[49]πᾶς γὰρ πυρὶ ἁλισθήσεται, καὶ πᾶσα θυσία ἁλὶ ἁλισθήσεται.
[50]καλὸν τὸ ἅλας· ἐὰν δὲ τὸ ἅλας ἄναλον γένηται, ἐν τίνι αὐτὸ ἀρτύσετε; ἔχετε ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἅλας καὶ εἰρηνεύετε ἐν ἀλλήλοις.
Comments
The worms and salt and fire are harsh and (to exploit the culinary imagery at the end of the lection) unsavoury. No wonder St John Chrysostom, commenting on these details, declared, ‘Yes, I know a chill comes over you on hearing these things. But what I am to do?’ (Homilies on I Cor. 9:1).
[39] δύναμιν: δύναμις, ‘power’; here, ‘miracle’ (EDNT s.v., 6). This NT meaning is perhaps foreshadowed in instances in LXX in which the term means ‘powerful performance’ (on the battlefield) (Muraoka s.v., 1b).
[42] σκανδαλίσῃ: σκανδαλίζω, act., fig., ‘cause someone to fall away from (or reject) the faith’, a NT meaning (EDNT s.v., 3). σκάνδαλον, the noun, is a ‘trap or snare for an enemy or animal’ (cf. LSJ sv.). The vb will be repeated another three times (vv. 43, 45, 47).
καλόν…μᾶλλον: lit., ‘good …more’, ‘better’, a periphrastic (koine?) comparative of καλόν (= κάλλιον). In vv. 43, 45, and 47, μᾶλλον is understood.
[43] ἀπόκοψον αὐτήν: ἀποκόπτω, a cmpd, ‘cut off’ (already in Homer), connotes violence (cf. ‘Off with his head!’). Cf. Mt 5: 30, ἔκκοψον αὐτὴν, ‘cut it off’, ἐκκόπτω, a synonym, ‘hew away, prune away, cut away’. ‘The metaphor in ἐκκόπτειν may be from surgery…or from pruning or cutting trees; it is common in [ancient Greek] philosophical texts of the “extirpation of vices and passions”’; see R. Hunter & D. Russell, eds, Plutarch, How to study poetry, Cambridge, 2011, p. 120 ad 21c.
[44] τελευτᾷ: freq. abs., ‘die’ (cl. prose & poetry); repeated another two times (46 & 48).
[47] ἔκβαλε: 2nd pers., sg., aor. imper., ἐκβάλλω, ‘gouge out’ (cf. LSJ s.v., III).
[49] πυρὶ ἁλισθήσεται: ἁλίζομαι, pass., ‘to be salted’ (cf. ἅλας, ‘salt’), Aristotle HA 570 a1, etc.; also LXX, Le 2,13 (a cultic offering of meat must be salted); Ez 16.4 (a new-born baby is washed, salted, and swaddled). Here, though coupled with literal fire, ‘will be salted/ seasoned’, should perhaps be taken figuratively, i.e. ‘will be tempered in fire’. The sentence immediately following in v.49 (which is omitted from the Engl. version), καὶ πᾶσα θυσία ἁλὶ ἁλισθήσεται, suggests a comparison, ‘and [=just as] every sacrifice will be salted’.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 