A camel going through the eye of a needle?? Did God really say that?
“Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:25-27
Jesus used this hyperbole(1) to teach us:
1. Wealth is not a sign of righteousness. This refutes the teaching of every prosperity teacher who claims God wants us rich (Philippians 4:11; James 2:5).
2. Wealth is a popular and deadly false god (Matthew 6:24).
3. It’s impossible to get a camel through the eye of a needle, and it’s impossible for a man to save himself (Romans 8:3).
Thank you, Jesus, that you can do what is impossible for us!
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(1) A hyperbole is a statement not meant to be taken literally, but to make a point. Some people have theorized that Jesus was really talking about a camel going through a small city gate, but most Bible scholars refute this suggestion. See 4 Guidelines for Recognizing Figurative Language in Scripture
I like stopping by here. I always learn something, like hyperbole!
ReplyDeleteIn the original Greek it translates: "It is easier for a CAMEL HAIR THREAD" to pass through the eye of a needle...."
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where you found this information, Peggy, but in studying the original Greek and various commentaries, none of them even suggest this possibility.
DeletePutting a camel thread through a needle doesn't sound very hard. From my limited research about camel hair, it sounds like a soft, wool-like hair, something which would easily thread through a needle which would mean Christ was saying it was easy for a rich man to be saved. But the context is the story of the rich young ruler who couldn't give up his riches in order to follow Christ.
But the bottom line is what does the Greek say, and I've looked up each word in this phrase and they are as the English versions translate - camel, not camel hair.
kamélos: camel
Original Word: κάμηλος, ου, ὁ, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: kamélos
Phonetic Spelling: (kam'-ay-los)
Short Definition: a camel
Definition: a camel or dromedary.
Nothing in the Greek even hints at a thread.
I'm afraid someone has mislead you.
I like the idea that it is a gate that the camel is going through. A needle gate it very short to let that city's people get into the city after the main gate was closed for the night. Only one person could come through at a time to protect the city from a major attack by outsiders. For a camel to be brought though the needle gate, it had to be unloaded of all their owners worldly possesions, as we will not be able to take anything worldly with us to heaven. Also the gate was so short that camels had to crawl through, not an easy task.
ReplyDelete