Here are 94 instances in which emphatic negations appear in the New Testament:
Matthew 5:18; 5:20; 5:26; 10:23; 10:42; 13:14; 15:6; 16:22;16:28; 18:3; 23:39; 24:2; 24:21; 24:34; 24:35; 25:9; 26:29; 26:35
Mk. 9:1; 9:41; 10:15; 13:2;13:19; 13:30; 13:31; 14:25; 14:31; 16:18
Lk. 1:15; 6:37; 8:17; 9:27; 10:19; 12:59; 13:35; 18:7;18:17; 21:18; 21:32; 21:33; 22:16; 22:18; 22:67; 22:68
Jn. 4:14; 4:48; 6:35; 6:37; 8:12; 8:51;8:52; 10:5; 10:28; 11:26; 11:56; 13:8; 13:38; 18:11; 20:25
Acts 13:41; 28:26
Rom. 4:8
1 Co. 8:13
Gal. 5:16
1 Thess. 4:15; 5:3
Heb. 8:11; 8:12; 10:17; 13:5
1 Pet. 2:6
2 Pet. 1:10
Rev. 2:11; 3:3; 3:5; 3:12; 9:6; 15:4; 18:7; 18:14; 18:21; 18:22; 18:23; 21:25; 21:27
Chris Langley says
July 11, 2012 at 12:04 pmWhy only NT? Also what did you want us to learn from this?
Chris L
Chris at BLB says
July 11, 2012 at 2:09 pmChris, here is the introduction post to our blog series on emphatic negations: http://blb.sc/0000Et
Karen Fryckman says
July 11, 2012 at 2:01 pmWhat I would like to see is more lists of this nature. I talk to many Jesus mythicists and they are always asking for scriptures to prove some point or another. Lists of this nature come in real handy. It is hard for them to argue when I have my ready to go lists of scriptures to use with them when I have to go into battle with any Jesus mythicists.
A list of scriptures for what the doctrine of the trinity is based on would be awesome. Also, a list of scriptures for what the Rapture, either pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib are based on also.
Barbara LeFevre says
July 11, 2012 at 3:03 pmKaren~
There is a really great scriptural source for the doctrine of the Trinity by Robert Bowman, Jr. on the BLB commentaries’ link.
Have a blessed day!
Barbara
Robin Quinn says
July 11, 2012 at 8:14 pmSince this is called the ‘comment’ area …
I have found this blog quit helpful ,
studies worth my time and effort, what I consider
college level, depending on the depth you dive into the study. These studies, especially the Greek,could be 301 to 401 seminar level …
Thank you for being ’emphatic’ …
I don’t know how long I’ll stay on this list,
but I’m sure an ‘in depth’ look could take
a while … and well worth the time …
Again, Thanks guys
Vanessa says
July 12, 2012 at 4:15 amKaren,
Try reading “The Doctrine of the Trinity, Christianity’s Self-inflicted Wound”, by Buzzard and Hunting.
You will see why you cannot get a list of verses for the Trinity as it is a doctrine added some time after the Bible was completed.
Barbara LeFevre says
July 12, 2012 at 10:21 amVanessa~
While God did give us teachers and pastors to teach and gifted others to write books as a means of learning, I think you will agree that the admonition to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God,” (II Tim. 2:15) is a personal command. I would like to know how you, personally, reconcile Deuteronomy 6:4 and John 1:1.
Your sister in Christ~
Barbara
Barbara LeFevre says
July 12, 2012 at 11:15 amVanessa~
I just want to add a quick thought to what I wrote. I think that the highlighted verse for II Timothy 2:15 from the ESV is not a good interpretation for two reasons. First, it puts forth the first line as “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,” and I know of nowhere in the entire Bible where “doing our best” is ever even a suggestion, let alone a command. As I understand God’s Word, we are called to absolute perfection with the caveat that this can only happen in submission to Christ. Secondly, the interpretation rendered as “Study to shew thyself approved unto God” that is in the KJV is much more in keeping with the context because it is a command of personally accountability which is, if we are to ever understand the Word as it is meant to be understood, then we are expected to “exert [ourselves], endeavour, give diligence” (Strong’s, G4704), which is, as I see it, the focus of the passage.
Barbara
roman b says
July 11, 2012 at 9:22 pmwhat is emphatic negation???
Subjunctive of Emphatic Negation
a) This is a way to strongly deny that something will happen. It is the strongest way to negate something in Greek.
b) It is formed by using a double negative (ou mh) with an aorist subjunctive verb (or possibly future indicative). While ou plus the indicative denies a certainty, ou mh plus the subjunctive denies even the potentiality.
c) It is translated “certainly not” or “never”, with the English future tense.
d) This use is found primarily in the reported sayings of Jesus and in quotes from the Septuagint. Outside of these two occurrences, it is used only rarely.
e) Examples:
i) Matthew 24:35
“but my words will not at all (certainly not) pass away.”
“oiJ de; lovgoi mou ouj mh; parevlqwsin.”
ii) Matthew 5:20
“unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of the heavens”.
“ejan mh; perisseuvsh/ uJmw’n hJ dikaiosuvnh plei’on tw’n grammatevwn kai; Farisaivwn, ouj mh; eijsevlqhte eij” th;n basileivan tw’n oujranw’n.”
iii) Hebrews 13:5
“I will not at all (certainly not) fail you, nor will I ever leave you.”
“Ouj mhv se ajnw’ oujd ouj mhv se ejgkatalivpw:”
Kenneth Jelladian says
July 11, 2012 at 10:26 pmBarbara,
I question the truth of the doctrine of the Trinity, as defined as follows:
“In respect of the doctrine of the Trinity,there is only one God in three persons. Each person is God, whole and entire. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial (Greek: ὁμοούσιοι).” Wikipedia.
With the acceptance of the above definition as reflecting the Trinity, I ask, “How can Yahushua (Jesus) be equal to the Father/How can the Trinitarian doctrine be true, in light of the following scriptural verses?:
“Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.” John 14:28 KJV.
In co-equality, one is not greater than the other.
In Revelations 3:12, Even after Yahushua’s (Hebrew name of Jesus) resurrection and ascension, He refers to “My God,” consistently; 4 times. If Yahushua was “wholly God,” this reference, in the possessive, other then Self sense, would not occur.
In John 17:21, quoted from the Aramaic English New Testament-Roth, we read, “That all of them may be One; as You, my Father, are in me, and I in You, that they also my be One in Us, so that the world might believe that You have sent Me.”
The word One, as spoken in the above context, refers to the Hebrew word, “echad,” meaning, “unity.” Yahushua is not speaking in the context of Himself as being the Father–He is speaking of Himself as being echad-One-in-Unity with The Father. The word “One” could only be spoken in this sense of oneness, as he also refers to we humans as being “one with Us.” ‘Us’ also denotes plurality–Two Beings,in Heaven, in Unity.
In Deuteronomy 6:4, we read “Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord.” Yahushua alway’s recognizes the One True Father, on the earth and in Heaven, as above, so below, always referring to The Father; never saying that He is The Father.
Yahushua, after His resurrection and ascension, sat at the right hand of the Father. This denotes two beings, in echad.
Speaking also in the sense of Yahushua being echad/unity with His Father, in contradistinction to Yahushua being The Father,
we read in John 14:20 – “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” How can Yahushua be “in” The Father if He is the Father, as the trinity would have us believe? Likewise, when we are in Him, that does not make us Him nor when Yahushua is in us does that make Him us.
If Yahushua/Jesus was “Father in the flesh,” why then, at Gethsemane, did Yahushua say, “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done?” If Yahushua was The Father, as the trinity supposes, there would only be one Will-we wouldn’t then see Yahushua needing to align His Will with His Father’s Will. Again, we experience the expression of echad/unity, which denotes two operating in unity, as One. In John 5:30, HalleluYah Scriptures, we read, “Of Myself I am able to do naught. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own desire, but the desire of the Father who sent me.”
Can one who is dependent upon the other, be the other?
Can one who seeks to subjugate His desire and His will to another, be the other. In the context of Yahushua speaking in John 5:30, He is speaking in terms of being one in echad/unity with His Father; He is not speaking of being The Father.
John 5:20 – For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that[He] himself doeth: and he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. If Yahushua/Jesus were “wholly God,” He wouldn’t have need of The Father showing Him even greater works, for He would already know these greater works.
John 14:28 – “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go unto the Father: for my father is greater than I.” If Yahushua-Jesus was The Father, “wholly God, co-equal,” He wouldn’t be speaking about being greater than Himself. Referring to The Father as greater also refutes co-equality status. He acknowledged One greater than He. Some argue that Yahushua only referred to The Father as being greater than Himself for the 33.5 years while He walked the earth, yet even when Jesus was ascended into the Heavenly sphere, He deferred to His Father as “My Elohim[Eloah]/God.” See above: Revelation 3:12.
In Ecclesiastes 12:1, we read, “Remember now, your Creators in the day’s of your youth…..” In Hebrew, scripture reads, “Et borecha. Literally: “your Creators.” A reference to the plurality of divinity. Also, the alef taf, or et (in the actual Hebrew) before “Creators” is a direct object pointer, indicating that the Creators are alef taf.” Footnote 2. “The first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and used to describe Father YHWH and YHWH Yahushua.” (Glossary). Restoration Scriptures True Name Study Bible. The trinitarian influenced King James bible refers only to the “Creator,” yet does leave in, in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness,” the Our denoting plurality.
“I am the true Vine and my father is the Husbundman .” John 15:1. KJV. “I am the Vine of Truth and my Father is the Cultivator.” Aramaic English New Testament-Andrew Gabriel Roth.
A Brother in Christ,
Kenneth Jelladian
Jacqueline Taylor says
July 12, 2012 at 7:34 amChris at BLB
T
Can you answer Kenneth Jelladian on the doctrine of the Trinity. Thanks.
Barbara LeFevre says
July 12, 2012 at 8:23 amKenneth~
Thank you for your response. I would like to provide an answer to each of the specific verses you cited; however, I won’t be able to post it until tomorrow, so I just want to make sure that you will come back because I don’t want to do it unless I know for sure you will read it. I do have a thought or two to consider in the meantime, though. As you know, God’s Word, cover to cover, is one indivisible whole (Matt. 4:4, II Tim. 3:16, Heb. 4:12), and as such, it demands two things. The first is that no Scripture can be at variance with any other Scripture, and the second is that all relevant verses must be considered when formulating doctrine. The key word when studying to prove or disprove any doctrine is “reconcile.” It is not enough that I can find a Scripture to support my viewpoint or that you can find one that supports yours because all we end up with, then, is a game of scriptural volleyball, not the eternal truth that God has given us. I’m sure you would agree with this point.
The truth is, the doctrine of the Trinity is very easily proven by a few verses and simple reasoning because if it can be demonstrated through even one verse that there is a Trinity, then it logically follows that, whatever any other verse says or doesn’t say, it cannot contradict that fact. I assume that you would also agree with this point. I do want to add another point here, though. While I believe that only one verse is, in theory, necessary to prove any doctrine, God, in His wisdom chose to reveal His Word to us in a such a way that we actually have to study all of it in order to glean its truths (II Tim. 2:15) and to internalize the depth and richness of His being, not only as the sovereign God of the universe but as the intimate and relational Father of our souls. In addition, having two or more verses in support of a doctrine prevents the manipulation of Scripture.
If you think about it for a minute, you will realize that most of the Bible is redundant. If its purpose was to solely put across a few specific truths, that could have been done is a couple of pages. God could have had one writer pen one verse that said, “God is a Trinity, a Triune entity, comprised of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,” but He didn’t. Instead, He fashioned His Word in a manner in which it is only those who truly want to seek Him out, His will, His truth, and His righteousness, according to Matthew 6:33, who will spend the time in earnest study, daily prayer, and periodic fasting who will not only find the exact truth being put forth but who will live in the precepts being given. In other words, as we humble ourselves and let the Word have its perfect way in us, we will allow it to wash over us and to cleanse us and to guide us into all truth though the Holy Spirit (Jn. 16:13). I don’t say this as some academic lesson that I picked out of a book but as something of which I have first-hand knowledge because I lived far too long in my walk without reaping God’s wisdom or blessings because I failed to do my part.
Going back, then, to what I wrote in my first two paragraphs, in order to find the exact truth of the Trinity, all the verses that you cited must be reconciled with all the verses that are cited in the outline “The Biblical Basis of the Doctrine of the Trinity” by Robert M. Bowman, Jr. on the BLB commentaries’ link. If either one of us excludes the other verses, then we are proof texting, a most deadly approach to Scripture that has not only paved the way for pseudo-Christian cults to grow in unprecedented numbers but has very much weakened the body of Christ. Also, you will notice that this is a very long list. Rather than address each and every point, choose the two or three that are the strongest proofs. I suggest this because some people with whom I have gotten into similar discussions try to disprove something by focusing on those verses that are somewhat vague while totally ignoring those verses that are explicit, and, obviously, this is no way to determine doctrine.
Here is just one example that illustrates the truth of the Trinity. We know from Deuteronomy 6:4, alone, that there is only one God although there are other verses (e.g. I Ch. 17:20, Is. 44:8) that also attest to this fact. On this, I assume that we agree. Now, if I can give just one verse that proves that Jesus Christ is also God and that the Holy Spirit is also God, then you have a problem. Either Christianity is polytheistic, which is a direct contradiction of the Deuteronomy verse, or else there really is a Trinity. You can’t have it both ways, so if you can give any other explanation, then I would like to hear it. Okay, is Jesus also God? As we read in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Unless one is a Jehovah’s Witness who erroneously interjects the article “a” before the word “God,” then there is no other plausible conclusion that can be reached other than Jesus is God, so now we have two Gods, the Father and the Son. Do you believe that there are two Gods, or is Scripture expressly telling us that there is more than one entity that is referred to as God? In addition to verses that clearly express the divinity of more than one entity, it can also be determined through reasoning. If I were to ask you whom the nation of Israel rebelled against in the OT, resulting in its being denied entrance into Canaan, would you say that it was God? We all know it very much was God and yet, we read in Hebrews 3:7-12 that it was the Holy Spirit whom Israel rebelled against, meaning that the Holy Spirit is, indeed, God. Again, if you have any other reasonable explanation, then I am open to hearing it, but from just these two examples alone, it is shown that both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God, so there are only two conclusions one can reach; there is one Triune God or three Gods. Which do you think is biblically reasonable?
Again, before I address the verses you cited, I would appreciate your letting me know that you are going to return, and I would also appreciate your opinion on the article. Thank you.
Your sister in Christ~
Barbara
Bob Demyanovich says
July 12, 2012 at 2:27 amRom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.
2Cr 8:11 Now therefore perform the doing [of it]; that as [there was] a readiness to will, so [there may be] a performance also out of that which ye have.
Phl 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.
Life is a becoming. Every birth gifts opportunity in the physically oriented child for a time, a lifetime. Maturing is merely evident in the physical process, expansive for the mental process but fulfilling creation in the spirit. Human being is the creation process.
Coming into being is not for this world. The cost to produce a being, the costs of awareness participate in the wonder obscured by our preoccupation. Each human is a creation prepared for everlasting life. This world is the creation factory. Every person is a creation of God enlivened with potential and loved of God.
Rev 1:18 I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
1Jo 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
Mar 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God. And Matt 19:17, Luke 18:19
Jhn 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
2Cr 5:18 And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
2Cr 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Adam and Eve departed from God, His Word, His purpose when they became aware of “me” and left the image of God. Creation is fulfilling the Word of God. All the rest is chaff. We are to be the image of God.
1Cr 12:6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
1Cr 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 5:47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others]? do not even the publicans so?
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Jacqueline Taylor says
July 12, 2012 at 7:32 amChris at BLB
Can you please answer Kenneth Jelladian on the doctrine of the Trinity.
Linda says
July 12, 2012 at 8:20 amHere is a website with scriptures. http://carm.org/trinity The doctrine of the Trinity comes from all of scripture.
Kenneth Jelladian says
July 12, 2012 at 9:13 amDear Barbara:
Yes, I will return. I read the whole of your letter/response to me. Thank you. I sense your Love of our Father. I will return again to contemplate on your additional response(s).
Your Brother in Christ,
Kenneth Jelladian
Barbara LeFevre says
July 12, 2012 at 10:26 amThanks, Kenneth! I will have my answer posted tomorrow.
Kenneth Jelladian says
July 12, 2012 at 11:15 pmBarbara:
Would you please post your blog reply in, “The Trinity: What Difference Does It Make” section?
I reposted my blog in that section as I deemed it more appropriate than being posted in the “Emphatic Negations” section.
Barbara LeFevre says
July 13, 2012 at 5:01 amSure!
Ethan says
July 12, 2012 at 9:17 amBeing the word made flesh, manifested was equal with God not being God but the word. He became a man but He did not consider himself equal with God. He was a man and now He is exalted by God. God brought Jesus to a higher position and Jesus is Lord over God’s house. Philippians 2:5-10 He is still man, Hebrews 2:17,18 says that He still knows How to sccour us when we are tempted and it teaches Him to be merciful and faithful.