Christ Is Risen!
🌞
Since in the works published at the following links:
https://churchandsociety.org.ua/pdf/projects/zbirnyk.pdf
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/17082024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/27112024.html
it is written that the use of prepositions is important for the correct understanding of important and actual issues, in particular the issue of power, I am writing commentaries on the use of these prepositions. As a piece of advice on how to read the text, you can read the verse in translation and/or in the original (if you have the opportunity), and then the commentary on prepositions here. Next, you need to understand which part of the verse the commentary refers to, and consider what it affirms — or less often, denies — that is essential to understanding. This thoughtful reading helps to deepen understanding and protects against the mistakes mentioned above.
Liturgy:
For more on the reading, please refer to the following links:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/16012025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/13052023.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/01062024.html
These verses are missing from some manuscripts of the Gospel.
John VIII, 31 — ‘εαν υμεις μεινητε εν τω λογω τω εμω αληθως μαθηται μου εστε’ - ‘hean hymeis meinete en to logo to emo alethos mathetai mou este’ - ‘if you remain in My word, you are truly My disciples’. That is, if we live according to the teachings of Christ.
John VIII, 35 — ‘εν τη οικια’ - ‘en te oikia’ - ‘in the house’. Where. ‘εις τον αιωνα’ - ‘eis ton aiona’ - ‘for ever’. A common expression.
John VIII, 37 — ‘οτι ο λογος ο εμος ου χωρει εν υμιν’ - ‘hoti ho logos ho emos ou khorei en hymin’ - ‘for My word is not accepted in you’. Where.
John VIII, 38 — ‘α εγω εωρακα παρα τω πατρι λαλω’ - ‘ha ego eoraka para to patri lalo’ - ‘what I have seen (and now remember, know, see) in the vicinity of the Father, I say'. The preposition ‘para’ is here with the dative case and indicates that this refers to the closeness of Jesus Christ to the Father in human nature, so that He speaks God's Revelation even when He speaks as a human being. ‘υμεις ουν α ηκουσατε παρα του πατρος ποιειτε’ - ‘hymeis oun ha ekousate para tou patros poieite’ - ‘you then do what you have heard from beside the father of yours’. This refers to the devil as a father (see further John VIII, 44, as well as an important explanation at:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/01062024.html
and here below). The preposition ‘para’ here is with the genitive case. This construction is used in reference to the Holy Spirit's proceeding from the Father, also in reference to the human nature of Jesus Christ. See more here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/16052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/14052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/13052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/09052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/05052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/02052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/25042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/23042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/20042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/18042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/14042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/11042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/09042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/03042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/27032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/25032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/21032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/18032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/17032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/14032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/08032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/31072024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/06082024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/24102024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/03112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/05112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/06112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/10112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/28112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/30112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/04122024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/13122024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/24122024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/27122024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/19022025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/21022025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/04032025.html
It is not easy to see the reason for the use of this particular construction here, since it refers to the devil's promptings and teaching. But it is clear that the devil is hiding himself here; people ‘hear’ his impulses, but do not see him. The opposition to Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit is also evident. The preposition ‘apo’, which could have been used, is not used because the devil does not try to detach his impulses from himself when he urges others to contra-natural evil; on the contrary, he seeks to establish and strengthen a connection with those who listen to him. We also need to remember that the devil is an angel by nature, a spirit, and as an angel, he can communicate spiritually, tempting and teaching evil. In general, we can see that Christ, as the God-Human, whose human nature is filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, came to destroy the works of the devil, and thus it is through Christ, through His unity with the Father and the Spirit, through the Holy Spirit and the Father, that the faithful are freed and overcome the evil one, including his temptations and teaching to evil. To emphasise this truth, such a construction is used here.
John VIII, 40 — ‘παρα του θεου’ - ‘para tou theou’ - ‘from beside God’. Jesus speaks here as a human being, by His human nature. Before that, He had motivated the Jews and all the people listening and reading with words of truth and freedom, and here He speaks as a man, but a man from God, close to God, righteous (as Abraham himself was like Him to a great but imperfect extent). Therefore, we can think that His words and the specific phrase here mean that He heard them in prayer to the Father in human nature. With these words of God, the Lord wants to motivate us all to seek the truth and God, Who gives us freedom. If we compare this with the words about the Spirit of truth, the Comforter, which have almost the same literal meaning, and are identical in meaning, then it is clear that Christ as a human being has the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and is truly the Anointed One of God in the fullest sense. See more about this in the article at the link at the end:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/PowerOfHuman.html
as well as the links:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/16052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/14052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/13052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/09052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/05052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/02052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/25042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/23042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/20042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/18042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/14042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/11042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/09042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/03042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/27032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/25032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/21032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/18032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/17032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/14032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/08032025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/31072024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/06082024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/24102024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/03112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/05112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/06112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/10112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/28112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/30112024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/04122024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/13122024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/24122024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/27122024.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/19022025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/21022025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/04032025.html
John VIII, 41 — ‘ημεις εκ πορνειας ουκ εγεννηθημεν’ - ‘emeis ek porneias ouk egennethemen’ - ‘we were not born (do not come from) fornication (adultery)’. Here another preposition is used that directly indicates the source of origin - ‘εκ’. The Son of God, the Second Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, is ‘’begotten of the Father‘’ - ‘εκ του πατρος’. The Jews do not distinguish between these two prepositions - in vain, they need to - but the Lord Jesus Christ does. Although He is the Creator of people, including these Jews, their deeds do not come from Him, they come from the devil. Evil has no source other than the devil in its own sense. God did not create evil, the father of evil is the devil. That is why we are talking about the works of people, not about them themselves, but people loved their works more than they loved God, so they rejected Christ. This is what the Lord warns us against here. Also, the Jews' use of a different preposition indicates their mistaken exaggeration of the role of sin in the origin of sinners - a person cannot in the proper Biblical sense be εκ πορνειας
because they have the image of God, even if they were conceived in fornication or even rape. A person comes as a creature from God the Creator, but their actions and thoughts and words can come from the devil. Christ, speaking further of the Jews' origin from the devil, refers to their deeds and plans, thoughts of the heart, and the like, see above.
John VIII, 42 — ‘εκ του θεου’ - ‘ek tou theou’ - ‘from God (the Father)’. The preposition ‘ek’ here indicates origin, and it is also used to describe the pre-eternal birth of the Son of God from the Father. ‘απ εμαυτου’ - ‘ap emautou’ - ‘from Myself'. The preposition ‘apo’ in its form before the following vowel indicates that it is something that can be seen as distinct from Christ, the Son of God, i.e. it refers to His actions in relation to creation, not to the Incarnation as such. See the following links for important explanations of this construction (especially the first and second):
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/30042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/18042025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/16052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/14052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/02052025.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/22022025.html
For more on the reading from the Gospel, please refer to the following links:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/13052023.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/01062024.html
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!