Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary
The Gospel in John
"14 And just as Moses doth lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so it is being necessary for the Son of man to be lifted up, 15 so that everyone faithfully committing to Him should not perish unless he may be holding fast life eternal. " (DLT: torahtimes.org, John 3:14-15).
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Πιστευω "2. to entrust oneself to an entity in complete confidence, believe (in), trust, w. implication of total commitment to the one who is trusted ...(οι) πιστευσαντες (those) who made their commitment " (BDAG, 3rd, 817). (cf. Liddell & Scott, πιστ-ευω, "committed to one", pg. 1408). This is all the more so tied to Gen. 15:6, האמח ב־= make firm with, confirm with, be in support of. The Greek and Hebrew words include "firming" a promise, but are by no means limited to the idea of believe. The biblical requirement to repentance refutes the "believe only" interpretation (cf. Gal. 5:16-25). In Judeo-Greek idea is "so that everyone firming to Him". The prepositional construction with the personal object, ινα πας ο πιστευων εις αυτον, gives not only the sense of affirming a promise [which is not the object in this text], but of direct fealty to Messiah, i.e. loyal commitment.
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"unless" (αλλ=אלא) = ει μη (cf. B-D-F, §448) is an Aramaic idiom that crept into Judeo-Greek. Yeshua is not saying that the faithful will not die, but only that they will not die unless they receive the promise of eternal life at the resurrection.
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"Holding fast" is the proper force of the subjunctive verb εχη, (cf. BDAG, 3rd. ed. page. 420, "3. to take a hold on someth., have, hold (to), grip "). This sense is confirmed by Paul in 1Tim. 6:12, "take hold of eternal life", επιλαβου της αιωνιου ζωης, in his instructions to Timothy. Eternal life is something we seek (cf. Rom. 2:7), and is not generally received until the resurrection or the last trumpet.
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(DLC: torahtimes.org, John 3:14-15).
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Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary: (http://www.torahtimes.org/translation/joh0315.html)
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