Discovery BoxMatthew 5:17 
Context5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. 1
Matthew 8:20
Context8:20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky 2 have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 3
Matthew 10:34
Context10:34 “Do not think that I have come to bring 4 peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.
Matthew 13:11-12
Context13:11 He replied, 5 “You have been given 6 the opportunity to know 7 the secrets 8 of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not. 13:12 For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 9
Matthew 18:18
Context18:18 “I tell you the truth, 10 whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.
Matthew 25:27
Context25:27 Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, 11 and on my return I would have received my money back with interest! 12
1 tn Grk “not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Direct objects (“these things,” “them”) were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but have been supplied here to conform to contemporary English style.
2 tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).
3 sn Jesus’ reply is simply this: Does the man understand the rejection he will be facing? Jesus has no home in the world (the Son of Man has no place to lay his head).
4 tn Grk “cast.” For βάλλω (ballw) in the sense of causing a state or condition, see L&N 13.14.
5 tn Grk “And answering, he said to them.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
6 tn This is an example of a “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).
7 tn Grk “to you it has been given to know.” The dative pronoun occurs first, in emphatic position in the Greek text, although this position is awkward in contemporary English.
8 tn Grk “the mysteries.”
sn The key term secrets (μυστήριον, musthrion) can mean either (1) a new revelation or (2) a revealing interpretation of existing revelation as in Dan 2:17-23, 27-30. Jesus seems to be explaining how current events develop old promises, since the NT consistently links the events of Jesus’ ministry and message with old promises (Rom 1:1-4; Heb 1:1-2). The traditional translation of this word, “mystery,” is misleading to the modern English reader because it suggests a secret which people have tried to uncover but which they have failed to understand (L&N 28.77).
9 sn What he has will be taken from him. The meaning is that the one who accepts Jesus’ teaching concerning his person and the kingdom will receive a share in the kingdom now and even more in the future, but for the one who rejects Jesus’ words, the opportunity that that person presently possesses with respect to the kingdom will someday be taken away forever.
10 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
11 tn For the translation “deposited my money with the bankers,” see L&N 57.216.
12 sn That is, “If you really feared me you should have done a minimum to get what I asked for.”
