Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families
New Testament Lesson #4
John 1
A couple of questions were raised today about our Come Follow Me, that I’d like to address as best I can. The first was actually posed before Church and had to do with what the inn was referred to in Luke 2:7 (JST has inns). Here is S. Kent Brown, now retired BYU Professor of Ancient Scripture.
The term translated “inn” (Luke 2:7) is the same as that translated “guestchamber” in Luke 22:11 (Greek
katalyma). Luke’s narrative mentions “the inn;” the Joseph Smith Translation changes the expression to the plural, “the inns” (JST Luke 2:7). The Greek term carries several possible meanings. In the meaning that Christian tradition has preserved, the inn is a caravanserai, that is, a place of lodging that rents stalls to guests who might be traveling with animals, as well as renting private rooms on the second floor to those who can afford them. Another meaning is “guest room,” usually an extra room within a well-to-do home such as the one where Jesus spends the last supper with his apostles (see Luke 22:11). Because Joseph’s family roots are in Bethlehem, such a room would be in the home of a relative. But when Joseph and Mary arrive, other guests already occupy the room. A further addition to the Joseph Smith Translation can support either view: “there was no room for them” becomes “there was none to give room for them” (JST Luke 2:7).
Bruce R. McConkie adds: “In the area of Bethlehem, sometimes the whole
kahn[inn: place for strangers] . . . was located within a large cave.”
In the footnote, he informs us that the Greek word used here (
katalyma)is the same as used for the upper room/guest chamber of the Last Supper in Mark 14:14.
The second point raised during class was a request for an explanation of the inclusion of Jeremiah’s prophecy in Matthew 2:17–18 (see Jeremiah 31:15). Here is what Andrew Skinner and Kelly Ogden (both BYU Professors of Ancient Scripture) have to say: Quoting Edward Robinson at first:
“In the original passage of Jeremiah, Rachel, the ancestress of the tribe of Benjamin, is poetically introduced as bewailing the departure of her descendants into exile, from Ramah of Benjamin, their place of rendezvous” (
Biblical Researches, 4:273.” Matthew, who made constant reference to former-day prophecies that he saw fulfilled in the life and labors of Jesus, extracted this poetic picture of Jeremiah and accommodated the sense of it to a new event or circumstance. . . . This is an acceptable and typical Semitic literary device. And it is a proper approach to scripture interpretation to this day. Elder Dallin H. Oaks noted that “a scripture is not limited to what it meant when it was written but may also include what that scripture means to a reader today” (
Ensign, January 2995, 8).
Moving on to John 1.
The JST of John 1:1 is, as always, inspired clarification:
In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God.
And if you look at it in terms of Genesis 1:1 and not a New Testament context, especially in a temple sense, it is eye-opening. It confirms Christ and Elohim as Creators of this earth and many other worlds. It confirms that the Gospel is eternal and given to Adam and to his posterity.
Although I can’t discuss it here, there is special meaning in light. Especially in regard to the creation. I can’t put my finger on it, but I know that Nibley talked about Adam and Eve being clothed with light/glory in the Garden of Eden. And when the earth was being created, the light that was there before the sun, moon, and stars shone, was the Light Himself: Christ.
At any rate, it all bears thinking about, and I hope I have given you some food for thought for this coming week.
