CAN SEE BUT ARE BLIND

The Bible is the inspired Word of God: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). Therefore, since Jesus is the “Word” then if you doubt scripture, you doubt Jesus, and His testimony is believed to be unreliable.

However, none of the English Bibles are the Word of God but versions. The same goes for Bibles in any language with one, maybe two, exceptions. The New Testament Greek is the “Textus Receptus” or the “Received Word.” Jesus spoke the Greek, so the Greek is the Word of Jesus.

Many believe that pre-incarnate Jesus spoke the Hebrew language, or some ancient form of it. The Old Testament is mostly in Hebrew with a small part of it in Aramaic. I believe the Word in the old scripture spoke some form of archaic Hebrew, just as the Greek of Jesus’s time is not the Greek of modern times.

The English texts, all of them, are English versions of the Hebrew and the Greek. It is the ambiguity in language translations that often introduce doctrinal errors. For instance, “sosos,” in the Greek, means either “safe” or “saved” in the English (Strong 2006). Therefore, are Christians merely safe or they saved. The leading Bible, the King James Version, was translated and interpreted mostly by Calvinists. You expect them to translate sosos as “saved” because it fits their doctrine.

The New Testament Greek should be translated as the literal Word of God. When Jesus asked the multitudes — those of different nationalities, in Matthew 7:3, “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” did He expect them to understand that some had motes in one of their eyes and the other beams? Should that be taken literally? Note that is one eye, not “eyes.” The Greek needs to be examined unless this was a metaphor. That it could be, but is it? Metaphors are not to be taken literally!

A metaphor is making an easier to understand activity substitute for something harder to understand. What was Jesus really asking them? What was the point that He was making? The Greek should reveal that because even though some may have a mote in their eye, very few would have a beam in theirs. Jesus was indicating therein that the multitude had a beam in one eye. What material was the beam and which eye?

Let’s first begin with “beholdest” (blepo; Greek). The most fitting interpretation is to “discern” (ibid). Discerning is an activity of the mind. The subject at hand was what? Judging others. Jesus was not saying to not judge but qualifying judgment and who can judge.

Obviously, those whose vision was impeded by a beam could not judge objectively. If it was in one eye, their viewpoint would not be the whole view but with a “scotoma” — the beam.  

A scotoma is “a spot in the visual field in which vision is absent or deficient” (Merriam-Webster 2023). Why did Jesus use a metaphor? Who there would have understood a scotoma? Those with the metaphorical beam were not looking at themselves. The “beam” was their scotoma that hindered them seeing the truth about themselves.

In the Greek, “beam” is “dokos” — It literally means to “hold up” (Strong 2006). The multitude were not holding up a physical beam but a false idea.

That idea is discovered in the story of the harlot; Jesus implored, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7).

Jesus removed the beam from each of their own eyes, and the scotoma was eliminated. That is known, because they all walked off for none of them were without sin. The multitude there, accusing the woman, considered the Words of Jesus, and presto, the beam was removed from the eye of each. It was not the physical eye that had the beam blinding it but a scotoma preventing a true mental picture. The multitude saw her sins but neglected to consider their own!

Both you and I have that problem. Christians may even perceive themselves without sin and accuse others. That perception itself is sinful, to wit: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us” (1 John 1:10). Saying, or even thinking, that we are without sin is that “beam” that gets in the way of self-analyzation. Thinking that Christians are perfect, or even secure with a beam in their image of themselves, is making ourselves the God, and reduces Jesus to a liar.

How to remove the scotoma from our image? “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). What did the harlot woman do? Confessed her sin. She presented a full image of herself to Jesus, and Jesus forgave her sins.

As a young man, I thought that before I came to Jesus, I must first present myself without sin. I attempted to do the job of Jesus and failed time after time. Because sin is genetic, we cannot change who we are, but Jesus can and will! My “beam” was that I could make myself righteous, all the while God proved that I could not.

The problem with us Christians is that we present ourselves as something that we are not. We are saints, indeed, but “saint” does not mean saintly in the context of good, but “hagios” — from “hagos” an “awful thing.”  We must first rid ourselves of the idea that as Christians, we are good already. Goodness, or glorification, occurs when Christians die and can do no more sin. That is why only the dead saints were resurrected at the time of Jesus.

The “beam” in my own mental eye was that I must make myself righteous. That made me out to be God.

Now examine the English word, “eye.” That Greek word sounds familiar — “ophthalmos.” Of course, that does mean “eye” literally; its root noun is “optanomai” — “the middle voice” (ibid). Our one eye is that middle voice that represents who we think that we are. It is what we are in our “mind’s eye.” So, there is no beam in either of our eyes, but a blindness to who we really are. We are all sinners who are “sosos” by grace. For now, we are safe but at death, we are saved by grace because then we can no longer misrepresent ourselves.

Just when are Christians saved? Is it when the mind is persuaded that it is evil, when the body is resurrected, or when?

 “(The Lord Jesus) to deliver such an one (Christians) unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 5:5). The body perishes by the hand of Satan, but the Spirit, or Soul, is saved with the second coming of the Lord wherein He comes to save both the dead saints and the living Christians (1 Thes 4:16).

Your body will perish and remain destroyed. It is the living soul that shall be saved. The soul is the innermost existence in everyone, but the souls to be saved are those in Christ — with the Spirit of Jesus in them, having the Holy Ghost of Jesus directing their lives… only if we rid ourselves of the false perception that we are without sin.

Now consider the “mote.” Is it a splinter, chaff, or even a floater? In the Textus Receptus that mote is “karphos.” It comes from the root verb, “karpho,” meaning “to wither.” Because it withers, it is taken to mean dead chaff. However, withering is something that is temporary; something that will soon go away without your inspection nor circumcision.

You would have to saw off a beam and a false viewpoint; both would be hard work.  Ridding oneself of a blind-spot in our viewpoint is a terribly difficult thing to do. Have you ever tried changing your false perceptions? You have surely tried to change them in others to no avail. “Beams” are stubborn. They are used in construction because they are so sturdy and endurable.

Motes are not used in construction, but “beams” are used for false constructs of all sorts. Your viewpoint of yourself is indubitably a false construct. That you must love yourself first before coming to Jesus is a false construct. That you can be good and go to heaven is a false construct. That you are without sin is a false construct.

The “mote” was that the harlot had fornicated. She saw that as sinful, and that she had indeed sinned. Because Jesus removed the scotoma from her own view of herself, made the sin of harlotry wither. Jesus removed the mote from her eye, and because of grace, it was Him that also sawed the beams from the eyes of the multitude who had recognized the woman’s sin but not their own sins.

Jesus was the Carpenter. You need not remove the beam from your own mental picture; rely on Him to delicately remove that false foundation from your belief system.

For those who have the mote, what shall they do? Look to Jesus and that mote will wither. The harlot did only that, and then Jesus said, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). She would likely sin some more, but Jesus had changed her mindset. She would no longer be yoked to the sin of harlotry. He had withered the mote from her innermost image. She was no longer the “harlot,” but a sinful woman consoled by the Spirit of Jesus.

How about the mob that would stone her? Jesus revealed to them that their viewpoint of themselves required changing, but He knew that they would sin some more because theirs was more than a mote, but a structure of many beams.

Soon, many of them would appear again with the beam (The Cross) even more heavy; they would crucify the Savior, or at least remain silent as the others who thought of themselves without sin would crucify and flay the Perfect Sacrifice of God. Later they would “eat of His Flesh unworthily” (1 Cor 11:27), as if they had no part in His death.

Scripture is literal but it also is metaphorical. Great care must be taken because words mean things and in different languages, they might mean something entirely different. For instance, we are not to gouge out our own eyes, but merely allow truth to persuade us of the facts. What is the “fact” of removing the beam? You are not THE CARPENTER, and that you must allow Jesus to remove the beams from your mind’s eye.

 (picture credit: Canyon Springs Church)