12 Truly, Truly I I say to you, the one believing in me the works which I do also that one will do and greater than these he will do, because I to the Father am going. (John 14:12 translated from the NA28 Greek text to English)
I was contacted by a brother back in June about the word “in” in this passage that is translated as “on” in the KJV. He asked what the difference was and why it mattered, etc. Let’s start with the actual Greek word in question. In John 14:12 the Greek word translated as “in” is εἰς (eis)….
It is a Greek preposition, which usually governs the acc. with also of motion or direction to, towards, upon any place or thing; the opposite of eis would be expressed by ek, which means ‘out of place’. As to time, eis implies when, referring to a term or limit, up to, towards, until (Acts 4:3 until tomorrow) Many times in the NT it is used to indicate intention, purpose, identity, aim, such as baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins (Mark 1:4); baptized into Moses, that is identified with Moses in what he was doing (1 Cor. 10:2). In composition with verbs, eis implies motion into as eisdechomai, receive into; also motion or direction to, towards, as eisakouo, to let works sink into one’s ear. Okay, so does all that clarify whether Jesus was telling his disciples that we should believe in Him or on Him? Here are two other translations of that verse that are older than the KJV followed by the KJV. <Continue reading post>