Recently in group Bible study, we came across a major translation difference between the new NIV and the old NIV in Matthew 11:12. It was a tough and confusing question for us to tackle – how on earth do you reconcile these two vastly different versions of the same verse?
NIV 2011: From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.
NIV 1984: From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.
One is a negative meaning, the other is positive. So which one is right? Apparently to this day, the true meaning of this verse is still a matter of debate. In my attempt to understand enough to teach it to another student, I came acrossthis article which does an awesome job of explaining.
It clarified three Greek words used in the verse:
BIAZETAI: subjected to violence, or forcefully advancing?
BIASTES: violent people, or forceful men?
HARPAZOUSIN: raiding? Or lay hold of it?
The original Greek word biazatai is translated ‘suffers violence’ in many translations. However, in Luke 16:16 biazatai is ‘forcing his way into’ or ‘pressing into.’ This is the correct meaning instead of ‘suffers violence.’
‘Violent men’ is the Greek word biastes, which means ‘one who is eager in pursuit’ or ‘positive assertiveness… of the believer living in faith.’
Harpazousin, a variant of the root word harpazo…“Harpazo means to seize or snatch-up using an open, public display of force. In combination with the words we’ve already discussed above, the context of harpazo in Matthew 11:12 and Luke 16:16 means to decisively grab onto, hold, and eagerly claim the kingdom of God.”
So a more accurate version of this verse would be:
From the days of John the Baptist until now, men are forcefully pressing-into (biazetai) the kingdom of heaven, and eager men (biastai) pursue it, grab hold of it, and forcefully claim it (harpazousin).
Aha!
And just going more into the verse, it wouldn’t make sense for the kingdom of God to be on the defensive – being subjected to violence, and being so bothered by the violent men in the world. The context of the passage is about the kinds of people who are in the kingdom of God (not the evil people outside of it). Each of the people in the kingdom of God is described as being at least as great as John the Baptist. It would be a weird tangent for Jesus to suddenly talk about how much His kingdom is suffering, out of nowhere, as if it’s under attack and can’t stand it very well. On the other hand, the passage flows coherently by describing further how forceful and great the people of the kingdom really are.
It was also helpful for me to explain to my student how the translation “forceful men lay hold of it” is much more in line with Luke 16:16, which is a close parallel to the Matthew verse and likely the same exact conversation.
Luke 16:16 – “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.”
But the part I really wanted to highlight was one of the comments on this article. Here’s some of what this person wrote:
“…if a person is going to get to Heaven he will have to get there on purpose…he will not just waltz into Heaven , he’s not going to stumble into Heaven , he’s not going to (metaphorically speaking) float into Heaven…
He’s going to get there on purpose , he’s coming in the gate kicking and screaming , he will not allow himself to not get there , he will destroy every enemy in his way of crossing that finish line… he’s coming in to be with his Perfect, Forgiving, Almighty, Benevolent Merciful Father, he knows on Whom he believes and knows how to get there and get there he will !!!!!!”
I got chills reading that comment! So inspiring.
What I could see from this verse is that forceful people enter into the kingdom of God, those who make every effort to enter through the narrow gate. Forceful people move the kingdom of God forward against all odds. It’s the same way a musician masters their instrument or a sculptor hones their craft or a climber reaches the top of a mountain – with complete focus, determination, and desire to obey God and be right with Him. They will move everything out of the way in order to get to the goal. Those kinds of people enter His kingdom!
As a church, we love to reference the songs “The Eye of the Tiger” and “Be a Man” because there is such spirit in them. With that kind of attitude, we are ones who press forward, not passive, not dead bodies but living, breathing, unstoppable forces, warriors who will stop at nothing to obey God. With the eye of the tiger…be a man…it all means the same thing – be forceful men and women of God!
Wow! I see that we need to forcefully study the word of God! Not just passively reading the text or putting our own understanding, but diving deep into God’s words. And then we receive a great and inspiring message from God!!!
Hahahaha in Bible study or testimony writing, I always hear some people typing more furiously than others as they get excited about the passage xD maybe if we all start typing like that, it will be the norm for shepherds to replace their keyboard every year!
Amen! May we be forceful to grasp God’s message and live accordingly. I use to be passive by forgetting what I heard on Sunday worship service. No wonder I didn’t understand the Bible before. I thank God for sending me Shepherds Church, filled with forceful shepherds!
Wow! Love this! Thanks for sharing. So many things to think about and comment on!!
This verse reminds me of that one part in Pilgrim’s Progress at the Interpreter’s House where Christian sees the scene of the guy fighting armed soldiers to enter the palace.
It also encourages me to be bold in serving sheep. Not that I would intentionally push them away, but that I would not be so scared or timid. And also, there are so many obstacles and enemies in this life of serving God. But in Genesis 1, it was so cool to learn that God made us to rule over and subdue the obstacles in our environment. I don’t want to be a dead body, constantly overwhelmed and defeated, but a real warrior with the eye of the tiger!! 🙂
That’s a good point in what you reference in Genesis 1. May we subdue all obstacles by faith in God! You mentioning Pilgrims Progress reminded me of Christian who was forceful to obey God, that he did not let his family nor friends stop him from his journey to the kingdom of God. He was one of the few on the narrow road.
Only forceful man lay hold of the kingdom. I’ve always wondered about this passage as well, but since I go to El Camino College and study with roughnecks, I just figured will be about El Camino College, entering the kingdom of God. Lol.
In the world. It seems that violent people get everything and forceful people, win the best prize, but in reality, it is the ones that love God and are forceful in there advancing of the kingdom of heaven in their lives, and in the lives of others, that win the best prize of all. God himself.
Thank you for sharing this. It really encourages me to pick up a new spirit of being a forceful man, at least, according to the things I learned here today, and advance God’s kingdom in my life, and in the lives of others. Thank you sis.
And by the way, I love the Star Wars sword fight that’s how El Camino College is. 😇
So true about who truly wins the best prize. Violence has devastated many people, leaving them with wounds, pains, grief, emptiness and the list goes on. Jesus doesn’t want us to murder people. He wants us to love people by showing them the way to His Kingdom so they can be with Him. He wants us to be their shepherds that care about their well-being.
I resent your comment about El Camino Leo! lol…This was a deep dive into the Bible passage. I never really went so deeply to bother to learn Greek for a passage :). I can see that there is still much I do not know and I am encouraged to actively meditate on God’s words. It is also encouraging to be someone who fights himself into the kingdom of God, purposefully. Surely no one just stumbles their way into the kingdom of God. If they did, I think they would just get kicked out since they would not be wearing the proper clothes. Anyway, thank you for the post!
I don’t want to ignore the attire Jesus wants me to wear in His Kingdom. I pray we follow Jesus’ instructions so we don’t get kicked out or be denied access.
Hopefully it wasn’t too much! While trying to summarize, at first my head was spinning trying to keep the Greek words straight. But I found it helpful to at least have the link on hand, since students often ask probing questions, and this was a major translation difference that we couldn’t exactly ignore lol
Lol you “member” how it was!!!!! Of course all that I said was meant to be spiritual. Like spiritual roughneck. Meaning that we don’t easily turn to the left or to the right. 😇
Deep metaphor. Praise God for the shepherds at El Camino College. If you were not a spiritual roughneck I would have missed out on meeting Jesus Christ, the Lover & Shepherd of my soul. Thanks for your service.
Thanks for sharing. I would never have known these two versions were different. TBH, I like the 2011 version better. People think Jesus was like a hippie or like Mr. Rogers. But I never saw Mr. Rogers flipping over tables in the market or making a whip out of cords and driving out the corruption in the house of God. Also, people think being Christian in a modern sense means being passive, rolling over for others, and being super nice to everyone. I am reminded of a quote from Charles Spurgeon: “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies.” If someone is blindly going over a cliff, I never say, “Excuse me,” or “I’m sorry to interrupt what you are doing.” I would tackle them violently to save them. Sometimes in doing God’s work I need to put my foot down and say enough is enough. I need to be a little “aggressive” in the way I fish and teach. Instead of shrinking back, I need to ask bold questions, like “So what are you going to do about this?” I should even make bold requests like “You need to do this now!” My language may seem very violent when I pick up passion for God, but I’m certain it will shock people to see that Christians are not those kinds of soft-spoken people.
One time I was fishing at our Conservatory and interrupted a person’s practice. His friend said to him later that I was rude to him because I interrupted him to ask for bible study. Next time should I wait him to finish his practice then ask him just to be polite? I don’t think so, we have the key, if we decide to open, that’s the time that they are to respond. If they say no, then that peace just turns back to me 🙂
Jesus gave me a dream many years ago that He came back a second time and I rose up from earth to the sky towards Jesus. When I got closer I saw his angry face. He sent me to hell where I was destroyed. This dream caused me to come to Him in prayer and beg for salvation and to beg for a shepherd to help me be close to Him. He answered my prayer by sending me one of the El Camino shepherds to teach me the Bible so that I will know God’s will and live accordingly . Jesus had to be stern with me in my dream so that I would fear Him and thereby seek Him. I like what you quoted about Charles Spurgeon. He sounds like a forceful man for God’s glory and the salvation of others. Jesus and his disciples were so forceful despite the persecution they faced, even to the point of being killed for their faith.
I had a similar dream… Jesus did not have a happy face, but his eyes were very serious. This is the mission I must do, even people are like walking dead.
Whoa you must have been so afraid in that dream!! Jesus had mercy on you by showing you the spiritual reality, so that you could see how much you needed His help.
Your comment reminds me how we all need to get to this point of seeing ourselves before God, like Peter when Jesus was in his fishing boat. When he realized that the Son of God was sitting with him, he was afraid because he recognized how lacking he was – so then Jesus’ calling became all the more amazing and worthwhile to him! Forcefully he left that old life behind…forcefully he took hold of Jesus’ vision for him.
Without realizing how wrong his old life was, he could never have left it behind. I pray God would bring our students to the point of really standing before Him and repenting, just as He helped us!
Thanks for sharing this article that breaks it down. “The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” If we are not forceful then our sinful nature will dominate. This reminds me of Joseph in Genesis who was forceful in obeying and honoring God, that he fled from Potiphar’s lustful wife. This also reminds me of Rehab who stood on God’s side by hiding the Israelite spies from her own people. I pray to be a forceful by fighting against sin and obeying God with the help of the Holy Spirit. Also sometimes I don’t feel like going to campus to do Gods’ work due to feeling tired. But I still pressed on by going this week because I want to encourage others to enter the kingdom of God too.
From the context I can see it’s about people forcing themselves into the kingdom of God since Jesus talked about how John served God’s work, and because of his mission, he’s great.
May the 4th be with you, it’s Labor Day in China. So work diligently for the Lord, and force yourself into his kingdom 🙂
About the “aggressive” part…I’m not sure. There’s forceful, and then there’s just being angry and frustrated like Moses when he disobeyed God’s command to speak to the rock – definitely not the right kind of “forceful.” But then there’s also Nehemiah pulling on men’s beards when he found out they had married foreign women and had children with them. God had no problem with that “aggressive” action, because their sin warranted such drastic correction. Which is right – being gentle and patient, or being more pushy and strong?
As a sheep, I got a gentle push most of the time, but did occasionally need the stronger correction because I didn’t have enough strength to make the change on my own. As a shepherd, I often feel weak and toothless in my words, not being strong enough to really direct people in the right way when it’s not what they want to hear. This is a weakness I’ve been struggling to overcome. If I push too much at the wrong time, I know it will just make them close off their hearts and maybe even disrupt whatever work God was doing in them.
I think one thing I have to remember is simply that the goal is not to try to hold onto people and avoid conflict – that’s why I just want to be nice all the time to people. But that’s not the goal. The goal is repentance. The goal is to support them so they can live for God. Whatever it takes – gentle words, strong words, maybe even possibly aggressive words – that’s what I must do, if I really love them and want to rescue them.
Wow, your words are like those of a veteran shepherdess! This makes me think of Joseph. He cried, but he pushed them to the corner.
I learned that I needed to do everything out of love. Then, I am free to talk to my sheep. I challenge, correct or even rebuke them not to judge them or look down on them or push them away, but to really want them to have a life in God, really want their hearts to turn back to God. After all, they have to make that decision when everything is clear.
Wow! I see that we need to forcefully study the word of God! Not just passively reading the text or putting our own understanding, but diving deep into God’s words. And then we receive a great and inspiring message from God!!!
forcefully study the Bible? Wow… be careful of your keyboard…
Hahahaha in Bible study or testimony writing, I always hear some people typing more furiously than others as they get excited about the passage xD maybe if we all start typing like that, it will be the norm for shepherds to replace their keyboard every year!
Amen! May we be forceful to grasp God’s message and live accordingly. I use to be passive by forgetting what I heard on Sunday worship service. No wonder I didn’t understand the Bible before. I thank God for sending me Shepherds Church, filled with forceful shepherds!
Wow! Love this! Thanks for sharing. So many things to think about and comment on!!
This verse reminds me of that one part in Pilgrim’s Progress at the Interpreter’s House where Christian sees the scene of the guy fighting armed soldiers to enter the palace.
It also encourages me to be bold in serving sheep. Not that I would intentionally push them away, but that I would not be so scared or timid. And also, there are so many obstacles and enemies in this life of serving God. But in Genesis 1, it was so cool to learn that God made us to rule over and subdue the obstacles in our environment. I don’t want to be a dead body, constantly overwhelmed and defeated, but a real warrior with the eye of the tiger!! 🙂
That’s a good point in what you reference in Genesis 1. May we subdue all obstacles by faith in God! You mentioning Pilgrims Progress reminded me of Christian who was forceful to obey God, that he did not let his family nor friends stop him from his journey to the kingdom of God. He was one of the few on the narrow road.
Only forceful man lay hold of the kingdom. I’ve always wondered about this passage as well, but since I go to El Camino College and study with roughnecks, I just figured will be about El Camino College, entering the kingdom of God. Lol.
In the world. It seems that violent people get everything and forceful people, win the best prize, but in reality, it is the ones that love God and are forceful in there advancing of the kingdom of heaven in their lives, and in the lives of others, that win the best prize of all. God himself.
Thank you for sharing this. It really encourages me to pick up a new spirit of being a forceful man, at least, according to the things I learned here today, and advance God’s kingdom in my life, and in the lives of others. Thank you sis.
And by the way, I love the Star Wars sword fight that’s how El Camino College is. 😇
Maybe you can carry one sword during night fishing. 🙂
So true about who truly wins the best prize. Violence has devastated many people, leaving them with wounds, pains, grief, emptiness and the list goes on. Jesus doesn’t want us to murder people. He wants us to love people by showing them the way to His Kingdom so they can be with Him. He wants us to be their shepherds that care about their well-being.
I resent your comment about El Camino Leo! lol…This was a deep dive into the Bible passage. I never really went so deeply to bother to learn Greek for a passage :). I can see that there is still much I do not know and I am encouraged to actively meditate on God’s words. It is also encouraging to be someone who fights himself into the kingdom of God, purposefully. Surely no one just stumbles their way into the kingdom of God. If they did, I think they would just get kicked out since they would not be wearing the proper clothes. Anyway, thank you for the post!
I don’t want to ignore the attire Jesus wants me to wear in His Kingdom. I pray we follow Jesus’ instructions so we don’t get kicked out or be denied access.
Hopefully it wasn’t too much! While trying to summarize, at first my head was spinning trying to keep the Greek words straight. But I found it helpful to at least have the link on hand, since students often ask probing questions, and this was a major translation difference that we couldn’t exactly ignore lol
Thanks for breaking it down to make this verse clear.
Lol you “member” how it was!!!!! Of course all that I said was meant to be spiritual. Like spiritual roughneck. Meaning that we don’t easily turn to the left or to the right. 😇
Deep metaphor. Praise God for the shepherds at El Camino College. If you were not a spiritual roughneck I would have missed out on meeting Jesus Christ, the Lover & Shepherd of my soul. Thanks for your service.
Thanks for sharing. I would never have known these two versions were different. TBH, I like the 2011 version better. People think Jesus was like a hippie or like Mr. Rogers. But I never saw Mr. Rogers flipping over tables in the market or making a whip out of cords and driving out the corruption in the house of God. Also, people think being Christian in a modern sense means being passive, rolling over for others, and being super nice to everyone. I am reminded of a quote from Charles Spurgeon: “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies.” If someone is blindly going over a cliff, I never say, “Excuse me,” or “I’m sorry to interrupt what you are doing.” I would tackle them violently to save them. Sometimes in doing God’s work I need to put my foot down and say enough is enough. I need to be a little “aggressive” in the way I fish and teach. Instead of shrinking back, I need to ask bold questions, like “So what are you going to do about this?” I should even make bold requests like “You need to do this now!” My language may seem very violent when I pick up passion for God, but I’m certain it will shock people to see that Christians are not those kinds of soft-spoken people.
One time I was fishing at our Conservatory and interrupted a person’s practice. His friend said to him later that I was rude to him because I interrupted him to ask for bible study. Next time should I wait him to finish his practice then ask him just to be polite? I don’t think so, we have the key, if we decide to open, that’s the time that they are to respond. If they say no, then that peace just turns back to me 🙂
Jesus gave me a dream many years ago that He came back a second time and I rose up from earth to the sky towards Jesus. When I got closer I saw his angry face. He sent me to hell where I was destroyed. This dream caused me to come to Him in prayer and beg for salvation and to beg for a shepherd to help me be close to Him. He answered my prayer by sending me one of the El Camino shepherds to teach me the Bible so that I will know God’s will and live accordingly . Jesus had to be stern with me in my dream so that I would fear Him and thereby seek Him. I like what you quoted about Charles Spurgeon. He sounds like a forceful man for God’s glory and the salvation of others. Jesus and his disciples were so forceful despite the persecution they faced, even to the point of being killed for their faith.
I had a similar dream… Jesus did not have a happy face, but his eyes were very serious. This is the mission I must do, even people are like walking dead.
Whoa you must have been so afraid in that dream!! Jesus had mercy on you by showing you the spiritual reality, so that you could see how much you needed His help.
Your comment reminds me how we all need to get to this point of seeing ourselves before God, like Peter when Jesus was in his fishing boat. When he realized that the Son of God was sitting with him, he was afraid because he recognized how lacking he was – so then Jesus’ calling became all the more amazing and worthwhile to him! Forcefully he left that old life behind…forcefully he took hold of Jesus’ vision for him.
Without realizing how wrong his old life was, he could never have left it behind. I pray God would bring our students to the point of really standing before Him and repenting, just as He helped us!
Thanks for sharing this article that breaks it down. “The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” If we are not forceful then our sinful nature will dominate. This reminds me of Joseph in Genesis who was forceful in obeying and honoring God, that he fled from Potiphar’s lustful wife. This also reminds me of Rehab who stood on God’s side by hiding the Israelite spies from her own people. I pray to be a forceful by fighting against sin and obeying God with the help of the Holy Spirit. Also sometimes I don’t feel like going to campus to do Gods’ work due to feeling tired. But I still pressed on by going this week because I want to encourage others to enter the kingdom of God too.
Yes! The Bible is filled with all these forceful people!
Can forceful mean spiritually aggressive?
From the context I can see it’s about people forcing themselves into the kingdom of God since Jesus talked about how John served God’s work, and because of his mission, he’s great.
May the 4th be with you, it’s Labor Day in China. So work diligently for the Lord, and force yourself into his kingdom 🙂
About the “aggressive” part…I’m not sure. There’s forceful, and then there’s just being angry and frustrated like Moses when he disobeyed God’s command to speak to the rock – definitely not the right kind of “forceful.” But then there’s also Nehemiah pulling on men’s beards when he found out they had married foreign women and had children with them. God had no problem with that “aggressive” action, because their sin warranted such drastic correction. Which is right – being gentle and patient, or being more pushy and strong?
As a sheep, I got a gentle push most of the time, but did occasionally need the stronger correction because I didn’t have enough strength to make the change on my own. As a shepherd, I often feel weak and toothless in my words, not being strong enough to really direct people in the right way when it’s not what they want to hear. This is a weakness I’ve been struggling to overcome. If I push too much at the wrong time, I know it will just make them close off their hearts and maybe even disrupt whatever work God was doing in them.
I think one thing I have to remember is simply that the goal is not to try to hold onto people and avoid conflict – that’s why I just want to be nice all the time to people. But that’s not the goal. The goal is repentance. The goal is to support them so they can live for God. Whatever it takes – gentle words, strong words, maybe even possibly aggressive words – that’s what I must do, if I really love them and want to rescue them.
Wow, your words are like those of a veteran shepherdess! This makes me think of Joseph. He cried, but he pushed them to the corner.
I learned that I needed to do everything out of love. Then, I am free to talk to my sheep. I challenge, correct or even rebuke them not to judge them or look down on them or push them away, but to really want them to have a life in God, really want their hearts to turn back to God. After all, they have to make that decision when everything is clear.