As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
After the feeding of the 5,000 men, a crowd followed Jesus across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum. There, they attempted to manipulate Him into providing more free meals. Jesus, however, was looking beyond their physical needs. He began to challenge their spiritual needs, presenting Himself as the Messiah who could satisfy the hunger in their souls.
The conversation revolved around three questions from the crowd. The first question was, “What sign do you give?” This demand was tantamount to a rejection of Jesus’ messianic claims. It turned into a crass attempt to manipulate Him into serving the felt needs of the crowd. Jesus refused to offer another sign, however. Instead, He rebuked the crowd for their unbelief. He insisted that He had come down from heaven, and that He Himself held authority to raise the dead in the last day.
This claim led to the crowd’s second question: “How can He say that He came down from heaven?” The question underscores the unbelief of the crowd. Evidently the people understood what Jesus was claiming, but they could not accept His heavenly origin.
Jesus did not answer the question directly. Rather, He pointed out that no one had the ability to come to Him unless they were drawn by the Father. Those who did come, Jesus promised to raise up in the last day. Clarifying what it meant to be drawn by the Father, Jesus stated that absolutely everyone who heard and learned from the Father would come to Him. To be drawn by the Father is to hear and learn from the Father. No one comes until drawn in this way, but everyone who is drawn in this way does come.
26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Text: “… if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” (Romans 8:17)
Greek: “ει δε τεκνα και κληρονομοι κληρονομοι μεν θεου συγκληρονομοι δε χριστου ειπερ συμπασχομεν ινα και συνδοξασθωμεν”
My question is about this phrase, “if indeed we suffer with Him” … “ειπερ συμπασχομεν” and specifically with this conjuction, “ειπερ”
Article: Historian: Origins of ordination among Baptists tangled
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