Soldiers grab Jesus, and Jesus tells a follower to return his sword to its place, saying he could ask his father for troops of messengers if he wanted.
Matthew 26:54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
Matthew 26:54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
How then might they be fulfilled? The writings? In this way, it needs to come into being.
Jesus saw himself bund by the prophecies
This statement almost brings the Gospel of Matthew full circle. Jesus's first words in Mathew were Matthew 3:15, when Jesus says that John must baptize him to "fulfill" what is right. That was the first time that word in Greek for "fill up" was used by Jesus and this is the last time, talking about "filling up scripture," that the verb is used. Thus our story itself is completed or filled up.
- IW - Inserted Word -- The word "but" doesn't exist in the source.
- CW - Confusing Word -- The "then" is not the common word usually translated as "then."
- CW - Confusing Word -- The "shall" does not mean the future tense.
- WT - Wrong Tense - The English verb "must" is the present tense, but Greek is in the simple (imperfect) past. "had to."
- WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "be" should be something more like "happen."
- IW - Inserted Word -- The word "but" doesn't exist in the source.
- CW - Confusing Word -- The "then" is not the common word usually translated as "then."
- CW - Confusing Word -- The "would" does not mean the future tense.
- IW - Inserted Word -- The word "say" doesn't exist in the source.
- WT - Wrong Tense - The English verb "must" is the present tense, but Greek is in the simple (imperfect) past. "had to."
But -- (IW) There is nothing that can be translated as "but" in the Greek source.
how - -- "How" is the adverb that means "how," "by any means," and "I suppose." This is a common interrogatory pronoun used by Jesus.
then - (CW) The Greek word translated as "then" either emphasizes the truth of something ("certainly", "really") or it simply continues an existing narrative ("then", "therefore"). It is not the "then" meaning "at that time."
shall -- (CW) This helping verb "shall" does not indicate the future tense, but that the verb describes a possibility, the subjunctive voice. A "might" or "should" in English is more appropriate, but is assumed in an "if/when/whoever/except" clause. Helping verbs are not needed in Greek since the main verb carries this information in its form.
the -- The word translated as "the" is the Greek definite article, without a noun, it has the sense of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those") than the English "the." See this article for more.
scriptures - "Scriptures" is a noun that means "writing", "the art of writing," and "that which is written," so, the "writings." It might also be worth noting that the Greek word translated as "scriptures" literally means "a drawing." For the Greeks, both drawings and words created a "picture" or a man-made, artificial representation of reality.
be -- This helping verb "be" indicates that the verb is passive. Helping or auxiliary verbs are needed to translate the Greek verb forms into English.
fulfilled, - - "Fulfilled" is a verb that means "to fill", "to fulfill," and "to fill full." It is passive and in a form that indicates something that "might" happen, so "might be fulfilled" or "might be filled."
that - - -- The word translated as "that" introduces a statement of fact or cause, "for what," "because," "since," and "wherefore."
thus - - "Thus" is an adverb that means "in this way", "therefore", "so much" , "to such an extent," and "that is why." Christ usually uses it in the form of an adjective where it means "this" so "in this way" seems most likely.
it -- This is from the third-person, singular form of the verb.
must - (WT) "Must" a verb that means "it is needful" and "there is a need." However, the tense is the simple past, so "had to" or "was needful."
be? - (WW) The word translated as "be" means "to become," that is, to enter into a new state. In Greek, especially as used by Jesus, it is the opposite of "being," which is existence in the current state. When applied to events, this word means "to happen," "to occur," or "take place." Here, the sense is clearly "happen" or "take place."
But -- (IW) There is nothing that can be translated as "but" in the Greek source.
how - -- "How" is the adverb that means "how," "by any means," and "I suppose." This is a common interrogatory pronoun used by Jesus.
then - (CW) The Greek word translated as "then" either emphasizes the truth of something ("certainly", "really") or it simply continues an existing narrative ("then", "therefore"). It is not the "then" meaning "at that time."
would -- (CW) This helping verb "would" does not indicate the future tense, but that the verb describes a possibility, the subjunctive voice. A "might" or "should" in English is more appropriate, but is assumed in an "if/when/whoever/except" clause. Helping verbs are not needed in Greek since the main verb carries this information in its form.
the -- The word translated as "the" is the Greek definite article, without a noun, it has the sense of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those") than the English "the." See this article for more.
Scriptures - "Scriptures" is a noun that means "writing", "the art of writing," and "that which is written," so, the "writings." It might also be worth noting that the Greek word translated as "scriptures" literally means "a drawing." For the Greeks, both drawings and words created a "picture" or a man-made, artificial representation of reality.
be -- This helping verb "be" indicates that the verb is passive. Helping or auxiliary verbs are needed to translate the Greek verb forms into English.
fulfilled, - - "Fulfilled" is a verb that means "to fill", "to fulfill," and "to fill full." It is passive and in a form that indicates something that "might" happen, so "might be fulfilled" or "might be filled."
that - - -- The word translated as "that" introduces a statement of fact or cause, "for what," "because," "since," and "wherefore."
say - IW - Inserted Word -- The word "say" doesn't exist in the source.
it -- This is from the third-person, singular form of the verb.
must - (WT) "Must" a verb that means "it is needful" and "there is a need." However, the tense is the simple past, so "had to" or "was needful."
happen - The word translated as "happen" means "to become," that is, to enter into a new state. In Greek, especially as used by Jesus, it is the opposite of "being," which is existence in the current state. When applied to events, this word means "to happen," "to occur," or "take place." Here, the sense is clearly "happen" or "take place."
in this way - - "In this way" is an adverb that means "in this way", "therefore", "so much" , "to such an extent," and "that is why." Christ usually uses it in the form of an adjective where it means "this" so "in this way" seems most likely.
πῶς [36 verses](pron indecl form) "How" is from pos, which means "how", "how in the world", "how then", "in any way", "at all", "by any mean", "in a certain way,"and "I suppose."
οὖν [82 verses](adv) "Then" is from oun, which means "certainly", "in fact", "really", "in fact," "so" and "then" (continuing a narrative), and "therefore."
πληρωθῶσιν [21 verses](verb 3rd pl aor subj pass)"Be fulfilled" is pleroo, which mean "to fill", "to fulfill", "to make complete", "to pay in full", "to make pregnant," and "to fill full."
αἱ [821 verses](article pl fem nom) "The" is the Greek definite article, hos, ("the").
γραφαὶ [13 verses](noun pl fem nom) "The scriptures" is from graphe, which means "representing by means of lines", "a drawing", "writing", "the art of writing," and "that which is written." It came to mean "scripture" from its use in the Gospels.
ὅτι [332 verses](adv/conj) "That" is from hoti, which introduces a statement of fact "with regard to the fact that", "seeing that," and acts as a causal adverb meaning "for what", "because", "since," and "wherefore." -- The word translated as "that" introduces a statement of fact or cause.
οὕτως [137 verses](adj sg masc nom) "This" is houtos, which as an adjective means(adv) "Thus" is from houtos, which as an adverb, it means "in this way", "therefore", "so much" , "to such an extent," and "that is why."
δεῖ [28 verses](verb 3rd sg imperf ind act) "It must" is from, dei, which means "it is needful" and "there is a need."
γενέσθαι; [117 verses](verb aor inf mid) "Is" is from ginomai, which means "to become", "to come into being", "to happen", and "to be produced." It means changing into a new state of being. It is the complementary opposite of the verb "to be" (eimi)which indicates existence in the same state. --
"How then might they be fulfilled?" He asked. "The writings? this is the way it needs to come into being."