illness

The Gospel According to Matthew 9:9–17 includes this verse: “And when he heard, he said, ‘The strong do not have need of a healer, but the ones who are ill.'” This passage is interesting largely because of the double meaning contained by the Greek word I translated as ill.

The word kakos is the adverbial form of the Greek adjective that means “bad.” The idea of badness in Greek is somewhat different from how we view it today. Anything that’s not good could be said to be bad. So, for example, certainly moral deficiency was bad. Physical problems or illness likewise were bad. This passage relies on the double meaning of this word in Jesus’ suggestion that the “bad” need a healer.

What claim do you think Jesus was trying to make here?

related topics: disease; healing; miracles & signs; sin

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