sacred

The Greek word translated in the Gospel According to Matthew 7:6 (NABRE) as holy or sacred is a common word with important Christian meaning. The word, ἅγιος (hagios), means dedicated to the gods, and it ultimately became the Greek word used to describe the Christian view of holiness.

This word in the original Greek, however, has a broader range of meaning. It is literally anything dedicated to the gods. In Greek religious thought, not all gods were good, and as a result, all such dedications were likewise not necessarily good and certainly not holy as we would perceive today.

Why do you think it is that dedicating ourselves to God in a Christian context is morally good?

related topics: consecration; holy; temple

you also may like our two-part study of the prophets
Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume I: A Kingdom Divided examines the prophets in historical context using the First and Second Books of the Kings and other Old Testament passages written before the Babylonian Exile. Volume II: Restoration & Redemption looks at the post-exilic prophets. This 51-lesson Catholic Bible study builds on The United Kingdom of Israel: Saul, David & Solomon Foreshadow Christ the King. Click on these links to view a lesson from Volume I and another from Volume II.

Click on the picture of the statue of Moses with horns (above) to learn more about Lost in Translation. A new entry is archived each Monday. Contact us to receive Lost in Translation by email every week. You may use any of the contact links on our website to ask Matthew a question.