{"id":119,"date":"2014-07-09T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2014-07-09T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=119"},"modified":"2014-05-23T22:01:01","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T22:01:01","slug":"matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 4:12-17; Jesus Begins to Preach (Word Study)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cPeople living in darkness have seen a great light\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This prophecy from Isaiah 9:2, which Matthew quotes, is rife with meaning\u2014probably more than we can actually comprehend. In the context of Matthew 4:16, \u201cdarkness\u201d (<i>sk\u00f3tos<\/i>), was a fairly straightforward metaphor for sin. \u201cLight\u201d (<i>ph\u1e53s<\/i>), on the other hand, encompassed many shades of meaning, particularly as it related to Christ.<\/p>\n<p>Used literally,<i> ph\u1e53s<\/i> could refer to physical manifestations such as daylight, and also to supernatural illumination like the blinding, dazzling glory that surrounds the throne of God (see 1 Timothy 6:16). Figuratively, it could express \u201cknowledge which enlightens the mind, soul, or conscience\u2026moral goodness, purity and holiness.\u201d In a spiritual-relational sense, it could describe \u201ctrue knowledge of God and spiritual things.\u201d And from an instructional perspective, it could connote \u201ca dispenser of moral and spiritual light\u201d or \u201ca moral teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So which of these does Matthew (and Isaiah) refer to when identifying Jesus as \u201ca great light?\u201d The best answer is probably: All of them. In his incarnation, Jesus encompassed every humanly imaginable aspect of light\u2014and more.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-307\" alt=\"Matthew 4:12-17; Jesus Begins to Preach\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/371\/2014\/05\/CometNASA.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/workscited.html\" target=\"_self\">Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>[CWS, 10; CWD, 1462-63]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Bible Study Nerds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-for-bible-study-nerds.html\">About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Mike Nappa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-mike-nappa.html\">About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0<a title=\"Nappaland Communications Inc. official website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nappaland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cPeople living in darkness have seen a great light\u2026\u201d This prophecy from Isaiah 9:2, which Matthew quotes, is rife with meaning\u2014probably more than we can actually comprehend. In the context of Matthew 4:16, \u201cdarkness\u201d (sk\u00f3tos), was a fairly straightforward metaphor for sin. \u201cLight\u201d (ph\u1e53s), on the other hand, encompassed many shades of meaning, particularly as&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,15],"tags":[82,80,16,81,302],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matthew","category-wordstudies","tag-darkness","tag-isaiah","tag-jesus","tag-light","tag-matthew"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matthew 4:12-17; Jesus Begins to Preach (Word Study) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 4:12-17; Jesus Begins to Preach (Word Study) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cPeople living in darkness have seen a great light\u2026\u201d This prophecy from Isaiah 9:2, which Matthew quotes, is rife with meaning\u2014probably more than we can actually comprehend. In the context of Matthew 4:16, \u201cdarkness\u201d (sk\u00f3tos), was a fairly straightforward metaphor for sin. \u201cLight\u201d (ph\u1e53s), on the other hand, encompassed many shades of meaning, particularly as&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-09T12:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-23T22:01:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/files\/2014\/05\/CometNASA.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Nappa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Matthew 4:12-17; Jesus Begins to Preach (Word Study) - For Bible Study Nerds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Matthew 4:12-17; Jesus Begins to Preach (Word Study) - For Bible Study Nerds","og_description":"\u201cPeople living in darkness have seen a great light\u2026\u201d This prophecy from Isaiah 9:2, which Matthew quotes, is rife with meaning\u2014probably more than we can actually comprehend. In the context of Matthew 4:16, \u201cdarkness\u201d (sk\u00f3tos), was a fairly straightforward metaphor for sin. \u201cLight\u201d (ph\u1e53s), on the other hand, encompassed many shades of meaning, particularly as&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html","og_site_name":"For Bible Study Nerds","article_published_time":"2014-07-09T12:00:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-23T22:01:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/files\/2014\/05\/CometNASA.jpg"}],"author":"Mike Nappa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html","name":"Matthew 4:12-17; Jesus Begins to Preach (Word Study) - For Bible Study Nerds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/files\/2014\/05\/CometNASA.jpg","datePublished":"2014-07-09T12:00:30+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-23T22:01:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/files\/2014\/05\/CometNASA.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/files\/2014\/05\/CometNASA.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/07\/matthew-412-17-jesus-begins-to-preach-word-study.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matthew 4:12-17; Jesus Begins to Preach (Word Study)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/","name":"For Bible Study Nerds","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Mike Nappa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575","name":"Mike Nappa","description":"Mike Nappa is an entertainment journalist at FamilyFans.com, a bestselling author\u2014and a notorious Bible Study Nerd. He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. Learn more at nappaland.com\/mikenappa.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.biblestudynerds.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/author\/mnappa"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}