What the Bible says about Kainos
(From Forerunner Commentary)
The first parable in the chapter concerns the response of people hearing the Word of the Kingdom. Only those who hear and understand it respond in a positive and sustained manner (Matthew 13:23). The eighth parable also hinges on understanding. Jesus prefaces it with the question, “Have you understood all these things?” After the disciples respond that they have, He proceeds with the final teaching of the occasion, the responsibility of “every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven.”
In general, the scribes of Jesus' day were negative figures, despite the office itself being an honorable one. The term “scribe” (or “secretary”) could refer to any official writer. The first usage dates to the administration of King David (II Samuel 8:17). The role of scribe began with those skilled in writing—and more importantly, recording accurately—but it took on additional significance under Ezra, “a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given” (Ezra 7:6; emphasis ours). Because the scribes were responsible for accurately copying the Scriptures, they knew well what the Scriptures said. They thus became teachers of the law.
The gospel writers frequently group the scribes with the Pharisees and priests because they had become part of the apostate religious leadership of Christ's day. They also frequently opposed Jesus and His teaching, as human traditions had infused their learning and methods of interpretation. Those who should have known the Scriptures best—and recognized the Scriptures' Author and Object—were as unseeing as the other religious leaders.
Jesus does not apply the eighth parable to all scribes but specifically to those instructed in things related to the Kingdom. To paraphrase this parable, every teacher of God's instructions who is a disciple of the Kingdom is like the head of a family—the master of a house—who “brings forth” out of his “treasure”—or more properly, out of his “treasury” or storeroom. What is this treasury? This parable builds on the previous chapter, where Jesus castigates the Pharisees for their blasphemous words in attributing His power to Satan. Jesus responds, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things” (Matthew 12:35).
The Pharisees had generated evil things—blasphemy—from their treasuries, their hearts. In contrast, a scribe who is a true disciple of the Kingdom will deliver good things out of his heart. These things will be “new and old.” What is in view are new things in terms of character or quality (kainos). For instance, the New Covenant is not new simply in terms of time (neos) but is of a completely different—higher—quality than the preceding covenant with Israel (Hebrews 8:6-7).
Therefore, the disciple-scribe will bring forth from his heart—from his God-given understanding—both what has come before and what is new in clarity and righteous application. This reinforces Jesus' earlier declaration that He had not come to destroy or abolish the law but to fulfill it by demonstrating its intent in His life (Matthew 5:17-19). After His resurrection, He “opened [the disciples'] understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45; see also verse 27). With inspired understanding, the disciple-scribe will maintain the instruction given in the “Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44), but he will also distill its intent.
David C. Grabbe
God's Kingdom in the Parables (Part Four)
In John 13:34 and 15:12, Jesus gives us a new commandment, to love one another as He has loved us. The command that God's people love one another was, of course, not new (see Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5). As an outworking of love for God, loving others is at the heart of God's law and expresses the last six of the Ten Commandments. So why does the Lord call this "a new commandment"?
"New" is the Greek kainos, which often denotes what is qualitatively new as compared to what has existed until now. That is, which is better: what is old or what is young or recent? Kainos describes what is new in the sense of "unused" Faithor "fresh." So, while the idea of loving others was not new in the sense of "recent," it was new in the sense that no one had fully manifested God's love as had the Savior in such a sacrificial way—such love was unused.
In contrast to the practices of the self-righteous Pharisees, Jesus had come to fulfill the law and demonstrate its true meaning in both love to God and in love for others. The new commandment to love one another, then, is based on His example: "as I have loved you." The command is new because it is a special love for other believers based on the sacrificial example of Christ's love.
When tribulation comes upon us, we must realize that God will be testing our faith and love toward Him and each other. With faith in God—without which it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6)—and with our hearts filled with His perfect love, we are equipped with the two elements we need to overcome the destructive fear and unbelief that cause troubled hearts.
Scripture exhorts us to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) and, by using it, to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit—the godly virtues listed in Galatians 5:22-23. How do we know if we are "full of love" or "full of faith," for example? Consider a water-saturated sponge. If we put even slight pressure on the sponge, water runs out. We immediately know what fills the sponge.
The same is true with us. We can tell what fills us on the inside by what comes out under pressure. We need to ask ourselves, "Do our faith and love come out when under trial, or is it something else?" Our hearts will continue to be troubled until we can overcome our fear and unbelief with godly faith and love.
Clyde Finklea
Overcoming Troubled Hearts (Part Two)
Of keen interest in this context is the term “new” in verse 17. Paul had his choice of either of two words, kainos or neos, but he chose the one best suited to God's purpose here. He chose kainos, indicating newness in the sense of fresh existence. Neos means newness in the sense of renovation, for example, repairing something that already exists. In this context, God is describing a transformation in the inner man from carnality to spiritual thought and conduct. The new creation is not merely a repair job of the old, existing, carnal nature. It is a complete change to a nature, a heart, that had not been there before conversion.
The apostle nudges our thoughts to a parallel incident, when God created Adam in Genesis 1. Adam was an entity who did not exist before God acted. In this creation described in II Corinthians 5, though, God is not exercising His divine powers by creating an entirely new person, but He is fashioning a new heart, a new nature, that will produce righteousness, in contrast to the old nature that produced self-centered sin.
One by one, God is calling people out of Satan's worldly system and creating a Family Kingdom described in multiple locations throughout His Word. We have all borne the physical and character image of the sinner Adam; we are now being created in the spiritual image of the holy, righteous, and sinless Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15:48-49). But know this: The new creation does not end with the spiritual creation of the sons of God. It carries on to include even a New Heaven and a New Earth.
The new creation begun by God with repentant and converted human beings is just the beginning of a massive creation that will surely follow because God has willed it as part of His plan (Isaiah 55:11). His Word provides an idea of what it entails, alerting God's children of the new creation that has begun in them and will expand indefinitely.
Isaiah 42:9 reads, “Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”Isaiah 65:17 adds, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.” The prophet chose to use the Hebrew word hadas (“new”; Strong's 2319) that, as kainos in New Testament Greek, indicates “that which did not exist before.”
Isaiah 9:7 clinches the never-ending expansion of God's purpose:
Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Isaiah 66:22-23 contains even more exciting news:
“For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the LORD, “so shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath toanother, all flesh shall come before Me,” says the LORD.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Do Angels Live Forever?