Replies

Good, Fantasywriter, this is very good.

Here we have an instructive example of how paradoxes in the Bible might or might not be taken as flatly contradictory. What to do?

BTW, When I looked up that quote at Biblehub, the big majority did not use the phrase "On the contrary," but the word "rather" which does not necessarily imply contradiction ("That's pretty low-cal" - "Yea rather, it's delicious!" --- doesn't mean it's not also low-cal!)

http://biblehub.com/luke/11-28.htm I think these come closer to the mark:

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
He said to her, “Blessings to those who have heard the word of God and keep it.”
Young's Literal Translation
And he said, 'Yea, rather, happy those hearing the word of God, and keeping it!'

OK, now let's look at the Scriptures that seem to contrast with that:

King James Bible
Luke 1:45
(Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to Mary) "Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord's word to her will be fulfilled."
Luke 1:48
[Mary said] "He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."

Two things strike me about this: first, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Mary and Elizabeth both call Mary Blessed, and Mary says all future generations will do so, too. Second: but Mary and Elizabeth don't make reference to Mary's womb and breasts but rather (not 'on the contrary,' but 'rather') to her lowliness and her faith.

My owns thought is that Jesus is looking past the kind of biological reductionism that characterizes a woman as childbearing-childcaring parts (womb and breasts) and pointing rather to inward spiritual qualities (lowliness and faith).

Jesus is, I think, saying: You admire mother for her physical lady parts? Much more you should admire her for her spiritual qualities: which you should all aspire to have, because "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice." (Luke 8:21)

Your thoughts? First, look at what seems paradoxical:

I looked the word up, Mrs. D. Strong's gives the meaning as, 'Nay, rather.' Still seems like a strong rebuttal to me. Iow, as I mentioned, Jesus could have affirmed the woman, or else redirected her praise to Mary's spiritual attributes. But He doesn't. He responds, 'Nay, rather,' etc.

There is no encouragement for the veneration of Mary from the Lord Himself. Just the opposite, in fact.

[Note: if I include the Strong's link here, it won't work. I'll include it in the very next post.]

Strong's Concordance

menoun and menounge: rather, on the contrary

Original Word: μενοῦνγε Part of Speech: Particle, Disjunctive Particle Transliteration: menoun and menounge Phonetic Spelling: (men-oon'-geh) Short Definition: nay rather Definition: nay rather; indeed, truly, really.