If I take this at face value. None of these passages follow that rule: John 5:18; John 8:53; John 10:33; John 19:7, 12; 1 John 1:10; 1 John 5:10; https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s ... ersion=LSBOne of the main uses of ποιεῖν is to "cause" things to be in a certain state or to happen.
Nor do these passages: Matthew 12:16; Luke 5:33; Acts 5:34; 8:2; 23:12-13https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s ... ersion=LSB.
Jesus can hardly be said to "cause" himself to be equal to God. There are many other examples, eg. Matthew 12:33; we can hardly "make" or "cause" the tree and fruit to be good. And per 1 John 1:10 we can hardly cause or make God a liar. In each of these verses posted above, it makes way more sense to say something was declared, said, persuaded, claimed etc. Is there a real difference between "making a claim" and "claiming"? I don't think there is. Similarly a difference between "making a declaration" and "declaring"?
If the above passage can be understood as variations of "declares" or "claims", in the context of Revelation 13:15, if the Image Beast can only speak, shouldn't the "make/cause" actually be better understood as declared/said/desired/persuaded; as it has no temporal authority to actually make any sort of "cause" or "force"?
I realise we use "make" or "cause" in a variety of ways with various meanings. "Cause you to do X" may well be persuade, or it could mean to put a gun to your head, or it could mean manipulation that prevents you from making other choices. The difficulty I run into is that in the passages cited above we don't actually believe that anyone was "caused" to make Jesus equal to God, or "caused" God to be a liar etc. But if one was to understand the make/cause than in the way we understand the other passages as variations of "declare" etc, it vastly changes what one might look for in fulfillment of the prophecy. Instead of actually being "caused" to be killed, the Image Beast merely "declares" or "claims" they should be killed.
Statistics: Posted by CuriousCat — Thu Jan 11, 2024 12:15 am