Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. – Luke 18:25
Yearning for Simplicity:
A certain official asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. This official claimed that he had followed all the commandments of the Bible from his youth. Despite this, Jesus told him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Luke 18:22). As the official hesitated, apparently troubled by this request, this moment illustrates how difficult it is for the wealthy to enter the Kingdom of God.
But why did Jesus say that it is hard for the rich to enter heaven? The fact is, Jesus did not provide a specific explanation, and since no one has visited heaven and returned to share their experience, finding a definitive answer is challenging. The concept of “heaven” as such is not mentioned in the Old Testament; the term “the kingdom of heaven” first appears in the New Testament. The term “the kingdom of heaven” appears 37 times in the Korean Bible, with 36 of those occurrences in the Gospel of Matthew. The English equivalent is ‘the kingdom of heaven.’ The remaining instance appears in 2 Timothy as ‘heavenly kingdom.’ Conversely, similar expressions like ‘the kingdom of God’ or ‘the kingdom’ are also found in the New Testament, translated as ‘the kingdom of God’ or ‘the kingdom.’
Matthew records, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) The corresponding record in Luke says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20) From this, we can understand that ‘the kingdom of heaven’ and ‘the kingdom of God’ are used interchangeably. However, Jesus taught that ‘the kingdom of God’ or ‘the kingdom of heaven’ is within us.
“The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)
Thus, the reason why it is difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom might need to be sought within our own hearts.
The fundamental principle of English is to start with the subject and the verb, presenting the conclusion first, and then resolve any questions in order. If both the subject and the verb were composed of a single noun and a single verb, English would be much simpler, but at the expense of richness in expression. Like several words coming together to perform the role of a single verb, nouns also get assistance from multiple words to create more sophisticated and accurate descriptions.
Both verbs and nouns collaborate with other parts of speech to emerge in a more refined form. There are certain rules to this cooperation, one of which is the principle of simplicity. Whether in Korean or English, the fact that shorter and more concise sentences are better remains unchanged. One method to achieve this is using pronouns that act as placeholders for nouns.
Anything can serve as the subject, but using long subjects at the beginning of sentences or using infinitives as subjects is not advisable. In such cases, pronouns can be used as dummy subjects to create simpler sentences. For example, “It is easier to go through a needle’s eye” is more natural than “To go through a needle’s eye is easier.” By starting with ‘it’ and later explaining what ‘it’ refers to, a more concise sentence is created. The same applies to objects. If a long explanation for an object is necessary, a dummy object can be created and explained later.
Pronouns, thus, are nouns that can be used briefly in place of longer nouns. Depending on their use, pronouns can be classified into personal, demonstrative, indefinite, interrogative, and relative pronouns, each serving to point to something specific in the context. We’ll revisit relative pronouns later, so let’s first explore personal, demonstrative, indefinite, and interrogative pronouns.
In summary, personal pronouns include first, second, and third persons, with the third person having gender distinctions and both singular and plural forms, as well as nominative, possessive, and objective cases. Although it seems complex, in practice, knowing the five primary forms – I, you, he, she, they – in nominative, possessive, and objective cases suffices.
“His father Isaac asked him, ‘Who are you?’ ‘I am your son,’ he answered, ‘your firstborn, Esau.’” (Genesis 27:32)
“Who,” “whose,” “whom,” “which,” “what” are used in questions, thus called interrogative pronouns, and “some,” “any,” “one,” “other,” “another,” “each,” “either,” “both,” “neither” refer to indefinite people or things, so they are called indefinite pronouns. Let’s briefly explore the use of a few common indefinite pronouns.
Positive indefinite pronouns referring to everyone: all, both, every, each
“The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” (Genesis 2:25)
Indefinite pronouns referring to some: some, any
“Any of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33)
“She took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband.” (Genesis 3:3)
Indefinite pronouns referring to general things: one, other, the other, another, either, none, neither
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other.” (Revelation 3:15)
“Other” means different and adding “the” makes “the other” refer to the remaining one of two.
“The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.” (Matthew 25:20)
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