Take it by force?
Matthew 11:12 is a puzzle for translators. The NIV from 1984 reads like this: From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. But the same verse from the 2011 NIV reads: From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. So which one is right? “Forcefully advancing” would be a good thing. “Subjected to violence” sounds bad. What did Jesus mean? Here are three questions to help us decide: How were the words in this sentence used? Were they usually positive or negative in the Greek language that Matthew used? To answer that question, we can use a lexicon, a dictionary of Greek from the New Testament period. What is the context saying? How does this sentence contribute to the message of the paragraph, the pericope, and the book? To answer that question, we must read the surrounding text. How do others understand this