Greek words rendered as "end" at Mt 24:14; 28:20

[Vladislav Kotenko]

Hello,

Could anyone please tell me whether there is a difference between Greek words τέλος (tel'-os) and συντελείας (soon-tel'-i-ah) used at Matthew 24:14 and 28:20 respectively? Can they refer to the same thing? Do they have the same derivation?

Kind regards,
Vlad Kotenko

[Stephen Hughes]

Καὶ κηρυχθήσεται τοῦτο τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ εἰς μαρτύριον πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· καὶ τότε ἥξει τὸ τέλος.

διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν· καὶ ἰδού, ἐγὼ μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος. Ἀμήν.

Wecome to Greek. You have come to the right language to look at deeper questions of understanding the text of New Testament and of the LXX.

Many people begin their interest in Greek in response to a claim that they have heard someone make about how to understand the meaning of a text or concept in the New Testament. Learning enough Greek to be able to make your own stand in whatever storms that might come is no easy thing. Exploring one particular point or theme exhaustively is good for one thing from one point of view, but not very flexible. It is like learning to drive from home to the supermarket and back in the dead of night in good conditions. Throw in a complication, or ask them to drive to anywhere other than the supermarket and they are lost.

It is much better to be a quiet poor driver capable of any and all reasonable situations than to be a robot-like expert in just one point. I'm encouraging you to get a rounded general knowledge in addition to the particular point that you are asking.

If I were reading καὶ τότε ἥξει τὸ τέλος in Matthew 24:14 and ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος in Matthew 28:20, I would look at τὸ τέλος and say that that "end" was capable of being the subject of a verb, so, it has the capacity to do or achieve something. The τὸ τέλος is expressed as something that is going to get something done, perhaps make a change.

That is different from the other "end" in the prepositional phrase ἕως (+ genitive of place [a boundary / border] or time [a point of time NOT a duration of time]) "until".

Do you know the meaning of the word αἰών [αἰών, -ῶνος, ὁ]? Well, it means "age", and that is a long period of time, viz. a duration of time. ἕως "until" is suitable for the words ἐγὼ μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰμι "I am with you", but it would be strange to put ἕως "until" directly together with τοῦ αἰῶνος "age" because that is a long duration of time.

συντελεία, then performs a similar function in languge as "cup" does "in a cup of water". In English, there are countable and uncountable nouns, and ther are words that allow uncountable words to function conceptually as countable, eg. "head of cattle", "piece of cake", "glass of water". ἕως needs a boundary not an expanse, and συντελεία "changes" the (2D) expanse of αἰών to a (1D) boundary.

Can they refer to the same thing?

Perhaps, but they are not intentionally being equated in the text. "Swim to the shore" and "The shore supports a different ecosystem" could be said to be referring to the same "shore", but nobody would immediately put those together to say "moving through the water changes the ecosystem in which we operate", would they?

Do they have the same derivation?

I don't understand what you are asking.

[cwconrad]

Do they have the same derivation?

I don't understand what you are asking.

My guess is that you are asking about the element τελ- in the two nouns τέλος and συντέλεια. Yes, the same root τελ- appears in both nouns, but (a) most of us in the B-Greek community are somewhat skeptical of relying upon etymological factors for understanding usage in particular texts, and (b( that root element (τελ-) is not to be explained simply as an equivalent of English "end." English "end" certainly does overlap senses of τελ- in Greek words in which that root is found, senses such as "termination of a process," "stop,close," "goal, purpose." But it is worth your while to explore the full entry for these words in a good, unabridged lexicon such as BDAG or LSJ, noting the full range of senses set forth by the lexicographer and also looking closely at the contexts of each reference citation for the different usages.

Since this is your first post to the forum, we really don't know much about you or your degree of competence in Biblical Greek. Stephen Hughes and I have both responded to you on the basis of assumptions about you that may not be valid. Suffice it to say that your question is one that cannot be answered simply and whether you can make sense of our answers depends upon how much Greek you have already learned. Newcomers to this forum ordinarily tell us something about themselves in the sub forum entitled, "Introductions." If you'd tell us something about yourself and your experience with Biblical Greek, it will help us to respond to your questions or comments.

[Stephen Hughes]

Another exmple of this in relation to space is:

Καὶ ἀποστελεῖ τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ μετὰ σάλπιγγος φωνῆς μεγάλης, καὶ ἐπισυνάξουσιν τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων ἀνέμων, ἀπ’ ἄκρων οὐρανῶν ἕως ἄκρων αὐτῶν.

The sky is vast, and the "ends" ἄκρων of the sky is its boundary. The ἕως extends the action all the way to its furtherest ends.

[leonardjayawardena]

Hello,

Could anyone please tell me whether there is a difference between Greek words τέλος (tel'-os) and συντελείας (soon-tel'-i-ah) used at Matthew 24:14 and 28:20 respectively? Can they refer to the same thing? Do they have the same derivation?

Kind regards,
Vlad Kotenko

If you are asking whether τὸ τέλος and ἡ συντελεία τοῦ αἰῶνος in Matthew 24:14 and 28:20 respectively refer to the same point of time prophetically, the simple answer is yes. τὸ τέλος and ἡ συντελεία τοῦ αἰῶνος are used interchangeably in vv. 3, 6 and 14 in Matthew 24. Since ἡ συντελεία τοῦ αἰῶνος has a uniform meaning throughout the New Testament, we have the equation τὸ τέλος in Matthew 24:14 = ἡ συντελεία τοῦ αἰῶνος in Matthew 28:20.

However, τέλος in the NT is not always identical with ἡ συντελεία τοῦ αἰῶνος , even in a prophetic context. Mt. 24:13-14 reads

13ὁ δὲ ὑπομείνας εἰς τέλος οὗτος σωθήσεται. 14καὶ κηρυχθήσεται τοῦτο τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ εἰς μαρτύριον πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, καὶ τότε ἥξει τὸ τέλος.

The second τέλος is the equivalent of ἡ συντελεία τοῦ αἰῶνος but the first τέλος is not. It rather refers to the end of the earthly life of each believer (cf. John 13:1: Πρὸ δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς τοῦ πάσχα εἰδὼς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι ἦλθεν αὐτοῦ ἡ ὥρα ἵνα μεταβῇ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ἀγαπήσας τοὺς ἰδίους τοὺς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ εἰς τέλος ἠγάπησεν αὐτούς, where τέλος refers to the end of Jesus' earthly life).