July 18th, 2026

If you have been following along with these writings, or if you have been going to church, you probably would know that this Sunday’s title is the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost. And with this year being the “A Series”, the Gospel Reading is from the Gospel according to Matthew, and it is a bit farther along than last week’s reading from the thirteenth chapter (13:1-9, 18-23). The first part of this week’s reading actually follows right after second part of the last week’s reading (13:24-30, 36-43). And Jesus continues to give other parables.

The plan is for this website to focus on the Word of God. With the writings of this website, we have currently been going through the Gospel according to John, a significantly different Gospel account when compared to the other three, but also one with a lot of good news. And we are much farther along in that account, getting closer to Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane. And we are taking a little bit of that account at a time, in the order in which it has been laid out, and we are not skipping any parts. And we are currently focusing on the words of Jesus, and he has been mentioning another “Paraclete” that is coming. That title literally means to call alongside, and the implication is that someone who is called to go alongside of you is helpful. That is who Jesus was. And that is also who the Holy Spirit is now.

It should be mentioned that we are going through that Gospel account with a unique translation called an EXTREMELY literal translation. If you are familiar with this style of translation, then you may wish to skip the next two paragraphs.

The first significant thing to mention regarding the description of this type of translation is that the chapter and verse numbers will not be included within the text itself. Both numbers were added quite later after the text was written, and they are certainly useful when someone is searching for a particular text, but the structure they imply is not always helpful. This pair of numerical designations makes the very beginning of the text important. There is always a first verse, and there is not always a fiftieth verse. With this structure, the focus tends to be on the beginning of the writing. The act of writing those verses is probably not the most important thing that the writer wants to get across to the reader. The biblical writers basically wanted the readers to focus on God and not on themselves. And the words are much more important than the numbers, and often those words lead the reader near the middle and/or the end of the text in some way, to give to the reader some structure to all the words being read.

It should also be noted that the words with hyphens occur when more than one English word is used to describe a single word of the ancient Greek. And it should also be noted that some of the words chosen below are meant to point out the close connection that often occurs between the English and Greek languages. (This can help to make the Greek language a bit easier to learn; and this time only “brotherly love” is mentioned and not “agape-love”.) It is also important to mention that the order of the words below is also the same order that is in the ancient Greek. This may help to show the important words, especially when another word besides the verb is first in the sentence or phrase. Sometimes this emphasis will be shown with a “(!)”. The exception to this translation order is that there are just a small number of words (like “therefore”, “now”) that are usually second in a sentence that are meant to be first when translated. And although it should be obvious, it should be said that repetition of words should be noted as another type of emphasis. One more thing to mention, although it does not happen in the text below, is that the verbs in capital letters are called HISTORICAL PRESENTS.  An historical present is when a verb in a past tense is expected, but a verb in the present tense is given. More detail regarding the historical present has been explained elsewhere in these writings, and it may be helpful to read some of the other writings of this website. With all of the above things to consider, it will probably be helpful to have another translation or a study bible nearby as you read the text below.

What follows is an EXTREMELY literal translation of a second part of the what has been called the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel according to John (15:18-27); Jesus is continuing to talk. And he talks A LOT. He talked about the other “Paraclete” in the previous chapter, and he brings that up again in this section. Again, these are Jesus’ words right before he was arrested and killed:

“If  the  cosmos,  you  it-hates,  know  that  me(!),  proton  you,  it-has-hated.  If  out-of  the  cosmos  you-were,  the  cosmos,  really,  the  own,  it-would-brotherly-love;  now  because  out-of  the  cosmos,  not  you-are,  but-on-the-contrary,  I,  I-chose-out  you,  out-of  the  cosmos,  on-account-of  this,  it-hates  you,  the  cosmos.”
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“Remember  the  logos  which  I,  I-said  to-you,  ‘Not  is  a-slave  greater-than  the  lord  of-him.’  If  me  they-persecuted,  also  you  they-will-persecute.  If  the  logos  of-me  they-kept,  also  the  yours,  they-will-keep.  But-on-the-contrary,  these-things,  all  they-will-do  into  you,  on-account-of  the  name  of-me,  because  not  they-recognize  the-one  having-sent  me.  If not  I-had-come  and  I-had-spoken  to-them,  sin  not  they-would-have.  Now  presently,  an-outward-showing  not  they-have  concerning  the  sin  of-them.  The  one,  me(!)  hating,  also  the  Pater  of-me,  he-hates.  If  the  works  not  I-had-done  in  them,  which  no-one  else  he-did,  sin  not  they-would-have.  Now  presently,  both  they-have-seen,  and  they-have-hated  both  me  and  the  Pater  of-me.  But-on-the-contrary,  in-order-that  it-may-be-fulfilled,  the  logos  which  in  the  law  of-them,  it-having-been-written,  that  ‘they-hated  me  freely’.  When  he-comes,  the  Paraclete  whom  I,  I-will-send  to-you,  from  the  Pater,  the  Pneuma  of-the  Truth,  which  from  the  Pater  he-travels-out,  that-one  he-will-witness  concerning  you;  now  also  you,  you-witness,  because  from  beginning  with  me  you-are.