When Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, “I will make you fishers of men,” do you picture an individual sitting on the edge of a pier with a rod and reel? Or do you imagine a group of fishermen leaning over the side of a boat, each one holding their part of a large net?
More importantly, which kind of fishing came to the disciples’ minds?
YOU OR Y’ALL?
Western Christians often imagine the individual on the pier. Why? First, translators often flatten the distinction between second-person singular and second-person plural pronouns—between “you” and “you all.” Matthew 4:19 uses the second-person plural pronoun. So Jesus’ words could be translated, “I will make you all fishers of men.” The change is slight, but significant.
But translation isn’t the only explanation. We also have to consider the cultural intuitions of those raised in the West. Might some of us occasionally read our own individualistic presuppositions into the Bible? It’s certainly possible.
Scores of mission texts in the New Testament employ those same plural pronouns. For example, Acts 1:8 could rightly be, “You all are witnesses.” Jesus’ earlier declaration should be, “You all are the light of the world “(Matt. 5:14).. First–century believers hearing
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