Several years ago I began studying the account of the miracle of the loaves and fishes in the Gospel of Matthew (Matt. 14:13-23). Scholars have long suspected there was something unique about the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Of all the miracles attributed to the man known in the Bible as Jesus of Nazareth, this is the only one included in all four gospels. Further, it is a miracle that Jesus, as the demonstrator, performed not once, but twice -- on another occasion four thousand people were fed in much the same manner (Matt. 15:32-39). It was as if the demonstrator of the miracle was saying "Watch carefully and make no mistake. I will show this carefully for all to see, and repeat it -- so that you will see how to do this for yourselves." And would we not expect this? The demonstrator, and others like him, have always said that others "would do even greater things." Is it not logical that a master miracle worker would not only perform the miracle, but also show us how to do it ourselves? Every wise person knows that it is good to feed a hungry person a fish, but far better to show the person how to fish. Would we not expect to find a lesson somewhere in the teachings that gives specific instructions for the technique of manifestation that is demonstrated so well on this and other occasions? With this in mind, I looked hard at the words in Matthew's account and thought about them for days. But as I studied the miracle carefully, I found few clues as to the method behind the miracle. The standard King James Version seems little more than a sketchy description:

13 When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: And when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.

14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.

15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, "This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals."

16 But Jesus said unto them, "THEY NEED NOT DEPART; GIVE YE THEM TO EAT."

17 And they say unto him, "We have here but five loaves, and two fishes."

18 He said, "BRING THEM HITHER TO ME."

19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

20 And they did all eat, and were filled: And they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

22 And straightaway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

Pouring over these words, I felt as though I had reached a barrier. Nothing conclusive was gained. Then came my big break: In a final attempt to glean all possible information contained within the text, I began to translate the passage for myself using the original Greek words which the author of Matthew used to craft the manuscript.

It was a fascinating and somewhat frustrating process, for Greek does not translate readily into English. In fact, it would be accurate to say that translating Greek is a rather tricky and difficult matter, requiring careful attention to detail, as well as deference and respect for the original author's intent.

Greek is a particularly deep and complex language. It is the language of one of the most sophisticated cultures in history, a language developed and used by philosophical geniuses like Plato and Socrates and Aristotle. It is the language of an ancient civilization -- and a way of thinking -- separated from us in time by thousands of years.

The words of this ancient language can contain multiple layers of highly subtle innuendo. Even trained scholars struggle over translation details. To better grasp this critical point, consider the first phrase in the first sentence of the Gospel of John, which is traditionally translated, "In the beginning was the Word...." If you research this phrase, you will find that the original Greek says "In the beginning was the logos." Although traditional translations such as the King James Version contain no hint whatsoever of the depth of the term logos, a quick look at a standard Greek to English dictionary -- such as the one found in Strong's Concordance -- reveals the following.

logos, log'-os; from 3004; something said (including the thought); by impl. a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extens. a computation; spec. (with the art. in John) the Divine Expression (i.e. Christ):-account, cause, communication, x concerning, doctrine, fame, x have to do, intent, matter, mouth, preaching, question, reason, + reckon, remove, say (-ing), shew, x speaker, speech, talk, thing, + none of these things move me, tidings, treatise, utterance, word, work.

It is interesting to note that the term "word" is listed at the very end of this maze of complex information, almost as an afterthought. And yet for reasons that are entirely unclear, medieval scholars somehow deemed it appropriate to "simplify" translation to this single term.

Now, as confusing and ambiguous as the information in Strong's Concordance may be, things only become more complicated with deeper study. If you look up the term logos in Eliade's Encyclopedia of Religion and Philosophy you will find that there are a full twelve pages on this term. At its most superficial level, logos can refer to a spoken or written word. But more importantly, logos refers to that which gives rise to words, which is, of course, thought. Further, logos can refer to the creative cause-and-effect relationship between thoughts and words, and more generally, to the creative power of thoughts to manifest events and circumstances.

Thus, the phrase in John could be better translated, "In the beginning was a thought with powerful potential, a creative intent that ultimately gave rise to the entire universe." Logos was a critical philosophical term used six hundred years before the advent of Christianity by the philosopher Heraclitis. Heraclitis believed that all that manifested in the universe was the direct result of interactions between the great opposites, light and dark, male and female, hot and cold - an ideology strikingly similar to Taoism. The way in which Heraclitis defined logos was incorporated into the substrate of the Greek language. Subsequent use of this term was never completely free of his influence. John almost certainly knew this when writing his gospel. But in the standard Biblical translation, you have been told only that logos means "word." Can you begin to see how much you might be missing as you read other passages in standard translations? As you will find in the pages that follow, the same depth applies to many of the terms Matthew used to write the Alpha Passage. As we dissect and study these terms carefully in the following pages, I am confident you will agree that the Alpha Passage contains a wealth of information on the actual technique used to set up and enact the miracle. This is information that is highly practical, information that you can begin to use now to enact your own miracle and enter the dimension of heaven.

by Dr. Michael Abrams
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