ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – FAIR TRADE FOR PROFIT –  YATANA’  יותנא 

Philippians 1:21: “For to me to live [is] Christ, and to die [is] gain.”

All my life when I faced a crisis I sought the peace of God but I was often was very unsuccessful in finding that peace until God finally put things together.   I would put faith and trust in God.  I would tell myself: “Come, we shan’t be worried, God has it all together. I will trust Him.”   That would last for a few minutes and then all the fear and worry would come flooding back as if a dam burst. 

I thought about a friend of mine who is a missionary in China.  He has no mission board behind him, he just trusted God to meet his financial need.  He works with the underground church and many times faces dangerous situations.  He reminds me of the Apostle Paul.  I wondered how he could face such trials and test of faith.  That was when Philippians 1:21 came to mind.  The Greek is very revealing.  Paul is saying that to live is Christ to die is gain.  Our immediate understanding is that heaven is better than anything on earth.  But the idea of heaven is little comfort when confronting the problems of the day. I may not have these problems in the sweet by and by but I an still alive and I still must face these problems now and could use that peace right now. That word gain in the Greek is very interesting. It is the word kerdos.  This is a gain through a fair trade.  How can you gain or profit from a fair trade? 

Remember as a kid during lunch hour you opened your lunch to find your mother gave you a salami sandwich.  You hate salami.  You notice your classmate making a face at his tuna fish sandwich.  He hates tuna fish. But you love tuna fish.  Come to find out your classmate loves salami so you agree to a fair trade, a sandwich for a sandwich and you both profit because you end up with something much better.  That is kerdos.  That is why my friend in China finds such peace in his work.  He traded his life for the life of Christ. A life for a life except he profited from it.  His life and comforts were no longer his, they belonged to Christ and if he suffered discomfort, it was not his life that was suffering.

When we give us lives to Christ it is kerdos, a fair trade. Whatever happens in a crisis is going to be according to God’s will and desires and if it turns out to be our worst fears, so be it.  With that attitude, I there is peace, because, it is not our lives we are playing around with anymore, it belongs to God and by faith, we will let Him do whatever He wants to do with it. If it is sunshine or rain, poverty or wealth, fame or humiliation, it is no longer our call we made a fair trade with God.  

But wait, let me share with you a deeper truth in the Aramaic.  This was the native language of Paul.  Gain in Aramaic is the word yatana’.  It’s meaning is identical to the Greek word kerdos with one caveat.  Tracing this word to its Semitic root we find it also has the meaning of joining together to become one.  In the Aramaic I would render or paraphrase this verse as: “For me, I am living the life of Christ and when I die I will become one with Him which is a gain because I will no longer be subject to these human, fleshly problems.”

This gain or yatana’  is not a mansion in heaven, not peace and joy and pearly gates, it is finally shaking off the flesh and becoming truly one with Jesus.  Sharing in all the peace, joy and power that He possesses because the two shall become as one. I think I am finally beginning to understand it.