Not Dead but Sleeping (Mark 5:39)

Prof. Bruce briefly looks at the difficult words of Jesus about the daughter of Jairus; “Not dead but sleeping.” These short articles on the difficult sayings of Jesus help us understand how to walk through a text of Scripture.

Summary: Background — did he mean sleeping? — did he mean dead, but not permanent? — “sleep” as figurative — two Greek words — conclusion.

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Frederick Fyvie Bruce (1910 – 1990) was Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester. He was born in Elgin, northern Scotland, and was educated at the University of Aberdeen, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Vienna. He wrote over thirty books and served as editor of The Evangelical Quarterly. He retired from teaching in 1978.

Bruce was a distinguished scholar, best known for his book, Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free. He also wrote commentaries on the Gospel of John, Acts, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and the Epistle to the Hebrews.

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This article first appeared in Hard Sayings of Jesus. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1983). It is reproduced here,  edited (with summary) exclusively for the Krapf Project by permission of F.F. Bruce, Copyright International, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, and Bath, England.