Passing away (3855) (parago from para = beside, by + ago = lead) means literally to pass alongside or to pass by. Thayer writes that parago has two senses in the NT... 1. transitive, (cf. para = beside); a. to lead past, lead by. b. to lead aside, mislead; to lead away. c. to lead to; to lead forth, bring forward. 2. intransitive, a. to pass by, go past (Mt 20:30, Mk 2:14, 15:21, Mk 1:16) b. to depart, go away: (Jn 8:59. Metaphorically, to pass away, disappear: (1Co 7:31, Ps 144:5, in the passive voice with this same sense 1Jn 2:8, 17) Thus in the present context parago means essentially to go out of existence or cease to exist. John used parago with this same sense earlier in this letter writing... On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. (1Jn 2:8) Parago - 10 uses in the NT... Matthew 9:9 And as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man, called Matthew, sitting in the tax office; and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he rose, and followed Him. Matthew 9:27 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, and saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" NET Bible note: Have mercy on us is a request for healing. It is not owed to the men. They simply ask for God's kind grace. There was a tradition in Judaism that the Son of David (Solomon) had great powers of healing (Josephus, Ant. 8.2.5 [8.42—49]). (NET Bible) Matthew 20:30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" Mark 1:16 And as He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. NET Bible note: This is a parenthetical comment by the author. he tax booth was a booth located on the edge of a city or town to collect taxes for trade. There was a tax booth in Capernaum, which was on the trade route from Damascus to Galilee and the Mediterranean. The "taxes" were collected on produce and goods brought into the area for sale, and were a sort of "sales tax" paid by the seller but obviously passed on to the purchaser in the form of increased prices (L&N 57.183). It was here that Jesus met Levi (also named Matthew [see Matt 9:9]) who was ultimately employed by the Romans, though perhaps more directly responsible to Herod Antipas. It was his job to collect taxes for Rome and he was thus despised by Jews who undoubtedly regarded him as a traitor. (NET Bible) Mark 2:14 And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he rose and followed Him. NET Bible note: There was a tax booth in Capernaum, which was on the trade route from Damascus to Galilee and the Mediterranean. The "taxes" were collected on produce and goods brought into the area for sale, and were a sort of "sales tax" paid by the seller but obviously passed on to the purchaser in the form of increased prices (L&N 57.183). It was here that Jesus met Levi (also named Matthew [see Mt 9:9]) who was ultimately employed by the Romans, though perhaps more directly responsible to Herod Antipas. It was his job to collect taxes for Rome and he was thus despised by Jews who undoubtedly regarded him as a traitor. (NET Bible) Mark 15:21 And they pressed into service (conscripted) a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross. NET Bible note: Jesus was beaten severely with a whip before this (the prelude to crucifixion, known to the Romans as verberatio, mentioned in Mt 27:26, Mk 15:15, Jn 19:1), so he would have been weak from trauma and loss of blood. Apparently He was unable to bear the cross Himself, so Simon was conscripted to help (in all probability this was only the crossbeam, called in Latin the patibulum, since the upright beam usually remained in the ground at the place of execution). Cyrene was located in North Africa where Tripoli is today. Nothing more is known about this Simon. (NET Bible) John 9:1 And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. NET Bible note: Since there is no break with John 8, Jesus is presumably still in Jerusalem, and presumably not still in the temple area. The events of John 9 fall somewhere between the feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2) and the feast of the Dedication (John 10:22). But in the author’s narrative the connection exists - the incident recorded in chap. 9 (along with the ensuing debates with the Pharisees) serves as a real-life illustration of the claim Jesus made in 8:12, I am the light of the world. This is in fact the probable theological motivation behind the juxtaposition of these two incidents in the narrative. The second serves as an illustration of the first, and as a concrete example of the victory of light over darkness. One other thing which should be pointed out about the miracle recorded in John 9 is its messianic significance. In the OT it is God himself who is associated with the giving of sight to the blind (Ex4:11, Ps 146:8). In a number of passages in Isa 29:18, 35:5, 42:7 it is considered to be a messianic activity. (NET Bible) 1 Corinthians 7:31 and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away. 1 John 2:8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him (Jesus Christ) and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. NET Bible note: The reference to the darkness…passing away and the true light…already shining is an allusion to John 1:5, 1:9, and 8:12. Because the author sees the victory of light over darkness as something already begun, he is writing Jesus’ commandment to love one another to the readers as a reminder to (1) hold fast to what they have already heard (see 1Jn 2:7) and (2) not be influenced by the teaching of the opponents. (NET Bible) 1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. Parago - 9 times in the non-apocryphal Septuagint (LXX) - 1Sa 16:9, 10; 20:36; 2Sa 15:18; Ezra 9:2; Neh 2:7; Ps 129:8; 144:4; Eccl 11:10. There is one use of parago that is similar to John's use in 1Jn 2:17... Psalm 144:4 Man is like a mere breath. His days are like a passing (Lxx = parago) shadow. (NET Bible note: Hebrew = "his days [are] like a shadow that passes away," that is, like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. Cp Ps 102:11-Spurgeon's note) Spurgeon comments: He is nothing, he pretends to be something, he is soon gone, he ends in nothing as to this life; yet there is a light somewhere. Adam is like to Abel (Hebrew means a breath, vanity, vapor, transitoriness, fading away, withering). He is like that which is nothing at all. He is actually vain, and he resembles that unsubstantial empty thing which is nothing but a blown up nothing, -- a puff, a bubble. Yet he is not vanity, but only like it. He is not so substantial as that unreal thing; he is only the likeness of it. Lord, what is a man? (Ps 8:4-Spurgeon's note) It is wonderful that God should think of such a pretentious insignificance. He is so short lived that he scarcely attains to years, but exists by the day, like the ephemera (Spurgeon undoubtedly is referring to the Day-fly, a fly that lives one day only, but the word is applied also to insects that are very short-lived, whether they live several days or an hour only. The ultimate picture is something of no lasting significance), whose birth and death are both seen by the self same sun. His life is only like to a shadow, which is in itself a vague resemblance, an absence of something rather than in itself an existence. Observe that human life is not only as a shade, but as a shade which is about to depart. It is a mere mirage, the image of a thing which is not, a phantasm which melts back into nothing. How is it that the Eternal should make so much of mortal man, who begins to die as soon as he begins to live? The connection of the two verses before us with the rest of the psalm is not far to seek: David trusts in God and finds him everything; he looks to man and sees him to be nothing; and then he wonders how it is that the great Lord can condescend to take notice of such a piece of folly and deceit as man. Bellarmine -- The shadows of the mountains are constantly shifting their position during the day, and ultimately disappear altogether on the approach of night: so is it with man who is every day advancing to the moment of his final departure from this world. George Swinnock -- As he that goes to a fair, with a purse full of money, is devising and debating with himself how to lay it out -- possibly thinking that such and such commodities will be most profitable, and bring him in the greatest gain -- when on a sudden a cut purse comes and eases him both of his money and care how to dispose of it. Surely you might have taken notice how some of thy neighbors or countrymen, when they have been busy in their contrivances, and big with many plots and projects how to raise their estate and names and families, were arrested by death in a moment, returned to their earth, and in that day all their gaiety, their great thoughts perished, and came to nothing. The heathen historian could not but observe how Alexander the Great, when he had to carry on his great designs, summoned a parliament before him of the whole world, he was himself summoned by death to appear in the other world. The Dutch, therefore, very wittily to express the world's vanity, picture at Amsterdam a man with a full blown bladder on his shoulders, and another standing by pricking the bladder with a pin, with this motto, quam subito, How soon is all blown down! Joseph Caryl -- When Cain was born, there was much ado about his birth; "I have gotten a man child from God", saith his mother: she looked upon him as a great possession, and therefore called his name Cain, which signifies "a possession." But the second man that was born unto the world bare the title of the world, "vanity"; his name was Abel, that is, "vanity." A premonition was given in the name of the second man what would or should be the condition of all men. In Psalms 144:4 there is an allusion unto those two names. We translate it, "Man is like to vanity"; the Hebrew is, "Adam is as Abel"; Adam, you know, was the name of the first man, the name of Abel's father; but as Adam was the proper name of the first, so it is an appellative, or common to all men: now Adam, that is, man of all men, are Abel, vain, and walking in a vain show. Thomas Raffles (1788-1863) -- With what idle dreams, what foolish plans, what vain pursuits, are men for the most part occupied! They undertake dangerous expeditions and difficult enterprises in foreign countries, and they acquire fame; but what is it? -- Vanity! They pursue deep and abstruse speculations, and give themselves to that "much study which is a weariness to the flesh", and they attain to literary renown, and survive in their writings; but what is it? -- Vanity! They rise up early, and sit up late, and eat the bread of anxiety and care, and thus they amass wealth; but what is it? -- Vanity! They frame and execute plans and schemes of ambition -- they are loaded with honours and adorned with titles -- they afford employment for the herald, and form a subject for the historian; but what is it? -- Vanity! In fact, all occupations and pursuits are worthy of no other epithet, if they are not preceded by, and connected with, a deep and paramount regard to the salvation of the soul, the honour of God, and the interests of eternity ... Oh, then, what phantoms, what airy nothings are those things that wholly absorb the powers and occupy the days of the great mass of mankind around us! Their most substantial good perishes in the using, and their most enduring realities are but "the fashion of this world that passeth away." Warren Wiersbe - What are we that God should pay any attention to us? Are we smart? I don't think so. Are we strong? Some animals are much stronger than we are. Are we righteous? No, we have sinned against God. Are we faithful? Too often we disobey Him. From the human point of view, there is no reason why God should pay any attention to us. "Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow" (Psalm 144:4). Compared to eternity, our lives are just a puff of smoke. They appear, and then they are gone. David’s position and reputation did not go to his head, for he asked, “Who am I that God should do this for me?” The statements in Ps 144:3,4 remind us of Ps 8:4, and this is a reminder that we need, especially when we think we can handle life without trusting God. The Hebrew word translated “breath” is habel, the name of one of Adam’s sons (Abel), and the word translated “vanity” thirty-eight times in Ecclesiastes. (See also Ps 39:4, 5, 6, 13; Ps 62:9; Ps 78:33; Ps 94:11.) The “shadow” image is found in Ps 102:11, 109:23, Job 8:9 and Job 14:2, and Ecclesiastes 6:12 and Eccl 8:13. How helpless we are without the Lord! (Wiersbe, W. W. Be Exultant. Page 208. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Cook Communications Ministries) (Bolding and color added) The brevity of our earthly life... A profitable subject for meditation. A rebuke to those who provide for this life alone. A trumpet call to prepare for eternity. An incentive to the Christian to make the best of this life for the glory of God. --J.F. Spurgeon - Passing away - It is only a puff, a phantom, a bubble, a mirage which will melt away as you try to approach it; there is nothing substantial in it. Does the will of God abides for ever. Not, “he that doeth some great thing to be seen of men, “ not, “ he that builds a row of almshouses, or leaves a great mass of money to charity when he dies, because he could not possibly carry it away with him, “not, “he that sounds a trumpet before him to let everybody know what a good man he is;” not, “he that must needs outdistance everybody else;” but, “he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” Obedience to the will of God is the pathway to perpetual honour and everlasting joy. A T Robertson = There is consolation in this view of the transitoriness of the conflict with the world. Even the lust which belongs to the world passes also. The one who keeps on doing ([poiōn] present active participle of [poieō]) the will of God “abides for ever” ([menei eis ton aiōna]) “amid the flux of transitory things” (D. Smith). (Word Pictures in the New Testament) Kenneth Wuest - The verb (parago) is in the passive voice. The world is being caused to pass by. That is, God is causing the world to come to its end. It is being caused to pass by in a vain (futile) show, this parade of the world. But, John says, “The one who keeps on habitually doing the will of God abides forever.” (see amplification of this idea below) (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans) (Bolding and italics added) Adam Clarke writes that also its lusts includes... their vain pursuits, and delusive pleasures, are passing away in their successive generations, and their very memory perishes "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/1john_217_commentary.htm#pa