What does "fulfil a prophecy" mean?

[Lucian]

Really? Can you tell me:

a. The wrong end of the stick
b. The right end of the stick

Sure: you have claimed that I asked you to define 'fulfil', and that I suggested that I didn't understand the locution 'fulfil a prophecy'. But in fact I asked you what Jesus meant by 'fulfil' in Matthew 5:17, and suggested that I didn't understand the locution 'complete a prophecy', which you volunteered by way of a response.

At this point I strongly suspect you will just ignore this question, but I hope I am wrong.

Evidently, you are, and not for the first time.

I fully accept I could have misunderstood here, but I am not seeing much if any attempt by you to set me straight, only to tell me I am wrong, which is really not helpful.

I've already 'set you straight', of course, and there's no 'could': you've badly misunderstood me, due to negligence (to be charitable) on your part. What you see is another matter.

 

[The Pixie]

Sure: you have claimed that I asked you to define 'fulfil', and that I suggested that I didn't understand the locution 'fulfil a prophecy'. But in fact I asked you what Jesus meant by 'fulfil' in Matthew 5:17, and suggested that I didn't understand the locution 'complete a prophecy', which you volunteered by way of a response.

So you are still pretending this is because I did not say 'complete a prophecy' means 'fulfil a prophecy', despite the fact that I originally said

I think "fulfill" means to complete a prophecy, because that is what the dictionary tells me the word means.

Did you read that post?

All your questions about what 'complete a prophecy' means came AFTER that post.

Can you see why I got hold of the wrong end of the stick? It was because that was the end you passed me.

From the other thread:

What does it mean to complete a prophecy?

Sometimes I wonder if you are deliberately being obtuse. Today is one of those days.

fulfil

1. to do something that is expected, hoped for, or promised, or to cause it to…

dictionary.cambridge.org

Was me giving the definition of "fulfil" not a clue that I mean 'complete a prophecy' means 'fulfil a prophecy'?

Yes, it was, because here is your reply:

Rather, I asked what you thought Jesus meant in Matthew 5:17 when he said that he had not come to destroy, but to fulfil. You told me that you think 'fulfil' here means 'complete a prophecy', but the meaning of that locution is unclear: what is it to complete a prophecy?

So you knew on the other thread by complete a prophecy I mean to fulfil it, and yet here you are in this thread pretending you only just learnt that.

 

[Lucian]

So you are still pretending this is because I did not say 'complete a prophecy' means 'fulfil a prophecy', despite the fact that I originally said

Again, there's no pretence needed: you only volunteered an explanation that you meant the latter term by the former in this thread, after a fashion.

Did you read that post?

Yep. You can assume I read all posts to which I respond.

All your questions about what 'complete a prophecy' means came AFTER that post.

Yep: after you use the phrase. They could hardly come before, no?

Can you see why I got hold of the wrong end of the stick? It was because that was the end you passed me.

I didn't, though, and blaming me for your misunderstanding, insults and slander is poor form. Still, it's progress, of a kind, that you admit you made a mistake.

From the other thread:



Was me giving the definition of "fulfil" not a clue that I mean 'complete a prophecy' means 'fulfil a prophecy'?

The only 'clue' it provided was to your belief (which you now apparently don't hold?) that I didn't understand the meaning of the word, as part of a wider attempt to denigrate me (n.b. you appended the definition to an insult). It provided no indication of what you meant by 'complete a prophecy', about which you were, and continued to be, avoidant.

In general, though: why engage in allusions, drop clues, and generally be avoidant, and then fault me for not inferring what you mean, when you could just provide a straightforward answer to a straightforward question? Haven't you criticised me for exhibiting, in your view, this very behaviour before?

Yes, it was, because here is your reply:


So you knew on the other thread by complete a prophecy I mean to fulfil it, and yet here you are in this thread pretending you only just learnt that.

Wrong: I knew in the other thread that you thought that, when Jesus says 'fulfil' in the context of Matthew 5:17, he means 'complete a prophecy'. But I had no idea what you meant by this phrase, and hence my question. It's only in this thread, after quite the performance (that's still going!), have you disclosed that by this strange locution you mean merely 'fulfil a prophecy'.