In another essay I contrasted 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 and Revelation 2:26-29. I’ve wanted to return to the latter for a while. Here is a table representing my unstudied view of the relationship of its clauses in English.
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Revelation 2:26-29 (NET) |
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| And to the one who conquers | and | who continues in my deeds until the end, |
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I will give him authority over the nations – |
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| he will rule them with an iron rod | and | like clay jars he will break them to pieces, |
| just as I have received the right to rule from my Father – | and | I will give him the morning star. |
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The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches. |
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To begin I’ll consider who continues in my deeds until the end, because it tugs the hardest at me to return to my own works. As the title of this essay suggests my goal is to understand what Jesus meant by τὰ ἔργα μου, translated my deeds. But first I’ll look into τηρῶν (a form of τηρέω), translated who continues.
The most basic understanding of τηρῶν is: Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose (τηρῶν, a form of τηρέω) his clothes so that he will not have to walk around naked and his shameful condition be seen.[1] It means to keep, not to lose or discard. He who has My commandments and keeps (τηρῶν, a form of τηρέω) them, Jesus said, is the one who loves Me.[2]
In another essay I described shacking-up “with my girlfriend du jour” as a time when “I began to walk in the grace of Christ’s salvation.” Of course, I shacked up with my girlfriend because I was trying to believe that Christ put an “end” to the law and all things were “lawful” for me. In other words, I was attempting to lose or discard Jesus’ commandments (ignoring for the moment that the main “commandment” at issue in my mind was the suspect “sin of premarital sex”).
Jesus wasn’t perplexed by my conundrum. Suddenly I was filled with desire to write a rock opera about Him. I became immersed in the words of the four Gospel narratives. Among those words was: He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. Though I read the word keeps, I heard the word obeys. I thought keeps meant obeys at that time: The person who has my commandments and obeys (τηρῶν, a form of τηρέω) them is the one who loves me.[3]
So when I married my roommate, though I had certainly fallen away from grace since I was trying to be declared righteous by the law,[4] I was done for the moment with my attempt to lose or discard Jesus’ commandments. I can’t say I was obeying them. Obedience apart from grace is hypocrisy, an actor playing at righteousness.
The Circle in the movie of the same name is a religious cult/high-tech company. There are many spoilers here. During a weekly worship service called Dream Friday tech evangelist Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), one of the founders, introduces a new low-cost, wireless, internet-enabled camera to the faithful, called Circlers. These cameras, connected to The Circle, are being placed all over the world. “There needs to be accountability,” Eamon preaches. “Tyrants and terrorists can no longer hide. We will see them. We will hear them. We will hear and see everything. If it happens, we’ll know. We’re calling it SeeChange.”
A new employee Mae Holland (Emma Watson) sits in the congregation drinking the Kool-Aid (as she admits to another Circler later in the film). “We will see it all because knowing is good,” Eamon proclaims, “but knowing everything is better.”
“We need accountability. We need openness,” Tom Stenton (Patton Oswalt), COO of The Circle, concurs as he introduces Congresswoman Olivia Santos (Judy Reyes) at another worship service. “I intend to show exactly how democracy can and should be,” Congresswoman Santos thrills Tom’s congregation. “Starting today, my every meeting, my every phone call and email will be accessible to my constituents and to the world in real time.”
“Hello, democracy! Open and accountable!” Tom seals the deal.
One night SeaChange cameras and monitoring help save Mae’s life after a misguided kayaking accident. Tom and Eamon counsel her after the incident. “I am a believer in the perfectibility of human beings,” Eamon admits. “When we are our best selves, the possibilities are endless. There isn’t a problem that we cannot solve. We can cure any disease, and we can end hunger.” Mae is a repentant convert. “Without secrets,” Eamon concludes, “without the hoarding of knowledge and information, we can finally realize our potential.”
“I committed a crime” Mae confesses before the Circlers. “I borrowed a kayak without the owner’s knowledge, paddled out to the middle of the bay and I wasn’t wearing a life jacket.”
“So, Mae,” Eamon asks, “do you think you behave better or worse when you are being watched?”
“Better. Without a doubt.”
“What happens when you’re alone and unobserved?”
“Well, for starters, I steal kayaks. Seriously, I do things I don’t wanna do. I lie…secrets are lies. Secrets are what make crimes possible. We behave worse when we’re not accountable. I was my worst self because I didn’t think anyone was watching. I thought that I was alone…Knowledge is a basic human right. Access to all possible human experience is a basic human right…From now on I’ll be wearing a modified SeeChange camera at all times. I’m going fully transparent.”
My personal logline for The Circle is “Cyber-bullying with a great warm smile.” But the attempt to drive a preachy plot with a series of worship services didn’t fare any better for a mainstream movie than it does for a Christian film. And when Tom and Eamon bully Mae in front of the congregation into becoming complicit in her friend’s accidental death, she doesn’t rise up and race against the clock and certain death to consume The Circle in slow-motion fireballs. The Circle is not presented as evil through Mae’s eyes but as a necessary good.
From the beginning she believed that the needs of society and the needs of the individual are the same. “When someone dies in a plane crash,” she explains to her disbelieving parents, clinging desperately to their sick old ideas of personal privacy, “you don’t abandon planes. You make them safer.” And with the self-assurance that “I’m the only one who can do this,” Mae flips the script on Eamon and Tom, becomes high priestess of the cult and leads the Circlers into the light.
Still, I enjoyed the film’s depiction of the religious mind in a non-theistic context. And it was a welcome reminder that forced righteousness under an ever-watchful eye is not the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe.[5] The table below contrasts the NASB and NET translations of John 14:21.
| NASB |
NET |
| He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. | The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him. |
Though keeps may be a lower standard than obeys, the flow here is still fairly clear and appears that there is something one must do before Jesus will disclose or will reveal Himself to that person, not to mention love. I looked into ἐμφανίσω (a form of ἐμφανίζω) the Greek word translated will disclose and will reveal. It only occurred this once, so I made a table of all the forms of ἐμφανίζω.
| Form of ἐμφανίζω | Reference | KJV |
NET |
| ἐμφανίσατε | Acts 23:15 | …ye with the council signify to the chief captain… | …you and the council request the commanding officer… |
| ἐμφανίσω | John 14:21 | …I will love him, and will manifest myself to him… | …I will love him and will reveal myself to him. |
| ἐμφανισθῆναι | Hebrews 9:24 | …to appear in the presence of God for us… | …and he appears now in God’s presence for us. |
| ἐμφανίζειν | John 14:22 | …thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? | …you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world? |
| ἐμφανίζουσιν | Hebrews 11:14 | …they that say such things declare plainly… | …those who speak in such a way make it clear… |
| ἐνεφάνισαν | Acts 24:1 | …who informed the governor against Paul. | …they brought formal charges against Paul to the governor. |
| Acts 25:2 | Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him… | So the chief priests and the most prominent men of the Jews brought formal charges against Paul to him. | |
| Acts 25:15 | …the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me… | …the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him… | |
| ἐνεφάνισας | Acts 23:22 | See thou tell no man that thou hast showed these things to me. | Tell no one that you have reported these things to me. |
| ἐνεφανίσθησαν | Matthew 27:53 | …and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. | …and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. |
The most basic meaning is to appear in person (Hebrews 9:24; Matthew 27:53). And that sense was certainly true in John 14:21 and 22: After his resurrection Jesus appeared (ἐφανερώθη, a form of φανερόω) in a different form to two of them while they were on their way to the country.[6] Then he appeared (ἐφανερώθη, a form of φανερόω) to the eleven themselves, while they were eating…[7] After this Jesus revealed (ἐφανέρωσεν, another form of φανερόω) himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias.[8] This was now the third time Jesus was revealed (ἐφανερώθη, a form of φανερόω) to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.[9] But not once did He reveal Himself in person to Ananias, Caiaphas, the Pharisees (other than Saul) or the experts in the law after his resurrection.
“Lord, what then has happened” Judas (not Iscariot) asked, “that You are going to disclose (ἐμφανίζειν, another form of ἐμφανίζω) Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me [e.g., if anyone has My commandments and keeps them], he will keep (τηρήσει, another form of τηρέω) My word (λόγον, a form of λόγος); and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me [e.g., does not have or keep My commandments] does not keep (τηρεῖ, another form of τηρέω) My words (λόγους, another form of λόγος); and the word (λόγος) which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.[10]
I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, Jesus said. But you want to kill me, because my teaching (λόγος) makes no progress among you[11] (NASB: My word has no place in you). And, Having no regard for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition…Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.[12] In other words, they did not keep his word or his commandments and He did not disclose or reveal Himself to them by a personal appearance after his resurrection.
There are five other occurrences (Acts 23:15, 22; 24:1; 25:2, 15) of forms of ἐμφανίζω which included personal appearance but the communication of certain information was also of key importance. I’ll highlight two of them because they remind me of my own experience studying the Bible.
The chief priests and the most prominent men of the Jews brought formal charges (ἐνεφάνισαν, another form of ἐμφανίζω) against Paul to[13] Festus, the Roman governor. Describing those charges Festus said (Acts 25:15-19 NET):
When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed (ἐνεφάνισαν, another form of ἐμφανίζω) me about [Paul], asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before the accused had met his accusers face to face and had been given an opportunity to make a defense against the accusation. So after they came back here with me, I did not postpone the case, but the next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered the man to be brought. When his accusers stood up, they did not charge him with any of the evil deeds (πονηρῶν, a form of πονηρός) I had suspected. Rather they had several points of disagreement with him about their own religion (δεισιδαιμονίας, a form of δεισιδαιμονία) and about a man named Jesus who was dead, whom Paul claimed to be alive.
In Jerusalem the information Festus received from the chief priests and the elders of the Jews formed an image in his mind based largely on his own knowledge and experience—the evil deeds I had suspected. On further examination at trial in Caesarea Festus’ erroneous ideas were corrected—they had several points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a man named Jesus who was dead, whom Paul claimed to be alive. Though Festus received more information and even some more clarity about Paul’s situation, he acknowledged: I was at a loss how I could investigate these matters…[14] My point here is that the information, and understanding the information presented, had taken precedence over the personal appearance aspects of ἐμφανίζω.
Finally, one occurrence of a form of ἐμφανίζω referenced people of the past, known only through Scripture: These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth. For those who speak [e.g., through words recorded in the Bible] in such a way make it clear (ἐμφανίζουσιν, another form of ἐμφανίζω) that they are seeking a homeland.[15] And it is in this way that I think Jesus’ words have meaning for me here and now. He will disclose or will reveal Himself to me through Scripture if I love Him, which means if I have his commandments and keep them.
So why was I filled with desire to write a rock opera about Jesus even as I attempted to lose or discard his commandments? Why wasn’t I filled with desire to write a rock opera about Aleister Crowley? I certainly knew of him. No one gets very deep into rock music without hearing about its patron saint. “Harm None, Do as You Will” was much closer to my mantra at that moment than anything Jesus had said.
Before Jesus said—He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me—He said—If you love Me, you will keep (τηρήσετε, another form of τηρέω) My commandments.[16] Then[17] he introduced the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 17 NASB).
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
If I remember that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,[18] then what Jesus said logically was:
- If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
- You will love Me (e.g., the fruit of the Spirit).
- Therefore, you will keep My commandments.
The simple answer to my question then is that I was filled with desire to write a rock opera about Jesus because his Holy Spirit is alive and well. Aleister Crowley is dead. (I’ll ignore for the moment that spirits which may or may not have influenced him are alive still. They obviously had little or no influence on me.) But what do I make of Jesus’ other statement? He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.
The implication here is that if I do not have and keep his commandments He will not disclose Himself to me. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, He also said, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.[19] How do I reconcile these two?
Do not extinguish the Spirit,[20] Paul wrote the Thessalonians without any explanation. I think I’ve found here one way to extinguish the Spirit (in me, not in anyone else); namely, to lose or discard Jesus’ commandments, whether deliberately by conscious rejection or holding fast instead to the traditions of human religion so that his teaching (λόγος) makes no progress in me. But if I were to teach others the traditions of human religion that nullify the word of God, though my power would be less than absolute, I might become instrumental in extinguishing the Spirit in them as well.
I’ll pick this up in another essay.
[4] Galatians 5:4 (NET) Table
[17] By adding then to the text the NET translators have made it seem as if Jesus said, If you love me and you keep my commandments then I will ask the Father… This then however does not make the second clause logically dependent on the first two. It is simply an irregular translation of (καγὼ, a form of κἀγώ) and means no more than Jesus said this then He said that as they acknowledge in a footnote 36.
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