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I have no special credentials to pursue this, except that I'm not on any religion's payroll. I have no formal religious training. I have no visions or dreams to speak of. I have a kind of compulsion to study the Bible. I blame it on my father. Over and over he quoted Proverbs 4:7 to me as I grew up: Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; Yea, with all thy getting get understanding. I didn't always listen to my father when I was young. But now that I am old I am apparently incapable of not running his programing.

Romans, Part 90

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Paul wrote believers in Rome (Romans 15:28, 29 NET):

Therefore after I have completed this [contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem[1]] and have safely delivered this bounty to them, I will set out for Spain by way of you, and I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of Christ’s blessing.

The Greek word translated fullness was πληρώματι (a form of πλήρωμα).  Paul had written about his fellow countrymen: Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration (πλήρωμα; KJV: fulness) bring?[2]  For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?[3]

Elsewhere he wrote, when the appropriate (πλήρωμα; KJV: fulness) time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights.  And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!”[4]  For God was pleased to have all his fullness (πλήρωμα; KJV: fulness) dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.[5]

Paul continued his letter to the Colossians (Colossians 2:6-14 NET):

Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.  Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.  For in him all the fullness (πλήρωμα; KJV: fulness) of deity lives in bodily form, and you have been filled (πεπληρωμένοι, a form of πληρόω) in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.  In him you also were circumcised – not, however, with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal of the fleshly body, that is, through the circumcision done by Christ.  Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead.  And even though you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions.  He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness (χειρόγραφον) expressed in decrees opposed to us.  He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

I kneel before the Father, he wrote believers in Ephesus, from whom every family in heaven and on the earth is named.  I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up (πληρωθῆτε, another form of πληρόω) to all the fullness (πλήρωμα; KJV: fulness) of God.[6]

The love Paul prayed that they may know (γνῶναι, a form of γινώσκω), that they had been rooted and grounded in, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, all the fullness of God, is the fulfillment (πλήρωμα; KJV: is the fulfilling) of the law.[7]  So I came to Paul’s declaration—I will come in the fullness (πληρώματι, a form of πλήρωμα) of Christ’s blessing—with high expectations.  But Paul came to Rome as a prisoner in chains (Acts 26:29-32).

Though the words do not appear in the parallel Greek text of the NET online and Bible Hub doesn’t recognize them,[8] both the Stephanus Textus Receptus and the Byzantine Majority Text contain the words τοῦ εὐαγγελίου (a form of εὐαγγέλιον) translated of the gospel: And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.[9]

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that the addition of τοῦ εὐαγγελίου (of the gospel) to this word string lowers my expectations concerning Paul’s triumphal entry into Rome, especially in light of his attitude toward εὐαγγελίου elsewhere (See Table2 below).  But my own higher or lower expectations are not very fruitful ways to understand his words.  By bringing my attention back to the gospel of Christ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου has refocused my attention on Jesus’ teaching (John 15:20, 21 NET):

Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.  If they obeyed (ἐτήρησαν, a form of τηρέω) my word, they will obey[10] (τηρήσουσιν, another form of τηρέω) yours too.  But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.

It opens my ears to Paul’s own assessment of his situation (Philippians 1:12-14 NET):

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that my situation has actually turned out to advance the gospel (εὐαγγελίου, a form of εὐαγγέλιον): The whole imperial guard and everyone else knows that I am in prison for the sake of Christ, and most of the brothers and sisters, having confidence in the Lord because of my imprisonment, now more than ever dare to speak the word fearlessly.

My young religious mind preferred Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to his crucifixion, his resurrection notwithstanding.  Resurrection never seemed to be quite enough to make up for crucifixion.  I wished with all my heart that Jesus’ crucifixion story had turned out differently.  Yes, his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, like everything He did and said, fulfilled scripture (See the Gospel Harmony below).  But its main tactical achievement was to exacerbate the Pharisees’ fear: Thus the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you can do nothing.  Look, the world has run off after him!”[11]

If Paul had entered triumphantly into Rome would we read about the saints who belong to Caesar’s household or would we read about Paul’s premature death?  With my mind set on God’s interests rather than man’s I can see how coming to Rome as a prisoner in chains was in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.  In fact, I can see the same thing for Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem since the fear it caused among the Pharisees made them deaf to his teaching in their streets and in the temple (Matthew 21:12-25:46; Mark 11:12-13:37; Luke 19:45-21:38; John 12:20-50), and strengthened their earlier resolve to kill him (John 11:45-53).  As Isaiah prophesied (Isaiah 53 Tanakh):

Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD (yehôvâh, יהוה) revealed?  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD (yehôvâh, ויהוה) hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the LORD (yehôvâh, ויהוה) to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD (yehôvâh, יהוה) shall prosper in his hand.  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

As I began to believe[12] that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is yehôvâh[13] this prophecy took on a whole new life for me.  Paul wrote believers in Philippi (Philippians 2:5-11 NET):

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.  He humbled himself, by becoming obedient (ὑπήκοος, a form ὑπήκοος) to the point of death – even death on a cross!  As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Considering the Greek word εὐλογίας (a form of εὐλογία), translated blessing, however, another potential interpretation of Paul’s words came to mind.  Though blessing seemed to be a perfectly suitable translation for most of the occurrences of forms of εὐλογία in most of Paul’s writings (See Table3 below), it is possible he had something else in mind in his letter to the Romans.  Romans 15:29 was one of two occurrences of εὐλογίας (or any form of εὐλογία) in this letter.  The other occurred in a description of those Paul wanted Roman believers to avoid (Romans 16:17, 18 NET):

Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who create dissensions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned.  Avoid them!  For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.  By their smooth talk and flattery (εὐλογίας, a form of εὐλογία) they deceive the minds of the naive.

Obviously, this usage of εὐλογίας was on Paul’s mind near the end of his letter to believers in Rome.  So I think it is possible that he meant: “I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of ‘fine speaking, fine discourse, polished language, the elegance of language’ of the gospel of Christ,” as opposed to smooth talk and flattery.  He was confidant of it.  And journeying to Rome as a prisoner in chains didn’t shake his confidence (Acts 27-28).

He was in no way burdened excessively, beyond [his] strength, so that [he] despaired even of living.[14]  He had not decided (ἔκρινα, a form of κρίνω) to be concerned about nothing among [those in Rome] except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.[15]  From morning until evening he explained things to [the local Jewish leaders], testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets.[16]  This led me to a final insight.

Before I did this study I wondered from time to time if Paul had been too proud to heed the Holy Spirit’s prophecy given to Agabus.  And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem without knowing what will happen to me there, Paul told the leaders of the Ephesian church, except that the Holy Spirit warns me in town after town that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.[17]  Agabus came to Paul with explicit insight (Acts 21:10-14 NET):

While we remained [in Caesarea, at the house of Philip the evangelist] for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.  He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”  When we heard this, both we and the local people begged him not to go up to Jerusalem.  Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart?  For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”  Because he could not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.”

I can see now that the Holy Spirit’s prophetic word wasn’t given so that Paul might flee and thwart it.  It was given so that when it came to pass those in Philip’s house in Caesarea and Paul’s companions and I and anyone else who will hear would know that the Lord’s will had been done.

Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, Paul continued his letter to believers in Rome, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to join fervently with me in prayer to God on my behalf.  Pray that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient (ἀπειθούντων, a form of ἀπειθέω) in Judea and that my ministry in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.  Now may the God of peace be with all of you.  Amen.[18]

Paul was rescued from the unbelieving in Judea, bent over backwards to make his ministry acceptable to the saints in Jerusalem (Acts 21:17-26) and by God’s will came at last to Rome.

A gospel harmony of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem follows.  The temporal arrangement of individual elements may be arguable.  Then there are three other tables listing Paul’s usage of forms of πλήρωμα and εὐαγγελίου (a form of εὐαγγέλιον) and forms of εὐλογία with their translations in the KJV and NET.  If the parallel Greek of the NET differed from the Stephanus Textus Receptus I broke the tables to contrast those differences, along with the Byzantine Majority Text.

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem – Gospel Harmony

Matthew

 Mark Luke

John
The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

John 12:12 (NET)
Now when they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you.  Right away you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her.  Untie them and bring them to me.  If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”

Matthew 21:1-3 (NET)

 Now as they approached Jerusalem, near Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go to the village ahead of you.  As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there that has never been ridden.  Untie it and bring it here.  If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here soon.’”

Mark 11:1-3 (NET)

 Now when he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you.  When you enter it, you will find a colt tied there that has never been ridden.  Untie it and bring it here.  If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

Luke 19:29-31 (NET)
This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:  “Tell the people of Zion, ‘Look, your king is coming to you, unassuming and seated on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).’”

Matthew 21:4, 5 (NET)
So the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.

Matthew 21:6 (NET)

 So they went and found a colt tied at a door, outside in the street, and untied it.

Mark 11:4 (NET)

 So those who were sent ahead found it exactly as he had told them.

Luke 19:32 (NET)
Some people standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying that colt?”  They replied as Jesus had told them, and the bystanders let them go.

Mark 11:5, 6 (NET)

 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?”  They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

Luke 19:33, 34 (NET)
They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.

Matthew 21:7 (NET)

 Then they brought the colt to Jesus, threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it.

Mark 11:7 (NET)

 Then they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and had Jesus get on it.

Luke 19:35 (NET)

 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it…

John 12:14a (NET)
…just as it is written, “Do not be afraid, people of Zion; look, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt (Zechariah 9:9)!”

John 12:14b, 15 (NET)
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road.

Matthew 21:8a (NET)

 Many spread their cloaks on the road…

Mark 11:8a (NET)

 As he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.

Luke 19:36 (NET)
Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

Matthew 21:8b (NET)

 …and others spread branches they had cut in the fields.

Mark 11:8b (NET)

 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him.

John 12:13a (NET)
As he approached the road leading down from the Mount of Olives…

Luke 19:37a (NET)
The crowds that went ahead of him and those following kept shouting…

Matthew 21:9a (NET)

 Both those who went ahead and those who followed kept shouting…

Mark 11:9a (NET)

 …the whole crowd of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice…

Luke 19:37b (NET)

 They began to shout…

John 12:13b (NET)
…for all the mighty works they had seen:

Luke 19:37c (NET)
“Hosanna to the Son of David!

Matthew 21:9b (NET)
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord (Psalm 118:25, 26)!  

Matthew 21:9c (NET)

 “Hosanna!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Mark 11:9b (NET)

 “Hosanna!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

John 12:13c (NET)
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!

Mark 11:10a (NET)
Blessed is the king of Israel!”

John 12:13d (NET)
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord (Psalm 118:26)!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Luke 19:38 (NET)
Hosanna in the highest!”

Matthew 21:9d (NET)

 Hosanna in the highest!”

Mark 11:10b (NET)
  (His disciples did not understand these things when they first happened, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that these things had happened to him.)

So the crowd who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead were continuing to testify about it.  Because they had heard that Jesus had performed this miraculous sign, the crowd went out to meet him.

John 12:16-18 (NET)
  But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”  He answered, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the very stones will cry out!”

Luke 19:39, 40 (NET)
  Thus the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you can do nothing.  Look, the world has run off after him!”

John 12:19 (NET)
  Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace!  But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side.  They will demolish you – you and your children within your walls – and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

Luke 19:41-44 (NET)
As he entered Jerusalem…

Matthew 21:10a (NET)

 Then Jesus entered Jerusalem…

Mark 11:11a (NET)
…the whole city was thrown into an uproar, saying, “Who is this?”  And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Matthew 21:10b, 11 (NET)
…and went to the temple.  And after looking around at everything, he went out to Bethany with the twelve since it was already late.

Mark 11:11b (NET)

Form of πλήρωμα

 Reference

KJV

NET
πλήρωμα Romans 11:12 …how much more their fulness? …how much more will their full restoration bring?
Romans 11:25 …until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. …until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Οὐ γὰρ θέλω ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο, ἵνα μὴ ἦτε [παρ᾿] ἑαυτοῖς φρόνιμοι, ὅτι πώρωσις ἀπὸ μέρους τῷ Ἰσραὴλ γέγονεν ἄχρι οὗ τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰσέλθῃ ου γαρ θελω υμας αγνοειν αδελφοι το μυστηριον τουτο ινα μη ητε παρ εαυτοις φρονιμοι οτι πωρωσις απο μερους τω ισραηλ γεγονεν αχρις ου το πληρωμα των εθνων εισελθη ου γαρ θελω υμας αγνοειν αδελφοι το μυστηριον τουτο ινα μη ητε παρ εαυτοις φρονιμοι οτι πωρωσις απο μερους τω ισραηλ γεγονεν αχρις ου το πληρωμα των εθνων εισελθη
πλήρωμα Romans 13:10 …therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
1 Corinthians 10:26 …the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. …the earth and its abundance are the Lord’s.
1 Corinthians 10:28 …for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof: Not included
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἐὰν δέ τις ὑμῖν εἴπῃ· τοῦτο ἱερόθυτον ἐστιν, μὴ ἐσθίετε δι᾿ ἐκεῖνον τὸν μηνύσαντα καὶ τὴν συνείδησιν εαν δε τις υμιν ειπη τουτο ειδωλοθυτον εστιν μη εσθιετε δι εκεινον τον μηνυσαντα και την συνειδησιν του γαρ κυριου η γη και το πληρωμα αυτης εαν δε τις υμιν ειπη τουτο ειδωλοθυτον εστιν μη εσθιετε δι εκεινον τον μηνυσαντα και την συνειδησιν του γαρ κυριου η γη και το πληρωμα αυτης
πλήρωμα Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come… But when the appropriate time had come…
Ephesians 1:23 …the fulness of him that filleth all in all. …the fullness of him who fills all in all.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἥτις ἐστὶν τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ, τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν πληρουμένου ητις εστιν το σωμα αυτου το πληρωμα του παντα εν πασιν πληρουμενου ητις εστιν το σωμα αυτου το πληρωμα του τα παντα εν πασιν πληρουμενου
πλήρωμα Ephesians 3:19 …that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. …that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Colossians 1:19 …that in him should all fulness dwell… …to have all his fullness dwell in the Son…
Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form…
πληρώματι Romans 15:29 …I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. …I will come in the fullness of Christ’s blessing.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οἶδα δὲ ὅτι ἐρχόμενος πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐν πληρώματι εὐλογίας Χριστοῦ ἐλεύσομαι οιδα δε οτι ερχομενος προς υμας εν πληρωματι ευλογιας του ευαγγελιου του χριστου ελευσομαι οιδα δε οτι ερχομενος προς υμας εν πληρωματι ευλογιας του ευαγγελιου του χριστου ελευσομαι
πληρώματος Ephesians 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times… …toward the administration of the fullness of the times…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἰς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐν αὐτῷ εις οικονομιαν του πληρωματος των καιρων ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι τα παντα εν τω χριστω τα τε εν τοις ουρανοις και τα επι της γης (1:11) εν αυτω εις οικονομιαν του πληρωματος των καιρων ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι τα παντα εν τω χριστω τα επι τοις ουρανοις και τα επι της γης (1:11) εν αυτω
πληρώματος Ephesians 4:13 …unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: …attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature.

εὐαγγελίου (a form of εὐαγγέλιον)

 Reference

KJV

NET
εὐαγγελίου 1 Corinthians 4:15 …for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. …I became your father[19] in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
1 Corinthians 9:14 …should live of the gospel. …to receive their living by the gospel.
2 Corinthians 4:4 …the light of the glorious gospel of Christ… …the light of the glorious gospel of Christ…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἐν οἷς ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἐτύφλωσεν τὰ νοήματα τῶν ἀπίστων εἰς τὸ μὴ αὐγάσαι τὸν φωτισμὸν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ εν οις ο θεος του αιωνος τουτου ετυφλωσεν τα νοηματα των απιστων εις το μη αυγασαι αυτοις τον φωτισμον του ευαγγελιου της δοξης του χριστου ος εστιν εικων του θεου εν οις ο θεος του αιωνος τουτου ετυφλωσεν τα νοηματα των απιστων εις το μη αυγασαι αυτοις τον φωτισμον του ευαγγελιου της δοξης του χριστου ος εστιν εικων του θεου
εὐαγγελίου Galatians 2:5 …that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. …in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
Galatians 2:14 …they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel… …they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀλλ᾿ ὅτε εἶδον ὅτι οὐκ ὀρθοποδοῦσιν πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, εἶπον τῷ Κηφᾷ ἔμπροσθεν πάντων· εἰ σὺ Ἰουδαῖος ὑπάρχων ἐθνικῶς καὶ |οὐχὶ | Ἰουδαϊκῶς ζῇς, πῶς τὰ ἔθνη ἀναγκάζεις ἰουδαΐζειν αλλ οτε ειδον οτι ουκ ορθοποδουσιν προς την αληθειαν του ευαγγελιου ειπον τω πετρω εμπροσθεν παντων ει συ ιουδαιος υπαρχων εθνικως ζης και ουκ ιουδαικως τι τα εθνη αναγκαζεις ιουδαιζειν αλλ οτε ειδον οτι ουκ ορθοποδουσιν προς την αληθειαν του ευαγγελιου ειπον τω πετρω εμπροσθεν παντων ει συ ιουδαιος υπαρχων εθνικως ζης και ουκ ιουδαικως τι τα εθνη αναγκαζεις ιουδαιζειν
εὐαγγελίου Ephesians 3:6 …partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: …through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs…
Ephesians 6:15 …the preparation of the gospel of peace… …the preparation that comes from the good news of peace…
Ephesians 6:19 …to make known the mystery of the gospel… …that I may confidently make known the mystery of the gospel…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ, ἵνα μοι δοθῇ λόγος ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ στόματος μου, ἐν παρρησίᾳ γνωρίσαι τὸ μυστήριον |τοῦ εὐαγγελίου| και υπερ εμου ινα μοι δοθειη λογος εν ανοιξει του στοματος μου εν παρρησια γνωρισαι το μυστηριον του ευαγγελιου και υπερ εμου ινα μοι δοθη λογος εν ανοιξει του στοματος μου εν παρρησια γνωρισαι το μυστηριον του ευαγγελιου
εὐαγγελίου Philippians 1:7 …in the defence and confirmation of the gospel… …in the defense and confirmation of the gospel…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Καθώς ἐστιν δίκαιον ἐμοὶ τοῦτο φρονεῖν ὑπὲρ πάντων ὑμῶν διὰ τὸ ἔχειν με ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμᾶς, ἔν τε τοῖς δεσμοῖς μου καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀπολογίᾳ καὶ βεβαιώσει τοῦ εὐαγγελίου συγκοινωνούς μου τῆς χάριτος πάντας ὑμᾶς ὄντας καθως εστιν δικαιον εμοι τουτο φρονειν υπερ παντων υμων δια το εχειν με εν τη καρδια υμας εν τε τοις δεσμοις μου και τη απολογια και βεβαιωσει του ευαγγελιου συγκοινωνους μου της χαριτος παντας υμας οντας καθως εστιν δικαιον εμοι τουτο φρονειν υπερ παντων υμων δια το εχειν με εν τη καρδια υμας εν τε τοις δεσμοις μου και εν τη απολογια και βεβαιωσει του ευαγγελιου συγκοινωνους μου της χαριτος παντας υμας οντας
εὐαγγελίου Philippians 1:12 …the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel… …my situation has actually turned out to advance the gospel:
Philippians 1:16 (KJV: verse 17) …I am set for the defence of the gospel. …I am placed here for the defense of the gospel.
Philippians 1:27 …let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: …conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ…
…striving together for the faith of the gospel… …by contending side by side for the faith of the gospel…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Μόνον ἀξίως τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῦ Χριστοῦ πολιτεύεσθε, ἵνα εἴτε ἐλθὼν καὶ ἰδὼν ὑμᾶς εἴτε ἀπὼν ἀκούω τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν, ὅτι στήκετε ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι, μιᾷ ψυχῇ συναθλοῦντες τῇ πίστει τοῦ εὐαγγελίου μονον αξιως του ευαγγελιου του χριστου πολιτευεσθε ινα ειτε ελθων και ιδων υμας ειτε απων ακουσω τα περι υμων οτι στηκετε εν ενι πνευματι μια ψυχη συναθλουντες τη πιστει του ευαγγελιου μονον αξιως του ευαγγελιου του χριστου πολιτευεσθε ινα ειτε ελθων και ιδων υμας ειτε απων ακουσω τα περι υμων οτι στηκετε εν ενι πνευματι μια ψυχη συναθλουντες τη πιστει του ευαγγελιου
εὐαγγελίου Philippians 4:15 …that in the beginning of the gospel… …at the beginning of my gospel ministry…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οἴδατε δὲ καὶ ὑμεῖς, Φιλιππήσιοι, ὅτι ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, ὅτε ἐξῆλθον ἀπὸ Μακεδονίας, οὐδεμία μοι ἐκκλησία ἐκοινώνησεν εἰς λόγον δόσεως καὶ λήμψεως εἰ μὴ ὑμεῖς μόνοι οιδατε δε και υμεις φιλιππησιοι οτι εν αρχη του ευαγγελιου οτε εξηλθον απο μακεδονιας ουδεμια μοι εκκλησια εκοινωνησεν εις λογον δοσεως και ληψεως ει μη υμεις μονοι οιδατε δε και υμεις φιλιππησιοι οτι εν αρχη του ευαγγελιου οτε εξηλθον απο μακεδονιας ουδεμια μοι εκκλησια εκοινωνησεν εις λογον δοσεως και ληψεως ει μη υμεις μονοι
εὐαγγελίου Colossians1:5 …the word of the truth of the gospel… …the message of truth, the gospel…
Colossians 1:23 …and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard… …without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἴ γε ἐπιμένετε τῇ πίστει τεθεμελιωμένοι καὶ ἑδραῖοι καὶ μὴ μετακινούμενοι ἀπὸ τῆς ἐλπίδος τοῦ εὐαγγελίου οὗ ἠκούσατε, τοῦ κηρυχθέντος ἐν πάσῃ κτίσει τῇ ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν, οὗ ἐγενόμην ἐγὼ Παῦλος διάκονος ειγε επιμενετε τη πιστει τεθεμελιωμενοι και εδραιοι και μη μετακινουμενοι απο της ελπιδος του ευαγγελιου ου ηκουσατε του κηρυχθεντος εν παση τη κτισει τη υπο τον ουρανον ου εγενομην εγω παυλος διακονος ειγε επιμενετε τη πιστει τεθεμελιωμενοι και εδραιοι και μη μετακινουμενοι απο της ελπιδος του ευαγγελιου ου ηκουσατε του κηρυχθεντος εν παση τη κτισει τη υπο τον ουρανον ου εγενομην εγω παυλος διακονος
εὐαγγελίου 2 Thessalonians 2:14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel… He called you to this salvation through our gospel…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἰς ὃ [καὶ ]ἐκάλεσεν ὑμᾶς διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἡμῶν εἰς περιποίησιν δόξης τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εις ο εκαλεσεν υμας δια του ευαγγελιου ημων εις περιποιησιν δοξης του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου εις ο εκαλεσεν υμας δια του ευαγγελιου ημων εις περιποιησιν δοξης του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου
εὐαγγελίου 2 Timothy 1:10 …hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: …brought life and immortality to light through the gospel!
Philemon 1:13 …in the bonds of the gospel: …my imprisonment for the sake of the gospel.

Form of εὐλογία

 Reference

KJV

NET
εὐλογία Galatians 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ… …that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles…
εὐλογίᾳ Ephesians 1:3 …who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: …who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ ευλογητος ο θεος και πατηρ του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου ο ευλογησας ημας εν παση ευλογια πνευματικη εν τοις επουρανιοις χριστω ευλογητος ο θεος και πατηρ του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου ο ευλογησας ημας εν παση ευλογια πνευματικη εν τοις επουρανιοις εν χριστω
εὐλογίαις 2 Corinthians 9:6 …he which soweth bountifully… …the person who sows generously…[20]
…shall reap also bountifully. …will also reap generously.
εὐλογίαν 2 Corinthians 9:5 …make up before hand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before… …to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution you had promised…
…that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness. …so this may be ready as a generous gift and not as something you feel forced to do.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀναγκαῖον οὖν ἡγησάμην παρακαλέσαι τοὺς ἀδελφούς, ἵνα προέλθωσιν εἰς ὑμᾶς καὶ προκαταρτίσωσιν τὴν προεπηγγελμένην εὐλογίαν ὑμῶν, ταύτην ἑτοίμην εἶναι οὕτως ὡς εὐλογίαν καὶ μὴ ὡς πλεονεξίαν αναγκαιον ουν ηγησαμην παρακαλεσαι τους αδελφους ινα προελθωσιν εις υμας και προκαταρτισωσιν την προκατηγγελμενην ευλογιαν υμων ταυτην ετοιμην ειναι ουτως ως ευλογιαν και μη ωσπερ πλεονεξιαν αναγκαιον ουν ηγησαμην παρακαλεσαι τους αδελφους ινα προελθωσιν εις υμας και προκαταρτισωσιν την προκατηγγελμενην ευλογιαν υμων ταυτην ετοιμην ειναι ουτως ως ευλογιαν και μη ως πλεονεξιαν
εὐλογίας Romans 15:29 …I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. …I will come in the fullness of Christ’s blessing.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οἶδα δὲ ὅτι ἐρχόμενος πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐν πληρώματι εὐλογίας Χριστοῦ ἐλεύσομαι οιδα δε οτι ερχομενος προς υμας εν πληρωματι ευλογιας του ευαγγελιου του χριστου ελευσομαι οιδα δε οτι ερχομενος προς υμας εν πληρωματι ευλογιας του ευαγγελιου του χριστου ελευσομαι
εὐλογίας Romans 16:18 …by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of the naive.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν Χριστῷ οὐ δουλεύουσιν ἀλλὰ τῇ ἑαυτῶν κοιλίᾳ, καὶ διὰ τῆς χρηστολογίας καὶ εὐλογίας ἐξαπατῶσιν τὰς καρδίας τῶν ἀκάκων οι γαρ τοιουτοι τω κυριω ημων ιησου χριστω ου δουλευουσιν αλλα τη εαυτων κοιλια και δια της χρηστολογιας και ευλογιας εξαπατωσιν τας καρδιας των ακακων οι γαρ τοιουτοι τω κυριω ημων ιησου χριστω ου δουλευουσιν αλλα τη εαυτων κοιλια και δια της χρηστολογιας και ευλογιας εξαπατωσιν τας καρδιας των ακακων
εὐλογίας 1 Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ?

[1] Romans 15:26b (NET)

[2] Romans 11:12 (NET)

[3] Romans 11:15 (NET)

[4] Galatians 4:4-6 (NET)

[5] Colossians 1:19, 20 (NET)

[6] Ephesians 3:14-19 (NET)

[7] Romans 13:10b (NET)

[8] This is only partly true: the word εὐαγγελίου doesn’t appear in the list of Greek words in the New Testament but some discussion of its presence in, or absence from, the text does appear in the commentaries.

[9] Romans 15:29 (KJV)

[10] Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 3; My Deeds, Part 1

[11] John 12:19 (NET)

[12] My Reasons and My Reason, Part 5; Romans, Part 76; Romans, Part 69

[13] Who Am I? Part 2; My Reasons and My Reason, Part 5

[14] 2 Corinthians 1:8b (NET)

[15] 1 Corinthians 2:2 (NET) Table

[16] Acts 28:23b (NET)

[17] Acts 20:22, 23 (NET)

[18] Romans 15:30-33 (NET)

[19] The NET translation of ἐγέννησα (a form of γεννάω) became…father poses the question in my mind whether Paul overstated his affection and concern: And call no one your ‘father’ (πατέρα, a form of πατήρ) on earth, Jesus said, for you have one Father (πατὴρ), who is in heaven (Matthew 23:9 NET).

[20] Romans, Part 47

Father, Forgive Them – Part 4

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I have attempted to cleanse Jesus’ words of the crime/punishment motif I think the translators of the NET and NASB superimposed upon them, so that his mercy—planning the offspring of vipers’ escape from being condemned to hell—shines through (Matthew 23:33-35 NET; Matthew 23:36 NASB):

You snakes, you offspring of vipers!  How will you escape being condemned to hell?

For this reason I am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

It is possible that the translators shaded Matthew’s Gospel account some to make it conform better to Luke’s parallel account:

Luke 11:46-48 (NET) Luke 11:46-48 (NASB)

Luke 11:46-48 (KJV)
But Jesus replied, “Woe to you experts in religious law as well!  You load people down with burdens difficult to bear, yet you yourselves refuse to touch the burdens with even one of your fingers! But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well!  For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
Woe to you!  You build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. Woe to you!  For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
So you testify that you approve of the deeds of your ancestors, because they killed the prophets and you build their tombs! So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἄρα μάρτυρες ἐστε καὶ συνευδοκεῖτε τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν, ὅτι αὐτοὶ μὲν ἀπέκτειναν αὐτούς, ὑμεῖς δὲ οἰκοδομεῖτε αρα μαρτυρειτε και συνευδοκειτε τοις εργοις των πατερων υμων οτι αυτοι μεν απεκτειναν αυτους υμεις δε οικοδομειτε αυτων τα μνημεια αρα μαρτυρειτε και συνευδοκειτε τοις εργοις των πατερων υμων οτι αυτοι μεν απεκτειναν αυτους υμεις δε οικοδομειτε αυτων τα μνημεια
Luke 11:49 (NET) Luke 11:49 (NASB)

Luke 11:49 (KJV)
For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ εἶπεν· ἀποστελῶ εἰς αὐτοὺς προφήτας καὶ ἀποστόλους, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκτενοῦσιν καὶ διώξουσιν δια τουτο και η σοφια του θεου ειπεν αποστελω εις αυτους προφητας και αποστολους και εξ αυτων αποκτενουσιν και εκδιωξουσιν δια τουτο και η σοφια του θεου ειπεν αποστελω εις αυτους προφητας και αποστολους και εξ αυτων αποκτενουσιν και εκδιωξουσιν
Luke 11:50, 51 (NET) Luke 11:50, 51 (NASB)

Luke 11:50, 51 (KJV)
so that this generation may be held accountable (ἐκζητηθῇ, a form of ἐκζητέω) for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary.  Yes, I tell you, it will be charged (ἐκζητηθήσεται, another form of ἐκζητέω) against this generation. from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’ From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀπὸ αἵματος Ἅβελ ἕως αἵματος Ζαχαρίου τοῦ ἀπολομένου μεταξὺ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου καὶ τοῦ οἴκου· ναὶ λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐκζητηθήσεται ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης απο του αιματος αβελ εως του αιματος ζαχαριου του απολομενου μεταξυ του θυσιαστηριου και του οικου ναι λεγω υμιν εκζητηθησεται απο της γενεας ταυτης απο του αιματος αβελ εως του αιματος ζαχαριου του απολομενου μεταξυ του θυσιαστηριου και του οικου ναι λεγω υμιν εκζητηθησεται απο της γενεας ταυτης
Luke 11:52 (NET) Luke 11:52 (NASB)

Luke 11:52 (KJV)
Woe to you experts in religious law!  You have taken away the key to knowledge!  You did not go in yourselves, and you hindered those who were going in.” Woe to you lawyers!  For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.” Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς νομικοῖς, ὅτι ἤρατε τὴν κλεῖδα τῆς γνώσεως· αὐτοὶ οὐκ εἰσήλθατε καὶ τοὺς εἰσερχομένους ἐκωλύσατε ουαι υμιν τοις νομικοις οτι ηρατε την κλειδα της γνωσεως αυτοι ουκ εισηλθετε και τους εισερχομενους εκωλυσατε ουαι υμιν τοις νομικοις οτι ηρατε την κλειδα της γνωσεως αυτοι ουκ εισηλθετε και τους εισερχομενους εκωλυσατε

Here the crime/punishment motif wasn’t superimposed upon ἥξει (a form of ἥκω), translated will be held responsible (See: Table), or ἔλθῃ (a form of ἔρχομαι), translated may fall the guilt (See: Table).  Rather, the Greek words ἐκζητηθῇ, translated may be held accountable, and ἐκζητηθήσεται, translated it will be charged, are both forms of ἐκζητέω (See Table1 below).  And again this subject matter was spun by translating a word in a unique way, radically different from any of its other occurrences in the New Testament.

According to the Koine Greek Lexicon online ἐκζητηθῇ is an aorist passive subjunctive 3rd person singular verb.  Since αἷμα, translated for the blood, is a nominative / accusative singular neuter noun according to the Koine Greek Lexicon and γενεᾶς (a form of γενεά), translated generation, is a genitive singular feminine noun according to the same lexicon, I assume that blood is the more likely subject of the sentence: “so that the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world may be sought by this generation.”

Perhaps one could take it to mean that God sought the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world against this generation—in other words, He would hold them accountable for sins they didn’t commit—but I don’t see that in the text, and the verb is passive.  To my ear the translations—may be held accountable (NET), may be charged (NASB) and even may be required (KJV)—sound more like interpretations.  So I offer the following alternative interpretation.

The experts in the law and the Pharisees didn’t think building tombs for the prophets meant that they approved of their fathers’ deeds: And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have participated with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.[1]  For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute…[2]  God gave them their own prophets to do with as they pleased, to demonstrate to themselves how sinful they actually were.  So that the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world may be sought by this generation in the persons of the prophets and apostles sent to them in their own time.

I can dispense with the word may: “if the subjunctive mood is used in a purpose or result clause, then the action should not be thought of as a possible result, but should be viewed as a definite outcome that will happen as a result of another stated action.”[3]  And the Greek word ἐκζητηθήσεται, translated it will be charged, is a future passive indicative 3rd person singular verb according to the Koine Greek Lexicon.  And so Jesus stated empahtically, “it will be sought by this generation.”  They would seek the blood of the prophets of their generation just as their fathers before them had done to the prophets of their time.

Consider Paul’s lament in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 4:9-13 NET):

For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to die, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people.  We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ!  We are weak, but you are strong!  You are distinguished, we are dishonored!  To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed, brutally treated, and without a roof over our heads.  We do hard work, toiling with our own hands.  When we are verbally abused, we respond with a blessing, when persecuted, we endure, when people lie about us, we answer in a friendly manner.  We are the world’s dirt and scum, even now.

And consider how this lament became his battle cry in his letter to the Romans (Romans 8:36-39 NET):

As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered [Table].”  No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My aim is to know him, Paul wrote the Philippians, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.[4]  But the religious mind covets a place of honor at banquets, the best seats in the house, respectful greetings in public places and to be revered as teacher (Matthew 23:6, 7).  Anything less it considers “persecution” and “affliction.”  The suggestion that God might hand his redeemed one over to others, to be abused by them, that the others in turn might recognize their own sinfulness, is anathema to the religious mind.  It is not too hard to imagine that the temptation to cover or disguise anything, even Scripture, which suggests such a thing would be difficult to resist.  I suspect, however, that most of us suffer from our own sins[5], and that far fewer of us are considered worthy to suffer dishonor directly from the sins of others for the sake of the name.[6]

Granted, once the serpents, the brood of vipers, sought the blood of the prophets of their generation, all the righteous blood shed on earth came upon them and their people.  So there is a judicial aspect to these events, but reducing them to crime and punishment alone smears all of the vibrant colors of God’s mercy, love and grace through Jesus Christ until they become a murky gray.  Besides, their “punishment,” if you will, was not mystical, magical or supernatural in any way, but all too human.

While their leaders were preoccupied killing and persecuting the prophets who brought them the knowledge Jeremiah prophesied (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and the desire of Moses (Numbers 11:25-29) prophesied by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 36:22-27), virulent strains of Judaism fought for ascendency.  By brute force and political manipulation most in Jerusalem accepted this murderous faith in fact and action whether they believed it in their hearts or not.  The devil, after all, seeks compliance not faith.  Robert A. Dahl’s definition of power—“A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do”[7]—was still taught in political science classes as of 2014,[8] and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one[9] (1 John 5:18-21; Ephesians 2:1-3; 2 Timothy 2:24-26).

The zealots and sicarii were anything but those with Jesus’ fountain of water—his own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control[10]—springing up to eternal life[11] inside of them.  “I don’t need to punish people,” Papa (Octavia Spencer) said in the movie The Shack.  “Sin is its own punishment.”  But it seems to be part of the human condition to deny Jesus’ insight: You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him.[12]  Even when our sinfulness is self-evident we search for other explanations.

Before I began this study I tacitly assumed this devious plot that led to the destruction of Jerusalem was the wisdom (σοφία) of God rather than an easily anticipated trajectory of human sinfulness filtered through a particular brand of the religious mind.  Hear Paul on the subject of God’s wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:6-16; 3:18-20; Colossians 4:5, 6 NET).

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom (σοφίαν, another form of σοφία) of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.”  Where is the wise man?  Where is the expert in the Mosaic law?  Where is the debater of this age?  Has God not made the wisdom (σοφίαν, another form of σοφία) of the world foolish [Table]?  For since in the wisdom (σοφίᾳ) of God the world by its wisdom (σοφίας, another form of σοφία) did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching.  For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom (σοφίαν, another form of σοφία), but we preach about a crucified Christ, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles [Table].  But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom (σοφίαν, another form of σοφία) of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength [Table].

Now we do speak wisdom (Σοφίαν, another form of σοφία) among the mature, but not a wisdom (σοφίαν, another form of σοφία) of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing.  Instead we speak the wisdom (σοφίαν, another form of σοφία) of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory.  None of the rulers of this age understood it.  If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.”  God has revealed these to us by the Spirit.  For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who among men knows the things of a man except the man’s spirit within him?  So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.  Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God.  And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom (σοφίας, another form of σοφία), but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people [Table].  The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.  And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.  The one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is understood by no one.  For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to advise him?  But we have the mind of Christ.

Guard against self-deception, each of you.  If someone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish so that he can become wise.  For the wisdom (σοφία) of this age is foolishness with God.  As it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”  And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

Conduct yourselves with wisdom (σοφίᾳ) toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities.  Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.

And James wrote (James 3:13-18 NET):

Who is wise and understanding among you?  By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom (σοφίας, another form of σοφία) brings.  But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth.  Such wisdom (σοφία) does not come from above but is earthly, natural, demonic.  For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice.  But the wisdom (σοφία) from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical.  And the fruit that consists of righteousness is planted in peace among those who make peace.

James contrasted wisdom from above (ἄνωθεν) to that which is not from above (ἄνωθεν) with the same word Jesus used to describe the birth of the new human: I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above (ἄνωθεν), he cannot see the kingdom of God.[13]  Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above (ἄνωθεν).’[14]

Tables of forms of ἐκζητέω and occurrences of σοφία follow with their translations in the KJV and NET.  If the parallel Greek of the NET differed from the Textus Receptus I broke the table to contrast them along with the Byzantine Majority Text.

Form of ἐκζητέω Reference KJV

NET
ἐκζητήσας Hebrews 12:17 …though he sought it carefully with tears. …although he sought the blessing with tears.
ἐκζητήσωσιν Acts 15:17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord… …so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὅπως ἂν ἐκζητήσωσιν οἱ κατάλοιποι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸν κύριον καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐφ᾿ οὓς ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομα μου ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς, λέγει κύριος ποιῶν ταῦτα οπως αν εκζητησωσιν οι καταλοιποι των ανθρωπων τον κυριον και παντα τα εθνη εφ ους επικεκληται το ονομα μου επ αυτους λεγει κυριος ο ποιων ταυτα παντα οπως αν εκζητησωσιν οι καταλοιποι των ανθρωπων τον κυριον και παντα τα εθνη εφ ους επικεκληται το ονομα μου επ αυτους λεγει κυριος ο ποιων ταυτα παντα
ἐκζητηθῇ Luke 11:50 …may be required of this generation… …so that this generation may be held accountable for the blood…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἵνα ἐκζητηθῇ τὸ αἷμα πάντων τῶν προφητῶν τὸ ἐκκεχυμένον ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης ινα εκζητηθη το αιμα παντων των προφητων το εκχυνομενον απο καταβολης κοσμου απο της γενεας ταυτης ινα εκζητηθη το αιμα παντων των προφητων το εκχυνομενον απο καταβολης κοσμου απο της γενεας ταυτης
ἐκζητηθήσεται Luke 11:51 It shall be required of this generation. …it will be charged against this generation.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀπὸ αἵματος Ἅβελ ἕως αἵματος Ζαχαρίου τοῦ ἀπολομένου μεταξὺ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου καὶ τοῦ οἴκου· ναὶ λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐκζητηθήσεται ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης απο του αιματος αβελ εως του αιματος ζαχαριου του απολομενου μεταξυ του θυσιαστηριου και του οικου ναι λεγω υμιν εκζητηθησεται απο της γενεας ταυτης απο του αιματος αβελ εως του αιματος ζαχαριου του απολομενου μεταξυ του θυσιαστηριου και του οικου ναι λεγω υμιν εκζητηθησεται απο της γενεας ταυτης
ἐκζητῶν Romans 3:11 …there is none that seeketh after God. …there is no one who seeks God.
ἐκζητοῦσιν Hebrews 11:6 …he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. …he rewards those who seek him.
ἐξεζήτησαν 1 Peter 1:10 …the prophets have inquired and searched diligently… …searched and investigated carefully.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
περὶ ἧς σωτηρίας ἐξεζήτησαν καὶ ἐξηραύνησαν προφῆται οἱ περὶ τῆς εἰς ὑμᾶς χάριτος προφητεύσαντες περι ης σωτηριας εξεζητησαν και εξηρευνησαν προφηται οι περι της εις υμας χαριτος προφητευσαντες περι ης σωτηριας εξεζητησαν και εξηρευνησαν προφηται οι περι της εις υμας χαριτος προφητευσαντες

σοφία

 Reference KJV

NET
σοφία Matthew 11:19 …wisdom is justified of her children… …wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἦλθεν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων, καὶ λέγουσιν· ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης, τελωνῶν φίλος καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν. καὶ ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῆς ηλθεν ο υιος του ανθρωπου εσθιων και πινων και λεγουσιν ιδου ανθρωπος φαγος και οινοποτης τελωνων φιλος και αμαρτωλων και εδικαιωθη η σοφια απο των τεκνων αυτης ηλθεν ο υιος του ανθρωπου εσθιων και πινων και λεγουσιν ιδου ανθρωπος φαγος και οινοποτης τελωνων φιλος και αμαρτωλων και εδικαιωθη η σοφια απο των τεκνων αυτης
σοφία Matthew 13:54 Whence hath this man this wisdom… Where did this man get such wisdom…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἐλθὼν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα αὐτοῦ ἐδίδασκεν αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ συναγωγῇ αὐτῶν, ὥστε ἐκπλήσσεσθαι αὐτοὺς καὶ λέγειν· πόθεν τούτῳ ἡ σοφία αὕτη καὶ αἱ δυνάμεις και ελθων εις την πατριδα αυτου εδιδασκεν αυτους εν τη συναγωγη αυτων ωστε εκπληττεσθαι αυτους και λεγειν ποθεν τουτω η σοφια αυτη και αι δυναμεις και ελθων εις την πατριδα αυτου εδιδασκεν αυτους εν τη συναγωγη αυτων ωστε εκπληττεσθαι αυτους και λεγειν ποθεν τουτω η σοφια αυτη και αι δυναμεις
σοφία Mark 6:2 …what wisdom is this which is given unto him… …what is this wisdom that has been given to him?

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ γενομένου σαββάτου ἤρξατο διδάσκειν ἐν τῇ συναγωγῇ, καὶ  πολλοὶ ἀκούοντες ἐξεπλήσσοντο λέγοντες· πόθεν τούτῳ ταῦτα, καὶ τίς ἡ σοφία ἡ δοθεῖσα τούτῳ, καὶ αἱ δυνάμεις τοιαῦται διὰ τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ γινόμεναι και γενομενου σαββατου ηρξατο εν τη συναγωγη διδασκειν και πολλοι ακουοντες εξεπλησσοντο λεγοντες ποθεν τουτω ταυτα και τις η σοφια η δοθεισα αυτω οτι[15] και δυναμεις τοιαυται δια των χειρων αυτου γινονται και γενομενου σαββατου ηρξατο εν τη συναγωγη διδασκειν και πολλοι ακουοντες εξεπλησσοντο λεγοντες ποθεν τουτω ταυτα και τις η σοφια η δοθεισα αυτω και δυναμεις τοιαυται δια των χειρων αυτου γινονται
σοφίᾳ Luke 2:40 …filled with wisdom… …filled with wisdom…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Τὸ δὲ παιδίον ἠύξανεν καὶ ἐκραταιοῦτο πληρούμενον σοφίᾳ, καὶ χάρις θεοῦ ἦν ἐπ᾿ αὐτό το δε παιδιον ηυξανεν και εκραταιουτο πνευματι πληρουμενον σοφιας και χαρις θεου ην επ αυτο το δε παιδιον ηυξανεν και εκραταιουτο πνευματι πληρουμενον σοφιας και χαρις θεου ην επ αυτο
σοφίᾳ Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom… And Jesus increased in wisdom…

NET Parallel Greek

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Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ Ἰησοῦς προέκοπτεν [ἐν τῇ] σοφίᾳ καὶ ἡλικίᾳ καὶ χάριτι παρὰ θεῷ καὶ ἀνθρώποις και ιησους προεκοπτεν σοφια και ηλικια και χαριτι παρα θεω και ανθρωποις και ιησους προεκοπτεν σοφια και ηλικια και χαριτι παρα θεω και ανθρωποις
σοφία Luke 7:35 …wisdom is justified of all her children. …wisdom is vindicated by all her children.
Luke 11:49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God… For this reason also the wisdom of God said…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ εἶπεν· ἀποστελῶ εἰς αὐτοὺς προφήτας καὶ ἀποστόλους, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκτενοῦσιν καὶ διώξουσιν δια τουτο και η σοφια του θεου ειπεν αποστελω εις αυτους προφητας και αποστολους και εξ αυτων αποκτενουσιν και εκδιωξουσιν δια τουτο και η σοφια του θεου ειπεν αποστελω εις αυτους προφητας και αποστολους και εξ αυτων αποκτενουσιν και εκδιωξουσιν
σοφίᾳ Acts 6:10 …the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. …the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.
Acts 7:22 …Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians… …Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians…

NET Parallel Greek

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Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἐπαιδεύθη Μωϋσῆς [ἐν] πάσῃ σοφίᾳ Ἀιγυπτίων, ἦν δὲ δυνατὸς ἐν λόγοις καὶ ἔργοις αὐτοῦ και επαιδευθη μωσης παση σοφια αιγυπτιων ην δε δυνατος εν λογοις και εν εργοις και επαιδευθη μωσης παση σοφια αιγυπτιων ην δε δυνατος εν λογοις και εργοις
σοφίᾳ 1 Corinthians 1:17 …not with wisdom of words… …and not with clever speech…

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Byzantine Majority Text
οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν με Χριστὸς βαπτίζειν ἀλλὰ εὐαγγελίζεσθαι, οὐκ ἐν σοφίᾳ λόγου, ἵνα μὴ κενωθῇ ὁ σταυρὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ου γαρ απεστειλεν με χριστος βαπτιζειν αλλ ευαγγελιζεσθαι ουκ εν σοφια λογου ινα μη κενωθη ο σταυρος του χριστου ου γαρ απεστειλεν με χριστος βαπτιζειν αλλ ευαγγελιζεσθαι ουκ εν σοφια λογου ινα μη κενωθη ο σταυρος του χριστου
σοφίᾳ 1 Corinthians 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God… For since in the wisdom of God…
σοφία 1 Corinthians 1:30 …who of God is made unto us wisdom… …who became for us wisdom from God…
σοφίᾳ 1 Corinthians 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men… …that your faith would not be based on human wisdom…
σοφία 1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For the wisdom of this age[16] is foolishness with God.
σοφίᾳ 2 Corinthians 1:12 …not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God… …not by human wisdom but by the grace of God…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ἡ γὰρ καύχησις ἡμῶν αὕτη ἐστίν, τὸ μαρτύριον τῆς συνειδήσεως ἡμῶν, ὅτι ἐν |ἁπλότητι| καὶ εἰλικρινείᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ, [καὶ] οὐκ ἐν σοφίᾳ σαρκικῇ ἀλλ᾿ ἐν χάριτι θεοῦ, ἀνεστράφημεν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, περισσοτέρως δὲ πρὸς ὑμᾶς η γαρ καυχησις ημων αυτη εστιν το μαρτυριον της συνειδησεως ημων οτι εν απλοτητι και ειλικρινεια θεου ουκ εν σοφια σαρκικη αλλ εν χαριτι θεου ανεστραφημεν εν τω κοσμω περισσοτερως δε προς υμας η γαρ καυχησις ημων αυτη εστιν το μαρτυριον της συνειδησεως ημων οτι εν απλοτητι και ειλικρινεια θεου ουκ εν σοφια σαρκικη αλλ εν χαριτι θεου ανεστραφημεν εν τω κοσμω περισσοτερως δε προς υμας
σοφίᾳ Ephesians 1:8 …hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence… …lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.
σοφία Ephesians 3:10 …might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God… … through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed…
σοφίᾳ Colossians 1:9 …in all wisdom and spiritual understanding… …in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…
Colossians 1:28 …teaching every man in all wisdom… …teaching all people with all wisdom…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὃν ἡμεῖς καταγγέλλομεν νουθετοῦντες πάντα ἄνθρωπον καὶ διδάσκοντες πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ, ἵνα παραστήσωμεν πάντα ἄνθρωπον τέλειον ἐν Χριστῷ ον ημεις καταγγελλομεν νουθετουντες παντα ανθρωπον και διδασκοντες παντα ανθρωπον εν παση σοφια ινα παραστησωμεν παντα ανθρωπον τελειον εν χριστω ιησου ον ημεις καταγγελλομεν νουθετουντες παντα ανθρωπον και διδασκοντες παντα ανθρωπον εν παση σοφια ινα παραστησωμεν παντα ανθρωπον τελειον εν χριστω ιησου
σοφίᾳ Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom… …teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom…

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Byzantine Majority Text
Ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐνοικείτω ἐν ὑμῖν πλουσίως, ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ διδάσκοντες καὶ νουθετοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς, ψαλμοῖς ὕμνοις ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς ἐν [τῇ] χάριτι ᾄδοντες ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν τῷ θεῷ ο λογος του χριστου ενοικειτω εν υμιν πλουσιως εν παση σοφια διδασκοντες και νουθετουντες εαυτους ψαλμοις και υμνοις και ωδαις πνευματικαις εν χαριτι αδοντες εν τη καρδια υμων τω κυριω ο λογος του χριστου ενοικειτω εν υμιν πλουσιως εν παση σοφια διδασκοντες και νουθετουντες εαυτους ψαλμοις και υμνοις και ωδαις πνευματικαις εν χαριτι αδοντες εν τη καρδια υμων τω κυριω
σοφίᾳ Colossians 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without… Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders…
σοφία James 3:15 This wisdom descendeth not from above… Such wisdom does not come from above…

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Byzantine Majority Text
οὐκ ἔστιν αὕτη ἡ σοφία ἄνωθεν κατερχομένη ἀλλὰ ἐπίγειος, ψυχική, δαιμονιώδης ουκ εστιν αυτη η σοφια ανωθεν κατερχομενη αλλ επιγειος ψυχικη δαιμονιωδης ουκ εστιν αυτη η σοφια ανωθεν κατερχομενη αλλ επιγειος ψυχικη δαιμονιωδης
σοφία James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure… But the wisdom from above is first pure…

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Byzantine Majority Text
ἡ δὲ ἄνωθεν σοφία πρῶτον μὲν ἁγνή ἐστιν, ἔπειτα εἰρηνική, ἐπιεικής, εὐπειθής, μεστὴ ἐλέους καὶ καρπῶν ἀγαθῶν, ἀδιάκριτος, ἀνυπόκριτος η δε ανωθεν σοφια πρωτον μεν αγνη εστιν επειτα ειρηνικη επιεικης ευπειθης μεστη ελεους και καρπων αγαθων αδιακριτος και ανυποκριτος η δε ανωθεν σοφια πρωτον μεν αγνη εστιν επειτα ειρηνικη επιεικης ευπειθης μεστη ελεους και καρπων αγαθων αδιακριτος και ανυποκριτος
σοφία Revelation 7:12 Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving… Praise and glory, and wisdom and thanksgiving…
Revelation 13:18 Here is wisdom. This calls for wisdom…

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Byzantine Majority Text
Ωδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν ὁ ἔχων νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου, ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστίν, καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ ωδε η σοφια εστιν ο εχων τον νουν ψηφισατω τον αριθμον του θηριου αριθμος γαρ ανθρωπου εστιν και ο αριθμος αυτου χξς ωδε η σοφια εστιν ο εχων νουν ψηφισατω τον αριθμον του θηριου αριθμος γαρ ανθρωπου εστιν και ο αριθμος αυτου εστιν χξς

[1] Matthew 23:30 (NET)

[2] Luke 11:49 (NET)

[3] https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/verbs1.htm#SUBJUNCTIVE

[4] Philippians 3:10, 11 (NET)

[5] The Greek word translated meddler (NIV), busybody in other men’s matters (KJV), or troublemaker (NET) was ἀλλοτριεπίσκοπος, and is notable for its mention along with a murderer or thief or criminal.

[6] Acts 5:41b (NET) Table

[7] Robert A. Dahl, “The Concept of Power”

[8] Michael Valdivieso, “Three dimensions of power,” September 28, 2014, International Association for Political Science Students

[9] 1 John 5:19b (NET)

[10] Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

[11] John 4:14b (NET)

[12] John 8:44a (NET)

[13] John 3:3 (NET) Table

[14] John 3:7 (NET)

[15] The word οτι (τούτῳ may have the same effect as αυτω οτι) in the Stephanus Textus Receptus relates the δυναμεις to the σοφια: …that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands (KJV); What are these miracles that are done through his hands? (NET)  Consider this in relation to deeds being the children of wisdom.

[16] Matthew 24:3

Father, Forgive Them – Part 3

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Jesus said (Matthew 23:33-36 NASB):

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

“Therefore (Διὰ τοῦτο; See: Table1 below), behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

I quoted the NASB to blunt the crime/punishment motif the NET translators superimposed upon the text by translating ἥξει (a form of ἥκω) will be held responsible (See: Table).  Of course the NASB translators superimposed their own crime/punishment motif by translating ἔλθῃ (a form of ἔρχομαι) may fall the guilt (See: Table3 below).  Neither word seems capable of carrying such concepts.  Both translations help to disguise the fact that Jesus brought all the righteous blood shed on earth…upon this generation so that the serpents, the brood of vipers, could escape (φύγητε, a form of φεύγω) the sentence (κρίσεως, a form of κρίσις) of hell.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn (κρίνῃ, a form of κρίνω) the world, but that the world should be saved through him.[1]

Clarifying this point, however, doesn’t fill me with instant insight.  It seems rather to be leading me somewhere I didn’t particularly want to go.  Before I go there I want to entertain another insight gained along the way (Matthew 2:13 NET):

After [the wise men] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee (φεῦγε, another form of φεύγω) to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.”

Only one king was aware enough (Matthew 2:1-12) of Jesus’ first advent to respond to it (Matthew 2:16-18 NET):

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged.  He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.  Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled (ἐπληρώθη, a form of πληρόω): “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone.”

Herod comes off as a fool: First he thought Jesus was after something so petty as his throne.  My kingdom is not from this world,[2] Jesus told Pilate.  Second, he thought to thwart God by committing infanticide when it was he who was thwarted by the simple tactic of fleeing beyond the boundary of his jurisdiction and remaining there until he died.  Those in positions of authority at Jesus’ second advent, when The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,[3] will do well to remember Herod’s negative example, if for no other reason than how they will be remembered in the history of Him who will reign for ever and ever.

Despite all that had transpired (Luke 1:1-2:40) Joseph wasn’t expected to add Jeremiah’s prophecy to the time in which he was living to deduce that he should flee with the child Jesus and his mother to Egypt.  Rather an angel appeared to him in a dream and warned him explicitly, while other fathers of infant sons slept ignorantly, blissfully, through that fateful night.  Of course, the purpose of Jeremiah’s prophecy was not that brilliant young minds might thwart it by fleeing.  Consider a prophecy, for instance, in which fleeing is its intended fulfillment (Matthew 24:15, 16 NET):

So when you see the abomination of desolation – spoken about by Daniel the prophet – standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee (φευγέτωσαν, another form of φεύγω) to the mountains.

But as I wondered how to live emotionally with the collateral damage of all those butchered sons I caught a glimpse of young Jesus in tears contemplating the same thing and heard the scripture as written for its primary heir (Galatians 3:15-22).

Jeremiah 31:16, 17 (Tanakh)

Jeremiah 38:16, 17 (NETS)
Thus saith the LORD (yehôvâh, יהוה); Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD (yehôvâh, יהוה); and [Rachel’s children] shall come again from the land of the enemy.  And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD (yehôvâh, יהוה), that thy children shall come again to their own border. Thus did the Lord say: Let your voice cease from weeping, and your eyes from tears, because there is a wage for your works, and [Rachel’s sons] shall come back from a land of enemies; there will be permanence for your children.

I am the resurrection and the life, Jesus told Martha before He raised Lazarus from the dead.  The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, and the one who lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?[4]  But even Moses revealed that the dead are raised in the passage about the bush, Jesus told Sadduccees who contend that there is no resurrection, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.  Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live before him.[5]  For the joy set out for him, the writer of Hebrews declared of Jesus, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame…[6]

As for leading me somewhere I didn’t particularly want to go: the fact that Jesus brought all the righteous blood shed on earth…upon this generation so that the serpents, the brood of vipers, could escape the sentence of hell reminds me of Abraham’s reasoning in Jesus’ parable (Luke 16:19-31) of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:25 NET):

But Abraham said [to the rich man], ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted (παρακαλεῖται, a form of παρακαλέω) here and you are in anguish (ὀδυνᾶσαι, a form of ὀδυνάω; See: Table2 below).’

In another essay, though I didn’t quite scoff at Abraham’s reasoning, I didn’t think that receiving good things in life was sufficient cause to turn the rich man’s ᾅδῃ (a form of ᾅδης) into γεέννης (a form of γέεννα).  But Jesus clearly meant γεέννης in reference to the serpents, the brood of vipers escape from the sentence of hell.  So it’s difficult for me to turn now and see how bad things—bringing all the righteous blood shed on earth…upon this generation—might justify that escape.

As I consider again the accounts of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple I have to admit I find it hard to imagine a γέεννα were sin could be any more unrestrained.  The primary differences I see between the destruction of Jerusalem and γέεννα are: 1) though there is a “letting go” on God’s part evident in Jerusalem’s destruction it was not the absolute “place that the omnipresent God is not” that I understand of γέεννα; and, 2) what we call death was the escape route taken by most in Jerusalem from its hellish destruction, while there is no exit from γέεννα.

I am probably missing the point here, however.  There is no more justification required to spare the serpents, the brood of vipers from a sentence of hell beyond Jesus’ death on the cross and his mercy.  I should consider his motivation to show them mercy since it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy (ἐλεῶντος, a form of ἐλεέω).[7]

I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy (râcham, ורחמתי; Septuagint: ἐλεήσω, another form of ἐλεέω) on whom I will show mercy (râcham, ארחם; Septuagint: ἐλεῶ, another form of ἐλεέω),[8] yehôvâh declared to Moses after the incident with the golden calf.  In the past witnessing his people suffering from their sin has motivated yehôvâh/Jesus to show them mercy.

Jeremiah 31:18-20 (Tanakh)

Jeremiah 38:18-20 (NETS)
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD (yehôvâh, יהוה) my God. In hearing I heard Ephraim mourning: “You instructed me and I was instructed; I was not trained like a calf.  Bring me back, and I shall come back, because you are the Lord my God.
Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Because later than my captivity I repented, and later than that I became aware, I sighed for days of shame, and I yielded to you, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.
Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely (râcham, רחם) have mercy (râcham, ארחמנו) upon him, saith the LORD (yehôvâh, יהוה). Ephraim is my beloved son, a child to delight in; because since my words are in him, I will remember him with remembrance.  Therefore I hurried for him; in having mercy (ἐλεῶν, another form of ἐλεέω) I will have mercy (ἐλεήσω, a form of ἐλεέω) on him, quoth the Lord.

Notice the order of events:

First, one is turned (John 6:44; 12:32) by yehôvâh…turn (shûb, השיבני; Septuagint: ἐπίστρεψόν, a form of ἐπιστρέφω) thou me, and I shall be turned (shûb, ואשובה; Septuagint: ἐπιστρέψω)…(KJV: turn thou me, and I shall be turned).

Second, one who is turned by yehôvâh repents (2 Timothy 2:24-26)…after that I was turned (shûb, שובי), I repented (nâcham, נחמתי; Septuagint: μετενόησα, a form of μετανοέω)… (KJV: after that I was turned, I repented).

The translators of the Septuagint conflated being turned by yehôvâh with captivity: “later than my captivity I repented” (ὅτι ὕστερον αἰχμαλωσίας μου μετενόησα).  The Tanakh reads: Thou hast chastised (yâsar, יסרתני; Septuagint: ἐπαίδευσάς, a form of παιδεύω) me, and I was chastised (yâsar, ואוסר; Septuagint: ἐπαιδεύθην, another form of παιδεύω), as a bullock unaccustomed (lôʼ, לא) to the yoke (lâmad, למד)… (KJV: Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke).

Translating yâsar with forms of παιδεύω wasn’t wrong exactly, just a little misleading.  Ephraim learned that yehôvâh’s word (Deuteronomy 32) was true, but I wonder if ἐπαίδευσάς and ἐπαιδεύθην actually communicate the crudity and violence of that method of “instruction.”

The Greek ἐγώ ὥσπερ μόσχος οὐκ ἐδιδάχθην[9] seems virtually identical to the Hebrew translated as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke though the English translation—“I was not trained like a calf”—coupled with instructed rather than chastised seems to disguise that fact.  But, yes, survivors “instructed” by losing a war and being carried off into captivity that yehôvâh’s word was true did prompt Ephraim to ask yehôvâh to turn him.

The translators of the NET (among other modern translations) followed the same line of reasoning—“For after we turned away from you we repented”—and—“You disciplined us and we learned from it”—emphasizing our repentance and our learning over being turned by yehôvâh.  But hear yehôvâh’s motivation to show mercy revealed in Moses’ song: For HaShem (yehôvâh, יהוה) will judge His people, and repent Himself for His servants; when He seeth that their stay is gone, and there is none remaining, shut up or left at large.[10]

Third, it is after repentance that one gains real knowledge (Ephesians 4:24-29; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; 2:6-16) beyond the simple fact that yehôvâh’s word is true…and after that I was instructed (yâdaʽ, הודעי; Septuagint: γνῶναί, a form of γινώσκω)… (KJV: after that I was instructed).

Fourth, this instruction (Tanakh, KJV) or awareness (NETS/Septuagint) brings shame and confusion (Romans 7:15-25; 1 Corinthians 15:9; Ephesians 3:7-9; 1 Timothy 1:15-17) over past behavior…I was ashamed (bûsh, בשתי; Septuagint: αἰσχύνης, a form of αἰσχύνη), yea, even confounded (kâlam, נכלמתי; Septuagint: ὑπέδειξά, a form of ὑποδεικνύω)…(KJV: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded).  It is the carnal mind or religious mind that seeks to induce shame first to manipulate others into conformity with its concept of righteousness.

For this purpose the Son of God was revealed, John wrote, to destroy the works of the devil.[11]  To be born from above and led by the Spirit of God is the surest way to destroy the works (ἔργα, a form of ἔργον) of the devil, but as in the instance cited above it isn’t the only thing God is doing or has done to reconcile the world to Himself through Christ.

I haven’t written about destroying the works of the devil.  I think more often in terms of the old man (παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον).  It is good to pause here a moment to consider παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον since so many women feel excluded by the word man.

This is the record of the family line of Adam (ʼâdâm, אדם; Septuagint: ἀνθρώπων, a form of ἄνθρωπος).  When God created humankind (ʼâdâm, אדם; Septuagint: Αδαμ, a form of Ἀδάμ), he made them in the likeness of God.  He created them male (zâkâr, זכר; Septuagint: ἄρσεν) and female (neqêbâh, ונקבה; Septuagint: θῆλυ, a form of θῆλυς); when they were created, he blessed them and named them “humankind (ʼâdâm, אדם; Septuagint: Αδαμ, a form of Ἀδάμ) [Table].”[12]  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint used ἀνθρώπων (a form of ἄνθρωπος) for the first ʼâdâm (אדם) in Genesis 5:1.  So from now on I will call παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον (another form of ἄνθρωπος) old human.

My wife would dig into me in arguments, searching for what I am calling the old human.  When she found it, when I responded angrily, she believed she had discovered my true motives, my true feelings, my true self.  If I avoided an outburst of anger, which was usually facilitated by my silence, she called me mean and assumed I was hiding my true motives, my true feelings, my true self.  I didn’t study the Bible as often or as consistently as I do now, so the experience was much more disorienting in real time than it seems in retrospect.

I have no excuse for my inattention to Scripture.  I became the married man…concerned about the things of the world, how to please his wife.[13]  She, my children and I have all suffered for it.  But that kind of unmasking by the woman I love is a wound that doesn’t heal.  I am all too aware now that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.[14]

A conversation recently over a long lunch with a coworker helped me understand my now ex-wife.  My coworker, speaking on a different topic, said that her mother reprimanded her with the words “be nice.”  And my coworker repeated, “be nice, be nice, be nice.”  On the flight home I had a long time to consider that lifestyle relative to my own.

It was similar to my efforts to have my own righteousness derived from the law,[15] except that the law actually is God’s word, through the law comes the knowledge of sin.  So, though I was playing badly, I was in the right theater.  When I turned Paul’s definition of love (1 Corinthians 13:4-13) into rules that I tried to obey in my own strength, that definition actually is a vivid description of the way God loves.  So again, I played badly but in the right theater.  For a child to attempt to construct a way of life from the word nice, defined as a vague negation of whatever she was doing, saying or thinking at the moment her mother spoke it as correction, could only seem like a repression of her true motives, her true feelings, her true self.

If I am filled with God’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, the fruit of his Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23), then all I need is permission to consider that fruit my new human.  When I am filled with the fruit of Spirit the Old Testament testifies to the need for a new human, since the old human was never reformed by love or promise, by law or punishment.  “Do not be amazed that I said to you,” Jesus said, “‘You must all be born from above.’”[16]  And the teaching of the New Testament becomes that permission to receive and perceive the fruit of God’s own Spirit as my new human (Galatians 2:20, 21 NET).

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!

If my wife has turned the faith she used on me against herself, that her old human is her true self, it is extraordinarily difficult for her to work out her salvation.  I cannot have the salvation by grace through faith revealed in the Bible if I refuse to believe what the Bible says about me—the old me and the new me—and about that salvation.

Since I failed her so miserably when we were married I have tried by the grace of God to love her consistently since our divorce.  I’ve confessed my sins and shortcomings when I’ve recognized them, but I’ve clearly lost all credibility with her.  She is convinced that I live by obeying rules I have derived from studying the Bible.  Of course, she is not entirely wrong.

At any given moment I may be led by the Spirit of God or I may have reverted to attempting to love like God by obeying Paul’s definition of love as if it were rules or worse, the sin in my flesh may be expressed beyond the confines of my flesh.  But the Holy Spirit’s persistence—despite my efforts to obey rules—has increased the frequency of that oscillation and vacillation to moments, not days or weeks, not months or years.  And my fixation on the old human does not alter the fact that Jesus, the Judge, is perfectly willing to consider my old human a child of the devil doing the deeds (ἔργα, a form of ἔργον) of [his] father (John 8:37-47).  I would do well to accept his faith as my own.

Three tables follow: the occurrences of Διὰ τοῦτο in Matthew and forms of ὀδυνάω and ἔλθῃ (a form of ἔρχομαι) in the New Testament and their translations in the KJV and NET.  If the parallel Greek in the NET differed from the Stephanus Textus Receptus I have broken the table to show those differences in other tables including the Byzantine Majority Text.

Διὰ τοῦτο in Matthew Reference KJV

NET
Διὰ τοῦτο Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life… Therefore I tell you, do not worry…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν· μὴ μεριμνᾶτε τῇ ψυχῇ ὑμῶν τί φάγητε [ἢ τί πίητε], μηδὲ τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν τί ἐνδύσησθε. οὐχὶ ἡ ψυχὴ πλεῖον ἐστιν τῆς τροφῆς καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἐνδύματος δια τουτο λεγω υμιν μη μεριμνατε τη ψυχη υμων τι φαγητε και τι πιητε μηδε τω σωματι υμων τι ενδυσησθε ουχι η ψυχη πλειον εστιν της τροφης και το σωμα του ενδυματος δια τουτο λεγω υμιν μη μεριμνατε τη ψυχη υμων τι φαγητε και τι πιητε μηδε τω σωματι υμων τι ενδυσησθε ουχι η ψυχη πλειον εστιν της τροφης και το σωμα του ενδυματος
διὰ τοῦτο Matthew 12:27 …therefore they shall be your judges. For this reason they will be your judges.
Διὰ τοῦτο Matthew 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven… For this reason I tell you, people will be forgiven…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν, πᾶσα ἁμαρτία καὶ βλασφημία ἀφεθήσεται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἡ δὲ τοῦ πνεύματος βλασφημία οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται δια τουτο λεγω υμιν πασα αμαρτια και βλασφημια αφεθησεται τοις ανθρωποις η δε του πνευματος βλασφημια ουκ αφεθησεται τοις ανθρωποις δια τουτο λεγω υμιν πασα αμαρτια και βλασφημια αφεθησεται τοις ανθρωποις η δε του πνευματος βλασφημια ουκ αφεθησεται τοις ανθρωποις
διὰ τοῦτο Matthew 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables… For this reason I speak to them in parables…
Matthew 13:52 …Therefore every scribe which is instructed… …Therefore every expert in the law who has been trained…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· διὰ τοῦτο πᾶς γραμματεὺς μαθητευθεὶς τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν ὅμοιος ἐστιν ἀνθρώπῳ οἰκοδεσπότῃ, ὅστις ἐκβάλλει ἐκ τοῦ θησαυροῦ αὐτοῦ καινὰ καὶ παλαιά ο δε ειπεν αυτοις δια τουτο πας γραμματευς μαθητευθεις εις την βασιλειαν των ουρανων ομοιος εστιν ανθρωπω οικοδεσποτη οστις εκβαλλει εκ του θησαυρου αυτου καινα και παλαια ο δε ειπεν αυτοις δια τουτο πας γραμματευς μαθητευθεις εις την βασιλειαν των ουρανων ομοιος εστιν ανθρωπω οικοδεσποτη οστις εκβαλλει εκ του θησαυρου αυτου καινα και παλαια
διὰ τοῦτο Matthew 14:2 …and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. And because of this, miraculous powers are at work in him.
Διὰ τοῦτο Matthew 18:23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened… For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like…
διὰ τοῦτο Matthew 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you… For this reason I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you…
δια τουτο Matthew 23:14 …therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Not included in NET
Διὰ τοῦτο Mathew 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men… For this reason I am sending you prophets and wise men…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Διὰ τοῦτο ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω πρὸς ὑμᾶς προφήτας καὶ σοφοὺς καὶ γραμματεῖς· ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκτενεῖτε καὶ σταυρώσετε καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν μαστιγώσετε ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς ὑμῶν καὶ διώξετε ἀπὸ πόλεως εἰς πόλιν δια τουτο ιδου εγω αποστελλω προς υμας προφητας και σοφους και γραμματεις και εξ αυτων αποκτενειτε και σταυρωσετε και εξ αυτων μαστιγωσετε εν ταις συναγωγαις υμων και διωξετε απο πολεως εις πολιν δια τουτο ιδου εγω αποστελλω προς υμας προφητας και σοφους και γραμματεις και εξ αυτων αποκτενειτε και σταυρωσετε και εξ αυτων μαστιγωσετε εν ταις συναγωγαις υμων και διωξετε απο πολεως εις πολιν
διὰ τοῦτο Matthew 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready… Therefore you also must be ready…
Form of ὀδυνάω Reference KJV

NET
ὀδυνᾶσαι Luke 16:25 …and thou art tormented. …and you are in anguish.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
εἶπεν δὲ Ἀβραάμ· τέκνον, μνήσθητι ὅτι ἀπέλαβες τὰ ἀγαθά σου ἐν τῇ ζωῇ σου, καὶ Λάζαρος ὁμοίως τὰ κακά· νῦν δὲ ὧδε παρακαλεῖται, σὺ δὲ ὀδυνᾶσαι ειπεν δε αβρααμ τεκνον μνησθητι οτι απελαβες συ τα αγαθα σου εν τη ζωη σου και λαζαρος ομοιως τα κακα νυν δε οδε παρακαλειται συ δε οδυνασαι ειπεν δε αβρααμ τεκνον μνησθητι οτι απελαβες συ τα αγαθα σου εν τη ζωη σου και λαζαρος ομοιως τα κακα νυν δε ωδε παρακαλειται συ δε οδυνασαι
ὀδυνῶμαι Luke 16:24 …I am tormented in this flame. …I am in anguish in this fire.
ὀδυνώμενοι Luke 2:48 …thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. …your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.
Acts 20:38 Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake… …especially saddened by what he had said…
ἔλθῃ, a form of ἔρχομαι Reference KJV

NET
ἔλθῃ Matthew 10:23 …till the Son of man be come. …before the Son of Man comes.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ὅταν δὲ διώκωσιν ὑμᾶς ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ, φεύγετε εἰς τὴν ἑτέραν ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐ μὴ τελέσητε τὰς πόλεις |τοῦ| Ἰσραὴλ ἕως |ἂν| ἔλθῃ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. οταν δε διωκωσιν υμας εν τη πολει ταυτη φευγετε εις την αλλην αμην γαρ λεγω υμιν ου μη τελεσητε τας πολεις του ισραηλ εως αν ελθη ο υιος του ανθρωπου οταν δε διωκωσιν υμας εν τη πολει ταυτη φευγετε εις την αλλην αμην γαρ λεγω υμιν ου μη τελεσητε τας πολεις του ισραηλ εως αν ελθη ο υιος του ανθρωπου
ἔλθῃ Matthew 21:40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh… …when the owner of the vineyard comes…
Matthew 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood… …so that on you will come all the righteous blood…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὅπως ἔλθῃ ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς πᾶν αἷμα δίκαιον ἐκχυννόμενον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος Ἅβελ τοῦ δικαίου ἕως τοῦ αἵματος Ζαχαρίου υἱοῦ Βαραχίου, ὃν ἐφονεύσατε μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου οπως ελθη εφ υμας παν αιμα δικαιον εκχυνομενον επι της γης απο του αιματος αβελ του δικαιου εως του αιματος ζαχαριου υιου βαραχιου ον εφονευσατε μεταξυ του ναου και του θυσιαστηριου οπως ελθη εφ υμας παν αιμα δικαιον εκχυνομενον επι της γης απο του αιματος αβελ του δικαιου εως του αιματος ζαχαριου υιου βαραχιου ον εφονευσατε μεταξυ του ναου και του θυσιαστηριου
ἔλθῃ Matthew 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory… When the Son of Man comes in his glory…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῇ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντες οἱ ἄγγελοι μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, τότε καθίσει ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης αὐτοῦ οταν δε ελθη ο υιος του ανθρωπου εν τη δοξη αυτου και παντες οι αγιοι αγγελοι μετ αυτου τοτε καθισει επι θρονου δοξης αυτου οταν δε ελθη ο υιος του ανθρωπου εν τη δοξη αυτου και παντες οι αγιοι αγγελοι μετ αυτου τοτε καθισει επι θρονου δοξης αυτου
ἔλθῃ Mark 4:22 …neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. …and nothing concealed except to be brought to light.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οὐ γάρ ἐστιν κρυπτὸν ἐὰν μὴ ἵνα φανερωθῇ, οὐδὲ ἐγένετο ἀπόκρυφον ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα ἔλθῃ εἰς φανερόν. ου γαρ εστιν τι κρυπτον ο εαν μη φανερωθη ουδε εγενετο αποκρυφον αλλ ινα εις φανερον ελθη ου γαρ εστιν τι κρυπτον ο εαν μη φανερωθη ουδε εγενετο αποκρυφον αλλ ινα εις φανερον ελθη
ἔλθῃ Mark 8:38 …when he cometh in the glory of his Father… …when he comes in the glory of his Father…
Luke 1:43 …that the mother of my Lord should come to me? …that the mother of my Lord should come and visit me?
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ πόθεν μοι τοῦτο ἵνα ἔλθῃ ἡ μήτηρ τοῦ κυρίου μου πρὸς ἐμέ και ποθεν μοι τουτο ινα ελθη η μητηρ του κυριου μου προς με και ποθεν μοι τουτο ινα ελθη η μητηρ του κυριου μου προς με
ἔλθῃ Luke 8:17 …that shall not be known and come abroad. …made known and brought to light.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οὐ γάρ ἐστιν κρυπτὸν ὃ οὐ φανερὸν γενήσεται οὐδὲ ἀπόκρυφον ὃ οὐ μὴ γνωσθῇ καὶ εἰς φανερὸν ἔλθῃ ου γαρ εστιν κρυπτον ο ου φανερον γενησεται ουδε αποκρυφον ο ου γνωσθησεται και εις φανερον ελθη ου γαρ εστιν κρυπτον ο ου φανερον γενησεται ουδε αποκρυφον ο ου γνωσθησεται και εις φανερον ελθη
ἔλθῃ Luke 9:26 …when he shall come in his own glory… …when he comes in his glory…
Luke 12:38 And if he shall come in the second… Even if he comes in the second…
…or come in the third watch… …or third watch of the night…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
κὰν ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ κὰν ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ φυλακῇ ἔλθῃ καὶ εὕρῃ οὕτως, μακάριοι εἰσιν ἐκεῖνοι. και εαν ελθη εν τη δευτερα φυλακη και εν τη τριτη φυλακη ελθη και ευρη ουτως μακαριοι εισιν οι δουλοι εκεινοι και εαν ελθη εν τη δευτερα φυλακη και εν τη τριτη φυλακη ελθη και ευρη ουτως μακαριοι εισιν οι δουλοι εκεινοι
ἔλθῃ Luke 14:10 …that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say… …so that when your host approaches he will say to you…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀλλ᾿ ὅταν κληθῇς, πορευθεὶς ἀνάπεσε εἰς τὸν ἔσχατον τόπον, ἵνα ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ κεκληκώς σε ἐρεῖ σοι· φίλε, προσανάβηθι ἀνώτερον· τότε ἔσται σοι δόξα ἐνώπιον πάντων τῶν συνανακειμένων σοι αλλ οταν κληθης πορευθεις αναπεσον εις τον εσχατον τοπον ινα οταν ελθη ο κεκληκως σε ειπη σοι φιλε προσαναβηθι ανωτερον τοτε εσται σοι δοξα ενωπιον των συνανακειμενων σοι αλλ οταν κληθης πορευθεις αναπεσε εις τον εσχατον τοπον ινα οταν ελθη ο κεκληκως σε ειπη σοι φιλε προσαναβηθι ανωτερον τοτε εσται σοι δοξα ενωπιον των συνανακειμενων σοι
ἔλθῃ Luke 22:18 …until the kingdom of God shall come. …until the kingdom of God comes.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, [ὅτι] οὐ μὴ πίω ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ἀπὸ τοῦ γενήματος τῆς ἀμπέλου ἕως οὗ ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ἔλθῃ. λεγω γαρ υμιν οτι ου μη πιω απο του γεννηματος της αμπελου εως οτου η βασιλεια του θεου ελθη λεγω γαρ υμιν οτι ου μη πιω απο του γενηματος της αμπελου εως οτου η βασιλεια του θεου ελθη
ἔλθῃ John 4:25 …when he is come, he will tell us all things. …whenever he comes, he will tell us everything.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ γυνή· οἶδα ὅτι Μεσσίας ἔρχεται (ὁ λεγόμενος χριστός)· ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, ἀναγγελεῖ ἡμῖν ἅπαντα λεγει αυτω η γυνη οιδα οτι μεσσιας ερχεται ο λεγομενος χριστος οταν ελθη εκεινος αναγγελει ημιν παντα λεγει αυτω η γυνη οιδα οτι μεσιας ερχεται ο λεγομενος χριστος οταν ελθη εκεινος αναγγελει ημιν παντα
ἔλθῃ John 5:43 …if another shall come in his own name… If someone else comes in his own name…
John 7:31 When Christ cometh… Whenever the Christ comes…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ἐκ τοῦ ὄχλου δὲ πολλοὶ ἐπίστευσαν εἰς αὐτὸν καὶ ἔλεγον· ὁ χριστὸς ὅταν ἔλθῃ μὴ πλείονα σημεῖα ποιήσει ὧν οὗτος ἐποίησεν πολλοι δε εκ του οχλου επιστευσαν εις αυτον και ελεγον οτι ο χριστος οταν ελθη μητι πλειονα σημεια τουτων ποιησει ων ουτος εποιησεν πολλοι δε εκ του οχλου επιστευσαν εις αυτον και ελεγον οτι ο χριστος οταν ελθη μητι πλειονα σημεια τουτων ποιησει ων ουτος εποιησεν
ἔλθῃ John 11:56 …that he will not come to the feast? That he won’t come to the feast?
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come… When the Advocate comes…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ παράκλητος ὃν ἐγὼ πέμψω ὑμῖν παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας ὃ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται, ἐκεῖνος μαρτυρήσει περὶ ἐμοῦ οταν δε ελθη ο παρακλητος ον εγω πεμψω υμιν παρα του πατρος το πνευμα της αληθειας ο παρα του πατρος εκπορευεται εκεινος μαρτυρησει περι εμου οταν δε ελθη ο παρακλητος ον εγω πεμψω υμιν παρα του πατρος το πνευμα της αληθειας ο παρα του πατρος εκπορευεται εκεινος μαρτυρησει περι εμου
ἔλθῃ John 16:4 …that when the time shall come… …so that when their time comes…
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come… But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὁδηγήσει ὑμᾶς |ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ πάσῃ| οὐ γὰρ λαλήσει ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλ᾿ ὅσα |ἀκούσει| λαλήσει καὶ τὰ ἐρχόμενα ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν οταν δε ελθη εκεινος το πνευμα της αληθειας οδηγησει υμας εις πασαν την αληθειαν ου γαρ λαλησει αφ εαυτου αλλ οσα αν ακουση λαλησει και τα ερχομενα αναγγελει υμιν οταν δε ελθη εκεινος το πνευμα της αληθειας οδηγησει υμας εις πασαν την αληθειαν ου γαρ λαλησει αφ εαυτου αλλ οσα αν ακουση λαλησει και τα ερχομενα αναγγελει υμιν
ἔλθῃ Romans 3:8 Let us do evil, that good may come? Let us do evil so that good may come…
1 Corinthians 4:5 …until the Lord come… Wait until the Lord comes.
1 Corinthians 11:26 …ye do show the Lord’s death till he come. …you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὁσάκις γὰρ ἐὰν ἐσθίητε τὸν ἄρτον τοῦτον καὶ τὸ ποτήριον πίνητε, τὸν θάνατον τοῦ κυρίου καταγγέλλετε ἄχρι οὗ ἔλθῃ οσακις γαρ αν εσθιητε τον αρτον τουτον και το ποτηριον τουτο πινητε τον θανατον του κυριου καταγγελλετε αχρις ου αν ελθη οσακις γαρ αν εσθιητε τον αρτον τουτον και το ποτηριον τουτο πινητε τον θανατον του κυριου καταγγελλετε αχρις ου αν ελθη
ἔλθῃ 1 Corinthians 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come… …but when what is perfect comes…

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον, τὸ ἐκ μέρους καταργηθήσεται οταν δε ελθη το τελειον τοτε το εκ μερους καταργηθησεται οταν δε ελθη το τελειον τοτε το εκ μερους καταργηθησεται
ἔλθῃ 1 Corinthians 16:10 Now if Timotheus come… Now if Timothy comes…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ἐὰν δὲ ἔλθῃ Τιμόθεος, βλέπετε, ἵνα ἀφόβως γένηται πρὸς ὑμᾶς· τὸ γὰρ ἔργον κυρίου ἐργάζεται ὡς |καγώ| εαν δε ελθη τιμοθεος βλεπετε ινα αφοβως γενηται προς υμας το γαρ εργον κυριου εργαζεται ως και εγω εαν δε ελθη τιμοθεος βλεπετε ινα αφοβως γενηται προς υμας το γαρ εργον κυριου εργαζεται ως και εγω
ἔλθῃ 1 Corinthians 16:11 …that he may come unto me: …so that he may come to me.
1 Corinthians 16:12 I greatly desired him to come unto you… I strongly encouraged him to visit you…
…but his will was not at all to come at this time… …but it was simply not his intention to come now.
Galatians 3:19 …till the seed should come… …until the arrival of the descendant…
Colossians 4:10 …if he come unto you, receive him… …if he comes to you, welcome him…
2 Thessalonians 1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints… …when he comes to be glorified among his saints…
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐνδοξασθῆναι ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ καὶ θαυμασθῆναι ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς πιστεύσασιν, ὅτι ἐπιστεύθη τὸ μαρτύριον ἡμῶν ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ οταν ελθη ενδοξασθηναι εν τοις αγιοις αυτου και θαυμασθηναι εν πασιν τοις πιστευουσιν οτι επιστευθη το μαρτυριον ημων εφ υμας εν τη ημερα εκεινη οταν ελθη ενδοξασθηναι εν τοις αγιοις αυτου και θαυμασθηναι εν πασιν τοις πιστευσασιν οτι επιστευθη το μαρτυριον ημων εφ υμας εν τη ημερα εκεινη
ἔλθῃ 2 Thessalonians 2:3 …for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first… For that day will not arrive until the rebellion comes…
Revelation 17:10 …and when he cometh… …but whenever he does come…

[1] John 3:17 (NET)

[2] John 18:36a (NET)

[3] Revelation 11:15 (NET)

[4] John 11:25, 26 (NET)

[5] Luke 20:37, 38 (NET)

[6] Hebrews 12:2b (NET)

[7] Romans 9:16 (NET) Table

[8] Exodus 33:19b (Tanakh) Table

[9] I just as a calf was not trained.

[10] Deuteronomy 32:36 (Tanakh)

[11] 1 John 3:8b (NET)

[12] Genesis 5:1, 2 (NET)

[13] 1 Corinthians 7:33 (NET)

[14] Romans 7:21b (NET)

[15] Philippians 3:9b (NET)

[16] John 3:7 (NET)

My Deeds, Part 3

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There is a table representing my unstudied view of the relationship of the clauses of Revelation 2:26-29.  I’m considering the clause, who continues in my deeds until the end, because it tugs the hardest at me to return to my own works.  I’ve begun to try to understand τὰ ἔργα μου, translated my deeds, with a study of 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…[1]  It means to keep, not to lose or discard.

To review, the NET translation of John 14:21 confirms both my initial belief and practice, that obeying Jesus’ commands was the path to loving Him, knowing Him and being loved by Him and his Father.  Refining the translation obeys to keeps lowers the standard a bit but doesn’t alter the order of events, that Jesus and his Father loved me because I first loved Jesus (by keeping his commandments, not losing or discarding them).  But this argument was preceded by another, outlined below:

If you love Me…

John 14:15a (NASB)

 …you will keep (τηρήσετε, another form of τηρέω) My commandments.

John 14:15b (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 (μένει, a form of μένω; present tense) with you and will be (ἔσται, a form of εἰμί; future tense) in you.

John 14:16, 17 (NASB)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…

Galatians 5:22, 23a (NASB)
I have not come to abolish [the law or the prophets] but to fulfill them.

Matthew 5:17b (NET)

 …love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:10b (NET)
He who has My commandments and keeps (τηρῶν, a form of τηρέω) them…

John 14:21a (NASB)

 …is the one who loves Me…

John 14:21b (NASB)

I will love Jesus and keep his commandments by the Holy Spirit who abides with me and will be in me.  If I concede to the old man (Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:9-11), fighting for its own survival by attempting to lose or discard Jesus’ commandments, though it may not alter God’s love for me, I have ceased to love Him with the love that is the fruit of his Spirit, the love that is the fulfillment of the law, no matter what I tell myself and no matter how much emotion I feel for Him.

In this essay I’ll consider John’s explanation, And the person who keeps (τηρῶν, a form of τηρέω) his commandments resides in God, and God in him,[2] but I’ll back up first to take a run at it (1 John 2:28, 29 NET):

And now, little children, remain (μένετε, a form of μένω) in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame when he comes back.  If you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices (ποιῶν, a form of ποιέω) righteousness has been fathered by him.

The Greek word translated fathered was γεγέννηται (a form of γεννάω).  John didn’t leave us wondering what he meant by it: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered (γεγέννηται, a form of γεννάω) by God…[3]  He had a unique understanding of the word μένετε as one of the twelve Jesus sent out with the following instruction (I’ve included Luke 10:7 though it was addressed to the seventy-two others Jesus appointed and sent on ahead of Him).

Mark 6:10 (NET)

Luke 9:4 (NET)

Luke 10:7 (NET)
[Jesus] said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay (μένετε, a form of μένω) there until you leave the area.” Whatever house you enter, stay (μένετε, a form of μένω) there until you leave the area. Stay (μένετε, a form of μένω) in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, for the worker deserves his pay.  Do not move around from house to house.

I understand what it means to stay in a house, to not move around from place to place.  But what does it mean to stay in God?  A few verses prior to this John wrote (1 John 2:24 NET):

As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain (μενέτω, another form of μένω) in you.  If what you heard from the beginning remains (μείνῃ, another form of μένω) in you, you also will remain (μενεῖτε, another form of μένω) in the Son and in the Father.

So I remain in the Son and in the Father if Jesus’ teaching remains in me.  Here is Jesus’ teaching on the subject (John 15:4, 5a NET):

Remain (μείνατε, another form of μένω) in me, and I will remain in you.  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains (μένῃ, another form of μένω) in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain (μένητε, another form of μένω) in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  The one who remains (μένων, another form of μένω) in me – and I in him – bears much fruit…

In other words, remaining in Jesus (and his Father) by remaining in the teaching I have heard from the beginning of my new life in Christ (assuming that teaching was the Gospel of Christ) brings forth the fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that is the fulfillment of the law.  Jesus continued, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.[4]  I don’t think He meant that I couldn’t become a hypocrite, an actor playing at righteousness more or less skillfully.  Jesus warned, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.[5]  But I can’t do the righteousness that fulfills the law apart from remaining in Jesus by remaining in his teaching.

Jesus continued teaching his disciples (John 15:6 NET):

If anyone does not remain (μένῃ, another form of μένω) in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up.

He listed some impediments either to hearing in the beginning or to what was heard from the beginning remaining (Luke 8:11-15 NET):

Now the parable means this: The seed is the word of God (ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ).  Those along the path are the ones who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root.  They believe for a while, but in a time of testing fall away (ἀφίστανται, a form of ἀφίστημι).  As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked (συμπνίγονται, a form of συμπνίγω) by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.  But as for the seed that landed on good soil, these are the ones who, after hearing the word, cling (κατέχουσιν, a form of κατέχω) to it with an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with steadfast endurance.

If you remain (μείνητε, another form of μένω) in me and my words remain (μείνῃ, another form of μένω) in you, Jesus continued, ask whatever you want, and it will be done (γενήσεται, a form of γίνομαι) for you.  My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are (γένησθε, another form of γίνομαι) my disciples.[6]  The words if and whatever are the same Greek word ἐὰν.  I understand this request as related to, and bracketed by, bearing fruit.  I’m unsure about translating ἐὰν whatever.  In my case it led to unbelief while—ask [if] you want, and it will be done (or, become) for you—has led to some faith-confirming results.  Jesus continued (John 15:9, 10 NET):   

Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain (μείνατε, another form of μένω) in my love.  If you obey (τηρήσητε, another form of τηρέω) my commandments, you will remain (μενεῖτε, another form of μένω) in my love, just as I have obeyed (τετήρηκα, another form of τηρέω) my Father’s commandments and remain (μένω) in his love.

This is how I understood this passage even when the Bible I read translated τηρήσητε keep and τετήρηκα kept.  “Jesus promises to love the disciples if they obey his commandments,” reads the sermon notes for John 15:9-17 on Sermon Writer online.  Here, and other places like it, I turned from being led by the Holy Spirit, especially if my behavior was too embarrassing too often to confess any longer, to take charge of my own righteousness in my own strength.

See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children,[7] John continued.  The note (1) in the NET reads:

The ἵνα (Jina) clause is best understood (1) as epexegetical (or explanatory), clarifying the love (ἀγάπην, agapen) that the Father has given to believers. Although it is possible (2) to regard the ἵνα as indicating result, the use of ποταπήν (potapen, “what sort of”) to modify ἀγάπην suggests that the idea of “love” will be qualified further in the following context, and this qualification is provided by the epexegetical ἵνα clause.

I think option (2) is the better understanding.  The sort of love the Father has given to us is not the Father’s feeling for us, but a very practical gift: It is the love that is patient, the love that is kind, the love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.[8]  This love may be shared in.  It is the fruit of his Spirit, the fulfillment of the law.  This love may be remained in or may be left behind.  If I leave God’s love behind to run ahead in my own strength God’s love has not and does not change.  If I do not remain in his love I strive way too hard to become a highly-skilled hypocrite rather than receiving the love he has given us.  He gave us this sort of love in order that we should be called God’s children.  Paul concurred with John (Romans 5:5b; 7:6b; 8:3, 4, 14 NET):

…the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us…

…so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.

For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

“To remain in Jesus’ love,” the entry in SermonWriter reads, “suggests being immersed in Jesus’ love—surrounded by Jesus’ love—comforted by Jesus’ love—empowered by Jesus’ love.  Imagine a swimming pool filled, not with water, but with Jesus’ love.”  All analogies have their problems but this one isn’t too bad.  Ordinarily one tries not to drown in a swimming pool.  A pool of Jesus’ love is really only threatening to the old man (Ephesians 4:25-5:5; Colossians 3:12-17).  The believer lives and breathes in its environs, in fact, only in its environs.  This pool travels with the believer, but the believer can leave the pool.  A believer leaving the pool of God’s love does not change God’s love at all.  Leaving only changes the believer’s access to, and appreciation of, God’s love.  Jesus’ and John’s point was, don’t get out of God’s love.

Here is John again (1 John 3:1-10 NET):

(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children – and indeed we are!  For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him.  Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.  We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.  And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure).

Everyone who practices (ποιῶν, a form of ποιέω) sin also practices (ποιεῖ, another form of ποιέω) lawlessness; indeed, sin is lawlessness.  And you know that Jesus was revealed to take away (ἄρῃ, a form of αἴρω) sins, and in him there is no sin.  Everyone who resides (μένων, another form of μένω) in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him.  Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices (ποιῶν, a form of ποιέω) righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous.  The one who practices (ποιῶν, a form of ποιέω) sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.  Everyone who has been fathered (γεγεννημένος, another form of γεννάω) by God does not practice (ποιεῖ, another form of ποιέω) sin, because God’s seed resides (μένει, another form of μένω) in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered (γεγέννηται, a form of γεννάω) by God.  By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice (ποιῶν, a form of ποιέω) righteousness – the one who does not love his fellow Christian (ἀδελφὸν, a form of ἀδελφός) – is not of God.

Now if I do what I do (ποιῶ, another form of ποιέω) not want, Paul wrote believers in Rome, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.[9]  It is better to greet John’s and Paul’s explanations with faith than with fear or mockery.  But the Spirit of God relentlessly dragged me back when my default position was to “chuck this whole religion thing.”  He was kind and patient when my default position became do-it-myself sanctification, when I said in so many words, “I can’t trust You with something as important as MY righteousness.”  Jaco Gericke had a very different testimony.  I rationalize this difference with Paul’s conclusion: So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.[10]  Others rationalize it as individual free will.

When I was young righteousness was a matter of good habits developed through willpower because Jesus had saved me.  Now I can see this as a childish misunderstanding of potentially good teaching.  But at the time I saw Jesus’ salvation only as a reason, why I should do righteousness, never as a cause, how I could do righteousness.  My willpower proved to be unequal to the task.  I am weak-willed vis-à-vis righteousness.  So I tend to minimize the effect of my will and magnify the effect of God’s mercy.   Now that I understand that Jesus’ salvation causes righteousness I have replaced willpower with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Of course, I still don’t recognize any habit in me toward the good apart from that daily infusion of his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

On the other hand, I proved to be quite willful, stubborn, rebellious and stiff-necked regarding my sin.  So I tend to see free will as more useful, or more conducive, to sinning.  I don’t tend to argue the point because I can see how one who had more success than I did could regard willpower as helpful in the pursuit of righteousness.  Still, I keep my mind open to the possibility that the preachers of free will may have taken more credit for that righteousness than they deserve.

Little children, John continued, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth.[11]  As Jesus tried to teach me about the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe,[12] I got tripped up here quite often.  I thought, especially if my performance was less than perfect when I had attempted to trust Him, that his teaching was not his teaching but me playing word games, loving with word (λόγῳ, a form of λόγος) or with tongue (γλώσσῃ, a form of γλῶσσα).  “No, you really have to do it,” I heard many times from my elders if I tried to share what I thought I had been learning.  How I ever thought that obeying rules in my own strength might become loving in deed (ἔργῳ, a form of ἔργον) and truth (ἀληθείᾳ, a form of ἀλήθεια), I can’t explain apart from being willful, stubborn, rebellious and stiff-necked.  Now I assume that loving with word or with tongue corresponds to my hypocrisy, while loving in deed and truth corresponds to being led by his Holy Spirit.

John continued (1 John 3:19-24 NET):

And by this we will know that we are of the truth (ἀληθείας, another form of ἀλήθεια) and will convince our conscience in his presence, that if (ἐὰν) our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience and knows all things.  Dear friends, if (ἐὰν) our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God, and whatever (ἐὰν; or if) we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him.  Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us the commandment.  And the person who keeps his commandments resides (μένει, another form of μένω) in God, and God in him.  Now by this we know that God resides (μένει, another form of μένω) in us: by the Spirit he has given us.

I want to conclude this essay by addressing one of the statements in the entry in Sermon Writer directly:

The emphasis is love.  Love begins with the Father and flows through the Son to the disciples (v. 9).  It is contingent on obedience…Jesus promises to love the disciples if they obey his commandments.

The demonstrably false statement—“Jesus promises to love the disciples if they obey his commandments”—mischaracterizes God’s love and remaining in his love.  First, consider Jesus’ teaching on the nature of the Father’s love (Matthew 5:43-48 NET):

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they?  And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do?  Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they?  So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus’ love for me is not equivalent to, or contingent upon, my remaining in his love.  Jesus loves me because God is love and Jesus remains in his Father’s love.  If and only if I remain in his love I will bear the fruit of his Spirit, the love which is the fulfillment of the law, and obey him thereby.  It is not that his love, or even remaining in his love, is contingent upon some open-ended obedience of mine but that my obedience is contingent upon his love and my remaining in his love.

Here the misdirection of translating forms of τηρέω with forms of obey becomes evident.  To keep Jesus’ commandments, not to lose or discard them, has much more in common with his words remaining in us than it does with any form of obey.  Even as I write this I hear the quibble in my head: “But you have obeyed: you have remained in his love by clinging to his teaching.”  I write this quibble off to the religious mind.

I acknowledged the religious mind as nothing more than the carnal mind or the outlook of the flesh, but the term still serves a useful purpose for me.  I expect the carnal mind or the outlook of the flesh to be focused directly on sin.  The pretense of the religious mind is its focus on righteousness, albeit a righteousness of its own derived from the law with a keen desire to justify itself by law.  Consider Jesus’ teaching on the subject (Luke 17:10 NET):

“So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’”

As I’ve written before, we have this attitude not because we are in some wretched social condition but because our deeds have been done in (or, by) God[13]…for the one bringing forth (ἐνεργῶν, a form of ἐνεργέω) in you both the desire (θέλειν, a form of θέλω) and the effort (ἐνεργεῖν, another form of ἐνεργέω) – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.[14]

[1] Revelation 16:15b (NET)

[2] 1 John 3:24a (NET)

[3] 1 John 5:1a (NET)

[4] John 15:5b (NET)

[5] Matthew 5:20 (NET)

[6] John 15:7, 8 (NET) Table

[7] 1 John 3:1a (NET)

[8] 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NET)

[9] Romans 7:20 (NET)

[10] Romans 9:18 (NET)

[11] 1 John 3:18 (NET)

[12] Romans 3:22a (NET)

[13] John 3:21b (NET)

[14] Philippians 2:13 (NET)

Atonement, Part 1

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I plan to begin a slow pilgrimage through kâphar, which will at a minimum include surveying kôpher and kippûr.  The first occurrences of kâphar and kôpher according to Strong’s Concordance are found in, Make rooms in the ark, and cover (kâphar, וכפרת; Septuagint: ἀσφαλτώσεις, a form of ἀσφαλτόω) it with pitch (kôpher, בכפר: Septuagint: ἀσφάλτῳ, a form of ἄσφαλτος) inside and out.[1]  But I’m going to set that aside.

The note (48) in the NET reads:

The Hebrew term כָּפָר (kafar, “to cover, to smear” [= to caulk]) appears here in the Qal stem with its primary, nonmetaphorical meaning. The Piel form כִּפֶּר (kipper), which has the metaphorical meaning “to atone, to expiate, to pacify,” is used in Levitical texts (see HALOT 493-94 s.v. כפר). Some authorities regard the form in v. 14 as a homonym of the much more common Levitical term (see BDB 498 s.v. כָּפָר).

I think homonym was used here as I have used homograph:[2] “a word of the same written form as another but of different meaning and usually origin, whether pronounced the same way or not, as bear ‘to carry; support’ and bear ‘animal’ or lead ‘to conduct’ and lead ‘metal;’ a homograph.”[3]  A table showing the translations of the occurrences of kôpher from Genesis 6:14 – Numbers 35:32 in the KJV, NET and the Septuagint follows:

Form of kôpher

 Reference KJV NET

Septuagint
כפר Exodus 21:30 If there be laid on him a sum of money… If a ransom is set for him… λύτρα, a form of λύτρον
Exodus 30:12 …then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul… …then each man is to pay a ransom for his life…
Numbers 35:31 …ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: …you must not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death…
Numbers 35:32 …ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge… …you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge…
בכפר Genesis 6:14 …and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. …and cover it with pitch inside and out. ἀσφάλτῳ, a form of ἄσφαλτος

Clearly kôpher (כפר) in Exodus 21:30; 30:12; Numbers 35:31 and 32 is a homograph for kâphar (כפר) in Exodus 29:33 (NET): They are to eat those things by which atonement (kâphar, כפר) was made to consecrate and to set them apart, but no one else may eat them, for they are holy.  I am more than content to assume that the homographs translated, and cover it with pitch, have next to nothing to do with atonement.  John wrote (1 John 1:5-7 NET):

Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.  But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

I can appreciate that something like asphalt smeared inside and outside of a wooden vessel that preserved people through a judgment of water bears a vague similarity to atonement that will preserve people through a judgment of fire (2 Peter 3:5-7).  But and cover it with pitch sounds more like Achan burying a nice robe from Babylon, two hundred silver pieces, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels[4] in the ground right in the middle of [his] tent.[5]  It sounds like David calling Uriah home from the front and saying, “Go down to your home and relax.”[6]  When Uriah’s loyalty to his comrades-in-arms proved such that he was useless in David’s attempt to cover his sin with pitch, the king sent him back to the front carrying a letter to his commanding officer that read: “Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed (nâkâh).”[7]

In both circumstances yehôvâh brought these pitch-covered-sins to light (Joshua 7:10-26; 2 Samuel 12:1-14).  Thinking atonement was a covering of pitch for sin probably had a lot to do with my conclusion that the Gospel was more a mind trick God played on Himself than something of value for me.

Achan and his family were stoned and burned for theft.  David’s sins of adultery and murder[8] were forgiven or passed over.  I can’t pass by here without at least considering this moral calculus in some way beyond the obvious, that David was a king and Achan’s only claim to fame was the spectacle of his execution.

All the silver and gold, as well as bronze and iron items, belong to the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה), Joshua commanded.  They must go into the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) treasury.[9]  If I hear this with an unbelieving heart it’s easy to see why Friedrich Nietzsche considered Judaism (and not only Judaism) a religion concocted by weak, power-hungry priests.

The ‘law’, the ‘will of God’, the ‘holy book’, ‘inspiration’ – All these are just words for the conditions under which priests come to power and maintain their power, – these concepts can be found at the bottom of all priestly organizations, all structures of priestly or philosophical-priestly control. The ‘holy lie’ – this is common to Confucius, the law book of Manu, Mohammed, and the Christian church: and it is not absent from Plato either. ‘The truth is there ‘: wherever you hear this, it means that the priest is lying.

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Anti-Christ (1888), 55.

An article, “The Hebrew Bible in Nietzsche’s philosophy of religion,” by Jaco Gericke offers an interesting overview on this subject.  My affection for Nietzsche comes from long hours spent with him and Jesus.  Nietzsche, of course, is dead and had no opportunity for rebuttal.  It’s difficult to say how much that difference alone encouraged and maintained my faith in Jesus.  Still I hesitate either to censor Nietzsche’s writings or to promote them as a test of spiritual manhood.  Consider Jaco Gericke.

In “Confessions of a Died-Again Christian,” an interview hosted by Robert M. Price online, Professor Gericke gave his testimony, a born-again Christian who became first a “died-again” Christian then an atheist while studying to become a missionary.  After I listened to it I spent the rest of the day pouting.  That’s what I do now rather than throwing a hissy fit or trying to muscle on in my own strength.

“Either one of these men,” I prayed, “could have been better at this than I am.”

Professor Gericke never described the Bible as the product of lying priests (or preachers, as the case may be).  He described “the system”:

The system has everything covered.  So whatever your problem is, there’s an answer for that somewhere out there…
And you recognize how religion, how the system has controlled you and told you stories about the way things work, and you see the system for what it is…
You also understand how the system, with apologetics, has everything covered.  So to get out is really as close to a miracle as you can get.

He went to the university originally “to become a missionary to share the joy I found [after a conversion experience] with other people.”  Over time that desire was replaced by another, to be “academically respectable.”  Eventually he read Beyond Fundamentalism by James Barr.  “It focuses so much on the Bible and the text,” he described the experience of reading Barr, “that in the end what happens is that your Christian ethics destroys your Christian dogma because you just follow the truth and you do introspection.”  Mr. Price concurred: “The all important personal relationship with Jesus, the sole point of the Bible according to most of these guys [e.g., top notch evangelical…scholars], never occurs in the Bible.”

True enough, the words personal relationship with Jesus do not occur in the Bible.  The hope and promise of the new covenant reads (Jeremiah 31:34 NET Table):

“People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me.  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).  “For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”

Judas (not Iscariot) said to [Jesus] (John14:22-24 NASB):

“Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?”  Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep (τηρήσει, a form of τηρέω) My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep (τηρεῖ, another form of τηρέω) My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”

Professor Gericke’s testimony wasn’t a tale of following Yahweh/Jesus through the scriptures to know Him and his Father.  Rather, it was a proxy war he conducted in his own mind between his favorite fundamentalist apologists and the writings of Julius Wellhausen, David Strauss, biblical criticism, the philosophy of religion and the history of Yahweh, along with James Barr.  His fundamentalist champions didn’t measure up, so the “truth” set him free (John 8:31, 32 NET).

Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples and you will know the truth (ἀλήθειαν, a form of ἀλήθεια), and the truth (ἀλήθεια) will set you free.”

Even if Jesus alluded to a stoic maxim (as Mr. Price asserted) truth was not an abstract concept to Him, certainly not the writings of Julius Wellhausen, David Strauss, biblical criticism, the philosophy of religion and the history of Yahweh, along with James Barr.  Set them apart in the truth (ἀληθείᾳ, another form of ἀλήθεια), He prayed to his Father, your word is truth (ἀλήθεια).[10]  By word (λόγος) Jesus may have alluded to Himself—I am the way, and the truth (ἀληθείας, another form of ἀλήθεια), and the life[11]—but He was born a human baby and socialized into all of the rabbinic lore of his time.  He grew to become the person I know and love by preferring a collection of writings remarkably similar to the Old Testament I read today, which He called τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ (Matthew 15:6; Mark 7:13; Luke 8:21; Luke 11:28) or ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ (Luke 8:11; John 10:35).  Both were translated the word of God.

After his resurrection He said to his disciples (Luke 24:44-49 NET):

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled” [Table]. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it stands written that the Christ would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  And look, I am sending you what my Father promised.  But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” [Table].

His devotion to the truth of those writings was so fierce it terrified Peter and the other disciples (Matthew 26:52-56 NET):

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back in its place!  For all who take hold of the sword will die by the sword [Table].  Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now?  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?”  At that moment Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me like you would an outlaw?  Day after day I sat teaching in the temple courts, yet you did not arrest me.  But this has happened so that the scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled.”  Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Unqualified or not I will get up each morning, take whatever faithfulness I am given and follow Jesus through the scriptures.  I desire to do this to know Him and his Father.  He has given me a hunger and thirst for his righteousness.  And I need to do this lest the sin in my flesh overtake me.  Who would have thought of my sinfulness, my utter inability to do righteousness apart from the fruit of the Spirit, as my advantage over Jaco Gericke or Robert Price? I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,[12] Jesus answered the Pharisees and their experts in the law.

Admittedly, it takes some faith to find any coherent knowledge of God in his seemingly disparate judgments of Achan and David, but I think they are consistent with Jesus’ command: Do not judge so that you will not be judged.  For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.[13]

Achan was part of the army that had judged/condemned Jericho: They annihilated with the sword everything that breathed in the city, including men and women, young and old, as well as cattle, sheep, and donkeys.[14]  David sent out Joab with his officers and the entire Israelite army.  They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.  But David stayed behind in Jerusalem.[15]  Both were judged accordingly.

“This is what the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) says,” Nathan said to David, “‘I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household!  Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion.  He will have sexual relations with your wives in broad daylight!  Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.’”[16]

Despite Nathan’s warning David was merciful to his sons Amnon (2 Samuel 13:1-21) and Absalom (2 Samuel 14:21-33), though that mercy was perhaps the most immediate cause[17] of the prophecy’s fulfillment.  Absalom parlayed Amnon’s death (2 Samuel 13:23-37) into a credible political argument that he was the law and order choice for king (2 Samuel 15:1-6).  I have thought at times that David—the chief law enforcement official in Israel—if he had been strict with his sons, if he had at least left Absalom in self-imposed exile, may have avoided the consequence of Nathan’s prophecy.  But Jesus said in a parable (Matthew 18:32-35 NET):

“Then his lord called the first slave and said to him, ‘Evil slave!  I forgave (ἀφῆκα, a form of ἀφίημι) you all that debt because you begged me!  Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?’  And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture him until he repaid all he owed.  So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive (ἀφῆτε, another form of ἀφίημι) your brother from your heart.”

Paul quoted David from the Septuagint: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered…[18]  The original word in Hebrew was not kâphar or kôpher from Genesis 6:14, and cover it with pitch.  David chose kâsâh (כסוי): The waters completely inundated the earth so that even all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered (kâsâh).[19]  Two forms of kâsâh occur in this Psalm (32:1-6 Tanakh):

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered (kâsâh, כסוי) [Table].  Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile [Table].  When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.  For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.  Selah.

I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid (kâsâh, כסיתי).  I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.  Selah.

For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.

Therefore you are without excuse, Paul wrote believers in Rome, whoever you are, when you judge someone else (Romans 2:1-8 NET):

For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.  Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth (ἀλήθειαν, a form of ἀλήθεια) against those who practice such things.  And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment?  Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?  But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed!  He will reward each one according to his works: eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey (ἀπειθοῦσι, a form of ἀπειθέω) the truth (ἀληθείᾳ, another form of ἀλήθεια) but follow unrighteousness.

Near the end of the interview with Jaco Gericke, Robert Price described what he called “Practicing the Absence of God”:

What you use to say was the leading of the Holy Spirit, this internal voice—“Oh, don’t you want to come back? Aren’t you really just trying to escape the implications of the truth?”—you have to eventually regard that as you once did temptations to sin, because intellectually that’s what’s going on.  That’s what it is.  You have to say, “No, I’m sorry, I know better than that.  I’m not going to listen to that.  I’m going to go ahead and make a new start.”

Once you have Nietzsche in your head it’s easy to argue that Jesus’ command, Do not judge, was given, not because He is Yahweh come in human flesh but, because He was as desperate for the scriptures to be true as I am, and so, reasoned and argued in a similar manner.  He was ignorant of, or confused about, the esoteric knowledge that Jaco Gericke and Robert Price possess.  Of course, if Jesus was ignorant or confused, please grant me his ignorance and confusion.  For once you have Nietzsche in your head, it’s just as easy to see that Nietzsche raised unbelief to a high art and faithfully followed that art as its reductio ad absurdum.

A table comparing Romans 4:7 and Psalm 32:1 in the Septuagint follows.

 

Romans 4:7 (NET)

 Parallel Greek Psalm 32:1 (Septuagint)

Psalm 31:1 (NETS)
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered… μακάριοι ὧν ἀφέθησαν αἱ ἀνομίαι καὶ ὧν ἐπεκαλύφθησαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι μακάριοι ὧν ἀφέθησαν αἱ ἀνομίαι καὶ ὧν ἐπεκαλύφθησαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι Happy are those whose lawless behavior was forgiven and whose sins were covered over.

[1] Genesis 6:14b (NET)

[2] Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 14; Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 4

[3] homonym

[4] Joshua 7:21a (NET) Table

[5] Joshua 7:21b (NET) Table

[6] 2 Samuel 11:8a (NET)

[7] 2 Samuel 11:15 (NET), ונכה

[8] It is not the same Hebrew word as Exodus 20:13, but Nathan said, You have killed (hârag, הרגת) him with the sword of the Ammonites (2 Samuel 12:9b NET).  But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill (hârag, להרגו) him cunningly, yehôvâh said, you will take him even from my altar that he may die (Exodus 21:14 NET).

[9] Joshua 6:19 (NET)

[10] John 17:17 (NET)

[11] John 14:6 (NET)

[12] Luke 5:32 (NET)

[13] Matthew 7:1, 2 (NET) Table

[14] Joshua 6:21 (NET)

[15] 2 Samuel 11:1 (NET)

[16] 2 Samuel 12:11, 12 (NET) Table1 Table2

[17] I have written some on this topic: David’s Forgiveness, Part 5; David’s Forgiveness, Part 6; David’s Forgiveness, Part 7; David’s Forgiveness, Part 8; David’s Forgiveness, Part 9; David’s Forgiveness, Part 10 ; David’s Forgiveness, Part 11; David’s Forgiveness, Part 12; David’s Forgiveness, Part 13

[18] Romans 4:7 (NET)

[19] Genesis 7:19 (NET), ויכסו

Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 5

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If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord (ʼădônây, אדני), Moses said, let my Lord (ʼădônây, אדני) go among us, for we are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.[1]

Before I continue to study nâśâʼ[2] and ʽâbar in Exodus 20:7 – Deuteronomy 4:26, I must add another word to the mix.  The Hebrew word sâlach (וסלחת), translated pardon, was unprecedented.  It didn’t occur in Genesis or anywhere else in Exodus.  That the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) called to Moses and spoke to him from the Meeting Tent[3] is fairly explicit in the opening verse of Leviticus.  But I still speculate that at least some of the subject matter recorded there was broached on the mountain before yehôvâh and Moses were so rudely interrupted by Israel’s worship of a golden calf.

The idea that Moses coined a word and then discovered a universe to revolve around it seems to work out all right in particle physics, but it makes me uncomfortable in Bible study.  If yehôvâh had already begun to reveal the elaborate, sometimes tedious, detail of atonement (kâphar, כפר) and forgiveness (sâlach, סלח) it would help to account for Moses’ brass: He called yehôvâh’s intention to destroy Israel in accordance with the forty day covenant evil (Exodus 32:9-14) because he was taken by surprise at the abrupt change in yehôvâh’s tone and the content of his words.

Be that as it may, scribing kâphar and sâlach convinced me that I have mischaracterized Leviticus, and that I was wrong when I wrote that a primary verb to forgive was absent from “holy Hebrew.”  A table showing the translations of sâlach in the KJV, NET and Septuagint follows:

Form of sâlach

 Reference KJV NET

Septuagint
סלח Numbers 14:19 Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people… Please forgive the iniquity of this people… ἄφες, a form of ἀφίημι
יסלח Numbers 30:5 …and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father… And the Lord will release her from it, because her father overruled… καθαριεῖ, a form of καθαρίζω
Numbers 30:8 …and the LORD shall forgive her. And the Lord will release her from it.
Numbers 30:12 …and the LORD shall forgive her. …and the Lord will release her from them. καθαρίσει, another form of καθαρίζω
סלחתי Numbers 14:20 I have pardoned according to thy word: I have forgiven them as you asked. ἵλεως[4]
וסלחת Exodus 34:9 …and pardon our iniquity and our sin… …pardon our iniquity and our sin… ἀφελεῖς, a form of ἀφαιρέω
ונסלח Leviticus 4:20 …make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. …make atonement on their behalf and they will be forgiven. ἀφεθήσεται, another form of ἀφίημι
Leviticus 4:26 …make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. …make atonement on his behalf for his sin and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 4:31 …make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. …make atonement on his behalf and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 4:35 …his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him. …his sin which he has committed and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 5:10 …his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him. …his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 5:13 …in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him: …by doing one of these things, and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 5:16 …with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him. …with the guilt offering ram and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 5:18 …and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him. …(although he himself had not known it) and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 6:7 …for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him… …on his behalf before the Lord and he will be forgiven…
Leviticus 19:22 …and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him. …his sin that he has committed, and he will be forgiven…
Numbers 15:25 …the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them… …for the whole community of the Israelites, and they will be forgiven…
Numbers 15:26 And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel… …and the resident foreigner who lives among them will be forgiven…
Numbers 15:28 …to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. …to make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. Not Translated

I thought Leviticus was law: crime, especially capital crime, and punishment.  But Leviticus has much to say about atonement and forgiveness.  It is the good news (εὐαγγέλιον) of the five books of Moses:

If the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally and the matter is not noticed by the assembly, and they violate one of the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) commandments, which must not be violated, so they become guilty, the assembly must present a young bull for a sin offering when the sin they have committed becomes known.[5]  Some priestcraft was spelled out (Leviticus 4:14b-20a) with the result that the priest will make atonement on their behalf and they will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).[6]  For this reason I tell you, Jesus said, people will be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι) for every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).[7]

Whenever a leader, by straying unintentionally, sins and violates one of the commandments of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) his God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיו) which must not be violated, and he pleads guilty, or his sin that he committed is made known to him, he must bring a flawless male goat as his offering.[8]  Again, after some priestcraft (Leviticus 4:24-26a) the priest will make atonement on his behalf for his sin and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).[9]  Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, Jesus continued, will be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).  But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι), either in this age or in the age to come.[10]

If an ordinary individual sins by straying unintentionally when he violates one of the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) commandments which must not be violated, and he pleads guilty or his sin that he committed is made known to him, he must bring a flawless female goat as his offering for the sin that he committed.[11]  There was some priestcraft (Leviticus 4:29-31a) and the priest will make atonement on his behalf and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).[12]  I tell you the truth, Jesus said, people will be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι) for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter.  But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven (ἄφεσιν, a form of ἄφεσις), but is guilty of an eternal sin” (because they said, “He has an unclean spirit”).[13]

This same ordinary individual may bring a sheep instead: But if he brings a sheep as his offering, for a sin offering, he must bring a flawless female.[14]  After the priestcraft (Leviticus 4:33-35a) the priest will make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).[15]  And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, Jesus said, will be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι), but the person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).[16]

If a person fails to testify and he is a witness,[17] touches anything ceremonially unclean,[18] touches human uncleanness,[19] or swears an oath, speaking thoughtlessly with his lips,[20] when an individual becomes guilty with regard to one of these things he must confess how he has sinned [Table], and he must bring his penalty for guilt to the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה) for his sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, whether a female sheep or a female goat, for a sin offering [Table].[21]  If he cannot afford an animal from the flock, he must bring his penalty for guilt for his sin that he has committed, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, to the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה), one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering.[22]  After the priestcraft (Leviticus 5:8-10a) the priest will make atonement on behalf of this person for his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).[23]

If he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, yehôvâh continued, he must bring as his offering for his sin which he has committed a tenth of an ephah of choice wheat flour for a sin offering. He must not place olive oil on it and he must not put frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering.[24]  So the priest will make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed by doing one of these things, and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).[25]  Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, Peter said to a believing magician who had attempted to buy the Holy Spirit, and pray to the Lord that he may perhaps forgive (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι) you for the intent of your heart.[26]

The Lord’s holy things (Leviticus 5:14-16 NET):

Then the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) spoke to Moses: “When a person commits a trespass and sins by straying unintentionally from the regulations about the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) holy things (qôdesh, מקדשי; Septuagint: ἁγίων, a form of ἅγιος), then he must bring his penalty for guilt to the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה), a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, for a guilt offering.  And whatever holy thing he violated he must restore and must add one fifth to it and give it to the priest.  So the priest will make atonement on his behalf with the guilt offering ram and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).”

If a person sins and violates any of the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) commandments which must not be violated (although he did not know it at the time, but later realizes he is guilty), then he will bear his punishment for iniquity and must bring a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels, for a guilt offering to the priest.  So the priest will make atonement on his behalf for his error which he committed (although he himself had not known it) and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).[27]

Then the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) spoke to Moses (Leviticus 6:1-7 NET):

“When a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה) by deceiving his fellow citizen in regard to something held in trust, or a pledge, or something stolen, or by extorting something from his fellow citizen, or has found something lost and denies it and swears falsely concerning any one of the things that someone might do to sin – when it happens that he sins and he is found guilty, then he must return whatever he had stolen, or whatever he had extorted, or the thing that he had held in trust, or the lost thing that he had found, or anything about which he swears falsely.  He must restore it in full and add one fifth to it; he must give it to its owner when he is found guilty.  Then he must bring his guilt offering to the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה), a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels, for a guilt offering to the priest.  So the priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι) for whatever he has done to become guilty.”

When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman, although she is a slave woman designated for another man and she has not yet been ransomed, or freedom has not been granted to her, there will be an obligation to pay compensation.  They must not be put to death, because she was not free.  He must bring his guilt offering to the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה) at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, a guilt offering ram, and the priest is to make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) for his sin that he has committed, and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι) of his sin that he has committed.[28]

James wrote (James 5:14-16a NET):

Is anyone among you ill?  He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up – and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).  So confess (ἐξομολογεῖσθε, a form of ἐξομολογέω) your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

I saved this quotation[29] for last to highlight that all of this priestly machinery of atonement and forgiveness ground to a halt if sinners didn’t acknowledge and confess their sin, whether directly or by bringing the appropriate offering.  This is extremely difficult for the religious mind to do, those who are trying to be declared righteous by the law[30] or attempting to have [their] own righteousness derived from the law.[31]  As I began these studies I wrote that “the religious mind may be nothing more than a subspecies of the carnal mind (KJV) or the outlook of the flesh (NET).”  Now I would simply say that what I call the religious mind is the carnal mind or the outlook of the flesh: because the religious mind is hostile to God, for it does not submit (ὑποτάσσεται, a form of ὑποτάσσω) to the law of God, nor is it able (δύναται, a form of δύναμαι) to do so.[32]

Jephthah sacrificed[33] his daughter to make his own word true rather than confess his reckless oath to keep yehôvâh’s commandments.  But first submission to the law of God is never a pretty sight.  Paul left a vivid description from his own experience of what it is like to die to the law, to have a new self, a new I, a place from which to gain one’s first glimpse of the old self, the carnal mind, the outlook of the flesh or as I have been calling it—the religious mind (Romans 7:15-24 NET):

For I don’t understand what I am doing.  For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate.  But if I do what I don’t want, I agree (σύμφημι) that the law is good.  But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.  For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.  For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it (NET note 24: Grk “For to wish [want] is present in/with me, but not to do it.”).  For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.  So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.  For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.  But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.  Wretched man that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?

[1] Exodus 34:9 (NET)

[2] I used the second spelling (nâsâh) offered in Strong’s Concordance in the tables and a previous essay, which confused me when I linked to the Hebrew dictionary.

[3] Leviticus 1:1 (NET)

[4] “I am merciful to them according to your word” (Numbers 14:20b NETS).

[5] Leviticus 4:13, 14a (NET)

[6] Leviticus 4:20b (NET)

[7] Matthew 12:31 (NET) Table

[8] Leviticus 4:22, 23 (NET) Table1 Table2

[9] Leviticus 4:26b (NET)

[10] Matthew 12:32 (NET)

[11] Leviticus 4:27, 28 (NET)

[12] Leviticus 4:31b (NET)

[13] Mark 3:28-30 (NET)

[14] Leviticus 4:32 (NET)

[15] Leviticus 4:35b (NET)

[16] Luke 12:10 (NET)

[17] Leviticus 5:1 (NET)

[18] Leviticus 5:2 (NET)

[19] Leviticus 5:3 (NET)

[20] Leviticus 5:4 (NET) Table

[21] Leviticus 5:5, 6a (NET)

[22] Leviticus 5:7 (NET) Table

[23] Leviticus 5:10b (NET) Table

[24] Leviticus 5:11 (NET) Table

[25] Leviticus 5:13a (NET) Table

[26] Acts 8:22 (NET)

[27] Leviticus 5:17, 18 (NET)

[28] Leviticus 19:20-22 (NET)

[29] There are three more occurrences of ἀφεθήσεται in Luke 17:34-36 (KJV) translated left, contrasted to παραλημφθήσεται (a form of παραλαμβάνω) translated taken.  Verse 36 was not in the Textus Receptus of 1550 or the Byzantine Majority Text I consult most often.  It was however in the Textus Receptus of 1598 and thereafter and also in the Essex Gospels of 1175.

[30] Galatians 5:4 (NET) Table

[31] Philippians 3:9 (NET)

[32] Romans 8:7 (NET)

[33] In an article titled, “Did Jephthah Actually Kill his Daughter?,” on thetorah.com  Professor Jonathan Magonet argued: “The flexibility of the vav conjunctive linking the two statements would allow it to be read here as ‘and’, so that ‘belonging to the Lord’ meant the burnt offering mentioned immediately after.  But the ‘vav’ could also be read as ‘or’, so that whatever or whoever came out would be dedicated to God, and, only should it prove appropriate, would be sacrificed.”  Whether Jephthah “sacrificed” his daughter as a burnt offering or as a lifelong virgin matters very little to my argument here.  It would have mattered a great deal to the hold Jephthah’s “sacrifice” had on my attention, how often I returned to consider this story.  It’s hard to say if that alone would have left my religious mind skulking in the shadows.

Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 4

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As I continue to study nâśâʼ[1] and ʽâbar in Exodus 20:7 – Deuteronomy 4:26 I’ll begin with an aside.  The first occurrence of nâśâʼ in this section translated pardon was an angel who will not pardon [Israel’s] transgressions.  A table contrasting two mentions of an angel follows.

The Forty Day Covenant

After the Golden Calf
The Lord said to Moses, “Go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’

Exodus 33:1 (NET)
“I am going to send an angel before you…

Exodus 23:20a (NET)

 I will send an angel before you…

Exodus 33:2a (NET)
…to protect you as you journey and to bring you into the place that I have prepared.  Take heed because of him, and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him.  But if you diligently obey him and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries.

Exodus 23:20b-22 (NET)
For my angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will destroy them completely.

Exodus 23:23 (NET)

 …and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Exodus 33:2b (NET)
Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey.  But I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.”

Exodus 33:3 (NET)
When the people heard this troubling word they mourned; no one put on his ornaments.  For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people.  If I went up among you for a moment, I might destroy you.  Now take off your ornaments, that I may know what I should do to you.’”  So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments by Mount Horeb.

Exodus 33:4-6 (NET)

It’s worth noting that the angel’s function—to protect—and the warning—Take heed—were both forms of shâmar in Hebrew.  The former (לשמרך) was translated φυλάξῃ (a form of φυλάσσω) in the Septuagint.  If anyone hears my words but does not keep (φυλάξῃ, a form of φυλάσσω) them, Jesus said, I do not judge that person.  For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.[2]  The latter (השמר) was translated πρόσεχε (a form of προσέχω) in the Septuagint.  Until I come, Paul wrote Timothy, give attention (πρόσεχε, a form of προσέχω) to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.[3]

The Hebrew word translated obey in obey his voice was shâmaʽ (ושמע; See Table below) which was translated εἰσάκουε (a form of εἰσακούω) in the Septuagint.  But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard (εἰσηκούσθη, another form of εἰσακούω), and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you will name him John.[4]  The Hebrew word translated rebel in do not rebel was mârar (תמר) which was translated ἀπείθει (a form of ἀπειθέω) in the Septuagint.  He who believes (πιστεύων, a form of πιστεύω) in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe (ἀπειθῶν, another form of ἀπειθέω) the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.[5]

And finally pardon was nâśâʼ (ישׁא) in Hebrew which was translated ὑποστείληταί (a form of ὑποστέλλω) in the Septuagint.  You know that I did not hold back (ὑπεστειλάμην, another form of ὑποστέλλω) from proclaiming to you anything that would be helpful,[6] Paul declared to the Ephesian elders.  But here the translators of the Septuagint took a different turn since they didn’t even translate peshaʽ (לפשעכם; transgressions): “For he shall not hold you in undue awe, for my name is upon him.”[7]  It makes me wonder if they were trying to put a better spin on for he will not pardon (or, bear) your transgressions for Greek consumption.

The clause detailing the angel’s purpose—to protect you as you journey[8]—was missing from the restatement of the covenant after the golden calf incident, yet for forty years in the wilderness yehôvâh[9] cared and provided for them.  So why don’t I consider that all of the missing elements of the covenant should be assumed in the later restatement?

I’m no lawyer but I did spend several years calculating and writing the conditions that went into my employer’s boilerplate contracts.  It seems pretty apparent to me that when yehôvâh did not destroy Israel and make a great nation of Moses, when He accepted Moses’ description of that act as evil, then both parties had abrogated the covenant and the contract became null and void.  Care and provision for Israel became a matter of grace, no longer stipulated by contract, by law.

What is clearly missing from the restatement of the covenant is the contractual language: But if you diligently obey him and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries.  For my angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will destroy them completely.[10]  This was replaced by a simple unilateral statement: I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.[11]

I hesitate to call this grace (though it may qualify as election) since yehôvâh called it dread (Deuteronomy 32:26, 27 Tanakh):

I thought I would make an end of them, I would make their memory cease from among men; Were it not that I dreaded (gûr, אגור) the enemy’s provocation, lest their adversaries should misdeem, lest they should say: Our hand is exalted, and not HaShem hath wrought all this.

Accepting that the clauses missing from the restatement of the covenant are truly missing helps me to track the transition from [Sin] (chaṭṭâʼâh, חטאת; Septuagint: ἥμαρτες, a form of ἁμαρτάνω) desires (teshûqâh, תשוקתו) to dominate you, but you must subdue (mâshal, תמשל) it,[12] to Paul’s declaration to believers in Galatia (Galatians 2:20, 21 NET):

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!

Who would have thought that the way to subdue or rule over sin was to die to it (Romans 6:8-11 NET)?

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him.  For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God.  So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Who would have thought that the way to subdue or rule over sin was to die to the law (Romans 7:4-6 NET)?

So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.  But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.

Viewed from this perspective the worship of the golden calf and yehôvâh’s restatement of the covenant follows the pattern of Paul’s explanation to believers in Rome (Romans 5:20, 21 NET):

Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Why would anyone want transgression to increase?  This is scandalous to the religious mind.  But Jesus taught a Pharisee (Luke 7:40-47 NET):

“Simon, I have something to say to you.”  He replied, “Say it, Teacher.”  “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed him five hundred silver coins, and the other fifty.  When they could not pay, he canceled the debts of both.  Now which of them will love him more?”  Simon answered, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”  Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.”  Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman?  I entered your house.  You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You gave me no kiss of greeting, but from the time I entered she has not stopped kissing my feet.  You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfumed oil.  Therefore I tell you, her sins, which were many, are forgiven, thus she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little loves little.”

Ultimately, this love from God Himself subdues and rules over sin (Romans 13:8-10 NET):

Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.  For the commandments, “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no wrong to a neighbor.  Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Jesus warned (Matthew 5:17-20 NET):

“Do not think that I have come to abolish (καταλῦσαι, a form of καταλύω) the law or the prophets.  I have not come to abolish (καταλῦσαι, a form of καταλύω) these things but to fulfill them.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place.  So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

After explaining that the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, Paul continued (Romans 6:1-4 NET):

What shall we say then?  Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?  Absolutely not!  How can we who died to sin still live in it?  Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.

In other words, believers can say with Paul: We have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us.  So the life we now live in the body, we live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us.  We do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.  But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing (ἀνακαινώσεως , a form of ἀνακαίνωσις) of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior.  And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.”[13]

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.[14]  This is the salvation believers in Philippi were enjoined to continue working out (Philippians 2:12-18 NET):

So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed (ὑπηκούσατε, a form of ὑπακούω), not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.  Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world by holding on to the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.  But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice together with all of you.  And in the same way you also should be glad and rejoice together with me.

It is much better news than the Septuagint’s translation of Exodus 23:21b: “For he shall not hold you in undue awe, for my name is upon him.”  A table of the translations of shâmaʽ in the KJV, NET and Septuagint from Genesis through Exodus 23:22 follows.

Form of shâmaʽ Reference KJV NET Septuagint
שמע Genesis 16:11 …because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. …for the Lord has heard your painful groans. ἐπήκουσεν, a form of ἐπακούω
Genesis 21:12 …hearken unto her voice… Do all that Sarah is telling you… ἄκουε, a form of ἀκούω
Genesis 21:17 …for God hath heard the voice of the lad… …for God has heard the boy’s voice… ἐπακήκοεν, another form of ἐπακούω
Genesis 24:52 …when Abraham’s servant heard their words… When Abraham’s servant heard their words… ἀκοῦσαι, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice… …this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed[15] me… ὑπήκουσεν, a form of ὑπακούω
Genesis 27:8 …obey my voice according to that which I command thee. …do exactly what I tell you! ἄκουσόν, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 27:13 …only obey my voice… Just obey me! ὑπάκουσον, another form of ὑπακούω
Genesis 27:43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice… Now then, my son, do what I say. ἄκουσόν, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 29:33 Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated… Because the Lord heard that I was unloved… ἤκουσεν, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 30:6 …and hath also heard my voice… …He has responded to my prayer… ἐπήκουσεν, a form of ἐπακούω
Genesis 34:5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah… When Jacob heard that Shechem had violated his daughter… ἤκουσεν, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 39:10 …that he hearkened not unto her… …he did not respond to her invitation… ὑπήκουσεν, a form of ὑπακούω
Genesis 42:21 …and we would not hear… …but we refused to listen. εἰσηκούσαμεν a form of εἰσακούω
Genesis 42:23 …they knew not that Joseph understood them… …they did not know that Joseph could understand them… ἀκούει, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 7:13 …that he hearkened not unto them… …and he did not listen to them… εἰσήκουσεν, another form of εἰσακούω
Exodus 7:22 …neither did he hearken unto them… …and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron…
Exodus 8:15 …and hearkened not unto them… …and did not listen to them…
Exodus 8:19 …and he hearkened not unto them… …and he did not listen to them…
Exodus 9:12 …and he hearkened not unto them… …and he did not listen to them…
Exodus 16:9 …for he hath heard your murmurings. …because he has heard your murmurings. εἰσακήκοεν, another form of εἰσακούω
Exodus 18:19 Hearken now unto my voice… Now listen to me… ἄκουσόν, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 22:23 …I will surely hear their cry… …I will surely hear their cry… ἀκοῇ, a form of ἀκοή
Exodus 23:22 But if thou shalt indeed obey… But if you diligently obey him…
ושמע Exodus 23:21 Beware of him, and obey his voice… Take heed because of him, and obey his voice… εἰσάκουε, another form of εἰσακούω
ישמע Exodus 6:30 …and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? …why should Pharaoh listen to me? εἰσακούσεταί, another form of εἰσακούω
Exodus 7:4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you… Pharaoh will not listen to you.
Exodus 11:9 Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you… Pharaoh will not listen to you…
Exodus 19:9 …that the people may hear when I speak… …so that the people may hear when I speak… ἀκούσῃ, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 23:13 …neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. …do not let them be heard on your lips. ἀκουσθῇ, another form of ἀκούω
וישמע Genesis 14:14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive… When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive… ἀκούσας, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 16:2 And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. Abram did what Sarai told him. ὑπήκουσεν, a form of ὑπακούω
Genesis 21:17 And God heard the voice of the lad… But God heard the boy’s voice. εἰσήκουσεν, another form of εἰσακούω
Genesis 23:16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron… So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price… ἤκουσεν, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 28:7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother… Jacob obeyed his father and mother…
Genesis 30:17 And God hearkened unto Leah… God paid attention to Leah… ἐπήκουσεν, a form of ἐπακούω
Genesis 30:22 …and God hearkened to her… He paid attention to her…
Genesis 31:1 And he heard the words of Laban’s sons… Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining… ἤκουσεν, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 35:22 …and Israel heard it. …and Israel heard about it.
Genesis 37:21 And Reuben heard it… When Reuben heard this… ἀκούσας, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 45:2 …and the house of Pharaoh heard. …and Pharaoh’s household heard about it. ἀκουστὸν, a form of ἀκουστός
Exodus 2:15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing… When Pharaoh heard about this event… ἤκουσεν, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 2:24 And God heard their groaning… God heard their groaning… εἰσήκουσεν, another form of εἰσακούω
Exodus 18:1 …heard of all that God had done for Moses… …heard about all that God had done for Moses… ἤκουσεν, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 18:24 So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law… Moses listened to his father-in-law…
שמעו Genesis 37:6 Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: Listen to this dream I had: ἀκούσατε, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 43:25 …they heard that they should eat bread… …they had heard that they were to have a meal… ἤκουσαν, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 6:9 …but they hearkened not unto Moses… …but they did not listen to him… εἰσήκουσαν, another form of εἰσακούω
Exodus 6:12 …the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me… If the Israelites did not listen to me…
Exodus 15:14 The people shall hear, and be afraid… The nations will hear and tremble… ἤκουσαν, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 16:20 …they hearkened not unto Moses… But they did not listen to Moses… εἰσήκουσαν, another form of εἰσακούω
וישמעו Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice… Then the man and his wife heard the sound… ἤκουσαν, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 34:24 And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all… …the men who assembled at the city gate agreed… εἰσήκουσαν, another form of εἰσακούω
Genesis 37:27 And his brethren were content. His brothers agreed. ἤκουσαν, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 45:2 Not translated …the Egyptians heard it…
Exodus 4:31 …and when they heard that the LORD… When they heard that the Lord… Not Translated
ושמעו Genesis 49:2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob… Assemble and listen, you sons of Jacob… ἀκούσατε, another form of ἀκούω
…and hearken unto Israel your father. …listen to Israel, your father.
Exodus 3:18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: The elders will listen to you… εἰσακούσονταί, another form of εἰσακούω
ישמעו Genesis 11:7 …they may not understand one another’s speech. …they won’t be able to understand each other. ἀκούσωσιν, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 4:1 …nor hearken unto my voice: …or pay attention to me… εἰσακούσωσιν, another form of εἰσακούω
Exodus 4:8 …neither hearken to the voice of the first sign… …or pay attention to the former sign…
שמען Genesis 4:23 Hear my voice… Listen to me! ἀκούσατέ, another form of ἀκούω
ישמעון Exodus 4:9 …neither hearken unto thy voice… …or listen to you… εἰσακούσωσιν, another form of εἰσακούω
שמעת Genesis 3:17 Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife… Because you obeyed your wife… ἤκουσας, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 18:10 And Sarah heard it in the tent door… Now Sarah was listening at the entrance… ἤκουσεν, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 22:18 …because thou hast obeyed my voice. Because you have obeyed me… ὑπήκουσας, another form of ὑπακούω
Genesis 27:5 And Rebekah heard…[16] Now Rebekah had been listening… ἤκουσεν, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 7:16 …hitherto thou wouldest not hear. But until now you have not listened. εἰσήκουσας, another form of εἰσακούω
ושמעתי Exodus 22:27 …that I will hear; for I am gracious. …I will hear, for I am gracious. εἰσακούσομαι, another form of εἰσακούω
שמעתם Genesis 42:22 …and ye would not hear? …but you wouldn’t listen? εἰσηκούσατέ, another form of εἰσακούω
שמעתי Genesis 3:10 I heard thy voice in the garden… I heard you moving about in the orchard… ἤκουσα, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 21:26 …neither yet heard I of it, but to day. I did not hear about it until today.
Genesis 27:6 Behold, I heard thy father… Look, I overheard your father…
Genesis 37:17 …for I heard them say… …for I heard them say…
Genesis 41:15 …and I have heard say of thee… But I have heard about you… ἀκήκοα, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 42:2 I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: …I hear that there is grain in Egypt.
Exodus 3:7 …and have heard their cry… I have heard their cry…
Exodus 6:5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of… I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites… εἰσήκουσα, another form of ἐπακούω
Exodus 16:12 I have heard the murmurings… I have heard the murmurings… εἰσακήκοα, another form of εἰσακούω
שמעתיך Genesis 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: As for Ishmael, I have heard you. ἐπήκουσά, another form of ἐπακούω
שמעני Genesis 23:11 …hear me… Hear me out. ἄκουσόν, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 23:13 I pray thee, hear me: Hear me, if you will.
Genesis 23:15 My Lord, hearken unto me: Hear me, my lord. ἀκήκοα, another form of ἀκούω
ישמעני Exodus 6:12 …how then shall Pharaoh hear me… …then how will Pharaoh listen to me… εἰσακούσεταί, another form of ἐπακούω
שמענו Genesis 23:6 Hear us, my Lord: thou art a mighty prince… Listen, sir, you are a mighty prince… ἄκουσον, another form of ἀκούω
שמעוני Genesis 23:8 …hear me… …then hear me out. ἀκούσατέ, another form of ἀκούω
שמוע Exodus 15:26 If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God… If you will diligently obey the Lord your God… ἀκοῇ, a form of ἀκοή
Exodus 19:5 Not translated …if you will diligently listen to me…
השמע Genesis 21:6 …so that all that hear will laugh… Everyone who hears about this will laugh… ἀκούσῃ, another form of ἀκούω
נשמע Genesis 45:16 And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh’s house… Now it was reported in the household of Pharaoh… διεβοήθη, a form of διαβοάω
ונשמעה Exodus 20:19 Speak thou with us, and we will hear… You speak to us and we will listen… Not Translated
כשמע Genesis 27:34 And when Esau heard the words of his father… When Esau heard his father’s words… ἤκουσεν, another form of ἀκούω
Genesis 29:13 …when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob… When Laban heard this news about Jacob…
Genesis 39:19 …when his master heard the words of his wife… When his master heard his wife say…
Exodus 16:8 …for that the LORD heareth your murmurings… …because the Lord has heard your murmurings… εἰσακοῦσαι, another form of εἰσακούω
כשמעו Genesis 39:15 …when he heard that I lifted up my voice… When he heard me raise my voice… ἀκοῦσαι, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 16:7 …for that he heareth your murmurings… …because he has heard your murmurings… εἰσακοῦσαι, another form of εἰσακούω
כשמעם Genesis 34:7 …when they heard it: …when they heard the news. ἤκουσαν, another form of ἀκούω
וכשמעו Genesis 24:30 …and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying… …and heard his sister Rebekah say… ἤκουσεν, another form of ἀκούω
תשמע Genesis 41:15 …that thou canst understand a dream… Not translated ἀκούσαντά, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 15:26 If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God… If you will diligently obey the Lord your God… ἀκούσῃς, another form of ἀκούω
Exodus 23:22 But if thou shalt indeed obey… But if you diligently obey him… ἀκούσητε, another form of ἀκούω
תשמעו Genesis 34:17 But if ye will not hearken unto us… But if you do not agree to our terms… εἰσακούσητε, another form of εἰσακούω
Exodus 19:5 …if ye will obey my voice… …if you will diligently listen to me… ἀκούσητε, another form of ἀκούω
אשמע Exodus 5:2 Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice… Who is the Lord that I should obey him… εἰσακούσομαι, another form of εἰσακούω
Exodus 22:23 …I will surely hear their cry… …I will surely hear their cry…

[1] I used the second spelling (nâsâh) offered in Strong’s Concordance in the tables and in a previous essay, which confused me when I linked to the Hebrew dictionary.

[2] John 12:47 (NIV)

[3] 1 Timothy 4:13 (NET)

[4] Luke 1:13 (NET)

[5] John 3:36 (NKJV)

[6] Acts 20:20a (NET)

[7] Exodus 23:21b (NETS)  The Tanakh reads: for he will not pardon your transgression; for My name is in him.

[8] I won’t argue that the angel’s purpose was to keep believing Israelites within the covenant, though I considered it.

[9] In these essays I’ve used several names for the Hebrew יהוה.  Admittedly, I was being catty when I used Jehovah to obliquely reference the undercurrent in religious thought that Jesus died to save us from an evil god.  I abandoned the name Yahweh for reasons akin to the genetic fallacy: I learned Yahweh from Nietzsche.  He was not only an atheist but a philologist as well.  I settled on yehôvâh because it was in Strong’s Concordance, the same source I’ve used for all the other Hebrew words addressed in these essays.  Subsequently I’ve come across an argument favoring Yahweh on YAHWEH’S restoration ministry online in an article titled “The Yehovah Deception: Reinventing a Misnomer.”

The most succinct form of their argument reads: “As confirmed by the Jewish Talmud, hundreds of years before the birth of Yahshua the Messiah the Jews stopped pronouncing the divine Name and began concealing it by reading the vowel points from Adonai into the Tetragrammaton.  The motivation behind this practice was not from irreverence but through a strong veneration for the Name.  They were afraid that if it were pronounced, someone might misuse or blaspheme the Name.  Part of this hesitation doubtless arose from their time in Babylon.  While their reasoning was admirable, it is against the clear teachings of Scripture.”

I find that argument plausible and discouraging.  My own working hypothesis concerning the Masoretes was that they were generally honorable when dealing with the words of Scripture but may have shaded the meaning of certain Hebrew words a bit to defend Jewish religion from Christian scholarship.  As a working hypothesis it limited the search field to points of contention.  The idea that they may be the heirs of those who deliberately corrupted the name of God with vowels from a different word offers no limit to the mischief they may have perpetrated on words of lesser importance.  If true, a searchable list of Hebrew homographs is no mere convenience but an absolute necessity for Old Testament study.  Creating such a list is well beyond my abilities.

My only purpose in using yehôvâh is to remind myself that Lord is not the word used in Scripture.  I was taught from the pulpit that it is disrespectful to call Jesus by name, that Paul called Him Lord, though now I think that was Paul’s way of designating Him yehôvâh (Isaiah 45:18-23; Romans 14:10-12; Philippians 2:5-11; John 5:22, 23).  So for the time being I’ll continue using yehôvâh since I definitely don’t believe the name of God is a magical incantation that must be pronounced correctly for the magic to work.

[10] Exodus 23:22, 23 (NET)

[11] Exodus 33:2 (NET)

[12] Genesis 4:7b (NET)  Here, the Tanakh presents the subduing of sin as a comforting possibility rather than an imperative: …and unto thee is its desire, but thou mayest rule over it (Genesis 4:7b Tanakh).  The Septuagint comforted Cain that he would once again rule over Abel (if he offered the appropriate sacrifice): “Be still, his recourse is to you, and you will rule over him” (Genesis 4:7b NETS).

[13] Titus 3:3-7 (NET)

[14] Romans 10:10, 11 (KJV)

[15] So then faith comes by hearing (ἀκοῆς, a form of ἀκοή), and hearing (ἀκοὴ, another form of ἀκοή) by the word of God (Romans 10:17 NKJV).  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws (ἑλκύσῃ, a form of ἑλκύω) him (John 6:44a NET)…  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw (ἑλκύσω, another form of ἑλκύω) all people to myself.

[16] For it is not those who hear (ἀκροαταὶ, a form of ἀκροατής) the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous (Romans 2:13 NET).  This is an interesting example.  Relative to Isaac’s word Rebekah was a hearer only because she did everything in her power to deceive her husband and change the outcome of his word.  But was she hearing/obeying yehôvâh (Genesis 25:21-26) instead?  Was her deception necessary?  Would we be reading the history of Esau/Israel rather than Jacob/Israel without it?  Or would yehôvâh have chosen (Malachi 1:1-5) Jacob even if Isaac had blessed Esau as he intended (Romans 9:10-18)?  Was Rebekah’s deception righteous?  Or might her faith have been counted as righteousness (Romans 4:1-5)?

Hypocrisy

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You shall not take (nāśā’, תשׁא; Septuagint: λήμψῃ, a form of λαμβάνω) the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes (nāśā’, ישׁא; Septuagint: λαμβάνοντα, another form of λαμβάνω) his name in vain.[1]

Three occurrences of forms of nâśâʼ from Genesis 1:1 – Exodus 20:5[2] were translated with forms of λαμβάνω in the Septuagint:

Genesis 21:18 (NET)

 Genesis 27:3 (NET)

Genesis 31:17 (NET)
Get up!  Help (nâśâʼ, שׁאי; Septuagint: λαβὲ, another form of λαμβάνω) the boy up and hold him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation. Therefore, take (nâśâʼ, שׁא; Septuagint: λαβὲ, another form of λαμβάνω) your weapons – your quiver and your bow – and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game for me. So Jacob immediately put (nâśâʼ, וישׁא; Septuagint: ἔλαβεν, another form of λαμβάνω) his children and his wives on the camels.

Only one of those (Genesis 27:3) was translated take in the KJV and NET before Exodus 20:7.  There is no particular problem with this translation if I’m studying nâśâʼ.  But if I read Exodus 20:7 in English only while trying to be declared righteous by the law[3] or attempting to have my own righteousness derived from the law,[4] the temptation is great to hear it as words I might say when I stub my toe in the dark.  If I don’t say those words then I may consider myself blameless according to the law.

You shall not bear the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who bears his name in vain.

This translation might have persuaded me even in English that any and every deviation from righteousness is bearing or taking the Lord’s name in vain.  Unbelievers seem to grasp this better than those who are trying to be declared righteous by the law or attempting to have [their] own righteousness derived from the law.  But unbelievers call it hypocrisy rather than bearing or taking the Lord’s name in vain.  According to Merriam-Webster.com:

The word hypocrite ultimately came into English from the Greek word hypokrites, which means “an actor” or “a stage player”…actors in ancient Greek theater wore large masks to mark which character they were playing…

The Greek word took on an extended meaning to refer to any person who was wearing a figurative mask and pretending to be someone or something they were not.  This sense was taken into medieval French and then into English, where it showed up with its earlier spelling, ypocrite, in 13th-century religious texts to refer to someone who pretends to be morally good or pious in order to deceive others.  (Hypocrite gained its initial h– by the 16th century.)

It took a surprisingly long time for hypocrite to gain its more general meaning that we use today: “a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.”  Our first citations for this use are from the early 1700s, nearly 500 years after hypocrite first stepped onto English’s stage.  

On bibleone.net hypocrisy was distinguished from bearing or taking the Lord’s name in vain by ascribing more evil intent to hypocrisy:

The meaning of the words, “hypocrite” and “hypocrisy,” as used in the Bible by our Lord Jesus Christ (primarily directed toward the “religious” leaders of the day) implies more than a “simple pretense” or “acting out as a stage-player.”  It embodies a purposeful intent, which stems from a deep-seated core of evil.  More than this, it suggests a determined effort to enforce a standard of conduct upon others, which conduct the enforcer knowingly and deliberately refuses to apply to himself–hence, action born of full knowledge and evil intent.  It is not merely the failure to live up to a holy standard–a condition applicable to every believer on any given day.  It is the condition of a person who is controlled by the sin nature to the end-desire of having power over other human beings by imposing on them a set of rules, which he himself intentionally disregards.  It is a condition applicable to either an unbeliever or a believer, i.e., a believer who is outside God’s will and under the influence of the sin nature.

I was particularly taken by the words imposing on them a set of rules.  That is acting at its core.  Some rules are imposed by the writer through the script.  Some are imposed by the director who interprets the script and blocks the scenes.  Most are self-imposed by the actor.  Though actors call them choices,[5] they are rules of behavior, what a particular character will or will not say or do in any given scene, derived from observation, research, experimentation and a deeply imaginative identification with the character to be performed.  Actors can win some arguments with both the writer and the director (since both are more focused on the work as a whole) because good actors ultimately know the individual characters they play better, at least more interestingly.

Don’t misunderstand me, I love actors and fully appreciate what they do, especially film actors.  I’ve had more opportunity to see them work up close, no one famous though a few were recognizable.  I sit with a silly grin on my face watching Amy Adams sing and dance her way through New York City in Enchanted, and am just as rapt watching her decipher an alien language in Arrival.  A brief exchange in Arrival between linguist Louise (Amy Adams) and physicist Ian (Jeremy Renner) encapsulates how I feel about studying the Bible.

Ian: You know, I was doing some reading about this idea that if you immerse yourself into a foreign language, that you can actually rewire your brain. 

Louise: Yeah, the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis…It’s the theory that the language you speak determines how you think and…

Ian: Yeah.  It affects how you see everything.

You were taught with reference to your former way of life, Paul wrote believers in Ephesus, to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image – in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.[6]  It’s not a matter of being renewed (ἀνανεοῦσθαι, a form of ἀνανεόω) by learning Greek or Hebrew, but by immersing oneself in how the Holy Spirit thinks and communicates in Greek or Hebrew.  No matter how hard Amy Adams worked to become Giselle or Louise, no matter how many choices she made, she never became a cartoon princess or a xenolinguist in reality.

Stephen J. Cole, in the “The Deadly Sin of Hypocrisy (Acts 4:36-5:11),” wrote:

While Jesus was tender with many notorious sinners, He used scathing language to denounce those guilty of religious hypocrisy.

The story of Ananias and Sapphira warns us of the danger of the sin of hypocrisy.

None of the Greek words for hypocrite or hypocrisy—ὑποκριτής, ὑπόκρισις, ὑποκρίνομαι—occur in, or anywhere near, the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  I assume Pastor Cole took an 18th-century definition of hypocrisy—not living up to professed beliefs—or a 13th-century understanding of ypocrite—deliberate deception—and applied it to the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie (ψεύσασθαι, a form of ψεύδομαι) to the Holy Spirit…”[7]  If we think of hypocrisy as something so evil no believer would dare do it, we miss Jesus’ point about doing righteousness as actors play a role, because we do it all of the time.  It’s how we think.  It’s how we speak to one another:

A Christian wouldn’t do that!   A Christian shouldn’t do that!  Christians should do thus and such.  A real Christian would do this or that!

These are the arguments of actors: observing, researching, experimenting, engaging in deeply imaginative thought about what a Christian might be like and trying to perform that as a series of choices—that is, by obeying rules about how a Christian should or should not behave (Galatians 2:11-14).  It is significantly different from being born from above, possessed (Romans 8:12-17) by his Holy Spirit, filled with God’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.[8]

The simplest reason why ὑποκριτής was translated hypocrite in the 16th century is that the Latin derived actor was understood as an agent or doer and may have confused the reader regarding the contrast Paul had created—building on Jesus’ allusion to the Greek theater—between ὑποκριτής and ποιητής, the doers (ποιηταὶ, a form of ποιητής) of the law.

I’ve wasted too much time assuming Jesus was an angry preacher spouting pejoratives rather than patiently communicating the words of eternal life.  So I’ll take forms of ὑποκριτής at face value and remove the exclamation points from the text.  (They are obvious editorial comments added by translators.)  And then hopefully see Jesus again, see the smile on his face and the twinkle of his eyes as He reveals the name of his Father, God is love.

Be on your guard against the teaching (Matthew 16:5-12) of the Pharisees, Jesus told his disciples, which is acting class (ὑπόκρισις).[9]  Actors observe and judge others.  It is part and parcel of their craft as they prepare a role (Matthew 7:1-5 NET):

Do not judge so that you will not be judged.  For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.  Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own?  You actor (ὑποκριτά, a form of ὑποκριτής), first remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Self promotion is part of the job of being a working actor (Matthew 6:1-4 NET):

Be careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people.  Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.  Thus whenever you do charitable giving, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the actors (ὑποκριταὶ, another form of ὑποκριτής) do in synagogues and on streets so that people will praise them.  I tell you the truth, they have their reward.  But when you do your giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your gift may be in secret.  And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

Actors crave an audience and thrive in the limelight (Matthew 6:5, 6, 16-18 NET):

Whenever you pray, do not be like the actors (ὑποκριταί, another form of ὑποκριτής), because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them.  Truly I say to you, they have their reward [Table].  But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.  And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

When you fast, do not look sullen like the actors (ὑποκριταὶ, another form of ὑποκριτής), for they make their faces unattractive so that people will see them fasting.  I tell you the truth, they have their reward [Table].  When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others when you are fasting, but only to your Father who is in secret.  And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

Actors never actually become the character they perform by acting (Matthew 15:1-9; Luke 13:14-16 NET):

Then Pharisees and experts in the law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said, “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders?  For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.”  He answered them, “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition?  For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’  But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” he does not need to honor his father.’  You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition.  Actors (ὑποκριταί, another form of ὑποκριτής), Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

But the president of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work should be done!  So come and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.”  Then the Lord answered him, “You actors (ὑποκριταί, another form of ὑποκριτής), does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall, and lead it to water?  Then shouldn’t this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be released from this imprisonment on the Sabbath day?”

Since those attempting to serve God by acting are not led by his Holy Spirit, they do not share the mind of Christ but pursue their own agendas (Matthew 22:15-22; Luke 12:54-56 NET):

Then the Pharisees went out and planned together to entrap him with his own words.  They sent to him their disciples along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.  You do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality.  Tell us then, what do you think?  Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

But Jesus realized their evil intentions and said, “Actors (ὑποκριταί, another form of ὑποκριτής), why are you testing me?  Show me the coin used for the tax.”  So they brought him a denarius.  Jesus said to them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?”  They replied, “Caesar’s.”  He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  Now when they heard this they were stunned, and they left him and went away.

Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A rainstorm is coming,’ and it does.  And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and there is.  You actors (ὑποκριταί, another form of ὑποκριτής), you know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how to interpret the present time?”

Jesus described the experts in the law and you Pharisees as actors who keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven.  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.[10]  You cross land and sea to make one convert, and when you get one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.[11]  You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness.  You should have done these things without neglecting the others.[12]   You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may become clean too.[13]  You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy (ὑποκρίσεως, a form of ὑπόκρισις) and lawlessness (ἀνομίας, a form of ἀνομία).[14]  You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.[15]

Jesus warned of the consequence of an actor masquerading as a minister of the Gospel (Matthew 24:45-51 NET):

Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time?  Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes.  I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions.  But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with drunkards, then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the actors (ὑποκριτῶν, another form of ὑποκριτής), where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done (ἔπραξεν, a form of πράσσω) while in the body, whether good or evil.[16]  We do not want to appear before the judgment seat of Christ as actors with nothing to show but works (ἔργων, a form of ἔργον) of righteousness that we have done (ἐποιήσαμεν, a form of ποιέω).[17]  We want to have some pattern of behavior that demonstrates we have not ignored his teaching or rejected his salvation, that we have heeded his admonition—above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness[18]—and that each of us is one who practices (ποιῶν, another form of ποιέω) the truth, one who comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that [our] deeds (ἔργα, another form of ἔργον) have been done (εἰργασμένα, a form of ἐργάζομαι) in God.[19]

I want to consider another film.  Before I Fall didn’t do very well at the box office.  It’s Groundhog Day as straight-up tragedy.  But I thought it was a deeply moving, poignant film with one fatal flaw.  There are spoilers here for those who are bothered by such things.

Sam (Zoey Deutch), a self-absorbed teenage girl (Samantha), wakes up on the day of her death.  She repeats that day until she gets it right.  “For the first time, when I wake up,” her voiceover says on the last iteration of the last day of her life, “I’m not scared or confused or angry.  Because, for the first time, I truly understand what needs to happen.  I truly understand how to live this day.”  Sam’s transformation from self-absorbed teenage girl to loving daughter, sister and friend is truly breathtaking to behold.

The fatal flaw?  It’s not believable.  And I don’t think Ms. Deutch’s acting is to blame.  Christ-likeness apart from Christ isn’t credible.  Sam’s beautiful transformation is credited to her own knowledge, gained through the experience of repeating the same day over and over (not unlike an actor rehearsing), and her own “big heart.”  And none of us gets to do the same day over and over to acquire such knowledge.  Believers are called to live a new day of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control everyday forever.

Hypocrisy, by the way, isn’t the unforgivable sin.  Living an honest life of sin is never preferable to acting like the righteous.  If the fruit of the Spirit seems AWOL and the only way to obey God’s law is in one’s own strength—and that is possible—by all means do that.  Just don’t mistake that for the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe.[20]  Open the Bible and search diligently for his righteousness once the immediate crisis has passed—win, lose or draw.

My own search began (for the purpose of this discussion) with the Ten Promises.  Though hearing the Ten Commandments as promises wasn’t exactly the silver bullet I hoped at the time, it did begin to change my attitude toward God and my relationship to Him.  So as a conclusion to this essay I invite the reader to hear his promise (Jeremiah 31:31-34) to all who believe, all who are led by his Spirit: You shall not bear the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who bears his name in vain.

[1] Exodus 20:7 (NET) [Table]

[2] Table 1, Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 3

[3] Galatians 5:4 (NET)

[4] Philippians 3:9 (NET)

[5] An excerpt from a video transcript of John Walcutt teaching young actors (all female apparently) follows:

…as you start to, you know, get more into grown up acting, you’re going to be expected to be able to make choices and what that means is, what we started talking about last week where you could look at material and go, “Hmm, what if I did this? What if I looked at it from this point of view? What if I decided that she is guilty? What if I decided, she’s lying?” When you make choices, your work gets interesting…
The lines are only ten percent of a scene, right? We talked about that. The other 90%  is what’s underneath, that’s where you have to make choices so here’s how I want you to think about it. Once you read through a scene and you start to get an idea of what it’s about, understand it. The first thing I want you to ask yourself is, “Who am I? Who am I in this scene? and if you just say… if you make a choice like, “Okay, I’m a girl.” Well that might be an interesting choice for me but for most of you, it’s not going to be an interesting choice. It has to be more specific. I’m a girl who has issues with her dad. I’m a girl who wants to drop out of school because I can’t stand my teachers. I’m, I’m competitive. I’m angry. I’m, I’ve low self esteem. I’m happy-go-lucky, cheerful optimist.
You make the most interesting choices you can. We call them Hot Choices so that, so that the scene starts to pop. So never say, “I’m just a girl.” Never say, “I’m just her friend.” Always make it as interesting and developed and complex as you can. So first thing you ask yourself, “Who am I?” Second thing you ask yourself, “What do I want?” What do I want in this scene, what is my objective?” And always make it about getting something from the other person, as simple as possible and it can change from line to line. Objectives change so I want to make you smile. I want to make you cry, I want to scare you, I want to wake you up, I want you to say, ”I love you.” I want you to laugh. Those are all choices and they determine how you’re going to say your lines…

As actors mature choices may become more personal or more commercial.

[6] Ephesians 4:22-24 (NET)

[7] Acts 5:3a (NET)

[8] Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

[9] Luke 12:1b (NET)

[10] Matthew 23:13 (NET)

[11] Matthew 23:15 (NET)

[12] Matthew 23:23 (NET)

[13] Matthew 23:25, 26 (NET)

[14] Matthew 23:27, 28 (NET)

[15] Matthew 23:29 (NET)

[16] 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NET)

[17] Titus 3:5a (NET)

[18] Matthew 6:33a (NET)

[19] John 3:21 (NET)

[20] Romans 3:22a (NET)

Who Am I? Part 8

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I study the Bible for my own benefit primarily.  I’ve been on a work binge lately, long days with no time or energy to study.  The sin in my flesh obtrudes, wanting dominion over my thoughts and motives.  Both ʽâbar and nâsâh await my attention, holding out the promise of deeper access and new insights into the mind of Christ.  I’ve had more than enough of the uncertain gossip on my newsfeed.  I crave the word of God.  But I’m putting that on hold to write this essay.

I woke up the morning I began studying for the previous essay with a philosophical insight.  I typed it into my phone before it faded away.  I’ve written before about the philosophical bent[1] of my mind.  I still have philosophical thoughts and insights but usually keep them to myself.  I assume they are the Holy Spirit working out my own particular flavor of ἀσέβεια.  This one seems relevant somehow:

The primary frustration of being a materialist is that the science based on that materialism never discovers any matter, only ideas obeying laws.  It’s absurd, utterly irrational, unless: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

I offer a couple of corroborating testimonies from the “Criticism and alternatives” section of Materialism on Wikipedia for those who don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the relationship between science and materialism:

In 1991, Gribbin and Davies released their book The Matter Myth, the first chapter of which, “The Death of Materialism”, contained the following passage:

Then came our Quantum theory, which totally transformed our image of matter.  The old assumption that the microscopic world of atoms was simply a scaled-down version of the everyday world had to be abandoned.  Newton’s deterministic machine was replaced by a shadowy and paradoxical conjunction of waves and particles, governed by the laws of chance, rather than the rigid rules of causality.  An extension of the quantum theory goes beyond even this; it paints a picture in which solid matter dissolves away, to be replaced by weird excitations and vibrations of invisible field energy.  Quantum physics undermines materialism because it reveals that matter has far less “substance” than we might believe.  But another development goes even further by demolishing Newton’s image of matter as inert lumps.  This development is the theory of chaos, which has recently gained widespread attention.

— Paul Davies and John Gribbin, The Matter Myth, Chapter 1

Their objections were also shared by some founders of quantum theory, such as Max Planck, who wrote:

As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such.  All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together.  We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind.  This Mind is the matrix of all matter.

— Max Planck, Das Wesen der Materie, 1944

My own insight continued:

Though materialism purports to be the idea that posits all of this lawful behavior within matter itself, it is entirely dependent upon the existence of One with the power and patience to keep all of these ideas obeying all of these laws, lest science collapse into a local observation of immediate phenomena: Adam naming the animals.  Instead of establishing the paramount reality of everyday life, science based on materialism transforms everyday life into an illusion.  

Still, I persist perceiving all of this material around me.  I walk on the floor rather than blending insensibly with it.  I breathe the air rather than dissolving amidst it. Likewise I shower in water and soap, and leave the shower distinct from them as they wash away down the drain.  I put on clothes and take them off without the least confusion between them and me.

I also recalled the event that led me to work on The Tripartite Rationality Index.[2]  I had set Psalm 121 to music for a children’s Sunday school class.  The line—He will not allow your foot to slip—had filled me with hope that I was not on my own with my sin problem, until a child dashed that hope.  As I taught the song he raised his hand at the fateful line.  “I fell down yesterday, how come?” he asked.

I told him I would need a week to think about it.  It was a bad week, arguing within myself about how true the Bible was ultimately.  I had thought childlike faith was naïve and gullible.  But I was the naïve and gullible one, getting all excited about the potential “spiritual truth” of an ancient song even as I had ignored the literal meaning of the words.  That was my life at that time, brief moments of faith and hope swallowed up again in a boiling cauldron of doubt.  Fortunately, that child didn’t confront me a week later demanding an answer I didn’t have.

I worked a straight 6 to 2 shift at the time.  I left work one afternoon, waved to a couple of buddies staring out the second floor window of the factory and stepped into an oil slick from a leaky fifty-five gallon drum.  I was going down, my legs doing a split.  Then I threw my left elbow up into the air and stepped out of the oil.

I was embarrassed at the spectacle I made of myself but didn’t turn to see if my buddies were laughing at me.  As I walked on toward the parking lot I began to wonder how I didn’t fall in that oil slick.

I must have lifted myself out by throwing my elbow up in the air, I thought.  Newton’s third law of motion came to mind: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite re-action.”  Throwing my elbow into the air should have pushed me downward, faster and harder.

I must have lifted myself by pulling my legs back together with my thigh muscles, I surmised, throwing my arm in the air stabilized my balance somehow.  As I walked on I realized my thigh muscles didn’t feel like they had done that kind of work.  My left shoulder, however, was killing me.

Only after I stuck my key in the car door did I turn again, look back at the scene and question aloud, “God?”  Only then did the words of the psalm return to my mind: He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.[3]  As I drove home I argued that I wasn’t worth his time and trouble.

As I think about it now, recalling that I had no sensation of being touched[4] by an unseen hand, it seems more efficient to imagine that God—if God intervened at all—switched off Newton’s third law of motion for the time and space I was in that oil slick.  But even that doesn’t account for the crazy thing I did with my left elbow.

To Make Holy, Part 4

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The next form of ἁγιάζω I’ll consider is found in Jesus’ prayer to his Father: Set them apart (ἁγίασον, a form of ἁγιάζω) in the truth; your word is truth.[1]  But I plan to crawl through his prayer on my knees because I believe I can know his holiness here.

I have revealed your name, Jesus prayed, to the men you gave me out of the world.[2]  Though the Greek word translated men is masculine, I’m not convinced that justifies (note 15) translating ἀνθρώποις (a form of ἄνθρωπος) men in the 21st century.  John didn’t use ἄρσενες (a form of ἄῤῥην) for instance, as Paul did when his intent was to distinguish male from human.  But from the beginning of creation, Jesus said, he made them male (ἄρσεν, another form of ἄῤῥην) and female.[3]  And God made humankind (ἄνθρωπον, another form of ἄνθρωπος); according to divine image he made it; male (ἄρσεν, another form of ἄῤῥην) and female he made them.[4]

Also the Greek word translated I have revealed was not a form of ἀποκαλύπτω but Ἐφανέρωσα (a form of φανερόω).  So I think Jesus meant something more than calling God πάτερ, even something more than the mere fact that yehôvâh has a Father.  Jesus revealed (ἐφανέρωσεν, another form of φανερόω) his glory[5] by turning water to wine (John 2:1-11).  He revealed (ἐφανέρωσεν, another form of φανερόω) himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias[6] after he was raised from the dead[7] by telling them where to cast their net to catch fish and by having a charcoal fire ready to prepare their breakfast (John 21:1-14).  Jesus had revealed his Father’s name by demonstrating who the Father is by his own relationship to Him (John 14:8-10 NET).

Philip said, “Lord, show (δεῖξον, a form of δεικνύω) us the Father, and we will be content.”  Jesus replied, “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known me, Philip?  The person who has seen me has seen the Father!  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?  The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father residing in me performs his miraculous deeds.

At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on a Sabbath.  His disciples were hungry, and they began to pick heads of wheat [8] as they made their way,[9] rubbed them in their hands, and ate them.[10]  We may misunderstand this story because we live in a different world.  Most seed farmers sow today is dead, purchased from agribusinesses.  It will not grow a crop that produces viable seed.  We think it is wrong to walk through a farmer’s field to eat without payment the crop he purchased and labored over.

The grain Jesus’ disciples ate was alive, fully able to grow another crop and produce another harvest.  It was from God who provides seed for the sower and bread for food,[11] from God who said to Moses: When you go into the ripe grain fields of your neighbor you may pluck off the kernels with your hand, but you must not use a sickle on your neighbor’s ripe grain.[12]  But when the Pharisees saw this they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath.”[13]

They weren’t wrong (Exodus 16:4, 5; 20:8-11 NET):

Then the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather the amount for each day, so that I may test them.  Will they walk in my law or not?  On the sixth day they will prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather every other day.”

Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy.  For six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה) your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates.  For in six days the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

But Jesus defended his disciples’ from the Pharisees accusation by citing hunger as a commonly known exception: “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry – how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest,[14] took and ate the sacred bread, which is not lawful for any to eat but the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?”[15]

His next argument might have been a bit more opaque to the Pharisees: Or have you not read in the law that the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are not guilty (ἀναίτιοι, a form of ἀναίτιος)?[16]  This becomes clearer with Peter’s teaching, one of the men to whom Jesus revealed his Father’s name (1 Peter 2:4-10 NET):

So as you come to [Jesus], a living stone rejected by men but chosen and priceless in God’s sight, you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  For it says in scripture, “Look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and priceless cornerstone, and whoever believes (πιστεύων, a form of πιστεύω) in him will never be put to shame.”  So you who believe (πιστεύουσιν, another form of πιστεύω) see his value, but for those who do not believe (ἀπιστοῦσιν, a form of ἀπιστέω), the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stumbling-stone and a rock to trip over.  They stumble because they disobey (ἀπειθοῦντες, a form of ἀπειθέω; disbelieve) the word, as they were destined to do.  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim (ἐξαγγείλητε, a form of ἐξαγγέλλω) the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  You once were not a people, but now you are God’s people.  You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Isaiah prophesied yehôvâh’s description of my chosen people as the people whom I formed for myself, so they might praise (tehillâh, תהלתי; Septuagint: διηγεῖσθαι, a form of διηγέομαι) me.[17]  How we praise and proclaim Him is important.  Are we filled with his own ἀρετὰς (a form of ἀρέτη; translated virtues), his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his gentleness and his self-control, or are we bitter and resentful as we grudgingly strive in our own strength to obey rules that others apparently ignore with impunity?  Malachi prophesied (3:13-18 NET):

“You have criticized me sharply,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), “but you ask, ‘How have we criticized you?’  You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God.  How have we been helped by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord (yehôvih, יהוה) who rules over all?  So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful.  In fact, those who challenge (bâchan, בחנו; Tanakh, tempt) God escape!’”

Then those who respected (yârêʼ, יראי) the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) spoke to one another, and the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) took notice.  A scroll was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected (yârêʼ, ליראי) the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) and honored his name.  “They will belong to me,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property.  I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.  Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.”

I tell you that something greater than the temple is here,[18] Jesus continued.  I turn here to Hebrews, not as the thoughts of some anonymous disciple but, as the teaching that was foremost in Jesus’ mind between his resurrection and ascension (Hebrews 12:18-24 NET):

For you have not come to something that can be touched, to a burning fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind and the blast of a trumpet and a voice uttering words such that those who heard begged to hear no more.  For they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”  In fact, the scene was so terrifying that Moses said, “I shudder with fear.”  But you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does.

If you had known what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent (ἀναιτίους, another form of ἀναίτιος),[19] Jesus continued.  Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.  For this reason the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”[20]  It was not wrong to capitalize Son of Man, for Jesus certainly meant Himself, but clearly not Himself exclusively.

If I pay attention, He has given me a beautiful contrast between how the disobedient and unbelieving picture God and judge others according to their own image, and how the obedient and believing see Him.  Actually everything Jesus said and did confronting the Pharisees and teachers of the law offers this contrast and reveals his Father’s name, but I’ll consider only one other slightly different example in this essay:

Matthew 15:21-28 (NET)

Mark 7:24-30 (NET)
After going out from there, Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

Matthew 15:21

 After Jesus left there, he went to the region of Tyre.

Mark 7:24a
A Canaanite woman from that area came and cried out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is horribly demon-possessed (δαιμονίζεται, a form of δαιμονίζομαι)!”  But he did not answer her a word.  Then his disciples came and begged him, “Send her away, because she keeps on crying out after us.”  So he answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Matthew 15:22-24
When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know, but he was not able to escape notice.

Mark 7:24b
But she came and bowed down before him…

Matthew 15:25a

 Instead, a woman whose young daughter had an unclean (ἀκάθαρτον, a form of ἀκάθαρτος) spirit (πνεῦμα) immediately heard about him and came and fell at his feet.

Mark 7:25
The woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician origin.

Mark 7:26a
…and said, “Lord, help me!”

Matthew 15:25b

 She asked him to cast the demon (δαιμόνιον) out of her daughter.

Mark 7:26b
He said to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for…

Mark 7:27a
“It is not right (καλὸν, a form of καλός) to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” he said.

Matthew 15:26

 …it is not right to take the children’s bread and to throw it to the dogs.”

Mark 7:27b
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

Matthew 15:27

 She answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Mark 7:28
Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great!  Let what you want be done for you.”

Matthew 15:28a
Then he said to her, “Because you said this, you may go.  The demon (δαιμόνιον) has left your daughter.”

Mark 7:29
And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Matthew 15:28b
She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon (δαιμόνιον) gone.

Mark 7:30

It is too easy to miss Jesus’ demonstration of his Father here.  When I obsess about what He called the woman I miss that He said, Woman, your faith is great, and honored her request when she accepted his description of her as a dog.  Mark described her socially and genealogically as Greek, of Syrophoenician origin.  Matthew described her lost soul as a Canaanite (1 Corinthians 10:19-22 NET).

Am I saying that idols or food sacrificed to them amount to anything?  No, I mean that what the pagans sacrifice is to demons (δαιμονίοις, a form of δαιμόνιον) and not to God [Table].  I do not want you to be partners with demons (δαιμονίων, another form of δαιμόνιον).  You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons (δαιμονίων, another form of δαιμόνιον).  You cannot take part in the table of the Lord and the table of demons (δαιμονίων, another form of δαιμόνιον).  Or are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy?  Are we really stronger than he is?

The word translated pagans (εθνη, a form of ἔθνος) doesn’t occur in the parallel Greek of the NET online.  It is found however in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and the Byzantine Majority Text.

1 Corinthians 10:20 NET Parallel Greek 1 Corinthians 10:20 Stephanus Textus Receptus

1 Corinthians 10:20 Byzantine Majority Text
ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι ἃ θύουσιν[21] , δαιμονίοις καὶ οὐ θεῷ [θύουσιν]· οὐ θέλω δὲ ὑμᾶς κοινωνοὺς τῶν δαιμονίων γίνεσθαι αλλ οτι α θυει[22] τα εθνη δαιμονιοις θυει και ου θεω ου θελω δε υμας κοινωνους των δαιμονιων γινεσθαι αλλ οτι α θυει τα εθνη δαιμονιοις θυει και ου θεω ου θελω δε υμας κοινωνους των δαιμονιων γινεσθαι

After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do; and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do; neither shall ye walk in their statutes,[23] yehôvâh commanded Moses to Speak unto the children of Israel.[24]  Moses knew Israel would not obey yehôvâh’s statutes and prophesied in song (Deuteronomy 32:16, 17 Tanakh):

They roused Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations (tôʽêbah, בתועבת; Septuagint: βδελύγμασιν, a form of βδέλυγμα) did they provoke Him [Table].  They sacrificed unto demons (shed, לשדים; Septuagint: δαιμονίοις, a form of δαιμόνιον), no-gods, gods that they knew not, new gods that came up of late, which your fathers dreaded not [Table].

With this fresh in my mind I get a better picture of what was going on: Jesus came to town and a demon worshiper complained to Him that her daughter was demon-possessed.  It’s a vivid picture of the iniquity of the mother (in this case) being visited upon her daughter, whether we regard that visitation as punishment from God or the expected result of consorting with demons.  Jesus fully intended to ignore the Canaanite woman because He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  It is how He understood his mission from his Father.  It is what He taught his disciples (Matthew 10:5-8 NET):

Jesus sent out these twelve, instructing them as follows: “Do not go to Gentile (ἐθνῶν, another form of ἔθνος) regions and do not enter any Samaritan town.  Go instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near!’  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.  Freely you received, freely give.”

Could there be anything more cruel than casting out a demon from the daughter of a demon worshiper?

Matthew 12:43-45 (NET)

Luke 11:24-28 (NET)
“When an unclean (ἀκάθαρτον, a form of ἀκάθαρτος) spirit (πνεῦμα) goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest but does not find it.

Matthew 12:43

 “When an unclean (ἀκάθαρτον, a form of ἀκάθαρτος) spirit (πνεῦμα) goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest but not finding any.

Luke 11:24a
Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’  When it returns, it finds the house empty, swept clean, and put in order.

Matthew 12:44

 Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’  When it returns, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.

Luke 11:24b, 25
Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits (πνεύματα, a form of πνεῦμα) more evil (πονηρότερα, a form of πονηρός) than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first.

Matthew 12:45a

 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits (πνεύματα, a form of πνεῦμα) more evil (πονηρότερα, a form of πονηρός) than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

Luke 11:26
It will be that way for this evil (πονηρᾷ, another form of πονηρός) generation as well!”

Matthew 12:45b
As he said these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!”

Luke 11:27
But he replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear (ἀκούοντες, a form of ἀκούω) the word of God and obey (φυλάσσοντες, a form of φυλάσσω) it!”

Luke 11:28

Jesus’ disciples couldn’t tolerate the woman’s loud persistence, so Jesus engaged her.  Still she persisted.  More to the point she accepted Jesus’ description of her as one of the dogs: She answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  (The Pharisees by contrast wouldn’t even accept Jesus’ description of them as actors.[25])  And so Jesus, contrary to his own understanding of his mission from the Father and his own teaching to his own disciples, healed the woman’s daughter because of this woman’s one simple act of faith, believing his description of her as a dog.  Perhaps that faith would lead to more faith in more things Jesus taught and turn this Canaanite woman and her daughter from their faith in demons.

This all reminds me of yehôvâh’s repentance: And the LORD (yehôvâh, יהוה) repented (nâcham, וינחם; Septuagint: ἱλάσθη, a form of ἱλάσκομαι) of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.[26]  How can yehôvâh/Jesus repent of his own covenant, his own understanding or his own teaching, except by submitting his own will to that of his Father?  Who is his Father?

God is love,[27] wrote another of the men to whom Jesus revealed his Father’s name.  Not, Love is god.  This isn’t pagan worship of an idea or ideals achieved by human desire or exertion.  It is rather a shorthand for the name of the Father Jesus revealed to his disciples by his every word and deed.  Paul’s definition of love is the way He, in fact, loves and fills believers with Himself (1 Corinthians 13:1-8a NET):

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have God, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have God, I am nothing.  If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have God, I receive no benefit.

God is patient, God is kind, He is not envious.  God does not brag, He is not puffed up.  He is not rude, He is not self-serving, He is not easily angered or resentful.  He is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth.  He bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  God never ends.

And Jesus said (Matthew 7:21-23; John 3:7; Matthew 12:33a NET):

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.  On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ [Table]  Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you.  Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’

Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’

Make a tree good and its fruit will be good…

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God,[28] Paul wrote believers in Rome.  The Gospel harmony I created to write this essay follows.

Matthew 12:1-8 (NET)

 Mark 2:23-28 (NET)

Luke 6:1-5 (NET)
At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on a Sabbath.

Ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ ἐπορεύθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοῖς σάββασιν διὰ τῶν σπορίμων

Matthew 12:1a

 Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath…

Καὶ ἐγένετο αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς σάββασιν |παραπορεύεσθαι| διὰ τῶν σπορίμων

Mark 2:23a

 Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath…

Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν σαββάτῳ διαπορεύεσθαι αὐτὸν διὰ σπορίμων

Luke 6:1a
His disciples were hungry…

οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπείνασαν

Matthew 12:1b
…and they began to pick heads of wheat…

καὶ ἤρξαντο τίλλειν στάχυας

Matthew 12:1c

 …and his disciples began to pick some heads of wheat…

καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἤρξαντο … τίλλοντες τοὺς στάχυας

Mark 2:23b

 …and his disciples picked some heads of wheat…

καὶ ἔτιλλον οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ … τοὺς στάχυας

Luke 6:1b
as they made their way.

ὁδὸν ποιεῖν

Mark 2:23c
…rubbed them in their hands…

ψώχοντες ταῖς χερσίν

Luke 6:1c
…and eat them.

καὶ ἐσθίειν

Matthew 12:1d

 …and ate them.

καὶ ἤσθιον …

Luke 6:1d
But when the Pharisees saw this…

οἱ δὲ Φαρισαῖοι ἰδόντες

Matthew 12:2a
…they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath.”  He said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did…

εἶπαν αὐτῷ· ἰδοὺ οἱ μαθηταί σου ποιοῦσιν ὃ οὐκ ἔξεστιν ποιεῖν ἐν σαββάτῳ.  ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε τί ἐποίησεν Δαυὶδ

Matthew 12:2b, 3a

 So the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?”  He said to them, “Have you never read what David did…

καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι ἔλεγον αὐτῷ· ἴδε τί ποιοῦσιν τοῖς σάββασιν ὃ οὐκ ἔξεστιν; καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε τί ἐποίησεν Δαυὶδ

Mark 2:24, 25a

 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?”  Jesus answered them, “Haven’t you read what David did…

τινὲς δὲ τῶν Φαρισαίων εἶπαν· τί ποιεῖτε ὃ οὐκ ἔξεστιν τοῖς σάββασιν; καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἶπεν |ὁ| Ἰησοῦς· οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἀνέγνωτε ὃ ἐποίησεν Δαυὶδ

Luke 6:2, 3a
…when he was in need…

ὅτε χρείαν ἔσχεν

Mark 2:25b
…when he and his companions were hungry – how he entered the house of God…

ὅτε ἐπείνασεν καὶ οἱ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, πῶς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ

Matthew 12:3b, 4a

 …and he and his companions were hungry – how he entered the house of God…

καὶ ἐπείνασεν αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, |πῶς| εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ

Mark 2:25c, 26a

 …when he and his companions were hungry – how he entered the house of God…

ὅτε ἐπείνασεν αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ [ὄντες], [ὡς] εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ

Luke 6:3b, 4a
…when Abiathar was high priest…

ἐπὶ Ἀβιαθὰρ ἀρχιερέως

Mark 2:26b
…took…

λαβὼν

Luke 6:4b
…and they ate the sacred bread, which was against the law…

καὶ τοὺς ἄρτους τῆς προθέσεως ἔφαγον, ὃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἦν

Matthew 12:4b

 …and ate the sacred bread, which is against the law…

καὶ τοὺς ἄρτους τῆς προθέσεως ἔφαγεν, οὓς οὐκ ἔξεστιν

Mark 2:26c

 …and ate the sacred bread, which is not lawful…

καὶ τοὺς ἄρτους τῆς προθέσεως … ἔφαγεν … οὓς οὐκ ἔξεστιν

Luke 6:4c
…for him or his companions to eat…

αὐτῷ φαγεῖν οὐδὲ τοῖς μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ

Matthew 12:4c
…but only for the priests?

εἰ μὴ τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν μόνοις

Matthew 12:4d

 …for any but the priests to eat…

φαγεῖν εἰ μὴ τοὺς ἱερεῖς

Mark 2:26d

 …for any to eat but the priests alone…

… φαγεῖν εἰ μὴ μόνους τοὺς ἱερεῖς

Luke 6:4d
…and also gave it to his companions?”

καὶ ἔδωκεν καὶ τοῖς σὺν αὐτῷ οὖσιν

Mark 2:26e

 …and gave it to his companions?”

καὶ ἔδωκεν τοῖς μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ

Luke 6:4e
Or have you not read in the law that the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are not guilty?  I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.  If you had known what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

ἢ οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε ἐν τῷ νόμῳ ὅτι τοῖς σάββασιν οἱ ἱερεῖς ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τὸ σάββατον βεβηλοῦσιν καὶ ἀναίτιοι εἰσιν;  λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι τοῦ ἱεροῦ μεῖζον ἐστιν ὧδε.  εἰ δὲ ἐγνώκειτε τί ἐστιν· ἔλεος θέλω καὶ οὐ θυσίαν, οὐκ ἂν κατεδικάσατε τοὺς ἀναιτίους

Matthew 12:5-7
Then he said to them…

καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς

Mark 2:27a

 Then he said to them…

καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς

Luke 6:5a
“The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.  For this reason…

τὸ σάββατον διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐγένετο καὶ οὐχ ὁ ἄνθρωπος διὰ τὸ σάββατον·  ὥστε

Mark 2:27b, 28a
For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

κύριος γάρ ἐστιν τοῦ σαββάτου ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

Matthew 12:8

 …the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

κύριος ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ τοῦ σαββάτου.

Mark 2:28b

 “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

κύριος ἐστιν τοῦ σαββάτου ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

Luke 6:5b

[1] John 17:17 (NET)

[2] John 17:6a (NET)

[3] Mark 10:6 (NET) Table

[4] Genesis 1:27 (NETS)

[5] John 2:11b (NET)

[6] John 21:1 (NET)

[7] John 21:14b (NET)

[8] Matthew 12:1a (NET)

[9] Mark 2:23b (NET)

[10] Luke 6:1b (NET)

[11] 2 Corinthians 9:10 (NET)

[12] Deuteronomy 23:25 (NET)

[13] Matthew 12:2 (NET)

[14] Mark 2:25, 26a (NET)

[15] Luke 6:4b (NET)

[16] Matthew 12:5 (NET)

[17] Isaiah 43:20b, 21 (NET)

[18] Matthew 12:6 (NET)

[19] Matthew 12:7 (NET)

[20] Mark 2:27, 28 (NET)

[21] A form of θύω

[22] θυει another form of θύω

[23] Leviticus 18:3 (Tanakh) Table

[24] Leviticus 18:2a (Tanakh)

[25] Romans, Part 9; Romans, Part 10; Romans, Part 12; Romans, Part 26; Romans, Part 49; Romans, Part 60; Romans, Part 71; Romans, Part 83; Sowing to the Flesh, Part 2; My Deeds, Part 1

[26] Exodus 32:14 (KJV)

[27] 1 John 4:8b (NET)

[28] Romans 8:14 (NET)