Category Archives: Section Two

Romans, Part 42

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For I do not want you to be ignorant (ἀγνοεῖν, a form of ἀγνοέω)[1] of this mystery (μυστήριον),[2] brothers and sisters, Paul continued, so that you may not be conceited (φρόνιμοι, a form of φρόνιμος[3]; [παρ᾿] ἑαυτοῖς φρόνιμοι)…  The Greek word ἀγνοεῖν, translated ignorant above, was translated unaware in Paul’s revelation of that affliction which was so integral a part of, if not the impetus for, the understanding that became his letter to the Romans:  For we do not want you to be unaware (ἀγνοεῖν, a form of ἀγνοέω), brothers and sisters, regarding the affliction that happened to us in the province of Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living.  Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us, so that we would not trust (πεποιθότες, a form of πείθω)[4] in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.[5]

The word πεποιθότες, translated trust above, leads back to Paul’s point in Romans (as articulated in his letter to Philippi): Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh!  For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely (πεποιθότες, a form of πείθω) on human credentials (σαρκὶ, a form of σάρξ)…[6]  To translate σαρκὶ as human credentials obscures more than it illuminates.

The note in the NET admits that the Greek reads, “have no confidence in the flesh” as it is translated in the NKJV.  Still, it seems to me that the most natural reading of καὶ οὐκ ἐν σαρκὶ πεποιθότες would be “and not by flesh persuaded” or “and not by persuasion of flesh.”  Paul was not concerned with human credentials, nor even an idolatry of self-worship, a confidence in the flesh, so much as the delusion of human flesh that righteousness comes by human efforts to keep God’s laws.

If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence (πεποιθέναι, another form of πείθω) in human credentials (σαρκὶ, a form of σάρξ), Paul continued, I have more:  I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews.  I lived according to the law as a Pharisee.  In my zeal for God I persecuted the church.  According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless.  But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ.  More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! – that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness – a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.[7]

For I do not want you to be ignorant (ἀγνοεῖν, a form of ἀγνοέω) of this mystery (μυστήριον), brothers and sisters, Paul wrote in Romans.  Paul’s mystery (μυστήριον) was Jesus’ secret when He told his disciples, The secret (μυστήριον) of the kingdom of God has been given to you.  But to those outside, everything is in parables, so that although they look they may look but not see, and although they hear they may hear but not understand, so they may not repent and be forgiven.”[8]

Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, Paul had written earlier, but the elect obtained it.  The rest were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, to this very day.”[9]

And Jesus was actively involved in fulfilling His Father’s will.

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.  For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love.  He did this by predestining us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will – to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.  He did this when he revealed to us the secret (μυστήριον) of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ – the things in heaven and the things on earth.  In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory.  And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ – you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.[10]

For I do not want you to be ignorant (ἀγνοεῖν, a form of ἀγνοέω)[11] of this mystery (μυστήριον),[12] brothers and sisters, Paul wrote, so that you may not be conceited (φρόνιμοι, a form of φρόνιμος; [παρ᾿] ἑαυτοῖς φρόνιμοι).  The idiom παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῖς φρόνιμοι translated conceited is literally from or by themselves wise.  It is similar to ἵνα μὴ πεποιθότες ὦμεν ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτοῖς (literally so that not be persuaded to be or to exist upon ourselves) from: Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us, so that we would not trust (πεποιθότες, a form of πείθω) in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.[13]  Later in Romans Paul wrote, Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.  Do not be conceited (φρόνιμοι παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῖς).  Do not repay anyone evil for evil; consider what is good before all people.[14]

Paul had tended to use φρόνιμοι (a form of φρόνιμος; wise) in this form in a sarcastic or even mocking manner:  We are fools for Christ, but you are wise (φρόνιμοι) in Christ!  We are weak, but you are strong!  You are distinguished, we are dishonored![15]  And, For since you are so wise (φρόνιμοι), you put up with fools gladly.[16]  Paul didn’t want us to be wise from or by ourselves any more than he wanted us to be persuaded to be or to exist upon ourselves.  And so what was this mystery or secret Paul didn’t want us to be ignorant or unaware of?

A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full (πλήρωμα)[17] number of the Gentiles has come in (εἰσέλθῃ, a form of εἰσέρχομαι).  And so all Israel will be saved…[18]  Did Paul mean all Israel as in all who are descended from Israel?  Or did he rename all descended from Israel who believe and all Gentiles who believe all Israel?

For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, Paul wrote earlier, nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.”[19]  This seemed like a strong argument that all Israel cannot mean “all who are descended from Israel,” until I put the verse back in context.  This means, Paul continued, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.[20]

So what promise did Paul have in mind when he wrote, And so all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26, 27 NET)?

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.   And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”

The Deliverer will remove ungodliness (ἀσεβείας, a form of ἀσέβεια)[21] from Jacob.  This ungodliness brought God’s wrath in the first place:  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness (ἀσέβειαν, another form of ἀσέβεια) and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness…[22]  Today the quotation from Isaiah reads, A protector comes to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their rebellious deeds,[23] when translated from a contemporary understanding of Hebrew.  But the rabbis who translated the Septuagint into Greek about two centuries before the Lord Jesus was rejected as Messiah translated it this way:

Paul

Blue Letter Bible (Septuagint)

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)
…he will remove ungodliness from Jacob. 

Romans 11:26b (NET)

 ἀποστρέψει ἀσεβείας ἀπὸ Ιακωβ

Isaiah 59:20b

 ἀποστρέψει ἀσεβείας ἀπὸ Ἰακώβ

Romans 11:26b

The phrase when I take away their sins is not part of the quotation from Isaiah 59:20, 21.  I think Paul interjected it to cue us as to which covenant he had in mind, namely, the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:33-35 NET).

“But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the Lord.  “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds.  I will be their God and they will be my people.  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.  “For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done” [Table].  The Lord has made a promise to Israel.  He promises it as the one who fixed the sun to give light by day and the moon and stars to give light by night.  He promises it as the one who stirs up the sea so that its waves roll.  He promises it as the one who is known as the Lord who rules over all.

I will not reject all the descendants of Israel because of all that they have done,[24] the Lord promised.  In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers,[25] Paul concluded.  And I think he meant all the descendants of Israel.

Addendum (7/7/2015): Jim Searcy has published that the Septuagint is a hoax written by Origen and Eusebius 200 hundred years after Christ.  “In fact, the Septuagint ‘quotes’ from the New Testament and not vice versa…”  His contention is that the “King James Version is the infallible Word of God.”  So, I’ll re-examine the quotations above with the KJV.

Paul

KJV

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)
…and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

Romans 11:26b (KJV)

 …and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob…

Isaiah 59:20b

 ἀποστρέψει ἀσεβείας ἀπὸ Ἰακώβ

Romans 11:26b

Cleary, Paul’s quotation is not as it is written in Isaiah 59:20 if the “King James Version is the infallible Word of God.”

Romans, Part 43

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 8

Back to Torture, Part 2

Back to Romans, Part 58

[3] Romans 11:25a (NET)

[5] 2 Corinthians 1:8, 9 (NET)

[6] Philippians 3:3 (NET) Table

[7] Philippians 3:4-8 (NET)

[8] Mark 4:11, 12 (NET)

[9] Romans 11:7, 8 (NET)

[10] Epehsians 1:3-14 (NET)

[13] 2 Corinthians 1:8, 9 (NET)

[14] Romans 12:16, 17 (NET)

[15] 1 Corinthians 4:10 (NET)

[16] 2 Corinthians 11:19 (NET)

[18] Romans 11:25b, 26a (NET)

[19] Romans 9:6b, 7 (NET)

[20] Romans 9:8 (NET)

[22] Romans 1:18 (NET)

[23] Isaiah 59:20 (NET)

[24] Jeremiah 31:37 (NET)

[25] Romans 11:28 (NET)

Antichrist, Part 1

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I was introduced to Lars von Trier’s movies in a backhanded way.  A friend wanted me to watch “Melancholia” because she thought it was a waste of two hours of her life.  I suspected she was afraid I might like it and call her taste into question.  I was afraid of that too as I watched the magical beginning of the film.  Fortunately for our friendship I found the character Justine disagreeable enough to satisfy her.  I enjoyed the film more when I skipped from the extreme slow motion photography of the opening to the chapter titled “Claire” and watched from there to the end.  Less of Justine’s melancholia was definitely more for me.  I was hooked however on Lars von Trier.

I cried at the end of “Breaking the Waves” when God credited Bess’s faith as righteousness: For what does the scripture say? Paul asked.  “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[1]  The plot turned on the confusion in the English language between eros and agapē.  It seems to me that English speaking believers who care about making the Gospel plain would lead the curve to accept fuck and fucking as legitimate words for eros.  We are the ones, after all, muscling in on love (since the Aunt Pollys[2] and professional fundraisers of the world have made charity[3] as odious to the receiver as to the giver).

Sexual intercourse is too clinical to substitute for eros.  Making love is too nice-nice, too insincere, or too dishonest to suffice.  The freshly fucked wife lying forlornly beside her husband, asking, “Do you love me?” knows full well that fucking doesn’t make any love.  Her clueless husband turning from the television to stare incredulously at her, and saying defensively, “Didn’t I just show you how much I love you?” thinks love was the feeling he had while fucking her.  Or worse, he might take offense thinking she has denigrated his performance as a fucker.  If he has read any books about fucking he might take the time to cuddle and talk to her afterwards, before turning to the television.  But a wife is close enough to see through that hypocrisy eventually.  Only the love that flows from Christ’s Spirit is the ἀγάπη[4] (agapē) she seeks when fucking just isn’t enough.

I was on my first movie set with nudity.  We were ready to shoot.  The male actor, speaking for himself and his female counterpart, asked the director, “Are we making love or fucking?”  We all knew exactly what he meant.  Making love is the tender prelude to the selfish self-abandon of fucking.  Making love is the hope of which fucking is the substance.  By comparison making love seems calculated, hypocritical, a mere going through the motions, or a practiced aloofness.  “Give me a little of both,” the director replied.

Love (ἀγάπη) does no wrong to a neighbor, Paul wrote.  Therefore love (ἀγάπη) is the fulfillment of the law.[5]  Few would be persuaded that, fucking does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore fucking (or the feeling I have while I am fucking, or wanting to fuck, her) is the fulfillment of the law.  I wonder sometimes, however, if we don’t actually prefer the confusion.  Loving enemies and praying for persecutors is decidedly unsexy and a hard sell.  It isn’t natural.  It only comes from the ἀγάπη of God flowing into one through his Holy Spirit and then out again as attitudes and actions that are incomprehensible to those born only of the flesh of Adam.

Having said all that, however, there was something about fucking, especially first fucking, that made me highly susceptible to the ἀγάπη of God.  I have noticed a similar phenomenon in other men.  It makes a sort of sense then that Satan and the religious mind would conspire to make first fucking as “immoral” as possible, to short circuit that natural progression from eros to agapē.  In the past this was achieved by putting all women but prostitutes completely out of reach.  In my day it was the misnomer premarital sex and the presumed punishment for premarital sex—pregnancy.  In terms of God’s law it was about as difficult for a man to commit premarital sex as to commit a pre-homicidal murder, since even a man who raped a single woman had committed lifelong marriage (Deuteronomy 22:28, 29 NET):

Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes her and they are discovered [Table].  The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives [Table].

In “Breaking the Waves” Bess knew that Jan worked on an oil rig out at sea when she married him.  But after their honeymoon, when he had to go back to work, she couldn’t bear their separation.  (I should probably say that I will be spoiling “Breaking the Waves” for anyone who finds a movie “spoiled” by knowing its story.)  Bess prayed that God would bring Jan home.  Whenever Bess prayed, by the way, she spoke for herself and then lowered the pitch of her voice and spoke for God as well.  Not surprisingly perhaps, Bess’s god sounded a bit like the elders of her church.

Early in the film we get a picture of her church.  When Jan asked why they had no bells in their steeple, the religious leader scolded, “We do not need bells in our church to worship God.”  “I like church bells,” Bess whispered to Jan.  He attended a funeral presided over by the elders and heard the words, “You are a sinner and you deserve your place in hell,” spoken as a corpse was lowered into the ground.  When he told Bess about it, she agreed, “He will go to hell; everyone knows that.”

Jan got hurt on the rig and came home paralyzed, probably for life, though even his life was not guaranteed.  He encouraged Bess to take a lover, but not to divorce him.  Bess was offended.  Later he convinced her that his life depended on her taking a lover and telling him about it.  She reluctantly and unsuccessfully attempted to seduce his doctor, someone for whom she had some affection.  She tried to tell Jan a sexy story, but he knew she was lying.  She began to have anonymous encounters with strangers.  She even dressed like a prostitute.  When she did, Jan seemed to get better.  When she didn’t, he seemed to get worse.

Finally she went to the “big ship” dressed as a prostitute.  Other prostitutes wouldn’t go there.  The men were brutal and cruel.  Bess barely escaped with her life.  She was excommunicated from her church, locked out of her home and pelted with rocks by neighborhood children.  Then she heard from her sister-in-law (who was also Jan’s nurse) that he was dying.

When his doctor asked, “What’s your talent, Bess?” she replied, “I can believe.”  At the moment where all was darkest for Bess personally her sister-in-law asked, “Is there anything I can do for you, anything at all?”  “Yes,” Bess answered, “I’d like you to go to Jan and pray for him to be cured, and rise from his bed and walk.”  Bess then went back to the “big ship.”

Lars von Trier was uncharacteristically shy about showing what happened to Bess there.  One can only assume that she was raped and beaten (and I call it rape despite her willingness to endure it).  But not showing it was the right call.  There was no need by that time in the story for anger at her attackers, and no call for overwhelming sorrow for Bess.  As she died in the emergency room she realized and admitted how wrong she had been.

At the medical inquest Jan’s doctor was tongue-tied to describe her condition.  He declared her good, but recanted when the medical examiners disputed describing her death as due to excessive goodness.  But there, sitting at the inquest, was Jan, not only risen from his deathbed but walking again.  While the religious leaders of Bess’s “church” were preoccupied with excommunicating sinners, teaching love for the law, and condemning corpses to hell, the body of Christ functioned within it (her sister-in-law was a member in good standing) and without it (Bess and Jan were not).

Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit, Paul wrote to the Corinthians.  And there are different ministries, but the same Lord.  And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.  To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all.  For one person is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, and another the message of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another performance of miracles…[6]

Bess received the faith.  Her sister-in-law prayed and received a miracle.  Jan received a gift of healing.

Jan couldn’t face the prospect of self-righteous men condemning his beloved wife to hell, so he and his friends from the oil rig stole her body.  “Bess McNeill,” the church leader intoned over a casket filled with sand, “you are a sinner, and for your sins you are consigned to hell.”

“Not one of you has the right to consign Bess to hell,” her sister-in-law rebuked them with a gift of wisdom.  And they, for once, fell silent.

Bess was buried at sea on the oil rig.  Later a friend roused Jan from his mourning to come out on deck.  They stopped at the radar screen to assure themselves that nothing was on the ocean near them.  Then they went outside and heard church bells ringing.  And just in case we viewers were inclined to be incredulous, the scene cut to an extreme high angle, looking down on the oil rig in the ocean through the ringing bells of heaven.

There is another interesting aspect to this film.  People like the leaders of Bess’ “church” are not likely to see a movie rated “R for strong graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some violence.”  They self-select as unworthy of its message, and are “hardened,” so they may not repent and be forgiven,[7] Jesus said of those who were outside (ἔξω).[8]  But “Antichrist,” another of Trier’s movies, is what I really want to write about here.

Antichrist, Part 2 

Back to Antichrist, Part 3

Back to Romans, Part 44

Back to Antichrist, Part 4

Back to Antichrist, Part 5

Back to The Righteousness of God

Back to Torture, Part 2

Back to Romans, Part 50

Back to Torture, Part 4

Back to Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 12

[1] Romans 4:3 (NET)

[2] Aunt Polly was the bitter woman from Walt Disney’s “Pollyanna” whose noblesse-oblige-charity was contrasted to Pollyanna’s cheerful giving.  Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7 NET).

[3] Agapē was translated charity in the KJV in 1 Corinthians 13.

[5] Romans 13:10 (NET)

[6] 1 Corinthians 12:4-10a (NET)

[7] Mark 4:12 (NET)

Fear – Exodus Part 2

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“Why have you done this and let the boys live?”[1] the king of Egypt accused the midwives.  Hebrew women are vigorous, they answered, they give birth before the midwife gets to them![2]  Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “All sons that are born you must throw into the river, but all daughters you may let live.”[3]  But Moses’ mother disobeyed the law.  She hid her baby for three months.  Then she set him adrift in a papyrus basket, where Pharaoh’s daughter found him and raised him as her own.

In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and observed their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking a Hebrew man, one of his own people.  He looked this way and that and saw that no one was there, and then he attacked the Egyptian and concealed the body in the sand.[4]  Then he saw two Hebrew men fighting.  When he tried to break it up one of them said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?  Are you planning to kill me like you killed that Egyptian?”  Then Moses was afraid (yârêʼ)[5], thinking, “Surely what I did has become known.”[6]

The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐφοβήθη (a form of φοβέω)[7] here.  There are no more occurrences of ἐφοβήθη in the New Testament.  By choosing this word however they have made Moses’ fear equivalent to Sarah’s fear when she lied to God about laughing at him.[8]  It was like Lot’s fear to live in Zoar after witnessing the destruction of the surrounding cities,[9] and Isaac’s fear to acknowledge Rebekah as his wife.[10]  It was like Jacob’s fear of Bethel the morning after his dream,[11] and when he heard that Esau was coming out to meet him on his return to Canaan.[12]

When Pharaoh heard [what Moses did to the Egyptian], he sought to kill Moses.  So Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian…[13]  During that long period of time the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned because of the slave labor.  They cried out, and their desperate cry because of their slave labor went up to God.[14]  And God responded (Exodus 3:1-5 NET).

Now Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.  The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush.  He looked – and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed!  So Moses thought, “I will turn aside to see this amazing sight.  Why does the bush not burn up?”  When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”  And Moses said, “Here I am.”  God said, “Do not approach any closer!  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

God added, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid (yârêʼ) to look at God.[15]  In the Septuagint εὐλαβεῖτο (a form of εὐλαβέομαι) was used.  It does not occur in the New Testament but is close to εὐλαβηθεὶς, translated reverent regard in Hebrews: By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard (εὐλαβηθεὶς, another form of εὐλαβέομαι) constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family.  Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.[17]

The Lord said [to Moses], “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt.  I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.  I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.  And now indeed the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them.  So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”[18]

I think the rabbis who translated the Septuagint were wise to choose εὐλαβηθεὶς (a form of εὐλαβέομαι) here rather than φοβέω, a word that connotes flight.  The NET online definition of εὐλαβηθεὶς is a continuum from caution through wariness to reverence.  For Moses was not afraid to stand and argue with God:  “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”[19] And his question prompted a couple of my own about the timing of God’s calling.  Wouldn’t it have been better to call a prince of Egypt for this diplomatic mission than a shepherd from Midian?   And certainly the moralist in me would prefer that God had called Moses before he became a murderer and a fugitive from justice.

To address my first question I turned to Paul:  For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.”[20]  Paul quoted the prophetic word of God through Isaiah as a clear statement of God’s purpose and intent.  This is like an overarching theme with God.  Then Paul elaborated (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NET Table):

Think about the circumstances of your call (κλῆσιν, a form of κλῆσις), brothers and sisters.  Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position.  But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong.  God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in his presence.  He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Given my upbringing and temperament it probably bears saying that Paul did not invent rules for God to obey.  He revealed what he heard from Christ or observed of God’s behavior in Scripture.  David was the youngest of Jesse’s sons (and a shepherd, by the way), not the eldest.  Jephthah was the illegitimate son of Gilead and a prostitute.  Solomon was apparently not the eldest of David’s sons with Bathsheba,[22] and David’s and Bathsheba’s relationship began as an adulterous affair, yet God called Solomon Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord.

As for Moses being a murderer and a fugitive from justice it is clear that God was working at (what I would call) cross-purposes.  If God sent me to gain the Israelites release from Pharaoh I would hope, and even prayer, that He would grant me favor with Pharaoh.  He told Moses, So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.[23]  But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.[24]

It occurred to me years ago that one way God might have hardened Pharaoh’s heart was to grant him wealth, position, power and prestige without first humbling him to serve God.  As I imagine the scene now I see Moses, a murderer and fugitive from Egyptian justice, standing before the king of Egypt, saying, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us.  So now, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.[25]  It was almost guaranteed that his heart would be hardened against such a request from such a man.  And if Egyptian justice had become forgetful of Moses’ crime as a prince in Egypt, Moses had become a Midianite shepherd.  Again Pharaoh’s heart was likely to be hardened, for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting (KJV, an abomination) to the Egyptians.[26]

I am in the heart now of the issues that Paul considered important when discussing election:  So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy [Table].  For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”  So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.[27]

What was God’s response to Moses’ objection?  Surely I will be with you [literally, I AM with you], and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve God on this mountain.[28]  God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble,[29] both James and Peter quoted from the Proverbs of Solomon.

Anyone called to the salvation of righteousness in Jesus Christ might feel just like Moses.  Who am I to love [my] enemy and pray for those who persecute [me], so that [I] may be like [my] Father in heaven?[30]  Who am I to Rejoice and be glad[31] when people insult [me] and persecute [me] and say all kinds of evil things about [me] falsely on account of [You]?[32]  I’m not one of the prophets.  Like Peter I might say, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”[33]  But as He promised Moses, I AM with you, so He does not intend that I do righteousness on my own, but tapped into that infinite daily living stream of his Holy Spirit, relying on his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his  gentleness, and his self-control.  Against such things there is no law.[34]

Fear – Exodus, Part 3

[1] Exodus 1:18 (NET)

[2] Exodus 1:19 (NET)

[3] Exodus 1:22 (NET)

[4] Exodus 2:11, 12 (NET)

[6] Exodus 2:14 (NET)

[13] Exodus 2:15 (NET)

[14] Exodus 2:23 (NET)

[15] Exodus 3:6 (NET) Table

[17] Hebrews 11:7 (NET)

[18] Exodus 3:7-10 (NET)

[19] Exodus 3:11 (NET)

[20] 1 Corinthians 1:19 (NET)

[23] Exodus 3:10 (NET)

[24] Exodus 4:21b (NET)

[25] Exodus 3:18b (NET)

[26] Genesis 46:34b (NET)

[27] Romans 9:16-18 (NET)

[28] Exodus 3:12 (NET)

[30] Matthew 5:44b-45a (NET)

[31] Matthew 5:12a (NET)

[32] Matthew 5:11 (NET)

[33] Luke 5:8 (NET)

Son of God – John, Part 4

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This is round three of my attempt to determine whether that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light[1] is the judgment/condemnation God did not send his Son into the world to do[2] and has been done already to the one who does not believe,[3] or the basis for judging,[4] and the rationale or justification for condemning one to burn in hell for all eternity.  First, that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light could be a judgment.  (“Oh, you lover of darkness” is admittedly a bit weak as condemnation.)  But loving darkness rather than light is merely a preference, and cannot be a basis for judging apart from the reality that preference indicates:  because their deeds were evil.[5]  In other words evil deeds supply the power that justifies making a preference for darkness a basis for judging, and then condemning someone to hell.

I never thought to question the translation of πονηρὰ (a form of πονηρός)[6] as evil until I read the definitions in the NET online Bible: “1) full of labours, annoyances, hardships 1a) pressed and harassed by labours 1b) bringing toils, annoyances, perils; of a time full of peril to Christian faith and steadfastness; causing pain and trouble 2) bad, of a bad nature or condition 2a) in a physical sense: diseased or blind 2b) in an ethical sense: evil wicked, bad.”  But was Jesus speaking ethically as a moral philosopher?  It seems to me that I would have related to Him a whole lot sooner if that were the case.  I loved Socrates.

But before I substitute any other definitions I should point out that the NET translation is not alone in translating πονηρὰ evil.  The NAS and KJV use the word evil, too.  That is getting very close to the beginning of translating the New Testament into the English language.  This is a long tradition.  Perhaps the translators of the NAS and KJV didn’t know all the meanings for πονηρὰ that the translators of the NET had at their disposal.  So I’ll begin with the more limited definition from Strong’s Concordance: “hurtful, that is, evil (properly in effect or influence, and thus differing from G2556, which refers rather to essential character…).”

Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were [hurtful].[7]  Obviously, hurtful lacks the justificatory power of evil (e.g., the power to justify judging and condemning someone to hell), but it does sound like Jesus.

Saul, Saul, Jesus said, why are you persecuting me?  You are hurting yourself by kicking against the goads.[8]  The implication here was that Jesus had already reached out to Saul in other more subtle ways.  But Saul’s faith in his religion was so strong that it took nothing less than a personal appearance in all his glory (which Saul perceived as a blinding light and a voice) to persuade Saul to hear.  Jesus did not say, “Saul, Saul, you evil sinner, why are you arresting my followers and condemning them to death?”  His concern was that Saul’s persistent and stubborn resistance to the insistent and stubborn call of God was hard on Saul.

So I said, Paul (Saul) continued, “Who are you, Lord?”  And the Lord replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.  But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this reason, to designate you in advance as a servant and witness to the things you have seen and to the things in which I will appear to you.  I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness (σκότους)[9] to light (φῶς)[10] and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”[11]

So rather than standing back in ethical detachment as a moral philosopher, using people’s preference for darkness as a basis for judging and then condemning them to hell, this sounds as if Jesus sent Saul (Paul) to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness (σκότους) to light (φῶς) and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in [Jesus].  In this light then, that the light (φῶς) has come into the world and people loved the darkness (σκότος) rather than the light (φῶς) sounds more like a judgment than a basis for judging.  And this judgment prompted at least two action items on the divine to-do list.  It is the reason God sent his Son into the world, that the world should be saved through him, and the reason Jesus, the Son, sent Saul to open [Gentile’s] eyes.

To be fair to the NET translators, they didn’t think Jesus was speaking in John 3:19.  Perhaps John was speaking ethically as a moral philosopher.  So I turned to another instance of πονηρὰ translated evil in John’s Gospel.  The world cannot hate you, Jesus told his half brothers, but it hates me, because I am testifying (μαρτυρῶ, a form of μαρτυρέω)[12] about it that its deeds are evil (πονηρά).[13]  Again evil is used in all three translations, KJV, NAS and NET.

KJV

NAS

NET
7:7 The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.” “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I am testifying about it that its deeds are evil.”

If Jesus had been traveling around Judea “testifying” that people’s deeds were evil, it would seem a little bit like what God did not send his Son into the world to do (that is, judge or condemn the world).  But Jesus had also said, If I testify (μαρτυρῶ) about myself, my testimony is not true,[14] and, the deeds that the Father has assigned me to complete – the deeds I am now doing – testify (μαρτυρεῖ, another form of μαρτυρέω) about me that the Father has sent me.[15]  It isn’t hard for me to imagine that Jesus’ righteousness testified to those around Him that their deeds didn’t measure up.  But here I picked up the scent.  It will be harder to throw me off the trail.

The word evil conjures an image of sin and sinners, violations of God’s holy law.  But that doesn’t square with the Gospel narratives at all.  It wasn’t an angry mob of prostitutes and tax collectors that led Jesus to Golgotha.  It was a mob of religious people, indignant because his deeds of righteousness testified that their religious deeds were hurtful (as opposed to evil).  Their religion kept them from coming to Him.  He was ready to forgive their sin, their evil, but their faith in their religion and their own “righteous” deeds were the hurtful deeds that caused them so much harm.

I feel more confident now to substitute what the NET translators considered the first definition of πονηρὰ (a form of πονηρός):  Now this is the [judgment]: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were [full of labours, annoyances, and hardships].[16]  This definitely sounds like Jesus.  Come to me, He said, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.[17]

If I continue in this vein, rejecting the ethical definition of φαῦλα (a form of φαῦλος),[18] I get, For everyone who does [ordinary or worthless] deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed [e.g., as ordinary or worthless].  But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God.[19]

While in is a perfectly acceptable translation of ἐν,[20] the NET translators used with 145 times and by 135 times in other places in the New Testament.  But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done [by] God, would have further highlighted the contrast between righteousness and ordinary or worthless religious works done in one’s own strength.

It seems to me now that the translation of πονηρά as evil in these two instances was at best the work of moral philosophers recasting Jesus in their own image.  At worst it was the religious mind reasserting itself while attempting to remain in the shadows by focusing the light away from itself and on to the evil.  But Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, tax collectors and prostitutes will go ahead of you into the kingdom of God!”[21]

[1] John 3:19 (NET)

[2] John 3:17 (NET)

[3] John 3:18 (NET)

[4] John 3:19 (NET)

[5] John 3:19b (NET)

[7] John 3:19 (NET)

[8] Acts 26:14b (NET)

[11] Acts 26:15-18 (NET)

[13] John 7:7 (NET)

[14] John 5:31 (NET)

[15] John 5:36b (NET)

[16] John 3:19 (NET)

[17] Matthew 11:28-30 (NET)

[19] John 3:20, 21 (NET)

[21] Matthew 21:31b (NET) Table

Romans, Part 41

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Now I am speaking to you Gentiles, Paul continued.  Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy (παραζηλώσω, a form of παραζηλόω)[1] and save some of them.[2]  Here Paul referred back to the Lord’s prophesy through Moses, I will make you jealous (παραζηλώσω, a form of παραζηλόω) by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger.[3]

The complete verse reads, They have made me jealous (Septuagint: παρεζήλωσάν, another form of παραζηλόω) with false gods, enraging me with their worthless gods; so I will make them jealous (Septuagint: παραζηλώσω, a form of παραζηλόω) with a people they do not recognize, with a nation slow to learn I will enrage them.[4]  And so I have the karmic reason: Israel made God jealous with false gods, so He made them jealous with senseless, slow to learn or foolish people.  But Paul alluded to a grace reason as well: I ask then, [Israel] did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they?  Absolutely not!  But by their transgression [e.g., making God jealous with false gods] salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous (παραζηλῶσαι, another form of παραζηλόω).[5]  And so Paul hoped to provoke [his] people to jealousy (παραζηλώσω, a form of παραζηλόω) and save some of them.

For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, Paul continued, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?[6]  Then he said something odd: If the first portion of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy…[7]  The phrase the first portion of the dough offered is one word in Greek, ἀπαρχὴ,[8] firstfruits.  At first I thought Paul was referencing the firstfruits offering from the law.

You must offer up a cake of the first (rêʼshı̂yth)[9] of your finely ground flour as a raised offering; as you offer the raised offering of the threshing floor, so you must offer it up.  You must give to the Lord some of the first (rêʼshı̂yth) of your finely ground flour as a raised offering in your future generations.[10]  But the firstfruits belonged to the priests and their immediate families:  All the best of the olive oil and all the best of the wine and of the wheat, the first fruits (rêʼshı̂yth) of these things that they give to the Lord, I have given to you.  And whatever first ripe fruit in their land they bring to the Lord will be yours; everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.[11]

So if the whole batch became holy because of the offering of the firstfruits, the people would have starved, because the whole batch would have belonged to the priests and their immediate families.  Paul used the word ἀπαρχὴ in another context in 1 Corinthians.  But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits (ἀπαρχὴ)[12] of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.  For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits (ἀπαρχὴ); then when Christ comes, those who belong to him.[13]

So I think Christ was the fristfruits (ἀπαρχὴ) Paul wrote about, and making the whole batch… holy was not something true of, or done by, the law.  It is accomplished through Christ.  Later in Romans Paul wrote that the people of Israel are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers.[14]  I don’t think he meant that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were of such special merit that their merit would be extended to their descendants.  I think he referenced the promises the Lord Jesus made to them, about their descendents, as Yahweh.  As Paul wrote earlier, Let God be proven true, and every human being shown up as a liar, just as it is written: “so that you will be justified in your words and will prevail when you are judged.”[15]

And Paul continued, if the root is holy, so too are the branches.[16]  Here again the Lord Jesus is the root:  At that time a root from Jesse will stand like a signal flag for the nations.  Nations will look to him for guidance, and his residence will be majestic.  At that time the sovereign master will again lift his hand to reclaim the remnant of his people…[17]  The Lord Jesus is holy and all who spring forth from him are holy, too.

Then Paul began to describe the attitude Gentile believers should have toward the people of Israel.  Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in the richness of the olive root, do not boast over the branches.[18]  “I am part of a senseless nation grafted in to make Israel jealous!” is not much to brag about anyway.  But if you boast, Paul continued, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.  Then you will say, “The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.”[19]  Here is a good place to review why the branches were broken off (Jeremiah 11:15-17 NET).

The Lord says to the people of Judah, “What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people?  Many of you have done wicked things.  Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them?  I, the Lord, once called you a thriving olive tree, one that produced beautiful fruit.  But I will set you on fire, fire that will blaze with a mighty roar.  Then all your branches will be good for nothing.  For though I, the Lord who rules over all, planted you in the land, I now decree that disaster will come on you because the nations of Israel and Judah have done evil and have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal.”

Granted! Paul continued.  They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith.  Do not be arrogant, but fear (φοβοῦ, a form of φοβέω)![20]  This word φοβοῦ in this form occurs most often in the New Testament as the divine greeting to the fearful flesh of Adam: Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ)![21]  Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ), Zechariah…[22]  Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ), Mary…[23]  Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ)…”[24]  Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ), little flock…[25]  Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ), people of Zion…[26]  The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, “Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ)…”[27]  Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ), Paul![28]  Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ) of the things you are about to suffer.[29]  But Paul used it twice in Romans to say, But if you do wrong, be in fear (φοβοῦ)…[30]  For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you.[31]

I must be an adulteress[32] at heart.  I can’t count how many times I came to this place in Paul’s letter to the Romans, ignored everything I had heard thus far, and ran back to the law.  It was like an all-consuming lust that blinded me and made me deaf to everything Paul had said about the law:  For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous.[33]

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.  For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.  But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe.[34]

For we consider that a person is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law.[35]  Do we then nullify the law through faith?  Absolutely not!  Instead we uphold the law.[36]  For the law brings wrath…[37]  Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase…[38]  For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.  What then?  Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?  Absolutely not![39]

Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person as long as he lives?  For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage.  So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress.  But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress.  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.[40]

Despite all this when Paul said, Do not be arrogant, but fear (φοβοῦ), I fled in terror from Jesus my Savior back to the law.  A Baal worshiper may have thought that he was worshipping the true God.  I’m sure I did at the time.  A Baal worshiper may have thought that he had found a better god.  But I was worshiping myself and my own ability to keep the law, even after years of practical experience and empirical proofs that I could not keep it.  Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ); just believe.[41]  Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ); just believe…[42]

Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God, Paul continued, harshness toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.  And even they – if they do not continue in their unbelief – will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.  For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?[43]

Romans, Part 42

[2] Romans 11:13, 14 (NET)

[3] Romans 10:19 (NET) Table

[4] Deuteronomy 32:21 (NET) Table

[5] Romans 11:11 (NET)

[6] Romans 11:15 (NET)

[7] Romans 11:16a (NET)

[10] Numbers 15:20, 21 (NET)

[11] Numbers 18:12, 13 (NET)

[13] 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 (NET)

[14] Romans 11:28b (NET)

[15] Romans 3:4 (NET)

[16] Romans 11:16b (NET)

[17] Isaiah 11:10, 11a (NET)

[18] Romans 11:17, 18a (NET)

[19] Romans 11:18b, 19 (NET)

[20] Romans 11:20 (NET)

[21] Revelation 1:17 (NET)

[22] Luke 1:13 (NET)

[23] Luke 1:30 (NET)

[24] Luke 5:10 (NET)

[25] Luke 12:32 (NET)

[26] John 12:15 (NET)

[27] Acts 18:9 (NET)

[28] Acts 27:24 (NET)

[29] Revelation 2:10 (NET)

[30] Romans 13:4 (NET)

[31] Romans 11:21 (NET)

[33] Romans 2:13 (NET)

[34] Romans 3:19-22a (NET)

[35] Romans 3:28 (NET) Table

[36] Romans 3:31 (NET)

[37] Romans 4:15a (NET)

[38] Romans 5:20a (NET)

[39] Romans 6:14, 15 (NET)

[40] Romans 7:1-6 (NET)

[43] Romans 11:22-24 (NET)

You Must Be Gentle, Part 4

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I saw “The Seventh Seal” on Blu-ray: the Knight, the Squire, Mia, Jof and their baby, Lisa and the Smith, Raval the Seminarian turned thief.  But my favorite character was the nameless girl.

She was the last of her village to survive, or not to flee, the plague.  The Squire saved her when Raval would have raped and possibly murdered her.  He decided against raping her himself.  “I’ve grown tired of that kind of love,” the Crusade-weary Squire said.  “It gets a little dry in the end.”  But he wanted her as his housekeeper.  “I saved your life,” he said when she hesitated.  “You owe me a great deal.”  The nameless girl considered a moment more, then turned and followed after him.  He had persuaded her to go a mile, and the second time I watched the movie I realized she would probably go two.

She would have given cold water to Raval, dying of the plague, if the Squire hadn’t physically restrained her.  As Death entered the Knight’s castle to claim their lives, the nameless girl looked to the brightening light streaming through a portal.  She greeted death silently and reverently, believing “Death will open a door, not close it, provide some passage to a brighter world,” according to film historian Peter Cowie in his commentary.  He also pointed out that it was the nameless girl along with the Knight’s faithful wife who were absent from Jof’s vision of the dance of Death.

The nameless girl is the woman Peter described as subject to her own husband so that even if some are disobedient to the word [or, not persuaded by the word], they will be won over without a word by the way you live…[1]  That Bergman put her in this film surrounded by so much unbelief and fear endears him to me even more.  He knew she exists.  He knew she must be there.  Yet he didn’t presume to know her well enough to put words in her mouth.  Except for her hopeful longing, “It is finished,”[2] we know her only by her deeds.

“Many years later,” Peter Cowie ended his commentary, “Bergman was asked at a press conference about his true feelings on death.  And he answered, ‘I was afraid of this enormous emptiness…My personal view is that when we die, we die, and we go from a state of something to a state of absolute nothingness.  And I don’t believe for a second that there is anything above or beyond or anything like that.  And this makes me enormously secure.’”

Among the special features on the DVD of Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries,” however, was another interview, “Ingmar Bergman on Life and Work.”  He was much older.  His wife Ingrid (Ingrid von Rosen, not the famous actress) had died.  Perhaps he remembered the same incident with the anesthesia differently, or perhaps it was a different incident.  He described it in Swedish through an interpreter as “an overdose of anesthesia.”  This time he was out for eight hours rather than six.

“The interesting thing was that for me those eight hours were no hours at all, not a minute, not a second.  I was completely gone.  I was completely switched off.  So that was eight hours that were completely gone from my life.  And that felt extraordinarily comforting when I thought that such is death.  First, you’re something, and then you’re no longer anything.  You’re nonexistent.  You just aren’t any more.  You’re like a candle that’s blown out.”

“That gave me an enormous feeling of security.  What complicated the feeling of security and total extinction is Ingrid’s death.  I have incredible difficulty in thinking, in imagining, that I won’t meet her again.  That’s an unbearable thought.  Therefore, two modes of thought have come into violent conflict with one another.  I’ve tried to write about it, but I can’t do it yet, and it may be a while.  What’s more, I often experience Ingrid’s presence…Not as a ghost.  But I know that in some way she’s quite close to me.”

 

[1] 1 Peter 3:1 (NET)

[2] John 19:30 (NKJV)

Son of God – John, Part 3

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This is round two of my attempt to determine whether that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light[1] is the judgment/condemnation God did not send his Son into the world to do[2] and has been done already to the one who does not believe,[3] or the basis for judging,[4] and the rationale or justification for another unspecified judgment/condemnation.  Secondly, assuming that this unspecified judgment/condemnation is to burn in hell for all eternity, I am attempting to discover whether John 3:16-21 offers any scriptural support for the gospel I was socialized into: believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or burn in hell for all eternity.

Jesus certainly taught his disciples about hell (γέεννα).[5]  The note in the NET provides a brief historical sketch: “The word translated hell is ‘Gehenna’ (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (‘Valley of Hinnom’). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).”

Jesus said, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.[6]  Fear the one who, after the killing, has authority to throw you into hell.  Yes, I tell you, fear him![7]  Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites!  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![8]  You snakes, you offspring of vipers!  How will you escape being condemned to hell?[9]

He made the following comparisons:  It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into hell.[10]  It is better for you to enter into life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, to the unquenchable fire.[11]  It is better to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.[12]  It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into fiery hell.[13]  It is better to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.[14]  And finally Jesus said, whoever says “Fool” will be sent to fiery hell.[15]

That is some strong language.  It lends credence to the NET translation, Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light…[16]  After all, this section begins with the statement that God gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.[17]  The Greek word translated will…perish is ἀπόληται (a form of ἀπόλλυμι).[18]  (The negation is μὴ.)  One of the metaphorical definitions of ἀπόληται according to the NET online Bible is: “1e) metaph. to devote or give over to eternal misery in hell.”  It is translated lose in Matthew 5:29, 30 (NET).

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away!  It is better to lose (ἀπόληται) one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into hell.  If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away!  It is better to lose (ἀπόληται) one of your members than to have your whole body go into hell.

It was translated be lost in the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:10, 12-14 NET).

See that you do not disdain one of these little ones [who believe in me[19]].  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven…What do you think?  If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray?  And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.  In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing (οὐκ[20] ἔστιν[21] θέλημα[22]) that one of these little ones be lost (ἀπόληται).

It was translated will perish when Jesus foretold his disciples’ future (Luke 21:10-19 NET):

Nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be great earthquakes, and famines and plagues in various places, and there will be terrifying sights and great signs from heaven.  But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues and prisons.  You will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.  This will be a time for you to serve as witnesses.  Therefore be resolved not to rehearse ahead of time how to make your defense.  For I will give you the words along with the wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.  You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will have some of you put to death.  You will be hated by everyone because of my name.  Yet not a hair of your head will perish (ἀπόληται).  By your endurance you will gain your lives.

When they were all satisfied, after Jesus fed 5,000 or more people with five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus said to his disciples, “Gather up the broken pieces that are left over, so that nothing is wasted (ἀπόληται).”[23]  But ἀπόληται was translated to perish once again in John’s Gospel when Caiaphas prophesied (John 11:49-53 NET).

Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, “You know nothing at all!  You do not realize that it is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish (ἀπόληται).”  (Now he did not say this on his own, but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation, and not for the Jewish nation only, but to gather together into one the children of God who are scattered.)  So from that day they planned together to kill him.

“He was led like a sheep to slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  In humiliation justice (κρίσις)[24] was taken from him.  Who can describe his posterity?  For his life was taken away from the earth.”[25]  This was the passage from Isaiah that the Ethiopian eunuch read (aloud presumably) when Philip was led by the Holy Spirit to accompany his chariot on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza.  Then the eunuch said to Philip, “Please tell me, who is the prophet saying this about – himself or someone else?”  So Philip started speaking, and beginning with this scripture proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him.[26]

This translation of κρίσις as justice leads me back to the translation of κρίσις as the basis for judging, for what is justice if not a basis for judging?  Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.[27]  Viewed this way people were not condemned to be given over to eternal misery in hell because they loved the darkness rather than the light, but because loving the darkness rather than the light demonstrated that their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed.  But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God.[28]

One of the definitions of πονηρὰ (a form of πονηρός),[29] the word translated evil in verse 19, is “evil wicked, bad.”  And one of the definitions of φαῦλα (a form of φαῦλος),[30] the word translated evil deeds in verse 20, is “bad, base, wicked.”

[1] John 3:19 (NET)

[2] John 3:17 (NET)

[3] John 3:18 (NET)

[4] John 3:19 (NET)

[6] Matthew 10:28 (NET)

[7] Luke 12:5 (NET)

[8] Matthew 23:15 (NET)

[9] Matthew 23:33 (NET)

[10] Matthew 5:29, 30 (NET)

[11] Mark 9:43 (NET)

[12] Mark 9:45 (NET)

[13] Matthew 18:9 (NET)

[14] Mark 9:47, 48 (NET)

[15] Matthew 5:22b (NET) Table

[16] John 3:19 (NET)

[17] John 3:16 (NET)

[23] John 6:12 (NET)

[25] Acts 8:32, 33 (NET)

[26] Acts 8:34, 35 (NET)

[27] John 3:19 (NET)

[28] John 3:20, 21 (NET)

Fear – Exodus, Part 1

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In Egypt the Israelites were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, so that the land was filled with them.  Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power over Egypt.[1]  The new king feared that the Israelite people might join with his enemies in time of war.  So he put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor.[2]

When he was brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams Joseph acknowledged, It is not within my power, but God will speak concerning the welfare of Pharaoh.[3]  And it was through God’s Spirit that Joseph interpreted the dreams and warned Pharaoh of seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine.  But I think I’m safe to say that Joseph’s advice to Pharaoh was not of God, because its execution differed so dramatically from the economic system God ordained for Israel in the law.[4]

So now Pharaoh should look for a wise and discerning man and give him authority over all the land of Egypt…he should appoint officials throughout the land to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.  They should gather all the excess food during these good years that are coming…This food should be held in storage for the land in preparation for the seven years of famine that will occur throughout the land of Egypt.[5]

It seemed like a good idea to Pharaoh and his officials, so Joseph was put in charge:  I am Pharaoh, but without your permission no one will move his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt,[6] Pharaoh said to Joseph.  When the seven years of famine came Joseph sold grain back to the people.  Joseph collected all the money that could be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan as payment for the grain they were buying.[7]  Later Joseph said, “If your money is gone, bring your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock.”[8]  When their livestock was gone the Egyptians said, Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will become Pharaoh’s slaves.[9]  So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh,[10] and, Joseph made all the people slaves from one end of Egypt’s border to the other end of it.[11]

The land must not be sold without reclaim because the land belongs to me, the Lord said, for you are foreigners and residents with me.  In all your landed property you must provide for the right of redemption of the land.  If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his near redeemer is to come to you and redeem what his brother sold.  If a man has no redeemer, but he prospers and gains enough for its redemption, he is to calculate the value of the years it was sold, refund the balance to the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property.  If he has not prospered enough to refund a balance to him, then what he sold will belong to the one who bought it until the jubilee year [every fiftieth year], but it must revert in the jubilee and the original owner may return to his property.[12]

If your brother becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, the Lord continued, you must support him; he must live with you like a foreign resident.  Do not take interest or profit from him, but you must fear your God and your brother must live with you.  You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit.  I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan – to be your God.[13]

If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, the Lord added, you must not subject him to slave service.  He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; he must serve with you until the year of jubilee, but then he may go free, he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors.  Since they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale.  You must not rule over him harshly, but you must fear your God.[14]

So when a new king put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor it sounds like karma, what goes around comes around.  Karma is never mentioned by name in the Bible, but one can certainly find it there.  What I recognize as karma is codified in the law: I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me [Table], and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments [Table].[15]  I want to address it directly here because I’ve confused karma for justice, and have thought at times that God was beholden to, rather than the dealer of, karma, whether good or bad.

I don’t suspect Joseph of any particular malice.  I’m sure he thought he was doing a good job for Pharaoh.  It was just good business.  But I believe now that he was wrong, just like I was wrong to confuse the tit-for-tat of karma for justice.  The law according to Jesus was about justice and mercy and faithfulness[16] and love for God.[17]  And though visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations,[18] sounds like bad karma to me, Yahweh is the One who looked my idea of karma right in the eyes and declared, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.[19]

And so I’ll amend my original statement that Joseph’s advice was not of God.  The Egyptians were not able to eat with Hebrews, for the Egyptians think it is disgusting to do so.[20]  Perhaps it was part of their karma from the hand of God to be enslaved by a Hebrew slave.  I don’t know.  But it came with a price for Israel, too, or an opportunity to walk a mile in the Egyptians’ shoes.  But clearly God is not beholden to karma.  To break the wheel of karma one need only look to the One who said I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.[21]

The new king of Egypt hoped that hard labor would kill the Israelites off and diminish their population.  But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread.[22]  Instant karma.[23]  So he made their service harder.  And, The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you assist the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: If it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she may live.”  But the midwives feared (yârêʼ) God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.[24]

I was actually surprised that the rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐφοβήθησαν (a form of φοβέω)[25] here.  I suppose I expected something that was more clearly reverence for God.  The next occurrence of ἐφοβήθησαν in the New Testament was in response to Jesus’ telling the chief priests, elders and Pharisees that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit (καρποὺς, a form of καρπός).[26]

For me that is a sobering statement.  Am I allowing Him to justify his word in me?  Is the fruit (καρπὸς) of [his] Spirit which flows so graciously into me, flowing out in worthy proportion as his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his gentleness, and his self-control?[27]  The chief priests and Pharisees had a different reaction.  They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid (ἐφοβήθησαν, a form of φοβέω) of the crowds, because the crowds regarded him as a prophet.[28]

I doubt they wanted “to reverence, venerate, to treat [the crowds] with deference or reverential obedience.”  I suspect that they feared or hesitated “to do something (for fear of harm).”  That may be what the rabbis had in mind concerning the Hebrew midwives’ motives.  Perhaps they hesitated (or feared) to kill baby boys because they thought that God would, or could, visit them with worse karma than the new king of Egypt.

And because the midwives feared (yârêʼ) God, he made households for them.[29]  Good karma followed upon their fear.  Here the rabbis chose ἐφοβοῦντο.  Jesus said, The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men.  They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.[30]  His disciples did not understand this statement and were afraid (ἐφοβοῦντο, another form of φοβέω) to ask him.[31]  It was a fear that seemed like respect, but lacked the knowledge or the faith of reverence.  And the Hebrew midwives I think also exhibited that kind of fear.

Fear – Exodus, Part 2

Back to Fear – Genesis, Part 6

Back to Jephthah

Back to Romans, Part 41

[1] Exodus 1:7, 8 (NET)

[2] Exodus 1:11 (NET)

[3] Genesis 41:16 (NET)

[5] Genesis 41:33-36 (NET)

[6] Genesis 41:44 (NET)

[7] Genesis 47:14 (NET)

[8] Genesis 47:16 (NET)

[9] Genesis 47:19 (NET)

[10] Genesis 47:20 (NET)

[11] Genesis 47:21 (NET)

[12] Leviticus 25:23-28 (NET)

[13] Leviticus 25:35-38 (NET)

[14] Leviticus 25:39-43 (NET)

[15] Exodus 20:5, 6 (NET)

[18] Exodus 20:5 (NKJV) Table

[19] Exodus 33:19b (NET) Table

[20] Genesis 43:32b (NET)

[21] Matthew 11:28 (NET)

[22] Exodus 1:12 (NET)

[24] Exodus 1:15-17 (NET)

[26] Matthew 21:43 (NET)

[28] Matthew 21:46 (NET)

[29] Exodus 1:21 (NET)

[30] Mark 9:31 (NET)

[31] Mark 9:32 (NET)

Romans, Part 40

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So I ask, Paul continued, God has not rejected his people, has he?  Absolutely not!  For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.  God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew (προέγνω, a form of προγινώσκω)![1]  The word προέγνω leads me directly back to Romans 8:28-30 (NET):

And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew (προέγνω, a form of προγινώσκω) he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

Do you not know (οἴδατε, a form of εἴδω; literally see) what the scripture says about Elijah, Paul continued, how he pleads (ἐντυγχάνει, a form of ἐντυγχάνω) with God against Israel?  “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!”[4]  To plead against is certainly a valid translation.  But to fully appreciate Paul’s sarcasm I think I must revisit the other two times he used ἐντυγχάνει in Romans, as well as the story when the Lord determined that Elisha would replace Elijah as prophet.

The Spirit helps us in our weakness, Paul wrote, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes (ἐντυγχάνει, a form of ἐντυγχάνω) on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.[5]  And, Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?  It is God who justifies.  Who is the one who will condemn?  Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding (ἐντυγχάνει, a form of ἐντυγχάνω) for us.[6]  So I begin to see the contrast that Elijah sounded more like an accuser than an intercessor, Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!

The Lord strengthened and helped Elijah flee from Jezebel for forty days.  But after he had spent the night in a cave at Horeb, the Lord spoke to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?”[7]  I have been absolutely loyal to the Lord, the sovereign God, Elijah answered, even though the Israelites have abandoned the agreement they made with you, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.  I alone am left and now they want to take my life.[8]

After a demonstration where Elijah saw that the Lord was not in a mighty wind, an earthquake, or a fire, but a soft whisper,[9] He gave him another chance to answer the same question, Why are you here, Elijah?[10]  But Elijah gave exactly the same answer.  So Elijah’s prophetic ministry was close to its end, at least for the time being.  Go back the way you came and then head for the Desert of Damascus, the Lord told him. Go and anoint Hazael king over Syria.  You must anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to take your place as prophet.[11]

He doesn’t seem to be angry with Elijah.  The Lord simply recognized that Elijah had reached the end of that measure of faith He had distributed to him: For by the grace given to me, Paul wrote the Romans, I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith.[12]

Elijah thought he had performed the ultimate empirical test before all Israel, proving once and for all, The Lord is the true God![13]  He didn’t understand that, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,[14] the soft whisper rather than the cacophony of wind, earthquake or fire.  But the Lord said to him, I still have left in Israel seven thousand followers who have not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed the images of him.[15]

But what was the divine response to [Elijah]? Paul continued in Romans, “I have kept for myself seven thousand people who have not bent the knee to Baal.”  So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen (ἐκλογὴν, a form of ἐκλογή) by grace.  And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.[17]  Earlier Paul wrote, when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac – even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election [ἐκλογὴν, a form of ἐκλογή] would stand, not by works but by his calling [καλοῦντος, a form of καλέω] – it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,” just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[19]

The word translated calling above, καλοῦντος in Greek, is a form of καλέω, as is ἐκάλεσεν translated called in, And those he predestined, he also called (ἐκάλεσεν, another form of καλέω); and those he called (ἐκάλεσεν, another form of καλέω), he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.[20]  And Paul described God as the One who makes the dead alive and summons (καλοῦντος, a form of καλέω) the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.[21]

What then? Paul continued.  Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect (ἐκλογὴ; i.e., ἐκλογὴν χάριτος, those chosen by grace) obtained it.  The rest were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, to this very day.”  And David says, “Let their table become a snare and trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and make their backs bend continually.”[22]

But why?  Why would God do this to his chosen people?  For this is what the Lord has commanded us, Paul and Barnabas said in Pisidian Antioch, “I have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”[23]  And to the Romans Paul wrote, I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they?  Absolutely not!  But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous.[24]

Even in Acts Luke made it plain, When the Gentiles [in Pisidian Antioch] heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed (τεταγμένοι, a form of τάσσω) for eternal life believed.[26]  This knowledge that God calls people to salvation “in a certain order” should fill one with hope.  Now if [Israel’s] transgression means riches for the world, Paul continued, and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration (πλήρωμα) bring?[28]

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, Jesus said, because the patch (πλήρωμα, or filling) will pull away from the garment and the tear will be worse.  And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled out and the skins are destroyed.  Instead they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.[29]  This was Jesus’ answer to a question asked by John the Baptist’s disciples, why Jesus’ disciples did not adhere to their religious norms, and those of the Pharisees.

[1] Romans 11:1, 2a (NET)

[4] Romans 11:2b, 3 (NET)

[5] Romans 8:26, 27 (NET)

[6] Romans 8:33, 34 (NET) Table

[7] 1 Kings 19:9 (NET)

[8] 1 Kings 19:10 (NET)

[9] 1 Kings 19:12 (NET)

[10] 1 Kings 19:13 (NET)

[11] 1 Kings 19:15, 16 (NET)

[12] Romans 12:3 (NET)

[13] 1 Kings 18:39 (NET)

[14] Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

[15] 1 Kings 19:18 (NET)

[17] Romans 11:4-6 (NET)

[19] Romans 9:10-13 (NET)

[20] Romans 8:30 (NET)

[21] Romans 4:17b (NET)

[22] Romans 11:7-10 (NET)

[23] Acts 13:47 (NET)

[24] Romans 11:11 (NET)

[26] Acts 13:48 (NET)

[28] Romans 11:12 (NET)

[29] Matthew 9:16, 17 (NET)

Fear – Genesis, Part 8

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So Judah and his brothers came back to Joseph’s house.[1]  Suddenly Judah, though not the eldest, has taken the lead in the narrative.  He and his brothers threw themselves to the ground before[2] Joseph.  We are now my lord’s slaves, we and the one in whose possession the cup was found,[3] Judah said.  But Joseph refused: The man in whose hand the cup was found will become my slave, but the rest of you may go back to your father in peace.[4]  Then Judah, the man credited with the plan to profit from Joseph’s sale as a slave,[5] approached Joseph and related the tale of Jacob’s love for Rachel’s sons (Genesis 44:27-34 NET):

“Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave me two sons.  The first disappeared and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.”  I have not seen him since.  If you take this one from me too and an accident happens to him, then you will bring down my gray hair in tragedy to the grave.’  So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us – his very life is bound up in his son’s life.  When he sees the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave.  Indeed, your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’  So now, please let your servant remain as my lord’s slave instead of the boy.  As for the boy, let him go back with his brothers.  For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me?  I couldn’t bear to see my father’s pain.”

Joseph was no longer able to control himself before all his attendants, so he cried out, “Make everyone go out from my presence!”[6]  Then he said to his brothers, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.[7]  What follows is one of the most beautiful expressions of forgiveness in the Bible: Now, do not be upset and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life![8]  I admit, I want to reach back in time and say to Joseph, “Next time?  Lead with that.”  But I can believe that it took some time to come to that conclusion.  Maybe he even needed to hear Judah’s changed heart before he could fully understand that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose…[9]

God sent me ahead of you to preserve you on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance, Joseph continued.  So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God.[10]  As far as Joseph was concerned, Though [his brothers’ sin was] like scarlet, [the Lord had made it] as white as snow; Though [it was] red like crimson, [He had made it] as wool.[11]  Then Joseph sent his brothers home with provisions to bring their father and all their families back to Egypt.  When he heard the news, Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them.  But when they related to him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, their father Jacob’s spirit revived.  Then Israel said, “Enough!  My son Joseph is still alive!  I will go and see him before I die.”[12]  Once again the pattern holds: Jacob was unbelieving but Israel was persuaded and ready to go.

On the journey God spoke to Jacob’s unbelief, Jacob, Jacob…I am God, the God of your father.  Do not be afraid (yârêʼ) to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.  I will go down with you to Egypt and I myself will certainly bring you back from there.  Joseph will close your eyes.[13]  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose φοβοῦ (a form of φοβέω)[14] here.  Now Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing around him to hear the word of God.[15]

There were two boats onshore owned by Peter and his business partners James and John.  Jesus got into Peter’s boat and asked him to put out a little way from the shore.  Then Jesus sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.[16]  After He finished teaching He told Peter to put out into deeper water for a catch of fish.  Peter was tired.  He had been up all night and hadn’t caught a thing.  But he did as Jesus said.  He caught so many fish the net was tearing and he needed help from the other boat.  Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”[17]  It is an odd way to react to a benefactor, but I think it illustrates the fearfulness of those born only of the flesh of Adam.

“Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ),” Jesus said to him, “from now on you will be catching people.”  So when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.[18]

Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years.[19]  Then he died there with Joseph as God had promised him.  When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge and wants to repay us in full for all the harm we did to him?”[20]  And so, prompted by this fear, they lied and concocted the following scheme: they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave these instructions before he died: ‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’  Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.”  When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept.  Then his brothers also came and threw themselves down before him; they said, “Here we are; we are your slaves.”[21]

But Joseph’s forgiveness, offered so many years earlier, was sincere.  “Don’t be afraid (yârêʼ),” he said.  “Am I in the place of God?  As for you, you meant to harm me, but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day.  So now, don’t be afraid (yârêʼ).  I will provide for you and your little children.”  Then he consoled them and spoke kindly to them.[22]  In the Septuagint fear was φοβεῖσθε (another form of φοβέω) again.

In the previous essay I discussed Matthew 10:28-31 (NET).  Here I will simply quote it.

Do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε) of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Instead, fear (φοβεῖσθε) the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.  Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.  Even all the hairs on your head are numbered.  So do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε); you are more valuable than many sparrows.

And Jesus said to Nicodemus, I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God [Table]…What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be amazed that I said to you, “You must all be born from above.”[23]

Fear – Exodus, Part 1

Back to Jedidiah, Part 4

Back to Jedidiah, Part 5

Back to Romans, Part 43

[1] Genesis 44:14a (NET)

[2] Genesis 44:14b (NET)

[3] Genesis 44:16b (NET)

[4] Genesis 44:17 (NET)

[6] Genesis 45:1a (NET)

[7] Genesis 45:4b

[8] Genesis 45:5 (NET)

[9] Romans 8:28 (NET)

[10] Genesis 45:7, 8a (NET)

[11] Paraphrase of Isaiah 1:18 (NKJV)

[12] Genesis 45:26b-28 (NET)

[13] Genesis 46:2b-4 (NET)

[15] Luke 5:1 (NET)

[16] Luke 5:3 (NET)

[17] Luke 5:8 (NET)

[18] Luke 5:10, 11 (NET)

[19] Genesis 47:28a (NET)

[20] Genesis 50:15 (NET)

[21] Genesis 50:16-18 (NET)

[22] Genesis 50:19-21 (NET)

[23] John 3:3, 6, 7 (NET)