Category Archives: Section Two

Paul’s OT Quotes – Romans 9:25-33

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I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ‘My beloved.[1]  I don’t consider this a quotation of Hosea 2:23 so much as a conclusion.  Bill Braun analyzed it as a quotation[2] for any who are interested.  The translation of Hosea 2:23 is as follows in the NET: “Then I will plant her as my own in the land.  I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah).  I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’  And he will say, ‘You are my God!’”[3]  None of this makes much sense without the context (Hosea 1:2 NET).

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, he said to him, “Go marry [literally, take for yourself] a prostitute [literally, a wife of harlotries; Septuagint: γυναῖκα[4] πορνείας[5]] who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution [literally, children of harlotries; Septuagint: τέκνα[6] πορνείας], because the nation continually commits [Septuagint: ἐκπορνεύουσα[7]] spiritual[8] prostitution [Septuagint: ἐκπορνεύσει][9] by turning away from the Lord” [Table].

Israel’s northern kingdom’s spiritual prostitution was described in the next chapter (Hosea 2:2, 5, 8 NET).

Plead earnestly with your mother (for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband), so that she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle [Septuagint: μοιχείαν[10]], and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior [Septuagint: πορνείαν[11]]…. For their mother has committed adultery [Septuagint: ἐξεπόρνευσεν[12]]; she who conceived them has acted shamefully.  For she said, “I will seek out my lovers; they are the ones who give me my bread and my water, my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine….Yet until now she has refused to acknowledge that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and that it was I who lavished on her the silver and gold – which they used in worshiping Baal!

The note in the NET after the phrase I will seek out my lovers reads: “This statement alludes to the practice of sexual rites in the Canaanite fertility cult which attempted to secure agricultural fertility from the Canaanite gods…”  So Hosea married (literally so he went and took) Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim.  Then she conceived and gave birth to a son for him.[13]  God told Hosea to name his first son Jezreel, because in a little while I will punish the dynasty of Jehu on account of the bloodshed in the valley of Jezreel.[14]  Then Gomer gave birth to a daughter and the Lord told Hosea, Name her “No Pity” (Lo-Ruhamah) because I will no longer have pity on the nation of Israel.[15]  Then God told Hosea to name his next son “Not My People” (Lo-Ammi), because you are not my people and I am not your God.[16]

However, the Lord continued, in the future the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered.  Although it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are children of the living God!”[17]  Paul’s quotation of this verse was identical with that found in the Septuagint.

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Paul (NET)

Blue Letter Bible (Septuagint)

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)

1

 And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.

Romans 9:26 (NET)

 καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῷ τόπῳ οὗ ἐρρέθη αὐτοῖς οὐ λαός μου ὑμεῖς ἐκεῖ κληθήσονται υἱοὶ θεοῦ ζῶντος

Hosea 1:10

 καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῷ τόπῳ οὗ ἐρρέθη |αὐτοῖς| οὐ λαός μου ὑμεῖς, ἐκεῖ κληθήσονται υἱοὶ θεοῦ ζῶντος

Romans 9:26

I looked to the Jewish Virtual Library out of curiosity how this story would be interpreted there.  Essentially chapter 3 was viewed not as a continuation of the story begun in chapters 1 and 2, but as a restatement of that same story, the “real” story, in fact.  In that “real” story Hosea did not “love” a promiscuous woman but “befriended” her.

Hosea 3:1 NET

Hosea 3:1 Jewish Virtual Library[18]
The Lord said to me, “Go, show love to your wife again, even though she loves another man and continually commits adultery.  Likewise, the Lord loves the Israelites although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols” [Table]. “YHWH said to me further, ‘Go, befriend a woman who, while befriended by a companion, sleeps with others, even as I befriend the children of Israel but they turn to other gods.’ So I befriended a woman of lust.”

To marry such a woman in the first place would be contrary to a law of righteousness.  To receive her back again as a wife after having divorced her for unfaithfulness would be unthinkable.[19]  Obviously, God would never command such a thing, therefore He didn’t, no matter what the text says.  Despite all this fussiness the author(s) of this particular article in the Jewish Virtual Library got the point of Hosea 2:19 and 20 better than I could ever hope to tease out of an English translation:  I will commit myself to you forever; I will commit myself to you in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and tender compassion.  I will commit myself to you in faithfulness; then you will acknowledge the Lord”[20] it reads in the NET.  What it means according to the Jewish Virtual Library is as follows:

“YHWH will, moreover, espouse her a second time, and in such a way as to insure the permanence of the new marriage for…he will bestow upon her as bride-price the three pairs of qualities, righteousness – justice, goodness – graciousness, and loyalty – devotion to YHWH. In non-allegorical language, of course, that means that YHWH will make a new God-and-people covenant with Israel and will obviate any occasion for dissolving it like the first by making Israel constitutionally incapable of breaking it.”[21]

I would regard this as an excellent synopsis of Paul’s understanding of the Gospel in his letter to the Romans—if that had been its source.  By the way, the note in the NET reads: “The preposition בְּ (bet), which is repeated throughout 2:19-20 [21-22], denotes price paid (BDB 90 s.v. בְּ III.3; e.g., Ezek 3:14). The text contains an allusion to the payment of bridal gifts. The Lord will impute the moral character to Israel that will be necessary for a successful covenant relationship (contra 4:1).”

I’ve already covered what I think about the paraphrase/quotation in Romans 9:33 elsewhere.  Bill Braun’s analysis is available at http://ntuseoflxx.com/Rom9-33.html

 

Addendum (6/21/2015): 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.

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Paul (KJV)

KJV

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)

1

 …in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.

Romans 9:26 (KJV)

 …in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

Hosea 1:10

 καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῷ τόπῳ οὗ ἐρρέθη |αὐτοῖς| οὐ λαός μου ὑμεῖς, ἐκεῖ κληθήσονται υἱοὶ θεοῦ ζῶντος

Romans 9:26

I don’t see anything here to question (or confirm) the dating and authorship of the Septuagint. The Old Testament verse and the New Testament quotation match as well in the KJV as they do in the NET.

[1] Romans 9:25 (NET)

[3] Hosea 2:23 (NET)

[6] A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children (τέκνα), and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone. (Matthew 2:18 NET)

[7] “to prostitute, indulge in immorality, commit fornication”  http://www.motorera.com/greek/lexicon/ek.html#ekporneuousa

[8] NET Note: The adjective “spiritual” is supplied in the translation to clarify that apostasy is meant here. The construction זָנֹה תִזְנֶה (zanoh tizneh, infinitive absolute + imperfect of the same root) repeats the root זָנַה (zanah, “harlotry”) for rhetorical emphasis. Israel was guilty of gross spiritual prostitution by apostatizing from Yahweh. The verb זָנַה is used in a concrete sense to refer to a spouse being unfaithful in a marriage relationship (HALOT 275 s.v. זנה 1), and figuratively meaning “to be unfaithful” in a relationship with God by prostituting oneself with other gods and worshiping idols (Exod 34:15; Lev 17:7; 20:5, 6; Deut 31:16; Judg 8:27, 33; 21:17; 1 Chr 5:25; Ezek 6:9; 20:30; 23:30; Hos 4:15; Ps 106:39; see HALOT 275 s.v. 2).

[9] “to prostitute, indulge in immorality, commit fornication”  http://www.motorera.com/greek/lexicon/ek.html#ekporneusei

[11] But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter, having decided that they should avoid meat that has been sacrificed to idols and blood and what has been strangled and sexual immorality (πορνείαν). (Acts 21:25 NET)

[12] to prostitute, indulge in immorality, commit fornication  http://www.motorera.com/greek/lexicon/ex.html#exeporneusen

[13] Hosea 1:3 (NET) Table

[14] Hosea 1:4 (NET)

[15] Hosea 1:6 (NET)

[16] Hosea 1:9 (NET)

[17] Hosea 1:10 (NET)

[20] Hosea 2:19, 20 (NET)

Justice, Vengeance and Punishment

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Then Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart.[1]  It is a story about a persistent widow nagging an unrighteous judge for justice.  Finally the unrighteous judge thought to himself, Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out by her unending pleas.[2]  Won’t God give justice to his chosen ones, Jesus asked, who cry out to him day and night?  Will he delay long to help them?  I tell you, he will give them justice speedily.[3]

Those who pursued a law of righteousness[4] expected justice.  They hoped for the overthrow of the Roman government, and that Gentiles would be dealt with by God according to their alignment with Jewish tradition and the law of God.  That’s not exactly how things went down.  It causes me to wonder what I—one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous[5]— should expect of justice.  What should I always pray and not lose heart about in this regard?

The word justice in the rhetorical question Won’t God give justice to his chosen ones, and its answer he will give them justice speedily, is ἐκδίκησιν (a form of ἐκδίκησις)[6] in Greek.  In a very strong way that should not be discounted this promise was fulfilled less than forty years later.  But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, Jesus said, then know that its desolation has come near.  Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.  Those who are inside the city must depart.  Those who are out in the country must not enter it, because these are days of vengeance (ἐκδικήσεως, another form of ἐκδίκησις), to fulfill all that is written.[7]

It is not lost on me that the justice Israel hoped for the Romans was also the vengeance they received from them in 70 A.D.  I bear that in mind when I read Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 NET).

For it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to you who are being afflicted to give rest together with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.  With flaming fire he will mete out punishment (ἐκδίκησιν, a form of ἐκδίκησις) on those who do not know (εἰδόσιν, a form of εἴδω)[8] God and do not obey (ὑπακούουσιν, a form of ὑπακούω)[9] the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired on that day among all who have believed – and you did in fact believe our testimony.

The penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength is not the justice I hope for those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  For Paul also wrote: Do not avenge (ἐκδικοῦντες, a form of ἐκδικέω)[10] yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance (ἐκδίκησις) is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.[11]  There is always the hope that the Lord’s vengeance (justice) will be more merciful than mine might have been.  I and all the Gentiles who have been called to faith rather than dealt with according to law or Jewish tradition are the proof.  Rather, Paul continued, if your enemy is hungry,  feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head.  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.[12]

There is a troubling passage in Revelation:  Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given.  They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge (κρίνεις, a form of κρίνω)[13] those who live on the earth and avenge (ἐκδικεῖς, a form of ἐκδικέω) our blood?”[14]  And this was after the four horsemen were sent out to conquer,[15] to take peace from the earth, so that people would butcher one another,[16] cause famine—A quart of wheat will cost a day’s pay and three quarts of barley will cost a day’s pay,[17] and kill a fourth of the population of the earth by disease, and by the wild animals of the earth.[18]

I didn’t know what to make of it.  Was it a revelation of some decadent time when Christ’s witnesses are of such inferior quality to Peter and Paul?  Was it a revelation behind the veil, so to speak, into what Peter and Paul are actually like?  Was it what I am meant to become?  I thought such bloodlust was at least part of what the Lord’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control[19] was saving me from.  But the explanation of the fifth seal continued.

Each of them was given a long white robe and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been.[20]  Obviously the death of a fourth of the earth’s population was not what God considered vengeance (or, justice) for those who had been violently killed because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given.[21]  I kept reading to see what He considered justice (Revelation 16:4-7 NET).

Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they turned into blood.  Now I heard the angel of the waters saying: “You are just (δίκαιος)[22] – the one who is and who was, the Holy One – because you have passed these judgments (ἔκρινας, another form of κρίνω), because they poured out the blood of your saints and prophets, so you have given them blood to drink.  They got what they deserved (ἄξιοι, a form of ἄξιος)!”[23]  Then I heard the altar reply, “Yes, Lord God, the All-Powerful, your judgments are true and just (δίκαιαι, a form of δίκαιος)!”

I can live with that.  It sounds like the Lord I am beginning to know and love.  And if I think He valued his witnesses too cheaply I am reminded of the purpose of our calling: As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[24]  As for the other seals, trumpets and bowls, even the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, I’m not in a position to judge what is deserved, what weight is sufficient to balance the scale of offense to God afflicted, by unrepentant sinners.  I trust that He is just and merciful.  And the justice I nag Him about is the mercy upon which all repentance depends: So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.[25]  Freely you received, Jesus said, freely give.[26]

[1] Luke 18:1 (NET)

[2] Luke 18:4, 5 (NET)

[3] Luke 18:7, 8a (NET)

[4] Romans 9:31 (NET)

[5] Romans 4:5 (NET)

[7] Luke 21:20-22 (NET)

[11] Romans 12:19 (NET)

[12] Romans 12:20, 21 (NET) Table

[14] Revelation 6:9, 10 (NET)

[16] Revelation 6:4 (NET)

[17] Revelation 6:6 (NET)

[18] Revelation 6:8 (NET)

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

[20] Revelation 6:11 (NET)

[21] Revelation 6:9 (NET)

[24] Romans 8:36 (NET) Table

[25] Romans 9:16 (NET)

[26] Matthew 10:8b (NET)

Romans, Part 36

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What shall we say then? Paul continued, that the Gentiles who did not pursue (διώκοντα, a form of διώκω)[1] righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, a form of δικαιοσύνη)[2] obtained it (δικαιοσύνην, a form of δικαιοσύνη), that is, a righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, a form of δικαιοσύνη) that is by faith, but Israel even though pursuing (διώκων, another form of διώκω) a law of righteousness (δικαιοσύνης, another form of δικαιοσύνη) did not attain it.[3]  In other words, people who really worked at achieving righteousness by pursuing God’s law did not attain that righteousness, while people who did not pursue righteousness at all did attain it.

Isolated from any context, this sounds extraordinarily unfair.  But this decision was made so far beyond any judgment of mine regarding what is fair, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.[4]

When Rebekah had conceived children by one man, Paul had written earlier, our ancestor Isaac – even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election would stand, not by works [ἔργων, a form of ἔργον][5] but by his calling [καλοῦντος, a form of καλέω][6]) – it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,” just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[7]  Complaining about this is about as productive as complaining about who my parents were.  But just as God knows my parents and my upbringing, what advantages or debilities that afforded me, He knows who has received mercy and who He has hardened: God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens (σκληρύνει, a form of σκληρύνω)[8] whom he chooses to harden.[9]

Why not? Paul continued.  Why didn’t Israel attain the righteousness they pursued by law?  Because they pursued it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works (ἔργων, a form of ἔργον).[10]  Paul wasn’t writing about faith alone, dead faith that produces no works: So also faith, if it does not have works (ἔργα, another form of ἔργον), is dead being by itself.[11]  Instead he wrote of deeds that have been done in God through faith in His credited righteousness: For everyone who does evil deeds (φαῦλα, a form of φαῦλος),[12] Jesus said, hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds (ἔργα, another form of ἔργον) 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 (ἔργα, another form of ἔργον) have been done in God.[13]

Israel did not attain righteousness because they pursued it by dead works, if you will, apart from faith in the righteousness that comes from God:  For ignoring the righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, a form of δικαιοσύνη) that comes from God, Paul wrote early in the next chapter, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, (δικαιοσύνην, a form of δικαιοσύνη) they did not submit to God’s righteousness (δικαιοσύνῃ, another form of δικαιοσύνη).[14]

One more point of clarification before moving on:  The Gentiles who did not pursue (διώκοντα, a form of διώκω) righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, a form of δικαιοσύνη) before Paul preached the Gospel to them, did pursue it afterward, but not a law of righteousness (except those he wrote to at Galatia and Colossae in order to correct that very error).  Paul’s instructions to the young Gospel preacher Timothy are helpful here: pursue (δίωκε, another form of διώκω) righteousness (δικαιοσύνη, a form of δικαιοσύνη) (e.g., the righteousness that comes from God), godliness, faithfulness (πίστιν, a form of πίστις),[15] love (ἀγάπην, a form of ἀγάπη),[16] endurance,[17] and gentleness (πραϋπαθίαν, a form of πρᾳότης);[18] and again, pursue (δίωκε, another form of διώκω) righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, a form of δικαιοσύνη), faithfulness (πίστιν, a form of πίστις), love (ἀγάπην, a form of ἀγάπη), and peace (εἰρήνην, a form of εἰρήνη),[19] in company with others who call on the Lord from a pure heart.[20]  I note again how much of this flows directly from the Holy Spirit: the fruit of the Spirit is love (ἀγάπη), joy, peace (εἰρήνη), patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (πίστις), gentleness (πραΰτης, a form of πραΰτης), and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.[21]

They stumbled over the stumbling stone, Paul wrote of those who pursued a law of righteousness, just as it is written, “Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble and a rock that will make them fall, yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.”[22]  I think it is worthwhile to unpack this a bit.  The first phrase is very reminiscent of Isaiah 28:16.

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Paul (NET)

Blue Letter Bible (Septuagint)

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)

1

 Look, I am laying in Zion a stone…

Romans 9:33

 ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐμβαλῶ[23] εἰς τὰ θεμέλια[24] Σιων λίθον

Isaiah 28:16

 ἰδοὺ τίθημι[25] ἐν Σιὼν λίθον

Romans 9:33

Look, I am laying a stone in Zion, Isaiah wrote, an approved stone, set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation…I will make justice the measuring line, fairness the plumb line…[26]  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐγὼ ἐμβαλῶ (I throw) a stone, which is quite evocative of Moses and the stone tablets of the law: When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry.  He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain.[27]  Paul did not believe that the cornerstone for the foundation (θεμέλια) stone (λίθον, a form of λίθος) of Zion was the law.  He chose the word τίθημι (I will lay) instead.

For no one can lay (θεῖναι, a form of τίθημι) any foundation (θεμέλιον, another form of θεμέλιος) other than what is being laid, Paul wrote the Corinthians, which is Jesus Christ.[28]  And Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.  I know my own and my own know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down (τίθημι) my life for the sheep…This is why the Father loves me – because I lay down (τίθημι) my life, so that I may take it back again.  No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down (τίθημι) of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down (θεῖναι, a form of τίθημι), and I have the authority to take it back again.[29]

Then Paul alluded to Isaiah 8:14—a stone that will cause people to stumble and a rock that will make them fall—but he didn’t quote from the Septuagint.  Indeed this is what the Lord told me, Isaiah wrote.  He took hold of me firmly and warned me not to act like these people (Isaiah 8:11-16 NET):

“Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ every time these people say the word.  Don’t be afraid of what scares them; don’t be terrified.  You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies.  He is the one you must respect; he is the one you must fear.  He will become a sanctuary, but a stone that makes a person trip, and a rock that makes one stumble – to the two houses of Israel.  He will become a trap and a snare to the residents of Jerusalem.  Many will stumble over the stone and the rock, and will fall and be seriously injured, and will be ensnared and captured.”  Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, seal the official record of God’s instructions and give it to my followers.

So Paul equated the stone the Lord would lay and the stone He would become to Jacob (the two houses of Israel).  Did the translators of the Septuagint make this connection?  It’s hard to say.  They amended the text apparently to read, “and you shall not come against him as against a stumbling-stone, neither as against the falling of a rock.”[30]

Finally Paul concluded with, yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame, which is quite similar to the end of Isaiah 28:16 in the Septuagint.

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Paul (NET)

Blue Letter Bible (Septuagint)

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)

2

 …yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame

Romans 9:33

 καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ[31]

Isaiah 28:16

 καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται

Romans 9:33

The differences here are subtle.  The Septuagint “uses the stronger negation, οὐ μὴ, whereas the NT uses the more normal weaker negation of merely, ‘οὐ’.”[32]  The words καταισχυνθῇ and καταισχυνθήσεται are different forms of the same verb.  “Thus, the difference here is only in regards to the mood and tense of the verb, having the aorist form and subjunctive mood in the LXX [Septuagint] and the future form and indicative mood in the NT.  In the end since the subjunctive can be said to represent the verbal action (or state) as uncertain but probable (GGBB, 461), both Greek texts look forward to a future pleasant fulfillment for those who trust in him.  While the LXX’s subjunctive may be a bit weaker in force, do not forget the strong οὐ μὴ which precedes the subjunctive, thus putting away any doubt as to its completion.  Both Greek texts follow the MT equally as well, and the sense is not changed by this variation.”[33]

 

Addendum (6/20/2015): 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.

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Paul (KJV)

KJV

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)

1

 Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone…

Romans 9:33

 Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone…

Isaiah 28:16

 ἰδοὺ τίθημι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον προσκόμματος

Romans 9:33

I’ll leave it to others to reason why Origen or Eusebius changed τίθημι (I lay) to ἐμβαλῶ (I throw) in their false Septuagint rather than copying Paul here.

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Paul (KJV)

KJV

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)

2

 …and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Romans 9:33

 …he that believeth shall not make haste.

Isaiah 28:16

 καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται

Romans 9:33

The KJV here is similar to the NET: The one who maintains his faith will not panic.[34] If the original Hebrew read make haste or panic rather than be ashamed (καταισχυνθήσεται), I leave it to Mr Searcy or others to understand why Paul changed it and why Origen or Eusebius almost (καταισχυνθῇ) but not quite copied Paul.

Romans, Part 37

Paul’s OT Quotes – Romans 9:25-33

Back to Justice, Vengeance and Punishment

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 3

Back to Romans, Part 43

[3] Romans 9:30, 31 (NET)

[4] Romans 9:16 (NET)

[7] Romans 9:10-12 (NET)

[9] Romans 9:18 (NET)

[10] Romans 9:32a (NET)

[11] James 2:17 (NET)

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

[14] Romans 10:3 (NET)

[18] 1 Timothy 6:11b (NET)

[20] 2 Timothy 2:22 (NET)

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

[22] Romans 9:32b, 33 (NET)

[24] Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations (θεμέλια, a form of θεμέλιος) of the prison were shaken (Acts 16:26 NET).

[26] Isaiah 28:16a, 17a (NET)

[27] Exodus 32:19 (NET)

[28] 1 Corinthians 3:11 (NET)

[29] John 10:14, 15, 17, 18a (NET)

[34] Isaiah 28:16b (NET)

Paul’s OT Quotes – Romans 9:1-20

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What follows is an analysis of Paul’s Old Testament quotations in Romans 9:7-13:

#

Paul (NET)

Blue Letter Bible (Septuagint)

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)

1

 through Isaac will your descendants be counted

Romans 9:7 (NET)

 ἐν Ισαακ κληθήσεταί[1]  σοι σπέρμα

Genesis 21:12

 ἐν Ἰσαὰκ κληθήσεται σοι σπέρμα

Romans 9:7

2

 About a year from now I will return and Sarah will have a son.

Romans 9:9 (NET)

 ἥξω[2] πρὸς σὲ[3] κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον εἰς ὥρας[4] καὶ ἕξει υἱὸν Σαρρα[5]

Genesis 18:10

καὶ ἔσται τῇ Σαρρα υἱός

Genesis 18:14

 κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ἐλεύσομαι[6]  καὶ ἔσται τῇ Σάρρᾳ υἱός.

Romans 9:9

3

 The older will serve the younger

Romans 9:12 (NET)

 ὁ μείζων δουλεύσει τῷ ἐλάσσονι

Genesis 25:23

 ὁ μείζων[7] δουλεύσει τῷ ἐλάσσονι[8]

Romans 9:12

4

 Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated

Romans 9:13 (NET)

 ἠγάπησα τὸν Ιακωβ τὸν δὲ Ησαυ ἐμίσησα

Malachi 1:2, 3

 τὸν Ἰακὼβ ἠγάπησα, τὸν δὲ Ἠσαῦ ἐμίσησα

Romans 9:13

Item #1 is identical in the Septuagint and the parallel Greek text except that the accent mark is missing from before Ισαακ (Isaac) in the Septuagint.  The Greek word κληθήσεταί, translated counted in the NET above, is a form of καλέω, like ἐκάλεσεν:  And those he predestined, he also called (ἐκάλεσεν); and those he called (ἐκάλεσεν), he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.[9]  But in this particular form it is called as in a designation:  Jesus would be called (ἐκάλεσα, another form of καλέω) a Nazarene.[10]  So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called (κληθήσεταί) least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called (κληθήσεταί) great in the kingdom of heaven.[11]

Item #2 began ἥξω (I will come) πρὸς σὲ (to you) in the Septuagint followed by the prepositional phrase κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον.  In Revelation 3:3 (NET) ἥξω was translated I will come both times it occurred:  If you do not wake up, I will come (ἥξω) like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come (ἥξω) against you.[12]  Paul left off πρὸς σὲ (to you) and (after the prepositional phrase κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον) chose ἐλεύσομαι, which was also translated I will come in Romans 15:29 and 1 Corinthians 4:19 (NET).  Paul also left off εἰς ὥρας (next year or in due time).  The differences in the final phrases are detailed in Note #5 below.  The repetition of that phrase in Genesis 18:14 was identical to Paul’s construction.  I consider this a paraphrase more than a quotation.

Item #3 is identical in the Septuagint and the New Testament.  While it is certainly not wrong to translate μείζων older and ἐλάσσονι younger in this context, it hides a nuance that they might have been translated greater and lesser respectively.  Who is the greatest (μείζων) in the kingdom of heaven?[13]  He called a child, had him stand among them, and said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!  Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest (μείζων) in the kingdom of heaven.[14]

Item #4 only differs in the word order of the first phrase (and some accent marks on Ιακωβ [Jacob] and Ησαυ [Esau]): ἠγάπησα τὸν Ιακωβ (I loved Jacob) in the Septuagint; τὸν Ἰακὼβ ἠγάπησα (Jacob I loved) in the New Testament.

What follows is an analysis of Paul’s Old Testament quotations in Romans 9:15-20:

#

Paul (NET)

Blue Letter Bible (Septuagint)

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)

5

 I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

Romans 9:15 (NET)

 ἐλεήσω ὃν ἂν ἐλεῶ καὶ οἰκτιρήσω ὃν ἂν οἰκτίρω

Exodus 33:19

 ἐλεήσω ὃν ἂν ἐλεῶ καὶ οἰκτιρήσω ὃν ἂν οἰκτίρω.

Romans 9:15

6

 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.

Romans 9:17 (NET)

 καὶ ἕνεκεν τούτου[15] διετηρήθης ἵνα[16] ἐνδείξωμαι ἐν σοὶ τὴν ἰσχύν[17] μου καὶ ὅπως διαγγελῇ τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ

Exodus 9:16

 εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο[18] ἐξήγειρα σε ὅπως ἐνδείξωμαι ἐν σοὶ τὴν δύναμιν μου καὶ ὅπως διαγγελῇ τὸ ὄνομα μου ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ

Romans 9:17

7

 Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

Romans 9:20 (NET)

 μὴ[19] ἐρεῖ[20] τὸ[21] πλάσμα[22] τῷ πλάσαντι[23] οὐ σύ με ἔπλασας ἢ τὸ ποίημα τῷ ποιήσαντι οὐ συνετῶς με ἐποίησας[24]

Isaiah 29:16

 μὴ ἐρεῖ τὸ πλάσμα τῷ πλάσαντι· τί[25] με[26]   ἐποίησας οὕτως[27]

Romans 9:20

Item #5 is the same in the Septuagint and the New Testament.

In Item #6 the second clause καὶ ὅπως διαγγελῇ τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ (and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth) is identical in both the Septuagint and the New Testament except that the accent mark is missing from α at the end of ὄνομα (name) in the parallel Greek text.  According to Bill Braun[28] “The main difference in this citation is the use of a different verb in this first clause.  The NT uses the Greek verb ἐξήγειρά (ἐξεγείρω- 1s-AAI- Mng.- to raise up; bring into being; elevate (BDAG, 346); Trans.- elevated).  The LXX uses the verb διετηρήθης (διατηρέω -2s-API- Mng.- to preserve (GELS); Trans.- you have been preserved).  Certainly these verbs are different….In this case the LXX does follow the sense of the MT better since the Hebrew verb הֶעֱמַדְתִּיךָ (עָמַד -H-14; x2ms; Mng.- to cause to stand firm; maintain (BDB, 764); Trans.- caused to stand firm (or remain)) is very close in meaning.”[29]

As I contemplated why he deliberately changed the word, it came to me that Paul wasn’t grappling with the relatively minor issue of why God kept or preserved a harsh ruler over his people longer than they thought He should.  Paul was entertaining the alarming possibility that his contemporaries, men he studied the Torah with, his brothers, fellow Israelites, might have been raised up or brought into being by God only to be condemned for eternity.  His anguish is palpable:  I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen, who are Israelites.[30]

The minor differences are as follows:  Paul began with the phrase εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο (for this very purpose).  The Septuagint began καὶ ἕνεκεν τούτου (and for this purpose).  Paul used a different conjunction ὅπως (in such manner as) than ἵνα (in that place) in the Septuagint.  Paul chose δύναμίν over ἰσχύν (strength).  There are enough differences in the first clause that I find it difficult to think of as a quotation.  It is more like an amplification of Paul’s point:  So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.[31]

It stands as an allusion to, So the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.  You are to speak everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh that he must release the Israelites from his land.  But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and although I will multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you.”[32]  This mirrored Paul’s experience too often to pass without comment.

Item #7 doesn’t seem like a quote at all to me, beyond the introductory phrase μὴ ἐρεῖ τὸ πλάσμα τῷ πλάσαντι (does what is molded say to the molder).  Instead it points to Paul’s reasoning process.  Here are the relevant texts (Isaiah 29:16; 45:9 NET)

Your thinking is perverse!  Should the potter be regarded as clay?  Should the thing made say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?  Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?

One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground!  The clay should not say to the potter, “What in the world are you doing?  Your work lacks skill!”

If it is perverse to regard the potter as clay, and for the thing made to say about its maker, “He didn’t make me,” or “He doesn’t understand,” then it is likewise perverse for what is molded to say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” (specifically, why have you hardened me like this?).  It puts one in grave danger, like the clay saying to the potter, “What in the world are you doing?  Your work lacks skill!”

And again, one who hears and fears this is hearing the word of God.  God is calling.  Hear also the words that brought comfort and hope to Paul’s anguish:  “I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ‘My beloved.’”  “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”[33]

Paul’s OT Quotes – Romans 9:25-33

[2] Revelation 3:3 (NET) The phrase I will come is ἥξω both times.

[3] “The NT text leaves off the prepositional phrase ‘πρὸς σὲ’ which means, ‘to you’.”  http://ntuseoflxx.com/Rom9-9.html

[4] “The NT also leaves off the prepositional phrase εἰς ὥρας, (mng.-next year or in due time (GELS); Trans.- next year).”  http://ntuseoflxx.com/Rom9-9.html

[5] “The last clause, which translates ‘Sarah will have a son’ for both the NT and LXX, is constructed differently in the Greek texts.  The NT uses a passive construction and the verb ἔσται from ειμι (3s-FMI; Mng.- to be; Trans.- will be; or, if translated in proper English with Sarah as the subject, ‘Sarah shall have a son’).  This more impersonal construction is also the reason that Sarah is in the dative case as an indirect object (τῇ Σάρρᾳ) and ‘a son’ is in the nominative case.  Whereas the LXX uses an active construction and the verb ἕξει from εχω (3s-FAI; Mng. – to have; Trans.- will have).  Here Sarah is the subject and ‘a son’ is the direct object.  These statements are identical in meaning despite the different constructions and verb choice.  In this case, the NT follows the MT better since the MT uses a more impersonal construction by employing a verbless clause and indirect object ‘to Sarah’ (לְשָׂרָה).  When we translate a verbless clauses in Hebrew we must supply a being verb, which the NT does (see IBHS, 72).  But, in the end the MT must also translate as ‘Sarah will have a son’.  Thus, all three texts are identical in meaning.”  http://ntuseoflxx.com/Rom9-9.html

[9] Romans 8:30 (NET)

[10] Matthew 2:23 (NET)

[11] Matthew 5:19 (NET)

[12] Revelation 3:3b (NET)

[13] Matthew 18:1 (NET)

[14] Matthew 18:2-4 (NET)

[15] “the LXX phrase ‘καὶ ἕνεκεν τούτου’ is practically identical translating as, ‘And for this purpose..’.” http://ntuseoflxx.com/Rom9-17.html

[16] “Next the NT texts uses a slightly different conjunction ὅπως as compared to the conjunction ἵνα of the LXX.  The NT contains the conjuction ὅπως (Mng. -‘in order to’; conjunction expressing purpose for an event or state (BDAG, 718)).  The LXX uses the conjunction ἵνα (Mng.- marker to denote purpose, aim, goal (BDAG, 475)).  Thus we see that these two conjunction overlap in their usage, in that they both denote purpose.  Thus, there is no noticable change in the sense of the passage due to this change.  Both Greek texts follow the Hebrew equally as well.”  http://ntuseoflxx.com/Rom9-17.html

[17] “Next the NT has a noun which is merely a synonym for the LXX counterpart.  The NT has δύναμίν (δύναμις – Mng.- power, might, strength, force (BDAG, 262), whereas the LXX has ἰσχύν (ἰσχύς -Mng.- strength, power, might (BDAG, 484).  Interestingly BDAG notes that the LXX form of ἰσχύς is rare in later times and in insc. and pap. [e.g. PMich 156—II a.d.], but oft. LXX; pseudepigr.; Philo; Jos., C. Ap. 1, 19 al.; Just., Ath., Iren.).  Thus this could be a case of this noun slowly fading out of existence, and thus Paul chose the more contemporary noun.  In any case, there is no change in sense and the Greek texts follow the MT equally as well.”  http://ntuseoflxx.com/Rom9-17.html

[18] “The NT phrase ‘Εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο’ translates as, ‘for this very purpose.’”  http://ntuseoflxx.com/Rom9-17.html

[25] Translated why in Matthew 6:28 and 7:3 (NET)

[26] A form of ἐγώ, I, me, my.

[30] Romans 9:2-4a (NET) Table

[31] Romans 9:18 (NET)

[32] Exodus 7:1-4a (NET)

[33] Romans 9:25, 26 (NET)

Fear – Genesis, Part 4

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God had changed Jacob’s name to Israel.[1]  Jacob kept the oath he made at Bethel[2] that the Lord would become his God.  After he left Paddan Aram, Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he camped near the city.  Then he purchased the portion of the field where he had pitched his tent; he bought it from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money.  There he set up an altar and called it “The God of Israel is God.”[3]  Though the word fear does not occur in Genesis 34, the events described prompted the fear that motivated Jacob in the beginning of chapter 35.

The sons of Israel by his wife Leah were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.  After that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.[4]  Now Dinah…went to meet the young women of the land.[5]  I assume that some time had passed between the end of Genesis 33 and the beginning of chapter 34, that Dinah was of a marriageable age (perhaps not at an age that we would consider marriageable, but more than seven or eight years old).  When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, who ruled that area, saw her, he grabbed her, forced himself on her, and sexually assaulted her.  Then he became very attached to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter.  He fell in love with the young woman and spoke romantically to her.[6]  Shechem asked his father to get Dinah for him as his wife.

When Jacob heard that Shechem had violated his daughter Dinah, his sons were with the livestock in the field.  So Jacob remained silent until they came in.[7]  “The expected response would be anger or rage; but Jacob remained silent,” the note in the NET begins.  So in my mind the question becomes, what intervened in Jacob to mute the natural human response?  “He appears too indifferent or confused to act decisively,” the note continues.  Having been through this before with David, Amnon and Tamar[8] I wonder whether Jacob’s silence is evidence that his wrestling with God[9] had resulted in his sharing some of the Lord’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.[10]

If that were the case I can easily imagine how difficult it would be to communicate that experience to Dinah and her brothers, or to his wives Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah, without the lives and words of Jesus and Paul as points of reference.  I can imagine how difficult it would be to communicate that experience even with their lives and words as points of reference to my son, my daughter, and their mother if my daughter had been raped.  And I wonder how often the fruit of the Lord’s Spirit is mistaken for indifference or confusion.

The note in the NET ends with a rule, “When the leader does not act decisively, the younger zealots will, and often with disastrous results.”  The rule may well be true, but the note doesn’t say what decision Jacob should have made.  My son Shechem is in love with your daughter, Hamor said to Jacob and his sons.  Please give her to him as his wife.  Intermarry with us.  Let us marry your daughters, and take our daughters as wives for yourselves.  You may live among us, and the land will be open to you.  Live in it, travel freely in it, and acquire property in it.[11]

Let me find favor in your sight, and whatever you require of me I’ll give, Shechem entreated them.  You can make the bride price and the gift I must bring very expensive, and I’ll give whatever you ask of me.  Just give me the young woman as my wife![12]

Jacob probably knew that his grandfather Abraham had made his servant solemnly promise by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.  You must go instead to my country and to my relatives to find a wife for my son Isaac.[13]  He certainly knew that his brother Esau’s marriage to two Hittite women caused his parents Isaac and Rebekah great anxiety.[14]  Perhaps he believed that the Lord would drive the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite[15] out of the land.  He may have grasped that he should not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land…lest it become a snare.[16]

I am not convinced, however, that Jacob knew the full import of the law God would give his descendants: When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you – and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them.  Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy!  You must not intermarry with them.  Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods.  Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you.[17]

Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully when they spoke because Shechem had violated their sister Dinah.[18]  While it may be tempting to read what happened next as a cold-blooded plot to use Dinah’s misfortune as justification for a get rich quick scheme, the point is clearly made that Dinah’s brothers were anything but cold-blooded at the moment they were deceitful.  They were offended and very angry because Shechem had disgraced Israel by sexually assaulting Jacob’s daughter, a crime that should not be committed.[19]

We cannot give our sister to a man who is not circumcised, they said, for it would be a disgrace to us.  We will give you our consent on this one condition: You must become like us by circumcising all your males.[20]  This would be a minimum requirement for any covenant between them.  Throughout your generations, God told Abraham, every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.  They must indeed be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money.[21]  The brothers’ deceitfulness, I think, is that they never expected Hivites to agree to such drastic measures and hoped to gain Dinah’s release instead.  But if you do not agree to our terms by being circumcised, then we will take our sister and depart.[22]

Their offer pleased Hamor and his son Shechem.[23]  And Hamor and Shechem persuaded all the men of their city to be circumcised.  If we do so, won’t their livestock, their property, and all their animals become ours?  So let’s consent to their demand, so they will live among us.[24]

Dinah’s perspective on all this is missing from the narrative.  But if I consider that the Holy Spirit mentioned Tamar’s[25] rather remarkable response despite its relative irrelevance to the story compared to Dinah’s, and that Jacob’s silence was mentioned precisely because it is unexpected, I feel safe assuming that Dinah was not in favor of a marriage to her rapist Shechem.  Dinah was not socialized like Tamar under the law: 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].[26]  And that law would not have applied to a Canaanite like Shechem the Hivite anyway.

Dinah’s brothers’ deceitful blunder not only failed to win her release as Shechem’s “love” hostage, it risked involving them in an at least suspect covenant with one of the peoples of the land, the Hivites.  In that light the rest of the story unfolds like an anger-fear-testosterone-adrenaline-fueled nightmare.  I can almost hear them as they stewed about if for three days: What do we do now?  We’ll kill him.  Shechem?  We’ll have to kill his father, too.  Who are you kidding?  We’ll have to kill them all?  What do we do with the women and children?

Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and went to the unsuspecting city and slaughtered every male [Table].  They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left [Table].  Jacob’s sons killed them and looted the city because their sister had been violated [Table].  They took their flocks, herds, and donkeys, as well as everything in the city and in the surrounding fields [Table].  They captured as plunder all their wealth, all their little ones, and their wives, including everything in the houses [Table].[27]

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin on me by making me a foul odor among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites.  I am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”  But Simeon and Levi were not about to back down then, “Should he treat our sister like a common prostitute?”[28]

Just as an aside, other Hivites[29] many years later deceived Joshua and saved their own lives by successfully making a covenant with the nation of Israel.[30]

Fear – Genesis, Part 5

Back to Fear – Genesis, Part 8

[3] Genesis 33:18-20 (NET)

[4] Genesis 30:21 (NET)

[5] Genesis 34:1 (NET)

[6] Genesis 34:2, 3 (NET)

[7] Genesis 34:5 (NET)

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

[11] Genesis 34:8-10 (NET)

[12] Genesis 34:11, 12 (NET)

[13] Genesis 24:3, 4 (NET)

[14] Genesis 26:35 (NET)

[15] Exodus 34:11 (NET)

[16] Exodus 34:12 (NET)

[17] Deuteronomy 7:1-4 (NET)

[18] Genesis 34:13 (NET)

[19] Genesis 34:7b (NET)

[20] Genesis 34:14, 15 (NET)

[21] Genesis 17:12, 13a (NET)

[22] Genesis 34:17 (NET)

[23] Genesis 34:18 (NET)

[24] Genesis 34:23 (NET)

[26] Deuteronomy 22:28, 29 (NET)

[27] Genesis 34:25-29 (NET)

[28] Genesis 34:30, 31 (NET)

Romans, Part 35

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After the crescendo of faith and victory in Christ at the end of chapter eight, Paul’s abrupt admission at the beginning of chapter nine is disconcerting.  I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit – I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.[1]  But the sense of his great sorrow and unceasing anguish comes with its cause.  For I could wish that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen, who are Israelites.[2]  This has become more personal to me as I reflect on the fundamentalist Christians who are my people by birth.

To them, Paul continued writing about the descendants of Israel, belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.  To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever!  Amen.[3]  While this is objectively true of Israel I grew up feeling it subjectively, that fundamentalist Christians were the true heirs of it all.  It is not as though the word of God had failed,[4] Paul continued.  What does it mean for the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe[5] when the people for whom it was prepared rejected the Gospel of Christ?

This sounds, even to my ear, like a harsh judgment of the fundamentalist Christians I call my people.  But I am taking the absence of internet chatter regarding the movie “Courageous” as anecdotal evidence.  I only found one comment from a Lutheran theologian criticizing “Courageous” for being too synergistic (not monergistic enough).  I had to look it up, too, so I won’t choose up sides and argue theological jargon.  It makes me feel a little too much like a Gentile living in the futility of [my] thinking.[6]

I will simply say that the character Adam in the movie sought to have his own righteousness derived from his own reading of the Bible as a list of rules he resolved (or, swore an oath) to keep.  Then he became a stumblingblock to others as they followed him in his defection from Christ’s righteousness.  This is clearly part of the dung[7] Paul had rejected of his past life as a Pharisee.  And the silence on the internet is deafening when compared to the outrage over the movie “End of the Spear,” when a gay Christian was hired to portray a missionary and his son.

As I have written before I didn’t see this either as I watched the movie.  We fundamentalist Christians are so accustomed to being tossed back and forth by waves of the latest spiritual fad, and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes,[8] and so dissatisfied with the lives we lead by faith alone[9] that Adam’s neo-Phariseeism seems completely right and natural to us.  We are they who maintain the outward appearance of religion but…have repudiated its power,[10] the power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead,[11] the righteousness that comes from his Spirit, his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his gentleness, and his self-control.[12]

For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel,[13] Paul began to explain how the word of God had not failed, nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.”[14]  This seemed like an ad hoc argument to me, since all the descendants of Israel (Jacob) were also descendents of Isaac his father.  But then Paul reiterated the point he had made over and over in Romans, This means it is not the children of the flesh (σαρκὸς, a form of σάρξ)[15] who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise (ἐπαγγελίας, a form of ἐπαγγελία)[16] are counted (λογίζεται, a form of λογίζομαι)[17] as descendants.[18]  This is the same distinction Paul made between those born only of the flesh and those born of the flesh and of the Spirit,[19] and those who live according to the flesh and those who live according the Spirit.[20]

And look, I am sending you what my Father promised[21] (ἐπαγγελίαν, another form of ἐπαγγελία), the resurrected Jesus told the children of promise (all descended from Israel) just before He was taken up into heaven.[22]  While [Jesus] was with them, Luke reiterated in Acts, he declared, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait there for what my Father promised (ἐπαγγελίαν, another form of ἐπαγγελία), which you heard about from me.  For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”[23]  This Jesus God raised up, and we are all witnesses of it, Peter declared in his first sermon on Pentecost.  So then, exalted to the right hand of God, and having received the promise (ἐπαγγελίαν, another form of ἐπαγγελία) of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out what you both see and hear.[24]

For this is what the promise (ἐπαγγελίας, a form of ἐπαγγελία) declared: Paul continued.  “About a year from now I will return and Sarah will have a son.”[25]  Not only that, but 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 would stand, not by works but by his calling) – it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,” just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[26]  This kind of talk rubs those born only of the flesh of Adam, those who are content with their own works, the wrong way.  Paul knew that.

What shall we say then? Paul continued.  Is there injustice with God?[27]  In other words, by what right did God distinguish between Esau and Jacob before they were born or had done anything good or bad?  Too often, I have missed the point here, rationalizing that God knew what Esau and Jacob would do before they were born.  But Paul said, Absolutely not!  For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[28]  Even as He gave Moses the law that defined sin, God reserved for Himself the right to have mercy and compassion on any He chose to have mercy and compassion.  So then, Paul concluded, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.[29]

For the scripture says to Pharaoh: Paul continued to make his point doubly strong and doubly clear by declaring its inverse.  “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.[30]  Again, such talk infuriates one depending on his own works for glory, honor and salvation.  You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault?  For who has ever resisted his will?”[31]  But Paul didn’t back down (Romans 9:20-29 NET).

But who indeed are you – a mere human being – to talk back to God?  Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?  But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath prepared for destruction?  And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory – even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?  As he also says in Hosea: “I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ‘My beloved.’”  “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”  And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.”  Just as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of armies had not left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have resembled Gomorrah.”

Now if one reads the passage above, and suspects that he or she has been hardened by God into an object of wrath, and begins to fear rather than to mock, take heart.  You have begun to hear the word of the Lord.  He is calling you.  And the righteous prayer that justifies is near you, on your lips.  God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am![32]

[1] Romans 9:1, 2 (NET)

[2] Romans 9:3, 4a (NET) Table

[3] Romans 9:4b, 5 (NET)

[4] Romans 9:6a (NET)

[5] Romans 3:22 (NET)

[8] Ephesians 4:14 (NET)

[9] James 2:14-26 (NET)

[10] 2 Timothy 3:5 (NET)

[11] Ephesians 1:20 (NET)

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

[13] Romans 9:6b (NET)

[14] Romans 9:7 (NET)

[18] Romans 9:8 (NET)

[21] Luke 24:49a (NET) Table

[22] Luke 24:51 (NET)

[23] Acts 1:4, 5 (NET)

[24] Acts 2:32, 33 (NET) Table

[26] Romans 9:9-13 (NET)

[27] Romans 9:14a (NET)

[28] Romans 9:14b, 15 (NET)

[29] Romans 9:16 (NET)

[30] Romans 9:17, 18 (NET)

[31] Romans 9:19 (NET)

[32] Luke 18:13, 14 (NET); Religious and Righteous Prayer

Fear – Genesis, Part 3

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When there was a famine in the land Abraham’s son Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.[1]  The Lord appeared to Isaac and said (Genesis 26:2-5 NET):

Do not go down to Egypt; settle down in the land that I will point out to you.  Stay in this land.  Then I will be with you and will bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will fulfill the solemn promise I made to your father Abraham.  I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands.  All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.  All this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.”  He was afraid (yârêʼ) to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me to get Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”[2]  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐφοβήθη (a form of φοβέω)[3] here.

Peter and Jesus’ other disciples were in a boat that was taking a beating from the waves because the wind was against it.  As the night was ending, Jesus came to them walking on the sea.  When the disciples saw him walking on the water they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear (φόβου, a form of φόβος).[4]  But immediately Jesus spoke to them: “Have courage!  It is I.  Do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε, another form of φοβέω).”[5]  Peter said to him, “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.”  So he said, “Come.”  Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus [Table].  But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid (ἐφοβήθη, a form of φοβέω).[6]

After Isaac had been in Gerar a long time Abimelech looked out a window and saw him caressing Rebekah in a way that caused him to doubt that she was Isaac’s sister.  So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife!  Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”  Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.”[7]  Then Abimelech rebuked Isaac, What in the world have you done to us?  One of the men might easily have had sexual relations with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us![8]

As Peter started to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”[9]

Eventually Isaac left Gerar and journeyed to Beer Sheba.  The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham.  Do not be afraid (yârêʼ), for I am with you.  I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”[10] The rabbis chose φοβοῦ (a form of φόβος) here.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy [John the Baptist’s mother], the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!”  But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting.  So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ, a form of φόβος), Mary, for you have found favor with God![11]

Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord.  He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well.[12]  So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.”[13]  Both Isaac and Mary responded admirably to the Lord’s encouragement, Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ, a form of φόβος).

As Isaac’s son Jacob fled (from his elder brother Esau’s threat to kill him) to his mother Rebekah’s brother Laban, he stopped for the night and had a dream (Genesis 28:12-15 NET).

He saw a stairway erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens.  The angels of God were going up and coming down it and the Lord stood at its top.  He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac.  I will give you and your descendants the ground you are lying on.  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south.  All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using your name and that of your descendants.  I am with you!  I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land.  I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!”

Then Jacob woke up and thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it!”  He was afraid (yârêʼ) and said, “What an awesome (yârêʼ) place this is!  This is nothing else than the house of God!  This is the gate of heaven!”[14]  The word translated afraid above was ἐφοβήθη in the Septuagint.  The next occurrence of ἐφοβήθη (a form of φοβέω) in the New Testament was in John’s Gospel.  When Pilate heard what [the Jewish leaders] said, he was more afraid (ἐφοβήθη, a form of φοβέω) than ever…[15]

We have a law, the Jewish leaders had said, and according to our law [Jesus] ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God![16]  Pilate went back inside and said to Jesus, “Where do you come from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.  So Pilate said, “Do you refuse to speak to me?  Don’t you know I have the authority to release you, and to crucify you?”  Jesus replied, “You would have no authority over me at all, unless it was given to you from above.  Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of greater sin.”[17]

Pilate’s fear did not prompt him to fall down at Jesus’ feet and plead for mercy.  But, From this point on, Pilate tried to release him.[18]  In a similar way Jacob’s fear prompted him to make a deal (Genesis 28:18-22 NET).

Early in the morning Jacob took the stone he had placed near his head and set it up as a sacred stone.  Then he poured oil on top of it.  He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz.  Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear, and I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will become my God.  Then this stone that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely give you back a tenth of everything you give me.”

The word translated awesome in Genesis 28:17 (NET) was φοβερὸς[19] in the Septuagint.  It does not occur in this form in the New Testament.  It was only used three times by the writer of Hebrews (10:26, 27, 28-31; 12:18-21) :

1) For if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins is left for us, but only a certain fearful (φοβερὰ, a form of φοβερός) expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume God’s enemies.

2) Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant that made him holy, and insults the Spirit of grace?  For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”  It is a terrifying (φοβερὸν, another form of φοβερός) thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

3) 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 (φοβερὸν, another form of φοβερός) that Moses said, “I shudder with fear (ἔκφοβος).”[20]

Twenty years later, when Jacob fled from Laban with his wives, his children, his flocks, herds, and camels, he explained, “I left secretly because I was afraid (yârêʼ)!” Jacob replied to Laban.  “I thought you might take your daughters away from me by force.[21]  The phrase because I was afraid was not translated in the Septuagint.  But later as he approached his former home and learned that his brother Esau was coming out to meet him with four hundred men, Jacob was very afraid (yârêʼ) and upset.  So he divided the people who were with him into two camps, as well as the flocks, herds, and camels.  “If Esau attacks one camp,” he thought, “then the other camp will be able to escape.”[22]

After he made these rudimentary preparations he prayed:  “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, you said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives and I will make you prosper.’”[23]   He did not yet claim God as his own, but that is the only reference I see to his former oath.  Gone is the pride that made that oath.  In its place was an humble acknowledgement and request, “I am not worthy of all the faithful love you have shown your servant.  With only my walking stick I crossed the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.  Rescue me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid (yârêʼ) he will come and attack me, as well as the mothers with their children.”[24]

Twenty years on his own with God taught Jacob something about dealing with fear.  Faithfully, he reminded God (and perhaps himself) of God’s own words, “But you said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count.’”[25]

Jacob’s fear of Esau’s approach was ἐφοβήθη in the Septuagint.  The fifth and final occurrence of ἐφοβήθη was in Luke’s account of Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem.  The Roman commander probably saved Paul’s life but was about to have him interrogated with torture.  Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away from him, and the commanding officer was frightened (ἐφοβήθη, a form of φοβέω) when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had had him tied up.[26]  The Roman commander feared retribution for his own violation of Roman law.  It makes me wonder if Jacob did not sense something of the justice of Esau’s cause despite the overbearing nature of the imagined reprisal.  As it turned out Esau had forgotten or forgiven his grievance against Jacob.  He welcomed his brother’s homecoming.[27]

[1] Genesis 26:1 (NET)

[2] Genesis 26:7 (NET)

[6] Matthew 14:24-30a (NET)

[7] Genesis 26:9 (NET)

[8] Genesis 26:10 (NET)

[9] Matthew 14:30, 31 (NET)

[10] Genesis 26:24 (NET)

[11] Luke 1:26-30 (NET)

[12] Genesis 26:25 (NET)

[13] Luke 1:38 (NET)

[14] Genesis 28:16, 17 (NET)

[15] John 19:8 (NET)

[16] John 19:7 (NET)

[17] John 19:9-11 (NET)

[18] John 19:12 (NET)

[21] Genesis 31:31 (NET)

[22] Genesis 32:7, 8 (NET)

[23] Genesis 32:9 (NET)

[24] Genesis 32:10, 11 (NET)

[25] Genesis 32:12 (NET)

[26] Acts 22:29 (NET)

Romans, Part 34

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What then shall we say about these things? Paul continued.  If God is for (ὑπὲρ) us, who can be against (καθ᾿, a form of κατά) us?[3]  It would be a mistake to think that Paul implied that no one is, or would be, against us.  Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I have not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against (κατὰ) his father, a daughter against (κατὰ) her mother, and a daughter-in-law against (κατὰ) her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies (ἐχθροὶ, a form of ἐχθρός) will be the members of his household.”[5]  The point of Paul’s rhetorical question is, who are they who would array themselves against us compared to God?

Though they do not measure up to God they are the enemies we love.  But I say to you who are listening, Jesus said: Love your enemies (ἐχθροὺς, another form of ἐχθρός), do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”[6]  It is a mysterious blessing that we learn this love at home, with our families, in our own households.

Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, Paul continued to elaborate how God is for (ὑπὲρ) us, but gave him up for (ὑπὲρ) us all – how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?[7]  Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift (δωρεὰν, a form of δωρεά) of the Holy Spirit,[9] Peter ended his first sermon on Pentecost.  Paul indicated that those who trust in Jesus receive the abundance of grace and of the gift (δωρεᾶς, another form of form of δωρεά) of righteousness.[10]  I became a servant of this gospel, Paul wrote the Ephesians, according to the gift (δωρεὰν, a form of δωρεά) of God’s grace that was given to me by the exercise of his power.[11]  When Paul enumerated the gifts of God’s grace for the Corinthians[12] he went on to describe a way that is beyond (καθ᾿) comparison,[13] the love[14] that fulfills the law, the gift of righteousness, the fruit of the Spirit, the essence of what it means to be led[15] by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

As Paul wrote the Ephesians, For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift (δῶρον) of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast.  For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.[17]

Who will bring any charge against God’s elect (ἐκλεκτῶν, a form of ἐκλεκτός)? Paul continued in Romans.  Of course, many will presume, but who are they compared to God?  It is God who justifies.[19]  And yet the elect are not smug masters of the universe (Colossians 3:12-17 NET):

Therefore, as the elect (ἐκλεκτοὶ, another form of ἐκλεκτός) of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness (χρηστότητα, a form of χρηστότης), humility, gentleness (πραΰτητα, a form of πραΰτης), and patience (μακροθυμίαν, a form of μακροθυμία), bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else.  Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others.  And to all these virtues[23] add[24] love (ἀγάπην, a form of ἀγάπη), which is the perfect bond.  Let the peace (εἰρήνη) of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body to this peace), and be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

To clothe myself with a heart of mercy (σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμοῦ) is an interesting word picture.  I am to clothe myself with something internal, cover my naked ambition one might say with Christlikeness, the fruit of his Spirit (Galatians 5:13-16, 22-26).

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another.  For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”  However, if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another.  But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh…the fruit of the Spirit is love (ἀγάπη), joy, peace (εἰρήνη), patience (μακροθυμία), kindness (χρηστότης), goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (πραΰτης), and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.

Who is the one who will condemn? Paul continued.  Again, many will condemn, but who are they by comparison?  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 for us.[29]  Though many will try to bring a charge or condemn, who will actually prevail?  Who will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[30]

Paul quoted from Psalm 44.  In the Psalm the experience of death was viewed in confusion, as an evil, a lament, a plea to, or a rebuke of, God (Psalm 44:20-24 NET):

If we had rejected our God, and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, would not God discover it, for he knows one’s thoughts?  Yet because of you we are killed all day long; we are treated like sheep at the slaughtering block (Table).  Rouse yourself!  Why do you sleep, O Lord?  Wake up!  Do not reject us forever!  Why do you look the other way, and ignore the way we are oppressed and mistreated?

Paul’s attitude about death in the Gospel was entirely different (2 Corinthians 4:7-11 NET):

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.  We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed, always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body.  For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body.

No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! Paul continued in Romans.  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.[31]

Paul’s quotation is compared with the Septuagint below for completeness.

Paul

Blue Letter Bible (Septuagint)

NET   Bible (Greek parallel text)
For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

Romans 8:36 (NET)

 ὅτι ἕνεκα σοῦ θανατούμεθα ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόβατα σφαγῆς

Psalm 44:22

 ὅτι ἕνεκεν σοῦ θανατούμεθα ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν, ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόβατα σφαγῆς

Romans 8:36

[3] Romans 8:31 (NET)

[5] Matthew 10:34-36 (NET)

[6] Luke 6:27 (NET)

[7] Romans 8:32 (NET) Table

[9] Acts 2:38 (NET) Table

[10] Romans 5:17 (NET)

[11] Ephesians 3:7 (NET)

[17] Ephesians 2:8-10 (NET)

[19] Romans 8:33 (NET)

[23] NET Note: The term “virtues” is not in the Greek text, but is included in the translation to specify the antecedent and to make clear the sense of the pronoun “these.” See: Peter’s Way?

[24] Net Note: The verb “add,” though not in the Greek text, is implied, picking up the initial imperative “clothe yourselves.” See: Peter’s Way?

[29] Romans 8:34 (NET) Table

[30] Romans 8:35, 36 (NET) Table

[31] Romans 8:37-39 (NET)

Fear – Genesis, Part 2

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I’m studying fear in the Old Testament to better understand how fear has ended in Christ yet the concept of fearing God continued in the New Testament.  Peter wrote, Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φόβος)[1] God, honor the king.[2]  And in Revelation an angel with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth[3] said, Fear (φοβήθητε, a form of φοβέω) God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has arrived, and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water![5]

Abraham moved to Gerar and continued to pass off his beautiful wife Sarah as his sister.  So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.[6]  But God appeared to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him (Genesis 20:3-7 NET):

“You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife [Table].”  Now Abimelech had not gone near her.  He said, “Lord, would you really slaughter an innocent nation?  Did Abraham not say to me, ‘She is my sister’?  And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’  I have done this with a clear conscience and with innocent hands!”  Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience.  That is why I have kept you from sinning against me and why I did not allow you to touch her.  But now give back the man’s wife.  Indeed he is a prophet and he will pray for you; thus you will live.  But if you don’t give her back, know that you will surely die along with all who belong to you.”

Early in the morning Abimelech summoned all his servants.  When he told them about all these things, they were terrified (yârêʼ).[7]  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐφοβήθησαν (plus σφόδρα,[8] very) here, the third person plural of φέβομαι.[9]  The first occurrence of this form in the New Testament is in Matthew’s account of the healing of the paralytic (Matthew 9:2–8 NET).

Just then some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Have courage, son!  Your sins are forgiven.”  Then some of the experts in the law said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!”  When Jesus saw their reaction he said, “Why do you respond with evil in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?  But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority (ἐξουσίαν, a form of ἐξουσία) on earth to forgive sins” – then he said to the paralytic – “Stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.”  And he stood up and went home.  When the crowd saw this, they were afraid (ἐφοβήθησαν, another form of φοβέω) and honored (ἐδόξασαν, a form of δοξάζω) God who had given such authority (ἐξουσίαν, a form of ἐξουσία) to men.

I have already written[12] that I think the repetition of ἐξουσίαν (a form of ἐξουσία) indicates that it was the authority to forgive sins that caused the crowd to fear and to honor God.  The word translated honored above is the same glory that those under God’s wrath in Romans 1:21 withheld from God when they did not glorify him.[13]  And this connection of fear and honor gives me a clue to better understanding, especially when I return to Abimelech’s rebuke of Abraham (Genesis 20:9, 10 NET).

Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us?  What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom?  You have done things to me that should not be done!”  Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?”

Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ‘Surely no one fears (yirʼâh) God in this place.  They will kill me because of my wife.’”[15]  Here, the rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose a different word entirely, θεοσέβεια.  It is a compound of θεός and σέβομαι.  Negated as ἀσέβεια this is the ungodliness that prompted the revelation of God’s wrath.[19]  In Abimelech and his people, then, I find a fear of punishment that led to obedience and more.  Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham untouched.  He also gave him sheep, cattle, and male and female servants [Table], and said, “Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please[Table].”[20]

Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children.  For the Lord had caused infertility to strike every woman in the household of Abimelech because he took Sarah, Abraham’s wife.[21]  And here I think I see the beginning of the fear of punishment that played such a major, albeit imperfect, role in the keeping of the law.

When Ishmael mocked Isaac, Sarah said to Abraham, “Banish that slave woman and her son, for the son of that slave woman will not be an heir along with my son Isaac!”[22]  Abraham wasn’t happy about this at all, but complied when God said to him, “Do not be upset about the boy or your slave wife.  Do all that Sarah is telling you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted.  But I will also make the son of the slave wife into a great nation, for he is your descendant too.”[23]

Hagar and Ishmael wandered in the wilderness.  When the water Abraham gave her was gone she shoved the child under one of the shrubs,[24] his body apparently limp and lethargic from dehydration.  She walked some distance away not wanting to watch her child die.  But God heard the boy’s voice.  The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, Hagar?  Don’t be afraid (yârêʼ), for God has heard the boy’s voice right where he is crying.[25]  This was φοβοῦ (another form of φοβέω) in Greek in the Septuagint.

The second occurrence of this form in the New Testament was found in the story of Zechariah and the angelic announcement of his son’s birth, John the Baptist.  Zechariah, a priest, was chosen by lot to enter the holy place of the Lord and burn incense.[26]

An angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense, appeared to him.  And Zechariah, visibly shaken when he saw the angel, was seized with fear (φόβος).  But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ, another form of φοβέω), Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you will name him John.  Joy and gladness will come to you, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.  He must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.  He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.  And he will go as forerunner before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”[27]

Zechariah didn’t believe the angel’s message and was struck mute.  The text doesn’t say whether or not Hagar believed.  But God was with the boy [Ishamael] as he grew,[28] as surely as John was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:57-64 NET):

Now the time came for Elizabeth to have her baby, and she gave birth to a son.  Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.  On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they wanted to name him Zechariah after his father.  But his mother replied, “No! He must be named John.”  They said to her, “But none of your relatives bears this name.”  So they made signs to the baby’s father, inquiring what he wanted to name his son.  He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.”  And they were all amazed.  Immediately Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue released, and he spoke, blessing God.

Then Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied (Luke 1:67-79 NET):

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has come to help and has redeemed his people.  For he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us.  He has done this to show mercy to our ancestors, and to remember his holy covenant – the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham.  This oath grants that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, may serve him without fear (ἀφόβως), in holiness and righteousness before him for as long as we live.  And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High.  For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.  Because of our God’s tender mercy the dawn will break upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

[2] 1 Peter 2:17 (NET)

[5] Revelation 14:7 (NET)

[6] Genesis 20:2b (NET)

[7] Genesis 20:8 (NET)

[15] Genesis 20:11 (NET) Table

[20] Genesis 20:14, 15 (NET)

[21] Genesis 20:17, 18 (NET)

[22] Genesis 21:10 (NET)

[23] Genesis 21:12, 13 (NET)

[24] Genesis 21:15 (NET)

[25] Genesis 21:17 (NET)

[26] Luke 1:9 (NET)

[27] Luke 1:11-17 (NET)

[28] Genesis 21:20a (NET)

Romans, Part 33

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In the same way, Paul continued, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groaning (στεναγμοῖς, a form of στεναγμός).[1]  I think in the same way above referred back to 1) the groaning of creation, the whole creation groans (συστενάζει, a form of συστενάζω)[2] and suffers together until now;[3] and 2) we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan (στενάζομεν, a form of στενάζω)[4] inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.[5]  In the same way…the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groaning (στεναγμοῖς, a form of στεναγμός).  Why?  The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray.

To the Holy Spirit’s intercession with inexpressible groaning I can only say amen and thank you.  But I want to linger awhile over the insight we do not know how we should pray.

If I think of people at all when I think of church, I think of a small clique relative to all who believe, or have believed, or will believe in Jesus Christ for salvation.  If I’m honest the word church conjures up the by-laws and functions of a property owning not-for-profit corporation where we strive to keep the doors open, lights on, heat and air conditioning functioning so we can attract more people to help keep the doors open, lights on, heat and air conditioning functioning so we can attract more people…

In 1 Corinthians Paul effectively equated church with the body of Christ:  Now you are Christ’s body (σῶμα[6] Χριστοῦ[7]), and each of you is a member of it.  And God has placed in the church (ἐκκλησίᾳ)[8] first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues.[9]  And again to the Ephesians Paul wrote, It was [Jesus] who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ (σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ), until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature.[10]

The body of Christ, as opposed to church, gives me a whole new vision of my ignorance regarding how I should pray.  Here is my analogy:  I have decided that the body of Dan will extend its right arm parallel to the floor.  If I could imbue each muscle cell in that arm with sight and speech and reason, it is not too hard to imagine what some might say.  As they tired, as they began to think about why they were so tired, they would realize that the muscle cells across from them were pulling against them, in the opposite direction.

“Stop, you’re pulling the wrong way!” they would say.

The muscle cells on the other side of my arm would say, “You stop, we are pulling the way the spirit of Dan’s nervous system is telling us to pull.”

The others would counter, “No, you stop, we are pulling the way the spirit of Dan’s nervous system is telling us to pull.  You must be mistaken.”

“We know what the Spirit of Dan’s nervous system is telling us.”

“That’s impossible!  We know Dan.  He is very rational.  You are asserting that he would act irrationally.”

“We know the spirit of Dan’s nervous system.”

“You must be deceived by some form of evil masquerading as the spirit of Dan’s nervous system.”

On and on they argue from their limited perspectives.  How could they pray intelligently?  And if I decided that the body of Dan would wave its arm back and forth, first one side would receive the signal to relax as the other side continued pulling.

“Finally, you see the light,” the pulling side would exclaim.  And they would encourage each other with words like, “We’re winning!  The truth prevails!”

Then as the direction changed and that side was given the signal to relax and the other side to pull, the relaxed muscle cells would lament, “Oh, no!  Evil rules!”

Obviously, If I had imbued my muscle cells with any kind of self-will they would fight me to satisfy their own egos, if I imbued them with egos, that is.

It is easy now to see why the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groaning, but what about those times I pray with my mind?  I still meditate on Scripture, and I still ramble on and on about my confusions, frustrations and concerns, but when I ask for things in prayer I have become very dependent on the Lord’s Prayer, not as a model prayer, but word for word from Matthew 6:9-14 (NET):

Our Father in heaven…  I am particularly mindful then that I pray for all who call on our Father, or have called, or will call, on Him.  My prayer is no longer limited geographically or temporally.  It is as expansive and all-encompassing as Almighty Eternal God chooses to hear it.

…may your name be honored…  Here is the raison d’etre[11] for all who call on our Father.

…may your kingdom come…  Here is the mission amplified by the next line, may your will be done (or, become) on earth as it is in heaven.  I have no idea how God’s will is done in heaven, but I assume it is not by police forces but by something more akin to being led by the Holy Spirit.

Give us today our daily bread…  Like Jesus’ disciples[12] before me I thought He was talking about bread, food.  After I studied life (ζωή) I realized He meant bread of life.[13]  I pray for that daily infusion of Christ Himself, his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his gentleness, and his self-control (ἐγκράτεια).[14]  And I pray this not for myself alone but for all who call on our Father, or have called, or will call, on Him.

…and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.  Oh, how I used to labor here, wondering, doubting, could it be enough?  The Lord knows my weakness, my need for penance.  What could be better than to preoccupy myself and my mind with forgiving others?  But again, I pray not for myself alone but for all who call on our Father, or have called, or will call, on Him.

And do not lead us into temptation (πειρασμόν), but deliver us from the evil one.  Though James[15] had a singularly macho attitude toward temptation (πειρασμοῖς and  πειρασμόν are forms of πειρασμός),[16] I am more than content to side with Jesus here, and pray not for myself alone but for all who call on our Father, or have called, or will call, on Him.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, Paul continued in Romans, because the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.  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 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.[17]

He is worthy of our trust.

Romans, Part 34 

Back to Justice, Vengeance and Punishment

Back to Fear – Genesis, Part 5

Back to Romans, Part 40

Back to Antichrist, Part 5

[1] Romans 8:26 (NET)

[3] Romans 8:22 (NET)

[5] Romans 8:23 (NET)

[9] 1 Corinthians 12:27, 28 (NET)

[10] Ephesians 4:11-13 (NET)

[11] French: meaning “reason for being”

[13] John 6:35, 48 (NET) ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς

[17] Romans 8:27-30 (NET)