Exploration, Part 8

Describing the results of the freedom for which Christ has set us free,1 Paul contrasted the works of the flesh2 (τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός) of your former way of life to the new life in Christ: the fruit of the Spirit3 ( καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματος), e.g., the Spirit’s “fruit, result, outcome, product, offspring; produce, crop, harvest; advantage, gain, profit” (Galatians 5:22, 23 ESV):

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law [Table].

In the aftermath of the night I didn’t kill my wife, I turned Paul’s description of God’s love into a script that I attempted to act out. That “script” became the defining rules of conduct for my new character, the part I would play from then on forever. I didn’t recognize this as hypocrisy because I was sincerely trying to do better, and I didn’t believe the fruit of the Spirit was the Spirit’s fruit.

Though I hadn’t thought about it quite as formally as I had about Paul’s description of God’s love, I believed instinctively almost that the fruit of the Spirit was more rules for me to obey:

Thou shalt exhibit the fruit of the Spirit: Thou shalt love (See 1 Corinthians 13 for specific details). Thou shalt exhibit joy. Thou shalt live in peace. Thou shalt demonstrate patience. Thou shalt show kindness. Thou shalt demonstrate goodness. Thou shalt exhibit faithfulness. Thou shalt show gentleness. Thou shalt exhibit self-control. Against such things there is no law (e.g., such things are the law).

[Hypocrisy] “embodies a purposeful intent, which stems from a deep-seated core of evil” [e.g., the old man], the conclusion of the entry “Hypocrite” on bibleone.net online reads. The corruption of the old man’s deceitful desires includes the desire to have a righteousness of my own that comes from the law4 as well as the feeling that I am actively engaged in the pursuit of righteousness when I do so, despite the actual situation being that I was severed from Christ5 and had turned away from the kingdom of God and his righteousness6 (τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ; e.g., not “my own righteousness”).

There was an additional criteria to meet, however, in the conclusion of “Hypocrite” on bibleone.net online:

More than this, it suggests a determined effort to enforce a standard of conduct upon others, which conduct the enforcer knowingly and deliberately refuses to apply to himself–hence, action born of full knowledge and evil intent…It is the condition of a person who is controlled by the sin nature to the end-desire of having power over other human beings by imposing on them a set of rules, which he himself intentionally disregards.

I failed to meet that criteria (which, by the way, I don’t regard as necessary to Jesus’ intent). But it is curious. As legalistic as I was with myself, I don’t recall preaching Paul to my wife. Perhaps it is selective memory, but if I had harped on the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living,7 I think I would remember. My mother was bound by law (δέδεται νόμῳ) to a husband for whom she no longer felt any affection or respect, and with whom she no longer lived—my father. She was miserable. He was miserable. We all suffered to various degrees. I suppose, I didn’t actually want a wife who was bound by law to me.

It’s a shame I didn’t apply that learning to my relationship to God sooner (Matthew 7:12; John 14:15 NASB).

“Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets [Table].
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

It is possible that I followed the golden rule with my wife to some extent. It didn’t occur to me to follow it with the Lord. And I didn’t hear If you love Me, you will keep My commandments as Jesus’ promise. I heard another rule: how to love Jesus.

I didn’t yet study the New Testament in Greek. Though I had begun to use a concordance to track the word usage of select Greek and Hebrew words through the Bible, I didn’t bother to learn that you will keep was τηρήσετε, a form of the verb τηρέω in the future tense and indicative mood. I didn’t yet understand that the “indicative mood is a statement of fact or an actual occurrence from the writer’s or speaker’s perspective.”8 I hadn’t taken a college course in formal logic yet: I didn’t understand that my attempt to keep his commandments as rules I obeyed wouldn’t necessarily prove my love for Him, but was a logical fallacy called “affirming the consequent.”

John wrote (1 John 4:19-21 NASB):

We love,9 because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot10 love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

I didn’t know yet that the Greek word translated should love was ἀγαπᾷ, a form of ἀγαπάω in the indicative mood, another statement of fact. The commandment (τὴν ἐντολὴν) we have from him is apparently of the—And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light11—variety. But I thought John meant that since Jesus died for my sins, I should have an emotional response that resulted in love for God and others. Or, even if I lacked that emotional response or it was too weak or inconsistent to produce that result, love was the law.

Even as I attempted to love like God by obeying rules, I continued to read the Bible in English translation. I began to wonder if, perhaps, God’s love—with which He first loved us (αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς)—was not all finished at the cross of Christ (John 14:15-26 NASB).

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold (θεωρεῖ, a form of θεωρέω) Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you [Table]. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. “After a little while the world will behold (θεωρεῖ, a form of θεωρέω) Me no more; but you will behold (θεωρεῖτε, another from of θεωρέω) Me; because I live, you shall live12 also. “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I13 in you. “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him [Table]. “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

“These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you [Table].

Jesus didn’t seem to think that God’s love was finished at the cross, but would continue—not from some distant heavenly abode—but from within us. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you, Jesus promised after promising that his Father will give you another Helper, that He may be with you foreverthe Spirit of truth.14 And speaking of his Father’s love for the one who loves Jesus (he will keep [τηρήσει, a form of τηρέω in the future tense and indicative mood] My word), He said, We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.15

Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20 NASB):

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body [Table].

The words your and you are plural. While I wouldn’t suggest that the collective body is excluded somehow, these words were penned in response to the potential and prescribed actions of an individual (1 Corinthians 6:16-18 NASB):

Or do you not know that the one who joins himself ( κολλώμενος) to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, “THE TWO WILL BECOME ONE FLESH.” But the one who joins himself ( δὲ κολλώμενος) to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.

Truths began to align in perspicuous form:

  1. We love, because He first loved us.16
  2. If you love [Jesus], you will keep [his] commandments.17
  3. If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.18

Even without a college course in formal logic, statements 2 and 3 sounded like conditional promises to me. Would Jesus make even a conditional promise predicated on my weak and wavering emotions of love and gratitude?

One advantage of treating Paul’s description of God’s love as rules to obey was that it kept the depth and detail of his description of love ever before me. It seemed like an awful lot to ask of the human emotions of affection and gratitude. Another advantage was that even my laws derived from Paul’s description of God’s love functioned like the law [that] was [my] “servant whose office it was to take” me “to school,” the school of hard knocks.19 My act, based on my rules derived from Paul’s description of God’s love, wasn’t working out all that well. Though doing “incrementally better” seemed positive relative to my former actions, “incrementally better” was a very long way from the righteousness described by “my new law.”

Why didn’t I just give up? Well, I did from time to time. That didn’t seem to matter all that much. Despite my best efforts to do otherwise, I was working out my own salvation with fear and trembling, for it [was] God who [worked] in [me], both to will and to work for his good pleasure.20 And it is God who continues to work in me, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. I wasn’t entirely oblivious to his working. It just seemed so on again, off again.

I wanted his working to be on again more often than off again, but I wasn’t yet recognizing that on-again-off-again phenomena as evidence of the conflict of the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth21 and the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.22 I thought it had more to do with the mercurial nature of god (e.g., the false god of my imagination). But He was working on that, too.

He made sure that I would be renewed in the spirit of [my] mind,23 providing both a hunger for, and a growing satisfaction with, his Word—the Lord Jesus Christ—through the written words of the Bible. I began to suspect that the love with which He first loved us24 meant something more than my emotional response to the Lord’s death on my behalf. But the fruit of the Spirit is love25 and walk by the Spirit26 seemed like tantalizing clues to that “something more.”

My wife had moved out. My friend John had moved in to help with expenses. I was back at the church where I had become an atheist, believing that they “were right and I was wrong.” John attended a different church. We studied the Bible individually and together.

We thought and spoke to one another in theological jargon. We knew that salvation was divided into three parts: justification, sanctification and glorification. We knew that justification and glorification were works of God in Christ, received through faith. We also “knew” that sanctification was by our own works (James 2:19-24 NASB):

You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?27 Was not Abraham our father justified (ἐδικαιώθη, a form of δικαιόω) by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,”28 and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified (δικαιοῦται, another form of δικαιόω) by works, and not by faith alone [Table].

Granted, there is no mention of sanctification here, yet the principle of adding my works to faith in Jesus Christ seemed thoroughly established. And the idea that sanctification was the place where my works came into play in my salvation seemed to accord well with the teaching of two different non-Lutheran, non-Catholic churches—John’s and mine. About this time, though John remained faithful to the KJV, I switched from studying the NASB to the NIV out of deference to a mentor who was discipling me (James 2:19-24 NIV):

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone [Table].

Translating both ἐδικαιώθη and δικαιοῦται considered righteous sealed the deal for me. Who would be considered righteous but the one who did righteousness? And sanctification was the only part of salvation left to add my works of righteousness to faith. So, sanctification was by my works. Jesus seemed totally on board with that (Luke 18:18-24 NIV).

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”29

“All these I have kept30 since I was a boy,”31 he said.

When Jesus heard this,32 he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.33 Then come, follow me.”

When he heard this, he became34 very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him35 and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter36 the kingdom of God!

This exchange was a treasure trove when I searched the Bible for rules to obey. Even if I allowed that come, follow me was an allusion to faith, the ratio of my works added to my faith seemed roughly equivalent to Peter’s admonition to make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.37 Even my Dad quoted: “pray as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on you.”38

The only fly in the ointment was Paul (Galatians 5:4 NIV):

You who are trying to be justified (δικαιοῦσθε, another form of δικαιόω; “considered righteous”?) by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace [Table].

Only Paul seemed uncompromising on this point. Jesus was uncompromising in what seemed like the opposite direction (Matthew 5:48 NIV):

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect [Table].

How could both statements be true? I might have given up right then and there, except that I had moments—all too brief moments—when love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control flowed into me as if from an external source. And that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control seemed to dominate (cause?) my actions. It was on-again-off-again, more off-again than on-again at that time. But it made me wonder if the fruit of the Spirit might, perhaps, just possibly, maybe, have more to do with God than with me (but that would be cheating, wouldn’t it?).

I still thought the on-again-off-again nature of my experience of the fruit of the Spirit was due to the mercurial nature of god (e.g., the false god of my imagination), but this time I recognized that it might be in response to me. I even began to use the words—the old man and the new man—to rationalize that phenomena, though I still recognized them only as a kind of shorthand for my works before Christ and what my works should be after Christ. The almighty I decided which works were manifest. They were still my works accomplished by my will according to my obedience.

I had not yet quit my factory job to study to prepare for writing the “Tripartite Rationality Index.” I had not yet come to terms with my unexamined faith “that faith was opposed to reason as reason was opposed to faith.”39 And I had not even begun to recognize my antipathy to faith.

Yet after that amazing time [e.g., studying to write the “Tripartite Rationality Index”] I was still disgruntled. Writing this has forced me to ask myself why. The answer that comes to me is that I was not actually as open-minded as I like to remember the story. I was trying to find a rational alternative to faith (i.e., that arrived at the same conclusions but required no faith). My best effort was indistinguishable from faith. In other words, I had failed. So as the Lord and I did our postmortem on those years, I said the time was better than I had expected (recalling my parents and hitting a baseball), but that I was still inclined to wish for never having been born.40

It would be many years before I learned that, according to the Koine Greek Lexicon online, the verb of being ἔσεσθε, translated be in the phrase Be perfect, was a form of εἰμί in the future tense and indicative mood: “The indicative mood is a statement of fact or an actual occurrence from the writer’s or speaker’s perspective.” In other words, Jesus promised: “You will be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect [Table].”

The confusion that resulted from my experience—that I did “incrementally better” as an actor attempting to love like God by obeying rules of love as the “choices” made by my new character—is no longer an issue. Of course, an actor attempting to imitate God does “incrementally better” than one slavishly obeying the dictates of the old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.41 Some actors are better than others. But a righteousness of one’s own achieved by obeying rules as an actor plays a part is not the righteousness of Godrevealed [in the gospel42] from faith for faith;43 it is certainly not the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness [that causes one to] reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.44 Though hypocrisy is not the unforgivable sin, it is an attempt to be justified by law and a falling away from grace.45

But God’s love wasn’t finished at the cross. Jesus continued to draw us to Himself. His Holy Spirit energized John and me to study Paul’s writings in enough detail to begin to perceive the difference between God’s gift of righteousness and our own achievements of righteousness by our own efforts.

According to a note (14) in the NET, Paul quoted from Genesis 2:24 in 1 Corinthians 6:16. A table comparing the Greek of that quotation with that of the Septuagint follows.

1 Corinthians 6:16b (NET Parallel Greek)

Genesis 2:24b (Septuagint BLB) Table

Genesis 2:24b (Septuagint Elpenor)

Ἔσονται…οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν

ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν

ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν

1 Corinthians 6:16b (NET)

Genesis 2:24b (NETS)

Genesis 2:24b (English Elpenor)

The two will become one flesh

the two will become one flesh

they two shall be one flesh

Tables comparing 1 John 4:19, 20; John 14:19, 20; James 2:20 and Luke 18:20-24 in the KJV and NET follow.

1 John 4:19, 20 (NET)

1 John 4:19, 20 (KJV)

We love because he loved us first. We love him, because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 John 4:19 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 John 4:19 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ἡμεῖς ἀγαπῶμεν, ὅτι αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς ημεις αγαπωμεν αυτον οτι αυτος πρωτος ηγαπησεν ημας ημεις αγαπωμεν αυτον οτι αυτος πρωτος ηγαπησεν ημας
If anyone says “I love God” and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

1 John 4:20 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 John 4:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 John 4:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ἐάν τις εἴπῃ ὅτι ἀγαπῶ τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ μισῇ, ψεύστης ἐστίν· ὁ γὰρ μὴ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ὃν ἑώρακεν, τὸν θεὸν ὃν οὐχ ἑώρακεν οὐ δύναται ἀγαπᾶν εαν τις ειπη οτι αγαπω τον θεον και τον αδελφον αυτου μιση ψευστης εστιν ο γαρ μη αγαπων τον αδελφον αυτου ον εωρακεν τον θεον ον ουχ εωρακεν πως δυναται αγαπαν εαν τις ειπη οτι αγαπω τον θεον και τον αδελφον αυτου μιση ψευστης εστιν ο γαρ μη αγαπων τον αδελφον αυτου ον εωρακεν τον θεον ον ουχ εωρακεν πως δυναται αγαπαν

John 14:19, 20 (NET)

John 14:19, 20 (KJV)

In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

John 14:19 (NET Parallel Greek)

John 14:19 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

John 14:19 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ἔτι μικρὸν καὶ ὁ κόσμος με οὐκέτι θεωρεῖ, ὑμεῖς δὲ θεωρεῖτε με, ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσετε ετι μικρον και ο κοσμος με ουκ ετι θεωρει υμεις δε θεωρειτε με οτι εγω ζω και υμεις ζησεσθε ετι μικρον και ο κοσμος με ουκετι θεωρει υμεις δε θεωρειτε με οτι εγω ζω και υμεις ζησεσθε
You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

John 14:20 (NET Parallel Greek)

John 14:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

John 14:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ γνώσεσθε |ὑμεῖς| ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί μου καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν ἐμοὶ καγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν εν εκεινη τη ημερα γνωσεσθε υμεις οτι εγω εν τω πατρι μου και υμεις εν εμοι καγω εν υμιν εν εκεινη τη ημερα γνωσεσθε υμεις οτι εγω εν τω πατρι μου και υμεις εν εμοι και εγω εν υμιν

James 2:20 (NET)

James 2:20 (KJV)

But would you like evidence, you empty fellow, that faith without works is useless? But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

James 2:20 (NET Parallel Greek)

James 2:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

James 2:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)

Θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ὦ ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι ἡ πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἀργή ἐστιν θελεις δε γνωναι ω ανθρωπε κενε οτι η πιστις χωρις των εργων νεκρα εστιν θελεις δε γνωναι ω ανθρωπε κενε οτι η πιστις χωρις των εργων νεκρα εστιν

Luke 18:20-24 (NET)

Luke 18:20-24 (KJV)

You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’” Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

Luke 18:20 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 18:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 18:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)

τὰς ἐντολὰς οἶδας· μὴ μοιχεύσῃς, μὴ φονεύσῃς, μὴ κλέψῃς, μὴ ψευδομαρτυρήσῃς, τίμα τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τὴν μητέρα τας εντολας οιδας μη μοιχευσης μη φονευσης μη κλεψης μη ψευδομαρτυρησης τιμα τον πατερα σου και την μητερα σου τας εντολας οιδας μη μοιχευσης μη φονευσης μη κλεψης μη ψευδομαρτυρησης τιμα τον πατερα σου και την μητερα σου
The man replied, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws since my youth.” And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

Luke 18:21 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 18:21 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 18:21 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· ταῦτα πάντα ἐφύλαξα ἐκ νεότητος ο δε ειπεν ταυτα παντα εφυλαξαμην εκ νεοτητος μου ο δε ειπεν ταυτα παντα εφυλαξαμην εκ νεοτητος μου
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

Luke 18:22 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 18:22 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 18:22 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ἔτι ἕν σοι λείπει· πάντα ὅσα ἔχεις πώλησον καὶ διάδος πτωχοῖς, καὶ ἕξεις θησαυρὸν ἐν [τοῖς] οὐρανοῖς, καὶ δεῦρο ἀκολούθει μοι ακουσας δε ταυτα ο ιησους ειπεν αυτω ετι εν σοι λειπει παντα οσα εχεις πωλησον και διαδος πτωχοις και εξεις θησαυρον εν ουρανω και δευρο ακολουθει μοι ακουσας δε ταυτα ο ιησους ειπεν αυτω ετι εν σοι λειπει παντα οσα εχεις πωλησον και διαδος πτωχοις και εξεις θησαυρον εν ουρανω και δευρο ακολουθει μοι
But when the man heard this, he became very sad, for he was extremely wealthy. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

Luke 18:23 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 18:23 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 18:23 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ὁ δὲ ἀκούσας ταῦτα περίλυπος ἐγενήθη· ἦν γὰρ πλούσιος σφόδρα ο δε ακουσας ταυτα περιλυπος εγενετο ην γαρ πλουσιος σφοδρα ο δε ακουσας ταυτα περιλυπος εγενετο ην γαρ πλουσιος σφοδρα
When Jesus noticed this, he said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

Luke 18:24 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 18:24 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 18:24 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ἰδὼν δὲ αὐτὸν |ὁ| Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν· πῶς δυσκόλως οἱ τὰ χρήματα ἔχοντες εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰσπορεύονται ιδων δε αυτον ο ιησους περιλυπον γενομενον ειπεν πως δυσκολως οι τα χρηματα εχοντες εισελευσονται εις την βασιλειαν του θεου ιδων δε αυτον ο ιησους περιλυπον γενομενον ειπεν πως δυσκολως οι τα χρηματα εχοντες εισελευσονται εις την βασιλειαν του θεου

1 Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

2 Galatians 5:19 (ESV) Table

3 Galatians 5:22 (ESV)

4 Philippians 3:9b (ESV)

5 Galatians 5:4a (ESV) Table

6 Matthew 6:33b (ESV) Table

7 Romans 7:2 (NASB)

9 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτον (KJV: him) following love. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

10 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the negative particle οὐ preceding δύναται, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the interrogative adverb πως (KJV: how can).

11 Genesis 1:3 (ESV) Table

12 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ζήσετε here, a form of the verb ζάω in the active voice, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ζησεσθε in the middle voice.

14 John 14:16b, 17a (NASB) Table

15 John 14:23b (NASB) Table

16 1 John 4:19 (NASB)

17 John 14:15 (NASB)

18 John 14:23b (NASB) Table

20 Philippians 2:12b, 13 (ESV) Table

21 Ephesians 4:24b (NASB)

22 Ephesians 4:22b (NASB)

23 Ephesians 4:23b (NASB)

24 1 John 4:19 (NASB)

25 Galatians 5:22a (NASB)

26 Galatians 5:16a (NASB)

27 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀργή here, a form of ἀργός, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had νεκρα (KJV: dead), a form of νεκρός.

28 See Romans, Part 18 for a table comparing the Greek of James’ quotation with that of the Septuagint.

29 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the pronoun σου (KJV: thy) following mother. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

30 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἐφύλαξα here, a 1st person singular form of φυλάσσω in the active voice, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εφυλαξαμην (KJV: have I kept) in the middle voice.

31 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the pronoun μου following the noun νεοτητος (KJV: my youth). The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

32 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the pronoun ταυτα (KJV: these things) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

33 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the plural [τοῖς] οὐρανοῖς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the singular ουρανω.

35 The Stephanus Textus Receptus, Byzantine Majority Text and NA28 had περίλυπον γενόμενον (KJV: [that he] was very sorrowful) here. The NET parallel Greek text did not.

36 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had εἰσπορεύονται here, a form of εἰσπορεύομαι in the present tense and middle/passive voice, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εισελευσονται (KJV: shall theyenter), a form of εἰσέρχομαι in the future tense and middle voice.

37 2 Peter 1:5b-7 (NIV)

41 Ephesians 4:22b (ESV) I consider as a case in point the differences between Boyd “Bible” Swan (Shia LaBeouf) in the movie Fury and any other character Shia LaBeouf has played. “LeBoeuf would say, ‘So the day after I got the job [in Fury], I joined the US National Guard. I was baptised – accepted Christ in my heart – tattooed my surrender and became a chaplain’s assistant to Captain Yates for the 41st Infantry. I spent a month living on a forward operating base.’” From “The Extreme Way Shia LeBeouf Prepared for ‘Fury’,” on TheThings online.

42 Romans 1:17a (NET)

43 Romans 1:17a (ESV)

44 Romans 5:17b (ESV)

Romans, Part 30

So then, brothers and sisters, Paul continued, we are under obligation (ὀφειλέται, a form of ὀφειλέτης), not to the flesh (σαρκὶ, a form of σάρξ), to live according to the flesh (σάρκα, another form of σάρξ)…1  The word translated obligation above is also found in Matthew’s version of the Lord’s prayer, and forgive us our debts (ὀφειλήματα, a form of ὀφείλημα), as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors (ὀφειλέταις, another form of ὀφειλέτης).2  This is a powerful concept, but first I want to focus on what the flesh is not.

The flesh as Paul used it is not the bodyBe careful, he warned, not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.3  If4 you have died with Christ5 to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?  “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”  These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings.  Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship6 and false humility achieved by an unsparing treatment7 of the body (σώματος, a form of σῶμα) – a wisdom with no true value – they in reality result in fleshly (σαρκός, another form of σάρξ) indulgence (πλησμονὴν, a form of πλησμονή).8

In other words, “I self-flagellate three times a day and only eat bread and water,” is the same pride and religious thinking that got us into this mess in the first place.  It is the religious impulse of the flesh of Adam.

The flesh is not sexual desire.  A husband should give to his wife her sexual rights (ὀφειλὴν, a form of ὀφειλή), and likewise a wife to her husband.  It is not the wife who has the rights (ἐξουσιάζει, a form of ἐξουσιάζω) to her own body (σώματος, a form of σῶμα), but the husband. In the same way, it is not the husband who has the rights (ἐξουσιάζει, a form of ἐξουσιάζω) to his own body (σώματος, a form of σῶμα), but the wife [Table].  Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement for a specified time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer [Table].9  While the believer in Christ is not obligated (ὀφειλέται, a form of ὀφειλέτης) or a debtor to the flesh, husband and wife are indebted (ὀφειλὴν, a form of ὀφειλή) to each other sexually.

Interestingly, neither the wife nor the husband possesses the ἐξουσιάζει (a form of ἐξουσιάζωauthority, power) over her or his own body.  That belongs to the spouse.  This is the same authority that Gentile kings lorded over their subjects as Jesus told his disciples, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority (ἐξουσιάζοντες, another form of ἐξουσιάζω) over them are called ‘benefactors.’  Not so with you; instead the one who is greatest among you must become10 like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves.”11  It is the same control Paul would not allow anything to have over him: “All things are lawful for me” – but not everything is beneficial. “All things are lawful for me” – but I will not be controlled (ἐξουσιασθήσομαι, another form of ἐξουσιάζω) by anything.12  I think I’ll go the long way around and circle back to this.

While sex (and sexual desire) in and of itself is not the flesh, if I set my sights on another’s wife (or a prostitute) that is the flesh.  (Or do you not know that anyone who is united [κολλώμενος, a form of κολλάω] with a prostitute [πόρνῃ, a form of πόρνη] is one body with her?13)  Here is where the power I spoke of earlier comes into play.  If I believe that I delight in the law of God in my inner being,14 then the desire for another’s wife or a prostitute, which is clearly contrary to God’s law, is not my desire: Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.15  It is like a distant early warning system, sounding the alarm which I is asserting control.

This distinction may not be so obvious for the young, the virginal, or the single.  I should know.  I’ve spent most of my adult life single.  But I want to address that in a separate essay.

Now not everyone lumps the old man, flesh, sin personified, desire of the flesh and so on together as one thing.  But I have read a lot of Nietzsche, and out of deference, I suppose, for the help he has been to me I try to keep what he would call “imaginary causes and effects”16 to a minimum. I can posit all of this sin and rebellious desire in an old man born of Adam (as well as the credited righteousness of God and the fruit of his Spirit in a new creation born from above in the image of Christ) without feeling that any of this is my imagination.  And the quantum leap (there is no time or space between energy quanta) between the old and new I describes my experience with chilling accuracy, especially in outbursts of anger.17

Even as I rant I wonder, “Who are you?” For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate.18  That’s how my father used to act!  And there have been times when that brought me back from the brink.  (But there have also been times when that did not bring me back from the brink and I reveled in the sensual pleasure of rage.)

The main theological objection to lumping the old man, flesh, sin personified, desire of the flesh and so on together is that our old man was crucified with19 Jesus.  It is therefore dead (and presumably gone).  I take the death of Adam as my key here.  God said, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.20 Something died in Adam when he became knowledgeable of evil.

I heard you moving about in the orchard, Adam said to God, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid,21 yet Adam had been naked all along.  The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed,22 not with God, not with each other, and not with the animals.  In a similar sense something has died in me, too.  The old man no longer has my absolute unquestioned allegiance as me.  And that is all Paul said, We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.23  The entire lifetime of Adam was 930 years, and then he died.24  And in a similar way I await that ultimate condemnation of sin in the flesh,25 the death of this body.

I promised I would circle back via the long way.  Why would Paul counsel Corinthian husbands and wives to treat each other sexually in ways that Jesus did not want his disciples to treat each other at all, and under a control that Paul himself would not allow anything to have over him?  So, here goes.

If the flesh got the wild idea to seek out a prostitute I wouldn’t know where to begin to look for one.  Add to that, I know me.  If I had sex with a pretty young prostitute I would fall in love with a pretty young prostitute.  About a decade after my first divorce it took several days for me to get the pretty nurse who administered a barium enema out of my mind.  I can be a silly old fool, no doubt about it.  But chasing a pretty young prostitute, saying, “I love you, I love you, let me take you away from all of this,” is a sillier old fool than I can be.  I live in the Midwest.  I am working class all the way.  I grew up in a fundamentalist church.  There is something unseemly about visiting a prostitute.

Though the Roman government had apparently put a damper on the sexual worship of goddesses (and gods) in other places, this practice still flourished in Corinth at the time Paul wrote.  Visiting a temple prostitute was good and in some cases necessary for good fortune.  Highly skilled sex slaves, both male πόρνοι (a form of πόρνος) and female πόρνης (a form of πόρνη), were readily available, and Paul counseled husbands and wives, because of this πορνείας (a form of πορνεία), to be that for each other.  He never repented of it.  He never gave it a different spin that I have found.  So I assume that even that degree of sensual and sexual commitment between husband and wife was not living according to the flesh26 in Paul’s understanding of the term he appropriated to describe the situation of the one born of the flesh and of the Spirit.

I want to leave the pelvic sins (as I heard a clever wag call them) to ponder the wider scope of opposition of the flesh to the Spirit of God.  Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality (πορνεία), impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things.27  There is a world of sin less than a hair’s breadth and a nanosecond away from me (there is no time or space between quantum states) at every moment of my life here in this body.  But I say, Paul wrote the Galatians, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.28  So then, brothers and sisters, Paul wrote the Romans, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh29

 

Addendum: May 31, 2024
Tables comparing Genesis 5:5 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing the Greek of Genesis 5:5 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Colossians 2:20; 2:23 and Luke 22:26 in the KJV and NET follow.

Genesis 5:5 (Tanakh)

Genesis 5:5 (KJV)

Genesis 5:5 (NET)

And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. The entire lifetime of Adam was 930 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 5:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐγένοντο πᾶσαι αἱ ἡμέραι Αδαμ ἃς ἔζησεν ἐννακόσια καὶ τριάκοντα ἔτη καὶ ἀπέθανεν καὶ ἐγένοντο πᾶσαι αἱ ἡμέραι ᾿Αδάμ, ἃς ἔζησε, τριάκοντα καὶ ἐννακόσια ἔτη, καὶ ἀπέθανεν

Genesis 5:5 (NETS)

Genesis 5:5 (English Elpenor)

And all the days of Adam, that he lived, amounted to nine hundred thirty years, and he died. And all the days of Adam which he lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

Colossians 2:20 (NET)

Colossians 2:20 (KJV)

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

Colossians 2:20 (NET Parallel Greek)

Colossians 2:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Colossians 2:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)

Εἰ ἀπεθάνετε σὺν Χριστῷ ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχείων τοῦ κόσμου, τί ὡς ζῶντες ἐν κόσμῳ δογματίζεσθε ει ουν απεθανετε συν τω χριστω απο των στοιχειων του κοσμου τι ως ζωντες εν κοσμω δογματιζεσθε ει απεθανετε συν χριστω απο των στοιχειων του κοσμου τι ως ζωντες εν κοσμω δογματιζεσθε

Colossians 2:23 (NET)

Colossians 2:23 (KJV)

Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body—a wisdom with no true value—they in reality result in fleshly indulgence. Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

Colossians 2:23 (NET Parallel Greek)

Colossians 2:23 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Colossians 2:23 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ἅτινα ἐστιν λόγον μὲν ἔχοντα σοφίας ἐν ἐθελοθρησκίᾳ καὶ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ ἀφειδίᾳ σώματος, οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ τινι πρὸς πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκός ατινα εστιν λογον μεν εχοντα σοφιας εν εθελοθρησκεια και ταπεινοφροσυνη και αφειδια σωματος ουκ εν τιμη τινι προς πλησμονην της σαρκος ατινα εστιν λογον μεν εχοντα σοφιας εν εθελοθρησκεια και ταπεινοφροσυνη και αφειδια σωματος ουκ εν τιμη τινι προς πλησμονην της σαρκος

Luke 22:26 (NET)

Luke 22:26 (KJV)

Not so with you; instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

Luke 22:26 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 22:26 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 22:26 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ μείζων ἐν ὑμῖν γινέσθω ὡς ὁ νεώτερος καὶ ὁ ἡγούμενος ὡς ὁ διακονῶν υμεις δε ουχ ουτως αλλ ο μειζων εν υμιν γενεσθω ως ο νεωτερος και ο ηγουμενος ως ο διακονων υμεις δε ουχ ουτως αλλ ο μειζων εν υμιν γενεσθω ως ο νεωτερος και ο ηγουμενος ως ο διακονων

1 Romans 8:12 (NET)

2 Matthew 6:12 (NET) Table

3 Colossians 2:8 (NET)

4 The Stephanus Textus Receptus had ουν (KJV: Wherefore) here. The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

5 The Stephanus Textus Receptus had the article τω preceding Christ. The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

7 The Stephanus Textus Receptus, Byzantine Majority Text and NA28 had καὶ preceding by an unsparing treatment (KJV: neglecting). The NET parallel Greek text did not (NET note 46).

8 Colossians 2:20-23 (NET)

9 1 Corinthians 7:3-5a (NET)

10 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had γινέσθω in the present tense here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had γενεσθω (KJV: let him be) in the 2nd aorist tense.

11 Luke 22:25, 26 (NET)

12 1 Corinthians 6:12 (NET)

13 1 Corinthians 6:16 (NET)

14 Romans 7:22 (NET)

15 Romans 7:20 (NET) Table

16 Friedrich Nietzsche: The Antichrist (part 2)

18 Romans 7:15 (NET)

20 Genesis 2:17 (NKJV) Table

21 Genesis 3:10 (NET) Table

22 Genesis 2:25 (NET) Table

23 Romans 6:6 (NET)

24 Genesis 5:5 (NET)

27 Galatians 5:19-21a (NET) [Table] There is no note explaining why, but adultery (μοιχεία) which heads this list in the KJV does not even appear in the Greek text from which the NET was translated. It does begin the list in the textus receptus (received text).

28 Galatians 5:16 (NET)

29 Romans 8:12 (NET)