Tag Archives: 1 John 4:1

The Day of the Lord, Part 6

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This is a continuation of my consideration whether my assumption that Jesus called Judas Iscariot ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας (NET: the one destined for destruction) is like Jesus’ disciples’ discussion about having no bread1 after He said: “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!”2

In another essay I began to look at John’s description of antichrist and many antichrists because Meyer’s NT Commentary stated that many of the Church Fathers had understood Paul’s description of the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, as the Antichrist.

2 Thessalonians 2:3b, 4 (NET)

The Church Fathers
For [the day of the Lord] will not arrive until the rebellion comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction (ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας) [Table]. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat in God’s temple, displaying himself as God [Table]. They correctly agree in considering that by the advent (2 Thessalonians 2:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:8), or the day of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:2), is to be understood the personal advent of Christ for the last judgment and for the completion of the Messianic kingdom. Also it is correctly regarded as proved, that the Antichrist here described is to be considered as an individual person, in whom sin will embody itself.

The last insight into antichrist I considered in another essay I titled “the antichrist…denies the Father and the Son.” John penned a contrast to this title in the final verse I quoted under that heading: The person who confesses (ὁ ὁμολογῶν) the Son has the Father also.3 His explanation of this point is my final insight:

4. …the spirit of the antichrist…refuses to confess Jesus

John wrote (1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 1:7 NET):

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that refuses to confess Jesus, that spirit is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist (ἀντιχρίστου), which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world [Table].

For many deceivers have gone out4 into the world, people who do not confess Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh. This person is the deceiver and the antichrist!

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.5 Though I might otherwise have focused on test (δοκιμάζετε, a form of δοκιμάζω) the spirits, this study has focused my attention on the many antichrists who went out from us.

1 John 2:18b, 19a (NET Parallel Greek) Table

1 John 4:1b (NET Parallel Greek)
καὶ νῦν ἀντίχριστοι πολλοὶ γεγόνασιν…ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐξῆλθαν ὅτι πολλοὶ ψευδοπροφῆται ἐξεληλύθασιν εἰς τὸν κόσμον

1 John 2:18b, 19a (NET)

1 John 4:1b (NET)
so now many antichrists have appeared…They went out from us because many false prophets have gone out into the world

This is, admittedly, the first time I’ve made any strong connection between ἀντίχριστοι πολλοὶ (many antichrists) and πολλοὶ ψευδοπροφῆται (many false prophets). The connection is made primarily by John’s descriptions of antichrist and many antichrists, but also through the verbs ἐξῆλθαν (They went out) and ἐξεληλύθασιν (have gone out), forms of ἐξέρχομαι. I hadn’t thought of these many false prophets as those who went out from us before. Jesus warned, Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.6

Up until this moment my religious mind had limited my understanding of false prophets to “religious” things, to those who make false predictions about Jesus’ return or some other false teaching of Scripture. Combined with the many antichrists who went out from us, Jesus’ warning that whoever does not gather with me scatters (σκορπίζει, a form of σκορπίζω) and my initial insights into false wonders, however, I’m willing to modify that understanding.

Charles Darwin doesn’t appear to be one who went out from the visible church literally. “Darwin and his family had a lifetime involvement with the Church of England, and various dissenting establishments…His local activities in the village of Down paint a fascinating picture of a man who, despite his own divergent beliefs and uncertainties, was determined to support the church as a social institution.”7 This was partly explained by the existence of a state church in England: “A nominal adherence to the Anglican Church’s teachings was still essential for admittance to many of the elite cultural and political institutions of England. It was required to enter Oxford and Cambridge, for example, and an Oxbridge degree was often crucial, in turn, in securing a position in the most prestigious professions. As a young man, Charles went up to Cambridge in 1828 with the aim of completing the necessary studies to be a clergyman.”8

On the other hand, it is apparent that Aleister Crowley went out from the Plymouth Brethren. An entry in Wikipedia describing “The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography” states: “In reference to his early years of being raised by fundamentalist Christians, Crowley explains how he became a rebel against conventional religion and how his behaviour and conflicts with authority figures contributed to his reputation as a dark magician. Whilst Crowley does not deny dabbling with demonic forces, his memoirs reveal that his aim was the progress and spiritual freedom of humanity.”9

E.O. Wilson, the controversial10 “father of sociobiology,” according to an entry11 in Wikipedia online:

…described his position as “provisional deism”[71] and explicitly denied the label of “atheist”, preferring “agnostic”.[72] He explained his faith as a trajectory away from traditional beliefs: “I drifted away from the church, not definitively agnostic or atheistic, just Baptist & Christian no more.”[45] Wilson argued that belief in God and the rituals of religion are products of evolution.[73] He argued that they should not be rejected or dismissed, but further investigated by science to better understand their significance to human nature. In his book The Creation, Wilson wrote that scientists ought to “offer the hand of friendship” to religious leaders and build an alliance with them, stating that “Science and religion are two of the most potent forces on Earth and they should come together to save the creation.”[74]

…In a New Scientist interview published on January 21, 2015, however, Wilson said that “Religion ‘is dragging us down’ and must be eliminated ‘for the sake of human progress'”, and “So I would say that for the sake of human progress, the best thing we could possibly do would be to diminish, to the point of eliminating, religious faiths.”[76]

An entry titled “Sociobiology” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy online states:

Human behavioral ecology (HBE), or human evolutionary ecology, is the current evolutionary social science most closely related to Wilson’s sociobiological project; it is the project that is sometimes still referred to as “sociobiology” by some philosophers of science (Griffiths, 2008; Sterelny and Griffiths, 1999)…

To understand the purposes of the HBE project, let’s consider one of its classic examples: Kaplan and Hill’s (1992) work on prey choice strategies amongst the Ache foragers of Paraguay. Just as in non-human behavioral ecology, behavioral strategies in HBE are usually described as complex behavioral dispositions. Behavioral dispositions involve behavioral responses to local stimuli; behavioral strategies then involve producing a set of different responses to a set of different stimuli (i.e. the response conditions of the strategy). According to Kaplan and Hill, the Ache prey choice strategy involves choosing a variety of different potential prey items from the environment; whether or not a prey item is taken depends on a number of circumstances acting as the response conditions: for example, the presence of prey with certain specific features, such as the caloric return of the prey given the time necessary to process it (known as the profitability); the rate at which that prey occurs in the environment; whether or not the prey is encountered on their search; and the search time available on a foraging trip…

HBEs explicitly accept that social learning of general purpose reasoning may be responsible for human behavioral strategies such as the Ache’s.

This was followed immediately by a Human Behavioral Ecology “statement of faith”:

However, this is ultimately irrelevant; one way or another, natural selection has, in effect, “seen to it” that humans behave in ways that tend to maximize their reproductive success.

The Lord used statements like this in E.O. Wilson’s comments on Sociobiology to help wean me from any consideration of evolution as a plausible alternative to his creation of life. As for “means” (e.g., God used evolution to create life as we see it now), it’s not what the Scripture says. Perhaps, the benefit I’ve derived from considering each of these men as I followed Jesus through the Scriptures has made me slow (or even loathe) to recognize them as false prophets and antichrists. And that brings me at last to Friedrich Nietzsche.

According to an entry in Wikipedia online, Friedrich Nietzsche was the son of “a Lutheran pastor[15]…Academic records from one of the schools attended by Nietzsche noted that he excelled in Christian theology.”[17] The Lord used Nietzsche’s12 writings to help me understand my own unbelief. I wrote of Nietzsche in another essay:

When I consider the justice of God’s mercy in and through Christ I am reminded of Friedrich Nietzsche. Jesus said, Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.[30] The soul cannot be killed with weaponry. But Friedrich Nietzsche came about as close to being a soul killer as I can imagine a human being becoming. Who can calculate his devastating impact on the souls of academics and the intelligentsia? But if I imagine him in torment in hell for all eternity, cursing his nonexistent god, I realize that I can imagine no greater destruction of the personality I know as Friedrich Nietzsche than to find him one day clothed and in his right mind,[31] and sitting at the feet of Jesus.

This particular blog entry posted: May 25, 2013. The confirmation of this “no greater destruction” insight posted: December 14, 2022. It was the first time I really grappled with the differences between the mind of Christ and my religious mind vis-a-vis John 12:31, 32 (NET).

Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

Before that study I could only see these as three independent projects on a to-do list. Afterward, I began to see the first two accomplished in the promise of the third. Present day scientists and philosophers would call that confirmation bias. Possibly so, but it’s the kind of confirmation bias that helps to keep me following Jesus through the Scripture.

Frankly, I would much rather tell you that I learned about the judgment of this world13 from Jesus’ words, explained in his promise, And I…will draw all people to myself,14 and then declared “that I can imagine no greater destruction of the personality I know as Friedrich Nietzsche than to find him one day clothed and in his right mind,[31] and sitting at the feet of Jesus.” The opposite, that I had this insight before I heard Jesus’ words (which I had read many times before), makes me feel stupid and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!15 And the prophet here was none other than the Lord Himself!

Granted, some of my stupidity and slowness of heart to believe is attributable to the fact that what I am believing now is contrary to my religion and even to my own religious mind. This confirmation bias is one of many that helps me to gain the courage to stand up to my religion and my own religious mind and say: “No, I would rather be wrong trusting Jesus’ words when I stand before Him in judgment, than right trusting yours.”

Having said that, I think it’s important to point out that John limited the terms antichrist, false prophets and deceivers (πλάνοι, a form of πλάνος) to those who do not confess Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh,16 to people who do not confess Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh.17 These are not terms John threw out at brothers and sisters who are slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. The resurrected Jesus described us as, You foolish people (ὦ ἀνόητοι).18 The Greek word ἀνόητοι is a plural form of the adjective ἀνόητος: “uneducated, low intelligence, unintelligent, lacking understanding; unwise, not thought on, unheard of; foolish, senseless.”

I’ll continue with this in another essay. A table comparing 2 John 1:7 in the NET and KJV follows.

2 John 1:7 (NET)

2 John 1:7 (KJV)
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who do not confess Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh. This person is the deceiver and the antichrist! For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

2 John 1:7 (NET Parallel Greek)

2 John 1:7 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

2 John 1:7 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Ὅτι πολλοὶ πλάνοι ἐξῆλθον εἰς τὸν κόσμον, οἱ μὴ ὁμολογοῦντες Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί· οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ πλάνος καὶ ὁ ἀντίχριστος οτι πολλοι πλανοι εισηλθον εις τον κοσμον οι μη ομολογουντες ιησουν χριστον ερχομενον εν σαρκι ουτος εστιν ο πλανος και ο αντιχριστος οτι πολλοι πλανοι εισηλθον εις τον κοσμον οι μη ομολογουντες ιησουν χριστον ερχομενον εν σαρκι ουτος εστιν ο πλανος και ο αντιχριστος

1 Mark 8:16b (NET) Table

2 Mark 8:15b (NET)

3 1 John 2:23b (NET) Table

4 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἐξῆλθον here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εισηλθον (KJV: are entered).

5 1 John 4:1 (NET)

6 Matthew 12:30 (NET)

8 Ibid.

10 Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, 1975, “Reception and controversy,” E. O. Wilson

11 “God and religion,” E. O. Wilson

13 John 12:31 (NET)

14 John 12:32 (NET)

15 Luke 24:25b (NET)

16 1 John 4:2, 3 (NET) Table

17 2 John 1:7 (NET)

18 Luke 24:25b (NET)

Isaiah 53:10-12, Part 1

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This study originated in another essay: “I plan to look at all the differences between the Masoretic text and the Septuagint here.”  (My take on Isaiah 53:10a can be found there.)  I decided to give Isaiah 53:10-12 its own thread when I felt rushed and unwilling to spend the time it deserved as an aside in another thread.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Isaiah 53:10b (Tanakh) Table Isaiah 53:10b (NET) Isaiah 53:10b (NETS)

Isaiah 53:10b (Elpenor English)
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, once restitution is made, If you offer for sin, If ye can give an offering for sin,

A note (28) in the NET after the line—once restitution is made—reads:

The meaning of this line is uncertain. It reads literally, “if you/she makes, a reparation offering, his life.” The verb תָּשִׂים (tasim) could be second masculine singular, in which case it would have to be addressed to the servant or to God. However, the servant is only addressed once in this servant song (see 52:14a), and God either speaks or is spoken about in this servant song; he is never addressed. Furthermore, the idea of God himself making a reparation offering is odd. If the verb is taken as third feminine singular, then the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) at the end of the line is the likely subject. In this case one can take the suffixed form of the noun as equivalent to a pronoun and translate, “if he [literally, “his life”] makes a reparation offering.”

“Furthermore, the idea of God himself making a reparation offering is odd,” practically leapt off the page at me.  Assuming the NET translators considered וַֽיהֹוָ֞ה (yehôvâh) here[1] as the Father and taking Jesus literally—The Father and I are one[2]—I ask, who but יְהֹוָה (yehôvâh) could make a meaningful “reparation offering”?  For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.[3]  The writer of Hebrews explained (Hebrews 9:22-26 NET):

Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.  So it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves required better sacrifices than these.  For Christ[4] did not enter a sanctuary made with hands—the representation of the true sanctuary—but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us [Table].  And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own, for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world.  But now[5] he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin[6] by his sacrifice [Table].

Who wrote the letter to the Hebrews?  It seems important now to explain what I’m thinking since I can’t calculate how much affect that speculation has on my interpretation.

Matthew 22:34-40 (NET) Mark 12:28-31 (NET)
Now one of the experts in the law came and heard them debating.
Now when the Pharisees heard that [Jesus] had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled together.
When he saw that Jesus answered them well,
And one of them, an expert in religious law, asked him a question to test him:[7] he asked him,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Jesus said[8] to him, Jesus answered,
“The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one [Table].
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength’ [Table].
This is the first and greatest commandment [Table].
The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments” [Table].
There is no other commandment greater than these” [Table].

If I had read Matthew’s account only I would have thought this unnamed Pharisee tried to entrap Jesus in his words.  Mark pointed out that he saw that Jesus answered [the Sadducees] well.  This insight makes me suspect that the unnamed Pharisee became known to Mark or Peter at some later time.  At that particular moment he may have hoped his brother Pharisees perceived his question as a test (πειράζων, a form of πειράζω) but I wonder if, secretly, it was more like what John described: Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test (δοκιμάζετε, a form of δοκιμάζω) the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.[9]

Mark’s Gospel narrative continued (Mark 12:32-34a NET):

The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him.  And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices”[10] [Table].  When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

Jesus’ affirmation along with this unnamed Pharisee’s desire for a love [that] is the fulfillment of the law[11] causes me to think he stood in the background among the other disciples as Jesus, after his resurrection, taught them what became the content of the letter to the Hebrews.  Though I quoted Paul, I don’t think this unnamed Pharisee was Saul.  The Pharisee who became the Apostle Paul was off doing his own thing, advancing in Judaism beyond many of [his] contemporaries in [his] nation, and was extremely zealous for the traditions of [his] ancestors.[12]

I think the Eleven plus Matthias (Acts 1:15-26) struggled mentally to force Jesus’ death and resurrection into their hypothesis of a political revolutionary who would free Israel from Roman domination.  Jesus’ teaching washed over them, virtually unheard and unheeded.  It was too technical, too religious, perhaps even too “heretical” to fully sink in.

This is not to say that the unnamed Pharisee was untroubled by Jesus’ teaching.  But I think that he was not a zealot in any sense of the word.  He was more patient, more thoughtful, more attuned to these particular technicalities and more willing to entertain Jesus’ notions, though he, too, would need time and the indwelling Holy Spirit to fully embrace them.

Sometime prior to the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:54-8:3) this unnamed Pharisee recalled Jesus’ teaching as a solution to signs of defection he witnessed among his brothers, and he wrote it down.  I don’t know if he showed it to anyone or not.  To the apostles in Jerusalem, seeing themselves primarily as a Jewish reform movement (Acts 21:18-24), it may have seemed too radical, like pouring fuel on a smoldering fire (Acts 21:26-31).

I imagine this unnamed Pharisee standing again in the background at the Jerusalem Council.  He sensed a kindred spirit in Paul and handed him a copy, perhaps his only copy, of the manuscript of the letter to the Hebrews.  John could have confirmed its contents as Jesus’ teaching if Paul had asked.  I don’t know how Paul might have reacted.

He seemed content with the results of the Jerusalem Council initially: As [he and Timothy] went through the towns, they passed on the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the Gentile believers to obey.[13]

After Paul journeyed through Athens and Corinth, however, perhaps during the affliction that happened to [him] in the province of Asia,[14] I think Jesus’ teaching in the unnamed Pharisee’s writing known as Hebrews percolated, along with his recent experience and the Holy Spirit’s answers to the things that had troubled him (Romans 9-11), into that masterful Gospel commentary known today as Paul’s Letter to the Romans.  That unnamed Pharisee’s account of Jesus’ teaching had a much better opportunity for widespread circulation in Paul’s traveling library of scrolls and parchments.

This is all conjecture on my part, more like a screenwriter or an actor developing a backstory.  I share it here because I promised I would and because it may have some influence on my interpretation of Hebrews.

I searched all the occurrences of אָשָׁם֙ (ʼâshâm), translated offering for sin (Tanakh, KJV) and restitution (NET), and made the following table of those with identical consonants (no prefixes or suffixes) to see how the rabbis translated each of them in the Septuagint.

Reference Hebrew – Chabad.org Tanakh NET Septuagint BLB Septuagint Elpenor
Isaiah 53:10 אָשָׁם֙ an offering for sin restitution περὶ ἁμαρτίας περὶ ἁμαρτίας
Genesis 26:10 אָשָֽׁם guiltiness guilt ἄγνοιαν, a form of ἄγνοια ἄγνοιαν, a form of ἄγνοια
Leviticus 5:19 אָשָׁ֖ם a guilt-offering a guilt offering n/a n/a
Leviticus 7:5 אָשָׁ֖ם a guilt-offering a guilt offering πλημμελείας, a form of πλημμέλεια πλημμελείας, a form of πλημμέλεια
Leviticus 14:21 אָשָׁ֛ם a guilt-offering a guilt offering ἐπλημμέλησεν, a form of πλημμελέω ἐπλημμέλησεν, a form of πλημμελέω
Leviticus 19:21 אָשָֽׁם a guilt-offering a guilt-offering πλημμελείας, a form of πλημμέλεια πλημμελείας, a form of πλημμέλεια
1 Samuel (Kings) 6:3 אָשָׁ֑ם a guilt-offering a guilt offering ἀποδιδόντες a form of ἀποδίδωμι ἀποδιδόντες a form of ἀποδίδωμι
1 Samuel (Kings) 6:8 אָשָׁ֔ם a guilt-offering a guilt offering ἀποδώσετε…τῆς βασάνου ἀποδώσετε…τῆς βασάνου
1 Samuel (Kings) 6:17 אָשָׁ֖ם a guilt-offering a guilt offering ἀπέδωκαν…τῆς βασάνου ἀπέδωκαν…τῆς βασάνου
2 Kings 12:16 (4 Kings 12:17) אָשָׁם֙ forfeit reparation offerings περὶ ἁμαρτίας περὶ ἁμαρτίας
Proverbs 14:9 אָשָׁ֑ם sin reparation ὀφειλήσουσιν καθαρισμόν ὀφειλήσουσι καθαρισμόν
Jeremiah 51:5 (28:5) אָשָׁ֔ם sin guilt ἀδικίας, a form of ἀδικία ἀδικίας, a form of ἀδικία

Only 2 Kings 12:16 (4 Kings 12:17) matched the vowel points with the occurrence in Isaiah 53:10.  Both were translated περὶ ἁμαρτίας (for sin).  A table of the homograph אָשַׁ֥ם (ʼâsham) yielded no additional vowel point matches.

Reference Hebrew – Chabad.org Tanakh NET Septuagint BLB Septuagint Elpenor
Leviticus 5:19 אָשֹׁ֥ם is certainly was surely ἐπλημμέλησεν ἐπλημμέλησε
אָשַׁ֖ם guilty guilty πλημμέλησιν πλημμελείᾳ
Numbers 5:7 אָשַׁ֥ם he hath been guilty he wronged ἐπλημμέλησεν ἐπλημμέλησεν

The exercise persuaded me that אָשָׁם֙ (ʼâshâm) was the Hebrew word the rabbis intended to understand and translate in the Septuagint.  Then I searched all occurrences of תָּשִׂ֚ים (suwm), translated thou shalt make (Tanakh, KJV) and is made (NET), and made the following table of those with identical consonants (no prefixes or suffixes).

Reference Hebrew – Chabad.org Tanakh NET Septuagint BLB Septuagint Elpenor
Isaiah 53:10 תָּשִׂ֚ים thou shalt make is made δῶτε, a (2nd person plural) form of δίδωμι δῶτε, a (2nd person plural) form of δίδωμι
Genesis 6:16 תָּשִׂ֑ים shalt thou set Put ποιήσεις, a (2nd person singular) form of ποιέω ποιήσεις, a (2nd person singular) form of ποιέω
Genesis 44:2 תָּשִׂים֙ put put ἐμβάλατε, a (2nd person plural) form of ἐμβάλλω ἐμβάλετε, a (2nd person plural) form of ἐμβάλλω
Exodus 21:1 תָּשִׂ֖ים thou shalt set you will set παραθήσεις, a (2nd person singular) form of παρατίθημι παραθήσῃ, a (2nd person singular) form of παρατίθημι
Deuteronomy 17:15 תָּשִׂ֤ים thou shalt…set you must select καταστήσεις, a (2nd person singular) form of καθίστημι καταστήσεις, a (2nd person singular) form of καθίστημι
תָּשִׂ֤ים shalt thou set you must appoint καταστήσεις καταστήσεις
Deuteronomy 22:8 תָשִׂ֤ים thou bring being ποιήσεις ποιήσεις
1 Samuel (Kings) 10:19 תָּשִֹ֣ים set Appoint στήσεις, a (2nd person singular) form of ἵστημι καταστήσεις
1 Kings 20:34 (3 Kings 21:34) תָּשִֹ֨ים thou shalt make You may set up θήσεις, a (2nd person singular) form of τίθημι θήσεις, a (2nd person singular) form of τίθημι
Job 7:12 תָשִׂ֖ים thou settest you must put κατέταξας, a (2nd person singular) form of κατατάσσω κατέταξας, a (2nd person singular) form of κατατάσσω
Job 38:33 תָּשִׂ֖ים thou set you set up n/a n/a
Isaiah 41:15 תָּשִֽׂים and shalt make you will make θήσεις θήσεις
Ezekiel 21:20 (21:25) תָּשִׂ֔ים Appoint Mark out n/a n/a
Ezekiel 24:17 תָּשִׂ֣ים and put on and put n/a n/a

None of the other occurrences of תָּשִׂ֚ים (suwm) matched the vowel points exactly.  All were translated into Greek as 2nd person verbs, most were singular.  The plural exceptions were Isaiah 53:10 [Table] and Genesis 44:2.

Masoretic Text Septuagint
Genesis 44:2 (Tanakh) Genesis 44:2 (NET) Genesis 44:2 (NETS) Genesis 44:2 (Elpenor English)
And put (תָּשִׂים֙) my goblet, the silver goblet, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his corn money.’  And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. Then put (suwm, תשׁים) my cup—the silver cup—in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the money for his grain.”  He did as Joseph instructed. and put (ἐμβάλατε) my silver cup into the bag of the younger one, with the price of his grain.”  And it happened according to the word of Joseph, just as he said. And put (ἐμβάλετε) my silver cup into the sack of the youngest, and the price of his corn.  And it was done according to the word of Joseph, as he said.

I don’t see any reason for a plural verb here but its existence gives me pause to consider the similar occurrence in Isaiah 53:10 as the translators’ interpretive choice.  Since “third [person] feminine singular” was another option cited in the NET note above I made a table of those occurrences as well.

Reference Hebrew – Chabad.org Tanakh NET Septuagint BLB Septuagint Elpenor
Exodus 2:3 וַתָּ֤שֶׂם put put ἐνέβαλεν, a (3rd person singular) form of ἐμβάλλω ἐνέβαλε, a (3rd person singular) form of ἐμβάλλω
וַתָּ֥שֶׂם laid set ἔθηκεν, a (3rd person singular) form of τίθημι ἔθηκεν, a (3rd person singular) form of τίθημι
1 Samuel (Kings) 25:18 וַתָּ֖שֶׂם and laid She loaded ἔθετο, a (3rd person singular) form of τίθημι ἔθετο, a (3rd person singular) form of τίθημι
2 Samuel (Kings) 13:19 וַתָּ֚שֶׂם and she laid She put ἐπέθηκεν, a (3rd person singular) form of ἐπιτίθημι ἐπέθηκε, a (3rd person singular) form of ἐπιτίθημι
2 Kings (4 Kings) 9:30 וַתָּ֨שֶׂם and she painted she put on ἐστιμίσατο, a (3rd person singular) form of στιμίζω ἐστιμίσατο, a (3rd person singular) form of στιμίζω
Esther 8:2 וַתָּ֧שֶׂם And…set And…designated κατέστησεν, a (3rd person singular) form of καθίστημι κατέστησεν, a (3rd person singular) form of καθίστημι
Job 13:27 וְתָ֘שֵׂ֚ם Thou puttest And you put ἔθου, a (2nd person singular) form of τίθημι ἔθου, a (2nd person singular) form of τίθημι

The final occurrence (Job 13:27), though its consonants were identical to the others, was clearly “second [person] masculine singular.”  And none of these was an exact match for the occurrence in Isaiah 53:10.  I noted one other form which was translated as forms of τίθημι in the Septuagint.

Reference Hebrew – Chabad.org Tanakh NET Septuagint BLB Septuagint Elpenor
1 Samuel (Kings) 9:20 תָּ֧שֶׂם set be θῇς, a (2nd person singular) form of τίθημι θῇς, a (2nd person singular) form of τίθημι
Psalm 66:9 (65:9) הַשָּׂ֣ם Which holdeth He preserves θεμένου, a (singular participle) form of τίθημι θεμένου, a (singular participle) form of τίθημι
Psalm 104:3 (103:3) הַשָּֽׂם who maketh He makes τιθεὶς, a (singular participle) form of τίθημι τιθεὶς, a (singular participle) form of τίθημι
Psalm 147:14 (147:3) הַשָּׂ֣ם He maketh He brings τιθεὶς τιθεὶς
Isaiah 63:11 הַשָּׂ֥ם he that put who placed θεὶς, a (singular participle) form of τίθημι θεὶς, a (singular participle) form of τίθημι

This exercise made me willing to consider that תָּשִׂ֚ים (suwm) might be original to Isaiah 53:10, the Hebrew word the rabbis intended to understand and translate in the Septuagint.  Paul, in his greeting to believers in Galatia, had also used a (singular) form of δίδωμι  (Galatians 1:3-5 NET):

Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave (δόντος, another form of δίδωμι) himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father [Table], to whom be glory forever and ever!  Amen.

Though I still need to consider נַפְשׁ֔וֹ (nephesh), translated his soul (Tannakh, KJV), I began to consider: if this—when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin—is the more legitimate understanding of this clause, how did God make his soul an offering for sin?

What follows is a fictional explanation from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, offered as the intellectual equivalent of an appetizer, to get the mind warmed up to the taste and smell of this issue:

“It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”[15]

The understanding that was part of my own socialization is perhaps best exemplified by an excerpt from “The Death of Christ,” a sermon delivered by Charles Haddon Spurgeon on January 24, 1858:

Understand, then, the sense in which Christ was made a sacrifice for sin. But here lies the glory of this matter. It was as a substitute for sin that he did actually and literally suffer punishment for the sin of all his elect. When I say this, I am not to be understood as using any figure whatever, but as saying actually what I mean. Man for his sin was condemned to eternal fire; when God took Christ to be the substitute, it is true, he did not send Christ into eternal fire, but he poured upon him grief so desperate, that it was a valid payment for even an eternity of fire. Man was condemned to live forever in hell. God did not send Christ forever into hell; but he put on Christ, punishment that was equivalent for that. Although he did not give Christ to drink the actual hells of believers, yet he gave him a quid pro quo—something that was equivalent thereunto. He took the cup of Christ’s agony, and he put in there, suffering, misery, and anguish such as only God can imagine or dream of, that was the exact equivalent for all the suffering, all the woe, and all the eternal tortures of every one that shall at last stand in heaven, bought with the blood of Christ.

Both of these explanations share a common theme: God made Christ “a sacrifice for sin” by conforming to something presumed to be innate to the created cosmos.  In C.S. Lewis’ fiction He conformed to the “deeper magic” and in Charles Spurgeon’s sermon He conformed to some idea of judicial or commercial equivalence:  “something that was equivalent” to “a valid payment for even an eternity of fire” since “Man was condemned to live forever in hell.”

I think God made Christ “a sacrifice for sin” by the truth, power and authority of his word.

God said, Let Christ be the offering for sin.  And God made Christ the offering for sin, and it was so (John 3:16 NET Table):

For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

God said, Let Christ be the offering for sin.  And it was so (John 11:49-53 NET):

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

God said, Let Christ be the offering for sin.  And it was so.  The Christ obeyed God his Father (John 10:17, 18 NET).

This is why the Father loves me—because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again.  No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will.  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again.  This commandment I received from my Father.”

Tables comparing Genesis 44:2 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing Genesis 44:2 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and a table comparing Matthew 22:35 in the NET and KJV follow.

Genesis 44:2 (Tanakh) Genesis 44:2 (KJV) Genesis 44:2 (NET)
And put my goblet, the silver goblet, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his corn money.’  And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his corn money.  And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. Then put my cup—the silver cup—in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the money for his grain.”  He did as Joseph instructed.
Genesis 44:2 (Septuagint BLB) Genesis 44:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ τὸ κόνδυ μου τὸ ἀργυροῦν ἐμβάλατε εἰς τὸν μάρσιππον τοῦ νεωτέρου καὶ τὴν τιμὴν τοῦ σίτου αὐτοῦ ἐγενήθη δὲ κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμα Ιωσηφ καθὼς εἶπεν καὶ τὸ κόνδυ μου τὸ ἀργυροῦν ἐμβάλετε εἰς τὸν μάρσιππον τοῦ νεωτέρου καὶ τὴν τιμὴν τοῦ σίτου αὐτοῦ. ἐγενήθη δὲ κατὰ τὸ ρῆμα ᾿Ιωσήφ, καθὼς εἶπε
Genesis 44:2 (NETS) Genesis 44:2 (English Elpenor)
and put my silver cup into the bag of the younger one, with the price of his grain.”  And it happened according to the word of Joseph, just as he said. And put my silver cup into the sack of the youngest, and the price of his corn.  And it was done according to the word of Joseph, as he said.
Matthew 22:35 (NET) Matthew 22:35 (KJV)
And one of them, an expert in religious law, asked him a question to test him: Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἐπηρώτησεν εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν [νομικὸς] πειράζων αὐτόν και επηρωτησεν εις εξ αυτων νομικος πειραζων αυτον και λεγων και επηρωτησεν εις εξ αυτων νομικος πειραζων αυτον και λεγων

[1] Isaiah 53:10a

[2] John 10:30 (NET)

[3] Hebrews 10:4 (NET)

[4] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article ο preceding Christ.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[5] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had νυνὶ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had νυν.

[6] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the article τῆς preceding sin.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[7] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και λεγων (KJV: and saying) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[8] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had ιησους ειπεν here.  The Byzantine Majority Text had ιησους εφη.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had simply ἔφη.

[9] 1 John 4:1 (NET)

[10] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had the article των preceding sacrifices.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[11] Romans 13:10b (NET)

[12] Galatians 1:14 (NET)

[13] Acts 16:4 (NET) Table

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

[15] The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Spark Notes

Romans, Part 46

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If it is service (διακονίαν, a form of διακονία),[1] Paul wrote, to continue considering the different gifts (χαρίσματα, a form of χάρισμα)[2] that comprise the diversity of oneness,, he must serve (διακονίᾳ).[3]  Paul wrote to the Corinthians about different gifts (χαρισμάτων, another form of χάρισμα) and different ministries (διακονιῶν, another form of διακονία): the message of wisdom…the message of knowledge…faith…gifts (χαρίσματα) of healing…performance of miracles…prophecy…discernment of spirits…different kinds of tongues, and…the interpretation of tongues.[4]  Yet in the previous chapter of Romans Paul wrote, Seeing that I am an apostle (ἀπόστολος)[5] to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry (διακονίαν, a form of διακονία)…[6]  As I consider this and the historical fact that most of the different ministries (διακονιῶν, another form of διακονία) listed in 1 Corinthians above were associated with Jesus’ apostles, I assume that the ministry (διακονίαν, a form of διακονία) of an apostle was the service (διακονίαν, a form of διακονία) Paul had primarily in mind in Romans 12.

Still, the service (διακονίαν, a form of διακονία) most associated with the apostles is the ministry (διακονία) of reconciliation: God…reconciled us to himself through Christ, and…has given us the ministry (διακονία) of reconciliation.[7]  And the ministry (διακονία) of reconciliation is nothing less than the ministry (διακονία) of the Spirit, the ministry (διακονία) that produces righteousness (2 Corinthians 3:7-9 NET).

But if the ministry (διακονία) that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets – came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective), how much more glorious will the ministry (διακονία) of the Spirit be?  For if there was glory in the ministry (διακονίᾳ) that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry (διακονία) that produces righteousness excel in glory!

It was [Jesus], Paul wrote the Ephesians, who gave some as apostles (ἀποστόλους, another form of ἀπόστολος)…[8]  And God has placed in the church first apostles[9] (ἀποστόλους, another form of ἀπόστολος), he wrote the Corinthians.  Not all are apostles (ἀπόστολοι, another form of ἀπόστολος), are they?[10] Paul asked rhetorically.

If [the gift] is teaching (διδάσκων, a form of διδάσκω),[11] Paul continued in Romans, he must teach (διδασκαλίᾳ).[12]  In Corinth the Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, “Do not be afraid,but speak and do not be silent, because I am with you, and no one will assault you to harm you, because I have many people in this city” [Table].  So he stayed there a year and six months, teaching (διδάσκων, a form of διδάσκω) the word of God among them.[13]  Paul[14] lived[15] [in Rome] two whole years in his own rented quarters and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching (διδάσκων, a form of διδάσκω) about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete boldness and without restriction.[16]

I was appointed, Paul wrote Timothy, a preacher and apostle (ἀπόστολος) and teacher (διδάσκαλος)[17] of the fact that our Savior Christ Jesus…has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.[18]  Apparently Timothy was also appointed as a teacher.  Until I come, Paul wrote to him, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching (διδασκαλίᾳ).[19]  And he continued (1 Timothy 4:14-16 NET):

Do not neglect the spiritual gift (χαρίσματος, another form of χάρισμα) you have, given to you and confirmed by prophetic words (προφητείας, another form of προφητεία) when the elders laid hands on you.  Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that everyone will see your progress.  Be conscientious about how you live and what you teach (διδασκαλίᾳ).  Persevere in this, because by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.

It was [Jesus], Paul wrote the Ephesians, who gave some…as pastors and teachers (διδασκάλους, another form of διδάσκαλος), to equip the saints for the work of ministry (διακονίας, another form of διακονία), that is, to build up the body of Christ, 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.[20]  And God has placed in the church…third teachers[21] (διδασκάλους, another form of διδάσκαλος), he wrote the Corinthians.  Not all are teachers (διδάσκαλοι, another form of διδάσκαλος), are they? He asked rhetorically.  He also gave Timothy the following prophetic warning (2 Timothy 4:3 NET):

 For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound (ὑγιαινούσης, a form of ὑγιαίνω) teaching (διδασκαλίας, another form of διδασκαλία).  Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers (διδασκάλους, another form of διδάσκαλος) for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things.

In other words, the teachers most honored by people and the teachers spiritually gifted to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 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, may not be one and the same.  But the next gift to consider may provide a method for distinguishing between the two.

If [the gift] is exhortation (παρακαλῶν, a form of παρακαλέω), Paul continued in Romans, he must exhort (παρακλήσει, a form of παράκλησις)…[23]  Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul began his second letter to the Corinthians, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort (παρακλήσεως, another form of παράκλησις), who comforts (παρακαλῶν, a form of παρακαλέω) us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort (παρακαλεῖν, another form of παρακαλέω) those experiencing any trouble with the comfort (παρακλήσεως, another form of παράκλησις) with which we ourselves are comforted (παρακαλούμεθα, another form of παρακαλέω) by God.[24]

Paul wrote again about receiving God’s exhortation through the message brought by Titus:  But God, who encourages (παρακαλῶν, a form of παρακαλέω) the downhearted, encouraged (παρεκάλεσεν, another form of παρακαλέω) us by the arrival of Titus.  We were encouraged not only by his arrival, but also by the encouragement (παρακλήσει, a form of παράκλησις) you gave (παρεκλήθη, another form of παρακαλέω) him, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your deep concern for me, so that I rejoiced more than ever.[25]

The Corinthians’ longing, mourning and deep concern for Paul also exhorted him: I have great confidence in you; I take great pride on your behalf.  I am filled with encouragement (παρακλήσει, a form of παράκλησις); I am overflowing with joy in the midst of all our suffering.[26]  Therefore we have been encouraged (παρακεκλήμεθα, another form of παρακαλέω).  And in addition to our own encouragement (παρακλήσει, a form of παράκλησις), we rejoiced even more at the joy of Titus, because all of you have refreshed his spirit.[27]  And Paul told Timothy not only to teach but to comfort and encourage his people in a similar manner: Until I come, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation (παρακλήσει, a form of παράκλησις), to teaching (διδασκαλία).[28]

A teacher’s exhortation reveals that teacher’s knowledge and faith.  It may even be another valid way to test the spirits to determine if they are from God.[29]  Surely the Spirit from God knows the depth (βάθος)[30] of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God,[31] that from him and through him and to him are all things.[32]  For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep (βάθη, another form of βάθος) things of God.[33]  Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God,[34] John wrote.  Does a given teacher comfort me with the knowledge of the love that God has in us, or encourage me to believe the love that God has in us[35] in Jesus, the Christ who has come in the flesh, the Son of God, through his Holy Spirit?  Or does that teacher rob me of such comfort, and encourage me to know or to believe or to do something else instead?

Romans, Part 47

Back to Saving Demon, Part 2

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 7

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 8

Back to Romans, Part 87

[3] Romans 12:7a (NET)

[4] 1 Corinthians 12:4, 5, 8-10 (NET)

[6] Romans 11:13b (NET)

[7] 2 Corinthians 5:18 (NET)

[8] Ephesians 4:11a (NET)

[9] 1 Corinthians 12:28a (NET)

[10] 1 Corinthians 12:29a (NET)

[12] Romans 12:7b (NET)

[13] Acts 18:9-11 (NET)

[14] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ο παυλος (Paul) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[16] Acts 28:30, 31 (NET) Table

[17] 2 Timothy 1:11 (NET)

[18] 2 Timothy 1:10 (NET)

[19] 1 Timothy 4:13 (NET)

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

[21] 1 Corinthians 12:28 (NET)

[23] Romans 12:8 (NET)

[24] 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4 (NET)

[25] 2 Corinthians 7:6, 7 (NET)

[26] 2 Corinthians 7:4 (NET)

[27] 2 Corinthians 7:13 (NET)

[28] 1 Timothy 4:13 (NET)

[29] 1 John 4:1 (NET)

[31] Romans 11:33a (NET)

[32] Romans 11:36a (NET)

[33] 1 Corinthians 2:10b (NET)

[34] 1 John 4:2 (NET)