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)

Fear – Leviticus

Each of you must respect (yârêʼ)[1] his mother and his father, and you must keep my Sabbaths.  I am the Lord your God.[2]  The Rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose φοβείσθω, a form of φοβέω[3] (fear, put to flight).[4]  The note in the NET reads: “Heb ‘A man his mother and his father you [plural] shall fear.’ The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and certain Targum mss reverse the order, ‘his father and his mother.’ The term ‘fear’ is subject to misunderstanding by the modern reader, so ‘respect’ has been used in the translation. Cf. NAB, NRSV ‘revere’; NASB ‘reverence’.”

Honor your father and your mother, that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you,[5] the law reads in Exodus.  And in Deuteronomy it reads, Honor your father and your mother just as the Lord your God has commanded you to do, so that your days may be extended and that it may go well with you in the land that he is about to give you.[6]  Respect may be the best translation of yârêʼ in Leviticus 19:3.  Still, at the risk of being a modern reader misunderstanding the text, I would like to spend a moment to consider why someone under the law might actually fear his mother and father (Deuteronomy 21:18-21 NET).

If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city.  They must declare to the elders of his city, “Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say – he is a glutton and drunkard.”  Then all the men of his city must stone him to death.  In this way you will purge out wickedness from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid (yârêʼ).

The quip from Bill Cosby’s father—“I brought you in this world, and I can take you out”[7]—was legally true in Israel.  This is law; this is how it works.  It is about purging out wickedness by removing the evildoer from society, by stoning the lawbreaker to death in this case, so all Israel will hear about it and be afraidAfraid was translated φοβηθήσονται, a form of φοβέω[8] in the Septuagint.  The law is all about punishment and the fear of punishment.  The goal of punishment, particularly capital punishment, is to instill fear into the unrighteous in the hope that they will abide by the law.  This is the righteousness of the law.  It is the best of all possible worlds as far as law is concerned.

The other occurrences of yârêʼ in Leviticus are formulaic.  There is a law associated with fearing God (or his sanctuary):

Reference

Law

yârêʼ (fear)

Septuagint

Leviticus 19:14 (NET) You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person. You must fear (yârêʼ) your God; I am the Lord. φοβηθήσῃ, a form of φοβέω[9]
Leviticus 19:30 (NET) You must keep my Sabbaths… …and fear (yârê) my sanctuary.  I am the Lord. φοβηθήσεσθε, a form of φοβέω[10]
Leviticus 19:32 (NET) You must stand up in the presence of the aged, honor the presence of an elder… …and fear (yârêʼ) your God.  I am the Lord. φοβηθήσῃ, a form of φοβέω
Leviticus 25:17 (NET) No one is to oppress his fellow citizen… …but you must fear (yârêʼ) your God, because I am the Lord your God. φοβηθήσῃ, a form of φοβέω
Leviticus 25:36 (NET) Do not take interest or profit from him… …but you must fear (yârêʼ) your God and your brother must live with you. φοβηθήσῃ, a form of φοβέω
Leviticus 25:43 (NET) You must not rule over him harshly… …but you must fear (yârêʼ) your God. φοβηθήσῃ, a form of φοβέω
Leviticus 26:2 (NET) You must keep my Sabbaths… …and reverence (yârê) my sanctuary.  I am the Lord. φοβηθήσεσθε, a form of φοβέω

One should demonstrate his fear of God not by running away but by 1) not cursing a deaf person or putting a stumbling block in front of a blind person; 2) keeping the Sabbaths; 3) standing up and honoring the presence of an elder; 4) not oppressing a fellow citizen; 5) not taking interest or profiting from him; and 6) not ruling over him harshly.  Combined with the fear of punishment for noncompliance it is not too difficult to see how fearing God came to mean obeying his laws.

Jesus used this formula Himself:

Reference

Law

Fear God

Matthew 10:28 (NET) Do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φοβέω) of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φοβέω) the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Luke 12:4, 5 (NET) I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid (φοβηθῆτε, a form of φοβέω) of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do. But I will warn you whom you should fear (φοβηθῆτε, a form of φοβέω): Fear (φοβήθητε, a form of φοβέω) the one who, after the killing, has authority to throw you into hell.  Yes, I tell you, fear (φοβήθητε, a form of φοβέω) him!

But Jesus added something to this formula, a reason not to fear; namely, our value to God our Father.

Law

Fear God

Don’t Fear God

Do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φοβέω) of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

Matthew 10:28a (NET)

Instead, fear (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φοβέω) the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28b (NET)

Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.  Even all the hairs on your head are numbered.  So do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φοβέω); you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:29-31 (NET)

I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid (φοβηθῆτε, a form of φοβέω) of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do.

Luke 12:4 (NET)

But I will warn you whom you should fear (φοβηθῆτε, a form of φοβέω): Fear (φοβήθητε, a form of φοβέω) the one who, after the killing, has authority to throw you into hell.  Yes, I tell you, fear (φοβήθητε, a form of φοβέω)   him!

Luke 12:5 (NET)

Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies?  Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.  In fact, even   the hairs on your head are all numbered.  Do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φοβέω); you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Luke 12:6, 7 (NET)

God’s love, the Apostle John’s shorthand for what Paul called the fruit of the Spirit, not merely for us but in us, transforms our fear of God into reverence and worship for Him.

Law

Fear God

Don’t Fear God

Love

Do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φοβέω) of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

Matthew 10:28a (NET)

Instead, fear (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φοβέω) the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28b (NET)

Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.  Even all the hairs on your head are numbered.  So do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φοβέω); you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:29-31 (NET)

And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us.  God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him.

1 John 4:16 (NET) Table

I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid (φοβηθῆτε, a form of φοβέω) of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do.

Luke 12:4 (NET)

But I will warn you whom you should fear (φοβηθῆτε, a form of φοβέω): Fear (φοβήθητε, a form of φοβέω) the one who, after the killing, has authority to throw you into hell.  Yes, I tell you, fear (φοβήθητε, a form of φοβέω) him!

Luke 12:5 (NET)

Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies?  Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.  In fact, even the hairs on your head are all numbered.  Do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φοβέω); you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Luke 12:6, 7 (NET)

There is no fear (φόβος)[11] in love, but perfect love drives out fear (φόβον, a form of φόβος), because fear (φόβος) has to do with punishment (κόλασιν, a form of κόλασις).[12]  The one who fears (φοβούμενος, a form of φοβέω) punishment has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:18 (NET)

He made the one who did not know (γνόντα, a form of γινώσκω)[13] sin[14]  Yahweh became flesh as Jesus and then Jesus did not need anyone to testify about man, for he knew (ἐγίνωσκεν, another form of γινώσκω) what was in man.[15] God made the one who did not know (γνόντα, a form of γινώσκω)[16] sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.[17]  The Father has a different attitude toward us who have been reconciled to Him through Jesus/Yahweh: Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ, a form of φοβέω), little flock, Jesus said, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom.[18]  We love, John concluded, because he loved us first.[19]  By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world.[20]

It’s not wrong to look back and superimpose this kind of reverence upon fear in the law.  God was still love, even as Yahweh gave the law to Moses.  David seemed to grasp thisDo not reject me! He prayed.  Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me!  Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance!  Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey![21]

What is wrong is for me to pretend that I got here by obeying the law.  That would make me a false witness.[22]  Compared to that betrayal Judas’ kiss would seem like passion, and Peter’s denial like words of truth.  It is such a profound taking of the Lord’s name in vain[23] it makes the hapless soul who uses the name “Jesus!” as an expletive sound like a preacher of righteousness by comparison.  Are there any fires in any hell hot enough for me if I were to pretend such a thing?

Actually, yes, and I think it’s quite easy to see.  If Jesus said, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness![24] and took his Holy Spirit from me, I might last for a moment or two out of habit.  But soon enough, hurt, angry, I would revert to the sinner I am apart from God’s credited righteousness, the fruit of his Spirit.  I’ve been judged and found wanting by two wives, (three if you count my high school girlfriend) and sent on my way.  But to be rejected by Love Himself would be unendurable apart from Him.  I would become both the spark and the fuel of the fire, and wherever I am would become hell.  And if you were anywhere near me when that happened, it would not go well for you.

Let’s face it, you were hard to love and difficult to forgive when I believed that I was loved and forgiven by God.  How do you expect to fare when I no longer receive a continuous infusion of his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his gentleness, and his self-control?[25]  What will become of you when I am under no obligation and have no incentive to forgive you?  I’m likely to conclude that you are the cause of all my misery and treat you accordingly.  That sounds like Garcin’s epiphany in Sartre’s play No Exit, “Hell is other people.”[26]


[2] Leviticus 19:3 (NET)

[5] Exodus 20:12 (NET) Table

[6] Deuteronomy 5:16 (NET)

[14] 2 Corinthians 5:21a (NET)

[15] John 2:25 (NET)

[17] 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET)

[18] Luke 12:32 (NET)

[19] 1 John 4:19 (NET)

[20] 1 John 4:17 (NET)

[21] Psalm 51:11, 12 (NET) Table1 Table2

[24] Matthew 7:23 (NKJV)

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

Son of God – 1 John, Part 3

Dear friends, John wrote to fellow believers, let us love (ἀγαπῶμεν, a form of ἀγαπάω)[1] one another, because love (ἀγάπη)[2] is from God, and everyone who loves (ἀγαπῶν, another form of ἀγαπάω) has been fathered (γεγέννηται, a form of γεννάω)[3] by God and knows (γινώσκει, a form of γινώσκω)[4] God.[5]  John used the word ἀγαπῶμεν over and over again in his letters to describe this love (ἀγάπη).

For this is the gospel message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love (ἵνα ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους) one another[6]  We know that we have crossed over from death to life because we love (ὅτι ἀγαπῶμεν τοὺς ἀδελφούς) our fellow Christians.[7]  Little children, let us not love (μὴ ἀγαπῶμεν λόγῳ μηδὲ τῇ γλώσσῃ) with word or with tongue but in deed and truth.[8]  Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love (καὶ ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους) one another, just as he gave us the commandment.[9]  No one has seen God at any time.  If we love (ἐὰν ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους) one another, God resides in us, and his love (ἀγάπη) is perfected in us.[10]  We love (ἡμεῖς ἀγαπῶμεν) because he loved (ἠγάπησεν, another form of ἀγαπάω) us first.[11]  By this we know that we love (ὅτι ἀγαπῶμεν τὰ τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ) the children of God: whenever we love (ὅταν τὸν θεὸν ἀγαπῶμεν καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ ποιῶμεν) God and obey his commandments.[12]  But now I ask you, lady (not as if I were writing a new commandment to you, but the one we have had from the beginning), that we love (ἵνα ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους)[13] one another.[14]

This love (ἀγάπη) is from God,[15] not from us.  It is the love (ἀγάπη) that does no wrong to a neighbor, and the love (ἀγάπη) that is the fulfillment of the law.[16]  It is the love (ἀγάπη) that is patient, the love (ἀγάπη) that is kind, and the love (ἀγάπη) that does not brag.[17]  It is the love (ἀγάπη) that never ends as opposed to prophecies, tongues and knowledge that will be set aside.[18]  It is one of the three that remain along with faith and hope, but the greatest of these is love (ἀγάπη).[19]  It is the love (ἀγάπη) of Christ[20] that controls (συνέχει, a form of συνέχω)[21] us,[22] and it is the love that holds the preeminent place in the fruit of his Spirit: But the fruit of the Spirit is love (ἀγάπη), joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.[23]

John emphasized, everyone who loves has been fathered (γεγέννηται, a form of γεννάω) by God and knows (γινώσκει, a form of γινώσκω) God.[24]  The person who does not love (ἀγαπῶν, another form of ἀγαπάω) me, Jesus said, does not obey (τηρεῖ, a form of τηρέω)[25] my words.  And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.[26]  And Paul wrote, the one who loves (ἀγαπῶν, another form of ἀγαπάω) his neighbor has fulfilled the law.[27]

This love is the natural (e.g., super-natural) state of those born (γεννηθῇ, another form of  γεννάω) from above,[28] born (γεννηθῇ) of water and spirit,[29] not born (ἐγεννήθησαν, another form of  γεννάω) by human parents (οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων, literally, “not out of blood”) or by human desire (οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς, literally, “neither out from the will of the flesh”) or a husband’s decision (οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς, literally, “neither out from the will of a husband”), but by God (ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν, literally, “but out from God born”).[30]

If you know (εἰδῆτε, a form of εἴδω)[31] that he is righteous, John wrote, you also know (γινώσκετε, another form of γινώσκω) that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered (γεγέννηται) by him.[32]  Everyone who has been fathered (γεγεννημένος, another form of γεννάω) by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered (γεγέννηται) by God.[33]  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered (γεγέννηται, a form of γεννάω) by God[34]

I am the good shepherd, Jesus said.  I know (γινώσκω) my own and my own know (γινώσκουσι, another form of γινώσκω) me – just as the Father knows (γινώσκει, another form of γινώσκω) me and I know (γινώσκω) the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.[35]  And John added, The person who does not love (ἀγαπῶν, another form of ἀγαπάω) does not know (ἔγνω, another form of γινώσκω) God, because God is love (ἀγάπη).[36]  The point here is not for me to act like a hypocrite and turn Paul’s definition of  ἀγάπη into a list of rules I strive to obey to con people into believing that I have been fathered by God.  The point is for me to believe Him and receive all that He has given to me in Christ.

By this the love (ἀγάπη) of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him.  In this is love (ἀγάπη): not that we have loved (ἠγαπήκαμεν, another form of ἀγαπάω) God, but that he loved (ἠγάπησεν, another form of ἀγαπάω) us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.[37]

Dear friends (Ἀγαπητοί, a form of ἀγαπητός),[38] John continued, if God so loved (ἠγάπησεν, another form of ἀγαπάω) us, then we also ought to love (ἀγαπᾶν, another form of ἀγαπάω) one another.  No one has seen God at any time.  If we love (ἀγαπῶμεν, another form of ἀγαπάω) one another, God resides in us, and his love (ἀγάπη) is perfected in us.[39]  Once again, lest I stray into hypocrisy believing that this ἀγάπη originates with me so that I may prove that God resides in me, John made it plain.  By this we know (γινώσκομεν, another form of γινώσκω) that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit,[40] both gifts and fruit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world,[41] i.e., through his ἀγάπη (God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him).

Then John connected knowing and believing this ἀγάπη with confessing that Jesus is the Son of God:  If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God.  And we have come to know (ἐγνώκαμεν, another form of γινώσκω) and to believe (πεπιστεύκαμεν, a form of πιστεύω)[42] the love (ἀγάπην, another form of ἀγάπη) that God has in us [Table].[43]  I began this study of the Son of God because I was curious[44] how Peter, James and John followed through on Jesus’ command to tell (after his resurrection)[45] about the vision when a voice from the cloud said, “This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight.  Listen to him!”[46]

Peter obeyed Jesus’ command to the letter.  He recounted the story of the transfiguration.[47]  But John wrote more in the spirit of Jesus’ command about the Son of God and all that meant.  From the very beginning of his ministry Paul proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God: For several days [Paul][48] was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “This man is the Son of God.”[49]  And the writings of John and Paul most vividly portray the truth, And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us.  I can’t say much about Peter’s knowledge or faith, but his writing did not convey this same knowledge and faith in God’s love.

You have not seen him, Peter wrote, but you love (ἀγαπᾶτε, a form of ἀγαπάω) him.  You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, because you are attaining the goal of your faith – the salvation of your souls.[50]  This sounds like my feeling for Jesus rather than his ἀγάπη in usYou have purified your souls by obeying the truth, Peter continued, in order to show sincere mutual love (φιλαδελφίαν, a form of φιλαδελφία).  So love (ἀγαπήσατε, a form of ἀγαπάω) one another earnestly from a pure heart.[51]  This sounds like our love for each other.  Perhaps brotherly affection and ἀγάπη were essentially interchangeable in the Greek language when Peter wrote.  But this usage doesn’t indicate any appreciation for the meaning that Paul ascribed to the ἀγάπη from God, or that John carried forward in his Gospel and letters.

Peter continued to make brotherly affection equivalent to ἀγάπη.  Honor all people, love (ἀγαπᾶτε, a form of ἀγαπάω) the family of believers, fear God, honor the king.[52]  Above all keep your love (ἀγάπην, a form of ἀγάπη) for one another fervent, because love (ἀγάπη) covers a multitude of sins.[53]  The love in this quotation of Proverbs 10:12 was φιλία[54] in the Septuagint not ἀγάπη.  And Peter used ἀγάπη to describe a religious rite: Greet one another with a loving (ἀγάπης, a form of ἀγάπη) kiss.[55]

He did grant some ascendency to ἀγάπη over φιλαδελφίᾳ (brotherly affection) when he wrote, make every effort to add to your faith excellence, to excellence, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly affection (φιλαδελφίαν, a form of φιλαδελφίᾳ); to brotherly affection (φιλαδελφίᾳ), unselfish love (ἀγάπην, a form of ἀγάπη).[56]  But while I was busy adding all of these things to my faith I failed to understand that God’s divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence.[57]  Or I thought the rich knowledge of the one who called us and the key to this life and godliness was the law.  

In other words I mistook the knowledge of sin[58] for the knowledge of God,[59] that intimate form of knowing alluded to in Romans 7:4, God is ἀγάπη,[60] ἀγάπη is from God,[61] and ἀγάπη is the fulfillment (πλήρωμα;[62] fulfilling KJV) of the law.[63]  Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets, Jesus said.  I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill (πληρῶσαι, a form of πληρόω)[64] them.[65]  Apart from Paul’s and John’s writings I never would have understood that this ἀγάπη from God was the fruit of the Spirit, and, in a word, the credited righteousness of God.

God is love, John wrote, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him [Table].  By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world.  There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love.  We love because he loved us first.[66]  For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments.  And his commandments do not weigh us down, because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world.  This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith [i.e., in Him, yes, and in this love (ἀγάπην, another form of ἀγάπη) that God has in us].  Now who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?[67]

If we accept the testimony of men, John continued, the testimony of God is greater [referring, I think, to the vision of the transfiguration], because this is the testimony of God that he has testified concerning his Son.  (The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning his Son.)[68]  And this is the testimony… And here, I think, John made the ἀγάπη from God functionally equivalent[69] to the life that is eternal (Love never ends).[70]  God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life.  I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.[71]

And finally having received this ἀγάπη from God (Give us today our daily bread[72]):  We know that everyone fathered by God does not sin, but God protects the one he has fathered, and the evil one (πονηρὸς, a form of πονηρός)[73] cannot touch him.  [And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (πονηροῦ, another form of πονηρός).[74]]  We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (πονηρῷ, another form of πονηρός).  And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ.  This one is the true God and eternal life.  Little children, guard yourselves from idols.[75]

It takes a religious mind to be in close proximity to this ἀγάπη from God and yet reject it for the self-aggrandizing vindication of religious works.  For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.[76]  I’ve been there, and I’ve done that.

I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! – that I may gain Christ,  and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness – a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.  My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.[77]


[5] 1 John 4:7 (NET)

[6] 1 John 3:11 (NET)

[7] 1 John 3:14 (NET)

[8] 1 John 3:18 (NET)

[9] 1 John 3:23 (NET)

[10] 1 John 4:12 (NET)

[11] 1 John 4:19 (NET)

[12] 1 John 5:2 (NET)

[13] Why was “should” inserted into 1 John 3:11 (NET)? …that we should love one another… (ἵνα ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους).  1 John 4:19 (NET) We love because he loved us first (ἡμεῖς ἀγαπῶμεν, ὅτι αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς).  1 John 5:2 (NET) By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments (ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν ὅτι ἀγαπῶμεν τὰ τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅταν τὸν θεὸν ἀγαπῶμεν καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ ποιῶμεν).

[14] 2 John 1:5 (NET)

[15] 1 John 4:7 (NET)

[16] Romans 13:10 (NET)

[17] 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NET)

[18] 1 Corinthians 13:8 (NET)

[19] 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NET)

[20] NET note: “The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ (Jh agaph tou Cristou, “the love of Christ”) could be translated as either objective genitive (‘our love for Christ’) or subjective genitive (‘Christ’s love for us’). Either is grammatically possible, but with the reference to Christ’s death for all in the following clauses, a subjective genitive (‘Christ’s love for us’) is more likely.”

[22] 2 Corinthians 5:14 (NET)

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

[24] 1 John 4:7 (NET)

[26] John 14:24 (NET)

[27] Romans 13:8 (NET)

[28] John 3:3 (NET)

[29] John 3:5 (NET)

[30] John 1:13 (NET)

[32] 1 John 2:29 (NET)

[33] 1 John 3:9 (NET)

[34] 1 John 5:1a (NET)

[35] John 10:14, 15 (NET)

[36] 1 John 4:8 (NET)

[37] 1 John 4:9, 10 (NET)

[39] 1 John 4:11, 12 (NET)

[40] 1 John 4:13 (NET)

[41] 1 John 4:14 (NET)

[43] 1 John 4:15, 16a (NET)

[46] Matthew 17:5 (NET)

[47] 2 Peter 1:16-18

[48] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ο σαυλος (KJV: Saul) nere.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[49] Acts 9:19b, 20 (NET) Table

[50] 1 Peter 1:8, 9 (NET)

[51] 1 Peter 1:22 (NET)

[52] 1 Peter 2:17 (NET)

[53] 1 Peter 4:8 (NET) Table

[55] 1 Peter 5:14a (NET)

[56] 2 Peter 1:5-7 (NET)

[57] 2 Peter 1:3 (NET)

[61] 1 John 4:7 (NET); love comes from God (CEV, GWT, ISVNT, TEV, TMSG); love has its origin in God (MSNT), Greek: ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν (“because this love [1) out of, from, by, away from] the God is”)

[65] Matthew 5:17 (NET)

[66] 1 John 4:16b-19 (NET)

[67] 1 John 5:3-5 (NET)

[68] 1 John 5:9, 10 (NET)

[71] 1 John 5:11-13 (NET)

[72] Matthew 6:11 (NET)

[74] Matthew 6:13 (NET)

[75] 1 John 5:18-21 (NET) Table (v. 18)

[76] Romans 10:3 (NET)

[77] Philippians 3:8-11 (NET)