Tag Archives: 2 Corinthians 5:21

Introduction

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I heard a sermon recently that transported me back to the fourth quarter of my seventeenth year. Actually, I heard it twice, but it didn’t click the first time. The sermon was from Genesis 19.

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah receded into the fiery background of the source of sorrow: Even the righteous stray from God’s righteousness. Don’t compromise with the world, was the application. And the empowering grace was: I can trust God to punish me for my sins—eventually. The fear factor,1 which was probably also intended as motivation, was that even though Lot was saved, he lost everything, particularly his wealth.

To any who would strive to become the righteousness of God2 by obeying applications, “Don’t compromise with the world,” offers the vaguest direction possible and the widest possible latitude for those who would police others. This sermon confronted me with my church and my own religious beliefs at seventeen.

Though the text wasn’t mentioned explicitly, the empowering grace reminded me of the Lord’s words to Moses (Exodus 34:6a, 7b ESV).

The Lord passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord [Table]…who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” [Table].

My actual experience at that time helps now to clarify the empowering grace that I misunderstood then: You can’t trust God to punish you for your sins in the near term, because He is (Exodus 34:6b, 7a ESV):

…a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness [Table], keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin [Table]…

I don’t recall being led to Exodus 34:6, 7 at seventeen. I may have received it then as more evidence that “God’ll getcha if you don’t watch out!”3 As my last hope for God’s existence—my faith that God would punish me for my sin in the near term—proved false (and after a very brief last ditch effort to retain some faith in Him as evil), I became an atheist.

Now, fifty-three years later, I’ll look more closely at the Scripture He brought to mind in response to this sermon.

Exodus 34:6, 7 (Tanakh)

Exodus 34:6, 7 (NET)

Exodus 34:6, 7 (NETS)

Exodus 34:6, 7 (English Elpenor)

And HaShem passed by before [Moses], and proclaimed: ‘The HaShem, HaShem, G-d, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth [Table];

The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness,

And the Lord passed by before his face, and he called, “The Lord, the Lord God is compassionate and merciful, patient and very merciful and truthful [Table]

And the Lord passed by before his face, and proclaimed, The Lord God, pitiful and merciful, longsuffering and very compassionate, and true,

keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means (יְנַקֶּ֔ה) clear (וְנַקֵּה֙) the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and unto the fourth generation’ [Table]

keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means (nāqâ, ינקה) leaves the guilty unpunished (nāqâ, ונקה), responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

and preserving righteousness and doing mercy for thousands, taking away acts of lawlessness and of injustice and sins, and he will not acquit (καθαριεῗ) the guilty person (τὸν ἔνοχον), bringing lawless acts of fathers upon children and upon children of children, upon the third and fourth generation” [Table].

and keeping justice and mercy for thousands, taking away iniquity, and unrighteousness, and sins; and he will not clear (καθαριεῖ) the guilty (τὸν ἔνοχον); bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and to the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.

In the Tanakh on chabad.org the Hebrew verbs וְנַקֵּה֙ (nāqâ) and יְנַקֶּ֔ה (nāqâ) separated by a negative particle לֹ֣א (lō’) were translated, He does not completely clear [of sin]. The explanation of that clause is a bit clearer as well: He visits the iniquity of parents on children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generations.4 This characterizes the main point of this sermon as well as anything I heard in it: One’s sins show up again in one’s children—whether those children are actual biological descendants or not, I’ll add from my own experience.

I wouldn’t have recognized this as filling the position of empowering grace in this sermon apart from Brian Chapell’s book5 and the gentleness of the preacher. At seventeen, I had no children. I couldn’t imagine how seeing their own sins revisited in their children might impact parents, especially if they knew God through Exodus 34:6, 7. But being brought back, after so many years, to the final moments before I became an atheist has focused my attention on the time and the many trials and errors that have led me to this current moment. It prompts a question:

Is there anything I can do to help others shave a few years off that time, anything that might mitigate or eliminate the necessity of enduring some of those same trials or errors?

I hope to explore that possibility in future essays.

1 The “fear factor” was not taught in the preaching course I’ve been taking. It is something I’ve noticed in some sermons. This particular fear factor is of questionable value since Job (Job 1-2) lost everything for a time, too.

2 2 Corinthians 5:21b (ESV) Table

4 Exodus 34:7b (Tanakh)

Christianity, Part 10

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There are 10 occurrences of πάντας in Romans [see Table below] the Greek word translated all people in: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people (πάντας, a form of πᾶς) to myself.1 I’ll consider seven of them in some detail. The first occurrence is probably universal (Romans 3:9 ESV):

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all (πάντας), both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,

I might argue that πάντας was limited here by both Jews and Greeks (Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ ῞Ελληνας) to those people living around the Mediterranean Sea at the time Paul wrote his letter to Roman believers. The context argues against it. I’ve never heard anyone make that argument. But consider what Jesus said (Luke 5:32 ESV):

I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance (μετάνοιαν, a form of μετάνοια).

If I refuse to take this as evidence of the existence of righteous people Jesus did not come to call, I am likely to take righteous (δικαίους) as his rhetorical contrast to sinners (ἁμαρτωλοὺς), the all He came to call…to repentance. This is especially true if I remember Peter (2 Peter 3:9 ESV [Table]):

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (μετάνοιαν, a form of μετάνοια).

For there is no distinction [Table], Paul clarified, for all (πάντες, another form of πᾶς) have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.2 This leads to the next occurrence of πάντας in Romans, but it is prefaced by a discussion I call the limit of the law (Romans 3:19, 20 ESV).

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified (οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σὰρξ) in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

I did alright as an atheist as long as I was willing to consider myself evil. I was playing kind of a word game, since I had already “decided that what God said was evil was at least potentially good, and what God said was good was probably generally evil.”3 Paul’s “limit of the law” became important to me eventually because:4

When I wanted to consider myself good again I invented “more realistic” rules than yehôvâh’s to obey. I failed to obey them. So I made “even more realistic” rules. Eventually my standards were so low even I realized they were unworkable. And I still wasn’t keeping them!

When I returned to faith I knew my own limitations but still expected Jesus to help me to have a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,5 my obedience to the law, that is. He wouldn’t help me do that. He helped me to believe my own experience and Paul’s writing instead: by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight,6 since through the law comes knowledge of sin.7 Only then was I ready to receive the righteousness of God (Romans 3:21-26 ESV).

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all (πάντας) who believe. For there is no distinction [Table]: for all (πάντες) have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus [Table].

Here πάντας is clearly limited by τοὺς πιστεύοντας (ESV: who believe). Of all the sinners who have ever lived on earth only those who believe have the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.8 And since the total number of sinners is equal to the total number of people except for Jesus Christ, of all the other people who have ever lived on earth only those who believe are justified by [God’s] grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.9 That’s where I began my own journey, so that’s where I’ll begin here.

Given my history, that was a heavy burden for my faith to bear. I should point out that πιστεύοντας (ESV: believe) is in the present tense, which has a now and forever aspect to it. Jesus warned his disciples (Matthew 24:9-14 ESV):

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

For a while, I relied on my faith to accomplish all of this, believing my faith was faith in Jesus Christ10 despite the fact that He wouldn’t help me to have a righteousness of my own that comes from the law.11 I had noticed that the word in in the phrase faith in Jesus Christ was not actually a preposition in Greek: πίστεως |Ἰησοῦ| Χριστοῦ. I even questioned why the genitive case was translated faith in Jesus Christ when of would have been a more normal translation. Still, the faith of Jesus Christ didn’t resonate with me until Peter’s stroll on the Sea of Galilee rocked my world. After that I wanted “to depend on Jesus’ faith. He has the faith to stand on the water and hold Peter up as well.”12 Then I heard (Romans 3:21-24 NET):

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (although it is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed—namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all (πάντας) who believe. For there is no distinction [Table], for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

A lengthy note (27) in the NET explained the translators’ choice for πίστεως |Ἰησοῦ| Χριστοῦ, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Though a “decision is difficult here” and “the grammar is not decisive,” my own experience of Jesus’ faithfulness was sufficient to persuade me that the one who wrote, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me,13 would encourage sinners to believe in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ rather than faith in Jesus Christ, to rely wholly on Him rather than some ephemeral thing they conjure in their own minds.

The next three occurrences of πάντας follow (Romans 5:12-21 ESV).

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all (πάντας) men because all (πάντες) sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam [Genesis 3:1-24], who was a type of the one who was to come [Table].

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all (πάντας) men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all (πάντας) men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The first occurrence of πάντας here is limited by men (ἀνθρώπους, a form of ἄνθρωπος), human beings created male and female rather than ἄνδρας (a form of ἀνήρ), men as distinct from women or boys. But the point is that death spread to all (πάντας) people because all (πάντες) sinned.14

It’s in this light that I want to consider Paul’s usage of forms of the adjective πολύς (Romans 5:15b ESV).

For if many (πολλοὶ, a form of πολύς) died through one man’s trespass, much (πολλῷ, another form of πολύς) more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many (πολλοὺς, another form of πολύς).

The first many was οἱ (a form of ὁ) πολλοὶ, and can be legitimately translated “these many” or “those many,” referring back to all (πάντας): For if [these] many died through one man’s trespass. The next clause is related to the first one by πολλῷ μᾶλλον, much more (ESV). So, the second clause grows much more from the first: much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. The Greek words translated for many were εἰς τοὺς πολλοὺς, which could legitimately be translated “for these many” or “for those many,” referring immediately back to οἱ πολλοὶ (“these many” or “those many”) who died (ἀπέθανον, a form of ἀποθνήσκω).

I think the cleverness of the usage of forms of πολύς here is directly attributable to Paul’s knowledge that though Jesus died He was exempt from the all (πάντες) who sinned, and though Enoch and Elijah sinned, they were exempt from the all (πάντας) who died. But I seriously doubt that Paul or the Holy Spirit considered that the many (τοὺς πολλοὺς) for whom the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded was a quantity significantly less than the many (οἱ πολλοὶ) who died through one man’s trespass.

The next occurrence of πάντας was also limited by men: Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all (πάντας) men.15 Here, too, men was ἀνθρώπους not ἄνδρας. This is a reference to all people, even Jesus: For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become16 the righteousness of God.17

And the next occurrence of πάντας is like the previous one: so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all (πάντας) men.18 It’s a fairly straightforward statement for any who have ears to hear. Granted, those who believe in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ may find it easier to hear than those who believe in faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul switched from πάντας to the adjective πολλοὶ again to continue his discussion: For as by the one man’s disobedience the many (οἱ πολλοί) were made sinners.19 “These many” or “those many” who were made sinners refers back to the all for whom one trespass led to condemnation. I’m assuming οἱ πολλοί gave Paul and the Holy Spirit the latitude to exclude Jesus from the category sinners (ἁμαρτωλοὶ). The next clause continues: so by the one man’s obedience the many (οἱ πολλοί) will be made righteous,20 the same many who were made sinners.

And again, this is easier to hear if one believes it will be accomplished by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ rather than by faith in Jesus Christ. Though God made (ἐποίησεν) him to be sin, I assume that οἱ πολλοί gave Paul and the Holy Spirit the latitude to exempt Jesus from any necessity of being made (κατασταθήσονται) righteous in the future.

The last two occurrences of πάντας that I’ll consider in this essay follow (Romans 11:29-32 ESV):

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy [Table]. For God has consigned all (τοὺς πάντας) to disobedience, that he may have mercy21 on all (τοὺς πάντας).

Here τοὺς πάντας could be legitimately translated “these all” or “those all.” This reminds me of a snowball gaining mass and momentum as it rolls downhill. If God shows mercy to someone as disobedient as I have been, it only gives Him more latitude to show mercy to someone as disobedient as you have been, and on, and on, and on, and on. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, Jesus said, will draw all people to myself.22

This exercise, however, has made it quite clear to me that all of these things are easier to hear if one believes in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. They are almost impossible to hear if one believes faith in Christ is the personal achievement that justifies one before God.

The table mentioned above follows.

Occurrences of πάντας in Romans
Reference

NET Parallel Greek

 ESV
Romans 3:9 προῃτιασάμεθα γὰρ Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ ῞Ελληνας πάντας ὑφ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
Romans 3:22

δικαιοσύνη δὲ θεοῦ διὰ πίστεως |Ἰησοῦ| Χριστοῦ εἰς πάντας τοὺς πιστεύοντας

the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
Romans 5:12 οὕτως εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὁ θάνατος διῆλθεν so death spread to all men
Romans 5:18 ὡς δι᾿ ἑνὸς παραπτώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς κατάκριμα as one trespass led to condemnation for all men
οὕτως καὶ δι᾿ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς δικαίωσιν ζωῆς so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for fall men.
Romans 10:12

πλουτῶν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἐπικαλουμένους αὐτόν

bestowing his riches on all who call on him
Romans 11:32 συνέκλεισεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς πάντας εἰς ἀπείθειαν For God has consigned all to disobedience
ἵνα τοὺς πάντας ἐλεήσῃ that he may have mercy on all.
Romans 16:15

τοὺς σὺν αὐτοῖς πάντας ἁγίους

the brothers who are with them.
Romans 16:19 ὑμῶν ὑπακοὴ εἰς πάντας ἀφίκετο your obedience is known to all

1 John 12:32 (ESV)

2 Romans 3:22b, 23 (ESV)

5 Philippians 3:9a (ESV)

7 Romans 3:20 (ESV)

8 Romans 3:22a (ESV) Table

9 Romans 3:24 (ESV)

10 Romans 3:22b (ESV) Table

11 Philippians 3:9a (ESV)

13 Galatians 2:20a (NET)

14 Romans 5:12b (ESV)

15 Romans 5:18a (ESV)

16 Both γινωμεθα (Stephanus Textus Receptus) and γενώμεθα (NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text) are 1st person plural verbs in the subjunctive mood, hence the translation we might become (ESV). But this is a result clause: “if the subjunctive mood is used in a purpose or result clause, then the action should not be thought of as a possible result, but should be viewed as a definite outcome that will happen as a result of another stated action,” Verbal Moods, Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions).

17 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) Table

18 Romans 5:18b (ESV)

19 Romans 5:19a (ESV)

20 Romans 5:19b (ESV)

21 The Greek word translated he may have mercy was ἐλεήσῃ, a 3rd person singular form of ἐλεέω in the subjunctive mood. This is, however, a result or purpose clause: “if the subjunctive mood is used in a purpose or result clause, then the action should not be thought of as a possible result, but should be viewed as a definite outcome that will happen as a result of another stated action,” Verbal Moods, Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions).

22 John 12:32 (ESV)

The New Covenant, Part 2

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I shared the first essay of this series with two friends.  Both preferred the judgment focus of my Pastor’s sermon, what I called “an invitation to do-it-yourself religion.”[1]  To one it was a desirable limit to “grace,” which was seen as a come on to an open-ended commitment to do whatever a preacher says.  The other saw it as the only path to righteousness since “grace” is just an excuse for indulging whatever sins one wants and then saying, “I’m sorry,” at the end to get into heaven (i.e., to avoid hell).  The unifying thread between these two beliefs is the current understanding of the grace of God.

When I think, speak or write about grace what I mean at the very least is the power to become the righteousness of God.  God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.[2]  In practical terms I think we become the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, receiving his indwelling Holy Spirit and walking in the continuous supply of his own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.[3]

My Pastor objected to the word power for grace.  The connection to grace is made for me when Paul asked the Lord three times about [a thorn in the flesh], that [this messenger of Satan] would depart from [him]:[4]  But [the Lord] said to me, “My grace (χάρις) is enough for you, for my power (δύναμις) is made perfect in weakness.”  So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power (δύναμις) of Christ may reside in me.[5]

I’ve grown up around people who feel that saying too much about the Holy Spirit robs Jesus of some of his glory.  Jesus said (John 16:7-14 ESV):

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I[6] do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you.  And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the[7] Father, and you will see me no longer;[8] concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears[9] he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you [Table].

In the story of the raising of Lazarus Jesus hints at a proximity effect to his grace: Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe.”[10]  “Lord, if you had been here, Martha seems to confirm this proximity effect, my brother would not have died [Table].  But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will grant you.”[11]  At the risk of angering hardcore Trinitarians the Holy Spirit is Jesus omnipresent, Jesus without a proximity effect, Jesus unleashed throughout all space and time.

Here, too, my Pastor objected to my description of the Holy Spirit citing Jesus’ words: Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another (ἄλλον, a form of ἄλλος) Advocate to be with you forever.[12]  I asked whether—If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him[13]—should be understood as “over and above” the indwelling Holy Spirit.  He said, no, and settled on the word through.  So, I’ll amend my original statement: Through his Holy Spirit Jesus is omnipresent, without a proximity effect, unleashed throughout all space and time.

A more expansive definition of grace is God so loved…that He gave.  Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given (χαρισθέντα, a form of χαρίζομαι) to us by God.[14]  For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son.[15]  Ultimately Jesus is the grace of God.

My faith needs some of the nuts and bolts, how Jesus is the grace of God to me.  And here again Paul associated power with the grace that is Jesus: I pray that according to the wealth of his glory [the Father] will grant you to be strengthened (κραταιωθῆναι, a form of κραταιόω) with power (δυνάμει, a form of δύναμις) through his Spirit in the inner person [Table], that Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith.[16]

I want to consider this grace of God and the new covenant in the light of my own experience as the types of ground Jesus described in the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9).  The first type of ground He described was the path (Matthew 13:19 NET).

When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand (συνιέντος, a form of συνίημι) it, the evil one comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; this is the seed sown along the path.

This describes me fairly accurately from about five years old to seventeen.  When I said a sinner’s prayer to escape hell, I meant that I disobeyed my parents sometimes.  I was many years and a considerable psychic distance from acknowledging that I was from [my] father the devil, and [I] want to do what [my] father desires.[17]  I was like those who loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed.[18]

I didn’t know my deeds were evil.  Quite the contrary, I resented anyone who called what I wanted “evil.”  “What I wanted” was the epitome of righteousness in my mind, though I would not have used the term.  I realized as I grew that what adults called righteousness was often not anything I wanted at all.

I don’t recall ever hearing Jesus’ saying—You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires—as if it applied to me.  It was relatively recently that I realized He spoke to those…who had believed him.[19]  It was relatively recently that I recognized this saying as one of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.[20]  I was like one of the outsiders who heard most of Jesus’ sayings as parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand (συνίουσιν, another form of συνίημι).[21]

This period of my life, being the path, came to an end when I chose to be an atheist.  For a time I actively opted out of being any kind of soil for the seed of God’s word.  Even if I have treated it like some sort of necessity in these essays, atheism was not a foregone conclusion.  I had an alternative at seventeen.

I was driven back to the Bible when God didn’t punish me for the “sin of premarital sex.”  But I rejected the Bible if it didn’t agree with what I “knew” it was supposed to say from years of church and Sunday school, when I was the path, one who heard about the kingdom but didn’t understand it, one who whatever he heard was snatched away by the evil one.

I didn’t realize I was that kind of ground at the time.  There was a tacit assumption among those I knew that the three types of ground that didn’t produce consistent fruit were destined for the lake of fire.  I had said a sinner’s prayer to Jesus to avoid hell.  I was, therefore, good ground by definition.

I have described my time as an atheist as a “decline that is such a cliché, it is too embarrassing to mention in detail.”[22]  There was an upside to becoming a cliché: I could no longer imagine myself to be the unique individual courageously forging my own path into the unknown.  My path was well known and well-worn, most notably well known in the Bible, not that I acknowledged that consciously at the time.

My flirtation[23] with atheism ended when I prayed, “If you’re really out there, I really want to know you.”[24]  Though I had an immediate hunger for the Bible from that moment on, I didn’t study the Bible to know…the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [He] sent.[25]  I studied to know the rules to obey to keep my end of the bargain.

When I mentioned this to my Pastor, he thought it was a good way to start.  For me it was possibly the only way to start.  But I can’t help wondering: what if I had believed Jesus saying that I was from my father the devil and wanted to do what my father desired?  What if I had let his words create a healthy skepticism in me about those desires and thoughts, those feelings and reasons that came “naturally” to my heart and mind?  What if I had taken Him at his word at five or ten or twenty or even forty-years-old rather than compelling Him to prove to me for sixty-five years that I was from my father the devil and wanted to do what my father desired?

Would it have helped me believe that his grace was enough for me? Could it have shortened the time I spent as the next type of ground Jesus described (Matthew 13:20, 21 NET)?

The seed sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.  But he has no root in himself and does not endure; when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.

This ground describes me between the ages of twenty-three and forty-three.  As I searched the Bible for rules to obey to keep my part of the contract and then disobeyed them anyway, I heard Paul’s lament (Romans 7:22-24 NET):

For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.  But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members [Table].  Wretched man that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Paul believed that Jesus had rescued him: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord![26]  I didn’t understand how at first, even though I was more curious than I had ever been before.  Though now I might be more inclined to translate χάρις δὲ τῷ θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν[27] “grace from God through Jesus Christ our Lord” and while I might appreciate more now that Paul may have given a very direct answer to his own rhetorical question, I wouldn’t have understood it any better then.  I didn’t know God or his grace—not yet.

Twenty years of springing up with joy only to fall away again, twenty years of being picked up, dusted off and put back together by Jesus one more time, slowly began to teach me to know Him and his grace.  Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Timothy 2:11-13 NET):

This saying is trustworthy: If we died with him, we will also live with him.  If we endure, we will also reign with him.  If we deny[28] him, he will also deny us.  If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, since[29] he cannot (οὐ δύναται) deny himself.

Sometimes when I tell this story people want to credit me for continuing to study the Bible over those twenty years.  I also ate food over that time, whenever I was hungry.  Granted, eating food was instrumental in keeping me alive, but the hunger comes from God as did the food.  Eventually, I began to understand that the one bringing forth in [me] both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God.[30]

The Greek words translated desire and effort were not nouns but infinitive verbs: θέλειν (a form of θέλω) and ἐνεργεῖν (a form of ἐνεργέω).  Eventually, I was able to make this connection to the hunger, the food and the eating.  The hunger, θέλειν, and the food, the Bible, are from God.  The eating, doing his will, ἐνεργεῖν, becoming the righteousness of God in Him, is the outcome of his grace.  And eventually I trusted Him and his grace more than I trusted myself—good ground at last?

Jesus continued (Matthew 13:22 NET):

The seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly[31] cares and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, so it produces nothing.

This type of ground characterizes me from about forty-four years of age to perhaps fifty-three.  I got a fulltime job again with a steady paycheck.  I married a woman with two children.  I left all the “spiritual stuff” to the grace of God while I attended to more mundane matters.  This period of my life ended when my wife divorced me.

So from about the age of fifty-four to the present, sixty-eight, have I finally become what Jesus called good soil (Matthew 13:23 NET)?

But as for the seed sown on good soil,[32] this is the person who hears the word and understands[33] (συνιείς, another form of συνίημι).  He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”

Who knows?  I can’t even imagine how to measure such a thing.  My Pastor treated these measurements like ordinary agricultural yields.  And he’s right.

If I think of a kernel of corn (maize) growing to maturity, one ear of corn would easily be thirty times what was sown.  When I think about the time and attention, the forgiveness and patience, the mercy and grace the Lord has lavished upon me, what I share with others is a tiny fraction rather than a multiple.

I planted, Paul wrote the Corinthians, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow (ἠύξανεν, a form of αὐξάνω).[34]  After all we’ve been through together I can trust Him with that growth.

Tables comparing John 16:7; 16:10; 2 Timothy 2:12, 13; Matthew 13:22 and 13:23 in the NET and KJV follow.

John 16:7 (NET)

John 16:7 (KJV)
But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away.  For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀλλ᾿ ἐγὼ τὴν ἀλήθειαν λέγω ὑμῖν, συμφέρει ὑμῖν ἵνα ἐγὼ ἀπέλθω. ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ ἀπέλθω, ὁ παράκλητος |οὐκ ἐλεύσεται| πρὸς ὑμᾶς· ἐὰν δὲ πορευθῶ, πέμψω αὐτὸν πρὸς ὑμᾶς αλλ εγω την αληθειαν λεγω υμιν συμφερει υμιν ινα εγω απελθω εαν γαρ μη απελθω ο παρακλητος ουκ ελευσεται προς υμας εαν δε πορευθω πεμψω αυτον προς υμας αλλ εγω την αληθειαν λεγω υμιν συμφερει υμιν ινα εγω απελθω εαν γαρ εγω μη απελθω ο παρακλητος ουκ ελευσεται προς υμας εαν δε πορευθω πεμψω αυτον προς υμας

John 16:10 (NET)

John 16:10 (KJV)
concerning righteousness because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
περὶ δικαιοσύνης δέ, ὅτι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὑπάγω καὶ οὐκέτι θεωρεῖτε με περι δικαιοσυνης δε οτι προς τον πατερα μου υπαγω και ουκ ετι θεωρειτε με περι δικαιοσυνης δε οτι προς τον πατερα μου υπαγω και ουκετι θεωρειτε με

2 Timothy 2:12, 13 (NET)

2 Timothy 2:12, 13 (KJV)
If we endure, we will also reign with him.  If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἰ ὑπομένομεν, καὶ συμβασιλεύσομεν· εἰ ἀρνησόμεθα, κακεῖνος ἀρνήσεται ἡμᾶς ει υπομενομεν και συμβασιλευσομεν ει αρνουμεθα κακεινος αρνησεται ημας ει υπομενομεν και συμβασιλευσομεν ει αρνουμεθα κακεινος αρνησεται ημας
If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, since he cannot deny himself. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἰ ἀπιστοῦμεν, ἐκεῖνος πιστὸς μένει, ἀρνήσασθαι γὰρ ἑαυτὸν οὐ δύναται. ει απιστουμεν εκεινος πιστος μενει αρνησασθαι εαυτον ου δυναται ει απιστουμεν εκεινος πιστος μενει αρνησασθαι εαυτον ου δυναται

Matthew 13:22 (NET)

Matthew 13:22 (KJV)
The seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, so it produces nothing. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ δὲ εἰς τὰς ἀκάνθας σπαρείς, οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ τὸν λόγον ἀκούων, καὶ ἡ μέριμνα τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ ἡ ἀπάτη τοῦ πλούτου συμπνίγει τὸν λόγον καὶ ἄκαρπος γίνεται ο δε εις τας ακανθας σπαρεις ουτος εστιν ο τον λογον ακουων και η μεριμνα του αιωνος τουτου και η απατη του πλουτου συμπνιγει τον λογον και ακαρπος γινεται ο δε εις τας ακανθας σπαρεις ουτος εστιν ο τον λογον ακουων και η μεριμνα του αιωνος τουτου και η απατη του πλουτου συμπνιγει τον λογον και ακαρπος γινεται

Matthew 13:23 (NET)

Matthew 13:23 (KJV)
But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands.  He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν καλὴν γῆν σπαρείς, οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ τὸν λόγον ἀκούων καὶ συνιείς, ὃς δὴ καρποφορεῖ καὶ ποιεῖ ὃ μὲν ἑκατόν, ὃ δὲ ἑξήκοντα, ὃ δὲ τριάκοντα ο δε επι την γην την καλην σπαρεις ουτος εστιν ο τον λογον ακουων και συνιων ος δη καρποφορει και ποιει ο μεν εκατον ο δε εξηκοντα ο δε τριακοντα ο δε επι την γην την καλην σπαρεις ουτος εστιν ο τον λογον ακουων και συνιων ος δη καρποφορει και ποιει ο μεν εκατον ο δε εξηκοντα ο δε τριακοντα

Addendum: February 6, 2022
I can’t say that a sermon like the following wasn’t preached to me when I was five or ten or twenty or forty-years-old. I can say I heard it today.

[1] The New Covenant, Part 1

[2] 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET) Table

[3] Galatians 5:22b, 23a (NET) Table

[4] 2 Corinthians 12:8 (NET) with phrases in brackets from 2 Corinthians 12:7 (NET) Table

[5] 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NET) Table

[6] The Byzantine Majority text had εγω here.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

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

[8] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had οὐκέτι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had ουκ ετι (KJV: no more).

[9] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀκούσει here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αν ακουση (KJV: whatsoever he shall hear).

[10] John 11:14, 15a (NET)

[11] John 11:21b, 22 (NET)

[12] John 14:16 (NET) Table

[13] John 14:23 (NET) Table

[14] 1 Corinthians 2:12 (NET)

[15] John 3:16a (NET) Table

[16] Ephesians 3:16, 17a (NET)

[17] John 8:44a (NET) Table

[18] John 3:19b, 20 (NET)

[19] John 8:31a (NET)

[20] Matthew 13:11b (NET)

[21] Matthew 13:13b (NET)

[22] Who Am I? Part 3

[23] I called it a flirtation not to minimize its seriousness but to highlight how I was not serious enough about it to maintain such a demanding faith for any prolonged period of time.

[24] Who am I? Part 3

[25] John 17:3b (NET)

[26] Romans 7:25a (NET) Table

[27] Romans 7:25a NA28  This is what the editors of the NA28 currently believe to be the original text.

[28] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀρνησόμεθα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αρνουμεθα.

[29] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had γὰρ here.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[30] Philippians 2:13 (NET)

[31] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τουτου following αἰῶνος (KJV: this world).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[32] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article την preceding soil (KJV: ground).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[33] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had συνιείς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had συνιων (KJV: understandeth it).

[34] 1 Corinthians 3:6 (NET) Table

Psalm 22, Part 8

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This is a continuing look into Psalm 22 as the music in Jesus’ heart as He endured the cross.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 22:14c (Tanakh) Table Psalm 22:14c (NET) Psalm 21:15c (NETS)

Psalm 21:15c (Elpenor English)
my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My heart is like wax; it melts away inside me. my heart became like wax melting within my belly; my heart in the midst of my belly is become like melting wax.

Since the Masoretic text and Septuagint agree here, I want to spend some time considering what might have been on Jesus’ heart (Hebrew: לִ֖בִּי; Greek: ἡ καρδία μου).  Here are the first occurrences of לִבּ֔וֹ (lēḇ) in the Masoretic text.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Genesis 6:5, 6 (Tanakh) Genesis 6:5, 6 (NET) Genesis 6:5, 6 (NETS)

Genesis 6:5, 6 (English Elpenor)
And HaShem saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart (לִבּ֔וֹ) was only evil continually. But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth.  Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds (lēḇ, לבו) was only evil all the time. And when the Lord God saw that the wicked deeds of humans were multiplied on the earth and that all think attentively in their hearts (τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ) on evil things all the days, And the Lord God, having seen that the wicked actions of men were multiplied upon the earth, and that every one in his heart (τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ) was intently brooding over evil continually,
And it repented HaShem that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart (לִבּֽוֹ) [Table]. The Lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended (lēḇ, לבו) [Note 25: “and he was grieved to his heart”]. then God considered that he had made humankind on the earth, and he thought it over (διενοήθη). then God laid it to heart[1] that he had made man upon the earth, and he pondered [it] deeply (διενοήθη).

The end result of this repentance, regret, consideration and pondering was the flood (Genesis 6:9-8:20).  But the flood didn’t change the evil thoughts of human hearts.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Genesis 8:21 (Tanakh) Genesis 8:21 (NET) Genesis 8:21 (NETS)

Genesis 8:21 (English Elpenor)
And HaShem smelled the sweet savour; and HaShem said in His heart (לִבּ֗וֹ): ‘I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart (לֵ֧ב) is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done [Table]. And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself (lēḇ, לבו) [Note 33: “in his heart”], “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds (lēḇ, לב) is evil from childhood on.  I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done. And the Lord God smelled an odor of fragrance, and the Lord God, when he had given it thought (διανοηθείς), said, “I will not proceed hereafter to curse the earth because of the deeds of humans, for the mind (διάνοια) of humankind applies itself attentively to evil things from youth; so I will not proceed hereafter to smite all living flesh, as I have done. And the Lord God smelled a smell of sweetness, and the Lord God having considered (διανοηθείς), said, I will not any more curse the earth, because of the works of men, because the imagination (διάνοια) of man is intently bent upon evil things from his youth, I will not therefore any more smite all living flesh as I have done.

Jesus continued this teaching about the human heart (Matthew 15:18, 19; Mark 7:20-23 NET):

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart (καρδίας, a form of καρδία), and these things defile a person.  For out of the heart (καρδίας) come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

What comes out of a person defiles him.  For from within, out of the human heart (καρδίας), come evil ideas, sexual immorality,[2] theft,[3] murder, adultery,[4] greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly.  All these evils come from within and defile a person.

The first occurrences of לִבּ֔וֹ (lēḇ) in Genesis from the Masoretic text had me thinking this essay would be a contrast between the heart of human beings and the heart of God.  As I made or studied the tables for these verses, however, I noticed that the rabbis who translated the Septuagint veered away from a mechanical translation (if a form of לֵב [lēḇ] was actually in the Hebrew they translated) whenever God was the subject.  I took it to heart.  It was a human heart, THE human heart, that melted like wax on the cross.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 68:2 (Tanakh) Psalm 68:2 (NET) Psalm 67:3 (NETS)

Psalm 67:3 (English Elpenor)
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax (דּ֖וֹנַג) melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away.  As wax (dônāḡ, דונג) melts before fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God. As smoke vanishes, let them vanish; as wax (κηρὸς) melts from before fire, so may sinners perish from before God. As smoke vanishes, let them vanish: as wax (κηρὸς) melts before the fire, so let the sinners perish from before God.

David’s prayer got a very literal answer in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark when NAZIs, the contemporary archetype of evil, and their French collaborator literally melted like wax before the ark of the covenant.  But NAZIs and their collaborators are not the only ones with evil human hearts, the source of evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly.

Do not be amazed that I said to you, Jesus said, ‘You must all be born from above.’[5]  Paul wrote of Jesus: For he hath made him…sin for us, who knew no sin…[6]  I don’t believe the phrase τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν (who knew no sin) means that Jesus lacked an evil human heart.  Quite the contrary, the Word became flesh,[7] John testified of Jesus.  Jesus stated explicitly how He knew (γνόντα, a form of γινώσκω) no sin: the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.[8]

Jesus is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,[9] the beginning, the firstborn from the dead:[10] Before his crucifixion He was a human being with an evil human heart so led by the Holy Spirit, so filled with God’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that He knew no sin.  But the Word become flesh did not need anyone to testify about man, for he knew (ἐγίνωσκεν, another form of γινώσκω) what was in man.[11]  And God hath made him…sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made[12] the righteousness of God in him.[13]

The writer of Hebrews, who I think scribed what Jesus taught during the forty days between his resurrection and ascension, was fairly explicit about Jesus’ humanity (Hebrews 2:14-17; 4:15 NET):

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death.  For surely his concern (ἐπιλαμβάνεται, a form of ἐπιλαμβάνω) is not for angels, but he is concerned (ἐπιλαμβάνεται, a form of ἐπιλαμβάνω) for Abraham’s descendants.  Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect (κατὰ πάντα), so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted[14] in every way just as we are (καθ᾿ ὁμοιότητα), yet without sin.

Through faith in Him we, too, receive his Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22 NET):

But it is God who establishes us together with you in Christ and who anointed us, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts (ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν) as a down payment.

Paul prayed for the inner strengthening each of us needs to be a dwelling place of God (Ephesians 3:14-19 NET):

I kneel before the Father [Table], from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.  I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he will grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person [Table], that Christ will dwell in your hearts (ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν) through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you will be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth [Table], and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you will be filled up to all the fullness of God.

I can think of no better way to end this essay than to conclude with Paul’s own benediction (Ephesians 3:20, 21 NET):

Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond[15] all that we ask or think, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.  Amen [Table].

Tables comparing Genesis 6:5 and Psalm 68:2 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing Genesis 6:5 and Psalm 68:2 (67:3) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Mark 7:21, 22; Hebrews 4:15 and Ephesians 3:20 in the NET and KJV follow.

Genesis 6:5 (Tanakh)

 Genesis 6:5 (KJV)

Genesis 6:5 (NET)
And HaShem saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth.  Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.

Genesis 6:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 6:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἰδὼν δὲ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὅτι ἐπληθύνθησαν αἱ κακίαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ πᾶς τις διανοεῗται ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἐπιμελῶς ἐπὶ τὰ πονηρὰ πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ᾿Ιδὼν δὲ Κύριος ὁ Θεός, ὅτι ἐπληθύνθησαν αἱ κακίαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ πᾶς τις διανοεῖται ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἐπιμελῶς ἐπὶ τὰ πονηρὰ πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας,

Genesis 6:5 (NETS)

Genesis 6:5 (English Elpenor)
And when the Lord God saw that the wicked deeds of humans were multiplied on the earth and that all think attentively in their hearts on evil things all the days, And the Lord God, having seen that the wicked actions of men were multiplied upon the earth, and that every one in his heart was intently brooding over evil continually,

Psalm 68:2 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 68:2 (KJV)

Psalm 68:2 (NET)
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away.  As wax melts before fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God.

Psalm 68:2 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 67:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὡς ἐκλείπει καπνός ἐκλιπέτωσαν ὡς τήκεται κηρὸς ἀπὸ προσώπου πυρός οὕτως ἀπόλοιντο οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ ὡς ἐκλείπει καπνός, ἐκλιπέτωσαν· ὡς τήκεται κηρὸς ἀπὸ προσώπου πυρός, οὕτως ἀπολοῦνται οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ

Psalm 67:3 (NETS)

Psalm 67:3 (English Elpenor)
As smoke vanishes, let them vanish; as wax melts from before fire, so may sinners perish from before God. As smoke vanishes, let them vanish: as wax melts before the fire, so let the sinners perish from before God.

Mark 7:21, 22 (NET)

Mark 7:21, 22 (KJV)
For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἔσωθεν γὰρ ἐκ τῆς καρδίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἱ διαλογισμοὶ οἱ κακοὶ ἐκπορεύονται, πορνεῖαι, κλοπαί, φόνοι εσωθεν γαρ εκ της καρδιας των ανθρωπων οι διαλογισμοι οι κακοι εκπορευονται μοιχειαι πορνειαι φονοι εσωθεν γαρ εκ της καρδιας των ανθρωπων οι διαλογισμοι οι κακοι εκπορευονται μοιχειαι πορνειαι φονοι
adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
μοιχεῖαι, πλεονεξίαι, πονηρίαι, δόλος, ἀσέλγεια, ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός, βλασφημία, ὑπερηφανία, ἀφροσύνη κλοπαι πλεονεξιαι πονηριαι δολος ασελγεια οφθαλμος πονηρος βλασφημια υπερηφανια αφροσυνη κλοπαι πλεονεξιαι πονηριαι δολος ασελγεια οφθαλμος πονηρος βλασφημια υπερηφανια αφροσυνη

Hebrews 4:15 (NET)

Hebrews 4:15 (KJV)
For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οὐ γὰρ ἔχομεν ἀρχιερέα μὴ δυνάμενον συμπαθῆσαι ταῖς ἀσθενείαις ἡμῶν, πεπειρασμένον δὲ κατὰ πάντα καθ᾿ ὁμοιότητα χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας ου γαρ εχομεν αρχιερεα μη δυναμενον συμπαθησαι ταις ασθενειαις ημων πεπειραμενον δε κατα παντα καθ ομοιοτητα χωρις αμαρτιας ου γαρ εχομεν αρχιερεα μη δυναμενον συμπαθησαι ταις ασθενειαις ημων πεπειραμενον δε κατα παντα καθ ομοιοτητα χωρις αμαρτιας

Ephesians 3:20 (NET)

Ephesians 3:20 (KJV)
Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ ὑπὲρ πάντα ποιῆσαι ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ ὧν αἰτούμεθα ἢ νοοῦμεν κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἐνεργουμένην ἐν ἡμῖν τω δε δυναμενω υπερ παντα ποιησαι υπερ εκπερισσου ων αιτουμεθα η νοουμεν κατα την δυναμιν την ενεργουμενην εν ημιν τω δε δυναμενω υπερ παντα ποιησαι υπερ εκπερισσου ων αιτουμεθα η νοουμεν κατα την δυναμιν την ενεργουμενην εν ημιν

[1] The phrase laid it to heart is an English translation of the Greek word ἐνεθυμήθη (a form of ἐνθυμέομαι).

[2] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μοιχειαι (KJV: adulteries) preceding sexual immorality (KJV: fornications).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[3] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had κλοπαί here.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[4] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had μοιχειαι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had κλοπαί (KJV: Thefts).

[5] John 3:7 (NET)

[6] 2 Corinthians 5:21a (KJV) Table I deliberately dropped the words to be added by the translators.  They are not in the Greek and they add nothing to my understanding.

[7] John 1:14a (NET)

[8] John 14:10b (KJV) Table

[9] Hebrews 12:2b (NET) Table

[10] Colossians 1:18b (NET)

[11] John 2:25 (NET)

[12] The Sephanus Textus Receptus had γινωμεθα here, where the NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had γενώμεθα (NET: would become).

[13] 2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV) Table

[14] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had πεπειρασμένον here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had πεπειραμενον (KJV: was…tempted).

[15] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had υπερ εκπερισσου (KJV: abundantly above).

Psalm 22, Part 1

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Rather than add an extremely lengthy addendum to another essay, I chose to begin a series of essays on Psalm 22 in the Septuagint.  Here is a Gospel harmony of Jesus’ words.

Matthew 27:45, 46 (NET)

 Mark 15:33, 34 (NET)

Luke 23:44, 45a (NET)
Now from noon until three, darkness came over all the land [Table]. Now when it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon [Table]. It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,
because the sun’s light failed [Table].
At about three o’clock Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [Table] Around three o’clock[1] Jesus cried out with a loud voice,[2] “Eloi, Eloi, lema[3] sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Chaim & Laura wrote a very moving essay on Chaim BenTorah online about ELI ELI LAMA SABACHTHANI.  It got me thinking about the possibility that the New Testament, especially the Gospel narratives, might be Greek translations of an original Hebrew or Aramaic text.  I imagined comparing it to the Greek text.

What if it lacked which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  How would I react?  Would I assume that it was the original?  Or would I assume that the translators of a Hebrew or Aramaic text had regarded it as redundant?

To get to the beautiful end of their essay Chaim & Laura made an assumption that discomforted me.  I resorted to giving my account face-to-face with Jesus.  So I considered believing that the Holy Spirit wanted me to know ὅ ἐστιν μεθερμηνευόμενον· ὁ θεός μου |ὁ θεός μου|, εἰς τί ἐγκατέλιπες με (NET: which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”).  Then Jesus looks at me and says, “No, Dan, Chaim & Laura were right”:

the scribes added the footnote which being interpreted means…. This is in accordance with the Eastern Church which teaches that the scribes who wrote this out in Greek really did not understand what the phrase really meant, so they merely transliterated it into the Greek rather than translate it and then put in a short commentary or their own opinion and indicated this by the words that is to say… In other words they were not sure they had correctly quoted Jesus so they assumed he was speaking Psalms 22:1 and put in a little commentary to offer their opinion as to what he really said.[4]

Then I can respond, “I’m sorry, I took it literally.”  The alternative, to believe Chaim & Laura (something they have not asked me to do, by the way), leaves me without excuse if Jesus asks me, “What does the Scripture say, Dan?”

“Don’t be so lazy,” I chided myself for rejecting their insight in a thought experiment.  Comparing a Hebrew or Aramaic Gospel to the Greek might be interesting and informative.  So I looked online but I found no Hebrew[5] or Aramaic[6] Gospel.  Instead, I found an essay by David N. Bivin, “Has a Gospel in Hebrew Been Found?,” on Jerusalem Perspective.  Mr. Bivin wrote on October 31, 1987:

From time to time, one hears reports of the discovery of a portion of the New Testament written in Hebrew or Aramaic. To date, such reports have proven false. There is not a single extant Hebrew-language or Aramaic-language manuscript from the early Christian era of any of the New Testament books. [Addendum: March 29, 2024, Rev. Glenn David Bauscher might dispute that claim. Without a concordance I will still be unable to study it.]

Under a heading, “My Assumptions,” Mr. Bivin continued:

I have arrived at two conclusions that serve as working hypotheses for my research:

An account of Jesus’ life was written in Hebrew, probably by one of Jesus’ original disciples.

One (or more) of the sources used by the writers of the Synoptic Gospels is derived from a Greek translation of that Hebrew account.

After this I returned to the essay by Chaim & Laura:

As I have said, Jesus spoke a Northern dialect of Aramaic…

This now brings us to the word Eli. In the Southern dialect this would mean my God.  However, in the Northern dialect, which is more colloquial, the word el would be used for more than just the word god, it was sometimes used in a descriptive sense.  A god is someone or something that has control over you. People are, for instance, controlled by their hearts desires. Thus Jesus could have been saying, “my heart.” In the Semitic languages when a word is repeated twice it is done to show emphasis.  Hence in the Old Galilean when Jesus said Eli Eli he could have been saying “listen to my heart.”  The word lama (Hebrew) or lema (Aramaic) generally is used as an interrogative, but this is not necessarily set in stone.  To use lema as a question, why am I forsaken or why have I been kept suggest that Jesus did not understand what was happening to Him. That is not my Jesus, He is God, and He is all knowing. In that context we could properly and linguistically render this not as a question but as a declaration, this is why.  In the Old Galilean lema Sabachthani means, this is why I have been kept or this is my destiny. In fact scholars have discovered this phrase still in use in that tribe that still uses the Old Galilean. They use it in the context of this is my destiny.  In other words Jesus was not speaking to God but to the people who were mourning his death, those who could understand his dialect and in His last breath what He could have been saying is, “Listen to my heart, this is my destiny.” Jesus was telling those who were in sorrow over his death, “Listen to my heart, this is why I came to earth in the first place, this is my purpose, to die for you.”

This time it occurred to me to ask, if an ancient language like Aramaic was so divergent over so small a geographical area almost two thousand years ago, why should I believe that its current usage among a contemporary tribe corrects an “error” in the Bible?  If Aramaic was that diverse in Jesus’ day, it would only make sense to address large mixed gatherings in a newer, more universal, common language used over a larger geographical area, like Koine Greek.  With all due respect to the research and assumptions of Mr. Bivin and Chaim & Laura, I’ll continue to explore Psalm 22 as the melody[7] in Jesus’ heart as He endured the cross.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 22:1 (Tanakh) Psalm 22:1 (NET) Psalm 21:1, 2 (NETS)

Psalm 21:1, 2 (Elpenor English)
For the music director, according to the tune “Morning Doe”; a psalm of David.

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?  I groan (sheʼâgâh, שאגתי) in prayer, but help seems far away.

 Regarding completion.  Over the support at dawn.  A Psalm.  Pertaining to Dauid. [For the end, concerning the morning aid, a Psalm of David.]
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring (שַֽׁאֲגָתִֽי)? God, my God, attend to me; why did you forsake me?  Far away from my deliverance are the words of my transgressions (παραπτωμάτων). O God, my God, attend to me: why hast thou forsaken me? the account of my transgressions (παραπτωμάτων) is far from my salvation.

The rabbis translated שַֽׁאֲגָתִֽ (sheʼâgâh; Tanakh: roaring) τῶν παραπτωμάτων μου (my transgressions) in the Septuagint (Table2 below).  I can see why Jesus may have preferred to meditate on the Hebrew or Aramaic text rather than the Greek.  Morfix, which I assume is intended more for contemporary Hebrew to English translation than ancient, yields “roar, shout” when I enter שַֽׁאֲגָתִֽ (sheʼâgâh).  Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon on the BLB entry for Strong’s Concordance number H7581 mentions “cry of a wretched person, wrung forth by grief.”  Only the NET dictionary mentions “the wicked” in its definition of שאגתי (sheʼâgâh): “1) roaring 1a) of lion, the wicked, distress cry.”  But even in the words, the account of my transgressions is far from my salvation, I hear the echo of, God[8] made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us.[9]   And yet no follower of Nietzsche can claim that Jesus affirmed that “He died for his own sins.”[10]

Chaim & Laura wrote about sabachthani:

As for the word Sabachthani well, we are not sure, it appears to be from the Aramaic word sbq which means to forsake or abandon for a purpose.  The Aramaic word for just simply to abandon to forsake because it is unwanted is taatani. However, it can be argued that the root word is really shwaq which means to be kept, spared or allowed or to fulfill an end. If Jesus had really meant that God had abandoned Him or forgot Him He would have used the word taatani (forsake) or nashatani (forget).

Something even more curious is that the passage suggests that Jesus is quoting Psalms 22:1 yet in Hebrew that phrase is eli, eli lama ‘azabethni not sabachthani. However the Jewish Targum (Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible) does use the Aramaic word sbq in Psalms 22:1, which is probably why the scribes added the footnote which being interpreted means….

It is certainly true that the Masoretic[11] text has עֲזַבְתָּ֑נִי (a form of ʽâzab) here.

Chaim & Laura continued:

Indeed Jesus could have been misquoted from scribes or witnesses at the crucifixion if they were from Judea, for the Judeans spoke a Southern dialect of Aramaic but Jesus and his disciples were from the Northern part of Israel, Galilee, where they spoke a Northern dialect of Aramaic…My belief that all Scripture is the inspired Word of God makes me a little uncomfortable suggesting that the Bible misquoted Jesus.  If the Bible teaches Jesus said Sabachthani, then that is what He said, no misquotation.

As I have said, Jesus spoke a Northern dialect of Aramaic.  My studies have been in the middle dialect of Aramaic, more commonly known as the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic or Talmudic Aramaic…So I claim no expertise on the Old Galilean or Northern dialect of Aramaic. However, from my research into the Old Galilean I find that the study of the Old Galilean is a relatively new discovery.  It was felt that the Northern dialect of Aramaic or the Old Galilean dialect was a dead language, however, linguist have found a tribe in Northern Iraq that still speaks this dialect and scholars from Oxford have descended upon these people to learn some of the finer points of this dialect.

I am as moved emotionally by this—the idea that a contemporary tribe, since Jesus’ resurrection, uses lema Sabachthani (in difficult circumstances, I assume) to mean this is my destiny—as I was moved by Chaim’s & Laura’s use of this contemporary meaning of Sabachthani to translate Jesus’ words.  It’s a wash[12] for me emotionally.  But if I will receive ὅ ἐστιν μεθερμηνευόμενον· ὁ θεός μου |ὁ θεός μου|, εἰς τί ἐγκατέλιπες με (NET: which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”) as words inspired by the Spirit of God rather than the words of ignorant scribes I can know that Sabachthani meant ἐγκατέλιπες (a form of ἐγκαταλείπω) when Jesus said it, as the rabbis translated it in the Septuagint (Table2 below).  And Chaim’s & Laura’s essay has placed an asterisk in my mind beside one of the meanings of ἐγκαταλείπω: “to leave for future benefit.”

One more thing before I move on.  The Septuagint had πρόσχες μοι (attend to me) between My God, my God and why hast thou forsaken me.  That Jesus did not say anything like attend to me would ordinarily tip me toward the idea that the rabbis added it to the original Hebrew rather than that the Masoretes deleted it from the original.  In this particular case the content itself leaves me wondering if Jesus might have skipped it because he was too short of breath to add: I knew that you always (πάντοτε) listen to me, but I said this for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.[13]

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 22:2 (Tanakh) Psalm 22:2 (NET) Psalm 21:3 (NETS)

Psalm 21:3 (Elpenor English)
O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent (דֽוּמִיָּ֥ה). My God, I cry out during the day, but you do not answer, and during the night my prayers do not let up (dûmı̂yâh, דומיה). O my God, I will cry by day, and you will not listen, and by night, and it becomes no folly (ἄνοιαν) for me. O my God, I will cry to thee by day, but thou wilt not hear: and by night, and [it shall] not [be accounted] for folly (ἄνοιαν) to me.

Though the Masoretic text was translated into English in the present tense, but thou hearest not (Tanakh) or but you do not answer (NET), the rabbis chose εἰσακούσῃ (a form of εἰσακούω).  An English translator can be reasonably certain they didn’t intend εἰσακούσῃ as a 3rd person singular verb here (he did not listen or hear).  But there are two choices for the 2nd person singular: a future tense in the indicative mood or an aorist tense in the subjunctive mood.  I assume it was the negation οὐκ (Table4 below) that tipped them to the future tense: and you will not listen (NETS) or but thou wilt not hear (English Elpenor).

It is interesting to think of the Septuagint here as more faithful to the original text, even as I consider that original text as Jesus’ prayer to his Father from the cross.  He knew He would not be saved from death.  But it’s fair to wonder whether I would have been sensitive enough to recognize this subtle difference if I hadn’t been primed by Chaim’s & Laura’s concern: “To use lema as a question, why am I forsaken or why have I been kept suggest that Jesus did not understand what was happening to Him.”

Where the Masoretic text had דֽוּמִיָּ֥ה (dûmı̂yâh), the Septuagint had ἄνοιαν (a form of ἄνοια).  The English translations of the Masoretic text, and am not silent (Tanakh) or my prayers do not let up (NET), are considerably different from those of the Septuagint, and it becomes no folly for me (NETS) or and [it shall] not [be accounted] for folly to me (English Elpenor).  So I ran דֽוּמִיָּ֥ה and דומיה through Morfix.

דֽוּמִיָּ֥ה
Hebrew Tanakh Forms English Definitions
דֽוּמִיָּ֥ה silent דֹּמִי (flowery) silence, stillness
דּוֹמֶה resembles, similar to; similar; in the same way as; דומים – (geometry) equivalent
דָּמַם (literary) to silence, to quieten; (literary) to cease moving, to stand still
דומיה
Hebrew NET Forms English Definitions
דומיה do…let up דּוּמִיָּה absolute silence, hush
דּוֹמֶה et cetera, and the like, and similar

I don’t see how to get the one from the other.  But if I assume that the Septuagint is closer to the original Hebrew, even as I consider it as Jesus’ prayer, I hear his persistence and faith: O my God, I will cry to thee by day, but thou wilt not hear: and by night, and [it shall] not [be accounted] for folly to me.

After Peter recognized Jesus as the Christ, Jesus began to teach [his disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by[14] the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law,[15] and be killed, and after three days rise again.[16]  Jesus’ prayer day and night was not folly.  I’ll let what follows stand as a testament to his faith without comment from me.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 22:3-5 (Tanakh) Psalm 22:3-5 (NET) Psalm 21:4-6 (NETS)

Psalm 21:4-6 (Elpenor English)
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. You are holy; you sit as king receiving the praises of Israel. But you, the commendation of Israel, reside in a holy place. But thou, the praise of Israel, dwellest in a sanctuary.
Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted in you and you rescued them. In you our fathers hoped; they hoped, and you rescued them. Our fathers hoped in thee; they hoped, and thou didst deliver them.
They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. To you they cried out, and they were saved; in you they trusted and they were not disappointed. To you they cried and were saved; in you they hoped and were not put to shame. They cried to thee, and were saved: they hoped in thee, and were not ashamed.

I’ll continue this in another essay.

Tables comparing Psalm 22:1; 22:2; 22:3; 22:4 and 22:5 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and Psalm 22:1 (22:1, 2); 22:2 (21:3); 22:3 (21:4); 22:4 (21:5) and 22:5 (22:6) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.  Tables comparing Mark 15:34; Ephesians 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Mark 8:31 in the NET and KJV follow those.

Psalm 22:1 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 22:1 (KJV)

Psalm 22:1 (NET)
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? For the music director, according to the tune “Morning Doe”; a psalm of David.  My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?  I groan in prayer, but help seems far away.

Psalm 22:1 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 21:1, 2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἰς τὸ τέλος ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀντιλήμψεως τῆς ἑωθινῆς ψαλμὸς τῷ Δαυιδ ὁ θεὸς ὁ θεός μου πρόσχες μοι ἵνα τί ἐγκατέλιπές με μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς σωτηρίας μου οἱ λόγοι τῶν παραπτωμάτων μου Εἰς τὸ τέλος, ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀντιλήψεως τῆς ἑωθινῆς· ψαλμὸς τῷ Δαυΐδ.  Ο ΘΕΟΣ, ὁ Θεός μου, πρόσχες μοι· ἵνα τί ἐγκατέλιπές με; μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς σωτηρίας μου οἱ λόγοι τῶν παραπτωμάτων μου

Psalm 21:1, 2 (NETS)

Psalm 21:1, 2 (English Elpenor)
Regarding completion.  Over the support at dawn.  A Psalm.  Pertaining to Dauid.  God, my God, attend to me; why did you forsake me?  Far away from my deliverance are the words of my transgressions. [For the end, concerning the morning aid, a Psalm of David.]  O God, my God, attend to me: why hast thou forsaken me? the account of my transgressions is far from my salvation.

Psalm 22:2 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 22:2 (KJV)

Psalm 22:2 (NET)
O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. My God, I cry out during the day, but you do not answer, and during the night my prayers do not let up.

Psalm 22:2 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 21:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὁ θεός μου κεκράξομαι ἡμέρας καὶ οὐκ εἰσακούσῃ καὶ νυκτός καὶ οὐκ εἰς ἄνοιαν ἐμοί ὁ Θεός μου, κεκράξομαι ἡμέρας, καὶ οὐκ εἰσακούσῃ, καὶ νυκτός, καὶ οὐκ εἰς ἄνοιαν ἐμοί

Psalm 21:3 (NETS)

Psalm 21:3 (English Elpenor)
O my God, I will cry by day, and you will not listen, and by night, and it becomes no folly for me. O my God, I will cry to thee by day, but thou wilt not hear: and by night, and [it shall] not [be accounted] for folly to me.

Psalm 22:3 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 22:3 (KJV)

Psalm 22:3 (NET)
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. You are holy; you sit as king receiving the praises of Israel.

Psalm 22:3 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 21:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
σὺ δὲ ἐν ἁγίοις κατοικεῗς ὁ ἔπαινος Ισραηλ σὺ δὲ ἐν ἁγίῳ κατοικεῖς, ὁ ἔπαινος τοῦ ᾿Ισραήλ

Psalm 21:4 (NETS)

Psalm 21:4 (English Elpenor)
But you, the commendation of Israel, reside in a holy place. But thou, the praise of Israel, dwellest in a sanctuary.

Psalm 22:4 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 22:4 (KJV)

Psalm 22:4 (NET)
Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted in you and you rescued them.

Psalm 22:4 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 21:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισαν οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν ἤλπισαν καὶ ἐρρύσω αὐτούς ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισαν οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν, ἤλπισαν, καὶ ἐῤῥύσω αὐτούς

Psalm 21:5 (NETS)

Psalm 21:5 (English Elpenor)
In you our fathers hoped; they hoped, and you rescued them. Our fathers hoped in thee; they hoped, and thou didst deliver them.

Psalm 22:5 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 22:5 (KJV)

Psalm 22:5 (NET)
They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. To you they cried out, and they were saved; in you they trusted and they were not disappointed.

Psalm 22:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 21:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
πρὸς σὲ ἐκέκραξαν καὶ ἐσώθησαν ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισαν καὶ οὐ κατῃσχύνθησαν πρὸς σὲ ἐκέκραξαν καὶ ἐσώθησαν, ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισαν καὶ οὐ κατῃσχύνθησαν

Psalm 21:6 (NETS)

Psalm 21:6 (English Elpenor)
To you they cried and were saved; in you they hoped and were not put to shame. They cried to thee, and were saved: they hoped in thee, and were not ashamed.

Mark 15:34 (NET)

Mark 15:34 (KJV)
Around three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ τῇ ἐνάτῃ ὥρᾳ ἐβόησεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς φωνῇ μεγάλῃ· ἐλωι ἐλωι |λεμα| σαβαχθανι; ὅ ἐστιν μεθερμηνευόμενον· ὁ θεός μου |ὁ θεός μου|, εἰς τί ἐγκατέλιπες με και τη ωρα τη εννατη εβοησεν ο ιησους φωνη μεγαλη λεγων ελωι ελωι λαμμα σαβαχθανι ο εστιν μεθερμηνευομενον ο θεος μου ο θεος μου εις τι με εγκατελιπες και τη ωρα τη ενατη εβοησεν ο ιησους φωνη μεγαλη λεγων ελωι ελωι λιμα σαβαχθανι ο εστιν μεθερμηνευομενον ο θεος μου ο θεος μου εις τι με εγκατελιπες

Ephesians 5:19 (NET)

Ephesians 5:19 (KJV)
speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
λαλοῦντες ἑαυτοῖς [ἐν] ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς, ᾄδοντες καὶ ψάλλοντες τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν τῷ κυρίῳ, λαλουντες εαυτοις ψαλμοις και υμνοις και ωδαις πνευματικαις αδοντες και ψαλλοντες εν τη καρδια υμων τω κυριω λαλουντες εαυτοις ψαλμοις και υμνοις και ωδαις πνευματικαις αδοντες και ψαλλοντες εν τη καρδια υμων τω κυριω

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET)

2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV)
God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς γενώμεθα δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ τον γαρ μη γνοντα αμαρτιαν υπερ ημων αμαρτιαν εποιησεν ινα ημεις γινωμεθα δικαιοσυνη θεου εν αυτω τον γαρ μη γνοντα αμαρτιαν υπερ ημων αμαρτιαν εποιησεν ινα ημεις γενωμεθα δικαιοσυνη θεου εν αυτω

Mark 8:31 (NET)

Mark 8:31 (KJV)
Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ ἤρξατο διδάσκειν αὐτοὺς ὅτι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου πολλὰ παθεῖν καὶ ἀποδοκιμασθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ τῶν γραμματέων καὶ ἀποκτανθῆναι καὶ μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἀναστῆναι· και ηρξατο διδασκειν αυτους οτι δει τον υιον του ανθρωπου πολλα παθειν και αποδοκιμασθηναι απο των πρεσβυτερων και αρχιερεων και γραμματεων και αποκτανθηναι και μετα τρεις ημερας αναστηναι και ηρξατο διδασκειν αυτους οτι δει τον υιον του ανθρωπου πολλα παθειν και αποδοκιμασθηναι απο των πρεσβυτερων και των αρχιερεων και των γραμματεων και αποκτανθηναι και μετα τρεις ημερας αναστηναι

[1] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had τῇ ἐνάτῃ ὥρᾳ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had τη ωρα τη εννατη (KJV: at the ninth hour) and the Byzantine Majority Text had τη ωρα τη ενατη.

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

[3] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had λεμα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had λαμμα (KJV: lama) and the Byzantine Majority Text had λιμα.

[4] WORD STUDY – ELI ELI LAMA SABACHTHANI PART I

[5] Shem Tob’s Hebrew Gospel of Matthew: “is the oldest extant Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew. It was included in the 14th-century work Eben Boḥan (The Touchstone) by the Spanish Jewish Rabbi Shem-Tov ben Isaac ben Shaprut. George Howard has argued that Shem Tov’s Matthew comes from a much earlier Hebrew text that was later translated into Greek and other languages…Shem-Tob ben Isaac Ibn Shaprut was the author of an anti-Christian religious treatise, The Touchstone, completed in 1380 and revised in 1385 and 1400. Often referred to as “The Logic of Shem Tob”, it argues against the belief that Jesus is God.”

[6] Hebrew Gospel hypothesis: “(or proto-Gospel hypothesis or Aramaic Matthew hypothesis) is a group of theories based on the proposition that a lost gospel in Hebrew or Aramaic lies behind the four canonical gospels. It is based upon an early Christian tradition, deriving from the 2nd-century bishop Papias of Hierapolis, that the apostle Matthew composed such a gospel. Papias appeared to say that this Hebrew or Aramaic gospel was subsequently translated into the canonical gospel of Matthew, but modern studies have shown this to be untenable.”

[7] Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19 KJV)

[8] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had γαρ (KJV: For) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[9] 2 Corinthians 5:21a (NET)

[10] The Antichrist (book), “Revolt against Jewish priesthood”: “This saintly anarchist, who aroused the people of the abyss, the outcasts and “sinners,” the Chandala of Judaism, to rise in revolt against the established order of things…this man was certainly a political criminal.… This is what brought him to the cross.… He died for his own sins…”

[11] The Masoretic Text: The traditional–sometimes imperfect–Jewish version of the Torah text.; Jewish Concepts: Masoretic Text

[12] Google Dictionary: 8. INFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN – a situation or result that is of no benefit to either of two opposing sides. “the plan’s impact on jobs would be a wash, creating as many as it costs”

[13] John 11:42 (NET)

[14] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ὑπὸ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had απο (KJV: of).

[15] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had τῶν preceding experts in the law.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

[16] Mark 8:31 (NET)

Romans, Part 80

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JudgmentalPerhaps every old human (παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, translated old man) should come with this warning label, but love says: Now receive the one who is weak in the faith, and do not have disputes over differing opinions.[1]  Paul continued his discussion of love with a then current example (Romans 14:2, 3a NET):

One person believes in eating everything, but the weak (ἀσθενῶν, a form of ἀσθενέω) person eats only vegetables.  The one who eats everything must not despise (ἐξουθενείτω, a form of ἐξουθενέω) the one who does not…

Luke introduced Jesus’ parable contrasting religious and righteous prayer this way: Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else.[2]  The Greek word translated looked down is ἐξουθενοῦντας (another form of ἐξουθενέω) like ἐξουθενείτω, translated despise in Romans 14:3.  Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, replied, “Rulers of the people and elders[3]….This Jesus is the stone that was rejected (ἐξουθενηθεὶς, another form of ἐξουθενέω) by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone.”[4]  Paul wrote believers in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NET Table):

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

Love doesn’t despise the faith-weak the way the world despises all believers.  And love doesn’t judge those who do not adhere to the rules the faith-weak live by.  Paul continued (Romans 14:3b NET):

…and the one who abstains must not judge (κρινέτω, a form of κρίνω) the one who eats everything, for God has accepted (προσελάβετο, a form of προσλαμβάνω) him.

Therefore do not let anyone judge (κρινέτω, a form of κρίνω) you with respect to food or drink, Paul wrote believers in Colossae, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days – these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ![5]  Yet of love Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 8):

With regard to food sacrificed to idols, we know that “we all have knowledge.”  Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.  If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know.  But if someone loves God, he is known by God.

With regard then to eating food sacrificed to idols, we know that “an idol in this world is nothing,” and that “there is no God but one.”  If after all there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live.

But this knowledge is not shared by all.  And some, by being accustomed to idols in former times, eat this food as an idol sacrifice, and their conscience, because it is weak (ἀσθενὴς, another form of ἀσθενής), is defiled.  Now food will not bring us close to God.  We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.  But be careful that this liberty of yours does not become a hindrance to the weak (ἀσθενέσιν, another form of ἀσθενής).  For if someone weak (ἀσθενοῦς, another form of ἀσθενής) sees you who possess knowledge dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience be “strengthened” to eat food offered to idols?  So by your knowledge the weak (ἀσθενῶν, a form of ἀσθενέω) brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed.  If you sin against your brothers or sisters in this way and wound their weak (ἀσθενοῦσαν, another form of ἀσθενέω) conscience, you sin against Christ.  For this reason, if food causes my brother or sister to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause one of them to sin.

Paul continued for believers in Rome (Romans 14:4a NET):

Who are you to pass judgment (κρίνων, another form of κρίνω) on another’s servant?  Before his own master he stands or falls.

Jesus said, there is One who seeks and judges[6] (ἔστιν ὁ ζητῶν καὶ κρίνων).  I quoted the NAS because the NET translation reads, There is one who demands it, and he also judges.  This leaves me with the impression that Jesus told the Ἰουδαῖοι (Judeans, NET; Jews, NAS) that his Father demanded glory for Jesus from them and would judge them for failing to deliver it.  The latter is simply false, the Father does not judge (κρίνει, another form of κρίνω) anyone, but has assigned all judgment (κρίσιν, a form of κρίσις) to the Son…[7]  What the Father seeks (ζητῶν, a form of ζητέω) was specified earlier in John’s Gospel: But a time is coming – and now is here – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks (ζητεῖ, another form of ζητέω) such people to be his worshipers.[8]

I think Jesus meant what He said: I am not trying to get (ζητῶ, another form of ζητέω) praise (δόξαν, a form of δόξα) for myself.[9]  The person who speaks on his own authority desires (ζητεῖ, a form of ζητέω) to receive honor (δόξαν, a form of δόξα) for himself; the one who desires (ζητῶν, a form of ζητέω) the honor (δόξαν, a form of δόξα) of the one who sent him is a man of integrity (ἀληθής), and there is no unrighteousness in him.[10]  Clearly, the translators of the NET thought of δόξαν as honor, also translated praise, something originating with people.  The Father has assigned all judgment to the Son, so that all people will honor (τιμῶσι, a form of τιμάω) the Son just as they honor (τιμῶσι, a form of τιμάω) the Father.[11]

In that light then since the Father seeks true worshipers who worship…in spirit and truth, then He might also seek honor from those worshippers for his Son.  The one who does not honor (τιμῶν, another form of τιμάω) the Son does not honor (τιμᾷ, another form of τιμάω) the Father who sent him.[12]  And granted, Jesus prefaced his remarks with, I honor (τιμῶ, another form of τιμάω) my Father – and yet you dishonor (ἀτιμάζετε, a form of ἀτιμάζω) me.[13]  But I’m still not convinced that made δόξαν a synonym for τιμάω.

I think Jesus meant glory from or of God, his Father.  “If I glorify (δοξάσω, a form of δοξάζω) myself, my glory (δόξα) is worthless.  The one who glorifies (δοξάζων, another form of δοξάζω) me is my Father, about whom you people say, ‘He is our God.’”[14]  I glorified (ἐδόξασα, another form of δοξάζω) you on earth, Jesus prayed to his Father, by completing the work you gave me to do.[15]  And I think Jesus was focused on that work, both to seek the Father’s true worshiper’s—For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise[16]—and to do it in a way that satisfied the Father’s judgment (of Him as opposed to others).  I think Jesus expressed a relationship to his Father very similar to the relationship Paul expressed to Jesus (1 Corinthians 4:3, 4 NET):

So for me, it is a minor matter that I am judged (ἀνακριθῶ, a form of ἀνακρίνω) by you or by any human court.  In fact, I do not even judge (ἀνακρίνω) myself.  For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not acquitted because of this.  The one who judges (ἀνακρίνων) me is the Lord.

And that relationship answers why He was so impressed with the faith of the centurion: “just say the word and my servant will be healed.  For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.  I say to this one, ‘Go’ and he goes, and to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave ‘Do this’ and he does it.”[17]  The servant and the slave honored the centurion but Caesar glorified him.

I consider when Jesus sought his own glory and what He did with it: “Father, the time has come.  Glorify (δόξασον, another form of δοξάζω) your Son, so that your Son may glorify (δοξάσῃ, another form of δοξάζω) you…[18]  Now, Father, glorify (δόξασον, another form of δοξάζω) Me together with Yourself, with the glory (δόξῃ, another form of δόξα) which I had with You before the world was.”[19]  Then He took that glory and nailed it naked, bruised and bleeding to a cross; Jesus said (John 10:17, 18; Matthew 26:53, 54 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.

Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now? [Table]  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?

The prophet Isaiah described it this way (Isaiah 53 NET):

Who would have believed what we just heard?  When was the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) power revealed through him?

He sprouted up like a twig before God, like a root out of parched soil; he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him.

He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant.

But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our pain; even though we thought he was being punished, attacked by God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים), and afflicted for something he had done.

He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed.

All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord (yehôvâh, ויהוה) caused the sin of all of us to attack him.

He was treated harshly and afflicted, but he did not even open his mouth.  Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block, like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not even open his mouth.

He was led away after an unjust trial – but who even cared?  Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the rebellion of his own people he was wounded.

They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb, because he had committed no violent deeds, nor had he spoken deceitfully.

Though the Lord (yehôvâh, ויהוה) desired to crush him and make him ill, once restitution is made, he will see descendants and enjoy long life, and the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) purpose will be accomplished through him.

Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done.

“My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins.  So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels.”

Paul described it this way for believers in Rome, For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened (ἠσθένει, another form of ἀσθενέω) through the flesh.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.[20]  And he described it this way for believers in Corinth: God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.[21]

Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Paul wrote.  Before his own master he stands or falls.  And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.[22]  Though it may seem at first that this latter applies only to the less faith-weak, I don’t think that is the case.  I as a believer stand 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.[23]  And this confidence in Christ’s faithfulness may be the ultimate meaning of thinking of one another.

[1] Romans 14:1 (NET)

[2] Luke 18:9 (NET)

[3] Acts 4:8 (NET)

[4] Acts 4:11 (NET)

[5] Colossians 2:16, 17 (NET)

[6] John 8:50b (NAS)

[7] John 5:22 (NET)

[8] John 4:23 (NET)

[9] John 8:50a (NET)

[10] John 7:18 (NET)

[11] John 5:22b, 23a (NET)

[12] John 5:23b (NET)

[13] John 8:49b (NET)

[14] John 8:54 (NET)

[15] John 17:4 (NET)

[16] John 5:19b (NET)

[17] Matthew 8:8b, 9 (NET) Table

[18] John 17:1b (NET)

[19] John 17:5 (NAS)

[20] Romans 8:3, 4 (NET)

[21] 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET)

[22] Romans 14:4 (NET) Table

[23] Philippians 3:9 (NET)

Romans, Part 69

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Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality.[1]  I’ll forego the table of Scripture this time.  I’m convinced now that I’m not forcing the situation.  Paul was describing love empowered by the fruit of the Holy Spirit, not offering obedience to his own rules as the true path to living eternal life.  And there was always something arbitrary about what I was trying to do.  Kindness is the most obvious aspect of the fruit of the Spirit to effect contributing, but since I have used it already I would’ve said faithfulness.  And as I consider the needs of the saints I tend to focus on Love is patient.[2]

But the fruit of the Spirit isn’t really divisible into love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control any more than love is divisible into the constituent parts of Paul’s definition in 1 Corinthians.  I can’t spoof the fruit of the Spirit by striving to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled, though I’m not sure I would have understood that if I hadn’t tried to do it on my own.

The Greek word translated contribute above is κοινωνοῦντες (a form of κοινωνέω).  It means to share, or to have in common: All who believed were together and held everything in common (κοινὰ, a form of κοινός).[3]  The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common (κοινά, a form of κοινός).[4]  Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, the author of Hebrews wrote, [Jesus] likewise shared in their humanity.[5]  And this brings up another aspect of the concept common.

The Greek word translated share above is κεκοινώνηκεν, another form of κοινωνέω, or a form of κοινόω.  In the NET online if I click on the English word share I am taken to κοινωνέω, if I click on κεκοινώνηκεν in the parallel Greek I am taken to κοινόω.  Perhaps this is just a mistake.  It happens sometimes.  In Revelation 20:10 for instance if I click on lake I am taken to λίμνη (‘lake’), if I click on the parallel Greek λίμνην I am taken to λιμήν (‘harbor’ or ‘haven’).  But I’ll pursue this as if it is a possible understanding of the Greek rather than a coding mistake because all of these words share κοινός as their common root.

Jews from the province of Asia[6] accused Paul: he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled (κεκοίνωκεν, a form of κοινόω) this holy place![7]  If this is a potential meaning of κεκοινώνηκεν it accentuates how He who became Jesus profaned, defiled or made Himself common as He shared (μετέσχεν, a form of μετέχω) in our humanity.  This isn’t difficult to grasp; a common woman was one shared by many.

I want to take a moment to discuss who He-who-became-Jesus is.  To most of my contemporaries He is the unknown Son of God who declared the known Jehovah as his Father.  I think of Him as the known yehôvâh (יהוה) who became flesh and blood as Ἰησοῦς and revealed his as yet unknown Father.  Admittedly, I would arrive at a stalemate on this issue from Scripture.  I lean the way I do because of personal experience.  That Jehovah killed someone or sent someone to die, even his own son, isn’t really news, certainly not good news.

If yehôvâh became a man  Ἰησοῦς and gave his own human life to satisfy his own righteous vengeance against human sin, if He created human beings knowing full well He would ultimately pay this price for them, that is news, very good news.  And it helps to explain the great pains He took,[8] and continues to take, to demonstrate the failure of any other means of redemption.  And with this understanding I can appreciate how yehôvâh bowed to the higher authority of his Father’s will, authority which supersedes all law or covenant, as He relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people[9] at Sinai.

So what makes a person common, defiled or profane?  What defiles (κοινοῖ, another form of κοινόω) a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles (κοινοῖ, another form of κοινόω) a person.[10]  The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile (κοινοῖ, another form of κοινόω) a person.[11]  Jesus wasn’t talking about disease here.  For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.[12]

This knowledge wasn’t from yehôvâh’s omniscience but from  Ἰησοῦς’ personal experience.   Ἰησοῦς knew (ἐγίνωσκεν, a form of γινώσκω) what was in man (ἀνθρώπῳ, a form of ἄνθρωπος).[13]  God made the one who did not know (γνόντα, another form of γινώσκω) sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.[14]  The things that defile a person are already inside a person.  These are the things that defile (κοινοῦντα, another form of κοινόω, or ‘make common’) a person (ἄνθρωπον, another form of ἄνθρωπος); it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles (κοινοῖ, another form of κοινόω) a person (ἄνθρωπον, another form of ἄνθρωπος).[15]

So are we all common, defiled, profane?  Certainly not, Lord, Peter protested to the voice which commanded him to slaughter and eat in a trance as he prayed, for I have never eaten anything defiled (κοινὸν, a form of κοινός) and ritually unclean![16]  In his trance Peter didn’t believe Jesus’ teaching, There is nothing outside of a person that can defile (κοινῶσαι, another form of κοινόω) him by going into him.[17]  The voice didn’t chide his unbelief but said simply, What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean (κοίνου, another form of κοινόω)![18]  We take this to mean that all foods are clean.[19]  But Peter said, God has shown me that I should call no person defiled (κοινὸν, a form of κοινός) or ritually unclean.[20]

Macedonia and Achaia are pleased to make some contribution (κοινωνίαν, a form of κοινωνία) for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem,[21] Paul wrote the believers in Rome.  I think it’s important to consider the origin of the poor among the saints in Jerusalem:  All who believed were together and held everything in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need (χρείαν, a form of χρεία).[22]  At first this economic system worked amazingly well (Acts 4:32-35 NET):

The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common.  With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on them all.  For there was no one needy (ἐνδεής) among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them and bringing the proceeds from the sales and placing them at the apostles’ feet.  The proceeds were distributed to each, as anyone had need (χρείαν, a form of χρεία). 

They sold land and houses, assets that could be leased or rented, believing, This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven[23] soon, in their lifetimes.  I’m not suggesting they acted contrarily to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but that prompting may have been unique to their time and circumstances.

Jerusalem was destroyed in the lifetimes of many of them, and whatever lands and houses remained went to their Roman conquerors.  Israel had a penchant for arbitrary law (Judges 21:5, Ezra 10:8, Acts 9:1, 2 NET).  Converting lands and houses to cash may have been the only way for believers in Jerusalem to “keep” them.  [Y]ou accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy, because you knew that you certainly had a better and lasting possession,[24] the writer of Hebrews acknowledged.

The deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, probably by design, kept the Jerusalem church from becoming a popular, bandwagon-style movement (Acts 5:11-13 NET):

Great fear gripped the whole church and all who heard about these things.  Now many miraculous signs and wonders came about among the people through the hands of the apostles.  By common consent they were all meeting together in Solomon’s Portico.  None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high honor.

The More and more believers in the Lord [who] were added to their number, crowds of both men and women,[25] were drawn by Jesus, I trust, rather than the glitz and glam of the moment.  But it didn’t keep pace apparently with the conversion and spending of assets: If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food,[26] was James’ concern in the Jerusalem church.  At the Jerusalem Council when James, Cephas, and John, who had a reputation as pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, Paul wrote the Galatians, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.  They requested only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.[27]

For [Macedonia and Achaia] were pleased to [make some contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem], and indeed they are indebted (ὀφειλέται, a form of ὀφειλέτης) to the Jerusalem saints.[28]  For if the Gentiles have shared (ἐκοινώνησαν, another form of κοινωνέω) in their spiritual things (πνευματικοῖς, a form of πνευματικός), they are obligated (ὀφείλουσιν, a form of ὀφείλω) also to minister (λειτουργῆσαι, a form of λειτουργέω) to them in material things (σαρκικοῖς, a form of σαρκικός).[29]

This debt and obligation stem directly from, To [Israel] belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.  To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever!  Amen.[30]  Still, Paul called this debt and obligation καρπὸν (fruit): Therefore after I have completed this and have safely delivered this bounty (καρπὸν, a form of καρπός) to them…[31]  And so I take it for granted that he intended this debt and obligation to be dispatched by love empowered by the fruit of the Spirit much as I wrote elsewhere on the spiritual gift of contributing[32] (μεταδιδοὺς, a form of μεταδίδωμι).

I’ll write more on that in subsequent essays.  Here, I want to address two different but related issues: 1) I don’t think the communal economy of the Jerusalem church is normative, and 2) I think the debt and obligation to the poor among the saints in Jerusalem was as temporary as that unique situation.  I consider Paul’s own example (Acts 20:33-35 NET):

“I have desired (ἐπεθύμησα, a form of ἐπιθυμέω) no one’s silver or gold or clothing.  You yourselves know that these hands of mine provided for my needs (χρείαις, a form of χρεία) and the needs of those who were with me.  By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help (ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι, a form of ἀντιλαμβάνομαι) the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive (λαμβάνειν, a form of λαμβάνω).’”

And I consider Paul’s teaching (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12; Ephesians 4:28 NET):

Now on the topic of brotherly love you have no need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία) for anyone to write you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.  And indeed you are practicing it toward all the brothers and sisters in all of Macedonia.  But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, to aspire to lead a quiet life, to attend to your own business, and to work with your hands, as we commanded you.  In this way you will live a decent life before outsiders and not be in need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία).

The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labor, doing good (ἀγαθόν, another form of ἀγαθός) with his own hands, so that he may have something to share (μεταδιδόναι, another form of μεταδίδωμι) with the one who has need (χρείαν, another form of χρεία).

And I consider Paul’s understanding of the one new man (Ephesians 2:11-22 NET):

Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body by human hands – that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees.  He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.  And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

And so I find it extremely difficult to believe that the Holy Spirit intended to re-divide this one new man into a permanent working-class of Gentiles supporting a permanent leisure-class of descendants of Israel because Paul wrote the saints of Macedonia and Achaia that they are indebted to the Jerusalem saints.  For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are obligated also to minister to them in material things.[33]  I believe that debt and obligation were superseded, once the Jerusalem church was scattered (along with its unique economy), by: Owe (ὀφείλετε, another form of ὀφείλω) no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.[34]

[1] Romans 12:13 (NET)

[2] 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NET)

[3] Acts 2:44 (NET)

[4] Acts 4:32 (NET)

[5] Hebrews 2:14a (NET)

[6] Acts 21:27 (NET)

[7] Acts 21:28b (NKJV)

[8] Genesis 4:7, 8; Genesis 6:5-8; Genesis 9:24-27; Exodus 20:4-6; Exodus 32:1-4; Matthew 5:17-20 NET

[9] Exodus 32:14 (NET)

[10] Matthew 15:11 (NET)

[11] Matthew 15:18 (NET)

[12] Matthew 15:19 (NET)

[13] John 2:25b (NET)

[14] 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET)

[15] Matthew 15:20 (NET)

[16] Acts 10:14 (NET) Table

[17] Mark 7:15a (NET)

[18] Acts 10:15 (NET)

[19] Mark 7:19b (NET)

[20] Acts 10:28b (NET) Table

[21] Romans 15:26 (NET)

[22] Acts 2:44, 45 (NET)

[23] Acts 1:11b (NET)

[24] Hebrews 10:34b (NET)

[25] Acts 5:14 (NET)

[26] James 2:15 (NET) Table

[27] Galatians 2:9, 10 (NET)

[28] One might argue that they (we) were (are) more indebted to those in Israel who rejected Jesus.

[29] Romans 15:27 (NET)

[30] Romans 9:4, 5 (NET)

[31] Romans 15:28 (NET)

[32] Romans 12:6-8 (NET)

[33] Romans 15:27b (NET)

[34] Romans 13:8 (NET)

My Reasons and My Reason, Part 5

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Late that summer before we began our senior years of high school, I asked B if she wanted to have sex for real.  “I think you already know the answer to that,” she said.  Actually, I didn’t.  That’s why I asked.  But I took her evasion for a negative answer.  When I asked C to the first football game of the season, I imagine that B felt rejected for her refusal.  But I had been biding my time all summer, waiting for the seniors who buzzed around C to leave for college.  I didn’t have the connection with B, that sense of loyalty and commitment, I had experienced with A.

A week or so after that football game C and I had sex for real for the first time, for both of us.  Everything began to change for me.  I didn’t think so concretely at the time, but if someone had tried to communicate the fruit of the Spirit to me then, I would have argued that sex with C was my source of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and, after I failed to inaugurate my water brothers scheme, faithfulness and self-control.  I had my parents’ example.

They could barely tolerate one another. I might have suspected, since I existed, that sex lacked the staying power I thought, and hoped for, at the time.  I reasoned instead that my parents didn’t do it right, and suspected that their religion inhibited and prohibited them from doing it right.  Now, I believe that the forbidden fruit was a forbidden fruit, that Adam enjoyed a blessed wedding night and a wonderful afterglow that first Sabbath with his beautiful naked wife (Proverbs 5:18, 19 NET).

May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in your young wife –a loving doe, a graceful deer; may her breasts satisfy you at all times, may you be captivated by her love always.

But at seventeen it was all too easy to assume that forbidden fruit was a religious euphemism for sex.  I didn’t recognize that new-found faithfulness and self-control as something alien to me, as something quite contrary to my own will in fact.  I assumed that I had changed my mind.  It was My love for C, after all, that filled me with joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, even faithfulness and self-control.  Isn’t that what we mean and expect of someone who loves us?  He/She is filled with joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and even self-control (as it pertains to another) in our presence?  And aches for the want of these things in our absence?

It wasn’t long before C and I discovered a mutual attraction for spanking and whipping (though I had  more affinity for dominant-submissive role-play than she did).  It became a routine part of our foreplay.  Yes, I was spanked as a child.  No, she was not.  But I’m not interested in psychological explanations.  What interests me is the wrath of God…revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness.[1]

Clearly, I did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but [I] became futile in [my] thoughts and [my] senseless [heart was] darkened.  Although [I] claimed to be wise, [I] became [a fool] and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings…[2]

I didn’t know that Jesus was with God in the beginning.  All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.[3]  I didn’t know that Jesus was fully God.[4]  I had wondered about John’s mysterious Word, thrilled to the sound of the words that sang its praises, but hadn’t connected that Word with Jesus.

Jesus was the Son of God, less than God by definition, I thought. I believed in Jesus as a child but later (about twelve or thirteen) I put childish things away and prayed to God the Father, the true God, instead.  Jesus was the bait; God the Father was the switch.[5] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,[6] sounded wonderful in the sales pitch.  When I learned that faith wasn’t enough, that I had to live as a child of God, the deal changed dramatically: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.[7]  And Jesus being found in fashion as a man, was the image of the good son: he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.[8]  But at the critical moment when Jesus was most obedient to God the Father’s will, God the Father abandoned Him because, Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity…[9]  Or, as another story goes, rather than abandoning Jesus on the cross God the Father hurled even more secret punishments at Him, because his death alone was not sufficient to atone for sins.

I feel bad about the previous paragraph, and can’t continue without correcting it. Though the Scriptures are true, my tone was all off.  The surprise when Jesus appeared on earth as a man born of a virgin was not that Yahweh had a Son, but that He had a Father: Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, before Abraham came into existence, I am!”[10] For this is the way God [the Father] loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.[11]  He gave Him in the garden of Eden, and in the burning bush, and on Mount Sinai, and at Bethlehem and on Golgotha. No one [not Adam, not Eve, not Moses] has ever seen God [the Father]. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God [the Father] known.[12]

When Philip said to Jesus, Lord, show us the Father, and we will be content,[13] Jesus said: Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father!  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?  The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father residing in me performs his miraculous deeds.[14]  To imagine secret punishments (and one must imagine them since they are not revealed in Scripture) which God the Father hurled at Jesus on the cross, is to misunderstand his salvation (Colossians 1:13-20 NET):

He [God the Father] delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.  He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him.  He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.  For God [the Father] was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

The reason Jesus’ death on a cross makes any peace or atonement is that God the Father is pleased to accept it as such. Human attempts to rationalize his salvation are rationalizations by definition. And in context Habakkuk had whined that Yahweh/Son/Jesus was too longsuffering (Habakkuk 1:13 NET):

You are too just to tolerate evil; you are unable to condone wrongdoing.  So why do you put up with such treacherous people?  Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour those more righteous than they are?

The point here is that He was putting up with such treacherous people.  It is not particularly prudent then to turn it around and use poetic language—Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity—to make a rule forbidding God the Father from drawing near to, or compelling Him to turn away from, God the Son at the moment He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God,[15] when Scripture states otherwise (Psalm 22:21b-24 NET):

You have answered me!  I will declare your name to my countrymen!  In the middle of the assembly I will praise you!  You loyal followers of the Lord, praise him!  All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!  All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him!  For he did not despise or detest the suffering of the oppressed; he did not ignore him; when he cried out to him, he responded.

This is the very Psalm Jesus quoted from the cross, when he cried out in Aramaic, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”[16]  Psalm 22 is a heartrendingly accurate prophecy of the death of Yahweh the Son of God from his own point of view. Whether one believes that it was a psalm of David or not, it was clearly part of the Scripture translated into Greek in the Septuagint a couple of centuries before Jesus died in Jerusalem.  It is fitting that He, who lived by every word that comes from the mouth of God,[17] died with that word in his heart and mind as well.

But even years later after I returned to faith, I strove with every Zen particle of my being to let patience have her perfect work, that [I] may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.[18]  When I read my sister’s annotated Shakespeare and realized for the first time that, “Wherefore art thou Romeo,” means, “why is your name Montague,” I got my first Bible translated in my own tongue.  I was shocked to learn that wanting nothing meant lacking in nothing (James 1:4 NASB):

And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

The King James translation had made sense to me. Nothing angered my father more than my wanting something from him.  I assumed that God the Father was the same. Wanting nothing was difficult but possible to achieve, I thought.  But lacking in nothing?  How could I achieve that through some form of meditation or patience or endurance?  It was crazy stuff.

I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man—the Holy One among you.[19]  I didn’t believe it at first.  I thought it was some evil introduced into a modern translation.  So I checked the Bible, you know, the King James version: I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee:[20]

In my mind to carry out fierce anger was the essence of God the Father, the Lord Jehovah.  How could He turn it around and blame it on man?  How did He dare try to distinguish God, the Holy One among you, from man with a statement like, I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again? It was nuts.

So, I was guilty. I had a man-made image of God in my mind, one much more like a man—my father[21]—than like God revealed in Scripture.  And I endeavored to worship that image, even after I prayed, if You are there I want to know You. Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.[22]  I have connected this to, Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body” – but the immoral person sins against his own body.[23]  So, I have considered unfaithfulness to a spouse to be the impurity to which God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves.

In an absolute sense taking up with C may have been a matter of infidelity to B or A, but in dynamic terms I was returning to a belief in faithfulness to one woman.  Now, I credit that to the Holy Spirit trying mightily to get through to me.  At the time I thought it was my doing.  After C and before my first wife (or, second, depending on your willingness to receive the law) there were other women, not enough to brag about, just enough to be ashamed of.  Two of those women were married.  The first was separated from her husband.  The second was living with her husband, but I was beyond caring.  If this was God’s wrath revealed from heaven I can easily attest to its justice, for I recall it as a time of profound loneliness, a loneliness I have not experienced since though I have mostly been alone (without a wife).

I’ll pick this up again in the next essay.

[1] Romans 1:18 (NET)

[2] Romans 1:21-23 (NET)

[3] John 1:2, 3 (NET)

[4] John 1:1 (NET)

[5] bait-and-switch

[6] John 3:16 (KJV)

[7] Hebrews 12:6 (KJV)

[8] Philippians 2:8 (KJV)

[9] Habakkuk 1:13a (KJV)

[10] John 8:58 (NET)

[11] John 3:16 (NET)

[12] John 1:18 (NET)

[13] John 14:8 (NET)

[14] John 14:9, 10 (NET)

[15] 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET)

[16] Mark 15:34; Psalm 22:1 (NET)

[17] Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3 (NET)

[18] James 1:4 (KJV)

[19] Hosea 11:9 (NIV)

[20] Hosea 11:9 (KJV)

[21] Though to be fair, my father had serious reservations about, and had stopped attending, the church where I became an atheist, and to which I returned after I returned to faith.

[22] Romans 1:24 (NET) Table

[23] 1 Corinthians 6:18 (NET)

Fear – Leviticus

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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 afraid.  Afraid 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 this.  Do 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)