Exploration, Part 6

Posted on January 13, 2025 by admin

Paul continued to describe the freedom for which Christ has set us free¹ (Galatians 5:18-21 ESV).

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality (πορνεία), impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God [Table].

The Greek was: εἰ δὲ, But if, πνεύματι᾿, by the Spirit, ἄγεσθε, you are led. I want to pause here because I’ve misunderstood this clause while I thought walking by the Spirit was my work rather than a result of the freedom for which Christ has set us free; namely, the new man led by the Spirit of God.² I thought εἰ, if, cast doubt on the new man walking by the Spirit, which is embarrassing since I have sufficient philosophical background to recognize the antecedent of a conditional statement.

When Paul wrote εἰ δὲ, “But if,” ὃ οὐ θέλω, “that not I want,” [ἐγὼ] τοῦτο ποιῶ, “I this do” (ESV: Now if I do what I do not want³), it was not to cast doubt on a previously stated fact: For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.⁴ Rather, it was to highlight the consequent of that fact: it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.⁵ Likewise, “But if by the Spirit you are led” does not cast doubt on the fact that the new man is led by the Spirit of God. Rather, it highlights the consequent of that fact: you are not under the law.⁶

The Greek was: οὐκ ἐστὲ ὑπὸ νόμον; literally, “not you are under (or, under the authority of) law.” The old man (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον), which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,⁷ ignores everything else that was written to pounce on this, saying, “O goody, now I can do whatever I want!” This is a perfect opportunity ἀποθέσθαι ὑμᾶς; literally, “to lay aside you,” κατὰ τὴν προτέραν ἀναστροφὴν, “in regard to the first (or, former) behavior (or, conduct, or, way of life),” τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, “the old man (or, human).”⁸ So, “to lay aside you in regard to the former way of life, the old man.”

Paul had already characterized the behavior, conduct or way of life of the old man as how Gentiles walk (Ephesians 4:17-19 ESV):

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds [Table]. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart [Table]. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

The translation you must…walk treats the verb περιπατεῖν as a 2^nd person plural form of περιπατέω in the imperative mood. It is actually an infinitive in the present tense: “to walk.” The plural pronoun ὑμᾶς precedes περιπατεῖν but is not the subject of this clause: ὑμᾶς is in the accusative case and is most likely the direct object of the verb περιπατεῖν. In Romans 16:25a (ESV) for instance, Now to him who is able to strengthen you, the phrase to strengthen you was ὑμᾶς στηρίξαι, an infinitive form of στηρίζω in the aorist tense (Interlinear Bible: you to strengthen). Granted, to walk you wouldn’t sound right in English, though it may be closer to the actual meaning. The Interlinear Bible rendered Ephesians 4:17, This therefore I say and testify in [the] Lord No longer [are] you to walk as also the Gentiles are walking in [the] futility of the mind of them. Here the verb of being [are] was added to make the English flow better.

I resist the idea, however, that Paul used ἐν κυρίῳ (in the Lord) like an oath to bolster his testifying. It seems more likely he testified that “in the Lord no longer [are] you to walk as also the Gentiles walk in futility of their minds” (νοὸς, a genitive singular form of νοῦς; e.g., “their own intention”). Whether Paul and the Holy Spirit intended this as a rule to obey or an outcome of [being] ἐν κυρίῳ may be an open question, but I favor the latter.

In the received text (Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text) the adjective λοιπα, a plural form of λοιπός, was interposed between the (τὰ) and Gentiles (ἔθνη) (KJV: the other Gentiles) [Table]. It is absent from the critical text (NET Parallel Greek and NA²⁸). The critical text enjoys the cachet of being closer to the original text, but the editors trust their methods enough to remove words, phrases and clauses from the received text. Textus Receptus Bibles online offers several opportunities to compare the received texts to the current version of the critical text.

I wondered if Paul would have called Gentiles the other Gentiles in this context. It implies that the Ephesians were also Gentiles despite his previous address to them: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints (τοῖς ἁγίοις) who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.⁹ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, he wrote the Romans, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles¹⁰ (ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔθνεσιν). He had previously addressed them: To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints (κλητοῖς ἁγίοις).¹¹

The plural the Gentiles (τὰ ἔθνη) followed by the verb περιπατεῖ (ESV: do), a 3^rd person singular form of περιπατέω, seems to render the Gentiles of Ephesians 4:17 as something more conceptual than actual (plural Gentiles engaged in singular activity). This is not to say that there were no actual Gentiles who behaved as Paul described, but that Paul, when writing about actual Gentiles, was well aware of the variety of Gentile behaviors, including doing what the law requires (Romans 2:12-16 ESV).

For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous (δίκαιοι, a form of δίκαιος) before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified (δικαιωθήσονται, a form of δικαιόω) [Table]. For when Gentiles (ἔθνη, a plural form of ἔθνος), who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law [Table]. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

So what concept do Paul’s conceptual Gentiles of Ephesians 4:17 embody? It is evident by what follows that they were the old man entangled in a yoke of slavery to sin. They were in the flesh.

The Walk (doing) of the Gentiles (Ephesians 4:18, 19 ESV)	The Works of the Flesh (Galatians 5:19-21a ESV)
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart [Table]. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.	Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality (πορνεία), impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these [Table].

But Gentiles were not without hope (Galatians 3:7-9 ESV):

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify (δικαιοῖ, a form of δίκαιος) the Gentiles (τὰ ἔθνη) by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations (πάντα τὰ ἔθνη) be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The phrase οἱ ἐκ πίστεως occurs twice above: (v. 7) those of faith, and (v. 9) those who are of faith. These are the new man, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God;¹² the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness;¹³ the saints who…are faithful in Christ Jesus;¹⁴ we who For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore you stand firm and cannot entangle yourselves in a yoke of slavery again.¹⁵ As Jesus said to Nicodemus: Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’;¹⁶ literally, δεῖ, “it is necessary,” ὑμᾶς γεννηθῆναι, “you [plural] to be born,” ἄνωθεν, “from above” (e.g., by the Spirit of God).

The conceptual Gentiles Paul described had yet to receive¹⁷ The true light, which gives light to everyone.¹⁸ They had not yet believed in his name.¹⁹ But that is insufficient to invalidate Jesus’ promise to draw all to Himself. Christ redeemed us,²⁰ Paul wrote the Galatians, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles (τὰ ἔθνη), so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith (διὰ τῆς πίστεως).²¹ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.²²

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach²³ the good news!” [Table]²⁴

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God [Table], not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.²⁵

The verb περιπατήσωμεν (ESV: we should walk), a 1^st person plural form of περιπατέω, is in the subjunctive mood and aorist tense. It follows the conjunction ἵνα (ESV: that). This is a purpose or 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.

The aorist is said to be “simple occurrence” or “summary occurrence”, without regard for the amount of time taken to accomplish the action. This tense is also often referred to as the ‘punctiliar’ tense. ‘Punctiliar’ in this sense means ‘viewed as a single, collective whole,’ a “one-point-in-time” action, although it may actually take place over a period of time.²⁶

In other words, “we walk in” the good works, which God prepared beforehand, at some point in time undesignated by Paul’s statement of fact. I want to return again now to But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.²⁷

I hope it is clear that everyone born of Adam has an old man, enslaved to the flesh, pursuing its desires. That is who you are before you turn to faith in Christ. I hope it is clear how to become a new man born of the Spirit of God and led by the Spirit of God by changing your mind about Jesus (μετάνοια) and believing Him. I hope it is clear that He wants this for you and is drawing you to Himself. I’ll continue to consider what Paul meant by ὑπὸ νόμον (ESV: under the law).

He wrote elsewhere (Romans 7:1-6 ESV):

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding (κυριεύει, a form of κυριεύω) on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members lo bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

I’ll focus first on a married woman. The Greek was: ἡ γὰρ, For a, ὕπανδρος γυνὴ, married woman. Yes, ὕπανδρος can mean married, but in this context it may be more appropriate to understand it as: “For a subject-to-the-authority-of-a-husband woman,” or “For an under-a-man’s-authority woman.” The Greek continued: τῷ ζῶντι ἀνδρὶ, “by the life of husband (or, of man),” δέδεται νόμῳ, is bound by law. The ESV translation of δέδεται, is bound, sounds right if this were a passive form of δέω. The Koine Greek Lexicon actually lists a richer meaning for the middle/passive voice: “to lack, miss, stand in need of a person or thing; to be less, short (e.g., Quadratus says, “19½ years” as “20 years less 6 months”); to be in want or need; to be necessary; to ask for a thing from a person; to plead, pray, beseech, beg.” In other words, “For a subject-to-the-authority-of-a-husband woman by the life of husband stands in need by law.”

Paul may have had a very specific “subject-to-the-authority-of-a-husband woman” in mind here. Peter had held up Sarah as an example for wives (γυναῖκες): as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, he wrote.²⁸ Her story serves to illustrate Paul’s point (Genesis 12:11-13 ESV).

When [Abram] was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance [Table], and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live [Table]. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake” [Table].

Paul continued (Romans 7:3a ESV):

Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives (γένηται, a form of γίνομαι) with another man while her husband is alive.

Sarai apparently obeyed Abram without protest as events transpired according to his word (Genesis 12:14-16a ESV).

When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful [Table]. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house [Table]. And for her sake he dealt well with Abram… [Table]

Paul had already explained why Sarai wouldn’t be called an adulteress (Romans 5:12, 13 ESV):

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

My point (and Paul’s possibly) is that obeying the law of her husband Abram made it impossible for Sarai to obey the law, which came 430 years afterward:²⁹ “You shall not commit adultery.”³⁰ In other words, under the law of her husband Sarai was like Those who are in the flesh [who] cannot please God.³¹ But if her husband dies, Paul continued, she is free from that law (ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου), and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.³²

By all appearances, Abram didn’t free Sarai by dying. The story of Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah is about God’s faithfulness to them, growing their faith in Him (and their faithfulness to Him) by his own love and grace throughout their lives (before the law was given). The writer of Hebrews summarized the outcome of Abraham’s faith (Hebrews 11:17-19 ESV):

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

So I assume that in the end Sarah was released from Abram’s fearful and Abraham’s prejudiced commandment, and that she, too, was enabled to live faithfully, both to her husband and to God. None of this is to say that the response Sarai/Sarah had to the predicament Abram/Abraham put her in isn’t endearing, romantic and sexy to the heart of man. It is to say that what is endearing, romantic or sexy to the heart of man is not necessarily, for those reasons alone, synonymous with the righteousness of God, the gift of righteousness.

Likewise, my brothers, Paul continued, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.³³ By all appearances, the plural you (ὑμεῖς), to whom Paul wrote, didn’t die. He expected them to be alive to hear or to read his letter, in which was already written (Romans 6:6-11 ESV):

We know that our old self (ὁ παλαιὸς ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος, aka our old man) was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved (δουλεύειν) to sin. For one who has died has been set free (δεδικαίωται, a form of δικαιόω) from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus [Table].

The phrase you…must consider yourselves was ὑμεῖς λογίζεσθε ἑαυτοὺς. It is clearly a truth to believe rather than a work to achieve. The work was accomplished by Christ: all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death³⁴…the life he lives he lives to God. So you also…consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus [Table].³⁵ Translating λογίζεσθε as an imperative form of λογίζομαι rather than as a statement of fact in the indicative mood was unnecessary. And λογίζεσθε is the only 2^nd person plural form of λογίζομαι in the present tense listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon online.

Once the old self has been crucified with Christ, you (ὑμεῖς), the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness,³⁶ also have died to the law through the body of Christ³⁷ and are free to serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.³⁸ For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore you stand firm and cannot entangle yourselves in a yoke of slavery again.³⁹

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.⁴⁰ The Greek was: ὅτε γὰρ, “For when,” ἦμεν, “we were,” ἐν τῇ σαρκί, “in the flesh,” τὰ παθήματα τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, “the sufferings (or misfortunes, or passions) of sin,” τὰ διὰ τοῦ νόμου, “through the law,” ἐνηργεῖτο, “were continually⁴¹ active.” This is what Paul meant by the phrase under the law⁴² (ὑπὸ νόμον). For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.⁴³

This knowledge is more than an intellectual awareness of sin, specified by law as that which is unlawful (Romans 7:7-13 ESV).

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure [Table].

But if you are led by the Spirit, Paul explained another of the better promises of the new covenant, you are not under the law.⁴⁴ Why then the law?⁴⁵ he asked. I’ll pick this up in another essay.

According to a note (14) in the NET, Paul quoted from Joel 2:32 in Romans 10:13. A table comparing the Greek of Paul’s quotation with that of the Septuagint follows.

Romans 10:13 (NET Parallel Greek)	Joel 2:32a (Septuagint BLB) Table	Joel 3:5a (Septuagint Elpenor)
πᾶς γὰρ ὃς ἂν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου σωθήσεται	καὶ ἔσται πᾶς ὃς ἂν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου σωθήσεται	καὶ ἔσται, πᾶς, ὃς ἂν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου, σωθήσεται
Romans 10:13 (NET)	Joel 2:32a (NETS)	Joel 3:5a (English Elpenor)
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.	And it shall be, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved,	And it shall come to pass [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved:

According to a note (18) in the NET, Paul quoted from Isaiah 52:7 and Nahum 1:15 in Romans 10:15. Tables comparing the Greek of Paul’s quotation from the critical text and the received text with that of the Septuagint follow.

Romans 10:15b (NET Parallel Greek)	Isaiah 52:27a (Septuagint BLB) Table	Isaiah 52:27a (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὡς ὡραῖοι οἱ πόδες τῶν εὐαγγελιζομένων [τὰ] ἀγαθά	ὡς ὥρα ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων ὡς πόδες εὐαγγελιζομένου ἀκοὴν εἰρήνης ὡς εὐαγγελιζόμενος ἀγαθά	ὡς ὥρα ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων, ὡς πόδες εὐαγγελιζομένου ἀκοὴν εἰρήνης, ὡς εὐαγγελιζόμενος ἀγαθά
Romans 10:15b (NET)	Isaiah 52:27a (NETS)	Isaiah 52:27a (English Elpenor)
“How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.”	like season upon the mountains, like the feet of one bringing glad tidings of a report of peace, like one bringing glad tidings of good things,	as a season of beauty upon the mountains, as the feet of one preaching glad tidings of peace, as one preaching good news:

Romans 10:15b (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Isaiah 52:27a (Septuagint BLB) Table	Isaiah 52:27a (Septuagint Elpenor)
ως ωραιοι οι ποδες των ευαγγελιζομενων ειρηνην των ευαγγελιζομενων τα αγαθα	ὡς ὥρα ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων ὡς πόδες εὐαγγελιζομένου ἀκοὴν εἰρήνης ὡς εὐαγγελιζόμενος ἀγαθά	ὡς ὥρα ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων, ὡς πόδες εὐαγγελιζομένου ἀκοὴν εἰρήνης, ὡς εὐαγγελιζόμενος ἀγαθά
Romans 10:15b (KJV)	Isaiah 52:27a (NETS)	Isaiah 52:27a (English Elpenor)
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!	like season upon the mountains, like the feet of one bringing glad tidings of a report of peace, like one bringing glad tidings of good things,	as a season of beauty upon the mountains, as the feet of one preaching glad tidings of peace, as one preaching good news:

Romans 10:15b (NET Parallel Greek)	Nahum 1:15a (Septuagint BLB)	Nahum 2:1a (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὡς ὡραῖοι οἱ πόδες τῶν εὐαγγελιζομένων [τὰ] ἀγαθά	ἰδοὺ ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη οἱ πόδες εὐαγγελιζομένου καὶ ἀπαγγέλλοντος εἰρήνην	ΙΔΟΥ ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη οἱ πόδες εὐαγγελιζομένου καὶ ἀπαγγέλλοντος εἰρήνην
Romans 10:15b (NET)	Nahum 1:15a (NETS)	Nahum 2:1a (English Elpenor)
“How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.”	Behold, on the mountains are the feet of one who brings good tidings and who announces peace.	as a season of beauty upon the mountains, as the feet of one preaching glad tidings of peace, as one preaching good news:

Romans 10:15b (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Nahum 1:15a (Septuagint BLB)	Nahum 2:1a (Septuagint Elpenor)
ως ωραιοι οι ποδες των ευαγγελιζομενων ειρηνην των ευαγγελιζομενων τα αγαθα	ἰδοὺ ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη οἱ πόδες εὐαγγελιζομένου καὶ ἀπαγγέλλοντος εἰρήνην	ΙΔΟΥ ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη οἱ πόδες εὐαγγελιζομένου καὶ ἀπαγγέλλοντος εἰρήνην
Romans 10:15b (KJV)	Nahum 1:15a (NETS)	Nahum 2:1a (English Elpenor)
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!	Behold, on the mountains are the feet of one who brings good tidings and who announces peace.	as a season of beauty upon the mountains, as the feet of one preaching glad tidings of peace, as one preaching good news:

A table comparing Nahum 1:15 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and a table comparing the Greek of Nahum 1:15 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

Nahum 1:15 (Tanakh)	Nahum 1:15 (KJV)	Nahum 1:15 (NET)
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.	Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.	Look! A herald is running on the mountains! A messenger is proclaiming deliverance: “Celebrate your sacred festivals, O Judah! Fulfill your sacred vows to praise God! For never again will the wicked Assyrians invade you; they have been completely destroyed.”

Nahum 1:15 (Septuagint BLB)	Nahum 2:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἰδοὺ ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη οἱ πόδες εὐαγγελιζομένου καὶ ἀπαγγέλλοντος εἰρήνην ἑόρταζε Ιουδα τὰς ἑορτάς σου ἀπόδος τὰς εὐχάς σου διότι οὐ μὴ προσθήσωσιν ἔτι τοῦ διελθεῖν διὰ σοῦ εἰς παλαίωσιν συντετέλεσται ἐξῆρται	ΙΔΟΥ ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη οἱ πόδες εὐαγγελιζομένου καὶ ἀπαγγέλλοντος εἰρήνην· ἑόρταζε, ᾿Ιούδα, τὰς ἑορτάς σου, ἀπόδος τὰς εὐχάς σου, διότι οὐ μὴ προσθήσωσιν ἔτι τοῦ διελθεῖν διὰ σοῦ εἰς παλαίωσιν. – Συντετέλεσται, ἐξῇρται
Nahum 1:15 (NETS)	Nahum 2:1 (English Elpenor)
Behold, on the mountains are the feet of one who brings good tidings and who announces peace. Celebrate your feasts, O Ioudas; pay your vows, for they shall not add any longer to pass on to becoming old.	Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that brings glad tidings, and publishes peace! O Juda, keep thy feasts, pay thy vows: for they shall no more pass through thee to [thy] decay. It is all over with him, he has been removed,

Back to Romans, Part 20

¹ Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

² Exploration, Part 5

³ Romans 7:20a (ESV) Table

⁴ Romans 7:15 (ESV)

⁵ Romans 7:20b (ESV) Table

⁶ Galatians 5:18b (ESV)

⁷ Ephesians 4:22b (ESV)

⁸ Ephesians 4:22a (NA²⁸)

⁹ Ephesians 1:1 (ESV)

¹⁰ Romans 1:13 (ESV)

¹¹ Romans 1:7a (ESV)

¹² John 1:13 (ESV)

¹³ Ephesians 4:24b (ESV)

¹⁴ Ephesians 1:1b (ESV)

¹⁵ Galatians 5:1 (EXP1) Table

¹⁶ John 3:7 (ESV) Here, again in Greek ὑμᾶς γεννηθῆναι: the plural accusative you is most likely the direct object of the passive infinitive verb to be born, but “it is necessary to be born you from above” would be very awkward in English. “It is necessary [for] you to be born from above” might suffice.

¹⁷ John 1:12a (ESV)

¹⁸ John 1:9a (ESV)

¹⁹ John 1:12b (ESV)

²⁰ Galatians 3:13a (ESV) Table

²¹ Galatians 3:14 (ESV)

²² Romans 10:17 (ESV) Table

²³ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had των ευαγγελιζομενων ειρηνην (KJV: the gospel of peace) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

²⁴ Romans 10:12-17 (ESV)

²⁵ Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)

²⁶ From Verbal Moods: Subjunctive Mood and Verb Tenses: Aorist Tense respectively, Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions), on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek online.

²⁷ Galatians 5:18 (ESV)

²⁸ 1 Peter 3:6a (ESV)

²⁹ Galatians 3:17a (ESV) Table I was curious how Hammurabi’s Code of Laws dealt with a wife’s adultery: “143. If she has committed adultery, then she shall be executed by being thrown into the water.” Then I was curious if there were any further developments in the dating of Hammurabi’s reign relative to the life of Abraham, and came across the following: “For many years, Abraham was believed to have lived at the same time as Hammurabi, king of Babylon. Later scholars would date Abraham to the period shortly before the reign of Hammurabi. However, the result of recent research is that the chronology of the ancient world is being redated. Hammurabi now appears to be a near contemporary of Moses instead of Abraham” (From “Abraham and the Chronology of Ancient Mesopotamia” by Matt McClellan in Answers Research Journal online.) This is a surprising enough conclusion that I remain a little skeptical, but I’ll continue to consider the evidence as I hear more about it.

³⁰ Exodus 20:14 (ESV) Table

³¹ Romans 8:8 (ESV)

³² Romans 7:3b (ESV)

³³ Romans 7:4 (ESV)

³⁴ Romans 6:3b (ESV)

³⁵ Romans 6:10b, 11 (ESV)

³⁶ Ephesians 4:24b (ESV)

³⁷ Romans 7:4a (ESV)

³⁸ Romans 7:6b (ESV)

³⁹ Galatians 5:1 (EXP1) Table

⁴⁰ Romans 7:5 (ESV)

⁴¹ “The imperfect tense shows continuous or linear type of action just like the present tense. It always indicates an action continually or repeatedly happening in past time. It portrays the action as going on for some extended period of time in the past.” From Verb Tenses: Imperfect Tense, Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions), on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek online.

⁴² Galatians 5:18b (ESV)

⁴³ Romans 3:20 (ESV)

⁴⁴ Galatians 5:18 (ESV)

⁴⁵ Galatians 3:19a (ESV)

Exploration, Part 5

Posted on December 30, 2024 by admin

Paul continued to describe the freedom for which Christ has set us free¹ (Galatians 5:16 ESV).

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

But I say (Λέγω δέ) by the Spirit (πνεύματι᾿) walk (περιπατεῖτε) is nearer the actual word order. There is a choice here, too: περιπατεῖτε might be understood as an imperative form of περιπατέω, or as a statement of fact in the indicative mood, “But I say, by the Spirit you walk.” The ESV translators chose the imperative—walk by the Spirit—and so have I up to this moment.

Though the general trend of my life since I turned Paul’s definition of love into rules for me to obey has been to abandon the laws of Paul for faith in Jesus Christ, I haven’t trusted Him with this. Why not? I wonder, now that For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore you stand firm and cannot entangle yourselves in a yoke of slavery again.² Now that I’m hearing this as his work rather than mine.

Is there any other reason to believe that Paul wrote foolish Galatians, saying, “But I say, by the Spirit you walk”? To Romans he wrote (Romans 8:3-9 ESV):

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk (περιπατοῦσιν, another form of περιπατέω) not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live (ὄντες, a present participle of εἰμί) according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are (ὄντες, a present participle of εἰμί) in the flesh (ἐν σαρκὶ) cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh (οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐν σαρκὶ) but in the Spirit (ἐν πνεύματι), if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong (ἔστιν, another form of εἰμί) to him³ [Table].

Paul didn’t even hint that the foolish Galatians did not belong to Christ. He called them my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!⁴ And he added, I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed (ἀποροῦμαι, a form of ἀπορέω) about you.⁵ And here to the Romans it’s quite clear he was describing truths to believe rather than works to achieve, the better promises of the new covenant.

It occurred to me that I could put this to rest, perhaps, if Paul and the Holy Spirit had another word choice that was exclusively in the indicative mood. But περιπατεῖτε is the only 2^nd person plural form of περιπατέω in the present tense and the active voice listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon online. I’ll reexamine all my choices and assumptions so far.

Galatians 5:1
My first assumption is that the foolish Galatians, you, are included in For our freedom Christ has us set free⁶ as opposed to being excluded from that freedom. This assumption is confirmed later: For you to freedom were called, brothers.⁷ This eliminates the possibility that Paul was describing an elitist Pauline party to which foolish Galatians could belong by following the rules of Saint Paul as opposed to the rules of some other unnamed saint heading up some other elitist party. Such elitist parties were associated with the jealousy and strife of the flesh (1 Corinthians 3:1-8 ESV):

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready [Table], for you are still of the flesh (σαρκικοί, a form of σαρκικός). For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh (σαρκικοί, a form of σαρκικός) and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth [Table]. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

There is one other 2^nd person plural form of στήκω listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon in the present tense and active voice: στήκητε in the subjunctive mood. None of the 2^nd person plural forms listed is exclusively in the indicative or imperative mood. Perhaps the ESV translation of στήκετε (stand firm rather than “you must stand firm”) was intended to be vague enough to let the reader choose between the indicative and imperative moods. My ear, attuned by my background, hears it as a command. My own you stand firm may still sound imperative to some, so I’ll consider the implications.

“The imperative mood is a command or instruction given to the hearer, charging the hearer to carry out or perform a certain action.”⁸ Understanding στήκετε in the imperative mood casts the freedom for which Christ has set us free⁹ as aspirational: If I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” stand firm.

There was a time when I thought Christ’s death on the cross was mostly aspirational. Since Christ died for my sins I should do A, B, C, etc. and refrain from doing X, Y, Z, etc. The forgiveness of sins was a possible exception, but as Jesus asked rhetorically, which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?¹⁰ The general trend of my growing faith since that time has been that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is more instrumental than aspirational.

Paul described the Lord’s death as one of the better promises of the new covenant in Christ (Romans 6:1-6 ESV).

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? [Table] By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that (ἵνα), just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk (περιπατήσωμεν, another form of περιπατέω)¹¹ in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self (ὁ παλαιὸς ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος; aka our old man) was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing (καταργηθῇ, a form of καταργέω), so that we would no longer be enslaved (δουλεύειν, the present infinitive of δουλεύω) to sin.

“The indicative mood is a statement of fact or an actual occurrence from the writer’s or speaker’s perspective.”¹² Understanding στήκετε in the indicative mood casts the freedom for which Christ has set us free¹³ as instrumental: the freedom for which Christ has set us free is the means by which I stand firm through faith. For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore you stand firm.¹⁴

The verb ἐνέχεσθε is a 2^nd person plural form of ἐνέχω in the present tense and imperative mood: do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.¹⁵ So again, if I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” do not submit again. Once I understand Christ’s freedom as instrumental, however, I hear the middle/passive verb ἐνέχεσθε as another outcome of that freedom: and cannot entangle yourselves in a yoke of slavery again.¹⁶ The yoke of slavery is the flesh (the body of sin…brought to nothing) along with its consequent faith and those actions that follow from faith in the flesh (Galatians 3:1-3 ESV):

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified [Table]. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Galatians 5:13
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.¹⁷ By translating μόνον μὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν εἰς ἀφορμὴν τῇ σαρκί (only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh [EXP4]) as Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh casts Christ’s freedom as aspirational: if I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action”: do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. There were no Greek verbs in the imperative mood in the phrase “only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh.” There were no verbs at all.

The verb δουλεύετε, was the only 2^nd person plural form of δουλεύω in the present tense listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon: δουλεύσετε in the future tense is in the indicative mood exclusively and δουλεύσατε in the aorist tense is exclusively imperative. If the translation serve was intended to be understood as an imperative, it casts Christ’s freedom as aspirational. So, here again, if I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” through love serve one another.

Beyond that, however, Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another casts Christ’s freedom as something potentially dangerous which I must defend myself against by my works: 1) stand firm, 2) do not submit again to a yoke of slavery, 3) do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but 4) through love serve one another. Here again, understanding δουλεύετε as a statement of fact in the indicative mood—but through love you serve one another¹⁸—casts Christ’s freedom as instrumental, the source of the love through which we serve one another.

Galatians 5:16
If But I say, walk by the Spirit was designating περιπατεῖτε as the imperative form of περιπατέω, it casts Christ’s freedom as aspirational. If I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” I must walk by the Spirit. And here again, understanding περιπατεῖτε as a statement of fact in the indicative mood—“But I say, by the Spirit you walk”—casts Christ’s freedom as instrumental to—the “cause-in-fact” of—walking by the Spirit.

Why did I balk at this? It was my understanding of the conjoined clause (Galatians 5:16b ESV):

and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

The Greek was καὶ, “and,” ἐπιθυμίαν, “desire,” σαρκὸς, “of flesh,” οὐ μὴ, “never,” τελέσητε, “accomplish”: “But I say, by the Spirit you walk and desire of flesh never accomplish.” The phrase οὐ μὴ τελέσητε is called a subjunctive of emphatic negation. I was so taken with this, I turned Paul’s words into a conditional statement:

If I walk by the Spirit, I will never under any circumstance imaginable complete the desire of flesh.

Now I question whether that maneuver could be considered rightly handling the word of truth.¹⁹ The following table compares Galatians 5:16 to an actual conditional statement:

Galatians 5:16 (NET Parallel Greek)	Romans 7:20 (NET Parallel Greek) Table
Λέγω δέ, πνεύματι περιπατεῖτε καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν σαρκὸς οὐ μὴ τελέσητε	εἰ δὲ ὃ οὐ θέλω [ἐγὼ] τοῦτο ποιῶ, οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτὸ ἀλλὰ ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία
Galatians 5:16 (ESV)	Romans 7:20 (ESV)
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.	Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

The Greek conjunction εἰ, if, does not occur in Galatians 5:16. Paul and the Holy Spirit did not make this a conditional (if this, then that) statement. I did, hoping to find some barometer that would help me accomplish my work of walking by the Spirit: “You must walk by the Spirit” is the meaning of πνεύματι περιπατεῖτε when περιπατεῖτε is understood as an imperative. “Walking by the Spirit is a skill or knack that is trickier to learn by trial-and-error than sound no trumpet,²⁰ so that your giving may be in secret,”²¹ I wrote elsewhere.

Looking back now it seems clear that calling walk by the Spirit a “knack” was a tacit admission that I had no clue how “to carry out or perform” it as an “action.”²² Calling it a “knack that is trickier to learn by trial-and-error” barely masked my frustration with that ignorance. But my biggest frustration was the nagging question: “Why, knowing what I know about walking by the Spirit, do I ever walk according to the flesh?”

I had forgotten Paul’s sagacity regarding my identity vis-à-vis sin: Now if I do what I do not want (ὃ οὐ θέλω), it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.²³ Maybe I hadn’t forgotten it completely. I recalled that if sin that dwells within me was completing “the desire of flesh” that was synonymous with walking by the flesh. I was not recalling, however, how sin gained that advantage over me as I made walk by the Spirit a rule for me to obey: But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.²⁴

There is the answer to my nagging question, “Why, knowing what I know about walking by the Spirit, do I ever walk according to the flesh?” I attempted to have a righteousness of my own that comes from the law²⁵—walk by the Spirit as “a certain action” I must “perform”—playing into sin’s power—the power of sin is the law²⁶—to deceive—For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me.²⁷ The solution is to hear περιπατεῖτε as a statement of fact in the indicative mood—But I say, by the Spirit you walk and the desire of flesh you never accomplish²⁸—as a truth to believe rather than a work to achieve. As Paul concluded: But thanks be to God, who gives (διδόντι, a present participle of δίδωμι) us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.²⁹

Paul continued (Galatians 5:17 ESV [Table])

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

The Greek was: ἡ γὰρ σὰρξ, “For the flesh,” ἐπιθυμεῖ, “desires”: “For the flesh desires.” The verb ἐπιθυμεῖ is a 3^rd person singular form of ἐπιθυμέω in the present tense, active voice and indicative mood. It is a statement of fact and a clear reference to your old self (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον; aka the old man), which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.³⁰

Next came: κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, “against the Spirit’s [desires].” The genitive τοῦ πνεύματος helps unravel why the ESV translators transformed the verb ἐπιθυμεῖ into a noun with a verb of being (ESV: the desires…are) and ἡ…σὰρξ in the nominative case into a genitive prepositional phrase: of the flesh. “For the flesh desires against the Spirit’s [desires]” is awkward in English, though the point is well-taken.

In the next clause the verb ἐπιθυμεῖ is implied: τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα, “and the Spirit,” κατὰ τῆς σαρκός, “against the flesh’s [desires].” So, “For the flesh desires against the Spirit’s [desires] and the Spirit against the flesh’s [desires].”

And the next clause: ταῦτα γὰρ, for these (the Spirit and the flesh), ἀλλήλοις, each other, ἀντίκειται, “oppose,” ἵνα, “so that,” μὴ ἃ ἐὰν θέλητε ταῦτα, “not that if you may want these” (e.g., want what the flesh desires), ποιῆτε, “you may do.” So, for these each other “oppose so that not that if you may want these you may do.”

I completely misunderstood for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do in English as a standoff between the Spirit and the flesh. The Greek says that even if I want to do what the flesh desires I cannot do it: for it is God who works in you, both to will (τὸ θέλειν) and to work (καὶ τὸ ἐνεργεῖν) for his good pleasure.³¹

In other words, the freedom (Τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ) for which Christ has set us free³² is nothing less than the new self (τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον; aka the new man), created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness³³ led by the indwelling Holy Spirit: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (ἐλευθερία).³⁴ The flesh is not even remotely comparable in power to the Spirit of God.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him,³⁵ Paul wrote. The Greek—εἰ δέ, “But if” or “And if,” τις, “anyone,” πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ, “Christ’s Spirit,” οὐκ ἔχει, “not have”—seems more hypothetical (Acts 19:1-7) than the ESV translation. The Greek continues: οὗτος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ; literally, “this not is of Him.”

In the NET οὗτος was translated this person. Both translations derive the verb belong from the pronoun αὐτοῦ in the genitive case but there is no form of the verb ἀνήκω in this clause. I take “But if anyone Christ’s Spirit not have, this not is of Him” more openly than belonging to an elitist party. He wants us to have his Spirit. He wants us to know Him and abide in Him. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, Peter wrote, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.³⁶

The Greek words translated not wishing were μὴ βουλόμενος, a form of βούλομαι. According to the Koine Greek Lexicon this means: “The Lord refuses” or “He is not consenting,” τινας, “some,” ἀπολέσθαι, an infinitive form of the verb ἀπόλλυμι in the middle voice, “to be destroyed, ruined; to perish, die; to be lost.” And this was contrasted with: ἀλλὰ πάντας, “but all,” εἰς μετάνοιαν, “unto repentance,” χωρῆσαι, a form of χωρέω. And here there is a choice to be made.

The ESV translation should reach (coupled with not wishing for μὴ βουλόμενος) indicates the optative mood, a 3^rd person singular form of χωρέω. “The optative is the mood of possibility, removed even further than the subjunctive mood from something conceived of as actual. Often it is used to convey a wish or hope for a certain action to occur.”³⁷ I will point out, however, that πάντας (all) is plural and χωρῆσαι is the only aorist infinitive listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon. As an infinitive verb in the aorist tense and active voice χωρῆσαι means: “to make room, give way, withdraw; to be spacious; to go, go out, go away, reach (e.g., the report reached us); to be in motion, go forward, make progress; to have room for, hold, contain; to grasp (mentally), understand, accept; to turn out (in a certain way at the end); to move far and wide.” In other words, “but all unto repentance to reach.”

Accepting χωρῆσαι as an infinitive form of the verb χωρέω agrees with the Lord’s current judgment (John 12:31, 32 ESV):

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

How do we respond to such grace? I heard a Christmas sermon as I wrote this essay that reminded me of Mary. There was nothing she could, or even should, do to become pregnant with the Son of God—just as there is nothing we can do to form Christ in us—except believe. Her faith can be ours as well: Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.³⁸

Exploration, Part 6

¹ Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

² Galatians 5:1 (EXP1) Table

³ The Greek is οὗτος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ; literally, “This not is of him.”

⁴ Galatians 4:19 (ESV) Table

⁵ Galatians 4:20 (ESV)

⁶ Galatians 5:1a (EXP1) Table

⁷ Galatians 5:13a (EXP4)

⁸ Verbal Moods: Imperative Mood, Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions), on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek

⁹ Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

¹⁰ Matthew 9:5 (ESV) Table

¹¹ The verb περιπατήσωμεν is a form of περιπατέω in the aorist tense and subjunctive mood following the conjunction ἵνα. This a purpose or 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.” In other words, walking in newness of life “is a definite outcome that will happen as a result of” being buried with him by baptism into death, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.

¹² Verbal Moods: Indicative Mood, Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions), on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek

¹³ Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

¹⁴ Galatians 5:1a (EXP1) Table

¹⁵ Galatians 5:1b (ESV) Table

¹⁶ Galatians 5:1b (EXP1) Table

¹⁷ Galatians 5:13 (ESV)

¹⁸ Galatians 5:13c (EXP4)

¹⁹ 2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV)

²⁰ Matthew 6:2 (ESV)

²¹ Matthew 6:4 (ESV) Table

²² “The imperative mood is a command or instruction given to the hearer, charging the hearer to carry out or perform a certain action.” From Verbal Moods: Imperative Mood, Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions) on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek online.

²³ Romans 7:20 (ESV) Table

²⁴ Romans 7:8a (ESV)

²⁵ Philippians 3:9b (ESV)

²⁶ 1 Corinthians 15:56b (ESV)

²⁷ Romans 7:11a (ESV)

²⁸ Galatians 5:16 (EXP5)

²⁹ 1 Corinthians 15:57 (ESV)

³⁰ Ephesians 4:22b (ESV)

³¹ Philippians 2:13 (ESV) Table

³² Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

³³ Ephesians 4:24b (ESV)

³⁴ 2 Corinthians 3:17 (ESV) Table

³⁵ Romans 8:9b (ESV) Table

³⁶ 2 Peter 3:9 (ESV) Table

³⁷ Verbal Moods: Optative Mood, from Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions) on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek online.

³⁸ Luke 1:38a (ESV)

Exploration, Part 4

Posted on December 14, 2024 by admin

Paul returned to the freedom for which Christ has set us free¹ (Galatians 5:13-15 ESV).

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another [Table].

For you (ὑμεῖς γὰρ) to freedom (ἐπ᾿ ἐλευθερίᾳ) were called (ἐκλήθητε), brothers (ἀδελφοί). A rule follows in the ESV: Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.² The Greek words translated for the flesh were τῇ σαρκί, a form of the noun σάρξ in the dative case. This usage of τῇ σαρκί is equivalent to others (Romans 7:5, 18 ESV).

For while we were living in the flesh (ἐν τῇ σαρκί), our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh (ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου). For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

These occurrences of the flesh (τῇ σαρκί) or my flesh (τῇ σαρκί μου) are synonymous with your old self (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, aka the old man), which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,³ the holding cell, if you will, to which God in Christ has condemned sin until the final judgment (Romans 8:3, 4 ESV):

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh (διὰ τῆς σαρκός, another form of σάρξ), could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας) and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh (ἐν τῇ σαρκί), in order that (ἵνα) the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled (πληρωθῇ, an aorist subjunctive form of πληρόω) in us, who walk not according to the flesh (μὴ κατὰ σάρκα, another form of σάρξ) but according to the Spirit.

This particular law of Paul—Only do not use your freedom—is considerably more difficult to find in the Greek text than stand firm⁴ or do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.⁵ The Greek was μόνον μὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν εἰς ἀφορμὴν τῇ σαρκί; literally, “only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh.” First, and most obvious, there is no form of the verb χράω,⁶ do…use, in this clause: “to supply, furnish on request, lend; to use (someone or something); to put at someone else’s disposal for long-term use or service; to employ, make use of, experience; to act, proceed, take steps (to do something); to treat (someone in a certain way); to conform; to have intimate dealings with.” Second, the rule—Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh—implies that the freedom for which Christ has set us free⁷ is an opportunity for the flesh, the very thing the Greek text stated that it is not!

One hears the reasoning of the old man here, the reasoning of sin condemned…in the flesh, that I call the religious mind:

It is I who must save Jesus from his feckless blundering. As he leads me into temptation with freedom that is an opportunity for the flesh, I must deliver myself from evil by standing firm, by not submitting again to a yoke of slavery, and by not using his freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.

Though following after the flesh like this (masquerading as the religious mind) might sound like it leads to righteousness, it only reinforces one’s habit of following after the flesh and leads to sin: You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.⁸ Paul had already asked the foolish Galatians rhetorically (Galatians 3:3 ESV):

Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh (σαρκὶ, a form of σάρξ)?

I’ll avoid quoting the ESV translation of Galatians 5:13 in these essays. Instead, I have: For you to freedom were called, brothers, only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh,⁹ but through love serve one another.¹⁰ The Greek was ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης δουλεύετε ἀλλήλοις. The ESV translators understood δουλεύετε in the imperative mood, serve, keeping to the laws of Paul. I’ll cling to the better promises of Jesus’ new covenant—For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore you stand firm and cannot entangle yourselves in a yoke of slavery again¹¹—preferring the factual statement of the indicative mood (Galatians 5:13 EXP4):

For you to freedom were called, brothers, only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh, but through love you serve one another.

In other words, any “freedom” that becomes an opportunity for the flesh is not the freedom to which Christ has called you. His freedom prompts you through love to serve one another. If one is hell-bent on making a rule out of it, the rule is “Don’t think an opportunity for the flesh is the freedom to which Christ has called us.” But Paul wasn’t making rules here for you to obey: For if a law had been given that could give life, he wrote the foolish Galatians, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything (τὰ πάντα; or everyone) under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.¹²

He introduced his treatise on ἀγάπης, a form of ἀγάπη (the love through [which] you serve one another) elsewhere, saying, And I will show you a still more excellent way¹³ (1 Corinthians 13 ESV).

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love (ἀγάπην, another form of ἀγάπη), I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love (ἀγάπην, another form of ἀγάπη), I am nothing [Table]. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love (ἀγάπην, another form of ἀγάπη), I gain nothing [Table].

Love (ἀγάπη) is patient and kind; love (ἀγάπη) does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [Table]. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away [Table]. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways [Table]. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love (ἀγάπη) abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (ἀγάπη).

Paul’s love treatise first impressed itself on me in a meaningful way during a time of emotional duress. Though the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness…through the one man Jesus Christ were there for me to receive,¹⁴ I would not receive them. I remained you who would be justified by the law; you [who] have fallen away from grace; [you who] are severed from Christ.¹⁵

I understand now why my brother balked at You are severed as a translation of κατηργήθητε, a passive form of καταργέω. I was severed from Christ but that was my own doing, following after the flesh, the work of the old man. It had absolutely no impact on the Lord’s resolve to save me. It merely prolonged the time it would take for Christ to be formed in me and make me one of we ourselves [who] eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness…through the Spirit, by faith.¹⁶

Paul wrote Timothy (1 Timothy 1:12-14 ESV):

I¹⁷ thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy (ἠλεήθην, a form of ἐλεέω) because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief [Table], and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Paul took no credit for the faith and love (πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης). They are in Christ Jesus, the grace of our Lord [which] overflowed for me.¹⁸ He continued in his letter, lest the religious mind persuade one that Paul was a special case (1 Timothy 1:15, 16 ESV):

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy (ἠλεήθην, a form of ἐλεέω) for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life [Table].

Paul also wrote, So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy (ἐλεῶντος, a participle of ἐλεέω)¹⁹; and, For God has consigned all to disobedience (ἀπείθειαν, a form of ἀπείθεια; KJV: unbelief), that he may have mercy (ἐλεήσῃ, another form of ἐλεέω in the subjunctive mood)²⁰ on all.²¹

The KJV translators had a better grasp of the mind of Christ here (Romans 11:29-32 KJV):

For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy [Table]. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

When I transformed the words of Paul’s description of love into rules to obey, I acted ignorantly in unbelief. A sermon I heard as I wrote this essay helped me understand why I was so ignorant and unbelieving (Mark 4:26-28 ESV):

And [Jesus] said, “The kingdom of God is as if²² a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts²³ and grows; he knows not how. The²⁴ earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full²⁵ grain in the ear.

“But the seed grows by the Lord’s own mysterious design,” my Pastor said, and I realized how lost Jesus’ agrarian parables had been on me. I am the vine; you are the branches. I had heard it many times. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.²⁶ But I didn’t understand.

I grew up in a working class neighborhood not on a farm. Food came from a grocery store. Even food from a farmer’s stand was purchased with money earned by my work. The idea that God provides what God requires never entered my understanding from Jesus’ agrarian parables. Did He give up on me? No. He energized me to study Paul, and Paul led me back to Christ.

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word,²⁷ Paul wrote: ὁ γὰρ πᾶς νόμος ἐν ἑνὶ λόγῳ πεπλήρωται, a 3^rd person singular form of πληρόω in the perfect tense and middle/passive voice. The word order is actually closer to “For the whole law in one word is fulfilled (and continues to be fulfilled).”²⁸

What word? “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”²⁹ The Greek was ἐν τῷ· ἀγαπήσεις, “in” or “by the love (you shall love).” It is an interesting construction: a preposition followed by a definite article preceding the 2^nd person singular verb ἀγαπήσεις, a form of ἀγαπάω in the active voice, future tense and indicative mood. It is a statement of fact, another better promise of the new covenant.

Perhaps, ἐν τῷ should be understood as “by this,” referring back to the fulfillment of the law. The KJV translators rendered it: even in this. But I hear Paul going out of his way to highlight an old covenant law as a promise of grace, another of the better promises of the new covenant.

The clause continued: τὸν πλησίον σου, “the neighbor of you.” So, “By the love (you shall love) your neighbor” or “By this you shall love your neighbor,” ὡς σεαυτόν, “as yourself”: “By the love (you shall love) your neighbor as yourself” or “By this you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

But as Paul wrote to the Romans, when I want to do right (τὸ καλόν; e.g., the beautiful), evil lies close at hand.³⁰ Here, to the foolish Galatians, he wrote (Galatians 5:15 ESV [Table]):

But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

The Greek was: εἰ δὲ, “But if,” ἀλλήλους, “one another,” δάκνετε, “you bite,” καὶ κατεσθίετε, “and you devour,” βλέπετε, watch out in the ESV, understood as an imperative. This may well be the appropriate way to understand βλέπετε here.

Paul wrote to Timothy (1 Timothy 1:8-11 ESV):

Now we know that the law is good (καλὸς ὁ νόμος), if one uses (χρῆται, a form of χράω) it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just (δικαίῳ, a form of δίκαιος) but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers [Table], the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

Religious people biting and devouring one another qualify as the lawless and disobedient for whom the law is…laid down. The Greek text continued: μὴ ὑπ᾿ ἀλλήλων ἀναλωθῆτε, “not by one another you are consumed.” So, “But if one another you bite and you devour, watch out not by one another you are consumed.”

Though an imperative understanding of βλέπετε makes sense to me here, I have to admit that the indicative mood—“you see not by one another you are consumed”—is also true. I’ve been in plenty of situations with religious people biting and devouring one another. I’ve probably done my share of biting and devouring. But the Lord is faithful, and I have not been spent, used up, consumed, destroyed or cut-off.³¹

The following table contrasts the activity in or by the Spirit to that done in or by the flesh, as Paul has described it thus far.

Spirit	Flesh
For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore you stand firm and cannot entangle yourselves in a yoke of slavery again.³²	Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace [Table].³³
For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything (or, empowers anyone), but only faith working through love. You were running well [Table].³⁴	Who hindered you from obeying the truth? [Table] This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.³⁵
I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.³⁶	But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!³⁷
For you to freedom were called, brothers, only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh, but through love you serve one another.³⁸ For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”³⁹	But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.⁴⁰

I’ll conclude this essay with a teaser of what is to come.

Spirit	Flesh
But I say, walk by the Spirit,⁴¹	and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.⁴²

According to a note (25) in the NET, Paul quoted from Leviticus 19:18 in Galatians 5:14. A table comparing the Greek of Paul’s quotation with that of the Septuagint follows.

Galatians 5:14b (NET Parallel Greek)	Leviticus 19:18b (Septuagint BLB) Table	Leviticus 19:18b (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐν τῷ· ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν	καὶ ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν	καὶ ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν
Galatians 5:14b (NET)	Leviticus 19:18b (NETS)	Leviticus 19:18b (English Elpenor)
namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”	and you shall love your neighbor as yourself	and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself

Tables comparing 1 Timothy 1:12 and Mark 4:26-28 in the KJV and NET follow.

1 Timothy 1:12 (NET)	1 Timothy 1:12 (KJV)
I am grateful to the one who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me faithful in putting me into ministry,	And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;

1 Timothy 1:12 (NET Parallel Greek)	1 Timothy 1:12 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	1 Timothy 1:12 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Χάριν ἔχω τῷ ἐνδυναμώσαντι με Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ὅτι πιστόν με ἡγήσατο θέμενος εἰς διακονίαν	και χαριν εχω τω ενδυναμωσαντι με χριστω ιησου τω κυριω ημων οτι πιστον με ηγησατο θεμενος εις διακονιαν	και χαριν εχω τω ενδυναμωσαντι με χριστω ιησου τω κυριω ημων οτι πιστον με ηγησατο θεμενος εις διακονιαν

Mark 4:26-28 (NET)	Mark 4:26-28 (KJV)
He also said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground.	And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;

Mark 4:26 (NET Parallel Greek)	Mark 4:26 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Mark 4:26 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Καὶ ἔλεγεν· οὕτως ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ὡς ἄνθρωπος βάλῃ τὸν σπόρον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς	και ελεγεν ουτως εστιν η βασιλεια του θεου ως εαν ανθρωπος βαλη τον σπορον επι της γης	και ελεγεν ουτως εστιν η βασιλεια του θεου ως εαν ανθρωπος βαλη τον σπορον επι της γης

He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.

Mark 4:27 (NET Parallel Greek)	Mark 4:27 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Mark 4:27 (Byzantine Majority Text)
καὶ καθεύδῃ καὶ ἐγείρηται νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, καὶ ὁ σπόρος βλαστᾷ καὶ μηκύνηται ὡς οὐκ οἶδεν αὐτός	και καθευδη και εγειρηται νυκτα και ημεραν και ο σπορος βλαστανη και μηκυνηται ως ουκ οιδεν αυτος	και καθευδη και εγειρηται νυκτα και ημεραν και ο σπορος βλαστανη και μηκυνηται ως ουκ οιδεν αυτος

By itself the soil produces a crop, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.

Mark 4:28 (NET Parallel Greek)	Mark 4:28 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Mark 4:28 (Byzantine Majority Text)
αὐτομάτη ἡ γῆ καρποφορεῖ, πρῶτον χόρτον \|εἶτα\| στάχυν \|εἶτα\| \|πλήρη[ς]\| σῖτον ἐν τῷ στάχυϊ	αυτοματη γαρ η γη καρποφορει πρωτον χορτον ειτα σταχυν ειτα πληρη σιτον εν τω σταχυι	αυτοματη γαρ η γη καρποφορει πρωτον χορτον ειτα σταχυν ειτα πληρη σιτον εν τω σταχυι

Exploration, Part 5

¹ Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

² Galatians 5:13b (ESV)

³ Ephesians 4:22b (ESV)

⁴ Exploration, Part 1

⁵ Galatians 5:1 (ESV) Table Exploration, Part 1

⁶ See 1 Timothy 1:8

⁷ Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

⁸ Galatians 5:4 (ESV) Table

⁹ Galatians 5:13a (EXP4)

¹⁰ Galatians 5:13b (ESV)

¹¹ Galatians 5:1 (EXP1) Table

¹² Galatians 3:21b, 22 (ESV)

¹³ 1 Corinthians 12:31b (ESV) Table

¹⁴ Romans 5:17b (ESV)

¹⁵ Galatians 5:4 (ESV) Table

¹⁶ Galatians 5:5 (ESV)

¹⁷ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the conjunction και (KJV: And) at the beginning of this clause. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

¹⁸ 1 Timothy 1:14 (ESV)

¹⁹ Romans 9:16 (ESV) Table

²⁰ Exploration, Part 2

²¹ Romans 11:32 (ESV)

²² The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ως εαν (KJV: as if) here where the NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had simply ὡς (NET: like).

²³ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had βλαστᾷ here, a form of the verb βλαστάνω, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had βλαστανη (KJV: should spring). These seem to be alternate spellings of the same part of speech.

²⁴ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had γαρ (KJV: For) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

²⁵ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had πληρη here, the accusative form of πλήρης, where the NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had πλήρη[ς].

²⁶ John 15:5 (ESV)

²⁷ Galatians 5:14a (ESV) Table

²⁸ “The basic thought of the perfect tense is that the progress of an action has been completed and the results of the action are continuing on, in full effect. In other words, the progress of the action has reached its culmination and the finished results are now in existence. Unlike the English perfect, which indicates a completed past action, the Greek perfect tense indicates the continuation and present state of a completed past action.” From Verb Tenses: Perfect Tense, Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions) on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek online.

²⁹ Galatians 5:14b (ESV) Table

³⁰ Romans 7:21b (ESV)

³¹ These are some of the meanings of ἀναλίσκω, the root of ἀναλωθῆτε in the aorist tense and passive voice, listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon online.

³² Galatians 5:1 (EXP1) Table

³³ Galatians 5:2-4 (ESV)

³⁴ Galatians 5:5-7a (ESV)

³⁵ Galatians 5:7b-9 (ESV)

³⁶ Galatians 5:10 (ESV) Table

³⁷ Galatians 5:11, 12 (ESV)

³⁸ Galatians 5:13 (EXP4)

³⁹ Galatians 5:14 (ESV) Table

⁴⁰ Galatians 5:15 (ESV) Table

⁴¹ Galatians 5:16a (ESV)

⁴² Galatians 5:16b (ESV)

Exploration, Part 3

Posted on November 26, 2024 by admin

Despite his confidence in the Lord that [the foolish Galatians would] take no other view, and the one who [was] troubling [them would] bear the penalty,¹ Paul continued to stress the importance of the distinction between we ourselves [who] eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit, by faith,² and you who would be justified by the law [who] are severed from Christ [and] have fallen away from grace³ (Galatians 5:11, 12 ESV).

But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

Paul had already recounted what had happened on a trip to Jerusalem with Barnabas⁴ (Galatians 2:3-5 ESV).

But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery [Table]—to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

The distinction between we ourselves [who] eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit, by faith⁵ and you who would be justified by the law [who] are severed from Christ [and] have fallen away from grace⁶ was so important that Paul, Barnabas, Titus and those who seemed influential⁷ in Jerusalem did not yield in submission even for a moment⁸ to the false brothers…who slipped in to spy…so that they might bring us into slavery.⁹ Why? so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.¹⁰ How? Was it by their own wisdom or the force of their superior moral integrity? No. For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore [we] stand firm and cannot entangle [ourselves] in a yoke of slavery again.¹¹

The Greek word translated might be preserved was διαμείνῃ, a form of the verb διαμένω in the subjunctive mood. And so that was ἵνα. This is a subjunctive verb in a purpose or result clause. In fact, this is the example of a subjunctive verb in a purpose or result clause to remember.

Here the context makes it abundantly clear that Paul and his companions did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved. Rather, they did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved. This occurrence can help one see that the subjunctive mood in a purpose or result clause is a convention of the Koine Greek language, indicating how something will actually happen. It can help one to believe the literal meaning of the Greek Scriptural text when the iffy/maybe quality of the English translation seems more likely or more amenable to the religious mind.

And here again, I quoted the EXP1 translation of Galatians 5:1 as the answer to how Paul and his companions did not yield in submission even for a moment. I explained elsewhere why I will use this translation. The highlights on the quotation below are links to explanations of the highlighted part of the translation.

For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore you stand firm and cannot entangle yourselves in a yoke of slavery again.

Once the new covenant was put in force by the Lord’s death (Hebrews 9:15-17), Paul and Barnabas were among the first beneficiaries of the ministry of the resurrected Jesus Christ (Hebrews 8:6 ESV [Table]).

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

So, one aspect of the importance of the distinction between we ourselves [who] eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit, by faith,¹² and you who would be justified by the law [who] are severed from Christ [and] have fallen away from grace¹³ is the truth of the gospel.¹⁴ Next, I want to consider the offense of the cross.¹⁵

The Greek word translated offense was σκάνδαλον: “a trap, snare; an object deliberately placed to make someone trip; a temptation to sin, enticement to false belief; obstacle, stumbling block, (something that causes or gives offence); scandal, something over which one’s reputation or public image might suffer.” Paul had elaborated on this elsewhere (1 Corinthians 1:21-24 ESV).

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles [Table], but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The Greek word translated a stumbling block here was also σκάνδαλον. Paul had a very different attitude if the σκάνδαλον were of less import than the truth of the gospel (Romans 14:13-23 ESV).

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block (πρόσκομμα) or hindrance (σκάνδαλον) in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died [Table]. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men [Table]. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble (προσκόπτει, a form of προσκόπτω). The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves [Table]. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

In one sense this is clearly not about the truth of the gospel because the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.¹⁶ In another sense, however, it is all about the importance of the distinction between we ourselves [who] eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit, by faith,¹⁷ and you who would be justified by the law¹⁸ since we are being patient with you as we trust the Lord to enlighten you that neither eating bacon or shrimp scampi nor refraining from eating bacon or shrimp scampi empowers anyone or makes anyone stronger,¹⁹ but only faith working through love.²⁰

Even when I was actively attempting to be justified by the laws of Paul, I could tell in this example that So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil²¹ probably didn’t mean that I should whip out my trusty Dirty-Harry-style .44 magnum, “the most powerful handgun in the world,” stick it in the mouth of anyone complaining about my bacon or shrimp scampi, or shrimp scampi with bacon (yum!), and blow his head “clean off.”²² The Greek words translated do not let…be spoken of as evil were μὴ βλασφημείσθω, a 3^rd person singular imperative form of the verb βλασφημέω in the present tense and middle/passive voice—negated!

To negate passive verbs is almost universally regarded as a weak form of writing because seeking to be justified by laws, rules, applications, customs, traditions, even best practices is the way of the world. I was reminded recently that expository preachers follow this maxim, too.

Experienced preachers also try to avoid using passive verbs and negative wording in main points.⁴⁹ Homiletics instructors refer to this as taking out the be’s (i.e., passive being verbs) and the not’s. This is done first because application clauses worded with passive verbs do not exhort people to do anything; they simply state what happens to people, usually in the uninvolved third person (e.g., Because God delivers, believers are secure.). As a consequence, believers are left to guess how to apply this truth. Something similar happens when most of our main points are worded as what not to do. When too many main points concentrate on what not to do, people must guess what to do.²³

The phrase μὴ βλασφημείσθω, a negative particle followed by a middle/passive imperative form of the verb βλασφημέω, are word choices made by one of the most formidable minds to have ever grappled with this subject matter, led by the Holy Spirit of God, absolutely committed to preserving the truth of the gospel in word as in deed. My own trick, putting the weight of the imperative on the negative particle—“one cannot let…be spoken of as evil”—sounds just as bad at first. (Maybe I could just cut out the offender’s tongue or slap him around a little until he takes it back.)

Once I get over myself, as it were, and hear the better promise of the new covenant rather than a law of Paul, it becomes clear “one cannot let your good be spoken of as evil” because The faith that you have, [you who eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit, by faith²⁴] keep²⁵ between yourself and God.²⁶ Here Paul went beyond mere compromise to what appears in the moment to be a complete capitulation before the one who is weak in faith: It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.²⁷ For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.²⁸

This, too, is all about the freedom for which Christ has us set free and faith in his faithfulness to others as well as to we ourselves (Romans 14:1-4 ESV).

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him [Table]. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand [Table].

Paul’s conditional question—But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?²⁹—functions primarily as an assertion that he was not still preaching circumcision, buttressed by a rational question rather than an oath. Then, In that case the offense (σκάνδαλον) of the cross has been removed,³⁰ further amplified the rationality of his question: Christ crucified, a stumbling block (σκάνδαλον) to Jews.³¹ And circumcision must be seen here as a kind of shorthand for the distinction between we ourselves [who] eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit, by faith,³² and you who would be justified by the law [who] are severed from Christ [and] have fallen away from grace³³ in a way that regarding some foods as unclean was not:

Circumcision—Galatians 2:5 (ESV)	Unclean Foods—Romans 14:20b (ESV)
…to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.	Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble (προσκόμματος, a form of πρόσκομμα) by what he eats.

An implicit assumption lurks within Paul’s assertion that he was not still preaching circumcision, however; namely, that preaching circumcision might eliminate or mitigate his persecution by the Jews. I wouldn’t expect that Paul would bend the truth of the gospel here for his own ease or comfort (Philippians 3:2-12 ESV):

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh [Table]—though I myself have reason for confidence (πεποίθησιν, a form of πεποίθησις) in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence (πεποιθέναι, a form of πείθω) in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless [Table]. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ [Table]. Indeed,³⁴ I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ [Table] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the³⁵ dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own [Table].

To share [Christ’s] sufferings is part of the benefits package, if you will, of gaining Christ and being found in Him, not having a righteousness of [his] own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, or Christ’s faithfulness.³⁶ The suffering of Christ that comes to mind in this context was persecution and ultimately rejection by those with religious minds as He reclaimed the truth of the Sabbath under the law: it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.³⁷ To share in his sufferings was to know him and the power of his resurrection, not pie in the sky bye and bye, but while Paul yet walked the earth.

If Paul had been tempted to compromise the truth of the gospel, I would suspect a conflict of loves (Romans 9:1-3 ESV):

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh [Table].

Whatever “conflict of loves” was alluded to here, its resolution in the Word of God was also explained in chapters 9-11, the climax of Paul’s letter to the Romans. The offense (σκάνδαλον) of the cross³⁸ was prophesied in the Scriptures. Paul did not compromise the truth of the gospel,³⁹ not even for his brothers, [his] kinsmen according to the flesh, even knowing that Christ crucified [is] a stumbling block (σκάνδαλον) to Jews⁴⁰ because: For [Paul’s] freedom Christ has [him] set free; therefore [he stood] firm and [could not] entangle [himself] in a yoke of slavery again⁴¹ (Romans 9:30-10:4 ESV).

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law [Table]. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled (προσέκοψαν, a form of προσκόπτω) over the stumbling stone (προσκόμματος, a form of πρόσκομμα), as it is written,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling (προσκόμματος, a form of πρόσκομμα), and a rock of offense (σκανδάλου, a form of σκάνδαλον); and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” [Table].

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved [Table]. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

How long must we ourselves [who] eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit, by faith⁴² wait? Initially, only as long as it takes one to understand the difference between faith working through love⁴³ and you who would be justified by the law.⁴⁴ As an example of what not to do, Bryan Chapell wrote:

Because we are offered salvation in the name of Jesus Christ, we must take care not to live unholy lives lest our testimony damage the honor of Christ, the testimony of the church, and our Christian witness before those in the outside world and those in the family of faith.⁴⁵

This is not the reasoning of one who has received the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness…through the one man Jesus Christ.⁴⁶ This is the reasoning of one attempting to con others (perhaps conning himself) to believe that he has received the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness…through the one man Jesus Christ to sell an idea or a religion or a church. Jesus was kinder than I am being here: He called it the reasoning of an actor. It is not necessary to impute bad motives to an actor. An actor might be completely sincere.

As Paul wrote (Romans 10:2-3 ESV):

I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

This is an excellent summation of what the old covenant had become at the time Jesus walked as a man on the earth. It is also an excellent description of the natural inclinations of the old man, born of Adam, pursuing righteousness. This is the way your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires⁴⁷ wants to make itself righteous. Jesus addressed this old man who would be justified by the law (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV):

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven [Table]. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ [Table] And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Once this distinction is understood we ourselves [who] eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit, by faith⁴⁸ wait only the moments it takes to silence the old man (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον; literally, “the old human”) who rushes ahead, eager to rob Christ of his glory and deprive us of the power of God’s salvation by striving to have a righteousness of [our] own that comes from the [old man’s understanding of] law,⁴⁹ for the old man’s glory.⁵⁰ Once the old man is silenced or ignored, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ kicks in, working his righteousness through his own love.

Paul wrote of those persuading the foolish Galatians to live according to the dictates of the old man (Galatians 5:12 ESV):

I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

Jesus has condemned the old man to the lake of fire: Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.⁵¹ But it is almost impossible to recall what is commonly understood as his final judgment without recalling his current judgment (John 12:31, 32 ESV):

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

He has decided to grant us new life through faith,⁵² to lift us by his death and resurrection out of the the old way of the written code,⁵³ no longer to be you who would be justified by the law,⁵⁴ dominated by your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.⁵⁵ By his gift of new life He frees us to serve in the new way of the Spirit,⁵⁶ we ourselves [who] through the Spirit, by faith, eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness,⁵⁷ living in the new self (τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον; literally, “the new human”), created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.⁵⁸ What has a yoke of slavery⁵⁹ to your old self done for you lately?

As Paul wrote the foolish Galatians (Galatians 5:10a ESV [Table]):

I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view…

According to a note (62) in the NET, Paul quoted from Isaiah 28:16 and 8:14 in Romans 9:33. Tables comparing the Greek of Paul’s quotation with that of the Septuagint follow.

Romans 9:33b, c (NET Parallel Greek)	Isaiah 28:16b (Septuagint BLB)	Isaiah 28:16b (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἰδοὺ τίθημι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον…καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται	ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐμβαλῶ εἰς τὰ θεμέλια Σιων λίθον…καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ	ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐμβαλῶ εἰς τὰ θεμέλια Σιὼν λίθον…καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ
Romans 9:33b, c (NET)	Isaiah 28:16b (NETS)	Isaiah 28:16b (English Elpenor)
Look, I am laying in Zion a stone…yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame	See, I will lay for the foundations of Sion a…stone…and the one who believes in him will not be put to shame	Behold, I lay for the foundations of Sion a…stone…and he that believes [on him] shall by no means be ashamed

It is worth mentioning here that Paul, with the Holy Spirit, altered οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ, an aorist subjunctive of emphatic negation (“never be put to shame”), to οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται (“not be put to shame in the future”).

Romans 9:33b (NET Parallel Greek)	Isaiah 8:14a (Septuagint BLB)	Isaiah 8:14a (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἰδοὺ τίθημι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον προσκόμματος καὶ πέτραν σκανδάλου	καὶ ἐὰν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ πεποιθὼς ᾖς ἔσται σοι εἰς ἁγίασμα καὶ οὐχ ὡς λίθου προσκόμματι συναντήσεσθε αὐτῷ οὐδὲ ὡς πέτρας πτώματι	καὶ ἐὰν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ πεποιθὼς ἦς, ἔσται σοι εἰς ἁγίασμα καὶ οὐχ ὡς λίθου προσκόμματι συναντήσεσθε αὐτῷ, οὐδὲ ὡς πέτρας πτώματι
Romans 9:33b (NET)	Isaiah 8:14a (NETS)	Isaiah 8:14a (English Elpenor)
Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble and a rock that will make them fall,	And if you trust in him, he will become your holy precinct, and you will not encounter him as a stumbling caused by a stone nor as a fall caused by a rock	And if thou shalt trust in him, he shall be to thee for a sanctuary; and ye shall not come against [him] as against a stumbling-stone, neither as against the falling of a rock

Paul apparently did his own translation from Hebrew, which begs the question when this verse was “translated” in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Isaiah 8:14 (Tanakh’KJV)	Isaiah 8:14 (NET)	Isaiah 8:14 (NETS)	Isaiah 8:14 (English Elpenor)
And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.	He will become a sanctuary, but a stone that makes a person trip and a rock that makes one stumble—to the two houses of Israel. He will become a trap and a snare to the residents of Jerusalem.	And if you trust in him, he will become your holy precinct, and you will not encounter him as a stumbling caused by a stone nor as a fall caused by a rock, but the house of Iakob is in a trap, and those who sit in Jerusalem are in a pit.	And if thou shalt trust in him, he shall be to thee for a sanctuary; and ye shall not come against [him] as against a stumbling-stone, neither as against the falling of a rock: but the houses of Jacob are in a snare, and the dwellers in Jerusalem in a pit.

Tables comparing Isaiah 28:16 and 8:14 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Isaiah 28:16 and 8:14 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and a table comparing Galatians 2:2 in the KJV and NET follow.

Isaiah 28:16 (Tanakh)	Isaiah 28:16 (KJV)	Isaiah 28:16 (NET)
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.	Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord, says: “Look, I am laying a stone in Zion, an approved stone, set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. The one who maintains his faith will not panic.

Isaiah 28:16 (Septuagint BLB)	Isaiah 28:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)
διὰ τοῦτο οὕτως λέγει κύριος ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐμβαλῶ εἰς τὰ θεμέλια Σιων λίθον πολυτελῆ ἐκλεκτὸν ἀκρογωνιαῖον ἔντιμον εἰς τὰ θεμέλια αὐτῆς καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ	διὰ τοῦτο οὕτω λέγει Κύριος Κύριος· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐμβαλῶ εἰς τὰ θεμέλια Σιὼν λίθον πολυτελῆ ἐκλεκτὸν ἀκρογωνιαῖον, ἔντιμον, εἰς τὰ θεμέλια αὐτῆς, καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ
Isaiah 28:16 (NETS)	Isaiah 28:16 (English Elpenor)
therefore thus says the Lord, See, I will lay for the foundations of Sion a precious, choice stone, a highly valued cornerstone for its foundations, and the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.	Therefore thus saith the Lord, [even] the Lord, Behold, I lay for the foundations of Sion a costly stone, a choice, a corner-stone, a precious [stone], for its foundations; and he that believes [on him] shall by no means be ashamed.

Isaiah 8:14 (Tanakh)	Isaiah 8:14 (KJV)	Isaiah 8:14 (NET)
And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.	And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.	He will become a sanctuary, but a stone that makes a person trip and a rock that makes one stumble—to the two houses of Israel. He will become a trap and a snare to the residents of Jerusalem.

Isaiah 8:14 (Septuagint BLB)	Isaiah 8:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐὰν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ πεποιθὼς ᾖς ἔσται σοι εἰς ἁγίασμα καὶ οὐχ ὡς λίθου προσκόμματι συναντήσεσθε αὐτῷ οὐδὲ ὡς πέτρας πτώματι ὁ δὲ οἶκος Ιακωβ ἐν παγίδι καὶ ἐν κοιλάσματι ἐγκαθήμενοι ἐν Ιερουσαλημ	καὶ ἐὰν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ πεποιθὼς ἦς, ἔσται σοι εἰς ἁγίασμα καὶ οὐχ ὡς λίθου προσκόμματι συναντήσεσθε αὐτῷ, οὐδὲ ὡς πέτρας πτώματι· οἱ δὲ οἶκοι ᾿Ιακὼβ ἐν παγίδι, καὶ ἐν κοιλάσματι ἐγκαθήμενοι ἐν ῾Ιερουσαλήμ
Isaiah 8:14 (NETS)	Isaiah 8:14 (English Elpenor)
And if you trust in him, he will become your holy precinct, and you will not encounter him as a stumbling caused by a stone nor as a fall caused by a rock, but the house of Iakob is in a trap, and those who sit in Jerusalem are in a pit.	And if thou shalt trust in him, he shall be to thee for a sanctuary; and ye shall not come against [him] as against a stumbling-stone, neither as against the falling of a rock: but the houses of Jacob are in a snare, and the dwellers in Jerusalem in a pit.

Galatians 2:2 (NET)	Galatians 2:2 (KJV)
I went there because of a revelation and presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so only in a private meeting with the influential people, to make sure that I was not running—or had not run—in vain.	And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.

Galatians 2:2 (NET Parallel Greek)	Galatians 2:2 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Galatians 2:2 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ἀνέβην δὲ κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν· καὶ ἀνεθέμην αὐτοῖς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ κηρύσσω ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, κατ᾿ ἰδίαν δὲ τοῖς δοκοῦσιν, μή πως εἰς κενὸν τρέχω ἢ ἔδραμον	ανεβην δε κατα αποκαλυψιν και ανεθεμην αυτοις το ευαγγελιον ο κηρυσσω εν τοις εθνεσιν κατ ιδιαν δε τοις δοκουσιν μηπως εις κενον τρεχω η εδραμον	ανεβην δε κατα αποκαλυψιν και ανεθεμην αυτοις το ευαγγελιον ο κηρυσσω εν τοις εθνεσιν κατ ιδιαν δε τοις δοκουσιν μηπως εις κενον τρεχω η εδραμον

Exploration, Part 4

¹ Galatians 5:10 (ESV) Table

² Galatians 5:5 (ESV)

³ Galatians 5:4 (ESV) Table

⁴ Galatians 2:1b (ESV)

⁵ Galatians 5:5 (ESV)

⁶ Galatians 5:4 (ESV) Table

⁷ Galatians 2:2 (ESV)

⁸ Galatians 2:5a (ESV)

⁹ Galatians 2:4 (ESV) Table

¹⁰ Galatians 2:5b (ESV)

¹¹ Galatians 5:1 (EXP1) Table

¹² Galatians 5:5 (ESV)

¹³ Galatians 5:4 (ESV) Table

¹⁴ Galatians 2:5b (ESV)

¹⁵ Galatians 5:11b (ESV)

¹⁶ Romans 14:17 (ESV)

¹⁷ Galatians 5:5 (ESV)

¹⁸ Galatians 5:4 (ESV) Table

¹⁹ Exploration, Part 2

²⁰ Galatians 5:6b (ESV)

²¹ Romans 14:16 (ESV)

²² Dirty Harry, a 1971 movie starring Clint Eastwood in the title role. And, no, I don’t actually own a .44 magnum handgun or any other gun.

²³ Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, Third Edition, Baker Academic, p. 137

²⁴ Galatians 5:5 (ESV)

²⁵ This is the ESV translation of ἔχε, a 2^nd person singular form of ἔχω in the present tense and imperative mood.

²⁶ Romans 14:22a (ESV) Table

²⁷ Romans 14:21 (ESV) Table

²⁸ Romans 14:15a (ESV) Table

²⁹ Galatians 5:11a (ESV)

³⁰ Galatians 5:11b (ESV)

³¹ 1 Corinthians 1:23b (ESV) Table

³² Galatians 5:5 (ESV)

³³ Galatians 5:4 (ESV) Table

³⁴ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Stephanus Textus Receptus had ἀλλὰ μενοῦνγε here, where the Byzantine Majority Text had αλλα μεν ουν.

³⁵ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had the singular article τὴν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the plural των.

³⁶ Philippians 3:9b (NET)

³⁷ Matthew 12:12b (ESV)

³⁸ Galatians 5:11b (ESV)

³⁹ Galatians 2:5b (ESV)

⁴⁰ 1 Corinthians 1:23 (ESV) Table

⁴¹ Galatians 5:1 (EXP1) Table

⁴² Galatians 5:5 (ESV)

⁴³ Galatians 5:6b (ESV)

⁴⁴ Galatians 5:4b (ESV) Table

⁴⁵ Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, Third Edition, Baker Academic, p. 123

⁴⁶ Romans 5:17b (ESV)

⁴⁷ Ephesians 4:22b (ESV)

⁴⁸ Galatians 5:5 (ESV)

⁴⁹ Philippians 3:9b (ESV)

⁵⁰ This is what I call the religious mind.

⁵¹ Matthew 25:41b (ESV)

⁵² That is, faith in Jesus Christ as opposed to faith in the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires (Ephesians 4:22b NET) or whatever other nonsense a corrupt mind might believe.

⁵³ Romans 7:6d (ESV)

⁵⁴ Galatians 5:4b (ESV) Table

⁵⁵ Ephesians 4:22b (ESV)

⁵⁶ Romans 7:6c (ESV)

⁵⁷ Galatians 5:5 (ESV)

⁵⁸ Ephesians 4:24 (ESV)

⁵⁹ Galatians 5:1b (ESV) Table

The Children of Promise, Part 2

Posted on April 27, 2024 by admin

Paul wrote, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.¹ In another essay I asked, “So, if God did not allow [Abimelech] to touch Sarah, why didn’t He do the same for Pharaoh and Sarai?” I’m hoping that a thorough study of the story of Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah will give me a richer understanding of Paul’s contrast between the children of the flesh and the children of promise, as well as an answer to that question. The next two verses in Genesis, a literary forerunner of the cinematic montage, follow:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 12:8, 9 (Tanakh)	Genesis 12:8, 9 (NET)	Genesis 12:8, 9 (NETS)	Genesis 12:8, 9 (English Elpenor)
And [Abram] removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east; and he builded there an altar unto HaShem, and called upon the name of HaShem.	Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord.	And from there he withdrew to the mountain to the east of Baithel and set up his tent there—Baithel towards the sea and Haggai to the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.	And he departed thence to the mountain eastward of Baethel, and there he pitched his tent in Baethel near the sea, and Aggai toward the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord, and called on the name of the Lord.
And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.	Abram continually journeyed by stages down to the Negev.	And Abram set out, and as he traveled he encamped in the wilderness.	And Abram departed and went and encamped in the wilderness.

This is how Abram saw the land that God promised I will show you:² he moved…and pitched his tent…he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord,³ day after week after month after year. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place⁴ he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going. By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land⁵ as though it were a foreign country, living in tents…⁶ You see that his faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works.⁷

In another essay I thought the Lord’s first promise to Abram began in verse 2. Until I got to verse 8 I completely missed the little one verb promise in the first verse: אַרְאֶֽךָּ (rā’â), I will show thee (Tanakh), and σοι δείξω in Greek in the Septuagint, I will show you (NETS). The Greek verb δείξω is a form of δεικνύω: “to show, point out, make known; to explain, prove; to cause to be seen; to point to; to bring to light, display; to demonstrate.”

So what was it about verse 8 that triggered me to find God’s promise in verse 1? Abram’s faithfulness wandering in the promised land day after week after month after year. As I wrote in another essay: “The enabling grace of God, implicit in his call or command, is manifest among the children of promise as obedience to his word.”

The writer of Hebrews began his remarks about Abraham with five beautiful words: Πίστει καλούμενος Ἀβραὰμ ὑπήκουσεν ἐξελθεῖν. It is a brilliant shorthand that has taken me a lifetime to begin to understand, mostly through trial and error. The first word Πίστει is a dative form of πίστις: “The dative is the case of the indirect object, or may also indicate the means by which something is done.”⁸ By faith is an acceptable translation but it is clearly shorthand for, by being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.⁹

The Greek word translated as a passive verb phrase being sure was actually a noun, ὑπόστασις: “sustenance, support, subsistence; foundation (of a building); substantial nature, essence, actual being, reality; possessions, property; situation, condition; existence; rebellion, resistance; good chance of (something happening); realization; mutually agreed tariff; troops stationed at a military base.” I understand why the author chose it: For this reason I tell you, Jesus said, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.¹⁰ But I can also see that if anyone understood the writer of Hebrews to be suggesting that faith is the “substantial nature, essence, actual being, reality,” then James’ faith was perfected by works¹¹ was a welcome corrective.

The NET translators’ passive verb phrase being convinced of was another noun in Greek, ἔλεγχος: “rebuttal, refutation, reproach; proof, proving; act of questioning; conviction (of a sinner); reproof, censure, correction; something that deserves open criticism.” This noun coupled with the passive verb phrase chosen by the NET translators implies a long history of divine instruction from unbelief to disbelief to faith, as does Abram’s response to the Lord’s simple promise: I will show you:¹² It makes my question seem unnecessary, but I’ll ask it anyway: was this faith, Abraham’s certainty and conviction, something which originated with Abraham, or Abram?

Consider James again: You see that his faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works.¹³ The Greek words translated his faith were ἡ πίστις; literally “the faith.” Perhaps “the faithfulness” is a better way to understand it: You see that the faithfulness was working together with his works and the faithfulness was perfected by works. In other words, Abraham’s acts of obedience to God’s word brought faithfulness to its intended conclusion. So, if the apparent faithfulness of Abraham didn’t originate with Abraham, then from what place or what source did it originate?

For from him and through him and to him are all things, Paul wrote of God. To him be glory forever! Amen.¹⁴ This is an important key to understanding the Scriptures. And so, I will understand Πίστει here as shorthand for “By God’s faithfulness.” The next word in the writer of Hebrews’ shorthand was καλούμενος.

It is a passive form of καλέω: “Grammatical voice indicates whether the subject is the performer of the action of the verb (active voice), or the subject is the recipient of the action (passive voice). If the subject of the sentence is being acted upon, then the verb is referred to as being in the passive voice.”¹⁵ The translation, when he was called, is fine and adding Paul’s key to the Scriptures, Life, the Universe and Everything is not anything I’ve ever heard debated: when he was called by God: “By God’s faithfulness, when he was called by God, Abraham (Ἀβραὰμ)…”

The fourth word is ὑπήκουσεν, a form of ὑπακούω, translated obeyed in the NET. That feels like a short circuit to me. This whole word string is an admirable description of the obedience of faith (ὑπακοὴν πίστεως) that Paul considered the hallmark of his apostleship (Romans 1:5 NET):

Through [Jesus Christ our Lord] we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.

The word string, to bring about the, may be a lot to ask of εἰς. I would be willing to modify it: grace and…apostleship “into” or “unto” or “for” obedience of faith or “faith’s obedience.” What I’m calling a “short circuit,” leaping to obeyed as a translation of ὑπήκουσεν alone, is what adults do to children.

Adults have neither time nor patience for children to learn the fruit of the Spirit, or to walk or live by the Spirit, the obedience of faith in other words. Adults expect to be obeyed immediately in the flesh. And that’s how children learn to obey—or not. It’s quite a culture shock if they bring this kind of “obedience in the flesh” to Jesus and He calls them actors, pretending to righteousness. For my purposes in this essay I’ll translate ὑπήκουσεν as he listened. Adding Paul’s key would render it: “he listened to God.”

So, that gives me: “By God’s faithfulness, when he was called by God, Abraham listened to God.” The final word of this beautiful word string is ἐξελθεῖν, an infinitive form of ἐξέρχομαι, to go out. And again, adding Paul’s key would render it, “to go out in the power of God.” So, I have this word string as a beautiful description of the obedience of faith practiced by the children of promise:

The obedience of faith practiced by the children of promise

Πίστει καλούμενος Ἀβραὰμ ὑπήκουσεν ἐξελθεῖν

“By God’s faithfulness, when he was called by God, Abraham listened to God to go out in the power of God”

For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God.¹⁶ So he journeyed to a land God promised: I will show you.¹⁷ It seems fairly obvious now that this promised land was a shadow cast by the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.¹⁸ And that insight makes a definition of what I’ll call the obedience practiced by the children of the flesh possible.

The obedience practiced by the children of the flesh

“By my faith in my own calling, I listened to my own inner voice to go out in my own strength”

This is the life trajectory projected by the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires¹⁹ to a wished-for-land of my own ambition, to make my name great for my own praise and my own glory. And this innate belief, the natural inheritance of our flesh, can taint or corrupt, distort or pervert even such beautiful words as Πίστει καλούμενος Ἀβραὰμ ὑπήκουσεν ἐξελθεῖν. I’ll pick up where I left off in Genesis as the plot begins to thicken.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 12:10, 11 (Tanakh)	Genesis 12:10, 11 (NET)	Genesis 12:10, 11 (NETS)	Genesis 12:10, 11 (English Elpenor)
And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land [Table].	There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay for a while because the famine was severe.	And a famine occurred upon the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine prevailed upon the land [Table].	And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, because the famine prevailed in the land.
And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife: ‘Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon [Table].	As he approached Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman.	And it came about when Abram drew near to enter into Egypt that Abram said to his wife Sara, “I do know that your are a woman beautiful in countenance [Table],	And it came to pass when Abram drew nigh to enter into Egypt, Abram said to Sara his wife, I know that thou art a fair woman.

This concern occurred to him at the border of the promised land. But that promised land, with boundaries and borders one might draw on a map, was only a shadow. I want to focus this time on that land God promised: I will show you.²⁰

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 12:12, 13 (Tanakh)	Genesis 12:12, 13 (NET)	Genesis 12:12, 13 (NETS)	Genesis 12:12, 13 (English Elpenor)
And it will come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they will say: This is his wife; and they will kill me, but thee they will keep alive [Table].	When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive.	it will be, therefore, that should the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’, and they will kill me, but you they will keep for themselves [Table].	It shall come to pass then that when the Egyptians shall see thee, they shall say, This is his wife, and they shall slay me, but they shall save thee alive.
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee’ [Table].	So tell them you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you.”	Say, therefore, ‘I am his sister’, so that it may go well with me because of you, and my soul will live on your account” [Table],	Say, therefore, I am his sister, that it may be well with me on account of thee, and my soul shall live because of thee.

This doesn’t sound like faith to me. That’s really the only thing I need to recognize here. But since I’m approaching things differently this time, I wonder: Why have I always been waylaid here, focused on Abram’s fear and unbelief? And I think I have an answer: I talk a good game. I can write things like:

Πίστει is shorthand for “By God’s faithfulness.”

But when I want to do good, evil is present with me.²¹ Doubts and arguments come to mind: No, Abram’s faith is what matters. God’s faithfulness, though beyond dispute, is not the issue here. Such doubts and arguments arise even as I write this essay, but this time I can ignore them by focusing my attention on the land God promised: I will show you.²²

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Genesis 12:14-17 (Tanakh)	Genesis 12:14-17 (NET)	Genesis 12:14-17 (NETS)	Genesis 12:14-17 (English Elpenor)
And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair [Table].	When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.	And it came about when Abram entered into Egypt—as the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful— [Table]	And it came to pass when Abram entered into Egypt– the Egyptians having seen his wife that she was very beautiful–
And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house [Table].	When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife was taken into the household of Pharaoh,	that then the rulers of Pharao saw her and praised her to Pharao and brought her into Pharao’s house [Table].	that the princes of Pharao saw her, and praised her to Pharao and brought her into the house of Pharao.
And he dealt well with Abram for her sake; and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she-asses, and camels [Table].	and he did treat Abram well on account of her. Abram received sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.	And for her sake they dealt well with Abram, and he had sheep and calves and donkeys, male and female slaves, mules and camels [Table].	And they treated Abram well on her account, and he had sheep, and calves, and asses, and men-servants, and women-servants, and mules, and camels.
And HaShem plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife [Table].	But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.	And God tried Pharao and his house with great and grievous trials because of Sara, Abram’s wife [Table].	And God afflicted Pharao with great and severe afflictions, and his house, because of Sara, Abram’s wife.

This is utterly offensive to the religious mind. It believes, or wants me to believe, that all that transpired for Abram was the result, or should have been the result, of Abram’s faith or faithfulness rather than God’s (since I refuse to be thrown off the scent this time as Abram prospers pimping his beautiful wife). But the religious mind tips its hand here. I should probably say plainly that what I am calling the religious mind is a masquerade, an act, put on by the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires.²³ It would prefer to persuade me to believe that nothing transpired for Abram, because Abram as revealed in the Bible never existed, because the Bible lies about everything that’s written in it, especially God, because there is no God but me—e.g., the old man.

If I pay attention instead to the land God promised: I will show you,²⁴ what does that land look like? God’s promise, and be thou a blessing,²⁵ you will exemplify divine blessing,²⁶ and you shall be one blessed,²⁷ and thou shalt be blessed,²⁸ didn’t fail because Abram was faithless. It didn’t cease in response to Sarai’s apparent adultery in obedience to her husband’s command. This becomes another confirmation that Πίστει truly is the writer of Hebrew’s shorthand for “By God’s faithfulness.”

And I see something else, too (Romans 9:22, 23 NET).

But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath prepared for destruction? And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory…

This story of Abram, Sarai and Pharoah, as well as my own confusion about this story, helps me see that the objects of wrath prepared for destruction which God has endured with much patience refers, not only to Pharoah but, to something within Abram and Sarai as well: the old man (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον) who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires.²⁹

I’ll continue with this in another essay.

Tables comparing Genesis 12:8 and 12:9 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing the Greek of Genesis 12:8 and 12:9 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Hebrews 11:8, 9 in the NET and KJV follow.

Genesis 12:8 (Tanakh)	Genesis 12:8 (KJV)	Genesis 12:8 (NET)
And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east; and he builded there an altar unto HaShem, and called upon the name of HaShem.	And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.	Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord.

Genesis 12:8 (BLB Septuagint)	Genesis 12:8 (Elpenor Septuagint)
καὶ ἀπέστη ἐκεῖθεν εἰς τὸ ὄρος κατ᾽ ἀνατολὰς Βαιθηλ καὶ ἔστησεν ἐκεῖ τὴν σκηνὴν αὐτοῦ Βαιθηλ κατὰ θάλασσαν καὶ Αγγαι κατ᾽ ἀνατολάς καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐκεῖ θυσιαστήριον τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ ἐπεκαλέσατο ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι κυρίου	καὶ ἀπέστη ἐκεῖθεν εἰς τὸ ὄρος κατὰ ἀνατολὰς Βαιθὴλ καὶ ἔστησεν ἐκεῖ τὴν σκηνὴν αὐτοῦ, Βαιθὴλ κατὰ θάλασσαν καὶ ᾿Αγγαὶ κατὰ ἀνατολάς· καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐκεῖ θυσιαστήριον τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ ἐπεκαλέσατο ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου
Genesis 12:8 (NETS)	Genesis 12:8 (English Elpenor)
And from there he withdrew to the mountain to the east of Baithel and set up his tent there—Baithel towards the sea and Haggai to the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.	And he departed thence to the mountain eastward of Baethel, and there he pitched his tent in Baethel near the sea, and Aggai toward the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord, and called on the name of the Lord.

Genesis 12:9 (Tanakh)	Genesis 12:9 (KJV)	Genesis 12:9 (NET)
And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.	And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.	Abram continually journeyed by stages down to the Negev.

Genesis 12:9 (BLB Septuagint)	Genesis 12:9 (Elpenor Septuagint)
καὶ ἀπῆρεν Αβραμ καὶ πορευθεὶς ἐστρατοπέδευσεν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ	καὶ ἀπῇρεν ῞Αβραμ καὶ πορευθεὶς ἐστρατοπέδευσεν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ
Genesis 12:9 (NETS)	Genesis 12:9 (English Elpenor)
And Abram set out, and as he traveled he encamped in the wilderness.	And Abram departed and went and encamped in the wilderness.

Hebrews 11:8, 9 (NET)	Hebrews 11:8, 9 (KJV)
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going.	By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Hebrews 11:8 (NET Parallel Greek)	Hebrews 11:8 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Hebrews 11:8 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Πίστει καλούμενος Ἀβραὰμ ὑπήκουσεν ἐξελθεῖν εἰς τόπον ὃν ἤμελλεν λαμβάνειν εἰς κληρονομίαν, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν μὴ ἐπιστάμενος ποῦ ἔρχεται	πιστει καλουμενος αβρααμ υπηκουσεν εξελθειν εις τον τοπον ον ημελλεν λαμβανειν εις κληρονομιαν και εξηλθεν μη επισταμενος που ερχεται	πιστει καλουμενος αβρααμ υπηκουσεν εξελθειν εις τον τοπον ον ημελλεν λαμβανειν εις κληρονομιαν και εξηλθεν μη επισταμενος που ερχεται

By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise.

By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

Hebrews 11:9 (NET Parallel Greek)	Hebrews 11:9 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Hebrews 11:9 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Πίστει παρῴκησεν εἰς γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ὡς ἀλλοτρίαν ἐν σκηναῖς κατοικήσας μετὰ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ τῶν συγκληρονόμων τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τῆς αὐτῆς	πιστει παρωκησεν εις την γην της επαγγελιας ως αλλοτριαν εν σκηναις κατοικησας μετα ισαακ και ιακωβ των συγκληρονομων της επαγγελιας της αυτης	πιστει παρωκησεν εις την γην της επαγγελιας ως αλλοτριαν εν σκηναις κατοικησας μετα ισαακ και ιακωβ των συγκληρονομων της επαγγελιας της αυτης

Back to Matthew 8:23-34

Back to Exploration, Part 2

¹ Romans 9:8 (NET)

² Genesis 12:1b (NET/NETS) Table

³ Genesis 12:8 (NET)

⁴ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article τον preceding place. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

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

⁶ Hebrews 11:8, 9a (NET)

⁷ James 2:22 (NET)

⁸ Noun Cases: Dative Case, from GREEK NOUNS (Shorter Definitions), on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek online.

⁹ Hebrews 11:1 (NET)

¹⁰ Mark 11:24 (NET) Table

¹¹ James 2:22 (NET)

¹² Genesis 12:1b (NET/NETS) Table

¹³ James 2:22 (NET)

¹⁴ Romans 11:36 (NET)

¹⁵ Grammatical Voice of Verbs: Passive Voice, from Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions), on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek online.

¹⁶ Hebrews 11:10 (NET)

¹⁷ Genesis 12:1b (NET/NETS) Table

¹⁸ Ephesians 4:24b (NET)

¹⁹ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

²⁰ Genesis 12:1b (NET/NETS) Table

²¹ Romans 7:21b (NET)

²² Genesis 12:1b (NET/NETS) Table

²³ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

²⁴ Genesis 12:1b (NET/NETS) Table

²⁵ Genesis 12:2b (Tanakh) Table

²⁶ Genesis 12:2b (NET) Table

²⁷ Genesis 12:2b (NETS) Table

²⁸ Genesis 12:2b (English Elpenor) Table

²⁹ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

The Day of the Lord, Part 8

Posted on April 22, 2024 by admin

This is the conclusion of my consideration whether my assumption that Jesus called Judas Iscariot ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας (NET: the one destined for destruction) is like Jesus’ disciples’ discussion about having no bread¹ after He said: “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!”² I’ll begin with a request John recorded that Jesus’ made of his Father (John 17:15 NET):

I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one.

John 17:15 Detail
Greek	English
οὐκ ἐρωτῶ	I am not asking
ἵνα	“that”
ἄρῃς αὐτοὺς	you…take them
ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου	out of the world
ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα	but that
τηρήσῃς αὐτοὺς	you keep them…
ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ	from the evil…

John also recorded God’s answer to Jesus’ request (1 John 5:18 LSV):

We have known that everyone who has been begotten of God does not sin, but He who was begotten of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him;

1 John 5:18 Detail [Table]
Greek	English
Οἴδαμεν ὅτι	We have known (“and continue to know” Perfect Tense) that
πᾶς	everyone
ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ	who has been begotten (“and continues to be” Perfect Tense) of God
οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει	does not sin,
ἀλλ᾿	but
ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ	He who was begotten of God
τηρεῖ αὐτόν ³	keeps him

I’ll pause here a moment to address the NET translators’ objection (NET note 50) to ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ as a reference to Jesus.

The One fathered by God [Jesus] protects him [the Christian].” This is a popular interpretation, and is certainly possible grammatically. Yet the introduction of a reference to Jesus in this context is sudden; to be unambiguous the author could have mentioned the “Son of God” here, or used the pronoun ἐκεῖνος (ekeinos) as a reference to Jesus as he consistently does elsewhere in 1 John. This interpretation, while possible, seems in context highly unlikely.

As I mentioned in another essay, the NET translators’ confused everyone who has been begotten of God does not sin with “the Christian.” Listen to how differently John addressed “the Christian” (1 John 1:8-2:2 ESV):

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

John had very high expectations for My little children (Τεκνία μου): ἵνα μὴ ἁμάρτητε (that you may not sin) is a purpose clause in the subjunctive mood. But this expectation is different from the positive affirmation: We have known that everyone who has been begotten of God does not sin.⁴ For this reason I would amend the NET translators’ first statement: “The One fathered by God [Jesus] protects him [the new man].” So, their main objection that “the introduction of a reference to Jesus in this context is sudden” and therefore “highly unlikely” rests solely on a desire for John “to be unambiguous.”

Did John or the Holy Spirit intend “to be unambiguous” or, rather, did they intend to highlight the strong connection between πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ (everyone who has been begotten of God) and ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ (He who was begotten of God)? Listen to another related request that Jesus made of his Father in the very same prayer (John 17:20, 21 LSV):

And I do not ask in regard to these alone, but also in regard to those who will be believing in Me through their word, that they all may be one, as You Father [are] in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one⁵ in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

So, to conclude God’s answer to Jesus’ previous request that his Father keep them:

1 John 5:18 Detail Continued [Table]
Greek	English
καὶ ὁ πονηρὸς	and the evil one
οὐχ ἅπτεται	does not touch
αὐτοῦ	him

As I mentioned in another essay, the translators’ understood autou as a personal pronoun in the genitive case: “The genitive case has more uses than most other cases, but in general a noun in the genitive case helps to limit the scope of another noun by indicating its ‘kind’ or ‘class’.” None of the English translations I found understood autou as an adverb. There are probably more uses of the genitive case than I can glean from these short definitions, but this seems to ignore the genitive case and treat autou as if it were in the accusative case. I’ve begun a new thread surveying the New Testament usage of αὐτοῦ and ἑαυτοῦ so I won’t belabor that here.

My point here is the focus and concern of Jesus’ prayer as He is no longer in the world (John 17:6-12 LSV):

I revealed Your Name to the men whom You have given to Me out of the world; they were Yours, and⁶ You have given them to Me, and they have kept Your word [Table]; now they have known that all things, as many as You have given to Me, are from You, because the sayings that You have given to Me, I have given to them, and they themselves received, and have known truly, that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me [Table]. I ask in regard to them; I do not ask in regard to the world, but in regard to those whom You have given to Me, because they are Yours, and all Mine are Yours, and Yours [are] Mine, and I have been glorified in them; and I am no longer in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your Name, whom You have given to Me, that they may be one as We [are one]; when I was with them in the world, I was keeping them in Your Name; I guarded those whom You have given to Me, and none of them were destroyed, except the son of the destruction, that the Writing may be fulfilled [Table].

At the beginning of this passage I think it’s safe to say that Jesus prayed specifically for those to whom He had ministered personally: I revealed Your Name to the men whom You have given to Me out of the world; they were Yours, and You have given them to Me, and they have kept Your word.⁷ But then his gaze broadened: I ask in regard to them; I do not ask in regard to the world, but in regard to those whom You have given to Me, because they are Yours, and all Mine are Yours, and Yours [are] Mine, and I have been glorified in them.⁸

I say that Jesus’ gaze broadened here because John also recorded who Jesus would consider Mine, and therefore those whom You have given to Me, if he was crucified (John 12:27-33 LSV):

Now My soul has been troubled; and what will I say—Father, save Me from this hour? But because of this (John 12:20-26) I came to this hour; Father, glorify Your Name.” Therefore there came a voice out of Heaven, “I both glorified, and again I will glorify [it]”; the multitude, therefore, having stood and heard, were saying that there has been thunder; others said, “A messenger has spoken to Him.” Jesus⁹ answered and said, “This voice has not come because of Me, but because of you; now is a judgment of this world, now will the ruler of this world be cast forth; and I, if I may be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” And this He said signifying by what death He was about to die [Table];

John 17:12 Detail [Table]
Stephanus Textus Receptus	LSV	NET Parallel Greek	NET
οτε ημην μετ αυτων	when I was with them	ὅτε ἤμην μετ᾿ αὐτῶν	When I was with them
εν τω κοσμω	in the world
εγω ετηρουν αυτους	I was keeping them	ἐγὼ ἐτήρουν αὐτοὺς	I kept them safe
εν τω ονοματι σου	in Your Name	ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι σου	in your name
ους δεδωκας μοι	those whom You have given to Me	ᾧ δέδωκας μοι	that you have given me
εφυλαξα	I guarded	καὶ ἐφύλαξα	and watched over them
και ουδεις εξ αυτων	and none of them	καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ αὐτῶν	Not one of them
απωλετο	were destroyed	ἀπώλετο	was lost
ει μη	except	εἰ μὴ	except
ο υιος	the son	ὁ υἱὸς	the one destined
της απωλειας	of the destruction	τῆς ἀπωλείας	for destruction
ινα	that	ἵνα	so that
η γραφη πληρωθη	the Writing may be fulfilled	ἡ γραφὴ πληρωθῇ	the scripture could be fulfilled

The Greek phrase ουδεις εξ αυτων seems like a strange construction for none of them (LSV) and Not one of them (NET). Why not simply ουδεις αυτων? And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, yet none of them (οὐδεὶς αὐτῶν) was cleansed except (εἰ μὴ) Naaman¹⁰ the Syrian.¹¹ But John used ουδεις εξ three times.

Was he less proficient in Greek than Luke? I wondered. If John’s Gospel were written by a twenty-something John, I might accept that, but every indication is that it was written by the elder John who not only spent his youth with Jesus but enjoyed a lifetime with the indwelling Holy Spirit, making sense of those years. And what of the Holy Spirit? I decided to look deeper than mere occurrence.

Hasn’t Moses¹² given you the law? Yet not one of you (οὐδεὶς ἐξ ὑμῶν) keeps the law! Why do you want to kill me?¹³ The Greek word translated keeps was actually ποιεῖ (a form of ποιέω) rather than τήρει (a form of τηρέω) or φύλασσε (a form of φυλάσσω). So Jesus said to Jewish leaders¹⁴ (οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι), “not one of you does the law”? That sounds ridiculous on the face of it.

Jewish leaders were all about doing the law. Of course, one of the more salient features of the Gospels is that Jewish leaders were “all about doing the law” in much the same way I was all about doing compliance, to minimize my experience of being screamed at, to maximize my experience of being thought of and spoken of well, all for my praise and my glory. And Jesus was never all about looking at things “on the face of it” but on the heart.

It was past time to take ἐξ more seriously: Jesus said to Jewish leaders, “nothing out of you” or “from within you does the law.” In other words, nothing out of them or from within them loved God or their neighbor with the love God supplies through his own indwelling Holy Spirit (Mark 12:28-31 NET).

Now one of the experts in the law came and heard them debating. When he saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one [Table]. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength’ [Table]. The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” [Table].

The Jewish leaders (and I) were like actors pretending to love like God by our own skill and in our own strength (weakened through the flesh). Only John recorded the disturbing words Jesus spoke to those Judeans who had believed (“and continued to believe”; Perfect Tense) him¹⁵ (πρὸς τοὺς πεπιστευκότας αὐτῷ Ἰουδαίους): You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires.¹⁶ It may not have been the best way to win friends and influence people, but it was perhaps the only way to tell his followers the truth about the evil within them, that evil Paul would later describe as the old man (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον) who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires.¹⁷

John also recorded Jesus saying (John 16:4b-6 NET):

I did not tell you these things (John 15:1-16:4a) from the beginning because I was with you [Table]. But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you (οὐδεὶς ἐξ ὑμῶν) is asking me, ‘Where are you going?’ Instead your hearts are filled with sadness because I have said these things to you.

Though Jesus’ word and his presence had already created in his disciples what Paul would later describe as the new man (τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον) who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth,¹⁸ it was weak compared to the old man apart from Jesus’ own indwelling Spirit. “Nothing out of you” or “from within you is asking me” the most obvious question, Jesus marveled. They were focused instead on their own feelings.

So now, when I come to—Not one of them (οὐδεὶς ἐξ αὐτῶν) was lost except the one destined for destruction¹⁹—it is much easier to hear: “Nothing out of” or “from within them was lost (LSV: destroyed) except the one destined for destruction” (KJV: the son of perdition), e.g., the old man (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον) who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires.²⁰

I wondered for a moment or two at ἀπώλετο, translated was lost (NET), is lost (KJV) and were destroyed (LSV), a form of ἀπόλλυμι, ἀπόλλω, ἀπολλύω in the 2^nd aorist tense and indicative mood. But Bill Mounce answered my concern in his article, “The Aorist is so much more than a past tense”:

I like Con Campbell’s word picture of the aorist. You are in a helicopter over the parade, looking at the parade as a whole. Buist Fanning talks about seeing the action from the outside as a whole rather than from inside the action (i.e., being part of the parade).

Because this is the basic genius of the aorist, it can have a phenomenally wide range of usage. You can be looking at the action as a whole but paying special attention to the beginning (“ingressive”) or to the end (“consummative”). It can describes [sic] something that simply is regardless of any time reference (“gnomic”).

But my favorite is to [sic] proleptic (futuristic) use of the aorist. Because time is secondary, the aorist can describe a future event and emphasize the certainty of the action. It is not a common usage, but it does show how we need to keep the idea of “time” in its proper place.

So, Jesus did not refer to Judas Iscariot any more or any less than He referred to me or anyone or everyone else. What Scripture, what Writing did this fulfill once and for all? Nothing less than the Name of God:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Exodus 34:6, 7a (Tanakh)	Exodus 34:6, 7a (NET)	Exodus 34:6, 7a (NETS)	Exodus 34:6, 7a (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 clear the guilty [Table];	keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished,”	and preserving righteousness and doing mercy for thousands, taking away acts of lawlessness and of injustice and sins, and he will not acquit the guilty person [Table],	and keeping justice and mercy for thousands, taking away iniquity, and unrighteousness, and sins; and he will not clear the guilty;

According to a note (62) in the NET Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 6:4, 5 and Joshua 22:5. A table comparing the Greek of his quotation in Mark 12:29b, 30 to that of the Septuagint follows.

Mark 12:29b, 30 (NET Parallel Greek)	Deuteronomy 6:4b, 5; Joshua 22:5b (Septuagint BLB)	Deuteronomy 6:4b, 5; Joshua 22:5b (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ, κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστιν, καὶ ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης \|τῆς\| καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος σου	ἄκουε Ισραηλ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστιν καὶ ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς δυνάμεώς σου [Table] ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας	Ακουε, ᾿Ισραήλ· Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν Κύριος εἷς ἐστι καὶ ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς δυνάμεώς σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας
Mark 12:29b, 30 (NET)	Deuteronomy 6:4b, 5; Joshua 22:5b (NETS)	Deuteronomy 6:4b, 5; Joshua 22:5b (English Elpenor)
Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.	Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with the whole of your mind and with the whole of your soul and with the whole of your power. …with all your mind…	Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and all thy strength. …with all your mind…

According to a note (63) in the NET Jesus quoted from Leviticus 19:18. A table comparing the Greek of his quotation in Mark 12:31a to that of the Septuagint follows.

Mark 12:31a (NET Parallel Greek)	Leviticus 19:18b (Septuagint BLB)	Leviticus 19:18b (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν	ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν [Table]	ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν
Mark 12:31a (NET)	Leviticus 19:18b (NETS)	Leviticus 19:18b (English Elpenor)
Love your neighbor as yourself	you shall love your neighbor as yourself	thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself

Tables comparing Deuteronomy 6:4 and Joshua 22:5 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Deuteronomy 6:4 and Joshua 22:5 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing John 17:21; 12:30; Luke 4:27 and John 7:19 in the KJV and NET follow.

Deuteronomy 6:4 (Tanakh)	Deuteronomy 6:4 (KJV)	Deuteronomy 6:4 (NET)
HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE HaShem OUR GOD, THE HaShem IS ONE.	Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:	Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!

Deuteronomy 6:4 (Septuagint BLB)	Deuteronomy 6:3b, 4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ταῦτα τὰ δικαιώματα καὶ τὰ κρίματα ὅσα ἐνετείλατο κύριος τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου ἄκουε Ισραηλ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστιν	Tκαὶ ταῦτα τὰ δικαιώματα καὶ τὰ κρίματα, ὅσα ἐνετείλατο Κύριος τοῖς υἱοῖς ᾿Ισραὴλ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου. (4) ῎Ακουε, ᾿Ισραήλ· Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν Κύριος εἷς ἐστι
Deuteronomy 6:4 (NETS)	Deuteronomy 6:3b, 4 (English Elpenor)
And these are the statutes and the judgments, which the Lord commanded to the sons of Israel in the wilderness as they were coming out from the land of Egypt. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.	and these [are] the ordinances, and the judgments, which the Lord commanded the children of Israel in the wilderness, when they had gone forth from the land of Egypt. (4) Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord.

Joshua 22:5 (Tanakh)	Joshua 22:5 (KJV)	Joshua 22:5 (NET)
But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.	But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.	But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord’s servant gave you. Love the Lord your God, follow all his instructions, obey his commands, be loyal to him, and serve him with all your heart and being!”

Joshua 22:5 (Septuagint BLB)	Joshua 22:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀλλὰ φυλάξασθε ποιεῖν σφόδρα τὰς ἐντολὰς καὶ τὸν νόμον ὃν ἐνετείλατο ἡμῖν ποιεῖν Μωυσῆς ὁ παῖς κυρίου ἀγαπᾶν κύριον τὸν θεὸν ὑμῶν πορεύεσθαι πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ φυλάξασθαι τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ καὶ προσκεῖσθαι αὐτῷ καὶ λατρεύειν αὐτῷ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας ὑμῶν καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς ὑμῶν	ἀλλὰ φυλάξασθε σφόδρα ποιεῖν τὰς ἐντολὰς καὶ τὸν νόμον, ὃν ἐνετείλατο ἡμῖν ποιεῖν Μωυσῆς ὁ παῖς Κυρίου, ἀγαπᾶν Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν ἡμῶν, πορεύεσθαι πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ, φυλάξασθαι τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ καὶ προσκεῖσθαι αὐτῷ καὶ λατρεύειν αὐτῷ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας ὑμῶν καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς ὑμῶν
Joshua 22:5 (NETS)	Joshua 22:5 (English Elpenor)
But take great care to do the ordinances and the law that Moyses the servant of the Lord commanded you to do: to love the Lord your God, to walk by all his ways, to keep his ordinances and to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your mind and with all your soul.”	But take great heed to do the commands and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you to do; to love the Lord our God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commands, and to cleave to him, and serve him with all your mind, and with all your soul.

John 17:21 (NET)	John 17:21 (KJV)
that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.	That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

John 17:21 (NET Parallel Greek)	John 17:21 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	John 17:21 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ἵνα πάντες ἓν ὦσιν, καθὼς σύ, \|πάτερ\|, ἐν ἐμοὶ καγὼ ἐν σοί, ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ὦσιν, ἵνα ὁ κόσμος πιστεύῃ ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας	ινα παντες εν ωσιν καθως συ πατερ εν εμοι καγω εν σοι ινα και αυτοι εν ημιν εν ωσιν ινα ο κοσμος πιστευση οτι συ με απεστειλας	ινα παντες εν ωσιν καθως συ πατερ εν εμοι καγω εν σοι ινα και αυτοι εν ημιν εν ωσιν ινα ο κοσμος πιστευση οτι συ με απεστειλας

John 12:30 (NET)	John 12:30 (KJV)
Jesus said, “This voice has not come for my benefit but for yours.	Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

John 12:30 (NET Parallel Greek)	John 12:30 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	John 12:30 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ἀπεκρίθη \|Ἰησοῦς\| καὶ εἶπεν · οὐ δι᾿ ἐμὲ ἡ φωνὴ αὕτη γέγονεν ἀλλὰ δι᾿ ὑμᾶς	απεκριθη ο ιησους και ειπεν ου δι εμε αυτη η φωνη γεγονεν αλλα δι υμας	απεκριθη ο ιησους και ειπεν ου δι εμε αυτη η φωνη γεγονεν αλλα δι υμας

Luke 4:27 (NET)	Luke 4:27 (KJV)
And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, yet none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”	And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

Luke 4:27 (NET Parallel Greek)	Luke 4:27 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Luke 4:27 (Byzantine Majority Text)
καὶ πολλοὶ λεπροὶ ἦσαν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπὶ Ἐλισαίου τοῦ προφήτου, καὶ οὐδεὶς αὐτῶν ἐκαθαρίσθη εἰ μὴ Ναιμὰν ὁ Σύρος	και πολλοι λεπροι ησαν επι ελισσαιου του προφητου εν τω ισραηλ και ουδεις αυτων εκαθαρισθη ει μη νεεμαν ο συρος	και πολλοι λεπροι ησαν επι ελισσαιου του προφητου εν τω ισραηλ και ουδεις αυτων εκαθαρισθη ει μη νεεμαν ο συρος

John 7:19 (NET)	John 7:19 (KJV)
Hasn’t Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law! Why do you want to kill me?”	Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?

John 7:19 (NET Parallel Greek)	John 7:19 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	John 7:19 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Οὐ Μωϋσῆς \|δέδωκεν\| ὑμῖν τὸν νόμον; καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ ὑμῶν ποιεῖ τὸν νόμον. τί με ζητεῖτε ἀποκτεῖναι	ου μωσης δεδωκεν υμιν τον νομον και ουδεις εξ υμων ποιει τον νομον τι με ζητειτε αποκτειναι	ου μωσης δεδωκεν υμιν τον νομον και ουδεις εξ υμων ποιει τον νομον τι με ζητειτε αποκτειναι

Back to Romans, Part 27

Back to Christ-Centered Preaching, Chapter 3

Back to Christ-Centered Preaching, Chapter 4, Part 1

Back to Luke 8:22-56

¹ Mark 8:16b (NET) Table

² Mark 8:15b (NET)

³ The Stehanus Textus Receptus, Byzantine Majority Text and NA²⁸ had ἑαυτὸν (KJV: himself) here. In other words, Jesus protects Himself (including those who are his).

⁴ 1 John 5:18a (LSV)

⁵ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εν (KJV: one) here. The Net parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

⁶ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had καμοὶ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και εμοι (KJV: and…me).

⁷ John 17:6 (LSV) Table

⁸ John 17:9, 10 (LSV)

⁹ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article ο preceding Jesus. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

¹⁰ In the NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ Naaman was spelled Ναιμὰν, and νεεμαν in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

¹¹ Luke 4:27 (NET)

¹² In the NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ Moses was spelled Μωϋσῆς, and μωσης in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

¹³ John 7:19 (NET)

¹⁴ John 7:15 (NET); see NET note 32

¹⁵ John 8:31a (NET)

¹⁶ John 8:44a (NET) Table

¹⁷ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

¹⁸ Ephesians 4:24b (NET)

¹⁹ John 17:12b (NET) Table

²⁰ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

A Shadow of the Good Things, Part 10

Posted on April 14, 2024 by admin

My mother told the following story about her firstborn son:

His father worked the evening shift. Perhaps it was the only shift the young man could get. Perhaps he did it deliberately to earn more per hour. She was alone with their infant son in the afternoon in an upstairs city apartment in summer heat. She put her firstborn in a stroller and pushed him up the street to a corner dairy for a chocolate milkshake.

As they sat in the shade outside the dairy, she offered her son his first taste of chocolate milkshake. He grabbed it from her and wouldn’t let go. There wasn’t money for another. She wasn’t at all certain her husband would agree that there had been money for the first one. So, the twenty-three-year-old mother did without while her son drank too much, too soon for one so small.

I’ve heard that story many times. The time I recall most now, I was telling it myself as my sister and I reminisced after Mom’s death. Like Scrooge pleading to “sponge away the writing on this stone,”¹ I tried vainly once again to repent of a deed done before I have any memory of doing it. My sister laughed and said, “She told that story because she thought it was funny. She loves you.”

I’ve reacted to that story many different ways at different times throughout my life. I don’t think it’s funny—not now. Though I don’t recall the event, I am all too familiar with that child. He is the sin that lives in me.² He is the evil…present with me when I want to do good.³ He is the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires.⁴ He is unrestrained will: “I want.”

Though I say “unrestrained,” he was constrained somewhat by his stroller and the shortened reach of his chubby little arms. Do you still think he is funny? If I shout it in German, “Ich will!” perhaps you can hear the very worst of Adolf Hitler incipient in that child’s lust, a child who wouldn’t even share a chocolate milkshake with his own mother. Grant him power and he will covet and steal; he will rape and murder; he will try to conquer the world, shrieking a damnable lie: I AM AND THERE IS NO OTHER! No one I know has caused more harm to me or the people I love. And there is no one I would rather see condemned to the lake of fire for all eternity.

In another essay I began to consider the substance or body which cast the shadow of the scape-goat (English Elpenor) or the [goat] to be sent off (NETS) in Leviticus 16:8 (KJV, Septuagint) [Table]. And in another essay I wrote:

Truthfully, my religious mind wants I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin (Romans 7:14b NET) to apply to the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires.³ My old man may well be the proximate cause of my unspirituality and slavery to sin, but Paul described an I, as I am seen here and now, that is comprised of both an old man and a new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth:⁴For I want to do the good, he wrote, but I cannot do it.⁵

My sister was right: my mother loved me even before I was “comprised of both an old man and a new man who has been created in God’s image.” She didn’t grab me by the ankles and bash my brains out on the hot pavement that day. The words the only true God spoke through Isaiah the prophet to Cyrus, another old man more powerful than mine, follow:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Isaiah 45:4-8 (Tanakh/KJV)	Isaiah 45:4-8 (NET)	Isaiah 45:4-8 (NETS)	Isaiah 45:4-8 (English Elpenor)
For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect (בְּחִירִ֑י), I have even called thee [e.g., Cyrus] by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.	For the sake of my servant Jacob, Israel, my chosen one (bāḥîr, בחירי), I call you by name and give you a title of respect, even though you do not submit to me.	For the sake of my servant Iakob and Israel my chosen (τοῦ ἐκλεκτοῦ μου), I will call you by name and receive you, but you did not know me,	For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel mine elect (τοῦ ἐκλεκτοῦ μου), I will call thee by thy name, and accept thee: but thou hast not known me.
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:	I am the Lord, I have no peer, there is no God but me. I arm you for battle, even though you do not recognize me.	because I am the Lord God, and there is no other god besides me, and you did not know me,	For I am the Lord God, and there is no other God beside me; I strengthened thee, and thou hast not known me.
That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.	I do this so people will recognize from east to west that there is no God but me; I am the Lord, I have no peer.	so that they who are from the rising of the sun and from its going down may know that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord God, and there is no other.	That they that [come] from the east and they that [come] from the west may know that there is no God but me. I am the Lord God, and there is none beside.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.	I am the one who forms light and creates darkness; the one who brings about peace and creates calamity. I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.	I am the one who has prepared light and made darkness, who makes peace and creates evils; I am the Lord who does all these things.	I am he that prepared light, and formed darkness; who make peace, and create evil; I am the Lord God, that does all these things.
Drop down, ye heavens, from above (מִמַּ֔עַל), and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.	O sky, rain down from above (maʿal, ממעל)! Let the clouds send down showers of deliverance! Let the earth absorb it so salvation may grow and deliverance may sprout up along with it. I, the Lord, create it.’”	Let heaven rejoice from above (ἄνωθεν), and let the clouds shower down righteousness; let the earth bring forth mercy, and let it bring forth righteousness as well; I am the Lord who created you.	Let the heaven rejoice from above (ἄνωθεν), and let the clouds rain righteousness: let the earth bring forth, and blossom [with] mercy, and bring forth righteousness likewise: I am the Lord that created thee.

Though I was born evil incarnate,⁵ not yet born from above (γεννηθῆναι ἄνωθεν),⁶ that evil dwelt by the grace of God in a cute and cuddly package. Most women by the grace of God find that cute and cuddly infant package adorable and appealing. I was born by the grace of God through an intensely intimate process that made my birth and my existence uniquely special to my mother. And so, I lived, not by any virtue of my own, but by the grace of a loving God who gave me a mother who loved me and hoped for me and named me Daniel, that I would grow to stand alone, if necessary, with God.

I’m torn here because I want to get back to studying the Bible but I know my mother would argue with my assessment of myself. It seems obligatory to address how I fooled my mother a large portion, if not most, of the time. I think it boils down to the same thing that surprises me now about the direct honesty of that evil infant. I can only rationalize it as naive ignorance. My earliest memory of my own motivation was that I wanted my mother, my father, anyone, everyone really, to think well of me, to speak well of me. I would attempt to do almost anything to hear their praise.

Trying to please all the people all of the time to win their praise was exhausting and led directly to what some call defiance. My little brother began life with that strategy. It seemed stupid and annoying to me, a waste of time when one is weak and unarmed. If you can’t please all the people all of the time and you can’t kill all the people all of the time, one must compromise: compliance rather than defiance is that compromise.

I tried to the best of my ability to comply as much as I was able with the demands of those I couldn’t kill or intimidate. Compliance can seem like obedience, even righteousness, to those who look on external appearance only. Compliance, to optimize my experience of winning the praise of others, fooled me, too. I wasn’t subtle enough to imagine any righteousness beyond compliance.

Jesus saying, Woe to you⁷ when all people speak well of you, for their ancestors did the same things⁸ to the false prophets,⁹ was just word salad to me. But in the right circumstances at the right time and place I could nod and “yea, verily” with the best of them, without ever hearing Jesus’ aspersion on the meaning of my life. Eventually, I was so accustomed to my strategy of maximizing praise and minimizing being screamed at by the minimal level of compliance required, even when I tried to learn from the Bible I only heard what I expected to hear.

John wrote (1 John 5:16 NET):

If anyone sees his fellow Christian (τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ) committing a sin not resulting in death, he should ask, and God will grant life to the person who commits a sin not resulting in death. There is a sin resulting in death. I do not say that he should ask about that.

The fellow Christian John described here was also an I, as I am seen here and now, an I comprised of both an old man and a new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.¹⁰ This I is not the same as everyone fathered by God (1 John 5:18 NET [Table]):

We know that everyone fathered by God does not sin, but God protects the one he has fathered, and the evil one (ὁ πονηρὸς) cannot touch him.

This I is the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.¹¹ The evil one cannot touch (οὐχ ἅπτεται) him. In other words, the old man and the new man are distinct, though both dwell together within John’s fellow Christian. The Greek word ἅπτεται (NET: touch) is a passive form of ἅπτω in the middle voice: “to fasten to, touch, grab, attach, cling; to reach, get as far as.” To my mind cannot implies οὐ δύναται in Greek: an inability, a lack of power. But this is οὐχ ἅπτεται, “does not touch.” The old man, the devil, evil does not touch the new man, period, end of statement.

Making God the subject of the clause—but God protects the one he has fathered—while not wrong exactly, is not what the Greek actually says. The subject of this clause is ὁ γεννηθεὶς (NET: the one he has fathered): “the one he has fathered protects him.” The NET translators didn’t distinguish¹² between the everyone fathered by God (πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ) who does not sin (οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει) from the fellow Christian¹³ (τὸν ἀδελφὸν; literally, “the brother”) who does.

I assume that ὁ γεννηθεὶς (NET: the one he has fathered) refers to Jesus and his work on the cross in union with the new man who has been created in God’s image,¹⁴ while αὐτόν ¹⁵ (him) refers back to the singular πᾶς (NET: everyone) of everyone fathered by God.¹⁶

John made a similar distinction between his Dear friends (ἀγαπητοί, a form of ἀγαπητός) and the new man earlier in this same letter:

1 John 3:2 (NET)	1 John 3:6 (NET)
Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We¹⁷ know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him because we will see him just as he is.	Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him.
1 John 3:2 (NET Parallel Greek)	1 John 3:6 (NET Parallel Greek)
ἀγαπητοί, νῦν τέκνα θεοῦ ἐσμεν, καὶ οὔπω ἐφανερώθη τί ἐσόμεθα. οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἐὰν φανερωθῇ, ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα, ὅτι ὀψόμεθα αὐτὸν καθώς ἐστιν	πᾶς ὁ ἐν αὐτῷ μένων οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει· πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτάνων οὐχ ἑώρακεν αὐτὸν οὐδὲ ἔγνωκεν αὐτόν

The NET translators chose whenever it is revealed for ἐὰν φανερωθῇ, where the KJV translators chose when he shall appear. Either way, we will be (ἐσόμεθα, a form of εἰμί) like him (i.e., like God, NET or like Jesus, KJV) at some future time because we will see (ὀψόμεθα, a form of ὁράω) him just as he is.¹⁸ This likeness to God or Jesus should, at a minimum, entail not sinning. And John confirmed that everyone who sins has neither seen (ἑώρακεν, another from of ὁράω) him nor known (ἔγνωκεν, a form of γινώσκω) him.¹⁹

Paul echoed and clarified this concept for John’s Dear friends (1 Corinthians 13:12 NET):

For now we see (βλέπομεν, a form of βλέπω) in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know (γινώσκω) in part, but then I will know fully (ἐπιγνώσομαι, a form of ἐπιγινώσκω), just as I have been fully known (ἐπεγνώσθην, another form of ἐπιγινώσκω).

This leads to the conclusion that John’s more absolute—has neither seen him nor known him—denoted everyone who sins (πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτάνων) as the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires.²⁰ Conversely, Everyone who resides in him does not sin, refers to the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.²¹

So, returning to the evil one (ὁ πονηρὸς) cannot touch (οὐχ ἅπτεται) him (αὐτοῦ):²² the NET translators apparently understood αὐτοῦ as a personal pronoun in the genitive case. I am more inclined to understand αὐτοῦ as an adverb: “the evil one does not touch here,” or “there.” In other words, John described the new man as a holy place where God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit meets with the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth as One.

I have lived as the old man, bereft of the new man. I am living as the new man, frustrated at times by that old man. I hope to live as the new man, separated entirely from the old man. When I began to consider the final judgment as a potential deadline for Jesus to have drawn all to Himself, I thought it was mostly for my convenience.

I have no authority or standing to tell Jesus that He can draw no one to Himself afterward, but final judgment is like an event horizon I have difficulty seeing beyond. While I am aware of no Christian theology which addresses Jesus’ drawing of all to Himself, or the impact of that drawing on the judgment of this world and the ruler of this world being driven out, I can’t now go back and pretend that I don’t hear Him saying (John 12:31, 32 NET):

Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when (ἐὰν) I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all²³…to myself.

Considering the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires,²⁴ the sin that lives in me,²⁵ as that which cast the shadow of the scape-goat (English Elpenor) or the [goat] to be sent off (NETS) in Leviticus 16:8 (KJV, Septuagint) [Table] adds an interesting line of evidence to that convenience of my choice. Rashi’s commentary to Leviticus 16:8 reads:

And Aaron shall place lots upon the two he-goats: He would place one [he-goat] on his right and one on his left. Then, he would insert both his hands into an urn [which contained two lots, one bearing the inscription “to the Lord” and the other “to Azazel.” These lots were mixed up, and Aaron, with both hands inside the urn] took one lot in his right hand and the other in his left hand, and he would place them upon them [the he-goats]: [The one] upon which [he placed the lot] with the inscription “to the Lord,” would be for God, while the one upon which [he placed the lot] with the inscription “to Azazel,” would be sent off to Azazel. — [Yoma 39a]

Azazel: This is a strong and hard mountain, [with] a high cliff, as the Scripture says [in describing Azazel] (verse 22 below),“a precipitous land (אֶרֶץ גְּזֵרָה),” meaning a cut-off land [i.e., a sheer drop]. — [Torath Kohanim 16:28; Yoma 67b]

Assuming that Rashi was reaching back into an actual institutional memory of this ceremony, Jesus seems to have alluded to it in his description of final judgment (Matthew 25:31-33 NET):

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people (αὐτοὺς) one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from (ἀπὸ) the goats [Table]. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

I’ll pick this up in another essay.

Tables comparing Isaiah 45:4; 45:5; 45:6; 45:7 and 45:8 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Isaiah 45:4; 45:5; 45:6; 45:7 and 45:8 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Luke 6:26 and 1 John 3:2 in the NET and KJV follow.

Isaiah 45:4 (Tanakh)	Isaiah 45:4 (KJV)	Isaiah 45:4 (NET)
For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.	For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.	For the sake of my servant Jacob, Israel, my chosen one, I call you by name and give you a title of respect, even though you do not submit to me.

Isaiah 45:4 (Septuagint BLB)	Isaiah 45:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἕνεκεν Ιακωβ τοῦ παιδός μου καὶ Ισραηλ τοῦ ἐκλεκτοῦ μου ἐγὼ καλέσω σε τῷ ὀνόματί σου καὶ προσδέξομαί σε σὺ δὲ οὐκ ἔγνως με	ἕνεκεν τοῦ παιδός μου ᾿Ιακὼβ καὶ ᾿Ισραὴλ τοῦ ἐκλεκτοῦ μου, ἐγὼ καλέσω σε τῷ ὀνόματί σου καὶ προσδέξομαί σε, σὺ δὲ οὐκ ἔγνως με
Isaiah 45:4 (NETS)	Isaiah 45:4 (English Elpenor)
For the sake of my servant Iakob and Israel my chosen, I will call you by name and receive you, but you did not know me,	For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel mine elect, I will call thee by thy name, and accept thee: but thou hast not known me.

Isaiah 45:5 (Tanakh)	Isaiah 45:5 (KJV)	Isaiah 45:5 (NET)
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:	I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:	I am the Lord, I have no peer, there is no God but me. I arm you for battle, even though you do not recognize me.

Isaiah 45:5 (Septuagint BLB)	Isaiah 45:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεός καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν ἐμοῦ θεός καὶ οὐκ ᾔδεις με	ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ Θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι πλὴν ἐμοῦ Θεός, ἐνίσχυσά σε καὶ οὐκ ᾔδεις με
Isaiah 45:5 (NETS)	Isaiah 45:5 (English Elpenor)
because I am the Lord God, and there is no other god besides me, and you did not know me,	For I am the Lord God, and there is no other God beside me; I strengthened thee, and thou hast not known me.

Isaiah 45:6 (Tanakh)	Isaiah 45:6 (KJV)	Isaiah 45:6 (NET)
That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.	That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.	I do this so people will recognize from east to west that there is no God but me; I am the Lord, I have no peer.

Isaiah 45:6 (Septuagint BLB)	Isaiah 45:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἵνα γνῶσιν οἱ ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ δυσμῶν ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν πλὴν ἐμοῦ ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεός καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι	ἵνα γνῶσι οἱ ἀπ᾿ ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ δυσμῶν, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι Θεὸς πλὴν ἐμοῦ· ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ Θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι
Isaiah 45:6 (NETS)	Isaiah 45:6 (English Elpenor)
so that they who are from the rising of the sun and from its going down may know that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord God, and there is no other.	That they that [come] from the east and they that [come] from the west may know that there is no God but me. I am the Lord God, and there is none beside.

Isaiah 45:7 (Tanakh)	Isaiah 45:7 (KJV)	Isaiah 45:7 (NET)
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.	I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.	I am the one who forms light and creates darkness; the one who brings about peace and creates calamity. I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.

Isaiah 45:7 (Septuagint BLB)	Isaiah 45:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐγὼ ὁ κατασκευάσας φῶς καὶ ποιήσας σκότος ὁ ποιῶν εἰρήνην καὶ κτίζων κακά ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιῶν ταῦτα πάντα	ἐγὼ ὁ κατασκευάσας φῶς καὶ ποιήσας σκότος, ὁ ποιῶν εἰρήνην καὶ κτίζων κακά· ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ποιῶν πάντα ταῦτα
Isaiah 45:7 (NETS)	Isaiah 45:7 (English Elpenor)
I am the one who has prepared light and made darkness, who makes peace and creates evils; I am the Lord who does all these things.	I am he that prepared light, and formed darkness; who make peace, and create evil; I am the Lord God, that does all these things.

Isaiah 45:8 (Tanakh)	Isaiah 45:8 (KJV)	Isaiah 45:8 (NET)
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.	Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.	O sky, rain down from above! Let the clouds send down showers of deliverance! Let the earth absorb it so salvation may grow and deliverance may sprout up along with it. I, the Lord, create it.’”

Isaiah 45:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Isaiah 45:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εὐφρανθήτω ὁ οὐρανὸς ἄνωθεν καὶ αἱ νεφέλαι ῥανάτωσαν δικαιοσύνην ἀνατειλάτω ἡ γῆ ἔλεος καὶ δικαιοσύνην ἀνατειλάτω ἅμα ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος ὁ κτίσας σε	εὐφρανθήτω ὁ οὐρανὸς ἄνωθεν, καὶ αἱ νεφέλαι ῥανάτωσαν δικαιοσύνην· ἀνατειλάτω ἡ γῆ καὶ βλαστησάτω ἔλεος, καὶ δικαιοσύνην ἀνατειλάτω ἅμα· ἐγώ εἰμι Κύριος ὁ κτίσας σε
Isaiah 45:8 (NETS)	Isaiah 45:8 (English Elpenor)
Let heaven rejoice from above, and let the clouds shower down righteousness; let the earth bring forth mercy, and let it bring forth righteousness as well; I am the Lord who created you.	Let the heaven rejoice from above, and let the clouds rain righteousness: let the earth bring forth, and blossom [with] mercy, and bring forth righteousness likewise: I am the Lord that created thee.

Luke 6:26 (NET)	Luke 6:26 (KJV)
Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for their ancestors did the same things to the false prophets.	Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

Luke 6:26 (NET Parallel Greek)	Luke 6:26 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Luke 6:26 (Byzantine Majority Text)
οὐαὶ ὅταν ὑμᾶς \|καλῶς\| εἴπωσιν πάντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι· κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ γὰρ ἐποίουν τοῖς ψευδοπροφήταις οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν	ουαι υμιν οταν καλως υμας ειπωσιν παντες οι ανθρωποι κατα ταυτα γαρ εποιουν τοις ψευδοπροφηταις οι πατερες αυτων	ουαι οταν καλως υμας ειπωσιν οι ανθρωποι κατα ταυτα γαρ εποιουν τοις ψευδοπροφηταις οι πατερες αυτων

1 John 3:2 (NET)	1 John 3:2 (KJV)
Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him because we will see him just as he is.	Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

1 John 3:2 (NET Parallel Greek)	1 John 3:2 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	1 John 3:2 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ἀγαπητοί, νῦν τέκνα θεοῦ ἐσμεν, καὶ οὔπω ἐφανερώθη τί ἐσόμεθα. οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἐὰν φανερωθῇ, ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα, ὅτι ὀψόμεθα αὐτὸν καθώς ἐστιν	αγαπητοι νυν τεκνα θεου εσμεν και ουπω εφανερωθη τι εσομεθα οιδαμεν δε οτι εαν φανερωθη ομοιοι αυτω εσομεθα οτι οψομεθα αυτον καθως εστιν	αγαπητοι νυν τεκνα θεου εσμεν και ουπω εφανερωθη τι εσομεθα οιδαμεν δε οτι εαν φανερωθη ομοιοι αυτω εσομεθα οτι οψομεθα αυτον καθως εστιν

Back to Romans, Part 26

Back to The Day of the Lord, Part 8

Back to The Children of Promise, Part 2

¹ From “A Christmas Carol (Part 4)” by Charles Dickens. Movie: A Christmas Carol

² Romans 7:17b (NET) Table; Romans 7:20b (NET) Table

³ Romans 7:21 (NET)

⁴ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

⁵ Psalm 51:5 [Table]

⁶ John 3:7 (NET)

⁷ The Stephanus Textus Receptus had υμιν (KJV: unto you) here. The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text did not (NET note 87).

⁸ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had τὰ αὐτὰ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ταυτα (KJV: so).

⁹ Luke 6:26 (NET)

¹⁰ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

¹¹ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

¹² NET note 49

¹³ 1 John 5:16a (NET)

¹⁴ Ephesians 4:24a (NET)

¹⁵ The NA²⁸, Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τηρει εαυτον (KJV: keepeth himself) here. If one does not distinguish (NET note 49) between the new man and the sinning Christian, this becomes unintelligible: “the sinning Christian keepeth himself from sinning.”

¹⁶ 1 John 5:18a (NET) Table

¹⁷ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had δε (KJV: but) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

¹⁸ 1 John 3:2b (NET)

¹⁹ 1 John 3:6b (NET)

²⁰ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

²¹ Ephesians 4:24b (NET)

²² 1 John 5:18b (NET)

²³ I dropped the word people here, because that limitation is not in the Greek text: πάντας ἑλκύσω πρὸς ἐμαυτόν.

²⁴ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

²⁵ Romans 7:20b (NET) Table

The Day of the Lord, Part 7

Posted on December 28, 2023 by admin

This is a continuation of my consideration whether my assumption that Jesus called Judas Iscariot ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας (NET: the one destined for destruction) is like Jesus’ disciples’ discussion about having no bread¹ after He said: “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!”² In another essay I began to look at John’s description of antichrist and many antichrists because Meyer’s NT Commentary stated that many of the Church Fathers had understood Paul’s description of the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, as the Antichrist.

I highlighted two things he wrote about their insights:³

They correctly agree in considering that by the advent (2 Thessalonians 2:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:8), or the day of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:2), is to be understood the personal advent of Christ for the last judgment and for the completion of the Messianic kingdom. Also it is correctly regarded as proved, that the Antichrist here described is to be considered as an individual person, in whom sin will embody itself.

Meyer’s NT Commentary continued to elaborate on the “view of the Fathers” regarding “the Antichrist…considered as an individual person” with the following caveat:

Meyer’s NT Commentary	Google Translate
Yet Augustin already remarks, that “nonnulli non ipsum principem, sed universum quodam modo corpus ejus i. e. ad eum pertinentem hominum multitudinem simul cum ipso suo principe hoc loco intelligi Antichristum volunt.”	Yet Augustin already remarks, that “some, not the prince himself, but the whole world, in a certain way, his body i. e. The multitude of men belonging to him, together with their own leader, want to be understood in this place as Antichrist.”

Mr. Meyer cataloged many evolving views: “[T]he view, first in the eleventh century, that the establishment and growing power of the Papacy is to be considered as the Antichrist predicted by Paul,”⁴ is a familiar one. “Yet even before the reference of Antichrist to Popery was maintained, Mohammed[55] was already regarded by the divines of the Greek church…as the Antichrist predicted by Paul.”⁵

The power which restrained Antichrist evolved as well.

The restraining power by which the appearance of Antichrist is delayed, is usually considered [by the Church Fathers] to be the continuance of the Roman Empire (τὸ κατέχον) and its representative the Roman emperor (ὁ κατέχων). Some, however, as Theodorus Mopsuestius and Theodoret, understand by it τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν ὅρον, i.e. more exactly, the counsel of God to keep back the appearance of Antichrist until the gospel is proclaimed throughout the earth…Chrysostom chooses a third interpretation, that by the restraining power is meant the continuance of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit…

In recent times it has often been considered as objectionable to determine exactly the individual traits of the imagery used by Paul. Accordingly the representation of the apostle has been interpreted in a general, ideal, or symbolical sense. To this class of interpreters belongs Koppe, according to whom Paul, founding on an old national Jewish oracle, supported especially by Daniel, would describe the ungodliness preceding the last day, which already worked, but whose full outbreak was only to take place after the death of the apostle; so that Paul himself was the κατέχων.[57]⁶

Meyer’s NT Commentary continued:

Meyer’s NT Commentary	Google Translate
Similarly Storr (l.c.), who understands by the ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας [man of sin] “potestas aliqua, deo omnique religioni adversaria, quae penitus incognita et futuro demum tempore se proditura sit,” and by the preventing power the “copia hominum verissimo amore inflammatorum in christianam religionem.”	Similarly Storr (l.c.), who understands by the ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας [man of sin] “some power, hostile to God and to all religion, which is completely unknown and will betray itself in the future at the last time,” and by the preventing power the “a multitude of men inflamed with true love into the Christian religion.”

Other opinions were cited: “Nitzsch (l.c.) thinks on the power of atheism first come to have public authority, or the contempt of all religion generally.”⁷ “Pelt…sums up his views in the following words”:⁸

Meyer’s NT Commentary	Google Translate
Mihi … adversarius illi principium esse videtur sive vis spiritualis evangelio contraria, quae huc usque tamen in Pontificiorum Romanorum operibus ac serie luculentissime sese prodidit, ita tamen, ut omnia etiam mala, quae in ecclesia compareant, ad eandem Antichristi ἐνέργειαν sint referenda.	To me… it seems that the opposite principle is a spiritual force contrary to the gospel, which until now has revealed itself most clearly in the works and series of the Roman Pontiffs, so that even all the evils that appear in the church are to be referred to the same Antichrist ἐνέργειαν.
Ejus vero ΠΑΡΟΥΣΊΑ i. e. summum fastigium, quod Christi reditum qui nihil aliud est, nisi regni divini victoria,[59] antecedet, futurum adhuc esse videtur, quum illud tempus procul etiamnum abesse putemus, ubi omnes terrae incolae in eo erunt, ut ad Christi sacra transeant. Κατέχον vero cum Theodoreto putarim esse dei voluntatem illud Satanae regnum cohibentem, ne erumpat, et, si mediae spectantur causae, apostolorum tempore maxime imperii Romani vis, et quovis aevo illa resistentia, quam malis artibus, quae religionem subvertere student, privati commodi et honoris augendorum cupiditas opponere solet.	But his ΠΑΡΟΥΣΊΑ i. e. the highest climax, which precedes the return of Christ, which is nothing else but the victory of the divine kingdom, [59] seems to be yet to come, since we think that time is still far off, when all the inhabitants of the earth will be there, to pass to the sacraments of Christ. Κατέχον, with Theodoretus, I think that it is the will of God restraining that kingdom of Satan, lest it break out, and, if we look at the middle causes, in the time of the apostles the power of the Roman government was especially strong, and in every age that resistance, which is usually opposed to the evil arts which seek to subvert religion, the desire to increase private advantage and honor.

According to [Pelt], the chief stress lies on ΤῸ ΜΥΣΤΉΡΙΟΝ ἬΔΗ ἘΝΕΡΓΕῖΤΑΙ Τῆς ἈΝΟΜΊΑς [literally: the mystery already working of lawlessness]. Antichrist is a union of the individuality and spiritual tendency in masses of individuals. The revolt of the Jews from the Romans, and the fearful divine punishment in the destruction of Jerusalem, Nero, Mohammed and his spiritual devastating power, the development of the Papacy in the Middle Ages, the French Revolution of 1789, with the abrogation of Christianity, and the setting up of prostitutes on altars for worship, in the external world, as well as the constantly spreading denial of the fundamentals of all religious truth and morality, of the doctrines of God, freedom, and immortality, and likewise the self-deification of the ego in the internal world,—all these phenomena are the real precursors of Antichrist; but they contain only some of his characteristics, not all; it is the union of all these characteristics which shall make the full Antichrist.⁹

Ultimately, though I found some of them illuminating, Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer rejected the views developed in recent times:

It is evident that all these explanations are arbitrary. The Pauline description is so definitely and sharply marked, and has for its whole compass so much the idea of nearness for its supposition, that it can by no means be taken generally, and in this manner explained away.

While I’m grateful to Mr. Meyer for painstakingly collecting all of these opinions in one place, I don’t intend to play guess the identity of Antichrist as an individual person. That game scatters in my opinion, rather than gathering with the Lord Jesus: and whoever does not gather (συνάγων, a form of συνέχω) with me scatters (σκορπίζει, a form of σκορπίζω),¹⁰ Jesus said. So, I want to approach it differently.

Matthew Poole’s summation from his Commentary of the difficulty of knowing “what whithholdeth” the revelation of the man of lawlessness was very accessible:

And now ye know what withholdeth: the apostle it seems had told them, as of his coming, so of what at present withheld the revealing of him. And what this was is difficult to know now, though it seems these Thessalonians knew it: there are many conjectures about it. This I shall say in general:
1. It was something that the apostle thought not safe openly to declare in writing; else he would not have written of it so obscurely.
2. It was both a thing, and a person; a thing, to katecon, in this verse, that which withholdeth; and a person, as in the next verse, o katecwn, he who letteth.
3. It was also such a thing and such a person as were to be removed out of the way, not totally, but as they were hinderances [sic] of this revelation.

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible echoed Mr. Poole’s first point:

It is not known precisely what is referred to by the phrase “what withholdeth,” τὸ κατέχον to katechon. The phrase means properly, something that “holds back,” or “restrains”….Of this, the apostle says, they had had full information; but we can only conjecture what it was.

This seems to be a natural consequence of the assumption that Antichrist is an unknown individual from the future. Rather than assuming that Paul, the Holy Spirit and the New Testament are keeping something from us, I prefer to experiment with the idea that ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας or αμαρτιας (NET: the man of lawlessness; KJV: that man of sin [Table])¹¹ and ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας (NET: the son of destruction; KJV: the son of perdition)¹² are other words for ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία (NET: sin that lives in me; KJV: sin that dwelleth in me),¹³ τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν φθειρόμενον κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης (NET: the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires; KJV: the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts),¹⁴ ἐμοὶ τὸ κακὸν παράκειται (NET/KJV: evil…present with me)¹⁵ and ἡ…σὰρξ (NET/KJV: the flesh).¹⁶ I’ll work backwards through this.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh (σὰρξ) is weak,¹⁷ Jesus said of disciples who both believed and followed Him. The Greek word translated willing was πρόθυμον (a form of πρόθυμος): “ready, willing, eager, predisposed.” The Greek word translated weak was ἀσθενής: “weak, powerless; weak and easily defeated; sick, ill, unhealthy; disabled, physically weak, feeble, miserable; morally weak; weak in influence, without influence; structurally weak (e.g., weak stones unable to support).” What is born of the flesh (σαρκὸς, a form of σὰρξ) is flesh (σάρξ),¹⁸ He told Nicodemus; in other words, it is weak (ἀσθενής). And again, Jesus said to his disciples, The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature (σὰρξ) is of no help!¹⁹

Flesh (σὰρξ) and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,²⁰ Paul wrote the Corinthians. He elaborated on this point in his letter to the Romans (Romans 8:1-8 NET):

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death [Table]. For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened (ἠσθένει, a form of ἀσθενέω) through the flesh (σαρκός, a form of σὰρξ). By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (σαρκὸς, a form of σὰρξ) and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh (σαρκί, another form of σὰρξ), so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh (σάρκα, another form of σὰρξ) but according to the Spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh (σάρκα) have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh (σαρκὸς), but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. For the outlook of the flesh (σαρκὸς) is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, because the outlook of the flesh (σαρκὸς) is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. Those who are in the flesh (σαρκὶ) cannot please God.

Prior to this, Paul had written, with my flesh (σαρκὶ, another form of σὰρξ) I serve the law of sin.²¹ [W]hen I want to do good, evil is present with me,²² he lamented as he characterized that evil as 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.²³ For the flesh (σὰρξ) has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh (σαρκός, another form of σὰρξ),²⁴ he wrote to the Galatians. To the Ephesians he characterized this flesh as the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires.²⁵ He also called this old man simply, sin that lives in me.²⁶ And to the Thessalonians he described all of this as the man of lawlessness…the son of destruction.²⁷

I’ll continue with this in another essay.

The Day of the Lord, Part 8

¹ Mark 8:16b (NET) Table

² Mark 8:15b (NET)

³ From Meyer’s NT Commentary 2 Thessalonians 2:12, Bible Commentaries on Bible Hub online.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰ Matthew 12:30b (NET)

¹¹ 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Table

¹² Ibid.

¹³ Romans 7:19 Table

¹⁴ Ephesians 4:22

¹⁵ Romans 7:21

¹⁶ Galatians 5:17 Table

¹⁷ Matthew 26:41b (NET)

¹⁸ John 3:6a (NET)

¹⁹ John 6:63a (NET) Table

²⁰ 1 Corinthians 15:50b (NET) Table

²¹ Romans 7:25b (NET) Table

²² Romans 7:21b (NET)

²³ Romans 7:23b (NET) Table

²⁴ Galatians 5:17a (NET) Table

²⁵ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

²⁶ Romans 7:17b (NET) Table, and 7:20b (NET) Table

²⁷ 2 Thessalonians 2:3b (NET) Table

A Shadow of the Good Things, Part 9

Posted on December 22, 2023 by admin

In another essay I began to consider the substance or body which cast the shadow of the scape-goat (English Elpenor) or the [goat] to be sent off (NETS) in Leviticus 16:8 (Septuagint [Table]). It led me to Paul’s continuing discussion of the death of those who were baptized into Christ Jesus (Romans 7:14-20 NET):

For we know that the law is spiritual—but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin [Table]. For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want—instead, I do what I hate. But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me [Table]. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me [Table].

Immediately, I was confronted with my own unbelief. My religious mind rebels against the idea that I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.¹ Why adhere to a religion that renders me unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin? The easiest way to overcome the evangelical penchant of my religious mind to fabricate a religion palatable to unbelievers is to stop thinking about religion and start thinking about truth: Set them apart in the truth, Jesus prayed to his Father; your word is truth.²

Truthfully, my religious mind wants I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin to apply to the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires.³ My old man may well be the proximate cause of my unspirituality and slavery to sin, but Paul described an I, as I am seen here and now, that is comprised of both an old man and a new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth:⁴ For I want to do the good, he wrote, but I cannot do it.⁵

Though this saying is too defeatist for my religious mind, its truth is readily apparent when contrasted to the lie told at the inauguration of the law.

Romans 7:18b (NET)	Exodus 19:8b (NET)
For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.	All that the Lord has commanded we will do!

Besides, I do not do the good: For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!⁶

Literally: “For I by law to law died” (ἐγὼ γὰρ διὰ νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανον). I suppose I’ve wanted this I to be the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires⁷ only, but Paul wrote (Romans 12:1 NET):

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies (τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν) as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service.

I wonder if persons might be a better translation of σώματα here, but the bodies or persons to whom Paul wrote were comprised of both an old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires⁸ and a new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.⁹

Paul continued: so that I may live to God.¹⁰ Literally: “so that (ἵνα) to God (θεῷ) I may live (ζήσω).” The may was added because the verb ζήσω is in the subjunctive mood. Logically, it can be dropped, however, because this is a purpose and a result clause: “to God I live” because “I by law to law died.” Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live before him,¹¹ Jesus told some Sadducees (who contend that there is no resurrection).¹²

I have been crucified with Christ (Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι):¹³ “in Christ, to Christ, by Christ I have been and am crucified with [Him].” The Greek verb συνεσταύρωμαι is in the perfect tense:

The basic thought of the perfect tense is that the progress of an action has been completed and the results of the action are continuing on, in full effect. In other words, the progress of the action has reached its culmination and the finished results are now in existence. Unlike the English perfect, which indicates a completed past action, the Greek perfect tense indicates the continuation and present state of a completed past action.

For example, Galatians 2:20 should be translated “I am in a present state of having been crucified with Christ,” indicating that not only was I crucified with Christ in the past, but I am existing now in that present condition.

Paul continued: and it is no longer I who live.¹⁴ Literally, “and I live (ζῶ δὲ) no longer I (οὐκέτι ἐγώ),” but Christ lives in me.¹⁵ Literally, “but lives (ζῇ δὲ) in me (ἐν ἐμοὶ) Christ (Χριστός).” So the life I now live in the body:¹⁶ “so which (ὃ δὲ) now I live (νῦν ζῶ) in flesh (ἐν σαρκί),” I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God:¹⁷ “in the faithfulness I live (ἐν πίστει ζῶ τῇ) of the Son of God (τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ),”¹⁸ who loved me (τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος με) and gave himself (καὶ παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν) for me (ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ).¹⁹

So, the I who actually accomplishes the good I want to do,²⁰ or “is present in/with me,” (but cannot do) is Christ [who] lives in me.²¹ This is in keeping with Paul’s explanation in his letter to the Galatians of an I comprised of an old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires²² and a new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth²³ (Galatians 5:16, 17 NET):

But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want (θέλητε, a form of θέλω) [Table].

But I say (Λέγω δέ), live by the Spirit, “by [the] Spirit (πνεύματι) walk or you walk (περιπατεῖτε),” and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh,²⁴ “and (καὶ) desire of flesh (ἐπιθυμίαν σαρκὸς) you never carry out (οὐ μὴ τελέσητε).” I wrote about the strength of οὐ μὴ τελέσητε elsewhere. Jesus is the One who proved this statement true.

So, to walk or live by the Spirit, buoyed up and carried along by the fruit of the Spirit—Jesus’ own love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his gentleness and his self-control—is the only way I will do the good I want but cannot do. So you too, Jesus said, when you have done (ποιήσητε, a form of ποιέω) everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done (ποιῆσαι, another form of ποιέω) what was our duty.’²⁵ Though I’ve complained—“You mean, I can’t even put in my thumb, pull out a plum and say, ‘Oh, what a good boy am I’?”²⁶—I do recognize how little credit I deserve for what is effectively the Lord’s work in and through me.

This explains to my satisfaction why Paul and the Holy Spirit considered an I comprised of an old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires²⁷ and a new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth,²⁸ who want[s] to do the good, but…cannot do it,²⁹ unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.³⁰ This new desire (Romans 3:10-18), this new will, to do the will of God revealed in the law, prompted the following conclusion (Romans 7:16, 17 NET):

But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me [Table].

Literally, “But if (εἰ δὲ) what not I want (ὃ οὐ θέλω) this I do (τοῦτο ποιῶ),” according to a note (23) in the NET, “I agree with the law (σύμφημι τῷ νόμῳ) that it is good (ὅτι καλός)” or beautiful. But now (νυνὶ δὲ) it is no longer me (οὐκέτι ἐγὼ) doing it (κατεργάζομαι αὐτὸ), “but (ἀλλὰ) this lives (ἡ |οἰκοῦσα|) in me (ἐν ἐμοὶ), sin (ἁμαρτία)” or “but this sin lives in me.”

Here is the substance or body which cast the shadow of the scape-goat (English Elpenor) or the [goat] to be sent off (NETS). It was repeated for good measure (Romans 7:20 NET [Table]).

Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.

Literally, “If now (εἰ δὲ) what not I want (ὃ οὐ θέλω) I ([ἐγὼ]) this do (τοῦτο ποιῶ), it is no longer me (οὐκέτι ἐγὼ) doing it (κατεργάζομαι αὐτὸ), but (ἀλλὰ) this lives (ἡ οἰκοῦσα) in me (ἐν ἐμοὶ), sin (ἁμαρτία)” or “but this sin lives in me.”

Paul continued (Romans 7:21-25 NET):

So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. 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? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin [Table].

Paul seemed simultaneously frustrated and calmly resigned to reside in this body of death (τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου) for a season, trusting the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.³¹ The Lord described the scape-goat ceremony as follows:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Leviticus 16:21, 22 (Tanakh)	Leviticus 16:21, 22 (NET)	Leviticus 16:21, 22 (NETS)	Leviticus 16:21, 22 (English Elpenor)
And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of an appointed man into the wilderness.	Aaron is to lay his two hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins, and thus he is to put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the desert by the hand of a man standing ready.	And Aaron shall lay his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the lawless acts of the sons of Israel and all their offenses and all their sins and shall put them on the head of the live goat and shall send it away into the desert by the hand of a ready person.	and Aaron shall lay his hands on the head of the live goat, and he shall declare over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their unrighteousness, and all their sins; and he shall lay them upon the head of the live goat, and shall send him by the hand of a ready man into the wilderness.
And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land which is cut off (גְּזֵרָ֑ה); and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.	The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible (gᵊzērâ, גזרה) land, so he is to send the goat away into the desert.	And the goat shall bear on itself their offenses to an untrodden (ἄβατον) region, and he shall send off the goat into the wilderness.	And the goat shall bear their unrighteousnesses upon him into a desert (ἄβατον) land; and Aaron shall send away the goat into the wilderness.

I’ll pick this up in another essay. A table comparing Exodus 19:8 translated from the Hebrew of the Masoretic text and the Greek of the Septuagint follows:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Exodus 19:8 (Tanakh)	Exodus 19:8 (NET)	Exodus 19:8 (NETS)	Exodus 19:8 (English Elpenor)
And all the people answered together, and said: ‘All that HaShem (יְהוָֹ֖ה) hath spoken we will do.’ And Moses reported the words of the people unto HaShem (יְהוָֹֽה).	and all the people answered together, “All that the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ, יהוה) has commanded we will do!” So Moses brought the words of the people back to the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ, יהוה).	And all the people with one accord answered and said, “All that God (ὁ θεός) said we will do and heed.” Then Moyses carried the words of the people up to God (τὸν θεόν).	And all the people answered with one accord, and said, All things that God (ὁ Θεός) has spoken, we will do and hearken to: and Moses reported these words to God (τὸν Θεόν).

Tables comparing Exodus 19:8; Leviticus 16:21 and 16:22 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Exodus 19:8; Leviticus 16:21 and 16:22 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

Exodus 19:8 (Tanakh)	Exodus 19:8 (KJV)	Exodus 19:8 (NET)
And all the people answered together, and said: ‘All that HaShem hath spoken we will do.’ And Moses reported the words of the people unto HaShem.	And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.	and all the people answered together, “All that the Lord has commanded we will do!” So Moses brought the words of the people back to the Lord.

Exodus 19:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Exodus 19:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀπεκρίθη δὲ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ὁμοθυμαδὸν καὶ εἶπαν πάντα ὅσα εἶπεν ὁ θεός ποιήσομεν καὶ ἀκουσόμεθα ἀνήνεγκεν δὲ Μωυσῆς τοὺς λόγους τοῦ λαοῦ πρὸς τὸν θεόν	ἀπεκρίθη δὲ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ὁμοθυμαδὸν καὶ εἶπαν· πάντα, ὅσα εἶπεν ὁ Θεός, ποιήσομεν καὶ ἀκουσόμεθα. ἀνήνεγκε δὲ Μωυσῆς τοὺς λόγους τούτους πρὸς τὸν Θεόν
Exodus 19:8 (Septuagint NETS)	Exodus 19:8 (English Elpenor)
And all the people with one accord answered and said, “All that God said we will do and heed.” Then Moyses carried the words of the people up to God.	And all the people answered with one accord, and said, All things that God has spoken, we will do and hearken to: and Moses reported these words to God.

Leviticus 16:21 (Tanakh)	Leviticus 16:21 (KJV)	Leviticus 16:21 (NET)
And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of an appointed man into the wilderness.	And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:	Aaron is to lay his two hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins, and thus he is to put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the desert by the hand of a man standing ready.

Leviticus 16:21 (Septuagint BLB)	Leviticus 16:21 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐπιθήσει Ααρων τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ χιμάρου τοῦ ζῶντος καὶ ἐξαγορεύσει ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ πάσας τὰς ἀνομίας τῶν υἱῶν Ισραηλ καὶ πάσας τὰς ἀδικίας αὐτῶν καὶ πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπιθήσει αὐτὰς ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ χιμάρου τοῦ ζῶντος καὶ ἐξαποστελεῖ ἐν χειρὶ ἀνθρώπου ἑτοίμου εἰς τὴν ἔρημον	καὶ ἐπιθήσει ᾿Ααρὼν τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ χιμάρου τοῦ ζῶντος καὶ ἐξαγορεύσει ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ πάσας τὰς ἀνομίας τῶν υἱῶν ᾿Ισραὴλ καὶ πάσας τὰς ἀδικίας αὐτῶν καὶ πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπιθήσει αὐτὰς ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ χιμάρου τοῦ ζῶντος καὶ ἐξαποστελεῖ ἐν χειρὶ ἀνθρώπου ἑτοίμου εἰς τὴν ἔρημον
Leviticus 16:21 (Septuagint NETS)	Leviticus 16:21 (English Elpenor)
And Aaron shall lay his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the lawless acts of the sons of Israel and all their offenses and all their sins and shall put them on the head of the live goat and shall send it away into the desert by the hand of a ready person.	and Aaron shall lay his hands on the head of the live goat, and he shall declare over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their unrighteousness, and all their sins; and he shall lay them upon the head of the live goat, and shall send him by the hand of a ready man into the wilderness.

Leviticus 16:22 (Tanakh)	Leviticus 16:22 (KJV)	Leviticus 16:22 (NET)
And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land which is cut off; and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.	And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.	The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land, so he is to send the goat away into the desert.

Leviticus 16:22 (Septuagint BLB)	Leviticus 16:22 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ λήμψεται ὁ χίμαρος ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτῷ τὰς ἀδικίας αὐτῶν εἰς γῆν ἄβατον καὶ ἐξαποστελεῖ τὸν χίμαρον εἰς τὴν ἔρημον	καὶ λήψεται ὁ χίμαρος ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτῷ τὰς ἀδικίας αὐτῶν εἰς γῆν ἄβατον, καὶ ἐξαποστελεῖ τὸν χίμαρον εἰς τὴν ἔρημον
Leviticus 16:22 (Septuagint NETS)	Leviticus 16:22 (English Elpenor)
And the goat shall bear on itself their offenses to an untrodden region, and he shall send off the goat into the wilderness.	And the goat shall bear their unrighteousnesses upon him into a desert land; and Aaron shall send away the goat into the wilderness.

A Shadow of the Good Things, Part 10

Back to Romans, Part 28

Back to Keep Yourselves From Idols, Part 2

¹ Romans 7:14b (NET) Table

² John 17:17 (NET) Table

³ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

⁴ Ephesians 4:24b (NET)

⁵ Romans 7:18b (NET) Table

⁶ Galatians 2:19-21 (NET)

⁷ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Ephesians 4:24b (NET)

¹⁰ Galatians 2:19b (NET)

¹¹ Luke 20:38 (NET)

¹² Luke 20:27 (NET)

¹³ Galatians 2:20a (NET)

¹⁴ Galatians 2:20b (NET)

¹⁵ Galatians 2:20c (NET)

¹⁶ Galatians 2:20d (NET)

¹⁷ Galatians 2:20e (NET)

¹⁸ Both πίστει and the article τῇ are in the dative case. Perhaps, this could be understood as “in faithfulness I live to” the Son of God, but that strikes me as the selfsame lie as All that the Lord has commanded we will do! (Exodus 19:8b NET)

¹⁹ Galatians 2:20f (NET)

²⁰ Romans 7:18b (NET) Table

²¹ Galatians 2:20c (NET)

²² Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

²³ Ephesians 4:24b (NET)

²⁴ Galatians 5:16 (NET)

²⁵ Luke 17:10 (NET)

²⁶ From Little Jack Horner on Nursery Rhymes online.

²⁷ Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

²⁸ Ephesians 4:24b (NET)

²⁹ Romans 7:18b (NET) Table

³⁰ Romans 7:14b (NET) Table

³¹ Romans 7:25b (NET) Table

The Gospel and the Religious Mind

An attempt to distinguish the mind of Christ from the ordinary religious mind.

Tag Archives: Ephesians 4:22

Exploration, Part 6

Exploration, Part 5

Exploration, Part 4

Exploration, Part 3

The Children of Promise, Part 2

The Day of the Lord, Part 8

A Shadow of the Good Things, Part 10

The Day of the Lord, Part 7

A Shadow of the Good Things, Part 9