Exploration, Part 8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Truths began to align in perspicuous form:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 Corinthians 6:16b (NET Parallel Greek)

Genesis 2:24b (Septuagint BLB) Table

Genesis 2:24b (Septuagint Elpenor)

Ἔσονται…οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν

ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν

ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν

1 Corinthians 6:16b (NET)

Genesis 2:24b (NETS)

Genesis 2:24b (English Elpenor)

The two will become one flesh

the two will become one flesh

they two shall be one flesh

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

1 John 4:19, 20 (NET)

1 John 4:19, 20 (KJV)

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

1 John 4:19 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 John 4:19 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 John 4:19 (Byzantine Majority Text)

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

1 John 4:20 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 John 4:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 John 4:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)

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

John 14:19, 20 (NET)

John 14:19, 20 (KJV)

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

John 14:19 (NET Parallel Greek)

John 14:19 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

John 14:19 (Byzantine Majority Text)

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

John 14:20 (NET Parallel Greek)

John 14:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

John 14:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)

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

James 2:20 (NET)

James 2:20 (KJV)

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

James 2:20 (NET Parallel Greek)

James 2:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

James 2:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)

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

Luke 18:20-24 (NET)

Luke 18:20-24 (KJV)

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

Luke 18:20 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 18:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 18:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)

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

Luke 18:21 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 18:21 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 18:21 (Byzantine Majority Text)

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

Luke 18:22 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 18:22 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 18:22 (Byzantine Majority Text)

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

Luke 18:23 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 18:23 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 18:23 (Byzantine Majority Text)

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

Luke 18:24 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 18:24 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 18:24 (Byzantine Majority Text)

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

1 Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

2 Galatians 5:19 (ESV) Table

3 Galatians 5:22 (ESV)

4 Philippians 3:9b (ESV)

5 Galatians 5:4a (ESV) Table

6 Matthew 6:33b (ESV) Table

7 Romans 7:2 (NASB)

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

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

11 Genesis 1:3 (ESV) Table

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

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

15 John 14:23b (NASB) Table

16 1 John 4:19 (NASB)

17 John 14:15 (NASB)

18 John 14:23b (NASB) Table

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

21 Ephesians 4:24b (NASB)

22 Ephesians 4:22b (NASB)

23 Ephesians 4:23b (NASB)

24 1 John 4:19 (NASB)

25 Galatians 5:22a (NASB)

26 Galatians 5:16a (NASB)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

42 Romans 1:17a (NET)

43 Romans 1:17a (ESV)

44 Romans 5:17b (ESV)

Exploration, Part 3

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 brotherswho slipped in to spyso 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 3rd 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 righteousnessthrough 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 righteousnessthrough 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

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

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 2nd 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

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.

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