Tag Archives: John 14:6

Christianity, Part 15

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There are 3 occurrences of πάντας in 1 Corinthians [see Table below], the Greek word translated all people in: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people (πάντας, a form of πᾶς) to myself.1 I’ve begun to consider the second occurrence (1 Corinthians 14:5 ESV [Table]):

Now I want you all (πάντας ὑμᾶς) to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

I wondered whether ὑμᾶς limited πάντας to men only (1 Corinthians 14:34, 35 ESV).

the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church [Table].

Various lines of reasoning made this particular limitation doubtful, but in so doing made the meaning of keep silent in the churches more difficult to decipher. I left off with the NET translators’ suggestion that 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 related:

…to the preceding regulations about evaluating the prophets (v. 29). Here Paul would be indicating that the women should not speak up during such an evaluation, since such questioning would be in violation of the submission to male leadership that the OT calls for (the law, e.g., Gen 2:18).2

The beginning of the next note (15) follows:

Some scholars have argued that vv. 34-35 should be excised from the text…because the Western witnesses…have these verses after v. 40, while the rest of the tradition retains them here. There are no mss that omit the verses.

This prompts me to consider this passage without the two verses in question (1 Corinthians 14:26-33, 36-40 ESV):

What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up [Table]. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints [Table],

Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized [Table]. So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.

The first thing that stands out is that there is no mention of women keeping silent in the reprise of Paul’s discussion: So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.3 Chaim Bentorah recognized something in Paul’s description I, as a Gentile, could miss:

Paul is most likely referencing the beth midrash, where members of the congregation assemble after a time of prayer…an open forum where you discuss the Torah and Talmud. Women were allowed in this room in the first-century Christian synagogue/church.

These midrashes followed certain rules and customs to maintain focus on the Word of God…

Everyone expressed his or her opinions and thoughts. They would argue and debate and sometimes get downright nasty in their search for the truth.4

So, I can contrast Paul’s address to all (both men and women) as followers of Jesus—that all things should be done decently and in order—to “They would argue and debate and sometimes get downright nasty in their search for the truth.” Though ad hominem arguments are recognized as logical fallacies, anyone who has ever argued recognizes how effective they can be for “winning” an argument in the moment, irrespective of the truth. Moving verses 34 and 35 to the end of the chapter makes them much less strident (1 Corinthians 14:40, 34, 35 ESV).

But5 all things should be done decently and in order: the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

Chaim Bentorah continued:

Paul is not saying women keep silent, but wives, anatta in Aramaic, keep silent. Big difference. They are to keep silent in the edita, ‘adah in its Semitic root. An ‘adah is loosely rendered as church, but as already mentioned, it is not a church as we know a church to be today. If Paul meant a church, he would have used the word qahal, which means “an assembly or congregation of people.” ‘Adah, however, is a legal term for a place where witnesses testify. This is a place where everyone is free to express what he or she has experienced and seen. It would be at a specific place and time. Hence, this is likely the first-century form of the beth midrash, where everyone can share their opinions and ideas as to the meaning behind a passage of Scripture. Women are to keep shetheq during this time. Yes, it can mean silent but shetheq has more of the idea of silence in the sense of not arguing a point, not rebuking, not calling someone a toad and blasting them out of the water.

This does not mean that women were not allowed to speak or teach others. They were just not allowed to rebuke their husbands in a public forum when discussing the Holy Scriptures.6

I’ll keep shetheq here regarding whether Paul wrote to the Corinthians in Greek or Aramaic, and simply be grateful for the insights into the traditions of the beth midrash and the Aramaic words of the Peshitta of 1 Corinthians 14. It matters very little to me in this instance whether Paul wrote in Aramaic or translators chose the words Mr. Bentorah explained some three centuries or more after Paul wrote in Greek. Since his letter records a transition from “the traditions he delivered to them, through spiritual gifts, to a still more excellent way,”7 the latter option offers an even better point through which to draw the trajectory of that transition.

It’s quite moving to consider that even as Paul pretended8 to know nothing among [them] except Jesus Christ and him crucified,9 he delivered the beth midrash, a revered tool of Jewish men of learning, to Gentiles and to women. And it is instructive that this old wineskin10 blew up in his face (or away from his face, as it were) into factions centered around preferred teachers (1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 3:4-7). I’m inclined to keep verses 34 and 35 at the end of the chapter because they seem to fit better there, and the NET translators’ defense of the earlier location was based upon an imaginary manuscript:

The very location of the verses in the Western tradition [e.g., “at the end of the material on church conduct”] argues strongly that Paul both authored vv. 34-35 and that they were originally part of the margin of the text.11

Frankly, if I imagine a manuscript in which verses 34 and 35 are written in the margin of the text, it won’t be original and verses 34 and 35 won’t be penned by Paul. No such manuscript is extant apparently. And no extant manuscripts omit the verses. There are many other things to consider about these verses if that were one’s purpose. These have been sufficient to persuade me that Paul and the Holy Spirit didn’t intend to limit πάντας in I want you all to speak in tongues12 to men only.

Do Paul’s rhetorical questions limit πάντας?

Are all prophets?…Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?13

If Paul’s rhetorical questions with their anticipated negative answers constitute eternal truths, then they form an absolute, if unknown and effectively unknowable, limit to his desire for you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.14 That was the answer I have preferred: I don’t speak in tongues. As I worked on this essay, I was awakened early in the morning with an urgent prayer request so complicated I prayed, “I wish I could pray in tongues because all I’ve got to say is, Aghh!!”

If Paul’s rhetorical questions with their anticipated negative answers constitute a local assessment of current circumstances, then his desire may have been much stronger. For comparison consider Jesus’ answer to a very pointed question (Luke 13:23-30 ESV).

And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from’ [Table ]. Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ [Table] In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God [Table]. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

One person asked a question but Jesus answered everyone: Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.15 Who are the many (πολλοί, a form of πολύς)? All who do not strive as hard as I do to enter through the narrow door. But that answer had a way of coming back on me: Do I really strive hard enough to be part of the few? Over time I began to understand that Jesus didn’t threaten the many to motivate the few to strive harder. He spoke the truth. So, is this an eternal truth?

Yes, addressed to the old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.16 But it is also a local assessment of current circumstances so dismal it cries out to a God who so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. A God who did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.17 It cries out for a Savior, a Champion, who wrests salvation from the dominion of human will or exertion to establish it firmly in the dominion of God, who has mercy:18

Jesus said to [Thomas], “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.19

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…20

This local assessment of then current circumstances is so dismal even I can begin to comprehend why a loving Savior sent by his loving Father would lay down his life willingly to complete (John 19:28-30) the work his father sent him to do (John 10:17, 18 ESV).

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.

Once his Father’s work is completed this loving Savior promises with all the authority of God (John 12:32 ESV):

And I…will draw all people to myself.

That is the judgment of this world; that is how the ruler of this world [will] be cast out.21 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.22 This tends to make me a bit more open-minded toward Paul’s desire for you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.23 Though I wouldn’t compare Paul’s will to God’s, the Holy Spirit did allow him to write it.

The final occurrence of πάντας in 1 Corinthians follows (1 Corinthians 15:21-25 ESV).

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead [Table]. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.24 Then comes the end, when he delivers25 the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power [Table]. For he must reign until he has put all (πάντας) his enemies under his feet [Table].

I’m not inclined to argue any limitation to πάντας here. Paul made his position quite clear (1 Corinthians 15:26-28 ESV):

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

According to a note (17) in the NET Paul quoted Psalm 8:6. A table comparing the Greek of that quotation in 1 Corinthians 15:27a to Psalm 8:6b in the Septuagint follows.

1 Corinthians 15:27a (NET Parallel Greek)

Psalm 8:6b (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 8:7b (Septuagint Elpenor)
πάντα…ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ πάντα ὑπέταξας ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ πάντα ὑπέταξας ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ

1 Corinthians 15:27a (NET)

Psalm 8:7b (NETS)

Psalm 8:7b (English Elpenor)
he has put everything in subjection under his feet you subjected all under his feet thou hast put all things under his feet

The Greek words ὑπέταξεν and ὑπέταξας above are forms of ὑποτάσσω as are ὑποτασσέσθωσαν and υποτασσεσθαι in 1 Corinthians 14:34, translated should be in submission (ESV) and to be under obedience (KJV) respectively. The main difference is that the first two forms are in the active voice: “to subject, place under (someone’s authority); to place, place below (in a document); to subdue; to subordinate, subjugate; to bring under subjection.” This is the work of God. The second two forms are in the middle and passive voices: “to submit oneself: to be submissive; to become subject; to subject oneself; to be subjected; to be subordinated; to obey.” In other words, this is the response of godly women to the work of God. It is not something a husband, or any other man, does to a wife or can do in a wife.

The table mentioned above follows.

Occurrences of πάντας in 1 Corinthians
Reference NET Parallel Greek ESV
1 Corinthians 7:7 θέλω δὲ πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἶναι ὡς καὶ ἐμαυτόν I wish that all were as I myself am.
1 Corinthians 14:5 θέλω δὲ πάντας ὑμᾶς λαλεῖν γλώσσαις Now I want you all to speak in tongues,
1 Corinthians 15:25 ἄχρι οὗ θῇ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

A table comparing Psalm 8:6 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing the Greek of Psalm 8:6 (8:7) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing 1 Corinthians 14:40 and 15:23 in the NET and KJV follow.

Psalm 8:6 (Tanakh)

Psalm 8:6 (KJV)

Psalm 8:6 (NET)
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: you appoint them to rule over your creation; you have placed everything under their authority,

Psalm 8:6 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 8:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ κατέστησας αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σου πάντα ὑπέταξας ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ κατέστησας αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σου· πάντα ὑπέταξας ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ

Psalm 8:7 (NETS)

Psalm 8:7 (English Elpenor)
And you set him over the works of your hands; you subjected all under his feet, and thou hast set him over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things under his feet:

1 Corinthians 14:40 (NET)

1 Corinthians 14:40 (KJV)
And do everything in a decent and orderly manner. Let all things be done decently and in order.

1 Corinthians 14:40 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 14:40 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 14:40 (Byzantine Majority Text)
πάντα δὲ εὐσχημόνως καὶ κατὰ τάξιν γινέσθω παντα ευσχημονως και κατα ταξιν γινεσθω παντα ευσχημονως και κατα ταξιν γινεσθω

1 Corinthians 15:23 (NET)

1 Corinthians 15:23 (KJV)
But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

1 Corinthians 15:23 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 15:23 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 15:23 (Byzantine Majority Text)
῞Εκαστος δὲ ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τάγματι· ἀπαρχὴ Χριστός, ἔπειτα οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ εκαστος δε εν τω ιδιω ταγματι απαρχη χριστος επειτα οι χριστου εν τη παρουσια αυτου εκαστος δε εν τω ιδιω ταγματι απαρχη χριστος επειτα οι του χριστου εν τη παρουσια αυτου

1 John 12:32 (ESV)

2 NET note 14

3 1 Corinthians 14:39 (ESV)

5 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had δὲ (NET: And) here. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

6 From “Contradiction: Women are to be silent in the church,” by Chaim Bentorah. It seems only fair to point out that none of this subtlety is apparent in an English translation of 1 Corinthians 14:34, 35 in The Original Aramaic New Testament in Plain English (An American Translation of the Aramaic New Testament), Translated by Rev. Glenn David Bauscher: Let your women be silent in the assemblies, for they are not allowed to speak, but to be in subjection, just as The Written Law also says. And if they wish to learn anything, let them ask their husbands in their homes, for it is a shame for women to speak in the assembly. Apart from a lexicon and a grammar I’m unable to form any independent opinion. See also 1 Corinthians 14 on The Holy Aramaic Scriptures online.

9 1 Corinthians 2:2b (ESV) Table

11 NET note 15

12 1 Corinthians 14:5a (ESV) Table

13 1 Corinthians 12:29b, 30b (ESV)

14 1 Corinthians 14:5a (ESV) Table

15 Luke 13:24 (ESV) Table

16 Ephesians 4:22b (ESV)

17 John 3:16, 17 (ESV) Table

18 Romans 9:16 (ESV) Table

19 John 14:6 (ESV)

20 John 6:44a (ESV) Table

21 John 12:31 (ESV)

22 Romans 11:32 (ESV)

23 1 Corinthians 14:5a (ESV) Table

24 The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had the article τοῦ preceding Christ. The Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

25 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had παραδιδῷ in the present tense here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had παραδω (KJV: he shall have delivered up) in the 2nd aorist tense.

A Shadow of the Good Things, Part 2

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I began this particular investigation considering “whether τη αληθεια μη πειθεσθαι (KJV: that ye should not obey the truth) was original to Galatians 3:1” [Table].  A brief study of forms of πείθω calmed my fetish that obey the truth meant “obey the law.”  So if τη αληθεια μη πειθεσθαι is reinstated into NA29 or any later version I should be fine.  I do still want to consider more occurrences of forms of πείθω (Acts 28:17-20, 23, 24 NET).

After three days Paul[1] called the local Jewish leaders together.  When they had assembled, he said to them, “Brothers, although I had done nothing against our people or the customs[2] of our ancestors, from Jerusalem I was handed over as a prisoner to the Romans.  When they had heard my case, they wanted to release me, because there was no basis for a death sentence against me.  But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar—not that I had some charge to bring[3] against my own people.  So for this reason I have asked to see you and speak with you, for I am bound with this chain because of the hope of Israel.”

They set a day to meet with him, and they came[4] to him where he was staying in even greater numbers.  From morning until evening he explained things to them, testifying about the kingdom of God (τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ) and trying to convince (πείθων a form of πείθω) them about Jesus from both the law of Moses[5] and the prophets.  Some were convinced (ἐπείθοντο, a form of πείθω) by what he said, but others refused to believe.

Contrast Paul’s persuasiveness to that of some unnamed Jews from Antioch and Iconium (Acts 14:19 NET Table):

But Jews came [to Lystra] from Antioch and Iconium, and after winning the crowds over (πείσαντες, a form of πείθω), they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, presuming him to be dead.

Children, Jesus said to his astonished disciples, how hard it is[6] to enter the kingdom of God (τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ)![7]  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text qualify this with τους πεποιθοτας (a form of πείθω) επι χρημασιν (KJV: for them that trust in riches).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 do not have this qualification.  In other words, the shorter reading has survived at least two rounds[8] of scholarly consideration.

The context of Jesus’ statement and the words that astonished his disciples were: How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God![9]  It seems reasonable to me that the One prepared to die to secure his disciples’ entrance into that kingdom answered their astonishment, not with a repetition of the specific, but with the more general: how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.  Bill Mounce posted an interesting definition of δύσκολος (the Greek word translated hard above was δύσκολον, a form of δύσκολος):

peevish about food; hard to please, disagreeable [Luke 7:31-35]; in NT, difficult, Mk. 10:24

This is my point in the contrast above: It is easier to win over those who are not yet born from above to self-righteous indignation and violence than it is to convince them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets.  Wealth is a contributing factor.

In Ephesus a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought a great deal of business to the craftsmen (Acts 19:24-28 NET).

He gathered these together, along with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our[10] prosperity comes from this business.  And you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded (πείσας, a form of πείθω) and turned away a large crowd, not only in Ephesus but in practically all of the province of Asia, by saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all.  There is danger not only that this business of ours will come into disrepute, but[11] also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as nothing, and she whom all the province of Asia and the world worship will suffer the loss of her greatness.”[12]

When they heard this they became enraged and began to shout, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, Jesus described his plunder (Luke 11:14-20) of Satan’s domain parabolically, his possessions are safe.  But when a stronger man attacks and conquers him, he takes away the first man’s armor on which the man relied (ἐπεποίθει, a form of πείθω) and divides up his plunder.[13]  I know I have relied on many “truths” as if they were armor that might “protect” me from the way, and the truth, and the life.[14]  But Jesus, his Father and his Holy Spirit have been persistent to wrest me from Satan’s domination and my own folly, if the two are not one and the same.

Before Paul appealed to Caesar and was sent to Rome he was imprisoned at Caesarea (Acts 24:24-26 NET):

Some days later, when Felix arrived with his[15] wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.[16]  While Paul was discussing righteousness, self-control, and the coming[17] judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, I will send for you.”  At the same time he was also[18] hoping that Paul would give him money,[19] and for this reason he sent for Paul as often as possible and talked with him.

Here, Felix’s hope that Paul might give him χρήματα (a form of χρῆμα) was a factor that encouraged him to summon Paul more often than his fear of Paul’s message might otherwise have allowed.  One might argue that this was not the best attitude to hear Paul’s message, since it is hard…for the rich (χρήματα) to enter the kingdom of God, but I think it highlights an aspect of the difficulty.

I couldn’t summon Paul but I was driven to read him, and from him continued on to Jesus and the rest of the Bible.  Before that, yes, I tried to harmonize the gospels to make a libretto for my rock/fusion opera.  Studying Paul was the beginning of a deeper potentially more vital interest.  I still hoped, I suppose, that studying Paul would please God and that pleasing God would benefit my writing/composing career.  Like Felix, my motives and interests were divided.

Paul wrote about the judgment (κρίματος, a form of κρίμα) Felix feared (Romans 2:1-13 NET):

Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge (κρίνων, a form of κρίνω) someone else.  For on whatever grounds you judge (κρίνεις, a form of κρίνω) another, you condemn (κατακρίνεις, a form of κατακρίνω) yourself, because you who judge (κρίνων, a form of κρίνω) practice the same things (Romans 1:18-32).  Now we know that God’s judgment (κρίμα) is in accordance with truth against those who practice such things.  And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge (κρίνων, a form of κρίνω) those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment (κρίμα)?  Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?  But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment[20] (δικαιοκρισίας, a form of δικαιοκρισία) is revealed!  He will reward each one according to his works: eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey[21] (ἀπειθοῦσι, a form of ἀπειθέω) the truth but follow (πειθομένοις, a form of πείθω) unrighteousness.  There will be affliction and distress on everyone who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek.  For there is no partiality with God [Table].  For all who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged (κριθήσονται, a form of κρίνω) by the law.  For it is not those who hear the[22] law who are righteous before God, but those who do the[23] law will be declared righteous.

This brings me back to the title of this series of essays: For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself.[24]  I think—not the reality itself—is an important and meaningful paraphrase of οὐκ αὐτὴν τὴν εἰκόνα τῶν πραγμάτων, but I prefer the KJV translation here: not the very image of the things.  And I would push πραγμάτων (a form of πρᾶγμα) one step further to deeds: not the very image of the [deeds].

I want to compare the shadow of the good things to come possessed by the law to Peter’s shadow.  Here is the context (Acts 5:12a, 14-16 NET)

Now many miraculous signs and wonders came about[25] among the people through the hands of the apostles.

More and more believers in the Lord were added to their number, crowds of both men and women.  Thus they even[26] carried the sick out into[27] the streets, and put them on cots[28] and pallets,[29] so that when Peter came by at least his shadow would fall on some of them.  A crowd of people from the towns around Jerusalem[30] also came together, bringing the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits.  They were all being healed.

Peter’s shadow waned from a thin elongated silhouette of his form in the morning, to a stubby foreshortened blob at midday, then waxed again as day progressed to evening.  Many things could be calculated mathematically by measuring that shadow against Peter’s height.  But no matter the time of day Peter’s shadow was cast by Peter walking in the light.

I’m not suggesting that we know the good things to come by doing mathematical calculations on the law.  I am suggesting that the law has a shape, an outline in silhouette, similar to that cast by the good things to come, not an assembly-line slaughterhouse executing lawbreakers, but a kingdom of people who do not covet [their] neighbor’s house, [their] neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to [their] neighbor.[31]

The law foreshadows a kingdom of people who do this, and so much more, not because they strive with all their might to obey the law in their own strength: For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.[32]  God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.[33]

The law foreshadows a kingdom of God populated by those who have trusted that (1 Corinthians 15:3b-8 NET):

Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures [Table], and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  Then he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some[34] have fallen asleep [Table].  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to [Paul] also.

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, Paul wrote believers in Galatia (Galatians 5:13-6:5 NET):

only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another.  For the whole law can be summed up (KJV: fulfilled) in a single commandment, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”  However, if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another [Table].  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 [Table].  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  Now the works of the flesh are obvious: (KJV: adultery) sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things.  I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (βασιλείαν θεοῦ) [Table]!

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law [Table].  Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.

Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness.  Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too.  Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ [Table].  For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  Let each one examine his own work.  Then he can take pride in himself and not compare himself with someone else.  For each one will carry his own load.

Our Father in heaven, Jesus taught his disciples to pray, may your name be honored, may your kingdom (βασιλεία σου) come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.[35]  I’ll pick this up in another essay.

A table comparing Paul’s quotation from Psalm 61:13 in the Septuagint (62:12 Masoretic text) follows:

Romans 2:6 (NET Parallel Greek)

 Psalm 62:12c (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 61:13b (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὃς ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ σὺ ἀποδώσεις ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ σὺ ἀποδώσεις ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ

Romans 2:6 (NET)

 Psalm 61:13c (NETS)

Psalm 61:13b (English Elpenor)
He will reward each one according to his works: you will repay to each according to his works. thou wilt recompense every one according to his works.

Tables comparing Psalm 62:12 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and Psalm 62:12 (61:13) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.  Following those are tables comparing Acts 28:17; 28:19; 28:23; Mark 10:24; Acts 19:25; 19:27; 24:24-26; Romans 2:5; 2:8; 2:13; Acts 5:12 and 5:15, 16 in the NET and KJV.

Psalm 62:12 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 62:12 (KJV)

Psalm 62:12 (NET)
Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work. and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love. For you repay men for what they do.

Psalm 62:12 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 61:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι τὸ κράτος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ σοί κύριε τὸ ἔλεος ὅτι σὺ ἀποδώσεις ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ καὶ σοῦ, Κύριε, τὸ ἔλεος, ὅτι σὺ ἀποδώσεις ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ

Psalm 61:13 (NETS)

Psalm 61:13 (English Elpenor)
that might is God’s, and to you, O Lord, belongs mercy, because you will repay to each according to his works. and mercy is thine, O Lord; for thou wilt recompense every one according to his works.

Acts 28:17 (NET)

Acts 28:17 (KJV)
After three days Paul called the local Jewish leaders together. When they had assembled, he said to them, “Brothers, although I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, from Jerusalem I was handed over as a prisoner to the Romans. And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ἐγένετο δὲ μετὰ ἡμέρας τρεῖς συγκαλέσασθαι αὐτὸν τοὺς ὄντας τῶν Ἰουδαίων πρώτους· συνελθόντων δὲ αὐτῶν ἔλεγεν πρὸς αὐτούς· ἐγώ, ἄνδρες ἀδελφοί, οὐδὲν ἐναντίον ποιήσας τῷ λαῷ ἢ τοῖς ἔθεσι τοῖς πατρῴοις δέσμιος ἐξ Ἱεροσολύμων παρεδόθην εἰς τὰς χεῖρας τῶν Ῥωμαίων εγενετο δε μετα ημερας τρεις συγκαλεσασθαι τον παυλον τους οντας των ιουδαιων πρωτους συνελθοντων δε αυτων ελεγεν προς αυτους ανδρες αδελφοι εγω ουδεν εναντιον ποιησας τω λαω η τοις εθεσιν τοις πατρωοις δεσμιος εξ ιεροσολυμων παρεδοθην εις τας χειρας των ρωμαιων εγενετο δε μετα ημερας τρεις συγκαλεσασθαι τον παυλον τους οντας των ιουδαιων πρωτους συνελθοντων δε αυτων ελεγεν προς αυτους ανδρες αδελφοι εγω ουδεν εναντιον ποιησας τω λαω η τοις εθεσιν τοις πατρωοις δεσμιος εξ ιεροσολυμων παρεδοθην εις τας χειρας των ρωμαιων

Acts 28:19 (NET)

Acts 28:19 (KJV)
But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar—not that I had some charge to bring against my own people. But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀντιλεγόντων δὲ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἠναγκάσθην ἐπικαλέσασθαι Καίσαρα οὐχ ὡς τοῦ ἔθνους μου ἔχων τι κατηγορεῖν αντιλεγοντων δε των ιουδαιων ηναγκασθην επικαλεσασθαι καισαρα ουχ ως του εθνους μου εχων τι κατηγορησαι αντιλεγοντων δε των ιουδαιων ηναγκασθην επικαλεσασθαι καισαρα ουχ ως του εθνους μου εχων τι κατηγορησαι

Acts 28:23 (NET)

Acts 28:23 (KJV)
They set a day to meet with him, and they came to him where he was staying in even greater numbers.  From morning until evening he explained things to them, testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets. And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ταξάμενοι δὲ αὐτῷ ἡμέραν ἦλθον πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν ξενίαν πλείονες οἷς ἐξετίθετο διαμαρτυρόμενος τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ, πείθων τε αὐτοὺς περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἀπό τε τοῦ νόμου Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν προφητῶν, ἀπὸ πρωὶ_ ἕως ἑσπέρας ταξαμενοι δε αυτω ημεραν ηκον προς αυτον εις την ξενιαν πλειονες οις εξετιθετο διαμαρτυρομενος την βασιλειαν του θεου πειθων τε αυτους τα περι του ιησου απο τε του νομου μωσεως και των προφητων απο πρωι εως εσπερας ταξαμενοι δε αυτω ημεραν ηκον προς αυτον εις την ξενιαν πλειονες οις εξετιθετο διαμαρτυρομενος την βασιλειαν του θεου πειθων τε αυτους τα περι του ιησου απο τε του νομου μωσεως και των προφητων απο πρωι εως εσπερας

Mark 10:24 (NET)

Mark 10:24 (KJV)
The disciples were astonished at these words.  But again Jesus said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words.  But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ ἐθαμβοῦντο ἐπὶ τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς πάλιν ἀποκριθεὶς λέγει αὐτοῖς· τέκνα, πῶς δύσκολον ἐστιν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰσελθεῖν οι δε μαθηται εθαμβουντο επι τοις λογοις αυτου ο δε ιησους παλιν αποκριθεις λεγει αυτοις τεκνα πως δυσκολον εστιν τους πεποιθοτας επι τοις χρημασιν εις την βασιλειαν του θεου εισελθειν οι δε μαθηται εθαμβουντο επι τοις λογοις αυτου ο δε ιησους παλιν αποκριθεις λεγει αυτοις τεκνα πως δυσκολον εστιν τους πεποιθοτας επι χρημασιν εις την βασιλειαν του θεου εισελθειν

Acts 19:25 (NET)

Acts 19:25 (KJV)
He gathered these together, along with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this business. Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οὓς συναθροίσας καὶ τοὺς περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐργάτας εἶπεν· ἄνδρες, ἐπίστασθε ὅτι ἐκ ταύτης τῆς ἐργασίας ἡ εὐπορία ἡμῖν ἐστιν ους συναθροισας και τους περι τα τοιαυτα εργατας ειπεν ανδρες επιστασθε οτι εκ ταυτης της εργασιας η ευπορια ημων εστιν ους συναθροισας και τους περι τα τοιαυτα εργατας ειπεν ανδρες επιστασθε οτι εκ ταυτης της εργασιας η ευπορια ημων εστιν

Acts 19:27 (NET)

Acts 19:27 (KJV)
There is danger not only that this business of ours will come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as nothing, and she whom all the province of Asia and the world worship will suffer the loss of her greatness.” So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οὐ μόνον δὲ τοῦτο κινδυνεύει ἡμῖν τὸ μέρος εἰς ἀπελεγμὸν ἐλθεῖν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τῆς μεγάλης θεᾶς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερὸν εἰς οὐθὲν λογισθῆναι, μέλλειν τε καὶ καθαιρεῖσθαι τῆς μεγαλειότητος αὐτῆς ἣν ὅλη |ἡ| Ἀσία καὶ |ἡ| οἰκουμένη σέβεται ου μονον δε τουτο κινδυνευει ημιν το μερος εις απελεγμον ελθειν αλλα και το της μεγαλης θεας αρτεμιδος ιερον εις ουδεν λογισθηναι μελλειν δε και καθαιρεισθαι την μεγαλειοτητα αυτης ην ολη η ασια και η οικουμενη σεβεται ου μονον δε τουτο κινδυνευει ημιν το μερος εις απελεγμον ελθειν αλλα και το της μεγαλης θεας ιερον αρτεμιδος εις ουθεν λογισθηναι μελλειν δε και καθαιρεισθαι την μεγαλειοτητα αυτης ην ολη η ασια και η οικουμενη σεβεται

Acts 24:24-26 (NET)

Acts 24:24-26 (KJV)
Some days later, when Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Μετὰ δὲ ἡμέρας τινὰς παραγενόμενος ὁ Φῆλιξ σὺν Δρουσίλλῃ τῇ ἰδίᾳ γυναικὶ οὔσῃ Ἰουδαίᾳ μετεπέμψατο τὸν Παῦλον καὶ ἤκουσεν αὐτοῦ περὶ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν πίστεως μετα δε ημερας τινας παραγενομενος ο φηλιξ συν δρουσιλλη τη γυναικι αυτου ουση ιουδαια μετεπεμψατο τον παυλον και ηκουσεν αυτου περι της εις χριστον πιστεως μετα δε ημερας τινας παραγενομενος ο φηλιξ συν δρουσιλλη τη γυναικι ουση ιουδαια μετεπεμψατο τον παυλον και ηκουσεν αυτου περι της εις χριστον πιστεως
While Paul was discussing righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, I will send for you.” And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
διαλεγομένου δὲ αὐτοῦ περὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ ἐγκρατείας καὶ τοῦ κρίματος τοῦ μέλλοντος, ἔμφοβος γενόμενος ὁ Φῆλιξ ἀπεκρίθη· τὸ νῦν ἔχον πορεύου, καιρὸν δὲ μεταλαβὼν μετακαλέσομαι σε διαλεγομενου δε αυτου περι δικαιοσυνης και εγκρατειας και του κριματος του μελλοντος εσεσθαι εμφοβος γενομενος ο φηλιξ απεκριθη το νυν εχον πορευου καιρον δε μεταλαβων μετακαλεσομαι σε διαλεγομενου δε αυτου περι δικαιοσυνης και εγκρατειας και του κριματος του μελλοντος εσεσθαι εμφοβος γενομενος ο φηλιξ απεκριθη το νυν εχον πορευου καιρον δε μεταλαβων μετακαλεσομαι σε
At the same time he was also hoping that Paul would give him money, and for this reason he sent for Paul as often as possible and talked with him. He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἅμα καὶ ἐλπίζων ὅτι χρήματα δοθήσεται |αὐτῷ| ὑπὸ τοῦ Παύλου· διὸ καὶ πυκνότερον αὐτὸν μεταπεμπόμενος ὡμίλει αὐτῷ αμα δε και ελπιζων οτι χρηματα δοθησεται αυτω υπο του παυλου οπως λυση αυτον διο και πυκνοτερον αυτον μεταπεμπομενος ωμιλει αυτω αμα και ελπιζων οτι χρηματα δοθησεται αυτω υπο του παυλου οπως λυση αυτον διο και πυκνοτερον αυτον μεταπεμπομενος ωμιλει αυτω

Romans 2:5 (NET)

Romans 2:5 (KJV)
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
κατὰ δὲ τὴν σκληρότητα σου καὶ ἀμετανόητον καρδίαν θησαυρίζεις σεαυτῷ ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως δικαιοκρισίας τοῦ θεοῦ κατα δε την σκληροτητα σου και αμετανοητον καρδιαν θησαυριζεις σεαυτω οργην εν ημερα οργης και αποκαλυψεως δικαιοκρισιας του θεου κατα δε την σκληροτητα σου και αμετανοητον καρδιαν θησαυριζεις σεαυτω οργην εν ημερα οργης και αποκαλυψεως και δικαιοκρισιας του θεου

Romans 2:8 (NET)

Romans 2:8 (KJV)
but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness. But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
τοῖς δὲ ἐξ ἐριθείας καὶ ἀπειθοῦσι τῇ ἀληθείᾳ πειθομένοις δὲ τῇ ἀδικίᾳ ὀργὴ καὶ θυμός τοις δε εξ εριθειας και απειθουσιν μεν τη αληθεια πειθομενοις δε τη αδικια θυμος και οργη τοις δε εξ εριθειας και απειθουσιν μεν τη αληθεια πειθομενοις δε τη αδικια θυμος και οργη

Romans 2:13 (NET)

Romans 2:13 (KJV)
For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οὐ γὰρ οἱ ἀκροαταὶ νόμου δίκαιοι παρὰ [τῷ] θεῷ, ἀλλ᾿ οἱ ποιηταὶ νόμου δικαιωθήσονται ου γαρ οι ακροαται του νομου δικαιοι παρα τω θεω αλλ οι ποιηται του νομου δικαιωθησονται ου γαρ οι ακροαται του νομου δικαιοι παρα τω θεω αλλ οι ποιηται του νομου δικαιωθησονται

Acts 5:12 (NET)

Acts 5:12 (KJV)
Now many miraculous signs and wonders came about among the people through the hands of the apostles.  By common consent they were all meeting together in Solomon’s Portico. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Διὰ δὲ τῶν χειρῶν τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐγίνετο σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα πολλὰ ἐν τῷ λαῷ. καὶ ἦσαν ὁμοθυμαδὸν |ἅπαντες| ἐν τῇ στοᾷ Σολομῶντος δια δε των χειρων των αποστολων εγενετο σημεια και τερατα εν τω λαω πολλα και ησαν ομοθυμαδον απαντες εν τη στοα σολομωντος δια δε των χειρων των αποστολων εγινετο σημεια και τερατα εν τω λαω πολλα και ησαν ομοθυμαδον απαντες εν τη στοα σολομωντος

Acts 5:15, 16 (NET)

Acts 5:15, 16 (KJV)
Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets, and put them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow would fall on some of them. Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὥστε καὶ εἰς τὰς πλατείας ἐκφέρειν τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς καὶ τιθέναι ἐπὶ κλιναρίων καὶ κραβάττων, ἵνα ἐρχομένου Πέτρου κὰν ἡ σκιὰ |ἐπισκιάσῃ| τινὶ αὐτῶν ωστε κατα τας πλατειας εκφερειν τους ασθενεις και τιθεναι επι κλινων και κραββατων ινα ερχομενου πετρου καν η σκια επισκιαση τινι αυτων ωστε κατα τας πλατειας εκφερειν τους ασθενεις και τιθεναι επι κλινων και κραββατων ινα ερχομενου πετρου καν η σκια επισκιαση τινι αυτων
A crowd of people from the towns around Jerusalem also came together, bringing the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits.  They were all being healed. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
συνήρχετο δὲ καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πέριξ πόλεων Ἰερουσαλὴμ φέροντες ἀσθενεῖς καὶ ὀχλουμένους ὑπὸ πνευμάτων ἀκαθάρτων, οἵτινες ἐθεραπεύοντο ἅπαντες συνηρχετο δε και το πληθος των περιξ πολεων εις ιερουσαλημ φεροντες ασθενεις και οχλουμενους υπο πνευματων ακαθαρτων οιτινες εθεραπευοντο απαντες συνηρχετο δε και το πληθος των περιξ πολεων εις ιερουσαλημ φεροντες ασθενεις και οχλουμενους υπο πνευματων ακαθαρτων οιτινες εθεραπευοντο απαντες

[1] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had αὐτὸν (he in the accusative case) here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τον παυλον (Paul in the accusative case along with its appropriate article).

[2] The NET parallel Greek text had ἔθεσι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus, Byzantine Majority Text and NA28 had εθεσιν.

[3] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had κατηγορεῖν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had κατηγορησαι (KJV: to accuse).

[4] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἦλθον here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ηκον.

[5] In the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 Moses was spelled Μωϋσέως, and μωσεως in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

[6] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τους πεποιθοτας επι τοις χρημασιν (KJV: for them that trust in riches) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[7] Mark 10:24b (NET)

[8] From “Innovations in the Text and Translation of the NET Bible, New Testament,” III. Innovations in Text: “The NET New Testament is based on a critically constructed Greek text, following the principles of reasoned eclecticism.  The Greek text of the NET NT differs from the Nestle-Aland27 in about 500 places.”

[9] Mark 10:23b (NET)

[10] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἡμῖν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ημων.

[11] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had τε here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had δε.

[12] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had τῆς μεγαλειότητος here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had την μεγαλειοτητα (KJV: magnificence).

[13] Luke 11:21, 22 (NET) Table

[14] John 14:6a (NET)

[15] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἰδίᾳ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had αυτου.  The Byzantine Majority Text had neither.

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

[17] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μελλοντος εσεσθαι (KJV: to come) here, where the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had simply μέλλοντος.

[18] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had δε και here, where the NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had simply καὶ.

[19] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had οπως λυση αυτον (KJV: that he might loose him) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[20] The Byzantine Majority Text had και preceding righteous judgment.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

[21] The NET parallel Greek text had ἀπειθοῦσι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus, Byzantine Majority Text and NA28 had απειθουσιν.  Also, the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μεν following obey.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[22] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article του preceding law.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[23] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article του preceding law.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[24] Hebrews 10:1a (NET)

[25] The Stephanus Textus Receptu had εγενετο (KJV: were…wrought) here, where the NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ἐγίνετο.

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

[27] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had εἰς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had κατα.

[28] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had κλιναρίων here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had κλινων (KJV: beds).

[29] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had κραβάττων here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had κραββατων (KJV: couches).

[30] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εἰς (KJV: unto) preceding Jerusalem.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[31] Exodus 20:17 (NET) Table

[32] Galatians 3:21b (NET)

[33] Romans 8:3, 4 (NET) Table

[34] It is fair to assume that all have fallen asleep by now.

[35] Matthew 6:9, 10 (NET)

 

Atonement, Part 11

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This is a continuation of yehôvâh’s (יהוה) instruction to Moses: They[1] are to eat those things by which atonement (kâphar, כפר; Septuagint: ἡγιάσθησαν, a form of ἁγιάζω) was made to consecrate and to set them apart, but no one else may eat them, for they are holy.[2]  I’ll continue to consider forms of χρίω in the New Testament.

The author of Hebrews continued to contrast Jesus to angels: And he says of the angels, “He makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire”…[3]  This was a verbatim quote from the Elpenor version of the Septuagint only.

Hebrews 1:7b (NET parallel Greek)

 Psalm 104:4 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 103:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς φλόγα ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πῦρ φλέγον ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς φλόγα

I won’t spend much time here since the psalm is not about angels but yehôvâh.  It is interesting, however, that the NET and KJV, more importantly the three versions of the Greek New Testament I have surveyed, agree here.

Hebrews 1:7 (NET)

Hebrews 1:7 (KJV)
And he says of the angels, “He makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire,” And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἀγγέλους λέγει ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς φλόγα και προς μεν τους αγγελους λεγει ο ποιων τους αγγελους αυτου πνευματα και τους λειτουργους αυτου πυρος φλογα και προς μεν τους αγγελους λεγει ο ποιων τους αγγελους αυτου πνευματα και τους λειτουργους αυτου πυρος φλογα

The translations from Hebrew of the Tanakh and KJV, and from Greek of the Elpenor also agree.  But πῦρ φλέγον in the BLB version of the Septuagint, as opposed to πυρὸς φλόγα in the Elpenor and the New Testament, inspired a subtle shift in the translation of the NETS.

From Hebrew

From Greek
Psalm 104:4 (Tanakh) Psalm 104:4 (KJV) Psalm 103:4 (NETS)

Psalm 103:4 (Elpenor)
Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: He who makes spirits his messengers, and flaming fire his ministers. Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire.

That shift continued in the NET, making it virtually impossible for an English reader to recognize any mention of angels in the Psalm: He makes the winds his messengers, and the flaming fire his attendant.[4]  This sounds more like tornadoes and hurricanes speak for God while warehouse and forest fires serve Him.

The author of Hebrews continued: but of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and[5] a[6] righteous scepter[7] is the[8] scepter of your kingdom.  You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.  So God, your God, has anointed (ἔχρισεν, a form of χρίω) you over your companions with the oil of rejoicing.”[9]  The first part of this quotation—Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom—was not verbatim from either version of the Septuagint.

Hebrews 1:8b (NET parallel Greek) Psalm 45:6 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 44:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα |τοῦ αἰῶνος|, καὶ ἡ ράβδος τῆς εὐθύτητος ράβδος τῆς βασιλείας |σου| ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ θεός εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεός, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, ράβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου

The relatively inconsequential differences—a conjunction, two additional articles and one missing article—are exactly the same differences (Table1 below) I found relative to the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.  Comparing either of them to both versions of the Septuagint yields another verbatim quote.

Hebrews 1:8b (Stephanus Textus Receptus) Psalm 45:6 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 44:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ο θρονος σου ο θεος εις τον αιωνα του αιωνος ραβδος ευθυτητος η ραβδος της βασιλειας σου ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ θεός εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεός, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, ράβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου

Hebrews 1:8b (Byzantine Majority Text)

 Psalm 45:6 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 44:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ο θρονος σου ο θεος εις τον αιωνα του αιωνος ραβδος ευθυτητος η ραβδος της βασιλειας σου ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ θεός εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεός, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, ράβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου

I will spend some time on the first seven verses of this psalm.

Psalm 45:1 (Tanakh)

Psalm 44:2 (NETS)
My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. My heart erupted with a goodly theme; it is I that address my works to the king; my tongue is a pen of a swift scribe.

The Hebrew word translated of the things which I have made was מעשׁי (maʽăśeh, Septuagint: ἔργα).  This psalm is presumed to have been written by the Korahites.  Though Korahites fought with David this psalm was not the work of sycophants flattering their king but a work of prophets revealing the One who was to come, the Son of God, the son of David (2 Samuel 7:12-16), the Rock who saved (yeshûʽâh, ישעתו) Israel.

Psalm 45:2 (Tanakh)

Psalm 44:3 (NETS)
Thou art fairer (yâphâh, יפיפית) than the children of men: grace (chên, חן) is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. Youthful in beauty (ὡραῖος) you are, beyond the sons of men; grace (χάρις) was poured on your lips; therefore God blessed you forever.

The Spirit is the one who gives life, Jesus said, human nature is of no help!  The words that I have spoken[10] to you are spirit and are life.[11]  If I keep this in mind I’m not thrown off by translations like fairer and youthful in beauty applied to Him, but remain focused on the Spirit and the life in his words: As it is written, “How timely (ὡραῖοι, another form of ὡραῖος) is the arrival of those who proclaim[12] the good news.”[13]  For[14] we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift (χάριν, a form of χάρις) after another (χάριτος, another form of χάρις).  For the law was given through Moses,[15] but grace (χάρις) and truth came about through Jesus Christ.[16]

Psalm 45:3 (Tanakh)

Psalm 44:4 (NETS)
Gird thy sword (chereb, חרבך) upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. Gird your sword (ῥομφαίαν, a form of ῥομφαία) on your thigh, O powerful one, in your bloom and beauty,

In John’s vision on Patmos a sharp double-edged sword (ρομφαία) extended out of [Jesus’] mouth.[17]  He identified Himself as the one who has the sharp double-edged sword (ρομφαίαν, a form of ρομφαία).[18]  Though the psalmists enjoined Him to Gird thy sword upon the thigh, in the manner of kings they knew, Jesus said He would make war against those [who follow the teaching of Balaam or the teaching of the Nicolaitans] with the sword (ρομφαίᾳ) of my mouth.[19]  Death and Hades…were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill its population with the sword (ρομφαίᾳ),[20] but John never saw a sword in Jesus’ hand: From his mouth extends a sharp sword[21] (ρομφαία), so that with it he can strike[22] the nations.[23]  Jesus’ words, the sword that extended from his mouth, have the power to kill the flesh of those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image (Revelation 19:19-21 NET).

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle[24] with the one who rode the horse and with his army.  Now the beast was seized, and along with[25] him[26] the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.  Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning[27] with sulfur.[28]  The others were killed by the sword (ρομφαίᾳ) that extended[29] from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh (σαρκῶν, a form of σάρξ).

Those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image were not thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.  I’ve assumed that they will be because an angel declaring in a loud voice, presumably prior to anyone worshipping the beast or taking his mark, said (Revelation 14:9-11 NET):

If anyone worships the beast and his image, and takes the mark on his forehead or his hand, that person will also drink of the wine of God’s anger that has been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured (βασανισθήσεται, a form of βασανίζω) with fire and sulfur in front of the[30] holy angels and in front of the Lamb.  And the smoke from their torture (βασανισμοῦ, a form of βασανισμός) will go up forever and ever, and those who worship the beast and his image will have no rest day or night, along with anyone who receives the mark of his name.

They will be tortured with fire and sulfur in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb.  The devil…was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are too.[31]  Those who worship the beast and his image will have no rest day or night, along with anyone who receives the mark of his name.  The devil, the beast and the false prophet will be tormented (βασανισθήσονται, another form of βασανισμός) in the lake of fire and sulfur day and night forever and ever.[32]  The smoke from their [e.g., those who worship the beast or receive his mark] torture (βασανισμοῦ, a form of βασανισμός) will go up forever and ever.

Though the words are quite evocative it is never stated explicitly that those who worship the beast or receive his mark are cast into the lake of fire and sulfur.  Even when the time comes that one might expect it, the criteria for being thrown into the lake of fire has changed: If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire.[33]  I don’t belabor this point to encourage anyone to worship the beast or take his mark, but to leave room for the mercy of God and to respect the power of Jesus’ preaching, the sharp sword that extends from his mouth.  This will become clearer, perhaps, in the next verse of the psalm.

Psalm 45:4 (Tanakh)

Psalm 44:5 (NETS)
And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. And draw, and prosper, and become king for the sake of truth and meekness and righteousness, and your right hand will guide you marvelously.

The Hebrew word translated truth was אמת (ʼemeth), ἀληθείας (a form of ἀλήθεια) in Greek in the Septuagint.  We saw his glory, John testified about Jesus, the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth (ἀληθείας, a form of ἀλήθεια), who came from the Father.[34]  Set them apart in the truth[35] (ἀληθείᾳ), Jesus prayed for his disciples, your word is truth (ἀλήθεια).[36]  And, I am the way, and the truth (ἀλήθεια), and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.[37]

The Hebrew word translated righteousness was צדק (tsedeq), δικαιοσύνης (a form of δικαιοσύνη) in Greek in the Septuagint.  Jesus was conscientious to fulfill all righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, another form of δικαιοσύνη).[38]  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, another form of δικαιοσύνη), He promised his hearers, for they will be satisfied.[39]  But above all, He exhorts those with ears to hear, pursue his kingdom[40] and righteousness (δικαιοσύνην, another form of δικαιοσύνη).[41]  For I tell you, unless your righteousness (δικαιοσύνη) goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.[42]

For no one is declared righteous (δικαιωθήσεται, a form of δικαιόω) before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.  But now apart from the law the righteousness (δικαιοσύνη) of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – namely, the righteousness (δικαιοσύνη) of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all[43] who believe.[44]  Those who believe are filled with the fruit[45] of righteousness (δικαιοσύνης, a form of δικαιοσύνη) that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.[46]  God’s servants commend themselves to others by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by benevolence, by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, by truthful (ἀληθείας, a form of ἀλήθεια) teaching, by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness (δικαιοσύνης, a form of δικαιοσύνη) both for the right hand and for the left.[47]  Chief among these weapons of righteousness is the sword (μάχαιραν, a form of μάχαιρα) of the Spirit, which is the word of God.[48]  John recounted his vision (Revelation 19:11-13 NET):

Then I saw heaven opened[49] and here came a white horse!  The one riding it was called “Faithful” (πιστὸς) and “True,” (ἀληθινός) and with justice (δικαιοσύνῃ) he judges and goes to war.  His eyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head.  He has[50] a name written that no one knows except himself.  He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called[51] the Word of God.

In the midst of all this martial imagery is the word meekness.  It was וענוה (ʽanvâh) in Hebrew, translated πρᾳότητος (a form of πρᾳότης) in Greek in the Septuagint.  It was also spelled πραΰτης.  Paul wrote of the meekness[52] (πραΰτητος, a form of πραΰτης) and gentleness of Christ.[53]  And apparently (2 Corinthians 10), the meekness and gentleness of Christ in him was so pronounced a feature of his own character in person that his letters shocked some in Corinth as being of a different character.  This πραΰτης, translated gentleness, is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of righteousness (Galatians 5:22, 23 NET):

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (πραΰτης), and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.

I’ve quoted this often but stopped before, Against such things there is no law.  No more, since I’m becoming more and more aware how eagerly the religious mind desires to be the arbiter of these things, throwing up reasons against them, debating if not outright denying, the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control rising up within me from that fountain of water springing up to eternal life.[54]  I’ve found myself unarmed and defenseless against its arguments because I haven’t drilled this truth deeply enough into my being: Against such things there is no law.  Against such things there is no law.

Brothers and sisters, Paul wrote believers in Galatia, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness[55] (πραΰτητος, a form of πραΰτης).[56]  I hear this as the Holy Spirit’s definitive answer to Paul’s rhetorical question: Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline or with love and a spirit of gentleness (πραΰτητος, a form of πραΰτης)?[57] even as I hear Paul’s rhetorical question as definitive of what a spirit of gentleness is not.

Pay close attention to yourselves, Paul continued, so that you are not tempted too.  Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill[58] the law of Christ.  For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  Let each one examine his own work.  Then he can take pride in himself and not compare himself with someone else.  For each one will carry his own load.[59]

This πραΰτης is at the very heart of what it means to live worthily of the calling with which [we] have been called (Ephesians 4:1b-6 NET):

with all humility and gentleness[60] (πραΰτητος, a form of πραΰτης), with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.[61]

And this, not because it is one of Paul’s laws but because meekness or gentleness is the very nature of the firstborn of this new species of humanity, the one called the Word of God, Jesus our Savior.  It is the work of God to instill this within us who have turned in faith to Him.  And it should never be forgotten, especially in the midst of martial imagery.  Though I copied and pasted וענוה (ʽanvâh) from the parallel Hebrew text of the NET online, there was a note (15) explaining why meekness or gentleness does not appear in the NET translation of Psalm 45:4.

I’ll pick this up in another essay.  Tables of Hebrews 1:8; John 6:63; John 1:16, 17; Revelation 2:16; Revelation 6:8; Revelation 19:15; 19:19-21; Revelation 14:9, 10; John 17:17; Matthew 6:33; Romans 3:22; Philippians 1:11; Revelation 19:11-13; 2 Corinthians 10:1; John 4:14; Galatians 6:1, 2; 1 Corinthians 4:21; Ephesians 4:2 and 4:6 comparing the NET and KJV follow.

Hebrews 1:8 (NET)

Hebrews 1:8 (KJV)
but of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱόν ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα |τοῦ αἰῶνος|, καὶ ἡ ράβδος τῆς εὐθύτητος ράβδος τῆς βασιλείας |σου|. προς δε τον υιον ο θρονος σου ο θεος εις τον αιωνα του αιωνος ραβδος ευθυτητος η ραβδος της βασιλειας σου προς δε τον υιον ο θρονος σου ο θεος εις τον αιωνα του αιωνος ραβδος ευθυτητος η ραβδος της βασιλειας σου

John 6:63 (NET)

John 6:63 (KJV)
The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help!  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
τὸ πνεῦμα ἐστιν τὸ ζῳοποιοῦν, ἡ σὰρξ οὐκ ὠφελεῖ οὐδέν· τὰ ρήματα ἃ ἐγὼ λελάληκα ὑμῖν πνεῦμα ἐστιν καὶ ζωή ἐστιν το πνευμα εστιν το ζωοποιουν η σαρξ ουκ ωφελει ουδεν τα ρηματα α εγω λαλω υμιν πνευμα εστιν και ζωη εστιν το πνευμα εστιν το ζωοποιουν η σαρξ ουκ ωφελει ουδεν τα ρηματα α εγω λαλω υμιν πνευμα εστιν και ζωη εστιν

John 1:16, 17 (NET)

John 1:16, 17 (KJV)
For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος και εκ του πληρωματος αυτου ημεις παντες ελαβομεν και χαριν αντι χαριτος και εκ του πληρωματος αυτου ημεις παντες ελαβομεν και χαριν αντι χαριτος
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὅτι ὁ νόμος διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐδόθη, ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο οτι ο νομος δια μωσεως εδοθη η χαρις και η αληθεια δια ιησου χριστου εγενετο οτι ο νομος δια μωσεως εδοθη η χαρις και η αληθεια δια ιησου χριστου εγενετο
Revelation 2:16 (NET)

Revelation 2:16 (KJV)
Therefore, repent!  If not, I will come against you quickly and make war against those people with the sword of my mouth. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
μετανόησον οὖν εἰ δὲ μή, ἔρχομαι σοι ταχὺ καὶ πολεμήσω μετ᾿ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ρομφαίᾳ τοῦ στόματος μου μετανοησον ει δε μη ερχομαι σοι ταχυ και πολεμησω μετ αυτων εν τη ρομφαια του στοματος μου μετανοησον ουν ει δε μη ερχομαι σοι ταχυ και πολεμησω μετ αυτων εν τη ρομφαια του στοματος μου

Revelation 6:8 (NET)

Revelation 6:8 (KJV)
So I looked and here came a pale green horse!  The name of the one who rode it was Death, and Hades followed right behind.  They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill its population with the sword, famine, and disease, and by the wild animals of the earth. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.  And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος χλωρός, καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπάνω |αὐτοῦ| ὄνομα αὐτῷ [ὁ] θάνατος, καὶ ὁ ᾅδης ἠκολούθει μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς ἐξουσία ἐπὶ τὸ τέταρτον τῆς γῆς ἀποκτεῖναι ἐν ρομφαίᾳ καὶ ἐν λιμῷ καὶ ἐν θανάτῳ καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν θηρίων τῆς γῆς και ειδον και ιδου ιππος χλωρος και ο καθημενος επανω αυτου ονομα αυτω ο θανατος και ο αδης ακολουθει μετ αυτου και εδοθη αυτοις εξουσια αποκτειναι επι το τεταρτον της γης εν ρομφαια και εν λιμω και εν θανατω και υπο των θηριων της γης και ιδου ιππος χλωρος και ο καθημενος επανω αυτου ονομα αυτω ο θανατος και ο αδης ηκολουθει αυτω και εδοθη αυτω εξουσια επι το τεταρτον της γης αποκτειναι εν ρομφαια και εν λιμω και εν θανατω και υπο των θηριων της γης

Revelation 19:15 (NET)

Revelation 19:15 (KJV)
From his mouth extends a sharp sword, so that with it he can strike the nations.  He will rule them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ ἐκπορεύεται ρομφαία ὀξεῖα, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῇ πατάξῃ τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ αὐτὸς ποιμανεῖ αὐτοὺς ἐν ράβδῳ σιδηρᾷ, καὶ αὐτὸς πατεῖ τὴν ληνὸν τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ παντοκράτορος και εκ του στοματος αυτου εκπορευεται ρομφαια οξεια ινα εν αυτη πατασση τα εθνη και αυτος ποιμανει αυτους εν ραβδω σιδηρα και αυτος πατει την ληνον του οινου του θυμου και της οργης του θεου του παντοκρατορος και εκ του στοματος αυτου εκπορευεται ρομφαια διστομος οξεια ινα εν αυτη παταξη τα εθνη και αυτος ποιμανει αυτους εν ραβδω σιδηρα και αυτος πατει την ληνον του οινου του θυμου της οργης του θεου του παντοκρατορος
Revelation 19:19-21 (NET)

Revelation 19: 19-21 (KJV)
Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ εἶδον τὸ θηρίον καὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς καὶ τὰ στρατεύματα αὐτῶν συνηγμένα ποιῆσαι τὸν πόλεμον μετὰ τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ ἵππου καὶ μετὰ τοῦ στρατεύματος αὐτοῦ και ειδον το θηριον και τους βασιλεις της γης και τα στρατευματα αυτων συνηγμενα ποιησαι πολεμον μετα του καθημενου επι του ιππου και μετα του στρατευματος αυτου και ειδον το θηριον και τους βασιλεις της γης και τα στρατευματα αυτων συνηγμενα ποιησαι πολεμον μετα του καθημενου επι του ιππου και μετα του στρατευματος αυτου
Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.  Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἐπιάσθη τὸ θηρίον καὶ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ ὁ ψευδοπροφήτης ὁ ποιήσας τὰ σημεῖα ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, ἐν οἷς ἐπλάνησεν τοὺς λαβόντας τὸ χάραγμα τοῦ θηρίου καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας τῇ εἰκόνι αὐτοῦ· ζῶντες ἐβλήθησαν οἱ δύο εἰς τὴν λίμνην τοῦ πυρὸς τῆς καιομένης ἐν θείῳ και επιασθη το θηριον και μετα τουτου ο ψευδοπροφητης ο ποιησας τα σημεια ενωπιον αυτου εν οις επλανησεν τους λαβοντας το χαραγμα του θηριου και τους προσκυνουντας τη εικονι αυτου ζωντες εβληθησαν οι δυο εις την λιμνην του πυρος την καιομενην εν τω θειω και επιασθη το θηριον και ο μετ αυτου ψευδοπροφητης ο ποιησας τα σημεια ενωπιον αυτου εν οις επλανησεν τους λαβοντας το χαραγμα του θηριου και τους προσκυνουντας τη εικονι αυτου ζωντες εβληθησαν οι δυο εις την λιμνην του πυρος την καιομενην εν θειω
The others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ἀπεκτάνθησαν ἐν τῇ ρομφαίᾳ τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ ἵππου τῇ ἐξελθούσῃ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ πάντα τὰ ὄρνεα ἐχορτάσθησαν ἐκ τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτῶν και οι λοιποι απεκτανθησαν εν τη ρομφαια του καθημενου επι του ιππου τη εκπορευομενη εκ του στοματος αυτου και παντα τα ορνεα εχορτασθησαν εκ των σαρκων αυτων και οι λοιποι απεκτανθησαν εν τη ρομφαια του καθημενου επι του ιππου τη εξελθουση εκ του στοματος αυτου και παντα τα ορνεα εχορτασθησαν εκ των σαρκων αυτων

Revelation 14:9, 10 (NET)

Revelation 14:9, 10 (KJV)
A third angel followed the first two, declaring in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and takes the mark on his forehead or his hand, And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ ἄλλος ἄγγελος τρίτος ἠκολούθησεν αὐτοῖς λέγων ἐν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ· εἴ τις προσκυνεῖ τὸ θηρίον καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ καὶ λαμβάνει χάραγμα ἐπὶ τοῦ μετώπου αὐτοῦ ἢ ἐπὶ τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ, και τριτος αγγελος ηκολουθησεν αυτοις λεγων εν φωνη μεγαλη ει τις το θηριον προσκυνει και την εικονα αυτου και λαμβανει χαραγμα επι του μετωπου αυτου η επι την χειρα αυτου και αλλος αγγελος τριτος ηκολουθησεν αυτοις λεγων εν φωνη μεγαλη ει τις προσκυνει το θηριον και την εικονα αυτου και λαμβανει χαραγμα επι του μετωπου αυτου η επι την χειρα αυτου
that person will also drink of the wine of God’s anger that has been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured with fire and sulfur in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ αὐτὸς πίεται ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ κεκερασμένου ἀκράτου ἐν τῷ ποτηρίῳ τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ βασανισθήσεται ἐν πυρὶ καὶ θείῳ ἐνώπιον ἀγγέλων ἁγίων καὶ ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἀρνίου και αυτος πιεται εκ του οινου του θυμου του θεου του κεκερασμενου ακρατου εν τω ποτηριω της οργης αυτου και βασανισθησεται εν πυρι και θειω ενωπιον των αγιων αγγελων και ενωπιον του αρνιου και αυτος πιεται εκ του οινου του θυμου του θεου του κεκερασμενου ακρατου εν τω ποτηριω της οργης αυτου και βασανισθησεται εν πυρι και θειω ενωπιον των αγιων αγγελων και ενωπιον του αρνιου

John 17:17 (NET)

John 17:17 (KJV)
Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἁγίασον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ· ὁ λόγος ὁ σὸς ἀλήθεια ἐστιν αγιασον αυτους εν τη αληθεια σου ο λογος ο σος αληθεια εστιν αγιασον αυτους εν τη αληθεια σου ο λογος ο σος αληθεια εστιν

Matthew 6:33 (NET)

Matthew 6:33 (KJV)
But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ζητεῖτε δὲ πρῶτον τὴν βασιλείαν  καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν ζητειτε δε πρωτον την βασιλειαν του θεου και την δικαιοσυνην αυτου και ταυτα παντα προστεθησεται υμιν ζητειτε δε πρωτον την βασιλειαν του θεου και την δικαιοσυνην αυτου και ταυτα παντα προστεθησεται υμιν

Romans 3:22 (NET)

Romans 3:22 (KJV)
namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe.  For there is no distinction, Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
δικαιοσύνη δὲ θεοῦ διὰ πίστεως |Ἰησοῦ| Χριστοῦ εἰς πάντας τοὺς πιστεύοντας. οὐ γάρ ἐστιν διαστολή δικαιοσυνη δε θεου δια πιστεως ιησου χριστου εις παντας και επι παντας τους πιστευοντας ου γαρ εστιν διαστολη δικαιοσυνη δε θεου δια πιστεως ιησου χριστου εις παντας και επι παντας τους πιστευοντας ου γαρ εστιν διαστολη
Philippians 1:11 (NET)

Philippians 1:11 (KJV)
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
πεπληρωμένοι καρπὸν δικαιοσύνης τὸν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς δόξαν καὶ ἔπαινον θεοῦ πεπληρωμενοι καρπων δικαιοσυνης των δια ιησου χριστου εις δοξαν και επαινον θεου πεπληρωμενοι καρπων δικαιοσυνης των δια ιησου χριστου εις δοξαν και επαινον θεου

Revelation 19:11-13 (NET)

Revelation 19:11-13 (KJV)
Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse!  The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ εἶδον τὸν οὐρανὸν ἠνεῳγμένον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος λευκός καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν  [καλούμενος] |πιστὸς| καὶ ἀληθινός, καὶ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ κρίνει καὶ πολεμεῖ και ειδον τον ουρανον ανεωγμενον και ιδου ιππος λευκος και ο καθημενος επ αυτον καλουμενος πιστος και αληθινος και εν δικαιοσυνη κρινει και πολεμει και ειδον τον ουρανον ανεωγμενον και ιδου ιππος λευκος και ο καθημενος επ αυτον καλουμενος πιστος και αληθινος και εν δικαιοσυνη κρινει και πολεμει
His eyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head. He has a name written that no one knows except himself. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οἱ δὲ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ [ὡς] φλὸξ πυρός, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ διαδήματα πολλά, ἔχων ὄνομα γεγραμμένον ὃ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν εἰ μὴ αὐτός οι δε οφθαλμοι αυτου ως φλοξ πυρος και επι την κεφαλην αυτου διαδηματα πολλα εχων ονομα γεγραμμενον ο ουδεις οιδεν ει μη αυτος οι δε οφθαλμοι αυτου φλοξ πυρος και επι την κεφαλην αυτου διαδηματα πολλα εχων ονοματα γεγραμμενα και ονομα γεγραμμενον ο ουδεις οιδεν ει μη αυτος
He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ περιβεβλημένος ἱμάτιον |βεβαμμένον| αἵματι, καὶ κέκληται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ και περιβεβλημενος ιματιον βεβαμμενον αιματι και καλειται το ονομα αυτου ο λογος του θεου και περιβεβλημενος ιματιον βεβαμμενον αιματι και καλειται το ονομα αυτου ο λογος του θεου
2 Corinthians 10:1 (NET)

2 Corinthians 10:1 (KJV)
Now I, Paul, appeal to you personally by the meekness and gentleness of Christ (I who am meek when present among you, but am full of courage toward you when away!) – Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Αὐτὸς δὲ ἐγὼ Παῦλος παρακαλῶ ὑμᾶς διὰ τῆς πραΰτητος καὶ ἐπιεικείας τοῦ Χριστοῦ (ὃς κατὰ πρόσωπον μὲν ταπεινὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀπὼν δὲ θαρρῶ εἰς ὑμᾶς) αυτος δε εγω παυλος παρακαλω υμας δια της πραοτητος και επιεικειας του χριστου ος κατα προσωπον μεν ταπεινος εν υμιν απων δε θαρρω εις υμας αυτος δε εγω παυλος παρακαλω υμας δια της πραοτητος και επιεικειας του χριστου ος κατα προσωπον μεν ταπεινος εν υμιν απων δε θαρρω εις υμας

John 4:14 (NET)

John 4:14 (KJV)
But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὃς δ᾿ ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, οὐ μὴ διψήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὕδωρ ὃ δώσω αὐτῷ γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον ος δ αν πιη εκ του υδατος ου εγω δωσω αυτω ου μη διψηση εις τον αιωνα αλλα το υδωρ ο δωσω αυτω γενησεται εν αυτω πηγη υδατος αλλομενου εις ζωην αιωνιον ος δ αν πιη εκ του υδατος ου εγω δωσω αυτω ου μη διψηση εις τον αιωνα αλλα το υδωρ ο δωσω αυτω γενησεται εν αυτω πηγη υδατος αλλομενου εις ζωην αιωνιον

Galatians 6:1, 2 (NET)

Galatians 6:1, 2 (KJV)
Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness. Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ἀδελφοί, ἐὰν καὶ προλημφθῇ ἄνθρωπος ἔν τινι παραπτώματι, ὑμεῖς οἱ πνευματικοὶ καταρτίζετε τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐν πνεύματι πραΰτητος, σκοπῶν σεαυτὸν μὴ καὶ σὺ πειρασθῇς αδελφοι εαν και προληφθη ανθρωπος εν τινι παραπτωματι υμεις οι πνευματικοι καταρτιζετε τον τοιουτον εν πνευματι πραοτητος σκοπων σεαυτον μη και συ πειρασθης αδελφοι εαν και προληφθη ανθρωπος εν τινι παραπτωματι υμεις οι πνευματικοι καταρτιζετε τον τοιουτον εν πνευματι πραοτητος σκοπων σεαυτον μη και συ πειρασθης
Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη βαστάζετε καὶ οὕτως |ἀναπληρώσετε| τὸν νόμον τοῦ Χριστοῦ αλληλων τα βαρη βασταζετε και ουτως αναπληρωσατε τον νομον του χριστου αλληλων τα βαρη βασταζετε και ουτως αναπληρωσατε τον νομον του χριστου

1 Corinthians 4:21 (NET)

1 Corinthians 4:21 (KJV)
What do you want?  Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline or with love and a spirit of gentleness? What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
τί θέλετε; ἐν ράβδῳ ἔλθω πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἢ ἐν ἀγάπῃ πνεύματι τε πραΰτητος τι θελετε εν ραβδω ελθω προς υμας η εν αγαπη πνευματι τε πραοτητος τι θελετε εν ραβδω ελθω προς υμας η εν αγαπη πνευματι τε πραοτητος

Ephesians 4:2 (NET)

Ephesians 4:2 (KJV)
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
μετὰ πάσης ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ πραΰτητος, μετὰ μακροθυμίας, ἀνεχόμενοι ἀλλήλων ἐν ἀγάπῃ μετα πασης ταπεινοφροσυνης και πραοτητος μετα μακροθυμιας ανεχομενοι αλληλων εν αγαπη μετα πασης ταπεινοφροσυνης και πραοτητος μετα μακροθυμιας ανεχομενοι αλληλων εν αγαπη

Ephesians 4:6 (NET)

Ephesians 4:6 (KJV)
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἷς θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ πάντων, ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων καὶ διὰ πάντων καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν εις θεος και πατηρ παντων ο επι παντων και δια παντων και εν πασιν υμιν εις θεος και πατηρ παντων ο επι παντων και δια παντων και εν πασιν ημιν

[1] Aaron and his sons (Exodus 28:43 NET)

[2] Exodus 29:33 (NET)

[3] Hebrews 1:7 (NET)

[4] Psalm 104:4 (NET)

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

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

[7] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἡ preceding scepter.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[8] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ἡ preceding scepter.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[9] Hebrews 1:8, 9 (NET)

[10] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had λελάληκα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had λαλω (KJV: speak).

[11] John 6:63 (NET)

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

[13] Romans 10:15b (NET) Table

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

[15] In the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 Moses was spelled Μωϋσέως, and μωσεως in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

[16] John 1:16, 17 (NET)

[17] Revelation 1:16b (NET)

[18] Revelation 2:12b (NET)

[19] Revelation 2:16b (NET)

[20] Revelation 6:8b (NET)

[21] The Byzantine Majority Text described this sword as διστομος here.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

[22] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had πατάξῃ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had πατασση (KJV: should smite).

[23] Revelation 19:15a (NET)

[24] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the article τὸν preceding battle.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[25] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had μετ᾿ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had μετα.

[26] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had αὐτοῦ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had τουτου.

[27] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had τῆς καιομένης here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had την καιομενην.

[28] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had the article τω preceding sulfur.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[29] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had εκπορευομενη (KJV: proceeded) here, where the NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ἐξελθούσῃ.

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

[31] Revelation 20:10a (NET)

[32] Revelation 20:10b (NET)

[33] Revelation 20:15 (NET)

[34] John 1:14b (NET)

[35] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had σου following truth (KJV: thy truth).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[36] John 17:17 (NET)

[37] John 14:6 (NET)

[38] Matthew 3:15 (NET) See Matthew 3:13-17

[39] Matthew 5:6 (NET)

[40] The Stephanus Textus Receptus, Byzantine Majority Text and NA28 had τοῦ θεοῦ (KJV: of God) following kingdom.  The NET parallel Greek text did not.

[41] Matthew 6:33a (NET) See Matthew 6:25-34

[42] Matthew 5:20 (NET)

[43] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και επι παντας (KJV: and upon all them) following all.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[44] Romans 3:20-22a (NET)

[45] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the singular καρπὸν accompanied by the singular article τὸν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the plural καρπων (KJV: fruits) accompanied by the plural article των.

[46] Philippians 1:11 (NET)

[47] 2 Corinthians 6:6, 7 (NET)

[48] Ephesians 6:17b (NET)

[49] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἠνεῳγμένον here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ανεωγμενον.

[50] The Byzantine Majority Text had ονοματα γεγραμμενα και (“names written and”) following He has.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

[51] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had κέκληται here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had καλειται.

[52] In the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 meekness was spelled πραΰτητος, and πραοτητος in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

[53] 2 Corinthians 10:1a (NET)

[54] John 4:14b (NET)

[55] In the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 gentleness was spelled πραΰτητος, and πραοτητος in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

[56] Galatians 6:1 (NET)

[57] 1 Corinthians 4:21b (NET) In the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 gentleness was spelled πραΰτητος, and πραοτητος in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

[58] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀναπληρώσετε here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αναπληρωσατε (KJV: fulfil).

[59] Galatians 6:1b-5 (NET)

[60] In the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 gentleness was spelled πραΰτητος, and πραοτητος in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

[61] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had υμιν following all (KJV: you all), where the Byzantine Majority Text had ημιν (us).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had neither.

Atonement, Part 1

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I plan to begin a slow pilgrimage through kâphar, which will at a minimum include surveying kôpher and kippûr.  The first occurrences of kâphar and kôpher according to Strong’s Concordance are found in, Make rooms in the ark, and cover (kâphar, וכפרת; Septuagint: ἀσφαλτώσεις, a form of ἀσφαλτόω) it with pitch (kôpher, בכפר: Septuagint: ἀσφάλτῳ, a form of ἄσφαλτος) inside and out.[1]  But I’m going to set that aside.

The note (48) in the NET reads:

The Hebrew term כָּפָר (kafar, “to cover, to smear” [= to caulk]) appears here in the Qal stem with its primary, nonmetaphorical meaning. The Piel form כִּפֶּר (kipper), which has the metaphorical meaning “to atone, to expiate, to pacify,” is used in Levitical texts (see HALOT 493-94 s.v. כפר). Some authorities regard the form in v. 14 as a homonym of the much more common Levitical term (see BDB 498 s.v. כָּפָר).

I think homonym was used here as I have used homograph:[2] “a word of the same written form as another but of different meaning and usually origin, whether pronounced the same way or not, as bear ‘to carry; support’ and bear ‘animal’ or lead ‘to conduct’ and lead ‘metal;’ a homograph.”[3]  A table showing the translations of the occurrences of kôpher from Genesis 6:14 – Numbers 35:32 in the KJV, NET and the Septuagint follows:

Form of kôpher

 Reference KJV NET

Septuagint
כפר Exodus 21:30 If there be laid on him a sum of money… If a ransom is set for him… λύτρα, a form of λύτρον
Exodus 30:12 …then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul… …then each man is to pay a ransom for his life…
Numbers 35:31 …ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: …you must not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death…
Numbers 35:32 …ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge… …you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge…
בכפר Genesis 6:14 …and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. …and cover it with pitch inside and out. ἀσφάλτῳ, a form of ἄσφαλτος

Clearly kôpher (כפר) in Exodus 21:30; 30:12; Numbers 35:31 and 32 is a homograph for kâphar (כפר) in Exodus 29:33 (NET): They are to eat those things by which atonement (kâphar, כפר) was made to consecrate and to set them apart, but no one else may eat them, for they are holy.  I am more than content to assume that the homographs translated, and cover it with pitch, have next to nothing to do with atonement.  John wrote (1 John 1:5-7 NET):

Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.  But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

I can appreciate that something like asphalt smeared inside and outside of a wooden vessel that preserved people through a judgment of water bears a vague similarity to atonement that will preserve people through a judgment of fire (2 Peter 3:5-7).  But and cover it with pitch sounds more like Achan burying a nice robe from Babylon, two hundred silver pieces, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels[4] in the ground right in the middle of [his] tent.[5]  It sounds like David calling Uriah home from the front and saying, “Go down to your home and relax.”[6]  When Uriah’s loyalty to his comrades-in-arms proved such that he was useless in David’s attempt to cover his sin with pitch, the king sent him back to the front carrying a letter to his commanding officer that read: “Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed (nâkâh).”[7]

In both circumstances yehôvâh brought these pitch-covered-sins to light (Joshua 7:10-26; 2 Samuel 12:1-14).  Thinking atonement was a covering of pitch for sin probably had a lot to do with my conclusion that the Gospel was more a mind trick God played on Himself than something of value for me.

Achan and his family were stoned and burned for theft.  David’s sins of adultery and murder[8] were forgiven or passed over.  I can’t pass by here without at least considering this moral calculus in some way beyond the obvious, that David was a king and Achan’s only claim to fame was the spectacle of his execution.

All the silver and gold, as well as bronze and iron items, belong to the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה), Joshua commanded.  They must go into the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) treasury.[9]  If I hear this with an unbelieving heart it’s easy to see why Friedrich Nietzsche considered Judaism (and not only Judaism) a religion concocted by weak, power-hungry priests.

The ‘law’, the ‘will of God’, the ‘holy book’, ‘inspiration’ – All these are just words for the conditions under which priests come to power and maintain their power, – these concepts can be found at the bottom of all priestly organizations, all structures of priestly or philosophical-priestly control. The ‘holy lie’ – this is common to Confucius, the law book of Manu, Mohammed, and the Christian church: and it is not absent from Plato either. ‘The truth is there ‘: wherever you hear this, it means that the priest is lying.

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Anti-Christ (1888), 55.

An article, “The Hebrew Bible in Nietzsche’s philosophy of religion,” by Jaco Gericke offers an interesting overview on this subject.  My affection for Nietzsche comes from long hours spent with him and Jesus.  Nietzsche, of course, is dead and had no opportunity for rebuttal.  It’s difficult to say how much that difference alone encouraged and maintained my faith in Jesus.  Still I hesitate either to censor Nietzsche’s writings or to promote them as a test of spiritual manhood.  Consider Jaco Gericke.

In “Confessions of a Died-Again Christian,” an interview hosted by Robert M. Price online, Professor Gericke gave his testimony, a born-again Christian who became first a “died-again” Christian then an atheist while studying to become a missionary.  After I listened to it I spent the rest of the day pouting.  That’s what I do now rather than throwing a hissy fit or trying to muscle on in my own strength.

“Either one of these men,” I prayed, “could have been better at this than I am.”

Professor Gericke never described the Bible as the product of lying priests (or preachers, as the case may be).  He described “the system”:

The system has everything covered.  So whatever your problem is, there’s an answer for that somewhere out there…
And you recognize how religion, how the system has controlled you and told you stories about the way things work, and you see the system for what it is…
You also understand how the system, with apologetics, has everything covered.  So to get out is really as close to a miracle as you can get.

He went to the university originally “to become a missionary to share the joy I found [after a conversion experience] with other people.”  Over time that desire was replaced by another, to be “academically respectable.”  Eventually he read Beyond Fundamentalism by James Barr.  “It focuses so much on the Bible and the text,” he described the experience of reading Barr, “that in the end what happens is that your Christian ethics destroys your Christian dogma because you just follow the truth and you do introspection.”  Mr. Price concurred: “The all important personal relationship with Jesus, the sole point of the Bible according to most of these guys [e.g., top notch evangelical…scholars], never occurs in the Bible.”

True enough, the words personal relationship with Jesus do not occur in the Bible.  The hope and promise of the new covenant reads (Jeremiah 31:34 NET Table):

“People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me.  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).  “For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”

Judas (not Iscariot) said to [Jesus] (John14:22-24 NASB):

“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 (τηρήσει, a form of τηρέω) My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep (τηρεῖ, another form of τηρέω) My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”

Professor Gericke’s testimony wasn’t a tale of following Yahweh/Jesus through the scriptures to know Him and his Father.  Rather, it was a proxy war he conducted in his own mind between his favorite fundamentalist apologists and the writings of Julius Wellhausen, David Strauss, biblical criticism, the philosophy of religion and the history of Yahweh, along with James Barr.  His fundamentalist champions didn’t measure up, so the “truth” set him free (John 8:31, 32 NET).

Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples and you will know the truth (ἀλήθειαν, a form of ἀλήθεια), and the truth (ἀλήθεια) will set you free.”

Even if Jesus alluded to a stoic maxim (as Mr. Price asserted) truth was not an abstract concept to Him, certainly not the writings of Julius Wellhausen, David Strauss, biblical criticism, the philosophy of religion and the history of Yahweh, along with James Barr.  Set them apart in the truth (ἀληθείᾳ, another form of ἀλήθεια), He prayed to his Father, your word is truth (ἀλήθεια).[10]  By word (λόγος) Jesus may have alluded to Himself—I am the way, and the truth (ἀληθείας, another form of ἀλήθεια), and the life[11]—but He was born a human baby and socialized into all of the rabbinic lore of his time.  He grew to become the person I know and love by preferring a collection of writings remarkably similar to the Old Testament I read today, which He called τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ (Matthew 15:6; Mark 7:13; Luke 8:21; Luke 11:28) or ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ (Luke 8:11; John 10:35).  Both were translated the word of God.

After his resurrection He said to his disciples (Luke 24:44-49 NET):

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled” [Table]. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it stands written that the Christ would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  And look, I am sending you what my Father promised.  But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” [Table].

His devotion to the truth of those writings was so fierce it terrified Peter and the other disciples (Matthew 26:52-56 NET):

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back in its place!  For all who take hold of the sword will die by the sword [Table].  Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now?  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?”  At that moment Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me like you would an outlaw?  Day after day I sat teaching in the temple courts, yet you did not arrest me.  But this has happened so that the scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled.”  Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Unqualified or not I will get up each morning, take whatever faithfulness I am given and follow Jesus through the scriptures.  I desire to do this to know Him and his Father.  He has given me a hunger and thirst for his righteousness.  And I need to do this lest the sin in my flesh overtake me.  Who would have thought of my sinfulness, my utter inability to do righteousness apart from the fruit of the Spirit, as my advantage over Jaco Gericke or Robert Price? I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,[12] Jesus answered the Pharisees and their experts in the law.

Admittedly, it takes some faith to find any coherent knowledge of God in his seemingly disparate judgments of Achan and David, but I think they are consistent with Jesus’ command: Do not judge so that you will not be judged.  For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.[13]

Achan was part of the army that had judged/condemned Jericho: They annihilated with the sword everything that breathed in the city, including men and women, young and old, as well as cattle, sheep, and donkeys.[14]  David sent out Joab with his officers and the entire Israelite army.  They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.  But David stayed behind in Jerusalem.[15]  Both were judged accordingly.

“This is what the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) says,” Nathan said to David, “‘I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household!  Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion.  He will have sexual relations with your wives in broad daylight!  Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.’”[16]

Despite Nathan’s warning David was merciful to his sons Amnon (2 Samuel 13:1-21) and Absalom (2 Samuel 14:21-33), though that mercy was perhaps the most immediate cause[17] of the prophecy’s fulfillment.  Absalom parlayed Amnon’s death (2 Samuel 13:23-37) into a credible political argument that he was the law and order choice for king (2 Samuel 15:1-6).  I have thought at times that David—the chief law enforcement official in Israel—if he had been strict with his sons, if he had at least left Absalom in self-imposed exile, may have avoided the consequence of Nathan’s prophecy.  But Jesus said in a parable (Matthew 18:32-35 NET):

“Then his lord called the first slave and said to him, ‘Evil slave!  I forgave (ἀφῆκα, a form of ἀφίημι) you all that debt because you begged me!  Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?’  And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture him until he repaid all he owed.  So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive (ἀφῆτε, another form of ἀφίημι) your brother from your heart.”

Paul quoted David from the Septuagint: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered…[18]  The original word in Hebrew was not kâphar or kôpher from Genesis 6:14, and cover it with pitch.  David chose kâsâh (כסוי): The waters completely inundated the earth so that even all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered (kâsâh).[19]  Two forms of kâsâh occur in this Psalm (32:1-6 Tanakh):

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered (kâsâh, כסוי) [Table].  Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile [Table].  When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.  For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.  Selah.

I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid (kâsâh, כסיתי).  I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.  Selah.

For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.

Therefore you are without excuse, Paul wrote believers in Rome, whoever you are, when you judge someone else (Romans 2:1-8 NET):

For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.  Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth (ἀλήθειαν, a form of ἀλήθεια) against those who practice such things.  And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment?  Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?  But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed!  He will reward each one according to his works: eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey (ἀπειθοῦσι, a form of ἀπειθέω) the truth (ἀληθείᾳ, another form of ἀλήθεια) but follow unrighteousness.

Near the end of the interview with Jaco Gericke, Robert Price described what he called “Practicing the Absence of God”:

What you use to say was the leading of the Holy Spirit, this internal voice—“Oh, don’t you want to come back? Aren’t you really just trying to escape the implications of the truth?”—you have to eventually regard that as you once did temptations to sin, because intellectually that’s what’s going on.  That’s what it is.  You have to say, “No, I’m sorry, I know better than that.  I’m not going to listen to that.  I’m going to go ahead and make a new start.”

Once you have Nietzsche in your head it’s easy to argue that Jesus’ command, Do not judge, was given, not because He is Yahweh come in human flesh but, because He was as desperate for the scriptures to be true as I am, and so, reasoned and argued in a similar manner.  He was ignorant of, or confused about, the esoteric knowledge that Jaco Gericke and Robert Price possess.  Of course, if Jesus was ignorant or confused, please grant me his ignorance and confusion.  For once you have Nietzsche in your head, it’s just as easy to see that Nietzsche raised unbelief to a high art and faithfully followed that art as its reductio ad absurdum.

A table comparing Romans 4:7 and Psalm 32:1 in the Septuagint follows.

 

Romans 4:7 (NET)

 Parallel Greek Psalm 32:1 (Septuagint)

Psalm 31:1 (NETS)
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered… μακάριοι ὧν ἀφέθησαν αἱ ἀνομίαι καὶ ὧν ἐπεκαλύφθησαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι μακάριοι ὧν ἀφέθησαν αἱ ἀνομίαι καὶ ὧν ἐπεκαλύφθησαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι Happy are those whose lawless behavior was forgiven and whose sins were covered over.

[1] Genesis 6:14b (NET)

[2] Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 14; Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 4

[3] homonym

[4] Joshua 7:21a (NET) Table

[5] Joshua 7:21b (NET) Table

[6] 2 Samuel 11:8a (NET)

[7] 2 Samuel 11:15 (NET), ונכה

[8] It is not the same Hebrew word as Exodus 20:13, but Nathan said, You have killed (hârag, הרגת) him with the sword of the Ammonites (2 Samuel 12:9b NET).  But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill (hârag, להרגו) him cunningly, yehôvâh said, you will take him even from my altar that he may die (Exodus 21:14 NET).

[9] Joshua 6:19 (NET)

[10] John 17:17 (NET)

[11] John 14:6 (NET)

[12] Luke 5:32 (NET)

[13] Matthew 7:1, 2 (NET) Table

[14] Joshua 6:21 (NET)

[15] 2 Samuel 11:1 (NET)

[16] 2 Samuel 12:11, 12 (NET) Table1 Table2

[17] I have written some on this topic: David’s Forgiveness, Part 5; David’s Forgiveness, Part 6; David’s Forgiveness, Part 7; David’s Forgiveness, Part 8; David’s Forgiveness, Part 9; David’s Forgiveness, Part 10 ; David’s Forgiveness, Part 11; David’s Forgiveness, Part 12; David’s Forgiveness, Part 13

[18] Romans 4:7 (NET)

[19] Genesis 7:19 (NET), ויכסו

Romans, Part 22

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Therefore, since we have been declared righteous (Δικαιωθέντες, a form of δικαιόω) by faith (πίστεως, a form of πίστις), we have peace (εἰρήνην, a form of εἰρήνη) with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,1 Paul continued.  Jesus said, When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are safe (ἐν εἰρήνῃ; literally, “in peace”).2  I take that to mean that one aspect of εἰρήνην with God is security or safety.  The word also meant the typical cessation of hostilities.  Jesus described a king going to battle, realizing he will not succeed, he will send a representative while the other is still a long way off and ask for terms of peace (εἰρήνην, a form of εἰρήνη).3  But Jesus took great pains to warn his followers what peace with God was not (Luke 12:51-53 NET).

Do you think I have come to bring peace (εἰρήνην, a form of εἰρήνη) on earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division!  For from now on there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three.  They will be divided, father against4 son and son against father, mother against daughter5 and daughter against mother,6 mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.7

Do not think that I have come to bring peace (εἰρήνην, a form of εἰρήνη) to the earth, Jesus said. I have not come to bring peace (εἰρήνην, a form of εἰρήνη) but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.8  It is hard to imagine anything more divisive than Jesus’ exclusive claim, I am the way, and the truth, and the life.9  He did not say to those of the East, I know the way.  He did not say to those of the West, I know the truth.  He did not say to Israel, I know the life.  He said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.10

Jesus was not a good man.  He was clearly insane or He was Yahweh come in human flesh just as He claimed: I tell you the solemn truth, before Abraham came into existence, I am!11  He continued as recorded by Matthew to give his followers instruction in light of the division He had come to bring to families: Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life because of me will find it.12

I have told you these things, Jesus comforted his followers, so that in me you may have peace (εἰρήνην, a form of εἰρήνη).  In the world you have trouble and suffering (θλῖψιν, a form of θλίψις), but take courage – I have conquered (νενίκηκα, a form of νικάω) the world.13  Peace is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, flowing from God through his Spirit to each and every believer.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (εἰρήνη), patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law [Table].14

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, Paul wrote the Romans, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also obtained access by faith (πίστει, another form of πίστις) into this grace (χάριν, a form of χάρις) in which we stand (ἑστήκαμεν, a form of ἵστημι), and we rejoice (καυχώμεθα, a form of καυχάομαι) in the hope (ἐλπίδι, a form of ἐλπίς) of God’s glory (δόξης, a form of δόξα).15

Boasting or glorying (καύχησις) in ourselves is excluded…by the principle of faith.16  It is through Christ that believers have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand; namely, the righteousness of God [Table]17 by the fruit of his Spirit.  So believers boast or rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.  This is the glory which was withheld from God when people did not glorify (ἐδόξασαν, a form of δοξάζω) him as God or give him thanks.18  And believers rejoice in hope because they do not yet see the fullness of this glory in themselves, not merely that they do not praise themselves, nor that they praise God with mere words, but that they glorify Him with lives that are reflections of his gift of righteousness by the fruit of his Spirit.

This grace in which we stand (ἑστήκαμεν, a form of ἵστημι) was difficult for me to comprehend.  It is the same word as uphold in the answer to Paul’s question, Do we then nullify the law through faith?  Absolutely not!  Instead we uphold (ἱστάνομεν, a form of ἱστάνω) the law.19 [Addendum March 7, 2024: According to the Koine Greek Lexicon online, ἱστάνομεν is a form of ἱστάνω.]  The King James translation had it, we establish the law.  I had trouble squaring grace and establishing the law because I thought establishing the law meant an evenhanded application of the punishments for sin listed in Leviticus 20, for instance.  I thought the law could not or would not be established or upheld until those punishments were implemented on the whole planet, whether by believers or by Christ Himself I was never quite certain.

I was Abin Cooper from Kevin Smith’s “Red State” (played brilliantly by Michael Parks, by the way) in spirit if not in action (my “faith” was completely devoid of works, thankfully, in this particular case).  Long before Kevin Smith penned “Red State” the Lord used Nietzsche’s hot wind to unmask me.  “And again, there are those who hold it a virtue to say: ‘Virtue is necessary’: but fundamentally they believe only that the police are necessary.”20  I argued for a time that Nietzsche had not aptly described me, but lost that argument in the end.  “Sometimes when you lose, you win.”21  Once I acknowledged that I didn’t know what it meant to uphold or establish the law, I began to learn.

We who through Jesus Christ have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand do not glorify God or uphold his law by seeking to punish evildoers, but by demonstrating the love that is the fulfillment of the law.22

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing [Table].  If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit [Table].  Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious.  Love does not brag, it is not puffed up.  It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful.  It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.  But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside [Table].  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside [Table].  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  But23 when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.  And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.24

And the fruit of the Spirit is love…25

 

Addendum: March 7, 2024
According to a note (69) in the NET, Jesus alluded to Micah 7:6. A table comparing the Greek of Micah 7:6 with Matthew 10:35b, 36 follows.

Matthew 10:35b, 36 (NET Parallel Greek)

Micah 7:6 (BLB Septuagint)

Micah 7:6 (Elpenor Septuagint)
ἄνθρωπον κατὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ θυγατέρα κατὰ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτῆς καὶ νύμφην κατὰ τῆς πενθερᾶς αὐτῆς, (36) καὶ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οἱ οἰκιακοὶ αὐτοῦ διότι υἱὸς ἀτιμάζει πατέρα θυγάτηρ ἐπαναστήσεται ἐπὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτῆς νύμφη ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερὰν αὐτῆς ἐχθροὶ ἀνδρὸς πάντες οἱ ἄνδρες οἱ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ διότι υἱὸς ἀτιμάζει πατέρα, θυγάτηρ ἐπαναστήσεται ἐπὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτῆς, νύμφη ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερὰν αὐτῆς, ἐχθροὶ πάντες ἀνδρὸς οἱ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ

Matthew 10:35b, 36 (NET)

Micah 7:6 (NETS)

Micah 7:6 (English Elpenor)
a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, (36) and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. for a son dishonors a father, a daughter shall rise up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; the enemies of a man are the men in his house. For the son dishonours his father, the daughter will rise up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: those in his house [shall be] all a man’s enemies.

Tables comparing Micah 7:6 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing Micah 7:6 in the BLB and Elpenor versions of the Septuagint with the English translations from Hebrew and Greek, and tables comparing the Greek of Luke 12:53; Matthew 10:36 and 1 Corinthians 13:11 the NET and KJV follow.

Micah 7:6 (Tanakh)

Micah 7:6 (KJV)

Micah 7:6 (NET)
For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. For a son thinks his father is a fool, a daughter challenges her mother, and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are his own family.

Micah 7:6 (BLB Septuagint)

Micah 7:6 (Elpenor Septuagint)
διότι υἱὸς ἀτιμάζει πατέρα θυγάτηρ ἐπαναστήσεται ἐπὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτῆς νύμφη ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερὰν αὐτῆς ἐχθροὶ ἀνδρὸς πάντες οἱ ἄνδρες οἱ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ διότι υἱὸς ἀτιμάζει πατέρα, θυγάτηρ ἐπαναστήσεται ἐπὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτῆς, νύμφη ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερὰν αὐτῆς, ἐχθροὶ πάντες ἀνδρὸς οἱ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ

Micah 7:6 (NETS)

Micah 7:6 (English Elpenor)
for a son dishonors a father, a daughter shall rise up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; the enemies of a man are the men in his house. For the son dishonours his father, the daughter will rise up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: those in his house [shall be] all a man’s enemies.

Luke 12:53 (NET)

Luke 12:53 (KJV)
They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

Luke 12:53 (NET Parallel Greek)

Luke 12:53 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Luke 12:53 (Byzantine Majority Text)
διαμερισθήσονται πατὴρ ἐπὶ υἱῷ καὶ υἱὸς ἐπὶ πατρί, μήτηρ ἐπὶ |τὴν| θυγατέρα καὶ θυγάτηρ ἐπὶ τὴν μητέρα, πενθερὰ ἐπὶ τὴν νύμφην αὐτῆς καὶ νύμφη ἐπὶ τὴν πενθεράν διαμερισθησεται πατηρ εφ υιω και υιος επι πατρι μητηρ επι θυγατρι και θυγατηρ επι μητρι πενθερα επι την νυμφην αυτης και νυμφη επι την πενθεραν αυτης διαμερισθησεται πατηρ επι υιω και υιος επι πατρι μητηρ επι θυγατρι και θυγατηρ επι μητρι πενθερα επι την νυμφην αυτης και νυμφη επι την πενθεραν αυτης

Matthew 10:36 (NET)

Matthew 10:36 (KJV)
and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

Matthew 10:36 (NET Parallel Greek)

Matthew 10:36 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Matthew 10:36 (Byzantine Majority Text)
καὶ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οἱ οἰκιακοὶ αὐτοῦ και εχθροι του ανθρωπου οι οικιακοι αυτου και εχθροι του ανθρωπου οι οικειακοι αυτου

1 Corinthians 13:11 (NET)

1 Corinthians 13:11 (KJV)
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

1 Corinthians 13:11 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 13:11 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 13:11 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ὅτε ἤμην νήπιος, ἐλάλουν ὡς νήπιος, ἐφρόνουν ὡς νήπιος, ἐλογιζόμην ὡς νήπιος· ὅτε γέγονα ἀνήρ, κατήργηκα τὰ τοῦ νηπίου οτε ημην νηπιος ως νηπιος ελαλουν ως νηπιος εφρονουν ως νηπιος ελογιζομην οτε δε γεγονα ανηρ κατηργηκα τα του νηπιου οτε ημην νηπιος ως νηπιος ελαλουν ως νηπιος εφρονουν ως νηπιος ελογιζομην οτε δε γεγονα ανηρ κατηργηκα τα του νηπιου

1 Romans 5:1 (NET)

2 Luke 11:21 (NET)

3 Luke 14:32 (NET)

5 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had |τὴν| θυγατέρα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had θυγατρι (KJV: the daughter).

6 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had τὴν μητέρα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μητρι (KJV: the mother).

7 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτης (KJV: her) following mother-in-law. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

9 John 14:6a (NET)

10 John 14:6 (NET)

11 John 8:58 (NET) Table

12 Matthew 10:37-39 (NET)

13 John 16:33 (NET)

14 Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

15 Romans 5:1, 2 (NET)

19 Romans 3:31 (NET) Table

20 Friedrich Nietzsche, Of the Virtuous, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, translated by R.J. Hollingdale, Penguin Books, 1975, p. 119

21 From the film, “What Dreams May Come”

24 1 Corinthians 13 (NET)