The Day of the Lord, Part 5

Posted on September 19, 2023 by admin

This is a continuation of my consideration whether my assumption that Jesus called Judas Iscariot ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας (NET: the one destined for destruction) is like Jesus’ disciples’ discussion about having no bread¹ after He said: “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!”²

Paul wrote (2 Thessalonians 2:1-6 NET):

Now regarding the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to be easily shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not arrive until the rebellion comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction (ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας) [Table]. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat in God’s temple, displaying himself as God [Table]. Surely you recall that I used to tell you these things while I was still with you. And so you know what holds him back, so that he will be revealed in his own time.

The interpretation of many of the Church Fathers was summarized in Meyer’s NT Commentary:

The apocalyptic teaching of the apostle in chap. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 has occupied Christians of all times, and has been very variously interpreted. A chief distinction in the interpretations consists in this, that this Pauline prediction may be considered either as that which will be fulfilled in the near or more distant future, or as having already received its fulfilment.

I. The Church Fathers belong to the representatives of the first view…They correctly agree in considering that by the advent (2 Thessalonians 2:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:8), or the day of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:2), is to be understood the personal advent of Christ for the last judgment and for the completion of the Messianic kingdom. Also it is correctly regarded as proved, that the Antichrist here described is to be considered as an individual person, in whom sin will embody itself…The restraining power by which the appearance of Antichrist is delayed, is usually considered to be the continuance of the Roman Empire (τὸ κατέχον) and its representative the Roman emperor (ὁ κατέχων).

And thus the “Who is the Antichrist?” guessing game began. There isn’t anything intrinsically wrong with a guessing game, I suppose. Jesus let his disciples guess who would betray Him, during dinner the night He was betrayed.

Matthew 26:21-23 (NET)	Mark 14:18-20 (NET)	Luke 22:21-23 (NET)	John 13:21, 22 (NET)
And while they were eating he said,	While they were at the table eating, Jesus said,		When he had said these things, Jesus was greatly distressed in spirit, and testified,
		“But look, the hand of the one who betrays (παραδιδόντος) me is with me on the table.
“I tell you the truth, one of you will betray (παραδώσει) me.”	“I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me will betray (παραδώσει) me.”		“I tell you the solemn truth, one of you will betray (παραδώσει) me.”
		For³ the Son of Man is to go just as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed (παραδίδοται)!”
They became greatly distressed	They⁴ were distressed,		The disciples began to look at one another, worried and perplexed to know which of them he was talking about.
		So they began to question one another as to which of them it could possibly be who would do this.
and each one⁵ began to say to him, “Surely not I, Lord?” He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray (παραδώσει) me.	and one by⁶ one said to him, “Surely not I?”⁷ He said⁸ to them, “It is one of⁹ the twelve, one who dips his hand with me into the bowl.

The tone of μήτι ἐγώ ¹⁰ and μήτι ἐγώ εἰμι ¹¹ is more difficult to decipher than I expected. It’s not quite the open-ended Is it I? of the King James Version, something I’ve heard preached and intended to contrast here to the suspicion and accusation of the Antichrist guessing game. Surely not I? doesn’t feel quite right either. The Greek question seems to be a more hesitant denial, seeking independent confirmation or assurance from Jesus.

And I considered Luke’s account more closely this time: So they began to question one another as to which of them it could possibly be who would do this.¹² The Greek word translated to question (συζητεῖν, an infinitive form of συζητέω) means “to seek together; to discuss, carry on a discussion; to reflect, mediate, contemplate, think.” But it can also mean “to dispute, debate, argue (with someone).”

The Greek words translated one another (πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς) do very little to dissuade me of the idea that Jesus’ disciples may have suspiciously accused one another. Since ἑαυτοὺς is in the accusative case, πρὸς means: “to; toward, in the direction of; beside; against; with; at.” As Luke’s account continued, it added a little more fuel to the fire of these suspicious accusations (Luke 22:24 NET).

A dispute (φιλονεικία) also (καὶ) started among them over which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.

Here again, Jesus’ disciples seem to have blocked out his “morbid fascination” with his own death because they “knew” He was the promised Messiah who would overthrow the Roman pagans and restore “faithful” Israel to its rightful place as the head and not the tail.¹³ Each one seemed most concerned about his own place in that new order.

John recorded a conclusion to the “Who is the betrayer?” guessing game, for his readers if not yet for the other disciples at that moment (John 13:23-26 NET):

One of his disciples, the one Jesus loved, was at the table to the right of Jesus in a place of honor [Table]. So Simon Peter gestured to this disciple to ask Jesus who it was he was referring to. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved leaned back against Jesus’ chest and asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus replied, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread after I have dipped it in the dish.” Then he dipped the piece of bread in the dish and gave it to Judas Iscariot (John 13:18), Simon’s son [Table].

John was also the one who described antichrist (1 John 2:18, 19 NET):

Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the¹⁴ antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour. They went out¹⁵ from us, but they did not really belong to us because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate that all of them do not belong to us.

First, John affirmed that ἀντίχριστος ἔρχεται (NET: antichrist is coming). The Greek verb ἔρχεται is a singular form of the verb ἔρχομαι in the present tense. A note in the Koine Greek Lexicon explained: “The present is sometimes used with the force of the future.” Whether this is one of those times is a matter of interpretation, since John continued: καὶ νῦν ἀντίχριστοι πολλοὶ γεγόνασιν (NET: so now many antichrists have appeared).

The Greek verb γεγόνασιν is a 3^rd person plural form of γίνομαι in the perfect tense. “The basic thought of the perfect tense,” according to the entry in Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions) on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek online:

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

This sounds similar to Paul’s affirmation that the man of lawlessness…the son of destruction¹⁶…will be revealed in his own time. For the hidden power of lawlessness is already at work.¹⁷ John proceeded to characterize the many antichrists.

1. They went out from us…

This was ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐξῆλθαν or ἐξῆλθον in Greek. The difference is insignificant: ἐξῆλθαν and ἐξῆλθον are both 3^rd person plural forms of ἐξέρχομαι. (The latter might also be understood as a 1^st person singular form.) I assume that ἡμῶν (NET: us) refers to the visible church generally. But John may have meant visible church leaders or even apparent apostles more specifically.

Consider how he began this letter (1 John 1:1-3 NET):

This is what we proclaim to you:¹⁸ what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our (ἡμῶν) eyes, what we have looked at and our (ἡμῶν) hands have touched (concerning the word of life—and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and announce to you [ὑμῖν] the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us [ἡμῖν]). What we have seen and heard we announce to you (ὑμῖν) too,¹⁹ so that you (ὑμεῖς) may have fellowship with us [ἡμῶν] (and indeed our [ἡμετέρα]²⁰ fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ).

Is the ἐξῆλθαν or ἐξῆλθον of the many antichrists equivalent to the rebellion²¹ (ἡ ἀποστασία) of which Paul wrote? I would assume so, unless John’s second characterization of the many antichrists precludes that possibility.

2. …but they did not really belong to us…

The Greek here is ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἦσαν ἐξ ἡμῶν (literally: “but existed not from us”). I take that to mean that at the time They went out, the many antichrists were not yet born from above, not yet born of the Spirit, not yet born…by God. John continued to explain: because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate (φανερωθῶσιν) that all of them do not belong to us.²²

Then John contrasted the many antichrists to his faithful readers (1 John 2:20, 21 NET):

Nevertheless you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all²³ know. I have not written to you that you do not know the truth, but that you do know it (αὐτὴν), and that no lie is of the truth.

3. …the antichrist…denies the Father and the Son

This led him to another characterization of antichrist, which I assume applies to the many antichrists as well (1 John 2:22, 23 NET).

Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist (ὁ ἀντίχριστος): the person who denies the Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also.²⁴

The Greek word translated denies all three times above was ἀρνούμενος, a present participle of the verb ἀρνέομαι: “to say that a statement heard or presented is untrue; to deny (the value of or validity of); to contradict, disavow, reject, abnegate, refuse, disown; to refuse (to do); to repent.” If you had asked me sometime before I became an atheist if I denied that Jesus is the Christ or if I denied the Father and the Son, I would have said “no.” And as far as I understood it, that was true.

I denied his “value” and “validity” all day every day, however, not out of any particular malice but, out of ignorance. I didn’t know Him. What I “knew” of imputed righteousness (Romans 4:22-25 KJV) was that it was a figment of God’s imagination, a mind game He played on Himself. Likewise, the righteousness of God without the law (Romans 3:21-24 KJV) was the same divine play pretending. I “knew” the only way to make it real was for me to obey the rules: the laws of the Old Testament, the commands of the New, along with those of my parents, teachers, coaches, pastors, doctors, city laws, county laws, state laws, national laws and on and on and on.

Is that what I was taught? I don’t remember what I was taught. It seems almost impossible to disentangle what I was taught from what I learned, sixty years or so after the fact. Maybe I was stupid, probably I didn’t pay enough attention, perhaps I wasn’t actually born from above just because I said a sinner’s prayer to Jesus so I wouldn’t burn in hell for all eternity when I was five-years-old. I do recall that the adults over me expected me to obey them—immediately.

The fastest way to do that was in my own strength. I expected Jesus to help. But He didn’t help me have my own righteousness derived from the law. And there didn’t seem to be much time or patience afforded to me to figure out how to live by the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness,²⁵ even if I had believed that his righteousness was available to me, or such a way of life was possible through faith in Jesus Christ.

I’ll continue with this in another essay.

Tables comparing Deuteronomy 28:13 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing the Greek of Deuteronomy 28:13 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Matthew 26:22; Mark 14:19, 20; Luke 22:22; 1 John 2:18, 19; 1:3; 2:20 and 2:23 in the NET and KJV follow.

Deuteronomy 28:13 (Tanakh)	Deuteronomy 28:13 (KJV)	Deuteronomy 28:13 (NET)
And HaShem will make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of HaShem thy G-d, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them;	And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:	The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments that I am urging you today to be careful to do.

Deuteronomy 28:13 (Septuagint BLB)	Deuteronomy 28:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καταστήσαι σε κύριος ὁ θεός σου εἰς κεφαλὴν καὶ μὴ εἰς οὐράν καὶ ἔσῃ τότε ἐπάνω καὶ οὐκ ἔσῃ ὑποκάτω ἐὰν ἀκούσῃς τῶν ἐντολῶν κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου ὅσα ἐγὼ ἐντέλλομαί σοι σήμερον φυλάσσειν καὶ ποιεῖν	καταστήσαι σε Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου εἰς κεφαλὴν καὶ μὴ εἰς οὐράν, καὶ ἔσῃ τότε ἐπάνω καὶ οὐκ ἔσῃ ὑποκάτω, ἐὰν ἀκούσῃς τῆς φωνῆς Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ σου, ὅσα ἐγὼ ἐντέλλομαί σοι σήμερον φυλάσσειν καὶ ποιεῖν
Deuteronomy 28:13 (NETS)	Deuteronomy 28:13 (English Elpenor)
May the Lord your God set you up as a head and not as a tail, and you shall then be on top, and you shall not be underneath—if you hear the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, to guard and to perform.	The Lord thy God make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt then be above and thou shalt not be below, if thou wilt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, in all things that I charge thee this day to observe.

Matthew 26:22 (NET)	Matthew 26:22 (KJV)
They became greatly distressed and each one began to say to him, “Surely not I, Lord?”	And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?

Matthew 26:22 (NET Parallel Greek)	Matthew 26:22 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Matthew 26:22 (Byzantine Majority Text)
καὶ λυπούμενοι σφόδρα ἤρξαντο λέγειν αὐτῷ εἷς ἕκαστος· μήτι ἐγώ εἰμι, κύριε	και λυπουμενοι σφοδρα ηρξαντο λεγειν αυτω εκαστος αυτων μητι εγω ειμι κυριε	και λυπουμενοι σφοδρα ηρξαντο λεγειν αυτω εκαστος αυτων μητι εγω ειμι κυριε

Mark 14:19, 20 (NET)	Mark 14:19, 20 (KJV)
They were distressed, and one by one said to him, “Surely not I?”	And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?

Mark 14:19 (NET Parallel Greek)	Mark 14:19 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Mark 14:19 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ἤρξαντο λυπεῖσθαι καὶ λέγειν αὐτῷ εἷς κατὰ εἷς· μήτι ἐγώ	οι δε ηρξαντο λυπεισθαι και λεγειν αυτω εις καθ εις μητι εγω και αλλος μητι εγω	οι δε ηρξαντο λυπεισθαι και λεγειν αυτω εις καθ εις μητι εγω και αλλος μητι εγω

He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who dips his hand with me into the bowl.

And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish.

Mark 14:20 (NET Parallel Greek)	Mark 14:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Mark 14:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· εἷς τῶν δώδεκα, ὁ ἐμβαπτόμενος μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ εἰς τὸ τρύβλιον	ο δε αποκριθεις ειπεν αυτοις εις εκ των δωδεκα ο εμβαπτομενος μετ εμου εις το τρυβλιον	ο δε αποκριθεις ειπεν αυτοις εις εκ των δωδεκα ο εμβαπτομενος μετ εμου εις το τρυβλιον

Luke 22:22 (NET)	Luke 22:22 (KJV)
For the Son of Man is to go just as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”	And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!

Luke 22:22 (NET Parallel Greek)	Luke 22:22 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	Luke 22:22 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς μὲν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κατὰ τὸ ὡρισμένον πορεύεται, πλὴν οὐαὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐκείνῳ δι᾿ οὗ παραδίδοται	και ο μεν υιος του ανθρωπου πορευεται κατα το ωρισμενον πλην ουαι τω ανθρωπω εκεινω δι ου παραδιδοται	και ο μεν υιος του ανθρωπου πορευεται κατα το ωρισμενον πλην ουαι τω ανθρωπω εκεινω δι ου παραδιδοται

1 John 2:18, 19 (NET)	1 John 2:18, 19 (KJV)
Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour.	Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

1 John 2:18 (NET Parallel Greek)	1 John 2:18 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	1 John 2:18 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Παιδία, ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστίν, καὶ καθὼς ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἀντίχριστος ἔρχεται, καὶ νῦν ἀντίχριστοι πολλοὶ γεγόνασιν, ὅθεν γινώσκομεν ὅτι ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστίν	παιδια εσχατη ωρα εστιν και καθως ηκουσατε οτι ο αντιχριστος ερχεται και νυν αντιχριστοι πολλοι γεγονασιν οθεν γινωσκομεν οτι εσχατη ωρα εστιν	παιδια εσχατη ωρα εστιν και καθως ηκουσατε οτι ο αντιχριστος ερχεται και νυν αντιχριστοι πολλοι γεγονασιν οθεν γινωσκομεν οτι εσχατη ωρα εστιν

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate that all of them do not belong to us.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

1 John 2:19 (NET Parallel Greek)	1 John 2:19 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	1 John 2:19 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐξῆλθαν ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἦσαν ἐξ ἡμῶν· εἰ γὰρ ἐξ ἡμῶν ἦσαν, μεμενήκεισαν ἂν μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν· ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα φανερωθῶσιν ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶν πάντες ἐξ ἡμῶν	εξ ημων εξηλθον αλλ ουκ ησαν εξ ημων ει γαρ ησαν εξ ημων μεμενηκεισαν αν μεθ ημων αλλ ινα φανερωθωσιν οτι ουκ εισιν παντες εξ ημων	εξ ημων εξηλθον αλλ ουκ ησαν εξ ημων ει γαρ ησαν εξ ημων μεμενηκεισαν αν μεθ ημων αλλ ινα φανερωθωσιν οτι ουκ εισιν παντες εξ ημων

1 John 1:3 (NET)	1 John 1:3 (KJV)
What we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you may have fellowship with us (and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ).	That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:3 (NET Parallel Greek)	1 John 1:3 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	1 John 1:3 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ὃ ἑωράκαμεν καὶ ἀκηκόαμεν, ἀπαγγέλλομεν καὶ ὑμῖν, ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς κοινωνίαν ἔχητε μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν. (καὶ ἡ κοινωνία δὲ ἡ ἡμετέρα μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ μετὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.)	ο εωρακαμεν και ακηκοαμεν απαγγελλομεν υμιν ινα και υμεις κοινωνιαν εχητε μεθ ημων και η κοινωνια δε η ημετερα μετα του πατρος και μετα του υιου αυτου ιησου χριστου	ο εωρακαμεν και ακηκοαμεν απαγγελλομεν υμιν ινα και υμεις κοινωνιαν εχητε μεθ ημων και η κοινωνια δε η ημετερα μετα του πατρος και μετα του υιου αυτου ιησου χριστου

1 John 2:20 (NET)	1 John 2:20 (KJV)
Nevertheless you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.	But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

1 John 2:20 (NET Parallel Greek)	1 John 2:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	1 John 2:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)
καὶ ὑμεῖς χρῖσμα ἔχετε ἀπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου \|καὶ\| οἴδατε πάντες	και υμεις χρισμα εχετε απο του αγιου και οιδατε παντα	και υμεις χρισμα εχετε απο του αγιου και οιδατε παντα

1 John 2:23 (NET)	1 John 2:23 (KJV)
Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also.	Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

1 John 2:23 (NET Parallel Greek)	1 John 2:23 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)	1 John 2:23 (Byzantine Majority Text)
πᾶς ὁ ἀρνούμενος τὸν υἱὸν οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει, ὁ ὁμολογῶν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει	πας ο αρνουμενος τον υιον ουδε τον πατερα εχει	πας ο αρνουμενος τον υιον ουδε τον πατερα εχει

The Day of the Lord, Part 6

Back to The Day of the Lord, Part 7

¹ Mark 8:16b (NET) Table

² Mark 8:15b (NET)

³ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ὅτι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και (KJV: And).

⁴ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had οι δε (KJV: And) at the beginning of this clause. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

⁵ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had εἷς preceding each (KJV: every one), while the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτων (KJV: of them) following every one (NET: each).

⁶ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had κατὰ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had καθ.

⁷ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και αλλος μητι εγω (KJV: and another said, Is it I?) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

⁸ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αποκριθεις (KJV: answered and) preceding he said. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

⁹ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εκ here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

¹⁰ Mark 14:19

¹¹ Matthew 26:22

¹² Luke 22:23 (NET)

¹³ Deuteronomy 28:13 (NET)

¹⁴ The Stephanus Textus Receptus had the article ο preceding antichrist. The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

¹⁵ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἐξῆλθαν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εξηλθον.

¹⁶ 2 Thessalonians 2:3b (NET) Table

¹⁷ 2 Thessalonians 2:6b, 7a (NET)

¹⁸ NET note 1: The phrase “This is what we proclaim to you” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to clarify the English. The main verb which governs all of these relative clauses is ἀπαγγέλλομεν (apangellomen) in v. 3. This is important for the proper understanding of the relative clauses in v. 1, because the main verb ἀπαγγέλλομεν in v. 3 makes it clear that all of the relative clauses in vv. 1 and 3 are the objects of the author’s proclamation to the readers rather than the subjects. To indicate this the phrase “This is what we proclaim to you” has been supplied at the beginning of v. 1.

¹⁹ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had καὶ here. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

²⁰ I assume that John used a different word here for our (ἡμετέρα, a singular form of ἡμέτερος in the 1^st person) to include his readers in the fellowship…with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, rather than to limit that fellowship to visible church leaders or apostles, actual or apparent.

²¹ 2 Thessalonians 2:3 (NET) Table

²² 1 John 2:19b (NET)

²³ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had πάντες here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had παντα (KJV: all things).

²⁴ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ὁ ὁμολογῶν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει (NET: The person who confesses the Son has the Father also) here. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

²⁵ Philippians 3:9 (NET)

Christianity, Part 10

Posted on July 30, 2023 by admin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The table mentioned above follows.

Occurrences of πάντας in Romans
Reference	NET Parallel Greek	ESV
Romans 3:9	προῃτιασάμεθα γὰρ Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ ῞Ελληνας πάντας ὑφ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι	For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
Romans 3:22	δικαιοσύνη δὲ θεοῦ διὰ πίστεως \|Ἰησοῦ\| Χριστοῦ εἰς πάντας τοὺς πιστεύοντας	the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
Romans 5:12	οὕτως εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὁ θάνατος διῆλθεν	so death spread to all men
Romans 5:18	ὡς δι᾿ ἑνὸς παραπτώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς κατάκριμα	as one trespass led to condemnation for all men
Romans 5:18	οὕτως καὶ δι᾿ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς δικαίωσιν ζωῆς	so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for fall men.
Romans 10:12	πλουτῶν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἐπικαλουμένους αὐτόν	bestowing his riches on all who call on him
Romans 11:32	συνέκλεισεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς πάντας εἰς ἀπείθειαν	For God has consigned all to disobedience
Romans 11:32	ἵνα τοὺς πάντας ἐλεήσῃ	that he may have mercy on all.
Romans 16:15	τοὺς σὺν αὐτοῖς πάντας ἁγίους	the brothers who are with them.
Romans 16:19	ὑμῶν ὑπακοὴ εἰς πάντας ἀφίκετο	your obedience is known to all

Christianity, Part 11

Back to Who Am I? Part 16

¹ John 12:32 (ESV)

² Romans 3:22b, 23 (ESV)

³ Who Am I? Part 3

⁴ Romans, Part 73

⁵ Philippians 3:9a (ESV)

⁶ Greek Comparison Table

⁷ Romans 3:20 (ESV)

⁸ Romans 3:22a (ESV) Table

⁹ Romans 3:24 (ESV)

¹⁰ Romans 3:22b (ESV) Table

¹¹ Philippians 3:9a (ESV)

¹² Romans, Part 17

¹³ Galatians 2:20a (NET)

¹⁴ Romans 5:12b (ESV)

¹⁵ Romans 5:18a (ESV)

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

¹⁷ 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) Table

¹⁸ Romans 5:18b (ESV)

¹⁹ Romans 5:19a (ESV)

²⁰ Romans 5:19b (ESV)

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

²² John 12:32 (ESV)

The Lost Son of Perdition, Part 10

Posted on February 26, 2023 by admin

This is a continuation of my consideration of God’s love for Satan revealed in the book of Job: the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ, יהוה) allowed Satan to carry out his scientific experiment on Job, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil.¹ Satan had a hypothesis why Job feared God, and a test for that hypothesis. But when the experiment was over Job didn’t curse God to his face as Satan’s test had predicted (Job 1:20-22 NET).

Then Job got up and tore his robe. He shaved his head, and then he threw himself down with his face to the ground [Table]. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. May the name of the Lord be blessed!” [Table] In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with moral impropriety [Table].

This result effectively falsified Satan’s hypothesis.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Job 2:4, 5 (Tanakh/KJV)	Job 2:4, 5 (NET)	Job 2:4, 5 (NETS)	Job 2:4, 5 (English Elpenor)
And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life (נַפְשֽׁוֹ).	But Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! Indeed, a man will give up all that he has to save his life (nep̄eš, נפשו).	Then the slanderer continued and said to the Lord, “Skin for skin; whatever a person has he will use to pay for his life (τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ).	And the devil answered and said to the Lord, Skin for skin, all that a man has will he give as a ransom for his life (τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ).
But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse (יְבָֽרְכֶֽךָּ) thee to thy face	But extend your hand and strike his bone and his flesh, and he will no doubt curse (bāraḵ, יברכך) you to your face!”	However, stretch out your hand, and touch his bones and his flesh; surely he will bless (εὐλογήσει) you to your face!”	Nay, but put forth thine hand, and touch his bones and his flesh: verily he will bless (εὐλογήσει) thee to [thy] face.

In other words, Satan rejected the conclusion that his hypothesis was false. He said he would have gotten the result he desired, if not for the Lord’s arbitrary condition placed on his test. The Lord had said to Satan (Job 1:12b NET [Table]):

All right then, everything he has is in your power. Only do not extend your hand against the man himself!

The Lord (יהוה) didn’t debate the merits of the scientific method with Satan:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Job 2:6 (Tanakh/KJV)	Job 2:6 (NET)	Job 2:6 (NETS)	Job 2:6 (English Elpenor)
And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life (נַפְשׁ֖וֹ).	So the Lord said to Satan, “All right, he is in your power; only preserve his life (nep̄eš, נפשו).”	Then the Lord said to the slanderer, “Very well, I am handing him over to you; only spare his life (τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ).”	And the Lord said to the devil, Behold, I deliver him up to thee; only save his life (τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ).

The Lord’s love, kindness and patience toward Satan is, frankly, a bit perplexing to me here. Is it simply who He is because God is love?² Was He demonstrating his superiority? Was He leading Satan to repentance? Or was He goading Satan to store up wrath for [himself] in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed?³

I also admit to being confused about Satan’s hypothesis at this point: Is it for nothing that Job fears God? [Table] Have you not made a hedge around him⁴ [Table] to shield him from disease? It seems even less likely to me now that Satan was conducting a scientific experiment to ascertain why/how Job was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.⁵ I’m thinking that Satan just wanted Job to curse God.

I, on the other hand, am more interested in how Job was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil⁶ even when Satan by the Lord’s leave took everything from him. The Lord’s confidence to continue with Satan’s charade encourages me that I’m on the right track with the idea that Job believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it as righteousness to him.⁷ The Lord’s confidence to continue with Satan’s test didn’t come from his faith in Job, but from his faith in the life-transforming power of his own credited righteousness.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Job 2:7, 8 (Tanakh/KJV)	Job 2:7, 8 (NET)	Job 2:7, 8 (NETS)	Job 2:7, 8 (English Elpenor)
So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.	So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he afflicted Job with a malignant ulcer from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.	So the slanderer went out from the Lord, and he struck Iob with a grievous festering sore from his feet to his head.	So the devil went out from the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from [his] feet to [his] head.
And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.	Job took a shard of broken pottery to scrape himself with while he was sitting among the ashes.	And he took a potsherd, so that he could scrape away the pus, and sat on the rubbish heap outside the city.	And he took a potsherd to scrape away the discharge, and sat upon a dung-heap outside the city.

Job’s wife seemed to have an uncanny grasp of the situation, even more so because her advice seems more in line with Satan’s reasoning than the Lord’s.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Job 2:9 (Tanakh/KJV)	Job 2:9 (NET)	Job 2:9 (NETS)	Job 2:9 (English Elpenor)
Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.	Then his wife said to him, “Are you still holding firmly to your integrity? Curse God, and die!”	Then after a long time had passed, his wife said to him, “How long will you persist and say, ‘Look, I will hang on a little longer, while I wait for the hope of my deliverance?’ For look, your legacy has vanished from the earth—sons and daughters, my womb’s birth pangs and labors, for whom I wearied myself with hardships in vain. And you? You sit in the refuse of worms as you spend the night in the open air. As for me, I am one that wanders about and a hired servant—from place to place and house to house, waiting for when the sun will set, so I can rest from the distresses and griefs that now beset me. Now say some word to the Lord and die!”	And when much time had passed, his wife said to him, How long wilt thou hold out, saying, 9α Behold, I wait yet a little while, expecting the hope of my deliverance? 9β for, behold, thy memorial is abolished from the earth, [even thy] sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb which I bore in vain with sorrows; 9γ and thou thyself sittest down to spend the nights in the open air among the corruption of worms, 9δ and I am a wanderer and a servant from place to place and house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from my labours and my pangs which now beset me: but say some word against the Lord, and die.

If I thought this was contemporary fiction I might go off on a feminist rant about misogyny and the patriarchy. Though I do think the literary form of Job is drama, I believe the story is true. But as drama, Job’s wife is the first everyman character one encounters. She reacts more like what Satan claimed to expect from his scientific experiment on Job, not because she is female but because she is human. I say “claimed” because Satan (Septuagint: ὁ διάβολος) is a liar.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that Satan already knew that Job was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil⁸ because Job believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it as righteousness to him.⁹ Satan already knew, even if he held onto some vague hope, that because of the power of the Lord’s credited righteousness there was nothing he could do to cause Job to curse God. Satan’s actual intent was to baffle us with misdirection, and to terrorize us with all he would do to us if we believed the Lord and the Lord credited it as righteousness to us.

Job’s wife sounds like Satan because everyman is from [their] father the devil, and [we] want to do what [our] father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature because he is a liar and the father of lies.¹⁰

That everyman is from [their] father the devil is a point for everyman to concede to Jesus, the shut door at the entrance to the kingdom of God, and the light that will highlight our inner devil all too clearly. God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am,¹¹ is the key to open the shut door that is Jesus, the light of the world.

Did the rabbis who translated the Septuagint add words to Job’s wife’s soliloquy to make her more sympathetic? Or did the editors of the Masoretic text delete them to make her more direct? I’m favoring the latter here because in the Masoretic text Job’s wife quotes the Lord almost verbatim even as she sounds more like Satan:

Job 2:3 (NET) The Lord	Job 2:9 (NET) Job’s Wife
he still (ʿôḏ, ועדנו) holds firmly (ḥāzaq, מחזיק) to his integrity (tummâ, בתמתו)	Are you still (ʿôḏ, עדך) holding firmly (ḥāzaq, מחזיק) to your integrity (tummâ, בתמתך)?

Here is a comparison of the Greek in the Septuagint for contrast:

Job 2:3 (Septuagint BLB) Table	Job 2:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)	Job 2:9 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 2:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἔτι δὲ ἔχεται ἀκακίας	ἔτι δὲ ἔχετε ἀκακίας	μέχρι τίνος καρτερήσεις λέγων	μέχρι τίνος καρτερήσεις λέγων
Job 2:3 (NETS)	Job 2:3 (English Elpenor)	Job 2:9 (NETS)	Job 2:9 (English Elpenor)
And he still maintains his innocence	and he yet cleaves to innocence	How long will you persist and say	How long wilt thou hold out, saying

Quoting the Lord verbatim is a clever synopsis that cuts immediately to the point. But the longer version of her speech seems more like a wife’s anguish watching her husband suffer, as well as her own anguish as long as he lives and she is not free to marry again. All this demonstrates perhaps is that the rabbis wrote better fiction. But I have faith that the story is true, and the Greek of the Septuagint seems much less like Job’s wife was privy to the Lord’s words verbatim.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Job 2:10 (Tanakh/KJV)	Job 2:10 (NET)	Job 2:10 (NETS)	Job 2:10 (English Elpenor)
But [Job] said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil (הָרָ֖ע)? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.	But he replied, “You’re talking like one of the godless women would do! Should we receive what is good from God, and not also receive what is evil (raʿ, הרע)?” In all this Job did not sin by what he said.	But Iob looked up and said to her, “You have spoken like one of the foolish women. If we received the good things from the Lord’s hand, shall we not bear the bad (τὰ κακὰ)?” In all these things that happened to him Iob did not sin at all with his lips before God.	But he looked on her, and said to her, Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women. If we have received good things of the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things (τὰ κακὰ)? In all these things that happened to him, Job sinned not at all with his lips before God.

In one sense, Job’s faith sounds naive. He accepts what has happened to him as evil from the hand of God (Septuagint: of the Lord, Κυρίου). He seems oblivious to Satan’s part in any of it. I wondered briefly whether Job thought of Satan as one of the gods. The rabbis who translated the Septuagint seem to have anticipated that question and answered it in the negative by translating האלהים (‘ĕlōhîm) Κυρίου here rather than θεοῦ. But Job’s theology was absolutely correct since Satan could do nothing without the Lord’s permission.

Job’s wife, especially in the Masoretic text, seems to believe that Job’s blamelessness is a personal achievement, a righteousness derived from law: Job still holds firmly to his integrity. But Job’s acceptance of both good and evil from the hand of the Lord sounds more to me like the fruit of a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness¹² so many years before the Word became flesh and took up residence among us.¹³

The Lord boasts about Job: There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil.¹⁴ The Lord has every right to boast. Job’s righteousness is the Lord’s handiwork. Job does not boast: The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. May the name of the Lord be blessed!¹⁵ What do you have that you did not receive? Paul wrote the Corinthians. And if you received it, why do you boast as though you did not?¹⁶ He also wrote to the Romans: Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?¹⁷

Satan doesn’t appear again in the book of Job except by proxy in his influence over natural born human beings. I want to continue to study the book of Job in another essay series, but here I’ll sum up a bit. This side excursion into the book of Job began for me with a question: Who did Jesus command, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”¹⁸

The narrative is quite clear that Jesus spoke to Judas Iscariot. But right before Jesus spoke those words, John also made it clear that Satan (ὁ σατανᾶς) had entered into Judas. In the book of Job Satan needed the Lord’s permission to do anything to Job. Was, What you are about to do, do quickly, Jesus’ permission? I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again, Jesus said. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will (ἐμαυτοῦ). I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This commandment I received from my Father.¹⁹

“It’s difficult to say that He was speaking to both: ποίησον is singular. But was He speaking to Satan/Judas, a unitary singular, at that moment?”²⁰ Then Satan entered into him²¹ (τότε εἰσῆλθεν εἰς ἐκεῖνον ὁ σατανᾶς) seems to be something more than You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires.²² And now I wonder if that “ something more” exempts Judas somehow from all people Jesus will draw to Himself if or when He was crucified.²³

Tables comparing Job 2:4; 2:5; 2:6; 2:7; 2:8; 2:9 and 2:10 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Job 2:4; 2:5; 2:6; 2:7; 2:8; 2:9 and 2:10 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

Job 2:4 (Tanakh)	Job 2:4 (KJV)	Job 2:4 (NET)
And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.	And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.	But Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! Indeed, a man will give up all that he has to save his life.

Job 2:4 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 2:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὑπολαβὼν δὲ ὁ διάβολος εἶπεν τῷ κυρίῳ δέρμα ὑπὲρ δέρματος ὅσα ὑπάρχει ἀνθρώπῳ ὑπὲρ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ ἐκτείσει	ὑπολαβὼν δὲ ὁ διάβολος εἶπε τῷ Κυρίῳ· δέρμα ὑπὲρ δέρματος· καὶ πάντα, ὅσα ὑπάρχει ἀνθρώπῳ, ὑπὲρ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ ἐκτίσει
Job 2:4 (NETS)	Job 2:4 (English Elpenor)
Then the slanderer continued and said to the Lord, “Skin for skin; whatever a person has he will use to pay for his life.	And the devil answered and said to the Lord, Skin for skin, all that a man has will he give as a ransom for his life.

Job 2:5 (Tanakh)	Job 2:5 (KJV)	Job 2:5 (NET)
But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face	But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.	But extend your hand and strike his bone and his flesh, and he will no doubt curse you to your face!”

Job 2:5 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 2:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ ἀποστείλας τὴν χεῗρά σου ἅψαι τῶν ὀστῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτοῦ εἰ μὴν εἰς πρόσωπόν σε εὐλογήσει	οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ ἀποστείλας τὴν χεῖρά σου ἅψαι τῶν ὀστῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ σαρκῶν αὐτοῦ· ἦ μὴν εἰς πρόσωπόν σε εὐλογήσει
Job 2:5 (NETS)	Job 2:5 (English Elpenor)
However, stretch out your hand, and touch his bones and his flesh; surely he will bless you to your face!”	Nay, but put forth thine hand, and touch his bones and his flesh: verily he will bless thee to [thy] face.

Job 2:6 (Tanakh)	Job 2:6 (KJV)	Job 2:6 (NET)
And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.	And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.	So the Lord said to Satan, “All right, he is in your power; only preserve his life.”

Job 2:6 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 2:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἶπεν δὲ ὁ κύριος τῷ διαβόλῳ ἰδοὺ παραδίδωμί σοι αὐτόν μόνον τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ διαφύλαξον	εἶπε δὲ ὁ Κύριος τῷ διαβόλῳ· ἰδοὺ παραδίδωμί σοι αὐτόν, μόνον τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ διαφύλαξον
Job 2:6 (NETS)	Job 2:6 (English Elpenor)
Then the Lord said to the slanderer, “Very well, I am handing him over to you; only spare his life.”	And the Lord said to the devil, Behold, I deliver him up to thee; only save his life.

Job 2:7 (Tanakh)	Job 2:7 (KJV)	Job 2:7 (NET)
So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.	So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.	So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he afflicted Job with a malignant ulcer from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

Job 2:7 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 2:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐξῆλθεν δὲ ὁ διάβολος ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἔπαισεν τὸν Ιωβ ἕλκει πονηρῷ ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς	᾿Εξῆλθε δὲ ὁ διάβολος ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου καὶ ἔπαισε τὸν ᾿Ιὼβ ἕλκει πονηρῷ ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς
Job 2:7 (NETS)	Job 2:7 (English Elpenor)
So the slanderer went out from the Lord, and he struck Iob with a grievous festering sore from his feet to his head.	So the devil went out from the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from [his] feet to [his] head.

Job 2:8 (Tanakh)	Job 2:8 (KJV)	Job 2:8 (NET)
And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.	And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.	Job took a shard of broken pottery to scrape himself with while he was sitting among the ashes.

Job 2:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 2:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔλαβεν ὄστρακον ἵνα τὸν ἰχῶρα ξύῃ καὶ ἐκάθητο ἐπὶ τῆς κοπρίας ἔξω τῆς πόλεως	καὶ ἔλαβεν ὄστρακον, ἵνα τὸν ἰχῶρα ξύῃ, καὶ ἐκάθητο ἐπὶ τῆς κοπρίας ἔξω τῆς πόλεως
Job 2:8 (NETS)	Job 2:8 (English Elpenor)
And he took a potsherd, so that he could scrape away the pus, and sat on the rubbish heap outside the city.	And he took a potsherd to scrape away the discharge, and sat upon a dung-heap outside the city.

Job 2:9 (Tanakh)	Job 2:9 (KJV)	Job 2:9 (NET)
Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.	Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.	Then his wife said to him, “Are you still holding firmly to your integrity? Curse God, and die!”

Job 2:9 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 2:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
χρόνου δὲ πολλοῦ προβεβηκότος εἶπεν αὐτῷ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ μέχρι τίνος καρτερήσεις λέγων	Χρόνου δὲ πολλοῦ προβεβηκότος εἶπεν αὐτῷ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ· μέχρι τίνος καρτερήσεις λέγων· 9α ἰδοὺ ἀναμένω χρόνον ἔτι μικρὸν προσδεχόμενος τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας μου; 9β ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἠφάνισταί σου τὸ μνημόσυνον ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες, ἐμῆς κοιλίας ὠδῖνες καὶ πόνοι, οὓς εἰς τὸ κενὸν ἐκοπίασα μετὰ μόχθων· 9γ σύ τε αὐτὸς ἐν σαπρίᾳ σκωλήκων κάθησαι διανυκτερεύων αἴθριος, 9δ κἀγὼ πλανῆτις καὶ λάτρις, τόπον ἐκ τόπου περιερχομένη καὶ οἰκίαν ἐξ οἰκίας, προσδεχομένη τὸν ἥλιον πότε δύσεται, ἵνα ἀναπαύσωμαι τῶν μόχθων μου καὶ τῶν ὀδυνῶν, αἵ με νῦν συνέχουσιν· ἀλλὰ εἰπόν τι ῥῆμα πρὸς Κύριον καὶ τελεύτα
Job 2:9 (NETS)	Job 2:9 (English Elpenor)
Then after a long time had passed, his wife said to him, “How long will you persist and say, ‘Look, I will hang on a little longer, while I wait for the hope of my deliverance?’ For look, your legacy has vanished from the earth—sons and daughters, my womb’s birth pangs and labors, for whom I wearied myself with hardships in vain. And you? You sit in the refuse of worms as you spend the night in the open air. As for me, I am one that wanders about and a hired servant—from place to place and house to house, waiting for when the sun will set, so I can rest from the distresses and griefs that now beset me. Now say some word to the Lord and die!”	And when much time had passed, his wife said to him, How long wilt thou hold out, saying, 9α Behold, I wait yet a little while, expecting the hope of my deliverance? 9β for, behold, thy memorial is abolished from the earth, [even thy] sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb which I bore in vain with sorrows; 9γ and thou thyself sittest down to spend the nights in the open air among the corruption of worms, 9δ and I am a wanderer and a servant from place to place and house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from my labours and my pangs which now beset me: but say some word against the Lord, and die.

Job 2:10 (Tanakh)	Job 2:10 (KJV)	Job 2:10 (NET)
But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.	But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.	But he replied, “You’re talking like one of the godless women would do! Should we receive what is good from God, and not also receive what is evil?” In all this Job did not sin by what he said.

Job 2:10 (Septuagint BLB)	Job 2:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὁ δὲ ἐμβλέψας εἶπεν αὐτῇ ὥσπερ μία τῶν ἀφρόνων γυναικῶν ἐλάλησας εἰ τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἐδεξάμεθα ἐκ χειρὸς κυρίου τὰ κακὰ οὐχ ὑποίσομεν ἐν πᾶσιν τούτοις τοῗς συμβεβηκόσιν αὐτῷ οὐδὲν ἥμαρτεν Ιωβ τοῗς χείλεσιν ἐναντίον τοῦ θεοῦ	ὁ δὲ ἐμβλέψας εἶπεν αὐτῇ· ἵνα τί ὥσπερ μία τῶν ἀφρόνων γυναικῶν ἐλάλησας οὕτως; εἰ τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἐδεξάμεθα ἐκ χειρὸς Κυρίου, τὰ κακὰ οὐχ ὑποίσομεν; ἐν πᾶσι τούτοις τοῖς συμβεβηκόσιν αὐτῷ οὐδὲν ἥμαρτεν ᾿Ιὼβ τοῖς χείλεσιν ἐναντίον τοῦ Θεοῦ
Job 2:10 (NETS)	Job 2:10 (English Elpenor)
But Iob looked up and said to her, “You have spoken like one of the foolish women. If we received the good things from the Lord’s hand, shall we not bear the bad?” In all these things that happened to him Iob did not sin at all with his lips before God.	But he looked on her, and said to her, Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women. If we have received good things of the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things? In all these things that happened to him, Job sinned not at all with his lips before God.

The Lost Son of Perdition, Part 11

Back to Nothing True, Part 2

¹ Job 1:8b (NET) Table

² 1 John 4:8 (NET)

³ Romans 2:5 (NET) Table

⁴ Job 1:9b, 10a (NET)

⁵ Job 1:1b (NET) Table

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Genesis 15:6 (NET) Table

⁸ Job 1:1b (NET) Table

⁹ Genesis 15:6 (NET) Table

¹⁰ John 8:44 (NET) Table

¹¹ Luke 18:13 (NET) Table

¹² Philippians 3:9b (NET)

¹³ John 1:14a (NET)

¹⁴ Job 1:8b (NET) Table

¹⁵ Job 1:21b (NET) Table

¹⁶ 1 Corinthians 4:7b (NET)

¹⁷ Romans 8:32 (NET) Table

¹⁸ John 13:27b (NET)

¹⁹ John 10:17b, 18 (NET)

²⁰ The Lost Son of Perdition, Part 5

²¹ John 13:27a (NET)

²² John 8:44a (NET) Table

²³ John 12:32 (NET)

The Book of Life, Part 3

Posted on May 31, 2022 by admin

The beast was permitted to go to war against the saints and conquer them. He was given ruling authority over every tribe, people,¹ language, and nation, and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast,² everyone whose³ name⁴ has not been written since the foundation of the world in the⁵ book of life belonging to the Lamb who⁶ was killed.⁷

This is the fullest description of the book of life so far. The Greek words translated the book were τῷ βιβλίῳ in the NET, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text. In the Stephanus Textus Receptus the feminine article τη preceded the neuter noun βιβλίῳ. That noun in the dative case was followed by a string of three articles, two nouns and a participle all in the genitive case: τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ ἀρνίου τοῦ⁸ ἐσφαγμένου.

For the most part, the genitive is often viewed as the case of possession. In more technical terms one noun in the genitive case helps to qualify another noun by showing its “class” or “kind”.⁹

So I have: “the book of the life of the lamb of the slain,” or “the book of the slain lamb’s life.” Or if one is inclined to play games with gender: “the slain lamb’s book of life.” Once the idea is purged from my thoughts—that the Lord wrote or had a list of personal names since the foundation of the world,¹⁰ that omission from this list condemned one to be thrown into the lake of fire,¹¹ that Peter lied about the existence of this list, writing, The Lord…does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance¹²—it is easy to understand “the book of the life of the lamb of the slain” as the New Testament.

The Greek word translated slain (KJV) and who was killed (NET) was ἐσφαγμένου, a participle of the verb σφάζω: “to kill, butcher, slaughter (by cutting the throat), slay for a sacrifice; to wound, maim, torment.” This word is like a synopsis of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

John¹³ saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb (ἀμνὸς) of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one about¹⁴ whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’ I did not recognize him, but I came baptizing with water¹⁵ so that he could be revealed to Israel.”¹⁶

After many of his disciples quit following him (John 6:67, 68 NET):

Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?” Simon Peter answered him,¹⁷ “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life (ζωῆς αἰωνίου).

If the Holy Spirit had intended for me to understand the book of life as a list of personal names He could have written τῷ ὀνοματογραφίᾳ τῆς ζωῆς. But if anyone says that Jesus’ life is described throughout the Bible, I wouldn’t be inclined to argue. I just didn’t see that for myself until I began to understand that Jesus learned this life from the Scriptures I know as the Old Testament.

First, I had to learn that Jesus expressed genuine surprise when he asked Nicodemus, Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things?¹⁸ He didn’t ridicule Nicodemus for ignorance of a novel concept that Jesus’ had made up in the moment: Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’¹⁹ Only then did I begin to recognize his life in the writings of the Old Testament.

The personal name of consequence in the slain Lamb’s book of life is not mine but Christ’s (Galatians 2:20 NET):

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is not Paul’s hyperbolic expression of his personal devotion to Christ but his declarative statement of mere Christianity. Anything, everything, less is hypocrisy, the work of an actor, one seeking to have [one’s] own righteousness derived from the law,²⁰ one rejecting the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness.²¹

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross! As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name (ὄνομα) that is above every name (ὄνομα), so that at the name (ὀνόματι, a form of ὄνομα) of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.²²

The Greek word translated Jesus was Ἰησοῦ, a form of Ἰησοῦς. In the Septuagint Ἰησοῦ and Ἰησοῦς are the Greek name of Joshua (Exodus 17:9, 10 NET).

So Moses said to Joshua (Ἰησοῦ), “Choose some of our men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”

So Joshua (Ἰησοῦς) fought against Amalek just as Moses had instructed him, and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill [Table].

So even the name above every name has more to do with the reputation of One than his personal name. Joshua did many wonderful things, but it is not before Joshua that every knee will bow. Joshua is not the Lord that every tongue will confess because his name is Ἰησοῦς in Greek.

Another occurrence of the Lamb’s book of life follows (Revelation 21:27 NET):

but nothing ritually unclean²³ will ever enter into [the holy city, Jerusalem], nor anyone who does²⁴ what is detestable or practices falsehood, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Again, names was added by the translators: but only those…written in the Lamb’s book of life. Here the book doesn’t seem like a literal book at all. Being written in the Lamb’s book of life sounds more like a euphemism for having a share in the Lamb’s life, for being in Christ (Philippians 3:5-11 NET):

I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless [Table]. But²⁵ these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. More than that,²⁶ I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung!—that I may gain Christ [Table] and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness. My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead [Table].

Given this, I would understand one not found written in the book of life²⁷ as a euphemism for one not in Christ. I’ll consider one more occurrence of the book of life (Revelation 20:11, 12 NET).

Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it;²⁸ the earth and the heaven fled from his presence,²⁹ and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the³⁰ great and the³¹ small, standing before the throne.³² Then books were opened,³³ and another book was opened³⁴—the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds.

A note (34) in the NET acknowledged that ἄλλο βιβλίον ἠνοίχθη, ὅ ἐστιν τῆς ζωῆς is literally “another book was opened, which is of life.” I can understand these books concretely as the Bible with the New Testament which is of life highlighted: the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds.³⁵

You yourselves are our letter, Paul wrote (2 Corinthians 3:2-11 NET):

written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.³⁶
Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills,³⁷ but the Spirit gives life.
But if the ministry that produced death—carved in letters on³⁸ stone tablets—came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective) [Table], how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be? For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation (κατακρίσεως, a form of κατάκρισις), how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory! For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it [Table]. For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how much more has what remains come in glory!

Conversely, I can understand “another book was opened, which is of life” abstractly as Christ Himself at the very moment when those whose life is hidden with Christ appear (Colossians 3:1-4 NET).

Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ (who is your³⁹ life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.

I can’t understand the dead being judged by a list of personal names to which they have had no access. So the dead were judged (ἐκρίθησαν, a form of κρίνω) by what was written in the books, according to their deeds (ἔργα, a form of ἔργον).⁴⁰ Jesus said, (John 3:16-21 ESV):

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn (κρίνῃ, another form of κρίνω) the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him [Table]. Whoever believes in him is not condemned (κρίνεται, another form of κρίνω), but whoever does not believe is condemned (κέκριται, another form of κρίνω) already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment (κρίσις): the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works (ἔργα, a form of ἔργον) were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works (ἔργα, a form of ἔργον) should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works (ἔργα, a form of ἔργον) have been carried out (εἰργασμένα, a form of ἐργάζομαι) in God.”

For many live, Paul wrote, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears (Philippians 3:18-21 NET):

I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven—and we also eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself [Table].

Does Jesus’ power (ἐνέργειαν, a form of ἐνέργεια; KJV: working) by which he is able to subject all things to himself extend to the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things⁴¹? I tend to answer this question in the affirmative because I remember when I believed none of it. I remember what “living” was like when I was written in the book of the slain Lamb’s life in these negative terms.

Tables comparing Exodus 17:9 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing the Greek of Exodus 17:9 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Revelation 13:7, 8; John 1:29-31; 6:68; Revelation 21:27; Philippians 3:7; Revelation 20:11, 12; 2 Corinthians 3:3; 3:6 and Colossians 3:4 in the NET and KJV follow.

Exodus 17:9 (Tanakh)	Exodus 17:9 (KJV)	Exodus 17:9 (NET)
And Moses said unto Joshua: ‘Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of G-d in my hand.’	And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.	So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”

Exodus 17:9 (Septuagint BLB)	Exodus 17:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἶπεν δὲ Μωυσῆς τῷ Ἰησοῦ ἐπίλεξον σεαυτῷ ἄνδρας δυνατοὺς καὶ ἐξελθὼν παράταξαι τῷ Αμαληκ αὔριον καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἕστηκα ἐπὶ τῆς κορυφῆς τοῦ βουνοῦ καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν τῇ χειρί μου	εἶπε δὲ Μωυσῆς τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ· ἐπίλεξον σεαυτῷ ἄνδρας δυνατοὺς καὶ ἐξελθὼν παράταξαι τῷ ᾿Αμαλὴκ αὔριον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἕστηκα ἐπὶ τῆς κορυφῆς τοῦ βουνοῦ, καὶ ἡ ράβδος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῇ χειρί μου
Exodus 17:9 (NETS)	Exodus 17:9 (English Elpenor)
iAnd Moyses said to Iesous, “Choose for yourself capable men, and go forth, and set up in battle array with Amalek tomorrow. And look, I stand on top of the hill, and the rod of God is in my hand.”	And Moses said to Joshua, Choose out for thyself mighty men, and go forth and set the army in array against Amalec to-morrow; and, behold, I [shall] stand on the top of the hill, and the rod of God [will be] in my hand.

Revelation 13:7, 8 (NET)	Revelation 13:7, 8 (KJV)
The beast was permitted to go to war against the saints and conquer them. He was given ruling authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation,	And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
\|καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ποιῆσαι πόλεμον μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ νικῆσαι αὐτούς,\| καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ἐξουσία ἐπὶ πᾶσαν φυλὴν καὶ λαὸν καὶ γλῶσσαν καὶ ἔθνος	και εδοθη αυτω πολεμον ποιησαι μετα των αγιων και νικησαι αυτους και εδοθη αυτω εξουσια επι πασαν φυλην και γλωσσαν και εθνος	και εδοθη αυτω ποιησαι πολεμον μετα των αγιων και νικησαι αυτους και εδοθη αυτω εξουσια επι πασαν φυλην και λαον και γλωσσαν και εθνος

and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed.

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν αὐτὸν πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, οὗ οὐ γέγραπται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ ἀρνίου τοῦ ἐσφαγμένου ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου	και προσκυνησουσιν αυτω παντες οι κατοικουντες επι της γης ων ου γεγραπται τα ονοματα εν τη βιβλω της ζωης του αρνιου εσφαγμενου απο καταβολης κοσμου	και προσκυνησουσιν αυτω παντες οι κατοικουντες επι της γης ων ου γεγραπται το ονομα εν τω βιβλιω της ζωης του αρνιου του εσφαγμενου απο καταβολης κοσμου

John 1:29-31 (NET)	John 1:29-31 (KJV)
On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!	The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Τῇ ἐπαύριον βλέπει τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐρχόμενον πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ λέγει· ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου	τη επαυριον βλεπει ο ιωαννης τον ιησουν ερχομενον προς αυτον και λεγει ιδε ο αμνος του θεου ο αιρων την αμαρτιαν του κοσμου	τη επαυριον βλεπει ο ιωαννης τον ιησουν ερχομενον προς αυτον και λεγει ιδε ο αμνος του θεου ο αιρων την αμαρτιαν του κοσμου

This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’

This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
οὗτος ἐστιν ὑπὲρ οὗ ἐγὼ εἶπον· ὀπίσω μου ἔρχεται ἀνὴρ ὃς ἔμπροσθεν μου γέγονεν, ὅτι πρῶτος μου ἦν	ουτος εστιν περι ου εγω ειπον οπισω μου ερχεται ανηρ ος εμπροσθεν μου γεγονεν οτι πρωτος μου ην	ουτος εστιν περι ου εγω ειπον οπισω μου ερχεται ανηρ ος εμπροσθεν μου γεγονεν οτι πρωτος μου ην

I did not recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he could be revealed to Israel.”

And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καγὼ οὐκ ᾔδειν αὐτόν, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα φανερωθῇ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ διὰ τοῦτο ἦλθον ἐγὼ ἐν ὕδατι βαπτίζων	καγω ουκ ηδειν αυτον αλλ ινα φανερωθη τω ισραηλ δια τουτο ηλθον εγω εν τω υδατι βαπτιζων	καγω ουκ ηδειν αυτον αλλ ινα φανερωθη τω ισραηλ δια τουτο ηλθον εγω εν τω υδατι βαπτιζων

John 6:68 (NET)	John 6:68 (KJV)
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.	Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ Σίμων Πέτρος· κύριε, πρὸς τίνα ἀπελευσόμεθα; ρήματα ζωῆς αἰωνίου ἔχεις	απεκριθη ουν αυτω σιμων πετρος κυριε προς τινα απελευσομεθα ρηματα ζωης αιωνιου εχεις	απεκριθη ουν αυτω σιμων πετρος κυριε προς τινα απελευσομεθα ρηματα ζωης αιωνιου εχεις

Revelation 21:27 (NET)	Revelation 21:27 (KJV)
but nothing ritually unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or practices falsehood, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.	And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθῃ εἰς αὐτὴν πᾶν κοινὸν καὶ [ὁ] ποιῶν βδέλυγμα καὶ ψεῦδος εἰ μὴ οἱ γεγραμμένοι ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ ἀρνίου	και ου μη εισελθη εις αυτην παν κοινουν και ποιουν βδελυγμα και ψευδος ει μη οι γεγραμμενοι εν τω βιβλιω της ζωης του αρνιου	και ου μη εισελθη εις αυτην παν κοινον και ποιουν βδελυγμα και ψευδος ει μη οι γεγραμμενοι εν τω βιβλιω της ζωης του αρνιου

Philippians 3:7 (NET)	Philippians 3:7 (KJV)
But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ.	But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
[Ἀλλὰ] ἅτινα ἦν μοι κέρδη, ταῦτα ἥγημαι διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ζημίαν	αλλ ατινα ην μοι κερδη ταυτα ηγημαι δια τον χριστον ζημιαν	αλλ ατινα ην μοι κερδη ταυτα ηγημαι δια τον χριστον ζημιαν

Revelation 20:11, 12 (NET)	Revelation 20:11, 12 (KJV)
Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.	And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ εἶδον θρόνον μέγαν λευκὸν καὶ τὸν καθήμενον ἐπ᾿ \|αὐτόν\|, οὗ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου ἔφυγεν ἡ γῆ καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ τόπος οὐχ εὑρέθη αὐτοῖς	και ειδον θρονον λευκον μεγαν και τον καθημενον επ αυτου ου απο προσωπου εφυγεν η γη και ο ουρανος και τοπος ουχ ευρεθη αυτοις	και ειδον θρονον μεγαν λευκον και τον καθημενον επ αυτον ου απο προσωπου εφυγεν η γη και ο ουρανος και τοπος ουχ ευρεθη αυτοις

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened—the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ εἶδον τοὺς νεκρούς, τοὺς μεγάλους καὶ τοὺς μικρούς, ἑστῶτας ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου. καὶ βιβλία ἠνοίχθησαν, καὶ ἄλλο βιβλίον ἠνοίχθη, ὅ ἐστιν τῆς ζωῆς, καὶ ἐκρίθησαν οἱ νεκροὶ ἐκ τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν τοῖς βιβλίοις κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν	και ειδον τους νεκρους μικρους και μεγαλους εστωτας ενωπιον του θεου και βιβλια ηνεωχθησαν και βιβλιον αλλο ηνεωχθη ο εστιν της ζωης και εκριθησαν οι νεκροι εκ των γεγραμμενων εν τοις βιβλιοις κατα τα εργα αυτων	και ειδον τους νεκρους τους μεγαλους και τους μικρους εστωτας ενωπιον του θρονου και βιβλια ηνεωχθησαν και αλλο βιβλιον ηνεωχθη ο εστιν της ζωης και εκριθησαν οι νεκροι εκ των γεγραμμενων εν τοις βιβλιοις κατα τα εργα αυτων

2 Corinthians 3:3 (NET)	2 Corinthians 3:3 (KJV)
revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.	Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
φανερούμενοι ὅτι ἐστὲ ἐπιστολὴ Χριστοῦ διακονηθεῖσα ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν, ἐγγεγραμμένη οὐ μέλανι ἀλλὰ πνεύματι θεοῦ ζῶντος, οὐκ ἐν πλαξὶν λιθίναις ἀλλ᾿ ἐν πλαξὶν καρδίαις σαρκίναις	φανερουμενοι οτι εστε επιστολη χριστου διακονηθεισα υφ ημων εγγεγραμμενη ου μελανι αλλα πνευματι θεου ζωντος ουκ εν πλαξιν λιθιναις αλλ εν πλαξιν καρδιας σαρκιναις	φανερουμενοι οτι εστε επιστολη χριστου διακονηθεισα υφ ημων εγγεγραμμενη ου μελανι αλλα πνευματι θεου ζωντος ουκ εν πλαξιν λιθιναις αλλ εν πλαξιν καρδιαις σαρκιναις

2 Corinthians 3:6 (NET)	2 Corinthians 3:6 (KJV)
who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.	Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ὃς καὶ ἱκάνωσεν ἡμᾶς διακόνους καινῆς διαθήκης, οὐ γράμματος ἀλλὰ πνεύματος· τὸ γὰρ γράμμα \|ἀποκτέννει\|, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζῳοποιεῖ	ος και ικανωσεν ημας διακονους καινης διαθηκης ου γραμματος αλλα πνευματος το γαρ γραμμα αποκτεινει το δε πνευμα ζωοποιει	ος και ικανωσεν ημας διακονους καινης διαθηκης ου γραμματος αλλα πνευματος το γαρ γραμμα αποκτενει το δε πνευμα ζωοποιει

Colossians 3:4 (NET)	Colossians 3:4 (KJV)
When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.	When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ὅταν ὁ Χριστὸς φανερωθῇ (ἡ ζωὴ \|ὑμῶν\|), τότε καὶ ὑμεῖς σὺν αὐτῷ φανερωθήσεσθε ἐν δόξῃ	οταν ο χριστος φανερωθη η ζωη ημων τοτε και υμεις συν αυτω φανερωθησεσθε εν δοξη	οταν ο χριστος φανερωθη η ζωη ημων τοτε και υμεις συν αυτω φανερωθησεσθε εν δοξη

Back to Christianity, Part 6

Back to Who Am I? Part 16

¹ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text had καὶ λαὸν here. The Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

² The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had αὐτὸν here in the accusative case, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτω in the dative case (KJV: him).

³ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had the singular οὗ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the plural ων.

⁴ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had the singular τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ (literally: the name of him) here, where the Byzantine Majority Text had τὸ ὄνομα, and the Stephanus Textus Receptus had the plural τα ονοματα (KJV: names).

⁵ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text had the masculine or neuter article τῷ preceding book, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had the feminine article τη.

⁶ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text had the article τοῦ in the genitive case preceding was killed. The Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

⁷ Revelation 13:7, 8 (NET)

⁸ This article τοῦ is not found in the Stephanus Textus Receptus.

⁹ GREEK NOUNS (Shorter Definitions), Resources for Learning New Testament Greek

¹⁰ Revelation 17:8 (NET) Table

¹¹ Revelation 20:15 (NET) Table

¹² 2 Peter 3:9 (NET) Table

¹³ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ο ιωαννης here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

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

¹⁵ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article τω preceding water. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

¹⁶ John 1:29-31 (NET)

¹⁷ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ουν (KJV: Then) preceding him. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

¹⁸ John 3:10 (NET) Table

¹⁹ John 3:7 (NET)

²⁰ Philippians 3:9a (NET)

²¹ Philippians 3:9b (NET)

²² Philippians 2:8-11 (NET)

²³ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text had an adjective κοινὸν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had a participle κοινουν (KJV: that defileth).

²⁴ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ὁ ποιῶν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ποιουν (KJV: worketh).

²⁵ The NET parallel Greek text had Ἀλλὰ here, where the NA²⁸, Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byantine Majority Text had Ἀλλ’.

²⁶ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Stephanus Textus Receptus had μενοῦνγε here, where the Byantine Majority Text had μεν ουν.

²⁷ Revelation 20:15a (NET)

²⁸ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text had αὐτόν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had αυτου.

²⁹ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had the article τοῦ preceding presence (KJV: face). The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

³⁰ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text had the article τοὺς preceding great. The Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

³¹ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text had the article τοὺς preceding small. The Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

³² The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text had θρόνου here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had θεου (KJV: God).

³³ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἠνοίχθησαν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ηνεωχθησαν.

³⁴ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἠνοίχθη here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ηνεωχθη.

³⁵ Revelation 20:12b (NET)

³⁶ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text had the plural καρδίαις in the dative case here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had the singular καρδιας in the genitive case (KJV: of the heart).

³⁷ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἀποκτέννει here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had αποκτεινει (KJV: killeth), and the Byzantine Majority Text had αποκτενει.

³⁸ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εν preceding stone. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

³⁹ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ὑμῶν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ημων (KJV: our).

⁴⁰ Revelation 20:12b (NET)

⁴¹ Philippians 3:18b, 19 (KJV)

Psalm 22, Part 6

Posted on November 15, 2020 by admin

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

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Psalm 22:14a (Tanakh)	Psalm 22:14a (NET)	Psalm 21:15a (NETS)	Psalm 21:15a (Elpenor English)
I am poured out like water,	My strength drains away like water [Note 31: like water I am poured out];	Like water I was poured out,	I am poured out like water,

The Hebrew word translated I am poured out was נִשְׁפַּכְתִּי֘ (shaphak). The Greek word in the Septuagint was ἐξεχύθην (a form of ἐκχέω). Jesus taught his disciples:

Matthew 26:27, 28 (NET)	Mark 14:23, 24 (NET)	Luke 22:20 (NET)
And after taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you,	And after taking the^[1] cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.	And in the same way he took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out (ἐκχυννόμενον) for you^[2] is the new covenant in my blood.
for this is my blood, the blood of the^[3] covenant,^[4] that is poured out (ἐκχυννόμενον) for many for the forgiveness of sins.	He said to them, “This is my blood, the blood of the^[5] covenant,^[6] that is poured out (ἐκχυννόμενον) for^[7] many.

Here, too, the Greek word translated poured out was ἐκχυννόμενον (another form of ἐκχέω). On the day the Holy Spirit was poured out on all who believed Jesus, Peter quoted the prophet Joel:

Acts 2:17 (NET)	Joel 2:28 (NETS)	Joel 3:1 (English Elpenor)
‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out (ἐκχεῶ) my Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.	And it shall be after these things, I will pour out (ἐκχεῶ)^[8] my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.	And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out (ἐκχεῶ) of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
Acts 2:17 (NET Parallel Greek)	Joel 2:28 (Septuagint BLB)	Joel 3:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔσται ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις, λέγει ὁ θεός, ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν καὶ οἱ νεανίσκοι ὑμῶν ὁράσεις ὄψονται καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ὑμῶν ἐνυπνίοις ἐνυπνιασθήσονται	καὶ ἔσται μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα καὶ προφητεύσουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ὑμῶν ἐνύπνια ἐνυπνιασθήσονται καὶ οἱ νεανίσκοι ὑμῶν ὁράσεις ὄψονται	ΚΑΙ ἔσται μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν, καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ὑμῶν ἐνύπνια ἐνυπνιασθήσονται, καὶ οἱ νεανίσκοι ὑμῶν ὁράσεις ὄψονται
Acts 2:18 (NET)	Joel 2:29 (NETS)	Joel 3:2 (English Elpenor)
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out (ἐκχεῶ) my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.	Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out (ἐκχεῶ)^[9] my spirit.	And on my servants and on [my] handmaids in those days will I pour out (ἐκχεῶ) of my Spirit.
Acts 2:18 (NET Parallel Greek)	Joel 2:29 (Septuagint BLB)	Joel 3:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καί γε ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους μου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας μου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος μου, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν	καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας ἐν ταῗς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου	καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους μου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας μου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου

Peter’s addition of γε (translated even) understood as at least, and the potential addition of μου (depending on which version of the Septuagint is closer to the original Greek and which Greek is closer to the original Hebrew), indicates to me that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was limited in Peter’s then present to believers—limited to my (e.g., God’s) servants or slaves (δούλους, a form of δοῦλος, and δούλας, a form of δούλη). Jesus told his disciples, “you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves (δοῦλοι, another form of δοῦλος) undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’”^[10]

The religious mind as “a subspecies of the carnal mind” will not hear this saying. It rejects such a concept entirely as it strives to justify itself by having its own righteousness derived from the law or Church doctrine or whatever virtue system it might imagine for itself. The religious mind craves credit and praise for its own standards and achievements of righteousness. I think the phrase slaves undeserving of special praise (δοῦλοι ἀχρεῖοι; KJV: unprofitable servants) was Jesus’ way of expressing the attitude of those led by the Spirit of God. Paul described it a bit differently (Galatians 2:19-21 NET):

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

What you have done (ποιήσητε, a form of ποιέω) when you have done everything as a disciple of Christ led by his Holy Spirit is not your work (Hebrews 4:1-13) but Christ’s: the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.^[11] The one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God.^[12]

This Jesus God raised up, Peter continued on the day the Holy Spirit was poured out upon believers, and we are all witnesses of it. So then, exalted to the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out (ἐξέχεεν, another form of ἐκχεῶ) what you both see and hear [Table].^[13]

The phrase what you both see and hear was a reference to what happened when the Holy Spirit was poured out on believers (Acts 2:4-12 NET):

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven residing in Jerusalem [Table]. When this sound occurred, a crowd gathered and was in confusion because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Completely baffled, they said, “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? [Table] And how is it that each one of us hears them in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great deeds God has done!” All were astounded and greatly confused, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” [Table]

Peter was also first to preach the Gospel to Gentiles (Acts 10:34b-48a NET):

I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people [Table], but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is welcomed before him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, proclaiming the good news (εὐαγγελιζόμενος, a form of εὐαγγελίζω) of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)—you know what happened throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John announced: with respect to Jesus from Nazareth,^[14] that God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went around doing good (εὐεργετῶν, a form of εὐεργετέω) and healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God was with him. We are^[15] witnesses of all the things he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They killed^[16] him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him up on^[17] the third day and caused him to be seen, not by all the people, but by us, the witnesses God had already chosen, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to warn them that he^[18] is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. About him all the prophets testify, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had accompanied^[19] Peter were greatly astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out (ἐκκέχυται, another form of ἐκχέω) even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said [Table], “No one can withhold the water for these people to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” So he gave orders to have them baptized in the name of Jesus Christ [Table].

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere I have never spoken in tongues. I receive God’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control from his Holy Spirit. Paul wrote: And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out (ἐκκέχυται, another form of ἐκχέω) in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.^[20]

A note (6) in the NET acknowledged the possibility that this love of God (ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ) means: “The love that comes from God and that produces our love for God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” I will testify to this actuality, and add that the love that comes from God and that produces our love for God and others has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.^[21]

Paul wrote to Titus (Titus 3:3-7 NET):

For we, too, were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness that^[22] we have done but on the basis of his mercy,^[23] through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out (ἐξέχεεν, another form of ἐκχέω) on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become^[24] heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.”

After Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit,^[25] one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately.^[26] I’ve heard the physical explanation of this flow of blood and water many times. A quote from an article on compellingTruth online—“When Jesus was pierced, why did blood and water come out of His side?”—follows:

Crucifixion typically resulted in death through one of two ways. The first way was hypovolemic shock. The prolonged rapid heartbeat resulting from hypovolemic shock can cause fluid to gather in the area around the heart….

The second way death often occurred during crucifixion was due to asphyxiation….This…can also result in the buildup of fluid around the heart.

I didn’t grasp the symbolic significance of blood and water (αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ) until I did this study of what poured out of Jesus: his blood for the forgiveness of sins and the water near to his heart, his Holy Spirit, for the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe.^[27] As He promised the Samaritan woman at the well: whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water (ὕδωρ) that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.^[28]

I am poured out like water, Jesus sang in his heart as He died on the cross.

Tables comparing Psalm 22:14; Joel 2:28 (3:1) and 2:29 (3:2) in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing Psalm 22:14 (21:15); Joel 2:28 (3:1) and 2:29 (3:2) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:23, 24; Acts 2:18; 10:38-40; 10:42; 10:45; Titus 3:5; 3:7 and John 19:34 in the NET and KJV follow.

Psalm 22:14 (Tanakh)	Psalm 22:14 (KJV)	Psalm 22:14 (NET)
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.	I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.	My strength drains away like water; all my bones are dislocated. My heart is like wax; it melts away inside me.

Psalm 22:14 (Septuagint BLB)	Psalm 21:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὡσεὶ ὕδωρ ἐξεχύθην καὶ διεσκορπίσθη πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ἐγενήθη ἡ καρδία μου ὡσεὶ κηρὸς τηκόμενος ἐν μέσῳ τῆς κοιλίας μου	ὡσεὶ ὕδωρ ἐξεχύθην, καὶ διεσκορπίσθη πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου, ἐγενήθη ἡ καρδία μου ὡσεὶ κηρὸς τηκόμενος ἐν μέσῳ τῆς κοιλίας μου
Psalm 21:15 (NETS)	Psalm 21:15 (English Elpenor)
Like water I was poured out, and all my bones were scattered; my heart became like wax melting within my belly;	I am poured out like water, and all my bones are loosened: my heart in the midst of my belly is become like melting wax.

Joel 3:1 (Tanakh)	Joel 2:28 (KJV)	Joel 2:28 (NET)
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions;	And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:	“After all of this I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have prophetic dreams; your young men will see visions.

Joel 2:28 (Septuagint BLB)	Joel 3:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔσται μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα καὶ προφητεύσουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ὑμῶν ἐνύπνια ἐνυπνιασθήσονται καὶ οἱ νεανίσκοι ὑμῶν ὁράσεις ὄψονται	ΚΑΙ ἔσται μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν, καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ὑμῶν ἐνύπνια ἐνυπνιασθήσονται, καὶ οἱ νεανίσκοι ὑμῶν ὁράσεις ὄψονται
Joel 2:28 (NETS)	Joel 3:1 (English Elpenor)
And it shall be after these things, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.	And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.

Joel 3:2 (Tanakh)	Joel 2:29 (KJV)	Joel 2:29 (NET)
And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My spirit.	And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.	Even on male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

Joel 2:29 (Septuagint BLB)	Joel 3:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας ἐν ταῗς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου	καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους μου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας μου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου
Joel 2:29 (NETS)	Joel 3:2 (English Elpenor)
Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.	And on my servants and on [my] handmaids in those days will I pour out of my Spirit.

Matthew 26:28 (NET)	Matthew 26:28 (KJV)
for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.	For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν τὸ αἷμα μου τῆς διαθήκης τὸ περὶ πολλῶν ἐκχυννόμενον εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν	τουτο γαρ εστιν το αιμα μου το της καινης διαθηκης το περι πολλων εκχυνομενον εις αφεσιν αμαρτιων	τουτο γαρ εστιν το αιμα μου το της καινης διαθηκης το περι πολλων εκχυνομενον εις αφεσιν αμαρτιων

Mark 14:23, 24 (NET)	Mark 14:23, 24 (KJV)
And after taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.	And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ λαβὼν ποτήριον εὐχαριστήσας ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἔπιον ἐξ αὐτοῦ πάντες	και λαβων το ποτηριον ευχαριστησας εδωκεν αυτοις και επιον εξ αυτου παντες	και λαβων το ποτηριον ευχαριστησας εδωκεν αυτοις και επιον εξ αυτου παντες

He said to them, “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many.

And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· τοῦτο ἐστιν τὸ αἷμα μου τῆς διαθήκης τὸ ἐκχυννόμενον ὑπὲρ πολλῶν	και ειπεν αυτοις τουτο εστιν το αιμα μου το της καινης διαθηκης το περι πολλων εκχυνομενον	και ειπεν αυτοις τουτο εστιν το αιμα μου το της καινης διαθηκης το περι πολλων εκχυνομενον

Acts 2:18 (NET)	Acts 2:18 (KJV)
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.	And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καί γε ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους μου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας μου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος μου, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν	και γε επι τους δουλους μου και επι τας δουλας μου εν ταις ημεραις εκειναις εκχεω απο του πνευματος μου και προφητευσουσιν	καιγε επι τους δουλους μου και επι τας δουλας μου εν ταις ημεραις εκειναις εκχεω απο του πνευματος μου και προφητευσουσιν

Acts 10:38-40 (NET)	Acts 10:38-40 (KJV)
with respect to Jesus from Nazareth, that God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God was with him.	How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἀπὸ Ναζαρέθ, ὡς ἔχρισεν αὐτὸν ὁ θεὸς πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ δυνάμει, ὃς διῆλθεν εὐεργετῶν καὶ ἰώμενος πάντας τοὺς καταδυναστευομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἦν μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ	ιησουν τον απο ναζαρετ ως εχρισεν αυτον ο θεος πνευματι αγιω και δυναμει ος διηλθεν ευεργετων και ιωμενος παντας τους καταδυναστευομενους υπο του διαβολου οτι ο θεος ην μετ αυτου	ιησουν τον απο ναζαρετ ως εχρισεν αυτον ο θεος πνευματι αγιω και δυναμει ος διηλθεν ευεργετων και ιωμενος παντας τους καταδυναστευομενους υπο του διαβολου οτι ο θεος ην μετ αυτου

We are witnesses of all the things he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree,

And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἡμεῖς μάρτυρες πάντων ὧν ἐποίησεν ἔν τε τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ [ἐν] Ἰερουσαλήμ. ὃν καὶ ἀνεῖλαν κρεμάσαντες ἐπὶ ξύλου	και ημεις εσμεν μαρτυρες παντων ων εποιησεν εν τε τη χωρα των ιουδαιων και εν ιερουσαλημ ον ανειλον κρεμασαντες επι ξυλου	και ημεις εσμεν μαρτυρες παντων ων εποιησεν εν τε τη χωρα των ιουδαιων και εν ιερουσαλημ ον και ανειλον κρεμασαντες επι ξυλου

but God raised him up on the third day and caused him to be seen,

Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
τοῦτον ὁ θεὸς ἤγειρεν [ἐν] τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν ἐμφανῆ γενέσθαι	τουτον ο θεος ηγειρεν τη τριτη ημερα και εδωκεν αυτον εμφανη γενεσθαι	τουτον ο θεος ηγειρεν τη τριτη ημερα και εδωκεν αυτον εμφανη γενεσθαι

Acts 10:42 (NET)	Acts 10:42 (KJV)
He commanded us to preach to the people and to warn them that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.	And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ παρήγγειλεν ἡμῖν κηρύξαι τῷ λαῷ καὶ διαμαρτύρασθαι ὅτι οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ ὡρισμένος ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ κριτὴς ζώντων καὶ νεκρῶν	και παρηγγειλεν ημιν κηρυξαι τω λαω και διαμαρτυρασθαι οτι αυτος εστιν ο ωρισμενος υπο του θεου κριτης ζωντων και νεκρων	και παρηγγειλεν ημιν κηρυξαι τω λαω και διαμαρτυρασθαι οτι αυτος εστιν ο ωρισμενος υπο του θεου κριτης ζωντων και νεκρων

Acts 10:45 (NET)	Acts 10:45 (KJV)
The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were greatly astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles,	And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἐξέστησαν οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς πιστοὶ \|ὅσοι\| συνῆλθαν τῷ Πέτρῳ, ὅτι καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἔθνη ἡ δωρεὰ τοῦ \|ἁγίου\| πνεύματος ἐκκέχυται	και εξεστησαν οι εκ περιτομης πιστοι οσοι συνηλθον τω πετρω οτι και επι τα εθνη η δωρεα του αγιου πνευματος εκκεχυται	και εξεστησαν οι εκ περιτομης πιστοι οσοι συνηλθον τω πετρω οτι και επι τα εθνη η δωρεα του αγιου πνευματος εκκεχυται

Titus 3:5 (NET)	Titus 3:5 (KJV)
he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,	Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων τῶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ ἃ ἐποιήσαμεν ἡμεῖς ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας καὶ ἀνακαινώσεως πνεύματος ἁγίου	ουκ εξ εργων των εν δικαιοσυνη ων εποιησαμεν ημεις αλλα κατα τον αυτου ελεον εσωσεν ημας δια λουτρου παλιγγενεσιας και ανακαινωσεως πνευματος αγιου	ουκ εξ εργων των εν δικαιοσυνη ων εποιησαμεν ημεις αλλα κατα τον αυτου ελεον εσωσεν ημας δια λουτρου παλιγγενεσιας και ανακαινωσεως πνευματος αγιου

Titus 3:7 (NET)	Titus 3:7 (KJV)
And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.”	That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἵνα δικαιωθέντες τῇ ἐκείνου χάριτι κληρονόμοι γενηθῶμεν κατ᾿ ἐλπίδα ζωῆς αἰωνίου	ινα δικαιωθεντες τη εκεινου χαριτι κληρονομοι γενωμεθα κατ ελπιδα ζωης αιωνιου	ινα δικαιωθεντες τη εκεινου χαριτι κληρονομοι γενωμεθα κατ ελπιδα ζωης αιωνιου

John 19:34 (NET)	John 19:34 (KJV)
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately.	But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἀλλ᾿ εἷς τῶν στρατιωτῶν λόγχῃ αὐτοῦ τὴν πλευρὰν ἔνυξεν, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν εὐθὺς αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ	αλλ εις των στρατιωτων λογχη αυτου την πλευραν ενυξεν και ευθυς εξηλθεν αιμα και υδωρ	αλλ εις των στρατιωτων λογχη αυτου την πλευραν ενυξεν και ευθεως εξηλθεν αιμα και υδωρ

Psalm 22, Part 7

Back to Forgiveness and My Religious Mind

Back to Psalm 22, Part 8

Back to Funeral, Part 2

Back to The New Covenant, Part 1

Back to Christianity, Part 6

^[1] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article το here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

^[2] The word order in Greek is: 1) τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον (This cup); 2) ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη (the new covenant); 3) ἐν τῷ αἵματι μου (in my blood); 4) τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυννόμενον (that is poured out for you). Neither my Greek nor my King James English is subtle enough to know if This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you (KJV) means This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood (NET). They sound substantially different to my ear. The KJV translators have mimicked the Greek word order better than the NET translators.

^[3] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article το preceding the article τῆς. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

^[4] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had καινης (KJV: new) preceding covenant (KJV: testament). The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

^[5] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article το preceding the article τῆς. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

^[6] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had καινης (KJV: new) preceding covenant (KJV: testament). The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

^[7] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ὑπὲρ here where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had περι.

^[8] The Hebrew word in the Masoretic text was אֶשְׁפּ֚וֹךְ (shaphak, שָׁפַךְ) another form of the word נִשְׁפַּכְתִּי֘ translated I am poured out in Psalm 22:14.

^[9] The Hebrew word in the Masoretic text was אֶשְׁפּ֖וֹךְ (shaphak, שָׁפַךְ) another form of the word נִשְׁפַּכְתִּי֘ translated I am poured out in Psalm 22:14.

^[10] Luke 17:10 (NET) The Greek word translated duty was ὠφείλομεν (a form of ὀφείλω): we have only done what what was owed to God in Christ. Owe (ὀφείλετε, another form of ὀφείλω) no one anything, Paul wrote, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law (Romans 13:8 NET).

^[11] Philippians 3:9b (NET)

^[12] John 3:21 (NET)

^[13] Acts 2:32, 33 (NET)

^[14] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had Ναζαρέθ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ναζαρετ.

^[15] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the verb εσμεν here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

^[16] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἀνεῖλαν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ανειλον (KJV: they slew).

^[17] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἐν here. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

^[18] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had οὗτος here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτος.

^[19] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had συνῆλθαν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had συνηλθον (KJV: came with).

^[20] Romans 5:5 (NET)

^[21] Romans 11:36 (NET)

^[22] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἃ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ων (KJV: which).

^[23] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἔλεος here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ελεον.

^[24] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had γενηθῶμεν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had γενωμεθα (KJV: we should be made).

^[25] John 19:30b (NET)

^[26] John 19:34 (NET) The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Stephanus Textus Receptus had εὐθὺς here, where the Byzantine Majority Text had ευθεως.

^[27] Romans 3:22a (NET) Table

^[28] John 4:14 (NET)

The Lost Son of Perdition, Part 4

Posted on October 31, 2020 by admin

For the scripture says to Pharaoh, Paul quoted (Table below), “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”^[1] It occurred to me in the previous essay how much the larger section in which this quotation is found influences my thinking on the lost son of perdition. I want to begin to consider that here.

This section of Paul’s letter is ostensibly about Israel: For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.”^[2] John the Baptist had warned, don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!^[3]

The Gospel implications of this section are still evident, however, through this relatively transparent surface: it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.^[4] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God,^[5] Paul had written previously. Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters, he had written elsewhere, Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…^[6]

In this section Paul, apostle to the Gentiles, worked through a deep emotional problem over what he saw with his own eyes:^[7] For I could wish that I myself were accursed—cut off from Christ—for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen [Table], who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever! Amen.^[8]

And he worked through the more urgent theological issue his limited perspective had engendered: It is not as though the word of God had failed.^[9] The Holy Spirit’s solution to this issue was immediate and direct: God’s purpose in election (κατ᾿ ἐκλογὴν πρόθεσις τοῦ θεοῦ). God has his own reasons why (and when from our limited perspectives) He does what He does.

God’s purpose in election engendered its own issue which Paul addressed next. And here is where his quotation (Table below) from Exodus is found (Romans 9:14-18 NET):

What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy [Table]. For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.

Certainly, Paul addressed his concerns for Israel here. He made that explicit later: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.^[10] But the very nature of his concern for Israel allows the Gospel implications to show through. Now, I am so grateful that receiving the Gospel of the grace of God in Jesus Christ doesn’t depend on the uncertainty of human desire or exertion, but that wasn’t always true for me.

There was a time when I feared the idea that I should flee my “sure and certain” desire and exertion to have a righteousness of my own derived from the law, all the commands of the New Testament and Church doctrine for something as whimsical as the mercy of God and a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.^[11] Obviously, I didn’t understand it that clearly at the time. As I began to understand it I began to repent of my unbelief. Jeremiah wrote:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Lamentations 3:22-26 (Tanakh)	Lamentations 3:22-26 (NET)	Lamentations 3:22-26 (NETS)	Lamentations 3:22-26 (Elpenor English)
Surely HaShem’S mercies (חַֽסְדֵ֤י) are not consumed, surely His compassions fail not.	The Lord’s loyal kindness (checed, חסדי) never ceases; his compassions never end.	The mercies of the Lord are that we have not expired, that his compassion has not come to an end.	[It is] the mercies (ἐλέη) of the Lord, that he has not failed me, because his compassions are not exhausted. Pity [us], O Lord, early [every] month: for we are not brought to an end, because his compassions are not exhausted.
They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.	They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!	They are new in the early mornings; great is your faithfulness.	[They are] new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
‘The HaShem is my portion’, saith my soul; ‘Therefore will I hope in Him.’	“My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.	“The Lord is my portion,” said my soul, “therefore I will wait for him.”	The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I wait for him.
HaShem is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.	The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.	The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that will seek him.	The Lord is good to them that wait for him: the soul which shall seek him
It is good that a man should quietly wait for the salvation of HaShem.	It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord.	A good thing it is—and it will wait and be quiet for the salvation of the Lord.	[is] good, and shall wait for, and quietly expect salvation of the Lord.

And in answer to his deep emotional problem, Paul wrote: For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.^[12]

It is reasonable to assume here that the Greek words τοὺς πάντας (a plural form of πᾶς) translated all people are equivalent to the Greek words τοὺς πάντας translated them all. It is not reasonable to assume that he may show mercy to means “he might show mercy to.” Yes, ἐλεήσῃ is a form of ἐλεέω in the subjunctive mood.

The subjunctive mood indicates probability or objective possibility. The action of the verb will possibly happen, depending on certain objective factors or circumstances…However if the subjunctive mood is used in a purpose or result clause, then the action should not be thought of as a possible result, but should be viewed as a definite outcome that will happen as a result of another stated action.^[13]

The clause ἵνα τοὺς πάντας ἐλεήσῃ (so that he may show mercy to them all) is clearly the result of συνέκλεισεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς πάντας εἰς ἀπείθειαν (For God has consigned all people to disobedience).

It would have been misleading to have translated ἐλεήσῃ he will show mercy to. It is not in the future tense but the aorist. What is telling to me is that no one has translated it as “simple past tense,” he showed mercy to. Paul was not referencing Jesus’ crucifixion directly here.

John Gill seemed to have a firm grasp on Paul’s intent, coupled even with the earlier conclusion it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy, regarding those:

for whom [God] has mercy in store, and will bestow it on them; and in order to bring them to a sense of their need of it, and that he may the more illustriously display the riches of it, he leaves them for a while in a state of unbelief, and then by his Spirit thoroughly convinces them of it, and gives them faith to look to, and believe in, the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life.^[14]

God’s mercy, according to Mr. Gill however, was “not upon all the individuals of Jews and Gentiles,” but only “God’s elect among the Jews” and “God’s elect among the Gentiles” “for all are not concluded in, or convinced of the sin of unbelief, but only such who are eventually believers.”^[15] In other words, he understood τοὺς πάντας as God’s elect Jews and Gentiles: For God has consigned his elect to disobedience so that he may show mercy to his elect, e.g., so that his elect and only his elect will better recognize “the riches” of his mercy, some Jews and some Gentiles.

Some Jews believed Jesus already?^[16] How could the realization that some Jews would be shown mercy wean Paul from his wish that he were accursed—cut off from Christ—for the sake of his people, his fellow countrymen who are Israelites? Would Mr. Gill’s knowledge inspire Paul to eulogize (Romans 11:33-36 NET)?

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how unfathomable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has first given to God that God needs to repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

I could be wrong. Perhaps Paul wasn’t weaned from his desperate, aberrant to the point of sinful, concern for those God didn’t care enough to consign to disobedience, much less to show them any mercy. But it seems much less tortured to take τοὺς πάντας (literally: the all, plural, or in a common American Southern dialect: all y’all) at face value. What other Greek words could Paul or the Holy Spirit have chosen to actually mean all?

I found no other usage of τοὺς πάντας in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, Paul, the writer of Hebrews and Jude used πάντας τοὺς x to limit πάντας in a variety of ways. (John had a different way of expressing all alive at a certain time.)

Reference	NET Parallel Greek	NET
Matthew 2:4	πάντας τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς	all the chief priests
Matthew 2:16	πάντας τοὺς παῖδας	all the children
Matthew 8:16	πάντας τοὺς κακῶς	all who were sick
Matthew 14:35	πάντας τοὺς κακῶς	all their sick
Matthew 21:12	πάντας τοὺς πωλοῦντας	all those who were selling
Matthew 26:1	πάντας τοὺς λόγους	all these things
Mark 1:32	πάντας τοὺς κακῶς	all who were sick
Luke 5:9	πάντας τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ	all who were with him
Luke 13:2	πάντας τοὺς Γαλιλαίους	all the other Galileans
Luke 13:4	πάντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους	all the others
Luke 13:28	πάντας τοὺς προφήτας	all the prophets
Luke 21:35	πάντας τοὺς καθημένους	all who live (e.g., on a certain day)
Acts 5:5	πάντας τοὺς ἀκούοντας	all who heard
Acts 5:11	πάντας τοὺς ἀκούοντας	all who heard
Acts 9:14	πάντας τοὺς ἐπικαλουμένους	all who call on
Acts 10:38	πάντας τοὺς καταδυναστευομένους	all who were oppressed
Acts 10:44	πάντας τοὺς ἀκούοντας	all those who heard
Acts 18:2	πάντας τοὺς Ἰουδαίους	all the Jews
Acts 18:23	πάντας τοὺς μαθητάς	all the disciples
Acts 19:10	πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν Ἀσίαν	all who lived in the province of Asia
Acts 26:29	πάντας τοὺς ἀκούοντας	all those who are listening
Acts 27:24	πάντας τοὺς πλέοντας μετὰ σοῦ	all who are sailing with you
Acts 28:30	πάντας τοὺς εἰσπορευομένους πρὸς αὐτόν	all who came to him
Romans 3:22	πάντας τοὺς πιστεύοντας	all who believe
Romans 10:12	πάντας τοὺς ἐπικαλουμένους	all who call on
1 Corinthias 15:25	πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς	all his enemies
Ephesians 1:15	πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους	all the saints
Colossians 1:4	πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους	all the saints
1 Thessalonians 4:10	πάντας τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς	all the brothers and sisters
Philemon 1:5	πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους	all the saints
Hebrews 13:24	πάντας τοὺς ἡγουμένους	all your leaders
Hebrews 13:24	πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους	all the saints
Jude 1:25	πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας	all eternity

I think a tendency to judge before the time those who reject any particular presentation of the Gospel, to condemn them prematurely to an eternity in the lake of fire, was evident in Mr. Gill’s analysis. Paul wrote (Romans 9:22 NET):

But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath (Romans 1:18-32) and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath prepared for destruction?

Mr. Gill commented:^[17]

so these are said to be “fitted for destruction”, that is, eternal damnation; not by God, for this does not respect God’s act of ordination to punishment; but by Satan, the god of this world, that blinds them, who works effectually in them, and leads them captive at his will; and by themselves, by their own wickedness, hardness of heart, and impenitence, do they treasure up to themselves wrath, against the day of wrath, so that their destruction is of themselves:

Paul didn’t write about “eternal damnation” here but the temporal effects of God having mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and (more directly to the point) hardening whom he chooses to harden, at the present time. His primary concern was God’s hardening (Isaiah 6:8-13) of Paul’s own people, his fellow countrymen, who are Israelites. And even after he described them as objects of wrath prepared for destruction, he wrote (Romans 10:1 NET Table):

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites is for their salvation.

Tucked between the former statement and the latter he quoted two passages from the prophet Hosea (Romans 9:25, 26) which foreshadowed the glorious conclusion of this particular argument (Romans 11:11-32).

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 2:23 (Tanakh)	Hosea 2:23 (NET)	Hosea 2:23 (NETS)	Hosea 2:25 (Elpenor English)
And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy (וְרִֽחַמְתִּ֖י) upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.	Then I will plant her as my own in the land. I will have pity (racham, ורחמתי) on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah). I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’ And he will say, ‘You are my God!’”	and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have pity (ἐλεήσω) on Not Pitied, and I will say to Not My People, “You are my people,” and he shall say, “You are the Lord my God.”	And I will sow her to me on the earth; and will love (ἐλεήσω) her that was not loved, and will say to that which was not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art the Lord my God.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 1:10, 11 (Tanakh)	Hosea 1:10, 11 (NET)	Hosea 1:10, 11 (NETS)	Hosea 2:1, 2 (Elpenor English)
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.	“However, in the future the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea that can be neither measured nor numbered. Although it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said to them, ‘You are children of the living God!’	And the number of the sons of Israel was like the sand of the sea, which shall not be measured nor numbered, and it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” they too shall be called, “sons of a living god.”	Yet the number of the children of Israel was as the sand of the sea, which shall not be measured nor numbered: and it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, even they shall be called the sons of the living God.
Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up (וְעָל֣וּ) out of (מִן) the land (הָאָ֑רֶץ): for great shall be the day of Jezreel.	Then the people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves one leader, and will flourish (`alah, ועלו) in (min, מן) the land (‘erets, הארץ). Certainly, the day of Jezreel will be great!	And the sons of Ioudas and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall set up for themselves one realm, and they shall go up (ἀναβήσονται) from (ἐκ) the (τῆς) land (γῆς), for great shall be the day of Jezrael.	And the children of Juda shall be gathered, and the children of Israel together, and shall appoint themselves one head, and shall come up (ἀναβήσονται) out of (ἐκ) the (τῆς) land (γῆς): for great [shall be] the day of Jezrael.

For the children of Judah and the children of Israel to be gathered together and then come up out of the earth (a likely non-Rationalist translation of both the Hebrew and the Greek) sounds like a gathering, not of this world, and a resurrection back into it: for great shall be the day of Jezreel (Ezekiel 37:11-14).

The Greek word translated destruction in the phrase prepared for destruction was ἀπώλειαν (a form of ἀπώλεια). The first two occurrences in the Septuagint follow.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Leviticus 5:21-24 (Tanakh)	Leviticus 6:2-5 (NET)	Leviticus 6:2-5 (NETS)	Leviticus 5:21-24 (Elpenor English)
If any one sin, and commit a trespass against HaShem, and deal falsely with his neighbour in a matter of deposit, or of pledge, or of robbery, or have oppressed his neighbour;	“When a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by deceiving his fellow citizen in regard to something held in trust, or a pledge, or something stolen, or by extorting something from his fellow citizen,	If a soul sins and by overlooking disregards the commandments of the Lord and falsifies matters pertaining to his neighbor—in a deposit or regarding joint ownership or regarding plunder or did his neighbor some wrong	The soul which shall have sinned, and willfully overlooked the commandments of the Lord, and shall have dealt falsely in the affairs of his neighbour in the matter of a deposit, or concerning fellowship, or concerning plunder, or has in anything wronged his neighbour,
or have found that which was lost (אֲבֵדָ֛ה), and deal falsely therein, and swear to a lie; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein;	or has found something lost (‘abedah, אבדה) and denies it and swears falsely concerning any one of the things that someone might do to sin—	or has found a loss (ἀπώλειαν) and lied about it—and he swears falsely about one of all which a man may do in order to sin by these,	or has found that which was lost (ἀπώλειαν), and shall have lied concerning it, and shall have sworn unjustly concerning [any] one of all the things, whatsoever a man may do, so as to sin hereby;
then it shall be, if he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took by robbery, or the thing which he hath gotten by oppression, or the deposit which was deposited with him, or the lost thing (הָֽאֲבֵדָ֖ה) which he found,	when it happens that he sins and he is found guilty, then he must return whatever he had stolen, or whatever he had extorted, or the thing that he had held in trust, or the lost thing (‘abedah, האבדה) that he had found,	then it shall be whenever he sins and is in error and restores the booty which he seized or the injustice he committed or the deposit which was deposited with him or the loss (ἀπώλειαν) which he found	it shall come to pass, whensoever he shall have sinned, and transgressed, that he shall restore the plunder which he has seized, or [redress] the injury which he has committed, or restore the deposit which was entrusted to him, or the lost article (ἀπώλειαν) which he has found of any kind,
or any thing about which he hath sworn falsely, he shall even restore it in full, and shall add the fifth part more thereto; unto him to whom it appertaineth shall he give it, in the day of his being guilty.	or anything about which he swears falsely. He must restore it in full and add one-fifth to it; he must give it to its owner when he is found guilty.	because of every matter about that which he swore about unjustly, he shall also repay the capital itself, and he shall add to it one fifth. Whosesoever it is, he shall restore to him on the day he should be convicted.	about which he swore unjustly, he shall even restore it in full; and he shall add to it a fifth part besides; he shall restore it to him whose it is in the day in which he happens to be convicted.

The first occurrence of אֲבֵדָ֛ה (‘abedah) in Exodus 22:9 was similar, and was translated ἀπωλείας, another form of ἀπώλεια, in the Septuagint.

What many of Paul’s contemporaries lost was the opportunity to begin to live the life they will lead for all eternity in their then present, to be freed from their sinfulness, their anger and hatred and live a new life through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, who prayed (John 17:3 NET):

Now this is eternal life—that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

He became a human being so that they could have known Him and the only true God though Him. They could have experienced his love, his joy, his peace, his patience his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his gentleness and his self-control^[18] like a fountain of water springing up in them to eternal life.^[19]

Lest it seem that I minimize the earthly consequence of this loss: everyone not led by the Holy Spirit is led by someone much less: less loving, less joyful, less peaceful, less patient, less kind, less good, less faithful, less gentle, less self-controlled, less wise, less knowledgeable, less truthful and less true. Ten to fifteen years after Paul wrote his letter to Roman believers, those of his fellow countrymen who did not heed Jesus’ warning (Luke 21:20-24) were led by religious zealots who made catastrophic political and military blunders, hoping apparently that the God whose salvation they had rejected would help them somehow establish their own. All who remained in Jerusalem suffered horrifically under their leadership.

Paul, however, found comfort in the Holy Spirit, not in human desire or exertion, but in the irrevocable (ἀμεταμέλητα, a form of ἀμεταμέλητος) gifts and…call of God.^[20]

A table comparing Paul’s quotation from Exodus and the Septuagint follows.

Romans 9:17b (NET parallel Greek)	Exodus 9:16 (Septuagint BLB)	Exodus 9:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐξήγειρα σε ὅπως ἐνδείξωμαι ἐν σοὶ τὴν δύναμιν μου καὶ ὅπως διαγγελῇ τὸ ὄνομα μου ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ	καὶ ἕνεκεν τούτου διετηρήθης ἵνα ἐνδείξωμαι ἐν σοὶ τὴν ἰσχύν μου καὶ ὅπως διαγγελῇ τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ	καὶ ἕνεκεν τούτου διετηρήθης, ἵνα ἐνδείξωμαι ἐν σοὶ τὴν ἰσχύν μου, καὶ ὅπως διαγγελῇ τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ
Romans 9:17b (NET)	Exodus 9:16 (NETS)	Exodus 9:16 (English Elpenor)
For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.	And for this reason you have been spared in order that I might display in you my power and in order that my name might be proclaimed in all the land.	And for this purpose hast thou been preserved, that I might display in thee my strength, and that my name might be published in all the earth.

A table comparing Paul’s quotation from Genesis and the Septuagint follows.

Romans 9:7b (NET parallel Greek)	Genesis 21:12b (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 21:12b (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐν Ἰσαὰκ κληθήσεται σοι σπέρμα	ἐν Ισαακ κληθήσεταί σοι σπέρμα	ἐν ᾿Ισαὰκ κληθήσεταί σοι σπέρμα
Romans 9:7b (NET)	Genesis 21:12b (NETS)	Genesis 21:12b (English Elpenor)
“through Isaac will your descendants be counted.”	in Isaak offspring shall be named for you.	in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

I tend to see the following as an allusion to Hosea from the Septuagint.

Romans 9:25b (NET parallel Greek)	Hosea 2:23 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 2:25 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καλέσω τὸν οὐ λαόν μου λαόν μου καὶ τὴν οὐκ ἠγαπημένην ἠγαπημένην	ἐλεήσω τὴν Οὐκ-ἠλεημένην καὶ ἐρῶ τῷ Οὐ-λαῷ-μου λαός μου εἶ σύ	ἐλεήσω τὴν Οὐκ-ἠλεημένην καὶ ἐρῶ τῷ Οὐ-λαῷ-μου· λαός μου εἰ σύ
Romans 9:25b (NET)	Hosea 2:23 (NETS)	Hosea 2:25 (English Elpenor)
“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ‘My beloved.’”	I will have pity on Not Pitied, and I will say to Not My People, “You are my people,”	[I] will love her that was not loved, and will say to that which was not my people, Thou art my people

The following is a more direct quotation from Hosea in the Septuagint.

Romans 9:26 (NET parallel Greek)	Hosea 1:10 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 2:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῷ τόπῳ οὗ ἐρρέθη \|αὐτοῖς\|· οὐ λαός μου ὑμεῖς, ἐκεῖ κληθήσονται υἱοὶ θεοῦ ζῶντος.	καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῷ τόπῳ οὗ ἐρρέθη αὐτοῗς οὐ λαός μου ὑμεῗς ἐκεῗ κληθήσονται υἱοὶ θεοῦ ζῶντος	καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, οὗ ἐρρέθη αὐτοῖς· οὐ λαός μου ὑμεῖς, κληθήσονται καὶ αὐτοὶ υἱοὶ Θεοῦ ζῶντος
Romans 9:26 (NET)	Hosea 1:10 (NETS)	Hosea 2:1 (English Elpenor)
“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”	and it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” they too shall be called, “sons of a living god.”	and it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, even they shall be called the sons of the living God.

Tables comparing Genesis 21:12; Lamentations 3:22; 3:23; 3:24; 3:25; 3:26; Hosea 2:23 (2:25); 1:10; 1:11; Leviticus 6:2 (5:21); 6:3 (5:22); 6:4 (5:23) and 6:5 (5:24) in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and Genesis 21:12; Lamentations 3:22; 3:23; 3:24; 3:25; 3:26; Hosea 2:23 (2:25); 1:10 (2:1); 1:11 (2:2); Leviticus 6:2 (5:21); 6:3 (5:22); 6:4 (5:23) and 6:5 (5:24) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

Genesis 21:12 (Tanakh)	Genesis 21:12 (KJV)	Genesis 21:12 (NET)
And G-d said unto Abraham: ‘Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall seed be called to thee.	And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.	But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset about the boy or your slave wife. Do all that Sarah is telling you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted.

Genesis 21:12 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 21:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἶπεν δὲ ὁ θεὸς τῷ Αβρααμ μὴ σκληρὸν ἔστω τὸ ῥῆμα ἐναντίον σου περὶ τοῦ παιδίου καὶ περὶ τῆς παιδίσκης πάντα ὅσα ἐὰν εἴπῃ σοι Σαρρα ἄκουε τῆς φωνῆς αὐτῆς ὅτι ἐν Ισαακ κληθήσεταί σοι σπέρμα	εἶπε δὲ ὁ Θεὸς τῷ ῾Αβραάμ· μὴ σκληρὸν ἔστω ἐναντίον σου περὶ τοῦ παιδίου καὶ περὶ τῆς παιδίσκης· πάντα ἂν ὅσα εἴπῃ σοι Σάρρα, ἄκουε τῆς φωνῆς αὐτῆς, ὅτι ἐν ᾿Ισαὰκ κληθήσεταί σοι σπέρμα
Genesis 21:12 (NETS)	Genesis 21:12 (English Elpenor)
But God said to Abraham, “Do not let the matter be hard in your sight on account of the child and on account of the slave-girl; whatever Sarra says to you, obey her voice, for in Isaak offspring shall be named for you.	But God said to Abraam, Let it not be hard before thee concerning the child, and concerning the bondwoman; in all things whatsoever Sarrha shall say to thee, hear her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

Lamentations 3:22 (Tanakh)	Lamentations 3:22 (KJV)	Lamentations 3:22 (NET)
Surely HaShem’S mercies are not consumed, surely His compassions fail not.	It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.	The Lord’s loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end.

Lamentations 3:22 (Septuagint BLB)	Lamentations 3:22 (Septuagint Elpenor)
N/A	Τὰ ἐλέη Κυρίου, ὅτι οὐκ ἐξέλιπέμε, ὅτι οὐσυνετελέσθησαν οἱ οἰκτιρμοὶ αὐτοῦ· μῆνας εἰς τὰς πρωΐας ἐλέησον, Κύριε, ὅτι οὐ συνετελέσθημεν, ὅτι οὐ συνετελέσθησαν οἱ οἰκτιρμοὶ αὐτοῦ
Lamentations 3:22 (NETS)	Lamentations 3:22 (English Elpenor)
The mercies of the Lord are that we have not expired, that his compassion has not come to an end.	[It is] the mercies of the Lord, that he has not failed me, because his compassions are not exhausted. Pity [us], O Lord, early [every] month: for we are not brought to an end, because his compassions are not exhausted.

Lamentations 3:23 (Tanakh)	Lamentations 3:23 (KJV)	Lamentations 3:23 (NET)
They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.	They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.	They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!

Lamentations 3:23 (Septuagint BLB)	Lamentations 3:23 (Septuagint Elpenor)
N/A	καινὰ εἰς τὰς πρωΐας, πολλὴ ἡ πίστις σου
Lamentations 3:23 (NETS)	Lamentations 3:23 (English Elpenor)
They are new in the early mornings; great is your faithfulness.	[They are] new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:24 (Tanakh)	Lamentations 3:24 (KJV)	Lamentations 3:24 (NET)
‘The HaShem is my portion’, saith my soul; ‘Therefore will I hope in Him.’	The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.	“My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.

Lamentations 3:24 (Septuagint BLB)	Lamentations 3:24 (Septuagint Elpenor)
N/A	μερίς μου Κύριος, εἶπεν ἡ ψυχή μου· διὰ τοῦτο ὑπομενῶ αὐτῷ
Lamentations 3:24 (NETS)	Lamentations 3:24 (English Elpenor)
“The Lord is my portion,” said my soul, “therefore I will wait for him.”	The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I wait for him.

Lamentations 3:25 (Tanakh)	Lamentations 3:25 (KJV)	Lamentations 3:25 (NET)
HaShem is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.	The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.	The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.

Lamentations 3:25 (Septuagint BLB)	Lamentations 3:25 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀγαθὸς κύριος τοῗς ὑπομένουσιν αὐτόν ψυχῇ ἣ ζητήσει αὐτὸν ἀγαθὸν	᾿Αγαθὸς Κύριος τοῖς ὑπομένουσιν αὐτόν, ψυχὴ ἣ ζητήσει αὐτὸν ἀγαθὸν
Lamentations 3:25, 26a (NETS)	Lamentations 3:25, 26a (English Elpenor)
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that will seek him. A good thing it is—	The Lord is good to them that wait for him: the soul which shall seek him (26) [is] good,

Lamentations 3:26 (Tanakh)	Lamentations 3:26 (KJV)	Lamentations 3:26 (NET)
It is good that a man should quietly wait for the salvation of HaShem.	It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.	It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord.

Lamentations 3:26 (Septuagint BLB)	Lamentations 3:26 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ὑπομενεῗ καὶ ἡσυχάσει εἰς τὸ σωτήριον κυρίου	καὶ ὑπομενεῖ καὶ ἡσυχάσει εἰς τὸ σωτήριον Κυρίου
Lamentations 3:26b (NETS)	Lamentations 3:26b (English Elpenor)
and it will wait and be quiet for the salvation of the Lord.	and shall wait for, and quietly expect salvation of the Lord.

Hosea 2:23 (Tanakh)	Hosea 2:23 (KJV)	Hosea 2:23 (NET)
And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.	And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.	Then I will plant her as my own in the land. I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah). I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’ And he will say, ‘You are my God!’”

Hosea 2:23 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 2:25 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ σπερῶ αὐτὴν ἐμαυτῷ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐλεήσω τὴν Οὐκ-ἠλεημένην καὶ ἐρῶ τῷ Οὐ-λαῷ-μου λαός μου εἶ σύ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐρεῗ κύριος ὁ θεός μου εἶ σύ	καὶ σπερῶ αὐτὴν ἐμαυτῷ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐλεήσω τὴν Οὐκ-ἠλεημένην καὶ ἐρῶ τῷ Οὐ-λαῷ-μου· λαός μου εἰ σύ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐρεῖ· Κύριος ὁ Θεός μου εἶ σύ
Hosea 2:23 (NETS)	Hosea 2:25 (English Elpenor)
and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have pity on Not Pitied, and I will say to Not My People, “You are my people,” and he shall say, “You are the Lord my God.”	And I will sow her to me on the earth; and will love her that was not loved, and will say to that which was not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art the Lord my God.

Hosea 1:10 (Tanakh)	Hosea 1:10 (KJV)	Hosea 1:10 (NET)
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.	Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.	“However, in the future the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea that can be neither measured nor numbered. Although it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said to them, ‘You are children of the living God!’

Hosea 1:10 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 2:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἦν ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῶν υἱῶν Ισραηλ ὡς ἡ ἄμμος τῆς θαλάσσης ἣ οὐκ ἐκμετρηθήσεται οὐδὲ ἐξαριθμηθήσεται καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῷ τόπῳ οὗ ἐρρέθη αὐτοῗς οὐ λαός μου ὑμεῗς ἐκεῗ κληθήσονται υἱοὶ θεοῦ ζῶντος	ΚΑΙ ἦν ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῶν υἱῶν ᾿Ισραὴλ ὡς ἡ ἄμμος τῆς θαλάσσης, ἣ οὐκ ἐκμετρηθήσεται οὐδὲ ἐξαριθμηθήσεται. καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, οὗ ἐρρέθη αὐτοῖς· οὐ λαός μου ὑμεῖς, κληθήσονται καὶ αὐτοὶ υἱοὶ Θεοῦ ζῶντος
Hosea 1:10 (NETS)	Hosea 2:1 (English Elpenor)
And the number of the sons of Israel was like the sand of the sea, which shall not be measured nor numbered, and it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” they too shall be called, “sons of a living god.”	Yet the number of the children of Israel was as the sand of the sea, which shall not be measured nor numbered: and it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, even they shall be called the sons of the living God.

Hosea 1:11 (Tanakh)	Hosea 1:11 (KJV)	Hosea 1:11 (NET)
Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.	Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.	Then the people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves one leader, and will flourish in the land. Certainly, the day of Jezreel will be great!

Hosea 1:11 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 2:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ συναχθήσονται οἱ υἱοὶ Ιουδα καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ θήσονται ἑαυτοῗς ἀρχὴν μίαν καὶ ἀναβήσονται ἐκ τῆς γῆς ὅτι μεγάλη ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ Ιεζραελ	καὶ συναχθήσονται υἱοὶ ᾿Ιούδα καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραὴλ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ θήσονται ἑαυτοῖς ἀρχὴν μίαν καὶ ἀναβήσονται ἐκ τῆς γῆς, ὅτι μεγάλη ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ ᾿Ιεζραέλ
Hosea 1:11 (NETS)	Hosea 2:2 (English Elpenor)
And the sons of Ioudas and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall set up for themselves one realm, and they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezrael.	And the children of Juda shall be gathered, and the children of Israel together, and shall appoint themselves one head, and shall come up out of the land: for great [shall be] the day of Jezrael.

Leviticus 5:21 (Tanakh)	Leviticus 6:2 (KJV)	Leviticus 6:2 (NET)
If any one sin, and commit a trespass against HaShem, and deal falsely with his neighbour in a matter of deposit, or of pledge, or of robbery, or have oppressed his neighbour;	If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;	“When a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by deceiving his fellow citizen in regard to something held in trust, or a pledge, or something stolen, or by extorting something from his fellow citizen,

Leviticus 6:2 (Septuagint BLB)	Leviticus 5:21 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ψυχὴ ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ καὶ παριδὼν παρίδῃ τὰς ἐντολὰς κυρίου καὶ ψεύσηται τὰ πρὸς τὸν πλησίον ἐν παραθήκῃ ἢ περὶ κοινωνίας ἢ περὶ ἁρπαγῆς ἢ ἠδίκησέν τι τὸν πλησίον	ψυχὴ ἣ ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ καὶ παριδὼν παρίδῃ τὰς ἐντολὰς Κυρίου καὶ ψεύσηται τὰ πρὸς τὸν πλησίον ἐν παραθήκῃ ἢ περὶ κοινωνίας ἢ περὶ ἁρπαγῆς ἢ ἠδίκησέ τι τὸν πλησίον
Leviticus 6:2 (NETS)	Leviticus 5:21 (English Elpenor)
If a soul sins and by overlooking disregards the commandments of the Lord and falsifies matters pertaining to his neighbor—in a deposit or regarding joint ownership or regarding plunder or did his neighbor some wrong	The soul which shall have sinned, and willfully overlooked the commandments of the Lord, and shall have dealt falsely in the affairs of his neighbour in the matter of a deposit, or concerning fellowship, or concerning plunder, or has in anything wronged his neighbour,

Leviticus 5:22 (Tanakh)	Leviticus 6:3 (KJV)	Leviticus 6:3 (NET)
or have found that which was lost, and deal falsely therein, and swear to a lie; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein;	Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:	or has found something lost and denies it and swears falsely concerning any one of the things that someone might do to sin—

Leviticus 6:3 (Septuagint BLB)	Leviticus 5:22 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἢ εὗρεν ἀπώλειαν καὶ ψεύσηται περὶ αὐτῆς καὶ ὀμόσῃ ἀδίκως περὶ ἑνὸς ἀπὸ πάντων ὧν ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὥστε ἁμαρτεῗν ἐν τούτοις	ἢ εὗρεν ἀπώλειαν καὶ ψεύσηται περὶ αὐτῆς καὶ ὀμόσῃ ἀδίκως περὶ ἑνὸς ἀπὸ πάντων, ὧν ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὥστε ἁμαρτεῖν ἐν τούτοις
Leviticus 6:3 (NETS)	Leviticus 5:22 (English Elpenor)
or has found a loss and lied about it—and he swears falsely about one of all which a man may do in order to sin by these,	or has found that which was lost, and shall have lied concerning it, and shall have sworn unjustly concerning [any] one of all the things, whatsoever a man may do, so as to sin hereby;

Leviticus 5:23 (Tanakh)	Leviticus 6:4 (KJV)	Leviticus 6:4 (NET)
then it shall be, if he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took by robbery, or the thing which he hath gotten by oppression, or the deposit which was deposited with him, or the lost thing which he found,	Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,	when it happens that he sins and he is found guilty, then he must return whatever he had stolen, or whatever he had extorted, or the thing that he had held in trust, or the lost thing that he had found,

Leviticus 6:4 (Septuagint BLB)	Leviticus 5:23 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔσται ἡνίκα ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ καὶ πλημμελήσῃ καὶ ἀποδῷ τὸ ἅρπαγμα ὃ ἥρπασεν ἢ τὸ ἀδίκημα ὃ ἠδίκησεν ἢ τὴν παραθήκην ἥτις παρετέθη αὐτῷ ἢ τὴν ἀπώλειαν ἣν εὗρεν	καὶ ἔσται ἡνίκα ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ καὶ πλημμελήσῃ, καὶ ἀποδῷ τὸ ἅρπαγμα, ὃ ἥρπασεν, ἢ τὸ ἀδίκημα, ὃ ἠδίκησεν, ἢ τὴν παραθήκην, ἥτις παρετέθη αὐτῷ, ἢ τὴν ἀπώλειαν, ἣν εὗρεν
Leviticus 6:4 (NETS)	Leviticus 5:23 (English Elpenor)
then it shall be whenever he sins and is in error and restores the booty which he seized or the injustice he committed or the deposit which was deposited with him or the loss which he found	it shall come to pass, whensoever he shall have sinned, and transgressed, that he shall restore the plunder which he has seized, or [redress] the injury which he has committed, or restore the deposit which was entrusted to him, or the lost article which he has found of any kind,

Leviticus 5:24 (Tanakh)	Leviticus 6:5 (KJV)	Leviticus 6:5 (NET)
or any thing about which he hath sworn falsely, he shall even restore it in full, and shall add the fifth part more thereto; unto him to whom it appertaineth shall he give it, in the day of his being guilty.	Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.	or anything about which he swears falsely. He must restore it in full and add one-fifth to it; he must give it to its owner when he is found guilty.

Leviticus 6:5 (Septuagint BLB)	Leviticus 5:24 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀπὸ παντὸς πράγματος οὗ ὤμοσεν περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀδίκως καὶ ἀποτείσει αὐτὸ τὸ κεφάλαιον καὶ τὸ πέμπτον προσθήσει ἐπ᾽ αὐτό τίνος ἐστίν αὐτῷ ἀποδώσει ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ ἐλεγχθῇ	ἀπὸ παντὸς πράγματος, οὗ ὤμοσε περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀδίκως, καὶ ἀποτίσει αὐτὸ τὸ κεφάλαιον καὶ τὸ ἐπίπεμπτον προσθήσει ἐπ᾿ αὐτό· τίνος ἐστίν, αὐτῷ ἀποδώσει ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ ἐλεγχθῇ
Leviticus 6:5 (NETS)	Leviticus 5:24 (English Elpenor)
because of every matter about that which he swore about unjustly, he shall also repay the capital itself, and he shall add to it one fifth. Whosesoever it is, he shall restore to him on the day he should be convicted.	about which he swore unjustly, he shall even restore it in full; and he shall add to it a fifth part besides; he shall restore it to him whose it is in the day in which he happens to be convicted.

The Lost Son of Perdition, Part 5

Back to Isaiah 53:10-12, Part 3

Back to Patterns of Evidence: Exodus

Back to Romans, Part 18

Back to Romans, Part 21

Back to Peter’s Third Gospel Proclamation

Back to Christianity, Part 1

Back to Nothing True, Part 3

Back to Who Am I? Part 14

^[1] Romans 9:17 (NET)

^[2] Romans 9:6, 7 (NET)

^[3] Matthew 3:9 (NET)

^[4] Romans 9:8b (NET)

^[5] Romans 8:14 (NET)

^[6] 1 Corinthians 15:50 (NET) Table

^[7] Acts 13:44-52; 14:1-6; 14:19, 20; Acts 17:1-5; 18:5, 6; 18:12-17 and 19:8, 9

^[8] Romans 9:3-5 (NET)

^[9] Romans 9:6a (NET)

^[10] Romans 11:25b (NET) Table

^[11] Philippians 3:9b (NET)

^[12] Romans 11:32 (NET)

^[13] “Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions),” Verbal Moods

^[14] John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, Romans 11:32

^[15] ibid.

^[16] Acts 13:42, 43; 14:1; Acts 17:4; 18:8; and 19:1-7

^[17] John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, Romans 9:22

^[18] Galatians 5:22, 23a

^[19] John 4:14b (NET) Table

^[20] Romans 11:29 (NET)

Atonement, Part 8

Posted on September 27, 2018 by admin

This is a continuation of y^ehôvâh’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] The atonement of Aaron and his sons continued:

Exodus 29:22-25 (NET)	Leviticus 8:25-28 (NET)
You are to take from the ram the fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and the right thigh – for it is the ram for consecration (millûʼ, מלאים; Septuagint: τελείωσις) –	Then he took the fat (the fatty tail, all the fat on the entrails, the protruding lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat) and the right thigh,
and one round flat cake of bread, one perforated cake of oiled bread, and one wafer from the basket of bread made without yeast that is before the Lord.	and from the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord he took one unleavened loaf, one loaf of bread mixed with olive oil, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat parts and on the right thigh.
You are to put all these in Aaron’s hands and in his sons’ hands, and you are to wave them as a wave offering (t^enûphâh, תנופה; Septuagint: ἀφόρισμα) before the Lord.	He then put all of them on the palms of Aaron and his sons, who waved them as a wave offering (t^enûphâh, תנופה; Septuagint: ἀφαίρεμα) before the Lord.
Then you are to take them from their hands and burn them on the altar for a burnt offering (ʽôlâh, העלה; Septuagint: ὁλοκαυτώσεως, a form of ὁλοκαύτωσις), for a soothing aroma before the Lord. It is an offering made by fire (ʼishshâh, אשה; Septuagint: κάρπωμά) to the Lord.	Moses then took them from their palms and offered them up in smoke on the altar on top of the burnt offering (ʽôlâh, העלה; Septuagint: ὁλοκαύτωμα) – they were an ordination (millûʼ, מלאים; Septuagint: τελειώσεως, a form of τελείωσις) offering for a soothing aroma; it was a gift (ʼishshâh, אשה]; Septuagint: κάρπωμά) to the Lord.

The words ἀφόρισμα and ἀφαίρεμα (wave offering) in the Septuagint were not used in the New Testament, nor were any forms of ὁλοκαύτωσις (burnt offering) or κάρπωμά (NET: offering made by fire, gift). I’ve already considered all of the occurrences of ὁλοκαύτωμα.^[3] So I’ll continue with τελείωσις (Hebrews 7:11 NET):

So if perfection (τελείωσις) had in fact been possible through the Levitical priesthood – for on that basis^[4] the people received the law^[5] – what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in Aaron’s order?

I’ll back up here a bit to consider Melchizedek (Hebrews 6:17-20 NET):

God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, and so he intervened with an oath, so that we who have found refuge in him may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God^[6] to lie. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast, which reaches inside behind the curtain, where Jesus our forerunner entered on our behalf, since he became a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

Jesus…became (γενόμενος, a form of γίνομαι) a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. This alludes to Psalm 110:4, contrasted in the table below.

Hebrews 6:20b (NET)	Psalms 110:4 (Septuagint)
κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισέδεκ ἀρχιερεὺς γενόμενος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα	ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδεκ

The order of phrases was reversed from the Septuagint: κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισέδεκ (NET: in the order of Melchizedek) preceded ἀρχιερεὺς…εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα (NET: a priest forever). Also ἀρχιερεὺς (high priest) replaced ἱερεὺς (priest). I’m noting it here because Hebrews 7:17b was a verbatim quote.

Hebrews 7:17b (NET)	Psalms 110:4 (Septuagint)
ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισέδεκ	ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδεκ

Now this Melchizedek, the writer of Hebrews explained, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham (Genesis 14:17-24) as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him. To him also Abraham apportioned a tithe of everything. His name first means king of righteousness, then king of Salem, that is, king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, he has neither beginning of days nor end of life but is like the son of God, and he remains a priest for all time. ^[7]

The Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) entry on Melchizedek read:

The story is neither an invention nor the product of a copyist’s error, as Cheyne (“Encyc. Bibl.”) thinks, but rests upon ancient Jerusalemic tradition (as Josephus, “B. J.” vi. 10, affirms; comp. Gunkel, “Genesis,” 1901, p. 261), “Zedek” being an ancient name of Jerusalem…The city’s first king, accordingly, was known either as “Adoni Zedek” (Josh. x. 1 et seq. ; comp. Judges i. 5-7, where “Adonizedek” is the correct reading) or as “Malkizedek.” The fact that he united the royal with the priestly dignity, like all ancient (heathen) kings, made him a welcome type to the composer of the triumphal song (Ps. cx.).

Adoni-Zedek was one of the five kings Joshua killed (Joshua 10:22-27). The writer of Hebrews, however, who I think wrote down what Jesus taught his disciples after his resurrection, highlighted a change in the law based on δύναμιν ζωῆς ἀκαταλύτου, the power of an indestructible life (Hebrews 7:12-17 NET):

For when the priesthood changes, a change in the law must come as well. Yet the one these things are spoken about belongs to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever officiated at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord is descended from Judah, yet Moses^[8] said nothing about priests^[9] in connection with that tribe. And this is even clearer if another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest not by a legal regulation about physical^[10] descent but by the power of an indestructible (ἀκαταλύτου, a form of ἀκατάλυτος) life. For here is the testimony about him: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

The verb translated here is the testimony was μαρτυρεῖται (a form of μαρτυρέω) in the NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸. In the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text it was μαρτυρει (KJV: he testifieth). The only difference between them is that the former is passive while the latter is active. This exercise reminded me that God testifies through David’s psalm whether the verb is active or passive.

In 1906 Isidore Singer and Kaufmann Kohler claimed that Adoni-Bezek (Judges 1:5-7) was actually Adoni-Zedek or Melchizedek. So whether Melchizedek was a line of king-priests or some otherworldy being, his reputation for an indestructible life was what the Holy Spirit keyed on. And though the philosophical bent of my mind usually groans and rolls its metaphorical eyes when confronted with prefigures and types, I have to acknowledge the unsettling oddity if Israel was obliged to kill the king of righteousness and peace more than once (the second time he died in captivity in Jerusalem) during their conquest of Canaan.

The writer of Hebrews continued with Jesus’ actual point (Hebrews 7:18, 19 NET):

On the one hand a former command is set aside because it is weak and useless, for the law made nothing perfect (ἐτελείωσεν, a form of τελειόω). On the other hand a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

The KJV reads: For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did… It is almost unique among English translations. Paul described this better hope as the love of God…poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:1-5 NET):

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory. Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings (θλίψεσιν, a form of θλίψις), knowing that suffering (θλῖψις) produces endurance, and endurance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

The writer of Hebrews continued (Hebrews 7:20-22 NET):

And since this was not done without a sworn affirmation – for the others have become priests without a sworn affirmation,^[11] but Jesus did so with a sworn affirmation by the one who said to him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever’” –^[12] accordingly^[13] Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

Here is a table comparing the quotation from Psalm 110:4 in the NET parallel Greek, Septuagint and Stephanus Textus Receptus:

Hebrews 7:21b (NET Parallel Greek)	Psalm 110:4 (Septuagint)	Hebrews 7:21b (Stephanus Textus Receptus)
ὤμοσεν κύριος καὶ οὐ μεταμεληθήσεται σὺ ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα	ὤμοσεν κύριος καὶ οὐ μεταμεληθήσεται σὺ εἶ ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδεκ	ωμοσεν κυριος και ου μεταμεληθησεται συ ιερευς εις τον αιωνα κατα την ταξιν μελχισεδεκ

The writer of Hebrews continued (Hebrews 7:23-28):

And the others who became priests were numerous, because death prevented them from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently since he lives forever. So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. For it^[14] is indeed fitting for us to have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need to do every day what those priests do, to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since he did this in offering himself once for all. For the law appoints as high priests men subject to weakness, but the word of solemn affirmation that came after the law appoints a son made perfect (τετελειωμένον, another form of τελειόω) forever.

Solomon prayed to y^ehôvâh at the dedication of the temple, and y^ehôvâh appeared to him and answered his prayer.

1 Kings 8:27-29 (Tanakh)

1 Kings 9:3-5 (Tanakh)

But will God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) my God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי), to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day: That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.

And the LORD (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed (qâdash, הקדשתי; Septuagint: ἡγίακα, another form of ἁγιάζω) this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked (Psalm 51:10, 11), in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail (Luke 1:30-33) thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

Isaiah prophesied, if not a change in the law, a change in attitude toward the temple and its sacrifices.

Isaiah 66:1-4 (Tanakh)	Isaiah 66:1-4 (KJV)
Thus saith the LORD (y^ehôvâh, יהוה), The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?	Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD (y^ehôvâh, יהוה): but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.	For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth (châphêts, חפצה) in their abominations.	He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted (châphêts, חפצתי) not.	I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

Here the sacrifices prescribed by law were called their own ways (derek, בדרכיהם) and their abominations (shiqqûts, ובשקוציהם). In fact, their soul delighteth (châphêts, חפצה) in their abominations. They chose that in which I delighted (châphêts, חפצתי) not, saith the LORD (y^ehôvâh, יהוה). This led me directly back to David (Psalm 51:16, 17 Tanakh Table1 Table2):

For thou desirest (châphêts, תחפץ; Septuagint: ἠθέλησας, a form of θέλω) not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest (râtsâh, תרצה; Septuagint: εὐδοκήσεις; a form of εὐδοκέω) not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

A table of Isaiah 66:1-4 in Greek from the Septuagint and an English translation follows:

Isaiah 66:1, 2, 3, 4 (Septuagint)	Isaiah 66:1-4 (NETS)
οὕτως λέγει κύριος ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι ἢ ποῖος τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μου	Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet; what kind of house will you build for me, or of what kind will be the place of my rest?
πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα ἐποίησεν ἡ χείρ μου καὶ ἔστιν ἐμὰ πάντα ταῦτα λέγει κύριος καὶ ἐπὶ τίνα ἐπιβλέψω ἀλλ᾽ ἢ ἐπὶ τὸν ταπεινὸν καὶ ἡσύχιον καὶ τρέμοντα τοὺς λόγους μου	For all these things my hand has made, and all these things are mine, says the Lord. And to whom will I look but to the one who is humble and quiet and trembles at my words?
ὁ δὲ ἄνομος ὁ θύων μοι μόσχον ὡς ὁ ἀποκτέννων κύνα ὁ δὲ ἀναφέρων σεμίδαλιν ὡς αἷμα ὕειον ὁ διδοὺς λίβανον εἰς μνημόσυνον ὡς βλάσφημος καὶ οὗτοι ἐξελέξαντο τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ βδελύγματα αὐτῶν ἃ ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτῶν ἠθέλησεν (another form of θέλω)	But the lawless who sacrifices to me a calf is like one who kills a dog, and he who offers fine flour, like one who offers swine’s blood; he who has given frankincense for a memorial, like a blasphemer. And these have chosen their own ways and their abominations, which their soul wanted;
κἀγὼ ἐκλέξομαι τὰ ἐμπαίγματα αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἀνταποδώσω αὐτοῖς ὅτι ἐκάλεσα αὐτοὺς καὶ οὐχ ὑπήκουσάν μου ἐλάλησα καὶ οὐκ ἤκουσαν καὶ ἐποίησαν τὸ πονηρὸν ἐναντίον μου καὶ ἃ οὐκ ἐβουλόμην (a form of βούλομαι) ἐξελέξαντο	So I will choose mockeries for them and repay them their sins, because I called them and they did not answer me, but they did what was evil in my sight and chose the things I did not desire.

Here “the lawless” (ἄνομος) who bring the sacrifices prescribed by law “have chosen their own ways (ὁδοὺς, a form of ὁδός)” and “their abominations (βδελύγματα, a form of βδέλυγμα).” The rabbis made some connection to David’s psalm. They translated חפצה (châphêts) ἠθέλησεν (another form of θέλω) in, “And these have chosen their own ways and their abominations, which their soul wanted (ἠθέλησεν).” And they translated תחפץ (châphêts) ἠθέλησας (also a form of θέλω) in, For thou desirest (ἠθέλησας) not sacrifice. But they translated חפצתי (châphêts) ἐβουλόμην (a form of βούλομαι) when the Holy Spirit’s point was that they “chose the things I (y^ehôvâh) did not desire (ἐβουλόμην),” obscuring that connection at a salient point.

The NET translators didn’t add “the lawless” to the text, but embedded it by turning similes into additive descriptions: The one who slaughters a bull also strikes down a man; the one who sacrifices a lamb also breaks a dog’s neck; the one who presents an offering includes pig’s blood with it; the one who offers incense also praises an idol. They have decided to behave this way; they enjoy these disgusting practices.^[15]

Perhaps this is not so surprising. The rebuilding of the temple and the reinstitution of its sacrifices are major tenets of our eschatology. David prophesied a time when אלהים (ʼĕlôhı̂ym) would do good (yâṭab, היטיבה; Septuagint: ἀγάθυνον, a form of ἀγαθύνω) unto Zion: Do good in thy good pleasure (râtsôn, ברצונך; Septuagint: εὐδοκίᾳ) unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.^[16]

At that time אלהים (ʼĕlôhı̂ym) will be pleased with sacrifices (zebach, זבחי; Septuagint: θυσίαν, a form of θυσία) of righteousness (tsedeq, צדק; Septuagint: δικαιοσύνης, a form of δικαιοσύνη), even burnt offering (ʽôlâh, עולה; Septuagint: ἀναφορὰν, a form of ἀναφορά) and whole burnt offering (kâlı̂yl, וכליל; Septuagint: ὁλοκαυτώματα, a form of ὁλοκαύτωμα):

Then shalt thou be pleased (châphêts, חפצה; Septuagint: εὐδοκήσεις, a form of εὐδοκέω) with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.^[17]

I seriously doubt however that sacrifices of righteousness can be offered by any who reject the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.^[18] Those who would offer such sacrifices are ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness,^[19] their own ways, by their abominations. Perhaps the translators of the Septuagint meant that a priest should not be lawless but maintain his own righteousness derived from the law…^[20]

Should a priest—consecrated with special clothes, fancy adornments and anointing oil, his atonement accomplished through a sin offering bull offered on an altar consecrated by the bull’s blood, the gift (offering made by fire) of a burnt offering ram, being sprinkled in the blood of a second ram of ordination, standing in his own righteousness derived from his own adherence to the law but without the righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness^[21]—dare to offer Him the blood of bulls and goats? He does away (ἀναιρεῖ, a form of ἀναιρέω) with the first, Jesus taught his disciples, to establish the second.^[22]

Hear Jesus’ teaching through the writer of Hebrews (Hebrews 10:28-31 NET):

Someone who rejected the law of Moses^[23] was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant that made him holy, and insults the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,”^[24] and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer, and put fire therein, and laid incense thereon, and offered strange fire before HaShem (yehôvâh, יהוה), which He had not commanded them Table. And there came forth fire from before HaShem (yehôvâh, יהוה), and devoured them, and they died before HaShem (yehôvâh, יהוה) Table. Then Moses said unto Aaron: ‘This is it that HaShem (yehôvâh, יהוה) spoke, saying: Through them that are nigh unto Me I will be sanctified (qâdash, אקדש; Septuagint: ἁγιασθήσομαι, a form of ἁγιάζω), and before all the people I will be glorified.’ And Aaron held his peace Table.^[25]

Again, Jesus said:

Matthew 23:37-39 (NET)	Luke 13:34, 35 (NET)
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill^[26] the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her^[27] chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it! Look, your house is left to you desolate! For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”	“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it! Look, your house is forsaken!^[28] And I tell you,^[29] you will not see me until^[30] you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Tables of Hebrews 7:11; 6:18; 7:14; 7:16, 17; 7:21, 22; 7:26; 10:28; 10:30; Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:35 comparing the NET and KJV follow.

Hebrews 7:11 (NET)	Hebrews 7:11 (KJV)
So if perfection had in fact been possible through the Levitical priesthood – for on that basis the people received the law – what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in Aaron’s order?	If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Εἰ μὲν οὖν τελείωσις διὰ τῆς Λευιτικῆς ἱερωσύνης ἦν, ὁ λαὸς γὰρ ἐπ᾿ αὐτῆς νενομοθέτηται, τίς ἔτι χρεία κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισέδεκ ἕτερον ἀνίστασθαι ἱερέα καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Ἀαρὼν λέγεσθαι	ει μεν ουν τελειωσις δια της λευιτικης ιερωσυνης ην ο λαος γαρ επ αυτη νενομοθετητο τις ετι χρεια κατα την ταξιν μελχισεδεκ ετερον ανιστασθαι ιερεα και ου κατα την ταξιν ααρων λεγεσθαι	ει μεν ουν τελειωσις δια της λευιτικης ιερωσυνης ην ο λαος γαρ επ αυτη νενομοθετητο τις ετι χρεια κατα την ταξιν μελχισεδεκ ετερον ανιστασθαι ιερεα και ου κατα την ταξιν ααρων λεγεσθαι

Hebrews 6:18 (NET)	Hebrews 6:18 (KJV)
so that we who have found refuge in him may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.	That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἵνα διὰ δύο πραγμάτων ἀμεταθέτων, ἐν οἷς ἀδύνατον ψεύσασθαι [τὸν] θεόν, ἰσχυρὰν παράκλησιν ἔχωμεν οἱ καταφυγόντες κρατῆσαι τῆς προκειμένης ἐλπίδος	ινα δια δυο πραγματων αμεταθετων εν οις αδυνατον ψευσασθαι θεον ισχυραν παρακλησιν εχωμεν οι καταφυγοντες κρατησαι της προκειμενης ελπιδος	ινα δια δυο πραγματων αμεταθετων εν οις αδυνατον ψευσασθαι θεον ισχυραν παρακλησιν εχωμεν οι καταφυγοντες κρατησαι της προκειμενης ελπιδος

Hebrews 7:14 (NET)	Hebrews 7:14 (KJV)
For it is clear that our Lord is descended from Judah, yet Moses said nothing about priests in connection with that tribe.	For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
πρόδηλον γὰρ ὅτι ἐξ Ἰούδα ἀνατέταλκεν ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν, εἰς ἣν φυλὴν περὶ ἱερέων οὐδὲν Μωϋσῆς ἐλάλησεν	προδηλον γαρ οτι εξ ιουδα ανατεταλκεν ο κυριος ημων εις ην φυλην ουδεν περι ιερωσυνης μωσης ελαλησεν	προδηλον γαρ οτι εξ ιουδα ανατεταλκεν ο κυριος ημων εις ην φυλην ουδεν περι ιερωσυνης μωυσης ελαλησεν

Hebrews 7:16, 17 (NET)	Hebrews 7:16, 17 (KJV)
who has become a priest not by a legal regulation about physical descent but by the power of an indestructible life.	Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ὃς οὐ κατὰ νόμον ἐντολῆς σαρκίνης γέγονεν ἀλλὰ κατὰ δύναμιν ζωῆς ἀκαταλύτου	ος ου κατα νομον εντολης σαρκικης γεγονεν αλλα κατα δυναμιν ζωης ακαταλυτου	ος ου κατα νομον εντολης σαρκικης γεγονεν αλλα κατα δυναμιν ζωης ακαταλυτου

For here is the testimony about him: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
μαρτυρεῖται γὰρ ὅτι σὺ ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισέδεκ	μαρτυρει γαρ οτι συ ιερευς εις τον αιωνα κατα την ταξιν μελχισεδεκ	μαρτυρει γαρ οτι συ ιερευς εις τον αιωνα κατα την ταξιν μελχισεδεκ

Hebrews 7:21, 22 (NET)	Hebrews 7:21, 22 (KJV)
but Jesus did so with a sworn affirmation by the one who said to him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever’” –	For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ δὲ μετὰ ὁρκωμοσίας διὰ τοῦ λέγοντος πρὸς αὐτόν ὤμοσεν κύριος καὶ οὐ μεταμεληθήσεται σὺ ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα	οι μεν γαρ χωρις ορκωμοσιας εισιν ιερεις γεγονοτες ο δε μετα ορκωμοσιας δια του λεγοντος προς αυτον ωμοσεν κυριος και ου μεταμεληθησεται συ ιερευς εις τον αιωνα κατα την ταξιν μελχισεδεκ	ο δε μετα ορκωμοσιας δια του λεγοντος προς αυτον ωμοσεν κυριος και ου μεταμεληθησεται συ ιερευς εις τον αιωνα κατα την ταξιν μελχισεδεκ

accordingly Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
κατὰ τοσοῦτο [καὶ] κρείττονος διαθήκης γέγονεν ἔγγυος Ἰησοῦς	κατα τοσουτον κρειττονος διαθηκης γεγονεν εγγυος ιησους	κατα τοσουτον κρειττονος διαθηκης γεγονεν εγγυος ιησους

Hebrews 7:26 (NET)	Hebrews 7:26 (KJV)
For it is indeed fitting for us to have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.	For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Τοιοῦτος γὰρ ἡμῖν \|καὶ\| ἔπρεπεν ἀρχιερεύς, ὅσιος ἄκακος ἀμίαντος, κεχωρισμένος ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ ὑψηλότερος τῶν οὐρανῶν γενόμενος	τοιουτος γαρ ημιν επρεπεν αρχιερευς οσιος ακακος αμιαντος κεχωρισμενος απο των αμαρτωλων και υψηλοτερος των ουρανων γενομενος	τοιουτος γαρ ημιν επρεπεν αρχιερευς οσιος ακακος αμιαντος κεχωρισμενος απο των αμαρτωλων και υψηλοτερος των ουρανων γενομενος

Hebrews 10:28 (NET)	Hebrews 10:28 (KJV)
Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.	He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἀθετήσας τις νόμον Μωϋσέως χωρὶς οἰκτιρμῶν ἐπὶ δυσὶν ἢ τρισὶν μάρτυσιν ἀποθνῄσκει	αθετησας τις νομον μωσεως χωρις οικτιρμων επι δυσιν η τρισιν μαρτυσιν αποθνησκει	αθετησας τις νομον μωυσεως χωρις οικτιρμων επι δυσιν η τρισιν μαρτυσιν αποθνησκει

Hebrews 10:30 (NET)	Hebrews 10:30 (KJV)
For we know the one who said, “*Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people*.”	For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
οἴδαμεν γὰρ τὸν εἰπόντα ἐμοὶ ἐκδίκησις, ἐγὼ ἀνταποδώσω. καὶ πάλιν κρινεῖ κύριος τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ	οιδαμεν γαρ τον ειποντα εμοι εκδικησις εγω ανταποδωσω λεγει κυριος και παλιν κυριος κρινει τον λαον αυτου	οιδαμεν γαρ τον ειποντα εμοι εκδικησις εγω ανταποδωσω λεγει κυριος και παλιν κυριος κρινει τον λαον αυτου

Matthew 23:37 (NET)	Matthew 23:37 (KJV)
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!	O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Ἰερουσαλὴμ Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν, ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει τὰ νοσσία \|αὐτῆς\| ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε	ιερουσαλημ ιερουσαλημ η αποκτεινουσα τους προφητας και λιθοβολουσα τους απεσταλμενους προς αυτην ποσακις ηθελησα επισυναγαγειν τα τεκνα σου ον τροπον επισυναγει ορνις τα νοσσια εαυτης υπο τας πτερυγας και ουκ ηθελησατε	ιερουσαλημ ιερουσαλημ η αποκτενουσα τους προφητας και λιθοβολουσα τους απεσταλμενους προς αυτην ποσακις ηθελησα επισυναγαγειν τα τεκνα σου ον τροπον επισυναγει ορνις τα νοσσια εαυτης υπο τας πτερυγας και ουκ ηθελησατε

Luke 13:35 (NET)	Luke 13:35 (KJV)
Look, your house is forsaken! And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”	Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Net Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν. λέγω [δὲ] ὑμῖν, οὐ μὴ ἴδητε με ἕως [ἥξει ὅτε] εἴπητε· εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου	ιδου αφιεται υμιν ο οικος υμων ερημος αμην δε λεγω υμιν οτι ου μη με ιδητε εως αν ηξη οτε ειπητε ευλογημενος ο ερχομενος εν ονοματι κυριου	ιδου αφιεται υμιν ο οικος υμων ερημος λεγω δε υμιν οτι ου μη με ιδητε εως αν ηξει οτε ειπητε ευλογημενος ο ερχομενος εν ονοματι κυριου

Atonement, Part 9

Back to A Door of Hope, Part 1

Back to Hannah’s Prayer, Part 4

Back to Wonders and False Wonders, Part 3

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

^[2] Exodus 29:33 (NET)

^[3] Atonement, Part 5; Atonement, Part 6

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

^[5] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had νενομοθέτηται here, a perfect passive indicative 3rd person singular form, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had νενομοθετητο, the pluperfect passive indicative 3rd person singular form.

^[6] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had the article τὸν preceding God. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

^[7] Hebrews 7:1-3 (NET)

^[8] In the NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text Moses was spelled Μωϋσῆς, and μωσης in the Stephanus Textus Receptus.

^[9] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἱερέων here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ιερωσυνης (KJV: priesthood).

^[10] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had σαρκίνης here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had σαρκικης (KJV: carnal).

^[11] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had οἱ μὲν γὰρ χωρὶς ὁρκωμοσίας εἰσὶν ἱερεῖς γεγονότες (KJV: For those priests were made without an oath) at the beginning of verse 21.

^[12] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had κατα την ταξιν μελχισεδεκ (KJV: after the order of Melchisedec) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

^[13] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had τοσοῦτο here followed by the conjunction καὶ. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had another neuter form τοσουτον but no καὶ.

^[14] The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had the conjunction καὶ preceding the verb translated it is indeed fitting. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

^[15] Isaiah 66:3a (NET)

^[16] Psalm 51:18 (Tanakh) Table

^[17] Psalm 51:19 (Tanakh) Table

^[18] Hebrews 10:10b (NET) Table

^[19] Romans 10:3a (NET)

^[20] Philippians 3:9a (NET)

^[21] Philippians 3:9b (NET)

^[22] Hebrews 10:9b (NET)

^[23] In the NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text Moses was spelled Μωϋσέως, and μωσεως in the Stephanus Textus Receptus.

^[24] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had λεγει κυριος (KJV: saith the Lord) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

^[25] Leviticus 10:1-3 (Tanakh)

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

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

^[28] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ερημος at the end of this clause (KJV: your house is left unto you desolate). The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

^[29] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had αμην (KJV: verily) at the beginning of this phrase. The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text did not. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had οτι here, where the NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

^[30] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ἕως αν here, where the NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had simply ἕως. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ηξη ὅτε after (KJV: the time come when). The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἥξει ὅτε but it was not translated in the NET.

Cobwebs

Posted on May 27, 2018 by admin

I think I can finally wipe some sticky filaments of ideas from my face and roll them up into something like a little cotton candy ball:

I have dual citizenship in the rarefied and pampered world of resort hotels, both as a guest and as a servant working along with those who make the resort conference experience what it is. As a servant I’m expected to express love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And since I’m never a paying guest, the fruit of the Holy Spirit maintains my dual citizenship in this world.

I frequent the backrooms and service corridors of venues often enough to know that sometimes the expression of these “virtues” is less than genuine. In other words, it’s the work of actors, hypocrites. But then I walk out again into a ballroom where a keynote speaker extols the value of some aspect of the fruit of the Holy Spirit for effective servant-leadership. Of course, no one calls it the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Hotel management and keynote speakers alike expect servants and effective leaders to generate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control out from themselves, on their own, or with tips and techniques that have been developed and written about in books for sale in the lobby. None offers a fountain of water springing up to eternal life,^[1] though all seem to recognize that even an actor’s imitation of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is what makes resort life viable.

A friend called a while back seeking my opinion on the idea that Jesus was an alien lifted up by some sort of tractor beam into a spacecraft hidden in the clouds. I get it, I suppose. If Jesus is a magical being from another planet no one can expect us to be anything like Him.

Believing that God has provided us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence,^[2] does pose an immediate and insistent question: Why am I not more like Him? My go-to answer is that my faith in, measured as a function of my reliance upon, his supply is not all it might be. But that really chafes since I claim to believe that this faith, or faithfulness, is also supplied through his Holy Spirit.

In April this year, working almost every day, I began to earn my two-month-long Christmas vacation. If I wasn’t working I was driving to the next show. I put a little over 6,000 miles on my company vehicle. While driving I listened to some sermons on the radio. One in particular rang “true” and familiar, similar to sermons I had heard before. The gist was: “God has supplied everything you need for salvation in Jesus Christ. All he requires from you is faith and obedience.”

In the past I resolved the irrationality of these statements by assuming that everything didn’t mean everything. So I set out to supply my own faith and my own obedience by hearing and obeying rules.

May grace and peace be lavished on you, Peter wrote, as you grow in the rich knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord! I can pray this because his divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence.^[3] The Greek word translated everything was πάντα (a form of πᾶς). The definition of πᾶς in the NET contains an excerpt from a sermon by C.H. Spurgeon:

…”the whole world has gone after him” Did all the world go after Christ? “then went all Judea, and were baptized of him in Jordan.” Was all Judea, or all Jerusalem, baptized in Jordan? “Ye are of God, little children”, and the whole world lieth in the wicked one”. Does the whole world there mean everybody? The words “world” and “all” are used in some seven or eight senses in Scripture, and it is very rarely the “all” means all persons, taken individually. The words are generally used to signify that Christ has redeemed some of all sorts — some Jews, some Gentiles, some rich, some poor, and has not restricted His redemption to either Jew or Gentile … (C.H. Spurgeon from a sermon on Particular Redemption)

I grew up in the same religious milieu as the translators of the NET. I, too, thought God had bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness except faith and obedience. What was that everything? After all, that seems to be Spurgeon’s point, to look for the limitations implicit in the text. In my case everything was a second chance^[4] to become the best Pharisee I could be, another opportunity to have my own righteousness derived from the law.^[5] But at what point does this obsessive caution in interpretation reduce forms of πᾶς from the pen of the New Testament writers to the written equivalent of uh or uhm?

So did Peter mean everything? Well, even he had a long list of things for me to add to my faith in God through Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-11 NET):

For this very reason, make every effort to add (ἐπιχορηγήσατε, a form of ἐπιχορηγέω) to your faith excellence, to excellence, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, unselfish love. For if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately. But concerning the one who lacks such things – he is blind. That is to say, he is nearsighted, since he has forgotten about the cleansing of his past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to be sure of your calling and election. For by doing this you will never stumble into sin. For thus an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be richly provided (ἐπιχορηγηθήσεται, another form of ἐπιχορηγέω) for you.

According to the Koine Greek Lexicon ἐπιχορηγήσατε is an aorist active imperative 2^nd person plural verb. The primary definition in the lexicon is “to furnish, provide for (at one’s own expense).” So I can’t fault the translators here. And I find no discrepancy in the Greek texts.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο δὲ σπουδὴν πᾶσαν παρεισενέγκαντες ἐπιχορηγήσατε ἐν τῇ πίστει ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρετήν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀρετῇ τὴν γνῶσιν	και αυτο τουτο δε σπουδην πασαν παρεισενεγκαντες επιχορηγησατε εν τη πιστει υμων την αρετην εν δε τη αρετη την γνωσιν	και αυτο τουτο δε σπουδην πασαν παρεισενεγκαντες επιχορηγησατε εν τη πιστει υμων την αρετην εν δε τη αρετη την γνωσιν

Granted, Peter may have admonished me to add these things in or by (ἐν) my faith rather than to it. Faith here is πίστει (a form of πίστις), a noun in the dative case which “may also indicate the means by which something is done.”^[6] But in English translation I’m left with the disconcerting conclusion that the Holy Spirit wanted to wear me out striving to obey Peter until my ears were opened to hear Paul and then, at last, Jesus (Matthew 11:25-30 NET):

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides (βούληται, a form of βούλομαι) to reveal him. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.”

In another essay I referenced John Piper’s essay “A Whole World Hangs on a Word” without any reference to opposing views. So I typed “faith is not a gift Ephesians 2” into Google to consider some. Wayne Jackson’s essay “Is Faith the Gift of Ephesians 2:8?” on Christian Courier was top of the list.

My purpose here is not to pick on Wayne Jackson. He had a particular point of contention with followers of John Calvin. My own relationship with John Calvin ended abruptly at Chapter 13 of the Institutes when the paperback copy of the book dented the wall of my apartment. Something about his discussion of the “essence” of God so early in his book irritated me, and I’ve never looked back (except for today to recall how far I’d gotten). Now, of course, if he meant God is love, my apologies to John Calvin and my landlord. If not, it still seems pretentious to me. Admittedly, I was reading in English translation with little appreciation for how problematic that might be.

What Wayne Jackson has done for me is to remind me how arguments against faith as a gift of God’s grace go. Below is a table quoting two paragraphs from his essay under the heading: “God’s Sovereignty Does Not Negate Man’s Free Will.”

…since God is a Being of absolute truth (Dt. 32:4; “faithfulness,” ASV), he cannot do that which would violate his own nature, e.g., practice lying. It thus is impossible for God to lie (Num. 23:19; Tit. 1:2; Heb. 6:18). The Lord’s sovereignty is not compromised by his inability to lie. His sovereignty is limited, however, by his own holy nature.

Similarly, if it is the case that the Almighty granted man the ability to exercise free will, then the divine requirement that this free will be exercised responsibly (requiring obedience) is not a violation of Heaven’s sovereignty; rather, it is an example of the exercise thereof.

I didn’t quote these paragraphs to engage Mr. Jackson in philosophical debate but simply to highlight the contrast between them: One is stated with confidence, conviction and Bible references, the other (quite honestly, I think) is more speculative in nature with no Bible references. I am well aware that something inhibits and impedes my expression of Christ-likeness, but is there any practical value to calling it free will over, say, the old human or sin in my flesh?

I realize that those who promote free will do so more positively, as the proximate cause of both faith and obedience. If anyone wants (θέλῃ, a form of θέλω) to do God’s will (θέλημα), he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority.^[7] Notice what Jesus did not say: If anyone wants to do God’s will, he will succeed thereby. My failure to accomplish God’s will in my own strength was part of the confirmation that it was, in fact, God’s will rather than my own. Jesus’ own attitude was not my will (θέλημα) but yours be done.^[8] But I don’t want to invalidate Mr. Jackson’s point entirely because Jesus’ called those who are weary and burdened.

I worked the hardest to will myself into doing God’s will when I turned Paul’s definition of love into rules I repeated as a mantra so as to obey them. The highest achievement of that effort was that I didn’t murder my wife in her sleep. It’s not much of a righteousness résumé but it is still a world removed from “I murdered my wife in her sleep.” Perhaps I should patent this technique, so to speak, by writing it in a book as a kind of crisis intervention for those who are considering taking high-powered weapons to school to murder their classmates.

But the moment I consider how to market such a book to the young men I imagine them to be is also the moment I wonder if I haven’t overindulged my will even in this. Some life-changing work had already been accomplished in me that I even cared enough to treat Paul’s definition of love as rules to obey. And life-changing is a very poor way to characterize what Paul wrote the Ephesians (Ephesians 2:1-10 NET Table):

And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing (ἐνεργοῦντος, a form of ἐνεργέω) the sons of disobedience (ἀπειθείας, a form of ἀπείθεια), among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…

But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! – and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.

Love is patient, but did I by my will alone believe it to be true and obey it more or less as a commandment—thou shalt be patient—with a wife who wanted to divorce me? Love is kind, but did I by my will alone believe it to be true and obey it more or less as a commandment—thou shalt be kind—when her daily existence rejecting me was like a knife twisting in my heart?

Or was God, the Father, according to the wealth of his glory granting me to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ was dwelling in my heart through faith, so that, because I had been rooted and grounded in love, I would be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that I could be filled up to all the fullness of God^[9] because I had a pastor who taught and prayed this prayer?

Is that what was really happening as I invented a rather stupid rationalization about turning definitions into rules to obey in my own strength? Yeah, I think so. As Paul wrote believers in Philippi, continue working out your salvation with awe (φόβου, a form of φόβος) and reverence (τρόμου, a form of τρόμος), for the one bringing forth (ἐνεργῶν, another form of ἐνεργέω) in you both the desire (θέλειν, another form of θέλω) and the effort (ἐνεργεῖν, another form of ἐνεργέω) – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.^[10]

But I’m not sure I could have gotten from there to here without that rationalization and its utter refutation by my persistent sinful behavior. And I’m certain I couldn’t have gotten here apart from the overwhelming power of the indwelling Holy Spirit who has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. And here is no way station from which to backslide but an excellent place from which to strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,^[11] not in my own strength but in the faith and obedience that flow from his Holy Spirit, that fountain of water springing up to eternal life that Jesus promised the Samaritan woman^[12] at Jacob’s well (John 4:4-42).

Back to Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 6

Back to Atonement, Part 2

Back to Psalm 22, Part 2

Back to Who Am I? Part 11

Back to Who Am I? Part 13

^[1] John 4:14b (NET)

^[2] 2 Peter 1:3 (NET)

^[3] 2 Peter 1:2, 3 (NET)

^[4] Who Am I? Part 3; Jesus the Leg-breaker, Part 1; Romans, Part 55

^[5] Philippians 3:9 (NET)

^[6] See Dative Case on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek

^[7] John 7:17 (NET)

^[8] Luke 22:42b (NET)

^[9] Ephesians 3:16-19 (NET)

^[10] Philippians 2:12b, 13 (NET)

^[11] Philippians 3:14b (NET)

^[12] My Reasons and My Reason, Part 6; Fear – Exodus, Part 9

Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 5

Posted on February 14, 2018 by admin

If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord (ʼădônây, אדני), Moses said, let my Lord (ʼădônây, אדני) go among us, for we are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.^[1]

Before I continue to study nâśâʼ^[2] and ʽâbar in Exodus 20:7 – Deuteronomy 4:26, I must add another word to the mix. The Hebrew word sâlach (וסלחת), translated pardon, was unprecedented. It didn’t occur in Genesis or anywhere else in Exodus. That the Lord (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) called to Moses and spoke to him from the Meeting Tent^[3] is fairly explicit in the opening verse of Leviticus. But I still speculate that at least some of the subject matter recorded there was broached on the mountain before y^ehôvâh and Moses were so rudely interrupted by Israel’s worship of a golden calf.

The idea that Moses coined a word and then discovered a universe to revolve around it seems to work out all right in particle physics, but it makes me uncomfortable in Bible study. If y^ehôvâh had already begun to reveal the elaborate, sometimes tedious, detail of atonement (kâphar, כפר) and forgiveness (sâlach, סלח) it would help to account for Moses’ brass: He called y^ehôvâh’s intention to destroy Israel in accordance with the forty day covenant evil (Exodus 32:9-14) because he was taken by surprise at the abrupt change in y^ehôvâh’s tone and the content of his words.

Be that as it may, scribing kâphar and sâlach convinced me that I have mischaracterized Leviticus, and that I was wrong when I wrote that a primary verb to forgive was absent from “holy Hebrew.” A table showing the translations of sâlach in the KJV, NET and Septuagint follows:

Form of sâlach	Reference	KJV	NET	Septuagint
סלח	Numbers 14:19	Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people…	Please forgive the iniquity of this people…	ἄφες, a form of ἀφίημι
יסלח	Numbers 30:5	…and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father…	And the Lord will release her from it, because her father overruled…	καθαριεῖ, a form of καθαρίζω
	Numbers 30:8	…and the LORD shall forgive her.	And the Lord will release her from it.	καθαριεῖ, a form of καθαρίζω
	Numbers 30:12	…and the LORD shall forgive her.	…and the Lord will release her from them.	καθαρίσει, another form of καθαρίζω
סלחתי	Numbers 14:20	I have pardoned according to thy word:	I have forgiven them as you asked.	ἵλεως ^[4]
וסלחת	Exodus 34:9	…and pardon our iniquity and our sin…	…pardon our iniquity and our sin…	ἀφελεῖς, a form of ἀφαιρέω
ונסלח	Leviticus 4:20	…make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.	…make atonement on their behalf and they will be forgiven.	ἀφεθήσεται, another form of ἀφίημι
	Leviticus 4:26	…make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.	…make atonement on his behalf for his sin and he will be forgiven.
	Leviticus 4:31	…make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.	…make atonement on his behalf and he will be forgiven.
	Leviticus 4:35	…his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.	…his sin which he has committed and he will be forgiven.
	Leviticus 5:10	…his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.	…his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven.
	Leviticus 5:13	…in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him:	…by doing one of these things, and he will be forgiven.
	Leviticus 5:16	…with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.	…with the guilt offering ram and he will be forgiven.
	Leviticus 5:18	…and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him.	…(although he himself had not known it) and he will be forgiven.
	Leviticus 6:7	…for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him…	…on his behalf before the Lord and he will be forgiven…
	Leviticus 19:22	…and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him.	…his sin that he has committed, and he will be forgiven…
	Numbers 15:25	…the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them…	…for the whole community of the Israelites, and they will be forgiven…
	Numbers 15:26	And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel…	…and the resident foreigner who lives among them will be forgiven…
	Numbers 15:28	…to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.	…to make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.	Not Translated

I thought Leviticus was law: crime, especially capital crime, and punishment. But Leviticus has much to say about atonement and forgiveness. It is the good news (εὐαγγέλιον) of the five books of Moses:

If the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally and the matter is not noticed by the assembly, and they violate one of the Lord’s (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) commandments, which must not be violated, so they become guilty, the assembly must present a young bull for a sin offering when the sin they have committed becomes known.^[5] Some priestcraft was spelled out (Leviticus 4:14b-20a) with the result that the priest will make atonement on their behalf and they will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).^[6] For this reason I tell you, Jesus said, people will be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι) for every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).^[7]

Whenever a leader, by straying unintentionally, sins and violates one of the commandments of the Lord (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) his God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיו) which must not be violated, and he pleads guilty, or his sin that he committed is made known to him, he must bring a flawless male goat as his offering.^[8] Again, after some priestcraft (Leviticus 4:24-26a) the priest will make atonement on his behalf for his sin and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).^[9] Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, Jesus continued, will be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι). But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι), either in this age or in the age to come.^[10]

If an ordinary individual sins by straying unintentionally when he violates one of the Lord’s (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) commandments which must not be violated, and he pleads guilty or his sin that he committed is made known to him, he must bring a flawless female goat as his offering for the sin that he committed.^[11] There was some priestcraft (Leviticus 4:29-31a) and the priest will make atonement on his behalf and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).^[12] I tell you the truth, Jesus said, people will be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι) for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven (ἄφεσιν, a form of ἄφεσις), but is guilty of an eternal sin” (because they said, “He has an unclean spirit”).^[13]

This same ordinary individual may bring a sheep instead: But if he brings a sheep as his offering, for a sin offering, he must bring a flawless female.^[14] After the priestcraft (Leviticus 4:33-35a) the priest will make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).^[15] And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, Jesus said, will be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι), but the person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).^[16]

If a person fails to testify and he is a witness,^[17] touches anything ceremonially unclean,^[18] touches human uncleanness,^[19] or swears an oath, speaking thoughtlessly with his lips,^[20] when an individual becomes guilty with regard to one of these things he must confess how he has sinned [Table], and he must bring his penalty for guilt to the Lord (y^ehôvâh, ליהוה) for his sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, whether a female sheep or a female goat, for a sin offering [Table].^[21] If he cannot afford an animal from the flock, he must bring his penalty for guilt for his sin that he has committed, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, to the Lord (y^ehôvâh, ליהוה), one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering.^[22] After the priestcraft (Leviticus 5:8-10a) the priest will make atonement on behalf of this person for his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).^[23]

If he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, y^ehôvâh continued, he must bring as his offering for his sin which he has committed a tenth of an ephah of choice wheat flour for a sin offering. He must not place olive oil on it and he must not put frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering.^[24] So the priest will make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed by doing one of these things, and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).^[25] Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, Peter said to a believing magician who had attempted to buy the Holy Spirit, and pray to the Lord that he may perhaps forgive (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι) you for the intent of your heart.^[26]

The Lord’s holy things (Leviticus 5:14-16 NET):

Then the Lord (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) spoke to Moses: “When a person commits a trespass and sins by straying unintentionally from the regulations about the Lord’s (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) holy things (qôdesh, מקדשי; Septuagint: ἁγίων, a form of ἅγιος), then he must bring his penalty for guilt to the Lord (y^ehôvâh, ליהוה), a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, for a guilt offering. And whatever holy thing he violated he must restore and must add one fifth to it and give it to the priest. So the priest will make atonement on his behalf with the guilt offering ram and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).”

If a person sins and violates any of the Lord’s (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) commandments which must not be violated (although he did not know it at the time, but later realizes he is guilty), then he will bear his punishment for iniquity and must bring a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels, for a guilt offering to the priest. So the priest will make atonement on his behalf for his error which he committed (although he himself had not known it) and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι).^[27]

Then the Lord (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) spoke to Moses (Leviticus 6:1-7 NET):

“When a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord (y^ehôvâh, ביהוה) by deceiving his fellow citizen in regard to something held in trust, or a pledge, or something stolen, or by extorting something from his fellow citizen, or has found something lost and denies it and swears falsely concerning any one of the things that someone might do to sin – when it happens that he sins and he is found guilty, then he must return whatever he had stolen, or whatever he had extorted, or the thing that he had held in trust, or the lost thing that he had found, or anything about which he swears falsely. He must restore it in full and add one fifth to it; he must give it to its owner when he is found guilty. Then he must bring his guilt offering to the Lord (y^ehôvâh, ליהוה), a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels, for a guilt offering to the priest. So the priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι) for whatever he has done to become guilty.”

When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman, although she is a slave woman designated for another man and she has not yet been ransomed, or freedom has not been granted to her, there will be an obligation to pay compensation. They must not be put to death, because she was not free. He must bring his guilt offering to the Lord (y^ehôvâh, ליהוה) at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, a guilt offering ram, and the priest is to make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord (y^ehôvâh, יהוה) for his sin that he has committed, and he will be forgiven (sâlach, ונסלח; Septuagint: ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι) of his sin that he has committed.^[28]

James wrote (James 5:14-16a NET):

Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up – and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven (ἀφεθήσεται, a form of ἀφίημι). So confess (ἐξομολογεῖσθε, a form of ἐξομολογέω) your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

I saved this quotation^[29] for last to highlight that all of this priestly machinery of atonement and forgiveness ground to a halt if sinners didn’t acknowledge and confess their sin, whether directly or by bringing the appropriate offering. This is extremely difficult for the religious mind to do, those who are trying to be declared righteous by the law^[30] or attempting to have [their] own righteousness derived from the law.^[31] As I began these studies I wrote that “the religious mind may be nothing more than a subspecies of the carnal mind (KJV) or the outlook of the flesh (NET).” Now I would simply say that what I call the religious mind is the carnal mind or the outlook of the flesh: because the religious mind is hostile to God, for it does not submit (ὑποτάσσεται, a form of ὑποτάσσω) to the law of God, nor is it able (δύναται, a form of δύναμαι) to do so.^[32]

Jephthah sacrificed^[33] his daughter to make his own word true rather than confess his reckless oath to keep y^ehôvâh’s commandments. But first submission to the law of God is never a pretty sight. Paul left a vivid description from his own experience of what it is like to die to the law, to have a new self, a new I, a place from which to gain one’s first glimpse of the old self, the carnal mind, the outlook of the flesh or as I have been calling it—the religious mind (Romans 7:15-24 NET):

For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate. But if I do what I don’t want, I agree (σύμφημι) that the law is good. But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it (NET note 24: Grk “For to wish [want] is present in/with me, but not to do it.”). For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me. So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 6

Back to Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 1

Back to My Deeds, Part 3

Back to Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 12

^[1] Exodus 34:9 (NET)

^[2] I used the second spelling (nâsâh) offered in Strong’s Concordance in the tables and a previous essay, which confused me when I linked to the Hebrew dictionary.

^[3] Leviticus 1:1 (NET)

^[4] “I am merciful to them according to your word” (Numbers 14:20b NETS).

^[5] Leviticus 4:13, 14a (NET)

^[6] Leviticus 4:20b (NET)

^[7] Matthew 12:31 (NET) Table

^[8] Leviticus 4:22, 23 (NET) Table1 Table2

^[9] Leviticus 4:26b (NET)

^[10] Matthew 12:32 (NET)

^[11] Leviticus 4:27, 28 (NET)

^[12] Leviticus 4:31b (NET)

^[13] Mark 3:28-30 (NET)

^[14] Leviticus 4:32 (NET)

^[15] Leviticus 4:35b (NET)

^[16] Luke 12:10 (NET)

^[17] Leviticus 5:1 (NET)

^[18] Leviticus 5:2 (NET)

^[19] Leviticus 5:3 (NET)

^[20] Leviticus 5:4 (NET) Table

^[21] Leviticus 5:5, 6a (NET)

^[22] Leviticus 5:7 (NET) Table

^[23] Leviticus 5:10b (NET) Table

^[24] Leviticus 5:11 (NET) Table

^[25] Leviticus 5:13a (NET) Table

^[26] Acts 8:22 (NET)

^[27] Leviticus 5:17, 18 (NET)

^[28] Leviticus 19:20-22 (NET)

^[29] There are three more occurrences of ἀφεθήσεται in Luke 17:34-36 (KJV) translated left, contrasted to παραλημφθήσεται (a form of παραλαμβάνω) translated taken. Verse 36 was not in the Textus Receptus of 1550 or the Byzantine Majority Text I consult most often. It was however in the Textus Receptus of 1598 and thereafter and also in the Essex Gospels of 1175.

^[30] Galatians 5:4 (NET) Table

^[31] Philippians 3:9 (NET)

^[32] Romans 8:7 (NET)

^[33] In an article titled, “Did Jephthah Actually Kill his Daughter?,” on thetorah.com Professor Jonathan Magonet argued: “The flexibility of the vav conjunctive linking the two statements would allow it to be read here as ‘and’, so that ‘belonging to the Lord’ meant the burnt offering mentioned immediately after. But the ‘vav’ could also be read as ‘or’, so that whatever or whoever came out would be dedicated to God, and, only should it prove appropriate, would be sacrificed.” Whether Jephthah “sacrificed” his daughter as a burnt offering or as a lifelong virgin matters very little to my argument here. It would have mattered a great deal to the hold Jephthah’s “sacrifice” had on my attention, how often I returned to consider this story. It’s hard to say if that alone would have left my religious mind skulking in the shadows.

Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 3

Posted on October 7, 2016 by admin

The movie Spotlight is named after a team of investigative journalists at the Boston Globe. They pierce a smokescreen of secrecy—fueled by police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, businessmen, civil servants, their own bosses and colleagues, even their own subconscious desires to protect the reputation of the Catholic Church—to shine a spotlight on priests’ abuse of children, both sexual and spiritual, in articles published in 2002. There are spoilers here. Though the film is based on actual events and people, I’m writing about characters in a movie, including the Catholic Church.

The scope of investigative journalist Mike Rezendes’ (Mark Ruffalo) research is broadened by phone conversations with Richard Sipe (Richard Jenkins – voice only), a psychiatrist and former priest, who treated pedophile priests during the last half of the 1960’s. I quote one of their conversations, more personal than professional.

“Richard, do you still go to mass?” Mike asks.

“No. No, I haven’t been to church for some time now. But I still consider myself a Catholic.”

“How does that work?”

“Well, the church is an institution, Mike, made of men. It’s passing. My faith is in the eternal. I try to separate the two.”

“Sounds tricky.”

“It is,” Richard agrees.

Cardinal Law (Len Cariou) presides over a shell game in the Boston Archdiocese, moving pedophile priests from parish to parish. A super at the end of Spotlight reads, “In December 2002, Cardinal Law resigned from the Boston Archdiocese. He was reassigned to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, one of the highest ranking Roman Catholic churches in the world.”

The producers expect us to feel a certain way about that fact. I want to use it to distinguish church—a not-for-profit business—from what I’ll call ἐκκλησία, those called by God through Jesus Christ to be led by his Holy Spirit. Cardinal Law was promoted by the church. He was a company man defending it from scandal. Richard says: “the secretary-canonist for the papal nuncio…co-authored a report warning pedophile priests were a billion-dollar liability” sixteen years earlier than the present in the film. But this faithfulness to the church doesn’t work out so well for the ἐκκλησία, especially the little ones Jesus mentioned (Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, Luke 17:1, 2).

Spotlight editor Walter “Robby” Robinson (Michael Keaton) threatens attorney Eric Macleish (Billy Crudup)—who profited settling child abuse cases against the Church privately—for information and confirmation: “We’ve got two stories here. We’ve got a story about degenerate clergy, and we’ve got a story about a bunch of lawyers turning child abuse into a cottage industry. Now, which story do you want us to write?” Later however Robby admits regretfully:

“We had all the pieces. Why didn’t we get it sooner?…Macleish sent us a letter on 20 priests, years ago…We buried the story in Metro. No folo.”

“That was you,” Robby’s boss Ben Bradlee, Jr. (John Slattery) says. “You were Metro.”

“Yeah. That was me. I’d just taken over. I don’t remember it at all. But yeah…”

Paul was concerned with both, the church and the ἐκκλησία, without distinguishing between the two.

church

ἐκκλησία

When any of you has a legal dispute with another, does he dare go to court before the unrighteous rather than before the saints?….So if you have ordinary lawsuits, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame! Is there no one among you wise enough to settle disputes between fellow Christians? Instead, does a Christian sue a Christian, and do this before unbelievers?

1 Corinthians 6:1, 4-6 (NET)

The fact that you have lawsuits among yourselves demonstrates that you have already been defeated. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? But you yourselves wrong and cheat, and you do this to your brothers and sisters!

1 Corinthians 6:7, 8 (NET)

His most beautiful words to the ἐκκλησία and to the church are his words on love. In his letter to the Corinthians love was presented as one way, albeit, a way that is beyond comparison,^[1] a more excellent way (KJV), a still more excellent way (ESV), a way of life that is best of all (NLV), the most excellent way (NIV), the same way Jesus preached in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5:13-48 NET). In his letter to the Romans Paul presented love as the only way (Romans 13:8-10 NET):

Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Cleary, the love of natural humans will not fulfill the law. We must all be born from above^[2] through faith in Jesus Christ, dependent instead on the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe,^[3] the love that is an aspect of the fruit of his Holy Spirit. I’ll continue contrasting Paul’s regime in 1 Corinthians 5 to Jesus’ regime in Revelation 2:18-29.

Paul’s Regime

Jesus’ Regime

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast (ζύμη) affects the whole batch of dough?

1 Corinthians 5:6 (NET)

But to the rest of you in Thyatira, all who do not hold to this teaching (who have not learned the so-called “deep secrets of Satan”), to you I say: I do not put any additional burden on you. However, hold on to what you have until I come.

Revelation 2:24, 25 (NET)

Clean out the old yeast (ζύμην, another form of ζύμη) so that you may be a new batch of dough – you are, in fact, without yeast (ἄζυμοι, a form of ἄζυμος). For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. So then, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast (ζύμῃ, another form of ζύμη), the yeast (ζύμῃ, another form of ζύμη) of vice and evil, but with the bread without yeast (ἀζύμοις, another form of ἄζυμος), the bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 5:7, 8 (NET)

Not good your boasting (or, glorying, KJV, NKJV), Paul wrote. The Greek word translated good is καλὸν (a form of καλός). This is the beautiful good of Jesus’ works. What follows is a quote from an article by George Long in William Smith’s “A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities,” defining incestum in Roman law:

If a man married a woman whom it was forbidden for him to marry by positive morality (moribus), he was said to commit incestum (Dig. 23 tit. 2 s39). Such a marriage was in fact no marriage, for the necessary connubium between the parties was wanting. Accordingly, incestum is the sexual connection of a male and a female, whether under the form of marriage or not, if such persons cannot marry by reason of consanguinity.

There was no connubium between persons related by blood in the direct line, as parents and children. If such persons contracted a marriage it was Nefariae et Incestae nuptiae. There was no connubium between persons who stood in the relation of parent and child by adoption, not even after the adopted child was emancipated.

With this in mind I would say it was the most likely meaning of the kind of immorality that is not permitted even among the Gentiles.^[4] A man cohabiting with his father’s wife, was against the law, Roman law as well as y^ehôvâh’s law. In other words, it was a circumstance not unlike those in the movie Spotlight. Would anyone consider the conspiratorial cover-up revealed in Spotlight a beautiful good?

Of course, now I need to consider whether turn this man over to Satan (σατανᾷ, a form of Σατανᾶς; adversary) was simply an instruction to turn him over to Roman authorities in the city of Corinth. But I reject that notion just as quickly. Roman authorities had no interest in the blasphemy of Hymenaeus and Alexander. I find no guilt in him,^[5] Pilate said of Jesus, while the Jewish authorities had Him dead to rights for blasphemy (Matthew 26:25, Mark 14:63, Luke 22:71 NET) if He is not y^ehôvâh, the Son of God the Father.

Don’t you know that a little yeast (ζύμη) affects the whole batch of dough?^[6] Paul continued. Yes, that is exactly how Jesus expected his teaching to work in and through those who are called according to his purpose:^[7] He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast (ζύμῃ) that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all the dough had risen.”^[8] To be fair Paul wasn’t writing about Jesus’ teaching. He wrote about the yeast (ζύμῃ, another form of ζύμη) of vice and evil. He’d already been-there-done-that as far as Jesus’ teaching was concerned. In 1 Corinthians he was scrambling to put the toothpaste^[9] back in the tube.

I need to pause to spell out what I’m actually thinking. That is the main purpose of these essays, after all, to remind me what I was thinking as I did a particular word study. As I worked on this one I stumbled across a website by Sherry Shriner. She uses many of the Scriptures I use to assert that “The Apostle Paul Was A Deceiver! He was Satan In The Flesh! An Antichrist!”^[10] I’m not asserting that at all, only that Paul is a human being, born from above, led by the Holy Spirit, struggling at times with the sinfulness of his own flesh or with overcoming his own religion, which he characterized as my own righteousness derived from the law.^[11]

More to the point here in 1 Corinthians 5 I think he struggled with 1) the repercussions of changing^[12] his manner of teaching—When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony of God. For I decided to be concerned about nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified^[13]—and, 2) his allegiance to James’ abbreviated version of the law (Acts 15:19, 20 NET) from the Jerusalem Council—As [Paul, Silas and Timothy] went through the towns, they passed on the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the Gentile believers to obey.^[14] I think what the NET translators called a Corinthian slogan—All things are lawful for me^[15]—was the logical consequence of this teaching. I also think the Corinthians may have been the most sinful people (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NET) to be called to that time—but called they were (Acts 18:9-11 NET):

The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, because I am with you, and no one will assault you to harm you, because I have many people in this city” [Table]. So he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

According to Kyle Harper: “Prostitution [πορνεία; sex with “slaves, prostitutes, and concubines”] was considered a social necessity, an alternative to the violation of respectable women [μοιχεία], in the Roman Empire no less than in classical Greece.” But “πορνεία was not a common term before Judaism and Christianity infused it with new meaning.”^[16] “Πορνεία in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs functions,” Mr. Harper continued, “as a catchall vice for any sexual transgression….Reuben was guilty of πορνεία for sleeping with Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, because his father had been in the same bed….”^[17] The thought that Paul derived his understanding of πορνεία from a book of fiction sent me to bed for a time.

When I got back to work I realized that the language of popular fiction^[18] might well reflect the common word usage of a people and a time. I realized we are not told whether the man who had his father’s wife was a Jew or proselyte who might be familiar with a usage of πορνεία that would include incestum, or a pagan more familiar with πορνεία as sex with slaves, prostitutes or concubines. I don’t know whether Paul assumed his hearers understood the breadth of πορνεία that may have been common in Second Temple Judaism or taught it explicitly in Corinth. I know Paul wrote a sin list in his letter to the Galatians (5:19-21a NET):

NET

Parallel Greek

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things.

φανερὰ δέ ἐστιν τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός, ἅτινα ἐστιν πορνεία, ἀκαθαρσία, ἀσέλγεια, εἰδωλολατρία, φαρμακεία, ἔχθραι, ἔρις, ζῆλος, θυμοί, ἐριθεῖαι, διχοστασίαι, αἱρέσεις, φθόνοι, |φόνοι,| μέθαι, κῶμοι καὶ τὰ ὅμοια τούτοις

In the Textus Receptus this list begins with μοιχεία (adultery). But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, Jesus said, and these things defile a person. For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality (πορνεῖαι, another form of πορνεία), theft, false testimony, slander.^[19] And, For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality (πορνεῖαι, another form of πορνεία), theft, murder, adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly.^[20]

Jesus’ Sin Lists in Greek
Matthew 5:19	Mark 7:21, 22
διαλογισμοὶ πονηροί, φόνοι, μοιχεῖαι, πορνεῖαι, κλοπαί, ψευδομαρτυρίαι, βλασφημίαι	διαλογισμοὶ οἱ κακοὶ ἐκπορεύονται, πορνεῖαι, κλοπαί, φόνοι, μοιχεῖαι, πλεονεξίαι, πονηρίαι, δόλος, ἀσέλγεια, ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός, βλασφημία, ὑπερηφανία, ἀφροσύνη

These sin lists alter the landscape considerably. It is not possible for the words πορνείας^[21] (another form of πορνεία) or πορνείαν^[22] (another form of πορνεία) from James’ abbreviated version of the law to stand for every defilement that comes from the human heart, every work of the flesh. Frankly, I think all of this happened in space and time to push Paul, the human author of so much of the New Testament commentary on the Gospel, to abandon his allegiance to this decision of the Jerusalem Council and to hear better words and gain a better understanding. And I think these events are recorded in Scripture so that we would see how much better these words and this understanding actually are (Romans 7:7, 12; 3:19-24, 31 NET):

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For no one is declared righteous 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 of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead we uphold the law.

Confronted with a Corinthian man who had his father’s wife, Paul turned to Satan for help. Confronted with pedophile priests, the Catholic Church turned to psychologists and psychiatrists.^[23] Spotlight, perhaps it is unnecessary to say, is not a movie about the amazing power of psychologists and psychiatrists to take away the sin of pedophile priests.

On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away (αἴρων, a form of αἴρω) the sin of the world!”^[24]

For far too long I believed that meant forgiveness only. I didn’t believe that, Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.^[25] I didn’t believe that all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.^[26] I thought it was all up to me: my faith, my obedience, my love, my joy, my peace, my patience, my kindness, my goodness, my faithfulness, my gentleness, and my self-control.

Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 4

Back to Sexual Immorality Revisited, Part 2

Back to Sowing to the Flesh, Part 2

^[1] 1 Corinthians 12:31b (NET)

^[2] John 3:7b (NET)

^[3] Romans 3:22 (NET)

^[4] 1 Corinthians 5:1b (NET) Table

^[5] John 19:6b (ESV)

^[6] 1 Corinthians 5:6b (NET)

^[7] Romans 8:28b (NET)

^[8] Matthew 13:33 (NET)

^[9] Romans, Part 66; Romans, Part 68

^[10] http://www.justgivemethetruth.com/paul_was_a_deceiver.htm

^[11] Philippians 3:9 (NET)

^[12] Paul in Corinth; Romans, Part 2; Paul in Athens

^[13] 1 Corinthians 2:1, 2 (NET) Table

^[14] Acts 16:4 (NET) Table

^[15] 1 Corinthians 6:12a (NET)

^[16] Kyle Harper: “Porneia—The Making of a Christian Sexual Norm;” Journal of Biblical Literature 131, no. 2 (2012); p. 369; “For all the importance of prostitution in Greek and Roman societies, πορνεία was not a common word. Πορνεία occurs in only four classical authors (by contrast, the word occurs nearly four hundred times in Jewish and Christian literature before 200 c.e., and over eighteen hundred times between 200 and 600 c.e.).” (I cannot link to this article directly, but was able to download it at academia.edu.)

^[17] ibid, p. 372

^[18] What lover of the Old Testament Scriptures wouldn’t want to hear the patriarchs confess their sexual sins according to the law y^ehôvâh delivered at Sinai so many years after the patriarchs themselves died?

^[19] Matthew 15:18, 19 (NET)

^[20] Mark 7:21, 22 (NET)

^[21] Acts 15:20, 29 (NET)

^[22] Acts 21:25 (NET)

^[23] http://www.themediareport.com/2015/11/30/cardinal-law-spotlight-movie/ (I am not the “Dan” who commented on this article, by the way. I just discovered this site researching the current essay.)

^[24] John 1:29 (NET)

^[25] 1 John 3:9 (NET)

^[26] Romans 8:14 (NET)

The Gospel and the Religious Mind

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

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