Christianity, Part 14

There are 3 occurrences of πάντας in 1 Corinthians [see Table below], the Greek word translated all people in: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people (πάντας, a form of πᾶς) to myself.1 I’ve already spent significant time on the first occurrence. While I would enjoy continuing in chapter 7, it seems I would be more interested in the circumscribed will of the old man versus the freedom of choice of the new man than the meaning and usage of πάντας. So, I’ll move on to the next occurrence (1 Corinthians 14:5 ESV):

Now I want (θέλω) you all (πάντας ὑμᾶς) to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The2 one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets,3 so that the church may be built up.

The Greek word θέλω was translated I want here, I would (KJV) and I wish (NET). All are possible. The relative strength of Paul’s desire that all speak in tongues and prophesy, though known to Paul and the Holy Spirit, is a matter of interpretation for us. The Greek words translated you all were πάντας ὑμᾶς. So, does ὑμᾶς limit πάντας or intensify it to all y’all? First, I’ll consider ὑμᾶς as a limit (1 Corinthians 14:33b-40 ESV).

As in all the churches of the saints, the women4 should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted5 to speak, but6 should be in submission,7 as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman8 to speak in church.

Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command9 of the10 Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.11 So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.

I want to contrast this immediately to Jesus’ word (Revelation 2:18-20 ESV):

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

“‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter12 works exceed the first. But13 I have this14 against you, that you tolerate15 that woman16 Jezebel, who calls17 herself a prophetess and is teaching18 and seducing my19 servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

I can take this two different ways: I can wag my finger and say, “You see, that’s what happens when those women don’t keep silent in the churches.” Or, I can recognize that the fact that Jezebel is teaching in the church in Thyatira tends to falsify the statement: As in all the churches of the saints, the women20 should keep silent in the churches.21 I don’t know if the translators sought to bolster this argument or felt that the imperative σιγάτωσαν (a form of σιγάω), translated should keep silent, allowed for more logical wiggle room than ἐστιν, a 3rd person singular form of εἰμί in the indicative mood in the previous clause: For God is (ἐστιν) not a God of confusion but22 of peace.23

That God is not…of confusion but of peace As in all the churches of the saints, is not something that can be falsified by the actions or inaction of men or women or angels. So, rather than begin this discussion of women with a falsifiable and potentially falsified statement, I’m inclined to move the final clause of verse 33 back where the translators of the KJV had it—For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints24—back to where it probably belongs.

The Lord criticized the angel of the church in Thyatira: But I have this against you.25 The Greek word translated you here was σοῦ, a singular form of σύ. The verb ἀφεῖς in the next clause, translated You tolerate, is a 2nd person singular form of ἀφίημι. Likewise ἔας and ἐᾷς are 2nd person singular forms of ἐάω (KJV: thou sufferest). The Lord’s criticism seems to be, not about a woman teaching in the church in Thyatira (ἐν Θυατείροις ἐκκλησίας) but, about the content and effect of Jezebel’s teaching (Revelation 2:20b ESV):

…seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

It prompted me to wonder what ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις (ESV: in the churches) meant in the instruction: the women should keep silent.26 The plural ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις helps me understand that the instruction does not mean that a woman must take a vow of silence from the moment she is called by Jesus until she dies, or for all eternity. It seems, rather, to designate a special place (1 Corinthians 14:35 ESV):

If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church (ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ).

But even place may not be a truly meaningful understanding of ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις or ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ (1 Corinthians 11:2-6 ESV):

Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you [Table]. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ27 is God. Every man who prays (προσευχόμενος, a form of προσεύχομαι) or prophesies (προφητεύων, a form of προφητεύω) with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays (προσευχομένη, another form of προσεύχομαι) or prophesies (προφητεύουσα, another form of προφητεύω) with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head.

The Greek word translated prophesy in—Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy28— was προφητεύητε (another form of προφητεύω). So, here in the instruction above I find a wife, a woman, prophesying with her head covered (out loud? in the church?). Prior to writing this letter Paul had delivered (παρέδωκα, a form of παραδίδωμι) the traditions (τὰς παραδόσεις, a form of παράδοσις), i.e., of the Jews.

This instruction was preceded by a declaration of Paul’s practice of love (1 Corinthians 10:32-11:1 ESV).

Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved [Table]. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

There are no observant Jews seeking the Lord Jesus at the church I attend. And Paul was quite clear at the end of his discussion about hair-covering (1 Corinthians 11:16 ESV):

If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.

The ESV translation, we have no such practice, is an accurate translation of ἡμεῖς τοιαύτην συνήθειαν οὐκ ἔχομεν no matter how difficult that is to believe. Consider the Contemporary English Version for contrast (1 Corinthians 11:16 CEV):

This is how things are done in all of God’s churches, and this is why none of you should argue about what I have said.

Why spend so much time and effort explaining a tradition only to conclude that we have no such practice (συνήθειαν, a form of συνήθεια), nor do the churches of God? The explanation is found in the text of 1 Corinthians itself. Here, frozen in time, is a written record of Paul and the Corinthian church in transition from the traditions he delivered to them, through spiritual gifts, to a still more excellent way (1 Corinthians 12:27-31 ESV):

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then29 gifts of healing, helping,30 administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher31 gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

So, Paul, as he wrote this letter, still thought that observing the tradition of wives covering their heads in church when praying or prophesying was a way to show love, the more excellent way, and a possible way to Give no offense (ἀπρόσκοποι, a form of ἀπρόσκοπος) to Jews.32 This concept of giving no offense, however, had its limits (Galatians 5:2-6 ESV):

Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace [Table]. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

This clarifies the wife’s situation as well. If covering her head when praying or prophesying in church, she can question her own motives: Do I intend to show love and give no offense to the observant Jews seeking Christ in my congregation or do I seek to be justified by Jewish tradition? But what does it mean for the women who should keep silent in the churches?33

These women (γυναῖκες, a form of γυνή) should probably be understood as wives: If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home.34 If any35 woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he36 consents to live with her, she should not divorce him,37 Paul had already written. Since this woman’s husband could not help her learn at home, should she expect more in the church than the silence of wives with husbands who know the Lord?

Consider the Lord’s response to the daughters of Zelophehad, the only women named in the census made for dividing the promised land (Numbers 27:1-7 ESV):

Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.”

Moses brought their case before the LORD. And the LORD said to Moses, “The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.

It’s probably worth noting that, though the names of the daughters of Zelophehad are memorialized, they argued their legal case in the name of their father. But it certainly established the precedent that women in special circumstances should expect special considerations. Since wives were praying and prophesying in the church, I feel the need to consider exactly what keep silent (σιγάτωσαν, a form of σιγάω) meant: “to say nothing, keep silent; to stop speaking, become silent, be silent; to keep secret, conceal.”

The teaching which precedes this instruction follows (1 Corinthians 14:26-33 ESV).

What then, brothers? When you come together, each one38 has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent (σιγάτω, another form of σιγάω) in church and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent (σιγάτω, another form of σιγάω). For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

To keep silent (σιγάτωσαν, a form of σιγάω) seems to mean exactly what it sounds like, reinforced by For they are not permitted to speak. A note (14) in the NET addressed this conundrum:

For they are not permitted to speak. In light of 11:2-16, which gives permission for women to pray or prophesy in the church meetings, the silence commanded here seems not to involve the absolute prohibition of a woman addressing the assembly. Therefore (1) some take be silent to mean not taking an authoritative teaching role as 1 Tim 2 indicates, but (2) the better suggestion is to relate it to the preceding regulations about evaluating the prophets (v. 29). Here Paul would be indicating that the women should not speak up during such an evaluation, since such questioning would be in violation of the submission to male leadership that the OT calls for (the law, e.g., Gen 2:18).

There is another footnote to consider which I’ll pick up in another essay. The table mentioned above follows.

Occurrences of πάντας in 1 Corinthians

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

Tables comparing Numbers 27:1; 27:2; 27:3; 27:4; 27:5; 27:6 and 27:7 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Numbers 27:1; 27:2; 27:3; 27:4 (27:3b); 27:5 (27:4); 27:6 (27:5) and 27:7 (27:6) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing 1 Corinthians 14:5; 14:33-35; 14:37, 38; Revelation 2:19, 20; 1 Corinthians 11:3; 11:5; 12:28; 12:31; 14:26 and 7:13 in the NET and KJV follow.

Numbers 27:1 (Tanakh)

Numbers 27:1 (KJV)

Numbers 27:1 (NET)

Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph: and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. Then the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh of the families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph came forward. Now these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

Numbers 27:1 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 27:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ προσελθοῦσαι αἱ θυγατέρες Σαλπααδ υἱοῦ Οφερ υἱοῦ Γαλααδ υἱοῦ Μαχιρ τοῦ δήμου Μανασση τῶν υἱῶν Ιωσηφ καὶ ταῦτα τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν Μαλα καὶ Νουα καὶ Εγλα καὶ Μελχα καὶ Θερσα ΚΑΙ προσελθοῦσαι αἱ θυγατέρες Σαλπαὰδ υἱοῦ ᾿Οφέρ, υἱοῦ Γαλαάδ, υἱοῦ Μαχίρ, τοῦ δήμου Μανασσῆ, τῶν υἱῶν ᾿Ιωσήφ (καὶ ταῦτα τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν· Μααλὰ καὶ Νουὰ καὶ ᾿Εγλὰ καὶ Μελχὰ καὶ Θερσά)

Numbers 27:1 (NETS)

Numbers 27:1 (English Elpenor)

And when the daughters of Salpaad son of Hopher son of Galaad son of Machir of the division of Manasse of the sons of Ioseph came forward—and these were their names: Maala and Noua and Hegla and Melcha and Thersa— And the daughters of Salpaad the son of Opher, the son of Galaad, the son of Machir, of the tribe of Manasse, of the sons of Joseph, came near; and these were their names, Maala, and Nua, and Egla, and Melcha, and Thersa;

Numbers 27:2 (Tanakh)

Numbers 27:2 (KJV)

Numbers 27:2 (NET)

And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, at the door of the tent of meeting, saying: And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said,

Numbers 27:2 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 27:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ στᾶσαι ἔναντι Μωυσῆ καὶ ἔναντι Ελεαζαρ τοῦ ἱερέως καὶ ἔναντι τῶν ἀρχόντων καὶ ἔναντι πάσης συναγωγῆς ἐπὶ τῆς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου λέγουσιν καὶ στᾶσαι ἔναντι Μωυσῆ καὶ ἔναντι ᾿Ελεάζαρ τοῦ ἱερέως καὶ ἔναντι τῶν ἀρχόντων καὶ ἔναντι πάσης συναγωγῆς ἐπὶ τῆς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου λέγουσιν

Numbers 27:2 (NETS)

Numbers 27:2 (English Elpenor)

and when they stood before Moyses and before Eleazar the priest and before the rulers and before all the congregation, at the door of the tent of witness, they said, and they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes, and before all the congregation at the door of the tabernacle of witness, saying,

Numbers 27:3 (Tanakh)

Numbers 27:3 (KJV)

Numbers 27:3 (NET)

‘Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not among the company of them that gathered themselves together against HaShem in the company of Korah, but he died in his own sin; and he had no sons. Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons. “Our father died in the wilderness, although he was not part of the company of those that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but he died for his own sin, and he had no sons.

Numbers 27:3, 4 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 27:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν ἀπέθανεν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἦν ἐν μέσῳ τῆς συναγωγῆς τῆς ἐπισυστάσης ἔναντι κυρίου ἐν τῇ συναγωγῇ Κορε ὅτι διὰ ἁμαρτίαν αὐτοῦ ἀπέθανεν καὶ υἱοὶ οὐκ ἐγένοντο αὐτῷ (4) μὴ ἐξαλειφθήτω τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἐκ μέσου τοῦ δήμου αὐτοῦ ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ υἱός δότε ἡμῖν κατάσχεσιν ἐν μέσῳ ἀδελφῶν πατρὸς ἡμῶν ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν ἀπέθανεν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἦν ἐν μέσῳ τῆς συναγωγῆς τῆς ἐπισυστάσης ἔναντι Κυρίου ἐν τῇ συναγωγῇ Κορέ, ὅτι δι’ ἁμαρτίαν αὐτοῦ ἀπέθανε, καὶ υἱοὶ οὐκ ἐγένοντο αὐτῷ μὴ ἐξαλειφθήτω τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἐκ μέσου τοῦ δήμου αὐτοῦ, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ υἱός· δότε ἡμῖν κατάσχεσιν ἐν μέσῳ ἀδελφῶν πατρὸς ἡμῶν

Numbers 27:3, 4 (NETS)

Numbers 27:3 (English Elpenor)

“Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the midst of the gathering that conspired against the Lord in the gathering of Kore, for he died for his sin, and he had no sons. (4) Let the name of our father not be wiped out from the midst of his division because he had no son. Give yo us a possession in the midst of our father’s brothers.” Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the midst of the congregation that rebelled against the Lord in the gathering of Core; for he died for his own sin, and he had no sons. Let not the name of our father be blotted out of the midst of his people, because he has no son give us an inheritance in the midst of our father’s brethren.

Numbers 27:4 (Tanakh)

Numbers 27:4 (KJV)

Numbers 27:4 (NET)

Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he had no son? Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father.’ Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father. Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among the relatives of our father.”

Numbers 27:4 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 27:3b (Septuagint Elpenor)

μὴ ἐξαλειφθήτω τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἐκ μέσου τοῦ δήμου αὐτοῦ ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ υἱός δότε ἡμῖν κατάσχεσιν ἐν μέσῳ ἀδελφῶν πατρὸς ἡμῶν μὴ ἐξαλειφθήτω τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἐκ μέσου τοῦ δήμου αὐτοῦ, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ υἱός· δότε ἡμῖν κατάσχεσιν ἐν μέσῳ ἀδελφῶν πατρὸς ἡμῶν

Numbers 27:4 (NETS)

Numbers 27:3b (English Elpenor)

Let the name of our father not be wiped out from the midst of his division because he had no son. Give yo us a possession in the midst of our father’s brothers.” Let not the name of our father be blotted out of the midst of his people, because he has no son give us an inheritance in the midst of our father’s brethren.

Numbers 27:5 (Tanakh)

Numbers 27:5 (KJV)

Numbers 27:5 (NET)

And Moses brought their cause before HaShem. And Moses brought their cause before the LORD. So Moses brought their case before the Lord.

Numbers 27:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 27:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ προσήγαγεν Μωυσῆς τὴν κρίσιν αὐτῶν ἔναντι κυρίου καὶ προσήγαγε Μωυσῆς τὴν κρίσιν αὐτῶν ἔναντι Κυρίου

Numbers 27:5 (NETS)

Numbers 27:4 (English Elpenor)

And Moyses brought their case before the Lord. And Moses brought their case before the Lord.

Numbers 27:6 (Tanakh)

Numbers 27:6 (KJV)

Numbers 27:6 (NET)

And HaShem spoke unto Moses, saying: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, The Lord said to Moses:

Numbers 27:6 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 27:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων

Numbers 27:6 (NETS)

Numbers 27:5 (English Elpenor)

And the Lord spoke to Moyses, saying: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

Numbers 27:7 (Tanakh)

Numbers 27:7 (KJV)

Numbers 27:7 (NET)

‘The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. “The daughters of Zelophehad have a valid claim. You must indeed give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s relatives, and you must transfer the inheritance of their father to them.

Numbers 27:7 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 27:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ὀρθῶς θυγατέρες Σαλπααδ λελαλήκασιν δόμα δώσεις αὐταῖς κατάσχεσιν κληρονομίας ἐν μέσῳ ἀδελφῶν πατρὸς αὐτῶν καὶ περιθήσεις τὸν κλῆρον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῶν αὐταῖς ὀρθῶς θυγατέρες Σαλπαὰδ λελαλήκασι· δόμα δώσεις αὐταῖς κατάσχεσιν κληρονομίας ἐν μέσῳ ἀδελφῶν πατρὸς αὐτῶν καὶ περιθήσεις τὸν κλῆρον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῶν αὐταῖς

Numbers 27:7 (NETS)

Numbers 27:6 (English Elpenor)

Salpaad’s daughters have spoken correctly. You shall give to them as a gift a possession of inheritance in the midst of their father’s brothers, and you shall confer the allotment of their father on them. The daughters of Salpaad have spoken rightly: thou shalt surely give them a possession of inheritance in the midst of their father’s brethren, and thou shalt assign their father’s inheritance to them.

1 Corinthians 14:5 (NET)

1 Corinthians 14:5 (KJV)

I wish you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be strengthened. I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

1 Corinthians 14:5 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 14:5 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 14:5 (Byzantine Majority Text)

θέλω δὲ πάντας ὑμᾶς λαλεῖν γλώσσαις, μᾶλλον δὲ ἵνα προφητεύητε· μείζων δὲ ὁ προφητεύων ἢ ὁ λαλῶν γλώσσαις ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ διερμηνεύῃ, ἵνα ἡ ἐκκλησία οἰκοδομὴν λάβῃ θελω δε παντας υμας λαλειν γλωσσαις μαλλον δε ινα προφητευητε μειζων γαρ ο προφητευων η ο λαλων γλωσσαις εκτος ει μη διερμηνευη ινα η εκκλησια οικοδομην λαβη θελω δε παντας υμας λαλειν γλωσσαις μαλλον δε ινα προφητευητε μειζων γαρ ο προφητευων η ο λαλων γλωσσαις εκτος ει μη διερμηνευει ινα η εκκλησια οικοδομην λαβη

1 Corinthians 14:33-35 (NET)

1 Corinthians 14:33-35 (KJV)

for God is not characterized by disorder but by peace. As in all the churches of the saints, For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

1 Corinthians 14:33 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 14:33 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 14:33 (Byzantine Majority Text)

οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἀκαταστασίας ὁ θεὸς ἀλλὰ εἰρήνης Ὡς ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τῶν ἁγίων ου γαρ εστιν ακαταστασιας ο θεος αλλ ειρηνης ως εν πασαις ταις εκκλησιαις των αγιων ου γαρ εστιν ακαταστασιας ο θεος αλλα ειρηνης ως εν πασαις ταις εκκλησιαις των αγιων
the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. Rather, let them be in submission, as in fact the law says. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.

1 Corinthians 14:34 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 14:34 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 14:34 (Byzantine Majority Text)

αἱ γυναῖκες ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις σιγάτωσαν· οὐ γὰρ ἐπιτρέπεται αὐταῖς λαλεῖν, ἀλλὰ ὑποτασσέσθωσαν, καθὼς καὶ ὁ νόμος λέγει αι γυναικες υμων εν ταις εκκλησιαις σιγατωσαν ου γαρ επιτετραπται αυταις λαλειν αλλ υποτασσεσθαι καθως και ο νομος λεγει αι γυναικες υμων εν ταις εκκλησιαις σιγατωσαν ου γαρ επιτετραπται αυταις λαλειν αλλ υποτασσεσθαι καθως και ο νομος λεγει
If they want to find out about something, they should ask their husbands at home, because it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

1 Corinthians 14:35 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 14:35 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 14:35 (Byzantine Majority Text)

εἰ δέ τι |μαθεῖν| θέλουσιν, ἐν οἴκῳ τοὺς ἰδίους ἄνδρας ἐπερωτάτωσαν· αἰσχρὸν γάρ ἐστιν γυναικὶ λαλεῖν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ει δε τι μαθειν θελουσιν εν οικω τους ιδιους ανδρας επερωτατωσαν αισχρον γαρ εστιν γυναιξιν εν εκκλησια λαλειν ει δε τι μαθειν θελουσιν εν οικω τους ιδιους ανδρας επερωτατωσαν αισχρον γαρ εστιν γυναιξιν εν εκκλησια λαλειν

1 Corinthians 14:37, 38 (NET)

1 Corinthians 14:37, 38 (KJV)

If anyone considers himself a prophet or spiritual person, he should acknowledge that what I write to you is the Lord’s command. If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 14:37 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 14:37 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 14:37 (Byzantine Majority Text)

Εἴ τις δοκεῖ προφήτης εἶναι ἢ πνευματικός, ἐπιγινωσκέτω ἃ γράφω ὑμῖν ὅτι κυρίου ἐστὶν ἐντολή ει τις δοκει προφητης ειναι η πνευματικος επιγινωσκετω α γραφω υμιν οτι του κυριου εισιν εντολαι ει τις δοκει προφητης ειναι η πνευματικος επιγινωσκετω α γραφω υμιν οτι κυριου εισιν εντολαι
If someone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.

1 Corinthians 14:38 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 14:38 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 14:38 (Byzantine Majority Text)

εἰ δέ τις ἀγνοεῖ, ἀγνοεῖται ει δε τις αγνοει αγνοειτω ει δε τις αγνοει αγνοειτω

Revelation 2:19, 20 (NET)

Revelation 2:19, 20 (KJV)

‘I know your deeds: your love, faith, service, and steadfast endurance. In fact, your more recent deeds are greater than your earlier ones. I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

Revelation 2:19 (NET Parallel Greek)

Revelation 2:19 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Revelation 2:19 (Byzantine Majority Text)

οἶδα σου τὰ ἔργα καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην καὶ τὴν πίστιν καὶ τὴν διακονίαν καὶ τὴν ὑπομονήν σου, καὶ τὰ ἔργα σου τὰ ἔσχατα πλείονα τῶν πρώτων οιδα σου τα εργα και την αγαπην και την διακονιαν και την πιστιν και την υπομονην σου και τα εργα σου και τα εσχατα πλειονα των πρωτων οιδα σου τα εργα και την αγαπην και την πιστιν και την διακονιαν και την υπομονην σου και τα εργα σου τα εσχατα πλειονα των πρωτων
But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Revelation 2:20 (NET Parallel Greek)

Revelation 2:20 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Revelation 2:20 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ἀλλὰ ἔχω κατὰ σοῦ ὅτι ἀφεῖς τὴν γυναῖκα Ἰεζάβελ, λέγουσα ἑαυτὴν προφῆτιν καὶ διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ τοὺς ἐμοὺς δούλους πορνεῦσαι καὶ φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα αλλ εχω κατα σου ολιγα οτι εας την γυναικα ιεζαβηλ την λεγουσαν εαυτην προφητιν διδασκειν και πλανασθαι εμους δουλους πορνευσαι και ειδωλοθυτα φαγειν αλλ εχω κατα σου οτι αφεις την γυναικα σου ιεζαβελ η λεγει εαυτην προφητιν και διδασκει και πλανα τους εμους δουλους πορνευσαι και φαγειν ειδωλοθυτα

1 Corinthians 11:3 (NET)

1 Corinthians 11:3 (KJV)

But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

1 Corinthians 11:3 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 11:3 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 11:3 (Byzantine Majority Text)

Θέλω δὲ ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι ὅτι παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἡ κεφαλὴ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν, κεφαλὴ δὲ γυναικὸς ὁ ἀνήρ, κεφαλὴ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὁ θεός θελω δε υμας ειδεναι οτι παντος ανδρος η κεφαλη ο χριστος εστιν κεφαλη δε γυναικος ο ανηρ κεφαλη δε χριστου ο θεος θελω δε υμας ειδεναι οτι παντος ανδρος η κεφαλη ο χριστος εστιν κεφαλη δε γυναικος ο ανηρ κεφαλη δε χριστου ο θεος

1 Corinthians 11:5 (NET)

1 Corinthians 11:5 (KJV)

But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered disgraces her head, for it is one and the same thing as having a shaved head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.

1 Corinthians 11:5 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 11:5 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 11:5 (Byzantine Majority Text)

πᾶσα δὲ γυνὴ προσευχομένη ἢ προφητεύουσα ἀκατακαλύπτῳ τῇ κεφαλῇ καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς· ἓν γάρ ἐστιν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ τῇ ἐξυρημένῃ πασα δε γυνη προσευχομενη η προφητευουσα ακατακαλυπτω τη κεφαλη καταισχυνει την κεφαλην εαυτης εν γαρ εστιν και το αυτο τη εξυρημενη πασα δε γυνη προσευχομενη η προφητευουσα ακατακαλυπτω τη κεφαλη καταισχυνει την κεφαλην εαυτης εν γαρ εστιν και το αυτο τη εξυρημενη

1 Corinthians 12:28 (NET)

1 Corinthians 12:28 (KJV)

And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

1 Corinthians 12:28 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 12:28 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 12:28 (Byzantine Majority Text)

Καὶ οὓς μὲν ἔθετο ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ πρῶτον ἀποστόλους, δεύτερον προφήτας, τρίτον διδασκάλους, ἔπειτα δυνάμεις, ἔπειτα χαρίσματα ἰαμάτων, ἀντιλήμψεις, κυβερνήσεις, γένη γλωσσῶν και ους μεν εθετο ο θεος εν τη εκκλησια πρωτον αποστολους δευτερον προφητας τριτον διδασκαλους επειτα δυναμεις ειτα χαρισματα ιαματων αντιληψεις κυβερνησεις γενη γλωσσων και ους μεν εθετο ο θεος εν τη εκκλησια πρωτον αποστολους δευτερον προφητας τριτον διδασκαλους επειτα δυναμεις ειτα χαρισματα ιαματων αντιληψεις κυβερνησεις γενη γλωσσων

1 Corinthians 12:31 (NET)

1 Corinthians 12:31 (KJV)

But you should be eager for the greater gifts. And now I will show you a way that is beyond comparison. But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

1 Corinthians 12:31 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 12:31 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 12:31 (Byzantine Majority Text)

ζηλοῦτε δὲ τὰ χαρίσματα τὰ μείζονα. Καὶ ἔτι καθ᾿ ὑπερβολὴν ὁδὸν ὑμῖν δείκνυμι ζηλουτε δε τα χαρισματα τα κρειττονα και ετι καθ υπερβολην οδον υμιν δεικνυμι ζηλουτε δε τα χαρισματα τα κρειττονα και ετι καθ υπερβολην οδον υμιν δεικνυμι

1 Corinthians 14:26 (NET)

1 Corinthians 14:26 (KJV)

What should you do then, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all these things be done for the strengthening of the church. How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

1 Corinthians 14:26 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 14:26 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 14:26 (Byzantine Majority Text)

Τί οὖν ἐστιν, ἀδελφοί; ὅταν συνέρχησθε, ἕκαστος ψαλμὸν ἔχει, διδαχὴν ἔχει, ἀποκάλυψιν ἔχει, γλῶσσαν ἔχει, ἑρμηνείαν ἔχει· πάντα πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν γινέσθω τι ουν εστιν αδελφοι οταν συνερχησθε εκαστος υμων ψαλμον εχει διδαχην εχει γλωσσαν εχει αποκαλυψιν εχει ερμηνειαν εχει παντα προς οικοδομην γενεσθω τι ουν εστιν αδελφοι οταν συνερχησθε εκαστος υμων ψαλμον εχει διδαχην εχει γλωσσαν εχει αποκαλυψιν εχει ερμηνειαν εχει παντα προς οικοδομην γινεσθω

1 Corinthians 7:13 (NET)

1 Corinthians 7:13 (KJV)

And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is happy to live with her, she should not divorce him. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.

1 Corinthians 7:13 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 Corinthians 7:13 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 Corinthians 7:13 (Byzantine Majority Text)

καὶ γυνὴ |εἴ τις| ἔχει ἄνδρα ἄπιστον καὶ οὗτος συνευδοκεῖ οἰκεῖν μετ᾿ αὐτῆς, μὴ ἀφιέτω τὸν ἄνδρα και γυνη ητις εχει ανδρα απιστον και αυτος συνευδοκει οικειν μετ αυτης μη αφιετω αυτον και γυνη ητις εχει ανδρα απιστον και αυτος συνευδοκει οικειν μετ αυτης μη αφιετω αυτον

1 John 12:32 (ESV)

2 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had δὲ near the beginning of this clause, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had γαρ (KJV: for).

3 The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus had διερμηνεύῃ here, where the Byzantine Majority Text had διερμηνευει. Both are 3rd person singular forms of the verb διερμηνεύω in the present tense, indicative mood and active voice. The ESV translation, someone interprets, is interesting because it demonstrates a mindfulness of Paul’s instruction in 1 Corinthians 14:27, while the NET/KJV translation, he interpret(s), may be adding a restriction Paul and the Holy Spirit did not intend.

4 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the 2nd person plural personal pronoun υμων (KJV: your) in the genitive case here, potentially making this a command for others (presumably men) to enforce upon women as opposed to a command for women to obey. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

5 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἐπιτρέπεται in the present tense here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had επιτετραπται (KJV: it ispermitted) in the perfect tense. The KJV translation—for it is not permitted unto them to speak—is a more accurate translation of the Greek clause in the NET and NA28 but επιτετραπται would mean that it was not permitted and continues to not be permitted unto them to speak. This conforms to the final clause in the verse: as the Law also says.

7 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ὑποτασσέσθωσαν an imperative form of ὑποτάσσω here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had an inifinitive form υποτασσεσθαι (KJV: to be under obedience).

8 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the singular γυναικὶ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had a plural form γυναιξιν (KJV: for women).

9 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the singular ἐστὶν ἐντολή (NET: is thecommand) here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the plural εισιν εντολαι (KJV: are the commandments).

10 The Stephanus Textus Receptus had the article του here. The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

12 The Stephanus Textus Receptus had και (KJV: and) preceding latter (KJV: the last), following and yourworks (KJV: and thy works). The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

14 The Stephanus Textus Receptus had ολιγα (KJV: a few things) here. The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

15 The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ἀφεῖς, a form of ἀφίημι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had εας (KJV: thou sufferest), a form of ἐάω.

16 The Byzantine Majority Text had την γυναικα σου (e.g., “your woman,” referring back to the angel of the church in Thyatira) here, where the NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus had τὴν γυναῖκα (KJV: that woman).

17 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had λέγουσα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had τὴν λεγουσαν (KJV: which calleth) and the Byzantine Majority Text had η λεγει (i,e., “who calls”).

18 The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had διδάσκει, a form of διδάσκω in the present tense here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had the infinitive form διδασκειν (KJV: to teach).

19 The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had πλανᾷ τοὺς ἐμοὺς, with πλανᾷ as a form of πλανάω in the present tense here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had πλανασθαι εμους (KJV: to seduce my), with πλανασθαι an infinitive form of πλανάω.

20 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the 2nd person plural personal pronoun υμων (KJV: your) in the genitive case here, potentially making this a command for others (presumably men) to enforce upon women as opposed to a command for women to obey. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

21 1 Corinthians 14:33b, 34 (ESV)

23 1 Corinthians 14:33a (ESV)

24 1 Corinthians 14:33 (KJV)

25 Revelation 2:20a (ESV)

26 1 Corinthians 14:34a (ESV)

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

28 1 Corinthians 14:5 (ESV)

29 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἔπειτα (not translated in the NET) here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ειτα.

30 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀντιλήμψεις here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αντιληψεις (KJV: helps). These appear to be alternate spellings of the same part of speech.

32 1 Corinthians 10:32a (ESV)

33 1 Corinthians 14:34a (ESV)

34 1 Corinthians 14:35a (ESV)

35 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had εἴ τις here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ητις (KJV: which).

36 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had οὗτος here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτος (KJV: if he).

37 1 Corinthians 7:13 (ESV) The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had τὸν ἄνδρα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτον.

38 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had υμων (KJV: of you) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

Sexual Immorality Revisited, Part 3

Though I’m eager to dive into the word study, I’m compelled to spend some time keeping my promise to reveal my own position and velocity.  It will make this essay considerably, but necessarily, longer than I like.

The Greek words translated sexual immorality in the NET were translated fornication in the KJV.  I thought fornication meant premarital sex.  I didn’t know anything about the ritual sex of pagan worship until about thirty-five years ago (though I felt the sensual pull of Egyptian art since childhood).  But I didn’t immediately question the meaning of sexual immorality or fornication.  I remember wondering if the prostitutes in Jerusalem that Solomon feared so for his sons had been imported along with his wives’ religions (1 Kings 11:1-8).

Now I’m thinking that “the sin of premarital sex” is a way we have nullified the word of God by our traditions.  Upwardly-mobile young men can “repent” of their “sins of premarital sex” and head off to college or a new career unencumbered by any of their responsibilities as husbands.  “If a man is shacking up with a woman,” Denny wrote in his blog post THE PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION HERESY, “simply saying, ‘I’m sorry God,’ just won’t do.  It requires that you get out of that sinful situation.”

He might have meant “give the woman a ring and social status as a legal wife,” hearkening back to an older time when church folk believed, What therefore God hath joined together [Deuteronomy 22:28, 29; Exodus 22:16, 17][1], let not man [except for the young woman’s father] put asunder.[2]  It would demonstrate a humility reminiscent of the proverb of the wisest king of Israel (or perhaps, the wisest man ever): There are three things that are too wonderful for me, Solomon wrote, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship in the sea, and the way of a man with a woman[3] (Septuagint: “and the ways of a man in his youth”).

But I imagine Denny as a contemporary co-religionist, hailing from a prouder more macho tradition where “holiness” is measured by how harshly it savages human emotions.  The two “shacking up” together, no matter how desperately they love one another (the more the better), must part, separate, send away, divorce, put asunder because they have committed the “unpardonable sin” of enjoying sex before a church official pronounced them lawful to do so.  To paraphrase Friedrich Nietzsche’s Antichrist: What is good?  All that heightens the feeling of church power.

Any man of Israel who refused to attend Ezra’s assembly and divorce his foreign wife would forfeit all his property.  The list of men who had taken foreign wives at the end of the book (Ezra 10:18-44) persuades me that Ezra believed the proceedings to send foreign wives and their children away had transpired according to the Lord’s will.  And so did I, until I heard yehôvâh’s response through the prophet Malachi (2:13-16 NET):

You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you [Table]. Yet you ask, “Why?”  The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law [Table].  No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this.  What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God [e.g., Genesis 15:6]?  Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth [Table].  “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord who rules over all.  “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful” [Table].

The intimate absolute rejection of divorce was yehôvâh’s will for no one.  But I’ve stacked the deck here as if I believe that staying together and formalizing the relationship is necessarily the “right” decision.  In my case it was not so.

My contract with God had broken down.  I had heard enough religion to know that some believed Christ put an “end” to the law and all things were “lawful” for me.  So I did what I wanted.  I shacked up with my girlfriend du jour.  Unbeknownst to me at the time, with my sexual desires more or less satisfied for the first time in a long time, I began to walk in the grace of Christ’s salvation as I began to set the words of the Gospel to music.

Too many years of hallucinogenic drugs had made me functionally illiterate.  At least I thought that term described me accurately the first time I heard it.  (As it turned out functionally illiterate is just a redundancy for illiterate.)  If I had read aloud one would have assumed I understood what I read.  I read easily, fluently and coherently with an actor’s flair for inflection.  My problem was a lack of faith.  I had no confidence that strings of words meant anything beyond the beauty of their sounds, except in the most mundane cases: I’m hungry, I’m horny, I have to pee.  And so with a young man’s needs met, a job and a woman, I set out to make art.

The one who hated the Bible as a child knew he wasn’t smart enough to choose which Gospel was the “right” one for his libretto, so he spent countless hours creating a harmony of the four Gospel narratives, and untold hours more with those words rolling over and over in his mind to set them to music.  It was a long and laborious task because he was not a very good composer, at least he wasn’t quick about it.

When he played and sang John 17:1-11 for another composer friend, his friend commended his work: “You know, the first time you played this for me I thought it was just a throw-away.  Now I think it may be the best piece you’ve ever written.”  He, being a highly literate fellow, also commented on the meaning of the text: “And that’s the most interesting definition of eternal life I’ve ever heard.”

The functionally illiterate composer of the best piece he had ever written nodded appreciatively but hadn’t realized that the words—This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent[4]—constituted a definition of eternal life.  But he planned to take the words—This is and whatever words followed—a bit more seriously in the future.  When he decided to formally marry his roommate the functionally illiterate composer had fallen away from grace, though he would not have understood that if someone had told him.

In fact, I wonder if I was capable of understanding it apart from actively becoming one who was trying to be declared righteous by the law.  I began to study the Bible in earnest.  Though I had been warned that the meaning of eternal life was to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He had sent I didn’t study to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He had sent to live that eternal life.  I searched the Bible for rules to obey—or disobey as it turned out.

So what do I currently think is the “right” decision when one is conscience-stricken over “shacking up” together?  I return to Ezra (Ezra 9:15 NET):

O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day.  Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt.  However, because of this guilt no one can really stand before you.

And then wait—acknowledging that you are caught in a tender trap (Hosea 11:4) and that there is no way for you to cleanse yourself of sin by your deeds.  And while you’re waiting, study the Bible to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent to live his eternal life.  This essay will become a tale of three women (four women, though one was actually a symbol for a city), more importantly it will focus on Jesus’ response to those women.

Go call your husband and come back here,[5] Jesus said to a Samaritan woman at a well.  The woman replied, “I have no husband.”[6]  Jesus already knew her past: you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband.[7]  He did not command her to leave the man she had now (νῦν ὃν ἔχεις), nor did He command her to go to a priest and get married; the man was apparently already married to another woman.  Jesus commended her for her truthfulness: καλῶς εἶπας ὅτι ἄνδρα οὐκ ἔχω is literally “beautifully you poured forth that husband you have not.”  And he told her that in her truthfulness she was exactly the kind of person his Father was seeking for his kingdom (John 4:23, 24 NET):

But a time is coming – and now is here – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers.  God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The second woman was from Thyatira: But I have this against you, Jesus addressed the singular angel of the church in Thyatira, You tolerate that woman Jezebel[8]  The Greek word translated You tolerate was ἀφεῖς (a form of ἀφίημι).  Here is a table of all the occurrences of ἀφεῖς and its translation.

Form of ἀφίημι Reference KJV

NET

ἀφεὶς Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away Then he left the crowds…
Matthew 26:44 And he left them… So leaving them again…
Mark 8:13 And he left them… Then he left them…
Mark 13:34 who left his house… He left his house…
Mark 15:37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice… But Jesus cried out with a loud voice…[9]
ἀφεῖς Revelation 2:20 thou sufferest that woman Jezebel… You tolerate that woman Jezebel…

Mark’s word picture, that Jesus left his body and its loud voice echoed on afterward, is stunning.  In Revelation, You [left] that woman Jezebel hints that the angel of the church of Thyatira was a kind of ἐπίσκοπος on a visitation circuit inspecting (ἐπισκέπτομαι) churches.  He saw what Jezebel was doing but did nothing.  It doesn’t answer the question whether the angel was a human being or not but serves as prima facie evidence that he was not a local pastor.

Jesus described Jezebel as one who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants[10]  The Greek word translated by her teaching was διδάσκει (a form of διδάσκω).  Here is a table of all the occurrences of διδάσκει and its translation.

Form of διδάσκω Reference KJV

NET

διδάσκει 1 Corinthians 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you… Does not nature itself teach you…
1 John 2:27 …the same anointing teacheth you of all… …his anointing teaches you about all things…
Revelation 2:20 to teach and to seduce my servants… …and by her teaching deceives my servants…

Though I have assumed that the fact that Jezebel taught indicated that she held a formal teaching position, neither nature nor Christ’s (or, God’s) anointing hold official teaching positions in the church.  The Greek word translated deceives was πλανᾷ (a form of πλανάω).  A table of the occurrences and translations of πλανᾷ follows.

Form of πλανᾷ

Reference KJV

NET

πλανᾷ John 7:12 …but he deceiveth the people… He deceives the common people.
Revelation 2:20 …to teach and to seduce my servants… …and by her teaching deceives my servants…
Revelation 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth… he deceived those who live on the earth.

Then I saw another beast coming up from the earth, John reported (Revelation 13:11-14a NET):

He had two horns like a lamb, but was speaking like a dragon.  He exercised all the ruling authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed.  He performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven in front of people and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth.

This prophecy of an ostensibly Christian leader (He had two horns like a lamb) preaching Satan (speaking like a dragon) and deceiving people by momentous signs might explain to some extent why folks from my religious background fear the leading of the Holy Spirit.  For false messiahs and false prophets will appear, Jesus warned, and perform great signs and wonders to deceive (πλανῆσαι, another form of πλανάω), if possible, even the elect.[11]  But to turn the fruit of the Spirit into one’s own works or qualities turns the salvation of Jesus Christ into just another works religion.

One of the momentous signs this beast will perform is to make fire come down from heaven in front of people.  This is what James and John—before they received the Holy Spirit—wanted to do to Samaritans who refused to welcome Jesus (Luke 9:51-56).  On the other hand some of the Ἰουδαῖοι (a form of Ἰουδαῖος) accused Jesus, He deceives (πλανᾷ, a form of πλανάω) the common people, because their leaders had recognized that He was performing many miraculous signs and they feared that everyone would believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our sanctuary and our nation (John 11:45-53).  Knowing Jesus intimately through his Spirit is essential to faith.

Jezebel by her teaching deceived Jesus’ servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.[12]  The Greek word translated to commit sexual immorality was πορνεῦσαι (a form of πορνεύω).  A table of the occurrences and translations of πορνεῦσαι follows.

Form of πορνεύω Reference KJV

NET

πορνεῦσαι Revelation 2:14 …to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. …eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
Revelation 2:20 to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

These two occurrences seem to be obvious references to sexualized pagan worship.  Though I had no conscious alliance with any pagan deities I’m willing to consider my desire for group sex πορνεῦσαι for two reasons: 1) I thought group sex was the way of peace, distinct from, more real and effective than, any aspect of the fruit of the Spirit.  My naiveté was deliberate.  I was forbidden from reading or viewing stories about the treachery and violence of adultery.  And I had discounted my parents’ example, assuming they were so hung up about the morality of sexuality they didn’t do it right.

The one story I had seen about adultery, on the sly as it were once I could drive and date, seemed like a subtle promo.  I watched Hawkeye (Donald Sutherland) talk Lt. Dish (Jo Ann Pflug) into mercy sex with Painless (John Schuck) the night before she was scheduled to return home to her husband.  I was desperate to find some meaning after the main character Frank Burns (Robert Duvall), the only character with anything like a storyline, had been written out of the movie MASH.  I could see the guilt of Dish’s adultery on her face, particularly in her eyes—until she smiled.  It’s been forty-seven years and I still remember her smile.

2) God stopped me from following through on my desire for group sex—twice.  The second time was considerably more embarrassing and I may or may not reveal it.  Jesus went on to describe πορνεῦσαι as πορνείας (a form of πορνεία), translated sexual immorality: I have given her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality.[13]  Here is a table of the occurrences and translations of πορνείας.  I’ll consider each in turn.

Form of πορνεία Reference KJV

NET

πορνείας Matthew 5:32 … whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication …everyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality
John 8:41 We be not born of fornication[14] We were not born as a result of immorality!
Acts 15:20 …abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication …to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality
Acts 15:29 …and from things strangled, and from fornication …from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality.
1 Corinthians 7:2 …to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife… …because of immoralities, each man should have relations with his own wife…
1 Thessalonians 4:3 …that ye should abstain from fornication …that you keep away from sexual immorality
Revelation 2:21 …to repent of her fornication …to repent of her sexual immorality.
Revelation 9:21 …nor of their fornication …of their sexual immorality
Revelation 14:8 …she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral passion.
Revelation 17:2 …of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. …the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.
Revelation 17:4 …and filthiness of her fornication… …unclean things from her sexual immorality.
Revelation 18:3 …wine of the wrath of her fornication …from the wine of her immoral passion…

It was said, Jesus taught, “Whoever divorces his wife must give her a legal document.”  But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality, makes her commit adultery (μοιχευθῆναι, a form of μοιχεύω), and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery (μοιχᾶται, a form of μοιχάω).[15]  Limiting πορνείας (translated, immorality) to the ritual sex of pagan worship here would correspond better to yehôvâh’s word through Malachi—I hate divorce—and Jesus’ negative answer (Matthew 19:4-6) to the Pharisees’ question: Is it lawful to divorce a wife for any cause?[16]

I’m not entirely sure what the Ἰουδαίους (another form of Ἰουδαῖος) meant when they said: We were not born as a result of immorality!  We have only one Father, God himself.[17]  But I take it as mostly irrelevant to understanding what Jesus meant when He used πορνείας.  Assuming that James used πορνείας to mean the ritual sex of pagan worship when he suggested writing a letter to Gentiles, telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood,[18] is the most charitable understanding of his abbreviation of the law.

If Paul had the lure of ritual sex in view it would account for his prescription of marriage though he considered it a distraction from devotion to Christ (1 Corinthians 7:32-35) and it would account for his description of Corinthian marriage as mutual sexual slavery[19] (1 Corinthians 7:3-5).  But as I’ve written before I find it very difficult to believe that Paul had ritual sex in mind in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8.

Still, in Revelation ritual sex seems to be the meaning of πορνείας as its resurgence with pagan worship is a portent of the end times:  The rest of humanity, those who survived the onslaught of an army numbering two hundred million, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk about.  Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing.[20]

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, John continued his vision, and he had an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth – to every nation, tribe, language, and people.  He declared in a loud voice: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has arrived, and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water!”

A second angel followed the first, declaring: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city!  She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral passion.”[21]

The Greek word translated passion was θυμοῦ (a form of θυμός).  Here is a table of the occurrences and translations of θυμοῦ.

Form of θυμός Reference KJV

NET

θυμοῦ Luke 4:28 …these things, were filled with wrath …in the synagogue were filled with rage.
Acts 19:28 …these sayings, they were full of wrath When they heard this they became enraged
Revelation 14:8 …wine of the wrath of her fornication… …drink of the wine of her immoral passion.
Revelation 14:10 …shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God… …also drink of the wine of God’s anger
Revelation 14:19 …the great winepress of the wrath of God. …the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Revelation 15:7 …golden vials full of the wrath of God… …golden bowls filled with the wrath of God…
Revelation 16:1 …the vials of the wrath of God… …the seven bowls containing God’s wrath.
Revelation 16:19 …the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. …the wine made of God’s furious wrath.
Revelation 18:3 …the wine of the wrath of her fornication… …the wine of her immoral passion
Revelation 19:15 …he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. …he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God…

In the NET translation Babylon made all the nations (or, all the Gentiles: πάντα τὰ ἔθνη) drink of her immoral passion, which I understand as idolatrous worship including ritual sex.  In the KJV translation Babylon made all the nations (or, all the Gentiles) drink of the wrath directed at her fornication, whether all the individual nations or all of the individual Gentiles engaged directly in idolatrous worship including ritual sex or not.  Though I prefer the NET translation as a matter of justice I can’t verify it independently.  Here are the footnotes which attempt to explain it.

24 Grk “of the wine of the passion of the sexual immorality of her.” Here τῆς πορνείας…has been translated as an attributive genitive. In an ironic twist of fate, God will make Babylon drink her own mixture, but it will become the wine of his wrath in retribution for her immoral deeds (see the note on the word “wrath” in 16:19).

65 Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός…and ὀργή…in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9). Thus in Rev 14:8 (to which the present passage alludes) and 18:3 there is irony: The wine of immoral behavior with which Babylon makes the nations drunk becomes the wine of God’s wrath for her. 

In a later passage however it is clear that the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality (Revelation 17:1, 2 NET):

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me.  “Come,” he said, “I will show you the condemnation and punishment of the great prostitute (πόρνης, a form of πόρνη) who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality (ἐπόρνευσαν, another form of πορνεύω) and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.”

Now the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, John’s vision continued, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls.  She held in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality.  On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes (πορνῶν, another form of πόρνη) and of the detestable things of the earth.”[22]  As for the woman you saw, the angel explained, she is the great city that has sovereignty over the kings of the earth.[23]  I’m not sure if the angel meant a city at the time John saw the vision or at the time of the prophecy’s fulfillment.  If pressed I would assume the latter since no single city has had sovereignty over the kings of the earth since the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).

After these things I saw another angel, John continued (Revelation 18:1-3 NET):

who possessed great authority, coming down out of heaven, and the earth was lit up by his radiance.  He shouted with a powerful voice: “Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great!  She has become a lair for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detested beast.  For all the nations have fallen from the wine of her immoral passion, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality (ἐπόρνευσαν, another form of πορνεύω) with her, and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior (στρήνους, a form of στρῆνος).”

Here, after the other verses I’ve quoted I’m much more comfortable with the NET translation (her immoral passion) of τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς than the KJV translation (the wrath of her fornication).

Jesus described Jezebel’s followers with the Greek word μοιχεύοντας (another form of μοιχεύω), translated those who commit adultery.  Though μοιχεύοντας only occurred this once in the New Testament it is fairly clear that in Jesus’ mind the verb πορνεῦσαι and the noun πορνείας described a special form of adultery.  Consider his words to the third woman.

She had been caught (κατειλημμένην, a form of καταλαμβάνω) committing adultery (μοιχείᾳ, a form of μοιχεία).[24]  Teacher, this woman was caught (κατείληπται, another form of καταλαμβάνω) in the very act (αὐτοφώρῳ, a form of ἐπαυτοφώρῳ) of adultery (μοιχευομένη, another form of μοιχεύω),[25] her accusers said to Jesus.  When none of her accusers considered himself guiltless (ἀναμάρτητος) they left Jesus alone with the woman.  He asked her, “Woman, where are they?  Did no one condemn you?”  She replied, “No one, Lord.”  And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either.  Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”[26]

But of the woman who was guilty of that special form of μοιχεία designated by the verb πορνεῦσαι and the noun πορνείας, He said: I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, and those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds.[27]  This was not written in the past age under the law, but in the present after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension into heaven.  Since I don’t believe that human bishops or circuit riders are enjoined or authorized by this Scripture to infect church members guilty of idolatrous worship and ritual sex with disease, Jesus’ condemnation indicates to me that the angel of the church of Thyatira, criticized for having left Jezebel unattended, was not human.


[1] Does Deuteronomy 22:28-29 command a rape victim to marry her rapist?

[2] Mark 10:9 (KJV)

[3] Proverbs 30:18, 19 (NET)

[4] John 17:3 (NASB)

[5] John 4:16b (NET)

[6] John 4:17a (NET)

[7] John 4:18a (NET)

[8] Revelation 2:20a (NET)

[9] See: Mark 15:34 The Greek word translated cried out was ἐβόησεν (a form of βοάω).

[10] Revelation 2:20b (NET)

[11] Matthew 24:24 (NET)

[12] Revelation 2:20c (NET)

[13] Revelation 2:21 (NET)

[14] Peter J. Leithart, “Born in Fornication,” First Things

[15] Matthew 5:31, 32 (NET) Table

[16] Matthew 19:3b (NET) Table

[17] John 8:41b (NET)

[18] Acts 15:20b (NET) Table

[19] Romans, Part 30 ; Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 4

[20] Revelation 9:20, 21 (NET)

[21] Revelation 14:6-8 (NET)

[22] Revelation 17:4, 5 (NET)

[23] Revelation 17:18 (NET)

[24] John 8:3a (NET)

[25] John 8:4 (NET)

[26] John 8:10b, 11 (NET)

[27] Revelation 2:22 (NET)

Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 4

Here are two different descriptions Paul wrote of himself, separated by an affliction.

Before the Affliction

The Affliction

After the Affliction

“All things are lawful for me” – but I will not be controlled by anything.

1 Corinthians 6:12b (NET)

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, regarding the affliction that happened to us in the province of Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living.  Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.  He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us.

2 Corinthians 1:8-10a (NET)

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

Romans 7:14-20 (NET)

I’ve listed these passages as “Before…” and “After the Affliction” because Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.[1]  I actually think that all of 1 Corinthians may have been written from somewhere deep within that affliction.  Paul’s pride—I will not be controlled by anything—was relative—I amsold into slavery to sin.  I don’t believe it was pride in his own strength.  The sense of invincibility that comes with the Holy Spirit’s ἐγκράτεια is all too familiar (and I don’t do miracles or see visions or write Scripture).  The Greek word translated controlled is ἐξουσιασθήσομαι (a form of ἐξουσιάζω).  When Jesus’ disciples debated which of them was to be regarded as the greatest[2] (μείζων, a form of μέγας), He said (Luke 22:25-27 NET):

The kings of the Gentiles lord it over (κυριεύουσιν, a form of κυριεύω) them, and those in authority over (ἐξουσιάζοντες, another form of ἐξουσιάζω) them are called ‘benefactors.’  Not so with you; instead the one who is greatest (μείζων, a form of μέγας) among you must become like the youngest, and the leader (ἡγούμενος, a form of ἡγέομαι) like the one who serves (διακονῶν, a form of διακονέω).  For who is greater (μείζων, a form of μέγας), the one who is seated at the table, or the one who serves (διακονῶν, a form of διακονέω)?  Is it not the one who is seated at the table?  But I am among you as one who serves (διακονῶν, a form of διακονέω).

The other occurrences of forms of ἐξουσιάζω refer to control over a husband’s or wife’s body because of πορνείας (a form of πορνεία) in Corinth.  It is not the wife who has the rights (ἐξουσιάζει, another form of ἐξουσιάζω) to her own body, but the husband.  In the same way, it is not the husband who has the rights (ἐξουσιάζει, another form of ἐξουσιάζω) to his own body, but the wife.[3]  The NKJV reads: The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does.  And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.[4]  The negation οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει is absolute.  I don’t believe such slavery is to be exercised apart from mutual consent on a moment by moment basis.  To force my wife to have sex with me by the strength of my arm or a “law of Paul” is not love.

The Greek word translated sold into slavery is πεπραμένος (a form of πιπράσκω).  Because he was not able to repay it, Jesus told a parable about the kingdom of heaven, the lord ordered him to be sold (πραθῆναι, another form of πιπράσκω), along with his wife, children, and whatever he possessed, and repayment to be made.[5]  The slave (δοῦλος) asked his lord for mercy.  The lord had compassion on that slave (δούλου, another form of δοῦλος) and released him, and forgave him the debt[6] until that slave would not forgive a fellow slave.

I’ve referred to Romans 7 often (in Romans, Part 28 most fully) as a description of a “house divided, one born of the flesh and of the Spirit”: 1) our old man (παλαιὸς ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος; literally, “our old human”) was crucified with [Jesus] so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved (δουλεύειν, a form of δουλεύω) to sin;[7] and 2) the new man (τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον; literally, “the new human”) who has been created in God’s image – in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.[8]  The one thing I would correct here is: “I believe, however, that through faith I, the new man or woman, lay claim to more and more of my mind and my members.”

I want to correct what I was apparently thinking more than what I actually wrote.  I assumed without grounds that the maturity of the new human through faith led to more independence.  I’ve tripped over this assumption often without ever acknowledging it.  The sentence of death has been passed against us who believe: Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.[9]  Identifying with the new me cannot mean simply transferring allegiance from the old me to the new me who has been created in God’s image.

The new me is spirit, born of the Spirit; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  Maturity of the new human leads to more and more dependence upon his Holy Spirit.  As 1 Corinthians 13 is a practical description of love, Romans 7:14-20 is a practical description of humbling oneself before God because it accurately describes the human condition vis-à-vis God the Father.  We tear down arguments and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, Paul wrote believers in Corinth, and we take every thought captive to make it obey (ὑπακοὴν, a form of ὑπακοή) Christ.[10]

The verb obey would have been a form of ὑπακούω, “to hear under (as a subordinate), that is, to listen attentively.”  The clause καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντες πᾶν νόημα εἰς τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ reads “and we lead away captive each thought into the attentive hearkening of Christ.”  I’m not even depending on my attentive hearkening or obedience as a new human, but on Christ’s attentive hearkening or obedience through his Spirit, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father.  With this in mind I’ll continue to look at “Paul’s Regime” and “Jesus’ Regime.”

Paul’s Regime

Jesus’ Regime

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.  In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world.  But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who calls himself a Christian who is sexually immoral, or greedy, or an idolater, or verbally abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler.  Do not even eat with such a person.  For what do I have to do with judging those outside?  Are you not to judge those inside?  But God will judge those outside.  Remove the evil person from among you.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (NET) Table1 Table2

And to the one who conquers and who continues in my deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations – he will rule them with an iron rod and like clay jars he will break them to pieces, just as I have received the right to rule from my Father – and I will give him the morning star.  The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 2:26-29 (NET)

 

Here Paul gave a fragment of the letter that preceded 1 Corinthians: [Do] notassociate with sexually immoral people (πόρνοις, a form of πόρνος).  He didn’t mean the πόρνοις of this world, but didn’t make that clear apparently.  In other words, what was written in the prior letter was the teaching (yeast, Matthew 16:5-12) of the Pharisees: Now when the Pharisee who had invited [Jesus] saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”[11]  Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear [Jesus].  But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”[12]

The teaching of the Pharisees also helps explain why Paul used ζύμη in such a peculiar way, the yeast (ζύμῃ) of vice and evil.  For Jesus, The kingdom of heaven is like yeast (ζύμῃ), and, the kingdom of Godis like yeast (ζύμῃ).  He warned his disciples, Be on your guard against the [teaching] (ζύμης, another form of ζύμη) of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (ὑπόκρισις).[13]

Israel was instructed to eat the Passover dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand.  You are to eat it in haste.[14]  The meaning of unleavened bread, bread without yeast, in the Passover meal was that the swiftness of Israel’s liberation from Egyptian captivity would not allow time for their bread to rise.  It is stated clearly in Exodus 12:33, 34 (NET):

The Egyptians were urging the people on, in order to send them out of the land quickly, for they were saying, “We are all dead!”  So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, with their kneading troughs bound up in their clothing on their shoulders.

While it is understandable that after centuries of eating unleavened bread at a holy festival, “In later times, ‘leaven’ and ‘corruption’ were regarded as synonymous terms,”[15] it is also fairly clearly the thought of religious minds.  It was not ignorance: “During the festival of Maẓẓot [Passover] it was strictly forbidden to eat anything leavened…The reason for this prohibition is given in Ex. xii. 34-39…”[16]  It was an active preference for the teaching of revered religious leaders or other human authorities, the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees and Herod.

To believers in Galatia Paul wrote about the teaching of the one who is confusing (ταράσσων, a form of ταράσσω) you,[17] that Gentile believers in Galatia should be circumcised, and called it ζύμη: A little yeast (ζύμη) makes the whole batch of dough rise![18]  Though he was confident in the Lord the Galatians would reject that teaching in favor of his own, the former Pharisee did not yet call his ζύμη.

But now I am writing to you, Paul continued to believers in Corinth, not to associate with anyone who calls himself a Christian (ἀδελφὸς) who is sexually immoral (πόρνος), or greedy, or an idolater (εἰδωλολάτρης), or verbally abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler.  Do not even eat with such a person.[19]  The Greek word translated to associate with is συναναμίγνυσθαι (a form of συναναμίγνυμι).  The same word was translated do [not] associate closely in a letter to believers in Thessalonica: But if anyone does not obey our message through this letter, take note of him and do not associate closely (συναναμίγνυσθαι, a form of συναναμίγνυμι) with him, so that he may be ashamed.  Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother (ἀδελφόν, another form of ἀδελφός).[20]  Paul used μὴ the qualified negation in both instances.

The former sounds like excommunication while the latter sounds like some kind of in-house suspension.  But I can’t blame the translators.  To the Corinthians Paul wrote, Remove the evil person from among you.[21]  To the Thessalonians he wrote, do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.  To the Corinthians he wrote of πόρνος and εἰδωλολάτρης.  Jesus had John write to the angel of the church in Thyatira about a woman who by her teaching deceives my servants (δούλους, another form of δοῦλος) to commit sexual immorality (πορνεῦσαι, a form of πορνεύω) and to eat food sacrificed to idols (εἰδωλόθυτα, a form of εἰδωλόθυτον).[22]  I am throwingthose who commit adultery (μοιχεύοντας, a form of μοιχεύω) with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds.  Furthermore, I will strike her followers (τέκνα, a form of τέκνον; literally, children) with a deadly disease (θανάτῳ, a form of θάνατος; literally, death)…[23]

Jesus’ distinction between his deceived servantsterrible suffering (θλῖψιν μεγάλην)—and Jezebel’s followersdeadly disease (θανάτῳ, death)—was part of what caught my attention and encouraged me to compare and contrast Jesus’ and Paul’s regimes.  Who but Jesus could make this judgment?  Outwardly both groups were committing adultery with (μετ᾿, a form of μετά) her, possibly but not necessarily as her partner, inspired by her teaching, probably within a group she led.  What I didn’t fully appreciate until doing this study was how fluid and continuous these groups were over time.  Individuals in either group may have repented and Jesus’ deceived servants may have continued in Jezebel’s teaching and become her followers.  Paul’s fear that false teaching might also function as yeast is not completely unfounded.  The human preference for human teachers as opposed to being led (John 16:12-16) by the Holy Spirit is not something I can wish away.

I’ll pick this up in another essay.


[1] Proverbs 16:18 (NET) Table

[2] Luke 22:24b (NET)

[3] 1 Corinthians 7:4 (NET)

[4] 1 Corinthians 7:4 (NKJV)

[5] Matthew 18:25 (NET) Table

[6] Matthew 18:27 (NET)

[7] Romans 6:6 (NET)

[8] Ephesians 4:24 (NET)

[9] Romans 6:3, 4 (NET)

[10] 2 Corinthians 10:4b, 5 (NET)  Both noun and verb are found in Romans 6:16 – ὑπακοήν and ὑπακοῆς (forms of ὑπακοή), ὑπακούετε (a form of ὑπακούω). Also Hebrews 5:8, 9 – ὑπακοήν (a form of ὑπακοή), ὑπακούουσιν (a form of ὑπακούω).

[11] Luke 7:39 (NET)

[12] Luke 15:1, 2 (NET)

[13] Luke 12:1 (NET)  The actual word order is: “the yeast which is hypocrisy of the Pharisees.”  The argument could be made that yeast means hypocrisy in this case.  I’m sticking with teaching on the assumption that Jesus would have said simply hypocrisy if that’s all He meant to say.

[14] Exodus 12:11 (NET)

[15] http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9694-leaven

[16] http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9694-leaven

[17] Galatians 5:10b (NET)

[18] Galatians 5:9 (NET)

[19] 1 Corinthians 5:11 (NET) Table

[20] 2 Thessalonians 3:14, 15 (NET)

[21] 1 Corinthians 5:13b (NET) Table

[22] Revelation 2:20 (NET)

[23] Revelation 2:22, 23a (NET)

Sexual Immorality Revisited, Part 2

The exercise of revisiting Paul’s Religious Mind and the meaning of Sexual Immorality has clarified a few things that were right in front of me all along.  I considered again the list of sins that described the former lives of some who were called to faith in Corinth:

1 Corinthians 6:9b, 10 (NET) Table

Parallel Greek

The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. οὔτε πόρνοι (another form of πόρνος) οὔτε εἰδωλολάτραι οὔτε μοιχοὶ οὔτε μαλακοὶ οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται οὔτε κλέπται οὔτε πλεονέκται, οὐ μέθυσοι, οὐ λοίδοροι, οὐχ ἅρπαγες βασιλείαν θεοῦ κληρονομήσουσιν

Each word preceded by οὔτε, οὐ or οὐχ (a form of οὐ) gives a strong indication that Paul did not consider πόρνοι the one word that included all of the others.  In other words the list is not to be understood as, The πόρνοι: idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers.  I’ve considered this option, by the way, given the shorter list in Ephesians.

Ephesians 5:5 (NET)

Parallel Greek

For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. τοῦτο γὰρ ἴστε γινώσκοντες, ὅτι πᾶς πόρνος ἢ ἀκάθαρτος ἢ πλεονέκτης οὐκ ἔχει κληρονομίαν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ

So I began a subtractive process, trying to determine what πόρνοι did not mean.  As I studied ἀρσενοκοῖται (a form of ἀρσενοκοίτης; translated, practicing homosexuals) the obvious became more clear.  The Greek word ἀρσενοκοίτης is a compound of two words: 1) αρσην, male, and 2) κοίτη, couch, bed.

Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male (ἄρσεν, a form of αρσην) and female,[1] Jesus answered the Pharisees who asked Him about divorce.  The men (ἄρσενες, another form of αρσην) also abandoned natural relations with women, Paul wrote the Roman believers, and were inflamed in their passions for one another.  Men (ἄρσενες, another form of αρσην) committed shameless acts with men (ἄρσεσιν, another form of αρσην) and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.[2]  The Greek is a bit more graphic: ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσιν τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην κατεργαζόμενοι (literally, “male in male this unseemliness performing”).  The writer of Hebrews penned: Marriage must be honored among all and the marriage bed (κοίτη) kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people (πόρνους, another form of πόρνος) and adulterers (μοιχοὺς, a form of μοιχός).[3]  I can’t imagine one word better than ἀρσενοκοίτης (male marriage bed) to describe You must not have sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman.[4]

I combined this with the fact that Paul’s particular usage of πορνεία in 1 Corinthians 5:1 is a fairly clear reference to You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness.[5]  And I came to one inescapable conclusion irrespective of whether Paul used πορνεία because he thought it meant anything and everything that was not sex between one man and one woman or because it was the only word he had had to use when he arrived in Corinth, constrained by his reliance on James’ abbreviated version of the law:

James’ abbreviated version of the law

…to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood…

Acts 15:20 (NET) Table

ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν ἀλισγημάτων τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ τῆς πορνείας (a form of πορνεία) καὶ |τοῦ| πνικτοῦ καὶ τοῦ αἵματος
…that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality…

Acts 15:29a (NET) Table

ἀπέχεσθαι εἰδωλοθύτων καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνικτῶν καὶ πορνείας (a form of πορνεία)

The inescapable conclusion is: in the letter called 1 Corinthians Paul taught Levitical law (as knowledge of sin not as a path of salvation) to Gentiles (1 Timothy 1:8-10 NET).

But we know that the law is good if someone uses it legitimately, realizing that law is not intended for a righteous person, but for lawless and rebellious people, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, sexually immoral people (πόρνοις, another form of πόρνος), practicing homosexuals (ἀρσενοκοίταις, another form of ἀρσενοκοίτης), kidnappers, liars, perjurers – in fact, for any who live contrary to sound teaching.

Gone was any pretense to be concerned about nothing among [them] except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.[6]  More importantly, perhaps, the pretense of not placing on the neck of the [Gentile] disciples a yoke that neither [Peter’s] ancestors nor [his contemporaries had] been able to bear[7] was utterly gone from Paul’s thinking.  That yoke would not be borne by the works of the flesh.  That is true.  But it would not be shirked either.  The yoke would be borne by the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe,[8] the fruit of the Spirit, the love [that] is the fulfillment of the law.[9]  Jesus said (Matthew 11:28-30; 5:17-20 NET):

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.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place.  So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Do we then nullify the law through faith? Paul asked rhetorically.  Absolutely not!  Instead we uphold the law.[10]  Have I just made the case for πορνεία as a violation of Leviticus 18 or 20?  But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful [πορνείας, a form of πορνεία]) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.[11]  I don’t think so.

I might have made that case.  I have a philosophical bent to my mind; I am a legalist in theory and in practice.  Why not see Matthew 5:32 as Jesus’ instruction to governor-priests and as vindication or exoneration of Ezra the priest?  Ancient Roman legislators had articulated concepts of lawful connubium.  The priests and bishops Constantine left to govern Rome when he abandoned it for Byzantium heard Jesus’ words as Roman law.  Wouldn’t Jesus follow Roman law?  It’s certainly more in line with the way my mind works.  Until, that is, I heard yehôvâh in the prophet Malachi (2:14b, 15a, 16 NET):

The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law [Table].  No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this [Table]

“I hate divorce,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful” [Table].

This is the intellectual and spiritual equivalent of a ratchet, and I cannot go back.  Now I hear, For God has consigned (συνέκλεισεν, a form of συγκλείω) all people to disobedience (ἀπείθειαν, a form of ἀπείθεια; literally, disbelief) so that he may show mercy to them all.[12]  We are all like fish caught in a net of disobedience.  Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under (ἐν; literally, in) the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable (ὑπόδικος; literally, under sentence, under judgment) to God.[13]

Ezra was exactly where yehôvâh wanted him to be when he said: O Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day.  Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt.  However, because of this guilt no one can really stand before you.[14]  Who knows what would have happened if Ezra had stayed there, waiting on yehôvâh, instead of chasing after Shecaniah’s get-righteous-quick scheme (Ezra 10:2-4 NET).

Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the local peoples.  Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard [Table].  Therefore let us enact a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, and that of those who respect the commandments of our God.  And let it be done according to the law [Table].  Get up, for this matter concerns you.  We are with you, so be strong and act decisively [Table]!”

I want to make this as clear as I possibly can.  If a man has married the wrong sort of woman he cannot redeem himself in God’s eyes, he cannot make himself righteous again, by divorcing her and sending their children away.  The religious mind encourages us to change our own behavior, to conform us to some image of righteousness derived from the law (or some lesser doctrine) by that religious mind.  The mind of Christ speaks to the wriggling soul caught in a net of disbelief, saying, Stop your striving (râphâh, הרפו) and recognize (yâdaʽ, ודעו) that I am God!  I will be exalted over the nations!  I will be exalted over the earth![15]  Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’[16]

I don’t live in Rome in the first half of the fourth century.  I don’t hear Jesus speaking to Roman legislators about external controls.  I hear Him speaking to the ἐκκλησία, those called by God the Father through Jesus Christ to be led by his Holy Spirit.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.[17]  For this and other reasons I still hear Jesus’ use of πορνείας (a form of πορνεία) in Matthew 5:32 and πορνείᾳ in Matthew 19:9 as a reference to the same πορνεῦσαι (a form of πορνεύω, e.g., sexualized worship) He condemned in Revelation 2:20 (NET):

But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality (πορνεῦσαι) and to eat food sacrificed to idols (εἰδωλόθυτα, a form of εἰδωλόθυτον).

Such sexualized worship was the bane of Israel’s descendents from the beginning of their existence as a nation: So do not be idolaters (εἰδωλολάτραι, a form of εἰδωλολάτρης), as some of them were.  As it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”  And let us not be immoral (πορνεύωμεν, another form of πορνεύω), as some of them were (ἐπόρνευσαν, another form of πορνεύω), and twenty-three thousand died in a single day.[18]  Rather than thinking of it as an abbreviated version of the law it would be far more charitable to assume that sexualized worship was what James had in mind at the Jerusalem Council:

Jesus (NET)

Parallel Greek James (NET)

Parallel Greek

…to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols…

Revelation 2:20b

πορνεῦσαι καὶ φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα …to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood…

Acts 15:20 Table

ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν ἀλισγημάτων τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ τῆς πορνείας (a form of πορνεία) καὶ |τοῦ| πνικτοῦ καὶ τοῦ αἵματος
…that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality…

Acts 15:29a

ἀπέχεσθαι εἰδωλοθύτων (another form of εἰδωλόθυτον) καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνικτῶν καὶ πορνείας (a form of πορνεία)

I want to substitute a more literal understanding of ὁμολογεῖ (a form of ὁμολογέω) translated confesses and confess respectively in 1 John 4:1-3 (NET):

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that [speaks the same as] Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not [speak the same as] Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

To that extent that the religious mind encourages us to reform our own behavior rather than to rely on the fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is the spirit of antichrist no matter how well-intentioned the mouthpiece. Suspicious of the Gospel I tried to be good first to prove that I was, failing that, I tried because “God will get you if you don’t watch out.”  My fear was flight from rather than toward God.  And yet, in that dark foreboding I became most aware of His forgiveness and patience.  Paul put it this way for Timothy (1 Timothy 1:15, 16 NET):

This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” – and I am the worst of them!  But here is why I was treated with mercy: so that in me as the worst, Christ Jesus could demonstrate his utmost patience, as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life [Table].

Amanda Bynes delivers one of the funniest and most poignant lines in the movie Easy A: “Jesus tells us to love everyone.  I mean, even the whores and the homosexuals, but it’s just so hard.  It’s so hard because they keep doing it over and over again.”  An attitude of forgiveness toward others flows from the love that comes from the Holy Spirit.  Still, Jesus said, the one who is forgiven little loves little.[19] One who is forgiven much is forgiven often for the same offense, sometimes many more than seven times a day.  And that experience is far more persuasive than any threat (Matthew 18:34, 35 NET):

And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture [the unforgiving slave] until he repaid all he owed.  So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart.

In that sacred space of loving forgiveness the truth began to dawn on me that not only the desire and effort were God’s but the fulfillment of his desire and his effort was his as well, the kingdom, the power and the glory.  I’ll substitute the same literal understanding I used above for ὁμολογήσῃς (another form of ὁμολογέω) translated confess, and ὁμολογεῖται (another form of ὁμολογέω) translated confesses in Romans 10:9, 10 (NET):

…if you [speak the same as Jesus] with your mouth that Jesus is Lord[20] [e.g., yehôvâh as opposed to a Lord or Sir] and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness [πιστεύεται εἰς δικαιοσύνην; literally, “believes unto righteousness”] and with the mouth one [speaks the same as Jesus] and thus has salvation [ὁμολογεῖται εἰς σωτηρίαν; literally, “speaks the same as Jesus unto salvation”].

 


[1] Matthew 19:4 (NET) Table

[2] Romans 1:27 (NET) Table

[3] Hebrews 13:4 (NET)

[4] Leviticus 18:22a (NET) Table

[5] Leviticus 18:8 (NET) Table

[6] 1 Corinthians 2:2 (NET) Table

[7] Acts 15:10 (NET)

[8] Romans 3:22 (NET)

[9] Romans 13:10b (NET)

[10] Romans 3:31 (NET)

[11] Matthew 5:32b (NAB) Table

[12] Romans 11:32 (NET)

[13] Romans 3:19 (NET)

[14] Ezra 9:15 (NET)

[15] Psalm 46:10 (NET)

[16] John 3:7 (NET)

[17] Romans 8:14 (NET)

[18] 1 Corinthians 10:7, 8 (NET)

[19] Luke 7:47b (NET)

[20] NET note 10: Or “the Lord.” The Greek construction, along with the quotation from Joel 2:32 in v. 13 (in which the same “Lord” seems to be in view) suggests that κύριον (kurion) is to be taken as “the Lord,” that is, Yahweh. Cf. D. B. Wallace, “The Semantics and Exegetical Significance of the Object-Complement Construction in the New Testament,” GTJ 6 (1985): 91-112.

Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 1

I want to compare and contrast Paul’s teaching in his letter to the Corinthians to Jesus’ letter To the angel of the church in Thyatira[1] under the rubrics: “Paul’s Regime” and “Jesus’ Regime.”

Paul’s Regime

Jesus’ Regime

It is actually reported that sexual immorality (πορνεία) exists among you (ὑμῖν; plural), the kind of immorality (πορνεία) that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting with (ἔχειν, a form of ἔχω) his father’s wife.

1 Corinthians 5:1 (NET)

But I have (ἔχω) this against you (σοῦ, a form of σύ; singular): You tolerate (ἀφεῖς, a form of ἀφίημι) that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality (πορνεῦσαι, a form of πορνεύω) and to eat food sacrificed to idols (εἰδωλόθυτα, a form of εἰδωλόθυτον).

Revelation 2:20 (NET)

I have given her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality (πορνείας, a form of πορνεία).

Revelation 2:21 (NET)

Experiencing these as two distinct regimes is new for me.  As long as I assumed that Jesus’ spoke to the second person plural the two passages seemed virtually identical.  And without doubt I love and respect Paul.  He led me to Jesus, helped me to see Him in a different light.  Apart from Paul’s writing in the New Testament I may never have learned to trust Jesus.  I’ve tried to imagine that the man Paul wrote about had kidnapped his father’s wife, kept her against her will, raped her repeatedly and refused to release her.  But that’s as much, or more, to ask of ἔχειν than the idea that he was pimping her for cultic purposes.

The man who had his father’s wife compares to Jezebel, who by her teaching deceives [Jesus’] servants to commit sexual immorality, as a man who walks into a congregation with a loaded gun compares to an active shooter.  Jesus gave Jezebel time to repent.  Paul didn’t say anything about time to repent, though I’m hard-pressed to determine what form the man’s repentance might have taken.

When I believed that πορνεία meant pre-marital sex[2] repentance seemed fairly straightforward: The man should dump the woman, go to college, get a high-paying job, return home, settle down and marry a nice girl—one who wouldn’t cohabit with her husband’s son.  That changed as I began to take the law (Exodus 22:16, 17, Deuteronomy 22:28-30) more seriously,[3] as a way to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [He] sent.[4]  Of course, the woman in this case was or had been married to the man’s father.  By law both should have been condemned to death (Leviticus 20:10, 11).

Paul’s Regime

Jesus’ Regime

And you (ὑμεῖς, a form of ὑμείς) are proud (πεφυσιωμένοι, a form of φυσιόω)!  Shouldn’t you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed (ἀρθῇ, a form of αἴρω) the one who did this from among you (ὑμῶν)?

1 Corinthians 5:2 (NET) Table

Look!  I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, and those who commit adultery (μοιχεύοντας, a form of μοιχεύω) with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds.

Revelation 2:22 (NET)

Paul addressed everyone (ὑμεῖς is second person plural) in the church at Corinth except the man who had his father’s wife, accusing them of being proud.  Of the seven occurrences of forms of φυσιόω in the New Testament, six are found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.  (It is at least his second letter.)  Pride or arrogance was a consistent theme in his mind as he wrote.

Paul claimed I became your father (ἐγέννησα, a form of γεννάω) in Christ Jesus through the gospel.[5]  Actually he wrote, For though you may have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers (πατέρας, a form of πατήρ) ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἐγὼ ὑμᾶς ἐγέννησα (literally, “for in Christ Jesus through the Gospel I gave birth to [KJV: have begotten] you”).  The NET translators shaded the arrogance of that statement a bit.  But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers, Jesus taught his disciples.  And call no one your ‘father’ (πατέρα, another form of πατήρ) on earth, for you have one Father (πατὴρ, another form of πατήρ), who is in heaven.  Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one teacher, the Christ.[6]

The grandiose claim that the Corinthian believers were born of Paul (John 1:13 NIV ἐγεννήθησαν is another form of γεννάω) was out of character with Paul’s own teaching earlier in the same letter (1 Corinthians 3:6, 7 NET):

I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow.  So neither the one who plants counts for anything, nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth.

I have applied these things to myself and Apollos, Paul wrote, because of you, brothers and sisters, so that through us you may learn “not to go beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up (φυσιοῦσθε, another form of φυσιόω) in favor of the one against the other.  For who concedes you any superiority?  What do you have that you did not receive?  And if you received it, why do you boast (καυχᾶσαι, a form of καυχάομαι) as though you did not?[7]  Of course, then he wrote (1 Corinthians 4:18-20 NET):

Some have become arrogant (ἐφυσιώθησαν, another form of φυσιόω), as if I were not coming to you.  But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I will find out not only the talk of these arrogant (πεφυσιωμένων, another form of φυσιόω) people, but also their power.  For the kingdom of God is demonstrated not in idle talk but with power.

Though God’s power (δυνάμει, a form of δύναμις) would clearly be the truth of his final declaration, in context it doesn’t seem to be the power Paul had in mind.  What do you want? he continued as if the following choice would be made by the Corinthians rather than by Paul himself.  Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline (ράβδῳ, a form of ῥάβδος) or with love (ἀγάπῃ) and a spirit of gentleness (πραΰτητος, a form of πραΰτης)?[8]  (While I assume that Paul’s threat to return to Corinth to beat the arrogant with a stick was bluster, it is heartwarming to find such punishment distinguished from love in the New Testament.)  In the very same letter Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 8:1b-3 NET):

Knowledge puffs up (φυσιοῖ, another form of φυσιόω), but love (ἀγάπη) builds up.  If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know.  But if someone loves (ἀγαπᾷ, a form of ἀγαπάω) God, he is known (ἔγνωσται, a form of γινώσκω) by God.

And (1 Corinthians 13:4-13 NET):

Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious.  Love does not brag, it is not puffed up (φυσιοῦται, another form of φυσιόω).  It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful.  It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.  But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside.  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.  And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.  But the greatest of these is love.

Paul formed his conclusion that the Corinthians were proud (πεφυσιωμένοι, a form of φυσιόω), not by direct observation and interaction with them but, by hearsay[9] and by the fact that they had not removed the one who did this from among [them].  Paul had asked rhetorically, Shouldn’t you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed the one who did this from among you?  The Greek word translated deeply sorrowful is ἐπενθήσατε (a form of πενθέω).

I am afraid, Paul wrote, that when I come again, my God may humiliate me before you, and I will grieve (πενθήσω, another form of πενθέω) for many of those who previously sinned and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality (πορνείᾳ), and licentiousness that they have practiced.[10]  Truly, love is not glad about injustice;[11] it does not rejoice in iniquity.[12]  Grieve, mourn (πενθήσατε, another form of πενθέω), and weep, James wrote.  Turn your laughter into mourning (πένθος) and your joy into despair.  Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.[13]  But I can’t help wondering if this mourning wasn’t more cultural than divinely inspired.

Granted, Jesus said: Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn (πενθήσετε, another form of πενθέω) and weep;[14] and, The wedding guests cannot mourn (πενθεῖν, another form of πενθέω) while the bridegroom is with them, can they?[15]  He also said, Blessed are those who mourn (πενθοῦντες, another form of πενθέω), for they will be comforted.[16]  But I still remember the contrast between Ezra and Malachi:

Ezra

Malachi

While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelites – men, women, and children alike – gathered around him.  The people wept loudly [Table].  Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the local peoples.  Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard [Table].  Therefore let us enact a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, and that of those who respect the commandments of our God.  And let it be done according to the law [Table].”

Ezra 10:1-3 (NET)

You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you [Table].  Yet you ask, “Why?”  The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law [Table].  No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this.  What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God?  Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth [Table].  “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord who rules over all.  “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful” [Table].

Malachi 2:13-16 (NET)

As Jesus’ disciples mourned his death (or perhaps their own loss) they didn’t believe his comfort when it came to them in the form of a woman: Early on the first day of the week, after he arose, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had driven out seven demons.  She went out and told those who were with him, while they were mourning (πενθοῦσι, another form of πενθέω) and weeping.  And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.[17]  So to the first part of Paul’s rhetorical question I can only give a qualified yes.

The Greek word translated removed in the second part of Paul’s rhetorical question was ἀρθῇ (a form of αἴρω).  “Take this man away (αἶρε, another form of αἴρω)!  Release Barabbas for us![18] an angry mob before Pilate rejected Jesus.  “Away (αἶρε, another form of αἴρω) with him!”[19] a mob in Jerusalem rejected Paul.  A crowd listening patiently to Paul’s defense turned ugly when he said that the Lord said to him, Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.[20]  Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Away (αἶρε, another form of αἴρω) with this man from the earth!  For he should not be allowed to live!”[21]

Here again I can’t help wondering if Paul’s reaction wasn’t more cultural than divinely inspired.  But calling it cultural isn’t entirely accurate.  Paul’s reaction was precisely correct for a time under law when yehôvâh was present among his people in a way unknown since the garden of Eden, before He gave his life as an atonement for sin.  Consider Achan (Joshua 7) as a case in point.

Exile for the man who had his father’s wife (and the woman along with him, presumably) would be considered more merciful than death, but Jesus’ parable persuades me to reject the second part of Paul’s rhetorical question—Shouldn’t you have…removed the one who did this from among you?  When Jesus’ slaves asked if they should uproot the weeds planted by the enemy He said, No, since in gathering the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest.[22]  This is not to say that I know whether the man who had his father’s wife was a weed planted by the enemy or a sinning saint.  It is to say, if this is Jesus’ attitude toward uprooting weeds planted by the enemy I dare not risk uprooting a sinning saint.

Let’s say for the sake of argument that I’m reading too much into Jesus’ parable.  Let’s say that I’m wrong about the angel of the church in Thyatira, that he was a human being rather than a higher order being.  Let’s grant, for the sake of argument, that Paul as an apostle had the authority and God-given wisdom to recognize a weed and uproot it.  Did he have the authority to turn the church of Jesus Christ in Corinth (and any who hear him today) from the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control of the Holy Spirit, and transform them into a paranoid police force?  Rather than knowing no law against loving our neighbor as well as our enemies, does every infraction of any law call us to dam up the fruit of the Holy Spirit?  Must we judge one another constantly lest we be proud for loving one another excessively?  I admit I sat silently through a sermon declaring that, Do not judge so that you will not be judged,[23] meant that we should judge and be judged.[24]

Hear Jesus’ regime by contrast: Look!  I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness.  That is Jezebel, the one who by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.[25]  Secondly, He is throwing those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds.  But there is not one word to the rest of the church in Thyatira about being proud because they had not removed Jezebel and her followers from their midst.  The criticismBut I have this against you—was laid directly on the angel of the church in Thyatira, whether human or a higher order being. Yes, the letter to the angel of the church in Thyatira was to be read by all the churches, but its content was directed with surgical precision.

To be fair the only reason I have the audacity to make this kind of critique of Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians 5 is Paul’s extended treatise on love in his later writing to believers in Rome.  Therefore we must not pass judgment (κρίνωμεν, a form of κρίνω) on one another, but rather determine (κρίνατε, another form of κρίνω) never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister.[26]  Actually, Paul described love this way: Μηκέτι οὖν ἀλλήλους κρίνωμεν[27] (literally, “no longer then one another judge”).

[1] Revelation 2:18a (NET)

[2] An article by Bromleigh McCleneghan, “Sex and the single Christian: Why celibacy isn’t the only option,” was interesting bait for an unsuspecting moralist.  Obviously single people can have sex.  That’s how they become married people in God’s sight.  The rest is ceremony, celebration and government paperwork.  If anyone actually believed that religious leaders knew magical rites that could transmogrify illicit sex into holy matrimony those religious leaders would be compelled by law to perform those rites equally for all in a pluralistic society.  The only thing single people cannot do is fool God into thinking they are not guilty of adultery if they have sex with somebody different tomorrow night, simply because they have not signed government paperwork or had a ceremony or celebrated.

[3] Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 12, Ezra and Divorce

[4] John 17:3b (NET)

[5] 1 Corinthians 4:15b (NET)

[6] Matthew 23:8-10 (NET)

[7] 1 Corinthians 4:6, 7 (NET)

[8] 1 Corinthians 4:21 (NET)

[9] My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. (1 Corinthians 1:11 NIV)

[10] 2 Corinthians 12:21 (NET)

[11] 1 Corinthians 13:6a (NET)

[12] 1 Corinthians 13:6a (NKJV)

[13] James 4:9, 10 (NET)

[14] Luke 6:25b (NET)

[15] Mathew 9:15a (NET)

[16] Matthew 5:4 (NET)

[17] Mark 16:9-11 (NET)

[18] Luke 23:18b (NET)

[19] Acts 21:36b (NET)

[20] Acts 22:21b (NET)

[21] Acts 22:22b (NET)

[22] Matthew 13:29, 30a (NET)

[23] Matthew 7:1 (NET)

[24] This point of view is surprisingly common.   I found the following paraphrase online: “If you don’t want your life to be scrutinized, then don’t judge others.  If you can stand the scrutiny then go ahead.”  I will freely admit to needing as much grace as possible.  There are other voices online.

[25] Revelation 2:20b (NET)

[26] Romans 14:13 (NET)

[27] Romans 14:13a

The Angels Will Gather

But I have a few things against you,[1] Jesus told John to write to the angel of the church in Pergamum.[2]  The word translated angel is ἀγγέλῳ (a form of ἄγγελος).  Below is a table of its forms and occurrences.

Form of ἄγγελος

Total Occurrences Revelation Occurrences

URL

ἀγγέλῳ 9 8 http://biblehub.com/greek/angelo__32.htm
ἀγγέλων 31 7 http://biblehub.com/greek/angelo_n_32.htm
ἄγγελοι 23 8 http://biblehub.com/greek/angeloi_32.htm
ἀγγέλοις 9 3 http://biblehub.com/greek/angelois_32.htm
ἄγγελόν 22 11 http://biblehub.com/greek/angelon_32.htm
ἄγγελος 48 17 http://biblehub.com/greek/angelos_32.htm
ἀγγέλου 14 8 http://biblehub.com/greek/angelou_32.htm
ἀγγέλους 20 5 http://biblehub.com/greek/angelous_32.htm
Total 176 67

It means messenger and was translated messenger when the translators were reasonably sure the messenger was a human being (ἀγγέλων – Luke 7:24; ἄγγελον – Matthew 11:10, Mark 1:2, Luke 7:27; ἀγγέλους – Luke 9:52).  Paul euphemistically called a thorn in the flesha messenger (ἄγγελος – 2 Corinthians 12:7) of Satan.

To this list I would add: 1) Before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels (ἀγγέλων – 1 Timothy 5:21) because of its association with the word translated elect (ἐκλεκτῶν, a form of ἐκλεκτός); 2) seen by angels (ἀγγέλοις – 1 Timothy 3:16 because human messengers proclaimed [Jesus] among Gentiles; 3) you welcomed me as though I were an angel of God (ἄγγελον – Galatians 4:14) because Paul referred to himself, a human being, as a messenger of God; and 4) I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you (ἄγγελον – Revelation 22:16) because the word translated you (ὑμῖν) is plural ἄγγελον meant John as opposed to the angel who spoke to John.

There are seven more occurrences of forms of ἄγγελος that seem equivocal to me.  Three of them are further confounded by two occurrences in Stephen’s defense (Acts 7:35, 38 NET):

This same Moses they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’  God sent as both ruler and deliverer through the hand of the angel (ἀγγέλου) who appeared to him in the bush.

This is the man who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel (ἀγγέλου) who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, and he received living oracles to give to you.

The angel (Septuagint: ἄγγελος) of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) appeared to [Moses] in a flame of fire from within a bush.[3]  When the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) saw that he had turned aside to look, God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) called to him from within the bush and said[4]  “I am the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of your father, the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of Abraham, the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of Isaac, and the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of Jacob.”  Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym).[5]  “Go and bring together the elders of Israel and tell them, ‘The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of your fathers, appeared to me…”[6]

God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) spoke all these words: “I, the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), am your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך), who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery” [Table].[7]  “Moses alone may come near the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), but the others must not come near, nor may the people go up with him.”[8]  The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) spoke to Moses: “Go quickly, descend, because your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly [Table].  They have quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them – they have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך), O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt’” [Table].[9]  Clearly, the messenger of yehôvâh in the burning bush and on Mount Sinai was yehôvâh Himself, though first century Jews may have been reluctant to acknowledge it.[10]

So when Stephen said—You received the law by decrees given by angels (ἀγγέλων), but you did not obey it[11]—was it a pious fiction for Jewish sensibilities or a prophetic revelation?  What about when the Holy Spirit included Stephen’s statement in the New Testament?  Why then was the law given? Paul asked rhetorically.  It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the promise had been made.  It was administered (διαταγεὶς, a form of διατάσσω) through angels (ἀγγέλων) by an intermediary.[12]  For if the message spoken through angels (ἀγγέλων) proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?  It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.[13]

Are these human messengers—prophets and priests—oblique references to yehôvâh Himself or beings of another order of creation—angels?

Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels (ἀγγέλοις)![14]  All who were sitting in the council looked intently at Stephen and saw his face was like the face of an angel (ἀγγέλου).[15]  For man did not come from woman, but woman from man.  Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for man.  For this reason a woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels (ἀγγέλους).[16]  Do not neglect hospitality, because through it some have entertained angels (ἀγγέλους) without knowing it.[17]  Though I categorize these as equivocal I’m certainly leaning toward a higher order of being.  There are seven more occurrences I would have listed as equivocal and probably would have considered them more likely to be human until I began this study.

But I have a few things against you,[18] Jesus told John to write to the angel of the church in Pergamum.[19]  The Greek word translated you is σοῦ (a form of σύ), the second person singular as is the verb translated have (ἔχεις, a form of ἔχω) in the next sentence: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so they would eat (φαγεῖν, a form of φάγω) food sacrificed to idols (εἰδωλόθυτα, a form of εἰδωλόθυτον) and commit sexual immorality (πορνεῦσαι, a form of πορνεύω).[20]

Jesus continued with his message to the angel of the church in Pergamum: Therefore, repent[21] (μετανόησον, a form of μετανοέω)!  Once again the verb μετανόησον is second person singular.  If not, I will come against you (σοι, another form of σύ) quickly and make war against those people with the sword of my mouth.[22]

But I have this against you,[23] Jesus told John to write to the angel of the church in Thyatira.[24]  The Greek word translated you is σοῦ (a form of σύ), the second person singular as is the verb translated tolerate (ἀφεῖς, a form of ἀφίημι) in the next sentence: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality (πορνεῦσαι, a form of πορνεύω) and to eat (φαγεῖν, a form of φάγω) food sacrificed to idols (εἰδωλόθυτα, a form of εἰδωλόθυτον).[25]

The criticism was directed at the angels; the threat to make war against those who followed the teaching of Balaam with his words, the censure of illness toward those who committed adultery with Jezebel, and death to those who followed her teaching: Look!  I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, and those who commit adultery (μοιχεύοντας, a form of μοιχεύω) with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds.  Furthermore, I will strike her followers with a deadly disease, and then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts.[26]  And this, after He had given her time to repent, but she [was] not willing to repent of her sexual immorality (πορνείας, a form of πορνεία).[27]

I will repay (δώσω, a form of δίδωμι) each one of you (ὑμῖν) what your (ὑμῶν) deeds deserve.[28]  Here the words translated you and your are plural.  But to the rest of you (ὑμῖν) 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 (ὑμᾶς; plural).  However, hold on to what you have until I come.[29]

Do not accept an accusation against an elder, Paul wrote Timothy, unless it can be confirmed by two or three witnesses.  Those guilty of sin must be rebuked before all, as a warning to the rest.[30]  Not rebuking Jezebel publicly (before other elders) seems like the most obvious[31] failure if Jesus criticized an authoritarian human messenger for tolerating Jezebel (literally, “left” her to do what she did: Matthew 13:36; Matthew 26:44; Mark 8:13; Mark 13:34).  But since Jesus’ prescription—I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness—is somewhat beyond the purview of a human messenger, I consider an angelic being here and make the connection to Jesus’ parable (Matthew 13:24-30 NET).

“The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field.  But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.  When the plants sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.  So the slaves (δοῦλοι, a form of δοῦλος) of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field?  Then where did the weeds come from?’  He said, ‘An enemy has done this.’  So the slaves replied,[32] ‘Do you want us to go and gather them?’ [Table]  But he said, ‘No, since in gathering the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest.  At harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, but then gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

Jesus explained the parable to his disciples (Matthew 13:37-39 NET):

“The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world and the good seed are the people of the kingdom.  The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil.  The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels (ἄγγελοι).”

Here the ἄγγελοι are distinguished from the human δοῦλοι as higher beings capable of making distinctions that human messengers could not, and should not, make—No, since in gathering the weeds you may uproot the wheat with themThe Son of Man will send his angels (ἀγγέλους), and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes sin as well as all lawbreakers.[33]  This sounds precisely like the function Jesus criticized the angel (ἀγγέλῳ) of the church in Thyatira for not fulfilling sooner regarding Jezebel and her followers.  It prompts me to reconsider whether all seven of these angels are higher order beings—angels.


[1] Revelation 2:14a (NET)

[2] Revelation 2:12a (NET)

[3] Exodus 3:2a (NET)

[4] Exodus 3:4a (NET)

[5] Exodus 3:6 (NET) Table

[6] Exodus 3:16a (NET)

[7] Exodus 20:1, 2 (NET)

[8] Exodus 24:2 (NET)

[9] Exodus 32:7, 8 (NET)

[10] NET note 97

[11] Acts 7:53 (NET)

[12] Galatians 3:19 (NET)

[13] Hebrews 2:2-4 (NET)

[14] Matthew 25:41b (NET)

[15] Acts 6:15 (NET)

[16] 1 Corinthians 11:8-10 (NET)

[17] Hebrews 13:2 (NET)

[18] Revelation 2:14a (NET)

[19] Revelation 2:12a (NET)

[20] Revelation 2:14b (NET)  I have written about what was written to the angel of the church in Ephesus as if the Greek words translated you and their verbs were plural.  They are also singular.  I may have a lot of rethinking to do.

[21] Revelation 2:16a (NET)

[22] Revelation 2:16b (NET)

[23] Revelation 2:20a (NET)

[24] Revelation 2:18a (NET)

[25] Revelation 2:20b (NET)

[26] Revelation 2:22, 23a (NET)

[27] Revelation 2:21 (NET)

[28] Revelation 2:23b (NET)

[29] Revelation 2:24, 25 (NET)

[30] 1 Timothy 5:19, 20 (NET)

[31] Paul’s own actions described in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 are more obvious perhaps, but I’ll consider that in its own essay.

[32] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had λέγουσιν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ειπον (KJV: said).

[33] Matthew 13:41 (NET)