Tag Archives: Romans 11:29-32

Christianity, Part 10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The table mentioned above follows.

Occurrences of πάντας in Romans
Reference

NET Parallel Greek

 ESV
Romans 3:9 προῃτιασάμεθα γὰρ Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ ῞Ελληνας πάντας ὑφ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
Romans 3:22

δικαιοσύνη δὲ θεοῦ διὰ πίστεως |Ἰησοῦ| Χριστοῦ εἰς πάντας τοὺς πιστεύοντας

the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
Romans 5:12 οὕτως εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὁ θάνατος διῆλθεν so death spread to all men
Romans 5:18 ὡς δι᾿ ἑνὸς παραπτώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς κατάκριμα as one trespass led to condemnation for all men
οὕτως καὶ δι᾿ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς δικαίωσιν ζωῆς so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for fall men.
Romans 10:12

πλουτῶν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἐπικαλουμένους αὐτόν

bestowing his riches on all who call on him
Romans 11:32 συνέκλεισεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς πάντας εἰς ἀπείθειαν For God has consigned all to disobedience
ἵνα τοὺς πάντας ἐλεήσῃ that he may have mercy on all.
Romans 16:15

τοὺς σὺν αὐτοῖς πάντας ἁγίους

the brothers who are with them.
Romans 16:19 ὑμῶν ὑπακοὴ εἰς πάντας ἀφίκετο your obedience is known to all

1 John 12:32 (ESV)

2 Romans 3:22b, 23 (ESV)

5 Philippians 3:9a (ESV)

7 Romans 3:20 (ESV)

8 Romans 3:22a (ESV) Table

9 Romans 3:24 (ESV)

10 Romans 3:22b (ESV) Table

11 Philippians 3:9a (ESV)

13 Galatians 2:20a (NET)

14 Romans 5:12b (ESV)

15 Romans 5:18a (ESV)

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

17 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) Table

18 Romans 5:18b (ESV)

19 Romans 5:19a (ESV)

20 Romans 5:19b (ESV)

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

22 John 12:32 (ESV)

Romans, Part 61

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I’m continuing to look at Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer,[1] as a description of love rather than as rules to obey.  I’m still focusing on the injustice (ἀδικίᾳ, a form of ἀδικία) love is not glad (or, does not rejoice)[2] about.  Two different things are revealed (ἀποκαλύπτεται, a form of ἀποκαλύπτω) in the first chapter of Romans.

Two Revelations
For the righteousness (δικαιοσύνη) of God is revealed in the gospel…

Romans 1:17a (NET)

 For the wrath (ὀργὴ, a form of ὀργή) of God is revealed from heaven…

Romans 1:18a (NET)
…from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous (δίκαιος) by faith will live.”

Romans 1:17b (NET)

 …against all ungodliness and unrighteousness (ἀδικίαν, a form of ἀδικία) of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness (ἀδικίᾳ, a form of ἀδικία)…

Romans 1:18b (NET)

But I didn’t always think of these as two different things.  As I became an atheist, though I doubt that I actually thought through these particular verses, I believed that God’s righteousness was God’s wrath, at least it was the nexus where his righteousness impacted human beings.

I returned from atheism to a semblance of faith believing that the wrath (e.g., God’s righteousness) I had not experienced had been deferred to a later time, the end, the Revelation (Ἀποκάλυψις, a form of ἀποκάλυψις).  With this idea in mind I thought the wrath of God…revealed from heaven was some unspecified vengeance against every kind of unrighteousness (ἀδικίᾳ), wickedness, covetousness, malice.  They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility.  They are gossips [Table], slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless [Table].[3]

No matter what the Scripture said I wouldn’t or couldn’t hear that God’s wrath revealed from heaven was that God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.[4]  It was beyond my powers of comprehension that He did this so that they are filled with every kind of unrighteousness (ἀδικίᾳ), wickedness, covetousness, malice.  They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility.  They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless.

As long as I refused to believe that it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy,[5] I couldn’t fathom the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God;[6] namely, that God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.[7]  I couldn’t reason that if in his wrath He hands people over to every kind of ἀδικίᾳ, in his non-wrathful state he keeps us from that same ἀδικίᾳ.  And I didn’t perceive that the true nexus of the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel is his love in us,[8] the love that is the fulfillment of the law,[9] the fruit of his Spirit.[10]

Half a millennium or so before Paul penned his letter to the Romans ἀδικίᾳ was a Greek goddess.  “There is also a chest made of cedar, Pausanias wrote, “with figures on it, some of ivory, some of gold, others carved out of the cedar-wood itself.  It was in this chest that Cypselus, the tyrant of Corinth, was hidden by his mother when the Bacchidae were anxious to discover him after his birth.  In gratitude for the saving of Cypselus, his descendants, Cypselids as they are called, dedicated the chest at Olympia.”[11]  Carved on the chest are the figures of a “beautiful woman…punishing an ugly one, choking her with one hand and with the other striking her with a staff.  It is Justice [δίκη] who thus treats Injustice [ἀδικίᾳ].”[12]

I’ll explore some sayings about δίκη (Dike) as a revelation of the religious mind, making no attempt to distinguish the creative reasoning of human beings from lying spirits.[13]  “Next he [Zeus] led away bright Themis (Divine Law),” Hesiod wrote, “who bare the Horai (Horae, Seasons), and Eunomia (Good Order), Dike (Justice), and blooming Eirene (Peace), who mind the works of mortal men.”[14]  “[S]he sits beside her father, Zeus the son of Kronos (Cronus), and tells him of men’s wicked heart, until the people pay for the mad folly of their princes who, evilly minded, pervert judgement and give sentence crookedly.”[15]

The latter saying sounds more like Satan the accuser than justice (Revelation 12:7-10 NET):

Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.  But the dragon was not strong enough to prevail, so there was no longer any place left in heaven for him and his angels.  So that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan (Σατανᾶς), who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth,[16] and his angels along with him.  Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the ruling authority of his Christ, have now come, because the accuser (κατήγωρ, a form of κατηγορέω) of our brothers and sisters, the one who accuses (κατηγορῶν, another form of κατηγορέω) them day and night before our God, has been thrown down.”

Perhaps δίκη gives a glimpse into how Satan perceives himself.  It certainly gives me a different impression of Plato’s eulogy:  “With [Zeus],” Plato wrote in Laws, “followeth Dike (Justice), as avenger of them that fall short of the divine law; and she, again, is followed by every man who would fain be happy, cleaving to her with lowly and orderly behavior…”[17]  It sounds like a revelation of Satan’s own longing and ambition.  “To thee revenge the punishment belong, chastising every deed unjust and wrong” says the Orphic Hymn 62 to Dike.[18]  This is essentially the meaning of δίκη in the New Testament (Acts 28:3, 4 NET).

When Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.  When the local people saw the creature hanging from Paul’s hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer!  Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice (δίκη; KJV: vengeance) herself has not allowed him to live!”

Even when the goddess is forgotten the noun δίκη retains her meaning and purpose (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10a; Jude 1:6, 7 NET).

With flaming fire he will mete out punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will undergo the penalty (δίκην, a form of δίκη; KJV: punished) of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired on that day among all who have believed…

You also know that the angels who did not keep within their proper domain but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept in eternal chains in utter darkness, locked up for the judgment of the great Day.  So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality (ἐκπορνεύσασαι, a form of ἐκπορνεύω) and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment (δίκην, a form of δίκη; KJV: vengeance) of eternal fire.

Philostratus tired of δίκη or the inability of vengeance to produce righteousness in, or secure justice among, human beings: “I am sure that Dike (Justice) will appear in a very ridiculous light; for having been appointed by Zeus and by the Moirai (Fates) to prevent men being unjust to one another, she has never been able to defend herself against injustice.”  In the New Testament δίκη has nothing to do with overcoming ἀδικία in human beings.  Rather, God’s mercy and his love in us through faith in Jesus’ faithfulness crucifies our ἀδικίαν (a form of ἀδικία) and resurrects our new lives into his righteousness through the death and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 7:5, 6 NET).

For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.  But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.

For this reason we also, Paul wrote the Colossians, from the day we heard about you, have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of all patience and steadfastness, joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.  He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves…[19]

The word translated righteousness in—the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel—is δικαιοσύνη (Dikaiosyne), not a goddess but a daimona (δαίμων[20]).  “In the ancient Greek religion, daimon designates not a specific class of divine beings, but a peculiar mode of activity: it is an occult power that drives humans forward or acts against them: since daimon is the veiled countenance of divine activity, every deity can act as daimon…”[21]  The Orphic Hymn 63 says, “O blessed Dikaiosyne, mankind’s delight, the eternal friend of conduct just and right: abundant, venerable, honoured maid, to judgements pure dispensing constant aid, and conscience stable, and an upright mind…”[22]

To the religious mind Dikaiosyne merely dispenses “aid.”  Of course in the New Testament the daimon does not merely “aid” but possesses and takes control, not for anything resembling righteousness: two demon-possessed (δαιμονιζόμενοι, a form of δαιμονίζομαι) men coming from the tombs met [Jesus].  They were extremely violent, so that no one was able to pass by that way.[23]  As Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man from the town met him who was possessed[24] by demons (δαιμόνια, a form of δαιμόνιον).  For a long time this man had worn no clothes and had not lived in a house, but among the tombs.[25]

Ancient Greeks were not unaware of these phenomena, they attributed them to κακοδαίμων: “The Hellenistic Greeks divided daemons into good and evil categories: agathodaimōn (ἀγαθοδαίμων “noble spirit”), from agathós (ἀγαθός “good, brave, noble, moral, lucky, useful”), and kakódaimōn (κακοδαίμων “malevolent spirit”), from kakós (κακός “bad, evil”).”[26]  I assume this determination was made according to how well the daemons’ activities corresponded to the determiner’s own desires: the κακοδαίμων thwarted as the ἀγαθοδαίμων aided those desires.  The derivation of δαίμων is “From δαίω daiō (to distribute fortunes)” according to Strong’s Concordance.

To the religious mind Dikaiosyne dispenses “aid” to those who make pure judgments.  I’m reminded of Peter’s surprise that Cornelius summoned him because an angel appeared and told him to do so: I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people, but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is welcomed before him.[27]  That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,[28] –I have not come to call the righteous (δικαίους, a form of δίκαιος), but sinners to repentance,[29] –is a difficult truth for the religious mind to accept.

It is the truth suppressed by unrighteousness (ἀδικίᾳ).  The religious mind jealously guards its own righteousness as its own peculiar possession.  In my opinion Paul experienced a theological crisis[30] over this trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance, and we read the Holy Spirit’s solution to that crisis when we read his letter to the Romans (Romans 3:5-9 NKJV).

But if our unrighteousness (ἀδικία) demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust (ἄδικος) who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)  Certainly not!  For then how will God judge the world?  For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?  And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.  What then?  Are we better than they?  Not at all.  For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

All unrighteousness (ἀδικίᾳ) is sin…[31]  God will reward each one according to his works…wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness (ἀδικίᾳ).[32]  The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders, and with every kind of evil (ἀδικίας, another form of ἀδικία) deception directed against those who are perishing, because they found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved.  Consequently God sends on them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false.  And so all of them who have not believed the truth but have delighted in evil (ἀδικίᾳ) will be condemned.[33]  

What shall we say then?  Is there injustice (ἀδικία) with God?  Absolutely not!  For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.[34]

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.  Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.  For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.[35]

This gives me a fairly extensive idea of the truth love rejoices about and the ἀδικία it does not.  Love is not glad about injustice (ἀδικίᾳ), but rejoices in the truth.[36]  Do not extinguish the Spirit,[37] Paul wrote the Thessalonians.  I will suggest that the quickest way to extinguish the Spirit is to take credit for his fruit or to believe that his fruit is anything but the gift of righteousness.[38]  [W]hen the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior.[39]

I’ll continue in the next essay.

Romans, Part 62

Back to Romans, Part 65

[1] Romans 12:12 (NET)

[2] 1 Corinthians 13:6 (NASB)

[3] Romans 1:29-31 (NET)

[4] Romans 1:28b (NET)

[5] Romans 9:16 (NET) Table

[6] Romans 11:33a (NET)

[7] Romans 11:32 (NET)

[8] John 17:26 (NET)

[9] Romans 13:10b (NET)

[10] Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

[11] Pausanias’ description of the Chest of Kypselos and other items at Olympia

[12] Pausanias’ description of the Chest of Kypselos and other items at Olympia

[13] 1 Kings 22:19-23; 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4; Ephesians 2:1-3 (NET)

[14] http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/HoraDike.html

[15] ibid

[16] I am very confused whether this is still future are already past: Then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”  So he said to them, “I saw Satan (σατανᾶν, a form of Σατανᾶς) fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:17, 18 NET)

[17] http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/HoraDike.html

[18] ibid

[19] Colossians 1:9-13 (NET)

[20] Then the demons (δαίμονες, a form of δαίμων) begged him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” (Matthew 8:31 NET)

[21] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(classical_mythology)

[22] http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Dikaiosyne.html

[23] Matthew 8:28 (NET)

[24] ἔχων [2192] δαιμόνια (literally, “had demons”)

[25] Luke 8:27 (NET)

[26] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(classical_mythology)

[27] Acts 10:34, 35 (NET)

[28] 1 Timothy 1:15 (NET)

[29] Luke 5:32 (NET)

[30] https://religiousmind.net/2012/10/07/romans-part-23/; https://religiousmind.net/2012/08/04/romans-part-7/; https://religiousmind.net/2012/06/12/pauls-religious-mind/; https://religiousmind.net/2013/04/17/romans-part-42/

[31] 1 John 5:17a (NET)

[32] Romans 2:6, 8 (NET)

[33] 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (NET)

[34] Romans 9:14-16 (NET)

[35] Romans 11:29-32 (NET)

[36] 1 Corinthians 13:6 (NET)

[37] 1 Thessalonians 5:19 (NET)

[38] Romans 5:17 (NET)

[39] Titus 3:4-6 (NET)

Saving Demons, Part 2

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While studying the different gifts of the Spirit I came across the following (2 Corinthians 3:7-9 NET):

But if the ministry (διακονία)[1] that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets – came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective), how much more glorious will the ministry (διακονία) of the Spirit be?  For if there was glory in the ministry (διακονίᾳ) that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry (διακονία) that produces righteousness excel in glory!

I can’t help but ask, what if the glory of the ministry (διακονίᾳ) that produces righteousness is made ineffective (καταργουμένην, a form of καταργέω)[2] by the religious mind?  The note on made ineffective in the NET reads: “Or ‘which was transitory.’ Traditionally this phrase is translated as ‘which was fading away.’ The verb καταργέω in the corpus Paulinum uniformly has the meaning ‘to render inoperative, ineffective’; the same nuance is appropriate here. The glory of Moses’ face was rendered ineffective by the veil Moses wore. For discussion of the meaning of this verb in this context, see S. J. Hafemann, Paul, Moses, and the History of Israel (WUNT 81), 301-13. A similar translation has been adopted in the two other occurrences of the verb in this paragraph in vv. 11 and 13.”

So, if verse 7 means that the “glory of Moses’ face was rendered ineffective by the veil Moses wore,” Paul expanded that meaning in verse 10: For indeed, what had been glorious [the ministry that produced condemnation] now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it[3] [the ministry that produces righteousness].  Paul continued (2 Corinthians 3:11, 12 NET):

For if what was made ineffective (καταργούμενον, another form of καταργέω) came with glory, how much more has what remains (μένον, a form of μένω)[4] come in glory!  Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness, and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective (καταργουμένου, another form of καταργέω).

The Greek word translated remains is μένον a form of μένω, as is μένει in, And now these three remain (μένει, another form of μένω): faith, hope, and love.  But the greatest of these is love.[5]  It is easy to see why some translators related the forms of καταργέω in 2 Corinthians 3 to those in 1 Corinthians 13 (vv. 8, 10, 11; set aside, NET) and rendered them as passing away.  But the word μένον is also found in, The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining (μένον) – this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.[6]

So it is also easy to see why other translators related what Paul said about the law, the ministry that produced condemnation, and the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry that produces righteousness, to Romans:  For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened (ἠσθένει, a form of ἀσθενέω)[7] through the flesh.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.[8]

It also makes sense then to relate this weakness through the flesh to the forms of καταργέω in 2 Corinthians 3 and render them as made ineffective (the law was weakened through the flesh to the point that it was made ineffective as far as righteousness is concerned).  This makes even more sense if the writing of 2 Corinthians followed the writing of Romans sequentially rather than directly after 1 Corinthians.

Moses…put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result (τέλος)[9] of the glory that was made ineffective,[10] Paul wrote.  In one sense he referred to the basic facts of Exodus 34:29-33 (NET):

Now when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand – when he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.  When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to approach him.  But Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and Moses spoke to them.  After this all the Israelites approached, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai.  When Moses finished speaking with them, he would put a veil on his face.

So the result that the Israelites were kept from staring at was the glowing skin of Moses’ face.  There was another meaning to Paul’s metaphor as well.  But their minds were closed, He continued.  For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read.[11] Here, the result or end that the veil keeps people from staring intently at is the fact that the law is the ministry that produced condemnation.  For the law brings wrath…[12]  For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.[13]  [The veil] has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away (καταργεῖται, another form of καταργέω).[14]  My mind was also closed when I tried to pass myself off as in Christ (ἐν Χριστῷ) while striving to make myself righteous by keeping the law.

But until this very day, Paul continued, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.[15]

In my case the Lord was faithful even when I was not; If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, since he cannot deny himself.[16]  And perhaps I should let it go at that.  But I still wonder, if I had remained faithless, or while I persisted in my faithlessness, did I give Him cause to show mercy to demons or fallen angels, since He was and remains faithful to me?

Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God – harshness toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.  And even they – if they do not continue in their unbelief – will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.  For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?[17]

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.  Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.  For God has consigned all people [the qualifier “people” is not literally in the text though “these” (τοὺς) is] to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.[18]

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 7

[3] 2 Corinthians 3:10 (NET)

[5] 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NET)

[6] John 1:33b (NET)

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

[10] 2 Corinthians 3:13 (NET)

[11] 2 Corinthians 3:14a (NET)

[12] Romans 4:15 (NET)

[13] Romans 3:20 (NET)

[14] 2 Corinthians 3:14b (NET)

[15] 2 Corinthians 3:15-18 (NET)

[16] 2 Timothy 2:13 (NET)

[17] Romans 11:22-24 (NET)

[18] Romans 11:29-32 (NET)