Exploration, Part 5

Paul continued to describe the freedom for which Christ has set us free1 (Galatians 5:16 ESV).

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

But I say (Λέγω δέ) by the Spirit (πνεύματι᾿) walk (περιπατεῖτε) is nearer the actual word order. There is a choice here, too: περιπατεῖτε might be understood as an imperative form of περιπατέω, or as a statement of fact in the indicative mood, “But I say, by the Spirit you walk.” The ESV translators chose the imperative—walk by the Spirit—and so have I up to this moment.

Though the general trend of my life since I turned Paul’s definition of love into rules for me to obey has been to abandon the laws of Paul for faith in Jesus Christ, I haven’t trusted Him with this. Why not? I wonder, now that For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore you stand firm and cannot entangle yourselves in a yoke of slavery again.2 Now that I’m hearing this as his work rather than mine.

Is there any other reason to believe that Paul wrote foolish Galatians, saying, “But I say, by the Spirit you walk”? To Romans he wrote (Romans 8:3-9 ESV):

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk (περιπατοῦσιν, another form of περιπατέω) not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live (ὄντες, a present participle of εἰμί) according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are (ὄντες, a present participle of εἰμί) in the flesh (ἐν σαρκὶ) cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh (οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐν σαρκὶ) but in the Spirit (ἐν πνεύματι), if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong (ἔστιν, another form of εἰμί) to him3 [Table].

Paul didn’t even hint that the foolish Galatians did not belong to Christ. He called them my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!4 And he added, I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed (ἀποροῦμαι, a form of ἀπορέω) about you.5 And here to the Romans it’s quite clear he was describing truths to believe rather than works to achieve, the better promises of the new covenant.

It occurred to me that I could put this to rest, perhaps, if Paul and the Holy Spirit had another word choice that was exclusively in the indicative mood. But περιπατεῖτε is the only 2nd person plural form of περιπατέω in the present tense and the active voice listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon online. I’ll reexamine all my choices and assumptions so far.

Galatians 5:1
My first assumption is that the foolish Galatians, you, are included in For our freedom Christ has us set free6 as opposed to being excluded from that freedom. This assumption is confirmed later: For you to freedom were called, brothers.7 This eliminates the possibility that Paul was describing an elitist Pauline party to which foolish Galatians could belong by following the rules of Saint Paul as opposed to the rules of some other unnamed saint heading up some other elitist party. Such elitist parties were associated with the jealousy and strife of the flesh (1 Corinthians 3:1-8 ESV):

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready [Table], for you are still of the flesh (σαρκικοί, a form of σαρκικός). For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh (σαρκικοί, a form of σαρκικός) and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth [Table]. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

There is one other 2nd person plural form of στήκω listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon in the present tense and active voice: στήκητε in the subjunctive mood. None of the 2nd person plural forms listed is exclusively in the indicative or imperative mood. Perhaps the ESV translation of στήκετε (stand firm rather than “you must stand firm”) was intended to be vague enough to let the reader choose between the indicative and imperative moods. My ear, attuned by my background, hears it as a command. My own you stand firm may still sound imperative to some, so I’ll consider the implications.

“The imperative mood is a command or instruction given to the hearer, charging the hearer to carry out or perform a certain action.”8 Understanding στήκετε in the imperative mood casts the freedom for which Christ has set us free9 as aspirational: If I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” stand firm.

There was a time when I thought Christ’s death on the cross was mostly aspirational. Since Christ died for my sins I should do A, B, C, etc. and refrain from doing X, Y, Z, etc. The forgiveness of sins was a possible exception, but as Jesus asked rhetorically, which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?10 The general trend of my growing faith since that time has been that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is more instrumental than aspirational.

Paul described the Lord’s death as one of the better promises of the new covenant in Christ (Romans 6:1-6 ESV).

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? [Table] By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that (ἵνα), just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk (περιπατήσωμεν, another form of περιπατέω)11 in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self ( παλαιὸς ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος; aka our old man) was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing (καταργηθῇ, a form of καταργέω), so that we would no longer be enslaved (δουλεύειν, the present infinitive of δουλεύω) to sin.

“The indicative mood is a statement of fact or an actual occurrence from the writer’s or speaker’s perspective.”12 Understanding στήκετε in the indicative mood casts the freedom for which Christ has set us free13 as instrumental: the freedom for which Christ has set us free is the means by which I stand firm through faith. For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore you stand firm.14

The verb ἐνέχεσθε is a 2nd person plural form of ἐνέχω in the present tense and imperative mood: do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.15 So again, if I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” do not submit again. Once I understand Christ’s freedom as instrumental, however, I hear the middle/passive verb ἐνέχεσθε as another outcome of that freedom: and cannot entangle yourselves in a yoke of slavery again.16 The yoke of slavery is the flesh (the body of sinbrought to nothing) along with its consequent faith and those actions that follow from faith in the flesh (Galatians 3:1-3 ESV):

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified [Table]. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Galatians 5:13
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.17 By translating μόνον μὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν εἰς ἀφορμὴν τῇ σαρκί (only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh [EXP4]) as Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh casts Christ’s freedom as aspirational: if I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action”: do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. There were no Greek verbs in the imperative mood in the phrase “only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh.” There were no verbs at all.

The verb δουλεύετε, was the only 2nd person plural form of δουλεύω in the present tense listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon: δουλεύσετε in the future tense is in the indicative mood exclusively and δουλεύσατε in the aorist tense is exclusively imperative. If the translation serve was intended to be understood as an imperative, it casts Christ’s freedom as aspirational. So, here again, if I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” through love serve one another.

Beyond that, however, Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another casts Christ’s freedom as something potentially dangerous which I must defend myself against by my works: 1) stand firm, 2) do not submit again to a yoke of slavery, 3) do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but 4) through love serve one another. Here again, understanding δουλεύετε as a statement of fact in the indicative mood—but through love you serve one another18—casts Christ’s freedom as instrumental, the source of the love through which we serve one another.

Galatians 5:16
If But I say, walk by the Spirit was designating περιπατεῖτε as the imperative form of περιπατέω, it casts Christ’s freedom as aspirational. If I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” I must walk by the Spirit. And here again, understanding περιπατεῖτε as a statement of fact in the indicative mood—“But I say, by the Spirit you walk”—casts Christ’s freedom as instrumental to—the “cause-in-fact” of—walking by the Spirit.

Why did I balk at this? It was my understanding of the conjoined clause (Galatians 5:16b ESV):

and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

The Greek was καὶ, “and,” ἐπιθυμίαν, “desire,” σαρκὸς, “of flesh,” οὐ μὴ, “never,” τελέσητε, “accomplish”: “But I say, by the Spirit you walk and desire of flesh never accomplish.” The phrase οὐ μὴ τελέσητε is called a subjunctive of emphatic negation. I was so taken with this, I turned Paul’s words into a conditional statement:

If I walk by the Spirit, I will never under any circumstance imaginable complete the desire of flesh.

Now I question whether that maneuver could be considered rightly handling the word of truth.19 The following table compares Galatians 5:16 to an actual conditional statement:

Galatians 5:16 (NET Parallel Greek)

Romans 7:20 (NET Parallel Greek) Table

Λέγω δέ, πνεύματι περιπατεῖτε καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν σαρκὸς οὐ μὴ τελέσητε

εἰ δὲ ὃ οὐ θέλω [ἐγὼ] τοῦτο ποιῶ, οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτὸ ἀλλὰ ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία

Galatians 5:16 (ESV)

Romans 7:20 (ESV)

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

The Greek conjunction εἰ, if, does not occur in Galatians 5:16. Paul and the Holy Spirit did not make this a conditional (if this, then that) statement. I did, hoping to find some barometer that would help me accomplish my work of walking by the Spirit: “You must walk by the Spirit” is the meaning of πνεύματι περιπατεῖτε when περιπατεῖτε is understood as an imperative. “Walking by the Spirit is a skill or knack that is trickier to learn by trial-and-error than sound no trumpet,20 so that your giving may be in secret,”21 I wrote elsewhere.

Looking back now it seems clear that calling walk by the Spirit a “knack” was a tacit admission that I had no clue how “to carry out or perform” it as an “action.”22 Calling it a “knack that is trickier to learn by trial-and-error” barely masked my frustration with that ignorance. But my biggest frustration was the nagging question: “Why, knowing what I know about walking by the Spirit, do I ever walk according to the flesh?”

I had forgotten Paul’s sagacity regarding my identity vis-à-vis sin: Now if I do what I do not want ( οὐ θέλω), it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.23 Maybe I hadn’t forgotten it completely. I recalled that if sin that dwells within me was completing “the desire of flesh” that was synonymous with walking by the flesh. I was not recalling, however, how sin gained that advantage over me as I made walk by the Spirit a rule for me to obey: But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.24

There is the answer to my nagging question, “Why, knowing what I know about walking by the Spirit, do I ever walk according to the flesh?” I attempted to have a righteousness of my own that comes from the law25walk by the Spirit as “a certain action” I must “perform”—playing into sin’s power—the power of sin is the law26—to deceive—For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me.27 The solution is to hear περιπατεῖτε as a statement of fact in the indicative mood—But I say, by the Spirit you walk and the desire of flesh you never accomplish28—as a truth to believe rather than a work to achieve. As Paul concluded: But thanks be to God, who gives (διδόντι, a present participle of δίδωμι) us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.29

Paul continued (Galatians 5:17 ESV [Table])

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

The Greek was: γὰρ σὰρξ, “For the flesh,” ἐπιθυμεῖ, “desires”: “For the flesh desires.” The verb ἐπιθυμεῖ is a 3rd person singular form of ἐπιθυμέω in the present tense, active voice and indicative mood. It is a statement of fact and a clear reference to your old self (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον; aka the old man), which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.30

Next came: κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, “against the Spirit’s [desires].” The genitive τοῦ πνεύματος helps unravel why the ESV translators transformed the verb ἐπιθυμεῖ into a noun with a verb of being (ESV: the desiresare) and σὰρξ in the nominative case into a genitive prepositional phrase: of the flesh. “For the flesh desires against the Spirit’s [desires]” is awkward in English, though the point is well-taken.

In the next clause the verb ἐπιθυμεῖ is implied: τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα, “and the Spirit,” κατὰ τῆς σαρκός, “against the flesh’s [desires].” So, “For the flesh desires against the Spirit’s [desires] and the Spirit against the flesh’s [desires].”

And the next clause: ταῦτα γὰρ, for these (the Spirit and the flesh), ἀλλήλοις, each other, ἀντίκειται, “oppose,” ἵνα, “so that,” μὴ ἐὰν θέλητε ταῦτα, “not that if you may want these” (e.g., want what the flesh desires), ποιῆτε, “you may do.” So, for these each other “oppose so that not that if you may want these you may do.”

I completely misunderstood for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do in English as a standoff between the Spirit and the flesh. The Greek says that even if I want to do what the flesh desires I cannot do it: for it is God who works in you, both to will (τὸ θέλειν) and to work (καὶ τὸ ἐνεργεῖν) for his good pleasure.31

In other words, the freedom (Τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ) for which Christ has set us free32 is nothing less than the new self (τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον; aka the new man), created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness33 led by the indwelling Holy Spirit: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (ἐλευθερία).34 The flesh is not even remotely comparable in power to the Spirit of God.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him,35 Paul wrote. The Greek—εἰ δέ, “But if” or “And if,” τις, “anyone,” πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ, “Christ’s Spirit,” οὐκ ἔχει, “not have”—seems more hypothetical (Acts 19:1-7) than the ESV translation. The Greek continues: οὗτος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ; literally, “this not is of Him.”

In the NET οὗτος was translated this person. Both translations derive the verb belong from the pronoun αὐτοῦ in the genitive case but there is no form of the verb ἀνήκω in this clause. I take “But if anyone Christ’s Spirit not have, this not is of Him” more openly than belonging to an elitist party. He wants us to have his Spirit. He wants us to know Him and abide in Him. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, Peter wrote, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.36

The Greek words translated not wishing were μὴ βουλόμενος, a form of βούλομαι. According to the Koine Greek Lexicon this means: “The Lord refuses” or “He is not consenting,” τινας, “some,” ἀπολέσθαι, an infinitive form of the verb ἀπόλλυμι in the middle voice, “to be destroyed, ruined; to perish, die; to be lost.” And this was contrasted with: ἀλλὰ πάντας, “but all,” εἰς μετάνοιαν, “unto repentance,” χωρῆσαι, a form of χωρέω. And here there is a choice to be made.

The ESV translation should reach (coupled with not wishing for μὴ βουλόμενος) indicates the optative mood, a 3rd person singular form of χωρέω. “The optative is the mood of possibility, removed even further than the subjunctive mood from something conceived of as actual. Often it is used to convey a wish or hope for a certain action to occur.”37 I will point out, however, that πάντας (all) is plural and χωρῆσαι is the only aorist infinitive listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon. As an infinitive verb in the aorist tense and active voice χωρῆσαι means: “to make room, give way, withdraw; to be spacious; to go, go out, go away, reach (e.g., the report reached us); to be in motion, go forward, make progress; to have room for, hold, contain; to grasp (mentally), understand, accept; to turn out (in a certain way at the end); to move far and wide.” In other words, “but all unto repentance to reach.”

Accepting χωρῆσαι as an infinitive form of the verb χωρέω agrees with the Lord’s current judgment (John 12:31, 32 ESV):

Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

How do we respond to such grace? I heard a Christmas sermon as I wrote this essay that reminded me of Mary. There was nothing she could, or even should, do to become pregnant with the Son of God—just as there is nothing we can do to form Christ in us—except believe. Her faith can be ours as well: Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.38


1 Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

2 Galatians 5:1 (EXP1) Table

3 The Greek is οὗτος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ; literally, “This not is of him.”

4 Galatians 4:19 (ESV) Table

5 Galatians 4:20 (ESV)

6 Galatians 5:1a (EXP1) Table

7 Galatians 5:13a (EXP4)

9 Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

10 Matthew 9:5 (ESV) Table

11 The verb περιπατήσωμεν is a form of περιπατέω in the aorist tense and subjunctive mood following the conjunction ἵνα. This a purpose or 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.” In other words, walking in newness of life “is a definite outcome that will happen as a result of” being buried with him by baptism into death, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.

13 Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

14 Galatians 5:1a (EXP1) Table

15 Galatians 5:1b (ESV) Table

16 Galatians 5:1b (EXP1) Table

17 Galatians 5:13 (ESV)

18 Galatians 5:13c (EXP4)

19 2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV)

20 Matthew 6:2 (ESV)

21 Matthew 6:4 (ESV) Table

22 “The imperative mood is a command or instruction given to the hearer, charging the hearer to carry out or perform a certain action.” From Verbal Moods: Imperative Mood, Greek Verbs (Shorter Definitions) on Resources for Learning New Testament Greek online.

23 Romans 7:20 (ESV) Table

24 Romans 7:8a (ESV)

25 Philippians 3:9b (ESV)

26 1 Corinthians 15:56b (ESV)

27 Romans 7:11a (ESV)

28 Galatians 5:16 (EXP5)

29 1 Corinthians 15:57 (ESV)

30 Ephesians 4:22b (ESV)

31 Philippians 2:13 (ESV) Table

32 Galatians 5:1a (ESV) Table

33 Ephesians 4:24b (ESV)

34 2 Corinthians 3:17 (ESV) Table

35 Romans 8:9b (ESV) Table

36 2 Peter 3:9 (ESV) Table

38 Luke 1:38a (ESV)

Fear – Exodus, Part 8

Yahweh told Moses (Exodus 34:10 NET):

See, I am going to make a covenant before all your people.  I will do wonders such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation.  All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful (yârêʼ)[1] thing that I am doing with you.

The Rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose θαυμαστά here.  In John’s vision on Patmos[2] [those who had conquered the beast and his image and the number of his name[3]] sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: “Great and astounding (θαυμαστά, a form of θαυμαστός)[4] are your deeds, Lord God, the All-Powerful!  Just and true are your ways, King over the nations!”[5] It is not that θαυμαστά is all positive spin, any more than φοβέω is all negative.  John also used θαυμαστόν (another form of θαυμαστός) to describe the seven angels who have seven final plagues as a great and astounding (θαυμαστόν) sign in heaven.[6]  But I think I can feel why the Rabbis chose θαυμαστά for the revised covenant over a form φοβέω.[7]

How tragic that the once-faithful city has become a prostitute (Septuagint, πόρνη),[8] reads part of the message about Judah and Jerusalem that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah reigned over Judah.[9]  She was once a center of justice, fairness resided in her, but now only murderers.[10]  Your officials are rebels, they associate with thieves.  All of them love bribery, and look for payoffs.  They do not take up the cause of the orphan, or defend the rights of the widow.[11]

The sovereign Lord who commands armies, the powerful ruler of Israel, had a plan to rectify this situation.  But it was not a plan to redeem Israel’s officials and fill them by his Spirit with the love that is the fulfillment of the law[12]—not yet anyway.  It was a plan to remove them by death or exile in a foreign land.  “Ah, I will seek vengeance against my adversaries, He said, “I will take revenge against my enemies.  I will attack you; I will purify your metal with flux.  I will remove all your slag.  I will reestablish honest judges as in former times, wise advisers as in earlier days.  Then you will be called, ‘The Just City, Faithful Town.’”[13]

All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you,[14] He had said to Moses.

Most prophets were sent with dire warnings of impending doom in the hope that the people to whom they were sent would hear, believe and repent.  Not so with Isaiah.  His was truly a ministry that produced condemnation and death.[15]  “Go and tell these people,” Isaiah heard the sovereign master say,[16] “‘Listen continually, but don’t understand!  Look continually, but don’t perceive!’  Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind!  Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.”[17]

“How long, sovereign master?”[18] Isaiah replied.

“Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated, and houses are uninhabited, and the land is ruined and devastated, and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place, and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned.  Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down.”[19]  This devastation happened as it was written.

But Isaiah also prophesied about another time: “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.  “Speak kindly to Jerusalem, and tell her that her time of warfare is over, that her punishment is completed.  For the Lord has made her pay double for all her sins.”[20]  And Jeremiah had prophesied, The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, “I will restore the people of Judah to their land and to their towns.  When I do, they will again say of Jerusalem, ‘May the Lord bless you, you holy mountain, the place where righteousness dwells.’”[21] 

“Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.  It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt.  For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” says the Lord.  “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the Lord.  “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds.  I will be their God and they will be my people.

“People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me.  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the Lord.  “For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”[22]

The quotation of this passage in the letter to the Hebrews reads, “And there will be no need at all for each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, Know (γνῶθι, a form of γινώσκω)[23] the Lord, since they will all know (εἰδήσουσιν, a form of εἴδω)[24] me, from the least to the greatestFor I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.[25]

To Know the Lord is how Jesus defined eternal life: Now this is eternal lifethat they know (γινώσκωσιν, another form of γινώσκω) you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.[26]  When Jesus asked Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen (ἑώρακας, a form of ὁράω)[27] me?” He pronounced a blessing on those who believed without seeing: “Blessed are the people who have not seen (ἰδόντες, another form of εἴδω) and yet have believed.”[28]  But He did not indicate that Thomas or anyone who knew Him by seeing, knew Him any the less for seeing Him: they will all know (εἰδήσουσιν, a form of εἴδω)[29] me, from the least to the greatest.

The prophet Daniel had received and recorded this message from Gabriel: Seventy weeks have been determined concerning your people and your holy city to put an end to rebellion, to bring sin to completion, to atone for iniquity, to bring in perpetual righteousness, to seal up the prophetic vision, and to anoint a most holy place.  So know and understand: From the issuing of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one, a prince arrives, there will be a period of seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.[30]

If Daniel’s seventy weeks meant literal weeks then that time had long passed with no apparent fulfillment.  But if it meant seventy times seven years, that hope was still future to the rabbis who translated the Septuagint.  They lived in interesting times, after the people of Judah had been restored to their land and to their towns as The Lord God of Israel had promised.  It would be natural for them to assume, that [Jerusalem’s] time of warfare is over, that her punishment is completed, and that they looked forward to a new covenant and the coming of an anointed one.  It is not too difficult to see why the Rabbis saw that fearful thing the Lord was doing as θαυμαστά rather than φοβηθεῖσα or some other form of φοβέω.

But when the Anointed One appeared, speaking in parables, continuing Isaiah’s ministry of condemnation and death even as He inaugurated the New Covenant by his own death and resurrection, most in Israel did not pivot quickly in faith.  They didn’t recognize that their time of punishment was not yet complete, or that Jerusalem was about to be destroyed again, to pay double for all her sins.  And I don’t write this to blame them for it, but to learn from their mistakes.

I, too, didn’t understand faith[31] as “listening attentively”[32] to the Holy Spirit, remaining open and flexible and conformable to his teaching.  I thought faith was a kind of rigidity, an unwillingness to be persuaded by anything I hadn’t heard before.  And as far as I can tell, the word before meant some arbitrary time in an individual’s past or, worse, a particular period in church history.  (And I say worse because it indicates that one never even tried to “listen attentively” to the living God but only to the opinions of dead men.)

Jesus told the chief priests and the Pharisees[33] a parable about a landowner who planted a vineyard and leased it to tenant farmers.[34]  When the landowner sent his slaves to collect his fruit[35] (καρποὺς[36] αὐτοῦ[37]) from his vineyard, the tenants beat and killed them.  Finally he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.”  But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and get his inheritance!”  So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.[38]

Jesus asked them what they thought the landowner would do with those tenants.  They said to him, “He will utterly destroy those evil men!  Then he will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him”[39] this fruit (τοὺς[40] καρποὺς).  Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous (θαυμαστὴ, a form of θαυμαστός, also in the Septuagint) in our eyes’?”[41]

For this reason I tell you, Jesus continued, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit (καρποὺς αὐτῆς).[42]  When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.  They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, because the crowds regarded him as a prophet.[43]  All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you, He promised Moses.

Still, I must consider that Jesus’ expectation for the Gentile churches was that they would be that people who will produce the fruit of the kingdom of God, the fruit of his Spirit, because if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.[44]  But in the definition of καρποὺς in the NET online Bible the fruit of the Spirit is not even mentioned, except perhaps obliquely: “2) that which originates or comes from something, an effect, result.”

What is specified however is this: “is used in fig. discourse of those who by their labours have fitted souls to obtain eternal life.” So while there is no direct mention of Jesus’ stated reason for taking the kingdom of God away from the chief priests and Pharisees to give it to another people, “those who by their labours have fitted souls to obtain eternal life” is spelled out in detail and attached to the word καρποὺς (fruit).  But if the fruit of the kingdom of God is nothing more than the works of “those who by their labours have fitted souls to obtain eternal life” there was no cause to seek another people.  The chief priests and Pharisees were already far more advanced down that road than any others.

I am the Lord!  That is my name!  I will not share my glory with anyone else,[45] He told Isaiah.  All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you, He said to Moses.  Paul preached the Gospel in the power of the Spirit of God.  And he watched with a profound gratitude mixed with great sorrow and unceasing anguish[46] as—The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers[47]heard his message and entered the kingdom of God while his own people judged themselves unworthy of eternal life[48] (καὶ οὐκ ἀξίους κρίνετε ἑαυτοὺς τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς) in Paul’s words.  After he had wrestled with these things he wrote (Romans 11:20-22, 25-36 NET):

They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith.  Do not be arrogant, but fear (φοβοῦ, a form of φοβέω)!  For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you.  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.

For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.  And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”

In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers.  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.

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

Fear – Exodus, Part 9

Back to Romans, Part 70


[3] Revelation 15:2 (NET)

[5] Revelation 15:3 (NET)

[6] Revelation 15:1 (NET)

[8] Isaiah 1:21a (NET)

[9] Isaiah 1:1 (NET)

[10] Isaiah 1:21b (NET)

[11] Isaiah 1:23 (NET)

[12] Romans 13:10 (NET)

[13] Isaiah 1:24-26 (NET)

[14] Exodus 34:10b (NET)

[16] Isaiah 6:8 (NET)

[17] Isaiah 6:9, 10 (NET)

[18] Isaiah 6:11a (NET)

[19] Isaiah 6:11b-13a (NET)

[20] Isaiah 40:1, 2 (NET)

[21] Jeremiah 31:23 (NET)

[22] Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NET)

[25] Hebrews 8:11, 12 (NET)

[26] John 17:3 (NET)

[28] John 20:29 (NET)

[33] Matthew 21:45 (NET)

[34] Matthew 21:33 (NET)

[38] Matthew 21:37-39 (NET)

[39] Matthew 21:41 (NET)

[41] Matthew 21:42 (NET)

[42] Matthew 21:43 (NET)

[43] Matthew 21:45, 46 (NET)

[44] Romans 8:9b (NET)

[45] Isaiah 42:8a (NET)

[46] Romans 9:2 (NET)

[47] 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NET)