My Reasons and My Reason, Part 4

My first dates were all about driving—driving and not killing us, and talking to a girl when I wasn’t driving (and while I was for that matter). Then I met A. I’ll call her A. Girlfriend has a meaning I don’t want to imply, more like wife, or concubine I suppose. (In most States a girlfriend can’t take half of everything a man owns when she leaves him or is sent packing.) My mother had warned me about A, how she would seek male affection. A had grown up without a father.

Her mother was divorced, and could never remarry. Today, Jesus’ saying—everyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality (πορνείας, a form of πορνεία), makes her commit adultery‎[1]—sounds to me as if He assumed she would remarry. But then, I understood it as a prohibition. Besides, whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery,[2] Jesus continued. That pretty much assured her that no one at my church would marry her.  Marrying someone “outside of the faith” (someone who believed that a divorced person could remarry) was frowned upon there.

When I began to squeeze A’s breasts and fondle her nipples, I didn’t realize that God might have something against it. At sixteen I don’t recall knowing the word of the Lord that came to Ezekiel [Table] (Ezekiel 23:1-3 NET):

“Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother [Table]. They engaged in prostitution (zānâותזנינהin Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution (zānâזנו). Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there” [Table see Addendum].

I’m not sure what difference it would have made. I knew that breast squeezing and nipple fondling was frowned upon. I thought that was because it would lead to the sin of premarital sex. As it turned out, A’s nipples weren’t so virgin. She and her former boyfriend, a friend of mine from church, had committed the sin of premarital sex. They only did it once. Then they stopped seeing each other and never did it again.

I enjoyed squeezing A’s breasts and fondling her nipples. I think she enjoyed it, too. I found it very hard to believe that I was just a surrogate for the father she didn’t have. It seemed like she really loved me, as me, not as a symbol of something else. It all felt very real. And I was happy and satisfied squeezing her breasts and fondling her nipples. I had no intention of committing the sin of premarital sex. She didn’t want to do that again either.

At sixteen I didn’t study the Bible. I was flying blind. I read only the minimum that was presented in church services and Sunday school. There were moments when I was in a particularly religious mood that I tried to read more, but then I was in the wrong frame of mind, expecting, hoping that the Bible would confirm and applaud my religiousness. So I didn’t recognize the Lord’s ἐγκράτεια standing between A and me and the sin of premarital sex.

I hadn’t heard the fruit of the Spirit. I’m not saying no one ever talked about it. I’m saying I hadn’t heard it yet. I certainly wasn’t taught that I was strong, and the word of God resides in [me], and [I] have conquered the evil one.[3] That would have stood out amidst all the teaching that any contact with a young female would lead inexorably to the sin of premarital sex.

I didn’t know a thing about ἐγκράτεια. It was literally “all Greek to me.”[4] I didn’t have a Bible that translated ἐγκράτεια self-control, which I might have related to sexual matters. My Bible read temperance. I was sixteen; I didn’t drink. But even if I had considered the fruit of the Spirit I would have considered the works I was required to do to please the Spirit of God.

Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me:[5] It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality [KJV, to avoid fornication], let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.[6]

I am fairly sure now that squeezing A’s breasts and fondling her nipples qualifies as sexual immorality (NKJV). I wasn’t so sure then (nor am I now) that it qualified as fornication (KJV). And I sincerely doubt that it qualifies as πορνείας (a form of πορνεία; translated sexual immorality [NKJV] or fornication [KJV]). I don’t say this to justify myself but to know God. There is no way that my understanding of πορνείας at age sixty can justify my behavior at age sixteen.

Children,obey your parents in the Lord for this is right, was Paul’s understanding of the law: “Honor your father and mother,which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely, that it may go well with you and that you will live a long time on the earth.[7] I was clearly disobeying my parents, squeezing A’s breasts and fondling her nipples. For the one who obeys the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.[8]

God, for better or worse, has entrusted (or abandoned) children to the mercy of parents. And I don’t say abandoned for my sake, but for the many women I know molested as children by their fathers. My childhood was idyllic by comparison. My travails were my struggles to understand biblical words and concepts, my troubles were not understanding them.

At the same time, however, knowing God is not simply a matter of semantics but a uniquely profound intimacy. Did He intend for me to understand that the two women in the allegory He gave Ezekiel engaged in prostitution in Egypt because their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there? Or was the breast squeezing and nipple fondling incidental to engaging in prostitution (zânâh)? I have a fairly good idea how pre-modern Jews answered that question:

Jews in the pre-modern world lived, with few exceptions, in Jewish communities and under the yoke of Jewish tradition and halakhah. This affected every aspect of their lives, including sexual relations. As stated above, every sexual act between a man and woman outside marital relations was considered as coming within the definition of prostitution (be’ilat zenut), and the rabbis strongly condemned manifestations of sexual license in the Jewish community. Many regulations were issued by the various communities to fight prostitution in all its forms.[9]

If they were correct, then I was guilty of πορνεία when I squeezed A’s breasts and fondled her nipples. I was one of the πόρνοι by definition: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral (πόρνοι, a form of πόρνος), idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God.[10] Today, forgiven by the grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ, that verdict against me is bearable. What is too hard to bear, then as now, is that this particular understanding of πορνεία makes a πόρνῃ (prostitute) of A by definition. My emotional aversion to that gains some spiritual credence if I plug this behavior into Jesus’ statements regarding divorce and πορνεία:

Matthew 5:32 (NET) Matthew 19:9 (NET)
I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for “her virgin breasts were squeezed and her nipples fondled,” makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for “her virgin breasts were squeezed and her nipples fondled,” and marries another commits adultery.

I don’t think any of the women at my church who considered themselves holier than God would have called A a prostitute because I squeezed her breasts and fondled her nipples, though I am fairly sure they considered it sexual immorality forbidden by Paul in the Bible. Committing the sin of premarital sex was the primary meaning of fornication there.

Matthew 5:32 (NET) Matthew 19:9 (NET)
I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for “the sin of premarital sex,” makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for “the sin of premarital sex,” and marries another commits adultery.

This interpretation of πορνεία has some precedent in the practice of the righteous in first century Israel (Matthew 1:18, 19 NET).

Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately [Table].

It seemed plausible that Jesus meant the sin of premarital sex for πορνείας (a form of πορνεία) as recorded by Matthew, until I considered his law.

Exodus 22:16, 17 (NKJV) Deuteronomy 22:28, 29 (NKJV)
If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride-price for her to be his wife.  If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the bride-price of virgins. If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out [Table], then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days [Table].

At sixteen when I believed in the sin of premarital sex I thought that A and my friend did the right thing by breaking off their relationship. In the light of God’s law however I hear Jesus say, Having no regard for the command of God, you hold fast to human traditionYou neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up your tradition.[11] In others words, to accept the sin of premarital sex as Jesus’ meaning for πορνείας in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 is to liberate young men from any sense of obligation to the young women they seduce or date-rape. (In fact, they were encouraged to send those young women away, to divorce them, that is.) At the same time it offers men a ready excuse to divorce their wives who have been seduced or date-raped, at any time men choose to play that card. Viewed in the context of God’s law the sin of premarital sex sounds like a man-made religious belief with no relationship to the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

I don’t think the people who enacted this legislation intended any of that any more than Caiaphas intended to condemn Yahweh come in human flesh to death. I assume that my religious forbears were shotgun-wedding-type of folk. Without wasting a lot of time tracking down documentary evidence it’s not too difficult to imagine that their children thought that was too harsh or even hypocritical. After all, people should confess their sins and turn from them. (I’ll ignore the timing with a political need to delay baby boomers’ entrance into the labor force as coincidence only.)

At sixteen I didn’t mistake the Lord’s ἐγκράτεια, keeping A and me from the sin of premarital sex, for my own righteousness. I didn’t feel very righteous. Though it’s probably an exaggeration I felt like I was always at odds with my parents over A. So I simply discounted the credibility of my counselors, those who assured me that “familiarity breeds contempt,”[12] that was “that familiarity leads to the sin of premarital sex.”

I did have a vague sense of an overarching dishonesty to my life. I may have called it hypocrisy at times, but I was destined to go much deeper into that hypocrisy before I recognized what it was. In the spring of my junior year of high school after I had turned seventeen, I made a conscious decision to reinvent myself. I moved away from the “straight” world of my parents, my church, even my friends at school, to turn toward the “hip” world. It seemed more honest somehow. And A was caught up, and discarded, in that self-reinvention. The tension at home was eased.

Over the summer I took up with B. She was not “hip” precisely, but she was an accomplished musician. We enjoyed hours of arty conversations, went to ballets, operas and musicals together. And, fully clothed, we aped all the motions of the missionary position until we both achieved orgasms. We could do it openly in a public park on a Sunday afternoon, surrounded by “hip” people who knew exactly what we were doing and blessed and approved it.

A and I had taken it for granted that we would grow up and get married. We talked about it all the time. I didn’t share that with B. I’m not sure what she thought about it. She knew that she would go away to school to pursue a music degree. I knew that I already had my sights set on C, the young woman who became my high school girlfriend/wife/concubine that fall.

At a party in C’s basement the spring before my junior year ended, I had sat at the bar watching her. She was the queen bee of “hip” at school. I found out later she had dropped acid for the first time that night. She had broken up with her boyfriend, a senior. But a couple of other seniors buzzed around her all night. I was nobody, a “straight,” a “hip” wannabe—and a junior.

“You must be a real head,” the long-haired guy next to me said as he looked up from his cheap wine.

Head had no negative connotations in my mind at the time. It was the exalted appellation reserved for the long-haired Jesus-like bodhisattvas who ran the head shop. I had short hair! I didn’t know what he was talking about, and said so. As it turned out, he was impressed that I wasn’t drinking (part of “straight” culture) but was holding out, apparently, for dope (part of “hip” culture).

Looking back now I wonder what more I needed to perceive that “hip” culture could be as superficial and status conscious, as “dishonest,” as “straight” culture. At the time what I heard was a long-haired disciple of the long-haired Jesus-like bodhisattvas saying, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile[13]—to me! I was grateful that (so long as I kept my mouth shut) I could be accepted into the kingdom of “headom” even before I had my bona fides in order. And later that night, after the cops broke up the party, I shared my first joint. It did absolutely nothing for me, except to make what hair I had and my clothes smell funny.


[1] Matthew 5:32a (NET) Table

[2] Matthew 5:32b (NET) Table

[3] 1 John 2:14b (NET)

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_to_me

[5] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μοι (KJV: unto me) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[6] 1 Corinthians 7:1, 2 (NKJV) Table

[7] Ephesians 6:1-3 (NET)

[8] James 2:10 (NET) Table

[9] http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/prostitution.html

[10] 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10 (NET) Table

[11] Mark 7:8, 9 (NET)

[12] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_said_Familiarity_breeds_contempt; “Familiarity breeds contempt–and children.” http://www.twainquotes.com/Familiarity.html

[13] John 1:47 (KJV)

Is Sin Less Than Sin? Part 2

I’ll continue the survey of Galatians to understand the relationship of sin (παράπτωμα) to sin (ἁμαρτία).  Paul hinted at the attitude, activity and the content of the faith of those who were so quickly deserting (μετατίθεσθε, a form of μετατίθημι) the one who called [them] by the grace of Christ and [were] following a different gospel1 in a series of questions (Galatians 3:1-5 NET).

You foolish Galatians!  Who has cast a spell on you?2  Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified!3  The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing (πίστεως, a form of πίστις) what you heard?  Are you so foolish?  Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort (σαρκὶ, a form of σάρξ)?  Have you suffered so many things for nothing? – if indeed it was for nothing.  Does God then give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing (πίστεως, a form of πίστις) what you heard?

Here is the same information in a table:

Gospel I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different gospel – not that there really is another gospel, but there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ.

Galatians 1:6, 7 (NET)

Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified!

Galatians 3:1 (NET)

Attitude …you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law…

Galatians 3:2 (NET)

…you receive the Spirit…by believing (πίστεως, a form of πίστις) what you heard…

Galatians 3:2 (NET)

Activity …you [are] now trying to finish by human effort (σαρκὶ, a form of σάρξ)…

Galatians 3:3 (NET)

…you began with the Spirit…

Galatians 3:3 (NET)

Faith God then give[s] you the Spirit and work[s] miracles among you by your doing the works of the law…

Galatians 3:5 (NET)

God then give[s] you the Spirit and work[s] miracles among you by…your believing (πίστεως, a form of πίστις) what you heard.

Galatians 3:5 (NET)

If someone is as enamored with this different gospel (not that there really is another gospel) as I was, a question comes to mind: “Well, what am I supposed to do?”  Paul answered that question like this (Galatians 5:16-18 NET Table):

But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh (σαρκὸς, another form of σάρξ).  For the flesh (σάρξ) has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh (σαρκός, another form of σάρξ), for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under (ὑπό) the law.

Paul then contrasted the capabilities of the flesh (σάρξ) to that of the Holy Spirit.  I’ve put that contrast into a table similar to the one above.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different gospel – not that there really is another gospel, but there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ.

Galatians 1:6, 7 (NET)

Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified!

Galatians 3:1 (NET)

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

Galatians 5:19-21a (NET) Table

But the fruit of the Spirit is love (ἀγάπη), joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (πίστις), gentleness, and self-control.

Galatians 5:22-23a (NET) Table

I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!

Galatians 5:21b (NET)

Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:23b (NET)

It takes some faithfulness (πίστις) from the Holy Spirit to believe (πίστις) that He will supply all of this, especially in the face of an eruption of sin when the temptation is strongest to take back the reins, as it were.  Paul dealt with that more thoroughly in Romans 6 and 7, but there is some insight here as well (Galatians 2:17-21 NET Table).

But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then one who encourages sin?  Absolutely not!  But if I build up again those things I once destroyed, I demonstrate that I [old man]4 am one who breaks God’s law.  For through the law I [old man] died to the law so that I [new man]5 may live to God.  I [old man] have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I [old man] who live, but Christ lives in me.  So the life I [new man] now live in the body, I [new man] live because of the faithfulness (πίστει, another form of πίστις) of the Son of God, who loved me [new man] and gave himself for me [new man].  I [new man] do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!

Paul continued this thought later (Galatians 5:2, 3 NET):

Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all!  And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated (ὀφειλέτης) to obey (ποιῆσαι, a form of ποιέω) the whole law.

Here regarding the law James mirrored Paul (James 2:10 NET):

For the one who obeys6 (τηρήσῃ, a form of τηρέω) the whole law but fails7 (πταίσῃ, a form of πταίω) in one point has become guilty of all of it.

So the one who sets out to obey part of the law (you let yourselves be circumcised according to the law) is obligated to obey the whole, and the one who fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.  One who believes these two statements are true searches diligently for another option.  Paul continued (Galatians 5:4-6 NET):

You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ;8 you have fallen away from grace!  For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith (πίστις) working (ἐνεργουμένη, a form of ἐνεργέω) through love (ἀγάπης, a form of ἀγάπη).

Both the faith and the love Paul mentioned above are aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, supplied by God to those who believe.  Truth be told the working (ἐνεργουμένη, a form of ἐνεργέω) is from God also: continue working out (κατεργάζεσθε, a form of κατεργάζομαι) your salvation with awe and reverence, for the one bringing forth (ἐνεργῶν, another form of ἐνεργέω) in you both the desire (θέλειν, a form of θέλω) and the effort (ἐνεργεῖν, another form of ἐνεργέω) – for the sake of his good pleasure (εὐδοκίας, a form of εὐδοκία) – is God.9  As Jesus said, Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased (εὐδόκησεν, a form of εὐδοκέω) to give you the kingdom.10

And just in case I think that Paul was a special case, that his crucifixion with Christ was a unique event (Galatians 5:24-6:1 NET Table):

Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.  Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin (παραπτώματι, a form of παράπτωμα), you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness.  Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too.

This letter is about deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ, trying to be declared righteous by the law, being alienated from Christ, falling away from grace.  In context then there is nothing to indicate that Paul shifted gears and began to write about some unspecified παράπτωμα that was of lesser consequence than ἁμαρτία.

 

Addendum: June 4, 2019
Tables comparing Galatians 3:1; James 2:10 and Galatians 5:4 in the NET and KJV follow.

Galatians 3:1 (NET)

Galatians 3:1 (KJV)

You foolish Galatians!  Who has cast a spell on you?  Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

NET Parallel Greek

Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text

Ὦ ἀνόητοι Γαλάται, τίς ὑμᾶς ἐβάσκανεν, οἷς κατ᾿ ὀφθαλμοὺς Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς προεγράφη ἐσταυρωμένος ω ανοητοι γαλαται τις υμας εβασκανεν τη αληθεια μη πειθεσθαι οις κατ οφθαλμους ιησους χριστος προεγραφη εν υμιν εσταυρωμενος ω ανοητοι γαλαται τις υμας εβασκανεν τη αληθεια μη πειθεσθαι οις κατ οφθαλμους ιησους χριστος προεγραφη εν υμιν εσταυρωμενος

James 2:10 (NET)

James 2:10 (KJV)

For the one who obeys the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

NET Parallel Greek

Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text

ὅστις γὰρ ὅλον τὸν νόμον τηρήσῃ πταίσῃ δὲ ἐν ἑνί, γέγονεν πάντων ἔνοχος οστις γαρ ολον τον νομον τηρησει πταισει δε εν ενι γεγονεν παντων ενοχος οστις γαρ ολον τον νομον τηρησει πταισει δε εν ενι γεγονεν παντων ενοχος

Galatians 5:4 (NET)

Galatians 5:4 (KJV)

You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
κατηργήθητε ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ, οἵτινες ἐν νόμῳ δικαιοῦσθε, τῆς χάριτος ἐξεπέσατε κατηργηθητε απο του χριστου οιτινες εν νομω δικαιουσθε της χαριτος εξεπεσατε κατηργηθητε απο του χριστου οιτινες εν νομω δικαιουσθε της χαριτος εξεπεσατε

1 Galatians 1:6 (NET)

2 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τη αληθεια μη πειθεσθαι (KJV: that ye should not obey the truth) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

3 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εν υμιν (KJV: among you) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

4 Romans 6:6, 7 (NET) We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)

5 Colossians 3:9, 10 (NET) Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it.

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

9 Philippians 2:12b, 13 (NET) Table

10 Luke 12:32 (NET)