The Lost Son of Perdition, Part 1

Jesus prayed (John 17:12b NET Table):

Not one of them was lost except the one destined for destruction, so that the scripture could be fulfilled.

The Greek word translated lost was ἀπώλετο (a form of ἀπόλλυμι).  The middle voice can mean, “to be destroyed, ruined; to perish, die; to be lost” according to the Koine Greek Lexicon online.  The Greek word translated destruction (KJV: perdition) was ἀπωλείας (a form of ἀπώλεια).  It can mean “destruction, ruin” up to and including “damnation, perdition” or it can mean “loss (of property)” or “(something) lost” according to the Koine Greek Lexicon online.

I plan to track these words through the New Testament and the Septuagint but I’ll expose my bias here before proceeding.  I will be viewing forms of ἀπόλλυμι and ἀπώλεια through a powerful lens.

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Isaiah 46:8-13 (Tanakh) Isaiah 46:8-13 (NET) Isaiah 46:8-13 (NETS)

Isaiah 46:8-13 (Elpenor)

Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember this, so you can be brave.  Think about it, you rebels! Remember these things and groan; repent, you who have gone astray; turn in your heart, Remember ye these things, and groan: repent, ye that have gone astray, return in your heart;
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Remember what I accomplished in antiquity.  Truly I am God, I have no peer; I am God, and there is none like me, and remember the former things of old, because I am God, and there is no other besides me, and remember the former things [that were] of old: for I am God, and there is none other beside me,
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: who announces the end from the beginning and reveals beforehand what has not yet occurred; who says, ‘My plan will be realized, I will accomplish what I desire;’ declaring the last things first, before they happen, and at once they came to pass, and I said, “My whole plan shall stand, and I will do all the things I have planned,” telling beforehand the latter events before they come to pass, and they are accomplished together: and I said, all my counsel shall stand, and I will do all things that I have planned:
Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. who summons an eagle from the east, from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.  Yes, I have decreed, yes, I will bring it to pass; I have formulated a plan, yes, I will carry it out. calling a bird from the east and from a far country those concerning whom I have planned.  I have spoken and brought it; I have created and made it. calling a bird from the east, and from a land afar off, for the things which I have planned: I have spoken, and brought [him]; I have created and made [him]; I have brought him, and prospered his way.
Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: Listen to me, you stubborn people, you who distance yourselves from doing what is right. Hear me, you who have ruined your heart, you who are far from righteousness: Hearken to me, ye senseless ones, that are far from righteousness:
I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory (תִּפְאַרְתִּֽי). I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away; I am bringing my salvation near, it does not wait.  I will save Zion; I will adorn Israel with my splendor (tiphʼârâh, תפארתי). I brought near my righteousness, and I will not delay the salvation that comes from me; I have provided salvation in Sion to Israel for glorying (δόξασμα). I have brought near my righteousness, and I will not be slow with the salvation that is from me: I have given salvation in Sion to Israel for glory (δόξασμα).

Verse 8 above may refer to previous verses.  I included it here because it addressed what follows to transgressors, rebels, those that have gone astray—people like I was.  According to commentators a ravenous bird from the east referred to Cyrus.  I’m more focused on the resolve with which it is stated: My counsel (עֲצָתִ֣י) shall stand (Tanakh); all my counsel (βουλὴ) shall stand (Septuagint Elpenor).

Paul picked up this theme—according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel (βουλὴν, another form of βουλὴ) of his will[1]—and expounded on it for believers in Ephesus (Ephesians 1:3-12 NET):

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in[2] Christ.  For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.  He did this by predestining us to adoption as his legal heirs through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will—to the praise of the glory of his grace that[3] he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of his grace [Table] that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.  He did this when he revealed to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ (ἐν αὐτῷ; literally: “in him”; KJV: in himself), toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ—the things in[4] heaven and the things on earth.[5]  In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory (δόξης, another form of δόξα).[6]

Three interlocking phrases stand out to me as a causal refrain:

Reference

Greek

NET

Ephesians 1:11 κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ according to the counsel of his will
Ephesians 1:9 τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν αὐτοῦ the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure
Ephesians 1:5 κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ according to the pleasure of his will

Jesus described what is not according to the counsel, mystery and good pleasure of his will (θελήματος, a form of θέλημα).  Speaking about τῶν μικρῶν τούτων τῶν πιστευόντων εἰς ἐμέ (NET: these little ones who believe in me),[7] He said (Matthew 18:10-14 NET):

See that you do not disdain one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see[8] the face of my Father in heaven.[9]  What do you think?  If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave[10] the ninety-nine[11] on the mountains and[12] go look for the one that went astray?  And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice more over it than over the ninety-nine[13] that did not go astray.  In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing (θέλημα) that one[14] of these little ones be lost (ἀπόληται, another form of ἀπόλλυμι).

It may not have been what He wanted, wished or hoped for, but I believed that a stubborn child could thwart Jesus’ Father in heaven.  Of course, my whole life has been designed to prove me wrong.  As I made the tables to compare the Greek of the NET with that of the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text I noticed a word in all three I couldn’t account for in the English translations of the NET or KJV: ἔμπροσθεν.  I attempted a translation including ἔμπροσθεν.

He is not willing before your Father in heaven that one of these little ones be lost; or, it is not the will in the sight of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones be lost.

As the sense of it sunk in tears and sobs erupted from me: not on his watch, Jesus had said of his Father.  I needed some time to recover.  When I returned to the study, recognizing that my knowledge of Greek is rudimentary at best, I looked online for some help.  I found Adam Clarke’s commentary on Matthew 18:14 instead.

“It is not the will of your Father – If any soul be finally lost, it is not because God’s will or counsel was against its salvation, or that a proper provision had not been made for it; but that, though light came into the world, it preferred darkness to light, because of its attachment to its evil deeds.”

From an image of God the Father, standing at his full stature, declaring, “not on my watch,” to all rebellious children everywhere who had believed in Jesus, then a few hours later to witness this other image of God, seated, washing his hands, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of all people,” (which I believe, by the way: He is innocent of the blood of all people) was more than I could take.  The emotional whiplash did me in.  I was done studying for the day.

After a night’s sleep and a day’s drive it occurred to me to check if anyone had translated ἔμπροσθεν into English.  I found one example on BibleHub: so it is not will in presence of your Father who is in the heavens, that one of these little ones may perish. [15]  Another was apparently translated from Aramaic rather than Greek: Just so, it is not the will before your Father who is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish.[16]

So I can trust the leading of the Holy Spirit as I study the Bible or I can trust Adam Clarke.  And there is no need to reject Adam Clarke completely, just one sentence he wrote.  In fact, I need only reject that one sentence as the true meaning of Matthew 18:14.  The Wikipedia entry for Adam Clarke didn’t mention Greek among his many languages.  He may have written this sentence without knowing that ἔμπροσθεν was actually in the Greek text.

Have I gone too far interpreting the effect of ἔμπροσθεν in this word string as “not on his watch”?  I don’t know.  I know the force of conviction with which it came.  If I’m wrong I trust that the Holy Spirit will guide [me] into[17] all truth.[18]  He will glorify me, Jesus promised, because he will receive[19] from me what is mine and will tell it to you.  Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit will receive[20] from me what is mine and will tell it to you.[21]

Jesus told the following story about a father’s love and mercy (Luke 15:11-24 NET):

Then Jesus said, “A man had two sons.  The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that will belong to me.’  So[22] he divided his assets between them.  After a few days, the younger son gathered together all[23] he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth with a wild lifestyle.  Then after he had spent everything, a severe[24] famine took place in that country, and he began to be in need.  So he went and worked for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.  He was longing to eat[25] the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.  But when he came to his senses he said,[26] ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food enough to spare,[27] but here[28] I am dying (ἀπόλλυμαι, another form of ἀπόλλυμι) from hunger!  I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I[29] am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.”’  So he got up and went to his[30] father.  But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him.  Then his son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I[31] am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  But the father said to his slaves, ‘Hurry![32]  Bring the best robe, and put it on him!  Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet!  Bring[33] the fattened calf and kill it!  Let us eat and celebrate, because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again—he was lost (ἀπολωλὼς, another form of ἀπόλλυμι) and is found!’  So they began to celebrate.

Jesus described what our Father’s will is as follows (John 6:38-40 NET Table):

For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will (θέλημα) but the will (θέλημα) of the one who sent me.  Now this is the will (θέλημα) of the one who sent me—that I should not lose (ἀπολέσω, another form of ἀπόλλυμι) one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up at the last day.  For this is the will (θέλημα) of my Father—for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

The Greek word translated looks on was θεωρῶν (a form of θεωρέω).  The one who believes in me does not believe in me, Jesus said, but[34] in the one who sent me, and the one who sees (θεωρῶν, a form of θεωρέω) me sees (θεωρεῖ, another form of θεωρέω) the one who sent me.  I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness.[35]

Given my bias I’m prompted to ask: did Jesus, knowing our Father’s will as he prayed to Him, angrily—or calmly and dispassionately—condemn Judas Iscariot to an eternity in the lake of fire, declaring him the son of perdition?  Or did the One who used ὀλιγόπιστοι like a pet name for his followers call Judas “the son of loss”[36] (Table14 below)?

Jesus’ story of the loving and merciful father continued (Luke 15:25-30 NET):

“Now his older son was in the field.  As he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.  So he called one of the slaves[37] and asked what[38] was happening.  The slave replied, ‘Your brother has returned, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he got his son back safe and sound.’  But the older son became angry and refused to go in.  His[39] father came out and appealed to him, but he answered his[40] father, ‘Look!  These many years I have worked like a slave for you, and I never disobeyed your commands.  Yet you never gave me even a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends!  But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf[41] for him!’

Is it possible that those who translated ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας the son of perdition were as disgruntled about our Father’s mercy as the older son in Jesus’ parable, or as enamored with their own desires and exertions?[42]

Tables comparing Isaiah 46:8; 46:9; 46:10; 46:11; 46:12; 46:13 and Exodus (22:8) 22:9 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Isaiah 46:8; 46:9; 46:10; 46:11; 46:12; 46:13 and Exodus 22:9 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables of Ephesians 1:3; 1:6; 1:10-12; Matthew 18:10-14; John 16:13-15; Luke 15:12-14; 15:16, 17; 15:19-23; John 12:44; Luke 15:26 and 15:28-30 comparing the NET and KJV follow.

Isaiah 46:8 (Tanakh) Isaiah 46:8 (KJV) Isaiah 46:8 (NET)
Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember this, so you can be brave.  Think about it, you rebels!
Isaiah 46:8 (Septuagint BLB) Isaiah 46:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
μνήσθητε ταῦτα καὶ στενάξατε μετανοήσατε οἱ πεπλανημένοι ἐπιστρέψατε τῇ καρδίᾳ μνήσθητε ταῦτα καὶ στενάξατε, μετανοήσατε οἱ πεπλανημένοι, ἐπιστρέψατε τῇ καρδίᾳ
Isaiah 46:8 (NETS) Isaiah 46:8 (English Elpenor)
Remember these things and groan; repent, you who have gone astray; turn in you heart, Remember ye these things, and groan: repent, ye that have gone astray, return in your heart;
Isaiah 46:9 (Tanakh) Isaiah 46:9 (KJV) Isaiah 46:9 (NET)
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Remember what I accomplished in antiquity.  Truly I am God, I have no peer; I am God, and there is none like me,
Isaiah 46:9 (Septuagint BLB) Isaiah 46:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ μνήσθητε τὰ πρότερα ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεός καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν ἐμοῦ καὶ μνήσθητε τὰ πρότερα ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν ἐμοῦ
Isaiah 46:9 (NETS) Isaiah 46:9 (English Elpenor)
and remember the former things of old, because I am God, and there is no other besides me, and remember the former things [that were] of old: for I am God, and there is none other beside me,
Isaiah 46:10 (Tanakh) Isaiah 46:10 (KJV) Isaiah 46:10 (NET)
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: who announces the end from the beginning and reveals beforehand what has not yet occurred; who says, ‘My plan will be realized, I will accomplish what I desire;’
Isaiah 46:10 (Septuagint BLB) Isaiah 46:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀναγγέλλων πρότερον τὰ ἔσχατα πρὶν αὐτὰ γενέσθαι καὶ ἅμα συνετελέσθη καὶ εἶπα πᾶσά μου ἡ βουλὴ στήσεται καὶ πάντα ὅσα βεβούλευμαι ποιήσω ἀναγγέλλων πρότερον τὰ ἔσχατα πρὶν αὐτὰ γενέσθαι, καὶ ἅμα συνετελέσθη. καὶ εἶπα· πᾶσα ἡ βουλή μου στήσεται, καὶ πάντα, ὅσα βεβούλευμαι, ποιήσω
Isaiah 46:10 (NETS) Isaiah 46:10 (English Elpenor)
declaring the last things first, before they happen, and at once they came to pass, and I said, “My whole plan shall stand, and I will do all the things I have planned,” telling beforehand the latter events before they come to pass, and they are accomplished together: and I said, all my counsel shall stand, and I will do all things that I have planned:
Isaiah 46:11 (Tanakh) Isaiah 46:11 (KJV) Isaiah 46:11 (NET)
Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. who summons an eagle from the east, from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.  Yes, I have decreed, yes, I will bring it to pass; I have formulated a plan, yes, I will carry it out.
Isaiah 46:11 (Septuagint BLB) Isaiah 46:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καλῶν ἀπ᾽ ἀνατολῶν πετεινὸν καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς πόρρωθεν περὶ ὧν βεβούλευμαι ἐλάλησα καὶ ἤγαγον ἔκτισα καὶ ἐποίησα ἤγαγον αὐτὸν καὶ εὐόδωσα τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ καλῶν ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν πετεινὸν καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς πόρρωθεν περὶ ὧν βεβούλευμαι, ἐλάλησα καὶ ἤγαγον, ἔκτισα καὶ ἐποίησα, ἤγαγον αὐτὸν καὶ εὐώδωσα τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ
Isaiah 46:11 (NETS) Isaiah 46:11 (English Elpenor)
calling a bird from the east and from a far country those concerning whom I have planned.  I have spoken and brought it; I have created and made it. calling a bird from the east, and from a land afar off, for the things which I have planned: I have spoken, and brought [him]; I have created and made [him]; I have brought him, and prospered his way.

Isaiah 46:12 (Tanakh)

Isaiah 46:12 (KJV)

Isaiah 46:12 (NET)

Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: Listen to me, you stubborn people, you who distance yourselves from doing what is right.

Isaiah 46:12 (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 46:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἀκούσατέ μου οἱ ἀπολωλεκότες τὴν καρδίαν οἱ μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀκούσατέ μου, οἱ ἀπολωλεκότες τὴν καρδίαν, οἱ μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς δικαιοσύνης

Isaiah 46:12 (NETS)

Isaiah 46:12 (English Elpenor)

Hear me, you who have ruined your heart, you who are far from righteousness: Hearken to me, ye senseless ones, that are far from righteousness:

Isaiah 46:13 (Tanakh)

Isaiah 46:13 (KJV)

Isaiah 46:13 (NET)

I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away; I am bringing my salvation near, it does not wait. I will save Zion; I will adorn Israel with my splendor.

Isaiah 46:13 (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 46:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἤγγισα τὴν δικαιοσύνην μου καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν τὴν παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ οὐ βραδυνῶ δέδωκα ἐν Σιων σωτηρίαν τῷ Ισραηλ εἰς δόξασμα ἤγγισα τὴν δικαιοσύνην μου καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν τὴν παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ οὐ βραδυνῶ· δέδωκα ἐν Σιὼν σωτηρίαν τῷ ᾿Ισραὴλ εἰς δόξασμα

Isaiah 46:13 (NETS)

Isaiah 46:13 (English Elpenor)

I brought near my righteousness, and I will not delay the salvation that comes from me; I have provided salvation in Sion to Israel for glorying. I have brought near my righteousness, and I will not be slow with the salvation that is from me: I have given salvation in Sion to Israel for glory.
Exodus 22:8 (Tanakh) Exodus 22:9 (KJV) Exodus 22:9 (NET)
For every matter of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, whereof one saith: ‘This is it,’ the cause of both parties shall come before G-d; he whom G-d shall condemn shall pay double unto his neighbour. For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour. In all cases of illegal possessions, whether for an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any kind of lost item, about which someone says ‘This belongs to me,’ the matter of the two of them will come before the judges, and the one whom the judges declare guilty must repay double to his neighbor.
Exodus 22:9 (Septuagint BLB) Exodus 22:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
κατὰ πᾶν ῥητὸν ἀδίκημα περί τε μόσχου καὶ ὑποζυγίου καὶ προβάτου καὶ ἱματίου καὶ πάσης ἀπωλείας τῆς ἐγκαλουμένης ὅ τι οὖν ἂν ᾖ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ ἐλεύσεται ἡ κρίσις ἀμφοτέρων καὶ ὁ ἁλοὺς διὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀποτείσει διπλοῦν τῷ πλησίον κατὰ πᾶν ῥητὸν ἀδίκημα, περί τε μόσχου καὶ ὑποζυγίου καὶ προβάτου καὶ ἱματίου καὶ πάσης ἀπωλείας τῆς ἐγκαλουμένης, ὅ,τι οὖν ἂν ᾖ, ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐλεύσεται ἡ κρίσις ἀμφοτέρων, καὶ ὁ ἁλοὺς διὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀποτίσει διπλοῦν τῷ πλησίον
Exodus 22:9 (NETS) Exodus 22:9 (English Elpenor)
With regard to any specific injustice concerning calf and draft animal and sheep and garment and any loss which is alleged, whatever in fact it might be, the trial of both parties shall come before God, and the one convicted by God shall pay double in compensation to his neighbor. according to every injury alleged, both concerning a calf, and an ass, and a sheep, and a garment, and every alleged loss, whatsoever in fact it may be,– the judgment of both shall proceed before God, and he that is convicted by God shall repay to his neighbour double.
Ephesians 1:3 (NET) Ephesians 1:3 (KJV)
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ ευλογητος ο θεος και πατηρ του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου ο ευλογησας ημας εν παση ευλογια πνευματικη εν τοις επουρανιοις χριστω ευλογητος ο θεος και πατηρ του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου ο ευλογησας ημας εν παση ευλογια πνευματικη εν τοις επουρανιοις εν χριστω
Ephesians 1:6 (NET) Ephesians 1:6 (KJV)
to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
εἰς ἔπαινον δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ἧς ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ εις επαινον δοξης της χαριτος αυτου εν η εχαριτωσεν ημας εν τω ηγαπημενω εις επαινον δοξης της χαριτος αυτου εν η εχαριτωσεν ημας εν τω ηγαπημενω
Ephesians 1:10-12 (NET) Ephesians 1:10-12 (KJV)
toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ—the things in heaven and the things on earth. That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
εἰς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς  ἐν αὐτῷ. εις οικονομιαν του πληρωματος των καιρων ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι τα παντα εν τω χριστω τα τε εν τοις ουρανοις και τα επι της γης εις οικονομιαν του πληρωματος των καιρων ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι τα παντα εν τω χριστω τα επι τοις ουρανοις και τα επι της γης
In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἐκληρώθημεν προορισθέντες κατὰ πρόθεσιν τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐνεργοῦντος κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ εν αυτω εν ω και εκληρωθημεν προορισθεντες κατα προθεσιν του τα παντα ενεργουντος κατα την βουλην του θεληματος αυτου εν αυτω εν ω και εκληρωθημεν προορισθεντες κατα προθεσιν του τα παντα ενεργουντος κατα την βουλην του θεληματος αυτου
so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory. That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἡμᾶς εἰς ἔπαινον δόξης αὐτοῦ τοὺς προηλπικότας ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ εις το ειναι ημας εις επαινον της δοξης αυτου τους προηλπικοτας εν τω χριστω εις το ειναι ημας εις επαινον δοξης αυτου τους προηλπικοτας εν τω χριστω
Matthew 18:10-14 (NET) Matthew 18:10-14 (KJV)
See that you do not disdain one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Ὁρᾶτε μὴ καταφρονήσητε ἑνὸς τῶν μικρῶν τούτων· λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν ἐν οὐρανοῖς διὰ παντὸς βλέπουσι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς ορατε μη καταφρονησητε ενος των μικρων τουτων λεγω γαρ υμιν οτι οι αγγελοι αυτων εν ουρανοις δια παντος βλεπουσιν το προσωπον του πατρος μου του εν ουρανοις ορατε μη καταφρονησητε ενος των μικρων τουτων λεγω γαρ υμιν οτι οι αγγελοι αυτων εν ουρανοις δια παντος βλεπουσιν το προσωπον του πατρος μου του εν ουρανοις
For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ηλθεν γαρ ο υιος του ανθρωπου σωσαι το απολωλος ηλθεν γαρ ο υιος του ανθρωπου σωσαι το απολωλος
What do you think?  If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray? How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Τί ὑμῖν δοκεῖ; ἐὰν γένηται τινι ἀνθρώπῳ ἑκατὸν πρόβατα καὶ πλανηθῇ ἓν ἐξ αὐτῶν, οὐχὶ ἀφήσει τὰ ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη καὶ πορευθεὶς ζητεῖ τὸ πλανώμενον τι υμιν δοκει εαν γενηται τινι ανθρωπω εκατον προβατα και πλανηθη εν εξ αυτων ουχι αφεις τα εννενηκονταεννεα επι τα ορη πορευθεις ζητει το πλανωμενον τι υμιν δοκει εαν γενηται τινι ανθρωπω εκατον προβατα και πλανηθη εν εξ αυτων ουχι αφεις τα ενενηκοντα εννεα επι τα ορη πορευθεις ζητει το πλανωμενον
And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἐὰν γένηται εὑρεῖν αὐτό, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι χαίρει ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ μᾶλλον ἢ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα τοῖς μὴ πεπλανημένοις και εαν γενηται ευρειν αυτο αμην λεγω υμιν οτι χαιρει επ αυτω μαλλον η επι τοις εννενηκονταεννεα τοις μη πεπλανημενοις και εαν γενηται ευρειν αυτο αμην λεγω υμιν οτι χαιρει επ αυτω μαλλον η επι τοις ενενηκοντα εννεα τοις μη πεπλανημενοις
In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones be lost. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
οὕτως οὐκ ἔστιν θέλημα ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ πατρὸς |ὑμῶν| τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἵνα ἀπόληται ἓν τῶν μικρῶν τούτων ουτως ουκ εστιν θελημα εμπροσθεν του πατρος υμων του εν ουρανοις ινα αποληται εις των μικρων τουτων ουτως ουκ εστιν θελημα εμπροσθεν του πατρος υμων του εν ουρανοις ινα αποληται εις των μικρων τουτων
John 16:13-15 (NET) John 16:13-15 (KJV)
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.  For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you what is to come. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὁδηγήσει ὑμᾶς |ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ πάσῃ|· οὐ γὰρ λαλήσει ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλ᾿ ὅσα |ἀκούσει| λαλήσει καὶ τὰ ἐρχόμενα ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν οταν δε ελθη εκεινος το πνευμα της αληθειας οδηγησει υμας εις πασαν την αληθειαν ου γαρ λαλησει αφ εαυτου αλλ οσα αν ακουση λαλησει και τα ερχομενα αναγγελει υμιν οταν δε ελθη εκεινος το πνευμα της αληθειας οδηγησει υμας εις πασαν την αληθειαν ου γαρ λαλησει αφ εαυτου αλλ οσα αν ακουση λαλησει και τα ερχομενα αναγγελει υμιν
He will glorify me, because he will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἐκεῖνος ἐμὲ δοξάσει, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λήμψεται καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν εκεινος εμε δοξασει οτι εκ του εμου ληψεται και αναγγελει υμιν εκεινος εμε δοξασει οτι εκ του εμου ληψεται και αναγγελει υμιν
Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ πατὴρ ἐμά ἐστιν· διὰ τοῦτο εἶπον ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λαμβάνει καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν παντα οσα εχει ο πατηρ εμα εστιν δια τουτο ειπον οτι εκ του εμου ληψεται και αναγγελει υμιν παντα οσα εχει ο πατηρ εμα εστιν δια τουτο ειπον οτι εκ του εμου λαμβανει και αναγγελει υμιν
Luke 15:12-14 (NET) Luke 15:12-14 (KJV)
The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that will belong to me.’  So he divided his assets between them. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.  And he divided unto them his living.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ νεώτερος αὐτῶν τῷ πατρί· πάτερ, δός μοι τὸ ἐπιβάλλον μέρος τῆς οὐσίας. δὲ διεῖλεν αὐτοῖς τὸν βίον και ειπεν ο νεωτερος αυτων τω πατρι πατερ δος μοι το επιβαλλον μερος της ουσιας και διειλεν αυτοις τον βιον και ειπεν ο νεωτερος αυτων τω πατρι πατερ δος μοι το επιβαλλον μερος της ουσιας και διειλεν αυτοις τον βιον
After a few days, the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth with a wild lifestyle. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ μετ᾿ οὐ πολλὰς ἡμέρας συναγαγὼν πάντα ὁ νεώτερος υἱὸς ἀπεδήμησεν εἰς χώραν μακρὰν καὶ ἐκεῖ διεσκόρπισεν τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ ζῶν ἀσώτως και μετ ου πολλας ημερας συναγαγων απαντα ο νεωτερος υιος απεδημησεν εις χωραν μακραν και εκει διεσκορπισεν την ουσιαν αυτου ζων ασωτως και μετ ου πολλας ημερας συναγαγων απαντα ο νεωτερος υιος απεδημησεν εις χωραν μακραν και εκει διεσκορπισεν την ουσιαν αυτου ζων ασωτως
Then after he had spent everything, a severe famine took place in that country, and he began to be in need. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
δαπανήσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ πάντα ἐγένετο λιμὸς ἰσχυρὰ κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἐκείνην, καὶ αὐτὸς ἤρξατο ὑστερεῖσθαι δαπανησαντος δε αυτου παντα εγενετο λιμος ισχυρος κατα την χωραν εκεινην και αυτος ηρξατο υστερεισθαι δαπανησαντος δε αυτου παντα εγενετο λιμος ισχυρος κατα την χωραν εκεινην και αυτος ηρξατο υστερεισθαι
Luke 15:16, 17 (NET) Luke 15:16, 17 (KJV)
He was longing to eat the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἐπεθύμει χορτασθῆναι ἐκ τῶν κερατίων ὧν ἤσθιον οἱ χοῖροι, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐδίδου αὐτῷ και επεθυμει γεμισαι την κοιλιαν αυτου απο των κερατιων ων ησθιον οι χοιροι και ουδεις εδιδου αυτω και επεθυμει γεμισαι την κοιλιαν αυτου απο των κερατιων ων ησθιον οι χοιροι και ουδεις εδιδου αυτω
But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger! And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
εἰς ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἐλθὼν ἔφη· πόσοι μίσθιοι τοῦ πατρός μου περισσεύονται ἄρτων, ἐγὼ δὲ λιμῷ ὧδε ἀπόλλυμαι εις εαυτον δε ελθων ειπεν ποσοι μισθιοι του πατρος μου περισσευουσιν αρτων εγω δε λιμω απολλυμαι εις εαυτον δε ελθων ειπεν ποσοι μισθιοι του πατρος μου περισσευουσιν αρτων εγω δε λιμω απολλυμαι
Luke 15:19-23 (NET) Luke 15:19-23 (KJV)
I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.”’ And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
οὐκέτι εἰμὶ ἄξιος κληθῆναι υἱός σου· ποίησον με ὡς ἕνα τῶν μισθίων σου και ουκετι ειμι αξιος κληθηναι υιος σου ποιησον με ως ενα των μισθιων σου και ουκετι ειμι αξιος κληθηναι υιος σου ποιησον με ως ενα των μισθιων σου
So he got up and went to his father.  But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him. And he arose, and came to his father.  But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἀναστὰς ἦλθεν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἑαυτοῦ Ἔτι δὲ αὐτοῦ μακρὰν ἀπέχοντος εἶδεν αὐτὸν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐσπλαγχνίσθη καὶ δραμὼν ἐπέπεσεν ἐπὶ τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ καὶ κατεφίλησεν αὐτόν και αναστας ηλθεν προς τον πατερα εαυτου ετι δε αυτου μακραν απεχοντος ειδεν αυτον ο πατηρ αυτου και εσπλαγχνισθη και δραμων επεπεσεν επι τον τραχηλον αυτου και κατεφιλησεν αυτον και αναστας ηλθεν προς τον πατερα αυτου ετι δε αυτου μακραν απεχοντος ειδεν αυτον ο πατηρ αυτου και εσπλαγχνισθη και δραμων επεπεσεν επι τον τραχηλον αυτου και κατεφιλησεν αυτον
Then his son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
εἶπεν δὲ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτῷ· πάτερ, ἥμαρτον εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἐνώπιον σου, οὐκέτι εἰμὶ ἄξιος κληθῆναι υἱός σου ειπεν δε αυτω ο υιος πατερ ημαρτον εις τον ουρανον και ενωπιον σου και ουκετι ειμι αξιος κληθηναι υιος σου ειπεν δε αυτω ο υιος πατερ ημαρτον εις τον ουρανον και ενωπιον σου και ουκετι ειμι αξιος κληθηναι υιος σου
But the father said to his slaves, ‘Hurry!  Bring the best robe, and put it on him!  Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
εἶπεν δὲ ὁ πατὴρ πρὸς τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ· ταχὺ ἐξενέγκατε στολὴν τὴν πρώτην καὶ ἐνδύσατε αὐτόν, καὶ δότε δακτύλιον εἰς τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ καὶ ὑποδήματα εἰς τοὺς πόδας ειπεν δε ο πατηρ προς τους δουλους αυτου εξενεγκατε την στολην την πρωτην και ενδυσατε αυτον και δοτε δακτυλιον εις την χειρα αυτου και υποδηματα εις τους ποδας ειπεν δε ο πατηρ προς τους δουλους αυτου εξενεγκατε την στολην την πρωτην και ενδυσατε αυτον και δοτε δακτυλιον εις την χειρα αυτου και υποδηματα εις τους ποδας
Bring the fattened calf and kill it!  Let us eat and celebrate, And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ φέρετε τὸν μόσχον τὸν σιτευτόν, θύσατε, καὶ φαγόντες εὐφρανθῶμεν και ενεγκαντες τον μοσχον τον σιτευτον θυσατε και φαγοντες ευφρανθωμεν και ενεγκαντες τον μοσχον τον σιτευτον θυσατε και φαγοντες ευφρανθωμεν
John 12:44 (NET) John 12:44 (KJV)
But Jesus shouted out, “The one who believes in me does not believe in me, but in the one who sent me, Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Ἰησοῦς δὲ ἔκραξεν καὶ εἶπεν· ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ πιστεύει εἰς ἐμὲ ἀλλὰ εἰς τὸν πέμψαντα με ιησους δε εκραξεν και ειπεν ο πιστευων εις εμε ου πιστευει εις εμε αλλ εις τον πεμψαντα με ιησους δε εκραξεν και ειπεν ο πιστευων εις εμε ου πιστευει εις εμε αλλ εις τον πεμψαντα με
Luke 15:26 (NET) Luke 15:26 (KJV)
So he called one of the slaves and asked what was happening. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος ἕνα τῶν παίδων ἐπυνθάνετο τί ἂν εἴη ταῦτα και προσκαλεσαμενος ενα των παιδων αυτου επυνθανετο τι ειη ταυτα και προσκαλεσαμενος ενα των παιδων επυνθανετο τι ειη ταυτα
Luke 15:28-30 (NET) Luke 15:28-30 (KJV)
But the older son became angry and refused to go in.  His father came out and appealed to him, And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὠργίσθη δὲ καὶ οὐκ ἤθελεν εἰσελθεῖν, ὁ δὲ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ἐξελθὼν παρεκάλει αὐτόν ωργισθη δε και ουκ ηθελεν εισελθειν ο ουν πατηρ αυτου εξελθων παρεκαλει αυτον ωργισθη δε και ουκ ηθελεν εισελθειν ο ουν πατηρ αυτου εξελθων παρεκαλει αυτον
but he answered his father, ‘Look!  These many years I have worked like a slave for you, and I never disobeyed your commands.  Yet you never gave me even a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends! And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ· ἰδοὺ τοσαῦτα ἔτη δουλεύω σοι καὶ οὐδέποτε ἐντολήν σου παρῆλθον, καὶ ἐμοὶ οὐδέποτε ἔδωκας ἔριφον ἵνα μετὰ τῶν φίλων μου εὐφρανθῶ ο δε αποκριθεις ειπεν τω πατρι ιδου τοσαυτα ετη δουλευω σοι και ουδεποτε εντολην σου παρηλθον και εμοι ουδεποτε εδωκας εριφον ινα μετα των φιλων μου ευφρανθω ο δε αποκριθεις ειπεν τω πατρι ιδου τοσαυτα ετη δουλευω σοι και ουδεποτε εντολην σου παρηλθον και εμοι ουδεποτε εδωκας εριφον ινα μετα των φιλων μου ευφρανθω
But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὅτε δὲ ὁ υἱός σου οὗτος ὁ καταφαγών σου τὸν βίον μετὰ πορνῶν ἦλθεν, ἔθυσας αὐτῷ τὸν σιτευτὸν μόσχον οτε δε ο υιος σου ουτος ο καταφαγων σου τον βιον μετα πορνων ηλθεν εθυσας αυτω τον μοσχον τον σιτευτον οτε δε ο υιος σου ουτος ο καταφαγων σου τον βιον μετα πορνων ηλθεν εθυσας αυτω τον μοσχον τον σιτευτον

[1] Ephesians 1:11b (NET)

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

[3] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἧς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εν η (KJV: wherein).

[4] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ἐπὶ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had τε εν (KJV: both which are in).

[5] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἐν αὐτῷ (translated In Christ in the NET at the beginning of verse 11) here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had it at the beginning of verse 11 (translated even in him in the KJV here).

[6] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had the article της preceding glory.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[7] Matthew 18:6 (NET) Table

[8] The NET parallel Greek text had βλέπουσι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus, Byzantine Majority Text and NA28 had βλεπουσιν (KJV: behold).

[9] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ηλθεν γαρ ο υιος του ανθρωπου σωσαι το απολωλος (KJV: For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[10] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀφήσει here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αφεις.

[11] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had εννενηκονταεννεα.

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

[13] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had εννενηκονταεννεα.

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

[15] Matthew 18:14 (YLT)

[16] Matthew 18:14 (APE)

[17] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἐν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εις.

[18] John 16:13a (NET) The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀληθείᾳ in the dative case along with the appropriate article τῇ and adjective πάσῃ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αληθειαν in the accusative case along with the appropriate article την and adjective πασαν.

[19] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had λήμψεται here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ληψεται (KJV: shall receive).

[20] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had λαμβάνει here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had ληψεται (KJV: shall take).

[21] John 16:14, 15 (NET)

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

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

[24] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἰσχυρὰ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ισχυρος (KJV: mighty).

[25] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had χορτασθῆναι followed by ἐκ (not translated in the NET) here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had γεμισαι την κοιλιαν αυτου (KJV: have filled his belly) followed by απο (KJV: with).

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

[27] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had περισσεύονται here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had περισσευουσιν (KJV: enough and to spare).

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

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

[30] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus had ἑαυτοῦ here, where the Byzantine Majority Text had αυτου.

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

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

[33] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had φέρετε here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ενεγκαντες.

[34] The NET parallel Greek text had ἀλλὰ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus, Byzantine Majority Text and NA28 had ἀλλ’.

[35] John 12:44-46 (NET)

[36] Exodus 22:9 (English Elpenor) The same Greek word ἀπωλείας was translated loss.

[37] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had αυτου following slave.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[38] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἂν following what.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[39] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had δὲ (not translated in the NET) near the beginning of this clause, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ουν (KJV: therefore).

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

[41] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article τον preceding calf as well as fattened.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had τον preceding fattened only.

[42] I assume that the translators of the KJV were not so allegorical in their thinking as to cast Jesus as the older son, or to consider the older son’s attitude as Jesus’ “true feelings” toward the prodigal in contradistinction to our Father.

Romans, Part 62

As I continue to consider Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer,[1] as a description of love rather than as rules to obey, I want to look at some more truth that love rejoices in along with some more ἀδικία that it does not.  What Luke called a parable (παραβολὴν, a form of παραβολή) Matthew presented as a rhetorical question in a discourse about child-rearing: If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray?[2]

Matthew

Luke

See that you do not disdain one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Matthew 18:10 (NET)

So Jesus told them this parable:

Luke 15:3 (NET)

What do you think?  If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray?  And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice (χαίρει, a form of χαίρω) more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

Matthew 18:12, 13 (NET)

“Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it?  Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing (χαίρων, another form of χαίρω).  Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’

Luke 15:4-6 (NET)

In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones be lost.

Matthew 18:14 (NET)

I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy (χαρὰ) in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.

Luke 15:7 (NET)

I should back up a bit and look at more of the context of Matthew’s Gospel narrative.  Jesus’ disciples had asked him, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?[3]

He called a child, had him stand among them, and said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!  Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me.”[4]

Then He began what I am calling a discourse about child-rearing: But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea.[5]  The Greek word translated causesto sin is σκανδαλίσῃ (a form of σκανδαλίζω).  The definition in the NET reads as follows:

1) to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and fall, metaph. to offend 1a) to entice to sin 1b) to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey 1b1) to cause to fall away 1b2) to be offended in one, i.e. to see in another what I disapprove of and what hinders me from acknowledging his authority 1b3) to cause one to judge unfavourably or unjustly of another 1c) since one who stumbles or whose foot gets entangled feels annoyed 1c1) to cause one displeasure at a thing 1c2) to make indignant 1c3) to be displeased, indignant

It comes from σκάνδαλον a snare or trap, translated stumbling blocks in the next verse: Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks (σκανδάλων, a form of σκάνδαλον)!  It is necessary that stumbling blocks (σκάνδαλα, another form of σκάνδαλον) come, but woe to the person through whom they (σκάνδαλον) come.”[6]  The necessity (ἀνάγκη, a form of ἀναγκή) of stumbling blocks is part of the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God,[7] how God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.[8]  As I write this my daughter is essentially a witch, a neo-pagan.  My part in her defection from Christ was a decision made during my divorce from her mother.

My children wanted to stay with me rather than their mother.  I went along with it, hoping their mother would see reason.  She called my bluff and asked for money (to which she was entitled) to leave.  My biggest concern at that moment was the family’s financial survival.  I traveled for a living and would need to hire someone to care for them while I was away.  I had no legal rights to my children.  (I married into them and hadn’t adopted them because their biological father was still living.)  And there were a few more things.

Her care for those children had saved their mother from many (though not all) misguided mistakes.  To take that from her seemed dangerous and cruel.  Add to that, I was crushed in my own soul to be rejected again by yet another woman.  I had serious doubts that I could be a single parent of two teenage children.  Did I even want to be a single parent of two teenage children?  I wanted to make movies.

I decided that I could walk away with nothing but a paycheck, start over again and still help the family financially, and my wife could not.  And so I rejected and abandoned my daughter.

I’m grateful to Stephenie Meyer, Melissa Rosenberg, Catherine Hardwicke and Kristen Stewart for giving me two hours to be a teenage girl in love.  Randy Brown, Robert Lorenz, Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams have also helped me immensely in a more didactic way.  But both “Twilight” and “Trouble with the Curve” came too late to save me from making potentially the worst decision of a lifetime of bad decisions (Matthew 18:8, 9 NET).

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.  And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.  It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into fiery hell.

If what I do with my hands, if where I go with my feet, if what I see with my eyes causes me to sin?

Causes you to sin has proven to be the worst of all possible translations of σκανδαλίζει (another form of σκανδαλίζω) for me.  It turns my thoughts inward to my sins.  My sins are forgiven!  Young’s Literal Translationcause thee to stumble—allows me to see that Jesus was still talking about my real bumbling and stumbling, causing my daughter—one of those little ones who believed in Him—to sin, becoming a stumbling block to her, causing her to desert one whom she ought to trust.

Having watched her struggle through two drug-related psychotic breaks and a stroke, I agree with Jesus that it would have been better for me to kill myself.[9]  It is better for her, however, that I believe that I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God[10]  And I continue to pray that his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his gentleness, and his firm control[11] are all she sees from me from now on, because if I cannot be forgiven…

And by forgiven I mean:  though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.[12]  An eternity in a fiery hell seems like overkill to me for masturbation or premarital sex or even stealing a gazillion dollars.  But if my daughter cannot be found again by the Lord Jesus, if I have condemned her to an eternity in hell, I’m not entirely convinced one eternity in one fiery hell will be sufficient for me.

And though I write like this I still have hope.  “I’ll always be here as your daughter,” she texted me as I thought and wrote about these things.  She has forgiven me, but not Jesus—not yet.  “Your sacrifice has made my education possible and I can never repay you but with love,” she texted.  Since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (ρήματος, a form of ῥῆμα) of God,[13] I pray that He will speak that word, “hear,” to her heart, so she will know Jesus and his Father who has given her so much more than a few dollars.  Now this is eternal life, Jesus prayed to his Father, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.[14]

I didn’t intend this essay to be so confessional.  I intended to write about an incident in the history of Israel, when a Leviteacquired a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.[15]  Actually, I wanted to write about what happened on their journey home, after she got angry at him and went home to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah,[16] after he retrieved her from there.  But in the KJV she didn’t get angry, she played the whore against him.  The note in the NET reads: “Or ‘was unfaithful to him.’ Many have understood the Hebrew verb וַתִּזְנֶה (vattizneh) as being from זָנָה (zanah, “to be a prostitute”), but it may be derived from a root meaning “to be angry; to hate” attested in Akkadian (see HALOT 275 s.v. II זנה).”

Ken Stone wrote in the Jewish Women’s Archive online:

The Hebrew text states that the woman “prostituted herself against” the Levite (19:2). Thus, it has often been assumed that she was sexually unfaithful to him. Certain Greek translations, however, state that she “became angry” with him. The latter interpretation is accepted by a number of commentators and modern English translations, including the NRSV, since the woman goes to her father’s house rather than the house of a male lover. It is also possible that the woman’s “prostitution” does not refer to literal sexual infidelity but is a sort of metaphor for the fact that she leaves her husband. The act of leaving one’s husband is quite unusual in the Hebrew Bible, and the harsh language used to describe it could result from the fact that it was viewed in a very negative light.

And though Mr. Stone mentioned “Certain Greek translations,” the Septuagint reads simply καὶ ἐπορεύθη ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἡ παλλακὴ αὐτοῦ (literally: “and went from him the concubine of his”).

I won’t comment about a Levite with a concubine, except to say that the Hebrew word pı̂ylegesh (פילגש), translated concubine, does not occur in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers or Deuteronomy.  It occurs in Genesis before God’s law was given and again after in Judges, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Esther, Song of Solomon and Ezekiel.  But the concubine is a foreign custom to God’s law.

The Levite and his concubine spent the night in Gibeah, in the land of the Benjamites, with an old man from the Ephraimite hill country, the place to which the Levite and his concubine were returning.  I made the following table to compare and contrast what happened next to the incident in Sodom the night before it was destroyed.

Judges, the Levite and his concubine

Genesis, Lot and the visitors

They were having a good time, when suddenly some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, surrounded the house and kept beating on the door.

Judges 19:22a (NET)

Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house.

Genesis 19:4 (NET)

The note on good-for-nothings in the NET reads: “‘the men of the city, men, the sons of wickedness.’ The phrases are in apposition; the last phrase specifies what type of men they were. It is not certain if all the men of the city are in view, or just a group of troublemakers. In 20:5 the town leaders are implicated in the crime, suggesting that all the men of the city were involved. If so, the implication is that the entire male population of the town were good-for-nothings.”  The text is clearer regarding Sodom: Now the people of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord (yehôvâh).[17]

Judges, the Levite and his concubine

Genesis, Lot and the visitors

They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.”

Judges 19:22b (NET)

They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight?  Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

Genesis 19:5 (NET)

The man who owned the house went outside and said to them, “No, my brothers!  Don’t do this wicked thing!  After all, this man is a guest in my house.  Don’t do such a disgraceful thing!

Judges 19:23 (NET)

Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him.  He said, “No, my brothers!  Don’t act so wickedly!

Genesis 19:6, 7 (NET)

Here are my virgin daughter and my guest’s concubine.  I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like.  But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!”

Judges 19:24 (NET)

Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with a man.  Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please.  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

Genesis 19:8 (NET)

Chivalry as a moral code was invented much later.

Judges, the Levite and his concubine

Genesis, Lot and the visitors

The men refused to listen to him…

Judges 19:25a (NET)

 

“Out of our way!” they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he dares to judge (Septuagint: κρίσιν κρίνειν) us!  We’ll do more harm to you than to them!”  They kept pressing in on Lot until they were close enough to break down the door.

Genesis 19:9 (NET)

…so the Levite grabbed his concubine and made her go outside.

Judges 19:25b (NET)

So the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house as they shut the door.  Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness.

Genesis 19:10, 11a (NET)

They raped her and abused her all night long until morning.  They let her go at dawn.

Judges 19:25c (NET)

The men outside wore themselves out trying to find the door.

Genesis 19:11b (NET)

The Benjamites who did this were not “godless Sodomites,” extremely wicked rebels against the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה), but sons of Israel living in the promised land.

Judges, the Levite and his concubine

Genesis, Lot and the visitors

The woman arrived back at daybreak and was sprawled out on the doorstep of the house where her master was staying until it became light.  When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went outside to start on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, sprawled out on the doorstep of the house with her hands on the threshold.

Judges 19:26, 27 (NET)

Then the two visitors said to Lot, “Who else do you have here?  Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city?  Get them out of this place because we are about to destroy it.  The outcry against this place is so great before the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) that he (yehôvâh, יהוה) has sent us to destroy it.”

Genesis 19:12, 13 (NET)

The woman was dead.  Dear God, I hope she was dead (Judges 19:29, 30 NET):

When he got home, [the Levite] took a knife, grabbed his concubine, and carved her up into twelve pieces.  Then he sent the pieces throughout Israel.  Everyone who saw the sight said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since the Israelites left the land of Egypt!  Take careful note of it!  Discuss it and speak!”

Romans, Part 63

Back to Romans, Part 64

[1] Romans 12:12 (NET)

[2] Matthew 18:12 (NET)

[3] Matthew 18:1b (NET)

[4] Matthew 18:2-5 (NET)

[5] Matthew 18:6 (NET)

[6] Matthew 18:7 (NET)

[7] Romans 11:33a (NET)

[8] Romans 11:32 (NET)

[9] Matthew 18:6b (NET)

[10] Galatians 2:20a (NET)

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

[12] Isaiah 1:18b (NKJV) Table

[13] Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

[14] John 17:3 (NET)

[15] Judges 19:1b (NET)

[16] Judges 19:2a (NET)

[17] Genesis 13:13 (NET)

Jesus the Leg-breaker, Part 1

“Jesus the leg-breaker” is a more persistent tale than I expected.  I decided not to give it short shrift.

I am the beautiful shepherd,[1] Jesus said.  Did He mean to turn my attention to Him or to human shepherds?  Do I know Him through the Bible?  Or should I study shepherd lore and apply it to Him?  In a blog titled “The Good Shepherd Breaks Their Legs,” Pastor Robin Weinstein quoted the following story from another blog:

According to the story, if a lamb has a tendency to wander off, the shepherd will actually break one of its legs. He then tends the broken leg – puts a splint on it and binds it up. Then while the leg is mending, he carries it on his shoulder. According to the anecdote, once the sheep heals, it will follow the shepherd, close at his side, the rest of its life. Never again go astray [because now it knows the voice and guidance of its shepherd].

“But, this story is not in the Bible, you say,” was the apparently grudging admission, followed by a Bible verse “that runs parallel” to the story.

How enviable is the man whom God corrects. Oh, do not despise the chastening of the Lord when you sin. For though he wounds, he binds and heals once again. Job 5:17,18

The reasoning here goes something like this: The word of God is true.  The Bible is the word of God.  Job 5:17 and 18 are in the Bible, so they are true and the word of God.  It is a compelling argument and does seem to correspond to the shepherd story.  But in the book of Job in the Bible these words are not the word of yehôvâh:  “How enviable is the man whom God corrects.  Oh, do not despise the chastening of the Lord when you sin.  For though he wounds, he binds and heals once again,” are the words of Eliphaz the Temanite.  In the book of Job yehôvâh spoke the following to Eliphaz the Temanite about Eliphaz’s words (Job 42:7 NET).

After the Lord (yehôvâh) had spoken (dâbar, דבר; Septuagint: λαλῆσαι) these things to Job, he (yehôvâh [added again for emphasis, I assume]) said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken (dâbar,  דברתם; Septuagint: ἐλαλήσατε) about me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

On my way back from atheism, as I essentially rejected the Gospel thinking of it as a second chance to do righteousness by obeying the Bible as rules, I met a man who wanted to produce the book of Job as a play.  I don’t remember now if he asked me to set it to music or if I had the competing idea to write it as an opera.  As I studied, intending to make the book of Job the libretto for an opera, I was perplexed by what fault God found with the words of Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite.

I could see that their empathy for Job might have been off a bit, but their words seemed more or less like the religious teaching I had heard my whole life.  Wishing that yehôvâh had been more specific, I abandoned the project.  Even now, given this lack of specificity, I am not wise enough to quote anything Eliphaz said as proof of anything in the light of yehôvâh’s anger (Job 42:8 NET):

So now take seven bulls and seven rams [yehôvâh, speaking to Eliphaz, continued] and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves.  And my servant Job will intercede for you, and I will respect him, so that I do not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken (dâbar,  דברתם; Septuagint: ἐλαλήσατε) about me what is right, as my servant Job has.

“God will chasten and correct us,” the writer of the original blog continued.  So far, so good: For whom the Lord loves He chastens (παιδεύει, a form of παιδεύω), And scourges (μαστιγοῖ, a form of μαστιγόω) every son whom He receives.[2]  But the writer of the original blog added, “if we stray.”  And that is probably the reason he quoted Eliphaz the Temanite from the book of Job rather than the writer of the book of Hebrews.  The writer of the book of Hebrews wasn’t writing to those who strayed but to those who were tempted to stray because of the opposition or contradiction, the ἀντιλογίαν (a form of ἀντιλογία; literally, “to speak against”) of sinners that they encountered while trusting Christ (Hebrews 12:5-7a NET):

And have you forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons?  “My son, do not scorn the Lord’s discipline (παιδείας, a form of παιδεία) or give up when he corrects you.  “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he accepts.”  Endure your suffering as discipline (παιδείαν, a form of παιδεία) …

The faithful, as opposed to those who stray, are called to endure the ἀντιλογίαν of sinners as God’s παιδείαν (a form of παιδεία).  Currently in the U.S. this ἀντιλογίαν is mostly ridicule and rarely μαστιγόω as was common in the first century (and beyond).  But it is fairly clear that the faithful should perceive and receive the ἀντιλογίαν of sinners in whatever form as παιδείαν from God (Hebrews 12:7b, 8 NET):

God is treating you as sons.  For what son is there that a father does not discipline (παιδεύει, a form of παιδεύω)?  But if you do not experience discipline (παιδείας, another form of παιδεία), something all sons have shared in, then you are illegitimate and are not sons.

A comparison and contrast follow between earthly fathers and the Father of spirits which might be confusing if not treated carefully:

Comparison

Contrast

Besides, we have experienced discipline (παιδευτὰς, a form of παιδευτής) from our earthly fathers and we respected them; shall we not submit ourselves all the more to the Father of spirits and receive life?

Hebrews 12:9 (NET)

For they [earthly fathers] disciplined (ἐπαίδευον, another form of παιδεύω) us for a little while as seemed good to them, but he [the Father of spirits] does so for our benefit, that we may share his holiness.

Hebrews 12:10 (NET)

If the παιδεία of one’s father consisted mostly of punishment for doing wrong it is easy to mistake punishment for the Father of spirits’ παιδεία.  But the παιδεία of the Father of spirits comes at the mouth (and possibly at the hands) of sinners for doing right rather than wrong.  The writer of the book of Hebrews continued (Hebrews 12:11-13 NET):

Now all discipline (παιδεία) [whether for doing wrong or for doing right] seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it [the παιδεία from the Father of spirits for doing right] produces the fruit of peace and righteousness for those trained by it.  Therefore, strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed.

This is the experience of the faithful, not the unfaithful, and not a word about breaking legs.  But Deacon Del Gibbs, the original blogger, wrote:

God will chasten and correct us if we stray. You say yep, I could write the book? Been there, done that?  But it is for our good. And trust me, the pain is better than the alternative – becoming lamb chops on Satan’s dinner table. 

Is this his personal experience of Jesus?

No.  He never strayed.  “You see,” he wrote, “I had not been saved out of sin but God saved me from going into it.”  In Romans 1 people who did not glorifyGod or give him thanks, who exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles, were given over by God in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.[3]  The implication here is that apart from this God would keep them from this sin.

People who exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, were given over by God to dishonorable passions.[4]  Again the implication is that apart from this God would keep them from this sin.  Likewise people who did not see fit to acknowledge God, were given over by God to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.[5]  Once again the implication is that apart from this God would keep them from these sins.  Mr. Gibbs continued:

I can testify of God’s strength that helps me live victoriously.  Of his patience and forgiveness for the times I’m slow to catch on.  And when I stub my toe and fall on my face, I can tell how He reaches out and helps me to my feet once again.

That sounds so much better to me as something to say to one who has strayed than threats about Jesus the leg-breaker.  You see, I have strayed.  You might say I went looking for the smiting, leg-breaking Jesus I was taught about, at least I dared Him to act.  And I became an atheist when He refused to live up to his bad press.

The good thing about becoming an atheist, however, is that I couldn’t blame God for my problems any more.  They were definitely my problems, brought about by the sins that I thought were my freedom, even my right, the very things Paul called the wrath of Godrevealed from heaven,[6] the things I couldn’t quit even after I began to want to quit them.

The kicker here is that Mr. Gibbs’ father, raised on a sheep ranch in Montana, couldn’t even confirm the alleged shepherd lore: “My Dad says he didn’t do it,” his blog post began.  “He just got out the 22, and that night they had mutton stew.”  The reasoning here goes something like this: Jesus the leg-breaker would be better than Del’s father the killer and eater.

But that unmasks the whole thing, doesn’t it?  Why does a human shepherd care for the flock at all?  Is it not so the flock is available to be fleeced, milked and eaten?  Is that what Jesus meant when He called Himself the beautiful shepherd?  Is this, too, part of the shepherd lore I should apply to Him?  Jesus said:

Matthew

Luke

What do you think?  If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray?

Matthew 18:12 (NET)

So Jesus told them this parable: “Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it?

Luke 15:3, 4 (NET)

Frankly, I think I might write-off the one who strayed rather than risk the others.  But then, I’m not a shepherd.  I don’t really know the value of a sheep.  (And  I’m not omnipresent.)  So I must take Jesus at his word here.

Matthew

Luke

And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

 Matthew 18:13 (NET)

“Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’

Luke 15:5, 6 (NET)

Again, I have no direct way to corroborate this, but must take Jesus at his word.

Matthew

Luke

In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones be lost.

 Matthew 18:14 (NET)

“I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.”

Luke 15:7 (NET)

This is clearly beyond my experience.   I haven’t amounted to much, nothing that would cause anyone to say, “Ah, I understand why Jesus went out of his way to save him.”  But He did.  As far as I’m concerned, the only plausible explanation is to take Jesus at his word: your Father in heaven is not willing (θέλημα) that one of these little ones be lost.

[1] John 10:11 (NET)

[2] Hebrews 12:6 (KJV, DNT)

[3] Romans 1:21-24 (NET)

[4] Romans 1:25, 26a (NET)

[5] Romans 1:28 (NET)

[6] Romans 1:18a (NET)

Romans, Part 54

To continue my attempt to view—Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord[1]—as a definition of love (ἀγάπη) rather than as rules, I’ll turn to the next item on the table I constructed: Love is…not self-serving[2] (οὐ ζητεῖ τὰ ἑαυτῆς; literally, “not seek itself”).

If someone owns a hundred sheep, Jesus said, and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for (ζητεῖ, a form of ζητέω) the one that went astray?[3] He made it clear He was not talking only about sheep and shepherds.  Looking at children, He added, In the same way, your Father in heaven is not (οὐκ, a form of οὐ; the absolute negation[4]) willing (θέλημα) that one of these little ones be lost[5] (ἀπόληται, a form of ἀπόλλυμι).  This is Jesus’ expression of David’s confidence, Surely your goodness and faithfulness will pursue me all my days[6]

Still, I began to wonder in what sense the Father seeking his own was not self-serving or love seeking itself. I found a satisfying distinction in the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand men plus women and children.

Matthew

Mark Luke

John

Now when Jesus heard [about John the Baptist’s death] he went away from there privately in a boat to an isolated place.

Matthew 14:13a (NET)

Then the apostles gathered around Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught.  He said to them, “Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest a while” (for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat).  So they went away by themselves in a boat to some remote place.

Mark 6:30-32 (NET)

When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done.  Then he took them with him and they withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida.[7]

Luke 9:10 (NET)

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee[8] (also called the Sea of Tiberias).

John 6:1 (NET)

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John took pains to place the story in space and time. In Matthew’s Gospel narrative Jesus went to an isolated place after He heard of John the Baptist’s death.[9] John’s disciples came and took the body and buried it and went and told Jesus.[10]  Mark pointed out that this coincided with the return of the twelve,[11] the apostles Jesus had sent out two by two.  The purpose of this trip was rest and relaxation for the twelve and perhaps a moment for Jesus to grieve over the beheading of his cousin.  Luke added the destination, Bethsaida, and John added the body of water traversed, the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias).

John didn’t mention the apostles’ return (or that they were sent out for that matter). John didn’t make much of John the Baptist’s death.  He was still alive in chapter three[12] and spoken of in the past tense in chapter five.[13]  John set the story conceptually, if you will.

The fifth chapter of John’s Gospel account begins with a curious healing. A man lay by a pool in Jerusalem, believing apparently that if he were first to enter its waters after they were stirred up[14] (ταραχθῇ, a form of ταράσσω) he would be healed.  At least, that’s how his answer to Jesus question— Do you want to become well?[15]—sounds to me.[16]  Jesus healed him apparently by simple command (John 5:8, 9 NET):

Jesus said to him, “Stand up!  Pick up your mat and walk” [Table].  Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and started walking.  (Now that day was a Sabbath.)

Perhaps I should see this as a living expression of God’s grace as totally unmerited favor, but I can’t help but see Jesus as provocateur here, since the most important part of this story is the parenthetical—Now that day was a Sabbath.

When the religious leaders saw the man walking carrying his mat on the Sabbath, they said, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted (οὐκ ἔξεστιν) to carry your mat.”[17]

“The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”[18]

“Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?”[19]

The man didn’t know Jesus, nor could he point Him out, since He had slipped out[20] among the crowd gathered in Jerusalem for a Jewish feast.[21]  After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “Look, you have become well. Don’t sin any more, lest anything worse happen to you.”  The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the one who had made him well. Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began persecuting him [Table].[22]

John had a long lifetime to consider with the Holy Spirit what Jesus had said and done before he wrote his Gospel narrative. He related this story of the healing of a man by a command to break the Sabbath (as the religious authorities interpreted the Law) a man so ignorant of Jesus he could not even implicate Him when the religious authorities questioned him.  So Jesus met him again in the temple, all to orchestrate an opportunity for Jesus to say to the religious authorities, My Father is working until now, and I too am working.[23]

The religious authorities reacted exactly as one would expect religious authorities to react when confronted with a knowledge of God superior to their own, if the religious authorities in question were self-serving rather than God-serving: For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.[24]

Jesus had a lot more to say to these religious authorities (John 5:19-23 NET):

I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing.  For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.  For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed.  For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.  Furthermore, the Father does not judge (κρίνει, a form of κρίνω) anyone, but has assigned all judgment (κρίσιν, a form of κρίσις) to the Son, so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

I can do nothing more than listen to Yahweh come in human flesh speaking to religious authorities, THE religious authorities of the only religion ever authorized by the One living and true God (John 5:24-30 NET):

I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned (εἰς κρίσιν οὐκ ἔρχεται; literally, “into judgment is not coming”), but has crossed over from death to life.  I tell you the solemn truth, a time is coming (ἔρχεται) – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  For just as the Father has life in himself, thus he has granted the Son to have life in himself, and he has granted the Son authority to execute judgment (κρίσιν, a form of κρίσις), because he is the Son of Man.

Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming (ἔρχεται) when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out – the ones who have done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation (κρίσεως, a form of κρίσις, or, judgment).  I can do nothing on my own initiative.  Just as I hear, I judge (κρίνω), and my judgment (κρίσις) is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.

Here is a powerful clue to the meaning of a love that is not self-seeking: I do not seek (ζητῶ, another form of ζητέω) my own will (θέλημα), but the will (θέλημα) of the one who sent me.  Jesus continued speaking to the religious authorities (John 5:31-40 NET):

If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.  There is another who testifies about me [the Father, I assume], and I know the testimony he testifies about me is true.  You have sent to John [the Baptist], and he has testified to the truth [John 1:19-37].  (I do not accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved.)  He was a lamp that was burning and shining, and you wanted to rejoice greatly for a short time in his light.

But I have a testimony greater than that from John.  For the deeds that the Father has assigned me to complete – the deeds I am now doing – testify about me that the Father has sent me.  And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me.  You people have never heard his voice[25] nor seen his form at any time, nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent.  You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

I’ll take a moment to highlight what Jesus said about the authorities of the only God-ordained religion on the planet:

1) You people have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time, nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent.  Contrast this to his words to Philip, John 14:8-14.

2) You study the scriptures thoroughlyit is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not (οὐ, the absolute negation) willing (θέλετε, a form of θέλω) to come to me so that you may have life.  This is utterly self-serving. For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, Paul wrote, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.[26]

Jesus concluded his discourse with the religious authorities (John 5:41-47 NET):

I do not accept praise from people, but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you.  I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me.  If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.  How can you believe, if you accept praise from one another and don’t seek the praise that comes from the only God?

Do not suppose that I will accuse you before the Father.  The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.  If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.  But if you do not believe what Moses wrote, how will you believe my words?

Here I’ll add a third item to the list:

3) If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.

In this light I’ll continue to look into the feeding of the five thousand men plus women and children in the next essay.


[1] Romans 12:11 (NET) Table

[2] 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NET)

[3] Matthew 18:12b (NET)

[4] I will leave it to others to debate whether the Father’s unwillingness was limited only to the children present at the time and place Jesus spoke.

[5] Matthew 18:14 (NET)

[6] Psalm 23:6a (NET)

[7] http://bibleatlas.org/bethsaida.htm

[8] http://www.bible-history.com/geography/ancient-israel/sea-of-galilee.html

[9] John 14:10, 11 (NET)

[10] Matthew 14:12 (NET)

[11] Mark 6:7-13 (NET)

[12] John 3:22-36 (NET)

[13] John 5:31-36 (NET)

[14] John 5:7 (NET)

[15] John 5:6 (NET)

[16] The explanation given in the KJV (John 5:4)—For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had—has been rejected as not original to the text by most contemporary Bible scholars.

[17] John 5:10 (NET) Table

[18] John 5:11 (NET) Table

[19] John 5:12 (NET) Table

[20] John 5:13 (NET)

[21] John 5:1 (NET)

[22] John 5:14-16 (NET)

[23] John 5:17 (NET) Table

[24] John 5:18 (NET)

[25] The Father’s voice, that is: Exodus 20:1, 19; Deuteronomy 4:12; 5:24.  I assume the voice they heard was Yahweh’s, the Son.

[26] Romans 10:3 (NET)