Tag Archives: Matthew 6:10

Funeral, Part 3

Posted on by

A friend asked for the transcript of the prayer I prayed at my mother’s funeral.  I should apologize to my sister.  She asked for the same thing many months ago and I never got around to it.  So, finally, here it is.

It is a prayer that Jesus has taught, and continues to teach, me.  I pray it back to Him every day.  It alludes to, paraphrases or quotes from various Scriptures.  It changes from time to time as He teaches me more.

After I prayed it at Mom’s funeral a man commented on it and invited me to his church.  His church has become my church.  This version is slightly altered from the prayer I prayed at the funeral because the Pastor has been teaching Matthew 6:9-15 for the past three weeks.

Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored[1] as holy by me, by all who believe and by all.  [M]ay your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven[2] in and through me, in and through all who believe and in and through all.  Give us this day our daily bread.[3]  [F]orgive us our debts, as we…have forgiven our debtors.[4]  Lead us not into temptation,[5] but deliver us from the evil…[6]  For…the kingdom and the power and the glory [are Yours] forever.[7]

My persistent prayer for justice[8] is for the mercy on which everything depends, for it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on [You] who shows mercy.[9]  And You have consigned all to disobedience, [so] that [You] may have mercy on all.[10]

Grant us according to the wealth of [your] glory…to be strengthened with power [by the Holy] Spirit in the inner person,[11] that Christ [dwells] in [our] hearts through faith, [that we being] rooted and grounded in love,[12] comprehend with all the saints[13] the height, the depth, the length, the breadth, and…know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…that [we] will be filled up to all the fullness of God.[14]

Thank you for this eternal life.

Thank you for people.  I pray for all people, especially those in authority, from the least to the greatest across every field of human endeavor all over the world, that we lead quiet, peaceful lives with all dignity and godliness.[15]  I ask that we know by faith[16] your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control[17] [Table] springing up within us to eternal life from your Holy Spirit.[18]

I ask on behalf of those who have not yet received[19] you, or have wandered off,[20] please open the eyes blinded[21] by the prince of the power of the air.[22]  Please send laborers into your harvest.[23]  Thank you for those who are already there.  Please convince,[24] convict,[25] prove the world wrong concerning sin, righteousness and judgment.[26]  Please return, Lord Jesus.[27]

I am believing you.  Thank you.  Please continue to help my unbelief.[28]  Thank you.

 

[1] Matthew 6:9b (NET)

[2] Matthew 6:10 (NET) Table

[3] Matthew 6:11 (KJV)

[4] Matthew 6:12 (NET) Table

[5] Matthew 6:13a (ESV)

[6] Matthew 6:13b (NET) Table

[7] Matthew 6:13c (NKJV) The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had οτι σου εστιν η βασιλεια και η δυναμις και η δοξα εις τους αιωνας αμην (KJV: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.  Amen.) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[8] Luke 18:1-8

[9] Romans 9:16 (NET) Table

[10] Romans 11:32 (ESV)

[11] Ephesians 3:16 (NET) Table

[12] Ephesians 3:17 (NET)

[13] Ephesians 3:18b (NET) Table

[14] Ephesians 3:19 (NET)

[15] 1 Timothy 2:1-6

[16] Hebrews 11

[17] Galatians 5:22b, 23a (NET)

[18] John 4:14

[19] John 1:12, 13

[20] 1 Timothy 6:10, 20-21

[21] 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4

[22] Ephesians 2:1-3

[23] Matthew 9:37, 38

[24] John 16:7, 8 (Douay-Rheims)

[25] John 16:7, 8 (ESV)

[26] John 16:8 (NET)

[27] Revelation 22:20

[28] Mark 9:14-24

Psalm 22, Part 5

Posted on by

This is a continuing look into Psalm 22 as the music in Jesus’ heart as He endured the cross.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 22:13 (Tanakh) Psalm 22:13 (NET) Psalm 21:14 (NETS)

Psalm 21:14 (Elpenor English)
They [strong bulls of Bashan] gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. They [powerful bulls of Bashan] open their mouths to devour me like a roaring lion that rips its prey. they [fat bulls] opened their mouth at me, like a lion that ravens and roars. They [fat bulls] have opened their mouth against me, as a ravening and roaring lion.

The strong or fat bulls became like a roaring lion.  I used the Greek of the Septuagint to cross reference with the New Testament.  The Greek word translated They have opened was ἤνοιξαν (a form of ἀνοίγω).  They opened their mouths “to disclose, bring into the open, reveal” their hatred for God, the same hatred that lives in all sinful flesh (Revelation 13:6 NET):

So the beast opened (ἤνοιξεν, a form of ἀνοίγω) his mouth to blaspheme[1] against God—to blaspheme both his name and his dwelling place (σκηνὴν, a form of σκηνή), that is,[2] those who dwell (σκηνοῦντας, a form of σκηνόω) in heaven.

The Greek word translated roaring was ὠρυόμενος (a form of ὠρύομαι).  Peter wrote (1 Peter 5:8 NET):

Be sober and alert.  Your enemy the devil, like a roaring (ὠρυόμενος, a form of ὠρύομαι) lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.

The tongue is a small part of the body, James wrote, yet it has great pretensions.[3]  Think how small[4] a flame sets a huge forest ablaze.  And the tongue is a fire!  The tongue represents the world of wrongdoing[5] among the parts of our bodies.  It pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence—and is set on fire by hell.[6]

The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, Jesus told his disciples, and these things defile a person.  For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.  These are the things that defile a person…[7]

Paul listed θυμοί (a form of θυμός; NET: outbursts of anger) among the works of the flesh (τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός): Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things.  I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God![8]

The Greek word translated ravening was ἁρπάζων, a form of ἁρπάζω.  This particular form of ἁρπάζω doesn’t occur in the New Testament.  As I scanned the other forms, standing as a spectator among the strong/fat bulls blaspheming as a ravening and roaring lion, looking up to Jesus as He endured the cross and this cacophony of sin while making music in his heart with Psalm 22, I heard his word with the same faithfulness that sustained Him (John 10:11-13 NET).

I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  The[9] hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does[10] not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away.  So the wolf attacks (ἁρπάζει, another form of ἁρπάζω) the sheep and scatters them.[11]  Because[12] he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away.

The Greek word translated good was καλός: “beautiful (in appearance), fair; good and pleasing in appearance, beautiful; good, useful; conducive to pleasure and enjoyment; advantageous, beneficial, desirable; free from defects, fine, precious; morally good, honest, noble, praiseworthy, contributing to salvation; blameless, excellent, unobjectionable; free from defects, fine, precious; pleasant, desirable, advantageous.”  I’ve considered this beautiful good elsewhere.

The Greek words translated his life were the very familiar ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ.  After the earlier study in Isaiah I am fully primed to hear Jesus’ soul/life as functionally equivalent to ζωὴν αἰώνιον (eternal life).

The Greek word translated lays down (KJV: giveth) was τίθησιν, an active voice, indicative mood, 3rd person singular form of τίθημι in the present tense.  Here I’ll spend some time meditating on some of the ways Jesus’ lays down his soul/life for (ὑπὲρ) the sheep.

The first definition of τίθημι in the Koine Greek Lexicon online is: “to put, place, lay, lay aside.”  Paul wrote believers in Philippi (Philippians 2:5-8 NET):

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had [Table], who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature [Table].  He humbled himself by becoming obedient (ὑπήκοος) to the point of death—even death on a cross!

The Greek word translated emptied was ἐκένωσεν (a form of κενόω).  I began to understand his “laying aside” of this soul/life of God when I began to believe that יהוה (Yehovah) became a human being (John 1:1-5, 14).

The next definition is: “to cause to be, render.”  Paul wrote believers in Ephesus (Ephesians 2:1-7 NET):

And although you were dead in your offenses and sins [Table], in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the domain of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were[13] by nature children of wrath even as the rest…

But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!—and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth[14] of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

The next definition of τίθημι is: “to set (something), place (something).”  Jesus promised his disciples (John 14:16, 17 NET Table):

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept because it does not see him or know him.  But you know him because he resides (μένει, a form of μένω) with you and will be in you.

The next definition is: “to lay (something) (e.g., to lay stones for a building or road, thus to construct, make).”  Paul continued his letter to believers in Ephesus (Ephesians 2:17-22 NET):

And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace[15] to those who were near, so that through him we both have access in one Spirit (Romans 8:26, 27) to the Father.  So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are[16] fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  In him the whole building,[17] being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place (κατοικητήριον) of God in the Spirit.

The next definition of τίθημ is: “to pitch (a tent).”  Paul wrote believers in Corinth (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 NET):

For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.  For in this earthly house we groan, because we desire to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed,[18] after we have put on our heavenly house, we will not be found naked.  For we groan while we are in this tent, since we are weighed down, because[19] we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life (ζωῆς, a form of ζωή).  Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave[20] us the Spirit as a down payment.

The next definition is: “to establish, institute, decree, ordain, appoint (e.g., to appoint a law for the land).”  Jesus told his disciples (John 15:16, 17 NET):

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.  This I command you—to love one another.

The next definition of τίθημι is: “to give a name to (something or someone).”  In his vision on Patmos John scribed Jesus’ letter To the angel of the church in Philadelphia[21] (Revelation 3:11, 12 NET):

I[22] am coming soon.  Hold on to what you have so that no one can take away your crown.  The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never depart from it.  I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God (the new Jerusalem that comes down[23] out of heaven from my God), and my new name as well.

The Greek word translated conquers was νικῶν (a form of νικάω).  A loud voice in heaven exclaimed in John’s vision, describing how one conquers (Revelation 12:10, 11 NET):

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the ruling authority of his Christ, have now come, because the accuser[24] of our brothers and sisters, the one who accuses them[25] day and night before our God, has been thrown down[26] (Luke 10:17-20).  But they overcame (ἐνίκησαν, another form of νικάω) him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die (Romans 6:1-23).

The next definition of τίθημι is: “to designate as, categorize as.”  Paul wrote believers in Rome (Romans 8:1-4 NET):

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.[27]  For the law of the life-giving Spirit (τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς) in Christ Jesus has set you[28] free from the law of sin and death.  For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Apparently (NET note 1) on two separate occasions in the past, scribes added the final phrases of verse 4—μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσιν (who do not walk according to the flesh) and ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα (but according to the Spirit)—as appositive phrases to ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ (in Christ Jesus) in verse 1.  I don’t doubt this is what Paul and the Holy Spirit meant by the phrase in Christ Jesus.  It only becomes problematic if one ignores the hard-won experience by which Paul confirmed that There is therefore now no condemnation, and is led in the name of Christ away from the Holy Spirit back to one’s own efforts to obey the law in the flesh.

So here is another important designation or category (Romans 7:14-20 NET):

For we know that the law is spiritual—but I am unspiritual,[29] sold into slavery to sin.  For I don’t understand what I am doing.  For I do not do what I want—instead, I do what I hate.  But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good (καλός).  But now it is no longer me doing it, but[30] sin that lives (οἰκοῦσα, a form of οἰκέω) in me.  For I know that nothing good lives (οἰκεῖ, another form of οἰκέω) in me, that is, in my flesh.  For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.  For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives (οἰκοῦσα, a form of οἰκέω) in me [Table].

The next definition of τίθημι is: “to appoint (someone) (e.g., to make him a prophet, put a king on a throne).”  Paul wrote to believers in Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 NET):

For God did not destine us for wrath (Romans 1:18-32) but[31] for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  He died for us so that whether we are alert or asleep, we will come to life (ζήσωμεν, a form of ζάω; KJV: live) together with him.  Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, just as you are in fact doing.

The next definition is: “to direct (someone) to do (something).”  Jesus commanded his disciples (John 15:4, 5 NET):

Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains[32] in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain[33] in me [Table].

“I am the vine; you are the branches.  The one who remains (John 15:9-17) in me—and I in him—bears much fruit (Galatians 5:16-26) because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.

The next definition of τίθημι is: “to entrust (something) to (someone).”  Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:11-14):

For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher.[34]  Because of this, in fact, I suffer as I do.  But I am not ashamed because I know the one in whom my faith is set and I am convinced that he is able to protect what has been entrusted to me until that day.  Hold to the standard of sound words that you heard from me and do so with the faith and love (Galatians 5:22, 23) that are in Christ Jesus.  Protect that good thing (καλὴν, a form of καλός) entrusted to you,[35] through the Holy Spirit who lives (ἐνοικοῦντος, a form of ἐνοικέω) within us.

The next definition is: “to allow (something to happen).”  Jesus said (Matthew 5:15, 16 NET):

People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good (καλὰ, another form of καλός) deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.

The next definition of τίθημι is: “to make a name for (someone).”  Paul expounded to believers in Philippi the result of Jesus’ obedience to the point of death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:9-11 NET):

As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

The final definition is: “to put (someone) in (a place) (e.g., to put him in jail).”  Paul wrote to believers in Colossae (Colossians 1:13, 14 NET):

He [God, the Father] delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins [Table].

So who are the sheep for whom the good shepherd lays down (KJV: giveth) his soul/life?  My sheep listen[36] to my voice, Jesus said (John 10:27-30 NET):

and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον), and they will never perish; no one will snatch (ἁρπάσει, another form of ἁρπάζω) them from my hand.  My Father, who[37] has given them to me, is greater[38] than all, and no one can snatch (ἁρπάζειν, another form of ἁρπάζω) them from my[39] Father’s hand.  The Father and I are one.

Tables comparing Psalm 22:13 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing Psalm 22:13 (21:14) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Revelation 13:6; James 3:5, 6; John 10:12, 13; Ephesians 2:3; 2:7; 2:17; 2:19; 2:21; 2 Corinthians 5:3-5; Revelation 3:7; 3:11-12; 12:10; Romans 8:1, 2; 7:14; 7:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Timothy 1:11; 1:14; John 10:27; 10:29 and Matthew 6:10 in the NET and KJV follow.

Psalm 22:13 (Tanakh) Psalm 22:13 (KJV) Psalm 22:13 (NET)
They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. They open their mouths to devour me like a roaring lion that rips its prey.
Psalm 22:13 (Septuagint BLB) Psalm 21:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἤνοιξαν ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν ὡς λέων ὁ ἁρπάζων καὶ ὠρυόμενος ἤνοιξαν ἐπ᾿ ἐμὲ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν ὡς λέων ἁρπάζων καὶ ὠρυόμενος
Psalm 21:14 (NETS) Psalm 21:14 (English Elpenor)
they opened their mouth at me, like a lion that ravens and roars. They have opened their mouth against me, as a ravening and roaring lion.
Revelation 13:6 (NET) Revelation 13:6 (KJV)
So the beast opened his mouth to blaspheme against God—to blaspheme both his name and his dwelling place, that is, those who dwell in heaven. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἤνοιξεν τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ εἰς βλασφημίας πρὸς τὸν θεὸν βλασφημῆσαι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν σκηνὴν αὐτοῦ, τοὺς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ σκηνοῦντας και ηνοιξεν το στομα αυτου εις βλασφημιαν προς τον θεον βλασφημησαι το ονομα αυτου και την σκηνην αυτου και τους εν τω ουρανω σκηνουντας και ηνοιξεν το στομα αυτου εις βλασφημιαν προς τον θεον βλασφημησαι το ονομα αυτου και την σκηνην αυτου τους εν τω ουρανω σκηνουντας
James 3:5, 6 (NET) James 3:5, 6 (KJV)
So, too, the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it has great pretensions.  Think how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
οὕτως καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα μικρὸν μέλος ἐστὶν καὶ μεγάλα αὐχεῖ. ἰδοὺ ἡλίκον πῦρ ἡλίκην ὕλην ἀνάπτει ουτως και η γλωσσα μικρον μελος εστιν και μεγαλαυχει ιδου ολιγον πυρ ηλικην υλην αναπτει ουτως και η γλωσσα μικρον μελος εστιν και μεγαλαυχει ιδου ολιγον πυρ ηλικην υλην αναπτει
And the tongue is a fire!  The tongue represents the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies.  It pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence—and is set on fire by hell. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα πῦρ· ὁ κόσμος τῆς ἀδικίας ἡ γλῶσσα καθίσταται ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν ἡμῶν, ἡ σπιλοῦσα ὅλον τὸ σῶμα καὶ φλογίζουσα τὸν τροχὸν τῆς γενέσεως καὶ φλογιζομένη ὑπὸ τῆς γεέννης και η γλωσσα πυρ ο κοσμος της αδικιας ουτως η γλωσσα καθισταται εν τοις μελεσιν ημων η σπιλουσα ολον το σωμα και φλογιζουσα τον τροχον της γενεσεως και φλογιζομενη υπο της γεεννης και η γλωσσα πυρ ο κοσμος της αδικιας ουτως η γλωσσα καθισταται εν τοις μελεσιν ημων η σπιλουσα ολον το σωμα και φλογιζουσα τον τροχον της γενεσεως και φλογιζομενη υπο της γεεννης
John 10:12, 13 (NET) John 10:12, 13 (KJV)
The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away.  So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ μισθωτὸς καὶ οὐκ ὢν ποιμήν, οὗ οὐκ ἔστιν τὰ πρόβατα ἴδια, θεωρεῖ τὸν λύκον ἐρχόμενον καὶ ἀφίησιν τὰ πρόβατα καὶ φεύγει – καὶ ὁ λύκος ἁρπάζει αὐτὰ καὶ σκορπίζει ο μισθωτος δε και ουκ ων ποιμην ου ουκ εισιν τα προβατα ιδια θεωρει τον λυκον ερχομενον και αφιησιν τα προβατα και φευγει και ο λυκος αρπαζει αυτα και σκορπιζει τα προβατα ο μισθωτος δε και ουκ ων ποιμην ου ουκ εισιν τα προβατα ιδια θεωρει τον λυκον ερχομενον και αφιησιν τα προβατα και φευγει και ο λυκος αρπαζει αυτα και σκορπιζει τα προβατα
Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὅτι μισθωτός ἐστιν καὶ οὐ μέλει αὐτῷ περὶ τῶν προβάτων ο δε μισθωτος φευγει οτι μισθωτος εστιν και ου μελει αυτω περι των προβατων ο δε μισθωτος φευγει οτι μισθωτος εστιν και ου μελει αυτω περι των προβατων
Ephesians 2:3 (NET) Ephesians 2:3 (KJV)
among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest… Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἐν οἷς καὶ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἀνεστράφημεν ποτε ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν ποιοῦντες τὰ θελήματα τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τῶν διανοιῶν, καὶ ἤμεθα τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποί εν οις και ημεις παντες ανεστραφημεν ποτε εν ταις επιθυμιαις της σαρκος ημων ποιουντες τα θεληματα της σαρκος και των διανοιων και ημεν τεκνα φυσει οργης ως και οι λοιποι εν οις και ημεις παντες ανεστραφημεν ποτε εν ταις επιθυμιαις της σαρκος ημων ποιουντες τα θεληματα της σαρκος και των διανοιων και ημεν τεκνα φυσει οργης ως και οι λοιποι
Ephesians 2:7 (NET) Ephesians 2:7 (KJV)
to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἵνα ἐνδείξηται ἐν τοῖς αἰῶσιν τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις τὸ ὑπερβάλλον πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ἐν χρηστότητι ἐφ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ινα ενδειξηται εν τοις αιωσιν τοις επερχομενοις τον υπερβαλλοντα πλουτον της χαριτος αυτου εν χρηστοτητι εφ ημας εν χριστω ιησου ινα ενδειξηται εν τοις αιωσιν τοις επερχομενοις τον υπερβαλλοντα πλουτον της χαριτος αυτου εν χρηστοτητι εφ ημας εν χριστω ιησου
Ephesians 2:17 (NET) Ephesians 2:17 (KJV)
And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἐλθὼν εὐηγγελίσατο εἰρήνην ὑμῖν τοῖς μακρὰν καὶ εἰρήνην τοῖς ἐγγύς και ελθων ευηγγελισατο ειρηνην υμιν τοις μακραν και τοις εγγυς και ελθων ευηγγελισατο ειρηνην υμιν τοις μακραν και τοις εγγυς
Ephesians 2:19 (NET) Ephesians 2:19 (KJV)
So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
῎Αρα οὖν οὐκέτι ἐστὲ ξένοι καὶ πάροικοι ἀλλὰ ἐστὲ συμπολῖται τῶν ἁγίων καὶ οἰκεῖοι τοῦ θεοῦ αρα ουν ουκετι εστε ξενοι και παροικοι αλλα συμπολιται των αγιων και οικειοι του θεου αρα ουν ουκετι εστε ξενοι και παροικοι αλλα συμπολιται των αγιων και οικειοι του θεου
Ephesians 2:21 (NET) Ephesians 2:21 (KJV)
In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἐν ᾧ πᾶσα οἰκοδομὴ συναρμολογουμένη αὔξει εἰς ναὸν ἅγιον ἐν κυρίῳ, εν ω πασα η οικοδομη συναρμολογουμενη αυξει εις ναον αγιον εν κυριω εν ω πασα οικοδομη συναρμολογουμενη αυξει εις ναον αγιον εν κυριω
2 Corinthians 5:3-5 (NET) 2 Corinthians 5:3-5 (KJV)
if indeed, after we have put on our heavenly house, we will not be found naked. If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
εἴ γε καὶ |ἐνδυσάμενοι| οὐ γυμνοὶ εὑρεθησόμεθα ειγε και ενδυσαμενοι ου γυμνοι ευρεθησομεθα ειγε και ενδυσαμενοι ου γυμνοι ευρεθησομεθα
For we groan while we are in this tent, since we are weighed down, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ γὰρ οἱ ὄντες ἐν τῷ σκήνει στενάζομεν βαρούμενοι, ἐφ᾿ ᾧ οὐ θέλομεν ἐκδύσασθαι ἀλλ᾿ ἐπενδύσασθαι, ἵνα καταποθῇ τὸ θνητὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ζωῆς και γαρ οι οντες εν τω σκηνει στεναζομεν βαρουμενοι επειδη ου θελομεν εκδυσασθαι αλλ επενδυσασθαι ινα καταποθη το θνητον υπο της ζωης και γαρ οι οντες εν τω σκηνει στεναζομεν βαρουμενοι εφ ω ου θελομεν εκδυσασθαι αλλ επενδυσασθαι ινα καταποθη το θνητον υπο της ζωης
Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ δὲ κατεργασάμενος ἡμᾶς εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο θεός, ὁ δοὺς ἡμῖν τὸν ἀρραβῶνα τοῦ πνεύματος ο δε κατεργασαμενος ημας εις αυτο τουτο θεος ο και δους ημιν τον αρραβωνα του πνευματος ο δε κατεργασαμενος ημας εις αυτο τουτο θεος ο και δους ημιν τον αρραβωνα του πνευματος
Revelation 3:7 (NET) Revelation 3:7 (KJV)
“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write the following: “This is the solemn pronouncement of the Holy One, the True One, who holds the key of David, who opens doors no one can shut, and shuts doors no one can open: And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Φιλαδελφείᾳ ἐκκλησίας γράψον Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἅγιος, ὁ ἀληθινός, ὁ ἔχων τὴν κλεῖν Δαυίδ, ὁ ἀνοίγων καὶ οὐδεὶς κλείσει καὶ κλείων καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀνοίγει και τω αγγελω της εν φιλαδελφεια εκκλησιας γραψον ταδε λεγει ο αγιος ο αληθινος ο εχων την κλειδα του δαβιδ ο ανοιγων και ουδεις κλειει και κλειει και ουδεις ανοιγει και τω αγγελω της εν φιλαδελφεια εκκλησιας γραψον ταδε λεγει ο αγιος ο αληθινος ο εχων την κλειν του δαυιδ ο ανοιγων και ουδεις κλεισει αυτην ει μη ο ανοιγων και ουδεις ανοιξει
Revelation 3:11, 12 (NET) Revelation 3:11, 12 (KJV)
I am coming soon.  Hold on to what you have so that no one can take away your crown. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἔρχομαι ταχύ· κράτει ὃ ἔχεις, ἵνα μηδεὶς λάβῃ τὸν στέφανον σου ιδου ερχομαι ταχυ κρατει ο εχεις ινα μηδεις λαβη τον στεφανον σου ερχομαι ταχυ κρατει ο εχεις ινα μηδεις λαβη τον στεφανον σου
The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never depart from it.  I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from my God), and my new name as well. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Ὁ νικῶν ποιήσω αὐτὸν στῦλον ἐν τῷ ναῷ τοῦ θεοῦ μου καὶ ἔξω οὐ μὴ ἐξέλθῃ ἔτι καὶ γράψω ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ μου καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς πόλεως τοῦ θεοῦ μου (τῆς καινῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἡ καταβαίνουσα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ μου), καὶ τὸ ὄνομα μου τὸ καινόν ο νικων ποιησω αυτον στυλον εν τω ναω του θεου μου και εξω ου μη εξελθη ετι και γραψω επ αυτον το ονομα του θεου μου και το ονομα της πολεως του θεου μου της καινης ιερουσαλημ η καταβαινουσα εκ του ουρανου απο του θεου μου και το ονομα μου το καινον ο νικων ποιησω αυτον στυλον εν τω ναω του θεου μου και εξω ου μη εξελθη ετι και γραψω επ αυτον το ονομα του θεου μου και το ονομα της πολεως του θεου μου της καινης ιερουσαλημ η καταβαινει εκ του ουρανου απο του θεου μου και το ονομα μου το καινον
Revelation 12:10 (NET) Revelation 12:10 (KJV)
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the ruling authority of his Christ, have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, the one who accuses them day and night before our God, has been thrown down. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἤκουσα φωνὴν μεγάλην ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ λέγουσαν ἄρτι ἐγένετο ἡ σωτηρία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ ἡ ἐξουσία τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἐβλήθη ὁ κατήγωρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἡμῶν, ὁ κατηγορῶν αὐτοὺς ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός και ηκουσα φωνην μεγαλην λεγουσαν εν τω ουρανω αρτι εγενετο η σωτηρια και η δυναμις και η βασιλεια του θεου ημων και η εξουσια του χριστου αυτου οτι κατεβληθη ο κατηγορος των αδελφων ημων ο κατηγορων αυτων ενωπιον του θεου ημων ημερας και νυκτος και ηκουσα φωνην μεγαλην εν τω ουρανω λεγουσαν αρτι εγενετο η σωτηρια και η δυναμις και η βασιλεια του θεου ημων και η εξουσια του χριστου αυτου οτι εβληθη ο κατηγορος των αδελφων ημων ο κατηγορων αυτων ενωπιον του θεου ημων ημερας και νυκτος
Romans 8:1, 2 (NET) Romans 8:1, 2 (KJV)
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Οὐδὲν ἄρα νῦν κατάκριμα τοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. ουδεν αρα νυν κατακριμα τοις εν χριστω ιησου μη κατα σαρκα περιπατουσιν αλλα κατα πνευμα ουδεν αρα νυν κατακριμα τοις εν χριστω ιησου μη κατα σαρκα περιπατουσιν αλλα κατα πνευμα
For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ γὰρ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἠλευθέρωσεν σε ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ θανάτου ο γαρ νομος του πνευματος της ζωης εν χριστω ιησου ηλευθερωσεν με απο του νομου της αμαρτιας και του θανατου ο γαρ νομος του πνευματος της ζωης εν χριστω ιησου ηλευθερωσεν με απο του νομου της αμαρτιας και του θανατου
Romans 7:14 (NET) Romans 7:14 (KJV)
For we know that the law is spiritual—but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ὁ νόμος πνευματικός ἐστιν, ἐγὼ δὲ σάρκινος εἰμι πεπραμένος ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν οιδαμεν γαρ οτι ο νομος πνευματικος εστιν εγω δε σαρκικος ειμι πεπραμενος υπο την αμαρτιαν οιδαμεν γαρ οτι ο νομος πνευματικος εστιν εγω δε σαρκικος ειμι πεπραμενος υπο την αμαρτιαν
Romans 7:17 (NET) Romans 7:17 (KJV)
But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
νυνὶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτὸ ἀλλὰ ἡ |οἰκοῦσα| ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία. νυνι δε ουκετι εγω κατεργαζομαι αυτο αλλ η οικουσα εν εμοι αμαρτια νυνι δε ουκετι εγω κατεργαζομαι αυτο αλλ η οικουσα εν εμοι αμαρτια
1 Thessalonians 5:9 (NET) 1 Thessalonians 5:9 (KJV)
For God did not destine us for wrath but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὅτι οὐκ ἔθετο ἡμᾶς ὁ θεὸς εἰς ὀργὴν ἀλλὰ εἰς περιποίησιν σωτηρίας διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ |Χριστοῦ| οτι ουκ εθετο ημας ο θεος εις οργην αλλ εις περιποιησιν σωτηριας δια του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου οτι ουκ εθετο ημας ο θεος εις οργην αλλ εις περιποιησιν σωτηριας δια του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου
2 Timothy 1:11 (NET) 2 Timothy 1:11 (KJV)
For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
εἰς ὃ ἐτέθην ἐγὼ κῆρυξ καὶ ἀπόστολος καὶ διδάσκαλος εις ο ετεθην εγω κηρυξ και αποστολος και διδασκαλος εθνων εις ο ετεθην εγω κηρυξ και αποστολος και διδασκαλος εθνων
2 Timothy 1:14 (NET) 2 Timothy 1:14 (KJV)
Protect that good thing entrusted to you, through the Holy Spirit who lives within us. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
τὴν καλὴν παραθήκην φύλαξον διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος ἐν ἡμῖν την καλην παρακαταθηκην φυλαξον δια πνευματος αγιου του ενοικουντος εν ημιν την καλην παραθηκην φυλαξον δια πνευματος αγιου του ενοικουντος εν ημιν
John 10:27 (NET) John 10:27 (KJV)
My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἐμὰ τῆς φωνῆς μου ἀκούουσιν, καγὼ γινώσκω αὐτὰ καὶ ἀκολουθοῦσιν μοι τα προβατα τα εμα της φωνης μου ακουει καγω γινωσκω αυτα και ακολουθουσιν μοι τα προβατα τα εμα της φωνης μου ακουει καγω γινωσκω αυτα και ακολουθουσιν μοι
John 10:29 (NET) John 10:29 (KJV)
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ πατήρ μου ὃ δέδωκεν μοι πάντων μεῖζον ἐστιν, καὶ οὐδεὶς δύναται ἁρπάζειν ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ πατρός ο πατηρ μου ος δεδωκεν μοι μειζων παντων εστιν και ουδεις δυναται αρπαζειν εκ της χειρος του πατρος μου ο πατηρ μου ος δεδωκεν μοι μειζων παντων εστιν και ουδεις δυναται αρπαζειν εκ της χειρος του πατρος μου
Matthew 6:10 (NET) Matthew 6:10 (KJV)
may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημα σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς ελθετω η βασιλεια σου γενηθητω το θελημα σου ως εν ουρανω και επι της γης ελθετω η βασιλεια σου γενηθητω το θελημα σου ως εν ουρανω και επι της γης

[1] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had βλασφημίας here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had βλασφημιαν (KJV: blasphemy).

[2] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had και (KJV: and) here.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.  So them that dwell in heaven was translated in the KJV as a third item to blaspheme rather than as an appositive phrase of his dwelling place; e.g., may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10b NET).

[3] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had μεγάλα αὐχεῖ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μεγαλαυχει (KJV: boasteth great things).

[4] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἡλίκον here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ολιγον (KJV: a little).

[5] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ουτως (KJV: so) following wrongdoing (KJV: iniquity).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[6] James 3:5, 6 (NET)

[7] Matthew 15:18-20a (NET)

[8] Galatians 5:19-21 (NET) Table

[9] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had δε (KJV: But) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[10] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἔστιν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εισιν (KJV: are).

[11] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τα προβατα (KJV: the sheep) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[12] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ο δε μισθωτος φευγει (KJV: The hireling fleeth) preceding this clause.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

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

[14] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had τὸ ὑπερβάλλον πλοῦτος here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τον υπερβαλλοντα πλουτον (KJV: the exceeding riches).

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

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

[17] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had the article η preceding building.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[18] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had εἴ γε here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ειγε (KJV: If so be that).

[19] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ἐφ᾿ ᾧ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had επειδη (KJV: for that).

[20] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και (KJV: also) preceding gave (KJV: hath given).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[21] Revelation 3:7a

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

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

[24] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had κατήγωρ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had κατηγορος.

[25] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had αὐτοὺς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτων.

[26] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ἐβλήθη here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had κατεβληθη (KJV: is cast down).

[27] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μη κατα σαρκα περιπατουσιν αλλα κατα πνευμα (KJV: who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[28] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had σε here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had με (KJV: me).

[29] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had σάρκινος here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had σαρκικος (KJV: carnal).

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

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

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

[33] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had μένητε here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Tex had μεινητε (KJV: abide).

[34] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εθνων (KJV: of the Gentiles) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[35] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had παραθήκην here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had παρακαταθηκην (KJV: which was committed unto thee).

[36] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀκούουσιν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Tex had ακουει (KJV: hear).

[37] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ὃ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ος (KJV: which).

[38] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had μεῖζον here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μειζων.

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

Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 1

Posted on by

Revisiting an essay—David’s Forgiveness, Part 1—I realized I had put an inordinate emphasis on the word forgiven without looking into the meaning of the original Hebrew word.  My suspicion of Bible translators feels at times like a paranoid schizophrenic’s fear of the CIA.  Lapses like this one renew my appreciation for the maxim, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”[1]

This essay could be very short.  I could simply say that Nathan actually responded to David’s confession with the words, Yes, and the Lord has passed over[2] (ʽâbar) your sin.  You are not going to die.[3]  Such a translation would agree with Paul’s assessment of God’s past actions: God in his forbearance had passed over (πάρεσιν, a form of πάρεσις) the sins previously committed.[4]  I could simply accept the text at face value, that ʽâbar is not forgiveness and God is free to exact whatever penalty He chooses.

It seems like an ironclad argument.  But five of the twelve Bibles I checked translate ʽâbar in 2 Samuel 12:13 forgiven or forgives.  Of the remaining seven four have it put away, two are taken away, and one, Jehovah hath caused thy sin to pass away.  How different is that from forgiven really?

ʽâbar 2 Samuel 12:13

Bible Versions
forgiven NET, CEV, NAB
put away ASV, DNT, KJV, NKJV
taken away GWT, NIV
forgives TEV, TMSG
pass away YLT

Do the translators believe that this is all I should expect from the forgiveness God exalted Jesus to give to Israel?  God exalted him to his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness (ἄφεσιν, a form of ἄφεσις) of sins.[5]  Apparently a primary verb to forgive is as absent from holy Hebrew as it is from pagan Greek.  The concept to forgive is either shoehorned into, or extrapolated from, other verbs in both languages.  [Addendum 2/14/2018: This is wrong regarding Hebrew: sâlach (סלח).]  That gives me cause to study ʽâbar in more detail to get a feel for its capacity to carry forgiveness.

I had the opportunity to go home for a month at Christmas.  Home is a relative concept.  I alternated between my mother’s house visiting her, my sister and her husband, and my ex-mother-in-law’s house about a hundred miles north visiting her, my kids, my ex-wife and her husband.  The day after I arrived I attended my son’s wedding.

We all sat in the front row.  I offered the seat next to our ex-wife to my son’s biological father.  He declined the offer and sat next to me.  (Her current husband sat on her other side.)  He is about two years from a painful break-up with his significant other.  He leaned over and whispered to me, “I don’t know how you do it.  I don’t think I could sit next to my ex, smiling, at her son’s wedding.”  He gave me the opportunity to say that I couldn’t take the credit, that it is not my doing so much as my getting out of the way of the Lord’s doing: his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and firm control.  He received it well and acknowledged that he was seeking a similar peace.

Later, in a phone conversation with another friend who questioned me more specifically about the fruit of the Spirit, I acknowledged that sadly the Lord’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness aren’t always my first impulse.  Sometimes letting the fruit of his Spirit shine through me is a matter of waiting in that firm control until the second, third or fourth impulse holds sway.  But as I think of it now there is something else that makes friendship with my ex-wife possible.

I forgave her for divorcing me.  I forgive her every night I go to bed alone and every morning I wake up.  And I will forgive her for as long as we both shall live.  “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel…[6]  I don’t forgive her because I am so righteous.

Jesus taught us to pray, forgive (ἄφες, a form of ἀφίημι) us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven (ἀφήκαμεν, another form of ἀφίημι) our debtors.[7]  I, a sinful man in need of the Father’s forgiveness, pray this daily, and I believe Jesus’ saying: For if you forgive (ἀφῆτε, another form of ἀφίημι) others their sins (παραπτώματα, a form of παράπτωμα), your heavenly Father will also forgive (ἀφήσει, another form of ἀφίημι) you.  But if you do not forgive (ἀφῆτε, another form of ἀφίημι) others, your Father will not forgive (ἀφήσει, another form of ἀφίημι) you your sins (παραπτώματα, a form of παράπτωμα).[8]

And here I probably give myself too much credit for rational consistency.  I forgive because I am schooled in this teaching by the Holy Spirit and filled continuously with his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and firm control.  It occurs to me, however, that one who feels more righteous than I, might feel less need of the Father’s forgiveness and less compulsion to forgive others.  The fault in this logic is that the most righteous man of all prayed, Father, forgive (ἄφες, a form of ἀφίημι) them, for they don’t know what they are doing[9] as He surrendered[10] to his Father’s will.

The Father’s answer to his beloved Son’s request is the hope of all us sinners if it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy[11] (ἐλεῶντος, a form of ἐλεέω).  For God has consigned all people to disobedience (ἀπείθειαν, a form of ἀπείθεια) so that he may show mercy (ἐλεήσῃ, another form of ἐλεέω) to them all.[12]  What shall we say then?  Is there injustice with God?  Absolutely not!  For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy (ἐλεήσω, another form of ἐλεέω) on whom I have mercy (ἐλεῶ, another form of ἐλεέω), and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[13]

The Greek word ὡς persuades me that forgiveness is, and will be perceived as, a relative as opposed to an absolute concept.  So then, be perfect, as (ὡς) your heavenly Father is perfect.[14]  Whenever you pray, do not be like (ὡς) the hypocrites…[15]  …may your will be done on earth as (ὡς) it is in heaven.[16]  …and forgive us our debts, as (ὡς) we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.[17]  The absolute on/off positions are clear.[18]  But some form of continuum from none to full pardon seems to be indicated by ὡς, contingent upon that quality of forgiveness we extend to others.

Still, I would suggest that we will be inclined to extend the same forgiveness to others that we believe we receive from God.  If that forgiveness seems to include punishment we are more likely to believe that some form of punishment should be meted out with our forgiveness as well.  Or if the one extending such forgiveness has no authority to punish, conditions may be attached, making forgiveness something that must be earned as opposed to something graciously given and received.  I take the interaction between David and Shimei as a case in point.

As David fled from Jerusalem during the events that fulfilled the Lord’s promise to bring disaster (raʽ ) on you from inside your own household,[19] Shimei threw stones and yelled, “Leave!  Leave!  You man of bloodshed, you wicked man!  The Lord has punished (shûb) you for all the spilled blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you rule.  Now the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom.  Disaster (raʽ ) has overtaken you, for you are a man of bloodshed [Table]!”[20]  Clearly, Shimei’s assessment does not agree with Nathan the prophet’s assessment.

Nathan the Prophet’s Assessment

This is what the Lord God of Israel says:

2 Samuel 12:7b (NET) Table

Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my sight?

2 Samuel 12:9a (NET) Table
You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword…

2 Samuel 12:9b (NET)

 …and you have taken his wife as your own!

2 Samuel 2:9c (NET)
You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.  So now the sword will never depart from your house.

2 Samuel 12:9d, 10a (NET)

 For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!

2 Samuel 12:10b (NET) Table
I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household!  Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion.  He will have sexual relations with your wives in broad daylight!  Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.

2 Samuel 12:11, 12 (NET) Table1 Table2
Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!”  Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has ʽâbar your sin.  You are not going to die.

2 Samuel 12:13 (NET) Table
Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.

2 Samuel 12:14 (NET) Table

The Hebrew word translated punished (shûb) is not found among the words the Lord God of Israel spoke through Nathan,[21] though I have certainly interpreted them as if they described recompense.  As a child I assumed that “forgiveness” only pertained to hell.  I believed that God would still punish me for my sins some other way.  He couldn’t help Himself, I thought, it’s who He is.

Abishai couldn’t tolerate hearing his king and commander spoken to as Shimei had spoken to him: Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?  Let me go over (ʽâbar) and cut off his head![22]  Abishai’s use of ʽâbar doesn’t sound much like forgiveness, but David said, “What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah?  If he curses because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David!’, who can say to him, ‘Why have you done this [Table]?’”[23]  David exercised what I have come to call an experimental faith (2 Samuel 16:11, 12 NKJV):

And David said to Abishai and all his servants, “See how my son who came from my own body seeks my life.  How much more now may this Benjamite?  Let him alone, and let him curse; for so the Lord has ordered him [Table].  It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction, and that the Lord will repay (shûb) me with good for his cursing this day [Table].”

As David returned, lamenting his Pyrrhic victory[24] over his son Absalom, Shimei was one of the first[25] to greet him.  Don’t think badly of me, my lord, he said, and don’t recall the sin of your servant on the day when you, my lord the king, left Jerusalem!  Please don’t call it to mind!  For I, your servant, know that I sinned, and I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.[26]  These are reminiscent of David’s words after Nathan confronted him (Psalm 51:1-3 NET):

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your loyal love!  Because of your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! [Table]  Wash away my wrongdoing!  Cleanse me of my sin! [Table]  For I am aware of my rebellious acts; I am forever conscious of my sin [Table].

Abishai, who may have been hiding with David in the cave when Saul entered to relieve himself,[27] pursued a pious good (possibly expecting David’s approval): For this should not Shimei be put to death?  After all, he cursed the Lord’s anointed (mâshı̂yach)![28]  But David seemed to pursue something more like a beautiful good: What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah?  You are like my enemy today!  Should anyone be put to death in Israel today?  Don’t you realize that today I am king over Israel?[29]

David said to Shimei, “You won’t die.”  The king vowed an oath concerning this.[30]  Here it sounds like he forgave Shimei.  But apparently that wasn’t the case.  He held onto his grudge against Shimei for the rest of his life.  With his dying breath[31] he instructed Solomon, another son by Bathsheba (1 Kings 2:8, 9 NET):

Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim.  He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised him by the Lord, ‘I will not strike you down with the sword.’  But now don’t treat him as if he were innocent.  You are a wise man and you know how to handle him; make sure he has a bloody death.

The Lord however didn’t treat David that way.  He didn’t recall David’s sin when He spoke to Jeroboams’s wife by Ahijah the prophet (1 Kings 14:7, 8 NET Table1 Table2):

“Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel.  I tore the kingdom away from the Davidic dynasty and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me wholeheartedly by doing only (raq) what I approve.”’”

This is another reason I wish to look deeper into ʽâbar.  Whatever it means, it altered reality for the God, who does not lie[32] when He extended it to David.

[1] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/98153-just-because-you-re-paranoid-doesn-t-mean-they-aren-t-after-you

[2] The first occurrence in the Bible is Genesis 8:1b (NKJV), And God made a wind to pass (ʽâbar) over the earth, and the waters subsided.

[3] 2 Samuel 12:13b (NET) Table

[4] Romans 3:25b (NET)

[5] Acts 5:31 (NET)

[6] Malachi 2:16a (NET) Table

[7] Matthew 6:12 (NET) Table

[8] Matthew 6:14, 15 (NET) Table

[9] Luke 23:34a (NET) Table

[10] Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now?  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled (πληρωθῶσιν, a form of πληρόω)? (Matthew 26:53, 54 NET) Table

[11] Romans 9:16 (NET) Table

[12] Romans 11:32 (NET)

[13] Romans 9:14, 15 (NET)

[14] Matthew 5:48 (NET)

[15] Matthew 6:5a (NET) Table

[16] Matthew 6:10b (NET)

[17] Matthew 6:12 (NET)

[18] Matthew 6:14, 15 (NET)

[19] 2 Samuel 12:11 (NET) Table

[20] 2 Samuel 16:7, 8 (NET)

[21] It does occur in the description of events leading up to and following those words (2 Samuel 11:4, 15; 12:23) but seems to be used in its more literal sense, to return.

[22] 2 Samuel 16:9 (NET)

[23] 2 Samuel 16:10 (NET)

[24] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory See: 2 Samuel 18:33 (NET)

[25] 2 Samuel 19:16 (NET)

[26] 2 Samuel 19:19, 20 (NET)

[27] 1 Samuel 24:3 (NET)

[28] 2 Samuel 19:21 (NET)  See also: 1 Samuel 24:6 (NET)

[29] 2 Samuel 19:22 (NET)

[30] 2 Samuel 19:23 (NET)

[31] 1 Kings 2:10 (NET)

[32] Titus 1:2 (NET)

Prayer

Posted on by

Twice in the New Testament Jesus told us what to say when we pray: So pray this way[1] (οὕτως οὖν προσεύχεσθε ὑμεῖς; literally, “in this manner then pray you”) and When you pray, say[2] (ὅταν προσεύχησθε λέγετε).  I compared them this morning thinking about the rationale for removing For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen[3] from Matthew 6:13 in the NET and other translations.

Matthew (NET) Greek Text Luke (NET) Greek Text
When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard [Table].  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  So pray this way:

Matthew 6:7-9a (NET)

 Προσευχόμενοι δὲ μὴ βατταλογήσητε ὥσπερ οἱ ἐθνικοί, δοκοῦσιν γὰρ ὅτι ἐν τῇ πολυλογίᾳ αὐτῶν εἰσακουσθήσονται.  μὴ οὖν ὁμοιωθῆτε αὐτοῖς· οἶδεν γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὧν χρείαν ἔχετε πρὸ τοῦ ὑμᾶς αἰτῆσαι αὐτόν.  οὕτως οὖν προσεύχεσθε ὑμεῖς·

Matthew 6:7-9a

 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he stopped, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”  So he said to them, “When you pray, say:

Luke 11:1, 2a (NET)

 Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἐν τόπῳ τινὶ προσευχόμενον, ὡς ἐπαύσατο, εἶπεν τις τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν· κύριε, δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐδίδαξεν τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ.  εἶπεν δὲ αὐτοῖς· ὅταν προσεύχησθε λέγετε·

Luke 11:1, 2a

The wording here (especially in Greek) persuaded me that I was dealing with two different instances of instruction, not just one teaching recalled two different ways.  In the sermon on the mount recorded by Matthew Jesus, unbidden, taught his listeners how to pray in distinction to how Gentiles (ἐθνικοί, a form of ἐθνικός) prayed.  On another occasion recorded by Luke a disciple asked Jesus to teach them to pray just as (καθὼς) John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray.  And I assume that means John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray, not that Jesus’ disciple wanted to learn the words that John taught his disciples to pray from Jesus.

Matthew (NET) Greek Text Luke (NET) Greek Text
Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored, may your kingdom come,

Matthew 6:9b, 10a (NET)

 Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομα σου·  ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου·

Matthew 6:9b, 10a

 Father, may your name be honored; may your kingdom come.

Luke 11:2b (NET)

 Πάτερ, ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομα σου· ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου·

Luke 11:2b

May your name be honored;may your kingdom come (ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομα σου· ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου·)—is identical in both Gospel accounts in Greek.  The difference is Our Father in heaven (Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς) recorded by Matthew and Father (Πάτερ) recorded by Luke.  I don’t assume that Jesus told the larger congregation on the mount to pray to Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς and then turned around and informed the more intimate group of his disciples to pray each to his own biological Πάτερ.  Rather, I assume that Jesus expected the intimate group of his disciples to understand Πάτερ as Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.

Matthew (NET) Greek Text Luke (NET) Greek Text
may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10b (NET) Table

 γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημα σου,ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς·

Matthew 6:10b

Here Matthew recorded something—may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven—that Luke did not.  I don’t assume that Luke was so opposed to God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven that he discarded it from the text.  Nor do I assume that Matthew made it up.  Rather, I assume again that Jesus expected the intimate group of his disciples to understand the coming of the kingdom of God as God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew (NET) Greek Text Luke (NET) Greek Text
Give us today our daily bread,

Matthew 6:11 (NET)

 τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον·

Matthew 6:11

 Give us each day our daily bread,

Luke 11:3 (NET)

 τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δίδου ἡμῖν τὸκαθ᾿ ἡμέραν·

Luke 11:3

Here, what is being given—τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον—is identical (“our bread sufficient for the coming” in classical Greek[4]).  I assume Jesus means the bread of life,[5] that portion of Christ who lives in me,[6] the fruit of the Spirit,[7] the credited righteousness of God,[8] sufficient as far as it depends on me to do the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven to bring forth the kingdom of God to honor his name.  And though I used myself as an example—“as far as it depends on me”—the prayer He taught us to pray is not for me alone, but for all who call or have called or will call on our Father in heaven.

The differences—δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον, and δίδου ἡμῖν τὸ καθ᾿ ἡμέραν—seem inconsequential.  The Greek words δὸς and δίδου are different forms of δίδωμι, to give.  The Greek σήμερον means today, this day; καθ᾿ (a form of κατά) is defined: “1) down from, through out 2) according to, toward, along,” and was translated each, while ἡμέραν (a form of ἡμέρα) means day.  If any difference is worth mentioning it is simply that Jesus counseled the intimate group of his disciples to expect this gift of righteousness each day, every day, all day.

Matthew (NET) Greek Text Luke (NET) Greek Text
and forgive us our debts,

Matthew 6:12a (NET)

 καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν,

Matthew 6:12a

 and forgive us our sins,

Luke 11:4a (NET)

 καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν,

Luke 11:4a

In Matthew’s Gospel account Jesus spoke euphemistically of ὀφειλήματα (a form of ὀφείλημα, debts), but with the more intimate group of his disciples He said ἁμαρτίας (a form of ἁμαρτία, sins).  But after the prayer He taught in Matthew’s Gospel account, Jesus said, For if you forgive others their sins (παραπτώματα, a form of παράπτωμα), your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins (παραπτώματα).[9]  I’ve written elsewhere about the interchangeability of παράπτωμα with ἁμαρτία.  And I think this difference becomes clearer in the comparison of the next statement.

Matthew (NET) Greek Text Luke (NET) Greek Text
as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.

Matthew 6:12b (NET)

 ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·

Matthew 6:12b

 for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

Luke 11:4b (NET)

 καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ ἀφίομεν παντὶ ὀφείλοντι ἡμῖν·

Luke 11:4b

Here, in Mathew’s Gospel account Jesus continued with the euphemistic ὀφειλέταις (a form of ὀφειλέτης) ἡμῶν (our debtors).  Though the NET translators chose everyone who sins against us for παντὶ ὀφείλοντι ἡμῖν in Luke’s Gospel account, ὀφείλοντι is a form of ὀφείλω (to owe).  We don’t actually stand in relation to others like God with a law that they might sin against; “for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us” is probably a better translation.  And the more positive for we also forgive makes sense since Jesus did not go on to elaborate—For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins—when teaching the intimate group of his disciples.

Matthew (NET) Greek Text Luke (NET) Greek Text
And do not lead us into temptation,

Matthew 6:13a (NET)

 καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν,

Matthew 6:13a

 And do not lead us into temptation.”

Luke 11:4c (NET)

 καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν.

Luke 11:4c
but deliver us from the evil one.

Matthew 6:13b (NET)

 ἀλλὰ ρῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.

Matthew 6:13b

Here, I don’t assume that Luke was partial to evil and rejected being delivered from it.  Neither do I assume that Mathew was so prone to evil he added it to Jesus’ teaching.  I assume again that Jesus expected the intimate group of his disciples to understand that the leading not into temptation (KJV) is deliverance from evil.  I’ve written elsewhere how I am not fond of limiting τοῦ πονηροῦ to the evil one.  In this case it is because I am so prone to evil that I long to be delivered from it in all its forms.

When I come to ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοῦς αἰῶνας ἀμήν (“because yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen”) what am I to assume?  The note in the NET reads:

Most mss (L W Θ 0233 Ë13 33 Ï sy sa Didache) read (though some with slight variation) ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν (“for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen”) here. The reading without this sentence, though, is attested by generally better witnesses (א B D Z 0170 Ë1 pc lat mae Or). The phrase was probably composed for the liturgy of the early church and most likely was based on 1 Chr 29:11-13; a scribe probably added the phrase at this point in the text for use in public scripture reading (see TCGNT 13-14). Both external and internal evidence argue for the shorter reading.

So, in other words some scribe got hyper-religious one day and decided to make Jesus’ words more holy by adding David’s words to them.  As scenarios go, it’s a possible scenario, probably worth a footnote.  But is it a good enough scenario to stand before God and say, “Oh, yeah, we threw those words right out of the Bible because of this scenario we imagined”?

Here is David’s prayer (1 Chronicles 29:10-19 NET):

David praised the Lord before the entire assembly:

“O Lord God of our father Israel, you deserve praise forevermore!  O Lord, you are great, mighty, majestic, magnificent, glorious, and sovereign over all the sky and earth!  You have dominion and exalt yourself as the ruler of all.  You are the source of wealth and honor; you rule over all.  You possess strength and might to magnify and give strength to all.  Now, our God, we give thanks to you and praise your majestic name!

“But who am I and who are my people, that we should be in a position to contribute this much?  Indeed, everything comes from you, and we have simply given back to you what is yours.  For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security.  O Lord our God, all this wealth, which we have collected to build a temple for you to honor your holy name, comes from you; it all belongs to you.  I know, my God, that you examine thoughts and are pleased with integrity.  With pure motives I contribute all this; and now I look with joy as your people who have gathered here contribute to you.  O Lord God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, maintain the motives of your people and keep them devoted to you.  Make my son Solomon willing to obey your commands, rules, and regulations, and to complete building the palace for which I have made preparations.”

No doubt at all that David’s prayer was in the same Spirit as Jesus’ teaching on prayer:  For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.  It is consistent with other teachings:  Why do you call me good?  No one is good except God alone.[10]  “Would any one of you say to your slave who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’?  Won’t the master instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready to serve me while I eat and drink.  Then you may eat and drink’?  He won’t thank the slave because he did what he was told, will he?  So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’”[11]

The word translated undeserving of special praise is ἀχρεῖοι (a form of ἀχρεῖος).  The note in the NET reads: “Some translations describe the slaves as ‘worthless’ (NRSV) or ‘unworthy’ (NASB, NIV) but that is not Jesus’ point. These disciples have not done anything deserving special commendation or praise (L&N 33.361), but only what would normally be expected of a slave in such a situation (thus the translation ‘we have only done what was our duty’).”  But they did translate ἀχρεῖον (another form of ἀχρεῖος) worthless in “The Parable of the Talents.”

The worthless slave was given a talent, equivalent to 6,000 denarii according to a footnote.  In Matthew 20:2 day laborers agreed to work a day in the field for a denarius.  If I assume a six day work week there are 312 working days in a year, and so 6,000 divided by 312 equals 19.23 years, almost 19 years and three months of a day laborers pay.

The worthless slave did no business with his master’s money, nor did he invest it with others who might have done so.  I was afraid, he said, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.  See, you have what is yours.[12]  So he was fired, as any of us might fire a worthless employee.  But when we have done everything [we] were commanded to do, why should we still consider ourselves worthless slaves?

I think it is because everything we have done has been done in God,[13] for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.[14]  As David prayed, who am I and who are my people, that we should be in a position to contribute this much?  Indeed, everything comes from you, and we have simply given back to you what is yours.[15]  God has granted us our daily bread of life, because the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to Him forever.  Amen.

And I will do well to be reminded of that daily, as long as it is called today.[16]

 

[1] Matthew 6:9a (NET)

[2] Luke 11:2a (NET)

[3] Matthew 6:13b (NET)

[4] http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=epiousion&la=greek

[5] John 6:35, 48-51 (NET)

[6] Galatians 2:20 (NET)

[7] Galatians 5:16-18, 22, 23 (NET)

[8] Romans 4 (NET)

[9] Matthew 6:14, 15 (NET)

[10] Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19 (NET)

[11] Luke 17:7-10 (NET)

[12] Matthew 25:25 (NET)

[13] John 3:21 (NET)

[14] Philippians 2:13 (NET)

[15] 1 Chronicles 29:14 (NET)

[16] Hebrews 3:13 (NET)

Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 6

Posted on by

I failed to come to a definitive conclusion whether the ones who have done what is evil (φαῦλα, a form of φαῦλος)[1] come out of their tombs to the resurrection resulting in[2] condemnation or judgment[3] (κρίσεως, a form of κρίσις).  My faith and my knowledge of God persuade me that judgment is the correct translation, but I can see how another’s faith and knowledge might lean toward condemnation (Mark 16:14-16 NET).

Then [Jesus] appeared to the eleven themselves, while they were eating, and he rebuked them for their unbelief (ἀπιστίαν, a form of ἀπιστία)[4] and hardness of heart, because they did not believe (ἐπίστευσαν, a form of πιστεύω)[5] those who had seen him resurrected.  He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  The one who believes (πιστεύσας, another form of πιστεύω) and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe (ἀπιστήσας, a form of ἀπιστέω)[6] will be condemned (κατακριθήσεται, a form of κατακρίνω).[7]

Here, the one who does not believe will be condemned, clearly, without question.  Is it wrong then to assume that John meant the same thing, but chose a less specific word to express it, and then correct or clarify his meaning in translation?  I’m not sure that I can say that it is.  I can only say that my experience with God has taught me to pay more attention to the words as written.

So who is He?  Is He an angry God who barely restrains Himself from torturing sinners?  Peter wrote, The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient (μακροθυμεῖ, a form of μακροθυμέω)[8] toward you, because he does not wish (βουλόμενος, a form of βούλομαι)[9] for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (μετάνοιαν, a form of μετάνοια).[10]  That sounds reasonable since God is love (ἀγάπη),[11] and Love (ἀγάπη) is patient (μακροθυμεῖ, a form of μακροθυμέω).[12]  And, He by no means leaves the guilty unpunished.[13]

So what do I mean as I pray daily, may your will (θέλημα)[14] be done (γενηθήτω, a form of γίνομαι; literally, become)[15] on earth as it is in heaven[16]?  Am I praying for the equitable distribution of punishment for sin according to the law?  Or am I praying that God will satisfy the desire of his heart for all to come to repentance?  I think I’m praying for the latter, but I can’t say that He didn’t reveal Himself to Jonathan Edwards as an angry God who tortures sinners.  I’m saying that it would be disingenuous to assert that He has revealed Himself like that to me.

So what about his salvation?  Is it a judgment (κρίσις), a separating of the righteous from sinners?  Or does it express the Lord’s desire to populate the earth with people who will forgive[17] the sins of others and love their enemies,[18] by his grace, filled with his love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and ἐγκράτεια,[19] demonstrating not their own righteousness but his, enjoying what they do, filled with his joy and peace?  Again, I think the latter is nearer the truth, but again, that is based entirely on my faith and my knowledge of God, as He has revealed Himself to me.  Clearly, I’m trying to know Someone whose deeds are superior to [my] deeds and [whose] plans [are] superior to [my] plans.[20]

The original question ended: “I hope the whole point is God’s going to save everybody!  Am I nuts???”  No, I don’t think there is anything “nuts” about that hope.  In fact, I know the questioner enough to know that this is the sincere hope of a gentle heart.  I also know she was born into a religion in which most people believe that Jesus answered, “Yes,” to the question, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”[21]  But Jesus actually said, “Exert (ἀγωνίζεσθε; a form of ἀγωνίζομαι)[22] every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”[23] 

A form of ἀγωνίζομαι was translated fighting (John 18:36 NET), exercise (1 Corinthians 9:25 NET), struggling (Colossians 1:29; 4:12 NET), struggle (1 Timothy 4:10 NET), compete (1 Timothy 6:12 NET) and competed (2 Timothy 4:7 NET).  Returning to the marriage analogy of Romans 7, trying to bear fruit alone is futile, seeking another than the One who was raised from the dead[24] is sinful, and lying there passively is no fun for anyone.  Exercise, compete, struggle, fight, bearing fruit is important enough to do badly until one learns to do it right.

Two things here: First, though it may seem like a non sequitur[25] to go directly to spiritual fruit from the word saved, most people who believe that Jesus answered yes to this question, believe it primarily because it confirms their observations that the fruit of salvation is lacking in many or most people around them.  And secondly, though it may sound like I’m reversing my position here, I have exercised, competed, struggled and fought to bear fruit, compelled by a God-given hunger and thirst for righteousness[26] and empowered by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.[27]

These essays are often about how wrongheaded I’ve been in that exercise, competition, struggling and fighting.  But if those mistakes were necessary to get from there to here, I would make them all again.  If it is possible for someone to avoid some of my mistakes by reading about them, praise the Lord!  If my writing discourages one from pursuing Christ and his righteousness, I apologize from the bottom of my heart!  If my writing encourages one to wait passively rather than to pursue Christ and his righteousness, stop reading my writing and get to work making as many of your own mistakes as soon as possible!

My dear Gentle Heart, though you have been harried and harassed by those who would make your heart harder, [you] have competed (ἠγώνισμαι, another form of ἀγωνίζομαι) well…[you] have kept the faith![28]  And though you haven’t budged in all these years, I want to consider at least the possibility of changing religions, to join with those who believe in universal salvation.  The problem isn’t finding both the hope and promise of universal salvation in Scripture.  The problem is what to make of all the “hell talk”[29] in the Bible if universal salvation is true.

I found a website[30] that does a fairly effective job of eliminating “hell talk” from the Bible.  I admit I didn’t read every word, just enough to grasp the basic assumptions: 1) αἰώνιος[31] does not mean eternal[32] but a dispensational age[33]; 2) the book of Revelation was written before 70 A.D. so most of it refers to the fall of Jerusalem; and 3) punishment is not simply consequential but effectual in purging or purifying sin.

The benefits of believing that αἰώνιος does not mean eternal are obvious.  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.[34]  The Greek τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον wouldn’t mean eternal fire but “fire for a dispensational age.”  The meaning isn’t altered much.  It would still be better to enter life crippled or lame than to spend a dispensational age in fire.  This one, since the fall of Jerusalem, is approaching two thousand years.

In, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!’”[35] εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον wouldn’t mean into the eternal fire but “into the fire of a dispensational age.”  The Greek εἰς κόλασιν αἰώνιον wouldn’t mean into eternal punishment in, “And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”[36]  But then, would εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον mean into eternal life?  Here the potential cost of this assumption begins to come into focus.  What becomes of Jesus’ words to Nicodemus if αἰώνιον means “a dispensational age” (John 3:14-16 NET)?

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον).”  For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον).

I’ve placed a table of the benefits and potential costs of this assumption at the end of this essay.

The assumption that Revelation was written before 70 A.D. is not mine, but is also one I don’t know how to argue.  Jesus certainly spoke before 70 A.D. and He certainly prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem.  Those prophecies confirmed Him as a prophet to be feared.[37]  Richard Wayne Garganta[38] wrote:[39]

“Christ was…referring to the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the elimination of the entire Jewish system in 70 AD – the end of the age…at the end of the Jewish age when severe judgments were to come, the angels or messengers to execute God’s judgments would separate Christians from others.  The bad were to suffer in the furnace of fire which was the burning city of Jerusalem.  The evil were also to perish in Gehenna [γεέννῃ].[40]  Gehenna in many Bibles is wrongly interpreted ‘hell’.  Gehenna was the garbage dump, the incinerator outside Jerusalem where the ‘fire was never quenched and the worm didn’t die.’  This was because garbage and the bodies of criminals were thrown there to be burned.  This is exactly what happened during the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.”

But does that mean that Jesus only prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem?  Consider his warning to his disciples that religious people would defame them and accuse them of evil, just as they accused Him of being Beelzebul.[41]  Do not be afraid of them, He counseled, for nothing is hidden that will not be revealed.[42]  For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God,[43] Paul wrote the Romans.  Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul (ψυχὴν),[44] Jesus continued, speaking of those religious defamers from verse 25 and perhaps expanding his comments to others as well.  Instead, He continued, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul (ψυχὴν) and body in hell (γεέννῃ).[45]

If I limit the meaning of γεέννῃ here to “the garbage dump, the incinerator outside Jerusalem,” who was Jesus telling his disciples to fear?  Roman soldiers? because the cremation of a corpse is able to destroy both soul and body?  Was He reassuring them about their value above many sparrows, that the Father’s will protected their corpses from cremation?  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul (ψυχὴν)[46] by being cremated after his death?  And what about immolation?  Again it seems to me that eliminating hell from the equation is a potentially costly enterprise.

I can’t say for certain whether αἰώνιος means eternal or a dispensational age only.  I can only say I don’t want to stand before Jesus pretending that I can.  I don’t know whether Revelation was written before 70 A.D. or not.  I only know that I won’t stand before Jesus and tell Him to his face that He could not mean that γεέννῃ is a place of κόλασιν αἰώνιον (Hebrews 4:13 NET):

…no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

None of this is to say anything against Richard Wayne Garganta.  I don’t doubt his sincerity, only mine if I were to follow him.  At this moment in my journey, my faith and my knowledge of God don’t correspond exactly with his (though I appreciate the effort he has put into sharing them).  I’ll consider what I perceive as his third assumption in the next essay.

What follows is the table of benefits and potential costs if αἰώνιος means a dispensational age only.

αἰώνιος

Benefit

Potential Cost
Would ζωὴ αἰώνιος…

John 12:50; Romans 6:23; 1 John 5:20 (NET)

 …mean eternal life?
Would αἰώνιος ζωὴ…

John 17:3 (NET)

 …mean eternal life?

 

αἰώνιον, a form of αἰώνιος

Benefit

Potential Cost
τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον…

Matthew 18:8 (NET)

 …would not mean eternal fire Would ζωὴν αἰώνιον…

Matthew 19:16; Luke 18:30; John 3:15, 16, 36; 4:36; 5:24, 39; 6:27, 40, 47, 54; 10:28; 12:25; 17:2; Acts 13:48; Romans 2:7; 5:21; 6:22; Galatians 6:8; 1 John 3:15; Jude 1:21 (NET)

 …mean eternal life?
εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον…

Matthew 25:41 (NET)

 …would not mean into the eternal fire Would ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσει…

Matthew 19:29 (NET)

 …mean will inherit eternal life?
εἰς κόλασιν αἰώνιον…

Matthew 25:46 (NET)

 …would not mean into the eternal punishment Would εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον…

Matthew 25:46 (NET)

 …mean into eternal life?
τίσουσιν ὄλεθρον αἰώνιον…

2 Thessalonians 1:9 (NET)

 …would not mean the penalty of eternal destruction Would ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσω…

Mark 10:17; Luke 10:25; 18:18 (NET)

 …mean inherit eternal life?
Would ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον…

John 4:14 (NET)

 …mean springing up to eternal life?
Would εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον…

1 Timothy 1:16 (NET)

 …mean for eternal life?
Would τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον…

1 John 1:2, 2:25 (NET)

 …mean the eternal life?
Would ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον…

1 John 5:13 (NET)

 …mean you have eternal life?

 

αἰωνίου, a form of αἰώνιος

Benefit

Potential Cost
αἰωνίου ἁμαρτήματος…

Mark 3:29 (NET)

 …would not mean an eternal sin. Would ρήματα ζωῆς αἰωνίου…

John 6:68 (NET)

 …mean words of eternal life?
κρίματος αἰωνίου…

Hebrews 6:2 (NET)

 …would not mean of…eternal judgment. Would αἰωνίου ζωῆς…

Acts 13:46 (NET)

 …mean of eternal life?
πυρὸς αἰωνίου δίκην…

Jude 1:7 (NET)

 …would not mean the punishment of eternal fire. Would τοῦ αἰωνίου θεοῦ…

Romans 16:26 (NET)

 …mean of the eternal God?
Would τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς…

1 Timothy 6:12 (NET)

 …mean of that eternal life?
Would ζωῆς αἰωνίου…

Titus 1:2; 3:7 (NET)

 …mean of eternal life?
Would σωτηρίας αἰωνίου…

Hebrews 5:9 (NET)

 …mean of eternal salvation?
Would πνεύματος αἰωνίου…

Hebrews 9:14 (NET)

 …mean eternal Spirit?
Would τῆς αἰωνίου κληρονομίας…

Hebrews 9:15 (NET)

 …mean the eternal inheritance?
Would διαθήκης αἰωνίου…

Hebrews 13:20 (NET)

 …mean of the eternal covenant?

 

αἰωνίαν, a form of αἰώνιος

Benefit

Potential Cost
Would παράκλησιν αἰωνίαν…

2 Thessalonians 2:16 (NET)

 …mean eternal comfort?
Would αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν…

Hebrews 9:12 (NET)

 …mean eternal redemption?

 

αἰωνίους, a form of αἰώνιος

Benefit

Potential Cost
Would τὰς αἰωνίους σκηνάς…

Luke 16:9 (NET)

 …mean the eternal homes?

Condemnation or Judgment? Part 7

Back to Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 8

7/1/16 Addendum: J. W. Hanson, in Universalism: The Prevailing Doctrine Of The Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years, seemed willing to accept this limitation of eternal life. Following Philo he suggested that only ἀΐδιος means eternal in the sense of everlasting, while αἰώνιος is an indefinite period of time. It this is true only God’s power and the chains of the angels who did not keep within their proper domain are everlasting.

Mr. Hanson wrote:

Philo, who was contemporary with Christ, generally used aidion to denote endless, and aionian temporary duration. He uses the exact phraseology of Matt. xxv: 46, precisely as Christ used it: “It is better not to promise than not to give prompt assistance, for no blame follows in the former case, but in the latter there is dissatisfaction from the weaker class, and a deep hatred and æonian punishment (chastisement) from such as are more powerful.” Here we have the precise terms employed by our Lord, which show that aionian did not mean endless but did mean limited duration in the time of Christ.

From III. Origin of Endless Punishment.
Philo’s Use of the Words.

[2] John 5:29b (NET)

[10] 2 Peter 3:9 (NET)

[11] 1 John 4:16 (NET) Table

[12] 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NET)

[13] Exodus 34:7b (NET)

[16] Matthew 6:10b (NET) Table

[19] Galatians 5:22, 23a (NET)

[20] Isaiah 55:9 (NET)

[21] Luke 13:23 (NET)

[23] Luke 13:24 (NET)

[28] 2 Timothy 4:7 (NET)

[34] Matthew 18:8 (NET)

[35] Matthew 25:41 (NET)

[36] Matthew 25:46 (NET)

[42] Matthew 10:26a (NET)

[43] Romans 8:19 (NET)

[44] Matthew 10:28a (NET)

[45] Matthew 10:28b (NET)

[46] Matthew 16:26a (NKJV)

Fear – Exodus, Part 9

Posted on by

Now when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand – when he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.  When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid (yârêʼ)[1] to approach him.[2]  The Greek word ἐφοβήθησαν (a form of φοβέω)[3] was chosen for this fear in the Septuagint.  This word occurs in the phrase ἐφοβήθησαν φόβον[4] μέγαν[5] in Mark’s gospel and was translated, They were overwhelmed by fear.[6]

Jesus and his disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat.  Now a great windstorm developed and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was nearly swamped.[7]  Jesus was asleep in the stern.  His disciples woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?”  So he got up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Be quiet! Calm down!”  Then the wind stopped, and it was dead calm.[8]

I thought Jesus rebuked them then.  “Why are you cowardly?” He said according to Mark’s account (which I assume was Peter’s account and Mark served as chronicler, if not his scribe).  Do you still not have faith?”[9]  In Matthew’s account Jesus’ rebuke—“Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?”[10]—came even before He calmed the storm.  (Matthew/Levi hadn’t been called yet, according to Matthew.[11])  Of course, the text doesn’t actually say that Jesus rebuked them.

He rebuked (ἐπετίμησεν, a form of ἐπιτιμάω)[12] the wind (the cause[13] of the problem, if you will), and said (εἶπεν, a form of ῥέω)[14] to the sea as He said (εἶπεν) to his disciples.  Matthew recorded what He said (λέγει, a form of λέγω)[15] to his disciples, and how He rebuked (ἐπετίμησεν) the winds and the sea.  But when I believed that my faith was the work that made me worthy of heaven—Why are you cowardly?  Do you still not have faith? and Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?—stung like rebuke.  My opinion began to change, however, after I began to believe that his divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence,[16] and that credited righteousness[17] was a functional,[18] rather than merely a formal,[19] righteousness.

My original opinion about Jesus’ rebuke was rendered absurd when I began to believe that even faith did not come out of or out from me: For by grace you are saved through faith (πίστεως, a form of πίστις),[20] and this is not from yourselves (καὶ[21] τοῦτο[22] οὐκ[23] ἐξ[24] ὑμῶν[25]), it is the gift of God.[26]  I heard the argument that this (τοῦτο, literally these) cannot refer back to faith (πίστεως) because τοῦτο “is neuter plural and ‘Faith’ [πίστεως] is feminine.”[27]  And I certainly tried to live by its consequences: “God bestows grace on those who faithfully obey His truth (Romans 6:15-18).  Man’s obedient faith does not cancel grace.  The fact is that an obedient faith allows initial grace (Acts 2:38) and permits continual grace (1 John 1:7).”[28]  My faith proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was never up to the task.  On the other hand, “Grace is feminine…And even Salvation (as a noun) is feminine.”[29]  So τοῦτο (literally these) refers to none of them or all three of them.

Though now it seems somewhat redundant and unnecessary to say that God’s grace is not from yourselves, there was a time when I needed to hear that his grace was not from works, so that no one can boast.[30]  Though now it seems somewhat redundant and unnecessary to say that God’s salvation is not from yourselves, there was a time when I needed to hear that his salvation was not from works, so that no one can boast.  Likewise there was a time when I reached the end of MY faith and needed to hear that even faith is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast.[31]  It is Christ’s faithfulness, not mine, the fruit of his Spirit.

And notice how easily these lofty requirements are fulfilled when the faithfulness in question is Christ’s rather than mine: “God bestows grace on those who faithfully obey His truth.  [Christ’s] obedient faith does not cancel grace.  The fact is that an obedient faith allows initial grace and permits continual grace.”  I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.[32]  And, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (πίστις), gentleness, and self-control.[33]

I’m not thinking here of the works of the flesh,[34] but that desire of the flesh that is most perniciously opposed to the Spirit[35] even after its works are largely under his control; namely, the desire to be accepted by God as righteous by my own works on my own terms.  But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites, Jesus said to men who pursued that kind of righteousness.  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven!  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.[36]  I know Paul didn’t explicitly say that this is a desire of the flesh in his letter to the Galatians, so I may be giving the flesh more credit than it deserves.  Perhaps the desire to be right is nothing more than a perversion or short-circuiting of a God-given hunger and thirst for righteousness.[37]  Regardless, the fruit and the glory are God’s, not mine.

The Greek word for this “obedient faith” in the New Testament is ὑπακοή.  At the beginning and the end of his letter to the Romans Paul went out of his way to make it clear that he did not mean “my own works by my own righteousness,” in fact, he called it faith’s obedience (Romans 1:5; 16:25-27 NET):

Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith (ὑπακοὴν[38] πίστεως) among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for long ages, but now is disclosed, and through the prophetic scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the command of the eternal God [κατ᾿[39] ἐπιταγὴν[40] τοῦ[41] αἰωνίου[42] θεοῦ[43]] to bring about the obedience of faith [εἰς[44] ὑπακοὴν πίστεως] – to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be glory forever!   Amen.

While it is correct to translate ὑπακοή obedience relative to the Greek language, when Paul used ὑπακοή, even alone, relative to the Gospel he did not refer to “my own works by my own righteousness” any more than his use of the word θεοῦ referred to Zeus, Hera, Apollo or Aphrodite.  So I have to ask, how harshly did the Lord Jesus criticize his disciples for not demonstrating the faith He had not yet given them?  And look, I am sending you what my Father promised, Jesus told his Apostles after his resurrection.  But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.[45]

Jesus’ disciples knew, or suspected, that He was the Messiah, or Christ.  That’s why they followed Him, according to John’s Gospel account.  Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two disciples who heard what John [the Baptist] said and followed Jesus.  He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah (Μεσσίαν, a form of Μεσσίας)!”[46] (which is translated Christ [χριστός]).[47]  Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”[48]

Up to that time a messiah (Hebrew: mâshı̂yach, maw-shee’-akh) was simply a man anointed by God for a specific purpose.  Though incredulous at first that anything good could come out of Nazareth,[49] when he met Jesus, Nathaniel revealed some of his expectation regarding this particular anointed one at this particular time in Israel’s history, Rabbi, you are the Son of God (υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ); you are the king of Israel![50]  I’m not sure what Nathaniel meant by υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ.  I don’t think he recognized yet that Jesus was Yahweh in human flesh.  I do think it is that particular lack of faith to which Jesus referred when He said, Why are you cowardly?  Do you still not have faith? or Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?  I’m just not so sure any more that it was a rebuke.

The word translated cowardly in both Mark’s and Matthew’s accounts is δειλοί, a form of δειλός.[51]  Online in a section labeled HELPSTM Word-studies it reads, “deilós is always used negatively in the NT and stands in contrast to the positive fear which can be expressed by 5401 /phóbos [φόβος] (‘fear,’ see Phil 2:12).”[52]  Actually δειλός only occurs three or perhaps four times in the New Testament.  The fourth was rejected by the writer(s) of this particular definition: So since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us give thanks, and through this let us offer worship pleasing to God in devotion and awe (δέους, possibly another form of δειλός).[53]  This is quite similar to Philippians 2:12 (NET): So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe (φόβου, a form of φόβος)[54] and reverence…

In a section labeled “Forms and Transliterations” at the bottom of the web-page in the Bible Hub δέους is listed along with δειλοί: “δειλοι, δειλοί, δειλοις, δειλοίς, δειλοῖς, δειλός, δεους, δέους.”  It is a form of δέος (δειλός is from δέος in Strong’s) according to the Greek Word Study Tool,[55] but it is a form of αἰδώς[56] according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance.  The NET online Bible jumps to αἰδώς if I click on awe in English.  If I click on δέους in Greek the busy signal spins perpetually.  If δέους actually is another form of δειλός, Jesus’ saying might have been translated, Why are you [awestruck]?

The problem is, the one time δειλοῖς (another form of δειλός) occurs in the New Testament it is first in the list of the damned: But to the cowards (δειλοῖς), unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and all those who lie, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.  That is the second death.[57]  And so Thayer’s Greek Lexicon reads, “δειλός, δείλη, δειλόν (δείδω to fear), timid, fearful: Matthew 8:28 [actually, Matthew 8:26]; Mark 4:40; in Revelation 21:8 of Christians who through cowardice give way under persecutions and apostatize. (From Homer down.)”[58]

Before I get too carried away by the idea that the Lord Jesus used δειλός in the same way that Homer used it, I’ll look more deeply into the context in Revelation.  But that kind of confusion could explain why Peter believed that Jesus wanted him to die[59] defending Him with a sword in the garden of Gethsemane.

The damned in Revelation were contrasted to one who conquers: The one who conquers (νικῶν, a form of νικάω)[60] will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son.[61]  The one who conquers (νικῶν, a form of νικάω) will in no way be harmed by the second death.[62]  The one who conquers (νικῶν, a form of νικάω) I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never depart from it.  I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from my God), and my new name as well.[63]

And to the one who conquers (νικῶν, a form of νικάω) and who continues in my deeds (τὰ ἔργα[64] μου[65]) until the end, I will give him authority over the nations…[66]  The one who conquers (νικῶν, a form of νικάω) will be dressed like [the few individuals in Sardis who have not stained their clothes][67] in white clothing, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, but will declare his name before my Father and before his angels.[68]  I have not found your deeds complete (σου |τὰ| ἔργα πεπληρωμένα[69]) in the sight of my God,[70] the Lord complained against most in Sardis.  Wake up then, and strengthen what remains,[71] He said, remember what (πῶς)[72] you received (εἴληφας, a form of λαμβάνω)[73] and heard, and obey it, and repent.[74]

Ordinarily, εἴληφας, a form of λαμβάνω, means to take.[75]  Of course, coupled with πῶς which means how, in what way (translated what), the translation received makes more sense.  How could anyone take from the Lord except to receive what He has given?  What do you have that you did not receive (ἔλαβες, another form of λαμβάνω)?  And if you received (ἔλαβες) it, why do you boast as though you did (λαβών, another form of λαμβάνω) not?[76]

Translated as remember what you received I think of the Holy Spirit and all the righteousness, both fruit and gifts, that flows from Him: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.[77]  And we have different gifts according to the grace given to us.  If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith.  If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.[78]

On the other hand if I think of it translated as remember what you [took], I am reminded of the law: You shall not take (Septuagint, λήμψῃ,[79] another form of λαμβάνω) the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes (Septuagint, λαμβάνοντα,[80] another form of λαμβάνω) his name in vain.[81]  Most in Sardis had not continued in Christ’s deeds, τὰ ἔργα μου (literally, my works, these works of mine).  They had not come into the light, so that it may be plainly evident that [their] deeds have been done in [or, by] God.[82]  They relied on their own works.  I have not found your deeds complete (ἔργα πεπληρωμένα [a form of πληρόω, fulfilled]) in the sight of my God, Jesus said.  He came to fulfill his works in and through us who believe (Matthew 5:17 NET):

Do not think that I have come to abolish (καταλῦσαι, a form of καταλύω)[83] the law or the prophets.  I have not come to abolish (καταλῦσαι, a form of καταλύω) these things but to fulfill (πληρῶσαι, a form of πληρόω) them.

One of the things the one who conquers will inherit[84] is a promise: To the one who is thirsty (διψῶντι, a form of διψάω)[85] I will give water free of charge from the spring of the water of life.[86]  The translators admitted (NET note 13) that they added the word water because it “is implied.  Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.”  So the text reads, To the one who is thirsty I will give free of charge from the spring of the water of life.  The implied direct object in this case is not water but righteousness: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst (διψῶντες, another form of διψάω) for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.[87]

Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty (διψήσει, another form of διψάω) again, Jesus, pointing at a well, told a Samaritan woman.  But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty (διψήσει, another form of διψάω) again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.[88]  So the way that righteousness, the will of God, is achieved in heaven is through free access to God’s Holy Spirit, not an occasional spurt of righteousness, but a spring or fountain springing up to eternal life, which is not so much a timeless time or place as an eternal way of life.  And so it is on earth: may your will be done (γενηθήτω, a form of γίνομαι, literally become)[89] on earth as it is in heaven.[90]

And so it was with our Lord and Savior: I will grant the one who conquers (νικῶν, a form of νικάω) permission to sit with me on my throne, just as I too conquered (ἐνίκησα, a form of νικάω) and sat down with my Father on his throne.[91]  For everyone who has been fathered by God conquers (νικᾷ, a form of νικάω) the world.  This is the conquering power that has conquered (νικήσασα, a form of νικάω) the world: our faith.  Now who is the person who has conquered (νικῶν, a form of νικάω) the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?[92]  If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God.  And we have come to know and to believe the love [the fruit of his Spirit] that God has in us.  God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him [Table].[93]

With that in mind I want to reconsider the story of Jesus calming the wind and the waves.  I’ll use my imagination along with a psalm to get into the scene a little deeper.  When a great windstorm developed and the waves first began breaking into the boat,[94] though the other disciples may have been immediately afraid, I imagine Peter, Andrew, James and John took it in stride, for they were fishermen (Psalm 107:23-25 NET).

Some traveled on the sea in ships, and carried cargo over the vast waters.  They witnessed the acts of the Lord, his amazing feats on the deep water.  He gave the order for a windstorm, and it stirred up the waves of the sea.

As Peter gave orders to man the sail, ropes or oars, I imagine he smiled to himself that Jesus could sleep through it all.  Obviously, the Messiah wasn’t worried that He might drown in a storm on the Sea of Galilee (Psalm 107:26a NET Table).

They reached up to the sky, then dropped into the depths.

That’s an apt description of a boat riding out a storm fairly successfully.  But in the midst of an inland lake, the longer the wind blows, the more confused the waves become as they bounce back from every shore.  In the dark with no clue where the next wave would come from, it became almost impossible to head into the waves, so that the boat was nearly swamped.[95]  As the level of the water rose inside the boat, I imagine Peter’s amusement gave way to dismay, that the Messiah could sleep through it all (Psalm 107:26b-28a NET).

The sailors’ strength left them because the danger was so great [Table].  They swayed and staggered like a drunk, and all their skill proved ineffective.  They cried out to the Lord in their distress…

Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?[96] Peter roused Jesus from his slumber.  I imagine that it was Peter, telling on himself through Mark (Psalm 107:28b, 29 NET).

…he delivered them from their troubles.  He calmed the storm, and the waves grew silent.

Granted, there are more appropriate ways to cry out to the Lord at the end of one’s own faith.  I’ve certainly said worse than—Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?—but the Lord’s love is not easily angered or resentful.[97]  And with time in, living at the edge of my faith, his peace and patience work out more appropriate prayers for salvation in me.  My point in all this is that Jesus was not concerned with the fear his disciples felt during the storm.  They responded more or less appropriately to that fear according to the Scripture.

Hear how the words—Why are you cowardly?  Do you still not have faith?—sound, if they were spoken quietly with a smile and a wink as Jesus headed back to bed, rather than an imperious scowl.  Granted, the order of events in Matthew’s Gospel account lends more credence to that imperious scowl, but then in Matthew the phrase you people of little faith[98] is one word, ὀλιγόπιστοι (a form of ὀλιγόπιστος).[99]  Knowing that, it sounds more like a pet name or a term of endearment than a curse, or even a rebuke.

Where the disciples were in danger of diverging from Scripture was after Jesus calmed the storm, after He revealed that this particular Messiah was in fact Yahweh (Psalms 65:5-7; 89:8, 9; 93:3, 4 NET), who spoke to the wind and the waves and, Even the wind and sea obey him![100]  The sailors [in the psalm] rejoiced because the waves grew quiet, and he led them to the harbor they desired.[101]  Jesus disciples were overwhelmed by fear (ἐφοβήθησαν φόβον μέγαν).[102]

So, when Aaron and all the Israelites…were afraid (Septuagint, ἐφοβήθησαν, a form of φοβέω) to approach [Moses] because the skin of his face shone,[103] they were not frightened by a strange sight.  They had seen stranger sights.  They were frightened by the implication of Moses’ shining face, that Moses was becoming like Yahweh.  The fear of becoming like God, if it is not faced, could keep one from conquering, from inheriting, and from hearing the Lord say, I will be his God and he will be my son.[104]

So that fear fully deserves its place first in the list of the damned.  Aaron and all the Israelites faced that fear, however, and drew near to Moses anyway.  Jesus’ Apostles, except for Judas Iscariot, faced it and overcame by faith in Him, because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world.[105]

[2] Exodus 34:29, 30 (NET)

[4] a form of φόβος

[5] a form of μέγας

[7] Mark 4:37 (NET)

[8] Mark 4:38, 39 (NET)

[9] Mark 4:40 (NET)

[10] Matthew 8:26 (NET)

[11] Matthew 9:9 (NET) As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him.  And he got up and followed him.

[13] Now a great windstorm (λαῖλαψ μεγάλη [another form of μέγας]) developed and the waves, careening back and forth between the shores of the lake called the Sea of Galilee, were the result.

[15] Matthew 8:26 (NET)

[16] 2 Peter 1:3 (NET)

[17] Romans 4

[22] a form of οὗτος

[25] a form of σύ; of you

[26] Ephesians 2:8 (NET)

[30] Ephesians 2:9 (NET)

[31] Ephesians 2:8, 9 (NET)

[32] Galatians 5:16 (NET)

[33] Galatians 5:22, 23a (NET)

[36] Matthew 23:13 (NET)

[38] a form of ὑπακοή

[40] a form of ἐπιταγή

[41] a form of ὁ

[42] a form of αἰώνιος, of eternal

[43] a form of θεός, of God

[45] Luke 24:49 (NET) Table

[47] John 1:40, 41 (NET)

[48] John 1:45 (NET)

[49] John 1:46 (NET)

[50] John 1:49 (NET)

[53] Hebrews 12:28 (NET)

[57] Revelation 21:8 (NET)

[59] The Soul

[61] Revelation 21:7 (NET)

[62] Revelation 2:11b (NET)

[63] Revelation 3:12 (NET)

[64] a form of ἔργον

[65] a form of ἐγώ

[66] Revelation 2:26 (NET)

[68] Revelation 3:5 (NET)

[69] a form of πληρόω

[70] Revelation 3:2b (NET)

[71] Revelation 3:2a (NET)

[74] Revelation 3:3a (NET)

[75] Revelation 11:17b (NET) …you have taken (εἴληφας) your great power and begun to reign.

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

[78] Romans 12:6-8 (NET)

[79] http://www.ericlevy.com/lxx/?Book=Gen&Chapter=24  Point to the word with the mouse to see a popup translation; then point to “search” in the popup to see another popup with the root form of the word.

[81] Exodus 20:7 (NET) Table

[82] John 3:21 (NET)

[86] Revelation 21:6 (NET)

[87] Matthew 5:6 (NET)

[88] John 4:13, 14 (NET)

[90] Matthew 6:10 (NET) Table

[91] Revelation 3:21 (NET)

[92] 1 John 5:4, 5 (NET)

[93] 1 John 4:15, 16 (NET)

[94] Mark 4:37a (NET)

[95] Mark 4:37b (NET)

[96] Mark 4:38 (NET)

[97] 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NET)

[98] Matthew 8:26 (NET)

[100] Mark 4:41 (NET)

[101] Psalm 107:30 (NET)

[102] Mark 4:41 (NET)

[103] Exodus 34:29, 30 (NET)

[104] Revelation 21:7 (NET)

[105] 1 John 5:4 (NET)