Romans, Part 80

JudgmentalPerhaps every old human (παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, translated old man) should come with this warning label, but love says: Now receive the one who is weak in the faith, and do not have disputes over differing opinions.[1]  Paul continued his discussion of love with a then current example (Romans 14:2, 3a NET):

One person believes in eating everything, but the weak (ἀσθενῶν, a form of ἀσθενέω) person eats only vegetables.  The one who eats everything must not despise (ἐξουθενείτω, a form of ἐξουθενέω) the one who does not…

Luke introduced Jesus’ parable contrasting religious and righteous prayer this way: Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else.[2]  The Greek word translated looked down is ἐξουθενοῦντας (another form of ἐξουθενέω) like ἐξουθενείτω, translated despise in Romans 14:3.  Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, replied, “Rulers of the people and elders[3]….This Jesus is the stone that was rejected (ἐξουθενηθεὶς, another form of ἐξουθενέω) by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone.”[4]  Paul wrote believers in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NET Table):

Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters.  Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position.  But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak (ἀσθενῆ, a form of ἀσθενής) to shame the strong.  God chose what is low and despised (ἐξουθενημένα, another form of ἐξουθενέω) in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in his presence.  He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Love doesn’t despise the faith-weak the way the world despises all believers.  And love doesn’t judge those who do not adhere to the rules the faith-weak live by.  Paul continued (Romans 14:3b NET):

…and the one who abstains must not judge (κρινέτω, a form of κρίνω) the one who eats everything, for God has accepted (προσελάβετο, a form of προσλαμβάνω) him.

Therefore do not let anyone judge (κρινέτω, a form of κρίνω) you with respect to food or drink, Paul wrote believers in Colossae, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days – these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ![5]  Yet of love Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 8):

With regard to food sacrificed to idols, we know that “we all have knowledge.”  Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.  If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know.  But if someone loves God, he is known by God.

With regard then to eating food sacrificed to idols, we know that “an idol in this world is nothing,” and that “there is no God but one.”  If after all there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live.

But this knowledge is not shared by all.  And some, by being accustomed to idols in former times, eat this food as an idol sacrifice, and their conscience, because it is weak (ἀσθενὴς, another form of ἀσθενής), is defiled.  Now food will not bring us close to God.  We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.  But be careful that this liberty of yours does not become a hindrance to the weak (ἀσθενέσιν, another form of ἀσθενής).  For if someone weak (ἀσθενοῦς, another form of ἀσθενής) sees you who possess knowledge dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience be “strengthened” to eat food offered to idols?  So by your knowledge the weak (ἀσθενῶν, a form of ἀσθενέω) brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed.  If you sin against your brothers or sisters in this way and wound their weak (ἀσθενοῦσαν, another form of ἀσθενέω) conscience, you sin against Christ.  For this reason, if food causes my brother or sister to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause one of them to sin.

Paul continued for believers in Rome (Romans 14:4a NET):

Who are you to pass judgment (κρίνων, another form of κρίνω) on another’s servant?  Before his own master he stands or falls.

Jesus said, there is One who seeks and judges[6] (ἔστιν ὁ ζητῶν καὶ κρίνων).  I quoted the NAS because the NET translation reads, There is one who demands it, and he also judges.  This leaves me with the impression that Jesus told the Ἰουδαῖοι (Judeans, NET; Jews, NAS) that his Father demanded glory for Jesus from them and would judge them for failing to deliver it.  The latter is simply false, the Father does not judge (κρίνει, another form of κρίνω) anyone, but has assigned all judgment (κρίσιν, a form of κρίσις) to the Son[7]  What the Father seeks (ζητῶν, a form of ζητέω) was specified earlier in John’s Gospel: But a time is coming – and now is here – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks (ζητεῖ, another form of ζητέω) such people to be his worshipers.[8]

I think Jesus meant what He said: I am not trying to get (ζητῶ, another form of ζητέω) praise (δόξαν, a form of δόξα) for myself.[9]  The person who speaks on his own authority desires (ζητεῖ, a form of ζητέω) to receive honor (δόξαν, a form of δόξα) for himself; the one who desires (ζητῶν, a form of ζητέω) the honor (δόξαν, a form of δόξα) of the one who sent him is a man of integrity (ἀληθής), and there is no unrighteousness in him.[10]  Clearly, the translators of the NET thought of δόξαν as honor, also translated praise, something originating with people.  The Father has assigned all judgment to the Son, so that all people will honor (τιμῶσι, a form of τιμάω) the Son just as they honor (τιμῶσι, a form of τιμάω) the Father.[11]

In that light then since the Father seeks true worshipers who worshipin spirit and truth, then He might also seek honor from those worshippers for his Son.  The one who does not honor (τιμῶν, another form of τιμάω) the Son does not honor (τιμᾷ, another form of τιμάω) the Father who sent him.[12]  And granted, Jesus prefaced his remarks with, I honor (τιμῶ, another form of τιμάω) my Father – and yet you dishonor (ἀτιμάζετε, a form of ἀτιμάζω) me.[13]  But I’m still not convinced that made δόξαν a synonym for τιμάω.

I think Jesus meant glory from or of God, his Father.  “If I glorify (δοξάσω, a form of δοξάζω) myself, my glory (δόξα) is worthless.  The one who glorifies (δοξάζων, another form of δοξάζω) me is my Father, about whom you people say, ‘He is our God.’”[14]  I glorified (ἐδόξασα, another form of δοξάζω) you on earth, Jesus prayed to his Father, by completing the work you gave me to do.[15]  And I think Jesus was focused on that work, both to seek the Father’s true worshiper’s—For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise[16]—and to do it in a way that satisfied the Father’s judgment (of Him as opposed to others).  I think Jesus expressed a relationship to his Father very similar to the relationship Paul expressed to Jesus (1 Corinthians 4:3, 4 NET):

So for me, it is a minor matter that I am judged (ἀνακριθῶ, a form of ἀνακρίνω) by you or by any human court.  In fact, I do not even judge (ἀνακρίνω) myself.  For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not acquitted because of this.  The one who judges (ἀνακρίνων) me is the Lord.

And that relationship answers why He was so impressed with the faith of the centurion: “just say the word and my servant will be healed.  For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.  I say to this one, ‘Go’ and he goes, and to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave ‘Do this’ and he does it.”[17]  The servant and the slave honored the centurion but Caesar glorified him.

I consider when Jesus sought his own glory and what He did with it: “Father, the time has come.  Glorify (δόξασον, another form of δοξάζω) your Son, so that your Son may glorify (δοξάσῃ, another form of δοξάζω) you[18]  Now, Father, glorify (δόξασον, another form of δοξάζω) Me together with Yourself, with the glory (δόξῃ, another form of δόξα) which I had with You before the world was.”[19]  Then He took that glory and nailed it naked, bruised and bleeding to a cross; Jesus said (John 10:17, 18; Matthew 26:53, 54 NET):

This is why the Father loves me – because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again.  No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will.  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again.  This commandment I received from my Father.

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? [Table]  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?

The prophet Isaiah described it this way (Isaiah 53 NET):

Who would have believed what we just heard?  When was the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) power revealed through him?

He sprouted up like a twig before God, like a root out of parched soil; he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him.

He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant.

But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our pain; even though we thought he was being punished, attacked by God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים), and afflicted for something he had done.

He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed.

All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord (yehôvâh, ויהוה) caused the sin of all of us to attack him.

He was treated harshly and afflicted, but he did not even open his mouth.  Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block, like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not even open his mouth.

He was led away after an unjust trial – but who even cared?  Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the rebellion of his own people he was wounded.

They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb, because he had committed no violent deeds, nor had he spoken deceitfully.

Though the Lord (yehôvâh, ויהוה) desired to crush him and make him ill, once restitution is made, he will see descendants and enjoy long life, and the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) purpose will be accomplished through him.

Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done.

“My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins.  So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels.”

Paul described it this way for believers in Rome, For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened (ἠσθένει, another form of ἀσθενέω) 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.[20]  And he described it this way for believers in Corinth: God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.[21]

Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Paul wrote.  Before his own master he stands or falls.  And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.[22]  Though it may seem at first that this latter applies only to the less faith-weak, I don’t think that is the case.  I as a believer stand not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness – a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.[23]  And this confidence in Christ’s faithfulness may be the ultimate meaning of thinking of one another.

[1] Romans 14:1 (NET)

[2] Luke 18:9 (NET)

[3] Acts 4:8 (NET)

[4] Acts 4:11 (NET)

[5] Colossians 2:16, 17 (NET)

[6] John 8:50b (NAS)

[7] John 5:22 (NET)

[8] John 4:23 (NET)

[9] John 8:50a (NET)

[10] John 7:18 (NET)

[11] John 5:22b, 23a (NET)

[12] John 5:23b (NET)

[13] John 8:49b (NET)

[14] John 8:54 (NET)

[15] John 17:4 (NET)

[16] John 5:19b (NET)

[17] Matthew 8:8b, 9 (NET) Table

[18] John 17:1b (NET)

[19] John 17:5 (NAS)

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

[21] 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET)

[22] Romans 14:4 (NET) Table

[23] Philippians 3:9 (NET)

Fear – Numbers, Part 4

To Korah the Levite, the Reubenites Dathan, Abiram and On, and the 250 leaders of the community[1] who accused Moses and Aaron of exalting themselves above the community of the Lord,[2] Moses said (Numbers 16:16, 17 NET):

You and all your company present yourselves before the Lord – you and they, and Aaron – tomorrow.  And each of you take his censer, put incense in it, and then each of you present his censer before the Lord: 250 censers, along with you, and Aaron – each of you with his censer.

The first time Moses said this[3] I wrote it off as sarcasm.  Here it sounds more like a princely summons to appear at their own executions, considering what happened to Nadab and Abihu, authorized priests who presented unauthorized fire before the Lord.  They appeared as commanded, and not only those who were summoned.  When Korah assembled the whole community against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, then the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community.[4]

In the Septuagint the whole community assembled was τὴν πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ συναγωγὴν (literally, “the all here synagogue”).  And the glory of the Lord appeared to πάσῃ τῇ συναγωγῇ (literally, “all the synagogue”).  The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Separate yourselves from among this community (Septuagint, τῆς συναγωγῆς), that I may consume them in an instant.[5]  It’s probably worth mentioning that this story recounts yehôvâh’s frustration, patience and mercy with condemned Israel rather than redeemed Israel (Numbers 14:28-30a):

As I live, says the Lord, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing.  Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness – all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me.  You will by no means enter into the land where I swore to settle you.

A note in the NET suggests that this community meant only “people siding with Korah… an assembly of rebels.”  Moses and Aaron, however, didn’t take it that way: they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all people (Septuagint, τῶν πνευμάτων καὶ πάσης σαρκός; literally, “the spirits and all flesh”), will you be angry with the whole community (Septuagint, πᾶσαν τὴν συναγωγὴν) when only one man sins?”[6]

I find it particularly affecting that Aaron, who was once on the side of his rebellious people and in need of Moses’ intercession, joined Moses here in intercession. And despite Aaron’s former rebelliousness, the Lord answered them favorably. “Tell the community (Septuagint, τῇ συναγωγῇ): ‘Get away from around the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Septuagint, τῆς συναγωγῆς Κορε; literally, “the synagogue of Korah”).’”[7]  Moses did as the Lord commanded him (Numbers 16:25-27 NET):

Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel went after him.  And he said to the community (Septuagint, τὴν συναγωγὴν), “Move away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because of all their sins.”  So they got away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stationed themselves in the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their toddlers.

In my estimation Moses tried diligently to make what transpired next explicitly clear to all the community (Numbers 16:28-30 NET).

“This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will (Septuagint, ἐμαυτοῦ; literally, “myself”).  If these men die a natural death, or if they share the fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.  But if the Lord does something entirely new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up along with all that they have, and they go down alive to the grave (Hebrew, sheʼôl; Septuagint, ᾅδου; literally, “to Hades”), then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”

On cue, the earth split open. They and all that they had went down alive into the pit (Hebrew, sheʼôl; Septuagint, ᾅδου), and the earth closed over them. So they perished from among the community[8] (Septuagint, ἀπώλοντο ἐκ μέσου τῆς συναγωγῆς; literally, “they perished out of the midst of the synagogue”).  The rest of the community didn’t feel particularly pious.  They ran, saying, “What if the earth swallows us too?”[9]  With a surgical precision that honored the intercession of Moses and Aaron, a fire went out from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who offered incense.[10]

In their reaction the next day the whole community of Israelites offers the most valid and poignant measure of the sanctifying power of scary stuff.  I call it scary stuff because yârêʼ, the Hebrew word translated fear, which seems to entail reverence for God and appears to stand as the Old Testament equivalent of New Testament faith, makes no appearance in the telling of this story.  The rest of the community either misunderstood or ignored Moses’ explanation of the previous day’s events.  They thought he did a magic trick, black magic at that: on the next day the whole community of Israelites (Septuagint, υἱοὶ Ισραηλ; literally, “sons of Israel”) murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people (Septuagint, τὸν λαὸν κυρίου)!”[11]

Scary stuff doesn’t produce fear, not the fear of the Lord.  That fear, it seems, like faith only comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.[12]  And the Lord, it seems, was prescient when He wanted to destroy the whole community the day before.

Again, He said to Moses and Aaron, Get away from this community (Septuagint, τῆς συναγωγῆς), so that I can consume them in an instant![13]  Again, Moses and Aaron threw themselves down with their faces to the ground[14] but made no insinuation that the Lord might be destroying the innocent along with the guilty.

Then Moses [the prophet] said to Aaron [the priest], “Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord – the plague has begun!”  So Aaron [the priest] did as Moses [the prophet] commanded and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague was just beginning among the people. So he placed incense on the coals and made atonement for the people.  He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.  Now 14,700 people died in the plague, in addition to those who died in the event with Korah.[15]

Again, the Lord responded favorably to Moses’ intercession. Through the very same act that fried 250 others He spared the vast majority of the people when Aaron the authorized priest responded obediently to the word of the authorized prophet.  Contrast this to a more “successful” rebellion in the time of Jeremiah, just prior to the Babylonian captivity of Judah, the southern part of the divided kingdom of Israel (Jeremiah 2:12, 13, 29, 30; 4:21, 22; 5:30, 31 NET).

Be amazed at this, O heavens!  Be shocked and utterly dumbfounded,” says the Lord.  “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

“Why do you try to refute me?  All of you have rebelled against me,” says the Lord.  “It did no good for me to punish your people.  They did not respond to such correction.  You slaughtered your prophets like a voracious lion.”

“How long must I see the enemy’s battle flags and hear the military signals of their bugles?”  The Lord answered, “This will happen because my people are foolish.  They do not know me.  They are like children who have no sense.  They have no understanding.  They are skilled at doing evil.  They do not know how to do good.”

“Something horrible and shocking is going on in the land of Judah: The prophets prophesy lies.  The priests exercise power by their own authority.  And my people love (Septuagint, ἠγάπησεν, a form of ἀγαπάω) to have it this way.  But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes!

You unbelieving (ἄπιστος) generation! How much longer must I be with you?  How much longer must I endure you?[16] This was Jesus’ response to an argument He walked into after his transfiguration.  Actually this is Mark’s version of his response.  Matthew’s and Luke’s are quite similar except for διεστραμμένη (a form of διαστρέφω). You unbelieving (ἄπιστος) and perverse (διεστραμμένη, a form of διαστρέφω) generation! How much longer must I be with you?  How much longer must I endure you?[17]  They were not merely unbelieving but were distorting, turning aside from, opposing and plotting “against the saving purposes and plans of God,” according to the definition in the NET.

On the surface of it this doesn’t sound like a promising prelude to the healing of the boy at the center of the story. Jesus didn’t do many miracles in his hometown of Nazareth because of their unbelief (ἀπιστίαν, a form of ἀπιστία).[18]  Yet all three Gospel writers record essentially the same thing, Bring him here to me,[19] Jesus continued.

Matthew Mark Luke
I brought him to your disciples, but they were not able to heal him.”  Jesus answered, “You unbelieving (ἄπιστος) and perverse (διεστραμμένη, a form of διαστρέφω) generation!  How much longer must I be with you?  How much longer must I endure you?

Matthew 17:16, 17a (NET)

I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they were not able to do so.”  He answered them, “You unbelieving (ἄπιστος) generation!  How much longer must I be with you?  How much longer must I endure you?

Mark 9:18b, 19a (NET)

I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.”  Jesus answered, “You unbelieving (ἄπιστος) and perverse (διεστραμμένη, a form of διαστρέφω) generation!  How much longer must I be with you and endure you?

Luke 9:40, 41a (NET)

Bring him here to me.”

Matthew 17:17b (NET)

Bring him to me.”

Mark 9:19b (NET)

Bring your son here.”

Luke 9:41b (NET)

In Matthew’s most abbreviated account, Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment.[20]  While this is true to the other accounts, Matthew left out some of the detail and some of the nuance of the story. As the boy was approaching, Luke wrote, the demon threw him to the ground and shook him with convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.[21]  Luke captured a bit more of the drama of the story but still left out some of the details.

So they brought the boy to him, Mark wrote.  When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.[22]  Though the sight of Jesus set the spirit off, Jesus didn’t immediately rebuke the spirit and heal the boy.  He paused to take what sounds to a modern ear like a medical history: Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.  It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him.”[23]  It becomes obvious later that Jesus arrived at a diagnosis based on this one question, but it elicited something else as well.

But if you are able to do anything, the boy’s father continued, have compassion on us and help us.[24]  Here is the dilemma for Jesus.  The father’s words were not an expression of faith but something more like putting the Lord to the test (Matthew 4:5-7 NET).

Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the highest point of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.  For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you’ and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”  Jesus said to him, “Once again it is written: ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’”

This becomes clearer if I contrast the father’s words to the faith of the Roman centurion.

The Boy’s Father

The Roman Centurion

But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.

Mark 9:22b (NET)

But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.  Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed.  For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.  I say to this one, ‘Go’ and he goes, and to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave ‘Do this’ and he does it.”

Matthew 8:8, 9 (NET) Table

If Jesus had required this kind of faith as a prerequisite to healing someone, He would have healed no one in Israel at all: When Jesus heard [the centurion’s faith] he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel!”[25]  And as a rule He didn’t require those possessed by evil spirits to exhibit any faith at all.  On the contrary, He seemed to want to silence the evil spirits.  Still, the boy’s father (inadvertently, I assume) had challenged Jesus’ authority.  So Jesus fed him the correct answer: Then Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’ All things are possible for the one who believes (πιστεύοντι, a form of πιστεύω).”[26]

Concerned for his son’s welfare this father didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth: Immediately the father of the boy cried out and said, “I believe (πιστεύω); help (βοήθει, a form of βοηθέω) my unbelief (ἀπιστίᾳ, a form of ἀπιστία)!”[27]  Medical science has begun to grasp the importance of faith in the context of the natural healing process.  But I don’t think Jesus was interested in the placebo effect here.  I think He would have questioned and instructed this father more on the subject of faith in God and miraculous healing if the boy’s antics hadn’t drawn a crowd (Mark 9:25-27 NET).

Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”  It shrieked, threw him into terrible convulsions, and came out.  The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He is dead!”  But Jesus gently took his hand and raised him to his feet, and he stood up.

Two different versions of Jesus’ disciples asking Him privately (κατ᾿ ἰδίαν) what they did wrong follow (Matthew 17:19, 20 NET).

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately (κατ᾿ ἰδίαν) and said, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?”  He told them, “It was because of your little faith (ὀλιγοπιστίαν, a form of ὀλιγόπιστος).  I tell you the truth, if you have faith (πίστιν, a form of πίστις) the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.”

This was the more public privately.  Jesus was clearly concerned that bystanders grasped the importance of faith even as He healed a man’s son who had challenged (tested, or tempted) Him more than he had trusted Him.  The key here is ὀλιγοπιστίαν (a form of ὀλιγόπιστος).

In a world where “faith” is the work we do to merit heaven and distinguish ourselves from those sinners condemned to hell, the translation of ὀλιγόπιστοι (another form of ὀλιγόπιστος) as you people of little faith[28] sounds like the harshest slander and condemnation.  But the disciples saw Jesus’ face and heard the tone in his voice when He said it, and knew that ὀλιγόπιστοι was one word in the Greek language, and that He used that word like a pet name[29] for them.  Because they knew this they were not afraid to ask Him the very same question again, a more private privately (Mark 9:28, 29 NET).

Then, after he went into the house, his disciples asked him privately (κατ᾿ ἰδίαν), “Why couldn’t we cast it out?”  He told them, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

And here I have Jesus’ diagnosis derived during that brief medical history.

 

As an aside, I read something online about Amen.  The writer was concerned that we who used it at the end of our prayers were invoking an ancient Egyptian deity, a demon in other words.  I thought that was silly even as I read it, but I couldn’t come up with any compelling reason to end my prayers in tongues, a foreign language.  So I began to end them with “I believe,” the translation of Amen as I understood it.  Though I hadn’t really considered it when I prayed Amen, praying “I believe” seemed quite disingenuous at times.  So I amended my prayers then to “I believe; please help my unbelief.”  This is, of course, exactly what Jesus does through his Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23 NET).

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (πίστις), gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.

 


[1] Numbers 16:2 (NET)

[2] Numbers 16:3 (NET)

[3] Numbers 16:6, 7 (NET)

[4] Numbers 16:19 (NET)

[5] Numbers 16:21 (NET)

[6] Numbers 16:22 (NET)

[7] Numbers 16:24 (NET)

[8] Numbers 16:33 (NET)

[9] Numbers 16:34 (NET)

[10] Numbers 16:35 (NET)

[11] Numbers 16:41 (NET)

[12] Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

[13] Numbers 16:45a (NET)

[14] Numbers 16:45b (NET)

[15] Numbers 16:46-49 (NET)

[16] Mark 9:19a (NET)

[17] Matthew 17:17a (NET)

[18] Matthew 13:58 (NET)

[19] Matthew 17:17b (NET)

[20] Matthew 17:18 (NET)

[21] Luke 9:42 (NET)

[22] Mark 9:20 (NET) Table

[23] Mark 9:21, 22a (NET)

[24] Mark 9:22b (NET) Table

[25] Matthew 8:10 (NET) Table

[26] Mark 9:23 (NET) Table

[27] Mark 9:24 (NET) Table

[28] Matthew 6:30 (NET)

[29] Matthew 8:26; 14:31 (ὀλιγόπιστε, another form of ὀλιγόπιστος); 16:8 (NET)