Tag Archives: Romans 7:25

The Day of the Lord, Part 7

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This is a continuation of my consideration whether my assumption that Jesus called Judas Iscariot ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας (NET: the one destined for destruction) is like Jesus’ disciples’ discussion about having no bread1 after He said: “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!”2 In another essay I began to look at John’s description of antichrist and many antichrists because Meyer’s NT Commentary stated that many of the Church Fathers had understood Paul’s description of the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, as the Antichrist.

I highlighted two things he wrote about their insights:3

They correctly agree in considering that by the advent (2 Thessalonians 2:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:8), or the day of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:2), is to be understood the personal advent of Christ for the last judgment and for the completion of the Messianic kingdom. Also it is correctly regarded as proved, that the Antichrist here described is to be considered as an individual person, in whom sin will embody itself.

Meyer’s NT Commentary continued to elaborate on the “view of the Fathers” regarding “the Antichrist…considered as an individual person” with the following caveat:

Meyer’s NT Commentary

Google Translate
Yet Augustin already remarks, that “nonnulli non ipsum principem, sed universum quodam modo corpus ejus i. e. ad eum pertinentem hominum multitudinem simul cum ipso suo principe hoc loco intelligi Antichristum volunt.” Yet Augustin already remarks, that “some, not the prince himself, but the whole world, in a certain way, his body i. e. The multitude of men belonging to him, together with their own leader, want to be understood in this place as Antichrist.”

Mr. Meyer cataloged many evolving views: “[T]he view, first in the eleventh century, that the establishment and growing power of the Papacy is to be considered as the Antichrist predicted by Paul,”4 is a familiar one. “Yet even before the reference of Antichrist to Popery was maintained, Mohammed[55] was already regarded by the divines of the Greek church…as the Antichrist predicted by Paul.”5

The power which restrained Antichrist evolved as well.

The restraining power by which the appearance of Antichrist is delayed, is usually considered [by the Church Fathers] to be the continuance of the Roman Empire (τὸ κατέχον) and its representative the Roman emperor (ὁ κατέχων). Some, however, as Theodorus Mopsuestius and Theodoret, understand by it τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν ὅρον, i.e. more exactly, the counsel of God to keep back the appearance of Antichrist until the gospel is proclaimed throughout the earth…Chrysostom chooses a third interpretation, that by the restraining power is meant the continuance of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit…

In recent times it has often been considered as objectionable to determine exactly the individual traits of the imagery used by Paul. Accordingly the representation of the apostle has been interpreted in a general, ideal, or symbolical sense. To this class of interpreters belongs Koppe, according to whom Paul, founding on an old national Jewish oracle, supported especially by Daniel, would describe the ungodliness preceding the last day, which already worked, but whose full outbreak was only to take place after the death of the apostle; so that Paul himself was the κατέχων.[57]6

Meyer’s NT Commentary continued:

Meyer’s NT Commentary

Google Translate
Similarly Storr (l.c.), who understands by the ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας [man of sin] “potestas aliqua, deo omnique religioni adversaria, quae penitus incognita et futuro demum tempore se proditura sit,” and by the preventing power the “copia hominum verissimo amore inflammatorum in christianam religionem.” Similarly Storr (l.c.), who understands by the ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας [man of sin] “some power, hostile to God and to all religion, which is completely unknown and will betray itself in the future at the last time,” and by the preventing power the “a multitude of men inflamed with true love into the Christian religion.”

Other opinions were cited: “Nitzsch (l.c.) thinks on the power of atheism first come to have public authority, or the contempt of all religion generally.”7 “Pelt…sums up his views in the following words”:8

Meyer’s NT Commentary

Google Translate
Mihi … adversarius illi principium esse videtur sive vis spiritualis evangelio contraria, quae huc usque tamen in Pontificiorum Romanorum operibus ac serie luculentissime sese prodidit, ita tamen, ut omnia etiam mala, quae in ecclesia compareant, ad eandem Antichristi ἐνέργειαν sint referenda. To me… it seems that the opposite principle is a spiritual force contrary to the gospel, which until now has revealed itself most clearly in the works and series of the Roman Pontiffs, so that even all the evils that appear in the church are to be referred to the same Antichrist ἐνέργειαν.
Ejus vero ΠΑΡΟΥΣΊΑ i. e. summum fastigium, quod Christi reditum qui nihil aliud est, nisi regni divini victoria,[59] antecedet, futurum adhuc esse videtur, quum illud tempus procul etiamnum abesse putemus, ubi omnes terrae incolae in eo erunt, ut ad Christi sacra transeant. Κατέχον vero cum Theodoreto putarim esse dei voluntatem illud Satanae regnum cohibentem, ne erumpat, et, si mediae spectantur causae, apostolorum tempore maxime imperii Romani vis, et quovis aevo illa resistentia, quam malis artibus, quae religionem subvertere student, privati commodi et honoris augendorum cupiditas opponere solet. But his ΠΑΡΟΥΣΊΑ i. e. the highest climax, which precedes the return of Christ, which is nothing else but the victory of the divine kingdom, [59] seems to be yet to come, since we think that time is still far off, when all the inhabitants of the earth will be there, to pass to the sacraments of Christ. Κατέχον, with Theodoretus, I think that it is the will of God restraining that kingdom of Satan, lest it break out, and, if we look at the middle causes, in the time of the apostles the power of the Roman government was especially strong, and in every age that resistance, which is usually opposed to the evil arts which seek to subvert religion, the desire to increase private advantage and honor.

According to [Pelt], the chief stress lies on ΤῸ ΜΥΣΤΉΡΙΟΝ ἬΔΗ ἘΝΕΡΓΕῖΤΑΙ Τῆς ἈΝΟΜΊΑς [literally: the mystery already working of lawlessness]. Antichrist is a union of the individuality and spiritual tendency in masses of individuals. The revolt of the Jews from the Romans, and the fearful divine punishment in the destruction of Jerusalem, Nero, Mohammed and his spiritual devastating power, the development of the Papacy in the Middle Ages, the French Revolution of 1789, with the abrogation of Christianity, and the setting up of prostitutes on altars for worship, in the external world, as well as the constantly spreading denial of the fundamentals of all religious truth and morality, of the doctrines of God, freedom, and immortality, and likewise the self-deification of the ego in the internal world,—all these phenomena are the real precursors of Antichrist; but they contain only some of his characteristics, not all; it is the union of all these characteristics which shall make the full Antichrist.9

Ultimately, though I found some of them illuminating, Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer rejected the views developed in recent times:

It is evident that all these explanations are arbitrary. The Pauline description is so definitely and sharply marked, and has for its whole compass so much the idea of nearness for its supposition, that it can by no means be taken generally, and in this manner explained away.

While I’m grateful to Mr. Meyer for painstakingly collecting all of these opinions in one place, I don’t intend to play guess the identity of Antichrist as an individual person. That game scatters in my opinion, rather than gathering with the Lord Jesus: and whoever does not gather (συνάγων, a form of συνέχω) with me scatters (σκορπίζει, a form of σκορπίζω),10 Jesus said. So, I want to approach it differently.

Matthew Poole’s summation from his Commentary of the difficulty of knowing “what whithholdeth” the revelation of the man of lawlessness was very accessible:

And now ye know what withholdeth: the apostle it seems had told them, as of his coming, so of what at present withheld the revealing of him. And what this was is difficult to know now, though it seems these Thessalonians knew it: there are many conjectures about it. This I shall say in general:
1. It was something that the apostle thought not safe openly to declare in writing; else he would not have written of it so obscurely.
2. It was both a thing, and a person; a thing, to katecon, in this verse, that which withholdeth; and a person, as in the next verse, o katecwn, he who letteth.
3. It was also such a thing and such a person as were to be removed out of the way, not totally, but as they were hinderances [sic] of this revelation.

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible echoed Mr. Poole’s first point:

It is not known precisely what is referred to by the phrase “what withholdeth,” τὸ κατέχον to katechon. The phrase means properly, something that “holds back,” or “restrains”….Of this, the apostle says, they had had full information; but we can only conjecture what it was.

This seems to be a natural consequence of the assumption that Antichrist is an unknown individual from the future. Rather than assuming that Paul, the Holy Spirit and the New Testament are keeping something from us, I prefer to experiment with the idea that ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας or αμαρτιας (NET: the man of lawlessness; KJV: that man of sin [Table])11 and ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας (NET: the son of destruction; KJV: the son of perdition)12 are other words for ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία (NET: sin that lives in me; KJV: sin that dwelleth in me),13 τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν φθειρόμενον κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης (NET: the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires; KJV: the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts),14 ἐμοὶ τὸ κακὸν παράκειται (NET/KJV: evil…present with me)15 and ἡ…σὰρξ (NET/KJV: the flesh).16 I’ll work backwards through this.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh (σὰρξ) is weak,17 Jesus said of disciples who both believed and followed Him. The Greek word translated willing was πρόθυμον (a form of πρόθυμος): “ready, willing, eager, predisposed.” The Greek word translated weak was ἀσθενής: “weak, powerless; weak and easily defeated; sick, ill, unhealthy; disabled, physically weak, feeble, miserable; morally weak; weak in influence, without influence; structurally weak (e.g., weak stones unable to support).” What is born of the flesh (σαρκὸς, a form of σὰρξ) is flesh (σάρξ),18 He told Nicodemus; in other words, it is weak (ἀσθενής). And again, Jesus said to his disciples, The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature (σὰρξ) is of no help!19

Flesh (σὰρξ) and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,20 Paul wrote the Corinthians. He elaborated on this point in his letter to the Romans (Romans 8:1-8 NET):

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

For those who live according to the flesh (σάρκα) have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh (σαρκὸς), but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. For the outlook of the flesh (σαρκὸς) is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, because the outlook of the flesh (σαρκὸς) is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. Those who are in the flesh (σαρκὶ) cannot please God.

Prior to this, Paul had written, with my flesh (σαρκὶ, another form of σὰρξ) I serve the law of sin.21 [W]hen I want to do good, evil is present with me,22 he lamented as he characterized that evil as a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.23 For the flesh (σὰρξ) has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh (σαρκός, another form of σὰρξ),24 he wrote to the Galatians. To the Ephesians he characterized this flesh as the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires.25 He also called this old man simply, sin that lives in me.26 And to the Thessalonians he described all of this as the man of lawlessness…the son of destruction.27

I’ll continue with this in another essay.

1 Mark 8:16b (NET) Table

2 Mark 8:15b (NET)

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 Matthew 12:30b (NET)

11 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Table

12 Ibid.

13 Romans 7:19 Table

14 Ephesians 4:22

15 Romans 7:21

16 Galatians 5:17 Table

17 Matthew 26:41b (NET)

18 John 3:6a (NET)

19 John 6:63a (NET) Table

20 1 Corinthians 15:50b (NET) Table

21 Romans 7:25b (NET) Table

22 Romans 7:21b (NET)

23 Romans 7:23b (NET) Table

24 Galatians 5:17a (NET) Table

25 Ephesians 4:22b (NET)

26 Romans 7:17b (NET) Table, and 7:20b (NET) Table

27 2 Thessalonians 2:3b (NET) Table

Christianity, Part 2

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I concluded the first essay in this series with the clause, “So here I must decide.” That’s true in the sense that faith is an ongoing choice. It is misleading if the reader assumes that choice is to be made by the puny power of my rational mind.

By the time I can stare down my Christianity and say, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,1 the initial choice has already been made. [F]or it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure,2 is how Paul described it. Led by the Holy Spirit, continuously bathed from the inside out in Jesus’ own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, the choice to trust Him becomes a relatively simple matter of not resisting Him.

That the initial choice was made in a non-rational way, however, doesn’t make that choice itself irrational. There are good reasons for making that choice. In real time, however, those reasons have come more like rationalizations after the choice was made rather than preceding and causing the choice. Those reasons do help, however, to sustain that choice on a day-to-day basis.

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself,3 Jesus said. I will draw is not particularly tricky. It was ἑλκύσω (a form of ἑλκύω) in Greek, a first person indicative verb in the future tense. “The indicative mood is a statement of fact or an actual occurrence from the writer’s or speaker’s perspective.”4 In other words, as Jesus says this He believes that He will draw all to Himself.

This is quite powerful as reasons go. Any rational argument against it must explain: 1) how Jesus was wrong and 2) when He changed his mind. My religious mind might imagine any number of scenarios from its own experiences and feelings, but for the mind of Christ this is a very high bar, practically insurmountable.

If Jesus were to ask me, “Why did you believe that I would draw all to myself?” my account is simple and direct: That is what you said. If He asked why I believed that He would fail to draw all to Himself, things become more complicated.

When I believed that Jesus would fail to draw all to Himself, I didn’t put it in those words. At that time I didn’t think about giving an account to Jesus but if I had it would have gone something like this:

I didn’t believe that you would fail. I believed that you would do everything in your power but salvation depends ultimately on the individual believer.

Jesus’ next question is obvious: “Why did you believe that All authority in heaven and on earth has [not] been given to me”?5

This was the authority on which Jesus’ command to disciple all nations is based. And his saying that No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him6 refutes the idea that people choose Christ apart from being drawn by God. The people-must-save-themselves-through-their-own-faith version of Christianity is weakened by the flesh much like the law. It is not what God has done…By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.7

If I take Jesus at his word and assume that He draws all to Himself before anyone is sent into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels8…and that is an assumption. I don’t see any way to limit Jesus to this moment but I’m intrigued by the possibilities of this moment…then I can believe that all gathered before his glorious throne have been drawn to Him and like Paul [they themselves] serve the law of God with [their minds] but with [their] flesh [they] serve the law of sin.9

So from where do the cursed come? Who are those to whom Jesus says, Depart from me…into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels10? [H]e will separate people (literally: themselves) one from another11 must be very different than I imagined when I imagined that the righteous and the wicked were different, already separate, people.

I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin12 was a compromise Paul also described with the words: when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members [Table]. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?13

I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin was acceptable to Paul as a compromise in the hope that God would deliver him through Jesus Christ: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!14 If those standing before Jesus’ glorious throne are about to experience that deliverance, I get a different image of that day when, according to [Paul’s] gospel (i.e., good news), God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.15

The cursed standing to Jesus’ left are not like the evil (πονηροί, a form of πονηρός). You brood of vipers! Jesus said to religious leaders. How can you speak good, when you are evil (πονηροί)?16

After I got over thinking that Jesus was simply rude and abusive, I bypassed thinking He was ignorant seeking information, but I rested for a while on the idea that He was constantly perplexed by human nature. Now, however, I assume He asked a legitimate question, inviting the Pharisees to think deeply about how they spoke anything good.

I relate to that from my own experience with None is righteous.17 The moment I accepted that premise as true, my arguments against it became prima facie evidence that Jesus was in fact drawing me to Himself. If no one seeks for God18 is true, and I was seeking for God, then the source of my seeking was something other than my unrighteousness self.

Jesus said (Matthew 7:9-11 ESV):

Or which one of you, if his son asks19 him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if20 he asks21 for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil (πονηροί), know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

It fits then that the cursed standing on Jesus’ left are the distilled sin condemned in the human flesh of those on his right. This distilled sin condemned in human flesh never gave food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, welcome to a stranger, clothing to the naked, nor the time of day to those who were sick or in prison, things the evil (πονηροί) do often for people they care about.

As this distilled sin condemned in human flesh stares at the glorified Christ, looking much like when He was transfigured before [Peter, James and John], his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became22 white as light,23 I can almost hear them sneer, when did we see you?24

Peter said to Jesus [at Jesus’ transfiguration], “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses25 and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say,26 for they were27 terrified.28 The righteous on Jesus’ right don’t seem terrified necessarily, just disoriented. None seems to recall this moment from Scripture. They, too, question when they have ever done anything for anyone like their glorified Lord.

My sheep hear my voice, Jesus said, and I know them, and they follow me [Table]. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.29 Though I called the cursed, “the distilled sin condemned in…human flesh,” it seems more likely that it is the righteous led by the Holy Spirit who heed his command to go30 out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.31

In his sermon on the mount Jesus said (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV):

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.32 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ [Table] And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Now I would understand these many as the distilled sin condemned in the flesh of Christians standing on Jesus’ left. This is not to say that there is no corresponding many who heard his command to go out from their midst, and be separate from them standing on Jesus’ right, just that in this passage we are hearing the arguments of the distilled sin that was condemned in their flesh. It boasts in the work of God as if it were its own. It supposes that it should be rewarded along with the new creation it plagued for a lifetime.

One of the wonderful possibilities of this moment is that I won’t see my doppelganger. The glorified Lord separates us one from the other, like trying to see something on the other side of the sun. But it is sobering to consider: Who will I be at that moment?

Will I myself be the righteous new creation on Jesus’ right, marveling at my glorious Lord, wondering what I ever could have done for Him? Or will I identify more with the distilled sin condemned in my flesh, arguing that He should reward me for all the wonderful things that I have done for Him?

When I was barely escaping from a life of atheism, sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, Paul’s words kept me from despair (Romans 7:13-20 ESV):

Did [the law] which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure [Table]. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin [Table]. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me [Table]. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me [Table].

The more I believed Paul’s saying, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh,33 the more I began to see God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as the good in my life, and the more I began to view me myself as the evil. My Pastor warned me about thinking and speaking like this (which should not be taken to imply that he would endorse all I’ve written here). I thought I understood what he was saying, even paid some lip service to it. Writing this essay has cast it in a new light and reminded me of an incident with my son.

I walked through the living room one afternoon as he played a video game. He was driving a car, racing away from the police. As I walked out of the room I said, “You’re never going to drive one of my cars.” He stopped playing and hurried to catch up to me to ask, why. “You’re training yourself to hit the accelerator when you hear a siren rather than the brakes.” The next time I noticed him playing that video game, he had turned off the siren and the police chase, and simply played it as a road race game. He turned out to be a very good driver.

I certainly don’t want to train myself to identify with the distilled sin condemned in my flesh. Part of my prayer for all is to ask that “we know by faith your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control springing up within us to eternal life from your Holy Spirit.” I’ve changed “your Holy Spirit” to “our Holy Spirit,” not to claim any credit for myself but to take ownership of all that I have been given in Christ.

According to a note (26) in the NET Paul quoted from Isaiah 52:11. The table below compares the relevant portions of the Greek of 2 Corinthians 6:17 to Isaiah 52:11 in the Septuagint.

2 Corinthians 6:17a (NET Parallel Greek)

Isaiah 52:11b (Septuagint BLB) Table

Isaiah 52:11b (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐξέλθατε ἐκ μέσου αὐτῶν καὶ ἀφορίσθητε ἐξέλθατε ἐκ μέσου αὐτῆς ἀφορίσθητε ἐξέλθετε ἐκ μέσου αὐτῆς, ἀφορίσθητε

2 Corinthians 6:17a (NET)

Isaiah 52:11b (NETS)

Isaiah 52:11b (English Elpenor)
come out from their midst, and be separate go out from the midst of it; be separated go ye out from the midst of her; separate yourselves

2 Corinthians 6:17b (NET Parallel Greek)

Isaiah 52:11a (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 52:11a (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἀκαθάρτου μὴ ἅπτεσθε καὶ ἀκαθάρτου μὴ ἅπτεσθε καὶ ἀκαθάρτου μὴ ἅπτεσθε

2 Corinthians 6:17b (NET)

Isaiah 52:11a (NETS)

Isaiah 52:11a (English Elpenor)
and touch no unclean thing and touch no unclean thing and touch not the unclean thing

According to a note (28) in the NET the last clause of 2 Corinthians 6:17 was a paraphrased quotation from Ezekiel 20:41. The table below compares the relevant portion of the Greek of 2 Corinthians 6:17 to Ezekiel 20:41 in the Septuagint.

2 Corinthians 6:17c (NET Parallel Greek)

Ezekiel 20:41b (Septuagint BLB) Table

Ezekiel 20:41b (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἰσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς προσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς προσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς

2 Corinthians 6:17c (NET)

Ezekiel 20:41b (NETS)

Ezekiel 20:41b (English Elpenor)
I will welcome you I will accept you I will accept you

According to a note (29) in the NET 2 Corinthians 6:18 was a paraphrased quotation of 2 Samuel 7:14 and Isaiah 43:6. The table below compares the Greek of 2 Corinthians 6:18 to 2 Samuel (Reigns, Kings) 7:14 in the Septuagint.

2 Corinthians 6:18a (NET Parallel Greek)

2 Samuel 7:14a (Septuagint BLB) Table

2 Kings 7:14a (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔσομαι ὑμῖν εἰς πατέρα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔσεσθε μοι εἰς υἱοὺς ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱόν ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱόν

2 Corinthians 6:18a (NET)

2 Reigns 7:14a (NETS)

2 Kings 7:14a (English Elpenor)
and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son

The table below compares the Greek of 2 Corinthians 6:18 to Isaiah 43:6 in the Septuagint.

2 Corinthians 6:18b (NET Parallel Greek)

Isaiah 43:6b (Septuagint BLB) Table

Isaiah 43:6b (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔσεσθε μοι εἰς υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας ἄγε τοὺς υἱούς μου ἀπὸ γῆς πόρρωθεν καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας μου ἀπ᾽ ἄκρων τῆς γῆς ἄγε τοὺς υἱούς μου ἀπὸ γῆς πόρρωθεν καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας μου ἀπ᾿ ἄκρων τῆς γῆς

2 Corinthians 6:18b (NET)

Isaiah 43:6b (NETS)

Isaiah 43:6b (English Elpenor)
and you will be my sons and daughters bring my sons from a land far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth bring my sons from the [land] afar off, and my daughters from the ends of the earth

Tables comparing Ezekiel 20:41; 2 Samuel 7:14 and Isaiah 43:6 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing Ezekiel 20:41; 2 Samuel (Reigns, Kings) 7:14 and Isaiah 43:6 in the BLB and Elpenor versions of the Septuagint with the English translations from Hebrew and Greek, and tables comparing the Greek of Matthew 7:9, 10; 17:2; Mark 9:5, 6; 2 Corinthians 6:17 and Matthew 7:21 in the NET and KJV follow.

Ezekiel 20:41 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 20:41 (KJV)

Ezekiel 20:41 (NET)
I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. When I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, I will accept you along with your soothing aroma. I will display my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.

Ezekiel 20:41 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 20:41 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐν ὀσμῇ εὐωδίας προσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἐξαγαγεῗν με ὑμᾶς ἐκ τῶν λαῶν καὶ εἰσδέχεσθαι ὑμᾶς ἐκ τῶν χωρῶν ἐν αἷς διεσκορπίσθητε ἐν αὐταῗς καὶ ἁγιασθήσομαι ἐν ὑμῗν κατ᾽ ὀφθαλμοὺς τῶν λαῶν ἐν ὀσμῇ εὐωδίας προσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἐξαγαγεῖν με ὑμᾶς ἐκ τῶν λαῶν καὶ εἰσδέχεσθαι ὑμᾶς ἐκ τῶν χωρῶν, ἐν αἷς διεσκορπίσθητε ἐν αὐταῖς, καὶ ἁγιασθήσομαι ἐν ὑμῖν κατ’ ὀφθαλμοὺς τῶν λαῶν

Ezekiel 20:41 (NETS)

Ezekiel 20:41 (English Elpenor)
In an odor of fragrance I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and take you in from the countries, those in which you were scattered, and I will be hallowed among you in the eyes of the peoples. I will accept you with a sweet-smelling savour, when I bring you out from the nations, and take you out of the countries wherein ye have been dispersed; and I will be sanctified among you in the sight of the nations.

2 Samuel 7:14 (Tanakh)

2 Samuel 7:14 (KJV)

2 Samuel 7:14 (NET)
I will be to him for a father, and he shall be to Me for a son; if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: I will become his father and he will become my son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings.

2 Samuel 7:14 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 7:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱόν καὶ ἐὰν ἔλθῃ ἡ ἀδικία αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐλέγξω αὐτὸν ἐν ῥάβδῳ ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἐν ἁφαῗς υἱῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱόν· καὶ ἐὰν ἔλθῃ ἡ ἀδικία αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐλέγξω αὐτὸν ἐν ράβδῳ ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἐν ἁφαῖς υἱῶν ἀνθρώπων

2 Reigns 7:14 (NETS)

2 Kings 7:14 (English Elpenor)
I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me, and if his injustice comes, then I will punish him with a rod of men and with attacks of sons of men, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And when he happens to transgress, then will I chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the sons of men.

Isaiah 43:6 (Tanakh)

Isaiah 43:6 (KJV)

Isaiah 43:6 (NET)
I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; I will say to the north, ‘Hand them over!’ and to the south, ‘Don’t hold any back!’ Bring my sons from distant lands, and my daughters from the remote regions of the earth,

Isaiah 43:6 (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 43:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐρῶ τῷ βορρᾷ ἄγε καὶ τῷ λιβί μὴ κώλυε ἄγε τοὺς υἱούς μου ἀπὸ γῆς πόρρωθεν καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας μου ἀπ᾽ ἄκρων τῆς γῆς ἐρῶ τῷ Βορρᾷ· ἄγε, καὶ τῷ Λιβί· μὴ κώλυε, ἄγε τοὺς υἱούς μου ἀπὸ γῆς πόρρωθεν καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας μου ἀπ᾿ ἄκρων τῆς γῆς

Isaiah 43:6 (NETS)

Isaiah 43:6 (English Elpenor)
I will say to the north, “Bring them,” and to the southwest, “Do not hinder; bring my sons from a land far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth– I will say to the north, Bring; and to the south, Keep not back; bring my sons from the [land] afar off, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;

Matthew 7:9, 10 (NET)

Matthew 7:9, 10 (KJV)
Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Matthew 7:9 (NET Parallel Greek)

Matthew 7:9 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Matthew 7:9 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ἢ τίς |ἐστιν| ἐξ ὑμῶν ἄνθρωπος, ὃν αἰτήσει ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἄρτον, μὴ λίθον ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ η τις εστιν εξ υμων ανθρωπος ον εαν αιτηση ο υιος αυτου αρτον μη λιθον επιδωσει αυτω η τις εστιν εξ υμων ανθρωπος ον εαν αιτηση ο υιος αυτου αρτον μη λιθον επιδωσει αυτω
Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

Matthew 7:10 (NET Parallel Greek)

Matthew 7:10 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Matthew 7:10 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ἢ καὶ ἰχθὺν αἰτήσει, μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ και εαν ιχθυν αιτηση μη οφιν επιδωσει αυτω και εαν ιχθυν αιτηση μη οφιν επιδωσει αυτω

Matthew 17:2 (NET)

Matthew 17:2 (KJV)
And he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Matthew 17:2 (NET Parallel Greek)

Matthew 17:2 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Matthew 17:2 (Byzantine Majority Text)
καὶ μετεμορφώθη ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔλαμψεν τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος, τὰ δὲ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο λευκὰ ὡς τὸ φῶς και μετεμορφωθη εμπροσθεν αυτων και ελαμψεν το προσωπον αυτου ως ο ηλιος τα δε ιματια αυτου εγενετο λευκα ως το φως και μετεμορφωθη εμπροσθεν αυτων και ελαμψεν το προσωπον αυτου ως ο ηλιος τα δε ιματια αυτου εγενοντο λευκα ως το φως

Mark 9:5, 6 (NET)

Mark 9:5, 6 (KJV)
So Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three shelters—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

Mark 9:5 (NET Parallel Greek)

Mark 9:5 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Mark 9:5 (Byzantine Majority Text)
καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Πέτρος λέγει τῷ Ἰησοῦ· ραββί, καλόν ἐστιν ἡμᾶς ὧδε εἶναι, καὶ ποιήσωμεν τρεῖς σκηνάς, σοὶ μίαν καὶ Μωϋσεῖ μίαν καὶ Ἠλίᾳ μίαν και αποκριθεις ο πετρος λεγει τω ιησου ραββι καλον εστιν ημας ωδε ειναι και ποιησωμεν σκηνας τρεις σοι μιαν και μωσει μιαν και ηλια μιαν και αποκριθεις ο πετρος λεγει τω ιησου ραββι καλον εστιν ημας ωδε ειναι και ποιησωμεν σκηνας τρεις σοι μιαν και μωσει μιαν και ηλια μιαν
(For they were afraid, and he did not know what to say.) For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.

Mark 9:6 (NET Parallel Greek)

Mark 9:6 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Mark 9:6 (Byzantine Majority Text)
οὐ γὰρ ᾔδει τί ἀποκριθῇ, ἔκφοβοι γὰρ ἐγένοντο ου γαρ ηδει τι λαληση ησαν γαρ εκφοβοι ου γαρ ηδει τι λαλησει ησαν γαρ εκφοβοι

2 Corinthians 6:17 (NET)

2 Corinthians 6:17 (KJV)
Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you, Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

2 Corinthians 6:17 (NET Parallel Greek)

2 Corinthians 6:17 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

2 Corinthians 6:17 (Byzantine Majority Text)
διὸ ἐξέλθατε ἐκ μέσου αὐτῶν καὶ ἀφορίσθητε, λέγει κύριος, καὶ ἀκαθάρτου μὴ ἅπτεσθε· καγὼ εἰσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς διο εξελθετε εκ μεσου αυτων και αφορισθητε λεγει κυριος και ακαθαρτου μη απτεσθε καγω εισδεξομαι υμας διο εξελθετε εκ μεσου αυτων και αφορισθητε λεγει κυριος και ακαθαρτου μη απτεσθε καγω εισδεξομαι υμας

Matthew 7:21 (NET)

Matthew 7:21 (KJV)
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 7:21 (NET Parallel Greek)

Matthew 7:21 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Matthew 7:21 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Οὐ πᾶς ὁ λέγων μοι· κύριε κύριε, εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ ποιῶν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ου πας ο λεγων μοι κυριε κυριε εισελευσεται εις την βασιλειαν των ουρανων αλλ ο ποιων το θελημα του πατρος μου του εν ουρανοις ου πας ο λεγων μοι κυριε κυριε εισελευσεται εις την βασιλειαν των ουρανων αλλ ο ποιων το θελημα του πατρος μου του εν ουρανοις

1 Acts 4:19 (ESV)

2 Philippians 2:13 (ESV) Table

3 John 12:32 (ESV)

5 Matthew 28:18 (ESV) Table

6 John 6:44a (ESV) Table

7 Romans 8:3, 4 (ESV)

8 Matthew 25:41b (ESV)

9 Romans 7:25b (ESV) Table

10 Matthew 25:41a (ESV)

11 Matthew 25:32b (ESV) Table

12 Romans 7:25b (ESV)

13 Romans 7:21b-24 (ESV)

14 Romans 7:25a (ESV) Table

15 Romans 2:16 (ESV)

16 Matthew 12:34 (ESV)

17 Romans 3:10b (ESV)

18 Romans 3:11b (ESV)

22 The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus had the singular ἐγένετο here, where the Byzantine Majority Text had the plural εγενοντο.

23 Matthew 17:2 (ESV)

24 Matthew 25:44b (ESV) Table

28 Mark 9:5, 6 (ESV)

29 John 10:27, 28 (ESV)

31 2 Corinthians 6:17, 18 (ESV)

32 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the article τοῖς preceding heaven. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

33 Galatians 5:16 (ESV)

Christianity, Part 1

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It’s not possible to “distinguish the mind of Christ from the ordinary religious mind” without broaching the subject of Christianity, yet I’ve hesitated to do so directly. Recently, however, I quoted For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all1 with no comment whatsoever. I didn’t need to comment. I’ve studied the Greek enough now that I no longer pay any attention to the English translation.

Later, I had to go back and link show mercy to them all to a discussion of “the subjunctive mood…in a purpose or result clause” in Greek. While I appreciate that the Greek word is ἐλεήσῃ (“he may show”) not ἐλεήσει (“he will show”), the meaning is that He will show mercy to all. Or, if I want to be more mindful of the aorist tense, it looks to a moment when God will have shown mercy to all as an actual, factual moment in time.

In English, however, he may show mercy to them all means: 1) that God has permission to show mercy to them all; or something equally meaningless, 2) He might show mercy to them all or He might not. So I began to wonder: What is the point of translating the New Testament from Greek into English for the benefit and approval of those who already know the Greek, rather than for the enlightenment and edification of those who do not?

I recalled another instance where the NET translators did render aorist subjunctive verbs as if they were future indicative verbs: every knee will bow (κάμψῃ)…and every tongue confess (ἐξομολογήσηται), rather than every knee [may] bow…and every tongue [may] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Romans 11:32 (NET Parallel Greek)

Philippians 2:9-11 (NET Parallel Greek)
συνέκλεισεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς πάντας εἰς ἀπείθειαν, ἵνα τοὺς πάντας ἐλεήσῃ διὸ καὶ ὁ θεὸς αὐτὸν ὑπερύψωσεν καὶ ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα, ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσηται ὅτι κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ πατρός

Romans 11:32 (NET)

Philippians 2:9-11 (NET)
For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all. 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.

Now both of these passages seem to be describing essentially the same thing. I can even hear the former as a cause of the latter. But I remember when I understood the latter as a demonstration of brute force, much like when Voldemort forced Harry Potter to bow before he attempted to murder him in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Divorced from its context the idea that God will show mercy to all hardly seems controversial. But in context the mercy shown to all is nothing less than salvation: So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.2

Jesus said (John 15:7-11 ESV):

If you abide (μείνητε, a form of μένω) in me, and my words abide (μείνῃ, another form of μένω) in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples [Table]. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide (μείνατε, another form of μένω) in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide (μενεῖτε, another form of μένω) in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide (μένω) in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be3 in you, and that your joy may be full.

It would be wonderful if Christianity were synonymous with abiding in Christ and his words abiding in us, but Christianity means many other things. Comedian Bill Burr had a church quip that became an internet meme and can elicit at least a chuckle even from churchgoers:

God’s everywhere, but I gotta go down to (church) to see him? And he’s mad at me down there, and I owe you money?

To the ordinary religious mind the lands and buildings, the administrative hierarchies and religious rituals, the rules and regulations of Christianity may seem more real and tangible than abiding in Christ and his words abiding in us. For my purposes in these essays abiding in Christ and his words abiding in us is the real and tangible while all other aspects of Christianity are human abstractions, peripheral, when they are not inimical, to abiding in Christ and his words abiding in us.

Fair or not Paul gets a lot of the blame or a lot of the credit for Christianity. So his letter to the Romans seems like a good place to start (Romans 2:1-16 ESV):

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things [Romans 1:18-32]. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed [Table].

He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury [Table]. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality [Table].

For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified [Table]. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law [Table]. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

I want to focus a moment, acknowledging that this might should be thought of as a continuation of Paul’s rhetorical question, another thing his reader might not be knowing: Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance [b]ut because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed?4

Who has this hard and impenitent heart? Those who are in the flesh cannot please God,5 Paul wrote. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again,’6 Jesus told Nicodemus. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.7

Paul explained why [t]hose who are in the flesh cannot please God: For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.8 He had already come to the following conclusion about himself: So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.9

With this as background I want to turn my attention to Jesus’ words about that day when, according to [Paul’s] gospel (εὐαγγέλιον), God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.10 He said (Matthew 25:31-46 ESV):

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people (αὐτοὺς, a form of αὐτός; literally: themselves) one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats [Table]. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me’ [Table]. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ [Table] And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ [Table] Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

So, what kind of people are all the nations gathered before the throne of the Son of Man? My religious mind has imagined that they are the righteous on Jesus’ right and the wicked on his left. The trouble with that idea is that There is no one righteous.11 I turn again to Paul (Romans 3:10-18 ESV):

“None is righteous, no, not one [Table]; no one understands; no one seeks for God [Table]. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” [Table] [Table]. “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips” [Table]. “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness” [Table]. “Their feet are swift to shed blood [Table]; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known” [Table]. “There is no fear of God before their eyes” [Table].

If none is righteous, who could or should receive this amazing grace of Jesus? Jesus said that his Father made that decision: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws (ἑλκύσῃ, a form of ἑλκύω) him.12 So now I can imagine that some of the people gathered before the throne of the Son of Man are those God the Father chose not to draw to Jesus, while others are those He chose to draw. And those He chose to draw would be more like Paul: I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.13

Of course, Jesus promised that after He died as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world,14 He will draw all…to [Himself]: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.15 So now, if Jesus’ words abide in me I am compelled to imagine that everyone gathered before the throne of the Son of Man has been drawn to Jesus, that everyone standing there is more like Paul: I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.16

Jesus had already hinted at this outcome: It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—17 But here, my Christianity wants to argue and debate. So here I must decide Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen (ἀκούειν, a form of ἀκούω) to [my Christianity] rather than to God.18

A table comparing John 15:11 in the NET and KJV follows:

John 15:11 (NET)

John 15:11 (KJV)
I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

NET Parallel Greek Text

Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ ἐν ὑμῖν ᾖ καὶ ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν πληρωθῇ ταυτα λελαληκα υμιν ινα η χαρα η εμη εν υμιν μεινη και η χαρα υμων πληρωθη ταυτα λελαληκα υμιν ινα η χαρα η εμη εν υμιν μεινη και η χαρα υμων πληρωθη

1 Romans 11:32 (NET)

2 Romans 9:16 (ESV) Table

3 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ᾖ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μεινη (KJV: might remain).

4 Romans 2:4, 5 (ESV) Table

5 Romans 8:8 (ESV)

6 John 3:7 (ESV)

7 John 3:6 (ESV)

8 Romans 8:7 (ESV)

9 Romans 7:25b (ESV) Table

10 Romans 2:16 (ESV)

11 Romans 3:10a (NET)

12 John 6:44a (ESV) Table

13 Romans 7:25b (ESV)

14 1 John 2:2 (NET)

15 John 12:32 (ESV)

16 Romans 7:25b (ESV)

17 John 6:45 (ESV) Table

18 Acts 4:19b (ESV)

The New Covenant, Part 2

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I shared the first essay of this series with two friends.  Both preferred the judgment focus of my Pastor’s sermon, what I called “an invitation to do-it-yourself religion.”[1]  To one it was a desirable limit to “grace,” which was seen as a come on to an open-ended commitment to do whatever a preacher says.  The other saw it as the only path to righteousness since “grace” is just an excuse for indulging whatever sins one wants and then saying, “I’m sorry,” at the end to get into heaven (i.e., to avoid hell).  The unifying thread between these two beliefs is the current understanding of the grace of God.

When I think, speak or write about grace what I mean at the very least is the power to become the righteousness of God.  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.[2]  In practical terms I think we become the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, receiving his indwelling Holy Spirit and walking in the continuous supply of his own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.[3]

My Pastor objected to the word power for grace.  The connection to grace is made for me when Paul asked the Lord three times about [a thorn in the flesh], that [this messenger of Satan] would depart from [him]:[4]  But [the Lord] said to me, “My grace (χάρις) is enough for you, for my power (δύναμις) is made perfect in weakness.”  So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power (δύναμις) of Christ may reside in me.[5]

I’ve grown up around people who feel that saying too much about the Holy Spirit robs Jesus of some of his glory.  Jesus said (John 16:7-14 ESV):

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I[6] do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you.  And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the[7] Father, and you will see me no longer;[8] concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears[9] he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you [Table].

In the story of the raising of Lazarus Jesus hints at a proximity effect to his grace: Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe.”[10]  “Lord, if you had been here, Martha seems to confirm this proximity effect, my brother would not have died [Table].  But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will grant you.”[11]  At the risk of angering hardcore Trinitarians the Holy Spirit is Jesus omnipresent, Jesus without a proximity effect, Jesus unleashed throughout all space and time.

Here, too, my Pastor objected to my description of the Holy Spirit citing Jesus’ words: Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another (ἄλλον, a form of ἄλλος) Advocate to be with you forever.[12]  I asked whether—If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him[13]—should be understood as “over and above” the indwelling Holy Spirit.  He said, no, and settled on the word through.  So, I’ll amend my original statement: Through his Holy Spirit Jesus is omnipresent, without a proximity effect, unleashed throughout all space and time.

A more expansive definition of grace is God so loved…that He gave.  Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given (χαρισθέντα, a form of χαρίζομαι) to us by God.[14]  For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son.[15]  Ultimately Jesus is the grace of God.

My faith needs some of the nuts and bolts, how Jesus is the grace of God to me.  And here again Paul associated power with the grace that is Jesus: I pray that according to the wealth of his glory [the Father] will grant you to be strengthened (κραταιωθῆναι, a form of κραταιόω) with power (δυνάμει, a form of δύναμις) through his Spirit in the inner person [Table], that Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith.[16]

I want to consider this grace of God and the new covenant in the light of my own experience as the types of ground Jesus described in the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9).  The first type of ground He described was the path (Matthew 13:19 NET).

When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand (συνιέντος, a form of συνίημι) it, the evil one comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; this is the seed sown along the path.

This describes me fairly accurately from about five years old to seventeen.  When I said a sinner’s prayer to escape hell, I meant that I disobeyed my parents sometimes.  I was many years and a considerable psychic distance from acknowledging that I was from [my] father the devil, and [I] want to do what [my] father desires.[17]  I was like those who loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed.[18]

I didn’t know my deeds were evil.  Quite the contrary, I resented anyone who called what I wanted “evil.”  “What I wanted” was the epitome of righteousness in my mind, though I would not have used the term.  I realized as I grew that what adults called righteousness was often not anything I wanted at all.

I don’t recall ever hearing Jesus’ saying—You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires—as if it applied to me.  It was relatively recently that I realized He spoke to those…who had believed him.[19]  It was relatively recently that I recognized this saying as one of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.[20]  I was like one of the outsiders who heard most of Jesus’ sayings as parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand (συνίουσιν, another form of συνίημι).[21]

This period of my life, being the path, came to an end when I chose to be an atheist.  For a time I actively opted out of being any kind of soil for the seed of God’s word.  Even if I have treated it like some sort of necessity in these essays, atheism was not a foregone conclusion.  I had an alternative at seventeen.

I was driven back to the Bible when God didn’t punish me for the “sin of premarital sex.”  But I rejected the Bible if it didn’t agree with what I “knew” it was supposed to say from years of church and Sunday school, when I was the path, one who heard about the kingdom but didn’t understand it, one who whatever he heard was snatched away by the evil one.

I didn’t realize I was that kind of ground at the time.  There was a tacit assumption among those I knew that the three types of ground that didn’t produce consistent fruit were destined for the lake of fire.  I had said a sinner’s prayer to Jesus to avoid hell.  I was, therefore, good ground by definition.

I have described my time as an atheist as a “decline that is such a cliché, it is too embarrassing to mention in detail.”[22]  There was an upside to becoming a cliché: I could no longer imagine myself to be the unique individual courageously forging my own path into the unknown.  My path was well known and well-worn, most notably well known in the Bible, not that I acknowledged that consciously at the time.

My flirtation[23] with atheism ended when I prayed, “If you’re really out there, I really want to know you.”[24]  Though I had an immediate hunger for the Bible from that moment on, I didn’t study the Bible to know…the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [He] sent.[25]  I studied to know the rules to obey to keep my end of the bargain.

When I mentioned this to my Pastor, he thought it was a good way to start.  For me it was possibly the only way to start.  But I can’t help wondering: what if I had believed Jesus saying that I was from my father the devil and wanted to do what my father desired?  What if I had let his words create a healthy skepticism in me about those desires and thoughts, those feelings and reasons that came “naturally” to my heart and mind?  What if I had taken Him at his word at five or ten or twenty or even forty-years-old rather than compelling Him to prove to me for sixty-five years that I was from my father the devil and wanted to do what my father desired?

Would it have helped me believe that his grace was enough for me? Could it have shortened the time I spent as the next type of ground Jesus described (Matthew 13:20, 21 NET)?

The seed sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.  But he has no root in himself and does not endure; when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.

This ground describes me between the ages of twenty-three and forty-three.  As I searched the Bible for rules to obey to keep my part of the contract and then disobeyed them anyway, I heard Paul’s lament (Romans 7:22-24 NET):

For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.  But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members [Table].  Wretched man that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Paul believed that Jesus had rescued him: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord![26]  I didn’t understand how at first, even though I was more curious than I had ever been before.  Though now I might be more inclined to translate χάρις δὲ τῷ θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν[27] “grace from God through Jesus Christ our Lord” and while I might appreciate more now that Paul may have given a very direct answer to his own rhetorical question, I wouldn’t have understood it any better then.  I didn’t know God or his grace—not yet.

Twenty years of springing up with joy only to fall away again, twenty years of being picked up, dusted off and put back together by Jesus one more time, slowly began to teach me to know Him and his grace.  Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Timothy 2:11-13 NET):

This saying is trustworthy: If we died with him, we will also live with him.  If we endure, we will also reign with him.  If we deny[28] him, he will also deny us.  If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, since[29] he cannot (οὐ δύναται) deny himself.

Sometimes when I tell this story people want to credit me for continuing to study the Bible over those twenty years.  I also ate food over that time, whenever I was hungry.  Granted, eating food was instrumental in keeping me alive, but the hunger comes from God as did the food.  Eventually, I began to understand that the one bringing forth in [me] both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God.[30]

The Greek words translated desire and effort were not nouns but infinitive verbs: θέλειν (a form of θέλω) and ἐνεργεῖν (a form of ἐνεργέω).  Eventually, I was able to make this connection to the hunger, the food and the eating.  The hunger, θέλειν, and the food, the Bible, are from God.  The eating, doing his will, ἐνεργεῖν, becoming the righteousness of God in Him, is the outcome of his grace.  And eventually I trusted Him and his grace more than I trusted myself—good ground at last?

Jesus continued (Matthew 13:22 NET):

The seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly[31] cares and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, so it produces nothing.

This type of ground characterizes me from about forty-four years of age to perhaps fifty-three.  I got a fulltime job again with a steady paycheck.  I married a woman with two children.  I left all the “spiritual stuff” to the grace of God while I attended to more mundane matters.  This period of my life ended when my wife divorced me.

So from about the age of fifty-four to the present, sixty-eight, have I finally become what Jesus called good soil (Matthew 13:23 NET)?

But as for the seed sown on good soil,[32] this is the person who hears the word and understands[33] (συνιείς, another form of συνίημι).  He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”

Who knows?  I can’t even imagine how to measure such a thing.  My Pastor treated these measurements like ordinary agricultural yields.  And he’s right.

If I think of a kernel of corn (maize) growing to maturity, one ear of corn would easily be thirty times what was sown.  When I think about the time and attention, the forgiveness and patience, the mercy and grace the Lord has lavished upon me, what I share with others is a tiny fraction rather than a multiple.

I planted, Paul wrote the Corinthians, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow (ἠύξανεν, a form of αὐξάνω).[34]  After all we’ve been through together I can trust Him with that growth.

Tables comparing John 16:7; 16:10; 2 Timothy 2:12, 13; Matthew 13:22 and 13:23 in the NET and KJV follow.

John 16:7 (NET)

John 16:7 (KJV)
But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away.  For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀλλ᾿ ἐγὼ τὴν ἀλήθειαν λέγω ὑμῖν, συμφέρει ὑμῖν ἵνα ἐγὼ ἀπέλθω. ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ ἀπέλθω, ὁ παράκλητος |οὐκ ἐλεύσεται| πρὸς ὑμᾶς· ἐὰν δὲ πορευθῶ, πέμψω αὐτὸν πρὸς ὑμᾶς αλλ εγω την αληθειαν λεγω υμιν συμφερει υμιν ινα εγω απελθω εαν γαρ μη απελθω ο παρακλητος ουκ ελευσεται προς υμας εαν δε πορευθω πεμψω αυτον προς υμας αλλ εγω την αληθειαν λεγω υμιν συμφερει υμιν ινα εγω απελθω εαν γαρ εγω μη απελθω ο παρακλητος ουκ ελευσεται προς υμας εαν δε πορευθω πεμψω αυτον προς υμας

John 16:10 (NET)

John 16:10 (KJV)
concerning righteousness because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
περὶ δικαιοσύνης δέ, ὅτι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὑπάγω καὶ οὐκέτι θεωρεῖτε με περι δικαιοσυνης δε οτι προς τον πατερα μου υπαγω και ουκ ετι θεωρειτε με περι δικαιοσυνης δε οτι προς τον πατερα μου υπαγω και ουκετι θεωρειτε με

2 Timothy 2:12, 13 (NET)

2 Timothy 2:12, 13 (KJV)
If we endure, we will also reign with him.  If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἰ ὑπομένομεν, καὶ συμβασιλεύσομεν· εἰ ἀρνησόμεθα, κακεῖνος ἀρνήσεται ἡμᾶς ει υπομενομεν και συμβασιλευσομεν ει αρνουμεθα κακεινος αρνησεται ημας ει υπομενομεν και συμβασιλευσομεν ει αρνουμεθα κακεινος αρνησεται ημας
If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, since he cannot deny himself. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἰ ἀπιστοῦμεν, ἐκεῖνος πιστὸς μένει, ἀρνήσασθαι γὰρ ἑαυτὸν οὐ δύναται. ει απιστουμεν εκεινος πιστος μενει αρνησασθαι εαυτον ου δυναται ει απιστουμεν εκεινος πιστος μενει αρνησασθαι εαυτον ου δυναται

Matthew 13:22 (NET)

Matthew 13:22 (KJV)
The seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, so it produces nothing. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ δὲ εἰς τὰς ἀκάνθας σπαρείς, οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ τὸν λόγον ἀκούων, καὶ ἡ μέριμνα τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ ἡ ἀπάτη τοῦ πλούτου συμπνίγει τὸν λόγον καὶ ἄκαρπος γίνεται ο δε εις τας ακανθας σπαρεις ουτος εστιν ο τον λογον ακουων και η μεριμνα του αιωνος τουτου και η απατη του πλουτου συμπνιγει τον λογον και ακαρπος γινεται ο δε εις τας ακανθας σπαρεις ουτος εστιν ο τον λογον ακουων και η μεριμνα του αιωνος τουτου και η απατη του πλουτου συμπνιγει τον λογον και ακαρπος γινεται

Matthew 13:23 (NET)

Matthew 13:23 (KJV)
But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands.  He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν καλὴν γῆν σπαρείς, οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ τὸν λόγον ἀκούων καὶ συνιείς, ὃς δὴ καρποφορεῖ καὶ ποιεῖ ὃ μὲν ἑκατόν, ὃ δὲ ἑξήκοντα, ὃ δὲ τριάκοντα ο δε επι την γην την καλην σπαρεις ουτος εστιν ο τον λογον ακουων και συνιων ος δη καρποφορει και ποιει ο μεν εκατον ο δε εξηκοντα ο δε τριακοντα ο δε επι την γην την καλην σπαρεις ουτος εστιν ο τον λογον ακουων και συνιων ος δη καρποφορει και ποιει ο μεν εκατον ο δε εξηκοντα ο δε τριακοντα

Addendum: February 6, 2022
I can’t say that a sermon like the following wasn’t preached to me when I was five or ten or twenty or forty-years-old. I can say I heard it today.

[1] The New Covenant, Part 1

[2] 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET) Table

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

[4] 2 Corinthians 12:8 (NET) with phrases in brackets from 2 Corinthians 12:7 (NET) Table

[5] 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NET) Table

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

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

[8] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had οὐκέτι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had ουκ ετι (KJV: no more).

[9] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀκούσει here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αν ακουση (KJV: whatsoever he shall hear).

[10] John 11:14, 15a (NET)

[11] John 11:21b, 22 (NET)

[12] John 14:16 (NET) Table

[13] John 14:23 (NET) Table

[14] 1 Corinthians 2:12 (NET)

[15] John 3:16a (NET) Table

[16] Ephesians 3:16, 17a (NET)

[17] John 8:44a (NET) Table

[18] John 3:19b, 20 (NET)

[19] John 8:31a (NET)

[20] Matthew 13:11b (NET)

[21] Matthew 13:13b (NET)

[22] Who Am I? Part 3

[23] I called it a flirtation not to minimize its seriousness but to highlight how I was not serious enough about it to maintain such a demanding faith for any prolonged period of time.

[24] Who am I? Part 3

[25] John 17:3b (NET)

[26] Romans 7:25a (NET) Table

[27] Romans 7:25a NA28  This is what the editors of the NA28 currently believe to be the original text.

[28] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀρνησόμεθα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αρνουμεθα.

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

[30] Philippians 2:13 (NET)

[31] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τουτου following αἰῶνος (KJV: this world).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[32] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article την preceding soil (KJV: ground).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[33] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had συνιείς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had συνιων (KJV: understandeth it).

[34] 1 Corinthians 3:6 (NET) Table

Atonement, Part 4

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I’ll continue to consider yehôvâh’s (יהוה) instruction to Moses: They[1] are to eat those things by which atonement (kâphar, כפר; Septuagint: ἡγιάσθησαν, a form of ἁγιάζω) was made to consecrate and to set them apart, but no one else may eat them, for they are holy.[2]  The atonement of Aaron and his sons continued:

Exodus 29:10-14 (NET)

Leviticus 8:14-17 (NET)
You are to present the bull at the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons are to put their hands on the head of the bull. Then [Moses] brought near the sin offering (chaṭṭâʼâh, החטאת; Septuagint: ἁμαρτίας, a form of ἁμαρτία) bull and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the sin offering (chaṭṭâʼâh, החטאת; Septuagint: ἁμαρτίας, a form of ἁμαρτία) bull,
You are to kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting and he slaughtered it.  Moses then took the blood and put it all around on the horns of the altar with his finger and decontaminated the altar, and he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and so consecrated (qâdash, ויקדשהו; Septuagint: ἡγίασεν, another form of ἁγιάζω) it to make atonement (kâphar, לכפר; Septuagint: ἐξιλάσασθαι, a form of ἐξιλάσκομαι) on it.
and take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; all the rest of the blood you are to pour out at the base of the altar.
You are to take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the lobe that is above the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. Then he took all the fat on the entrails, the protruding lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, and Moses offered it all up in smoke on the altar,
But the meat of the bull, its skin, and its dung you are to burn up outside the camp.  It is the purification offering (chaṭṭâʼâh, חטאת; Septuagint: ἁμαρτίας, a form of ἁμαρτία). but the rest of the bull – its hide, its flesh, and its dung – he completely burned up outside the camp just as the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) had commanded Moses.

The sin offering bull was eaten by no one.  The Hebrew word translated holy in the clause for they are holy was קדש (qôdesh).  In the Septuagint קדש (qôdesh) was translated ἅγια (a form of ἅγιος).

But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come.[3]  He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, and he entered once for all into the most holy place (ἅγια, a form of ἅγιος) not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption.[4]

The Greek word translated more perfect was τελειοτέρας (a form of τέλειος).  Later in the same chapter the author located that more perfect tent beyond the phrase not of this creation (Hebrews 9:24-28 NET):

For Christ did not enter a sanctuary (ἅγια, a form of ἅγιος) made with hands – the representation of the true sanctuary – but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us.  And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary (ἅγια, a form of ἅγιος) year after year with blood that is not his own, for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world.  But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice.  And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.

I got a little obsessed (See Table1 below) convincing myself that πολλῶν ἀνενεγκεῖν ἁμαρτίας (to bear the sins of many) was the referent of χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας, but did eventually come to the conclusion that not to bear sin was a better translation of χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας than the more literal without sin (KJV).[5]    The phrase to bear (ἀνενεγκεῖν, a form of ἀναφέρω) the sins of many was an allusion to Isaiah’s prophecy.

Isaiah 53:12 (NET) Hebrews 9:28 (NET Parallel Greek) Isaiah 53:12 (Septuagint)

Isaiah 53:12 (Tanakh)
…he lifted up the sin of many… πολλῶν ἀνενεγκεῖν[6] ἁμαρτίας ἁμαρτίας πολλῶν ἀνήνεγκεν[7] …he bare the sin of many…

The Hebrew word translated ἀνήνεγκεν in the Septuagint was נשׁא (nâśâʼ), which brought me back to the long name of God: And HaShem passed by before him, and proclaimed: ‘The HaShem, HaShem, G-d, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving (nâśâʼ, נשׁא; Septuagint: ἀφαιρῶν, a form of ἀφαιρέω) iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and unto the fourth generation.’[8]  The author of Hebrews concluded (Hebrews 10:15-18 NET):

And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after saying,[9] “This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord.  I will put my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds,”[10] then he says, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember[11] no longer.”  Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, John wrote, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.  We know[12] that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.  And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure.[13]  The Greek word translated purifies was ἁγνίζει (a form of ἁγνίζω).  It had a very specific meaning.  Now the Jewish feast of Passover was near, and many people went up to Jerusalem from the rural areas before the Passover to cleanse (ἁγνίσωσιν, another form of ἁγνίζω) themselves ritually.[14]

There were rituals to perform.  We have four men who have taken a vow, the brothers in Jerusalem instructed Paul, take them and purify (ἁγνίσθητι, another form of ἁγνίζω) yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may have their heads shaved.[15]  Then Paul took the men the next day, and after he had purified (ἁγνισθείς, another form of ἁγνίζω) himself along with them, he went to the temple and gave notice of the completion of the days of purification (ἁγνισμοῦ, a form of ἁγνισμός), when the sacrifice would be offered for each of them.[16]  But I will strongly suggest that those rituals relate only tangentially to John’s use of ἁγνίζει above.

You have purified (ἡγνικότες, another form of ἁγνίζω) your souls by obeying (ὑπακοῇ, a form of ὑπακοή) the truth,[17] Peter wrote.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and the Byzantine Majority Text had δια πνευματος here as well, translated through the Spirit (KJV).  The clue John left that he meant something other than established ritual was καθώς ἐστιν (literally, “just as he is”), translated just as Jesus is pure.  To walk just as Jesus walked is to be led by the Holy Spirit.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.[18]  But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.[19]

John described a new covenant purification ritual, if you will, previously (1 John 1:8-2:2 NET):

If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.  But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.  (My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.)  But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One, and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, John continued, indeed, sin is lawlessness.  And you know that Jesus was revealed to take away sins,[20] and in him there is no sin.  Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him.  Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous.[21]  The Greek words translated practices above were not forms of πράσσω but forms of ποιέω.  The one who [does] (ποιῶν, a form of ποιέω) righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous.

The One who does righteousness is the Holy Spirit.  He fills the new human born of God from above with God’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness[22] and self-control.[23]  By his will we have been made holy[24] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.[25]  And the second point is like it: The “God of peace…will in fact do (ποιήσει, another form of ποιέω) this”:[26] make you completely holy and [keep] your spirit and soul and body…entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ[27] because He is trustworthy (πιστὸς, a form of πιστός).  I want to be one who [does] (ποιῶν, a form of ποιέω) the truth [who] comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that [my] deeds have been done in God.[28]

The one who practices sin is of the devil, John continued, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.  Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice (ποιεῖ, another form of ποιέω) sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.[29]

The one who [does] (ποιεῖ, another form of ποιέω) sin is of the devil.  This is the old human: You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old (παλαιὸν, a form of παλαιός) [human] (ἄνθρωπον, a form of ἄνθρωπος) who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new (καινὸν, a form of καινός) [human] (ἄνθρωπον, a form of ἄνθρωπος) who has been created in God’s image – in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.[30]  So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.[31]

Though the new human is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God, at any given moment one born from above might revert to walking according to the flesh, the old human, sin personified (Romans 7:14-23; 8:1-4 NET):

For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, 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.  But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.  For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.  For I want to do the good, but I cannot[32] 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 in me.

So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.  For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.  But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to[33] the law of sin that is in my members…

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.[34]  For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you 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.

Endure your suffering as discipline,[35] the author of Hebrews wrote.  Actually, your suffering was added by the translators.  The NET parallel Greek text and the Byzantine Majority Text began with εἰς.  A more literal translation would be “Into (or, unto) discipline endure.”  (The Stephanus Textus Receptus began with ει, translated If ye endure chastening.)  What one endures unto discipline was clearer a few verses prior (Hebrews 12:3 NET):

Think of him who endured such opposition against himself[36] by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

When I think of Jesus I think of others in opposition to Him, the sin in his own flesh was so marvelously controlled.  The old human has been the most obvious, nearest and dearest sinner whose opposition has been mine to endure.

A table of the occurrences of χωρὶς in the New Testament and its translation in the NET and KJV, and nine tables comparing Hebrews 9:24-28; 1 John 3:2-9; Galatians 5:22-23; Hebrews 10:10; Romans 7:25; Romans 7:14-23; Romans 8:1-4; Hebrews 12:7 and 12:3 in the NET and KJV follow.  I broke the latter tables when the NET parallel Greek text differed from the Stephanus Textus Receptus or the Byzantine Majority Text.

χωρὶς in the New Testament
Reference Greek NET KJV
Matthew 13:34 χωρὶς παραβολῆς without a parable without a parable
Matthew 14:21 χωρὶς γυναικῶν Not counting women beside women
Matthew 15:38 χωρὶς παιδίων (NET) / χωρις γυναικων (Stephanus Textus Receptus) Not counting children beside women
Mark 4:34 χωρὶς δὲ παραβολῆς without a parable without a parable
Luke 6:49 χωρὶς θεμελίου without a foundation without a foundation
John 1:3 χωρὶς αὐτοῦ apart from him without him
John 15:5 χωρὶς ἐμοῦ apart from me without me
John 20:7 χωρὶς by itself by itself
Romans 3:21 χωρὶς νόμου apart from the law without the law
Romans 3:28 χωρὶς ἔργων νόμου apart from the works of the law without the deeds of the law
Romans 4:6 χωρὶς ἔργων apart from works without works
Romans 7:8 χωρὶς γὰρ νόμου For apart from the law For without the law
Romans 7:9 χωρὶς νόμου apart from the law without the law
Romans 10:14 χωρὶς κηρύσσοντος without someone preaching without a preacher
1 Corinthians 4:8 χωρὶς ἡμῶν without us without us
1 Corinthians 11:11 χωρὶς ἀνδρὸς (NET) / χωρὶς γυναικὸς (Stephanus Textus Receptus) independent of man without the woman
χωρὶς γυναικὸς (NET) / χωρὶς ἀνδρὸς (Stephanus Textus Receptus) independent of woman without the man
2 Corinthians 11:28 χωρὶς τῶν παρεκτὸς Apart from other things Beside those things that are without
2 Corinthians 12:3 χωρὶς τοῦ σώματος (NET) / εκτος του σωματος (Stephanus Textus Receptus) apart from the body out of the body
Ephesians 2:12 χωρὶς Χριστοῦ without the Messiah without Christ
Philippians 2:14 χωρὶς γογγυσμῶν without grumbling without murmurings
1 Timothy 2:8 χωρὶς ὀργῆς without anger without wrath
1 Timothy 5:21 χωρὶς προκρίματος without prejudice without preferring one before another
Philemon 1:14 χωρὶς δὲ τῆς σῆς γνώμης However, without your consent But without thy mind
Hebrews 4:15 χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας yet without sin yet without sin
Hebrews 7:7 χωρὶς δὲ πάσης ἀντιλογίας Now without dispute And without all contradiction
Hebrews 7:20 χωρὶς ὁρκωμοσίας[37] done without a sworn affirmation without an oath
without a sworn affirmation without an oath (verse 21)
Hebrews 9:7 χωρὶς αἵματος without blood without blood
Hebrews 9:18 οὐδὲ…χωρὶς αἵματος / ουδ…χωρις αιματος (Stephanus Textus Receptus) with blood neither…without blood
Hebrews 9:22 χωρὶς αἱματεκχυσίας without the shedding of blood without shedding of blood
Hebrews 9:28 χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας not to bear sin without sin
Hebrews 10:28 χωρὶς οἰκτιρμῶν without mercy without mercy
Hebrews 11:6 χωρὶς δὲ πίστεως Now without faith But without faith
Hebrews 11:40 μὴ χωρὶς ἡμῶν together with us without us…not
Hebrews 12:8 χωρίς ἐστε παιδείας you do not experience discipline be without chastisement
Hebrews 12:14 οὗ χωρὶς for without it without which
James 2:18 χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων without works without thy works
James 2:20 χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων without works without works
James 2:26 χωρὶς πνεύματος without the spirit without the spirit
χωρὶς ἔργων / χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων (Stephanus Textus Receptus) without works without works
Hebrews 9:24-28 (NET)

Hebrews 9:24-28 (KJV)
For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands – the representation of the true sanctuary – but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οὐ γὰρ εἰς χειροποίητα εἰσῆλθεν ἅγια Χριστός, ἀντίτυπα τῶν ἀληθινῶν, ἀλλ᾿ εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανόν, νῦν ἐμφανισθῆναι τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ θεοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ου γαρ εις χειροποιητα αγια εισηλθεν ο χριστος αντιτυπα των αληθινων αλλ εις αυτον τον ουρανον νυν εμφανισθηναι τω προσωπω του θεου υπερ ημων ου γαρ εις χειροποιητα αγια εισηλθεν ο χριστος αντιτυπα των αληθινων αλλ εις αυτον τον ουρανον νυν εμφανισθηναι τω προσωπω του θεου υπερ ημων
And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own, Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world.  But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἐπεὶ ἔδει αὐτὸν πολλάκις παθεῖν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου· νυνὶ δὲ ἅπαξ ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων εἰς ἀθέτησιν [τῆς] ἁμαρτίας διὰ τῆς θυσίας αὐτοῦ πεφανέρωται επει εδει αυτον πολλακις παθειν απο καταβολης κοσμου νυν δε απαξ επι συντελεια των αιωνων εις αθετησιν αμαρτιας δια της θυσιας αυτου πεφανερωται επει εδει αυτον πολλακις παθειν απο καταβολης κοσμου νυν δε απαξ επι συντελεια των αιωνων εις αθετησιν αμαρτιας δια της θυσιας αυτου πεφανερωται
And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οὕτως καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἅπαξ προσενεχθεὶς εἰς τὸ πολλῶν ἀνενεγκεῖν ἁμαρτίας ἐκ δευτέρου χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας ὀφθήσεται τοῖς αὐτὸν ἀπεκδεχομένοις εἰς σωτηρίαν. ουτως ο χριστος απαξ προσενεχθεις εις το πολλων ανενεγκειν αμαρτιας εκ δευτερου χωρις αμαρτιας οφθησεται τοις αυτον απεκδεχομενοις εις σωτηριαν ουτως και ο χριστος απαξ προσενεχθεις εις το πολλων ανενεγκειν αμαρτιας εκ δευτερου χωρις αμαρτιας οφθησεται τοις αυτον απεκδεχομενοις εις σωτηριαν
1 John 3:2-9 (NET)

1 John 3:2-9 (KJV)
Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.  We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀγαπητοί, νῦν τέκνα θεοῦ ἐσμεν, καὶ οὔπω ἐφανερώθη τί ἐσόμεθα. οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἐὰν φανερωθῇ, ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα, ὅτι ὀψόμεθα αὐτὸν καθώς ἐστιν αγαπητοι νυν τεκνα θεου εσμεν και ουπω εφανερωθη τι εσομεθα οιδαμεν δε οτι εαν φανερωθη ομοιοι αυτω εσομεθα οτι οψομεθα αυτον καθως εστιν αγαπητοι νυν τεκνα θεου εσμεν και ουπω εφανερωθη τι εσομεθα οιδαμεν δε οτι εαν φανερωθη ομοιοι αυτω εσομεθα οτι οψομεθα αυτον καθως εστιν
And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; indeed, sin is lawlessness. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
And you know that Jesus was revealed to take away (ἄρῃ, a form of αἴρω) sins, and in him there is no sin. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ οἴδατε ὅτι ἐκεῖνος ἐφανερώθη, ἵνα τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἄρῃ, καὶ ἁμαρτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν και οιδατε οτι εκεινος εφανερωθη ινα τας αμαρτιας ημων αρη και αμαρτια εν αυτω ουκ εστιν και οιδατε οτι εκεινος εφανερωθη ινα τας αμαρτιας ημων αρη και αμαρτια εν αυτω ουκ εστιν
Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

Galatians 5:22, 23 (KJV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
πραΰτης ἐγκράτεια· κατὰ τῶν τοιούτων οὐκ ἔστιν νόμος πραοτης εγκρατεια κατα των τοιουτων ουκ εστιν νομος πραοτης εγκρατεια κατα των τοιουτων ουκ εστιν νομος

Hebrews 10:10 (NET)

Hebrews 10:10 (KJV)
By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἐν ᾧ θελήματι ἡγιασμένοι ἐσμὲν διὰ τῆς προσφορᾶς τοῦ σώματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐφάπαξ εν ω θεληματι ηγιασμενοι εσμεν οι δια της προσφορας του σωματος του ιησου χριστου εφαπαξ εν ω θεληματι ηγιασμενοι εσμεν οι δια της προσφορας του σωματος ιησου χριστου εφαπαξ
Romans 7:25 (NET)

Romans 7:25 (KJV)
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
χάρις τῷ θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν. ῎Αρα οὖν αὐτὸς ἐγὼ τῷ μὲν νοὶ_ δουλεύω νόμῳ θεοῦ τῇ δὲ σαρκὶ νόμῳ ἁμαρτίας. ευχαριστω τω θεω δια ιησου χριστου του κυριου ημων αρα ουν αυτος εγω τω μεν νοι δουλευω νομω θεου τη δε σαρκι νομω αμαρτιας ευχαριστω τω θεω δια ιησου χριστου του κυριου ημων αρα ουν αυτος εγω τω μεν νοι δουλευω νομω θεου τη δε σαρκι νομω αμαρτιας

Romans 7:14-23 (NET)

Romans 7:14-23 (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.
For I don’t understand what I am doing.  For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
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.
For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.  For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ οἰκεῖ ἐν ἐμοί, τοῦτ᾿ ἔστιν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου, ἀγαθόν· τὸ γὰρ θέλειν παράκειται μοι, τὸ δὲ κατεργάζεσθαι τὸ καλὸν οὔ οιδα γαρ οτι ουκ οικει εν εμοι τουτ εστιν εν τη σαρκι μου αγαθον το γαρ θελειν παρακειται μοι το δε κατεργαζεσθαι το καλον ουχ ευρισκω οιδα γαρ οτι ουκ οικει εν εμοι τουτ εστιν εν τη σαρκι μου αγαθον το γαρ θελειν παρακειται μοι το δε κατεργαζεσθαι το καλον ουχ ευρισκω
For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
βλέπω δὲ ἕτερον νόμον ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν μου ἀντιστρατευόμενον τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοός μου καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντα με |ἐν| τῷ νόμῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῷ ὄντι ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν μου βλεπω δε ετερον νομον εν τοις μελεσιν μου αντιστρατευομενον τω νομω του νοος μου και αιχμαλωτιζοντα με τω νομω της αμαρτιας τω οντι εν τοις μελεσιν μου βλεπω δε ετερον νομον εν τοις μελεσιν μου αντιστρατευομενον τω νομω του νοος μου και αιχμαλωτιζοντα με εν τω νομω της αμαρτιας τω οντι εν τοις μελεσιν μου
Romans 8:1-4 (NET)

Romans 8:1-4 (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.
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, For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, 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. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Hebrews 12:7 (NET)

Hebrews 12:7 (KJV)
Endure your suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons.  For what son is there that a father does not discipline? If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἰς παιδείαν ὑπομένετε, ὡς υἱοῖς ὑμῖν προσφέρεται ὁ θεός. τίς γὰρ υἱὸς ὃν οὐ παιδεύει πατήρ ει παιδειαν υπομενετε ως υιοις υμιν προσφερεται ο θεος τις γαρ εστιν υιος ον ου παιδευει πατηρ εις παιδειαν υπομενετε ως υιοις υμιν προσφερεται ο θεος τις γαρ υιος εστιν ον ου παιδευει πατηρ
Hebrews 12:3 (NET)

Hebrews 12:3 (KJV)
Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀναλογίσασθε γὰρ τὸν τοιαύτην ὑπομεμενηκότα ὑπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν εἰς |ἑαυτὸν| ἀντιλογίαν, ἵνα μὴ κάμητε ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν ἐκλυόμενοι αναλογισασθε γαρ τον τοιαυτην υπομεμενηκοτα υπο των αμαρτωλων εις αυτον αντιλογιαν ινα μη καμητε ταις ψυχαις υμων εκλυομενοι αναλογισασθε γαρ τον τοιαυτην υπομεμενηκοτα υπο των αμαρτωλων εις αυτον αντιλογιαν ινα μη καμητε ταις ψυχαις υμων εκλυομενοι

[1] Aaron and his sons (Exodus 28:43 NET)

[2] Exodus 29:33 (NET)

[3] The Greek word translated to come in the NET parallel Greek text was γενομένων (a form of γίνομαι).  In the Stephanus Textus Receptus and the Byzantine Majority texts it was μελλοντων (a form of μέλλω). Table

[4] Hebrews 9:11,12 (NET)

[5] NET note (34): “Grk ‘without sin,’ but in context this does not refer to Christ’s sinlessness (as in Heb 4:15) but to the fact that sin is already dealt with by his first coming.”  My actual question was whether χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας (without sin) referred to those who eagerly await him.  I didn’t discover anything that would allow me to propose that argument in the face of those who know Greek syntax better than I do.

[6] A 2nd aorist active infinitive form of the verb ἀναφέρω

[7] An aorist active indicative 3rd person singular form of the verb ἀναφέρω

[8] Exodus 34:6, 7 (Tanakh)

[9] The NET parallel Greek text had εἰρηκέναι here, a perfect active infinitive form of ῥέω according to the Koine Greek Lexicon (a form of ἐρέω according to BibleHub).  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had προειρηκεναι, a perfect active infinitive form of προερέω.

[10] The NET parallel Greek text had διάνοιαν here, an accusative singular feminine form of διάνοια.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had διανοιων, a genitive plural feminine form of διάνοια according to the Koine Greek Lexicon.

[11] The NET parallel Greek text had μνησθήσομαι here, a form of μιμνήσκω in the indicative mood (though the word “μνησθήσομαι” in the parallel Greek text of the NET for Hebrews 10:17 highlights as, and links to, μνάομαι).  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μνησθω, another form of μιμνήσκω in the subjunctive mood, the same as the Septuagint and the full quotation in Hebrews 8:11, 12.
In the Septuagint and the full quotation this is not an issue: “if the subjunctive mood is used in a purpose or result clause, then the action should not be thought of as a possible result, but should be viewed as a definite outcome that will happen as a result of another stated action” (from Subjunctive Mood).  Isolated as it is in verse 17, however, μὴ μνησθω ἔτι would mean something like “I might remember no longer” while μὴ μνησθήσομαι ἔτι would translate “I will remember no longer.”

[12] In the Stephanus Textus Receptus and the Byzantine Majority Text this clause began with δε (KJV: but).  It is absent in the NET parallel Greek text.

[13] 1 John 3:2, 3 (NET)

[14] John 11:55 (NET)

[15] Acts 21:23b, 24a (NET)

[16] Acts 21:26 (NET)

[17] 1 Peter 1:22a (NET)

[18] Romans 8:14 (NET)

[19] Galatians 5:16 (NET)

[20] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αμαρτιας ημων here (KJV: our sins).  The NET parallel Greek text had simply αμαρτιας.

[21] 1 John 3:4-7 (NET)

[22] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had πραΰτης here, which was also spelled πραοτης in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

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

[24] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had οι here, which was absent from the NET parallel Greek text.

[25] Hebrews 10:10 (NET)

[26] 1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NET)

[27] 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NET)

[28] John 3:21 (NET)

[29] 1 John 3:8, 9 (NET)

[30] Ephesians 4:22-24 (NET)

[31] Romans 7:25b (NET)

[32] The NET parallel Greek text had οὔ here where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ουχ ευρισκω.

[33] The NET parallel Greek text and Byzantine Majority Text had ἐν here where the Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

[34] 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) while the NET parallel Greek text did not.

[35] Hebrews 12:7a (NET)

[36] The NET parallel Greek text had ἑαυτὸν here where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτον.

[37] The second occurrence of χωρὶς ὁρκωμοσίας was in verse 21 of the Stephanus Textus Receptus and King James translation, while both were in verse 20 in the NET parallel Greek text and Byzantine Majority Text.

Romans, Part 32

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For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear (φόβον, a form of φόβος),[1] Paul continued, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”[2]  Human beings have been afraid of God ever since Adam died and hid from Him, saying, and I was afraid because I was naked.[3]  That is καὶ ἐφοβήθην (a form of φοβέω) ὅτι γυμνός εἰμι[4] in the Septuagint, literally, and I was afraid because naked I am   And naked we still are, because no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked (γυμνὰ, a form of γυμνός)[5] and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account (λόγος).[6]  It is fitting that the fear that came upon us when Adam sinned is banished in Christ.

The word Abba is the childish word for father.  It reminds me of the picture of John John Kennedy peeking out from under his father’s desk in the oval office at the White House.  In October of 1962 President Kennedy was the most feared man on the planet, with the power to plunge the world into nuclear war.  But to John John, he was Daddy.  The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.  And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) – if indeed we suffer with (συμπάσχομεν, a form of συμπάσχω)[7] him so we may also be glorified with (συνδοξασθῶμεν, a form of συνδοξάζω)[8] him.[9]

There are many things someone might suffer, but this linkage of suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him leads me back to chapter 6: Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory (δόξης, a form of δόξα)[10] of the Father, so we too may live a new life.[11]  Once Jesus’ disciples knew that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God[12] he instructed them not to tell anyone.[13]

From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer (παθεῖν, a form of πάθω)[14] many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.[15]

So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him: “God forbid, Lord!  This must not happen to you!”[16]  Mark emphasized that Jesus spoke openly about this.  So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.[17]  But [Jesus] turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.[18]  And Paul wrote, For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection.[19]

So the suffering Paul had in mind I think was primarily the frustration and inner confusion associated with this death and resurrection experience, particularly that neither I (old man born of the flesh nor new man born of the Spirit) can do what I want:  For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.[20]  I’ve written in another essay in more detail that I think the essence of taking up one’s cross to follow Jesus in this death is not my will but yours be done,[21] and a few more ideas about this suffering of death in another.  For I consider that our present sufferings (παθήματα, a form of πάθημα)[22] cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us,[23] Paul continued (Romans 8:19-21 NET).

For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God [e.g., all who are led by the Spirit of God[24]].  For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly but because of God who subjected it – in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage (δουλείας, a form of δουλεία)[25] of decay (φθορᾶς, a form of φθορά)[26] into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

In school I learned about evolution, that marvelous creative force that made everything we see today.  In my real life I travel from medical conference to medical conference where I hear about genetic defects and diseases, the bondage of decay, the actual observable results of evolution.  The palliation of genetic defects and diseases is one of our last locally produced products and a mainspring of our economy.  While medical researchers may intend to find “cures” for genetic defects and diseases good economic sense would argue against that.  But there is another more pressing problem to consider, more long range and more far reaching.

Those who are faithful to their creator evolution, what I will call the evolutionary mind, face a daunting problem when it comes to “cures” for the products of evolution.  To my mind a cure would be found along the lines of investigation leading to an understanding of God’s original design of the genetic code for humankind.  This would not be conceivable to the evolutionary mind.  There was no grand design, no right way for the code to be written.  It was all happenstance that happened to produce life-forms that survived under given conditions.  For the evolutionary mind a “cure” must come from one’s own mind, evaluating the conditions people must thrive under and “Imagineering” so to speak how the code should read to accommodate those conditions.

Just as an aside, it occurs to me that back-breeding (e.g., inter-racial marriage) is still quite effective to overcoming some of the genetic burden that continues to accumulate over time.  When I was young such marriage was a curiosity.  Now inter-racial marriage seems to be a positive symptom of enlightened thinking among many young people.  If that trend continues and becomes standard practice it may well alleviate the necessity for any more Draconian measures forbidding intra-racial marriage.  And to my way of thinking it is the religious mind that would stand in the way of inter-racial marriage much like it would have bridled at God’s decrees against intra-familial marriage when genetic burden made that necessary.

Paul’s point, however, was that those who trust in Christ, or more specifically those led by the Spirit of God, wait for God’s solution, that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.  While the children don’t know exactly how this will take place, they assume it is along the lines of death and resurrection that they are experiencing, a destruction by fire and a creation of new heavens and a new earth (2 Peter 3:8-13 NET).  Ultimately, the children trust that Abba, Daddy has everything under control.  The scorn and ridicule that elicits from those with an evolutionary mind may also be part of the suffering Paul wrote about.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together (συνωδίνει, a form of συνωδίνω)[27] until now.  Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  For in hope we were saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?[28]

This is what convinced me that for Paul, So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin,[29] and, For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want,[30] were normative for the believer’s experience here on earth.  They are the suffering to which he referred.  Even being led by the Spirit is but a foretaste of the glory that will be revealed to us.  It is the foretaste that prompts us to pray, Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored, may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.[31]

But if we hope for what we do not see, Paul concluded, we eagerly wait for it with endurance (ὑπομονῆς, a form of ὑπομονή).[32]

Romans, Part 33

Fear – Genesis, Part 1

Twilight Revisited 

Back to Fear – Genesis, Part 2

Back to You Must Be Gentle, Part 3

[2] Romans 8:15 (NET)

[3] Genesis 3:10 (NET)

[6] Hebrews 4:13 (NET)

[9] Romans 8:16, 17 (NET)

[11] Romans 6:4 (NET)

[15] Matthew 16:21 (NET)

[16] Matthew 16:22 (NET)

[17] Mark 8:32 (NET)

[18] Matthew 16:23, 24 (NET)

[19] Romans 6:5 (NET)

[20] Galatians 5:17 (NET)

[21] Luke 22:42b (NET)

[23] Romans 8:18 (NET)

[28] Romans 8:22-24 (NET)

[29] Romans 7:25b (NKJV)

[30] Galatians 5:17 (NET)

[31] Matthew 6:9, 10 (NET)

[32] Romans 8:25 (NET)

Romans, Part 29

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There is therefore now no condemnation (κατάκριμα)[1] for those who are in Christ Jesus (ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ),[2] Paul continued.  I want to list some of the things that are true for those in Christ Jesus:

In Christ Jesus…
1) …born of water and spirit…What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:5, 6 (NET)
2) …the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.

Galatians 5:17 (NET)
3) I delight in the law of God in my inner being.

Romans 7:22 (NET)
4) I know that nothing good lives…in my flesh.

Romans 7:18a (NET)
5) I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.

Romans 7:18b (NET)
6) I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!

Romans 7:19 (NET)
7) Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.

Romans 7:20 (NET)
8) So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Romans 7:25b (NKJV)
9) There is therefore now no condemnation…

Romans 8:1a (NET)

For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.[3]  All of this was achieved by God.  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 (κατέκρινεν, a form of κατακρίνω)[4] sin in the flesh…[5]

Only God knows how much sin is condemned in my flesh.  I have a general sense that while I’m preoccupied (and frustrated) with the opposition of the flesh that keeps me from the perfection I want (and think I should demonstrate by the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ)[6] less and less of the sin (that is the desire of the flesh) sees the light of day.  It is not expressed in the world.  It is confined, trapped, condemned in dead and dying flesh.

I am the resurrection and the life, Jesus said.  The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, and the one who lives and believes in me will never die.[7]  This was a difficult saying for Martha to believe, many years before Paul wrote to the Romans.  Jesus asked her, Do you believe this?[8]  Martha’s answer was a model of tactful diplomacy, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who comes into the world.[9]

Jesus knew Martha’s brother was sick, but deliberately waited two more days until he died.[10]  Our friend, He told his disciples, has fallen asleep.  But I am going there to awaken him.[11]  His disciples were not eager to return to Judea.  Rabbi, they said, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death!  [Jesus had claimed to be Yahweh, John 8:58, 59 NET]  Are you going there again?[12]  Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.[13]  So Jesus told them plainly that he was dead, and said, I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe.[14]

Jesus had deliberately contrived this situation as an object lesson for his disciples, but then Mary, Martha’s sister, came and fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died:”[15]

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved in spirit and greatly distressed.  He asked, “Where have you laid him?”  They replied, “Lord, come and see.”  Jesus wept.[16]

It was a profound moment.  Only He knows how many people He killed as Yahweh, sinners, yes, but people.  He planned the death of Martha’s and Mary’s brother.  He knew what He intended to do in the next few moments.  And yet He wept.  To say that Yahweh was not empathetic with human death would be false.  I’m particularly affected by the implications of Genesis 18, that before the omniscient, omnipresent Yahweh decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah he took physical form and walked its streets.  But there is something even more affecting about Yahweh, born of the flesh of Adam as Jesus, standing before the tomb of a friend weeping human tears from human eyes.

Take away the stone,[17] Jesus said.  Martha, ever the proper hostess, protested, Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell, because he has been buried four days.[18]  Jesus responded (John 11:40-44 NET):

“Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?”  So they took away the stone.  Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have listened to me.  I knew that you always listen to me, but I said this for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.”  When he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped around his face.  Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord[19]…who will rescue me from this body of death.[20]  The ultimate condemnation of sin in the flesh is the death of the body.  The one who believes in me will live even if he dies,[21] Jesus promised everyone born of the flesh and of the Spirit.  To those who already consider themselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus,[22] who accept their new identities, with the mind [they themselves] serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin,[23] Jesus promised, the one who lives and believes in me will never die.[24]  To them the well-deserved demise of the body of death is a welcome relief, not a cause of apprehension.

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, [Jesus] likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death,[25] is the way the writer of Hebrews put it.  Paul concluded, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled (πληρωθῇ, a form of πληρόω)[26] in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.[27]  The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled by the righteousness of God [apart from the law[28]] through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe,[29] the love that is the fulfillment (πλήρωμα)[30] of the law,[31] the fruit of the Spirit[32] of God, in other words, to walk according…to the Spirit.  As Jesus said, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill (πληρῶσαι, another form of πληρόω) them.[33]

Paul continued (Romans 8:5-11 NET):

For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.  For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.  Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness.  Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.

Peter’s Way?

Romans, Part 30

Back to Romans, Part 31

Back to Romans, Part 32

Back to Romans, Part 35

Back to Son of God – John, Part 5

Back to Saving Demons, Part 1

Back to Romans, Part 45

[2] Romans 8:1 (NET)

[3] Romans 8:2 (NET)

[5] Romans 8:3 (NET)

[7] John 11:25, 26a (NET)

[8] John 11:26b (NET)

[9] John 11:27 (NET)

[10] John 11:6 (NET)

[11] John 11:11 (NET)

[12] John 11:8 (NET)

[13] John 11:12 (NET)

[14] John 11:15 (NET)

[15] John 11:32 (NET)

[16] John 11:33-35 (NET)

[17] John 11:39a (NET)

[18] John 11:39b (NET)

[19] Romans 7:25a (NET)

[20] Romans 7:24b (NET)

[21] John 11:25b (NET)

[23] Romans 7:25b (NET)

[24] John 11:26a (NET)

[25] Hebrews 2:14, 15 (NET)

[27] Romans 8:4 (NET)

[33] Matthew 5:17 (NET)

You Must Be Gentle, Part 1

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Alexander in Ingmar Bergman’s film “Fanny and Alexander” encouraged the ghost of his “good” father (who looks disconcertingly like Adolf Hitler) to stop haunting him, to go on to heaven and convince God to kill his stepfather.  The ghost of his “good” father counseled, “You must be gentle with people, Alexander.”

I’ve been enjoying a mini-Ingmar-Bergman-film-festival on DVD.  First, I watched “Persona,” Bergman’s reflections on his own guilt and hypocrisy raising children, told through a mute actress who had a child reluctantly to complete herself as a woman, and the nurse who cares for her.  Then I watched “Wild Strawberries,” a sober consideration (if not a lament) of a life spent solely for one’s work and personal achievement.  I think of these as Lutheran films, not because they are propaganda for the Lutheran Church, but because Bergman considered his films a dialogue with his childhood and that childhood was dominated by his Lutheran minister father Erik.

I looked forward to “Fanny and Alexander,” because it was the film where he dealt most intimately with the problem of his father.  I was disappointed when the first copy arrived broken in the mail.  Then with the second copy I was put off a bit by the plot.  It seemed to me like Bergman avoided the issue with his father rather than confronting it directly.  The problem was not that Erik Bergman was an evil stepfather who married Ingmar’s mother after his “good” father died.  The problem was that Erik was both the “good” father and the evil stepfather.  The sumptuous joy and luxury and the grey austerity are recollections of one home, not two.

I got over the plot in time and simply enjoyed the imagery.  Though Alexander was not really as close to his “good” father as he was compelled to be close to his evil stepfather, he was ultimately haunted by both.  And his desire to kill the evil stepfather is also God’s desire, if I may reunite the evil stepfather and the “good” father as one man born of the flesh and of the Spirit.  That’s why the “good” father’s advice touches me so, “You must be gentle with people, Alexander.”

Everyone born of the Spirit, born from above, is liable to the situation Paul described in Romans 7:15 (NET), For I don’t understand what I am doing.  For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate.  My father could go from happily singing a hymn to screaming hysterically at us in no time at all.  I thought I could be a foster parent.  I thought I could help someone.  An autistic child defeated me in the most fundamental way a man can be defeated.  He shattered my self-image as a kind and loving man.  My wife lost confidence in me and, I think, in God to a certain extent.  I certainly lost confidence in God for at least the remainder of our marriage.  And my children witnessed it all.

I am thinking about forgiveness here as a way of being gentle with people.  But I’m trying to reach something beyond my ordinary conception of forgiveness.  When I have a bad encounter with the sinful flesh of someone born of God I shouldn’t think, “So that’s what you’re really like.”  This is false.  What the person born of God is really like is the new creation, washed, cleansed, buoyed-up, and carried along by the Spirit of God, not the sinful flesh I happened to experience.  So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin,[1] Paul concluded with gratitude to God.

Romans, Part 28

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Did that which is good, then, become death (θάνατος)[1] to me?[2] Paul continued.  It is a reasonable question considering that the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good,[3] and that Paul found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death (θάνατον, a form of θάνατος)![4] Absolutely not! Paul continued.  But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death (θάνατον, a form of θάνατος) in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.[5]

Again, I think sin personified here is Paul’s way of referring to the old man crucified with Christ.  But finally I have come to the place where Paul, by expressing the inner confusion of this house divided, one born of the flesh and of the Spirit, actually clarified the situation.

For we know that the law is spiritual – but I (ἐγὼ)[6] am unspiritual (σάρκινος),[7] sold into slavery to sin.[8]  It is difficult to hear Paul call himself unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.  After all, what does that mean for someone like me?  But Paul was describing himself as a man deceived[9] and seized by a fit of coveting, sin [old man], seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires.[10]  In the beginning this old man (sin personified) was perceived by Paul as I (ἐγὼ), I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.

For I don’t understand (γινώσκω)[11] what I am doing.  For I do not do what I want (θέλω)[12]– instead, I do what I hate.  But if I do what I don’t want (θέλω), I agree that the law is good.[13]  If Paul had not been a house divided, born only of the flesh of Adam, there would have been none of this confusion.  And I think the resolution goes something like this: For I [new man or woman] don’t understand what I [old man] am doing.  For I [old man] do not do what I [new man or woman] want – instead, I [old man] do what I [new man or woman] hate.  But if I [old man] do what I [new man or woman] don’t want, I [new man or woman] agree that the law is good.

Here is the first recognition, if you will, of the new I wanting, desiring, willing, something different than the old I.  With that, and beyond that, came the recognition of a possible new identity.  But now it is no longer me [new man or woman] doing it, but sin [old man] that lives in me.[14]  And just in case I missed it, Paul went on to elaborate this distinction.

For I [new man or woman] know (Οἶδα, a form of εἴδω;[15] i.e., know by seeing) that nothing good lives in me [old man], that is, in my flesh (σαρκί, a form of σάρξ).[16] For I [new man or woman] want (θέλειν, a form of θέλω) to do the good, but I [new man or woman] cannot do it.  For I [old man] do not do the good I [new man or woman] want (θέλω), but I [old man] do the very evil I [new man or woman] do not want (θέλω)!  Now if I [old man] do what I [new man or woman] do not want (θέλω), it is no longer me [new man or woman] doing it but sin [old man] that lives in me.[17]

And so the law is the measure by which to distinguish one I from the other, the old from the new.  The law excites the old I to rebellion and sin, while it is the earnest hope, desire and plea of the new I, though the power to fulfill that desire may seem overwhelmingly lacking.

So, I [new man or woman] find the law that when I [new man or woman] want (θέλοντι, another form of θέλω) to do good, evil [old man] is present with me [new man or woman].  For I [new man or woman] delight in the law of God in my [new man or woman] inner being.  But I [new man or woman] see a different law in my [new man or woman] members waging war against the law of my [new man or woman] mind and making me [old man] captive to the law of sin that is in my [new man or woman] members.  Wretched man that I [old man] am!  Who will rescue me [new man or woman] from this body (σώματος, a form of σῶμα)[18] of death (θανάτου, another form of θάνατος) [old man]?[19]

I admit that some of my designations in the preceding passage of the “new man or woman” may be arguable.  I believe, however, that through faith I, the new man or woman, lay claim to more and more of my mind and my members.  And I think that is the insight behind Paul’s gratitude, Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord![20] as he self-identified as the new man, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh (σαρκὶ, a form of σάρξ) I serve the law of sin.[21]

The NET translators acknowledged that they added the second “I serve” for “clarity” (note 28).  But this is not like verse 17, in my flesh (ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου, literally “in this flesh of mine”).  It is simply “but this flesh” (τῇ δὲ σαρκὶ).  I think Paul’s point is better served by the NKJV translation, So then, with the mind I myself (αὐτὸς ἐγὼ) serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin,[22]  where the double emphasis of I myself is clearly distinguished from the flesh.

[2] Romans 7:13a (NET)

[3] Romans 7:12 (NET)

[4] Romans 7:10 (NET)

[5] Romans 7:13b (NET)

[8] Romans 7:14 (NET)

[10] Romans 7:8 (NET)

[13] Romans 7:15, 16 (NET)

[14] Romans 7:17 (NET)

[17] Romans 7:18-20 (NET)

[20] Romans 7:25a (NET)

[21] Romans 7:25b (NET)

[22] Romans 7:25b (NKJV)

Romans, Part 26

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Therefore, Paul continued, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey1 (ὑπακούειν, a form of ὑπακούω) its desires (ἐπιθυμίαις, a form of ἐπιθυμία).2  This is clearly Step #2 how to experience the credited righteousness of God apart from the law,3 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness (πίστεως, a form of πίστις) of Jesus Christ for all who believe (πιστεύοντας, a form of πιστεύω).4  I think the next verse amplifies how one goes about not letting sin reign in one’s mortal body, and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as5 those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.6  So I am picturing something like this:

Step #2 to experience the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe.
…do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.

Romans 6:12 (NET)

By…
…not present(ing) your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness…

Romans 6:13a (NET)

 …present(ing) yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.

Romans 6:13b (NET)

It sounds so simple, but there is no door marked “sin” beside a door marked “God” where I might present myself for service.  This transaction, if you will, takes place in the deepest, darkest places of an individual born from above, born of flesh and born of the Spirit,7 moment by moment.  In fact, Paul described this individual as a house divided, For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.8  So then, Paul concluded in Romans 7, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.9

There is a cartoon image of a human being with a little devil i on one shoulder whispering in one ear and a little angel i whispering in the other.  In the center between them am I, writ large, the Master of My Fate, choosing sin or righteousness.  With this self-image I discounted the value of Step #1—to consider (λογίζεσθε, a form of λογίζομαι) [myself] dead (νεκροὺς, a form of νεκρός) to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus10—as I magnified the importance of Step #2, not to let sin reign in [my] mortal body so that [I] obey[ed] its desires.  So I set out not to break, or to keep, the laws that define sin, and unwittingly played directly into sin’s strength: the power (δύναμις) of sin is the law.11  Had I paid more attention to faith I might have grasped Paul’s next point sooner.  For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law (ὑπὸ νόμον) but12 under grace (ὑπὸ χάριν).13

This personification of sin was not magical thinking on Paul’s part.  What he was writing about actually becomes clearer in Romans 7.  The sin that will not master the one who believes in Jesus is nothing other than the old man that was crucified with him so that the body (σῶμα) of sin would no longer dominate us.14  I am not refereeing a battle of wills between a little devil i and a little angel i.  I am the old man of sin, or I am the new man of the Spirit.  Both are in this body (σῶμα).  Both want control.  The old man was crucified by faith in Jesus Christ.  The new man was created out of nothing through faith in Jesus Christ.  Believing in Jesus Christ is far more important than anything either I, the dead and dying old man or the initially alien new man, might do. [Addendum April 15, 2024: While I don’t want to minimize the importance of faith in Christ, recognizing the union between Christ and this new man causes me to wonder if I have overstated this a bit.] And I am persuaded that the illusion that I am a third something choosing between them is nothing more than the pride of life (1 John 2:15-17 NKJV).

Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but15 is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

What then? Paul continued.  Shall we sin16 because we are not under law (ὑπὸ νόμον) but17 under grace (ὑπὸ χάριν)?  Absolutely not!18  Paul’s reasoning here was a truism, a simple matter of definition.  Do you not know (οἴδατε, a form of εἴδω; i.e., know by seeing) that if you present yourselves as obedient (ὑπακοήν, a form of ὑπακοή) slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey (ὑπακούετε, another form of ὑπακούω), either of sin [the desire of the old man] resulting in death, or obedience (ὑπακοῆς, another form of ὑπακοή) [the desire of the new man] resulting in righteousness?19

I am convinced that words like obey, obedient, and obedience with their insistent emphasis on doing are part of the things of this world, the pride of life where I am the Master of My Fate, choosing to do the good or to do the evil.  In Greek the word translated obey is ὑπακούω, to hear under, in other words to trust.  The word translated obedient or obedience is ὑπακοή, attentive hearkening, in other words to believe.  These are other words, perhaps even better words, for faith and believe than πίστις and πιστεύω, for no one could mistake them for πίστεως μόνον (faith alone), or dead faith.  And again, this makes perfect sense if one is interested in experiencing the righteousness of God…revealed in the gospel from faith (πίστεως, a form of πίστις) to faith (πίστιν, another form of πίστις), just as it is written, “The righteous by faith (πίστεως, a form of πίστις) will live.”20

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed (ὑπηκούσατε, another form of ὑπακούω) from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.21  So I ὑπακούω, hear under, trust, the word of God rather than becoming ὑπακοή to, hearkening attentively to, believing, the promptings and desires of the old man, the man of sin created in the image of Adam.  Of course I will do things.  But now those things, rather than being the acts of an actor, will flow naturally from who I hear under (trust, hearken attentively to, believe) through who I am (the new man born of the Spirit in the image and likeness of God) and then out into the world.

The writer of Hebrews described it this way: Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.  For the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works.22  Even the law comes into sharper focus: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,23 not for a day of the week but for the remainder of a lifetime.  And Jesus’ word is fulfilled: But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God.24  It also explains Jesus’ rather obstinate insistence on doing good on the Sabbath day, despite the bitterness and resentment it aroused: So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.25

The writer of Hebrews continued with the following warning (Hebrews 4:11-13 NET):

Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience [i.e., fearfully refusing to enter the promised land].  For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart [Table].  And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

Paul realized he had not yet explained what would be explained in the next chapter.  He recognized that his readers may misunderstand his words (Romans 6:19-23 NET).

(I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.)  For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.  For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.  So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of?  For the end of those things is death.  But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.  For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Addendum: April 15, 2024
Tables comparing Romans 6:12; 6:13; 6:14; 1 John 2:16 and Romans 6:15 in the NET and KJV follow.

Romans 6:12 (NET)

Romans 6:12 (KJV)
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Romans 6:12 (NET Parallel Greek)

Romans 6:12 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Romans 6:12 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Μὴ οὖν βασιλευέτω ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θνητῷ ὑμῶν σώματι εἰς τὸ ὑπακούειν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις αὐτοῦ μη ουν βασιλευετω η αμαρτια εν τω θνητω υμων σωματι εις το υπακουειν αυτη εν ταις επιθυμιαις αυτου μη ουν βασιλευετω η αμαρτια εν τω θνητω υμων σωματι εις το υπακουειν αυτη εν ταις επιθυμιαις αυτου

Romans 6:13 (NET)

Romans 6:13 (KJV)
and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Romans 6:13 (NET Parallel Greek)

Romans 6:13 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Romans 6:13 (Byzantine Majority Text)
μηδὲ παριστάνετε τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν ὅπλα ἀδικίας τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἀλλὰ παραστήσατε ἑαυτοὺς τῷ θεῷ ὡσεὶ ἐκ νεκρῶν ζῶντας καὶ τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν ὅπλα δικαιοσύνης τῷ θεῷ μηδε παριστανετε τα μελη υμων οπλα αδικιας τη αμαρτια αλλα παραστησατε εαυτους τω θεω ως εκ νεκρων ζωντας και τα μελη υμων οπλα δικαιοσυνης τω θεω μηδε παριστανετε τα μελη υμων οπλα αδικιας τη αμαρτια αλλα παραστησατε εαυτους τω θεω ως εκ νεκρων ζωντας και τα μελη υμων οπλα δικαιοσυνης τω θεω

Romans 6:14 (NET)

Romans 6:14 (KJV)
For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace. The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

Romans 6:14 (NET Parallel Greek)

Romans 6:14 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Romans 6:14 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ἁμαρτία γὰρ ὑμῶν οὐ κυριεύσει· οὐ γάρ ἐστε ὑπὸ νόμον ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ χάριν αμαρτια γαρ υμων ου κυριευσει ου γαρ εστε υπο νομον αλλ υπο χαριν αμαρτια γαρ υμων ου κυριευσει ου γαρ εστε υπο νομον αλλ υπο χαριν

1 John 2:16 (NET)

1 John 2:16 (KJV)
because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1 John 2:16 (NET Parallel Greek)

1 John 2:16 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

1 John 2:16 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ὅτι πᾶν τὸ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ (ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου) οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀλλὰ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐστίν οτι παν το εν τω κοσμω η επιθυμια της σαρκος και η επιθυμια των οφθαλμων και η αλαζονεια του βιου ουκ εστιν εκ του πατρος αλλ εκ του κοσμου εστιν οτι παν το εν τω κοσμω η επιθυμια της σαρκος και η επιθυμια των οφθαλμων και η αλαζονεια του βιου ουκ εστιν εκ του πατρος αλλ εκ του κοσμου εστιν

Romans 6:15 (NET)

Romans 6:15 (KJV)
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

Romans 6:15 (NET Parallel Greek)

Romans 6:15 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Romans 6:15 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Τί οὖν; ἁμαρτήσωμεν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐσμὲν ὑπὸ νόμον ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ χάριν; μὴ γένοιτο τι ουν αμαρτησομεν οτι ουκ εσμεν υπο νομον αλλ υπο χαριν μη γενοιτο τι ουν αμαρτησομεν οτι ουκ εσμεν υπο νομον αλλ υπο χαριν μη γενοιτο

1 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτη εν (KJV: it in) following obey. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

2 Romans 6:12 (NET)

3 Romans 3:21 (NET)

4 Romans 3:22 (NET) Table

6 Romans 6:13 (NET)

8 Galatians 5:17 (NET) Table

9 Romans 7:25b (NKJV) Table

10 Romans 6:11 (NET) Table

11 1 Corinthians 15:56b (NET)

13 Romans 6:14 (NET)

14 Romans 6:6 (NET)

18 Romans 6:15 (NET)

19 Romans 6:16 (NET)

20 Romans 1:17 (NET)

21 Romans 6:17, 18 (NET)

22 Hebrews 4:9-10 (NET)

23 Exodus 20:8 (NKJV) Table

24 John 3:21 (NET)

25 Matthew 12:12b (NET)