1 Thessalonians 3:11, An Excerpt from an upcoming Study (rough draft)

This is nothing more than a rough draft.  This was written this morning (Dec. 21) and I thought that I would share the "work in progress".  It will be expanded without a doubt as the translation is a "rough in" and needs to be fine tuned.  Thus the reason that some of the words and phrases are underlined and are in italics.  I thought some may find this interesting.

Prayer Report

Translation

11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.  12 And may the Lord increase you and may you abound in love for one another and for all just as we also have abounded in love for you, 13 in order to strengthen your blameless hearts in holiness before our God and father in the coming of our Lord Jesus with all of his holy ones, [Amen].

Technical Commentary

11 Paul now transitions into a prayer in behalf of and for the Thessalonians.  Paul first asks God to lead the company of the apostles back to Thessalonica.  Paul uses the singular verb κατευθύναι (may direct/lead) (BDAG, 532) with the compound subjects “God and Father” and “Lord Jesus”.  There are many reasons for this, but the most likely reason is that Paul has united both the Father and the Son for a single unified purpose.  It is probably not a statement of unity as both subjects are preceded by the article (ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ ἡμῶν καὶ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς) which makes them distinct.  See Wallace (Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, 482).

Paul asks that the apostles’ way may be directed back to the Thessalonians.  ὁδός (way) within this context is defined by BDAG as “a way for traveling or moving from one place to another, way, road, highway” (BDAG, 690).  The prayer here is for God to direct the apostles’ “way” back to Thessalonica, but only within God’s time and will, thus the use of the Voluntative Optative form of κατευθύνω (to direct) in this verse.  Wallace defines the Voluntative Optative as “the use of the optative in an independent clause to express an obtainable wish or a prayer.  It is frequently an appeal to the will, in particular when used in prayers” (Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, 481).  It is Paul’s prayer that God’s will be done and that within his will that the way be made for Paul’s return to Thessalonica.

1 Thessalonians 3:5, An Excerpt from an upcoming Study

Here is another excerpt from an upcoming study on 1 Thessalonians.  This is a rough draft.

1 Thessalonians 3:5

5 For this reason, when I was not able to bear it any longer, I sent in order to find out about your faith, lest in some way, the tempter had tempted you and our labor may have been in vain.

     5 Paul begins the last sentence with διὰ τοῦτο (For this reason) which is referring to “afflictions” that the Thessalonians were experiencing and why Paul wanted to really send Timothy.  Bruce, on the other hand, sees διὰ τοῦτο (For this reason) pointing forward as Paul wanted to know about the Thessalonians’ faith (Bruce, WBC, 63).  Both, in a sense, are probably correct as one thing always leads to another.  Paul then moves from the 3rd person to the 1st person by saying κἀγὼ μηκέτι στέγων (when I was not able to bear it any longer).  The phrase is somewhat of a repeat from verse 1 except Paul is now stating that he himself was the one who couldn’t stand not knowing what was going on with the Thessalonians.  Were they faithful?  Were they enduring?  Were they holding on to their faith while suffering afflictions from their own fellow-citizens?  Paul wanted to know so he sent Timothy in to find out!  Paul uses εἰς τὸ γνῶναι τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν (in order to know your faith).  The construction indicates that the action of sending Timothy back to Thessalonica would result in Paul understanding the Thessalonians’ faith.  He wanted to find out if they were still holding strong.

     Then Paul “lets the cat out of the bag” so to speak by saying μή πως ἐπείρασεν ὑμᾶς ὁ πειράζων (lest in some way, the tempter had tempted you).  The “tempter” of course being Satan.  Paul has already referred to Satan in 2:19, but here Paul was concerned that “the temper” may have been taking advantage of the situation where the Thessalonians, being persecuted, could have been vulnerable to go back to their idolatrous ways in order to escape the persecution.  If that had been the case, then the Apostles’ work would have been in vain or to no effect.  For if “the tempter” used the Thessalonians’ situation in order to turn them back to idolatry, then Paul and company truly had “labored in vain”.  Paul’s usage of καὶ εἰς κενὸν γένηται ὁ κόπος ἡμῶν (and our labor may have been in vain) comes from Isaiah 65:23a LXX:

23a οἱ δὲ ἐκλεκτοί μου οὐ κοπιάσουσιν εἰς κενὸν...

23a and my chosen ones will not labor in vain...

Although Isaiah 65:23a is positive, Paul places it in a negative context here (Fee, NICNT, 120).  Paul’s use of εἰς κενὸν (in vain) is found throughout his letters (1 Corinthians 15:58; Philippians 2:16; Galatians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 6:1).

     Although there is debate over such notions as one losing one’s place in God and thus losing one’s salvation, from this context, Paul certainly thought that it was possible (Fee, NICNT, 120), but there is a big difference between a person sinning because of one’s fallen nature and completely turning away from one’s faith.  The tempter’s (Satan’s) main concern for tempting is to not just get christians to commit some sins, but to get them to completely turn their back on their christian faith (Green, PNTC, 164-165).

Deuteronomy 22:5; Septuagint (LXX) Studies

The KJV renders Deuteronomy 22:5 as:  

The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God. 

The translators of the Septuagint/LXX translate the passage as:

Οὐκ ἔσται σκεύη ἀνδρὸς ἐπὶ γυναικί, οὐδὲ μὴ ἐνδύσηται ἀνὴρ στολὴν γυναικείαν, ὅτι βδέλυγμα κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ σού ἐστιν πᾶς ποιῶν ταῦτα.

A man’s vessels shall not be on a woman, nether should a man put on a woman’s robe, because everyone doing these things is detestable to the LORD your God.

So what does “a man’s vessels” mean?  BDAG* (927-928) defines σκεῦος in three ways: 1. a material object used to meet some need in an occupation or other responsibility; a thing, object; 2. a container of any kind; vessel, jar, dish; 3. a human being exercising a function; instrument, vessel (figurative of course).

What is interesting to note is that σκεῦος is never used in the NT as “clothing”.

The Hebrew word behind σκεῦος is kheli which also means “vessel” or “weapon”.  It has been argued that kheli means “clothing” in Deuteronomy 22:5, but if that is the case, then why did the Jews who translated the Hebrew into Greek use the plural neuter form of σκεῦος which never means “a man’s clothing”?

One more interesting thing to note in this passage.  The Greek word behind “robe” in the 2nd part of the verse is στολή.  στολή means “a long, flowing robe”.  It is used some 9 times in the NT and more times to count in the LXX and is used in describing both men’s and women’s robes.  Therefore, this word was a well known word.  If the intent was to refer to kheli as “clothing”, then the translators of the LXX would have used something other than σκεῦος.  In the end, it probably is referring to military utensils and garb used in war.

To be fair, I will do more research of the use of σκεῦος in the LXX.  So, more to come.

* (BDAG) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition - Walter Bauer (Author), Frederick William Danker (Editor)

Matthew 27:46-50 The Need for Studying Biblical Manuscripts

Matthew 27:46-50  

46 Now about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which is “My God, My God, why have you deserted me?”)  47 And some of the ones standing there after hearing this were saying, “This one is calling Elijah!”  48 And immediately, one of them ran and took a sponge filled with sour wine and put it on a staff and gave it to him to drink.  49 And the rest were saying, “Leave him alone!  Let us see if Elijah comes to deliver him.”  50 And Jesus, crying out again with a loud voice, released the spirit.

Matthew 27:46-50 is a very familiar passage that describes Jesus’ last moments before his death.  My scholar friend, Jim Leonard, brought this passage to my attention in a recent visit to the Center for New Testament Textual Studies on the Campus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.  While we were discussing Textual Criticism, he brought to my attention that there was a significant variant reading that occurs right before verse 50.  A scribe decided to insert a paraphrase from John 19:34.  The reading is ἄλλος δὲ λαβὼν λόγχην ἔνυξεν αὐτοῦ τὴν πλευράν, καὶ ἔξηλθεν ὕδωρ καὶ αἷμα (And another one taking a spear stabbed his side, and water and blood came out).  First of all, this variant reading is supported by some really good 4th and 5th century witnesses including Codex Sinaiticus which is the oldest complete Greek Bible.  Now at first glance, this seems to be just an attempt to make the passage conform with John 19:34, but in the process, the scribe makes it seem that it was the spear that killed Jesus and not the crucifixion!  The reading didn’t make as future scribes corrected it.  If this reading had stood, it would have presented us with a quite different outlook on the death of Jesus.  This is how the reading would have looked within the main passage:

49 And the rest were saying, “Leave him alone!  Let us see if Elijah comes to deliver him.”  And another one taking a spear stabbed his side, and water and blood came out.  50 And Jesus, crying out again with a loud voice, released the spirit.

The question now remains: Why would a scribe present such a reading as this in a place where it would seem that a spear was responsible for Jesus death?  We may never know for sure, but I can say this, The Center for New Testament Textual Studies is dedicated to studying Biblical Manuscripts.  If an answer can be found, they will find it!

Yahweh = Adonai = Κύριος = Ἰησοῦς Revisited

Earlier this year, I presented a few blogs on how Paul always refers to Jesus as Κύριος (Lord) and how he always places Jesus in place of Yahweh when quoting Old Testament passages.  If you are not familiar with that topic, I suggest that you go here before you read this blog.

 Let's look at some of the impacts this has on Pauline Scripture.  Let's take a look at Romans 10:9-10:

9 that if you confess with your mouth "The Lord is Jesus"*, and you believe in you heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be delivered.  10 For with the heart one believes onto righteousness, and with the mouth, one confesses onto deliverance.

If we apply what to this confessional saying what Paul truly meant, then the passage would be translated:

that if you confess with your mouth "Yahweh is Jesus"...

From this we can see just how important this confessional was.  The impact is deep as it is from this confession that salvation is produced.  Why?  Because we must acknowledge who Jesus is before we can be delivered.  This passage is backed by Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 12:3:

3 Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says "Cursed is Jesus", and no one is able to say "The Lord (Yahweh) is Jesus", except speaking in the Holy Spirit.

One must have his Spirit in order to be saved and one must have his Spirit in order to confess this and mean it!

*The translators of the KJV translates the passage incorrectly with "that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus".  This makes the passage ambiguous.  One confesses that "The Lord is Jesus"!

1 Thessalonians 2:13, An Excerpt from an upcoming Study

The following is an excerpt from a Study that Stephen Brown and I are writing.  It is broken into 4 categories: 1. Translation from the original Greek, 2. Technical Commentary, 3. Variant Reading among various Greek manuscripts, and 4. a devotional segment called "Echoes from the Word".

Feedback is welcome.  This is a rough draft.

Thanksgiving Continued

Translation

13 And for this reason, we also give thanks to God continually that you received God’s message that you heard from us.  You have not accepted the message from people, but as it truly is, the message of God, which also is at work among you who believe.

Technical Commentary

Verses 13-16 serve as a transition from what the Apostles were not and were to a new narrative beginning in verse 17.  We will separate them and comment on verse 13 separately as it is a thanksgiving.

13 Paul and company renew their thanksgiving which was started in Chapter one.  In 1:2-3, the thanksgiving that was giving there was about the faithfulness of the Thessalonians while here, the thanksgiving is about when they first heard God’s word (Fee, NICNT, 85).

Paul starts this passage with Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο (And for this reason).  One would assume at first glance that the “reason” for this second thanksgiving comes from the preceded passage, but we will show that the “reason” for the thanksgiving is in this very verse.  Some scholars see the preceding phrase from verse 12 as the “reason”, but the end of verse says “God who calls you to his own kingdom and glory”.  As discussed above, this phrase sets up the eschatological passage that occurs in Chapter 4.  If we go further back to the 1st thanksgiving, Paul and company are thankful to God for the Thessalonians’ faith and how they have been able to endure.  In verse 13 though, we see a quite different thanksgiving.  This thanksgiving is around the message that the Thessalonians both “heard” and “accepted” as being from God.  This is quite different from the rest of the letter before it.

Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς εὐχαριστοῦμεν τῷ θεῷ ἀδιαλείπτως (And for this reason we also give thanks to God continually) is formed in such a way as the reader must look forward to the remaining content of the verse in order to find the “reason” for the thanksgiving.  As Fee puts it, “It is the renewed aspect of the thanksgiving that explains the double ‘and/also’ with which Paul’s sentence begins -- the ‘and’ serving as the link to verses 9-12, the ‘also’ pointing forward to what he is about to say regarding their reception of the apostolic message” (Fee, NICNT, 86-87).

Connecting two clauses, we find our conjunction friend ὅτι (that/because).  As discussed in the commentary of 1:5 and 2:1, ὅτι can be translated causal (because) or explanatory (that).  In this case, ὅτι either points to the content of the thanksgiving (that), or points to the cause of the thanksgiving (because).  In either case, the first clause points forward rather than backwards.

The clause that follows ὅτι (that/because) is παραλαβόντες λόγον ἀκοῆς παρ᾿ ἡμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ (you received God’s message that you heard from us).  The literal translation from the Greek seems a bit perplexing as it would read: “receiving a/the word of hearing from us of God”.  The ones who received the “word” are the Thessalonians.  The λόγον... τοῦ θεοῦ (a/the word of God) can be best understood in a couple of ways.  1. the “word” is the “message” that the Apostles preached to the Thessalonians.  2. the “word/message” originated from God, not mankind, thus the rendering “God’s message”.  παραλαβόντες is considered as a “technical” term for receiving a tradition.  In this case, it is Paul who has giving the tradition and its origins are from God.  Thus, this tradition handed down to the Thessalonians has a sense of authority (Wanamaker, NIGTC, 110-111).

λόγον ἀκοῆς (the message of hearing) points to the what the Thessalonians actually “heard”.  BDAG defines ἀκοή within the context of 1 Thessalonians 2:13 as “that which is heard”.  BDAG also offers this translation: “the word of divine proclamation that goes out from us” (BDAG, 36).

Another striking aspect of this phrase is that τοῦ θεοῦ (God) appears at the end.  In Greek, the writer would place emphasis on something by placing it at the beginning of the sentence or phrase while placing placing less emphasis on other things by placing them at the end.  Wanamaker offers a good reason for the position of God in this phrase as  it is probably an afterthought inserted by Paul to show who was the originator of the message (Wanamaker, NIGTC, 213). 

Paul goes on to say ἐδέξασθε οὐ λόγον ἀνθρώπων (You have not received/accepted the message/word from people/men).  Paul uses a different verb here for “receive” than he did in the last clause.  There, he used παραλαμβάνω (to take, to receive as a tradition) and here he uses δέχομαι (to receive, to accept).  Within this context, BDAG says the word means “to indicate approval or conviction by accepting” (221).  The Thessalonians did not accept the message as coming from mankind, but accepted what the Apostles taught them as coming from God.  Paul clarifies this in the very next clause.

Paul uses ἀλλὰ καθώς ἐστιν ἀληθῶς λόγον θεοῦ (but just as it truly is, the message of God) to clarify what the Thessalonians had indeed accepted.  The adverb ἀληθῶς (truly) is used here to drive that the message didn’t originate from Paul or mankind, but originated from God.  λόγον θεοῦ (word/message of God) should be taken as the message from God and not the message about God as the context is describing who the message originated from.  As Fee puts it, “In the phrase λόγον θεοῦ the genitive can only be subjective (= functions as the subject of the verbal idea in the qualified noun), not objective (= ‘the message about God’)” (Fee, NICNT, 88).

The verse ends with ὃς καὶ ἐνεργεῖται ἐν ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν (who/which is also at work in you who believe).  What is interesting is that ὃς (who/which) is a bit ambiguous.  Normally a relative pronoun matches the case of the noun that it is standing for, but both preceding words do not match the case of ὃς which is in the nominative case.  λόγον (word/message) appears here in the accusative while θεοῦ (God) appears in the genitive and is modifying λόγον.  The key to explaining ὃς and what it stands for is found in how ἐνεργεῖται (is at work) is used throughout the rest of the NT.  BDAG states that ἐνεργέω in the middle (as it is here) is always used with impersonal subjects (335).  In other words, a person subject such as God can not be used here with the form that ἐνεργέω is in (the middle).  Therefore, ὃς must be standing in place of λόγον (word/message).

The very last part of the verse is ἐν ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν (in you who believe).  The preposition ἐν can mean “in”, “on”, or “among”.  Since Paul is writing to a group of people in Thessalonica, then the appropriate translation for ἐν is “among”.  The effects of the message that was preached to the Thessalonians is at work among them.  Paul then clarifies who the “you” are.  It is the “ones who believe”.  τοῖς πιστεύουσιν is in the present tense, thus it carries a continual aspect and could be rendered as “the ones who continually believe”.  What they believed what not only the “message” that was preached to them, but also that Jesus is the Anointed One.

Variant Readings

• 06, 010, 012, 015, 0278, 33, and M omit Καὶ (and) at the beginning of the verse.

Echoes of the Word

1Thessalonians 2:13

One of Paul’s main themes in his writings is that there is one gospel.  He even curses to hell anyone who brings a different gospel.  Here we see the reason for his adamant proclamation and position.  He holds out the very word of God.  He has been entrusted to deliver this message directly from God, a trust he serves with a heart both zealous for the truth of God and and humble at being chosen to bring that word 

The verse begins with thanksgiving, expressing gratitude for the Spirit working in and through the message of the apostles.   The Thessalonians had not only received the gospel message, but had understood and embraced it as the very word of God.  The raw, undiluted power of the gospel thus was given full reign in the lives of these believers.  There was an undeniable change as the Spirit worked in their lives and the word went out.  The word continues to change lives today, unchanging and eternal as its source.

It is God using the word to work his salvation, the breath of God active and life giving, imparting life into creatures once dead, but now reconciled and restored to true life.  The trumpets in heaven find voice on earth through the words of man and the song of the overcomers swells in strength and joy with each soul added to the heavenly throng.  All praise and glory is given to the King of Kings.

Believing is a verb, and is confirmed by change. Receiving begins an intimate walk with the Spirit.  Becoming reflects the regeneration, or genesis of a new creation that will find its culmination when Christ returns.  God has begun the work, using the earth found in the clay of humanity and is molding and shaping the bride of Christ, the church, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.  It is not a place constructed by the hands of man, but a joining in one Spirit of hearts made new and built up into the temple of the Lord.  

1 Thessalonians 2:7, Gentle or Infants?

7 Although we had the power to throw our weight around as apostles of the Anointed One, we became children in your midst.

Here is an excerpt of a upcoming book on 1 Thessalonians.

       Not only did the three Apostles not “throw their weight around” in their visit in Thessalonica, they ἐγενήθημεν νήπιοι (became children).  νήπιος can mean “little child” or even “infant”.  It is a striking contrast for Paul to refer to himself and the other two apostles as “ones who had the power to thrown their weight around” to “little infants”.  The passage is debated by scholars due to the Nu (ν) of the word νήπιοι.  If the Nu is removed, then we have ἤπιοι which means “gentle”.  Some scholars think that “little infants” is too strong of a metaphor that is used in the context yet Paul uses “nursing mother” in the same verse (Fee, NICNT, 65).  In the textual tradition, “little infants” is the preferred reading Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 561-562), but it really seems that “gentle” fits the context better which probably lead to the variant reading “gentle”.  Since νήπιοι (little infants) is the preferred reading, a hard stop would need to appear at the end of 7b in the English sentence.  Even though νήπιοι is the preferred reading, it still could have risen from an error.  As Wanamaker states: “If  νήπιοι were the original reading, ἤπιοι could have arisen through haplography (deletion of a letter); If ἤπιοι were the original reading νήπιοι could have come about through dittography (adding of a letter) of the ‘ν’ of the previous word, ἐγενήθημεν.” (Wanamaker, NIGTC, 100).

“Little infants” provides a strong metaphor for Paul as opposed to “the weight that could have been thrown around as apostles”.  It probably means that Paul, Silas, and Timothy were “as innocent as little infants” (Fee, NICNT, 71).