Other Blogs

All, please check out my other blogs.  I co-author these blogs with a dear friend of mine, Stephen Brown.

My musings on the Greek text of John's Gospel can be found here.  http://exploringjohnswritings.blogspot.com

My local congregation has been doing a study on holiness in Paul's letters.  My Pauline blog can be found here.
http://exploringpaulsletters.blogspot.com

Philippians 1:27-30; Deliverance Gifts

27 Live only a life worthy of the Good News of the Anointed, so that whether I come and see you, or while being absent, I hear the things concerning you, that you stand firm in the one Spirit, with one mind, working together in the faith of the Good News 28 and not being intimidated in anything by those who oppose you.  This is a sign of destruction to them, but a sign of your deliverance. 29 Because it was gifted to you in the Anointed’s behalf, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer in his behalf, 30 having the same struggle, such as you see in me, and now you are hearing by me.

As Paul is writing this letter, he is in prison in Rome and will soon be executed.  He is suffering at the hands of those who oppose him.  He is hopeful that he will be able to see the Philippians again, but wants to encourage them to continue to stand firm in spite of suffering in the same way that he is.  The Philippians ability to stand is a true sign that the ones who oppose them will perish, and that the Philippians will be delivered!  Why?  Because it is a gift to have faith and to suffer!  

Let’s take a look at verse 29.  The main verb that Paul uses is χαρίζομαι which means : “to give freely as a favor, give graciously”.  This verb's cognate noun is χάρις which means “grace, favor”.  Another cognate noun would be χάρισμα which is a “grace-gift”.  A “grace-gift” is a gift that one receives as a direct result of God’s grace or favor on one’s life.  Here, two gifts are given as a true sign that the Philippians will be delivered from God’s wrath: 1. Believing/Faith is a gift and 2. Suffering is a gift.

Revisiting Deuteronomy 22:5; Septuagint (LXX) Studies

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.  Deuteronomy 22:5 LXX

In this earlier post, an argument was made that σκεύη (vessels) was used in the LXX as military equipment in Deuteronomy 22:5.  This blog will explore other ways that the LXX uses the word.  To shorten this, we will stay within the Torah as all five books of the Torah were translated at the same time.  BTW, the use of σκεῦος in the Torah is mostly used for the “vessels” of the Tabernacle or the Ark of the Covenant.  

Below is just a snap-shot of σκεῦος (skeu-os).  It's used many, many times in the Torah.

Genesis 24:53: σκεύη ἀργυρᾶ (silver vessels)

Exodus 35: σκεῦος χρυσοῦν (golden vessel)

Exodus 38:12: τὰ σκεύη τῆς τραπέζης (the vessels of the table)

Exodus 38:23: τὰ σκεύη τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου (the vessels of the alter)

Leviticus 6:21: σκεῦος ὀστράκινον (pottery vessels)

Leviticus 11:32: σκεύους ξυλίνου (wooden vessels)

Leviticus 13:52: σκεύει δερματίνῳ (leather vessel)

Numbers 3:8: τὰ σκεύη τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου (the vessels of the tent of the witness/“the tabernacle”)

Numbers 35:16: σκεύει σιδήρου (iron vessels)

Finally, Deuteronomy has the word only two times.  In 1:41 we have τὰ σκεύη τὰ πολεμικὰ (the war vessels), i.e. military gear.

And last but not least, Deuteronomy 22:5: σκεύη ἀνδρὸς (vessels of a man).  Kittle (The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament) refers to σκεῦος as possibly being clothing only in Deuteronomy 22:5, but if it is not used like this in any other place in the LXX, can this stand up?

Revisiting the Hebrew:

So, what does “vessels of a man” mean?  I’m no Hebrew scholar, but my dictionary of Hebrew words (The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament) says that kᵉlı̂, used here in Deuteronomy 22:5 means: “vessel, utensil”.  It goes on to describe how this word was used in the OT.  And guess what?  It was used the very same way as σκεῦος.  

Also, The Kohlenberger/Mounce Concise Hebrew–Aramaic Dictionary

of the Old Testament says the same thing:

“article, utensil, thing; a general term that can be used of any object. → armor; article; furnishing; instrument; object; thing; utensil; vessel.”

So, where does that leave us?  It is possible that σκεῦος could mean "clothing", but it is not used that way in any other place in the LXX, especially in the Torah and it is not used that way in the NT.  All of the evidence is against "clothing".

Romans 12:3; More Word-plays

Romans 12:3

Ῥωμαίους 12·3 Λέγω γὰρ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς δοθείσης μοι παντὶ τῷ ὄντι ἐν ὑμῖν μὴ ὑπερφρονεῖν παρ᾿ ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν ἀλλὰ φρονεῖν εἰς τὸ σωφρονεῖν, ἑκάστῳ ὡς ὁ θεὸς ἐμέρισεν μέτρον πίστεως.

3 For through the grace that was given to me, I say to each one of you to not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with the result that you think reasonably as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one of you.

In this verse, Paul creates a word-play with the Greek verb φρονέω which means “to think”.  Paul uses this verb twice in it’s natural form plus two more times in compound forms.  I will demonstrate that below with hyphens separating the compound verbs and the actual verbs underlined.  I will try to make the translation more literal in order to see the word play in English.

For through the grace that was given to me, I say to every one who are among you, to not think highly (ὑπερ-φρονεῖν) from what is necessary to think (φρονεῖν), but to think (φρονεῖν) with the result that to think reasonably (σω-φρονεῖν), to each one as God allotted a measure of faith.

The last two “to think” verbs are separated with εἰς τὸ.  In Greek, this expression used with an infinitive verb, indicated that Paul is looking for the proper results when one thinks.  That nuance has been provided in the above translation.  The translation my not be good English, but it tries to get the point across.

As far as the context is concerned, Paul goes on to say that each believer is part of the body of Christ and each one is important to the body and to each other.  Everyone has a certain grace-gift that must be exercised.  Romans 12:1-8 parallels with 1 Corinthians 12-14.  Here, it is a very general form.

Jeremiah 20:9; More Septuagint Studies

As I was researching the “prophecy” passage in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, I decided to go to Jeremiah 20:9 in the LXX (Greek Translation of the OT) where Jeremiah decided to not prophesy anymore, but couldn’t bear it.  I made an amazing discovery!  The translators of the LXX often “interpreted” the Hebrew.  For instance, compare my translation of the Greek OT to a modern translation from Hebrew:

9 And I said, “I will never name the name of the Lord 

and I will never even speak on the basis of/in his name.”  

And it became like a kindled fire 

burning in my bones, 

and I have been weakened on both sides 

and I am not able to bear it. LXX (my translation)

9 But if I say, “I will not mention his word

or speak anymore in his name,”

his word is in my heart like a fire,

a fire shut up in my bones.

I am weary of holding it in;

indeed, I cannot. NIV11

Note the “interpretive” differences between the renderings.  During the time that the LXX was rendered, the Jews had stopped speaking God’s name “Yahweh” as they were afraid that they would speak the name in vain.  That idea is seen in this passage!  This Jewish thought carried on into NT times, which leads us to Paul’s incredible statement about Jesus in Philippians 2:6-11 in which we will look at the last 3 verses.  See my blog here.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Turning the Rapture on its Head!

     13 Now we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, concerning the ones who are asleep, so that you won’t grieve as the rest who have no hope.  14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose up, in this way also God will bring, through Jesus, the ones who have fallen asleep with him.

     15 For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we, the ones who are living, the ones who are remaining, will certainly not precede the ones who have fallen asleep until the coming of the Lord; 16 because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a command by the voice of the Archangel and by the trumpet of God, and the dead in the Anointed One will rise up first, 17 then we, the ones who are living, the ones who remain, will be seized at the same time with them in the clouds for the meeting of the Lord in the air, and thus we will be with the Lord always.  18 Therefore, comfort one another with these words. (My Translation)

This is perhaps one of the most read and anticipated passages in the NT.  It is also one of the most misinterpreted passages in the NT.  We are going to look at a couple of phrases, namely the end of verse 16 and verse 17.

Verse 16

The final phrase in this verse is καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον (and the dead in Christ/the Anointed One will rise up first).  The Greek verb here is ἀνίστημι and was also seen in verse 14 to refer to Jesus’ resurrection.  Most people believe that “the dead in Christ” actually rise up into the air first, but that’s not what happens.  The dead resurrect.  ἀνίστημι is the cognate verb of ἀνάστασις which means “resurrection”.  Perhaps better rendering would be “and the dead in Christ will resurrect first”.

Verse 17

After the dead are resurrected, they and the living are seized at the same time for the meeting of the Lord.  Most translations render εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ κυρίου as “to meet the Lord”, but this is a prepositional phrase as opposed to an infinitive verb.  Therefore, the proper rendering of the prepositional phrase is “for the meeting of the Lord”.  ἀπάντησις is only used here and in two other places in the NT; Matthew 25:6 and Acts 28:15.  Matthew 25:6 describes the meeting of the bridegroom and the ten wise and the ten foolish virgins.  Acts 28:15, on the other hand, describes how the brothers and the sisters in the Roman Church went out to meet Paul in order to escort him into the city; ἦλθαν εἰς ἀπάντησιν (they came for the meeting). 

In the Greek world, εἰς ἀπάντησιν was a technical term “for a civic custom of antiquity whereby a public welcome was accorded by a city to important visitors” (Kittel, Volume I, 380-381).  Some scholars state that  there is no indication that Paul is using that meaning here.  But what is interesting is the fact that this phrase, εἰς ἀπάντησιν, is used in this technical way in both Matthew 25:6 and Acts 28:15.  In both passages, after the meeting, the both the bridegroom and Paul are escorted somewhere.  The Bridegroom is escorted to the wedding hall which Paul is escorted into Rome.  If Paul’s use of the phrase is the same, then that turns the idea of a “rapture” on its head as the living and the resurrected dead were to meet Jesus in the clouds and in the air in other to escort him back to earth!  As Leon Morris says “It seems that the Lord proceeds to the earth with his people (cf. 1 Cor. 6:2)” (Morris, TNTC, 91).

The final phrase is καὶ οὕτως πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα (and thus we will be with the Lord always/at all times).  It should be noted that Paul doesn’t give us a geographical location (because it is inferred?) for where the living and the resurrected dead will be “with the Lord always”.  The main reason for this has to do with why Paul wrote the teaching to the Thessalonians in the first place; to encourage them about their dead brothers and sisters.  

With that said, perhaps we should look at the coming of Christ from the standpoint of the Thessalonians’ language and customs.  There is no doubt that they would have understood the technical term εἰς ἀπάντησιν (for the meeting) as is was used constantly in their time.  From my prospective, they would see this event as Jesus’ coming as he is, the King and the Lord.  They would also understand that “the meeting” was for them to escort him back to earth.  Therefore it is on earth where, “we will be with the Lord always”.

Hebrews 6:1-3; Baptisms?

Hebrews 6:1-3

1 Therefore, leaving the primary message about the Anointed One, let us be carried on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith in God, 2 teaching of cleansing rites, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and the eternal judgment.  3 We will do this, if only God permits.

The entire context if from 5:11 - 6:12.  Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians and we should always keep that in mind.  Some of my commentary on this passage would be:

1. These Christians are being told that they are about to be taught some deep things (mature things) around their faith and they need to move on from the very basics that distinguishes Jewish Christians from Jews.  

2. “Dead Works” probably refers to the Jewish Law and how that “faith in God” from a Jewish prospective is now different from the “Christian faith in God”.  

3. “Teaching of Cleansing Rites (baptisms) probably refers to the difference between Jewish cleansing rites and Christian cleansing rites (baptism).  The Greek word βαπτισμός is only used 4 times in the NT.  It is used as “washing” in Mark 7:4 and later on in Hebrews 9:10.  The only time that it may actually refer to what we call “baptism” today is in Colossians 2:12.  With that said, we must assume that the Author of Hebrews is using the word here as he uses it in 9:10.  

4. The whole letter is an appeal to the Jewish Christians to not slip back into Judaism and to show that Faith in Jesus is superior to the Old Covenant.