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.

2 Timothy 3:17; The of God Man

2 Timothy 3:14-17

14 But you remain in what you learned and feel confident, knowing from whom you have learned it, 15 and that from childhood, you have known the Sacred Writings, the things that are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, for rebuke, for improvement, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God should be fully qualified, for completing every good work.

It should be noted up front that 1 and 2 Timothy were PERSONAL letters written to Timothy for encouragement in his calling as an evangelist.  What is interesting is that we (Christians) tend to think that these letters where written to US, but they were written to Timothy, not us.  They were written for us so that we could learn from them.

Most comments about this passage in the Greek text revolve around what πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος (all Scripture is God-breathed), but I want to focus on the phrase ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος (the man/person of God).

The expression “the man of God” is scarce throughout the NT.  In fact, it is only used in the singular twice (1 Timothy 6:11 and 2 Timothy 3:17) and in the plural once (2 Peter 1:21).  Of the two singular expressions, 1 Timothy 6:11 refers to Timothy and it does not have the article.  Therefore technically, ὦ ἄνθρωπε θεοῦ (O man of God) could not be rendered as “O THE man of God”.  The 2nd singular expression in 2 Timothy 3:17, on the other hand, has the article and can be rendered “the man of God”.  This expression could be directly to Timothy alone, but it also could be a general expression for all of “God’s people” which included Timothy.  Last but not least, the plural expression in 2 Peter 1:21 refers to OT prophets and is not articular.  Thus it is rendered as “men of God”.  Of these three, we want to focus on the articular expression found in 2 Timothy 3:17.

In the OT, this Hebraic expression was used mostly with Moses and the Prophets.

I have often expressed in my NT teaching that the phrase “the man of God” is not a NT expression.  Of course, I’m now corrected.  But I will stand by the concept that “the man of God” is not some expression that should be “graced” upon people by people.  In my lifetime, I have seen this expression used as a title given to preachers throughout Churches to elevate their status before the people.  Often, the adjective “great” is added to the title to prop up the person further in eyes of the congregation.  This somehow implies that “the man of God” stands above/over the rest of the congregation.  Of course that concept of separation between ministers and the people is foreign in the NT as all Christians are ministers in some way or the other.  Also, the concept of leaders and people being separated is also foreign to the NT text (1 Corinthians 12-14; Ephesians 4:1-16; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13).  Paul and the other letter writers ALWAYS address their letters to whole congregations/assemblies which included the leaders and not just to leaders.  The exception of course is for personal letters directed to Titus, Philemon, and here, Timothy.

With all of that said, Scripture has a way of “putting us all in our proper place”.  Thus, we have come to our Greek expression ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος (the man/person of God).

As I’ve stated above, this is the only time that the definite article is included with the expression in the NT.  This is due to the probable fact that this expression included all ministers/servers as a general expression.  This would have included Timothy, and not necessarily just Timothy.

As I’ve stated in many of my blogs, in Greek, if an author wants to express the importance of something, they place that word or phrase first.  So it is here.  If we render ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος as indicated in word order, it would be translated as “the of God man/person”.  Of course that is not proper English, so we render it “the man/person of God” or “God’s man/person”.  What does all of this mean?  It means that no man/person is before God.  Paul drives that point home with Timothy just by his word order.  It is God who makes the man/person who he is.  Not the man/person himself, and certainly not other people.

So, if you want to have the title “the man/person of God”, make sure you and everyone else understands the title according to its proper place.  God is first, then man.  God is what makes you who you are.  You are not exalted above everyone else.  Everyone else outranks you as you are a server to everyone, including the lowest of the low.  We don’t have time to argue nor should we argue τίς μείζων (who is greatest?).

33 And they came to Capernaum.  And after coming in the house, he asked them, “Why were you discussing on the road?”  34 But they were keeping silent; for they had been arguing to one another on the road “who is greatest”.  35 And after sitting down, he summoned the twelve and says to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he will be last of all and a servant of all.”  36 And taking a child, he placed it in the middle of them and after embracing it, he said to them, 37 “Whoever may receive one such as a child on the basis of my name, receives me; and whoever may receive me, he doesn’t receive me, but the one who sent me.” Mark 9:33-37

“The man/person of God” is “the server of all”   That person is “the of God man”!

1 Corinthians 13:4-7; Paul’s Expression of Love

4 Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t zealous, love doesn’t brag, it isn’t conceited, 5 it doesn’t act indecently, it doesn’t seek the things of itself, it isn’t provoked, it doesn’t keep count of wrongs, 6 it doesn’t rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices together with truth.  7 It covers all things, it has faith in all things, it hopes in all things, it endures all things.

Paul expresses what love is and what love is not in verbs.  It is the limitations of the English language that puts Paul’s Greek verbs as adjectives for “patience” and “kindness”.  In Greek, this whole passage is expressed in verbs, which is action!  How one expresses love is in one’s actions.  On the other hand, how one doesn’t express love is also in one’s actions.  It is not enough just to say “I love”.  We must express it in our actions to each other.

This passage builds on a common theme throughout Pauline letters.  That theme is to put other peoples’ interests above our own interests.  We are to follow Paul’s example of Jesus in Philippians 2:1-11.

John 4:14; Forever!

14 But whoever may drink from the water which I will give to him, he will never thirst into the age, but the water which I will give to him will become in him a fountain of water welling up into eternal life.

14 ὃς δ᾿ ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, οὐ μὴ διψήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὕδωρ ὃ δώσω αὐτῷ γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον.

Most translations do translate εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα (into the age).  Among some of these are the KJV, NIV, NKJV, NRSV, ASV, and others.  The main reason for this is due to the οὐ μὴ (not not) that appears in the verse.  The double “nots” make the expression emphatic, thus “never” is how we would translate it.  Therefore, since “never” means “never” in English, we wouldn’t have to translation the even more emphatic “into the age” which is an idiom that means “forever”.

But for those who are purist in translating all the words, here goes:

But whoever may drink from the water which I will give to him, he will never thirst forever...

But whoever may drink from the water which I will give to him, he will never ever thirst....

But whoever may drink from the water which I will give to him, he will never thirst anymore...

But whoever may drink from the water which I will give to him, he will never thirst again...

But whoever may drink from the water which I will give to him, he will never thirst into eternity...

But whoever may drink from the water which I will give to him, he will never thirst into the age...

New Testament and other Papyrus Manuscript Reproductions/Replicas

Here is a shout out to New Testament and other Papyrus Manuscript Reproductions/Replicas for doing a wonderful job of producing the P46 page of 1 Corinthians 12.

Thank you Don Barker!!!

John 1:3-4; Greek Sentence Issues

Everyone loves John 1:1-5, but there are issues with the sentence structure in the Greek.  While the NT was being written and copied, the text was written scriptura continua or "continuous script".  There were no spaces between words and very little punctuation.  A good example is from one of the oldest copies of John’s Gospel, P66.  The script of P66 looks like this:

Note that there were no verse numbers.  That was added hundreds of years later.  Our problem with this text occurs in verse 3 and verse 4 with ὃ γέγονεν (what has come into being).  It either goes with what precedes it in verse 3, or is the beginning of the next sentence.  Here are the two renderings.

1. All things came into being through him, and apart from him, not one thing came into being which has come into being.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

2. All things came into being through him, and apart from him, not one thing came into being.  What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Which is correct?  Hmmmmm.

Holiness and Sanctification: Paul's use of ἁγιασμός

There are several words in Greek that mean both "holiness" and "sanctification".  One of those is ἁγιασμός (hagiasmos).  It's mostly used by Paul in his letters, but is also used in Hebrews 12:14 and 1 Peter 1:2.  Paul uses it in Romans 6:18; 22; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 7; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; and 1 Timothy 2:15.  BDAG defines this as "personal dedication to the interests of the deity, holiness, consecration, sanctification; the use in a moral sense for a process or, more often, its result (the state of being made holy) is peculiar to our lit. (New Testament).”  So, depending on the context, ἁγιασμός either relates to the process that Christians go through during their lives, or the initial "setting apart" at conversion/infilling of the Holy Spirit.  I suppose we could assign either "holiness" or "sanctification" to the context.  Here is an example of how I translated 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8:

3 For this is God’s will, your sanctification, for you to abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to master his own vessel in holiness and honor, 5 not in lustful desires as the Gentiles do, who don’t know God; 6 not to overstep and to take advantage of his brother or sister in the task, because the Lord is the avenger concerning all of these things, just as we also spoke to you beforehand and declare solemnly.  7 For God didn’t call us in impurity, but in holiness.  8 For that very reason, the one who rejects this instruction does not reject man, but God who [also] has given his Holy Spirit into you.

In verse three, the context refers to the “process” and in verse 7, I interpreted the use as the initial experience.  Of course, others could interpret this differently.