Words of the Month (June 2023)

1. Incarnation (English)-Merriam-Webster defines the English noun, incarnation as "the act of incarnating : the state of being incarnate, a particular physical form or state; a concrete or actual form of a quality or concept."

When the noun is capitalized and used within the context of discourse about Jesus Christ, it traditionally means "the union of divinity with humanity in Jesus Christ."

John 1:14 serves as the locus classicus for the teaching of the Incarnation: "the Word became flesh."

The Online Etymology Dictionary provides this explanation:

c. 1300, "embodiment of God in the person of Christ," from Old French incarnacion "the Incarnation" (12c.), from Late Latin incarnationem (nominative incarnatio), "act of being made flesh" (used by Church writers especially in reference to God in Christ; source also of Spanish encarnacion, Italian incarnazione), noun of action from past-participle stem of Late Latin incarnari "be made flesh," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + caro (genitive carnis) "flesh" (originally "a piece of flesh," from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut"). Glossed in Old English as inflæscnes, inlichomung. As "person or thing that is the embodiment" (of some quality, deity, etc.) from 1742.

See https://www.etymonline.com/word/incarnation

2. Paraenesis (English)-Oxford Bibliographies has a helpful introduction for the subject of paraenesis. The word comes from the Greek παραίνεσις, "which originally meant any kind of advice, instruction, or counsel." Some scholars think we find occurrences of paraenesis in the NT when vice and virtue lists occur, warning examples are given or when NT writers set forth the so-called Haustafeln. Due to insurmountable difficulties with this approach, others choose to define NT paraenesis "in terms of its ancient meaning as an umbrella term for any kind of instruction, moral or otherwise."

The problem with the second approach is that paraenesis becomes semantically vacuous with no specific content to differentiate it denotationally from similar terms. Hence, the predominant view of paraenesis is to interpret it as specific moral counsel given within a determinate Christian setting; in other words, NT writers are supposed to be unfolding the moral implications of the Christian faith and, in this sense, their counsel is evidently paraenetic.

See https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0143.xml

Scriptures in the Hebrew Bible That Speak of Jehovah Being "King" Or Ruling (In Process)

Exodus 15:18 (ASV)-"Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever."

Judges 8:23-"And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: Jehovah shall rule over you."

1 Samuel 8:7 (ASV)-"And Jehovah said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them."

Psalm 10:16 (ASV)-"Jehovah is King for ever and ever: The nations are perished out of his land."

1 Samuel 12:12 (ASV)-"And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay, but a king shall reign over us; when Jehovah your God was your king."

Psalm 149:2 (ESV)-"Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!"

Psalm 146:10 (ASV)-"Jehovah will reign for ever, Thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye Jehovah."

Psalm 29:10 (ASV)-"Jehovah sat as King at the Flood; Yea, Jehovah sitteth as King for ever."

Psalm 93:1 (ASV)-"Jehovah reigneth; He is clothed with majesty; Jehovah is clothed with strength; he hath girded himself therewith: The world also is established, that it cannot be moved.

Psalm 96:10 (ASV)-"Say among the nations, Jehovah reigneth: The world also is established that it cannot be moved: He will judge the peoples with equity."

Psalm 97:1 (ASV)-"Jehovah reigneth; let the earth rejoice; Let the multitude of isles be glad."

Psalm 99:1 (ASV)-"Jehovah reigneth; let the peoples tremble: He sitteth above the cherubim; let the earth be moved."

Daniel 2:44 (NIV)-"“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever."

Daniel 6:26 (ESV)-"I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end."

Zechariah 14:9 (ASV)-"And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall Jehovah be one, and his name one."

Compare Psalm 22:28; 45-6-7; 47:7-8; 97:2; 103:19; 145:1, 11-13; 1 Chronicles 16:31; 28:5; 29:23; Obadiah 21.

Colossians 1:15 (J.B. Lightfoot)-Firstborn

 

Barry Bandstra's Translation of Genesis 1:20-22

And deity said, “Let the waters swarm with a swarm of living being, and let fowl fly on the earth, on the face of the barrier of the heavens.” 21And deity created the big serpents and all living creeping being with which the waters swarmed for their kinds, and all fowl of wing for his kinds. And deity saw that good it is. 22And them deity blessed by saying, “Bear fruit. And multiply. And fill the waters in the seas. And the fowl, let it multiply in the earth.”

From the book, Genesis 1-11: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text.

Bandstra opts to render Elohim as "deity" here; he translates nepes hayya in 1:20, "living being."

Darby Bible Translation: "And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls, and let fowl fly above the earth in the expanse of the heavens."

Ephesians 5:19 (Morphosyntax)

Greek (SBLGNT): λαλοῦντες [a]ἑαυτοῖς ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς, ᾄδοντες καὶ [b]ψάλλοντες τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν τῷ κυρίῳ,

1. ΠΡΟΣ ΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ 5:19 ἑαυτοῖς WH Treg RP ] + ἐν NIV
2. ΠΡΟΣ ΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ 5:19 ψάλλοντες WH NIV ] + ἐν Treg RP
   
   

CSB: "speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord,"

ESV: "addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,"

Syntax: λαλοῦντες is the nominative plural masculine present active participle of λαλέω. Benjamin Merkle thinks it functions adverbially here to communicate result in conjunction with the four participles that follow (Ephesians in the EGGNT Series). Paul is apparently detailing what results when a Christian is filled with the holy spirit (see Ephesians 5:18 and its use of πληροῦσθε).

Clinton Arnold explains that scholars often prefer to construe the grammar of Ephesians 5:19 like Merkle does, but Arnold gives other possibilities: a) the participle has an imperatival sense, b) it is a participle of attendant circumstance, c) the participle expresses means. Arnold chooses to take the participle as expressive of means. 

ἑαυτοῖς is a reflexive pronoun doubling as a reciprocal pronoun, which is not unusual, and it's a dative of advantage (dativus commodi). See Merkle. 

ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς-Does the last word here modify just ᾠδαῖς or all three nouns? And in what sense is the music "spiritual"?

ᾄδοντες καὶ ψάλλοντες-Andrew T. Lincoln offers this explanation (Ephesians in the WBC Series): "The second participial clause builds up the sentence in the writer’s characteristic style by employing the verbal forms of two of the previous nouns— ᾠδή, 'song,' and ψαλμός, 'psalm.' Although its original meaning involved plucking a stringed instrument, ψάλλω here means to make music by singing (cf. also 1 Cor 14:15; Jas 5:13), so that there is no reference in this verse to instrumental accompaniment (cf. the discussion in BAGD 891; pace Barth, 584)."

Arnold concurs with Lincoln that ψάλλοντες is not referring to instrumental accompaniment; Lincoln likewise reckons that Christ Jesus is the referent of the phrase, τῷ κυρίῳ, which is apparently a dative indirect object of ᾄδοντες and ψάλλοντες. Cf. Ephesians 5:17; Revelation 5:9. 

τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν-a dative of means and possessive genitive occur here. See William J. Larkin, Ephesians: A Handbook on the Greek Text, page 126.

Marianne M. Thompson's Comments On John 10:30

[30] Few passages have played a more important role in the formulation of christological confessions than the statement "J and the Father are one." Patristic commentators found this verse a bulwark against views that discounted the essential unity of the Father and Son (e.g., Arianism) or that emphasized their unity to the point of denying their distinction (e.g., Monarchianism).278 In its immediate context, the statement "I and the Father are one" emphasizes the unity of the saving work of Jesus and God.279 Calvin boldly asserted, "The ancients misused this passage to prove that Christ is homoousios [of the same substance] with the Father. Christ is not discussing the unity of substance, but the concord He has with the Father; so that what Christ does will be confirmed by His Father's power" (1 :273). Jesus and his Father are one in their work: specifically, in guarding the sheep. What the Father does, the Son does, and the Son does the work ofthe Father. Herein lies their unity: the Father never works apart from the Son or at odds with the Son; and the Son never works against or apart from the Father's purposes. The point is nearly identical to one Jesus had made earlier when charged with making himselfequal to God (John 5:18): the Father has given the Son his own prerogatives to grant life and to judge; therefore the Son does the Father's work, and the Father does his work through the Son. In other words, Jesus and the Father "are one." The charge that Jesus "makes himself equal to God" (5: 18) or that he "makes himself God" (10:33) could be restated, "You make yourself one with God" (10:30).John characterizes the identity of Jesus in the same way that the Old Testament defines the identity of God as God by emphasizing the kind of work that

278. Father and Son are "one" (hen, neuter), that is, "one thing" (unum). not "one person" (unus, Tertullian, Prax. 22); the plural verb "are" also indicates two persons (Origen, Dial. 124).

279. Cf. 1 Cor 3:8, "The one who plants and the one who waters are one" (hen eisin).

[page 234] John 10:22-42

each does. When the Old Testament speaks of God's uniqueness, it underscoresespecially God's identity as creator and sovereign. The powers to give life and to judge, the powers ofthe Creator and Sovereign, are the very powers of God. Thus, to speak of the Word as active in creation (John 1: 1-3), or of the Son's power to give life (1:1-3; 5:25-27), to exercise judgment (5:26-27), or to save from death (as is the case here) is in fact to characterize Jesus in terms of the distinctive works that characterize the one God (cf. comments on John 1:3). Jesus does not simply do works that are like the Father's works; he does the Father's works (vv. 37-38) because the Father is in him (v. 38). The christological scandal of John is not that Jesus has made himself equal or one with God, but that God has chosen to make himself one with Jesus.

"I and the Father are one" expresses one particular facet of the comprehensive unity of the being, revelation, and work of the Father and Son. As Augustine put it, "What Christ does with the Father, the Father does; and what the Father does with Christ, Christ does. Neither does the Father do anything apart, without the Son; nor the Son apart, without the Father: inseparable love, inseparable unity, inseparable majesty, inseparable power" (Tract. Ev. Jo. 5.3). Later in John the unity of the Father and Son is described in categories that do not immediately refer to works or deeds. Jesus prays that the disciples may be "one, as we are one" (17:11, osin hen kathas hemeis; 17:22, osin hen kalhas hemeis hen). While such unity includes the unity of will and mission, it is not limited to that: the emphasis falls on the mutual or reciprocal indwelling of Father and Son (10:38; 14:1, 11).

Source: M.M. Thompson. John: A Commentary. NTL Series. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015.

1 Peter 5:8 (Morphology and Syntax)

Greek (SBLGNT): νήψατε, γρηγορήσατε. ὁ ἀντίδικος ὑμῶν διάβολος ὡς λέων ὠρυόμενος περιπατεῖ ζητῶν ^[a]τινα ^[b]καταπιεῖν·

1. ΠΕΤΡΟΥ Α΄ 5:8 τινα NIV] τίνα RP; – WH Treg
2. ΠΕΤΡΟΥ Α΄ 5:8 καταπιεῖν WH Treg NIV] καταπίῃ RP

Morphology: Peter initiates his counsel in this verse with two aorist imperatives, which is where one would expect present imperatives instead (Andreas J. Köstenberger, ‎Benjamin L Merkle, ‎Robert L. Plummer, Going Deeper with New Testament Greek, Rev. Edition). But the apostle evidently has a proclivity for aorist imperatives even when imparting general counsel. See 1 Peter 4:7.

Syntax: ὠρυόμενος and ζητῶν are "adverbial participles of manner modifying the main verb περιπατεῖ" (Going Deeper with New Testament Greek).

The aorist infinitive καταπιεῖν "is probably an infinitive communicating purpose ('in order to devour') or perhaps an epexegetical infinitive explaining the seeking ('that is, to devour')."

See op. cit., supra.

The Following is from 1 Peter: A Handbook on the Greek Text by Mark Dubis, page 168:

ὁ ἀντίδικος ὑμῶν διάβολος. The subject ὁ ἀντίδικος ὑμῶν along with its appositive διάβολος is fronted to mark the topical shift from “you” to “the devil.”

ὁ ἀντίδικος. Nominative subject of περιπατεῖ. BDAG (88) notes that this term can mean (a) more specifically, “accuser” or “plaintiff” in a legal context (see Job 1:6-11), or (b) more generally, “enemy.” Michaels (299) rightly concludes that the context is “not judicial” but rather one of worldwide antagonism (v. 10), in favor of option (b).

ὑμῶν. Objective genitive.

διάβολος. Nominative in apposition to ἀντίδικος. This substantival adjective (lit. “slanderer”) functions as a title in the NT and refers to the devil. In the NT, it almost always appears, unlike here, with the article. Nevertheless, Wallace (248–49) argues that this singular noun is monadic, i.e., a “one-of-a-kind noun” and, thus, is definite even when anarthrous. Of course, it is also definite by virtue of standing in apposition to a definite noun.

1 Chronicles 21:15-16 (Malak YHWH?)-Anchor Bible Comments

ASV: "So Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, Jehovah beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay thy hand. And the angel of Jehovah was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Jehovah standing between earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces."

Source: Jacob M. Myers, 1 Chronicles, page 148. AB Series.