Greek (WH): Τί οὖν ὁ νόμος; τῶν παραβάσεων χάριν προσετέθη, ἄχρις ἂν ἔλθῃ τὸ σπέρμα ᾧ ἐπήγγελται, διαταγεὶς δι' ἀγγέλων ἐν χειρὶ μεσίτου·
"The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator" (NIV)
The context strongly indicates that the Mosaic Law is the ὁ νόμος under discussion in this text (Galatians 3:17-18). The Law was "added" until Messiah should come in order that transgressions could be made manifest. Moreover, Paul writes that ὁ νόμος had become a tutor (παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν) until τῆς πίστεως arrived (Galatians 3:24-25).
The Exodus account concerning Sinai is silent about angels transmitting the Law to Moses, but the NT speaks about angels/messengers of ὁ νόμος more than once (Acts 7:53; Hebrews 2:2; compare Acts 7:35, 38). I'm not surprised by Paul's reference since the angels shared in distributing the ten plagues and guided Israel through the wilderness, etc.
For a thorough analysis of the grammar in Galatians 3:19, see Porter, Stanley E., ed. 2019. Paul and Scripture. Leiden: Brill. Pages 327-330.
Sporadic theological and historical musings by Edgar Foster (Ph.D. in Theology and Religious Studies and one of Jehovah's Witnesses).
The Old Testament Yahweh, who often appears as Malak Yahweh — "Angel of Yahweh", Malak Elohim — "Angel of God", and Malak ha-Elohim — "the Angel of God" in various theophanies, is not God the Father but actually the second person of the deity, the Son of God who is of the same essence as the Father, the Eternal Word (Logos) not yet incarnate, who in time took on flesh and is presented in the New Testament as the Lord Jesus Christ.
ReplyDeleteMalak essentially means messenger or envoy (missus, legatus), as seen in 1 Samuel 3:10, 19; 19:14, 20; Job 1:14, etc.; it also means angel, herald (angelus, nuntius), as God's envoy or messenger to humans, as seen in 2 Samuel 24:16; Zechariah 1:9, etc.; 2:3, 7; 4:1, etc. — Malak Yahweh (ἄγγελος Κυρίου, Angelus Domini), the Angel of Yahweh, more accurately Yahweh's envoy, appears in Genesis 16:7, 9, 10, 11; 22:11, 15; Exodus 3:2; Numbers 22:22-35; 23:23-30; 32:34-35. Malak Elohim (ἄγγελος Θεοῦ, Angelus Dei), the Angel of God, more accurately God's envoy or divine messenger (legatus divinus), appears in Genesis 21:17; and Malak ha-Elohim (ἄγγελος τοῦ Θεοῦ), the Angel of God, more accurately God's envoy, appears in Genesis 31:11; Exodus 14:19. The Angel of Yahweh and the Angel of God in these references do not represent an ordinary, created angel (as in Genesis 28:12; Matthew 1:20; Luke 2:9; Acts 5:19; 8:26; 12:7; Hebrews 13:2, etc.), used by God or the Son of God (the Logos) to mediate revelations, as some Church Fathers, such as St. Augustine (De Trinitate III, 1; De civitate Dei 10, 29; Tract. 3. in Joan. 17, 18), St. Jerome (Ad Galat. 3, 19), and St. Gregory the Great (Moral. II, 1), as well as Jewish scholars Aben Ezra and modern Jewish and some Protestant interpreters (Hofmann, Franz Delitzsch, Kurtz, Gesenius) believe, but a being infinitely higher than the angels. This is evident from Scripture itself, which shows that this Angel of Yahweh, or Angel of God, although a distinct person from God the Father, is of the same essence as the deity (Exodus 23:21, where the Lord says of him, "my name is in him," meaning: I myself appear in him and through him); divine attributes and actions are ascribed to him, and he is even directly called Yahweh, God; those to whom he appears show him divine worship and reverence, which he accepts, thus generally acting as God. This Angel of God, or envoy, messenger to humans, as we shall see, is none other than the Son of God, the not yet incarnate divine Word, the Logos.
In the Old Testament, the hidden God the Father is not distinctly separated from the appearing, revealing Son of God who acts for the benefit of humans; both are called Yahweh (Adonai, Lord). This distinction is only made in the New Testament, after the revealing God, the eternal Word, became human. And it is the New Testament that clarifies that what the Old Testament often says or attributes to God generally, actually refers to the Son of God, the Logos, who was the executor of what God the Father decreed. The New Testament also shows that the author of both the Old and New Testaments is the same: the Son of God; the Old Testament being authored by the not yet incarnate Logos, the New Testament by the incarnate Logos.
According to Scripture, God the Father never appeared to humans; no one has ever seen him; he dwells in unapproachable light, which no human can see; his essence is invisible (John 1:18; 6:46; 1 John 4:12; Romans 1:20; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16; Exodus 33:20; Deuteronomy 4:12). Therefore, the theophanies in the Old Testament cannot be attributed to the Father, as we will only see him in the afterlife (Matthew 5:8; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 22:1, 3, 22-23), but rather to the not yet incarnate Son of God, the Logos.
This is already suggested by the wondrous visions of Ezekiel (1:26-28) and Daniel (7:13-14). The former sees a human-like figure seated on a throne surrounded by light; the latter sees "the son of man" on the clouds of heaven, which clearly refers to the future incarnation of the Logos, Jesus Christ the God-man.
ReplyDeleteThe New Testament writers — John, Paul, Jude Thaddeus, and Peter the Apostle — clearly write about these things. The evangelist John states (12:41) that Isaiah saw (through divine revelation) the glory of Christ (tiv dóxav aútov) — the divine power and nature of the future Messiah and Savior, which manifested in Jesus' teachings and miracles before the Jews. Here, John refers to the majestic vision at the prophet’s calling, described in Isaiah 6:1-10, and particularly to the Adonai (Lord) seen in that vision, which the Targum calls "the glory of Yahweh." According to John, the Adonai whom Isaiah saw seated on a royal throne surrounded by praising seraphim was actually the self-revealing Son of God, the divine Word (Logos, John 1:1; 12:41), who, as the mediator of all God's revelations from the beginning, also appeared to Isaiah in that wondrous vision as the radiance of the Father's glory and the exact representation of his being (Hebrews 1:2-3; John 17:24). Isaiah, however, does not directly describe him as the Son of God, but rather speaks generally of the God of the Old Testament and calls him Lord (Adonai), as the distinct three persons of the deity were not clearly revealed in the Old Testament.
The same Adonai in this vision spoke to Isaiah and commanded him (verses 9-10) to prophesy the deliberate unbelief of the Jewish people, which was already fulfilled in Isaiah's time but even more so in Jesus' time, when most Jews showed no receptiveness to his teachings, actions, and miracles, closing their eyes and, misusing their free will, did not believe, resulting in total spiritual blindness and obstinacy as their punishment.
St. Paul teaches that Christ was the leader and punisher of the Israelites during their forty-year desert wanderings, whose benefactions followed them continually; furthermore, the Israelites’ repeated murmurings and rebellions were directed against Christ, their leader and companion, whom they tempted with their behavior (1 Corinthians 10:4, 9); Paul also states that Christ was the one who shook the earth at the giving of the law at Sinai (Hebrews 12:26).
Regarding the apparent contradictions some see between St. Paul's cited passages (1 Corinthians 10:9; Hebrews 12:26) and Hebrews 1:1-2; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2, etc., Hetzenauer notes: "The New Testament passages that seemingly suggest the other divine person appeared directly in the New Testament and not in the Old, as Paul writes: 'In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son' (Hebrews 1:1-2). But here Paul is not talking about angelic appearances; rather, he compares the revelation given through the prophets with that given through the incarnate Son. Again: 'For if the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord (understood as Jesus Christ), was confirmed to us by those who heard him' (Hebrews 2:2-3; cf. Galatians 3:19). Here too, the apostle does not discuss the appearances of the Lord's angel but the different modes of old and new proclamation of the law..."
St. Jude Thaddeus the Apostle also states that it was Jesus (the Lord) who saved Israel from Egypt and destroyed the unbelievers (Jude 5).
ReplyDeleteIn authoritative manuscripts (the Alexandrian, Vatican cursive codices) and the Vulgate, θεοῦ (God) stands instead of Κυρίου (Lord), and Karl Lachmann (†1855) and other textual critics consider the latter reading more authentic. Nonetheless, even in the Sinai manuscript, Κυρίου (Lord) refers to Jesus.
St. Peter the Apostle says that the prophets spoke through the Spirit of Christ, that is, the Spirit of the not yet incarnate Son of God, the Logos, who prophesied through them about his suffering and glorification (1 Peter 1:11).
John, Paul, Jude Thaddeus, and Peter the Apostles use the names "Christ" and "Jesus" proleptically (anticipatorily) because the eternal Logos bore these names only after his incarnation as God-man. They could use this anticipation because the revealing God in the Old Testament was the same Son of God who later appeared in Jesus Christ.
Following the esteemed Church Fathers and writers (Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Cyril, Theodoret, Bede, Theophylact, etc.), commentators also interpret the words "He was in the world" (John 1:10) as referring to the guidance of humanity by the not yet incarnate Logos (cf. Baruch 3:36-38).
This view is supported by the following Church Fathers and ecclesiastical writers: Justin (Apologia I. 23; Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 56, 59), Irenaeus (Adversus Haereses IV. 7, 4), Clement of Alexandria (Paedagogus I. 7), Tertullian (De praescriptione haereticorum III. 7, 1; Adversus Praxean XV. 16), Cyprian (Testimonia adversus Judaeos II. 1-6), Eusebius (Demonstratio evangelica V. 10, 15), Athanasius (Orationes contra Arianos III. 12), Hilary (De Trinitate IV. 32), Chrysostom (Homilies 48 on Genesis, Homilies 16 on Acts of the Apostles), Ambrose (De fide I. 13), and others.
Therefore, it is indisputable that the mediator between God and humanity in the Old Testament was none other than the second divine person, the Son of God, the eternal Word. Just as he was the Father's envoy after his incarnation in the New Testament (Hebrews 3:1 "the apostle of our confession"), he was also his envoy before his incarnation in the Old Testament. It was fitting for his office to bear the names "Malak Yahweh" (Envoy of Yahweh) and "Malak Elohim" (Divine Envoy). The reason he is no longer called by these names in the New Testament is simply because he appeared in the flesh and was known as the Son of God (Matthew 2:15; 4:3, 6; 8:29; 27:40; Mark 3:11; 5:7).
The almost unanimous view of the Church Fathers is that the second person of the deity, the not yet incarnate eternal Word, Jesus Christ, was the author of the Old Testament, Israel's leader, and lawgiver, who appeared to the patriarchs, Moses, etc. St. Ambrose also states: "It was not the Father who spoke to Moses in the burning bush, not the Father in the desert, but the Son... He is the one who gave the law, he who spoke to Moses saying: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:16). Therefore, he is the God of the patriarchs, the God of the prophets."
Ambrose, De fide I. 13: "Non Pater in rubo, non Pater in caelo, sed Filius Moysi locutus est. ... Hic est ergo, qui legem dedit, ipse, qui locutus est Moysi dicens: Ego sum Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac, Deus Jacob.” (Exodus 3:16). Hic est ergo Deus patriarcharum, Deus prophetarum." (Migne's Patrologia Latina, vol. III col. 548)
The Synod of Sirmium in 351 AD excommunicates anyone who would deny that it was not the Son of God (the Logos) who wrestled with Jacob.
"Siquis contra Jacob non Filium tamquam hominem luctatum esse (Gen. 32), sed ingenitum Deum, aut Patrem ejus dixerit, anathema sit."
Acts ch.7:35NKJV"“This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. "
ReplyDeleteThe angel is distinguished from the God and not merely the Father who is repeatedly shown to be the MOST HIGH GOD.
Acts Ch.7:53NKJV"You who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”"
The law was delivered via angels plural.
The fact that an angel is referred to as God does not prove that this Angel is part of any mystical Godhead. At psalm 8:5 the angels are called elohim.
Judges Ch.13:21,22NKJV"When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD.
22And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”"
So poetically seeing JEHOVAH'S Angel can be Equated to seeing God.
This angel did not think himself entitled to any share of the honor that properly belonged to JEHOVAH his Lord.
John Ch.13:17,18NKJV"then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?”
18And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?”
None of JEHOVAH'S Angels regard themselves as equal to their God and Father this would of course include the Logos.
Instances like this are examples of what is called the law of agency what is done to or by the agent of an authority can be spoken of as being done to or by the authority himself. It is not to be taken as evidence that any angel is equal to his God and Father.
During the time of Christ, many Jews identified the Logos as the Archangel & Firstborn of God.
ReplyDeletePHILO JUDAEUS (circa. 20 B.C.E to 50 C.E.): "...according to HIS FIRST-BORN WORD, THE ELDEST OF HIS ANGELS, AS THE GREAT ARCH-ANGEL OF MANY NAMES; for he is called, the Authority, and the name of god, and the Word, and Man according to God's image, and He who sees Israel..." - (Chapter 27:146(b), “De Confusione Linguarum,” Page 247, “The Works of Philo Judaeus, The contemporary of Josephus, translated from the Greek,” By Charles Duke Yonge, London, H. G. Bohn, 1854-1890.)
PHILO JUDAEUS (circa. 20 B.C.E to 50 C.E.): "...in relation to ( GOD'S ) FIRST-BORN AND ELDEST MESSENGER, THE WORD: THAT IS THE MULTI-NAMED ARCHANGEL (WHO WAS) AT THE BEGINNING. For he is also called "the Beginning" and THE "NAME OF GOD" and the "Word" and the "Man after his Image" and "Israel the Seer..." - (Chapter 27:146(b), Philo, Confusion 145-146 Perspective on the World of Jesus with new translations from primary texts by Mahlon H. Smith 1999-2008.)
*Also, the angel that spoke with Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Joshua was identified as Michael the Archangel by some in ancient history.
*AN ANCIENT ARAMAIC [ ARAMAIC TARGUM ] PARAPHRASE BIBLE – SAYS IT WAS MICHAEL THE ARCH-ANGEL WHO SPOKE TO MOSES ON THE MOUNTAIN!
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http://matt13weedhacker.blogspot.com/2012/10/an-ancient-jewish-paraphrase-bible-says.html
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HIPPOLYTUS SAYS MICHAEL THE ARCH-ANGEL LEAD THE ISRAELITES IN THE WILDERNESS!
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http://matt13weedhacker.blogspot.com/2012/10/hippolytus-says-michael-arch-angel-lead.html
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AN ANCIENT ARAMAIC PARAPHRASE BIBLE [ ARAMAIC TARGUM ] – SAYS IT WAS MICHAEL THE ARCH-ANGEL, THE ANGEL OF THE LORD WHO WRESTLED WITH JACOB!
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http://matt13weedhacker.blogspot.com/2012/10/an-ancient-aramaic-paraphrase-bible.html
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ORIGEN ON JOSHUA 5:14 SAYS IT WAS MICHAEL THE ARCH-ANGEL!
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http://matt13weedhacker.blogspot.com/2012/10/origen-on-joshua-514-says-it-was.html
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THE THREE WHO APPEARED TO ABRAHAM WERE - THREE ( ANGELS ) - ACCORDING TO JOSEPHUS!
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http://matt13weedhacker.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-three-who-appeared-to-abraham-were.html
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*These are examples of AGENCY or SHALIAH. When it looked like the ancients saw Jehovah, they did not. They saw an angel that came in the Father’s AGENCY.
This is how agency or shaliah works:
"The main point of the Jewish law of agency is expressed in the dictum, "A person's agent is regarded as the person himself. Therefore, any act committed by a duly appointed agent is regarded as having been committed by the principle."
The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Religion, R.J.Z. Werblowski and Geoffrey Wigoder
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GRB Murray (in _Gospel of Life: Theology in the Fourth Gospel_ ) cites the Jewish halachic law as follows: "One sent is as he who sent him." He then adds: "The messenger [the SHALIACH] is thereby granted authority and dignity by virtue of his bearing the status of the one who sent him. This is more remarkable when it is borne in mind that in earlier times, the messenger was commonly a slave" (Murray 18).
In Jewish law, a shaliaḥ is a LEGAL AGENT. In practice, "the shaliaḥ for a person is as this person himself." Accordingly, a shaliaḥ performs an act of legal significance for the benefit of the sender, as opposed to him or herself. So this is in a legal sense, not an ontological sense.
The angel or angels that came in Jehovah's Name were not literally Jehovah (the Father) but his legal agents. God Almighty, Jehovah, has NEVER been seen by any imperfect human.
Exodus 33:20
English Standard Version
But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
John 6:46 "Not that any man has seen the Father, except the one who is from God; this one has seen the Father."
1 John 4:12 "No one has seen God at any time. If we continue loving one another, God remains in us, and his love is made perfect in us."
Is there anywhere in the Hebrew scriptures that shows or proves that the angel of the LORD (Jehovah) was not Jehovah or equal to him? Absolutely!👇🏿
ReplyDeleteThe account of Zechariah 1:12-13 presents us with “the angel of Jehovah (LORD)” beseeching Jehovah (LORD) as an intercessor for His people. In this verse, the angel of the LORD is completely nescient or lacking knowledge, ignorant of the Father's will towards Israel. He had to ask Jehovah a question to gain information. If the angel of the LORD was God or part of a coequal Godhead that was all-knowing, wouldn't he have known this information? But he didn't. If the angel of the LORD was God, why was he asking someone else about Jerusalem and Judah's fate? Because the angel of the LORD was never God or someone equal to God. The angel of the LORD did the will of someone greater than himself.
In some passages, the LORD(Jehovah) addresses the angel of the LORD or vice versa. In 1 Chronicles 21:15, Jehovah tells the angel of the LORD to stop killing the Israelites. This is found in the parallel passages in 2 Sam 24:15, 16. Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible recognizes the angel in 2 Samuel 24:15, 16 is the angel of the LORD.
This shows that the angel of the LORD is in subjection to Jehovah, and there was no coequal unity. Jehovah commanded, and the angel of the LORD did just so. No one can command Jehovah the Almighty.
The scriptures indeed point to Jesus having a prehuman existence before he was born a human baby to Mary. Some connect the angel of the LORD to Jesus before he was born to Mary. If this is true, the scriptures clearly show that the angel of the LORD is not equal to God but subservient to Jehovah. This means if the angel of the LORD and Jesus were the same, he was not Jehovah or never equal to Jehovah in authority and knowledge.🤔