Books I've Read (Part VII)

 1. Damasio, Antonio R. Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. New York: G.P. Putnam, 1994. Print.

2. Barr, Stephen M. Modern Physics and Ancient Faith. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003.

3. Adler, Mortimer J. How to Think About God: A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan. 1980. Print.

4.  Fishler, Max. What the Great Philosophers Thought about God. Los Angeles, CA: University Book Publishers, 1958. Print.

5. Padgett, Alan G. God, Eternity and the Nature of Time, London: Macmillan, 1992. Print.

6. Wolterstorff, Nicholas. “God Everlasting” in Clifton Orlebeke and Lewis Smedes (editors), God and the Good: Essays in Honor of Henry Stob, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, pp. 181–203. Print.

7. Davis, Stephen T. Logic and the Nature of God. London: Macmillan, 1983. Print.

8. DeWeese, Garrett J. God and the Nature of Time, Aldershot, Hants.: Ashgate, 2004. Print.

9. Bultmann, Rudolf. Primitive Christianity in its Contemporary Setting. Cleveland and New York: Meridian Books, 1965. Print.

10. Gilson, Etienne. The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. New York : Random House, 1956. Print.

11. Bruce, F.F. New Testament History. London: Thomas Nelson, 1969. Print.

12. Chamberlain, William D. An Exegetical Grammar of the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987. Print. 

13. Tom Christenson. Questioning Assumptions: Rethinking the Philosophy of Religion. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011. Print.

14. Bock, Darrell. Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism: The Charge against Jesus in Mark 14:53-65. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2016. Print.

15. Carson. D. A. Exegetical Fallacies.  Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996. Print.

16. Conzelmann, H. An Outline of the Theology of the New Testament. New York: Harper and Row, 1969. Print.

17. Rogers, Rick. Theophilus of Antioch: The Life and Thought of a Second-Century Bishop. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2000. Print.

18. Quine, W.V.O. Elementary Logic. Cambridge, MA and London, UK. Harper and Row, 1980. Revised Edition. Print.

19. Bradshaw, Timothy. Trinity and Ontology: A Comparative Study of the Theologies of Karl Barth and Wolfhart Pannenberg. Edinburgh: Rutherford House, 1989. Print.

20. Flanagan, Owen. The Problem of the Soul: Two Visions of the Mind and How to Reconcile Them. New York: Basic Books/Perseus, 2002. Print.

21. Moule, C.F.D. The Origin of Christology. Cambridge University Press, 1977. Print.

22. Moltmann, J. The Trinity and the Kingdom. Fortress Press, 1993. Print.

23. Cullmann, Oscar. The Christology of the New Testament. Westminster John Knox Press, 1959. Print.

24. Cullmann, Oscar. Christ and Time: The Primitive Christian Conception of Time and History. SCM Press, 1962. Print.

25. Novatiani Romanae Urbis Presbyteri De Trinitate liber: Novatian’s Treatise on the Trinity, ed. William Yorke Fausset. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1909.

Occurrences of Soma in 1 Corinthians (Chapter 6)

Some places where σῶμα appears in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. I have limited the usages to the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians:

ἀπὼν τῷ σώματι παρὼν δὲ (1 Corinthians 5:3)

τὸ δὲ σῶμα οὐ τῇ (1 Cor. 6:13)

κύριος τῷ σώματι (1 Cor. 6:13)

ὅτι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν μέλη (1 Cor. 6:15)

πόρνῃ ἓν σῶμά ἐστιν Ἔσονται (1 Cor. 6:16)

ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ὁ (1 Cor. 6:18)

τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει (1 Cor. 6:18)

ὅτι τὸ σῶμα ὑμῶν ναὸς (1 Cor. 6:19)

ἐν τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν καὶ (1 Cor. 6:20)

Compare 1 Cor. 7:4, 34; 9:27.

I notice that Paul later turns to a discussion of the corporate body (Christ's bride): See 1 Cor. 10:17; 12:12-27. The letter ends with a treatment of the resurrection body, which Paul describes as spiritual.

See also https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002096438904400203?journalCode=intc

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43715563?seq=1

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43716528?seq=1

Zerwick and Grosvenor on 1 Corinthians 6:13-20 (Screenshot)

 

1 Corinthians 6:18: Which Body?

Greek (THGNT): Φεύγετε τὴν πορνείαν. πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ὃ ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ἄνθρωπος, ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν· ὁ δὲ πορνεύων εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει.

ESV: Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

NWT 2013: Flee from sexual immorality! Every other sin that a man may commit is outside his body, but whoever practices sexual immorality is sinning against his own body.

NET Bible: Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body”—but the immoral person sins against his own body.

What is the referent of τοῦ σώματός and τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα? Do those nominal phrases refer to the physical body of a human or to the Christian congregation qua a spiritual body of Christ? The fact is that
σῶμα evidently has some ambiguity in Paul's letter to the Corinthians.

The NET Bible invokes the debate about whether 1 Cor. 6:18 is a slogan of the Corinthians rather than words emanating directly from Paul's mind. In other words, when Paul writes, πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ὃ ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ἄνθρωπος, ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν, is he expressing his thoughts on the matter or just echoing a Corinthian sentiment?

The NET Bible favors the Corinthian slogan idea for two reasons: 1) to understand the words as part of a Corinthian slogan is supposed to be the most natural way to read πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ὃ ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ἄνθρωπος, ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν

2) It's difficult to understand (from a theological perspective) why Paul would say only "sexual immorality" is a sin that occurs outside the body. Are not gluttony and drunkenness sins that occur in the body rather than without? Why would Paul single out sexual immorality as a sin that  takes place in the body? I've had similar questions. Therefore, I've wondered if Paul is talking about the physical body in 1 Cor. 6:18.

Books I've Read (Part VI)

 1. Williams, Peter J. Can We Trust the Gospels? Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018. 

2. Ward, Keith. The Case for Religion. Oxford, England: Oneworld, 2008. Print.

3. Craig, William L. Time and the Metaphysics of Relativity. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 2001. Print.

4. Merkle, Benjamin L. Exegetical Gems from Biblical Greek: A Refreshing Guide to Grammar and Interpretation. , 2019. Print.

5. McDonough, Sean M. Yhwh at Patmos: Rev. 1:4 in Its Hellenistic and Early Jewish Setting. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1999. Print.

6. Lactantius. Lactantius the Minor Works. Washington, D.C, 1965. Print.

7. Minucius, Felix M., and G W. Clarke. The Octavius of Marcus Minucius Felix. New York: Newman Press, 1974. Print.

8. Pojman, Louis P, and Lewis Vaughn. The Moral Life: An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. Print.

9. Kant, Immanuel, and Thomas K. Abbott. The Critique of Practical Reason: 1788. South Bend, IN: Infomotions, Inc, 2001. Internet resource.

10. Salmon, Merrilee H. Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2013. Print. 

11. Corcoran, Kevin. Rethinking Human Nature: A Christian Materialist Alternative to the Soul. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006. Print. 

12. Westphal, Merold. God, Guilt, and Death: An Existential Phenomenology of Religion. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987. Print. 

13. Wolterstorff, Nicholas. Divine Discourse: Philosophical Reflections on the Claim That God Speaks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Print. 

14. Kripke, Saul A. Naming and Necessity. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 1980. Print. 

15. Murphy, Nancey C. Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Print. 

16. Plantinga, Alvin. Does God Have a Nature? Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1980. Print.

17. Howard, Thomas, Eric Metaxas, and Tyler Blanski. Chance or the Dance: A Critique of Modern Secularism. San Francisco : Ignatius Press, 2018. Print. 

18. Freed, Edwin D. The New Testament: A Critical Introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2001. Print. 

19.  Feser, Edward. The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's Press, 2011. Print. 

20.  Porter, Stanley E. How We Got the New Testament: Text, Transmission, Translation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Electronic. 

21. F. H. Henry, Carl. God, Revelation and Authority. Waco: Word, 1976. Print. 

22. Macquarrie, J. Principles of Christian Theology. New York: Scribner's, 1977.

23. White, J. E. What is Truth? Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1994.

24. Youngblood, R. ed. The Genesis Debate: Persistent Questions About Creation and the Flood. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1986.

25. Werner, M. The Formation of Christian Dogma. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1957.
 

Buist Fanning Examines Revelation 5:10

Revelation 5:10 (SBL Greek Text): καὶ ἐποίησας αὐτοὺς τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν βασιλείαν καὶ ἱερεῖς, καὶ βασιλεύουσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

ESV: "and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

NWT 2013: "and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.”

Weymouth NT: "And hast formed them into a Kingdom to be priests to our God, And they reign over the earth."

Buist Fanning favors the rendering "will reign on the earth" for Rev. 5:10b. After citing Rev. 2:26-27; 3:21; 20:4, 6; 22:5, he then writes about Rev. 5:10:

"Here and in 20:4, 6 it seems clear that this anticipates a physical, geographical reign on earth, not one that is spiritual and otherworldly only (see Dan 7:27 'under all of heaven'; Jer 3:17, rule from Jerusalem)."

See Fanning, page 226.

He seems to reckon that the reign of Jesus with his co-regents will be "spiritual and earthly" not just  heavenly. In footnote 77, Fanning lays out texts that Witnesses often quote like Matt 5:5; 19:28; 2 Tim 2:12, etc.

Regarding ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, Fanning sets forth this position: he believes that ἐπὶ in this context not only signifies the exertion of "power, authority, control . . . over" (BDAG 365) but Fanning indicates ἐπὶ also represents "the sphere or location" of Christ's rule (i.e., the domain); hence, the renderings "on/over the earth." So the Lamb's rulership with his co-regents will consummate "God's intent for humans to exert delegated dominion over creation" in Fanning's estimation.

See Fanning, Buist M. Revelation. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020.

Compare https://fosterheologicalreflections.blogspot.com/2020/04/two-interesting-uses-of-epi-from.html 

https://fosterheologicalreflections.blogspot.com/2020/04/other-interesting-uses-of-epi-in-lxx.html

1 Corinthians 11:23--How Should KAI Be Translated?

Greek: ἐγὼ γὰρ παρέλαβον ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, ὃ καὶ παρέδωκα ὑμῖν, ὅτι ὁ κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ᾗ παρεδίδετο ἔλαβεν ἄρτον

KJV: For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread

ESV: For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,

NET: For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread,

NWT 2013: For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night on which he was going to be betrayed took a loaf,

  

CEV: I have already told you what the Lord Jesus did on the night he was betrayed. And it came from the Lord himself. He took some bread in his hands.

 

Vincent's Word Studies:

Also ( καὶ )

Important as expressing the identity of the account of Jesus with his own.

 

When Did the Early Christians Accept Four NT Gospels? (Peter Williams)

Peter Williams presents an interesting line of evidence for early acceptance of the four Gospels. He argues that the four Gospels were a recognized unit by the late second/early third century, and three things demonstrate this point:

1) "The Chester Beatty Library in Dublin houses a manuscript called Papyrus 45, which contains the four Gospels and the book of Acts. This manuscript was produced in southern Egypt, probably in the first half of the third century."

2) "Going back a little further, we find that Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon in France, writing around the year AD 185, said that God gave the gospel in fourfold  form, referring to the four Gospels."

3) "Even earlier than this, perhaps around the year 173, a man called Tatian had made a single chronologically ordered retelling of the story of Jesus based on the four Gospels. This work, which became known as the Diatessaron, was  most probably produced in Syria. Though it does not survive today, it is believed to have influenced many harmonies of the Gospels in the Middle Ages."

Conclusion: "Thus, by the early third century, evidence from France, southern Egypt, and Syria all shows that the four Gospels were held to be a special collection that  belonged together.4 In other words, these four books were treated together as the best source for information about Jesus long before any central city, group, or individual in Christianity possessed enough power to impose the  collection on other people. It is most natural to suppose that the credentials of the four books themselves are why they were so widely accepted."

See Peter J. Williams, Can We Trust the Gospels? 

Six Scholarly Works You Might Like

 1. VanGemeren, Willem,ed. New International Dictionary Of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis. Grand Rapids, MI : Zondervan Pub. House, 1997. Print. [5 Volumes]

2. Botterweck, G J, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry. Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974. Print. [16 Volumes]

3.  Freedman, David N. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992.[6 Volumes]

4. Metzger, Bruce M. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: A Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament (Fourth Revised Edition). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994.

5. Kittel, Gerhard, Gerhard Friedrich, and G W. Bromiley. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964. [10 Volumes]

6. Waltke, Bruce K, and Michael P. O'Connor. An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1990. Print.

Books I've Read (Part V)

1. Grudem, Wayne A., C.J. Collins, and Thomas R. Schreiner. Understanding Scripture: An Overview of the Bible's Origin, Reliability, and Meaning. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2012. Print.

2. M. de S. Cameron, Nigel. The Power and Weakness of God: Impassibility and Orthodoxy. Edinburgh: Rutherford House, 1990. Print.

3. Skarsaune, Oskar. The Proof from Prophecy - A Study in Justin Martyr's Proof-Text Tradition: Text-Type, Provenance, Theological Profile. Leiden: Brill, 1987. Print.

4. Silva, Moises and Karen H. Jobes. Invitation to the Septuagint. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2000. Print.

5. Sanders, John. The God Who Risks: A Theology of Providence. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1998. Print.

6. Weinandy, Thomas G. Does God Suffer? Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2000. Print.

7. Plantinga, Alvin. God, Freedom, and Evil. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1977. Print.

8. Van Inwagen, Peter. The Problem of Evil. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Print.

9. Garnsey, Peter D. A. Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.

10. Copi, Irving M., Carl Cohen, and Victor Rodych. Introduction to Logic. 2018. Print. 

11. MacDonald, William G. Greek Enchiridion: A Concise Handbook of Grammar for Translation and Exegesis. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003. Print. 

12. Harner, Philip B. An Inductive Approach to Biblical Study. Washington: University Press of America, 1982. Print. 

13. A. Taylor, Bernard, John A. Lee, Peter R. Burton (editors). Biblical Greek Language and Lexicography: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Danker. Grand Rapids and Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 2004. Print.

14. Porter, Stanley E. Verbal Aspect in the Greek of the New Testament, with Reference to Tense and Mood. New York: Peter Lang, 1993. Print.

15. Kelly, J N. D. Early Christian Doctrines. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014. Internet resource.

16. Efird, James M. The New Testament Writings: History, Literature, and Interpretation. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1980. Print. 

17. Sumney, Jerry L. The Bible: An Introduction, Second Edition. Baltimore, Maryland: Project Muse, 2019. Internet resource. 

18. Swinburne, Richard. The Coherence of Theism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Print. 

19. Frend, W.H.C. The Rise of Christianity. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1984. Print.

20. Thompson, S.  The Apocalypse and Semitic Syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

21. Young, Richard A. Intermediate New Testament Greek: A Linguistic and Exegetical Approach. Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman, 1994. Print.

22. Poythress, Vern Sheridan. Logic: A God-Centered Approach to the Foundation of Western Thought. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013. Electronic format/open access.

23. Grillmeier, Aloys. Christ in Christian Tradition: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon (451).
Atlanta, GA: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975.

24. Pagels, E. Gnostic Gospels. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979. 

25.  Kreeft, Peter. A Shorter Summa. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1993.

Twenty Valuable Reference Works That You Might Like

1. Strutz, Henry. 501 German Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses in a New Easy-to-Learn Format, Alphabetically Arranged. New York: Barron's Educational Series, 1998 [Updated in 2017]. Print. 

 

2. Prior, Richard E, and Joseph Wohlberg. 501 Latin Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses in a New Easy-to-Learn Format. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series, 1995. Print. 

 

3. Lausberg, Heinrich, George A. Kennedy, Matthew T. Bliss, and David E. Orton. Handbook of Literary Rhetoric: A Foundation for Literary Study. Leiden: Brill, 1998. Print.

4. Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, Walter Bauer. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Print.

 

5. Cunliffe, Richard J, and James H. Dee. A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2012. Print. 

 

6. Smyth, Herbert W. Greek Grammar. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966. Print. 

 

7.  Louw, J.P., and Eugene A. Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1989. Print. [2 Volumes]

 

8. Spicq, Ceslas, and James D. Ernest. Theological Lexicon of the New Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994. Print. [3 Volumes]

9. Wallace, Daniel B. Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2008. Print.

10. Liddell, Henry G, Robert Scott, Henry S. Jones, and Roderick McKenzie. A Greek - English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007. Ninth edition. Print. 

11. Wenham, John W, Jonathan T. Pennington, Norman H. Young, and H. P. V. Nunn. The Elements of New Testament Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Print.

 

12. Fanning, Buist M. Verbal Aspect in New Testament Greek. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990. Print.

13. Robertson, Archibald T. A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research. Nashville, Tenn: Broadman, 1980. Print.

14. Mounce, William D. Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar: Fourth Edition. [Grand Rapids]: Zondervan, 2019. Print. 

 

15.  Marinone, Nino. All the Greek Verbs. 1985. Print. 

 

16.  McKay, Kenneth L. A New Syntax of the Verb in New Testament Greek: An Aspectual Approach. New York: Lang, 1994. Print. 

 

17. Rogers, Cleon L, Cleon L. Rogers, and Fritz Rienecker. The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Pub.House, 1998. Print. 

 

18. Brooks, James A., and Carlton L. Winbery. Syntax of New Testament Greek. Washington, D.C: University Press of America, 1988. Print. 

 

19. Blass, Friedrich, Robert Walter Funk, and Albert Debrunner. A Greek Grammar of the New Testament And Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961.

20. Zerwick, Maximilian, S.J. Biblical Greek Illustrated by Examples-English Edition adapted from the Fourth Latin Edition by Joseph Smith S.J. (Scripta Pontificii Instituti Biblici 114) Rome: 1963.

1 John 5:7 Is Irrefutably Spurious? (George L. Parsenios's Commentary)

 

2 Corinthians 12:10 (Weak, but still Powerful)

Greek: διὸ εὐδοκῶ ἐν ἀσθενείαις, ἐν ὕβρεσιν, ἐν ἀνάγκαις, ἐν διωγμοῖς καὶ στενοχωρίαις, ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ· ὅταν γὰρ ἀσθενῶ, τότε δυνατός εἰμι.

ESV: "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong."

NWT 2013: "So I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in times of need, in persecutions and difficulties, for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am powerful."

David E. Garland, 2 Corinthians, 882-3 of the electronic edition:

Paul scores his point with a memorable aphorism, “when I am weak,  then I am powerful,” which is the key for interpreting all that he says in this section. The point is the same as in 4:7. The power working in Paul is most clearly seen as coming from God when he appears to be weak. “I delight in” means that he accepts the way Christ's power works in his life through his weaknesses. That does not mean that he does not groan under the load of suffering (5:2, 4) and long for the mortal to be swallowed up by life (5:4). But he knows that his suffering follows the precedent of Christ's suffering. It was something that God enables him to endure, not escape. What he endures, he endures for the sake of Christ, and the paradox of the power of God hidden in his apparent weakness parallels Christ's weakness and power  demonstrated in the crucifixion. Leivestad rightly sees, “As the power of God was revealed through the weaknesses of the crucified Lord for the salvation of  the world, so the life and power of the risen Christ are being revealed through  his weak apostles in the midst of humiliations and afflictions.”⁴⁴¹ The false apostles keep the Corinthians from seeing how Christ's power is at work in him and lead them away from the cross of Christ. Paul's goal is not simply to defend himself, but to help them “see things correctly” through the proper spiritual lens.⁴⁴² 

Paul concludes with a brief summary of the hardship lists in the letter. He “delights in”(the word eudoke can also mean “is pleased”) with his “weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and pressures.” If en hybresin is to  be interpreted as “with insults” rather than “with mistreatments” (see 1 Thess  2:2), Paul may have added it because of the rivals' insolent slander against  him as one who was weak, debased, and amateurish. “Catastrophes” refer to  the “hardships” he has listed in 4:8–9; 6:4–5; 11:27–28. The “persecutions” are  listed in 11:24–25a, and the “pressures” or difficulties (tight situations) are  listed in 11:25b–26. The phrase hyper Christou (“for the sake of Christ”) is interpreted by the NIV (RSV, REB) as connected to the phrase, “I delight in.” Paul placed it at the end of the lists of hardships, however; so it is better to connect it to the weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ (NRSV). This means that he is not pleased with them for Christ's sake but endures them for Christ's sake. 

Hebrews 12:1 (What is the sin that 'besets' us?)

12:1 (THGNT): Τοιγαροῦν καὶ ἡμεῖς τοσοῦτον ἔχοντες περικείμενον ἡμῖν νέφος μαρτύρων, ὄγκον ἀποθέμενοι πάντα καὶ τὴν εὐπερίστατον ἁμαρτίαν, δι᾽ ὑπομονῆς τρέχωμεν τὸν προκείμενον ἡμῖν ἀγῶνα

NET: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us,"

KJV: "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,"

J.B. Phillips NT: "Surrounded then as we are by these serried ranks of witnesses, let us strip off everything that hinders us, as well as the sin which dogs our feet, and let us run the race that we have to run with patience"

Donald Guthrie (Hebrews, 319-320): The writer next turns his attention to the preparation necessary before the contestants begin the race. The imagery is drawn from the rigorous approach of Greek athletes to training. Nothing which adds weight is retained; all but the bare essentials must be laid aside. As the writer goes on to give a spiritual interpretation of possible encumbrances by referring to sin which clings so closely, there can be no doubt that the weight (onkon, found only here in the New Testament) is also intended to be applied metaphorically of any affairs which would impede a Christian convert in his new faith. The nature of the clinging sin is not defined, so as to have the widest possible application. The word translated clings (euperistaton) occurs here only in the New Testament and is of uncertain meaning. Moulton¹⁵ lists four possibilities: (i) easily avoided, (ii) admired, (iii) easily surrounding, i.e. besetting, (iv) dangerous (from the sense, ‘having easy distress’). The RSV approximates to the third. Whatever the precise meaning it is evident that the writer regards sin as a major impediment in the spiritual race. It must not be supposed that any particular sin – a besetting sin – is in mind. It is rather sin itself which is the hindrance.

Books I've Read (Part IV)

1. Thompson, John. Modern Trinitarian Perspectives. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

2. Daniélou, Jean. The Angels and Their Mission According to the Fathers of the Church. Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 1988. Print.

3. Sullivan, Francis A. From Apostles to Bishops: The Development of the Episcopacy in the Early Church. New York, etc.: The Newman Press, 2001. Print.

4. Marrou, Henri. A History of Education in Antiquity. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982. Print.

5. Toulmin, Stephen E. The Uses of Argument. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Print.

6. Ryrie, Charles C. Basic Theology. Wheaton, Ill: Victor Books, 1986. Print.

7. Vermes, Geza. Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981. Print.

8. Bulgakov, Sergej N., and Boris Jakim. The Comforter. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2004. Print.

9. Sternberg, Robert J. The Triarchic Mind: A New Theory of Human Intelligence. New York: Peguin Books, 1994. Print.

10. Witherington III, Ben, and Laura M. Ice. The Shadow of the Almighty: Father, Son, and Spirit in Biblical Perspective. Grand Rapids: MI, 2002.

11. Copan, Paul, and William L. Craig. Creation Out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005. Print.

12. Hoffman, Joshua, and Gary S. Rosenkrantz. The Divine Attributes. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. Print.

13. Lonergan, Bernard J. F. The Way to Nicea: The Dialectical Development of Trinitarian Theology: a Translation [from the Latin] by Conn O'Donovan from the First Part of De Deo Trino. London: Darton, Longman, and Todd, 1976.

14. Crick, Francis. The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul. Scribner Books Company, 1995.

15. Casey, Maurice.  From Jewish Prophet to Gentile God: The Origins and Development of New Testament Christology. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991.

16. Bailey, Wilma A. "You Shall Not Kill" or "You Shall Not Murder"?: The Assault on a Biblical Text. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2005. Print.

17. Ayres, Lewis. Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

18. Jungmann, Josef A, Christopher P. Irvine, John Coyne, and Paul F. Bradshaw. Christian Prayer Through the Centuries. London: SPCK, 2007. Print.

19. Ward, Keith. God, Chance and Necessity. Oxford: Oneworld, 1996. Print.

20. McInerny, Ralph. Ethica Thomistica: The Moral Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Washington, D.C: Catholic University of America Press, 1997. Print.

21. Russell, David S. The Method & Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, 200 BC-AD 100.
Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1964.

22. Morris, Charles G, and Albert A. Maisto. Understanding Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. Print. 

 

23. Padgett, Alan G. Science and the Study of God: A Mutuality Model for Theology and Science. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2003.

 

24. Fabricatore, Daniel J.  Form of God, Form of a Servant: An Examination of the Greek Noun μορφή in Philippians 2:6-7. Lanham: University Press of America, 2009.

25. Gerhardsson, Birger.  Reliability of the Gospel Tradition. Hendrickson, 2001.