Romans 1:24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
24 Διὸ παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῶν καρδιῶν αὐτῶν εἰς ἀκαθαρσίαν τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς· 25 οἵτινες μετήλλαξαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν τῷ ψεύδει καὶ ἐσεβάσθησαν καὶ ἐλάτρευσαν τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα, ὅς ἐστιν εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν.
This passage comes just before the well-known passage where Paul condemns homosexuality. Make no mistake, Paul would go ballistic if he were to read some of the arguments put forth in defense of that perverted lifestyle today. But that's not what I want to write about as that is far too easy and obvious.
Mark Driscoll makes a big deal out of the articles in the phrase τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν τῷ ψεύδει. One could very easily translate this as "the truth of God for the lie." What would the lie be? I think it is the same lie that Eve fell for back in the garden. We have this tendency to put the creature ahead of the Creator, which is to our destruction. Instead, we must put God first. We do not do this naturally, but we do after God saves us from ourselves.
What do you worship? Is it the truth of God or the lie? Which do you believe? Obviously there are times when I believe the lie. That's what sin is. It is believing the lie rather than believing in the goodness of God. The good news is that the more we trust God the easier it is to keep trusting Him. Believe the truth!
Showing posts with label article. Show all posts
Showing posts with label article. Show all posts
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
In the Beginning
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1 Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
I can't think of too many passages that bring as much hope and controversy. It brings hope if we read it as it is translated here, particularly the last phrase. The Word was God. This means that Jesus was the same as God. He was there in the beginning, or Ἐν ἀρχῇ. This is the same phrase used to start the Septuagint at Genesis 1:1. It takes us right back to the creation narrative.
The controversy also comes from the last phrase. What does καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος mean? Technically, this is ambiguous. Arians translate this as "the Word was a God." A modern example of Arians would be the Jehovah's Witnesses. It would be possible, though less likely to translate it as "the Word was the God," though you probably wouldn't because of the article on λόγος. The wooden translation of "what God was, the Word was."
The lack of a definite article on θεὸς keeps us from making the person of Jesus the same as the person of God the Father. The word order tells us that all of the attributes of θεὸς are present in ὁ λόγος. Luther's concise explanation is that "the lack of an article is against Sabellianism; the word order is against Arianism." (Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek, 2nd Ed, 27-28).
You may disagree with this translation, though it is the traditional one of the church. What you will have to determine is who you trust when it comes to Greek translation. Was Arius a heretic or a saint? Translation is not just a matter of pure grammar, though in some cases it is. The Arian translation is possible, though very unlikely. Do you want to stake your eternity on that?
1 Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
I can't think of too many passages that bring as much hope and controversy. It brings hope if we read it as it is translated here, particularly the last phrase. The Word was God. This means that Jesus was the same as God. He was there in the beginning, or Ἐν ἀρχῇ. This is the same phrase used to start the Septuagint at Genesis 1:1. It takes us right back to the creation narrative.
The controversy also comes from the last phrase. What does καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος mean? Technically, this is ambiguous. Arians translate this as "the Word was a God." A modern example of Arians would be the Jehovah's Witnesses. It would be possible, though less likely to translate it as "the Word was the God," though you probably wouldn't because of the article on λόγος. The wooden translation of "what God was, the Word was."
The lack of a definite article on θεὸς keeps us from making the person of Jesus the same as the person of God the Father. The word order tells us that all of the attributes of θεὸς are present in ὁ λόγος. Luther's concise explanation is that "the lack of an article is against Sabellianism; the word order is against Arianism." (Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek, 2nd Ed, 27-28).
You may disagree with this translation, though it is the traditional one of the church. What you will have to determine is who you trust when it comes to Greek translation. Was Arius a heretic or a saint? Translation is not just a matter of pure grammar, though in some cases it is. The Arian translation is possible, though very unlikely. Do you want to stake your eternity on that?
Saturday, January 02, 2010
The Lord's Prayer
Matthew 6:9-13
(9) Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
(10) Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
(11) Give us this day our daily bread,
(12) and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
(13) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
(9) Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
(10) Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
(11) Give us this day our daily bread,
(12) and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
(13) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
(13) καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.
Most folks are familiar with this prayer at some level. Those who come from Catholic or more mainline Protestant backgrounds say this prayer at least once/week when they attend their weekly worship. It's the template that Jesus gave the Apostles to pray. In fact, I've heard this also called the "Apostles' Prayer" instead because they are the ones who were told to pray this way.
I want to bring something up in verse 13. When I read this prayer I tend to think of it more as "deliver us from the evil one," rather than from "evil" in general. Both are perfectly valid translations grammatically. I think that the article on τοῦ πονηροῦ lends credence to the idea that it should be translated. But translating it as "from the evil" doesn't make a lot of sense. Therefore, we get "from the evil one."
I wouldn't be dogmatic about this, but it is something to consider. I think it changes the focus slightly. I also think that it puts Satan in his proper place. He is the tempter and he wants to throw us off. However, God is bigger than Satan and can deliver us from Him. Note also James 4:7.
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