Click on the image above for the PowerPoint (now in Flash) that went along with my “Isaiah Preached Naked” sermon (Scripture reading intro by my Dad).  You can listen along with the audio and it should advance the slide show automatically. This is a trial balloon to see if this sort of format is something I want to do more of. Probably, they should be shorter in the future. This one is 40 minutes and VERY SLOW loading (sorry!). Feel free to comment with suggestions below for improving this concept.

{Editor’s Note: This article will be published in the “Word Studies” section of the upcoming issue of the One Heart Journal.  Thanks to Clint and Teresa for Lucas’ awesome “onesie”!}

In English, we have two types of articles.  The definite article, “the”, indicates a high degree of specificity, whereas the indefinite article, “a” or “an”, indicates a lower degree of specificity.

1. “We need light.”  Here, the word “light” has no article, so it is used in the broadest sense.  It is inclusive of any type of light.

2. “We need a light.”  By adding the indefinite article, you are probably stating a need for an individual light, but any will do (candle, flashlight, etc.).

3. “We need the light.”  The definite article says that you are referring to a specific light, such as the flashlight you handed to a friend earlier.  You have one light in mind, as opposed to others.

In Greek, only one type of article exists, but it may be used in many of the various usages of the English article.  The trick is to figure out the particular usage intended in a given context.

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Mark 1:10

In many passages, the New Testament writers used the article to indicate a term specific to Christianity.  No explanation is required to identify “the Spirit like a dove descending upon him” as the Holy Spirit, as opposed to a demonic or human spirit.  This use of the article is sometimes called the par excellence usage of the article.  It is the article distinguishing the subject, not just as being specific, but as being in a class by itself (Wallace, p. 222).

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John 6:14

Another example of this exceptional usage of the article can be found in reference to the specific prophet of Deuteronomy 18:15.  At the feeding of the five thousand, the people state, “… This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world” (John 6:14). The King James translators felt that merely translating this as “the prophet,” which would have been a literal equivalent, was insufficient to catch the usage of the article.  Instead, to demonstrate that this was a prophet par excellence, they translate the phrase as “that prophet,” using a demonstrative pronoun to catch the thrust of the statement.  The English Standard Version maintains the simple translation of the article, but capitalizes the word prophet to make up for it (“the Prophet”).  Here, the prophet is not just another prophet, nor is it one of many great prophets.  They were claiming Jesus to be “that Prophet” referenced in Deuteronomy 18:15, a Prophet who is in fact the long awaited Messiah.

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Jude 3

This distinctive usage becomes significant to us today as the article is used in relationship to the word “faith.”  Jude writes that we must “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).  Literally, we might render this, “the once has been delivered to the saints faith.”  We are not left to guess to what faith the phrase refers.  Jude specifically identifies this faith as the revealed New Testament system of faith, as opposed to a person’s individual beliefs or to some other system of faith.

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Eph. 2:8

What about passages without so much clarity?  Paul writes, “For by grace are ye saved through faith …” (Eph. 2:8).  Whereas in other passages translators will go out of their way to capture the force of the article, here they remain strangely silent, omitting the article altogether in every version I checked.  This faith was never intended to be understood as a generic faith of personal opinions.  This faith is the faith par excellence.  No Ephesian would have ever doubted the role of faith in religion.  Their city hosted worship to all the gods of Greece and Rome, especially Artemis.  Paul’s statement is not to encourage devotion to a faith in a god, but to remind the Ephesian Christians that it is the Faith of the God of the New Testament that saves by His Grace.  No amount of works, feasts, or sacrifices could atone for devotion to the wrong faith.  Only in the New Testament Faith could the True God’s grace and salvation be found.

References

1. Wallace, Daniel.  Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics.  Grand Rapids:  Zondervan, 1996.

2. The Greek New Testament:  Byzantine Textform.  The Unbound Bible. http://unbound.biola.edu Read more »

In II Kings 2:23-24, we read one of the Bible’s most peculiar accounts:

And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

Why were children held accountable at such a young age? Were they punished for the sins of their parents (which God forbids)? Was the prophet overreacting in a petty act of vengeance? We can learn alot from the answer to these questions.

First, a little consideration ought to be given to the phrase “little children.” The term “little” (Heb. qatan) means “abbreviated, that is, diminutive, literally or figuratively.” The term is commonly translated “younger” in the old testament, or as “lesser,” like in the case of the moon compared to the Sun (Gen. 1:16). The term children (Heb. naar) is very broad in its application. It can include a very young child, but we also see it applied to Isaac when 28 years old (Gen. 21:5-12) and Joseph when he was 39 (Gen. 41:12). We can conclude that these might have been lesser young men of the city, the local trouble makers as it were.

Was calling the she-bears a petty overreaction on Elisha’s part? To answer, simply remember that Elisha has no power over bears! Here, I like the comment of Adam Clarke:

“It was no petulant humor of the prophet that caused him to pronounce this curse; it was God alone: had it proceeded from a wrong disposition of the prophet, no miracle would have been wrought in order to gratify it.”

Will we then say that it was an overreaction on the part of God? Again, one of the commentators has a reminder for us. Keil & Delitzsch comment:

“… these boys knew Elisha, and in his person insulted the prophet of the Lord. If this was the case, then Elisha cursed the boys for the purpose of avenging the honour of the Lord, which had been injured in his person; and the Lord caused this curse to be fulfilled … to inspire the whole city with a salutary dread of His holy majesty.”

The moral of this story is simple and profound. God does not tolerate dishonor upon those due honor. The Bible teaches that all men are due honor in one form or another, as they were made in the image of their God (I Pet. 2:17). Some are worthy of exceptional honor, as if the case of God’s chosen (“anointed”), whether prophet, priest, or king. David certainly believed this when he refused to harm his enemy Saul on the basis that he had at one time been appointed as king by a prophet of God (I Samuel 24:6-7).

Those older than us also deserve a special honor (I Peter 5:5). Those that reject the sage wisdom of older people often find themselves in a mess, as Rehoboam who followed the advice of young friends to the division of his kingdom (I Kings 12:6-8).  Teaching a child to respect their elders goes a long way toward helping them grow up into an adult worthy of honor themselves.

To the confusion of some, the term “elder” is also applied to those that serve in the office of “shepherd” in a local congregation. These are due a double honor, first as older people and second as people serving in a God-appointed role (I Timothy 5:17-19).

Parents are to be honored as well, a commandment as old as creation (Eph. 6:2). Few remember though that the respect due to those older than us is compared to the honor due parents (I Timothy 5:1-2). Do you treat your elders as parents? Do you treat your parents as parents?!

From this we can also find one final lesson. There is a great honor due to Jesus Christ! He is our elder, “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2) He is a prophet who received no honor in his own land (Mark 6:4). He was anointed by God with power to be His Christ (Acts 10:38). Above all, He is God, and worthy of our fear, reverence, and love (John 20:28). Give Him honor!

Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:12-13)

Whine much? Complain about your day to anyone who will listen? Tell you what, if you ever have a year that matches Job’s day, I’ll let you get on this blog and complain all you want.

Job was a morally wholesome person (Job 1:1).  I won’t say he was faultless, but we can conclude that he was an example for all of us, even before the events that made him famous.  He was a family man (Job 1:2), prosperous (Job 1:3-4), and a man of considerable spiritual maturity (Job 1:5).  He is a fine enough role model that when when Satan arrives to stir up trouble, God picks Job out as an example of a model person (Job 1:6-8)

Satan, who lives to accuse, says that Job is only a good man because of his numerous blessings and that in their absence, he would disappoint (Job 1:9-12).

The result is the worst day – the worst hour!! – of Job’s life.  His servants are slaughtered and his property stolen (Job 1:13-15).  Next, other servants and livestock are consumed by an inexplicable “fire from heaven” (Job 1:16).  More slaughtering of his servants follows quickly on the heels of the last disaster (Job 1:17), until the final blow is dealt when a tornado crushes the home where all his children were feasting, killing them all (Job 1:18-19).

How can a person respond to such tragedy?  Job grieved, as would any of us (Job 1:20).  What Job didn’t do was accuse God of injustice or malice.

Job 1:21-22 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.   In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

Could we have survived so much adversity with such a patient disposition?

The story continues in chapter two as we find that Satan is not satisfied with the results of the trial.  This time, Job’s misery is to be compounded by boils that covered his entire body, bringing him to the brink of despair (Job 2:1-8).  As always, when a person reaches the bitter edge of hopelessness, there is someone waiting to nudge you right over!  Job’s own wife tells him to curse God and die (Job 2:9-10).  When she leaves, she is replaced by Job’s “friends,” who spend the next 31 chapters trying to get Job to admit whatever sin he had committed to deserve all this!  The combined force of all of this misery pushes Job dangerously close to blaming God over the next several chapters, to the point that God responds to a despondent Job out of a whirlwind in chapter 38.  Even in this, God will give Job no explanation of the events that have transpired, only a forceful reminder to Job that he is the creature, not the Creator.

How can a person spiritually survive such a series of tragedies and miseries?  Job does.

Job 42:1-6 Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.  Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.  Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.  I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.  Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Job’s patience was a rock to which he could return even after his faith wavered.  He remembered that God is good and always wise.  He remembered that it is good to wait on the Lord, even when it seems that life has taken Him far from us.  Endure your trials, like Job, and you will find in the end that God has not forsaken you.

James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

{Note:  This is meant to be a useful Scripture reading, not an exhaustive list of events.  Some parts are left out due to length.  Think it through as you read, and remember what we are supposed to be doing as Christians.}

GETHSEMANE:  FRIDAY, NEAR MIDNIGHT

Matthew 26:36-46 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.  And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.  Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.  And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.  And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.  He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.  And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.  And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

JEWISH TRIALS:  FRIDAY, EARLY MORNING

Luke 22:66-71 And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying,  Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe:  And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go.  Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.  Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am.  And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.

ROMAN TRIALS:  FRIDAY, MORNING

Luke 23:1-11 And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate.  And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.  And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it.  Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.  And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.  When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean.  And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time.  And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.  Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.  And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him.  And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.

SCOURGING:  FRIDAY, MORNING

Matthew 27:26b-31 … and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.  Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.  And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.  And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!  And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.  And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

ROAD TO THE CROSS:  FRIDAY, 8AM

Luke 23:26-32 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.  And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.  But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.  For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.  Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.  For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?  And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.

GOLGOTHA:  FRIDAY, 9 AM – 3 PM

Matthew 27:33-54 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, …  they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. …  And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.  Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.  And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.  Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.  He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.  The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.  Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.  … Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.  And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.  Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

THE EMPTY TOMB:  SUNDAY, MORNING

John 20:1-9 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.  Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.  Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.  So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.  And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.  Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.  Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.  For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

{Greek Geek is a new and irregular article category for our blog.  While I don’t intend for this blog to become a “Greek blog,” I will drop in an article now and again under this heading for those with an interest.  Those who don’t care for Greek gibberish, feel free to ignore this post and read the others!}

In the English expression, “You never know,” the word “you” is a second person pronoun functioning as a third person pronoun.  When you say, “You never know,” you don’t actually mean “you” as in the person you are addressing.  You actually mean, “One never knows.”  This little nuance of English is not often discussed, but it is interesting that it does NOT exist in Greek.

The text that brought this to my attention is Daniel Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics.  Wallace’s grammar is a great read for the intermediate Greek student, and he covers this subject well (p. 392-393).  The funny thing is that Wallace will not make a fair application of his own point (if I, a Greek novice, may so humbly point out)!  Consider Romans 8:13:

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.  Romans 8:13

Wallace says of this verse, “Paul is not referring to an indefinite third person here, but to his Christian audience in Rome.  In 1:7 he identifies them as ’saints.’ ” (Emp. in original)  So, we see that Paul tells Christians that if they sin, they are in danger of death.  The natural interpretation of that statement is that a Christian may sin (“live after the flesh”) so as to lose his salvation (“die”).  The problem?  Wallace and many others don’t believe that such is possible.  He says of this view, “Such an interpretation, however, seems to fly in the face of Pauline theology, especially as seen in this very chapter.”  Rather than deal with the notion that a Christian may lose his salvation, Wallace then asserts the awkward view that the death referred to here is a physical death.  In other words, Paul is telling Christians that sin will kill them, but Christianity will preserve their physical life.

Think a moment about that concept.  I understand that many sins lead to an unnaturally short life, while wholesome living in our day and age might extend it.  However, was this the case to a Christian under persecution in the first century?  Was a Christian in pagan Rome more likely to die by being a Christian or by being just like everyone else?  Truth be told, being a Christian made you more likely to die physically in Rome!

Our conclusion is this, Christians are told explicitly in this passage that they may live in such a way as to lose their spiritual life.  Wallace and other Greek scholars have correctly diagnosed the grammar of Romans 8:13, but don’t really know what to do with it.  What will you do with it?