Koine Greek Spot 2. Philippians 2:12-13

Welcome to our weekly Koine Greek Spot. Lets take a short look at Phillipians 2:12-13. Chapter 2 begins with Paul exhorting the Church at Philippi to be united and to be humble. This is followed by what many consider to be a hymn quoted by Paul (verses 5:11). Then we come to verses 12 & 13. Lets look at them.

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

As is so often the case, there is so much we could draw from these verses but we will limit it to a couple of points here. First, lets take a look at verse 12 and the words "fear" and "trembling".

Sometimes these words are translated as "awe and reverence", which is a fair enough translation when some other uses of these words are taken into consideration. However, when we look at these words in a more literal sense we find that to translate them "fear and trembling" could also be appropriate (see the following verses for other examples of their use in the NT. 2 Cor 5:11, 2 Cor 7:15, Eph 6:5).

So what? Well what I draw from this is that sometimes the more literal translation is best and we as members of the Body really need to examine our attitude toward God. Simple.

Now to finish off I would like to address my inclusion of v.13 in this weeks blog. Its also very simple. In v.12, Paul says to "work out your salvation" and in v.13 he says "for it is God who works in you". It indicates to me that believers are co-workers with God (1 Cor 3:9, 2 Cor 6:1). When we consider the position this put us in, I think we need to approach the Lord with much awe & reverence, or perhaps fear & trembling might be more appropriate. What do you think?

The Post-Modern Church Ignoring History & God

If God is the same, not changing, where has the fear of God gone? "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1 Peter 4:18).

Psalm 102: 27 shows us God is eternal and doesn’t change -  “But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end”. With this in mind as I have been reading through the Old Testament (OT) lately, I have been reminded that God cannot stand, and punishes sin. The thing that struck me was that the people who where being punished were not only the nations surrounding the Israelites, but the Israelites as well. God punished his chosen people. If we consider that the OT provides a history of God’s chosen people, then shouldn’t God’s chosen people of today (the church), be learning the lessons of history?

History is studied at school for students to understand the circumstances that led to particular events occurring, particularly those with devastating consequences eg World wars. It is hoped that from looking into the past, we can prevent a repeat of history as we are better equipped to realise the circumstances and intervene, and thus prevent the devastating consequences. It is with this attitude that we delve into the history lessons of the OT, to be better equipped to prevent the consequences, in this case, God’s punishment of his chosen people.

There are many cases where God does punish the Israelites the most obvious one being: after God saved His people by having them miraculously cross the Red Sea, (Ex 14: 13-31) not all of them entered the Promised Land (Josh 5: 6).

So if God punished His chosen people then, and He remains the same, what is to stop Him from punishing His chosen people today? Some have answered me, “That’s the Old Testament, we are under grace now. The price Jesus’ paid covers all my sin.” This is true, we are under a New Covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ, however, this does not give us a licence to sin or be blasé about the circumstances that lead to the punishment of God’s people (Disagree? See the New Testament verses 1 Peter 4:17-18 & Jude 5-7).

1Corinth 10: 1-12 warns us against such an attitude.

1 Corinthians 10

Warnings From Israel’s History

 ¹ For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. ² They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

 ⁶ Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. ⁷ Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” ⁸ We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. ⁹ We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. ¹⁰ And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

 ¹¹ These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. ¹² So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (underline emphasis added).

Too many of today’s Christians respond to the word of God the same way King Jehoiakim did… Jer 36: 24a “ The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear”, resulting in his death and the Lord saying, “I will bring on them (him) …and on the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened. (Jer 36: 31b)

In conclusion, let us learn lessons from the OT, and pay attention to His word and His warnings and “work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12b).

Today's blog entry (as most are) is a combined effort with my wife & fellow servant in the Lord's service. 

Koine Greek Spot 1. 2 Timothy 3:15

This blog entry dedicated to our new nephew Levi

Welcome to my first Greek spot. I plan to do one of these at least weekly. I won't be covering anything too intense (I'm a student, not a scholar), I just hope to offer something that will encourage you to dig a little deeper into God's Word. Typically I will be covering something I have read that has inspired me to do just that.

We see in 2 Timothy chapter 3 Paul is writing to Timothy and warning him about the difficult times to come. Then he encourages him to continue in the things he has learned, and he says "and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus"  2 Tim 3:15. There is so much we could pull out of this one verse but I want to focus just on three words.

Lets take a quick look the word translated here as "infancy" which is the word "brephos" (see the attached graphic which I chose to do since not everyone will have Greek fonts installed, better suggestions welcomed). This word is only used about 8 times in the NT. Its usual translation, dependant on context, is baby or infant, but I was fascinated to learn it can also mean embryo, foetus, or unborn child (see Luke 1:44).

The next couple of words I'd like to highlight is Paul's use of the term "hiera grammatta", sacred writings, but translated Holy Scriptures in the version used here. The vast majority of times that the Scriptures are mentioned in the NT (John 5:39 for example), the word used in Greek is "graphe" (see the graphic below) and is used in conjunction with the word holy for "Holy Scriptures" (see Rom 1:2). In this instance however, Paul chose to use the words "hiera" (sacred) grammata (writings). The word hieros is used only a couple of times in the NT. The other time it is used (1 Cor 9:13) it is translated "holy things", "sacred services" or "temple" dependent on which translation is being read.

I find it fascinating Paul chose this term to refer to the Scriptures in this instance instead of the more commonly used term graphe. In the very next verse (2 Tim 3:16) Paul refers again to the Scriptures. Guess which term he chose to use there? Did you think graphe? So whats going on? Perhaps the Sacred Wrtings in v15 refer to the Old Testament alone, and the Scriptures mentioned in v16 refers to the writings of what would become the NT and furthermore, perhaps v16 refers to the NT & OT. Something to think about and something to research. I hope it encourages you to do both.

Whats this all about then?

Welcome to my first post on my new blog. I have been intending to get this up and running for some time and now that time is come. The intention of this Blog is to share God's Word as revealed in the Bible; to share what He is revealing to me through his Word and by his Holy Spirit. If you're interested in a little Greek (Koine), you will find some here as I continue to learn and share that. What you will not find here will be any "ear-tickling" type teachings (2 Tim 4:3). The Church is weighed down with this type of teaching and I for one have suffered enough under it and I refuse to participate. Which leads us to the title of this blog.

I have decided upon the title because I think there comes a time for many of us that we just have to say enough of "playing" church; enough of tickling ears; its time for us to follow Jesus' example (Luke 9:51), heed the upward call, and steadfastly set our faces toward Jerusalem, so if you're interested in the full counsel of the Word, check back often, Amen!