PROVERBS 25:23 This verse gives us a translation issue in the first line. The NASB translates the line “The north wind brings forth rain,” but the KJV says that the north wind “drives away rain.” The verb in question has a range of applications and uses, but the basic idea is of twisting or turning. It sometimes refers to a whirling dance (Judges 21:21 ), sometimes to trembling in fear (Deuteronomy 2:25 ; Joel 2:6), and, because twisting can also... Read more
Barton again: “The Romans’ expectations of the brave gladiator were identical to their expections of the sacrificial victim: the victim in a Roman sacrifice was led to the altar by a slack rope, in order that it might not seem to be dragged by force. Any show of resistance on the part of the victim was considered a bad omen.” Likewise, honorable gladiators were “voluntarily” into the arena. The connection between combat and sacrifice was expressed by the notion of... Read more
From a 1989 article by CA Barton on gladiatorial games in Rome: When a gladiator entered the arena, “he took a frightful oath, the sacramentum gladiatorim ; he swore to endure being burned, bound, beaten, and slain by the sword . . . . He foreswore all that might ameliorate his condition, and finally foreswore life itself. By this awful and compulsory vow the condemned emphasized and legitimated his extraordinary position; it becam contractual . . . . Because of... Read more
Transgression in Paul’s terminology refers to violation of specific commandments. Mostly. But Galatians 2:17 has a radical redefinition of transgression. J. Louis Martyn says, when Paul says that re-erecting the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile makes him a transgressor, he implies that “the Law can play a role leading not to the defining and vanquishing of transgression, but rather to transgression itself! . . . whoever reerects the Law’s distinction between Jew and Gentile, as thought God were... Read more
There does appear to be a positive connection between justification and nature in Galatians 2. It’s elusive, but it seems to be there. In verse 17, Paul argues that those who seek justification in Christ cannot be found sinners without implying that Christ Himself is a minister of sin. Me genoito ! “We” in verse 17 is, I suggest, “we Jews,” the same identified as “Jews by nature” in verse 15. (more…) Read more
What is the logic of Paul’s argument in Galatians 2:15-16? This breaks down into several questions: Where does “justification” come from? How does Paul move from Jews-by-nature as opposed to Gentile-sinners to justification by the faith of Christ rather than the works of the law? And, of course, verse 16 has two of the most controverted phrases in recent Pauline studies: What does Paul mean by “faith of Christ”? And what are the “works of the law”? Let’s take the... Read more
We instinctively distinguish nature and nurture, genes and training, and the Greeks did too with their distinction of physis and nomos . Paul’s use, though, doesn’t fit easily into this binary. Paul at times uses physis in a sense close to our own, describing what is given to a thing by its biology. Romans 1:26 is arguably an example. Elsewhere, though, he includes characteristics that are given by birth but not by biology. That is, physis expands to include what... Read more
INTRODUCTION Jesus enters the temple twice. The first time, He symbolically destroys the temple, pronounces it a robbers’ den, and sets up a ministry of healing ( 21:12 -14). When He comes back the following day, the priests and elders go on the attack ( 21:23 ). Jesus gave them an opportunity to repent, and they did not. After a lengthy, contentious session in the temple ( 21:23-23:39 ), He leaves the house for the last time (24:1). THE TEXT... Read more
Jesus’ triumphal entry fulfills the typology of 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Kings 8, the ark’s entry into Jerusalem. Jesus is in the center of a procession, as the ark was in Israel’s wanderings, preceded and followed by cheering crowds (Matthew 21:9). Jesus sits, strangely, on the back of two beasts of burden, which form a throne like the ark, cherubim flanking the Lord’s seat. He enters the temple, as the ark did at Solomon’s dedication. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem... Read more
When Absalom took over Israel, David fled east, over the Kidron and up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went (2 Samuel 15:30). He had two donkeys with him (2 Samuel 16:1-4). David returns to Israel, and to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 20:3), but it was hardly a triumphal return. Still weeping for Absalom, his first act on returnings to his house was to put away the concubines defiled by his son. Hardly a home-coming. Then Jesus comes, with two... Read more
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