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Part 1; The Greek text; 1 Corinthians 15:12-14 (Appended text 29/12/2020 )

December 27, 2020

From verses 12 to 19 St Paul is laying into these people who want to deny a physical resurrection. The tone of those verses is fairly negative, and a lot of the verbs tend to be in the aorist. An action that happened in the past and has no future consequences. If he does use actives, he is relating it to the present troubled situation. We will go through this section in small bits so that we can build a masterpiece of understanding. I will begin each section by the verse from the NASB. The software I am using is olive tree. The Greek text is from the SBL new testament within olive tree. I’m not interested in variants because that would be another level of spade work and I think this is enough to get the main gist of what Paul is saying about the troublemakers. Maybe on a later date, when I decide to turn this into a commentary I will probably take more of an interest in the variants. The thing is that there are never enough hours in the day to do everything on their own.

¹² Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 1 Corinthians 15:12 NASB

Commentary

Basically, Paul is telling them in the present and active tenses that the Apostles and Paul himself came and were preaching that Christ was raised from the dead. Then Paul says that some of the Corinthians were saying that Christ wasn’t raised from the dead.

This is a very serious situation because it is at the heart of the Christian hope and teaching. There were different types of people in Corinth. From the Greek side there were the Gnostics who basically taught that the material body was evil and salvation was when the body could break out of its prison, then there was a particular Judaic group and sympathizers of the Sadducee type, who also denied the resurrection.

We don’t really know who these groups were so this is a calculated guess.

Notes

12 Εἰ δὲ Χριστὸς κηρύσσεται ὅτι ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγήγερται, πῶς λέγουσιν ἐν ὑμῖν τινες ὅτι ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν οὐκ ἔστιν; 1 Corinthians 15:12 SBL NT

This verse is in question form (notice the ‘;’) You can see the Greek question mark.

If Christ is preached that he is raised for the dead

This comes with an ‘if’

How is it that ‘some of you’ say that he has not been raised from the dead.

So, we have ‘How’

‘They say’ is in the present active third person plural

/////////////////

¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 1 Corinthians 15:13 NASB

Commentary

So, he takes their position to pieces by saying that if the dead are not raised neither has Christ been raised. So, I think Paul is saying that if resurrection is not a possibility then according to their point of view Christ has not been raised.

Notes

¹³ εἰ δὲ ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐδὲ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται·

1 Corinthians 15:13 SBL NT

Up to the comma I think Paul is saying generally / universally if there isn’t any resurrection then the logical conclusion after the comma is that Christ hasn’t been raised from the dead. This makes the materialists position completely untenable.

/////////////

¹⁴ and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 1 Corinthians 15:14

Commentary

Paul is not holding back; this little word which is translated ‘vain’ in the NASB is used twice. If Christ hasn’t been raised then basically the preaching is worthless and their faith is also ‘worthless, empty, in vain’

Notes

¹⁴ εἰ δὲ Χριστὸς οὐκ ἐγήγερται, κενὸν ἄρα τὸ κήρυγμα ἡμῶν, κενὴ καὶ ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν, 1 Corinthians 15:14

κενὸν and κενὴ = meaning ‘empty’ ‘vain’

If Christ hasn’t been raised from the dead, then the Corinthians faith is also empty. St Paul is milking this argument to the very last drop. There is no escape for the materialists who deny the resurrection. Empty or vain is used twice in one sentence this has consequences in the interpretation.

Verse 15

¹⁵ Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 1 Corinthians 15:15

Commentary

^{(In the Greek text image above I have shown the tenses of the verb and also some of the word order with the numbers. Where you see 1, 2, 3. Just follow the word order.)}

No perfect tenses are used in this verse. It is in the here and now and it is a conversation that shows Paul explaining to the Corinthians that if the resurrection didn’t happen then the apostles would be found out to be false witnesses.

///////////////

Verses 16-19

¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁷ and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. 1 Corinthians 15:16-19

Commentary

He continues in the same way. The word mataios = worthless found in verse 17 was interesting. Obviously, it carries the same idea of vanity and worthlessness as we found in verse 14 but this word here has been used in Acts 14:15 of idolatrous ‘vain things. He goes even as far as to say that those who believed and died in the faith would have done so for nothing. Out of all of this in verse 15 I like ‘εἴπερ ἄρα’= if then (indeed or in fact). If the dead are not raised. This section finishes off with lots of ‘if’ words! Verses 15, 16 and 19 start the sentences with ‘if’ words. This is good news for us as believers because if there are if then there has to be a lot of ‘then’ words. This section has been very disquieting on the Corinthians. Paul in the next section is going to start to build the believers faith and give them hope. Paul had to go this way because of the troublemakers in the Corinthian assembly of believers. I hope and pray that you will follow me into the next section that hasn’t been commented on just yet.

Feel free to visit my other theological blog; https://hasan-godtalk.blogspot.com/

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The Golden Rule and the Failure to reach its standards; A downward slope to self-destruction; Is there any hope for the individual, the world and Mankind in general?

December 27, 2020

taken from; https://pixabay.com/vectors/golden-rule-shiny-metallic-1321410/

Before I continue with Bavinck, I want to say something very simple. God is pure love and He wants us to love our neighbour. We are in fact commanded to love our neighbour. This is not something only found in the Christian religion. It is found in every major religion on planet earth and it is known as the Golden Rule;

¹²“In everything, therefore, ^[^a^]treat people the same way you want ^[^b^]them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7¹² NASB

Sometimes you will hear it as ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’

Here are two places I found on the internet!

This Wiki looks at a lot of religions on the Golden rule;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule

Or if you want it just as a list of sayings try this from the Norman Rockwell Museum;

https://www.nrm.org/2018/03/golden-rule-common-religions/

Having looked at the evidence we can see that this idea of the Golden rule is universally accepted all over the world covering many eons of time over many millennia.

This universal truth is also found in the Bible. So, who is my neighbour;

The answer is simple: ‘Anyone’

Is he/she heterosexual? Is he/she homosexual? / Is she different? Is he/ she religious or not religious? Is he a Christian/Muslim/ Jew/Hindu/Sikh/ Zoroastrian/ Atheist/ German/ French/Italian/ English/Greek/American/Latino/Turk/black/ female/ man /murderer/thief/drunkard/ Homeless/Enemy?/ordinary people/the sick/ People who don’t agree with your philosophy of living.

It is a straightforward answer; we are to love anyone. In the real world this high ideal loses its face many times and we become judgemental that somehow, we are superior to other people in some way. The basics are very simple. So, what is the root cause of us turning our back on our neighbour and giving priority to ourselves. Obviously, there is evil in the world that makes us want to satisfy our selfish desires at the expense of others. Everybody up to a certain extent think about themselves first. In some philosophies such as Darwin, we start from our base instincts and are working towards perfection. This is how a lot of the world and philosophies sees it.

What if the logic went in the opposite direction?

We had a perfect start and we were completely human but over time we continued to learn, and do more evil things become more corrupted?

Let’s think about it as humans from the vantage point of the macro level: We have destroyed a lot of animals; ruined rivers; poisoned whole eco-systems; Murdered many humans over time through war and genocides; created atomic weapons; Have the ability to split the earth in two if we so chose.

The micro level as individuals is not much better; Over use of electricity through the consumption of fossil fuels; Alcoholism and the destruction of a safe environment for children to grow up in; The use of drugs for highs and the ensuing hurt on friends and family members including oneself in the long run; Murder so that one can get richer; the over use of plastic goods made from hydro-carbons; Forcing your will to get that miracle job even though the person one walked over was better at it than you.

The list can go on, but you get the hint. What is it that makes us humans to be like this? These are questions we all need to look at whether we are Christians or not. My friends I am offering you a rational explanation and it stems from the Fall that we have looked at. From those first easy sins we have moved on to x rated sins of complete destruction of ourselves and our world. Where does this come from and what type of evil and sins is the root of all this destruction?

I feel that Herman Bavinck in his Ethics written over a century years ago and rediscovered in the 1980s gives us a detailed explanation of a lot of these sins. He gives us the root and where these roots come from. This is a theological journey into ethics, and I hope that you will want to follow me; not into destruction but through to the salvific way! (way of salvation but there are many chapters still to traverse)

Sin is something that affects every human being on the planet. From what I have already said I think you agree with me because the evidence on the internet makes it irrefutable. Don’t just blame the big corporations we as individuals must also take some of this blame and we need to repent and seek God’s help in all of this.

Herman Bavinck; Ethics Chapter 3; ‘The Self against the neighbour and God’

I am going to begin looking at this chapter by quoting his paragraph on;

$10. ‘SINS OF EGOISM IN THE NARROW SENSE’ (Bavinck; Ethics; pages 118 – 119; translated by John Bolt)

“Sins of egoism are those sins which people use creation, God’s gifts, and the world to serve themselves. They are especially (but not exclusively) those sins that were at one time called ‘sins against oneself’ when people are not satisfied with themselves and are impoverished because of sin, they seek satisfaction in creatures, in God’s gifts. They surrender themselves to the world and take the world for themselves. Here we will differentiate between sensual and spiritual sins.” (From Bavinck; Ethics; page 119; translated by John Bolt)

As he said there are sensual sins and spiritual sins. So, let us make a list from these

Sensual sins

a. Sins involving food (preoccupation with food)

b. Alcoholism

1. Sins of inertia

a. Laziness

2. Sins that take pleasure form

a. Self love

b. Instability /inconstancy

B. Spiritual sins list

a. The love of money

b. Sins of abuse of words (language)

This list is very interesting as it lays the groundwork for links to the 10 commandments in the same chapter late on.

We will now look at this list in more detail and take snippet from Bavinck to get a taste of what he wants to say;

Sensual Sin

Sins involving food (preoccupation with food); Alcoholism

Sins of inertia; Laziness; Sins that take pleasure form; Self-love; Instability /inconstancy

B. Spiritual sins list

a. The love of money; b. Sins of abuse of words (language)

So, Bavinck says that sensual sins at their core have pleasure; James 4¹; 2 Timothy 3⁴.

He then talks about different races and milieu when these sins were committed.

In his first example of this type of sin is the idea that some people are preoccupied with food. That eating in life becomes the main purpose. One will even shift the time on a particular day so one can eat even for longer. The sins start in a small way by a taste for a particular food and this can lead on to food cravings. If this sin is not stopped it leads to gluttony; carousing. Bavinck then looks at the scriptural evidence of these sins. These are not in the same order as in Bavincks Ethics (page 120) as I want to keep them in some sort of order. Bavinck’s understanding is very deep on this page and he shows in depth understanding even from Latin history with the Romans. Bavincks footnotes are amazing to read but I want to stick to his main message.

In the New Testament, Apocrypha and the Old Testament we find much evidence against these sensual sins. The apocrypha is in between to the two sections of the Bible and is about a 400 year time span.

Luke 16:19;

This is the story of Lazarus. The rich was enjoying himself in this life while Lazarus was being comforted with dogs licking his sores.

¹⁹ “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. Luke 16:19

This is about judgement; that the time of judgement is coming for those who practice these sins;

Luke 21:30³⁰ as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near. Luke 21:30

We mentioned carousing earlier in this writing and here it is again linked to the sensual sins;

Roman¹³ Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. Romans 13:13s 13:13

Romans 16:18;

Who is Lord in the persons life? Sensual sins can be gods in a persons life.

18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. Romans 16:18

Galatians 5:21

Drunkenness and carousing are under the remit of sensual sins.

²¹ envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:21

Philippians 3:19

Is there a resurrection or is there not a resurrection; Who were those that were causing all the problems? Part 1

December 18, 2020

18 12 2020

Introduction to 1 Corinthians 15^12-19

Verses 12 – 19

There is a logical argument here. The reason that Paul said this must have been that in the congregation there were people who didn’t believe in the resurrection. Who could they be? Calvin suggested that it could have been the Sadducees.

I thought that Wayne. A. Meeks would have something to say in this section from a sociological perspective. I didn’t find any verses for this section that we are looking at. So, I looked at what Meeks said about the resurrection and I have to say I was disappointed. He mentions something about the ‘death resurrection paradox’ and then he mentions Ephesians and Colossians as deutero-Pauline letters.

The First Urban Chrsitians pages 182 – 183

Obviously, there were some groups that rejected the resurrection; Has he got nothing to say about these groups who did not believe in the resurrection? There was evidence that there were Jewish communities throughout the whole known Roman world; for example, sometimes Jews were kicked out of cities because of their different values. There were Saducees in Israel at the time of Christ because they were one of the opposing groups. Did they as a group of Saducees not travel outside of Israel?

Yes, there were Jewish groups that were hostile to Paul in Corinth;

“

CORINTH, Greek city. The earliest evidence of Jews in Corinth is contained in Agrippa I’s letter to Caligula (Philo, De Legatione ad Caium, 281). The apostle Paul spent one and a half years in Corinth, preaching in the synagogue on Sabbaths (cf. the two Epistles to the Corinthians), and through his influence Crispus and his family were baptized. The Jews were embittered by Paul’s activities; they brought him before Gallio, procurator of Achea, who, refusing to judge in a religious matter, said they would have to resolve their differences themselves (Acts 18:2ff.). Corinthian Jewry apparently belonged to the lower classes. Aquila and Priscilla, with whom Paul dwelt, were weavers, and he worked with them for his bread. These Jews went to Corinth from Rome when Claudius expelled the Jews from the city. There were no direct links between the Jews of Corinth and Ereẓ Israel, but Corinthian products were known in the Holy Land. Josephus (Wars, 5:201) mentions the Corinthian copper that coated one of the Temple gates, the Gate of Nicanor (whose special copper is also noted in talmudic sources, Tosef., Yoma 2:4; Yoma 38a), and he similarly mentions the Corinthian candelabra in Agrippa II’s house (Life, 68). Vespasian, after his victory in Galilee, sent 6,000 captive youths to Nero to dig at the Isthmus of Corinth (Wars, 3: 540). Conceivably, some of them might have escaped and found haven in the nearby settlements including Corinth.”

From

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/corinth

If Meeks is looking at Corinth from a sociological perspective, he should have made more of the disagreeing groups. Death and resurrection were not a paradox. The fact is that the Apostles including Paul believed in this message and they died for the message of the Gospel. Yes, the Christian message vied with Pagans and Jews. Actually, Christianity was at the time still in a sense a Jewish religion if it wasn’t seen as this Paul would not have been allowed to go into synagogues to preach! We need to remember that there have also always been various schools of thought in Judaism. Some hold to the First five books such as the Sadducees whereas the Pharisees had a wider view. Both these groups would have definitely been represented in Corinth. In various Wikipediaes even today we have Rabbinic Judaism and Karaite Judaism two forms of Judaism although there are a lot more. By no way am I an expert but if there is someone with knowledge of the links between the saducees and the Karaites of today please point me in the right direction.

What I am saying is that Meeks could have argued that in Corinth there was a highly likelihood that there were two groups of Judaism. Those that believed in a bodily resurrection and those that didn’t.

I found this article interesting for my above reflection.

https://jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/issues-v06-n09/resurrection-rabbinic-judaism-hebrew-scripture-and-the-new-testament

Having looked at the evidence I am firmly in agreement with John Calvin that the Saducee type of groups were causing problems for the Corinthian church and St Paul. St Paul gave a direct refutation to those who did not believe in a physical resurrection!

Next time we will start working our way through the text in 1 Corinthians 15. This was meant to be some background information to help us analyse the text in a way that respects the text and do exegesis rather than eisegesis.

Meanings

Exegesis is reading out of the text the original meaning for the writer and the original readers. This is a scientific endeavour in search of the truth
Eisegesis is reading into the text our own imagnery assumptions. This is not scientific but can be dangerous. If we go down this road then it is safer to stick to the Noddy books series!

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Is The Root of Our Destruction the End or is there Hope?

December 15, 2020

14^th 12 2020

As we have seen Herman Bavinck the master theologian takes us to look at the human situation after the fall but before conversion. This person is spoken of as the ‘natural man’. Spiritual death never means according to Bavinck ‘nonbeing’. God created man gave him a soul and a spirit and they can do all the things anyone can do. The problem however is that the relationship with God has been broken. This cannot be fixed by man and no one can fix it themselves. We are annihilated from God for all eternity and we cannot save ourselves. Every facet of the person has been affected by the Fall and Bavinck gives many scripture references to show this.

I went for my long walk today and I was pondering about the situation of the ‘natural man’ who finds himself in the predicament. One may argue that he/she is not in this predicament because he can do what he wants. I would say that the world blinds this man/ woman by giving them the selfish desires of their heart. The natural human is caught in a Bubble of paradise, lost in their thoughts enjoying the things of the world. As long as God is not in the picture everything is fine. Humanity can forge its own destiny it does not need a God but my friends there are many imaginary gods and they wear different disguises; You can be too blind to see them. Materialism, wealth, sensual appetites, to be the greatest. To be number one. I could go on, but you get the idea. So, Bavinck looks at sin in its various guises and obviously I haven’t explained this very well, but you get the idea.

He then gets to the conclusion at the end of the chapter and he has some collecting points for the root of sin. Before I speak about these points, I need to say that Herman Bavinck did serious research on this before he came to this point. If you are doing a serious dissertation or something like that, you should read the whole of his chapter. I just want to share my findings with ordinary people who may like to know more about the subject of sin. How can we get closer to Christ if we don’t think about where we have come from? For the Christian was also a natural man but by God’s grace has found peace with God by faith in Christ by the Holy Spirit. But now let us look at these points of interest;

The following is found on page 116; Bavincks Ethics; edited by John Bolt

“…, we see three areas in which egocentricity is manifest, in each according to its own facet (as sensual or as spiritual egocentricity), as follows:

1. Sins that subordinate the creature/material things to

a. The spirit – possessiveness, avarice, thirst for knowledge;

b. The body – finery, appetite, laziness;

2. Sins that subordinate the neighbour to

a. Conceit, hunger for honour, hatred, anger, defamation, murder;

b. The body – adultery, fornication, theft, deceit, etc.;

3. Sins that subordinate God to

a. The spirit – unbelief, idolatry, blasphemy:

b. The body – sorcery, spiritism, miracle-working, etc.”

Before we start to look at these in closer proximity, we need to understand the language of these collecting points. Let’s make sure we understand all the words from Bavinck. Some of the words are not used that much but in theology they are important;

Egocentricity = the Self as the centre

Subordinate = in second place

Avarice = extreme greed for wealth or material gain. Oxford dictionary

Finery = expensive or ostentatious clothes or decoration. Oxford dictionary

Defamation Ruining someone’s name

Conceit = being full of oneself

Fornication = sexual intercourse between two people who are not married

Blasphemy = Using God’s name as a swear word

Spiritism = Attempting to talk with the dead spirits on the other side.

So, then the first section is sins that put the human being into second place. These sins make us in a way less than human. Being greedy for things in our spirit and wanting to be lazy with the latest and most luxurious clothes at whatever expense.

In the second section, putting the neighbour into second place by being arrogant that we think we are better than anyone else, hunger for honour at the expense of the neighbour, hatred for someone else, anger aimed at someone else, giving someone a bad name because we get a kick out of it, murdering someone. Then physical contact for pleasure hurts the neighbour too

Finally, we have the most serious sins because they aim to put God in second place. Refusing to believe in God, setting up things that take the place of God; a football star, rock musician, wealth; Cursing God’s name, the One who created you. Then we have the physical arts of black magic, sorcery, witchcraft and calling to the dead for answers instead of God.

As you can see Bavinck didn’t just make up a list and say here are the sins we are not supposed to do. He has shown that there are different types of sin. We can go a stage further and say that the sins we have mentioned above, can be broken at different levels. Where does this leave the natural person?

We are all-natural people; God gave us a body, a soul and spirit so from that standpoint we are still human. So, what is it that died in us at the time of the Fall (The garden)? Our relationship with God died! The very One who created us; It is ultimately God we have sinned against and we have also sinned against ourselves, the world, nature, our environment.

Even in that sinful state God still had time to take care of the fallen man/woman. The story goes on that he made clothes for Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve got kicked out of the garden not because God is a spoil sport. This is not the reason! The reason is that if we ate from the tree of life we would have been condemned for all eternity without any relationship with God. It is interesting that when everything is made new again that we are actually allowed to eat of the tree of life. We in ourselves are incapable of reaching heaven. We have proved that by destroying much of this world. Did you know that according to the Guardian there is more man-made matter than vegetation in the world today? This is very scary. We are supposed to be the custodians of the world and we could not even do that right! All indeed except Jesus have sinned; Only Jesus Christ can save us from this mess. I am not going down this road for a while yet as I am still following Herman Bavinck and the unconverted Fallen human being. This is a heavy weight on the soul but realizing that we are sinners, that we cannot save ourselves; that in fact we are helpless; we are on a boat with no rudder, it is only then that the miracle of conversion by the Holy Spirit in Christ can start to happen.

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St Paul proves his credentials before moving into the beautiful deep waters of the resurrection!

December 10, 2020

This to me is one of the most wonderful chapters in the whole Bible. You might ask why, and I can explain why;

Jesus rose from the dead with a resurrected body and the day will come that we will also have resurrected bodies. You might ask the question; Why is the body important after we are dead?

If you are without a body but have a soul and spirit it sounds good enough. My friends, it is not enough! How do I know your identity if I cannot see you face?

We all have gestures and we all speak words, and this is the wonderful thing about a body. This chapter is wonderful because Paul goes into great detail to explain to us why the resurrection is so important. I am not an expert in the resurrection, but I hope by the end of this commentary we will all have a certain amount of expertise that we can share. I will just go through a basic commentary for the first eleven verses and then I will look at some of the technical stuff afterwards to make it more interesting.

1 Corinthians chapter 15^1-11 The first 11 verses set the scene and is a summary for the preaching of the Gospel that they heard; It is also a summary of what the essence of the Gospel is in a nut shell. He starts from the foundational beliefs before moving into the deeper things that make being a Christian a worthwhile thing.
Verse 1
1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, NASB

This is a reminder to them of the gospel they believed in. They stand in these basic teachings;
Verse 2
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. NASB

The Apostles were those who were sent by Jesus and we need to take their words very seriously. St Paul was also an Apostle and he was validated by the other Apostles. If the Corinthians reject St Paul, then they reject the Lord Jesus Christ.

As I was reading this section, I found it interesting that John Calvin mentioned the Sadducees. Obviously, they had a problem with the resurrection. If we mirror read the text, there must have been some who were saying things contrary to the Apostles. Even if we cannot prove that it was the Sadducees there were those who just would not agree with the resurrection; At that juncture John Calvin is surely right. From https://biblehub.com/commentaries/calvin/1_corinthians/15.htm

Verses 3-8
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. NASB

Here Paul sums up the series of events (verses 3-8) from the death and resurrection of Christ all the way to when he got his Apostleship. So, let us sequence it out;

1. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures
2. Christ was buried
3. Christ was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures
4. Christ appeared to Peter
5. Christ appeared to the other disciples
6. Christ appeared to more than 500
7. Christ Appeared to James
8. Christ appeared to all the Apostles
9. Christ appeared to St Paul

This list is very important because it shows solid eyewitness account to the resurrection. Look at how many times he uses the word appeared in the text. A historian who reads this bit which is one of the oldest letters in the whole New Testament sees a heavy weight of evidence for the resurrection. Before Paul even goes into the subject of the resurrection, he shows them the evidence. This evidence cannot be refuted by the Corinthians and it ought not be refuted by us. We need to take this seriously and to fall on our knees and worship God for everything he has done for us in Christ by the Holy Spirit. This is really exciting stuff.

Verse 9-11

9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. NASB

Paul calls himself the least of the Apostles. We see from the Book of Acts and Galatians that Paul was a persecutor of the church. At the time he was happy at the martyrdom of Stephen, but something happened. Jesus Met Paul and he was chosen to be an Apostle out of time. When Jesus was going on about his itinerary around Palestine for those 3 years Paul was not there. Yet as far as the Apostles were concerned after his conversion he was accepted as an Apostle. God works in mysterious ways and his plans are beyond our plans.

So, let us dig a little deeper here in these verses and find out a little more about Paul the Man and look at the facts;

1. Paul did not see himself fit to be called an Apostle
2. Paul persecuted the church and he was forgiven
3. Paul was chosen by Jesus, literally out of the blue and Paul was converted.
4. Paul had to work harder than all the other Apostles

We can see that indeed Paul did work harder than all of the other Apostles and if tradition is correct, he was rewarded by being beheaded in Rome. He truly repented of his sins and sold himself completely to the service of Christ; He suffered, was ostracized, laughed at, mocked, stoned and left for dead! There are people that mock Paul even today, but we can see from the evidence that he was one of the Apostles. He was an Apostle because Jesus chose Paul to work tirelessly for the gentiles. In Galatians; How could Paul stand up to St Peters hypocrisy if he was not an Apostle? The Corinthians accepted him as an Apostle and as Christians we accept him as an Apostle. The Apostolic Hand on this scripture in this chapter is seriously important for us today and we can be assured that we are in safe hands when trying to understand the resurrection that will also happen to us one day.

Posted in 1 Corinthians Course, Easter | Leave a Comment »

We lost our way and since the Fall in relation to God we have lost our free will. God did not give up on the human race.

December 6, 2020

I posted this on the wrong blog but you might find this interesting anyway;

So, on page 82 we have seen a change of condition and now we found ourselves separated from God.

Bavinck raises the question of whether or not this condition is permanent and whether or not we as humans have the power to change our human condition in relation to God. This is a very important question because if it is permanent then we would be separated from God for all eternity.

In this situation according to Bavincks interpretation of Pelagius the heretic we are of our own accord able to change our condition. For Pelagius ‘sin only has power because of habit’. So, all you have to do is break the habit of sin. Bavinck then proves from the Scriptures that this is completely impossible.

As Bavinck says, “The will has lost its real, material freedom”. This is the traditional and right view for me as well. I know for example that Martin Luther in a huge disagreement with Erasmus wrote the Bondage of the Will that the will is a prisoner and cannot break out of this prison of sin which humanity through Adam’s sin put itself in.

Bavinck then gives us an undisputed walk through the New Testament showing the condition after the Fall. So, let us learn from Bavinck. Before I start, I will make a table with the phrase and then the verses.

Even before we look at Bavinck here a little deeper, I think there are dangers of interpreting terms out of context. First of all, in the New Testament writings ‘flesh’ has different contexts. For example, when John uses flesh it can be used in a positive manner; ‘Christ came in the flesh’. The use of flesh here was to counter gnostic tendencies of saying that Christ wasn’t really a physical man in the flesh but only seemed to be this.

A text out of context is a pretext so Bavinck does not fall into this trap but as a reader you may not have been aware of this. Before interpreting any word it is good to look at the context and ask the question ‘What did this text mean to its original audience that it was intended for?’ After this we can start asking other questions.

Sayings

The Old Self

In Romans 6 verse 6 Christ had to die so that we could be set free from sin. We are referred to as ‘slaves.’ A slave is not a free person.

6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; Romans 6:6 NASB

Flesh

We are naturally born as flesh and God wasn’t happy with the situation.

From the New Testament Jesus explains, that there are two births. Flesh and Spirit.

3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless, his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” Genesis 6:3; NASB

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:6; NASB

Flesh is used a lot by Paul

Here Paul is referring to the condition of sinful man after the Fall.

5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. Romans 7:5; NASB

The Body of sin

Paul is using a figure of speech here. The New life in Christ has reversed our condition to what it ought to have been. It has to be a figure of speech because this circumcision does not need a blade e.g. ‘made without hands’ They didn’t have lasers in those days such as found in the James Bond film Gold Finger.

11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; Colossians 2:11; NASB

And

Obviously, people are not zombies it has to be a certain type of death. The death Paul is talking about is the broken relationship with God.

10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Romans 8:10; NASB

The natural person

This is the person living for himself and not for God.

14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 1 Corinthians 2:14; NASB

By nature, ‘children of wrath’

The converted person is a changed person towards the light and a closer relationship with God.

3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Ephesians 2:3 NASB

And contrasted to

In contrast to the ‘spiritual person’

15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 1 Corinthians 2:15; NASB

These verses clearly show that our condition was a fallen condition after we were created perfect.

Herman Bavinck was no dualist and he was very careful to prove it. In the last paragraph of page 82 he says;

“However, there is this one difference—namely, that the “old self” and the “new self” each flow forth from the activity of the flesh and the activity of the Spirit, respectively. In other words, they are the phenomena, the manifestations, of human nature itself, in the one case the fallen nature and in the other the new nature in Christ. “

Herman Bavinck Reformed Ethics page 82.

Or in my words being in the condition of the Fall and the Condition of regeneration in Christ. Dualism in Christianity is a dangerous concept and it would allow gnostic ideas to seep into Christian teaching and separate us from the pure Gospel. Bavinck on page 83 is right to not accept this;

“Ammon, Baur, Hausrath, and Pfleiderer® all argue that Paul was a dualist because he held that sin has its origin and seat in sensuality, in matter”. Page 83 Bavinck

Bavinck rebuffs this by giving a list of reasons why this is not the case;

• The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit

• Paul teaches about the resurrection of the body

• Paul is not an ascetic as he sees marriage as sacred and all for is good food.

• Jesus was in the flesh but without sin

From Page 83; Bavinck; Reformed Ethics

And then he goes on. Bavincks interpretation goes on over the next few pages and he has very important things to remind us.

Reflection about what we have learned up to now.

Paul has a lot to teach us about what condition the human race finds itself. Only God in Christ by the Holy Spirit can break this cycle as we are slaves to the sinful nature.

I haven’t even gone below the surface, but Herman Bavinck the Master theologian has a lot to teach us about our human condition. We will continue to plough through this material because through it we can get closer to Christ and live the life God wants us to live. In todays world there are many dangers for the Christian but there were great men of God such as Herman Bavinck who were willing to stand up against false teachers who were also found in the universities. We also need to remember that Scripture was given to the Church and there are outside forces that would like to have rid of it. On Twitter I have seen for example that there are forces that are trying to outlaw the reading of the Bible in your own home (Scotland). As believers we need to stand up and be counted for the protection of our liberties. Let us not forget people like William Tyndale who was murdered by the state to allow us to have our translation in English. Yes, Bavinck is seriously important for not only the Reformed tradition but also for all the other denominations. They might not realize it now but one day they will.

What these scholars did that Bavinck spoke out against was to get rid of the idea of the fall.

What does this mean in real terms?

• People are free and they don’t have to be accountable to a higher Force

• They make their decisions based upon secular and atheistic principles

• The family is less important than individual rights.

• The state works towards dismantling religious rights.

• Crimes become relative and are based on ethics of relativity.

• Human DNA becomes relative and they can do as they please.

I could go on and on, but I won’t. Bavinck reminds us that;

• We are accountable to God

• Decisions made are based on Scripture and the fear of God

• The family as an institution is important for the welfare of the individual and the welfare of the state.

• Religious Rights need to be protected.

• Crime is against God’s law (10 commandments) there is a place for reformation of the criminal, but justice has to be fair

• Human DNA is not a tennis ball but is sacred because God created us, and we should accept people as they are and protect life.

Let us love God and our neighbour for this will hold us in good stead.

Posted in 1 Corinthians Course | Leave a Comment »

We lost our way and since the Fall in relation to God we have lost our free will. God did not give up on the human race rather through Christ there is a way out of this malais.

December 6, 2020

So, on page 82 we have seen a change of condition and now we found ourselves separated from God.

Sayings

The Old Self

In Romans 6 verse 6 Christ had to die so that we could be set free from sin. We are referred to as ‘slaves.’ A slave is not a free person.

6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; Romans 6:6 NASB

Flesh

We are naturally born as flesh and God wasn’t happy with the situation.

From the New Testament Jesus explains, that there are two births. Flesh and Spirit.

3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless, his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” Genesis 6:3; NASB

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:6; NASB

Flesh is used a lot by Paul

Here Paul is referring to the condition of sinful man after the Fall.

5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. Romans 7:5; NASB

The Body of sin

From Yahoo.com

11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; Colossians 2:11; NASB

And

Obviously, people are not zombies it has to be a certain type of death. The death Paul is talking about is the broken relationship with God.

10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Romans 8:10; NASB

The natural person

This is the person living for himself and not for God.

14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 1 Corinthians 2:14; NASB

By nature, ‘children of wrath’

The converted person is a changed person towards the light and a closer relationship with God.

3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Ephesians 2:3 NASB

And contrasted to

In contrast to the ‘spiritual person’

15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 1 Corinthians 2:15; NASB

These verses clearly show that our condition was a fallen condition after we were created perfect.

Herman Bavinck was no dualist and he was very careful to prove it. In the last paragraph of page 82 he says;

Herman Bavinck Reformed Ethics page 82.

“Ammon, Baur, Hausrath, and Pfleiderer® all argue that Paul was a dualist because he held that sin has its origin and seat in sensuality, in matter”. Page 83 Bavinck

Bavinck rebuffs this by giving a list of reasons why this is not the case;

• The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit

• Paul teaches about the resurrection of the body

• Paul is not an ascetic as he sees marriage as sacred and all for is good food.

• Jesus was in the flesh but without sin

From Page 83; Bavinck; Reformed Ethics

And then he goes on. Bavincks interpretation goes on over the next few pages and he has very important things to remind us.

Reflection about what we have learned up to now.

Paul has a lot to teach us about what condition the human race finds itself. Only God in Christ by the Holy Spirit can break this cycle as we are slaves to the sinful nature.

What these scholars did that Bavinck spoke out against was to get rid of the idea of the fall.

What does this mean in real terms?

• People are free and they don’t have to be accountable to a higher Force

• They make their decisions based upon secular and atheistic principles

• The family is less important than individual rights.

• The state works towards dismantling religious rights.

• Crimes become relative and are based on ethics of relativity.

• Human DNA becomes relative and they can do as they please.

I could go on and on, but I won’t. Bavinck reminds us that;

• We are accountable to God

• Decisions made are based on Scripture and the fear of God

• The family as an institution is important for the welfare of the individual and the welfare of the state.

• Religious Rights need to be protected.

• Crime is against God’s law (10 commandments) there is a place for reformation of the criminal, but justice has to be fair

• Human DNA is not a tennis ball but is sacred because God created us, and we should accept people as they are and protect life.

Let us love God and our neighbour for this will hold us in good stead.

Posted in Turkish Theology | Leave a Comment »

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate question of You living into Infinity with your Creator by the defeat of Death.

December 4, 2020

A general introduction on the Resurrection

Before we move into 1 Corinthians chapter 15, I felt it important to look at general ideas about the resurrection in the English-speaking world. This is the order that I will follow;

Everyday use of the word resurrection
Historical roots of the word ‘resurrection ‘in the English-speaking world
Vines definitions found in the Greek New Testament
Resurrection in the New Testament
Work will then begin on 1 Corinthians 15

So, let us look at a definition found in the Learners Definition of the Resurrection;

“The act of causing something that had ended or been forgotten or lost to exist again, to be used again, etc.”

Every day Use

A resurrection from a secular perspective can be negative or positive.

“Stop resurrecting old news!”

A person does not want to be reminded about something that happened in the past.

“We can now make a pudding from Gran’s resurrected recipe”

Something that was important to the family has been found again and they will be able to enjoy the food that they enjoyed when they were small.

History and Etymology for resurrection

“Middle English resurreccioun, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin resurrection-, resurrectio act of rising from the dead, from resurgere to rise from the dead, from Latin, to rise again, from re- + surgere to rise — more at surge” From: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resurrection

I find the etymology here very interesting because we have two parts for the English. Re when put on the front of words means again, for example ‘revamp’ making something new. We also have the word surge which in modern English is used in English in various ways

Electrical surge; When too much power goes through and cause havoc
Sea waves surge; Water rising and moving fast
A mob of people surging forward.

In all of these words we have an idea of ‘power’ involved.

So, re-surging some ‘powerful force moving forward again’.

As well as that the word erect (standing).

In the end we have the word resurrection.

So even within a natural point of view there is a reanimation of something that was dead. In this word there is energy, there is life and there is something that can bring a dead stone to life.

The word resurrection then is a beautiful word which has a lot of meaning in the English-speaking world as it came down to us.

Middle English
from Late Latin
Anglo-French

Vines Definition from the Greek page 290

So, the words is anastasis and it means a raising or a raising up and it is made up of two words; ana = up and histemi= to cause to stand.

The word anastasis is used here, Romans 1⁴

⁴who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, NASB from BibleGateway.

The word resurrection in the New Testament

This is just a very general brush but as you can see at first glance one can see that the word resurrection is a central concept in the New Testament. It is dealing with an ultimate question. Is there life after death? The New Testament answer to this is a resolute yes. I could have also looked at other words such as ‘rose’ from the dead and I would have an even larger list. This list will suffice, however.

The Gospels

The first thing I noticed that the word resurrection for the synoptic Gospels usually starts in the second half of the Gospels. This is telling because the resurrection is centrally linked to the Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrection. From the Gospels point of view including Johns Gospel, the central theme revolves around the life and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are many stories of resurrections even today but for the Apostles who penned down information about the resurrection, it was mostly if not completely linked to Christ. For the book of Acts which is the second edition of Luke’s work, the resurrection is central to the whole book of Acts!

Jesus is risen from the dead and what does this mean to you, to me and to the world? The resurrection of Christ is the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of; What happens after death?

The ancient world realized this, and they dropped Paganism and turned to the Christian religion. This is also important to us! The world today in the West has been turning its back on Christianity and has begun to take science as having all the answers. My friend’s science cannot answer this ultimate question about the resurrection. Science can make us more comfortable and helps us to live longer and helps to find new ways to feed the world, but it is not the ultimate answer. Politics is the same. Politics can make us more comfortable and make things work for our good and give us things, make us rich but it cannot answer the ultimate question about our ultimate destiny; Our destiny to meet death. What then? The West has gone out of its way to make you comfortable and live the hedonist way (not all). It has failed on the ultimate question of life after death. As you can see 1 Corinthians 15 is a central chapter in the whole of the New Testament that goes out of its way to answer this ultimate question. Next time I will start to go through this chapter. Let us go through chapter 15 then and turn to Jesus Christ as our personal saviour who can bring us into a living relationship with God.

You can also visit my other blog at; https://hasan-godtalk.blogspot.com/

Posted in 1 Corinthians Course | 1 Comment »

Weaver1has's Blog

Archive for December, 2020

Part 1; The Greek text; 1 Corinthians 15:12-14 (Appended text 29/12/2020 )

The Golden Rule and the Failure to reach its standards; A downward slope to self-destruction; Is there any hope for the individual, the world and Mankind in general?

Is there a resurrection or is there not a resurrection; Who were those that were causing all the problems? Part 1

Is The Root of Our Destruction the End or is there Hope?

St Paul proves his credentials before moving into the beautiful deep waters of the resurrection!

We lost our way and since the Fall in relation to God we have lost our free will. God did not give up on the human race.

We lost our way and since the Fall in relation to God we have lost our free will. God did not give up on the human race rather through Christ there is a way out of this malais.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate question of You living into Infinity with your Creator by the defeat of Death.

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