Monday with Mounce

Ephesians 3:6 presents us with two issues. One is the oddity of words compounded with σύν. The other is with the theological implications of Jews and Gentiles being “joint heirs ... fellow members of the body ... and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” The mystery of the gospel is the combining of these two people–groups. Do you separate them in your mind to any degree? Why? Whatever we believe, we have to make sense of these three compound words.

Translations are divided as to whether Jesus used the whip to drive the people or just the animals out of the temple. And even if he used the whip on people, it doesn't necessarily mean he hit the people. Or does it? An interesting question whose answer depends on the gender of a word. This is best taught with a screencast and phrasing.

Most of us are familiar with Don Carson’s excellent book, Exegetical Fallacies, and most of us are aware of the common error called the “etymological fallacy.” But the question I am asking is can a word’s etymology ever be trusted to define a word?

Philippians 2:2 is a confusing sentence grammatically, although its meaning is clear. Fee comments that in “the apodosis there is an equally striking compounding of synonymous phrases of such nature that the ‘wayfaring person though a fool’ could not possibly miss the point.” Sentences like this make me miss Gordon, who just recently went home to be with his Lord.

People often say the Greek manuscripts behind the New Testament are so corrupt that we can’t trust them. Ehrman is famous for his line that here are more errors than words. The problem is that these numbers are irrelevant if you do not, at the same time, discuss significance.