Monday with Mounce

Paul is combating the false theology of the opponents in Ephesus who put too much emphasis on the law. In verse 8, he's going to agree with them that the law is good, but then qualifies that it has to be used as it is intended.

This is one of Paul's many puns that rarely makes it into translations. "The law (νόμος) is good, but it must be used lawfully (νομίμως)." Since that really doesn't make any sense, most translations need to interpret νομίμως.

Peter concludes a discussion on suffering with these words. “Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust (παρατιθέσθωσαν) themselves (τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν) to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good” (1 Pet 4:19, NRSV).

I came across a great “divine passive” that has some interesting implications for how we study the Bible and train our seminarians and preach to our people. “Divine passive” is more of a theological category than grammatical. In form and basic meaning, it is simply a passive, but when God is the author of the verb, we call it a “divine passive.”

When Mary anointed Jesus’ feet, Judas objected to the perceived extravagant waste of money. Jesus responds, “‘Leave (ἄφες) her alone,’ Jesus replied. ‘It was intended that (ἵνα) she should save this perfume for the day of my burial’” (NIV). “It was intended” was added to make some sense of Jesus’ statement, but does that mean Mary changed her mind? She had intended to save it for the actual day of his burial, but changed her mind and poured it out in anticipation of his death?

It is good to be back. It’s been a busy summer full of friends at our cabin, hand surgery on my right hand, and a full knee replacement for my wife. Needless to say, nothing’s been quite normal so I had to take a break from writing. I’ll be starting up the Greek Verse of the Day and the Greek Word of the Day as well as Monday with Mounce.

Someone wrote about the use of the word “contend” in Jude 1:3. I think this is an interesting example of how a word gets into our translations that probably isn’t the best word. Jude is telling his people that they have to “fight” for the faith. Two problems with the translation “contend.”