Christians sometimes get confused with the concept of judging. Biblically we are commanded to judge (John 7:24 says, “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make it right judgement”). Then at the same time we are biblically told that we are not to …
Exodus 28:4 (NET) w/notes | Faithlife Bible
Exodus 28:4
28:4 Now these are the garments that they are to make: a breastpiece,11 an ephod,12 a robe, a fitted13 tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make holy garments for your brother Aaron and for his sons, that they may minister as my priests.
11sn The breastpiece seems to have been a pouch of sorts or to have had a pocket, since it was folded in some way (28:16; 39:9) and contained the Urim and Thummim (Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8).
12sn The word “ephod” is taken over directly from Hebrew, because no one knows how to translate it, nor is there agreement about its design. It refers here to a garment worn by the priests, but the word can also refer to some kind of image for a god (Judg 8:27).
13tn The word תָּשְׁבֵּץ (tashbets), which describes the tunic and which appears only in this verse, is related to a verb (also rare) of the same root in 28:39 that describes making the tunic. Their meaning is uncertain (see the extended discussion in C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:473–75). A related noun describes gold fasteners and the “settings,” or “mountings,” for precious stones (28:11, 13, 14, 20, 25; 36:18; 39:6, 13, 16, 18; cf. Ps 45:14). The word “fitted” in 28:4 reflects the possibility that “the tunic is to be shaped by sewing, … so that it will fit tightly around the body” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:475)
Luke 5:22-26 (LDGNT) w/translation & Commentary
| 22 |
| Today | Luke 5:22–26 |
| ἐπιγνοὺς | δὲ | ὁ | Ἰησοῦς | τοὺς | διαλογισμοὺς | αὐτῶν | ἀποκριθεὶς | εἶπεν | πρὸς | ||||||||||||||||||
| perceiving | but | [-] | Jesus | [-] | thoughts | their | answered | [and] said | to |
| αὐτούς | ||
| them |
| Τί | διαλογίζεσθε | ἐν | ταῖς | καρδίαις | ὑμῶν | ||||||||||||||
| why | are you reasoning | in | [-] | hearts | your |
| 23 | τί | ἐστιν | εὐκοπώτερον | εἰπεῖν | |||||||||||||||||
| which | is | easier | to say |
| Ἀφέωνταί | σοι | αἱ | ἁμαρτίαι | σου | ||||||||
| are forgiven | you | [-] | sins | your |
| ἢ | εἰπεῖν | |||||
| or | to say |
| Ἔγειρε | καὶ | περιπάτει | ||||||||
| get up | and | walk |
| 24 | ἵνα | δὲ | εἰδῆτε | ||||||||||||
| in order that | but | you may know |
| ὅτι | ὁ | υἱὸς | τοῦ | ἀνθρώπου | ἐξουσίαν | ἔχει | ἐπὶ | τῆς | γῆς | ἀφιέναι | ἁμαρτίας | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| that | the | Son | of | Man | authority | has | on | [-] | earth | to forgive | sins |
| εἶπεν | τῷ | παραλελυμένῳ | ||||||
| he said | to the | one who was paralyzed |
| Σοὶ | λέγω | ἔγειρε | |||||||||||||||
| to you | I say | get up |
| καὶ | ἄρας | τὸ | κλινίδιόν | σου | πορεύου | εἰς | τὸν | οἶκόν | σου | |||||||||||||||
| and | pick up | [-] | stretcher | your | [and] go | to | [-] | home | your |
| 25 | καὶ | παραχρῆμα | ἀναστὰς | ἐνώπιον | αὐτῶν | ἄρας | ἐφʼ | ὃ | ||||||||||||||
| and | immediately | [he] stood up | before | them | picked up | on | what |
| κατέκειτο | ἀπῆλθεν | εἰς | τὸν | οἶκον | αὐτοῦ | δοξάζων | τὸν | θεόν | ||||||||||
| he had been lying | [and] went away | to | [-] | home | his | glorifying | [-] | God |
| 26 | καὶ | ἔκστασις | ἔλαβεν | ἅπαντας | |||||||||||
| and | amazement | seized | [them] all |
| καὶ | ἐδόξαζον | τὸν | θεὸν | |||||||
| and | they began to glorify | [-] | God |
| καὶ | ἐπλήσθησαν | φόβου | λέγοντες | ὅτι | ||||||||
| and | they were filled with | fear | saying | [-] |
| Εἴδομεν | παράδοξα | σήμερον | ||||||||||||
| we have seen | wonderful things | today |
Runge, S. E. (2008–2014). The Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament (Lk 5:22–26). Lexham Press.
Jesus’ Travels Around the Sea of Galilee. Jesus focused his everyday ministry on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in towns and villages from Magdala over to Bethsaida. It is possible to locate a few events mentioned in the Gospels at other places around the sea, although establishing an overall sequence and itinerary of Jesus’ movements is difficult. In the end, much must be handed over to the art of reasonable speculation.
Wright, P. H. (2012). Rose Then and Now Bible Map Atlas with Biblical Background and Culture (p. 192). Rose Publishing.
Cross References from The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lk 7:16 | Fear seized them all, and they began to glorify God, saying, “A great prophet has appeared among us!” and “God has come to help his people!”
Mt 9:8 | When the crowd saw this, they were afraid and honored God who had given such authority to men.
Lk 1:65 | All their neighbors were filled with fear, and throughout the entire hill country of Judea all these things were talked about.
Lk 18:43 | And immediately he regained his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they too gave praise to God.
Mt 9:6 | But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then he said to the paralytic—“Stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.”
NIGTC Commentary
(22) Jesus realised what they were thinking (cf. 2:35; 6:8; 9:47; 24:38); such knowledge could well be regarded as perfectly normal, but here it may be seen as part of Jesus’ prophetic powers.
(23) He therefore challenged them with a counter-question. Which is easier (ἐύκοπος, 16:17; 18:25), he asks, to say to anybody (by omitting τῷ παραλυτικῷ, diff. Mk., Luke generalises), ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? The implication is that neither act is possible for a man, certainly not the former, which is God’s prerogative; but since the latter too can only be done by the power of God (cf. 5:17b), it follows that the person who can do the latter is also authorised to do the former (Schürmann, I, 283). Strictly speaking, neither act is easier than the other, since both require divine power, but the latter could be regarded as more difficult in the sense that while anybody could declare sin to be forgiven without having to submit his act to some kind of proof it is impossible to claim to heal a person without producing tangible evidence.
(24) In order, however, that the scribes may know that the Son of man does have authority on earth to forgive sins, Jesus pronounces the healing word to the paralytic, and thus demonstrates his authority a fortiori. The wording follows Mk. except in minor details such as avoidance of the historic present and avoidance of ὑπάγω. There is no suggestion that Jesus would not have healed the man if it had not been necessary to demonstrate his claims to the scribes. The verse does, however, pose difficulties with its use of the term ‘Son of man’ (see especially Tödt, 126–130; Higgins, 26–28; C. Colpe, TDNT VIII, 400–477, especially 430f.; Borsch, 321f.; Vielhauer, 120–122; Hooker; I. H. Marshall, ‘The Synoptic Son of Man Sayings in Recent Discussion’, NTS 12, 1965–66, 327–351, especially 341.; Jeremias, Theology, I, 257–276; Goppelt I, 226–253; Pesch, Jesus). 1. The usage here is identical with that in Mk. There is no indication that Luke has anywhere created fresh uses of the title ‘Son of man’, or that he has his own distinctive theology of the title (C. Colpe, TDNT VIII, 457–459; see, however, G. Schneider, ‘ “Der Menschensohn” in der lukanischen Theologie’, in Pesch, Jesus, 267–282). 2. The Son of man is not associated with the dispensing of forgiveness in any pre-Christian sources (Tödt, 129). Nevertheless, the traditional figure of the Son of man is of one who has the right to act as heavenly judge and ruler, and such a figure has implicitly the power to forgive. 3. The fact that Jesus forgave sins, though somewhat scantily attested, is undoubtedly to be accepted as historical (Schürmann, I, 284; Goppelt, I, 177–185). 4. In the present saying ‘Son of man’ undoubtedly refers to Jesus himself, and cannot be understood to refer to some other, apocalyptic figure. In our opinion, the view that Jesus spoke in other sayings (e.g. 12:8f.) of another Son of man (Tödt) is certainly to be rejected. Hence three possibilities arise in the present instance. a. The saying is a creation of the early church, perhaps intended to justify the church’s own practice of declaring forgiveness by appealing to the authority of its Founder (Higgins). Cranfield, 100f., suggests that the clumsy construction of the verse indicates that it is a Marcan comment to the reader, explaining the significance of the healing miracle; cf. Mk. 2:28 and (without this title) 7:19. There is, however, no indication in the narrative that the ‘you’ in this verse means the readers rather than Jesus’ audience. The view that this is a church saying should be accepted only if there are difficulties in attributing the saying to Jesus himself. As has already been stated, there is no real problem in the reference to forgiveness; it is the use of ‘Son of man’ that seems difficult. b. This difficulty may be avoided by postulating that the original Aramaic expression used here meant simply ‘man’, so that Jesus was saying ‘Not only God may forgive, but man too in Me, Jesus’ (Colpe, TDNT VIII, 430); the ambiguous term was then given a messianic sense by the early church (ibid. 441). The difficulty with this suggestion is that the saying would then imply that man in general could forgive sins, which is manifestly false. This difficulty is avoided by the earlier view of Wellhausen (cited by Colpe, ibid. 431 n. 236) that Jesus means that he can forgive although he is a man. This is a possible view of the saying, but it is not without problems, since it leaves the charge of blasphemy unanswered; the question is not whether a man can forgive sins, but whether this man has God’s authorisation to do so (Hooker, 83f.). Colpe’s view rests Jesus’ right to forgive on an unstated messianic claim. It is more likely that the saying stated Jesus’ authorisation to forgive. c. This authorisation is stated if Jesus spoke of himself as the Son of man. In this case the point of the saying is that Jesus claims to be the Son of man, and claims that the Son of man has authority to forgive sins, not merely when acting as heavenly judge, but also here and now on earth.
This claim is then justified by Jesus’ healing act. This interpretation of the saying faces the general criticism that Jesus did not refer to himself as the Son of man active on earth during his ministry; elsewhere we have attempted to show that this criticism can be countered, and that Jesus used the phrase ‘Son of man’ to designate his authority both on earth and at the parousia, an authority which was not recognised but rather rejected by the Jews in general during his ministry; see further R. Maddox, ‘The Function of the Son of Man according to the Synoptic Gospels’, NTS 15, 1968–69, 45–74, who stresses how the theme of eschatological judgment runs through the whole body of Son of man sayings and finds that this saying fits neatly into the general picture. 5. Behind the usage of Son of man here by Jesus there lies the concept which is to be found in Dan. 7:13f., where the phrase is applied to a human figure (the phrase should be translated ‘a man’) who is nevertheless of heavenly origin and is given dominion on earth as the leader of the ‘saints of the Most High’; the precise history of this figure both before and after his appearance in Daniel is so uncertain that no firm conclusions can be ventured here, but it seems probable that this figure was capable of being understood in messianic terms (cf. 1 Enoch) and that Jesus adopted it because it formed the most suitable basis for expressing his own self-understanding, a basis which underwent considerable alteration in the course of his use of it.
(25) The confirmation of Jesus’ claims was provided by the way in which the paralytic was able to respond to Jesus’ healing word. Luke notes that the healing was immediate, a fact which could be deduced from the general character of the healings reported in the Gospel tradition. Once again he avoids the use of κράβαττος, diff. Mk. (cf. 5:19, 24) by taking a phrase from Mk. 2:4, but he does use Mark’s word in Acts 5:15; 9:33. Finally, Luke adds that the man praised God (17:15, 18), a fact which could be deduced from Mark’s description of the action of the bystanders: if the spectators glorified God, how much more was the healed man likely to do so also.
(26) Instead of Mark’s simple verb ἐξίσταμαι, to express the surprise of the spectators, Luke uses the periphrasis ἔκστασις ἔλαβεν ἅπαντας; ἔκστασις, ‘amazement’ (Mk. 5:42; 16:18; Acts 3:10), can also mean ‘trance’ (Acts 10:10; 11:5; 22:17); the use of λαμβάνω may be Semitic (Ex. 15:15; Wis. 11:12), but is also attested in Classical Greek. Luke also refers to the fear of the spectators, par. Mt., diff. Mk., but the evidence is hardly strong enough to confirm use of some common source other than Mk. The comment of the crowd is rephrased: we have seen unexpected things (παράδοξος**) today (perhaps with an echo of 4:21). The story thus closes with the fear and praise of the spectators in face of the supernatural authority of Jesus, a feature that is prominent in Lk. (7:16; 13:17; 18:43; Acts 3:9; 8:8). Schürmann, I, 285, suggests that the intention is to indicate to the reader how he too should react to the telling of the story and to his own experience of the forgiving grace of God.
Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text (pp. 214–217). Paternoster Press.
Text & Canon Institute Fellowship
The Text & Canon Institute Fellowship is a one-year scholarship and mentoring program for a student in the Phoenix Seminary ThM program who intends to pursue doctoral studies. In this video, the directors of the Institute give their vision for the program and Clark Bates, the first Fellow, shares his experience in the program. Learn more at ps.edu/fellowship.
Proverbs 31:28 (NET) w/notes | Faithlife Bible
Proverbs 31:28
31:28 Her children rise up68 and call her blessed,
her husband69 also praises her:
68tn The first word of the nineteenth line begins with ק (qof), the nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
sn The deliberate action of “rising up” to call her blessed is the Hebrew way of indicating something important is about to be done that has to be prepared for.
69tn The text uses an independent nominative absolute to draw attention to her husband: “her husband, and he praises her.” Prominent as he is, her husband speaks in glowing terms of his noble wife
Watch “Are Reason and Faith at Odds?” on YouTube Dr Mike Heiser
The Unseen Realm – documentary film with Dr. Michael S. Heiser
In this clip from History of the Bible, Dr. Heiser talks about the divine origin of Scripture with references to 2 Timothy 3:16.
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Watch “How much Babylonian Stuff is in Genesis?” on YouTube Dr Mike Heiser
John 8:11 (NET) w/notes | Faithlife Bible
James 1:2–3 (NET) w/notes | Faithlife Bible
James 1:2–3
1:2 My brothers and sisters,4 consider it nothing but joy5 when you fall into all sorts of trials, 1:3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelphoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). Where the plural term is used in direct address, as here, “brothers and sisters” is used; where the term is singular and not direct address (as in v. 9), “believer” is preferred.
5tn Grk “all joy,” “full joy,” or “greatest joy.”
Acts 15:10 (NET) w/notes | Faithlife Bible
Acts 15:10
15:10 So now why are you putting God to the test30 by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke31 that neither our ancestors32 nor we have been able to bear?
30tn According to BDAG 793 s.v. πειράζω 2.c, “In Ac 15:10 the πειράζειν τὸν θεόν consists in the fact that after God’s will has been clearly made known through granting of the Spirit to the Gentiles (v. 8), some doubt and make trial to see whether God’s will really becomes operative.” All testing of God in Luke is negative: Luke 4:2; 11:16.
31sn A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals like oxen or horses so that they can pull a wagon, plow, etc. together. Here it is used figuratively of the restriction that some in the early church wanted to place on Gentile converts to Christianity of observing the law of Moses and having males circumcised. The yoke is a decidedly negative image: Matt 23:4, but cf. Matt 11:29–30.
32tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
Talmidimblogging 