Taught Greek by the Holy Spirit?

Obviously it would be helpful!

Whitaker acknowledges the different styles of the human authors of Scripture but goes on to say:

“Although Isaiah, who was educated in the royal court, hath a much purer and more elegant diction than Amos, who lived amongst shepherds, yet this shepherd speaks in such a manner as to be intelligible to all who can understand anything: for he had learned to speak from the best master of speech, even the Holy Spirit. So, although Paul, brought up by Gamaliel, the most learned of the Pharisees, speaks otherwise than Peter or James, who had passed all their lives in fishing; yet the difference is not very great, since Peter and James did not learn to speak Greek in their fishing occupations, but were taught by the Holy Spirit, a much better and more eloquent instructor than Gamaliel.” (Disputation on Holy Scripture, p478-9)

8 ways to find the true meaning of Scripture

According to William Whitaker's Disputation on Holy Scripture:

(1) prayer (p467) – Mt 7, ask etc.; James 1:5

(2) know the original languages (p468)

(3) consider which words are proper and which figurative and modified (p470)

(4) consider the scope, end, matter, circumstances (persons, place, time), antecedents and consequences of each passage (p470) – context – the series and connection of the text (p471)

(5) one place must be compared and collated with another, the obscurer with the plainer (p471)

(6) not only similar passages are to be compared with similar, but also dissimilar passages are to be compared together (p472)

(7) all our expositions should accord with the analogy of faith, the constant sense of the general tenor of the clear passages of scripture, creed, Lord’s Prayer, Decalogue, catechism (p472)

(8) ask those who are more skilled and read learned books (p473)

Fed but not stuffed

Augustine: de Doctr. Christ. Lib. II. c. 6: “The Holy Spirit hath so modified the scriptures, combining ornament with utility, as to provide for our hunger in the easier places, and prevent satiety by the more obscure. For scarce anything can be gotten out of those obscurities which may not be found spoken elsewhere with the utmost plainness.” (quoted in Whitaker, Disputation on Holy Scripture, p393)

Why did God make so much of the Bible hard?

William Whitaker suggests 9 reasons though he says "other causes more besides these might be adduced":

(1) So that we pray for help in understanding it

(2) To excite our diligence in studying if

(3) To keep our interest

(4) That we might appreciate the great truths obtained by great labour

(5) To keep us humble

(6) So that God’s word is not exposed to dogs and swine but only to pure and holy minds who appreciate its value

(7) So that we give time to them and are not entirely taken up with external things and our daily occupations

(8) To accustom us to internal purity and sanctity of thought and feeling so that the profane lose their trouble and oil

(9) Because God intended to honour the Scriptures and the ministry, some being teachers and some disciples

(Disputation on Holy Scripture, p365f) 

Psalm 7 jottings

I have not spent time tidying up these notes and the Hebrew transliterations are random, but in case this is of any help to anyone:

Psalm 7 notes

Summary:

A prayer of trust in Yahweh for vindication, for justice and for deliverance from enemies.

Uses:

When persecuted or opposed unjustly

To focus on God’s character in difficult circumstances

Praising God’s righteousness and judgement

Giving thanks for deliverance or in the confidence of future deliverance

Prayer:

Lord, you search me and you know me.

I confess that I am a sinner, entirely dependent on your grace.

Make me a person of righteousness and integrity, I pray.

May I be faithful and consistent, as you are, keeping my word, honouring my friends and partners, always dealing fairly with others and fulfilling my responsibilities.

May I never give others cause to hate me or to hate you.

Lord, I pray for justice for myself and for the world.

Vindicate me, and all who are wronged.

Deliver your faithful people who are persecuted without cause.

I look to you as my refuge and shield, my only confidence in this world and in the next.

Arise and fight for your people, I pray.

Yours, Lord, is the battle and the victory.

May your kingdom come and your will be done.

May your just rule be seen upon the earth.

Thank you, Lord, for your righteousness, that I can have complete confidence that the judge of all the world will do right.

Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ: the only perfectly innocent one who suffered unjustly for me and whom you delivered from death and hell, triumphing over all his enemies.

Thank you for the vindication of his resurrection and ascension and that all evil will be undone.  

All praise to your high and holy name.

Amen.

Outlines / structure:

Expositor’s Bible:

The righteous God loves the righteous

(1)  A - Prayer for refuge (vv1-2)

(2) B - Oath of innocence (vv3-5)

(3) C - God’s righteous judgement (vv6-13)

(4) B’ - Judgement of the guilty (vv14-16)

(5) A’ - Praise of God’s righteousness (v17)

Goldingay, Baker Commentary

On trial, in battle, hunted

Wilcock, BST:

(1) Concerning Cush: a lion (vv1-5)

(2) Concerning God: a courtroom (vv6-9)

(3) Concerning God: an armoury (vv10-13)

(4) Concerning Cush: a pregnancy and a pit (vv14-17)

Kidner, Tyndale:

A cry for justice

Vv1-2, The hunted man

Vv3-5, The oath of innocence

Vv6-11, The righteous judge

Vv12-16, “Sin, when it is finished…”

V17, Thankful praise

Dale Ralph Davis, The Way of the Righteous in the Muck of Life

Just Justice

Take care with your prayer (vv1-5)

Find hope in God’s anger (vv6-11)

Watch Judgement take place (vv12-16)

Remember praise is due (v17)

Notes:

Title:

Goldingay calls a siggayon a lament on the basis of the Akkadian sigu

Shiggaion – Wilcock guesses it could be related to the verb to wander and therefore wild, rhapsodic music

David

Sang to the LORD

Davis has “on account of the words of Cush”

Cush – Sudan (Goldingay) – the area south of Egypt not Ethiopia

2 Sam 18:20-32 the Sudanese – Shimei and or Sheba both styled Benjaminites (Goldingay) – see Goldingay p144 for verbal links between this story and the Psalm

Cf. 1 Sam 24

Concerning Cush, a Benjamite – not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible

When David was pursued by Saul the Benjaminite?

Or during Absalom’s rebellion the latent hostilities of the Benjaminites resurged – 2 Sam 16:5-14; 20:1-22

How is God pictured and described in this Psalm?

Movement from lament to thanksgiving

A broadening out to God’s eschatological rule over the nations? – then God’s people will no longer be troubled

2 Thess 1:5-10 – the coming judgement

Themes / genres: individual lament (vv1-2), oath (vv3-5), kingship psalm (vv6-12), thanksgiving hymn (v17)

Justice and salvation go together here

From intensely personal to global (v7-8)

Cf. Naboth

Num 5:11-28; Dt 8:7-20; 1 Kings 8:31-32

Vivid pictures of David’s opponents: a lion, a pregnant man (!), and a digger of holes

Of God: judge and warrior (Wilcock, p35)

Wilcock: 4 chiastic stanzas: Cush / God / God / Cush (p35)

David lays out before the Lord his position (v1a), his danger (vv1b-2) and his conscience (vv3-5) (Davis, p86)

V1 – Yahweh, My God (repeated in v3) – an initial note of confidence

V1 – I take refuge in you – loyalty, trust

Cf. other supposed refuges… “Other refuge have I none” (Charles Wesley, Jesus Lover of My Soul)

Kidner says the tense shows that “while David’s preservation and deliverance were still matters for prayer (v1b), his unseen refuge was already a fact”

Vv1 & 2 – repetition of save

V2 – lion imagery

V2 – God his only hope – an argument for God to act

Vv3-4 – If, ‘im, 3x in MT

V3 – “this” – whatever his enemy is accusing him of

Dt 25:16

V3 – awel – guilt (NIV) is meanness, deception, hostility, unfaithfulness

Cf. Is 1:15; 59:3, 6

Vv3-5 – an appeal to God’s justice – of course the Psalmist cannot claim sinless perfection but he knows himself to be in the right with respect to his enemies. They are baddies and he is a goody. Their opposition is undeserved.

Cf. Job’s claim to righteousness – 1 Cor 4

Is the Psalmist at all confused about this / really questioning it or is this rhetorical?

He who is at peace with me equivalent to a close friend Ps 41:9; Jer 38:22 – cf. Judas?! – an ally?

2 Kings 7:17

Perhaps david feels slandered, misunderstood, falsely accused of bribes, treachery etc. – cf. Absalom’s smear campaign – 2 Sam 15:1-6

Cf. God’s knowledge and an illustration from the art of spying – CIA photos from 1973 in which one can make out the time on the soldiers watches (Davis, p86f)

V4 – David’s supposed betrayal of Saul?

Vv4-5 suggest a war context

V4 – solem - friend, strictly, ally – someone in a committed salom relationship

Ex 23:4f; lev 19:17f; 1 Sam 24:10f; Prov 25:21

V4b – Goldingay, “but released my watchful foe without cause” – says halas never elsewhere means to plunder – a former ally who has become a foe?

Unprincipled leniency to foes? – cf. Saul to Agag 1 Sam 15

V5 – kebodi, kabod, my glory – personal worth? – can sometimes refer to the liver or inner being, heart – cf. 4:2 / honour – 3:3

Cf. Job 31

V5 – evil as an army

V5 – Selah – Goldingay translates this “(Rise)” – Willock: an interlude for music or meditation? – a pause to read related Scriptures? (Goulder)

Vv6-11 – Kidner: breadth of vision here; concern for universal justice

V6 – God’s anger

V6 – An appeal to God’s anger against the anger of the enemies – God’s anger is the Psalmist’s hope; the attackers’ anger is the Psalmist’s threat (Goldingay)

Cf. Heb 4:13 – God as all-knowing judge – There’s no fooling him!

Cf. 5:5; 6:1

V6 – appeal to God to arise and awake – God does not sleep of course, but it can seem like he does!

V6 – God, you must have ordered a decision

God is more powerful than any enemies and he cares

Cf. Acts 17:31

V6 – repetition: arise, rise up, awake

Cf. Num 10:35-36 and Ps 3:7

V7 – MT suba, return, not seba, rule – return on high, LORD

Return to your judgement seat throne / sit as judge

Vv7-8 – an appeal to God to exercise his rule and judge, to God’s righteousness and integrity / character

A prayer for vindication, declare me in the right – judge my case and find for me, Lord

Cf. 2:8-9

V9 the hinge of the Psalm – movement from prayer to expressions of confidence and praise

V9 – The righteous God searches minds and hearts – both David and his enemies are open books to the LORD

God not grandfatherly and mildly indulgent! (Wilcock)

A court with teeth! (Wilcock)

Vv9-11: 6 descriptive phrases of God: righteous God, tester (one who searches my heart, v9), my shield, saviour, righteous judge, God who expresses his wrath

The ungodly will experience God’s sword; the repentant will benefit from his shield. It is precisely by dealing with the wicked that God delivers the innocent. We ought to be grateful for the fierceness of the Biblical God because it guarantees that eventually all will be as it ought to be (Wilcock, p37)

Chiasm:

A Tester

B Righteous

C Shield

C’ Saviour

B’ Righteous judge

A’ Indignant

(Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p132)

The confidence of a believer before God

Heb 10:19-23; 2 Tim 8:8

V9 – mind and heart, lit. hearts and kidneys, inmost being, the deepest part of a person, innards, Ps 26:5; Jer 11:20; 17:10; 20:12 – God knows the heart Jer 17:9

V10 – God as shield – cf. 3:3; 18:35 – Heb. Lit, my shield is on God

The Lord as righteous judge with the nations gathered around him a familiar image in the kingship of Yahweh Pss 95-99

V12 – God’s delay has given an opportunity for repentance

V12 – God as warrior – cf. Ps 98 – he will fight his peoples’ battles on their behalf

V12 – darak, maybe lit. he treads his bow, pulling the string with his foot

V13 - God’s lightenings like flaming arrows – Ps 18:14

Judgement inescapable and deadly. David’s predicament will be reversed.

Vv14-16 cf. Prov 26:27; 28:10

V14 – pregnancy and birth metaphor

Wickedness may be allowed a gestation period

V14 – The first verb in the verse, habal, elsewhere describes the pain and anxiety of actually giving birth. There are several roots: a common one denotes “act corruptly” or “destroy” (Goldingay).

Cf. begetting and digging – Is 51:1-2 – pregnancy and digging (hara and kara) sound like one another

Evil is fertile but futile (after Kidner)

V14 – NIV disillusionment = saqer, lie, falsehood

Cf. James 1:14f

V15 – word play in the Heb – wayyippol, falls, yipal, made

Falls back, yasub, the same as turns (v12)

The lion of v2 falls into the pit of v15

V15-16 – they provoke their own downfall – their plots rebound on themselves – they fall into the pit they have dug – no doubt they think themselves so very clever and well prepared – perhaps they gloat over how they will ruin their enemies, not knowing that a great downfall awaits them

Sin comes home to roost

Wrongdoing is a boomerang – Prov 26:27; Mt 26:52

God stands behind all things – no such thing as merely natural consequences but the way God has established and governs the universe

Davis p90 – an Eskimo technique of getting a wolf to lick itself to death on a knife covered in frozen blood

Cf. the cross – the innocent unjustly suffering one delivered, the evil of his persecutors will rebound on them

V16 – the abcc’b’a’ structure of the verse mirrors the reversal it describes (Goldingay)

V17 – Application: resolve to thank and praise God

Mk 7:37

V17 – the exact expression Yahweh Most High only elsewhere in 47:2

V17 – The name of the LORD most high – note in Expositor’s Bible Commentary on the Name of Yahweh (p135) – The Creator-Redeemer-King God who has revealed himself, the God of the covenant – reliable, promise-keeping, God’s people who call on him can expect his blessing and protection – God’s name recalls his perfections and mighty acts and will be praised – list of other Psalms which use The name of the Yahweh on p136

Name / character

Hope in God’s faithfulness and power

Trial / war / hunt imagery often used together (Goldingay, p152)

Isaac Watts: O bless the Lord, my soul, nor let his mercies lie / forgotten in unthankfullness, and without praises die.

Troubles à prayer à deliverance à praise

Whether in trouble or in thankfulness, pray!

Paul's shopping lists not infalible

The “prophets and apostles may have written some things in the ordinary way to private persons, as, for instance David sent private letters to Joab. These things ought not to be received into the canon. But whatever they wrote as prophets, and inspired by God, for the public instruction of the church, have been received into the canon. ” (William Whitaker, Disputation on Holy Scripture, p300-1)

4 offices of the church with respect to Scripture

Whitaker argues that the church is:

(1) notary - witness and guardian of the sacred writings (p283)

(2) champion - “the church is, to distinguish and discern the true, sincere and genuine scriptures from the spurious, false and superstitious.” (p283) “for the performance of this function it hath the Spirit of Christ to enable it to distinguish the true from the false: it knows the voice of the spouse” (p283-4)

(3) herald - “the church is to publish, set forth, preach and promulgate the scriptures” (p284)

 (4) interpreter - to expound and explain them (p284)

(Disputation on Holy Scripture)

Turretin gives a similar list:

The church’s functions with respect to Scripture: (1) keeper (2) guide to point them out (3) defender of them (4) herald to promulgate them (5) interpreter (IET, vol 1, p90)

Holy / Special Language

William Whitaker defends vernacular Bible translations, services and prayers at length against the Roman Catholics of his day in his Disputation on Holy Scripture.

In the Council of Trent, Session XXII, cap. 8, it is said “not to seem good to the fathers, that the mass should everywhere be celebrated in the vulgar tongue.” (p250)

 Some papists argued that: “The majesty of religious offices requires a language more grand and venerable than the vulgar tongues of every nation.” (p251)

 Whitaker says, “I deny that the majesty of sacred things can be diminished by any vernacular tongues, however barbarous.” (p251) pointing out that by the power of the Holy Spirit the apostles used barbarous languages in Acts 2.

Some papists including Bellarmine argued that “Three languages [of Latin, Hebrew and Greek] were hallowed upon the cross [by the sign above Jesus' head]: therefore we ought to be content with those three languages in the public offices of the church” (p257)

 Whitaker argues the purpose was not to consecrate these languages but that the report of Christ’s death should be diffused as widely as possible. (p257) In fact this fits with the desire for the message of the gospel to be understood.

Whitaker does not do so but a theological appeal might be made to the incarnation and to what we might call the full and real humanity of Scripture to attack the idea that there are certain special or holy languages. God's power is magnified by the weakness of human flesh and language that he is able to perfectly reveal himself through them.

A magical view of Scripture

Origen apparently thought that “the mere words of scripture may have a beneficial effect, after the manner of a spell, upon the man who reads them, through certain spiritual powers which he supposes to be in intimate contact with our souls.” Footnote 1, p266. Philocalia, c. 12, p. 40, ed. Spencer and Huetius’ Origen, T. 1. P. 27. C. William Whitaker, Disputation on Holy Scripture. The footnote comes from Whitaker’s translator and editor, William Fitzgerald, I think.

Death

It was a privilege today to attend the funeral of The Revd John Cheeseman.

Using an idea from someone else, the preacher said that death is like a horrible grotty old porch, which for the believer leads into the most glorious mansion.

Against dynamic equivalence

William Whitaker wants translators to err in the direction of word for word literalness:

 “it behoves a translator of scripture not merely to take care that he do not corrupt the meaning, but also, as far as it may be possible, not to depart a hand’s breadth from the words; since many things may lie under cover in the words of the Holy Spirit, which are not immediately perceived, and yet contain important instruction.” (Disputation on Holy Scripture, p165)

Rome on the Vulgate

The Council of Trent makes this pretty extraordinary claim for the Latin Vulgate:

"Moreover, the same sacred and holy Synod,--considering that no small utility may accrue to the Church of God, if it be made known which out of all the Latin editions, now in circulation, of the sacred books, is to be held as authentic,--ordains and declares, that the said old and vulgate edition, which, by the lengthened usage of so many years, has been approved of in the Church, be, in public lectures, disputations, sermons and expositions, held as authentic; and that no one is to dare, or presume to reject it under any pretext whatever."

(Session 4)

I have been reading William Whitaker Disputation on Holy Scripture which attacks the Vulgate at length.

Now, as I understand it, the Roman Catholic church doesn't go in for repudiating its councils, but it is worth nothing that things have changed somewhat. As Tony Lane points out, Pope Pius XII's Divino afflante Spiritu (1943) talks of the duty of exegetes to make use of the Hebrew and Greek: "The original text... having been written by the inspired author himself, has more authority and greater weight than even the very best translation, whether ancient or modern" (section 16).

It is said that Trent's declarations about the Vulgate apply "only to the Latin Church and to the public use of the same Scriptures."

Lane summarises: "The Vulgate is "free from any error whatsoever in matters of faith and morals" and so can be safely used for teaching and preaching. But when it comes to establishing the correct text of Scripture it is the original Hebrew and Greek that is normative." ('Roman Catholic Views of Biblical Authority from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present' in Carson, The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures, p299)

By the time of Vatican II's Dei verbum (1965) "the Vulgate is listed as one of a number of ancient translations to be held in honor. Vernacular translations should be made from the original texts." (Lane, p311)

The Holy Spirit's Style

In his Disputation on Holy Scripture, William Whitaker argues for the superiority of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures over the old Latin Vulgate version which Trent endorsed by appealing to the style:

“I readily acknowledge that the style of scripture is simple and unadorned; and am so far from blaming it, that I admire it rather as divine. But in the authentic original scriptures you shall never find such barbarity and disgraceful solecisms as are everywhere occurring in the Latin Vulgate.” (p149-150) – see further p150

The scriptures whilst not scrupulously exact are always clear, pure and eloquent. (p150)

 
Augustine: the Scripture writers “ought to have said it in no other manner” Doct. Christ. Lib. IV.c..6 T. III. P88. According to Augustine, as Whitaker puts it: the Scriptures show the “certain kind of eloquence suitable to divine writings”.  (p151)

What language did Adam speak?

In case you have ever wondered, William Whitaker is confident:

“The Hebrew is the most ancient of all languages, and was that which alone prevailed in the world before the deluge and the erection of the Tower of Babel. For it was this that Adam used, and all men before the flood, as is manifest from the scriptures, and as the Fathers testify.” (p112) citing Augustine City of God Lib. Xvi. c. 11. Also Jerome on Zephaniah 3, also Epistle 142

(Disputation on Holy Scripture)

Does the Bible teach the Pauline authorship of Hebrews?!

Whitaker (Disputation on Holy Scripture, p107) suggests that 2 Peter 3:15 ("our brother Paul has written to you") might require us to think that Paul wrote Hebrews, as 1 Peter 1 and 2 (see 2 Peter 3:1) seem to be written to Hebrews. He adds: "This, however, I leave to the judgement of the reader, without determining anything absolutely one way or another." (p107)

How hard was it to write the Bible?

Whitaker argues that 2 Maccabees cannot be divinely inspired because the author speaks of “the labour of making this epitome as troublesome, and full of toil and difficulty, 2 Macc. 11 But nothing is so difficult as to give any trouble to the Holy Spirit” (Disputation on Holy Scripture, p102).

Whitaker concedes that we may distinguish the prophetic mode of inspiration whereby “the prophets had no other trouble than that of dictating or writing, since God inspired them with a knowledge of all that they were to write or dictate” (p102) but that “those [such as Luke] who published histories used diligence and industry: for the Holy Spirit does not make men lazy, or slothful, or neglectful. So Luke thoroughly investigated…. But I absolutely deny that this writing was troublesome or difficult to Luke, because nothing can be troublesome to the Holy Spirit…. “The Holy Ghost,” as Ambrose says, “knows nothing of slow effects.” [Vide supra, p38]” (p102)

This argument seems quite unconvincing to me. Of course nothing is hard to God but we simply do not know how inspired writing felt to Luke as he wrote and whether he could tell the difference between penning Acts and jotting down his shopping list. I can see no reason to think that inspired writing should come especially easily. The Holy Spirit is perfectly able to work with or without human trouble, toil and difficulty as he chooses. In fact, we know from Scripture that it is sometimes as we struggle that the Spirit works in and through us.

Radio 3 on Luther's Revolution

Thanks to a friend on The Facebook for highlighting this on Luther.

And also this on how daily life in Britain changed after the Reformation.

There is also due to be a programme on Paradise Lost.

OT as A to Z / ABC

William Whitaker defends the protestant canon of Scripture against Roman Catholic additions at some length. He notes that a number of the church fathers said that there are 22 Old Testament books, corresponding to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

Whitaker does not really go into their reasons much.

It might of course just be a numerological love of parallels and patterns: see a number and think of any other corresponding number! It could just be a generalised vibe of appropriateness.

But if one wanted to make something of it, perhaps it might suggest that the Old Testament has a completeness to it: it is the A to Z of revelation for ancient Israel. (This of course would suit the argument that there should be 22 books and no more).

Or one might say that the Old Testament is like the basic elements or rudiments of instruction for the early church. It gives us our ABC, our primary school lessons in the faith, just as a child would learn his alphabet. This idea of the Old Testament as elementary instruction can of course claim some New Testament support.

William Whitaker, A Disputation on Holy Scripture Against the Papists, Especially Bellarmine and Stapleton (Latin original 1588; The Parker Society Edition, Translated and Edited by William Fitzgerlad, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, MDCCCXLIX = 1849) Forgotten Books Reprinting, London, 2015 - (pp57-60, 64-65)

Bible By The Beach Notes 2017

Perhaps it is 'cos I am now super relaxed after a week of holiday and a week of sabbatical and I didn't have Sunday ministry to worry about, but I think this was possibly the best Bible By The Beach ever - yet!

Of course, I didn’t manage to get to everything, but it was all good stuff.

I've made some jottings:

Firm Foundations: Reformation for Today

The Revd Dr Lee Gatiss – Bible Readings / Expositions of Romans 3, 4 and 5

Two Reformation Ladies – Clare Heath-Whyte on Women in the Home in the Reformation (this was part 1 only. I didn’t manage to get to the 2^nd seminar on Women in Ministry in the Reformation)

The Revd Dr Steve Midgley, Where life and Scripture Meet –Seminars on applying the Bible to myself, in relationships and in the church

The Revd Rico Tice, sermon at the evening celebration onIsaiah 52-53

The Revd Glen Scrivner on Isaiah 42:1-9 – God’s Glory Alone

Alan Witchalls has also been taking notes here - http://witchalls.co.uk/musings/2017/bible-by-the-beach-2017/ - including also some notes on Ephesians 2:1-10 and Josiah’s rediscovery of the Law in 2 Kings 22.

Growth Groups

What difference would it make if we thought of our church midweek groups not just as Bible Studies or Homegroups but as Growth Groups in which we seek to grow and try to help others to grow?

Isaiah 42:1-9 The Glory of God Alone

The Revd Glen Scrivner was very engaging in the final all age session at Bible by the Beach today.

Jono was very interested in all the premiership football talk!

Glen asked Who gets the credit, the glory? e.g. for a winning goal - the player has been coached to say it was a team effort - the lads done great, but his celebrations show that he is very concerned for his own glory. We can imagine him puffing out his chest and thinking, "I am the greatest!"

Likewise, we know we have to say glory to God, but do we actually give him the credit and glory?

The example of Bach - SDG at end of manuscripts - Glory to God alone!

Glory in the Bible is associated with light - Lk 2:9 - shinning glory - a spreading goodness that drives away the darkness, transforming it

Or God as a fountain, pouring out his glory

The love of Father and Son is too good not to share - an overflow

Is 42:1 - The Father is the ultimate proud Dad!

Jesus - "He fix it" - toddler: Bible the "he fix it" book as Jesus keeps mending our broken world, healing the blind and disabled

God will not give his glory to another - v8 - only to my servant, my Son

Glory means grace and grace means glory

The only way to be in on the glory of God is by grace, by faith in Christ, united to him

We say, "We won!", when our team wins, though we contributed nothing.

Jesus our champion has won on our behalf. He did it all on his own. All credit / glory to our Champion.

1 Corinthians 15:57

Romans 5:1-11

Some jottings from The Revd Dr Lee Gatiss exposition at Bible by the Beach:

Romans 1-3 uses lots of forensic / legal terminology: justice, punishment, justification etc.
And also OT passages and imagery - propitiation, sacrifice, Law etc.
Ch 5-8 more personal, relational, universal
Perhaps this is the spiritual gift Paul means to impart to the largely Gentile Roman church?
The way Paul means to express the gospel to the Gentiles in Spain?

Big idea: Those who have faith also have hope because of God's love

(1) We have hope because God's love transforms our suffering

Suffering, struggles, trouble, opposition, persecution, difficulty, stresses and strains are all part of the normal Christian life and not a sign that God doesn't love us

Indeed, amazingly, we can rejoice / boast / glory even in suffering as God uses it to produce perseverance, endurance, character and hope

cf. Yoda - Fear is the path to the dark side - hate leads to suffering etc. - for Paul suffering leads to hope! The light is stronger than the darkness

Our suffering is not meaningless tragedy to be avoided at all costs but God uses it for our good. The cross shows us God's power to bring good out of evil.

Christopher Ash: "the Christian life is not a miserable one, crawling along in pain but happy to have an entrance ticket to the new creation in our pockets; it is a tough life, but one in which God is daily at work in us to change us and prepare us for glory." (Teaching Romans, vol 1, p215, PT / Christian Focus)

No pressure, no resilience. Our hope muscles need to be exercised to be built up.

Basil of Caesarea (Homily 16) "Tribulations are like certain foods and exercises for athletes which lead the contestant on to the inheritance of glory" (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Romans p129)

Suffering is not the ultimate, not the end. It trains and refines us. It will not defeat us in the end.

So Chumbawumba theology: when we get knocked down we get up again!

Paul has shown that my biggest problem is the wrath of God and that puts my other problems into perspective.

Jesus has saved us and he will save us so we can trust him to take care of us in between

Suffering is not a disaster but a doorway.

"Through many dangers, toils and snares..."

(2) We also have hope because God's love is not like our love

The way we were: alienated, enemies, at war with God, ungodly (v6), sinners (v9), facing God's wrath (v9)

But now we are justified (vv1 & 9), reconciled (vv10 and 11), at peace with God (v1) enjoying access to him (v2) and hope (v2)

Calvin: "peace means tranquillity of conscience, which arises from this, — that it feels itself to be reconciled to God. This the Pharisee has not, who swells with false confidence in his own works; nor the stupid sinner, who is not disquieted, because he is inebriated with the sweetness of vices". Commentary on Romans

God's love defeats our hate

We gory in the hope of glory (v2)

The amazing memorial at to self-sacrifice at  St Botolph's Aldersgate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tablets_on_the_Memorial_to_Heroic_Self_Sacrifice?platform=hootsuite

Jesus' willing self-sacrifice so amazing as it was not for a friend or family member or even a stranger or foreigner but for an enemy

Not like Saving Private Ryan, Captain Miller, "Earn this! Earn it!"; Ryan burdened with this every day thinking, was it enough? I hoped I earned it.

The Christian not motivated by guilt constantly thinking, could I not do more?

We can never earn or merit or repay Jesus. He doesn't want us to try! He loves us and has done it all.

If Christ died for his enemies, imagine what he will do for his friends.

A vision for the church?

I came across this interesting quotation on the Facebook from Bonhoeffer:

"God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself."

Of course it would be interesting to read what (if anything) Bonhoeffer describes as the alternative: presumably seeking to be faithful to God's vision for his church, though that is of course easier said than done at the practical next steps level.

Psalm 6 uses / prayer / notes

One of the things one is meant to do an a sabbatical is read the Bible and pray. I have been at it for a week now, and I spent sometime last week in Psalm 6. Some jottings on that below. May be somewhat repetitious!

Tomorrow I hope to start in earnest on some study on Scripture and the Supper, but I hope to keep a Psalm of the Week ticking over in the background so DV some notes on Psalm 7 (maybe more briefly!) this time next week.

(This week I'm going to organise my notes more by the vv of the Psalm rather than where I got them from!)

Psalm 6 Notes

An anguished prayer for mercy and deliverance.

Turn to me in mercy, O LORD, and turn my enemies back in disgrace.

Uses of the Psalm:

In a time of crisis / illness / when facing opposition / when in anguish or fear / worn out or sleepless

When God seems not to answer / act

When suffering seems too much to cope with

Looking to God for mercy / deliverance / forgiveness / help

Arguments to use with God in prayer

A prayer based on the Psalm:

Father God,

Thank you that you always hear us when we pray in Jesus’ name.

Thank you for your undeserved, unfailing, covenant keeping love.

May might life be one of praise which glorifies you.

Please have mercy on me: help me, deliver me.

Grant me relief from my enemies, health and strength and restoring sleep.

Even if I come to the end of all my strength and all hope seems gone, cause me still to look to you with humble faith.

Help me to have nothing to do with evil.

May I look to you with confidence to vindicate and save me.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. 

What the Psalmist asks for:

Do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath (v1)

Be merciful to me (v2)

Heal me (v2)

Physical suffering (v2) – “my bones are in agony”

Spiritual suffering (v3) – “my soul is in anguish”

Deliverance / help (v4)

Salvation (v4)

V7 – foes / enemies v10, evil doers (v8)

Why asks for it:

The Psalmist’s weakness and need (v2-3, v6-7)

God’s own character – his unfailing love (v4)

God’s praise and glory (v5) – How would the Psalmist’s death benefit God?

Confidence in coming vindication (v10)

The Psalmist sees his desperate need very clearly

He has come to the end of his own resources

His hope is in God alone

How does the superscription affect our reading of the Psalm?

Sheminith – lit. an 8^th – musical term? 8 stringed instrument? For the 8^th company leading the ark in 1 Chron 15:21

An individual Psalm to be sung by the (temple?) community

Of David

V1 – some particular sin on David’s conscience or not?

Vv2-3 – a physical illness?

What is the relationship between David’s sin, suffering, illness and enemies?

Goldingay – the enemies like Job’s comforters despising and blaming David because of his sickness?

Illness and anguish and opposition part of the normal experience of authentic believers

Vv1-2 – The Psalmist knows he is a sinner who deserves God’s judgement

God is rightly angry with him

He has no claim on God – no merit to offer

V4 – Turn, O Yahweh

V8 – turn away from me all workers of wickedness

V10 – all my enemies will turn back in sudden disgrace

Because Yahweh turns to me, my enemies will be turned away

God sometimes allows his people to really go through the mill, to be extremely distressed, at the end of their tether, hopeless apart from him

God our only remaining hope, a last hope

Dale Ralph Davis, The Way of the Righteous in the Muck of Life (Christian Focus) – own translation

David dives straight in with petition – no ACTS prayer here

(1) The agony he knows (vv1-3)

This is the mess I’m in!

The psalmist’s agony is fed by:

(a) The problem of wrath (v1)

(b) The problem of weakness (v2)

Wiped out

(c) The problem of fear (vv2b-3a)

Terrified (2b-3a)

Both his bones and his soul terrified – his whole person affected

(d) The problem of time (v3b)

What’s the hold up, God?

What are you waiting for?

I can’t hold on any longer.

Why don’t you intervene?

God not respecting our schedule, our plans, our ideas of what he should do (cf. Jesus waiting when he hears Lazarus is sick)

“Our troubles, it seems, are as much with God as with our circumstances.” (Davis, p75)

When it seems God is angry with us and we are experiencing his displeasure, we must nevertheless go to him for grace.

There is nowhere else to go

Is 19:22 – The same God who strikes also heals

(2) The argument he brings (vv4-7)

(a) The God I have (v4)

Hesed (v4) – covenant love

2 Sam 22:51

Ex 34:6

Appeal to God’s promise and character

(b) The praise I give (v5)

David is assuming that the whole purpose of his life is to praise Yahweh

(c) The misery I know (vv6-7)

Looking to God for pity, compassion – our plight touches God’s heart

Whilst this is a highly emotional prayer, it also uses arguments with God – “Argument in prayer shows that we are called to thinking worship” (Davis, p80)

(3) The assurance he finds (vv8-10)

A present assurance of coming deliverance

The LORD hears the sound of our weeping – cf. Rom 8:26

Is 38:5 – God sees tears

Heb 5:7 – Jesus’ prayer with loud cries and tears were heard

* * *

Derek Kidner, Tyndale OT Commentary

1^st of the penitential Pss – 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143

V6 onwards, no petition, weeping then faith

Cf. title of Ps 3 – same context?

“the Psalm gives words to those who scarcely have the heart to pray, and brings then within sight of victory” (Kidner, p61)

(1) Vv1-5, Turn, O Lord

Troubled, same word as in Gen 45:3 (Joseph’s brothers terrified at his presence) and Judges 20:41

Bones and soul also in 35:9f

(2) Vv6-7, My weeping

(3) Vv8-10, The Lord has heard

V8, Cf. Mt 7:23, depart from me you evil doers

* * *

Michael Wilcock, BST

Great emotional intensity and turmoil, but also artistry and a prayer of lasting value to others

Set written prayers do not imply falsity

Spontaneity not the same as deep and authentic spirituality

Chiasmus vv2-3

Lord, heal me

            My bones suffer

            My soul suffers

How long, Lord?

Bone ‘esem can mean (it)self, same, very e.g. Ex 24:10, Lev 23:21; Ex 12:17

Bahel, suffer, of bones and soul and enemies 3x in vv2, 3, 10 – the NIV manages to translate the word in 3 different ways

Sheminith – eighth – an octave interval stringed instrument?

“his sin: he needs God’s mercy (vv2 and 9) and he fears God’s anger (v1)” Kidner, p32

V8 not peevish but the imperious words of the king

V5 – remembers – memorials not memories, commemorates

Even in the midst of great trouble, the Psalmist recognises the priority of praising God and of magnifying His name

From desperation to renewed confidence

Jn 12:27, “my heart is troubled” echoes v3

David and Christ show us the pattern of all Christian experience of suffering followed by vindication

* * *

Goldingay, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms

Cf. vv4 and 10 – the reversal of the letters reflects the reversal the words describe

7 penitential Pss traditionally used in Lent

Bahal (v2), shaking in dismay – inner panic as well as outer trembling

V3, Jesus in Gethsemane takes up these words - Mk 14:34

V3 – disjointed “How long?” – stark and urgent – also in Ps 90:13; Is 6:11; Jer 23:26

V7 – “my eye has wasted away through aggression” – cf. English, “I cried my eyes out”

Vv8 and 9 – Yahweh has heard both my weeping and my prayer

V10 repetition of be shamed

“The double “shaming” [of v10] follows on the double “listening” [of vv8-9], and their great shaking [v10] corresponds to the suppliant’s double shaking [vv2-3]. The “turn” of v10 corresponds to the “turn” of v4, and whereas v3 asked “How long?” now the suppliant knows the shaming will come “instantly.”” (Goldingay, p141)

Luther comments on this Psalm: “No one who has not been profoundly terrified and forsaken prays profoundly.” (Selected Psalms 3:141)

* * *

Motyer, Psalms by the Day

Deep Danger, Great Deliverance

A1 The terrified soul (vv1-3)

B1 The first desire: the returning Yahweh (vv4-5)

C Sorrow upon sorrow (vv6-7)

B2 The second desire: departing foes (vv8-9)

A2 The terrified enemies (v10)

V2, bones, the whole frame in its stability and resilience – David feels his body can’t take it any more

V6 I flood my bed, literally I cause it to swim, I saturate it

V6, dissolve, Joshua 14:8; Ps 39:11; 147:18

V7 ashash, 31:9, 10

V9 – Yahweh and prayer stressed

V10, be shamed, all their hopes disappointed

* * *

Feeling my lack of Hebrew

Trying to do some work on Psalm 6 today, I have really felt my lack of Hebrew. Or at least the desire for a consistent word for word translation.

As Michael Wilcock points out in The Bible Speaks Today Commentary, the NIV manages to translate bahel, “suffer” (of bones and soul and enemies 3x in vv2, 3, 10) in 3 different ways.

And of course if one’s translation doesn’t go in for word for wordness, maybe when there are repeated words they don’t reflect the original. Arrgh!

We are presumably meant to pay attention to the repetition and patterning that John Goldingay points out, and to do that we linguistic slow-learners need a translation that brings it out:

“The double “shaming” [of v10] follows on the double “listening” [of vv8-9], and their [the enemies’] great shaking [v10] corresponds to the suppliant’s double shaking [vv2-3]. The “turn” of v10 corresponds to the “turn” of v4, and whereas v3 asked “How long?” now the suppliant knows the shaming will come “instantly.”” (Goldingay, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms, p141)

* * *

Wilson, NIV Application Commentary

Invocation of God (vv1-5)

3 subsections with parallel grammatical structures: v1, vv2-3, vv4-5

Rebuke (v1) – legal term for find to be in the wrong

“Yahweh is viewed at once as both threat and hope” (p178)

V2, hnn, be merciful, lit. be gracious, show favour

‘umlal can be used of withering up vegetation – Is 16:8

Bhl, in agony, terrified out of one’s senses – fear in my very bone

V3 – Yahweh is clearly his only hope

V3b – almost an accusation - “You can almost hear the exclamation points after every word” (p179)

The Torment of Suffering (vv6-7)

Confrontation of Foes (vv8-10)

V8 - Cf. the evil doers of 5:5

Spurgeon, Treasuring of David

Expresses aspects of penitence: sorrow (vv3, 6, 7), humiliation (vv2, 4) and hatred of sin (v8)

Turning point at the end of v7 from plea to confidence in deliverance

V1 - Cf. Jeremiah, “correct me, but with judgement not in your anger”

Chasten me not in anger but in covenant love, sweeten your chastening of me, may it be for my good not for my ruin!

V2 - I droop!, I am withered

V2 – my bones are shaken

“Soul-trouble is the very soul of trouble” (Spurgeon, p57)

V3b – abrupt, words fail him

God is behind and in control of all things.

All problems are in his hands.

The name Yahweh prominent here – 5x in 4vv – God’s name full of comfort

“Churchyards are silent places; the vaults of a sepulchre echo not with songs. Damp earth covers dumb mouths.” (Spurgeon, p57)

V6 - Better to groan to God than to grumble

V8 – our tears are heard and understood in heaven even when words fail us

Appealing from the justice of God to the mercy of God – fleeing from God to God

V3 – God’s timing not ours, known to him but not to us

Even great David could be brought very low

 The believers state, his hope, his plea, his confidence

* * *

Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary

A Prayer in Deep Anguish

A: Prayer for God’s Favor (vv1-3)

B: Prayer for God’s Love (vv4-5)

B’: Need for God’s Love (vv6-7)

A’: Prayer for God’s Favor (vv8-10)