proskyneo. Go on, say it. Say it out loud. Pros-koon-eh-o.

Or, did you say pros-koon-glottal stop-o?

You know the glottal stop. It’s what you do when you say the word “button” in normal speech, if you’re American anyways. Also, the glottal stop is infamously employed by Cockney speakers (cf. Ricky Gervais). There’s nothing wrong with the glottal stop. I’m not saying there is, but I don’t think it belongs in an anglophone’s pronunciation of Greek verbs, or any ‘phones pronunciation for that matter.

So please stop glottal stopping. And perhaps go with the open-mid front unrounded vowel instead.

Note, I’m not being a prescriptivist; a prescriptivist would say, “Don’t say…” I’m only kindly requesting you don’t. =)

Dikaioo means “to declare righteous” not “to make righteous.” This is accepted by two theologians on either side of the New Perspective discussion, N. T. Wright¹ and Robert L. Reymond.²

“Leon Morris points out that ‘verbs ending in [-oo] and referring to moral qualities have a declarative sense; they do not mean “to make __.”‘”³ Therefore Reymond willingly concedes that justification is “an objective forensic judgment.”⁴

Where’s Room for Imputation?

How then can definitions of justification contain “make” language as one finds in definitions that include imputation of Christ’s righteousness? Consider how Reymond characterizes justification (emphasis original; red text mine):

“[J]ustification refers to God’s wholly objective, wholly forensic judgment concerning the sinner’s standing before the law, by which forensic judgment God declares that the sinner is righteous in his sight because of the imputation of his sin to Christ, on which ground he is pardoned, and the imputation of Christ’s perfect obedience to him, on which ground he is constituted righteous before God.”⁵

“Constituted righteous”? Here constitutive, or “make” language as I’ll call it, creeps in, subsumed under declaration justification. Reymond’s next sentences are helpful for further elucidating this point (emphasis original; red text mine):

“In other words, ‘for the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly’ (Rom. 4:5), God pardons him of all his sins (Acts 10:43;Rom. 4:6-7) and constitutes him righteous by imputing or reckoning the righteousness of Christ to him (Rom. 5:1, 19; 2Cor. 5:21). And on the basis of his constituting the ungodly man righteous by his act of imputation, God simultaneously declares the ungodly man to be righteous in his sight.”⁶

Here Reymond is clearly defining justification as containing a declarative action and a constitutive action when on the very next page he will approvingly cite Leon Morris’ conclusion that dikaioo and verbs like it “have a declarative sense [and] they do not mean ‘to make’.”

Where’s room for the constitutive language of imputation on this understanding of dikaioo?

Imputation in Rome

If when in Rome one is does as the Romans, imputation is in Rome because it is doing as the Romans.

Reymond repeatedly writes that “justification is an objective forensic judgment, as opposed to a subjective transformation” and backs it up withDeut. 25:1,Job 32:2,Proverbs 17:15, andLuke 7:29.⁷ He’s attempting to distance the Reformed position as far as possible from “Rome’s tragically defective representation.”⁸

But how is imputation not also “subjective” as Reymond classifies the Roman Catholic understanding of justification which holds to infused righteousness? Imputed and infused are both “subjective,” a understanding that goes against Morris’ definition of dikaioo.

Wright on Dikaioo

Augustine interpreted “justify” as “make righteous.” “That always meant, for Augustine and his followers, that God, in justification, was actually transforming the character of the person. . . .”⁹

Let me just let Wright continue in his own style and words with what he’s saying (emphasis original):

“The result was a subtle but crucial shifting of metaphors: the lawcourt scene is now replaced with a medical one, a kind of remedial spiritual surgery, involving a ‘righteousness implant’ which, like an artificial heart, begins to enable the patient to do things previously impossible.

“But part of Paul’s own language, rightly stressed by those who have analyzed the verb dikaioo, “to justify,” is that it does not denote an action which transforms someone so much as a declaration which grants them a status. It is the status of the person which is transformed by the action of ‘justification,’ not the character. It is in this sense that ‘justification’ ‘makes’ someone ‘righteous,’ just as the officiant at a wedding serve be said to ‘make’ the couple husband and wife . . . .”¹⁰

In other words, Wright is reiterating the point that justification with a right understanding of dikaioo describes a verdict rather surgery. Imputation like infusion both seem to be surgery.

Feedback

Am I missing something?

photo credit: lambdachialpha

photo credit: Lawrence OP

Sing for Joy

Every Sunday morning the pretentiously titled local classical station–The Classical Station–airs several syndicated programs featuring sacred music. One of those is Sing for Joy, a production of Minnesota’s St. Olaf College. Every week the College Pastor presents choral music selected to coincide with the readings from the revised common lectionary. The result is a beautiful production that is well worth your listen, especially if you come from a non-liturgical tradition such as I. I’ve found that keeping up with the common lectionary vocally enhanced by world-class choirs is a delightful way to connect with the Church universal. Sing for Joy presents that certain bountiful depth of sacred music that is too often forgotten. My only disappointment is that the broadcasts, as far as I can tell, are not available via podcast. There is, however, a vast streaming archive available on their site of current and past episodes. You can listen wherever you are no matter the day of the week. Check it out.

Lectionary at Lunch

I discovered this second gem on iTunesU. Concordia Seminary St. Louis hosts an enviable Lectionary at Lunch group every Wednesday that is led by a professor who reads through the OT and NT lessons in Hebrew and Greek, translates them and discusses particular points of interest. The podcast of the group is available free of charge and is well worth your listen, especially if you’re interested in exegesis, translation and original language study. I can’t tell you how beneficial this is to listen to. Check it out.

Today’s my birthday, my twenty-fourth birthday: April Fool’s Day. I’ve done a few things in my twenty-four years of existence but when I compare myself to others before me, I fall short. Really short. When I pointed this out to my wife, she replied, “But did they know how to DJ?” If it’s either/or, I’ll leave djing behind in a heartbeat. Check these guy out; different times and places, I know, but seriously: check these guys out.

John Calvin

• By the age of twelve he was a bishop’s clerk. I was just a jerk.
• Soon after, he started college and began taking Latin from one of the greatest teachers of the language. I waited until my senior year of high school to take Latin I. I started college at eighteen.
• By age twenty he had been to two or three different universities and knew Greek. OK, so we’re about even on this point though I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to say I know Greek.
• At twenty-three his commentary on Seneca was published. Only things I’ve ever published are right here through WordPress.
• At twenty-four some thought him a heretic for being aligned with reformation-esque sentiment. He fled. Though I try to punk people out in a Reformation spirit, nobody listens and I needn’t flee.

John Gill

• By age ten he had read through the entire Greek New Testament and began teaching himself Hebrew.
• Mastered Latin classics by age eleven. At age eleven, I mastered my BB gun.
• Before his teens, local clergy would stop by and find out what little Johnny thought. Sunday School teachers told my parents what a brat I was.
• He was the first Baptist to develop a complete systematic theology and a verse-by-verse commentary on the whole Bible. I was probably the first toddler to poop on a church sidewalk.
• He was called Dr. Voluminous. Me? Not even a doctor.
• There was a saying in his day “As sure as John Gill is in the bookseller’s shop.” A saying based on me might be, “As sure as Drew is on his laptop.”

Jonathan Edwards

• At eleven he wrote a remarkable essay on spiders. By eleven, I had barely even killed one.
• Started at Yale not even thirteen years-old. Me: Marshall University, age eighteen.
• At twenty, he pastored a church in New York. At twenty, I hadn’t even been to New York, let alone a pastor.
• Around the age of twenty-three he wrote his rigorous and convicting Resolutions. I’m a slacker now twenty-four.

I Am What I Am

What do I take solace in on my birthday knowing that these Johns before me have accomplished way more than I by my age? Djing. Playing records on turntables. Nay!

Paul writes in1 Corinthians 15:10,

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Twenty-four down? Twenty-four down. Let’s keep moving, working harder by God’s grace that is with us.

Or should I say that Zhubert is gone for bad? It is truly lamentable that Zhubert.com and other Greek New Testament (GNT) projects utilizing the MorphGNT database are running into copyright issues with the German Bible Society (GBS).

For example, where Zhubert once provided a portal for the study of the GNT it now reads:

It has come to my attention that the MorphGNT team has had to pull their text offline at the request of the German Bible Society, so this site is offline as well. As their database was the heart of the window-dressing we provided here, there’s not much to show without it.

Others projects like Open Scriptures, an open source project in the works to carry on the baton of Zhubert, is running into similar copyright infringement problems as it utilizes the same MorphGNT database which is in question. Why MorphGNT is still available I’m not sure. The MorphGNT web site says it will be back soon; but I wonder if “soon” isn’t an overly-optimistic word choice. I would hope all efforts are being made to bring projects involving the GSB’s copyrighted text into full compliance.

German Bible Society

When the pioneer of Open Scriptures emailed the GBS concerning the use of their text in his open source project, he received this reply:

The German Bible Society is a not-for-profit religious foundation. Its
mission, in collaboration with other members of the United Bible Societies,
is to promote biblical research and worldwide Bible translation work in
order to make the Bible available to everybody in their own language.

Biblical research and translation work costs a lot of money. Therefore,
according to the standing rules of our foundation, we have to earn money
with our texts to enable further Bible translations worldwide.

Please understand that as a matter of principle we don’t license the NA27
or the UBS4 Bible text for open source projects.

Regarding the “MorphGNT with UBS4″ on the Open Scriptures website: This is
again a copyright infringement as the basis of the text is the UBS4. We ask
you to remove this text from your website, too, as we are the copyright
holder of the UBS4.

The GBS is not to be blamed for bringing or slowing these projects down. Their principles are sound and understandable and should be respected by those looking to forward any Scripture project. At the same time, it can be desired that an agreement be reached in which all parties benefit from their labors and are equipped to continue with their projects. I know I’m not the only one hoping for such a cooperative, Scripture-propagating outcome.

Watch the “Licensing and the German Bible Society” thread on the Open Scripture forum for updates.

Alternative: E-sword

While online projects work to reach an agreement with the GBS, those interested in GNT studies can make use of the exceptional freeware E-sword which utilizes public domain texts not in danger of copyright infringement. E-sword offers six GNT Bibles free for download: the Majority Text, Scrivener Textus Receptus, Robinson/Pierpont Byzantine Greek New Testament (w/ Strong’s), Textus Receptus Greek New Testament (w/ Strong’s), Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament (w/ Strong’s), and Greek New Testament (w/ Variants). Though these are obviously not the UBS4/NA27 text, they are very good, helpful and important for original language study. Don’t overlook ‘em!

A Word about the Robinson/Pierpont Byzantine GNT

Of the above six versions of the GNT freely available, the most salient, in my opinion, is the Robinson/Pierpont Byzantine Greek New Testament. Here is a life’s work carried on by a professor at my seminary (SEBTS), Maurice Robinson, who believes that the Word of God should not be copyrighted nor sold for profit. It is the Word of God and for all. Praise God for such labors of love!

The Bottom Line

Don’t get rid of your red UBS4!

In my own words, an etymological root fallacy is anachronistic retrospective eisegesis. Dunamis (power) is most often the unfortunate victim of such shoddy (mis-)interpretation. What do I mean by this cumbersome phrase “anachronistic retrospective eisegesis”? Well, it is a looking back (retrospective) on a word which predates English (anachronistic) and forcing the meaning of a present day English word back onto that Greek word (eisegesis) from whence the English word came. So, for example, people read dunamis inRomans 1:16 and think that dynamite’s root in this Greek word gives the reader license to read dunamis with this present day concept of dynamite; but bear in mind that Paul had no concept of dynamite when he wrote that the gospel is the power (dunamis) of God for salvation. Therefore, don’t read any concept of dynamite back onto dunamis though the English “dynamite” undoubtedly comes from it.

It may preach, but it’s not correct!

It could just be that the most important Greek word for the Christian man is found only three times in the New Testament. Paul Coughlin in his forthcoming book Unleashing Courageous Faith: The Hidden Power of a Man’s Soul claims that the average, emasculated Christian man needs to tap into what the Greeks called thumos, or courage. (Interestingly enough, English versions translate thumos in its three occurrences as “wrath.” Cf.Romans 2:8, Ephesians and 4:31 andRevelation 15:1.)

This book may have worked better (though it is still forthcoming and too early to tell for sure) on the heels of John Eldredge’s similarly-themed books, Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul, etc. (Note the similarity of subtitles even!) Having therefore read Eldredge, Coughlin’s message strikes me as a bit outmoded. I feel like I have read this before and learned more about the author’s dog than biblical masculinity (the first chapter “When a Dog is More Manly”). It’s a been there, done that kind of feeling.

Although, to quickly contradict myself, its message does seem consonant with a recent trend in evangelicalism toward encouraging boys to grow up and to be men. The Harris brothers’ Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations is representative and immediately comes to mind. Also, the social justice telos of Coughlin’s thumos contemporizes what is otherwise Eldredge recycled. This push towards real, meaningful action (rather than fishing or climbing a mountain) may be wherein lies the book’s contribution to masculinity.

The critique of Unleashing Courageous Faith I have to offer is much of the same offered concerning Eldredge’s work: a lack of biblical exegesis while drawing deeply from the well of cultural media (movies [in this case Wizard of Oz], songs, etc.). Coughlin’s observations and questions are on target while his response repeatedly returns to a need for thumos. He asks good questions but gives no timely answer based on Scripture, favoring instead the Greeks’ notion of raw man-courage. His proposed solution to the lack of masculinity which is based on Greeks, movies, Nobel prize laureates, and songs in the end proves burdensome when the solution that seems apparent to me is Jesus.

Yes, many have an effeminate Jesus in mind when they consider our Lord, but the solution is not to tap into a Greek notion of man-courage, but to study the ways of our Lord in the Scriptures. While tapping into thumos feels burdensome, there is one who says,

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:25-30).

This is a gender-inclusive mandate from Christ to examine his ways and learn from him. Would that the time spent meditating on the latent kernel of man-courage thumos be better employed studying the ways of Christ.

Codex Sinaiticus Project website goes live July 24, 2008.

phil-omni-glot (from Greek phil “love” + Latin omni “all” + Greek glot “tongue, language”) : noun. A lover of all languages. (A personal coinage of yours truly.)

Why love all languages?

The point has been made that the reason people from every tribe, language, people and nation are seen worshiping around Jesus’ throne inRevelation 5 is because people from every tribe, language, people and nation will find him all-satisfying. In other words, what is special about the one true God is that people from every ethnicity and tongue find in him what they need and they worship. God is therefore not a tribal deity whose “splendor” is seen by a select, remote view, but he is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and his Son is the One through whom all that has its existence was created (John 1:3).

Analogy: If I design a pair of shoes and only people in West Virginia like them, I won’t be a failure, but I won’t be a complete success either. However, as in the case of Nike, if I can design shoes that are desired and praised by people all over the world, that points to a superior shoe. A diverse body recognizes its value.

By his blood Jesus ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev. 5:9). This is their “new song” (Rev. 5:9a), praising this act. The answer then as to why to love all languages is because God loves all languages and ransomed people from every language by the blood of his Son. Moreover, the telos of each of those languages is to find praise and adoration for the Lamb who was slain and is worthy on the lips of the ransomed speakers.

The Christian has another reason to love languages: because the Scriptures were written in other languages (i.e., not English). Consequently, since I know you’ve heard of sermon jams, you’ll want to give the John Chapter 1 Jam herein linked a listen (featuringJohn 1:1-3 from the Greek New Testament and the Latin Vulgate courtesy of GreekLatinAudio.com [sorry, maybe one with Hebrew will be forthcoming]).

Long live philology!

A friend I gained over the summer while studying Biblical Greek for three semesters has changed names. Zhubert.com is now ReGreek.com, The Resurgence Greek Project. There’s an interview with the lead guy behind the project over at the Resurgence blog. They have a wonderful vision of providing the interested learner with free tools and resources in a slick, cutting-edge interface, wedding the study of God’s word with technology.

In our goal to resource multiple generations to live for Jesus so that they can effectively reach their city with the gospel by staying culturally accessible and biblically faithful we must not only study our city, as well we must study our bibles. The Resurgence Greek Project helps you study the Bible more effectively and more easily than ever before. No more flipping through numerous resources or problem solving an online tool that was designed in the early 90′s. Re:Greek brings you the latest technology to study the most timeless treasure, God’s Word, as part of the free online resources of theresurgence.com.

Fantastic.