Discipleship | A People for His Name

Understanding the Biblical Use of "Dunamai" More Accurately

July 29, 2011

The verb δύναμαι occurs more than 400 times in the Bible in Greek. Of those believers who have heard teaching about this important and widely used verb, many probably have the notion that it signifies an inability to do something in the sense that a person is not capable of doing something.

Although the verb does express that idea in numerous passages, it does not always do so. The following passages show that the verb is used at times to express inability due not to a lack of capability but rather to a lack of authority to do something:

LXE Deuteronomy 16:5 thou shalt not have power to sacrifice the passover in any of the cities, which the Lord thy God gives thee.

BGT Deuteronomy 16:5 οὐ δυνήσῃ θῦσαι τὸ πασχα ἐν οὐδεμιᾷ τῶν πόλεών σου ὧν κύριος ὁ θεός σου δίδωσίν σοι

KJV Deuteronomy 16:5 Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:

LXE Deuteronomy 17:15 thou shalt surely set over thee the ruler whom the Lord God shall choose: of thy brethren thou shalt set over thee a ruler; thou shalt not have power to set over thee a stranger, because he is not thy brother.

BGT Deuteronomy 17:15 καθιστῶν καταστήσεις ἐπὶ σεαυτὸν ἄρχοντα ὃν ἂν ἐκλέξηται κύριος ὁ θεός σου αὐτόν ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου καταστήσεις ἐπὶ σεαυτὸν ἄρχοντα οὐ δυνήσῃ καταστῆσαι ἐπὶ σεαυτὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀλλότριον ὅτι οὐκ ἀδελφός σού ἐστιν

KJV Deuteronomy 17:15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.

In both passages, the verb signifies inability due to divine prohibition and not to an intrinsic lack of capacity to do the actions in view: The Israelites were physically capable of offering the Passover anywhere, but God did not permit them to do so except in the place that He assigned (16:5). Similarly, they could have set a stranger over them as king, but God did not authorize them to do so (17:15).

In Biblical Greek, Biblical Languages, Interpretation

Apostolic Preaching of Repentance and Conversion

July 28, 2011

The great themes of repentance and conversion were part of the apostolic preaching from the beginning (Acts 2:38; 3:26). Paul taught clearly that good works could save no one (Rom. 3:28). But he also taught that consequent good works were a necessity to demonstrate the genuineness of the conversion (Eph. 2:8-10). By grace a person must change the way he thinks and lives, must turn his life around from sin and selfishness to God, and must so live that people can see the seriousness of his choice for Christ. Only the transforming power of Christ can work such a change.

—Stewart Custer, Witness to Christ: A Commentary on Acts, 366

In Quotes

Morning and Evening Corporate Worship of God

July 27, 2011

The OT reveals in at least two ways that corporate worship of God took place both in the morning and in the evening:

“Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. 39 The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even: 40 And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering. 41 And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. 43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. 44 And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest’s office. 45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God” (Exod. 29:39-46; cf. 2 Kings 16:15; 1 Chron. 16:40; 2 Chron. 2:4; 13:11; 31:3; Ezra 3:3).

“And these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers were free: for they were employed in that work day and night” (1 Chron. 9:33).

In the contexts of both of the above passages, the people of God were involved in many other activities of divine worship, both corporately and individually. These passages, however, specify two corporate activities of worship that took place continually both at day and at night.

Do these passages provide at least some biblical rationale for the modern-day people of God to meet at least twice for corporate worship on the Lord’s Day, once in the morning and once in the evening?

In Discipleship, Interpretation

Healed to Sin No More

July 25, 2011

Jesus healed a man who had suffered from an infirmity for 38 years (John 5:5). In their subsequent meeting in the temple, He challenged the man by saying, “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee”(5:14).

The man had suffered greatly with a physical problem for a long time, yet Jesus exhorted him concerning his not sinning any longer. Prior to this statement, the passage does not say anything about the man’s having a sin problem. Why then did Jesus challenge him in the way that He did?

Interpreters differ on the meaning of Jesus’ words to the man. Blum holds that his sin did not cause his malady:

(Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you) does not mean that his paralysis was caused by any specific sin (cf. 9:3), though all disease and death come ultimately from sin. The warning was that his tragic life of 38 years was no comparison to the doom of hell. Jesus is interested not merely in healing a person’s body. Far more important is the healing of his soul from sin.

— BKC: NT, 290; bold in original

Carson argues for the opposite view concerning the man’s sinfulness having caused his condition but agrees about what Jesus was most concerned about:

But although suffering and illness have this deep, theological connection with sin in general, and although John elsewhere insists that a specific ailment is not necessarily the result of a specific sin (9:3), there is nothing in any of this that precludes the possibility that some ailments are the direct consequence of specific sins. And that is the most natural reading of this verse. . . . If so, it is just possible John is also telling us that the reason Jesus chose this invalid out of all the others who were waiting for the waters to be stirred, was precisely because his illness, and his alone, was tied to a specific sin. . . . The something worse must be final judgment (cf. v. 29).

—The Gospel According to John, PNTC, 246; bold words are in italics in the original

Regardless of which view we take to be correct, we should keep in mind that the passage teaches that this man was healed to sin no more. From this passage, we, therefore, should learn not to allow a legitimate concern for the healing of even serious physical suffering in people to keep us from being supremely concerned about their eternal destiny.

In Health, Interpretation, Quotes

Spurgeon on Soul Winning

July 24, 2011

There is a spiritual wooing and winning of hearts for the Lord Jesus. If you would learn the way, you must ask God to give you a tender heart and a sympathizing soul. I believe that much of the secret of soul-winning lies in having compassion, in having spirits that can be touched with the feeling of human infirmities. Carve a preacher out of granite, and even if you give him an angel’s tongue, he will convert nobody. Put him into the most fashionable pulpit, make his elocution faultless and his matter profoundly orthodox, but so long as he bears within his bosom a hard heart, he can never win a soul. Soul-saving requires a heart that beats hard against the ribs. It requires a soul full of the milk of human kindness. This is the sine qua non of success. This is the chief natural qualification for a soul winner, which, under God and blessed of Him, will accomplish wonders.

—The Soul Winner, 223; bold is in the original; underlined text is in italics in the original

In Quotes

Two Vastly Different Reactions to God's Word

July 23, 2011

King Josiah and his son, king Jehoiakim (cf. Jer. 36:1), reacted to the reading of God’s Word in two vastly different ways:

Josiah – “And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes” (2 Kings 22:11).

Jehoiakim – “Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth” (Jer. 36:22-23).

God took note of their differing responses:

Josiah – “But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD” (2 Kings 22:18-19)

Jehoiakim – “Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words” (Jer. 36:24).

God dealt with each king according to how he responded to His Word:

Josiah – “Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again” (2 Kings 22:20).

Jehoiakim – “And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not” (Jer. 36:29-31).

God notes how we respond to His Word and will deal with us accordingly. Let us be like Josiah in receiving the Word of God.

In Bible reading, Discipleship

Praying For God to Avenge Us

July 17, 2011

In Luke 18:1-5, Luke records Jesus’ parable about the repeated appeals of a widow to an unrighteous judge. Jesus gave the parable to convey the necessity of continual prayer in the midst of circumstances that tend to make people lose heart (18:1). Since the widow persisted in her appeals to the judge that he avenge her against her adversary, he gave her the relief that she requested (18:2-5).

Christ demanded that His teaching concerning the words of this unrighteous judge be heard (18:6). He then emphatically asserted through the use of a rhetorical question that demands a positive answer that God, the righteous Judge, in stark contrast to the unrighteous judge in the parable, will certainly avenge His elect who are crying out to Him day and night (18:7a). In the same question, He also taught that God would do so in spite of delays in His response (18:7b).

Furthermore, He proceeded to declare directly that God would quickly give them justice (18:8a). Christ followed up with a question that points to the necessity of faith in God’s ultimate vindication of His own at the coming of the Son of Man (18:8b). The flow of thought in the passage shows that Christ, as the Son of Man, is the One who will execute that vengeance as the Father’s agent.

By giving this parable and its application, Christ validated appeals to God to avenge His own of their adversaries. The emphatic teaching in this parable strongly implies that believers’ crying out to the Father to avenge them of their oppressors is a righteous practice. Such appeals are in keeping with many similar appeals in the Old Testament (for example, Ps. 10) as well as related content in the New Testament (Rom. 15:31; 2 Thess. 3:2).[1]

Furthermore, Christ’s teaching here accords with His own supreme commitment to entrust Himself in His sufferings to the Father as “the One who judges righteously” (1 Pet. 2:23; cf. Luke 23:46). Moreover, this parable underscores that through unfailing prayer to God, faith in Christ is essential for properly handling injustices that believers are powerless to overcome (cf. Acts 7:59-60).[2] Luke’s inclusion of this account in his Gospel argues for the importance of this dimension of the scriptural teaching about Christ as God’s judicial delegate.[3]

[1] Martyred saints in heaven cry out to God for Him to judge and avenge their blood on those who dwell on the earth (Rev. 6:10).

[2] “When the fullness of time has arrived, God will suddenly and without delay put an end to the distress into which His chosen ones will be plunged by a hostile and evil world. There is no doubt about the certainty that Jesus will come again and that God will then make the righteous cause of the faithful triumph completely and forever. . . . [At Christ’s coming], God’s own elect will still continually be praying to Him that justice should be done to them. . . . He concludes the parable with a powerful summons to His followers to maintain true belief in Him, through whom the Father will give final victory.” Geldenhuys, Luke, 447.

[3] Apart from its context, the use of Luke 18:1 as a proof text for encouraging perseverance in prayer, while of some value, does not furnish the people of God with the real substantive teaching of the passage. For example, although he makes many helpful remarks about prayer in general, Warren W. Wiersbe hardly deals with the teaching of the passage about God’s avenging His elect and makes no specific mention of the Son of Man. The Bible Exposition Commentary, 1:247-49.

In Dissertation, Interpretation, Prayer

God's Avenging of the Blood of His Servants through His Anointed Kings

July 15, 2011

Second Kings 9:6-10 relates how a prophet sent by Elisha anointed Jehu to be God’s anointed king over His people at that time for a specific task:

He poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, ‘I have anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel. And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel: And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah: And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.'”

God chose Jehu to be His judicial agent to avenge the blood of His servants (9:6-7). At the hands of Jehu, Ahab and Jezebel would reap fierce judgment from God (9:8-10) because they failed to repent of their wickedness.

Throughout human history, wicked people have shed the blood of millions of God’s servants. The same God who avenged on Ahab and Jezebel the blood of His servants that they had slain will one day avenge on unrepentant evil people the blood of all His servants that they have shed (Rev. 6:10; 18:20; 19:2). God will do so through His ultimate anointed King, Jesus of Nazareth.

Let all hear and fear the wrath of God to come upon those who will not repent of the blood that they have shed. The God who delights in mercy will forgive all those who will repent toward Him and believe in His Son.

God’s people who have suffered the loss of loved ones at the hands of evil people must be assured that He will avenge their blood on any people who have shed their blood and refused to repent. Such bereaved saints must rest in God, pray for the repentance of these murderers, and leave it to the God-appointed King to render vengeance on murderers who refuse to repent (cf. Rom. 12:19-21).

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

In Discipleship, Interpretation

Better Health through Using Selected Supplements

July 13, 2011

Over the years, I have studied a lot of information about health and fitness. I have generally been skeptical of what I have read about supplements that tout themselves as “miracle” cures for all kinds of different problems.

I have benefited from using the following supplements:

Flaxseed oil – helped me overcome digestive system problems that I was having a number of years ago

Vitamin B-12 – after doing a vast amount of research when I came down with Bell’s palsy, I used very high amounts of Vitamin B-12 to help treat my condition. God granted me a speedy recovery with minimal lasting damage.

Vitamin C + E + Antioxidants – I came across information several years ago that suggested increasing antioxidant intake shortly after hard exercise to decrease the soreness. I have been using this protocol for some time now and have found a dramatic decrease in the soreness that I experience after hard exercise or other strenuous physical activity.

Vitamin D – I read quite extensively about the benefits of increased intake of this vitamin before trying it to help me recover from upper respiratory conditions. I have found increased vitamin D intake to be of great value in dealing with colds, sore throats, etc.

In Health

Renewed Strength through Weight Training

July 12, 2011

I first began weight training in my late teens. Because I wanted to be an ice hockey player, I trained intensely for some time and received some encouraging benefits as a result.

Over the years, I have continued to weight train. I do not remember, however, ever quite attaining fully the same levels of strength that I had in my early 20s.

This year, I have been weight training consistently once or twice a week for much of the year. It has been very encouraging to see my strength levels on many exercises increase.

I praise God that He has given me renewed strength at such a high level that I am now approaching strength levels that I had in my early 20s in some exercises! The added strength has made some of my daily tasks easier, and I hope to add more strength still.

In Health

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