2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

This passage occurs on Ash Wednesday (Year A) and also Year C, Lent 4.

Summary:  There is so much going on in this passage!  This is my first time preaching on these words and so my comments below are my first observations!

Things I am observing

1)  The power of verse 21 should not be lost in translation.  This is a radical transformation of Christ to become sin.  This verse is crucial (get it, crucial) in understanding Luther's thought.  Paul makes a claim about how Jesus fully embraces our humanity here to the point of becoming sin.  (Not simply a sinner, but αμαρτια, sin itself).  It would take centuries for people to realize just how amazing Paul's claim here is.

2)  For Paul, the "therefore" of ministry is never far away from the "what God has done for you in Christ."  6:1 is a really harsh call to action -- "Don't let the grace of God become empty (κενος)."  Paul knows this word, for in Philippians he claims that Christ first emptied himself for us.  

So, it is worth asking ourselves then -- what does it mean not to take the grace of God in vain?

Paul calls forth a life of servanthood -- διακονια.  While the modern conception of "deacon" is sometimes solely focused on acts of mercy and hands on service, Paul here links the idea of διακονια with two things

a)  the ministry of sharing the good news of Jesus

b)  suffering.

3)  A big debate within theology for the last 500 years at least as been whether we are to start with the law and conclude with the Gospel or start with the Gospel and conclude with the law.  However, what I want to point out is that while Paul does here move from Gospel (he became sin for you) to Law (don't let the grace of God be in vain), he does not end up with a legal schema.  The life of the Christian is not simply obedience to the commandments, but discovery of God's resurrection power amid life's suffering.  The fruit of the Spirit is not that we all fit the mold, but that we discover the cruciform life is actual life, life that cannot be contained or controlled.

4)  5:20 presents a translation challenge.  Paul writes, "We are ambassadors for Christ, "ως του θεου παρακαλουντος δι' ημων"

What is tricky is the word "ως" which can mean "like" or "how" or "as."  Some people want to make this "as" in a "as if" kind of way:

as though God were making his plea through us. (NET)

Other wants to make this "as" to say "as by means of":  God making his appeal through us (NRSV, ESV)

I think that both of these translations, while faithful, do not fully capture what I see as Paul's point -- God is the one doing this work. Furthermore, I think the word "appeal" is a really watered down translation of παρακαλεω, which also means to comfort, encourage and console.  Appeal might seem like we have to argue Christ's case rather than be ministers for Christ's sake.  So I propose:  

"We are ambassadors for Christ as God comforts through us"

Matthew 4:1-11

This passage occurs during Lent in the Revised Common Lectionary (Year A) and Epiphany (Year 1) of the Narrative Lectionary.

Summary:
This is a text of testing.  That verb, πειραζω, appears three times!  Testing allows us to discover the nature of something.  What do we discover?  We discover that the devil is pretty good at tempting...tempting with the flesh, the power and the glory.  Even using scripture!  More importantly, we learn that Jesus draws his strength from the Word of God.  We learn that the Word of God comes from God's mouth, brings life in the wilderness, overcomes evil and is even worshiped by angels.

Key Words:

πειραζω & εκπειραζω ("tempt" or "put to the test,"  Found in 4:1, πειρασθναι (aorist passive infinitive), 4:3, πειραζων (participle present) and 4.7, εκπειρασεις (2nd person future)):   BDAG offers that this word means, "to endeavor to discover the nature or character of something by testing."  In this story, we discover the nature of two people, both the devil and Jesus.  The devil is the one who tempts us, tempts us with the flesh, glory and finally deceptive power, all so that we would worship him and not God.  He will quote Scripture and has no fear of God.  We learn also, here, by experience, that Jesus will draw on his power from the Word of God.  He alone, and not the devil, is master of Scripture.  He will also be ministered by angels, and though human, cannot be defeated by human weakness, but only by the will of God.

Note:  Although a slightly different word, εκ-πειραζω, is used when Jesus says to the Devil, "Don't test God," (4:7) I don't think this distinction is key.  It means essentially the same thing.  Furthermore, because it is a direct quote from the LXX, Jesus (Matthew) is forced to use it instead of simply, "πειραζω."  Regardless, this word comes into English in very clear way: "experiment"!  (literally e-x-p-e-r-i-m-e-n-t) Jesus is saying, "Don't experiment with God!" 

εκπορευομαι   ("come out" 4:4, εκπορευομενω (dative participle))  This word here is a fairly common word in Greek -- "come or go out."  What is significant here is that is goes hand and hand with the word and the mouth of God.  God's Word does not stay still, but goes out from God's mouth.  And what does it do?  It brings life in the middle of the wilderness and overcomes all evil.

προσκυνεω and λατρευω ("worship" 4:10, προσκεησεις & λατρευσιες (2nd person future))  προσκυνεω comes from the Greek for "forward kiss" as in lean down to touch and kiss the ground in front of the person.  λατρευσιες can also mean worship, but has to do with serving God in the temple, or more broadly, serving God as a way to fulfill obligations.  The root of the word is payment!  In the sense of "paying one's vows" before God.  When you put these two together, you have the image of full body worship, with both our knees (on the ground) and our arms (serving God through the offering plate, the acts of worship).

διακονεω ("serve" 4:11, διηκονουν (imperfect))  This word means to "serve" like a waiter serves on tables.  It comes into English and the church vocabulary through a variety of servant ministries.  It might be fun to play with the connection between worship service (4:10) and service as worship (4:11).  In the early temptation, Jesus (and we as humans) are tempted to worship the devil with his knees.  Here the temptation is about worshipping with our feet through acts of service.  You could argue that the angels fulfill the word of the Lord as the both worship and serve Jesus.

Grammar:  εαν vs ει

εαν is nice for translators.  It means "if" in a truly hypothetical sense.  "εαν" it rains today, the game will be canceled.  For example, in Matthew 4:9, the devil says, "εαν" you throw yourself down Jesus, I will give you all of this.
ει, however, is much harder.  It can mean "if" or "since" or "because not" depending on the context and the verb moods used around it.  Let's look at 4:3:
ει υιος [ει] του θεου, ειπε ινα οι λιθοι ουτοι αρτοι γενωνται
The  [ει] has breathing marks that indicate it is a form of the verb "to be," in this case, "are."  In fact, most of the words in this sentence an individual learns in the first couple weeks of Greek:
if son are of God, say in order the stones these bread [some form of become]
Because you know the sentence, you probably piece it together:
If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread.  Why the subjunctive γενωνται?  Why ουτοι?  For another day!  In this sentence, it seems odd that the devil would wonder if Jesus is the son of God.  The devil is saying, more likely, "As the son of God, do X, Y and Z."  Not only does this make more sense in the narrative, but grammatically, the fact that the verb [ει] is in the indicative and not subjunctive mood, also suggests this.

Matthew 5:21-37

This passage occurs in the Epiphany season of the Revised Common Lectionary (Year A).  Most recently it occurred in February 2023.
 
Summary:
This passage is brutal, even in the Greek. 

Typically English translations water down the Greek.  For example, in 5:25, most translations have Jesus saying, "Settle the matter."   He is more likely saying, "Get on good and friendly terms." 

However, the Greek makes the passage on divorce and adultery more complex, not necessarily more intense.  The word for a divorced woman in 5:32 is "the freed one."  The grounds for adultery, furthermore, probably mean more than simply lustful looking.  I am not sure if these subtleties change the preaching approach (which is "Lord have mercy"), but they might be helpful in studies with people to talk about lust, marriage, freedom and reconciliation.

Key Words for Preaching and Teaching:
ευνοων ("make friends" (participate of ευνεοω), 5:25).  This word occurs only once in the New Testament. 

The NRSV and NIV translate this along the lines of "come to terms quickly."  The original Greek here is sharper, meaning "make friends with."  Jesus wants more than simply a truce, he wants friendship!

επιθυμησαι ("desire" (aorist infinitive of επιθυμεω), 5:28).  This word does not necessarily imply sexual desire.  It simply means desire (literally:  upon-soul).  The NT uses this verb to refer to good desire, such as a desire for the coming of Jesus (Matthew 13:17).  So the verb is itself not sexual or "dirty."  Furthermore, given the use of this verb (within a "προς" infinitive construct), Jesus here means more than simply "looking at a woman" but means something more like, "looking with the purpose of desiring her" or "looking with the result that your heart is upon her."  Jesus is not saying that all looking at a woman is lustful, but lustful looking is already adultery. 

λογου πορνειας ("matter of unchastity", 5:32).  Jesus offers this a potentially acceptable reason for divorce.  But what does it mean?  Both of these words have easy English cognates:  "logos" comes into English in the many words that end in -logy; "porneias" comes into English in the word pornography.  The combination is a bit strange, though.  "A word of porn" might be one literal translation.  A better translation is probably to treat λογου (here in genitive) as "matter." 

But what about πορνειας?  This can mean having sex out of wedlock and includes prostitution.  It covers the spectrum of "non permitted sexual intercourse."  It is odd that Jesus, while discussing adultery as a sin before God, expands the definition of adultery; when discussing grounds for divorce he seems to narrow the scope of adultery.  Maybe he wants to make sure that people don't think that lustful looking constitutes divorce?  If anything, he seems to offer narrow grounds for divorce:  sexual misconduct, which includes but is not limited to prostitution.  The NRSV (unlike the NET here, yuck), hits the nail on the head.  The Message also offers a helpful translation:  "If you divorce your wife, you're responsible for making her an adulteress (unless she has already made herself that by sexual promiscuity)."

απολελυμενην ("divorced" (passive feminine participle of απολοω), 5:32).  This participle does not naturally mean divorced, but actually, "freed" or "released."  It is interesting that Jesus used this word here -- if you marry one who is freed, you commit adultery.  It is also interesting that the woman is not seen here as the one committing adultery.  The Message bible translation connects these two by suggesting that the one "freed" is the one who committed the sins earlier in the passage.  Not necessarily!  I find it powerful that the word for divorced is "freed."  Many divorced people might find a glimmer of comfort in this!

αρχαιοις ("ancient" from αρχαιος (dative plural); found in 5:21; 33). This word, from which we get "archeology," simply means old or ancient. It is used in the form here "the ancients." The question is, what is Jesus speaking about: the ancient days, the ancient times, the ancient generations? Not much worth investigating here, but wanted to point it out why translations differ.  Jesus implicitly critiques but affirms the tradition.   

Translation and Grammar Review:
Matthew 5:27, You have heard:  "Do not commit adultery."  Let's unpack what should be an easy sentence!  (And get around the road blocks it throws up!).
ηκουσατε οτι ερρεθη ου μοιχευσεις

ηκουσατε:  Remember here that Jesus is speaking not to individuals, but to everyone.  Hence the plural ending.  Also, this verb is really a familiar one, but the aorist changes the first letter.  If you run across words beginning with η switch it to an α and see if you recognize it.  ακου...should be a familiar root!

οτι:  Can mean because or that.  When used with a sense verb (hear, say) it is almost always "that"

ερρεθη:  This is an odd form (aorist passive) of a very common verb:  λεγω.  Unless you read Greek a fair amount, the odd forms of words in the aorist or aorist passive are probably not going to be remembered.  No big deal.  This is what Bible works is for.  "To speak" in the aorist passive is simply, "was said"

ου:  When Jesus retells the OT commands, he presents them in an unusual way. The 10 commandments, when given to Moses in Hebrew, are not really commandments in terms of their linguistic form. They read, literally, "You are not murdering" instead of "Do not murder."  (If they were "Do not murder" they would be in the form with μη+aorist verb).  The odd use of language here is meant to emphasize the strict nature of these commandments.  Hence why Jesus (and everyone else in the New Testament) uses "ου" instead of "μη."  As a way to express this in English, most translators have used "shall" instead of "do" (natural English command form) or "will" (most linguistically faithful word to original Greek and Hebrew).

μοιχευσεις:  Adultery.  Now what that means is tough.  Does this include premarital sex?  Ten years ago I would have said no, but now I think it does.  (In Biblical times, one does not conceive of sex outside of wedlock - it is either prostitution or you are going to get married).

Alas, sometimes easy words make for hard sentences to translate!