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Tag Archives: Noah

Kuyper, Common Grace 1.4

05 Monday Aug 2019

Posted by memoirandremains in Abraham Kuyper, Uncategorized

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Abraham Kuyper, Common Grace, Noah, Noah Covenant

In this chapter Kuyper underscores a few points: While God had displayed grace toward humanity immediately after the Fall (a point he will develop at length later in the book), that grace was limited. What God did do was permit human beings to live out the implications of their rebellion until the “earth was filled with violence” (Gen. 6:11) [It strangely seems lost upon humanity that violence is evidence of God’s wrath against sin, because God is not restraining sin. Sin is its own punishment and carries within it, its own sorrow. No matter its original appearance, its trajectory is always the same.]

But at the point of Noah, God imposed a new order upon the world: the physical world would never again be such that a universal flood could occur; the animal world changed and the relationship to animals. Importantly, God also acted to restrain certain temporal aspects of sin. God acted to restrain sin: not fully; but he would to permit it to unleash itself upon the world in full furry until the time of the Son of Perdition.

The rainbow was marked as the sign of the covenant (the bow being a war bow, as in bow and arrow).

This points to the spiritual aspect of this covenant which on its face concerns only physical concerns. The covenant as in place to preserve humanity. The purpose of this covenant, lies “with the elect.”

There has been a failure to consider the significance of this covenant, even among theologians and preachers.

There was an ark, when they were shut out

03 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Scripture, Thomas Brooks, Uncategorized

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Noah, Scripture, Thomas Brooks

 

00012730It was rather matter of sorrow than joy to the men of the old world, to know that there was an ark, when they were shut out; and to the Israelites, to know that there was a brazen serpent set up, whereby others were cured, when they died with the stinging of the fiery serpents.1 So how can it comfort me to know that there is peace in Christ, and pardon in Christ, and righteousness in Christ, and riches in Christ, and happiness in Christ, &c., for others, but none for me! Ah, this knowledge will rather be a hell to torment me than a ground of joy and comfort to me. But now God hath in the Scripture discovered who they are that shall be eternally happy, and how they may reach to an assurance of their felicity and glory; which made one [Luther] to say, ‘That he would not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible.’ The Bible is a Christian’s magna charta, his chief evidence for heaven. Men highly prize, and carefully keep their charters, privileges, conveyances, and assurances of their lands; and shall not the saints much more highly prize, and carefully keep in the closet of their hearts, the precious word of God, which is to them instead of all assurances for their maintenance, deliverance, protection, confirmation, consolation, and eternal salvation

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 2 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 319–320.

Translation and Notes 1 Clement 9

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Clement, 1 Peter, Ante-Nicene, Biblical Counseling, Church History, Greek, New Testament Background, Obedience, Preaching, Repentance

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1 Clement, 1 Clement 9, 1 Clement translation, 1 Peter, 1 Peter 3:20, Ante-Nicene, Biblical Counseling, Church History, Enoch, First Clement, Greek, Greek Translation, New Testament Background, Noah, Obedience, Philo, Preaching, Repentance, Sorrow

IX. Διὸ ὑπακούσωμεν τῇ μεγαλοπρεπεῖ καὶ ἐνδόξω βουλήσει αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἱκέται γενόμενοι τοῦ ἐλέους καὶ τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ προσπέσωμεν καὶ ἐπιστρέψωμεν ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς αὐτοῦ, ἀπολιπόντες τὴν ματαιοπονίαν τὴν τε ἔριν καὶ τὸ εἰς θάνατον ἄγον ζῆλος. 2 Ἀτενίσωμεν εἰς τοὺς τελείως λειτουργήσαντας τῇ μεγαλοπρεπεῖ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ. 3 + λάβωμεν Ἐνώχ, ὃς ἐν ὑπακοῇ δίκαιος εὑρεθεὶς μετετέθη, καὶ οὐχ εὑρέθη αὐτοῦ θάνατος. 4 Νῶε πιστὸς εὑρεθεὶς διὰ τῆς λειτουργίας αὐτοῦ παλιγγενεσίαν κόσμῳ ἐκήρυξεν, καὶ διέσωσεν δι ̓ αὐτοῦ ὁ δεσπότης τὰ εἰσελθόντα ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ ζῶα εἰς τὴν κιβωτόν.

 


Translation: Therefore, let us give obedience to his greatness and the glory of his counsel, becoming suppliants of his mercy and goodness; let us fall, let us turn to his compassions – having left behind vaintoil and strife and jealousy which only leads to death. Let us fix our attention upon those true servants of his great splendor. Consider Enoch: he was found a righteous servant and he was translated – even death could not find him. Noah was found faithful in his service: He preached the regeneration of the world, and the Master used him to save the animals who came peacefully into the Ark.

 

Pastoral Use: Clement keeps his focus on the Bible. He relentlessly applies the example of Scripture to the condition of the Corinthians. Notice that he uses the biblical examples to draw out the biblical commands. He knows the biblical injunctions, which he drives home with biblical illustrations.

 

He uses a phrase, “let us ….” Thus, rather than raining down upon the Corinthians a Thus Sayeth the Lord! He exhorts and pleads with them to come to repentance.

 

He lays out the steps and nature of repentance: There is a call to obedience to the glory of God. But is not an obedience which seeks to earn mercy, it is an obedience which simply seeks mercy itself: The glorious will of God is repentance (Acts 17:30). The repentance is a turning to and a turning away: to God and away from sin.

 

This is a useful pattern to follow in biblical counseling and preaching.

 

Translation Notes:

 

 

Διὸ  Therefore. Since God has called us to us repentance (as discussed in the previously section).

ὑπακούσωμεν, let us obey: hortatory subjunctive

τῇ μεγαλοπρεπεῖ: The magnificence, majestic [One]. Adjective used as a substantive, Hansen & Quinn, 125-126. Dative of direct object: see Wallace 171-172.

καὶ:  The kai links clauses of equal status (Runge): thus, obedience and giving glory are of equal status.

ἐνδόξω: to [his will] glorious

βουλήσει αὐτοῦ: his will.

 

καὶ: The kai links these clauses as of equal weight with the command to obedience.

ἱκέται γενόμενοι: suppliants having become. No NT for suppliants.[1]  The verb is an aorist, middle, participle.

τοῦ ἐλέους: of mercy. Objective genitive: suppliants who seek mercy.

καὶ binds the objects of supplication

τῆς χρηστότητος: the kindness, goodness: suppliants who seek kindness

αὐτοῦ: of him: the kindness and mercy come from God. Genitive of source/producer, which he produces.

 

προσπέσωμεν καὶ ἐπιστρέψωμεν ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς αὐτοῦ: Let us fall down and let us turn  ourselves to his mercies/compassions.

The verbs are hortatory subjunctives. Epi + accusative = spatial, upon. The mercies come from him. The verbs are parallel to the preceding verbs: obey, become suppliants, fall before and seek mercy. The action: falling down and turning describes the repentance counseled in the preceding paragraph.

ἀπολιπόντες τὴν ματαιοπονίαν τὴν τε ἔριν: having abandoned/abandoning the vaintoil and the strife

Abandoning is an aorist participle: the abandonment takes place before the repentance as part of a turning from the sin to God.

Vaintoil is mataois: vanity (LXX), futile + ponos: strenuous, painful labor. The sin which they have engaged in is the vaintoil – further defined by the next words.

καὶ τὸ εἰς θάνατον ἄγον ζῆλος: and the jealousy/zeal which leads to death.

Literally: and the to death leading jealousy. For a discussion of the concept of zeal/jealousy is used in the OT see here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/parallel-texts-on-envy-in-ecclesiastes-44-part-2/

Behind this sentence seems to be both the fruit of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21 & Romans 6:21).

Ἀτενίσωμεν: Let us give close attention/fix our gaze

εἰς τοὺς τελείως λειτουργήσαντας: upon those perfect servants. The word for servants refers especially to one who is an official servant, as in a temple or public service. The participle is used substantively.  

τῇ μεγαλοπρεπεῖ δόξῃ: Upon the magnificent glory. This parallels the langague of the first verse of this paragraph. The servants sought/served his magnificent glory.

                                                αὐτοῦ: of him, his: the glory – as it were – streams from him.

 

λάβωμεν Ἐνώχ, ὃς ἐν ὑπακοῇ δίκαιος εὑρεθεὶς μετετέθη, καὶ οὐχ εὑρέθη αὐτοῦ θάνατος.

Let us take/receive Enoch, he who in obedience-righteous being found was translated, and not was found him death (Death did not find him).

 Νῶε πιστὸς εὑρεθεὶς διὰ τῆς λειτουργίας αὐτοῦ παλιγγενεσίαν κόσμῳ ἐκήρυξεν: Noah faithful he was found because of the service his, the regeneration of the world he proclaimed. That is, Noah was found a faithful because of his service: he preached the regeneration of the world.

Παλιγγενεσία: Interesting word: again-born. The word was used by Greek philosophers to discuss a cosmic renewal.[2]  It was used by Philo to discuss the renewal of the world after the Flood. [3]  The word is used by Jesus in Matthew 19:28:

28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:28 (ESV)

It is also used in Titus 3:5

5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:5 (ESV)

καὶ διέσωσεν δι ̓ αὐτοῦ ὁ δεσπότης τὰ εἰσελθόντα ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ ζῶα εἰς τὴν κιβωτόν

And he saved through him the Master [the Master saved through Noah, not Noah the Master]the entering into in harmony living beings/animals into the Ark.

The Master saved (through Moses) the living animals which entered peacefully into the Ark.

διέσωσεν δι ̓ αὐτοῦ: A similar clause is used in 1 Peter 4:20, where Peter writes, “

20 ἀπειθήσασίν ποτε ὅτε ἀπεξεδέχετο ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ μακροθυμία ἐν ἡμέραις Νῶε κατασκευαζομένης κιβωτοῦ εἰς ἣν ὀλίγοι, τοῦτʼ ἔστιν ὀκτὼ ψυχαί, διεσώθησαν διʼ ὕδατος. 1 Peter 3:20 (NA27)

The verb to save diasozo which not exactly rare is not very common. The idea is to bring someone safely through some hazard. It is used in 1 Peter 3:20, also in Acts 27:44 & 28:4 to refer to Paul (and the others) making it safely through a shipwreck. It is also used in Acts 23:24 to describe Paul being brought safely through the assassination plot and to Felix.

The precise reason for mentioning Noah and the harmony of the animals on the Ark seems to be shame the Corinthians: even the beasts were brought to harmony by the service of Noah, but you ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


+ cf. 2 Pet. 1:17

[1] “Adonijah also, as afraid of the king for what he had done, became a supplicant to God, and took hold of the horns of the altar, which were prominent.” (Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987).)

[2]

(47) And, moreover, those persons who allege conflagrations and regenerations of the world, think and confess that the stars are gods, which nevertheless they are not ashamed to destroy as far as their arguments go; for they are bound to prove them to be either red hot pieces of iron, as some do affirm, who argue about the whole of the heaven as if it were a prison, talking utter nonsense, or else to look upon them as divine and godlike natures, and then to attribute to them that immortality which belongs to gods.

Philo of Alexandria and Charles Duke Yonge, The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 712.

[3]

(64) But after the purification, in this way, of all the things beneath the moon, the earth being thus washed and appearing new again, and such as it appeared to be when it was at first created, along with the entire universe, Noah came forth out of his wooden edifice, himself and his wife, and his sons and their wives, and with his family there came forth likewise, in one company, all the races of animals which had gone in with them, in order to the generation and propagation of similar creatures in future.

(65) These are the rewards and honours for pre-eminent excellence given to good men, by means of which, not only did they themselves and their families obtain safety, having escaped from the greatest dangers which were thus aimed against all men all over the earth, by the change in the character of the elements; but they became also the founders of a new generation, and the chiefs of a second period of the world, being left behind as sparks of the most excellent kind of creatures, namely, of men, man having received the supremacy over all earthly creatures whatsoever, being a kind of copy of the powers of God, a visible image of his invisible nature, a created image of an uncreated and immortal original.

Philo of Alexandria and Charles Duke Yonge, The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 496.

Translation of 1 Clement 7:5-7 (Encouragement to Repentance)

15 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Clement, Biblical Counseling, Church History, Greek, Repentance

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1 Clement, Biblical Counseling, Church History, Clement, First Clement, Greek, Greek Text, Greek Translation, Jonah, Noah, Prayer, Repentance, Translation

5 διέλθωμεν εἰς τὰς γενεὰς πάσας καὶ καταμάθωμεν ὅτι ἐν γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ μετανοίας τόπον ἔδωκεν ὁ δεσπότης τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐπιστραφῆναι ἐπ ̓ αὐτόν. 6 Νῶε ἐκήρυξεν μετάνοιαν, καὶ οἱ ὑπακούσαντες ἐσώθησαν. 7 Ἰωνᾶς Νινευΐταις καταστροφὴν ἐκήρυξεν, οἱ δὲ μετανοήσαντες ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν αὐτῶν ὲξιλάσαντο τὸν Θεὸν ἱκετεύσαντες καὶ ἔλαβον σωτηρίαν, καίπερ ἀλλότριοι τοῦ Θεοῦ ὂντες.

 

Notes: To encourage the repentance of the Corinthians, Clement reviews two biblical example of God granting repentance. The examples come from Noah and Jonah/Nineveh which are both interesting in light of the extreme sin of each instance.  The word of repentance was “preached” to them. Those who “obeyed” and cried out in prayer to the Master were saved.

Clement’s argument is both encouraging and also contains a warning. The encouragement is that salvation is open to all who truly repent. However, catastrophe awaits those who refuse repentance. The one who stands over all is the Master.

Clement’s understanding of repentance is interesting:  He avoids both failures of the professing church. First, there is no “easy believism”.  Repentance is equated with “obedience” and sincerely beseeching prayer.   There is no “sinner’s prayer”– now go your way repentance.

Second, he avoids penance or works as the basis of propitiation.  There is nothing beyond prayer/petition and being an obedient one (which is paralleled in Hebrews to belief/faith).  There are no works of reconciliation required or stated: those who prayed received salvation. The “obedience” in context is obedience to the preaching of repentance, those obedience is repentance.

Repentance obtains salvation. There is no hint of a limited salvation or degrees of perfection or purgatory or other levels –just salvation or not.

In terms of counseling technique: Clement calls for repentance and then immediately goes to biblical examples.

Translation:

Let us look through and consider the many generations where the Master gave a place for repentance. Noah preached repentance, and those who obeyed were saved. Jonah preached coming catastrophe to the people of Nineveh – even there, those repenting of their sins –those who in strong prayer sought and propitiated God received salvation – even though they were strangers to God.

Lightfoot:

5Let us review all the generations in turn, and learn how from generation to generation the Master hath given a place for repentance unto them that desire to turn to Him. 6Noah preached repentance, and they that obeyed were saved. 7Jonah preached destruction unto the men of Nineveh; but they, repenting of their sins, obtained pardon of God by their supplications and received salvation, albeit they were aliens from God.

Translation Notes:

Διέλθωμεν: let us proceed/go through.

εἰς τὰς γενεὰς πάσας: through all the generations.

The use of the preposition is not necessary with the verb:

Καὶ εἰσελθὼν διήρχετο τὴν Ἰεριχώ. Luke 19:1 (NA27)

He entered Jericho and was passing through.

Wallace notes, “Therefore, the use of a particular preposition with a particular case neverexactly parallels – either in category possibilities or in relative frequency of nuances – the use of a case without a preposition”(Wallace, 361-362).

καὶ καταμάθωμεν: and let us learn/observe.

Matthew 6:28, “consider [observe/learn from] the lilies of the field ….”

ὅτι ἐν γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ: that in generation and generation.

The dative with the “in” here is the sphere, the time which something takes place. The phrase “generation and generation” means “each successive generation”. Lightfoot has “from generation to generation”.

Hoti functions as a causal conjunction: Wallace, 674. It give the reason for the looking and thinking: Observe that in each generation ….

μετανοίας τόπον ἔδωκεν ὁ δεσπότης: repentance, a place he gave, the Master, the Master gave a place of/for repentance.

Repentance is genitive, thus a place of repentance: a genitive of purpose (Wallace, 100-101). Wallace gives examples of such genitives which are translated in English with the preposition “for”: “sheep destined for slaughter” (Rom. 8:36).

Master is a very exactly word. BDAG has:

one who has legal control and authority over persons, such as subjects or slaves, lord, master

 

William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 220. This is interesting in light of the fact that the subject here concerns repentance.  A Master has no obligation to permit “repentance” of slaves. He is a position to exact punishment. 

In this letter, Clement does routinely refer to the Lord as “The Master”.  The rhetorical advantage is that both Clement and the Corinthians must submit to the Master (which is precisely their problem).

τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐπιστραφῆναι ἐπ ̓ αὐτόν: to those who desire to turn to him.

A substantive participle in the dative: to the desiring ones.  The dative is a dative of advantage, dative of interest (Wallace notes the translation “for the benefit of”).

To turn is an aorist, passive infinitive.  The infinitive is complementary to the participle “desire”. Wallace lists the verb boulomai as a “structural” clue to the complementary infinitive (Wallace, 598).

Epi + the accusative is spatial, “to, toward”.

Νῶε ἐκήρυξεν μετάνοιαν: Noah preached/proclaimed repentance.

Preached: aorist.

Repentance: accusative, the content of what he preached.

Clement plainly took Noah as a historical figure.

καὶ οἱ ὑπακούσαντες ἐσώθησαν:  Those who obeyed were saved.

The obeying ones: substantive participle. This must be Noah’s immediate family – or perhaps some who died prior to the flood. There is no biblical record beyond the family.

Interesting that “obedience” is the response to preaching. In this, Clement is following Hebrews:

18 τίσιν δὲ ὤμοσεν μὴ εἰσελεύσεσθαι εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν αὐτοῦ εἰ μὴ τοῖς ἀπειθήσασιν; 19 καὶ βλέπομεν ὅτι οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν εἰσελθεῖν διʼ ἀπιστίαν. Hebrews 3:18–19 (NA27)

18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Hebrews 3:18–19 (ESV)

And also see the famous discussion of faith and works in James 2. Moreover, it must be noted that Paul saw no conflict between faith and obedience:

through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, Romans 1:5 (ESV)

Ἰωνᾶς Νινευΐταις καταστροφὴν ἐκήρυξεν: Jonah to the Ninevehites catastrophe (Lightfoot, destruction) proclaimed/preached.

Clement, apparently had never read 19th century higher criticism, and like Jesus strangely used the least historically comfortable characters from the OT as illustrations: both Noah and Jonah (like Jesus).

οἱ δὲ μετανοήσαντες ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν αὐτῶν: but those repenting of their sins

The de, a disjunctive particle, emphasizes the turn of both the people of Nineveh and God – especially when it comes in contrast to the kai (and) in the sentence of Noah.

The substantive is again a participle – interesting that Clement is categorizing people by conduct – the repenters (aorist participle).

Upon the(ir) sins:  I could find this precise phrase only here in Clement and in Xenophon:

ὃς καὶ πρὸς τοὺς διαφόρους ἐν τῇ πόλει ὥσπερ πατὴρ πρὸς παῖδας προσεφέρετο. ἐλοιδορεῖτο μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν, ἐτίμα δʼ εἴ τι καλὸν πράττοιεν, παρίστατο δʼ εἴ τις συμφορὰ συμβαίνοι, ἐχθρὸν μὲν οὐδένα ἡγούμενος πολίτην, ἐπαινεῖν δὲ πάντας ἐθέλων, σῴζεσθαι δὲ πάντας κέρδος νομίζων, ζημίαν δὲ τιθεὶς ειʼ καὶ ὁ μικροῦ ἄξιος ἀπόλοιτο·

Xenophon, Xenophontis Opera Omnia, Vol. 5 (Medford, MA: Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1920).

Here was a man whose behaviour to his political opponents was that of a father to his children: though he would chide them for their errors he honoured them when they did a good deed, and stood by them when any disaster befell them, deeming no citizen an enemy, willing to praise all, counting the safety of all a gain, and reckoning the destruction even of a man of little worth as a loss.

Xenophon, Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 7, trans. E. C. Marchant and G. W. Bowersock (Medford, MA: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London., 1925).

ὲξιλάσαντο τὸν Θεὸν: They propitiated (aorist, middle, indicative 3rd plural) God (accusative, direct object). Lightfoot, ‘they obtained pardon’.  Robertson and Donald have, “propitiated God”.

The verb without the preposition is used in the NT and translated as propitiation: Hebrews 2:17. The noun is used in 1 John 2:2 & 4:10. See Dodd’s famous complaint concerning the translation and Morris’ response in The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross.

ἱκετεύσαντες: praying/beseeching.

The participle is in the accusative, being adverbial to the main verb ,propitiate: an accusative of manner.  The noun is used in Hebrews 5:7 to reference the prayers of Jesus.

καὶ ἔλαβον σωτηρίαν: and they received salvation.

καίπερ ἀλλότριοι τοῦ Θεοῦ ὂντες: even though strangers to God.

 

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