I'd love to know why Eugene Nida and/or Barclay Newman make no mention of the word rhomaisti from John 19:20 in A Translator's Handbook on The Gospel of John. And after searching through many lexicons and commentaries I've found almost a complete lack of any useful information regarding how rhomasti is the word for Latin. Why isn't it just "Latin" in Greek? Surely that word can be translated.
The truth is, the word "Latin" doesn't appear in the Bible.
Also, the word rhome, which means, strength, vigor etc. Surely that was a Greek word in which the great city Rome was named after. Why do I only see this mythological explanation about Remus and Romulus? Why has no scholar or researcher explained this? I've looked everywhere.
The image shows a screenshot of Proverbs 6:8 from Swete's LXX. It is also found in Rahlfs LXX. This is the only surviving usage of this word (ῥώμῃ) that I have found.
Mark Galli receives Communion during Mass at St. Michael Catholic Church early Sept. 8, 2020, in Wheaton, Illinois. Add caption
By Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service, September 10, 2020
CHICAGO (RNS) — On Sunday (Sept. 13), Mark Galli will stand before
Bishop Richard Pates in the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet,
Illinois, to hear these words:
“Francis, be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Pates will then dab Galli’s forehead with anointing oil (using a
cotton ball instead of his thumb due to COVID-19). And with that, Galli —
who has chosen his confirmation name after St. Francis of Assisi— will
become a Roman Catholic.
As traditionalists,
opposed to gay ordination, the Gallis joined Church of the Resurrection,
part of the Anglican Church in North America, the breakaway group that
left the Episcopal Church. Barbara, who resettles refugees for World
Relief, remains an Anglican.
Galli’s journey to Catholicism is notable, in part because of the
nation’s political climate. A former Presbyterian pastor, Galli spent
seven years as editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, the premier
publication for evangelicals whose founder was the legendary evangelist
Billy Graham.
But for a few days last December, Galli was perhaps the most
well-known evangelical in the country – after penning an editorial
calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment and removal from office and
arguing he was “profoundly immoral.”
It went viral, earning a rebuke from Trump on Twitter, and bringing
Galli — who retired from the magazine in January — a tsunami of
publicity. Some of his fellow evangelicals praised the editorial as
courageous, given their movement’s overwhelming support for the
president.
Trump’s evangelical supporters labeled it misguided and out of touch.
Now, two months before the election, with evangelical allegiance to
Trump polling as strong as before, Galli is leaving the fold.
As with most conversions, however, Galli insists his is personal, not political.
Now 68, he had already decided by the time he wrote the 2019
editorial that he would quit the Anglican Church he had attended
alongside his wife, Barbara, for 20 years. His conversion was one reason
he decided to retire from Christianity Today on Jan. 3, after 30 years
as a writer and editor in the news outlet’s stable of publications.
“I’m not rejecting evangelicalism,” he said recently in an interview
from his home, a few blocks away from Wheaton College, the preeminent
evangelical school. “I’m only taking Anglicanism deeper and thicker.”
A contrarian who can be at turns gruff and tender, Galli is not
embracing liberalism. Politically he remains an independent and
considers himself a Burkean conservative — one who believes in honoring
tradition and in slow and cautious change.
In that spirit, Galli’s late in life conversion has been gradual and carefully considered.
The first inkling came in 1994 when he served as editor of a magazine
called Christian History and wrote a cover story on St. Francis of
Assisi, whom he admired for his message of simplicity, poverty and
submission to church authority even when he knew the church was not
always right.
In the intervening years, Galli has slowly moved away from the
evangelical mainstream. He started out a Presbyterian, then became an
Episcopalian and an Anglican. For a time he attended an Orthodox church.
Two years ago when Galli expressed an interest in attending the
course of study for Catholic converts called Rite of Christian
Initiation for Adults, his teacher John Ellison, himself a convert, knew
Galli’s mind was made up.
“Once something commends itself to you as true and real, even if it’s
inconvenient, you either look the other way and pretend you didn’t see
it,” said Ellison, “or you do something about it.”
A storied tradition
About 34% of American adults have adopted a religious identity
different from the one in which they were raised, a Pew Research study
found.
For Catholics, most of the switching is away from the faith, not
toward it. Among U.S. switchers, Catholicism has experienced the
greatest net losses. For every convert to Catholicism, six others no
longer identify as such.
But there is also a long and storied tradition of Protestants
converting to Catholicism. They include Elizabeth Ann Seton and John
Henry Newman, now saints. There’s Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic
Worker movement, who is being considered for sainthood. Then there’s the
English essayist G.K. Chesterton and the English actor Alec Guinness
and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Some converts are drawn to the beauty of Catholic ritual. Others to
the church’s rich intellectual tradition or the centrality of the
Eucharist, the bread and wine used for Communion, which Catholics
believe becomes the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
For Galli, all those things were important. So was a certain
weariness with the constant theological polemics and splinters in the
evangelical world.
“I want to submit myself to something bigger than myself,” Galli said.
“One thing I like about both Orthodoxy and Catholicism is that you
have to do these things, whether you like it or not, whether you’re in
the mood or not, sometimes whether you believe or not. You just have to
plow ahead. I want that. If it’s left up to me, I am one lazy
son-of-a-bitch. I will not do anything unless someone comes along and
says, ‘You need to do this. This is really important. This will shape
your life. Come on, Galli. Get off your butt.’”
Mark Galli kneels during Mass at St. Michael Catholic Church on Sept. 8, 2020, in Wheaton, Illinois.
For the past two years, Galli has been attending the daily 6:30 a.m.
Mass at St. Michael Catholic Church, a large parish with about 3,000
families about two miles from his home. He goes to confession twice
monthly. Lately, he has been volunteering to welcome people to the
confession room, and sanitize chairs and door handles in between
sessions.
He said he was “miserable” during the first two months of the pandemic when the church was closed.
“The Mass is a perfect Mark Galli service,” he said. “There’s no
singing. There are no hymns. The homily is five minutes. The whole
service is 25 minutes. They give you a single thought, a single
illustration, a quote, and you’re done. Wow.”
‘I can’t do it anymore’
In some ways, Galli is not a convert. He’s a revert.
Born in California, Galli was baptized a Catholic and underwent First
Communion, mostly, he said, to please his grandmother. By the time he
was 7, his parents quit going to church.
But the summer Galli turned 13, his mother had a born-again experience while watching Billy Graham on TV.
After that, he and his mother attended a “very conservative”
evangelical church where Galli answered an altar call and accepted
Jesus. In his teens, and later at the University of California Santa
Cruz, where he majored in history, Galli attended Presbyterian churches.
After graduating from Fuller Theological Seminary, he pastored churches
in Mexico City and Sacramento.
While still a pastor, Galli discovered the Book of Common Prayer, the
devotional used in the Anglican Communion, and began using it in his
morning prayers instead of formulating his own unscripted version.
“I was tired of the trite phrases I used all the time,” he said. “The
Book of Common Prayer had these magnificent prayers of praise and
confession and thanksgiving, and I thought, ‘That’s what I want to
say!’’’
In 1989, Galli accepted a job as associate editor at Leadership
Journal, a onetime staple of Christianity Today’s roster of
publications, and moved his family from California to the Chicago
suburbs. There, the family joined St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, where
Galli fell in love with the sacraments and the liturgy. He turned in his
Presbyterian ordination credentials.
But the struggles over homosexuality beginning in 2003 when the
Episcopal Church ordained its first openly gay bishop, and later, his
quest as editor-in-chief of Christianity Today to hold an increasingly
fractious evangelical world together, took a toll.
As traditionalists, opposed to gay ordination, the Gallis joined
Church of the Resurrection, part of the Anglican Church in North
America, the breakaway group that left the Episcopal Church. Barbara,
who resettles refugees for World Relief, remains an Anglican.
Mark Galli.
Then for the past seven years as editor-in-chief of Christianity
Today, Galli worked to provide readers a broad tent for Christian
concerns, even as white evangelicals became inextricably intertwined
with Republican politics and Donald Trump.
It was a source of ongoing frustration.
“On the whole, he wanted to lead and shape a magazine that reminded
evangelicals of the good things about their movement, especially at a
time when many of us have seen ugly dimensions of the movement,” said
Katelyn Beaty, a writer and editor who was managing editor of
Christianity Today from 2006 to 2016.
Up until Galli’s editorial calling for the president’s removal,
Christianity Today was mostly quiet about Trump. The directive was to
remain above the fray.
Even as Galli decided Christianity Today should publish an editorial
ahead of the president’s impeachment — as it had in the run-up to
President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998 — he was still unsure he
wanted to rattle the cage.
“I sat down to write a typical Mark Galli: ‘On the one hand, on the
other hand. Let’s listen to one another,’” he said. “I thought about it
for a little bit and decided, ‘You know, I can’t do it anymore.’”
Living under a structure
If Galli had one gnawing frustration with Protestant Christianity, it
was the ceaseless splintering and divisions. He tried to work toward
unity.
It left him exhausted.
Still, Galli takes seriously Jesus’ desire for unity in his farewell prayer.
That left him with a choice, he said — to join the institution that claims to be the one true church.
“True unity requires not just a mental and emotional assent, but
actually an agreement to live under a structure, an ethos, a way of
doing things together,” he said.
To be sure, the Catholic Church is also beset with factions and
theological controversies, but now retired and a layman, he’ll be a step
removed from the squabbles.
Galli conceded that some Catholic doctrines still sit uncomfortably with him.
Then there’s the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal. Galli made his
decision to join the Catholic Church the very week a Pennsylvania grand
jury issued a report showing at least 1,000 cases of abuse by 300
predator priests spanning seven decades.
“The church is deeply in need of reform,” he conceded. “I’m not
joining this holy institution that has it all right. I want to be one
with these Christians who I think represent the true church in some
sense.”
Francis Beckwith, a philosophy professor at Baylor University who was
president of the Evangelical Theological Society before becoming a
Catholic, said conversion can’t be easily rationalized.
“We’re not simply rational beings; we’re also emotional and spiritual beings,” Beckwith said.
Galli, who had planned for his confirmation at Easter before the coronavirus hit, has not wavered.
He said he reminds himself of the breadth and depth of the Catholic
saints: Augustine, Aquinas, Benedict, Ignatius and, of course, Francis
of Assisi, about whom he wrote a book. And he’s dazzled.
On Sunday, Ellison, his sponsor, will join him at the cathedral in
Joliet. COVID-19 rules do not allow Galli to bring guests. The 22 adult
confirmands will wear masks and sit at a distance. It’s not the
confirmation he envisioned. But it’s one he’ll live with.
This is actually the most accurate translation from the Greek out of all the English bibles I've seen. It is the Contemporary English Version (CEV)
We all use judgment. We all judge everything. That is normal (and important) human behavior. So, it's not that we'll be "judged" because we perhaps judged someone's actions. Otherwise, the words of Jesus would clash with any court system that includes judges. The fact of the matter is, every human being who is born and reaches the age of accountability will be judged by God based on our whole life's actions, our thoughts and even every word. Therefore, the way this scripture is often translated ("Judge not, that ye be not judged."), doesn't really make sense. We will all be judged anyway, regardless if we judged others or didn't judge others. However, if we CONDEMN people (like so many do in this world), we are in another level of danger on our judgment day. Matter of fact, Jesus is pointing out that could very well end up being the case. Jesus is teaching us to live a life of mercy, love and forgiveness. That is God's most important lesson to us and the world. It is the "greatest command" from God which was powerfully reiterated by Jesus and His apostles. And this is how hate should be countered in this world.
Love is the answer. And this love is taught to us by God and shown clearly through the life and death of the Christos (anointed) Son of God (Jesus or Joshua).
Here is the rest, which is also very important (context).
2. God will be as hard on you as you are on others! He will treat you exactly as you treat them.
3. You can see the speck in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the log in your own eye.
4. How can you say, “My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye,” when you don't see the log in your own eye?
5. You're nothing but show-offs (hypocrites)! First, take the log out of your own eye; then you can see how to take the speck out of your friend's eye. ~Matthew 7:1-5
God bless you all in and through Christ Jesus, the Son of the Father. Amen.
Tommy Richards
"If you think you are better than others, when you really aren't, you are wrong." Galatians 6:3 CEV
Why do people think they are better than others? God looks at everyone with love and desire to be their God. If you think God loves you, know this: He loves everyone, and sent His Son to die for them all.
We have a huge responsibility as believers. If we really are believers. If we're not true believers, then we need to stop falsely professing faith. Because we will all be held accountable for this sort of thing.
“If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” John 9:41
This one statement by God tells us we need to be brutally honest with ourselves and be very careful what we say and the claims we make. Especially if we are claiming to represent GOD.
PAUL even said, "For now we see through a glass, darkly." (1 Corinthians 13:12a) And in the same letter and context Paul tells us love is far more important than knowledge. So it may be wise to do less talking, and more loving [of God].
Paul, again says, "But the one who loves God is known by God." 1 Corinthians 8:3
But we can't love God if we don't know Him. But if we do know Him, God will pour out His love into our hearts through the holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5) And this can't be hidden. (Matthew 5:14, 15)
Why do we pretend to be such big men and women of God, when we really aren't? Why can't we read God's written word, look at ourselves and be honest? And let that lack DRIVE US into prayer to God for help?
“Suppose one of you goes to his friend at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’
Don't you see what Jesus is telling us here? We don't have the bread of God to give to our hungry neighbors!! Doesn't that hurt?? No?? Why not!!?? IT SHOULD HURT US VERY MUCH
And so we PRAY TO GOD. For our daily bread and bread for our neighbors.
If we truly have Christ in our hearts, we should be able to share Him with others.
Isn't that a beautiful THOUGHT? Well, it should be a REALITY. It MUST be a reality IF we profess faith. If we have no bread, then we have no faith. Or we are dormant, lukewarm or worse.
"And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Do not bother me. My door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’
I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet BECAUSE of the man’s PERSISTENCE, he will get up AND GIVE HIM AS MUCH AS HE NEEDS.
So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Luke 11)
Amen.
And may God bless you all in Christ Jesus His Son.
The ancient fragments of Bible found throughout the world are primarily in Greek. That's because Greek was one of the most important languages in and around Israel before, during and after the time of the Christos (Greek word) Son of God. There was a very important Greek Old Testament collection of books at the time of the Christos too. This Greek old testament is primarily the source of old covenant/testament quotes in the New Testament writings! Yes, Jesus and the apostles and disciples quote old Testament Greek passages into the new covenant writings. Often (when studying the Greek), you will find these quotes exactly the same in both old and new testament writings, even though the ENGLISH translation can be very different. Why? So companies can put a COPYRIGHT on God's word and SELL God's word.
This is why I study every Greek word in the old and new covenant writings and see where these words appear in both testament/covenant writings. This is called "syntax" and is very important in learning the meaning of these words [OF GOD].
One Greek word I want to share today is νουθετέω ("noutheteó" - Strong's G3560) and is often translated into the English word "admonish". But what does "admonish" mean? The answer to this question is very important. So we see it is beneficial for us to study Greek words AND their English counterparts! Doing this while staying in prayer to God is essential for growth in SOUND doctrine!
This word, νουθετέω ("noutheteó" - Strong's G3560), has a wonderful definition on biblehub . com. It reads,
3560 /nouthetéō ("admonish through instruction") especially appeals to the mind, supplying doctrinal and spiritual substance (content). This "exerts positive pressure" on someone's logic (reasoning), i.e. urging them to choose (turn to) God's best.
As we can see, when we understand these words, we can properly "admonish" OURSELVES and our neighbors, and therefore, LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS AS OURSELVES. We all need this admonishment from God's wonderful Word and Spirit. It is the Spirit that deals with the consciences of men! And this work is accomplished when we are born again, seeking God with all the heart and admonishing ourselves through careful STUDY of God's Words!
This Greek word νουθετέω ("noutheteó" - Strong's G3560), is a verb and appears 8 times in the New Covenant writings and 11 times in the Old Covenant writings. The passage I want to share today is in Colossians 1:28: Paul, by the holy Spirit says, "We proclaim Him (Christ), admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ."
You can all see how powerful this statement is and how important it is to understand what is being said so "we may present everyone perfect in Christ"!!
To prevent this message from becoming too lengthy, I will stop there.
May God the Father bless everyone's day in the Name/Reputation of the Christos Son Jesus. Amen!
Tommy Richards
I created these images below (Greek bible study). I recommend the Apostolic Bible Polyglot by Charles Van Der Pool. https://t.co/hxBeJkqSu6
This is an old post that was never posted (taken from wikipedia)
Hegelian dialectic, usually presented in a three-fold manner, was stated by Heinrich Moritz Chalybäus as comprising three dialectical stages of development: a thesis, giving rise to its reaction, an antithesis, which contradicts or negates the thesis, and the tension between the two being resolved by means of a synthesis.
Although this model is often named after Hegel, he himself never used that specific formulation. Hegel ascribed that terminology to Kant.[25] Carrying on Kant's work, Fichte greatly elaborated on the synthesis model, and popularized it. On the other hand, Hegel did use a three-valued logical model that is very similar to the antithesis model, but Hegel's most usual terms were: Abstract-Negative-Concrete. Sometimes Hegel would use the terms, Immediate-Mediated-Concrete. Hegel used these terms hundreds of times throughout his works.[26] The formula, Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis, does not explain why the Thesis requires an Antithesis. However, the formula, Abstract-Negative-Concrete, suggests a flaw in any initial thesis—it is too abstract and lacks the negative of trial, error and experience. The same applies to the formula, Immediate-Mediated-Concrete. For Hegel, the Concrete, the Synthesis, the Absolute, must always pass through the phase of the Negative, that is, Mediation. This is the actual essence of what is popularly called Hegelian Dialectics. To describe the activity of overcoming the negative, Hegel also often used the term Aufhebung, variously translated into English as "sublation" or "overcoming," to conceive of the working of the dialectic. Roughly, the term indicates preserving the useful portion of an idea, thing, society, etc., while moving beyond its limitations. (Jacques Derrida's preferred French translation of the term was relever). In the Logic, for instance, Hegel describes a dialectic of existence: first, existence must be posited as pure Being (Sein); but pure Being, upon examination, is found to be indistinguishable from Nothing (Nichts). When it is realized that what is coming into being is, at the same time, also returning to nothing (in life, for example, one's living is also a dying), both Being and Nothing are united as Becoming. As in the Socratic dialectic, Hegel claimed to proceed by making implicit contradictions explicit: each stage of the process is the product of contradictions inherent or implicit in the preceding stage. For Hegel, the whole of history is one tremendous dialectic, major stages of which chart a progression from self-alienation as slavery to self-unification and realization as the rational, constitutional state of free and equal citizens. The Hegelian dialectic cannot be mechanically applied for any chosen thesis. Critics argue that the selection of any antithesis, other than the logical negation of the thesis, is subjective. Then, if the logical negation is used as the antithesis, there is no rigorous way to derive a synthesis. In practice, when an antithesis is selected to suit the user's subjective purpose, the resulting "contradictions" are rhetorical, not logical, and the resulting synthesis is not rigorously defensible against a multitude of other possible syntheses. The problem with the Fichtean "Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis" model is that it implies that contradictions or negations come from outside of things. Hegel's point is that they are inherent in and internal to things. This conception of dialectics derives ultimately from Heraclitus. Hegel has outlined that the purpose of dialectics is "to study things in their own being and movement and thus to demonstrate the finitude of the partial categories of understanding" One important dialectical principle for Hegel is the transition from quantity to quality, which he terms the Measure. The measure is the qualitative quantum, the quantum is the existence of quantity.
"The identity between quantity and quality, which is found in Measure, is at first only implicit, and not yet explicitly realised. In other words, these two categories, which unite in Measure, each claim an independent authority. On the one hand, the quantitative features of existence may be altered, without affecting its quality. On the other hand, this increase and diminution, immaterial though it be, has its limit, by exceeding which the quality suffers change. [...] But if the quantity present in measure exceeds a certain limit, the quality corresponding to it is also put in abeyance. This however is not a negation of quality altogether, but only of this definite quality, the place of which is at once occupied by another. This process of measure, which appears alternately as a mere change in quantity, and then as a sudden revulsion of quantity into quality, may be envisaged under the figure of a nodal (knotted) line".
As an example, Hegel mentions the states of aggregation of water: "Thus the temperature of water is, in the first place, a point of no consequence in respect of its liquidity: still with the increase or diminution of the temperature of the liquid water, there comes a point where this state of cohesion suffers a qualitative change, and the water is converted into steam or ice". As other examples Hegel mentions the reaching of a point where a single additional grain makes a heap of wheat; or where the bald-tail is produced, if we continue plucking out single hairs. Another important principle for Hegel is the negation of the negation, which he also terms Aufhebung (sublation): Something is only what it is in its relation to another, but by the negation of the negation this something incorporates the other into itself. The dialectical movement involves two moments that negate each other, a somewhat and an another. As a result of the negation of the negation, "something becomes an other; this other is itself somewhat; therefore it likewise becomes an other, and so on ad infinitum" Something in its passage into other only joins with itself, it is self-related. In becoming there are two moments coming-to-be and ceasing-to-be: by sublation, i.e. negation of the negation, being passes over into nothing, it ceases to be, but something new shows up, is coming to be. What is sublated (aufgehoben) on the one hand ceases to be and is put to an end, but on the other hand it is preserved and maintained. In dialectics, a totality transforms itself; it is self-related.
"Because the climate of Egypt is especially favorable for the preservation of antiquities—desert conditions prevail south of Cairo, as one goes up the Nile Valley—an astonishing number of very early Coptic manuscripts have been discovered, dating from AD 300 onwards, and the number continues to grow.
"Coptic literature, which survives in a number of dialects, comprises both original works and translations from the Greek and was mostly intended for use in the non-Greek churches and monasteries of Egypt. It includes several translations of the Bible made from Greek starting about AD 300, which are a very early indirect attestation of the Greek text and a direct indication of an Egyptian (perhaps Alexandrian) understanding of what it meant: the Coptic versions are of great importance to modern scholars of Biblical textual criticism." ~COPTIC IN 20 LESSONS by Bentley Layton - Professor of Religious Studies and Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Yale University.
Read free online: "Coptic Biblical texts in the dialect of Upper Egypt" by Budge, E. A. Wallis, Sir, 1857-1934
"Contains Coptic versions of the Books of Deuteronomy,
Jonah, and the Acts of the Apostles, from the papyrus Codex Oriental
no. 7594, and the Book of the Apocalypse from the paper manuscript,
Oriental no. 6803."
"The oldest known copy of any translation of ... the Greek Bible."
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Budge says in the Preface: "The texts in the papyrus Codex are of great
importance, for the script in the Greek hand which comes at the end of
the Acts of the Apostles proves that the volume cannot have been written
later than the middle of the fourth century. Hence it is now certain
that copies of some Books of the Old and New Testaments, written in
Coptic, were in circulation among the Egyptian Christians early in the
first half of this century: and it is legitimate to conclude that the
origin of the version itself cannot be placed later than the third
century. The Codex is, in fact, the oldest known copy of any translation
of any considerable portion of the Greek Bible: indeed it is probably
as early as any copy now in existence of any substantial part of the
Bible."
That was in the early 20th century. Not long after, an
incredible discovery was made. In the forward of Crum's thousand-page
Coptic Dictionary, we read "...Only in rare instances did a Coptic
document preserve a text, or part of a text, whose Greek original was
lost, in which case it became the only source..." "All this changed
dramatically with the discovery late in 1945 of the Nag Hammadi codices.
The discovery consisted of thirteen Coptic codices copied about the
middle of the fourth century C.E. (A.D.)..." "Suddenly, learning Coptic
became the middle-age crisis of the New Testament and Patristics
scholars and produced another language requirement for their doctoral
students." "The thirteen codices contained fifty-two tractates, but
since six are duplicates, there are only 46 works. All are translations
from Greek, and most were composed in the second and third centuries
C.E." ~Forward by James M. Robinson (The forward contains many more
important details which you may read after purchasing online, as I have
done.)
As you can probably (hopefully) see, there is good cause for attention to be paid in this field of study!
If anyone is interested in learning basic Coptic language and grammar, I
recommend reading and/or printing the [free] book found online:
"Layton, Bentley. Coptic in 20 Lessons: Introduction to Sahidic Coptic
With Exercises & Vocabularies. Leuven. Paris and Dudley. Peeters,
2006." which is required for Washington University's "COPTIC 101 A:
Introduction to Sahidic Coptic". Best wishes to all, in and through Christ Jesus!
The Coptic language is an incredible language based off the Greek. It was in use between 200BC and 1700 and many ancient bibles were translated into Coptic from Greek and was used to preserve the Bible! Yet ANOTHER proven fact of how important and popular the #Septuagint#LXX was and IS. Here is a graph I put together comparing the Coptic alphabet with the Greek alphabet, and a link to the page where I am gathering information and PDFs of Coptic Bibles with Greek and English notes, Coptic dictionaries, Bible commentaries and a learner's Grammar. https://www.septuagint-lxx.com/coptic
May God Almighty bless you through His Christos Son, JESUS. Amen.
"Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek." John 19:20
Important verse to think about and consider. Those three languages were very popular in that region. And this verse amplifies the importance of the Septuagint Greek Old Covenant writings. Because that was the MAIN bible at that time. It was practically all they had, studied, and quoted from. As the New Covenant writings hadn't been written yet.
In chapter 6 of the book of Acts we read how "...the Grecian Jews ("Greek-speaking Judeans" = "Ἑλληνιστῶν") began to grumble against the Hebraic Jews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food." Acts 6:1b "daily distribution of διακονία." διακονία = "waiting at table; in a wider sense: service, ministration." (Strong's concordance).
So seven GREEK - Jews were chosen.
"Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will appoint this responsibility to them and devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:3, 4
"This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, as well as Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism." Acts 6:5
If you study these 7 names you will see they were all GREEK names!
Again, we see how important Greek was right in the New Covenant writings!
On a more personal note, Greek and Latin are easiest for me to study and understand because the English language is largely based on them. I see many whole and partial English words right in these ancient languages. And this helps to UNDERSTAND these WORDS OF GOD *BETTER* (GREAT EMPHASIS ADDED). And the IMPORTANCE of this, cannot be expressed adequately with words!
Written by Tommy Richards of septuagint-lxx.com and spirituallysmart.com to the glory of God the Father by and through His Christos Son Jesus. Amen.
Amen, to what Peter says in this verse! This, he said in response to the Gentiles officially being accepted into God's family through faith in Christ. And the event was confirmed through the giving of, immersion of, the baptism in God's holy Spirit. Cornelius and his household were born again, anew, fathered, begotten from above. Just like the Judeans were on Pentecost, as Jesus promised. According to Bible historians, Cornelius and his household being accepted by God was approximately 10 years after Pentecost. The Gentiles being justified by and through faith in Christ was somewhat shocking to the Judean believers. But they could not deny what had happened to Cornelius and his friends and family. And they could not deny all the Scriptures which foretold of this event. Peter being the important vessel God used to introduce this fact to the Judeans in Jerusalem. PAUL then became God's main ambassador to the gentiles. He was perfect because no one was more offensive and contrary to God than Paul. If God could save Paul, God could save the gentiles and offer all His promises to them through faith in His Christos Son. And indeed, God has done just that. Gentiles have an ADDITIONAL reason to worship, thank, and praise God the Father through Christ.
The two verses that came to mind while writing this were:
1. "Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too," (Romans 3:29)
2. "Take notice, therefore, of the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off." (Romans 11:22)
Because, do you think that the knowledge of such an incredible act of God's love and mercy, and His bestowal of His Spirit to us through the death and shed blood of His SON is for nothing? After becoming witnesses of God's reality through the baptism in God's Spirit through faith in Christ, do we pretend nothing happened? Were we not indeed made a new creation? Should not all our thoughts and actions be carefully weighed through prayerful study of God's word? And should we not repent at the reading of His word and allow God's fire to burn away anything other than God's pure teachings? Should we not DO as PAUL teaches us gentiles? Did he not warn them straightly over and over, with tears? Did he suffer everything he suffered for nothing? Isn't this what God's Spirit is pressing upon you when you read His written word? I hope so. Otherwise, our hearts are still like stones. The new heart is needed for God to be able to sow His seed. The perfect soil for planting and growing. That needs to happen FIRST. THEN we can grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ, eventually. We must be born anew. Like the Judeans on Pentecost. And like Cornelius ten years later. And we must strive to do everything PAUL wrote to those who received the Spirit of Christ. As he said, "You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." Romans 8:9
So what can we do to receive God's Spirit? We must first BELIEVE. And only through the unmerited, unearned gift from God can we have this faith. And how does one receive faith from God? Answer: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” "So, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Romans 10:13-15, 17
That's how you become saved, the gift of God opening your hearts to His gospel and His enabling us to endure to the end of our lives. And how does one become condemned? Jesus tells us through the book of John. During His incredible conversation with Nicodemus, He says, "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. AND THIS IS THE CONDEMNATION: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.” John 3
And there you have it. The direction from God. Go to Him for forgiveness. He will grant you forgiveness through His Son. One will only seek forgiveness if one feels sad about what they have done. And one feels bad because our sins separate us from God and His blessings.
At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have HIDDEN these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children [(those small in their own mind)]. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight. Matthew 11:25-26
It's the lowly sinners who hear the message of God. If you feel sad for your sins, that's a blessing. Turn to God now and trust in Him for eternal life.
Here is a prayer I said when I was born again. Say it to God;
"My Lord and my God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I believe Jesus the Christ died on the cross and shed His precious blood for the forgiveness of all my sins. I believe Jesus raised from the dead and ascended into heaven and is now on the right-hand side of God listening to this prayer. I open up the door of my heart and I invite You in, Lord Jesus. Thank you, God, for saving my soul and I vow to serve you with all my heart which is the first and greatest commandment. Amen."
Written by Tommy Richards, to the glory of God the Father through His Anointed Son Jesus. Amen.
