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Paul didn't take analytic geometry. People in his day would look at spatial dimensions based on how they would measure them, not on a coordinate system. They could measure length all at once, and width all at once. But, height they would measure from ground/water surface level up, and depth from ground/water surface level down. Combining height and depth ...
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The events of Act 15 are dated to AD 48. It is worth noting that Paul and Barnabas solved the immediate problem in a good way. When compromise was impossible ("I want X," "Not a chance"), they parted ways. This also wasn't the first time that Paul and Barnabas had disagreed on how to operate.
Galatians 2:12 Until certain people came from ...
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The OP questions the validity of the article "a" in English versions given the lack of a corresponding word in Greek. I will argue that "a law" is indeed an accurate translation.
There is no indefinite article "a" in Greek; good translations include it with indefinite nouns where required in English. While there are many contexts where a noun without the ...
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1977 and All That
There is a clear consensus marking the starting point of the "New Perspective on Paul" -- it was the landmark publication of E.P. Sanders' Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion (SCM/Fortress Press, 1977). James Dunn (himself among those espousing the NPP) reviewed recent past decades of scholarship on Paul in ...
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1. Paul and rabbinic citation formula
I take it this is OP's primary question. Three factors, at least, come into play in accounting for the absence of such formulae from Paul's writings:
The traditional rabbinic citation form is a product of the schools which post-date the fall of the Temple. I think this is the most important. Although "rabbi" is used (e....
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The question sets out nicely the way in which Paul's broken relationship with Mark was healed and later flourished -- with, it seems, a new depth of character in Mark. Was it, one wonders, a case of Mark growing as a result of the relational trauma with Paul?
There are, however, fewer "dots" to "connect" in the case of Paul's relationship with Barnabas, his ...
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The term Paul used that is translated 'homosexual(s)' came directly from the two Greek words in the Greek translation of the Levitical passage (i.e. the Septuagint, which Paul quoted regularly) condemning homosexuality. Paul "coined" the compound word, but it did not come from a vacuum. The Septuagint's translation of the Levitical passage says, in effect, "...
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Great question. The short answer is that there is nothing explicit in the text of Scripture that proves without question that Paul reached Spain, but there is some evidence (both in and out of Scripture) which suggests that he did (at least to some scholars.)
A couple of sources which you might find helpful are Homer A. Kent, The Pastoral Epistles, (Moody ...
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It's an interesting question, and one that has caught the eye of commentators for a long time. Let's get the text of Acts 7:58b first:
[NASB] ... and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
[SBL GNT] ... καὶ οἱ μάρτυρες ἀπέθεντο τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν παρὰ τοὺς πόδας νεανίου καλουμένου Σαύλου
The term here is νεανίας [...
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Psalm 51:4 (v.6 in Hebrew)
In BHS1 v.4 is v.6, and the construction in Hebrew is an infinitive construct with both a prepositional prefix and a 2nd person singular pronominal suffix attached (בְשָׁפְטֶֽךָ).
The pronominal suffix can be used on an infinitive construct as either a subject or object of the verb.2 That means there is flexibility in the ...
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Short Answer: Yes, they would know what he meant
The longer answer is that the letter to the church in Rome (1:7) was to a mixed group of Gentiles (1:13) and Jews (2:17). Most believe the church started from some of the Jews present at Peter's preaching during Pentecost, the "visitors from Rome" (Act 2:10; NKJV/ESV/NASB).
Starting at 2:17, Paul begins more ...
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One of the critical scholars who believe the attribution to Paul is clearly fictional is Burton L. Mack, who says (Who Wrote the New Testament, p206) the language, style and thought of Titus is thoroughly un-Pauline. He says the ‘personal’ references to particular occasions in the lives of Timothy, Titus, and Paul do not fit with reconstructions of that ...
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Epimenides was himself a Cretan who was born in Knossos and died on the island. Apparently he lived in a cave that was sacred to Zeus. I visited that cave almost 40 years ago and was impressed by the extravagant claims surrounding the various myths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epimenides
If all Cretans are liars, then Epimenides was also a liar. If ...
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1. Question Restatement:
If God really is "All Powerful", then why can't he deny himself? Or, is 2 Timothy 2:13 actually saying that God "will/would not" deny himself - even though he can?
ESV, 2 Timothy 2:13 - if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny [contradict] himself.
This question appears to be related to ...
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NLT translation philosophy is the following (quote from NLT Bible Introduction, emphases mine):
The translators of the New Living Translation set out to render the message of the original texts of Scripture into clear, contemporary English. As they did so, they kept the concerns of both formal-equivalence and dynamic-equivalence in mind. On the one hand, ...
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Don't stretch the metaphors too much. While other passages such as 1 Timothy 5:17 do indicate that the ministry of some people is of a higher status than others, what Paul is saying here in 1 Corinthians 3 is that despite differences in our ministries, we're all one team, and it is ultimately God's work, not ours. Both planting and watering are essential ...
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Paul, in context, leaves no doubt about his monotheism.
1 Cor 8 deals with food offered to idols. As such, we expect the text to deal with "so-called gods". Moreover, I find it interesting that you chose not to include v4 in your quote:
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and ...
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It seems that many people want to quote the lexicon and be on their way, however in this case the lexicon does not tell the whole story.
While the lexicon clearly indicates that the word Arsenokoites came to mean sodomy, it is not at all clear that this is how Paul meant it to be understood. Unfortunately, this word has no established context prior to Paul'...
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We can be sure that Paul also spoke Hebrew fluently. First up, Mishnaic Hebrew was a living language in first century Judea and well-known even among the common people. Along with that, even though modern translations use "Aramaic" when referring to the language spoken in Judea (such as there in Acts 22:2 and 21:40), the Greek reads, "...in the Hebrew ...
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OP's interest in quantifying Paul's (or, if you like, the NT's Pauline tradition) most frequently used designations for "Christians" makes for a challenging question, and one that would take a long time to deal with definitively.
Here is my best shot. Methodology: I have tabulated the figures for the thirteen NT letters in the "Pauline tradition", using the ...
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The simple answer to the question is: we don't know specifically. So what do we know?
He refers to it as an "weakness" or infirmity, as you have it. It's the word astheneia in Greek. The same word is used in both places in 12:9. This "thorn in the flesh" is probably not a reference to the idea of the flesh as the sinful nature, but more likely something ...
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(Note: I am answering this question at the request of another user, made here.)
The "New" Perspective on Paul
The New Perspective on Paul is really a whole collection of overlapping and sometimes disparate viewpoints primarily within Protestantism, calling into question the traditional Protestant understanding of Paul's writings as teaching that ...
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Strong Circumstantial Evidence
Assume for a moment that the author of Revelation is not John the Apostle (my view is that the Apostle did), even though history argues for the Apostle being so and a person named John is given as author (though not directly identified as the apostle as opposed to some other John) in Rev. 1:1.
It would still seriously strain ...
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The KJV is translated from the Textus Receptus from the Greek texts of the Computensian Polyglot, from Erasmus, from Beza 1598 and Stephanus 1550.
Professor Frederick Scrivener, in 1881, produced a learned text in which, from his extensive knowledge of the manuscripts involved, he compiled a Greek text (which sits beside me as I write) being the actual Greek ...
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The phrase in question from the Greek is μὴ ὢν αὐτὸς ὑπὸ νόμον = not being myself under the law.
The MSS that include this phrase include (dates in brackets):
P46(200), 01(350), 02(V), 03(IV), 04(V), 06(VI), 010(IX), 012(IX), 024(VI), 0150(IX), 6(XIII), 33(IX), 104(1087), 256(1100), 263(XIII), 365(XII), 436(1100), 459(1092), 1175(X), 1319(XII), 1573(1200), ...
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First, "Moses and the prophets", or sometimes, "the Law of Moses and the prophets", is a common hendiadys meaning what we now call the OT Hebrew scriptures. John 1:45, Luke 16:29, 31, 24:44, Acts 13:15, 26:22, 28:23, Rom 3:21, etc.
There are many examples of where the NT writers quoted the OT to show that Jesus fulfilled OT prophecies ...
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This is quintessential Hebrew idiom based on multiple hyperbole. Paul is trying to convey the matchless riches of God's love and grace and struggles to find words to express it. He uses three metaphors:
a tree "rooted and grounded in love", ie, firmly anchored and convinced of God's love
size/magnitude, "breadth and length and height and ...
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In Greek, the word "us" is in direct apposition to the word "apostles" - that is, the "us" are the same as the apostles. Paul may be referring to the twelve apostles, but is more likely using the Greek word "apostolos" to mean "messenger / sent one", as it usually does. In this sense of the word, Paul, Silas, and Timothy were all "apostles", in the same ...
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Not ambiguous, but inclusive in meaning
Ambiguity implies two or more possible meanings that are unclear as to which it is, or more broadly simply being unclear. I do not believe that is the situation here at all.
Examining the statements
Let's start with the basically undisputed OT reference Paul is using in Romans.
Habakkuk 2:4
The (very literal) ...
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