The Greek word ἀναστήσας (having raised up) in Acts 13:33 is often misunderstood as if it refers ... more The Greek word ἀναστήσας (having raised up) in Acts 13:33 is often misunderstood as if it refers to the resurrection. It actually refers to raising up Jesus as the promised prophet, so it refers to the incarnation when God sent his Son to the world. NIV translates the two verses as follows: We tell you the good news: what God promised our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: "You are my son; today I have become your father." I shall focus on the portion that reads in Greek according to the NA text: ὅτι ταύτην ὁ θεὸς ἐκπεπλήρωκεν τοῖς τέκνοις [αὐτῶν] ἡμῖν ἀναστήσας Ἰησοῦν. Some translations make the resurrection explicit: Good News Bible: And we are here to bring the Good News to you: what God promised our ancestors he would do, he has now done for us, who are their descendants, by raising Jesus to life. As it is written in the second Psalm: 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.' There are some serious textual problems in the Greek text of v. 33, but we first need to discover what this promise to the Jewish forefathers was. Peter, Stephen, and Paul were keen on explaining to their audiences that Jesus was the prophet to replace Moses that God had promised in Deut 18:15,18. Peter refers to it in Acts 3:22, Stephen refers to it in Acts 7:37 and Paul refers to it in Acts 13:33. Acts 3:22: For Moses said, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; (NIV) Greek: Προφήτην ὑμῖν ἀναστήσει κύριος ὁ θεὸς (Lord God will raise up for you a prophet.) Notice that the pronoun "for you" (ὑμῖν) precedes the verb "raise up." Acts 7:37: This is the Moses who told the Israelites, "God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people. (NIV)
Scholars have long debated the chronology of the passion week of Jesus. It is almost impossible n... more Scholars have long debated the chronology of the passion week of Jesus. It is almost impossible not to be confused if one reads an account like the one in Wikipedia. 1 It is not possible to review all the many suggestions within a fairly short paper, so I am trying here to focus on the arguments that I find most relevant.
Romans 7 has been hotly disputed. Does Paul describe himself as a slave to sin or is he talking a... more Romans 7 has been hotly disputed. Does Paul describe himself as a slave to sin or is he talking about someone else?
The meaning of the Greek word ἁρπαγμός (harpagmos) in not clear in this verse. The ending-mos bas... more The meaning of the Greek word ἁρπαγμός (harpagmos) in not clear in this verse. The ending-mos basically indicates an event, so it is helpful to look at the corresponding verb ἁρπάζω (harpazō). This word is very common in the LXX and usually refers to plundering the property of the enemy, including taking captives.
Few verses have been disputed more that this verse when it comes to Bible translation and theolog... more Few verses have been disputed more that this verse when it comes to Bible translation and theology. I'll try to keep myself to linguistics. One of the ways to study the range of meaning of any word or phrase is to look at how it is used in context. When the dictionaries say one thing and the usage of the word suggests something else, I am not certain what to trust the most. The Hebrew word 'almah occurs the following places in the Hebrew OT. I'll quote the RSV translation and indicate how the LXX translated the word: Gen 24:43-44: behold, I am standing by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, "Pray give me a little water from your jar to drink," and who will say to me, "Drink, and I will draw for your camels also," let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master's son.' LXX: ἡ παρθένος-the young woman/virgin Exo 2:8 So the girl went and called the child's mother. LXX: ἡ νεᾶνις-the young woman/girl
A few mistakes were corrected in January 2023) "Sometimes the very point which an author [of a bo... more A few mistakes were corrected in January 2023) "Sometimes the very point which an author [of a book of the Bible] wishes to make may be missed if the emphasis which he makes in Greek is neglected in the translation," warns Harold Greenlee (quoted by Smith 1985:17). Word order is the most common means of showing emphasis in Greek and one way to distinguish the themes in focus from background themes. Since the word order in New Testament Greek is very free, while word order in English is not, the emphasis, which is shown by the Greek word order, cannot be directly transferred to English, nor can it be directly transferred to any other language. All languages have ways of showing emphasis and ways of distinguishing the more pertinent information from the peripheral, but these ways can be very different. A literal translation will quite often miss the point the biblical author is making or at least skew it. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for a translator to study how both the source language and target language mark emphasis. Many people have written about this topic. Some articles appeared in the now defunct Selected Technical Articles Related to Translation (referenced below). While there is some difference of opinion about the details of the analysis, there is general agreement on the basic principle, which can be simply stated and which, in spite of its simplicity, can give considerable new insight even to those who know little Greek. By following an interlinear Greek-English version, one can notice the Greek word order and draw out significant information from that alone. The basic principle about how NT Greek uses word order to show emphasis is not a new discovery. Joseph Rotherham expounded it in 1878 in his book: The New Testament Critically Emphasized. But the principle has only recently been widely recognized. I shall restate the principle as follows: The more to the left an item occurs, the more prominent it is. In this article I shall try to illustrate this basic principle without going into a discussion of theoretical details. I shall first look at word order within the phrase, then within the clause, and finally within the sentence. (Of the articles in the References I especially recommend
Sabaot, a Southern Nilotic language spoken in Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda, displays an inter... more Sabaot, a Southern Nilotic language spoken in Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda, displays an interesting phenomenon of what might be called 'plural action' verb stem formation. It uses techniques such as suffixation on the verb root or reduplication of the root to express a variety of extensions of the meaning of the verb, such as iterative actions, inchoative processes, intensified activity, disagreement among people, reciprocal behaviour, simultaneous action distributed over a series of locations as movement takes place away from or toward a point of focus.
The anointing of Jesus in Luke 7:37-38 took place in the home of a Pharisee called Simon, probabl... more The anointing of Jesus in Luke 7:37-38 took place in the home of a Pharisee called Simon, probably in the major city of Capernaum long before Jesus went to Jerusalem for the last time. Capernaum is identified as a city (polis) in Luke 4:31 and was not only a major city, but the base for Jesus during his ministry. In contrast, Bethany is a small village (Greek kōmē-κώμη), and there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that this anointing took place in the village of Bethany. Some have suggested that this could be the city of Nain, since that is also called a polis, but that is very unlikely. Although Jesus in his travels around Galilee had passed by Nain in Luke 7:11-17, he would not have stayed for long in that city, since his base was Capernaum. In the following section of Luke 7, John's disciples came to Jesus, and they would have gone to where he was known to stay, namely in Capernaum at his usual home, probably the house of Peter's in-laws. We are told that the Pharisee Simon invited him for dinner, but we cannot know if this was the evening after a day of preaching or another day. The Pharisee was interested in listening to this amazing rabbi, but we do not know his motives. It seems to be not very long after John the Baptist was put in prison, since the following section talks about him being in prison and not yet killed.
A few general notes on textual criticism of the Greek New Testament and 3 examples from 2. Corint... more A few general notes on textual criticism of the Greek New Testament and 3 examples from 2. Corinthians
Most people in the Western world have misunderstood the Hebrew expression three days and three ni... more Most people in the Western world have misunderstood the Hebrew expression three days and three nights. The reason is that they make the fundamental mistake of interpreting the expression from a Western perspective instead of a Biblical and Hebrew perspective. We find a similar misunderstanding concerning the expressions the third day and three days after. Inclusive counting is used in Africa and the Middle East even today. Let me illustrate it from 1 Samuel 30:1: David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day (NIV). Two days later David and his men arrived back at Ziklag. (GNB) Because inclusive counting is used, you can either be literal and say "on the third day" as in Hebrew or translate into normal English and say "two days later." If they started the journey on a Monday, that would be the first day, so Tuesday would be the second/next day and Wednesday the third day/two days later. This kind of inclusive counting is used throughout the Bible. The word "Pentecost" comes from the Greek word for 50, because that day is exactly 7 weeks or 49 days after Easter Sunday. Lev 23:15-16 gives the instruction: From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath.
In order to study the meaning of "water and/also/even/as well as spirit" in John 3:5, I suggest t... more In order to study the meaning of "water and/also/even/as well as spirit" in John 3:5, I suggest to look at this from two angles. First, a linguistic word study, and then from the vantage point of communication theory. The reason for my "and/also/even/as well as" is that the Greek kai can have any of these meanings. The word "spirit" is not a problem, since it has its normal sense. A spiritual birth (born of spirit) is different from a natural birth. The problem is what is meant by "water". When I look at how the word "water" is used in the Bible, I find 4 different usages: 1. Literal water 2. Water as a symbol 3. Water as a metaphor 4. Water as a metonym Let me here restrict myself to the 21 times we find "water" in John's gospel, because he has all four usages. The discussion can therefore be applied more widely. 1. Literal water occurs the following verses: 1:26,31,33; 2:7,9; 4:7,13,15,46; 5:7; 13:5; 19:34. The last one is the blood and water from the dead body of Jesus. It is likely that the "water" here refers to blood serum, which is a watery fluid separated from the blood plasma. 2. When the literal water refers to baptism, it also has a symbolic meaning of spiritual cleansing, so 1:26,31,33 can at the same time be listed under the symbolic usage of water. There are no other instances of symbolic usage of water in this gospel, but of course, the word baptism implies water in many cases and has a similar symbolic meaning. 3. Water as a metaphor is used in 4:10,11,14,15 and 7:38. In order to show that Jesus is not talking about literal water, he calls it "living water". This also means fresh water in Hebrew, but it is more likely in these contexts that it means "life-giving water"
Does this verse talk about having childbearing or childrearing? This paper explores the various p... more Does this verse talk about having childbearing or childrearing? This paper explores the various possibilities that have been suggested.
English bibles often translate the Greek word genea as generation. In most cases this is a wrong ... more English bibles often translate the Greek word genea as generation. In most cases this is a wrong translation.
once said: The problem with the Church is that it has one foot in the old covenant and one foot i... more once said: The problem with the Church is that it has one foot in the old covenant and one foot in the new covenant. We need to plant both feet solidly in the new covenant.
One of the most famous and beloved passages in the NT is 1 Cor 13. I have been digging into the G... more One of the most famous and beloved passages in the NT is 1 Cor 13. I have been digging into the Greek text of verse 7 and thought I might share my thoughts with you.
The Greek word ἀναστήσας (having raised up) in Acts 13:33 is often misunderstood as if it refers ... more The Greek word ἀναστήσας (having raised up) in Acts 13:33 is often misunderstood as if it refers to the resurrection. It actually refers to raising up Jesus as the promised prophet, so it refers to the incarnation when God sent his Son to the world. NIV translates the two verses as follows: We tell you the good news: what God promised our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: "You are my son; today I have become your father." I shall focus on the portion that reads in Greek according to the NA text: ὅτι ταύτην ὁ θεὸς ἐκπεπλήρωκεν τοῖς τέκνοις [αὐτῶν] ἡμῖν ἀναστήσας Ἰησοῦν. Some translations make the resurrection explicit: Good News Bible: And we are here to bring the Good News to you: what God promised our ancestors he would do, he has now done for us, who are their descendants, by raising Jesus to life. As it is written in the second Psalm: 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.' There are some serious textual problems in the Greek text of v. 33, but we first need to discover what this promise to the Jewish forefathers was. Peter, Stephen, and Paul were keen on explaining to their audiences that Jesus was the prophet to replace Moses that God had promised in Deut 18:15,18. Peter refers to it in Acts 3:22, Stephen refers to it in Acts 7:37 and Paul refers to it in Acts 13:33. Acts 3:22: For Moses said, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; (NIV) Greek: Προφήτην ὑμῖν ἀναστήσει κύριος ὁ θεὸς (Lord God will raise up for you a prophet.) Notice that the pronoun "for you" (ὑμῖν) precedes the verb "raise up." Acts 7:37: This is the Moses who told the Israelites, "God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people. (NIV)
Scholars have long debated the chronology of the passion week of Jesus. It is almost impossible n... more Scholars have long debated the chronology of the passion week of Jesus. It is almost impossible not to be confused if one reads an account like the one in Wikipedia. 1 It is not possible to review all the many suggestions within a fairly short paper, so I am trying here to focus on the arguments that I find most relevant.
Romans 7 has been hotly disputed. Does Paul describe himself as a slave to sin or is he talking a... more Romans 7 has been hotly disputed. Does Paul describe himself as a slave to sin or is he talking about someone else?
The meaning of the Greek word ἁρπαγμός (harpagmos) in not clear in this verse. The ending-mos bas... more The meaning of the Greek word ἁρπαγμός (harpagmos) in not clear in this verse. The ending-mos basically indicates an event, so it is helpful to look at the corresponding verb ἁρπάζω (harpazō). This word is very common in the LXX and usually refers to plundering the property of the enemy, including taking captives.
Few verses have been disputed more that this verse when it comes to Bible translation and theolog... more Few verses have been disputed more that this verse when it comes to Bible translation and theology. I'll try to keep myself to linguistics. One of the ways to study the range of meaning of any word or phrase is to look at how it is used in context. When the dictionaries say one thing and the usage of the word suggests something else, I am not certain what to trust the most. The Hebrew word 'almah occurs the following places in the Hebrew OT. I'll quote the RSV translation and indicate how the LXX translated the word: Gen 24:43-44: behold, I am standing by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, "Pray give me a little water from your jar to drink," and who will say to me, "Drink, and I will draw for your camels also," let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master's son.' LXX: ἡ παρθένος-the young woman/virgin Exo 2:8 So the girl went and called the child's mother. LXX: ἡ νεᾶνις-the young woman/girl
A few mistakes were corrected in January 2023) "Sometimes the very point which an author [of a bo... more A few mistakes were corrected in January 2023) "Sometimes the very point which an author [of a book of the Bible] wishes to make may be missed if the emphasis which he makes in Greek is neglected in the translation," warns Harold Greenlee (quoted by Smith 1985:17). Word order is the most common means of showing emphasis in Greek and one way to distinguish the themes in focus from background themes. Since the word order in New Testament Greek is very free, while word order in English is not, the emphasis, which is shown by the Greek word order, cannot be directly transferred to English, nor can it be directly transferred to any other language. All languages have ways of showing emphasis and ways of distinguishing the more pertinent information from the peripheral, but these ways can be very different. A literal translation will quite often miss the point the biblical author is making or at least skew it. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for a translator to study how both the source language and target language mark emphasis. Many people have written about this topic. Some articles appeared in the now defunct Selected Technical Articles Related to Translation (referenced below). While there is some difference of opinion about the details of the analysis, there is general agreement on the basic principle, which can be simply stated and which, in spite of its simplicity, can give considerable new insight even to those who know little Greek. By following an interlinear Greek-English version, one can notice the Greek word order and draw out significant information from that alone. The basic principle about how NT Greek uses word order to show emphasis is not a new discovery. Joseph Rotherham expounded it in 1878 in his book: The New Testament Critically Emphasized. But the principle has only recently been widely recognized. I shall restate the principle as follows: The more to the left an item occurs, the more prominent it is. In this article I shall try to illustrate this basic principle without going into a discussion of theoretical details. I shall first look at word order within the phrase, then within the clause, and finally within the sentence. (Of the articles in the References I especially recommend
Sabaot, a Southern Nilotic language spoken in Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda, displays an inter... more Sabaot, a Southern Nilotic language spoken in Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda, displays an interesting phenomenon of what might be called 'plural action' verb stem formation. It uses techniques such as suffixation on the verb root or reduplication of the root to express a variety of extensions of the meaning of the verb, such as iterative actions, inchoative processes, intensified activity, disagreement among people, reciprocal behaviour, simultaneous action distributed over a series of locations as movement takes place away from or toward a point of focus.
The anointing of Jesus in Luke 7:37-38 took place in the home of a Pharisee called Simon, probabl... more The anointing of Jesus in Luke 7:37-38 took place in the home of a Pharisee called Simon, probably in the major city of Capernaum long before Jesus went to Jerusalem for the last time. Capernaum is identified as a city (polis) in Luke 4:31 and was not only a major city, but the base for Jesus during his ministry. In contrast, Bethany is a small village (Greek kōmē-κώμη), and there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that this anointing took place in the village of Bethany. Some have suggested that this could be the city of Nain, since that is also called a polis, but that is very unlikely. Although Jesus in his travels around Galilee had passed by Nain in Luke 7:11-17, he would not have stayed for long in that city, since his base was Capernaum. In the following section of Luke 7, John's disciples came to Jesus, and they would have gone to where he was known to stay, namely in Capernaum at his usual home, probably the house of Peter's in-laws. We are told that the Pharisee Simon invited him for dinner, but we cannot know if this was the evening after a day of preaching or another day. The Pharisee was interested in listening to this amazing rabbi, but we do not know his motives. It seems to be not very long after John the Baptist was put in prison, since the following section talks about him being in prison and not yet killed.
A few general notes on textual criticism of the Greek New Testament and 3 examples from 2. Corint... more A few general notes on textual criticism of the Greek New Testament and 3 examples from 2. Corinthians
Most people in the Western world have misunderstood the Hebrew expression three days and three ni... more Most people in the Western world have misunderstood the Hebrew expression three days and three nights. The reason is that they make the fundamental mistake of interpreting the expression from a Western perspective instead of a Biblical and Hebrew perspective. We find a similar misunderstanding concerning the expressions the third day and three days after. Inclusive counting is used in Africa and the Middle East even today. Let me illustrate it from 1 Samuel 30:1: David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day (NIV). Two days later David and his men arrived back at Ziklag. (GNB) Because inclusive counting is used, you can either be literal and say "on the third day" as in Hebrew or translate into normal English and say "two days later." If they started the journey on a Monday, that would be the first day, so Tuesday would be the second/next day and Wednesday the third day/two days later. This kind of inclusive counting is used throughout the Bible. The word "Pentecost" comes from the Greek word for 50, because that day is exactly 7 weeks or 49 days after Easter Sunday. Lev 23:15-16 gives the instruction: From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath.
In order to study the meaning of "water and/also/even/as well as spirit" in John 3:5, I suggest t... more In order to study the meaning of "water and/also/even/as well as spirit" in John 3:5, I suggest to look at this from two angles. First, a linguistic word study, and then from the vantage point of communication theory. The reason for my "and/also/even/as well as" is that the Greek kai can have any of these meanings. The word "spirit" is not a problem, since it has its normal sense. A spiritual birth (born of spirit) is different from a natural birth. The problem is what is meant by "water". When I look at how the word "water" is used in the Bible, I find 4 different usages: 1. Literal water 2. Water as a symbol 3. Water as a metaphor 4. Water as a metonym Let me here restrict myself to the 21 times we find "water" in John's gospel, because he has all four usages. The discussion can therefore be applied more widely. 1. Literal water occurs the following verses: 1:26,31,33; 2:7,9; 4:7,13,15,46; 5:7; 13:5; 19:34. The last one is the blood and water from the dead body of Jesus. It is likely that the "water" here refers to blood serum, which is a watery fluid separated from the blood plasma. 2. When the literal water refers to baptism, it also has a symbolic meaning of spiritual cleansing, so 1:26,31,33 can at the same time be listed under the symbolic usage of water. There are no other instances of symbolic usage of water in this gospel, but of course, the word baptism implies water in many cases and has a similar symbolic meaning. 3. Water as a metaphor is used in 4:10,11,14,15 and 7:38. In order to show that Jesus is not talking about literal water, he calls it "living water". This also means fresh water in Hebrew, but it is more likely in these contexts that it means "life-giving water"
Does this verse talk about having childbearing or childrearing? This paper explores the various p... more Does this verse talk about having childbearing or childrearing? This paper explores the various possibilities that have been suggested.
English bibles often translate the Greek word genea as generation. In most cases this is a wrong ... more English bibles often translate the Greek word genea as generation. In most cases this is a wrong translation.
once said: The problem with the Church is that it has one foot in the old covenant and one foot i... more once said: The problem with the Church is that it has one foot in the old covenant and one foot in the new covenant. We need to plant both feet solidly in the new covenant.
One of the most famous and beloved passages in the NT is 1 Cor 13. I have been digging into the G... more One of the most famous and beloved passages in the NT is 1 Cor 13. I have been digging into the Greek text of verse 7 and thought I might share my thoughts with you.
Uploads
Papers by Iver Larsen