Rom5v1 Beyond the basics

Rom. 5:1 KJV ¶ Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Rom. 5:1 jvb ¶ Therefore made (and being made) righteous by (and in) faith, be at peace toward God, my brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ:

The form of the Greek verb gives it a base meaning of "make righteous". The use of the verb in judicial decisions has caused scholars to adopt the meaning "declare righteous". There are two good reasons to reject scholarship. One. The declaration and act of the Almighty are a unity. When He says "This man is righteous", the man indeed is made righteous. Two. The ancient legal use of "make righteous" is akin to our modern use of "not guilty". Both apply to the legal status of the individual in regard to the issue being resolved. It is a sort of legal fiction. The court cannot make an individual either righteous or not guilty, nor even with absolute certainty declare him to be such, even in regard to the issues of the case. But the court is declaring that the individual is to be treated under the law as such in regard to the issues of the trial. When God declares that a man is righteous, that man is righteous (or is absolutely certain to become righteous).

The tense of the Greek verb is aorist. The meaning of the Greek name of the tense is without horizons or without limits. Specifically it looks at an action as a whole. It specifies that the action has begun, in present or past time, but says nothing about duration or ending. It is a tense with eternity future in it. It is unique to Greek. Made available to the New Teatament as the first alphabet was made available to Moses.

An important part of the believer has already been made righteous. His new spirit is "life because of righteousness" (Rom 8.10 - disregard capitalization). The rest of being made righteous is the cleansing (aorist) from all unrighteousness in 1Jo 1.9. (Note that the cleansing from all sin in 1Jo 1.7 is present tense and shows a repetitive action in eliminating the habits and memories of the onetime servant of sin. The believer is aware of this and prays for its success. For the completion of the aorist given gift of righteousness, the believer trusts in the faithfulness and the justice of God. His acknowledgement of sins committed when an unbeliever is a declaration of this trust.)

Rom 5.1 is literally "out of faith". This prepositional phrase (or the phrase "faith of Christ") generally point us to the faith of our Lord when He became sin for us. This ended His normal spiritual communion with the Father and made Him dependant on faith, particularly in the last three hours of His suffering when His being spiritually in outer darkness is indicated. The revelation of the Good News of Christ has its beginning in the faith and obedience of faith of our Lord when He bore the sins of believers. The faith and obedience of faith to the Gospel by the believer are a part of his willing acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior. It is literaly out of faith and into faith in Rom 1.16-17. (See Hab 2.4 Septuagint, Rom 3.22,26 Darby, Gal 2.20. The communicable attributes of the Savior are given to the Christian believer as part of the gift of Christ. This includes faith, obedience of faith, righteousness, and much else.)

The manuscript evidence clearly indicates an exhortative sense to the "having peace" phrase in Rom 5.1. Scholarship maintains that proper literary composition rules out an exhortation at this point in the epistle. There are two reasons to go against scholarship. One. The preposition indicates peace before or toward God. This indicates more an action or attitude of the believer than the acceptance of an action or attitude of God. Two. The new believer has experienced an enormous change. It is natural for him to ask; "What do I do now?". The first thing would seem to be to get rid of all the feelings and attitudes toward God that we had when we were enemies. Phi 4.6-7 is called for from the first and whenever anxiety raises its worrisome head. I have avoided the use of "let" in this and other exhoratives and imperatives which are difficult to render in English because of the relative limitations of the English imperative. The somewhat awkward English imperative is necessary to give the active sense of the Greek exhoratative construction or non-second-person Greek imperative. The "my brethren" compensates for the lack of a first person plural imperative in English.

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Hab2v4 His faith

Hab 2:4 The faith of both Jesus and the believer -J :)

Hab. 2:4 KJV Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

(Hab. 2:4 DRA Behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself: but the just shall live in his faith.

(It is of interest that a Rome approved version is more favorable to the teaching of justification by faith alone than Protestant versions.)

Hab. 2:4 LXA If he should draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him: but the just shall live by my faith.

But our main theme here is demonstrated by the English translation of the standard Old Testament version of First Century Jews and Christians. Few knew Hebrew, but most knew Greek. The Septuagint was their King James.

When the Septuagint is quoted in the New Testament, Its interpretation of the Hebrew original becomes an inspired interpretation and augmentation.  The near exact with clauses reversed quotation of Hab 2.4 LXA above in Heb 10.38 KJV below is an example.

Providence prepared Israel for the new inspired teaching of the New Testament through the augmentation of Hebrew Old Testament inspired teaching embodied in some passages of the Septuagint. These passages are earmarked by New Testament quotation or allusion.

Rom. 1:17 KJV For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Gal. 3:11 KJV But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

Heb. 10:38 KJV Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

The second clause of Hab 2.4 is applied in different ways in three New Testament verses. But in all three "faith" is unqualified by a possessive pronoun. Neither the Hebrew Bible "his faith" referring to  the believer nor the Septuagint "my faith" referring to God is specified. It is simply that "the just shall live by faith". The "my" pronoun of the Septiagint is specifically not denied. Both "my" - God's faith and "his", the believer's faith are true. This is because the righteousness, the life, the faith, and the obedience of faith are received by the believer when he receives Christ as Lord and Savior. Those that are in Christ and have Christ in them share in His possessions and attributes in ways that are plainly delineated in Scripture.

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Heb4v10 Do vs Practice

Heb. 4:10 KJV For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.

After the first six days of the present creation, God rested from his own works.  He now works with and through His creatures: men and angels.  (Men have first place because they are created in His image.)

If we are to have a spiritual part in His present work, we must enter His rest, ceasing from our own works and doing with His assistance those things that are according to his purpose.

Rom. 8:28-30 jvb And we know that for them that are loving God, the Spirit assists in all work producing good for them that are the called according to His purpose.  29 For whom He foreknows, He also predestinates to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  30 And whom He predestinates, He also calls; and whom He calls He also justifies, and whom He justifies He also glorifies.

In the New Testament, a Greek word meaning "practice" seems to apply to works done without the Spirit, without entering God's rest. A Greek word meaning "do" is often used when works are done while resting from self, being assisted by the Holy Spirit, and furthering the conformity of those called in Christ Jesus into His image.  Thayer differentiates the meaning of the two words at the end of the entry for the latter:

"(Synonyms:  ποιεῖν, πράσσειν:  roughly speaking, ποιεῖν may be said to answer to the Latin facere or the English do, πράσσειν to agere or English practise; ποιεῖν to designate performance, πράσσειν intended, earnest, habitual, performance; ποιεῖν to denote merely productive action, πράσσειν definitely directed action; ποιεῖν to point to an actual result, πράσσειν to the scope and character of the result.  In Attic in certain connections the difference between them is great, in others hardly perceptible (Schmidt); see his Syn., chapter 23, especially sec. 11; cf. Trench, N. T. Synonyms, sec. xcvi.; Green, `Critical Note' on John 5:29; (cf. πράσσω, at the beginning and 2). The words are associated in John 3:20,21; 5:29; Acts 26:9, 10; Rom. 1:32; 2:3; 7:15ff; 13:4 , etc.)"

The references giving by Thayer above amply illustrate the point that the words often differentiate truly Christian good works, those done in full enjoyment of God's rest, from one's own works. At other times it seems that God's providential actions through us are differentiated from our own "intended, earnest, habitual" works,

I first noted this difference in the two words decades ago, but have been deplorably slow in letting others know about it. Usage of "do" rather than "practice" in First John first caught my attention, and later the John 3:20-21 usages cited by Thayer. True Christian good works are also defined in Ephesians:

 Eph. 2:10 KJV For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

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Job40v8 Difficult lives

Wisdom for difficult lives -J :) 
Job 40:8 KJV Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

"One of the most intriguing aspects of PPRC is the mandate to stop dwelling on one's symptoms. Talking and thinking about pain or fatigue all the time reinforces the neural pathways for pain and fatigue. Instead, we focus on the small triumphs of each day. We measure life, to borrow chronic illness blogger Christine Miserandino's famous analogy, by the spoonful: getting up on time, being able to walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes, completing simple chores, eating well, having a good laugh, breathing free and easy." - Excerpt from following article.

Measuring Life By the Spoonful

townhall.com / Michelle Malkin / http://bit.ly/1UAss4h aka http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2016/06/08/measuring-life-by-the-spoonful-n2174996

"How is your daughter doing?" is one of the most complicated questions I've had to answer.
As Veronica marks her 16th birthday this month, we are sharing an update in hopes of de-stigmatizing and demystifying life with chronic pain, fatigue and other undiagnosed chronic illnesses.
It's been a year since Veronica lay bedridden, unable to breathe normally, felled by a mysterious combination of neurological and physiological complications that dozens of doctors couldn't quite pinpoint. We thought we had a definitive answer when she was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome last July. But it turned out to be the tip of a medical iceberg.
Though her alarming bout with "air hunger" dissipated and she willed herself back to school part time, she could still barely make it through each day. Despite normal blood tests, her exhaustion, brain fog, migraines and weight loss made it nearly impossible to function.
If you have suffered from chronic illness, you know well the social ostracism that comes with it. "It's all in your head," "Stop being so dramatic," and "You don't look sick" are among the most common responses from armchair doctors.
For teens, the social isolation is wrenching. Veronica lost almost all of her "friends" last summer -- too shallow or self-absorbed to care or comprehend her condition. Depression set in. Despite all our efforts, we were losing her to an abyss of hopelessness.
Then came the Mayo Clinic. The renowned Rochester, Minnesota, medical practice runs a Pediatric Pain Rehabilitation Center for adolescents and young adults with a range of chronic illnesses. The three-week program is basically a boot camp to equip young patients and their families with management skills to get their lives back through intensive cognitive behavioral therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy and recreational therapy.
We learned at PPRC that Veronica's basket of seemingly random comorbidities is common among those diagnosed with dysautonomia, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, hypermobility and pain amplification syndrome. Both her brain and her body are wired differently; the triggers are unpredictable. We learned that the "what" of Veronica's symptoms did not matter as much as the "how" to help her cope day to day.
There are no magic pills. It's a tough-love crash course in hard work, personal responsibility and mind over matter. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that some PPRC patients enter the program in wheelchairs or on crutches -- and leave on their own two feet with the ability to walk or even run after months or years of inactivity. The goal is not to eliminate pain or cure sickness, but to restore functionality.
For Veronica, exposure to and bonding with other teens saddled with similar conditions -- and in some cases, much worse -- was life-changing. It's one thing to be told by a specialist that "you are not alone." It's quite another to join an instant family of young survivors riding the chronic illness roller coaster together.
Since completing PPRC last fall, Veronica has had more good days than bad. She didn't let her migraines, second shoulder surgery for subluxation, severe joint pain or a monstrous bout of OCD stop her from finishing her sophomore year of high school. She has remained close to several of her fellow PPRC grads across the country and made new friends at home.
She received a lot of help along the way. A caring counselor helped her become an athletic trainer at her school -- an activity that enabled her to rebuild her social life. Mental health professionals successfully treated her OCD and depression using a combination of medication and exposure therapy -- an agonizing but highly effective treatment that required her to confront her fears. Gifted physical therapists continue to treat her joint pain and train her to manage it.
One of the most intriguing aspects of PPRC is the mandate to stop dwelling on one's symptoms. Talking and thinking about pain or fatigue all the time reinforces the neural pathways for pain and fatigue. Instead, we focus on the small triumphs of each day. We measure life, to borrow chronic illness blogger Christine Miserandino's famous analogy, by the spoonful: getting up on time, being able to walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes, completing simple chores, eating well, having a good laugh, breathing free and easy.
So, how's Veronica doing? The short answer is that she's doing -- and that's a gift we never take for granted. Happy birthday, my sweet 16 badass. Per aspera ad astra.

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Rev1v1 Roman Bible right

Rev. 1:1 Roman Bible gets "it" right. -J :)

Revelation 1:1 KJV  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Revelation 1:1 DRB  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to make known to his servants the things which must shortly come to pass: and signified, sending by his angel to his servant John,
Revelation 1:1 LITV  A Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show to His slaves things which must occur quickly. And He signified by sending through His angel to His slave, John,
Revelation 1:1 Geneva  The reuelation of Iesus Christ, which God gaue vnto him, to shewe vnto his seruants things which must shortly be done: which he sent, and shewed by his Angel vnto his seruant Iohn,

The King James Version rightly places the word "it" in italics to show that it does not appear in the original language.

Three other versions to my knowledge do better by leaving "it" out altogether.

The object of the angel's signifying or explaining is not obvious.

In fact, common sense might well indicate that "them", referring to "the things which must shortly come to pass" is more probably the correct insertion than "it" referring to "the revelation".

(The notion of the revelation going from Father to Son to angel to John is awkward. The angelic messages beginning in chapters 17 and 21 clearly explain things about to happen.)

I praise God that a Bible version (Douhay-Rheims - DRB) approved for the use of the largest group of baptized humanity by their accepted authorities has avoided the insertion of "it".

(The literal version - LITV of Jay P. Greene - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green's_Literal_Translation - is a late twentieth century translation that omits "it". The Geneva version omits "it", but conceals the different verbs used which have the separate meanings "show" and "signify" by translating "signify" as "show". The men of Douhay-Rheims and Geneva were Englishmen in exile because of differences in belief with the current monarch: Mary in the case of the latter, and Elizabeth I in the case of the former. They were less worldly, perhaps, than other scholars.)

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Fire Dartmouth President?

J :) POLL Fire Dartmouth President?

Read article below and vote at DelphiForum’s Adult Christian Forum http://forums.delphiforums.com/kath/messages/?msg=224280.1
N.B. Federal regulation and subsidy of tertiary education makes this a public, not a private, issue. 

Dartmouth undone, Part Two
powerlineblog.com by Paul Mirengoff http://bit.ly/1spkjcR aka http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/05/dartmouth-undone-part-two.php

As Scott discusses below, Dartmouth has declared that it will not punish the BlackLivesMatter-supporting students who rampaged through Dartmouth’s Baker Library, cursing at and intimidating students as they tried to study for exams. Dartmouth’s decision is disgraceful.
If the concept of a “safe space” has any meaning, it applies to Baker Library. But if you’re angry and Black, you can disrupt that space by insulting students as they go about the business of learning.
Why did Dartmouth take no disciplinary action against the rampaging, threatening students? Meg Ramsden, Assistant Director, Alumni Leadership wrote:
__ After concluding its investigation with respect to the complaints and studying what was seen in the video in Baker-Berry Library, it was determined that there were no specific violations of the Standards of Conduct. In essence, no rules for which there are recorded and communicated sanctions were broken.
But Standard II of the Dartmouth Community Standards of Conduct prohibits Disorderly Conduct, defined as “any disruption of the orderly processes of the College.” Standard II also states:
__ The College requires orderly conduct of all students while in Hanover and its environs, as well as at any College-related function or activity, whether in Hanover or elsewhere. . . .
Studying in a college library is obviously an “orderly process of the College.” The BlackLivesMatter protesters disrupted it through disorderly behavior.
Thus, Rumsden’s claim that no specific violation occurred fails. It cannot be the real reason why Dartmouth let off every student who participated in the Baker Library rampage, even those who threatened students and screamed racist abuse (e.g., “Stand the f*** up!” “You filthy racist white piece of s***!”) at them.
What is the real reason? Either president Phil Hanlon is afraid to stand up to Dartmouth’s radical black students or he believes that their conduct is excusable. Either way, it’s clear that Hanlon is not competent to lead Dartmouth.
In her letter to alums, Ramsden states:
__ Students were counseled in serious conversations about judgment, the pledge of citizenship and behavior appropriate within a civil community.
But the students didn’t take the “serious conversations” seriously. Recently, Dartmouth’s BlackLivesMatter movement tore down a pro-police display that College Republicans erected to commemorate National Police Week. The College Republicans had received approval from Dartmouth to erect the display.
Why wouldn’t the BlackLivesMatter folks tear down the display? They know the administration won’t take action against them.
In her letter explaining why Dartmouth didn’t punish the Baker Library protesters, Rumsden invoked the First Amendment. She said that in an academic setting, “freedom of speech is mission crucial.” She concluded, inelegantly, that “the standards of the First Amendment are what are used to guide this process.”
But the destruction of the pro-police display make a mockery of this claim. Freedom of speech includes the right to display pro-police material. Yet black students were able to deprive other students of this right, apparently with impunity.
At Dartmouth, free speech is a one way street. It protects the right of left-wing Black students to racially insult and threaten white students, but does not protect the right of conservative students to articulate their ideas. How warped!
Is such a College still worthy of alumni support? [My emphasis. N.B. The author and the two other original Powerline bloggers are Dartmouth alumni. All three also have law degrees from differing distinguished institutions.]

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