Discussion with a Reformed Baptist from England

 

Discussion with a Reformed Baptist from England

Paul Ellingworth on the Use of εὑρίσκω (to find/obtain) in the Middle Voice in Hebrews 9:12

  

The result of Christ’s sacrifice is immediately stated. He has obtained eternal deliverance; for himself, as the middle εὑράμενος implies, but also for worshippers generally, as v. 14b will make clear. The direct and indirect results will be fused in the summary statement of v. 27. Since the participle εὑράμενος does not primarily indicate tense, “exegesis has to decide between antecedent and coincident” or even subsequent “action” (MHT 1.132; cf. Moule 1952.100n.1). Reference to the future effects of Christ’s sacrifice is probably implied, especially if v. 14 is taken as a fuller restatement of the present verse; but it is probably safer to understand εὑράμενος itself as referring to coincident action, as in NRSV “thus obtaining eternal redemption” (so Attridge, following Spicq 2.256, Lane; as against NIV “having obtained,” cf. NJB). On the form εὑράμενος (D² minn. εὑρόμενος), see MHT 1.51; 2.213. Αἰώνιος → 5:9; MHT 2.157. (Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary on the Greek Text [New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1999], 452-53)

 

Jewish/Rabbinic Parallels to Hebrews 6:4-6 and 10:26-29

  

The idea that repentance could become an impossibility in certain circumstances was also common in the ancient synagogue. This was assumed to be the case α. for someone who recklessly sins in the confidence of later repentance;^a β. for someone who knows God’s power and nevertheless rises up against God;^b γ. for someone who initially stubbornly refuses repentance;^c δ. for someone who is fully immersed in sin,^d and ε. for someone who misleads the multitude to sin.^e

 

a. See m. Yoma 8.9 at § Matt 4:17 A, #3, n. e; see ʾAbot R. Nat. 39. 40 and b. Yoma 86B in a baraita at § Matt 4:17, A, #3, n. e. Also see Sir 5:4–7 (Hebrew): “Do not say, ‘I have sinned, and what has happened to me?’ For God is longsuffering. Do not say, ‘Yahweh is merciful, and he will wipe out all my guilt!’ Do not trust in forgiveness in order to add guilt upon guilt, so that you say, ‘His mercy is great; he will forgive the multitude of my sins.’ For mercy and wrath is with him, and his anger rests on the godless. Do not tarry to turn to him, and do not put it off day after day; for suddenly his wrath will go out, and on the day of vengeance you will perish.”

 

b. Jerusalem Talmud Ḥagigah 2.77B.49: (R. Meir [ca. 150] said to his teacher, the apostate R. Elisha b. Abbuyah [ca. 120],) “You possess all this wisdom, and you will not turn (in repentance)?” He answered him, “I cannot!” He said to him, “Why?” He said to him, “Once I rode on my horse on a Day of Atonement, which fell on a Sabbath, past the holy of holies and heard a voice from heaven, which came out from the holy of holies and called out, ‘Turn back, children, except for Elisha b. Abbuyah; for he knew my power and rose up against me!’ ” — The same is found in Midr. Ruth 3:13 (135A); Midr. Eccl. 7:8 (34A).

 

c. See Exod. Rab. 13 (75C) at § Rom 9:18. ‖ See Exod. Rab. 11 (74C) at § Matt 4:17 A, #3, n. e, end. ‖ Exodus Rabbah 11 toward the end: “Yet Yahweh hardened pharaoh’s heart” (Exod 9:12). When God saw that he did not go into himself because of the first five plagues, God said, “From this point on, even if he wants to go into himself, I will harden his heart, in order to collect the full penalty from him, ‘as Yahweh had spoken to Moses’ (Exod 9:12); for so it is written, ‘I will harden pharaoh’s heart’ (so Exod 4:21 is cited).”

 

d. Midrash Psalm 1 § 22 (12B): R. Phineas (b. Hama, ca. 360) said, “He who has completely fallen victim to sin cannot (penitently) go into himself and there will never be forgiveness for him.”

 

e. See m. ʾAbot 5.18 at § Rom 5:15 A, #3. ‖ Tosefta Yoma 5.11 (191): Whoever misleads the multitude to sin, to him the opportunity is not given (by God) to repent, lest his students go down to Sheol (gehenna), while he obtains the future world; for it says, “A person who is weighed down by human blood (has human souls on his conscience) flees to the grave; he will not be upheld” (Prov 28:17) (namely by heaven, by him being given the opportunity to repent, Rashi on Prov 28:17). — Similar statements are found in ʾAbot R. Nat. 40 (10B) and b. Yoma 87A.23. (Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2021], 3:802-3)

 

John I. Durham on Exodus 32:4 and the Golden Calf

  

The widespread presence of bull images in ANE worship has been thoroughly confirmed by Eissfeldt (ZAW 58 [1940–41] 199–215; cf. also Wainwright, JEA 19 [1933] 42–52), and attempts have been made to connect the golden calf with the lunar cult of the god Sîn, brought by the patriarchal fathers from Haran and possibly even reflected in the name “Sinai” (Bailey, HUCA 42 [1971] 103–15; cf. also J. Lewy, HUCA 19 [1945–46] 405–89, and Key, JBL 84 [1965] 20–26), and also with the Egyptian representation of Amon-Re as a bull, “the ‘Bull, chief of all the gods’ ” (Ostwalt, EvQ 45 [1973] 17–19). One scholar (Sasson, VT 18 [1968] 383–87) has even made an imaginative though implausible suggestion that the golden calf is to be understood as a symbol of the “continued, reassuring presence” of the absent Moses (cf. also the proposal of Brichto, HUCA 54 [1983] 41–44). These theories go beyond what the text will allow, not least because the entire composite of Exod 32–34 turns on the fact that the making and worship of the golden calf are an unacceptable idolatry that threatens the destruction of the relationship between Yahweh and Israel. The probability that the calf was a symbol of divinity widely used among Israel’s neighbors of course makes Israel’s idolatry even worse.

 

The apparent acceptance of the golden calf by Israel as their gods “who brought them up from the land of Egypt,” is taken by Faur (JQR 69 [1978] 11–12) as a part of a ritual of consecration by which the people hoped to have God “identify with” the calf and “make his glory dwell among them.” The evidence for such a ritual in the OT is very skimpy (Faur builds his case, for the most part, on Egyptian and Babylonian texts—9–10, nn. 51–54). (John I. Durham, Exodus [Word Biblical Commentary; Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1987], 420-21)

 

Matthew L. Bowen, "Upon All the Nations" (2025) and Notes on Variants between the Text of Isaiah in the KJV and the Book of Mormon

The Interpreter Foundation just published a new article:

 

Matthew L. Bowen, “’Upon All the Nations”: The gôyim in Nephi’s Rendition of Isaiah 2 (2 Nephi 12) in Literary Context,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 67 (2025): 201-28.

 

Matt discusses some variants between the text of Isaiah in the KJV and the Book of Mormon, such as the following:

 

2 Nephi 12:5 (= Isa 2:5):

 

A lengthy textual variant in 2 Nephi 12:5 further establishes the connection between the prophecy of Isaiah 2 and Jesus Christ. Nephi’s text contains the additional invitation and declaration: “yea, come, for ye have all gone astray, every one to his wicked ways.” This additional sentence constitutes a startling intertextual link to the Suffering Servant Song of Isaiah 53, Isaiah’s great poem on the Messiah’s atonement: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). Sin and apostasy are so universal among the nations that they require an atonement that is also universal or “infinite and eternal” (see Alma 34:10, 14). The common solution for “all” humankind is to repent and come unto Jesus Christ. (p. 210)

 

2 Nephi 12:16 (= Isa 2:16) and the addition of “upon all the ships of the sea” and the issue about tricola:

 

The phrase “upon all the ships of the sea” may well represent an ancient variant preserved on the brass plates. The Septuagint variant kai epi pan ploion thalassēs (“and upon every ship of the sea”) alone makes this highly plausible. Another possible solution—and still better than casting about for a modern source —is that the phrase “upon all the ships of the sea” is Nephi’s own universalizing addition to the text, which also appears to be true of the addition of the clauses in 2 Nephi 12:14, “and upon all the nations which are lifted up, and upon every people.” The clause, “upon all the ships of the sea,” like these other clauses, emphasizes the universality of the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord will come upon all the ships of the sea, including those of Tarshish. If Nephi was writing, as he says, “that they [his people and all who would receive his record] may know the judgments of God, that they come upon all nations, according to the word which he hath spoken” (2 Nephi 25:3), such additions would closely align with one of Nephi’s most significant stated purposes in writing. In sum, “upon all the ships of the sea” could have been on the brass plates, but it is also possible that it, along with the other textual additions in 2 Nephi 12–24, originates with Nephi himself

 

The Masoretic text of Isaiah 2:17 and Nephi’s text in 2 Nephi 12:17 are both structured as a tricolon: “And the loftiness of man [ʾādām] shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men [ʾănāšîm] shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” This presence of the tricolon here means that it need not be regarded as irregular elsewhere in this text. The use of the matching terms ʾādām (“man”) and ʾănāšîm (“men”), as in the Masoretic text, again stresses the universality of the coming day of the Lord and contrasts the reduction of human selfi-mportance with the Lord’s glory. In terms of Nephi’s message, these are the same “men” for whom he said that his people might “rejoice” and to whom they might liken Isaiah’s words (2 Nephi 11:8). (pp. 213-14)

 

2 Nephi 19:1 (= Isa 9:1) and the addition of “Red” before “Sea”:

 

It is worth considering the relationship between “Red Sea” in Nephi’s text and a latter-day or eschatological fulfillment of Nephi’s prophecy.

 

When foreign armies—the armies of “the nations,” like Assyria and Babylonia—invaded Israel and Judah, they typically came from the northeast. It was much more difficult to invade by crossing the deserts from the eastern direction. These armies came from the northeast from the direction of the King’s Highway, which subsequently becomes “the way of the Red Sea” in the land “beyond Jordan” (see figure 1). For Nephi, the phrase “the way of the Red Sea” seems to have located the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 9 in the vicinity of where Moses raised up the brazen serpent: “And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way” (Numbers 21:4). Did Nephi identify the location where Moses lifted a serpent-seraph upon a nēs (Numbers 21:5–9) as the first place where the Lord “lift[ed] up” an “ensign” (nēs) to “the nations?” A comparison between 2 Nephi 25:20 and Isaiah 11:10, 12 suggests that Nephi saw a conceptual relationship between these texts, especially given his idiosyncratic use of nations to describe the tribes of Israel in 2 Nephi 25:20. Jesus’s own disciples saw his Galilean ministry as a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 9 (see Matthew 4:14–16). For Nephi, the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah 9:6–7/2 Nephi 19:6–7 would be in the “day of the Lord”:

 

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of government and peace there is no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.

 

The prophetic promises in verse 7 particularly require conditions that will be brought about by the day of the Lord upon the nations. (pp. 217-18)

 

Figure 1 (ibid., 217):

John Granger Cook translating ουτον νομιζειν θεον from Constra Celsum as "consider him a God"

 Translation of Celsus’s complaint from Contra Celsum by Origen:

 

How could we consider him to be a god (τουτον νομιζειν θεον) who, among other things (as people heard), did not make a display of any of the things he promised, and when we had proved him guilty, passed sentence on him, and decided he should be punished (Matt 26:57-66), he was taken while hiding and shamefully running away (Matt 26:47-56)—delivered up (προυδοθη) by those whom he called disciples (Matt 26:48-50)? However, it was not possible, if he were a god, either to escape or to be led away bound, and even least of all if he was considered to be a savior, son, and messenger of the greatest God to be abandoned and betrayed by his companions who had intimately shared everything with him and regarded him as teacher.

--2.9

 

Although Chadwick translates τουτον νομιζειν θεον (“consider him god”) with “regard him as God” here, I think the Jew’s syncretistic perspective justifies the translation above. (John Granger Cook, “Celsus,” in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, ed. Chris Keith [London: T&T Clark, 2020], 3:12)

 

Rosser Powitzky on Isaiah 53:6

  

Isaiah 53:6 is another passage that, when reading through the lens of penal substitution, can sound like sins are imputed to Christ. The ESV, for example, says: “[God] has laid on [Christ] the iniquity of us all” (ESV). The Hebrew word used by Isaiah, however, is paga: [God] paga [Christ] the iniquity of us all.” If Isaiah or another Hebrew author wanted to communicate imputation or transference, they would have used the Hebrew word for imputation (chashab–e.g., Lev 17:4, Gen 15:6). Chashab, however, is never used in Isaiah 53 or in any text involving kaphar. Rather than imputation, intercession is the primary meaning of the root verb paga. Paga is in its Hifil perfect form in Isa 53:6 (see also Is 59:16; Jer 15:11; 36:25), which describes the Lord as causing His Servant to “make intercession” for the iniquities of the people. Intercession is the primary connotation of paga in Isaiah 53:12 as well. “Nasa [took away] the sin of many” in v12 is paralleled by the second phrase “interceded [paga] for the transgressors,” which does not communicate that the servant was imputed with sins. IT denotes a priestly ministry of removing sin through the intercession of God’s messiah. The ESV and NASB both interpret paga as Christ “interceding for transgressors” in v12. This same interpretation should be rendered for paga in v6. (Rosser Powitzky, Clean: How the Jewish Roots of Atonement Unlock the Meaning of Christ’s Sacrifice [2025], 84-85)

 

 

The Greek LXX translates this verse as “God gave [or delivered] him up (paredoken) for the sins of us all,” which is intercessory in language, void of any mention of sin imputation. This verb paredoken is also used by Paul: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up [paredoken] for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:32) (Ibid., 85 n. 77)