Sunday, November 16, 2008

More thoughts on the Bible's Levels of Meaning

Last post I said:

"There is the historical level of meaning. At a minimum, every verse has a historical meaning because all of the Bible was dictated by God and recorded as part of the Bible at some point in space and time. Additionally, on those occasions when the Bible makes a fuller statement of history, the Bible does so infallibly."

Every verse also has a moral dimension. At a minimum, that moral for life on this earth is that the Bible is to be obeyed, read, heard, meditated upon, and studied as much as possible.

" My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee." Proverbs 3:1-2

So also every verse of Scripture has a spiritual dimension; that is, every verse of the Bible has something to do with the spiritual realm. This can be seen in the fact that the Bible did not originate in the physical realm. The Bible did not originate in the earth, or in the minds of men. The Bible came from God, who is spirit.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Timothy 3:16-17

"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: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw." Revelation 1:1-2

Sunday, November 02, 2008

The "Fall" is not a Misnomer: Yet Another Proof

I was studying Romans 5 today, and a close look at Romans 5:18 reminded me about all that nonsense some weeks ago in an internet forum about Adam being created subject to the wrath of God; and that being the case, Adam did not "fall".

Romans 5:18 reads, "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."

The greek word underlying "offence" is very revealing. This is the greek word, "paraptoma" [Strongs 3900] which literally rendered means "a fall aside". This is the noun form of the greek verb, "parapipto" [Strongs #3895]which literally means "to fall aside". Hebrews 6:6 renders parapipto [3895] as "fall away" which is close, but "fall aside" is more accurate.

paraptoma [3900] is rendered numerous times as "trespass". "Trespass", whose core meaning has to do with the ideas of overstepping or unlawful infingement, is not a bad translation of paraptoma but it does not completely capture the essence of the meaning of the word. A number of times 3900 is rendered "offence", and it is occasionally translated "fault". All of these renderings are more metaphorical.

In Romans 11, though, we get some clarity. Verses 11 and 12 read,

"I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall [pipto (without the prefix para) Strongs #4098]? God forbid: but rather through their fall [paraptoma, Strongs # 3900] salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall [paraptoma, Strongs # 3900]of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?"

Here, the noun paraptoma is paired with its core root verb pipto which means "fall". Thus there can be no mistake that God in Romans 5:18 describes Adam's sin of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden as a "fall". Thus, saying the "Fall of Adam is a misnomer" is unbiblical.