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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | The error addressed in 2 Peter | Bible general Archive 4 | DocTrinsograce | 224809 | ||
Dear Pastor Beja, I haven't read through all the threads, but here are a couple of thoughts. I am not a Greek scholar, but I am blessed with having elders in my church who are, and who teach Biblical Greek at the local universities and seminaries. How is that for cool? It is interesting that you ask that question, since we we wrapped up an exegetical study of Peter's epistles this year. (It was followed by a study of Jude, that took about six weeks, and now we have begun Deuteronomy. I think we'll be there quite a while!) Let me see if I can remember what was discussed: The professor who wrote the lessons and taught them, commented more than once on the difficulty of working with Peter in the Greek. Conceptually, Peter sounds very reminiscent of other NT writers. Linguistically, though, he stands apart. Indeed, more than once in his epistles, Peter uses Greek words that we do not find elsewhere in the NT. That is the problem with the word translated by the ESV as "lawless" in 2 Peter 3:17. As you know, we get the word "antinomian" from the Greek roots "anti" (against) and "nomos" (law). Peter does use the word "anomos" in 2 Peter 2:8, but he uses "athesmos" in 2:7 and 3:17. (Note the ESV translates the word as "wicked" in v2:7, but "lawless" in v2:8). An aside: As has been pointed out, Jewish teachers will, indeed, call Gentiles lawless. However there are these senses in which lawlessness is used: (1) peoples who do not abide by the Law; (2) peoples who have not yet heard the Law; (3) people who live lives in violation to the Law; (4) peoples who are not subject to the Law. (Remember, in Judaic thinking, Gentiles are not subject to the Mosaic Law, only to the Nohaic Law.) Now, we would have to say that in vv2:7-8, Peter is not speaking about the false teaching of antinomianism. Instead, he is using the word "anomos" in the 3rd sense as descriptive of the environment in which Lot lived. Had he been addressing antinomianism, he certainly would have used "anomos" more specifically... wouldn't he? 2 Peter 3:17, on the other hand, is making use of this other word, "athesmos." Although we do see "athesmos" and "anomos" paired in the same thought in chapter 2, this word is contrasting the recipients of grace (vv1:1-4, 3:14). Of course, any reference to antinomianism as we understand it -- J. I. Packer, in his Concise Theology, identifies six distinct forms -- would be something only in its embryonic form. (Ignatius of Antioch mentions it scant decades after Peter wrote his epistles.) Certainly antinomianism would be something that the "unlearned and unstable" would fasten upon; certainly antinomianism is/was promulgated by false teachers; and certainly Peter would have us eschew it. Nevertheless, I think that Peter was painting with a much broader brush. So, I would not agree that "the driving concern/error being addressed in 2 Peter is anitnomianism" (sic). However, I would affirm that antinomianism would certainly be one of the various errors that Peter warned about. Filter through the above... hold to what you find of value, and feel free to dispense with the rest. :-) In Him, Doc |
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2 | The error addressed in 2 Peter | Bible general Archive 4 | Inquisitor | 224817 | ||
Doc, I appreciate your contribution to this discussion; it's most enlightening. But in my simple way of looking at the various subjects of the Bible, I always first and prefer to use the Bible as its own best Commentary. So it seems to me this antinomian group as referred to by Peter is just another group of people who are in error compared to God's Word. Similarly, Paul refers to Alexander the coppersmith in 2 Tim 4, Phygellus and Hermogenes in 2 Tim 1. Paul deals rather harshly (and justly) with Hymenaeus and Alexander in 1 Tim 1. God addresses a great many with all manner of sins in the first chapter of Romans with Paul summmarizing their fate in Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; The Bible is quite literally filled with those who deviate from God's Word, occasionally through no fault of their own and are easily corrected. Such was the case of Apollos corrected by Aquila and Priscilla in Acts 18. Those that are NOT inclined to following His Word ultimately receive their just reward, i.e. Achan in Josh 7. To me personally, it's easier to study God's Word with the resolve to follow Joshua's advice, "deter neither to the left nor to the right." But I do appreciate the efforts of scholars like yourself, Beja and all the rest. I do think God endorses the "whole team" effect in 1 Cor 12. Me? I'm just a simple student of His Word. In appreciation and God bless, Inquisitor |
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3 | The error addressed in 2 Peter | Bible general Archive 4 | DocTrinsograce | 224832 | ||
Dear Inquisitor, All error and all heresy, no matter the stripe or color, is a matter of contravening the Bible... hence Peter's warning to God's own, concerning the unlearned and unstable, who distort and misinterpret the Scriptures (cf 2 Timothy 3:16). Thus Paul may say to all men, "Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:29-31 NASB) In Him, Doc |
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4 | The error addressed in 2 Peter | Bible general Archive 4 | Inquisitor | 224835 | ||
Doc, What can I say but that I'm in full agreement. Thanks again and God bless ALL those who study God's Word with the resolution of obeying Him. It's a pleasure exchanging God's Truths with you. God bless you throughout your life, Inquisitor |
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