Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 12 Jan. 2019
Omitting greyed-out text should bring presentation time down around 45 minutes.
I’d like to start by reading aloud my translation of the middle of Hebrews 12 to regain our context: v.11 “So, every training-event for the duration doesn’t seem to be a joy (but rather a grief!), yet afterward, it pays back the peaceful fruit of righteousness to the ones who have been exercised by it. 12 So, ‘Y’all must start strengthening the drooping hands and the feeble knees,’ 13 and y’all must start ‘making straight paths with your feet’ in order that the crippled might not veer away but rather be healed. 14 Keep chasing down peace with all men, along with the holiness without which no one will see [a good relationship with] the Lord, 15 exercising supervision lest someone be lacking of the grace of God, lest some root of bitterness cause trouble as it grows up – and on account of this many might be defiled, 16 lest someone be sexually-immoral or unholy – like Esau, who tendered up his firstborn-privileges in exchange for a single [serving of] food. 17 (For indeed y’all should know that afterward when he was wanting to inherit the blessing he was rejected, for he didn’t find a place of repentance, although he sought it out with tears.)”
This morning I want to follow the grammar of verses 14-16 and focus on the two goals we are commanded to “chase down” and how to keep the three problems mentioned in vs. 14-16 from happening in our congregation.
These three problems are pretty common:
The first is gracelesness. I can’t tell you the number of times I have talked to someone who has gotten burned out on church. If you haven’t had a bad church experience yet, you will before it’s all over. Christians can be vicious.
The second problem is that unbelief is rampant – even in the church! I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve talked to a church acquaintance who said, “I just can’t believe in a God that would let my dear relative get sick – or worse, a God who would send anybody to hell, or I can’t believe in a God that is so narrowminded and strict and talking about sin all the time.
The third problem in the church is and carelessness with what is holy – one of the biggest manifestations of that being sexual immorality. I have been dumbfounded at how many church folks I have met over the last few decades who are involved in sexual sin – many of whom didn’t even seem to be embarrassed about it.
But I’m going to tell you how to solve all those problems! Well, actually God tells us through a single command in Hebrews 12...
This command to strive/pursue/follow/chase down/live in peace and holiness with all men is an echo of Psalm 34:14 “Negate evil and do good. Seek peace, and hunt it down!1”
God is Himself “the God of peace” (Heb. 13:20), and He has been commanding His people for thousands of years to “seek peace;” we will never reach a point in this life when we don’t have to do it any more.
And we’re commanded2 to pursue peace – not just with some people but – with “all” of them. The immediate context is those whose “forms are bending low” with dismay and are weak in their faith from crippling fears and deceptions. Often those are the people that we least want to spend time with because they aren’t easy to get along with; they don’t make us feel good. But God says, “chase them down anyway – all of them!”
Now, there is something about peace that a lot of folks don’t think about: Everybody wants peace. So why is there so much conflict? Because peace is the absence of conflict between your ideas and other people’s ideas.
Communists said they wanted peace, but what they meant was the absence of resistance to their regimes. While speaking of this peace, Lenin massacred everyone who resisted him.
The Muslims say they want peace too – a universal ummah, but for them that means everybody “submitting” to Islam – no more Christianity.
The American hippies and libertarians also called for peace, but for them that meant everybody abandoning the law and order that comes from a Christian worldview and letting non-Christians do whatever they want with impunity.
And if we Christians are really honest, peace to us means that all the non-Christians would agree to uphold the values of Christianity.
It is a delusion to think that all the religions of the world can ever be at peace with one another. Therefore, it is a mistake to think of peace simply in terms of keeping everybody happy with each other and not rocking the boat, because there are necessary limits imposed by God on what I am allowed to tolerate.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you should go around disturbing the peace and bothering people for no good reason. I am just saying that when you think of pursuing peace, it must be on God’s terms – peace as God defines it, and that is ultimately in terms of submission to Jesus.
Another misconception regarding peace is the idea that peace is passiveness.
When we think of a peaceful lake, we think of it being still and quiet. No wind, no current, no ripples. But the Bible speaks of pursuing peace as though it is an active pursuit with other people.
In many of the Eastern religions, peace is conceived of as radically autonomous – turning inward into your mind and away from outward action and away from the outer world around you. Now, while God tells us that His peace will indeed guard our minds in Philippians 4, it is not a passive, personal sort of peace that ignores the world around us.
The word translated “pursue/chase down/follow/strive for” is an intense word. It is translated “persecute” in the Gospels and Acts (Matt. 10:23a, Luke 21:12a, Acts 22:4). “Pursuers” of peace can be just as vigorous as pursuers of violence!
So how to you “pursue peace” with all men?
When we are at peace with God, we can spread that peace to other people. Rom. 14:19&21 speaks of it in terms of “building up” other people and getting rid of offensive actions: “Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food... by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.” (NKJV)
The Bible also connects the active pursuit of peace with the practice of your spiritual gifts - one of which is teaching. (1Co. 14:1ff, 1Th. 5:15, 1Ti. 6:11, 2Ti. 2:22ff)
The conflict between different ideas goes away when both parties draw closer to God and think more and more like God does. When we do that, we find powerful unity and peace!
The other thing we are to pursue is “holiness” or “sanctification”
(both mean the same thing, one is just a Germanic root and the other comes from Latin).
Holiness has to do with being in a special relationship with someone else, and, in this case, with God.
We are called to be holy because God Himself is holy (1 Pet. 1:15, Lev. 11:44, Mt. 5:48).
But with the concept of specialness comes the concept of separation. To be special means to be different. To be holy to God means a process of sanctification whereby the ideas that are different from God’s ideas are removed so that you become more and more different from the world that exists in rebellion against God.
So, at the same time that we are to pursue peace and the merging of our ideas with God’s ideas we are to pursue holiness that rejects the sinful ideas in our hearts that are at war with God, and we are to help our brothers and sisters in Christ do the same.
The Apostle Paul put it this way: Romans 6:17-23 "But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness... For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness... now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NKJV, cf. 1 Cor. 1:30)
1 Thess. 4:3-7 "...this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God... God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness." (NKJV)
2 Thessalonians 2:13b "...God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth" (NKJV, cf. 1 Pet. 1:2)
In our church membership vows, we promise to “preserve the peace and purity of the church.” But peace and purity (or holiness) can be opposite ends of a spectrum.
Too much peace-making leads to compromise with sin that makes a church not a church of Christ anymore.
On the other hand, too much purifying and holiness-focus unglues the body of Christ and splits the church into factions that won’t fellowship with each other.
There’s a balance. Hebrews 12:14 demonstrates a good balance between peace and purity: “Pursue peace with all men and sanctification/holiness...” If you can hang on to both of God’s goals, the tension between them will keep you from going into the ditch at either extreme.
Without peace and holiness, no one will see God. We want others to see God, so we pursue these things.
The Greek word for "see" has a similar range of meaning to that of our English word:
While it can mean to have the simple sensory perception of sight, that meaning must be ruled out because
the Gospels tell us that plenty of unholy people saw Jesus while He walked this earth,
and the Book of Revelation (1:7) tells us that every eye will see Him when He returns.
The meaning here must instead be similar to what we mean when we say that a young lady is "seeing" a guy friend. They have enjoyable visits together3. (At least that’s what it meant when I first heard it.) If the relationship were not going well, they'd stop “seeing” each other, so it implies a good relationship.
There is no way to have a positive relationship with God without holiness, so holiness must be cultivated, or, to state it the way Jesus did in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Mat. 5:8)
Verse 15 tells us more about how to pursue peace and holiness:
The Greek verb episcopountes translated “see to it/looking diligently/exercising supervision” is different from the Greek verb translated “see the Lord” in the previous verse. This verb in v.15 is used
to describe the work of construction foremen in 2 Chron. 34:12, making sure that the contractors are building the house right;
it is used in Esther 2:11 to describe Mordecai checking in on his niece Esther every day to make sure she was doing well,
and it is used in 1 Pet. 5:2 to describe the work of church elders in shepherding God’s people. (Even though it is the responsibility of elders, every one of us can take a part in this leadership role!)
This is parallel to the command in Heb. 3:12-13 "Keep watch [Βλέπετε], brothers, otherwise there will be in some of y'all an evil heart of unbelief in the act of apostatizing from the Living God, rather encourage one another throughout each day – as long as it is called "today" in order that some of y'all might not be hardened by means of the deceitfulness of his sin." (NAW)
The rest of verses 15-17 detail three problems that we need to head off. In Greek each of the three dangers is introduced with the phrase me tis - “lest someone...”
The first problem to look out for and take leadership to head off is: the problem of someone ὑστερῶν lacking/failing/coming up short/missing out on the grace of God.
This was a problem mentioned earlier in Heb. 4:1 "And then to which ones did He swear they would not enter into His rest if not to the non-compliant ones? So we see that it was on account of unbelief that they were not able to enter. Therefore let us start being respectful lest, someone among y'all might decide to come up empty, the promise of entering into His rest being left behind" (NAW).
How can we make sure nobody experiences a lack of the grace of God in our church? While we can’t control who is effectively saved by God’s grace and who isn’t, we can make sure that everybody in our circle of acquaintance:
hears the Gospel of Grace4 – How God sent Jesus to save sinners by dying on the cross, suffering death on our behalf so that we could receive “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.”
We can also make sure to offer undeserved kindnesses to everybody God has placed around us so that they can experience a taste of what God’s undeserved grace is like.
We can also be faithful in sharing the other means of Grace, such as Scripture reading and teaching, prayer, corporate worship, and fellowship. If they don’t have transportation, or if they can’t read, or if they are too paralyzed by fear to use these means of Grace that God has given us, so it may take more effort to connect them to God’s grace, but this is what we are called to do here.
The second problem to look out for and take leadership to head off is: the problem of a root of bitterness springing up and causing trouble and many persons to be defiled.
The covenant-making ceremony with Moses is referenced here from Deuteronomy 29: 14 "And I do not appoint to you alone this covenant and this oath; but ... to those who are not here with you to-day. For ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, how we came through the midst of the nations... And ye beheld their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which are among them. Lest there be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart has turned aside from the Lord your God, having gone to serve the gods of these nations; lest there be in you a root springing up with gall and bitterness. And it shall be if one shall hear the words of this curse, and shall flatter himself in his heart, saying, ‘Let good happen to me, for I will walk in the error of my heart, lest the sinner destroy the guiltless with him:’ God shall by no means be willing to pardon him, but then the wrath of the Lord and his jealousy shall flame out against that man; and all the curses of this covenant shall attach themselves to him, which are written in this book, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord shall separate that man for evil of all the children of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in the book of this law." (Deut. 29:14-18, Brenton)
“Bitterness” is often associated in the Bible with the results of disobeying God (viz. Deut. 32:32, Ps. 9:28, Acts 8:23, Rom 3:14).
So, in its original use, the “bitter root” referred to abandoning a good relationship with God and worshipping idols instead5. Worshipping idols, of course, made people unclean and defiled, and this Old Testament concept of being “unclean” is a picture of being out-of-fellowship with God – unable to relate to Him because you have participated in something He cannot tolerate.
In the New Testament just as in the Old Testament, God exhorted His people to take decisive action to cut off idolatrous influences: Titus 1:10 For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain... Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. (NKJV) This was the same Judaism leading the Hebrews astray too, and notice how the words “defiled and unbelieving” are lumped together there. This is the kind of defilement it’s talking about: the defilement of not believing that Jesus is the Messiah.
How can we, as a church, head off the problem of the defilements6 of roots of bitterness?
If we are each personally pursuing peace and holiness, we are putting off the old man with its practices and are being renewed in knowledge [and conformed to] the image of God’s Son Jesus. This will mean a growth in faith that rules out the possibility of bitter, defiling roots of unbelief growing up.
At the same time, we can be looking around at our fellow church members to see if any of them are paying too much attention to something in this world that could be an idol for them and ask them about it and encourage them to renew their devotion to Jesus. Are they doing any “works that deny God” despite “professing Him” with their mouth? Call it to their attention lovingly and winsomely to show the attractiveness of peace and holiness.
Maybe you know someone who has a relationship with the church but who is struggling with agnosticism or skepticism regarding Christianity. You can encourage and build up their faith!
And we can be on the lookout for false ideas that are out-of-accord with God’s word that are influencing our friends. We can confront them head-on with the truth of Scripture. This isn’t just for experts with seminary degrees anymore, with how easy it is to get apologetics information over the Internet.
To review: We are to pursue peace and holiness … 1) so that nobody experiences a lack of God’s grace, 2) so that no bitter root of unbelief in Jesus springs up, and thirdly:
This third and final problem we can avoid through pursuing peace and holiness is twofold: sexual immorality and unholiness – in Greek, pornos and bebelos.
Pornos/Sexual immorality is also translated “fornicator.”
It has a root meaning of “selling,” so it includes (homosexual or heterosexual) prostitution as well as pornography and sex trafficking, but it also seems to be used generally for all forms of sexual immorality7.
It is mentioned in the New Testament lists of sins which will send people to hell:
1 Cor. 6:9-10 “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idol worshippers... will inherit the kingdom of God.” (NAW)
Eph. 5:5 "For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." (NKJV)
Hebrews 13:4 "...fornicators and adulterers God will judge." (NKJV)
Revelation 21:8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving... sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death... 22:15 outside [the heavenly city] are... sexually immoral... idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie." (NKJV)
And the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthian church was to make sure that no church member who practiced this sin should ever be made to feel comfortable by the church. 1 Cor. 5:9-11 "I wrote to y'all in the letter... not to mix together with anyone if, while called a brother, he is being sexually-immoral or greedy or an idol-worshipper... not even to eat together with such." (NAW)
The other condition to look out for and make sure doesn’t happen in the church is for anyone to be bebelow/an unholy/ungodly/profane person.
This word is the antonym of that which is ceremonially clean, sacred, or holy (Lev. 10:10, 1 Sam. 21:5-6, Ezek. 22:26 & 44:23 LXX).
It is listed in 1 Timothy 1:9 parallel with being "lawless... insubordinate... ungodly... sinful... and profane,”8
and the Apostle exhorts New Testament believers to “reject,” “avoid,” and “shun” it: 1 Timothy 4:7 "Have nothing to do with godless myths... 6:20 "... Turn away from godless chatter..." 2 Timothy 2:16 “Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly9.” (NIV)
Why is Esau10 brought into this? Because his act of trading his birthright with his younger brother in exchange for a bowl of lentil stew one day when he was hungry was a demonstration of treating something holy as though it were not holy – not special, not worthy of keeping a relationship with. “Esau... tendered up his firstborn-privileges in exchange for a single [serving of] food.”
The privilege of the firstborn in Esau’s culture was to get twice as much of the family estate as any other sibling and then to become the leader of the family clan when the patriarch died.
Spiritual blessings and the privilege of being in the line of Christ were also part of his birthright privileges.
And, for what it’s worth, the NIV’s translation is correct that these rights-of-inheritance were plural.
In Esau’s case, the stakes were staggeringly high, and his action of selling his birthright in order to get some fast-food indicated that he didn’t consider those blessings any more valuable than beans. Notably, to sell off his chance to be in the line of Christ for a bowl of lentils was an act of profanity, as much to say that he didn’t think God’s Messiah was very important.
Applying it to the world of the book of Hebrews, the Judaizers were doing the same sort of thing: profaning the name of Christ by saying that Jesus was not the Messiah and trying to get Christians to convert back to Christless Judaism.
And we do the same thing every time we act as though something else in this world is worth more to us than a right relationship with Jesus.
So, what can we do to make sure that nobody in our church ends up in that boat with Esau?
It begins with us pursuing peace and holiness. If we are getting on the same page as to the way God thinks about relationships, we will prize the things God calls holy and treat them as valuable.
If God says the marriage bed is holy, then we will treat married love as valuable, something to be protected and held sacred rather than profaned by watching actors treat it with contempt or making our own love a common, vulgar thing with lots of people.
If God says that trusting and obeying Jesus over a lifetime of faithfulness to Him is holiness, then we will show honor to those who are honoring Him rather than focusing on the coolness of the latest profane media stars and imitating them.
And when you see anybody in the church who is stepping out of the boundaries God has given us for treating relationships as holy, don’t overlook them because it’s uncomfortable; don’t ignore them and hope they get better; don’t wait for the pastor to deal with it; you can remind them of the specialness of what is holy and of the value of preserving it according to the way God thinks of it. The Apostle James in the next book over told us, “He who turns his brother from the error of his ways saves his soul from death and covers a multitude of sins.” That’s how you make sure you don’t have Esaus in the pews.
There is one more verse about Esau that I don’t have time to get into now, but keep the overall command in mind this week as you encounter problems of gracelesness, unbelief, and profanity head-on: you keep pursuing peace and purity with all men!
Greek NT |
NAW |
KJV |
11 πᾶσα δὲ παιδεία πρὸς μὲν τὸ παρὸν οὐ δοκεῖ χαρᾶς εἶναι, ἀλλὰ λύπης, ὕστερον δὲ καρπὸν εἰρηνικὸν τοῖς δι᾿ αὐτῆς γεγυμνασμένοις ἀποδίδωσι δικαιοσύνης. |
11 So, every training-event for the duration doesn’t seem to be a joy (but rather a grief!), yet afterward, it pays back the peaceful fruit of righteousness to the ones who have been exercised by it. |
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. |
12 Διὸ τὰς παρειμένας χεῖρας καὶ τὰ παραλελυμένα γόνατα ἀνορθώσατεB, |
12 So, “Y’all must start strengthening the drooping hands and the feeble knees,” |
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; |
13 καὶ τροχιὰς ὀρθὰς ποιήσατε τοῖς ποσὶν ὑμῶν, ἵνα μὴ τὸ χωλὸν ἐκτραπῇ, ἰαθῇ δὲ μᾶλλον. |
13 and y’all must start “making straight paths with your feet” in order that the crippled might not veer away but rather be healed. |
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that [which is] lame be turned out [of the way]; but [let] it rather be healed. |
14 Εἰρήνην διώκετε μετὰ πάντων, καὶ τὸν ἁγιασμόν, οὗ χωρὶς οὐδεὶς ὄψεται τὸν Κύριον, |
14 Keep chasing down peace with all men, along with the holiness without which no one will see [a good relationship with] the Lord, |
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: |
15 ἐπισκοποῦντες μήC τις ὑστερῶν ἀπὸ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ, Dμή τις ῥίζα πικρίας ἄνω φύουσα ἐνοχλῇE καὶ διὰ ταύτηςF μιανθῶσι πολλοί, |
15 exercising supervision lest someone be lacking of the grace of God, lest some root of bitterness cause trouble as it grows up – and on account of this many might be defiled, |
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; |
16 μή τις πόρνος ἢ βέβηλος ὡς ᾿Ησαῦ, ὃς ἀντὶG βρώσεως μιᾶς ἀπέδοτοH τὰ πρωτοτόκια I[ἑ]αὐτοῦ. |
16 lest someone be sexually-immoral or unholy – like Esau, who tendered up his firstborn-privileges in exchange for a single [serving of] food. |
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane [person], as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthrightX. |
17 ἴστεJ γὰρ ὅτι καὶ μετέπειταK θέλων κληρονομῆσαι τὴν εὐλογίαν ἀπεδοκιμάσθηL, μετανοίας γὰρ τόπον οὐχ εὗρε, καίπερ μετὰ δακρύων ἐκζητήσαςM αὐτήν. |
17 (For indeed y’all should know that afterward when he was wanting to inherit the blessing he was rejected, for he didn’t find a place of repentance, although he sought it out with tears.) |
17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. |
1The LXX ζήτησον εἰρήνην καὶ δίωξον αὐτήν uses two of the same root words (underlined), although the verb is Aorist and Singular whereas it is Present and plural in Heb. 12:14. The quote in 1 Pet. 3:11 is identical to the LXX of Psalm 33:15 (Eng 34:14) except that the verbs are spelled in 3rd instead of 2nd person.
2Chrysostom commented that pursuing peace is related to the command not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together "For nothing so especially makes persons easily vanquished and subdued in temptations, as isolation." It is also related to Rom 12:18 “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
3Cf. Louw & Nida semantic domain #34.50 for opsomai “go to see a person on the basis of friendship”
4Chrysostom: “Dost thou see how everywhere he puts the common salvation into the hands of each individual? ‘Exhorting one another daily,’ he says, ‘while it is called To-day.’ (Heb 3:13)”
5Owen took a different view: “it is not necessary to suppose that the application here is the same as in Deuteronomy. What is there applied to an idolater, is here applied to a person disturbing the peace of the Church.” Appendix U2 to Calvin’s commentary on Hebrews.
6John Brown noted in his commentary,“The ‘root of bitterness’ has, as it were, a power of contaminating the plants in [its] neighborhood… A false-hearted professor, introducing false doctrines or sinful practices, is very apt to find followers. ‘Evil communications corrupt good manners;’ and ‘a little leaven,’ when allowed to ferment, will go far to ‘leaven the whole lump.’ ‘Profane and vain babblings increase unto more ungodliness.’”
7although μοιχευσεις "adultery" is the synonym chosen by the LXX for Deut. 5:17 and Ex. 20:13.
8"...the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers..." (NKJV)
9ἀσεβείας – a synonym to βεβήλους
10Chrysostom, a native speaker of Koine Greek did not consider the reference to fornication to refer to Esau, only the reference to being profane. (Calvin, Owen, Westcott, and Bruce agreed, but Aquinas, Delitzsch, Spicq, Philo, and P.E. Hughes disagreed.) Although Esau was a polygamist, the opprobrium recorded in scripture concerning his marriages seems to be due to the pagan-ness of his wives, moreso than to sexual immorality. There are Jewish traditions, however, which portrayed Esau as a lusty fornicator (e.g. Jublilees 25), and if, true, are doubly condemning of him.
AThe
Greek is the Majority text, edited by myself to follow the majority
of the earliest-known manuscripts only when the early manuscript
evidence is practically unanimous. My original document includes
notes on the NKJV, NASB, NIV, & ESV English translations, but
since they are all copyrighted, I cannot include them in my online
document. Underlined words in English versions indicate a
standalone difference from all other English translations of a
certain word. Strikeout usually indicates that the
English translation is, in my opinion, too far outside the range of
meaning of the original Greek word. The addition of an X indicates a
Greek word left untranslated – or a plural Greek word
translated as an English singular. [Brackets] indicate words added
in English not in the Greek. {Pointed Braces} indicate words added
in Greek to the original. Key words are colored consistently across
the chart to show correlations.
BThis is a quote from Isaiah 35:3, though clearly not copied from the LXX (which reads ἰσχύσατε χεῖρες ἀνειμέναι καὶ γόνατα παραλελυμένα). Most of the other 16 occurrences of this verb root in the Greek Bible have to do with the establishment of a ruler in a kingdom: 2 Sam. 7:13, 16; 1 Chr. 17:12, 14, 24; 22:10; Ps. 17:36; 19:9; 144:14; 145:8; Prov. 24:, and Acts 15:16. (Jeremiah, however, uses it to refer to the establishment of the created order by God in 10:12 & 40:2, Ezekiel uses it to describe puberty in 16:7; and Luke uses it to describe the healing of the hunchback woman in 13:13.)
CMoulton, Grammar of New Testament Greek Vol. I. p.178 In this verse a clause of warning is introduced by following the participle , “See to it that …” This verb is only to be found here and in Deut. 11:12; 2 Chr. 34:12; Est. 2:11; Prov. 19:23; and 1 Pet. 5:2.
DCompare with the LXX of Deut. 29:17b ... μή τίς ἐστιν ἐν ὑμῖν ῥίζα ἄνω φύουσα ἐν χολῇ καὶ πικρίᾳ
EThis words means “be sick” in all its occurrences in the LXX Old Testament (Gen. 48:1; 1 Sam. 19:14; 30:13; Mal. 1:13), but means “trouble” in all occurrences in the Apocrypha and NT (1 Es. 2:17, 24 Dat. 6:3; Lk. 6:18). P.E. Hughes suggested that enochle might be a corruption of en chole (“in gall,” which is the reading of the Hebrew of Deut. 29:18), and he suggested that enochle was copied from Heb. 12:15 into the Alexandrinus of Deut. 29:18 rather than vice versa.
FGreek manuscripts seem to be almost evenly split on whether this is a simple pronoun “it” (αυτης) or a demonstrative pronoun “this” ταυτης, with a slight majority following the latter, so it is the reading of the Greek Orthodox and Textus Receptus editions of the GNT and the reading of the NKJV. Even if you discount all the manuscripts from the second millennium, the oldest-known manuscripts are still pretty evenly split, with only a slight majority following the former, but that is why the contemporary critical editions of the GNT favor the simple pronoun and the NASB and ESV read “it.” (It is curious that the KJV and NIV dropped the word out of their translations!) At any rate, there is no significant difference in meaning. All manuscripts agree that “it/this” is genitive, feminine, and singular, referring to the feminine singular antecedent “root.”
GMoule, An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek P.71 The preposition has the meaning of “in exchange for” in this context, with the resultant rendering “he sold his birthright for one meal.”
HThis verb is spelled with one vowel different (απεδετο) in a minority of the Greek manuscripts (15 of them) and in several critical editions, including the Greek Orthodox Patriarchal, the Nestle-Aland, and United Bible Societies Greek New Testament. The majority spelling which I have preserved, however goes back to some of the oldest-known manuscripts. It makes no difference, however, in meaning since it is merely an alternate spelling.
IFive manuscripts (including the 3 oldest-known, and therefore the contemporary critical editions of the GNT like the UBS) spell this word with an epsilon at the beginning which makes the pronoun reflexive instead of simple. The vast majority of Greek manuscripts (starting with the 6th century Claramontanus) and therefore the traditional editions of the GNT (like the Patriarchal and Textus Receptus) spell it without. The only possible difference in meaning would be to make the word slightly more emphatic, as the NASB rendered it. “his own.” But since the pronoun is already genitive it makes no difference in meaning, and the King James versions which follow the Textus Receptus translated it the same as the NIV and ESV which follow the UBS (“his”). This might be explained by a change in grammar conventions over the centuries.
JMoulton, Grammar of New Testament Greek Vol. I. p.245: According to the form, may be indicative or imperative. It seems preferable to take this verb as an imperative here (if it is indicative, it is a purely literary word). It only occurs in this form two other places in the Greek Bible: Eph. 5:5 & James 1:19.
KHapex Legomenon. Found three places in the Apocrypha, though: Est. 3:13; Judith 9:5; 3 Mac. 3:24.
LThis word is used several times in Jeremiah (6:30; 7:29; 8:9; 14:19; 38:35) to describe Israel’s rejection of God and God’s rejection of Israel in the Babylonian Captivity.
MHoward, Grammar of New Testament Greek Vol. II P.310: The compound verb always seems to denote that the seeker finds, or at least exhausts his powers of seeking (as in this verse).