The New Testament: The Clash Of The Greek Language

The Apostle Paul’s strategic mission of expanding the church and spreading the Gospel was significant considering the challenges he had to conquer. His life and example was and is applicable to modern cross-cultural leaders and organizations. Philippians 2 is a letter written by Paul to the church of Philippi. It was prepared during his imprisonment in Rome for spreading the Gospel of Christ in an area where people predominately and traditionally believed in Judaism. His writing in this passage highlights Christ as the ultimate example of humility and Paul’s encouragement to his followers to keep the unity, as they are the light of the world.

up speaking a new language” (pg. 194): all words from the Bible. They had created a language

13) The Creation of the World; the Garden of Eden; Adam and Eve; Original Sin; the Fall

In his recent article for the October 7th issue of Commonweal magazine, David Bentley Hart highlighted how different the Christians of the New Testament are from modern day Christians. Hart’s article, titled “Christ’s Rabble; The first Christians were not like us”, argues that the first Christians were so different than present day Christians that we would have a very hard time getting along with one another if we meet today. Hart, a fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Studies, came to this conclusion after in-depth study of the text of the New Testament in its original koine Greek. His work translating the New Testament for Yale University painted a clear picture of the character of the first Christians and underscored how far from the original meanings of the text we have come.

The Old Testament was translated into Greek and, outside Israel, it was widely used in Jewish communities- it was often the Greek and not the Hebrew version of the bible which was used by Paul and other early missionaries quoted from. For the first one hundred years of the church's writings, Greek was the medium used for expansion into the Gentile world. Wand highlights the importance of a universal language, "One coinage and one language would carry the traveler all the way... Greek was a kind of universal language which one could make shift anywhere- there would always be found someone who could speak it. Growing cosmopolitism must also be considered as a factor which favored the spread of Christianity.

Paul begins his letter by saying he is an apostle not from men nor through man, but Jesus

Today marks my third week in Greece so far. I am finally getting used to the culture and customs of the people here, but it is very different from home. Each and every day I struggle to express myself through my religion, but it proves to be difficult. Many people here are opposed to Christianity, and it is easy to fall into the beliefs and practices of others. I just recently converted to Christianity, after hearing on the missionary Paul. Christianity and God bring so much joy to my life, but I feel as if I am unable to share that joy with the people here in Corinth. You see, Paul has taught us to worship God and God alone. Worshipping and valuing humans is not what God wants. The social class distinction here is very evident, and elitism is based on worldly views of wealth and power, not based on God. The most well respected people here are the most intelligent, or possess items of ultimate luxury. The women here care more about their expensive jewelry than they do about expressing their beliefs in God. It is hard to not be jealous of the women who have everything they want. I know that God does not want us to be tempted by the world of materialism, but to follow in his path.

Chapter one talks about the Greek thought and Hebrew thought and its differences. In the world, the Greek (western) and Hebrew (eastern) cultures view their surroundings, lives, and purpose in ways which would see foreign to the other. Oswalt engages Greek and Hebrew thought before examining the different definitions of myth. The Greek thought views the world through the abstract thought whereas the Hebrew thought vies the world through concrete thought. The Greek philosophers of the seventh through the third centuries believed in a “universe” instead of a “polyverse.”

Overall, there seems to be a very high Christology in the New Testament. However, due to the various authors of the books that comprise the anthology, there is an inherent variation of the level of Christology found between the different books. In order to examine the Christology of a religious text, one must first understand the notion of Christology. Christology refers to the level of divinity that Jesus is portrayed to have, and can be understood as a spectrum with an extremely high Christology at one end and an extremely low Christology at the other. The highest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described at being equal to God, while the lowest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described as being completely human. These extremes are typically never fully realized in the New Testament; a position on the spectrum between them is usually taken. When analyzing the Christology of the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Revelation, and the Pauline Epistles, it becomes apparent that there is in fact a difference in the Christology of the three. Mark seems to have a lower Christology than the Pauline Epistles, which have a lower Christology than the book of Revelation, which has a very high Christology.

Dr. Elmer Towns and his co-author Ben Gutierrez in their book “In Essence of the New Testament: A Survey” supports the idea and the importance of all Christians grasping the knowledge put forth in the book of Romans. Biblical educators such as Samuel Coleridge and Martin Luther holds Paul’s epistle to the Romans in high esteem (Towns & Gutierrez, 2012). They refer to as “the most profound work in existence and “the purest gospel (Towns & Gutierrez, 2012). These claims are evident when reading Paul’s epistles in the book of Romans, one can feel Jesus Christ’s inspiration in his words and message. In Romans 1:6 -7

Before the gospels and Pauline epistles, early church Christians related to the Old Testament as Scripture and viewed their Christian walk as the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel from the Old Testament, which foretold of the coming age of the Messiah. The first New Testament Christians understood the importance of the Old Testament; it was their “Bible” they preached from. Just as in the early church, Christians today need the Old Testament for preaching and in which to reference and understand Christ’s purpose for why he came.

Douglas, J. D., and N. Hillyer. The Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity, 1980. Print.

The purpose of this paper is to perform a thorough exegetical analysis of Philippians 2:1-11. In order to accomplish this purpose, the basic contents of the passage will be surveyed. In addition, any relevant issues from the background of the letter will be examined. This passage will be interpreted in its context so that its meaning will fit into the overall meaning of the letter. Most importantly, a verse by verse exposition of the text will be given which will trace the author’s flow of thought. Finally, a summary of this study’s findings will be given along with some points of personal application.

1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

It is important that we understand and preserve the many different languages the Bible is translated into because they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Through these translations we may find a deeper meaning and understanding. Jost Zetzsche stated it best when he said, “I believe that translations of Scripture are not secondary fill-ins but as integral part of the ongoing and primary expression of God’s message in written form.”