My Four Decades in the Bible, Part IV, Conclusion

Studying with my Logos Bible cap

Studying with my Logos Bible cap

Chapter Seven – I teach in seminary

I’ve now been a professor, teaching in English and then in Spanish, for 25 years.

The first seminary where I taught put us through a sort of Professor Boot Camp. Our academic dean stressed: “Your students will remember only a portion of the content you teach; they will always remember your attitudes and values.

That principle has been true as far as my memories: I can remember a few professors who came across as, well, self-satisfied, distant, or lethargic; I hope my impressions were mistaken.

Other professors seemed to be hard workers, careful students of the Word, loving individuals and encouraging. (more…)

Published in: on March 11, 2013 at 7:02 pm  Comments (3)  
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How to write a commentary when your library is 2000 miles away

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Last month, Zondervan published my commentary on 1-2 Thessalonians, a volume I’ve been working on since 2005 (click HERE). When I saw it on display at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, I heaved a sigh of relief, and not just because finishing a book, any book, lightens the spirit. (My 1 Corinthians commentary is available for free download HERE).

I was pleased because the whole production seemed like a gamble from the outset. I had to figure out how to write a commentary without a library. I felt like the first person to invent the flourless cake.

I teach at a Bible college and seminary located in Costa Rica. Most Americans know it as a land of natural wonders, with beaches, rafting, rainforests, volcanoes and of course, gold-standard coffee. We are located in San José, a city of a million: not exactly the “bush,” but I might as well be when I sit down to do my writing. (more…)

Published in: on December 17, 2012 at 12:06 pm  Comments (7)  
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1 Corinthians and Thessalonians: My New Commentaries now available!

zecnt-cover.jpg

The English versions of my Thessalonian commentary is available from Amazon! http://www.amazon.com/Thessalonians-Zondervan-Exegetical-Commentary-Testament/dp/0310243963/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343856671&sr=8-1&keywords=shogren

And the English version of my 1 Corinthians is available on Logos software – http://www.logos.com/product/24079/first-corinthians-an-exegetical-pastoral-commentary

Blessings! Gary

Published in: on August 2, 2012 at 12:22 pm  Comments (1)  
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Oct 21, 2011 has passed, and Harold Camping is wrong again

On May 21, it was all over the news, that Harold Camping’s prediction of the rapture had not taken place and that a worldwide earthquake had not wracked the planet. We predicted on this blog that Camping would

  • Backpedal: for example, change the date, say that the earthquake was “symbolic” not literal
  • Denial: Jesus really did come for the faithful, you just can’t see it

In fact, he did what many false prophets have done throughout history, interpreted the rapture and the earthquake symbolically. Without a doubt, though, Christ would literally return on Oct 21, 2011.

This time I didn’t see Harold Camping on CNN (more…)

Published in: on November 1, 2011 at 9:08 pm  Leave a Comment  
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What comes before the Day of the Lord: the final “apostasy” or the “departure” of the church? [Studies in Thessalonians]

According to 2 Thessalonians, Timothy brought Paul a question from a panicky church: Has the Day of the Lord come? Paul ties together language of the return of Christ from his own oral teaching, the Matthean tradition, Daniel and 1 Thessalonians. No indeed! he says, and I can prove it. Has the Man of Lawlessness appeared? Then no, the Day of the Lord has not come (2 Thess 2:3).

The other marker is more controversial: an “apostasy” or “falling away” (apostasia, ἀποστασία). The word might denote a political rebellion. Nevertheless, “falling away” in Judeo-Christian contexts usually refers to a spiritual apostasy. In the Apocrypha, many Jews apostatized from Yahweh in 1 Macc 2:15 (NRSV) – “The king’s officers who were enforcing the apostasy came to the town of Modein to make them offer sacrifice” to Greek gods. Paul himself was accused of teaching Diaspora Jews “apostasy from Moses” (Acts 21:21). The verb form also appears in a warning against apostasy in Heb 3:12 and in the Lukan version of the Parable of the Sower to speak of those who fall away because of persecution (Luke 8:13). Paul uses the verb (aphistemi, ἀφίστημι) of the end-time falling away once in 1 Tim 4:1; he uses the noun form (apostasia, ἀποστασία) only here in 2 Thess 2:3.[2] Most Bible versions render the term correctly: “falling away” (ASV, KJV, NKJV); rebel, rebellion (CEV, ESV, GNB, NIV, NLT, NRSV, RSV), revolt (GW, NJB), apostasy (HCSB, NASB).

But wait! A few Bible students have suggested that 2 Thess 2:3 should be translated not as the “apostasy” but as a “removal” or “departure.” That is, the church is taken away from the earth, with the rest of the population “left behind” for the tribulation.[3]

Can this interpretation hold up? (more…)

Published in: on June 30, 2011 at 9:20 pm  Comments (12)  
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1 Thess 4:17 – “meet the Lord in the air” in the original Greek [Studies in Thessalonians]

Since the Rapture has made headlines lately, here are some observations.

The New Testament was written in Greek. Some argue that it was originally done in Hebrew, but they cannot provide ancient Hebrew (or Aramaic or Syriac) manuscripts to back that up. All of Paul’s churches used Greek as their principal language. Paul himself had grown up speaking a dialect of Greek known as koine. It is for this reason that many serious students of the Scriptures decide to study that language, just as many others study Hebrew.

Unfortunately, much of what we hear about Greek in books or from the pulpit is false or misleading. For example, some preach that the word agape means “divine love,” whereas phile means “human love or affection.” This is simply not the case, and the words are often interchangeable in the New Testament. I shudder every time I hear the words “I know that it says thus-and-such in your Bibles, but the Greek really says, etc.” Listen: English Bible versions – with a few exceptions – were carried out by leading experts in the field of the original languages, who have gone to great lengths to express the meaning of the original in English. You can trust your English Bible.

Yet, every once in a while there is a gem in the original Greek that is difficult to communicate in English. For example, the NIV of 1 Thess 4:17 has, “After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” The other versions are similar and equally reliable. In my forthcoming commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Zondervan) I opted to translate verse 17 as: “we who still live and remain will be taken up together with [those who were dead] in the clouds to welcome the Lord in the air.” “To meet,” a verb in most versions, represents a Greek preposition and noun, “for a meeting” (eis apantesin). Nevertheless, a verb in English captures the original Greek equally well.

But one might ask, what happens after the Christians meet the Lord in the air? Where do they go? (more…)

Published in: on May 25, 2011 at 9:43 pm  Comments (12)  
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Let’s put a warning label on false prophets

My wish is simple, and it would make me so very happy. I’m going to campaign for it until the proper authorities take notice and step in.

(1) I want us to identify all preachers who have mistakenly announced that it was the end of the world because of some newspaper headline. (2) I want their unfulfilled predictions to be logged in some sort of database so that any interested party might access it. In addition, and this is the gist of my plan, (3) I want these prophets to have to wear some visible sign, so that other believers will know to take heed of any future theories. (more…)

Published in: on September 27, 2010 at 9:16 pm  Comments (8)  
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