How to Study the Bible III - Introductory New Testament Greek VIII
Craig Kaes · Mar 6, 2016
How to Study Bible (2016), No. 10
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926529345439

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Today is a very exciting day, because we're going to find out about the submission thing. But first, we need to understand participles, because that's going to help us. And that is why, Stan, I have delayed so long in giving the answer to this. And actually, hearing your enthusiasm about the submission forced me to flip-flop the order of things. I was going to teach on infinitives and articles today. I'm teaching on participles instead, so that we have the groundwork, so that we can understand the Ephesians passage.

So, without further ado, participles. A participle is a verbal adjective. which means that it's talking about some sort of action that's going on, but it's typically not the main action in the sentence. It's typically describing something else that is going on in the sentence. And that's where you get that adjective part. So you can think of it as an adjective that's got some action associated with it. easiest way to form a participle in English is to throw an ing on the end of a verb, and then you'll get it.

So it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem that were living, that is a participle. Interesting. This is the only time that that sort of thing happens where the living actually is the action that's going on. Everywhere else it's descriptive. So next one is you'll see as functioning as an adjective.

So she said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you get this living water? So you know what's going on in the sentence is not living. Living is describing water. And so even though there's some action associated with it, it's functioning as an adjective. It's describing water. That is critical. OK, so a participle can function in a sentence the same way that any adjective can. And so it can be the subject. We'll look at example. It can function as the direct object. It can function as a modifier, meaning it can describe things. We've already seen that happen so far.

If you take a participle and you put it together with an essence verb, do you guys remember what an essence verb is? Like being, right? So is or were. Then that can actually describe the action that's going on in the sentence. So that's the only way that that can possibly happen. And as with any verb, the participle can take an object. And so we'll see what that looks like too. General concepts, but we're going to look at specific examples to make this really concrete. OK. the participle as a substantive. I talked about it functioning as the subject of a sentence.

Those who ate, that whole bolded expression there, that is one word in the Greek. Those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. If you want to translate it in your head so it sounds more participally, You would do it by saying the eating ones. So they're eating. And so this is just describing what they're doing, who they are, and that's functioning as the subject of the sentence.

Pause here for a moment because there's some confounded looks. You all right with this? I'm trying to understand it. OK. OK, takeaway, you've got one word in the Greek. The translation of that word, which is a participle, is the eating ones. So the verbal part of it, eating, And because participles are going to have person with them, like I, you, they, that's where we pick up the ones. And so it's just one word in the Greek.

It's eating ones. So here, eating ones, the ones eating, what did they eat? They ate loaves. They were 5,000 men. OK, so this actually shows a number of the things that I talked about on the previous slide. We've got the participle, which functions as the subject. The participle is taking an object. So what did they eat? They ate the loaves. And so that's just functioning as a regular direct object. The loaves is functioning as a direct object? As a direct object for that part, for the eating ones. Yes, exactly.

And so another example, blessed is she who believes. So we have gender associated with a participle. And so a participle can be masculine, feminine, or neuter. And so this is actually believing one, but it happens to be feminine. And so we know blessed is she who believes. All one word, she who believes. The believing lady.

It can function as an adjective, and we saw that already. Where do you get that? Living water. So it's describing the water. OK, a few more. It can function as an adverb. So what's an adverb? An adverb is like an adjective for a verb. It describes the action that's going on in the main sentence. And so we get, after he fasted, he then became hungry. So that fasting is describing the becoming. Why did he become hungry? Because he was fasting. You see, he didn't do two things. He became hungry as a result of the fasting that was going on.

It can also function as a conditional. So for, how shall it benefit a person if he should gain the whole world but if he loses himself? Making it sound more participally, we'll make this pretty clear. So it's, for how shall it benefit a person gaining the whole world but losing himself? So you can see how in English we would do that with one word.

But the concept that's coming along with it is this, if this, if that. And it actually can function as the action verb, but it's got to have an essence verb along with it. It's no way it can function as the action in the main sentence without having the essence verb with it. So it is bearing fruit. that the only reason why bearing is describing action is because we've got an is that we can glue with it. Is bearing.

Same one down below, he was teaching him. The only reason we would never say, he teaching him. Maybe after we get past the age of two or three, we wouldn't say, he teaching him. We've got to throw that essence verb together with it. So he was teaching him. And on the same token, you can't have two action verbs, can you? Not without a conjunction. So he was running and jumping. It has to be an essence verb. Yes. That's right. Yep. All right. Any questions on the examples?

You see how it can function in various places within a sentence, but it's always described as jumping, unless you get that essence verb. So, properties of a participle. And I'm going to restate things for people who just walked in here in a moment. OK, so properties of the participle. So the Greek participle, it's all one word. We've talked about that already. Like a verb, so it has verbal properties, because it's describing some sort of action that's going on. So it has tense, and it has voice.

So we know when it's happening, and we know who's involved in the happening. Unlike verbs, it doesn't have mood or person. So we're not talking about whether it's tied to reality, and we're not talking about whether it's I or they. We're talking about he, she, it, not I or they. And we're talking about when it happens, but we're not talking about ties to reality. Does that make sense?

Because it's just descriptive. OK, like an adjective, it can be used either with or without a definite article. So sometimes you'll see a participle together with a definite article. Sometimes you'll see a participle without a definite article. This is very different than verbs. You never see a verb with a definite article. That would be just downright weird. He the run. No, that doesn't work. But it's perfectly fine to have the running. Because we would even talk about that. I went to go see the running at the race.

So it does have case, gender, and number. So those come along with the adjectival properties. And so with case, gender, and number, now we can talk about, is this thing functioning as the subject? Is it functioning as the direct object? Is it describing something else? And you'll remember with adjectives, it's just like those glowing puzzle pieces.

If it's going to be describing a noun, then that case, gender, and number, they've got to match. And so they'll light up and glow, and we can put them together. And there are a number of rules that help us figure all of this out. And that's the key of this whole thing.

So if you guys take a look at the very back page, you'll see this participle use flowchart. And this makes every new Greek student panic. So let me be really clear about what you guys should be getting out of this participle use flowchart. Participles can be translated in a bazillion different ways. And if it were left up to us to try to figure that out without any help, We would be full of confusion all of the time. But it's very mechanical. And that's why you can put it into a flow chart. It's like, oh, if it looks like this, then I go down this path.

And then I need to look for these other things. And based on these other things, then, ha ha, I know how to actually translate this. So I said it can be used with a definite article or not with a definite article. So when we start, we start at the top of this thing. And again, I don't care if you guys walk out of here knowing how to use the flowchart. What I want you to see is that there's a mechanical process that helps us understand how to translate it.

So come in at the very top, you start, and you say, does this thing have an article that matches it? So if it has an article that matches it, it's probably functioning more like an adjective. If it doesn't have an article associated with it, it's probably functioning more like a verb. So that's our first choice. So if it's got an article associated with it, we go right on this chart. And we start looking at, hey, is there a noun that agrees with it? And if there's a noun that agrees in case, gender, and number, it's got to be describing that noun.

It's just an adjective. It's describing that. So if we went this way, we're now talking about the woman at the well, the living water. Oh, the living water. We've got the. We've got a definite article. We've got water. That's a noun. They're all matching up. Living. Ha ha. That matches that as well. And so now I know. Living is describing the water. If we have no article whatsoever, reset yourself back at start, there's no article. We don't have one. Oh no, what do we do? Well, we go left. And so left on this chart says, is it used with an equated verb?

Oh my gosh, that sounds complex. That's just an essence verb. That's like is, was, or becomes, something like that. Do we have one of those? Yes, we do, then it must be paraphrastic. Oh my gosh, more terminology. Don't sweat the terminology. All that's telling you is we've got an is, and so this must actually be describing the action.

So now we're going down the path for, let's see if I can find a good example. The first one on this, so it became known to all who were living. So we've gone over this way. Do we have an equative verb? We do. It's were. OK, well, if we've got were, then it must be we're living. It goes together, and it describes the action.

So we're not going to go through this whole flowchart in detail because, again, it's not important that you guys know how to follow all of this. If you decide to go on and take a full Greek class, super useful. What you should take away, though, is with all the complexity with these things, can it be a subject?

Can it be a direct object? Is it an adverb? Is it an adjective? Oh my, what do we do with this thing? It's actually not hard. It's very mechanical. And once you've translated a bunch of these, then you've got this flowchart in your head. And you know, OK, well, oh, there's my definite article. So it must be functioning as an adjective. Do I have a noun? Yes, I do. It's describing the noun. No, I don't have a noun. Oh, OK. It must be substantival. So it's the subject itself. You just follow down the flowchart. Mechanical. That's the point.

What you guys missed just in that first five minutes, the most important concept in all of this, is that a participle is a verbal adjective. What that means is it's describing action, like we've got living water. That water is living, so that's action. But it's functioning as an adjective, so it's describing. It's almost without being put together with an essence verb, like is or was, it does not provide the main action. And so it's descriptive, descriptive, descriptive. OK? Great. Yeah.

On this chart, I assume that the bold A stands for article. What does the B stand for? Oh, where did we get a B? It's down in the lower bottom. Oh, no, they're just trying to show you re-entry points. It doesn't actually mean the article. So there's actually a fall-through case where you can say, does it have an article? No, it doesn't have an article. So then you go over to the left side of the chart. And now you are looking at all the different verbal uses of it. And you just keep on going down.

And you're like, well, is it describing the purpose? Is it talking about being the cause of something? Is it instrumental? Is it complementary? And you just keep going down that and get to the very bottom. Is it temporal? No, it's not describing space or time relationships. You're like, you know what? We went the non-article route that said it was supposed to be verbal. We've tried all the verbal uses. None of them fit. Just go back up.

Even though it doesn't have a definite article, it must be functioning adjectively somehow. So now we're back up to that A. Okay. So that's how you read that chart. And then the B, do you see where the B links up over here? There was not enough room on the page. OK, so the importance of the participle. Now we've learned it's a thing that describes. Participles describe. They're not providing the main action. They're descriptors. We talked about this one on the first day of class. So I'm going to go through this example pretty quickly, because there's another one that's more fun than I want to get into. The importance of the participle.

So looking at James 1.21, we're comparing King James and NASV, and they're saying very, very different things, though on the surface, it doesn't appear that they are.

So the NASV says, therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. King James says, wherefore, Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. I still have to figure out a way to work that into just a normal conversation. And receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

So NASV, what NASV is saying is we get to receive the word implanted. Putting aside, putting aside. That's a participle. And so that's going to describe what that receiving of the word looks like. King James is saying something different. King James is saying we have two things to do. We need to lay apart. That's a command. And we need to receive the word. That's a command.

Two very different things. Talk about YV diagram. It becomes really clear the difference. So NASV, you can see. Main clause, what we're supposed to do is receive the word. Everything else is description. Receiving that word, as part of that, we're putting aside all naughtiness. King James, very clear also, we branch and we do both of these things. We put aside and we receive.

So is the King James generally more legalistic and not NASB? No. Can't make that assumption. And in fact, We're going to, on the second passage that we covered today, we're busting on King James right now. King James does a better job translating that second passage. So you guys clearly see the difference between these two? OK.

So from what we've learned, the only way that a participle can describe the action So this laying apart all filthiness, the only way it can describe the action is if it has an essence verb together with it. But we didn't have one of those. So the only way that King James can work out is if this is not a participle. And sorry, King James, it's pathemenoe, which is a participle. So it can't be describing the main action.

So NASB, we can definitively say, just because we know a little bit of Greek at this point, NASB is right. We get to receive the word. Putting aside happens as a result of that. That's not on us, which is good, because we're not really good at putting aside. There's the whole Romans 7 thing. So that's why participles are important.

Now, let's go play in Ephesians. So let's put it all together. I'll blow through the first part of this because this should be a refresher for the people who are here. We started with this. We started with wives, submit yourself unto your husbands as unto the Lord. And I ask you guys that submit yourself.

Do we think that's imperative or subjunctive? Meaning, is that something the wives should do? Or is that something that the wives are commanded to do? It sounds like it's something they should do. But we know the steps for proper Bible study. We're going to go and make some observations. And so let's go look at what this looks like in the Greek. And in the Greek, what we have is the wives to their husbands as to the Lord.

There's no submit in there anywhere. None. So sorry, trick question. And then we played a quick game. We played a game, so I diagrammed this out, what is actually there in the grid. And we don't have a verb. That's why we've got x there. And we played the game of, well, what could we say about the wives? So wives, blank, to their husbands, as to the Lord. Sing praises. That would fit there just fine. Wives, sing praises to your husbands as to the Lord. Give thanks. Sure, why not? Lots of things wives could do for their husbands as to the Lord.

And so the homework that I gave you guys was, all right, go use the tool, go to Blue Letter Bible, and start digging around and see if you can find where in the world the submit comes from. Because we could have put anything in there. Who did the homework? Who went plugging around? Tried. OK.

So we're trying to build some muscles. Glad you tried. One teaching technique that I think is particularly effective is to send people on an assignment that they don't have the skills to execute, so that when it comes time to teach the skills, they're like, oh.

So that's where we are now. Yes, sir. that we get antecedent seems to be in verse 21, submitting to one another apophagetics of Christ. Beautiful. So that's our first observation. So observation number one, the subject is not there. And we need to look in the context. We need a bigger picture of what's going on. I'm sorry? I said, be subject. which is our verb, you are correct, is not there. Our subject is definitely there. Wives are all over the place in that verse. Okay.

So let's look at the bigger picture. Let's look at more context. And do not get drunk with wine. Put that as dissipation. but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ, wives to your own husbands, as to the Lord."

And what Jim pointed out? Aha! Now we know where this submission is coming from. It's just, we just need to back up a little bit, and we see this be subject. So now we've got a little bit more context. And so let's look at that portion of this passage. So as we look at this portion, we have, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. And my question for you, we get to do this again. OK, so now we've got be subject.

That sounds kind of command-y, right? We need to be subject. And what mood would you say that is? Is that imperative, or is it subjunctive? So is it we should be subject, or is it you've got to be subject to one another? Imperative. OK. Imperative, reasonable guess. That's how it reads, right? Be subject. And then what voice? Sound like something we're actively doing or we like tied up in it somehow with others Or is that a passive thing that's being done to us? Probably metal Okay, so you're going middle subjunctive Okay, great.

So now we have a hypothesis and Again, what do we do when we're studying the Bible we make observations. So let's go make some observations. I What we have in our observation is submitting to one another in fear of Christ. That's what we've got there.

And what you see on that bottom line is parse codes. We haven't covered a lot of those, so I'm going to tell you what this means. What that says below submitting is it's verbal, it's a participle, it's present tense, middle. So Stan gets a gold star on middle. Nominative, masculine, plural. But it's translated submitting.

And what you'll note is that with a participle, there is no mood. So we don't have imperative. We don't have subjunctive. That's not in the verb. That's interesting. What do we know about participles from the lesson this morning? They're adjectival. They're adjectival, which means it describes something. So let's look at what that looks like diagrammed out. So we've got submitting to one another in fear of Christ. And it's attaching to something. That's weird. Is submitting going to be the main action of what's going on? Is that what we're supposed to be doing? No, that be subject to or submit to, that's not the command. It's not imperative. It's descriptive. That's kind of puzzling, right? What do you think it connects to? It's going to have to go back up. And so we're looking for action that's further up, right? So let's go on an action hunt.

OK, so we're back in the passage. B subject isn't there. And then we went back and we found B subject that is there. But that's descriptive. That's not our main action. Remember, I've said a couple of times along the way, it's really important to know what the main statement in a sentence is and what's description, because it's going to impact our action based on what we read in the Word. So B subject.

What action do you guys see that linking up to? What's the next action up from that? Giving thanks. Yes. Spoiler alert, we could go now make some observations, which would be the right thing to do, right? We would go and we would look, giving thanks, what is that? Is that now something that we need to do? I'm going to shortcut that. Because it is a participle. Yeah, so I'm going to shortcut that. That's not our main action, which means now the subject and giving thanks, they're descriptive of something. What are they descriptive of?

Well, let's go back. Not that sort of back. Making melody. That's more action. But you're right. It sounds participally, doesn't it? OK, we would go and we would make an observation. I have done that for you. It's a participle. That's describing something. It's still not thrust. Singing. That's the next one. Guess what? Participle. It's describing something. Speaking to one another. Still a participle. Oh my gosh, all this description.

Are we ever going to find out what the action is? Could that be our action? Be filled? Might that be our action? Could be our action. That's interesting. Yeah, I'm going to say that's our action. Should we go and make some observations on this part of the passage? Let's do it. OK, we're going to try it again. Here we go. I know you guys are Not trusting me with this game anymore, but we're going to do it anyway. So we're playing the game.

Do not get drunk, but be filled with the spirit. OK, so be filled. That sounds like action. Sounds like something we're going to do. What mood? Do you think that's imperative or subjunctive? Must we be filled or should we be filled? Should we be filled or subjunctive? OK, the guess is we should be filled. So we're guessing subjunctive, okay? And what voice?

Active, middle, or passive? Okay, we've got passive over here, we've got middle over here. Why are we saying middle? Because we're going to participate in the action. We're going to participate in the action, okay? Over on my left, we have a passive. Why are you saying passive?

Because it's not us who fill ourselves with the spirit, it's the spirit who just fills us. We have no part in the being filled. Okay. So, argument over on this side, it's got to be passive because we don't cram spirit into us. That's not our gig. But now we're...

Go ahead. Never mind. Oh, so much excitement over here. You just keep going. I want to see. See, isn't Bible study fun? We are on a hunt. It's like, oh my gosh, what is there for us to do? It could also be imperative. The imperative being you, imperatively, allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Okay. Did we hear that about imperative versus subjunctive? Well, don't get drunk is imperative. And a floating field is the alternative. So I guess you can make it imperative. So maybe it's imperative, maybe it's subjunctive, maybe it's middle, maybe it's passive.

The one thing we have ruled out is active. We're not doing that, right? I'm going with imperative-passive. You're going imperative-passive. So shall we make an observation? Okay, this is what Bible study is about. Let's go make an observation. Get drunk? Not! With wine. But! I'll talk about the but here in a moment.

If I forget, let me remind you. Be filled with the Spirit. So let me break out these parse codes for you. So you will notice that the parse code on be filled and get drunk are the same. You guys can tell that, right? So that sort of rules out your hypothesis.

It is a verb. It is imperative. It is present. It is passive. Second person plural. So it's imperative. And it's passive. The M, yeah. M is imperative. Because I is taken with indicative. So that's why you've got to go with a weird letter on that one. Okay. Let's table this imperative-passive. That's weird. Just for a moment.

Let's talk about the but. So you guys don't have to remind me. Greek has two different words for but. There's but when you're talking about two things that are not equal, but they're alike. So it's not one, but it's two. Those are similar. I mean, it's just one-off. Then they've got another word that is but when you want to show really sharp contrast. And that's it's not one, but it's a red monkey. It's like, oh, those are like you. You're not talking about apples and oranges. You're talking about apples and skyscrapers. But is what you would use for that one. That's this one.

So very sharp contrast. Don't get drunk with wine. But totally sharp contrast. Can't even compare them. Let me tell you about being filled with the Holy Spirit. So that's but. We've got this conundrum now. The conundrum looks like this. Be filled is passive. It's something that's done to us. Be filled is imperative. That's something that we've got to do. What in the world do you do with that? Oh my gosh. Scripture is so confusing.

Okay, let's talk a little bit about the Greek language. The gold-starred crystal, the Greek language has something called the permissive passive. What the permissive passive means is that this is something that's done to you But you can absolutely get in the way of it.

Don't do it. So it's showing a volition. Have the openness to allow this thing to happen to you. But isn't that the case, Craig, all the time? I mean, if something's being done to you, you always have that option to be in the way. You do? I don't know what contrast you're trying to make. What other option would there be? You can always get in the way of something being done to you. is something that comes when you have an imperative along with it. So you can have passive that's got indicative with it, and you're just describing something that's happened to somebody else. You're not calling on them to have an active will. You're just reporting about something that happened.

Here, the distinction is you're being told, do this. But the do this part that you're being told to do is, that it's happening to you, which is why it's a head-scratcher. So do this and don't get mined. Yeah. Well, do this and allow it to happen. That's right. It is be open to allowing this to happen to you.

And so we'll step outside of Ephesians for just one moment. We're going to go look at Romans to see another example of this. So here we've got another imperative passive. Do not be conformed to this world. Does the world try to conform us? Yeah. Can it do that to us? Can it make us conform? If we allow it. If we allow the world to conform us, the world will conform us.

Don't do that. Which do you do instead? Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Will the renewal of your mind through a study of scripture, that face-to-face reflection in 2 Corinthians 3.18, will that transform you? If you allow it. Exactly right. If you allow it. So, backing up into Ephesians, we've been told, be filled with the Spirit. Is that something that we can actively disallow?

In fact, Paul warns the church at Thessalonica, don't do this. And he says is, do not quench the Holy Spirit. There is only one reason why he would tell them, don't quench the Holy Spirit. Because you can quench the Holy Spirit, right? So he's saying, don't do that. And so what are we finding out in this Ephesians passage? Yeah, don't do that. Don't do that, be filled with the Spirit.

Let's look at what this looks like as a sentence diagram, because it's cool. All y'all, be filled with the Spirit. Everything else in this entire passage is description. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Don't get in the way of the Holy Spirit. Do not quench the Holy Spirit. And what does that look like in shoe leather when you do not quench the Holy Spirit? It looks like speaking in Psalms, singing, making melody, thanking, submitting. So it turns out this day-to-day walk with our Lord Jesus Christ is both musical and peaceable. How cool is that?

Now you read this in the English without an understanding of the basic tools. You're like, okay, I need to be subject to everybody. So whatever Jim tells me, I need to now go and do that thing. And now I've got my laundry list of, okay, these are the actions for me to take. Crystal's got to bake me chocolate pies every Sunday because I'm a draconian overlord and I demand them. She's like, yes, sir.

That's not what this is saying whatsoever. This is saying, don't get in the way of the Holy Spirit. And if you just stay out of the way, guess what? You're going to be singing and praising and thanking and submitting. And do we see that in the life of Christ? Yeah. Yeah. A complete and total submission to His Father. It wasn't about baking pies, it was that love relationship. Right? So, be filled with the Holy Spirit. And your job is, don't get in the way of that.

So, I promised you that after busting on the King James we'd come back and make good with the King James, take a look at this passage in the King James. Do not be drunk with one wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. What's different in King James than NASV here? to be filled with the Spirit.

It's clear what the main verse, what the main verb is. Yeah. It's clear what the main verb is. The main verb is be filled and you know why it's clear this time? Because instead of saying be subject, King James says subjecting or submitting yourselves. So King James is clear this is a participle, it's a descriptive term.

Right? And ASVE sounded like that was something for us to do. King James recognized it correctly. No, that's description. Keep looking up until you find something without a name. Good job, King James. Question for you all. What's your take on this word? It's a conjunction. What does a conjunction do?

Do you think we've looked at a big enough slice of passage to understand what's going on? Maybe we should back up, right? For another day. So, principles that we looked at here expand until you've got enough context. Make observations. If the observations don't line up with your understanding of what other scripture is saying, maybe you need to expand more. Maybe you need to make more observations. This is an iterative process as you're trying to understand what the Word of God says. It seems like so many sentences...

I've been taught in proper English, and I took an English grammar course at Westman Bible College, and Miss Elfie said, don't ever begin a sentence with a conjunction. And no one looked, why would they do that at all? And what's interesting about that, is in the Greek in this particular passage, that and isn't the beginning of the sentence. It's a conjunction.

And we do have to look further up to understand what this is like. I'll give you the gist. Actually, I will not give you the gist. Go read Ephesians from 1 to 6 and figure out how this block connects in. Why is this in the and? What are we talking about right there? What are we talking about in the for? It's all relevant. Questions? Comments?

I think it really shows the reason why God used Paul, who was such an expert in Greek and Hebrew, and probably other things. But he used him for the basic epistles of the scripture. I mean, wow, what a privilege if you were Paul to know that God would accept you to write his book in such a way that people could truly understand what God wanted to be known.

Wow. Cool for Paul, cool for us. Go God, right? Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. Alright, let's pray. Thanks for this time that we've had together. Thank you for making your words so clear, and for instructing us on how to pull out the truth that you want us to know. Thanks for giving us Paul, and that he was so doggone clear. And thanks that I was finally able to finish a lesson on time. In Jesus' name, Amen.