Standing on the Shoulders of Giants - Giertz (19th Sunday after Pentecost)

II Timothy 1:1-14

The Heading of the Letter (1-2)
The heading of this letter is very similar to First Timothy, so similar than one can assume that it is a pattern, which could be used as naturally as a modern day church leader uses his printed letterhead or a secretary forms a heading of a letter according to a certain model even when one writes to a close co-worker.

The Apostle and His Disciple (3-12)
After the formal opening, the letter has a very personal tone. It shines through how fondly attached the apostle is to his spiritual son. The divorce has been very painful and he longs to see him again. At the same time he is very thankful to have such a son in the faith. We are informed about what a good inheritance Timothy has received from his mother and grandmother. Paul calls them by name. This is one of the many small details, which speaks for the authenticity of the letter. One may ask whether the grandmother really had had time to become a Christian, or if she was dead when Paul came to Lystra. It is not impossible that Paul talks about her as a pious Jew. After all, he says about himself that he serves God, “as did his ancestors”. They lived in faith in the coming Messiah. Paul had seen him come. For Paul, this was the same faith. The only difference was that the fathers lived in the time of promise, while he himself lived in the time of fulfillment. He and they worshipped the same God “with a clear conscience,” in the same sincere faith in his word. This was exactly what Paul had said when he first defended himself before the Governor Felix in Caesarea (Acts 24:14f), something that is pointed out by those who believe that this letter is written shortly after.

Paul reminds Timothy that is was he who once ordained him into that office, which he now exercises. It occured during the laying on of hands by the council of elders (presbyterna) and by Paul himself. At that time Timothy received a spiritual gift (a charisma), which Paul here does not name, although he indicates that is was a gift of power, love and self-discipline. This charisma Timothy is to revive - or “to fan into flame”, as Paul literary says. Thus, a charisma does not work automatically. It has to be revived and kept alive, like anything else in the Christian life.

Right now it is important not to lose heart because Paul is in prison. Unfortunately, we do not know where. It may have been in Caesarea, on the Mediterranian coast, farthest to the east, somewhere in the Roman Governor’s residence, as a prisoner on trial, accused by the Jews for revolutionary activity, but still treated respectfully as a Roman citizen. In that case, it should have been around 58 AD. But it is also possible that it is six to nine years later in Rome. In the previous case, it cannot have been too long since he departed from Timothy, since he had just travelled to Jerusalem with Paul in 57 AD, the trip which for Paul ended with the tumult in the temple, where he almost was lynched. Many believe that Timothy then went to Caesarea to help Paul with work he could do from prison. They think that it was during this time that the letters to Colosse, to Philemon and to Ephesus, and maybe also the letter to Philippians were written. In three of them, Timothy is mentioned as a co-author. He must have sent to Ephesus soon after this - all this presuming that 2nd Timothy is written in Caesarea.

Paul now asks him to be of good cheer. For the Christians it was, of course, troublesome that one of their leaders was imprisoned, accused of treason. But Paul reminds that he suffers without shame. It is, after all, for the sake of the gospel. In a few short sentences he reminds about the main points in this gospel: not because our works, only through God’s gracious decision, made before the ages begun and manifested through Jesus Christ, who abolished death. Paul knows in whom he believes. He knows what kind of message he is bringing. He has received something that has been entrusted to him. He uses (as in 1 Tim 6:20) the word “parathéke”, a deposit, a treasure which he is to manage and which he will be accountable for “on that day”. But he is certain that in the end God is the one who will preserve the treasure and is the one who is responsible that it does not go to waste - whether Paul is in prison or not.

Faithfulness to the Confession (13-14)
Now Timothy has to guard this “parathéke” - once again Paul uses this word. His task is not to be creative. He is to repeat what he has learned from the apostle. But it does not mean only a repeating by heart. No one can render the sound doctrine right without help from the Holy Spirit. He is to trust that he has access to this help. After all, the Spirit lives in us who are baptized and believe. The one who has the Spirit does not make up new doctrines, but is able to lay out the apostolic truth “in the faith and love which Christ Jesus gives” (Giertz translation). The Gospel is thus something fixed, which never changes; at the same time as it is to be brought forth with a personal conviction and with love toward the ones who are listening.

Luke 17:1-10

v. 1-3a - The Inevitable Temptation

In this fallen world one can’t avoid evil, and where sin is, there is always the risk that people will fall into sin (“kommer på fall” - Swedish idiom) Jesus here uses a word which one can translate “temptation” or “offense” and which originally denotes that part of a set trap which triggers it to snap shut, if one touches it. Such traps one has to count on, but woe to the one who sets them, says Jesus. It is better to be drowned, than to draw a single one of these “little ones” into perdition. By “little ones” Jesus means those who believe in Him, as is shown in parallel passages (Matt. 18.6; Mark 9.42) - it can be people in all ages. They are “little” according to the world’s way of evaluating and measuring. They are in one way or another dependant on others. It is because of this, therefore, that it is such a great sin to abuse one’s authority and influence to take their faith from them.

v. 3b-6 - Unlimited forgiveness and Miracle-working faith

If a Christian encounters evil in a “brother” - which in the New Testament means one who believes in Jesus - he has a double obligation: one the one hand (å ena sidan) to speak up and try to correct him and, on the other hand (å andra sidan) to forgive. And there is no limit for that. Jesus surely uses this image which is on the edge of absurdity deliberately: someone sins against you as often as seven times the same day and asks for forgiveness seven times. The meaning is clear: Just as God does not tire of forgiving, neither should we.

It is difficult to say if there is any connection between the different pieces in this chapter, or if Luke here has collected various sayings of Jesus and stories that he wanted to put together. It is at least possible that there is a connection between Jesus’ words about unlimited forgiveness and the apostles’ request about increased faith. After all, the apostles were to be commissioned representatives and act on his behalf. They were to admonish and forgive as he did. They were also to heal the sick. It is understandable if they asked for “increased faith,” but Jesus answers that it is not increased faith that they need. If one only has the slightest hint of the faith in question everything is possible. Apparently, this is the “miracle-working faith”, which according to Paul is one of the spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:9). Jesus never questioned the fact that also the weak disciples, the ones he calls incredulous, believed in him and belonged to him. At the same time he admonishes them - and us - that they do not have the faith which makes the impossible possible. He uses an image which deliberately talks about something impossible. A mulberry tree was considered to be deeper rooted that any other tree. That it would be uprooted and planted in the sea was a marvellous thought. Jesus does, of course, not mean that his disciples should do such things - but maybe things that seem just as impossible, yet that God nevertheless commissioned them to do.


v. 7-10 Unskillful Servants

At such words every Christian feels like a unskillful servant. But even if we were able to do such things, we would still only be unskillful servants, who would not expect any praise. Jesus tells this using a parable, one of the many which only Luke has preserved for us. It is, as usual, an image from everyday life, such as it is in this evil world. A poor slave comes home after his labor in the field. Now he has to continue with the tasks at home. Only when his lord has been waited on and had his food is the servant allowed to eat. He does not receive a thank you, and has not expected this either. After all, he cannot demand anything. And neither can we from God. Even if we have done everything which was commanded - and when have we done that? - we have to say: We are unskillful servants, who are not good for much. Here Jesus uses a strong word, which means useless, incompetent or bad, the same word which is used about the worthless servant who hid his talent in the ground (Matt 25:30). The servant knows that even when he seems to have done well, he is not that remarkable. He does not deserve any praise.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants - Giertz (18th Sunday after Pentecost)

A somewhat regular feature Kristina and I are going to work on is translating Bo Giertz's commentaries which correspond to the upcoming Sunday Gospel and Epistle reading. We'll see how it goes! Here is the first installment for next Sunday, September 26:

Luke 16:19-31 - The Rich Man and Lazarus

Parables can be of different kinds. Some use an image from everyday life to illustrate something concerning God's kingdom (for example, the parable of the dishonest steward). Such parables must be interpreted (explained). But - as we have already said - there are other types of parables, which one usually calls "example stories" (exempelberättelser). They present simple and clear examples of how one should act or not act, concerning God and one's neighbor. This is where the story of the good Samaritan belongs; likewise the story of the wealthy landowner and his plans to build (storehouses). Here it seems we have a third parable of the same type. In actual fact, it belongs together with the previous type. The parable of the dishonest steward is about considering the future and using money wisely. Following this is a new image of a man who didn't do this, a man who owned everything a man could wish for himself, but still lived a wasted life. Against him is set the poor man Lazarus. We know nothing about him, except that he lived in absolute poverty. Nevertheless, his life was not wasted. It lead to the destination God has set for all mankind: the great joy in God's kingdom. The parable confronts and deals with the common Jewish (judiska) notion that happiness/success in this life must be a sign of God's good favor (välbevågenhet), while adversity is punishment. The parable says, instead, that there is much in this vicious world which seems unfair and incomprehensible, but which God will correct, when one is "of" him. It does not say explicitly that Lazarus is of God, but it is apparent from what follows that this is what is crucial. The rich man realizes too late that he should not have neglected that which had to do with God. His fault was not that he was rich, but that he was a squanderer, who did not use what he received properly. As opposed to this rich man Jesus sets forth another rich man, who managed his possession rightly. He could let it go. He let Lot take the best part of the land. He was willing to offer even his only son, if God wanted this.

The parable's meaning is, thus, not that man gains heaven only because one is poor. But it says the same as Paul expresses with the words, "the distress we now suffer prepares for us glories which in many ways outweigh everything that can be imagined, and which lasts eternally." (II Cor. 4:17 - from Giertz's own translation)

Jesus sketches the picture of life on the other side with strokes which were well-known to his contemporaries. In this matter he says nothing new and his words are probably not meant as a teaching concerning the state after death. The fundamental feature of the image is the same as elsewhere in Jesus' preaching. There will be joy or judgement. The verdict cannot be changed. Aside from this, we must be careful in our use of details. It is not helpful to ask whether this happens before or after the final judgement or if it really is possible to make contact between these worlds. That is not what this parable is about.

On the contrary the parable has a second part, which is also part of the message. The rich man wants Lazarus to return to earth to warn his brothers. Abraham answers, they have already received what they need to know. This is, of course, God's word. The rich man answers that they do not care about such things. But should anyone come back from the dead, then they surely would repent. Then Abraham said to him, the one who is not convinced by the word of God, he will not repent even if someone is raised from the dead. With these words, Jesus gives justification for why he rejected all demands that he should do miracles as proof for who he was. Doing so creates no real faith. No one can love God as a result of calculations. Most explain away everything they saw of His power anyway. When Luke wrote this, he knew right Jesus had been. His adversaries had not at all allowed themselves to be convinced by His resurrection from the dead.

The details in the parable are as concrete as always. Purple-dyed fabric was an exclusive fabric, colored by the extract from a little gland of the Purpura mollusk (they had to use thousands of these to color one robe). The fine linen was called silk (? - byssus) and was almost as expensive as the purple fabric. The dogs were Middle-Eastern, half wild street dogs. The rich man was laid in a grave; however, nothing is said about Lazarus. He probably ended up in the trash heap where the jackals took care of his legs.

1 Tim 3:1-7 - Qualifications for Overseers (biskopar – bishops)

Here follows a list of conditions, which are to be fulfilled if someone is to be considered for the position of bishop or deacon. These offices are mentioned already in Philippians (1:1). In Swedish we still use the same words, but they do not have the exact same meaning. In Greek, bishop is episkopos, and that word actually means "overseer" or "manager" (föreståndare). Every congregation had several of them. It was not before the year 100 that the church in a certain place begun having only one bishop as a leader. The ”angels” of the churches in the book of Revelation could have been such leaders. Around 110 AD the martyr bishop Ignatius insists in his letters that this is the right order. Thus the word bishop received a meaning which it still maintains. Therefore, the Greek word episkopos is usually not translated as "bishop" when it appears in the New Testament, instead ”overseer” or something else that indicates the same meaning is used.

Paul says that this is ”a noble task”. Maybe he does this for the sake of the heretics. When we then hear about what would be required of a bishop candidate, it is difficult not to be surprised that the demands are so basic. He cannot be a lover of money or wine, he cannot be quarrelsome or a troublemaker, who could even resort to violence. He cannot have a bad reputation among ”outsiders”, the ones who are not Christians. Here we get – as in many other letters by Paul – a reminder of what kind of a life many of the Christians had led before and how they always had to fight against what they had brought with them from paganism. Every missionary who has worked with starting a congregation of all new Christians knows about this. We must be careful not to believe that congregations in the early Church only contained sanctified human beings. Rather, they were a congregation (assembly) of fire, who had been pulled out of the fire and who still smelled of smoke. Therefore, it was necessary to ensure that the leading positions were held by men, who had shown that their former lives were indeed something of the past. They were to be irreproachable, so that nothing in their behavior could be criticized. In this context, it is also said that an episkopos must be ”the husband of one wife”. This also is an basic requirement for a Christian. Roman law allowed a man to have concubines, so illicit relations were not considered offensive. But a Christian was to live in strict monogamy and was not allowed to divorce. To divorce one's wife in order to take another wife could be considered a kind of polygamy, and such a thing an overseer could not be guilty of.

Most the positive qualifications which are mentioned are basic for every human being: dignity and wisdom, self-control and moderation, as well as the ability to manage one's own household and children. Here the same word as in the case of an ”overseer” of the congregation is intentionally used. The congregation was God's family. If one was to take care of God's family, one must also be able to take care of one's own family. The overseer could not be a recent convert. The church in Ephesus had at this point (if the letter is written after Paul was released from prison) existed long enough for it to have experienced and proven people. If a newcomer was appointed, it could go to his head.

It is interesting to look at what is not mentioned, namely, personal faith in Jesus and a willingness to witness, suffer and sacrifice for one's faith. Such things must have been assumed to be obvious for everyone who belonged to the church. On the contrary, the ability to teach is mentioned. Not everyone had that. To teach was one of the most important and demanding tasks that an overseer had to do.

1 Tim 3:8-13 - Qualifications for Deacons

The deacons did not only have what we would call ”diaconal” tasks. They were the bishops' assistants, and it is striking that the qualifications regarding their personality and lifestyle are largely the same as for the bishops. We hear that they too have to be examined before they are appointed. Thus, there must have been such an examination of the bishops as well. It does not mean a probationary position, but a scrutiny of qualifications and characteristics. In this context, women are also mentioned. These are probably deaconesses, although some believe that the words refer to the wives of the deacons, because the female helpers (medhjälpare) of the church are specifically dealt with in another chapter later on.

Here the decisive Christian qualification is mentioned: [to hold] the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. The mystery of the faith is the gospel, the great mystery of God, which has been hidden throughout the centuries, but now has been revealed through Jesus Christ. This is what the deacons must have understood and received, and they must have kept it in a clear conscience, so that they do not in any matter live a double life in unresolved sins. Even regarding the deacons, it is stressed that it is an office which carries an authority when it is performed in the right way.

New blog, new ambitions

My beautiful, talented wife and I plan on using this blog as a forum for posting translations we're working on. As the name of the blog suggests, these will be from the Nordic lands. Kristina, of course, is versed in all of the necessary languages, and I have just begun in earnest to struggle with Swedish. As we finish little projects, they'll go up.

One on-going project that we plan on both contributing to will be a translation of Bo Giertz's commentary which corresponds to the Gospel and Epistle lesson for the upcoming Sunday in the 3 year lectionary. We'll be using Förklaringar Till Nya Testament (Explanation of the New Testament), which isn't available in an English translation.

Look for the first one in a couple of days!