1) The Anthropology of
a) Word vs. Thought
i) Terminology is very GREEK
(1) Uses Greek terms
ii) Understanding of humanity is very HEBREW
iii) The term GREEK in reference to philosophy is such a misnomer because it means anything from Plato to Aristotle to anything in between
b) Examples
i) Idea that human beings are born a mixture of good and bad
(1) E.g. Good angel, bad angel
(2) Good things come from the heart
(a) Jesus referenced this idea.
2) Jesus’ and Paul’s understanding of humanity
a) Goes back to Genesis 1 and 2
i) Genesis 1
(1) God created by use of word
(2) Story is designed to portray a royal procession
(a) Most important last
(b) “In image and likeness of God”
(i) Crowning point of creation
ii) Genesis 2
(1) Less transcendent than Gen 1
(2) Soul and Body embodied
(3) Much more simple than Gen 1
(4) Adam names animals
(a) Naming controls destiny
(b) Shows authority.
3) The Words of
a) Image=Selem (or Greek Ikon)
i) In ancient world, statues would be used as authority reminders
ii) Therefore, we externally represent God.
b) Dominion-not dominion but radah, which means “to cherish”
i) We are to run the earth like God would run it, to cherish it.
c) Likeness=demut
i) We share in God’s glory
ii) He made us interior like himself.
d) What this all means
i) We participate in God’s glory.
ii) We exercise dominion.
4)
a) Lost in the fall
i) In fall, we only have a faint flicker, if anything at all, of God’s glory.
ii) Humanity, by its own choice, turned over dominion to satan as “god of the earth”
(1) Notice the lowercase g.
iii) These two characteristics are very general.
5) Divisions
a) Flesh is not equal to Body
b) Spirit is not equal to Soul
c) 1 Corinthians
i) 2 heresies of equal yet opposite intensity here.
(1) One went to total license
(a) Anything goes, the body is of no consequence.
(b) The body walks the soul around.
(c) Notice the incestuous relationship in 1 Corinthians
(2) One went to extreme asceticism
(a) We go beyond the body to the point of irreversible harm
6) More Anthropology of Paul
a) Kardia=heart
i) Has a very specific meaning
ii) This is the one where a person chooses to accept or reject God
b) Synedesis=conscience
i) Religious understanding
ii) Ability to discern religious truth because of knowledge of Christ
c) Nous=mind
i) The ability to understand
ii) Loosely connected to synedesis
d) The difference of synedesis and nous
i) Mind knows doctrinal stuff (nous)
ii) Conscience places doctrine into practical use (synedesis)
7) Utilizing control in our lives
a) The only way to hold these things in check (kardia, nous, synedesis, etc) is by some sort of external control on the unity.
b) 2 types of control
i) Everyone is controlled by something
ii) Everyone is a slave to something.
iii) See crappy graphic below for explanation
iv) If by self…
(1) Paul says you are in “disintegration”
(a) Mind, emotion, etc. is supposed to work as one
(b) Ends up being that mind says one thing, body another
(c) Death is final dissolving.
v) If by evil…
(1) It is self+evil
(2) Deeper struggle
(3) Try to do good, but reality falls short
(a) Romans 7
8) Final 2 terms of Anthropology of Paul
a) Sarx=Flesh.
i) Literally, of death things, a corpse.
b) Pneuma=Spirit
c) Putting it all together
i) Body/Soul describe person in how they operate
ii) Flesh/Spirit describes the moral/spiritual
(1) Flesh:Moral, Spirit:Spiritual
iii) Flesh does not mean body, spirit is not ethereal
(1) Describes relationship with God.
(2) Flesh=anything one does in living in dominion of sin
(3) Signifies human person in weakness and sin
(a) Dies and falls away
iv) To rely on oneself means one does not have the Spirit.
9) Bible verses
a) 1 Thes 5:23
i) Person has 3 aspects and only if Christians
(1) Soma
(2) Psyche
(3) Numa
(4) Non-believers get the sarx
(a) Will pass away into eternal death
b) Heb 4:25
i) Word of God like a sword
(1) Bone from flesh
(2) Soul from Spirit
ii) Shows dichotomy
10) Why Paul says what he says
a) Paul had to move out of Judaism to save people and as such had to explain things in a different manner
b) He had to explain why people needed a savior.
11) Ideas of God
a) Infinitely personal
i) God’s “wrath” is a personal term
(1) God is personally offended at sinners
b) “Good news”
i) Paul made this term
ii) Mark took term and made literature genre out of it.
iii) God sent son to show mercy, etc.
(1) Our personhood is just a shadow of God’s mercy.
12) How Paul describes sin.
a) Three tier process
i) Act
(1) Spoken of the least
ii) State/Condition
(1) Getting into original sin with this concept
iii) Power
(1) Why sin exerts the influence it does is because of the power it has over us.
b) The acts we commit are manifestations of the enslaved condition we are in to those over us.
c) One is either for God or for Satan, there is no neutrality before God.
d) Three Temptations
i) Of the Devil
(1) Pleasure
(2) Power
(3) Possessions
ii) John’s view
(1) Flesh
(2) Pleasing to eyes
(3) Pretentiousness of the world
iii) Examples of the 3 temptations
(1) Eve
(2) Golden calf
(3) Desert temptation of Christ.
e) Sin is a choice and an imposition upon us that exists
f) Sin is a personal choice, inherent nature and external power
g) Paul sums up all sin as being essentially IDOLATRY
i) Goes back to
(1) You shall love God ENTIRELY
13) Romans analysis
a) Paul, james and John say that if we love this world, one’s life will disintegrate
b) Anything can be an idol if we don’t understand them properly.
c) Bible verses
i) Rom 1:16-17
(1) One cannot live by the law and have no faith
ii) Rom 1:18-25
(1) Outlining adultery.
(2) The Gentile world in a nutshell
iii) Romans 1:31
(1) Senseless
(a) Plain stupid
(2) Faithless
(a) Lose faith in God
(b) Claim what you do is OK with God.
(3) Heartless
(a) From no faith to uncaring
(b) Careless of what others think of you or what you are doing
(4) Ruthless
(a) Passive hate to active hate.
iv) Rom 1 was about Gentiles
v) Rom 2 was about Jews and Greeks being in the same boat
(1) Not having the law doesn’t excuse those transgressions against morality.
(2) But, transgressions under the law are worse.
14) Paul’s view of God.
a) Paul had always viewed God in terms of Employee/Employer relationship
i) By serving and obeying, he would get something
ii) Unfortunately, obedience=perfection
(1) Can’t be done
(2) No one is perfect
15) Insights of Paul into purpose of the Law
a) Enumerates sin
b) Show it can’t be done (perfection)
c) Press to ask God for mercy.
16) Law eventually changed to the Beatitudes
a) Active charity required.
b) One who does charitable acts is good
c) If one does nothing, one just doesn’t break the law
i) No charitable acts committed
d) Commandments can’t save because they are mandatory
i) They are the core of being a human being.
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