This is from my daily Greek exercise of sight reading many months ago, courtesy of Vincent S Artale Jr.
Our text is from the Greek translation of 1 Timothy 1:14. Here is my translation:
“SENTENCE 14 ὑπερεπλεόνασεν δὲ ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν μετὰ πίστεως καὶ
And the grace of our Lord overflowed with faith andἀγάπης τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ”
love which is of Jesus in Christ
Here are some observations:
- The subject of this verse is grace. We know this because the Greek word for “grace” is χάρις and it is in the nominative case.
- Who is the source of grace? The Greek genitive τοῦ κυρίου indicates the source and here it is “the Lord.”
- Also the Lord here is seen in a personal way since the phrase τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν also include a first person plural possessive pronoun “our.” It is “our Lord.“
- The main verb here is “overflowed.”
- It is nuanced, appearing before the subject and actually begins the verse. This is a way syntactically in the Greek of putting an emphasis on a word.
- In the Greek the word “overflowed” is ὑπερεπλεόνασεν.
- This word appears in the Bible only once, here in this verse.
- Yet we can still understand somewhat deeper when we realize it is a combination of two words: ὑπέρ and πλεονάζω.
- ὑπέρ is a preposition meaning “above” in this verb. The word pronounced “huper” sounds like “super.”
- πλεονάζω means “abound, increase.”
- Together it has the sense of “above increase…”
- Grace overflows is what this verse is telling us!
- The verb’s indicative mood indicate this is a statement of reality. Thus It isn’t a mere wish of Paul but a truth that grace overflows from God!
- God’s grace doesn’t come alone; it is accompanied with “faith” and “love.” By the way even faith and love is not our own works but this verse tells us that it is “in Christ,” that is, in the sphere of Christ. When we have faith and love they are gifts from God to us!
- We often think of God’s grace mainly for salvation. Its true our salvation is by God’s grace. But in the context we see grace doesn’t stop with salvation; grace is also for our service to God. Note the beginning of the paragraph in verse 12 which states “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service.“
Application:
- Have you forgotten that grace comes from God rather than your own self-righteous work? Let that sink in by making this the subject of your meditation: That God’s grace is unmerited and from the Lord!
- Sometimes I meet people who say they are all about free grace as opposed to “Lordship salvation.” They would sometimes say things like they believe in more grace than other Christians since they aren’t “strict.” But this is wrong. I would tell them I actually believe in more grace than they do: I believe not only grace for salvation, but also for sanctification! Also not just only for sanctification but service! Still, a biblical view of grace is not just only for salvation, sanctification and service (grace for service is taught in our passage) but also sufficient when we are “soft,” that is, in our weakness. That’s what 2 Corinthians 12:9 teaches. This grace for our “softness” also include grace sufficient for our suffering which is what 2 Corinthians 12:10 affirms. Have you marvel at how abundant God’s grace is? That His grace is enough to save us from our sins, without our works and merit! That it then overflows to our sanctification, service, suffering and our “softness.” What an incredible grace!
- Consider memorizing the five S that I mentioned of how grace overflows: Grace is sufficient for our salvation, sanctification, service, softness (weakness) and suffering.
- If faith and love is a gift from God, have you thank God for them?
- If faith and love is a gift from God, there is no room for boasting! Rather we should be humbled! A proud Calvinist is an oxymoron. Have you cultivated humility even as you grow in your faith and love?
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Thanks for the reblog!
Yankee Whiskey Bravo
Thanks for the good lesson! Yes, some hyper-grace people think “resting in the Lord” means doing whatever they want with a guilt-free conscience.
RE: 5S – Grace is sufficient for our salvation, sanctification, service, softness (weakness) and suffering.
Excellent!
You’re welcome! Hypergrace doesn’t believe in enough grace…enough grace for sanctification also! That alliteration has been one I have been using for the last two years after I started to really pay attention to the word grace when I read the New Testament in consideration of those who are hyper-grace that have called me a legalist. I hope you have a good day at work today, nothing too dramatic!
Thanks, winding down the workday. All routine!
Beautiful and precise. Ty
Aww thank you! May this post makes us all appreciate more the depth of God’s grace! The Bible certainly puts “Amazing” back into Amazing grace, Amen?
Amen. No transulation can twist the Greek words.
How was your day today sister Bonnie?
Doing well, Brother Jim. God is my joy.
2 Corinthians 12:9
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Thanks for quoting that verse. I know I reference 2 Corinthians 12:9 but I should have quoted it which you did here for the benefit of the readers. What an amazing verse, isn’t it?
It really is! Especially for those who accomplish so much while having a physical disability!
Reblogged this on BibleProphecyWatch.
Thanks for the reblog of this devotional! I hope you were edified with it in light of your New Years resolution of reading more the Word of God. I’m about to eat noodles for lunch. Did you have lunch yet? What did you have for lunch?
Yes but why is it we say that and never get it done or follow through. Yes I did I had Wendy’s for lunch it was good.
Your welcome.
Jim,
Too many times I go from being too prideful and ‘proud of my humility’ to feelings of complete unworthiness. At times I ask myself why I do some of the things I do: Do I research and study for my own intellectual stimulation and edification, or is this Spirit-led? Thank God for grace.
Thus, I read this post with interest; and, keeping the above in mind, I wrestled with whether or not I should bring up the following. But, here goes.
I’ve been self-studying Greek for years now, but I’ve rarely looked at the Greek in Paul’s material—I’ve been reading John and 1 John mostly (the Greek is easier!). So, I wanted to follow your exegesis here. From the start, I thought the τῆς (the article) was in a very odd place. This article is a feminine singular in the genitive, which I thought should precede the entire genitival phrase μετὰ πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης (these nouns are both feminine, of course). Yet it doesn’t. And while Χριστῷ is in the dative (indirect object), Ἰησοῦ is a genitive. I don’t know why this is. But I’d think these should go together with ἐν to make the prepositional phrase ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ (“in Christ Jesus”) [keeping in mind Ἰησοῦ is masculine]. But even if so, where does τῆς fit in?
After a very brief search in Wallace’s grammar to no avail, I finally had to ‘cheat’ and look up English Bible versions. After pondering this a bit, I see that the article should be translated “which/that is” (similar to cases where the article precedes participles “the one who…” works about the best)—maybe governing the entire genitival phrase (referring back to it, i.e., anaphoric use) as a collective singular? If all this is so, this would yield “…with faith and love which/that is in Christ Jesus”.
What do you think?
I hope this comes across in the way I intended—not hyper-critical.
Craig,
I appreciated your comment and would love to hear your thoughts after my comment…actually for any of these devotionals with observations from the Greek! I commend you for your study of Greek and that correction. I mistranslated the article and in my mind I read it as masculine but is feminine. I do see the article referring not so much as both faith and love but just “love” the closest antecedent. Thanks!
Jim,
Till this morning, I’d forgotten that I have in my library George Knight III’s excellent commentary on the Pastoral Epistles. Like you, I considered whether or not the article refers to one or both nouns. Here’s what Knight states about this matter:
On the previous page Knight makes note the απίστις is found at the end of the previous verse, meaning that Paul apparently wished to juxtapose one with the other: “Paul had earlier been in a state of unbelief (ἐν ἀπιστίᾳ) characterized by blasphemy, persecution, and insolence and violence (v. 13); God’s mercy and grace moved him to the exact opposite, the state found only in Christ, that of faith and love, so that he serves as an example of those who will come to ‘believe in him’ (v. 16).”
I think some of the English versions use “which are” (plural) in their translations to indicate both nouns, but I think the singular is probably better (“which is”), because it will leave the ambiguity found in the Greek—though I have to side with Knight.
Though I looked again this AM, I still don’t have an answer for why “Jesus” is genitive in this construction. I have Accordance software, and it tags the genitive Ἰησοῦ as “dative (prop)”, but I cannot find a key to determine what the parenthetical “prop” means.
I just thought to check Perschbacher’s Analytical Lexicon, and I found that “Jesus” in the genitive is used as a vocative in Rev 22:20–“Come, Lord Jesus (κύριε Ἰησοῦ)”. The tagging in Accordance is “vc (prop)”.
Wow that makes so much sense! A rare use of genitive as a vocative. Wow what labor you put into this, thanks! I’ll be going to go overseas in March to a country where I have limited internet because of security reason, would you be interested in writing guest posts for this blog that I schedule for that time?
I’m truly honored that you would ask, but I’ll have to decline. Let’s just say things are in flux for me, and I’m not sure how much time I’ll have next week, let alone March.
Its neat to see you two graciously disagree. Also there is so much I don’t understand and its amazing how deep one verse can get from my own first impression of the verse.
JIm, thank you. I love these devotionals. Paul may have been alluding to Jesus’ words in John 7:38-39 considering the overflow of the Holy Spirit within us responding to God’s grace, There has to be an overflow, because we cannot contain what God alone works.
Wow that’s a passage that certainly illuminates this verse further. As I grow more in my walk in the Lord I am amazed at how much His grace overflows into other areas of my life. Thank you Frances for reading this, how is Jerry?
We are holding to the Lord’s promises for His goodness and grace during times that are still difficult. Thank you for asking.
Thank you for the 5 S’s of overflowing Grace. Thank you for this teaching.
You are such a blessing pastor Jim.
[…] Quick Devotional from 1 Timothy 1:14 (Observation from the Greek) […]
I wished more devotional was like this one, looking at the original Greek and still be practical. This made my morning
This is awesome: “Still, a biblical view of grace is not just only for salvation, sanctification and service (grace for service is taught in our passage) but also sufficient when we are “soft,” that is, in our weakness”
There’s so much grace in Christ!