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Figures of Speech: Acrostic (Endnotes)

1. The Bible says the sinner is “without hope” because the future of the unsaved sinner is annihilation. For more on the everlasting destruction of the sinner, see the REV commentary on Revelation 20:10, available at Truthortradtion.com Close

2. When a person gets “born again,” at that moment he receives, and is sealed with, God’s gift of holy spirit (Eph.1:13). This spirit is the primary way that God and Christ then communicate with, and work through, the Christian. Philippians 2:13 (REV) says, “for it is God who is working in you both to want to do, and to do, his good pleasure.” Close

3. The HCSB is the Holman Christian Standard Bible, a new version that is gaining a lot of popularity today because of its easy reading style but fidelity to the text, and its occasional use of “Yahweh” as the proper name of God. Many versions use “struggle” instead of “strive” (or an equivalent word), which is fine if struggle is understood correctly, that we struggle against sin and evil, and not against God who is trying to work through us. Close

4. The author is uncertain. A search of the Internet revealed at least three sources that were given credit for the poem, Ben Hildner, Robert Burdette, and Author Unknown. Close

5. The Revised English Version (REV) is the version of the Bible that Spirit & Truth Fellowship is developing. We are in our eleventh year of the translation project, which is posted on the Internet at Truthortradition.com and is updated every 90 days. Close

6. One of the interesting questions of the Bible is, “In what language did Jesus and Pilate converse?” Jesus would have almost certainly been raised speaking Aramaic, but would have learned Hebrew to read Scripture and converse with religious leaders (there is even evidence that Hebrew was spoken quite commonly in New Testament times—John 19:20 says the sign over Jesus’ head was in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. Although some scholars say the sign was in Aramaic, the text reads “Hebrew,” and there is a word that means Aramaic, but it is not used of the sign). Also, Jesus was raised only a few miles from Sepphoris, the capital city of the Galilee, where Greek and Latin were spoken and where Joseph and his sons would have gotten lots of work. Also, to speak with the large numbers of Greek speaking Jews or people of the Decapolis or near Tyre and Sidon, Jesus would have almost certainly had to speak Greek. Thus, Jesus was almost certainly tri-lingual, and likely quatra-lingual, picking up Latin in his childhood. For his part, Pilate would have spoken Latin and Greek, and as the governor of Judea, likely picked up some Aramaic and even some Hebrew as well. Close

7. R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, MN, reprinted 1961), p. 391. “Koine” was the Greek commonly spoken at the time of Christ. Robertson’s Grammar that Lenski refers to is, A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in Light of Historical Research (Hodder and Stoughton, New York, 1923). It is very common to read a Greek grammar, or even some study Bibles such as the Companion Bible by E. W. Bullinger and see a chart of Greek prepositions, where en means “in,” eis means “to,” pros means “toward,” apo means “away from,” etc. While perhaps giving beginners a place to start, these charts can cause serious problems if used in translation, simply because there are so many exceptions, and prepositions have so many different meanings. Imagine such a chart in English were “up” meant “up” (an arrow pointing up). That works great if you are sending a rocket into space, but what about, “Don’t tear it up,” “Move up a grade,” “Cheer up,” “Your time is up,” “Divide up the money,” “Drive up to the next window,” “Speak up,” “Go up river,” “Bring up the subject tomorrow” and “the people are up in arms.” To translate correctly, we must consider the full range of the meaning of a word, something native speakers do instinctively. Close

8. In the context we are dealing with in Romans, “baptism” refers to baptism in holy spirit, which occurs simultaneously with being saved; born again. Most Christians readily admit that there are church-goers who have been water baptized but have never given their hearts to Christ and gotten saved. Therefore it should be clear that being baptized in water does not give us union with Christ, but baptism in holy spirit and thus being filled and sealed with it always means we have a union with Jesus Christ. Close

9. E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, reprinted 1968). Close

10.Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 1973), Vol.1, p. 99. Close

11. Paul Barnett, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 1997), p. 310. Close

12. Bromiley, Geoffery, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapid, MI, 1968), Vol. 6, p. 681. This ten-volume theological dictionary is often referred to as “Kittel’s Theological Dictionary.” Where the ellipsis appears in the quotation above, there are a number of references to ancient works to substantiate the point. Close

13. Ceslas Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament (Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, MA, 1994), Vol. 3, p. 174, 175. Close

14. 1 Corinthians 12:6 (REV) shows that the power, or energy to do the work, comes from God: “And there are different kinds of energizings, yet it is the same God who energizes all of them in all people.” Close

15. For a more detailed explanation of the Administration of the Sacred Secret, see Graeser, Lynn, Schoenheit, The Gift of Holy Spirit: The Power to be Like Christ (Christian Educational Services), Appendix A, “The Administration of the Sacred Secret.” Close

16. There are three main figures of speech of comparison: simile (which uses “like” or “as”), metaphor (which uses “is” or “are”), and hypocatastasis (a comparison by implication). Simile usually carries the least emotion and impact, with hypocatastasis having the most. For example, if someone tricks us and we are mildly annoyed, we might say, “You are like a snake.” If we are hurt and exasperated, we might say, “You are a snake!” However, if we are really angry we might just say, “Snake!”, which is a hypocatastasis, the comparison is implied, not stated. Genesis 3 simply says, “Now the serpent,” which is a hypocatastasis. The evil being in the Garden was Satan, who as well as being called a “serpent,” is called a “dragon” (Rev. 20:2). The gift of holy spirit, which brings the power, glory, and characteristics of Christ into us, is simply called “Christ” in us by the figure hypocatastasis. Further explanations of the three figures of comparison, with examples, can be found on Truthortraditon.com, under the topic Figures of Speech and the article on Hypocatastasis. Close

17. The Christians that experience the Rapture of the Church will not die, but be changed (1 Thess. 4:17; 1 Cor. 15:51). Close