Dan Olinger

"If the Bible is true, then none of our fears are legitimate, none of our frustrations are permanent, and none of our opposition is significant."

Dan Olinger

Chair, Division of Biblical Studies & Theology,

Bob Jones University

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Jesus Is Jehovah, Part 5: “He Ascended Up on High”

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: “Prepare Ye the Way” | Part 3: “I Have Seen the LORD” | Part 4: “Call upon the Name of the LORD”

Our fourth example of a YHWH / Jesus pair of passages is interesting on several levels; there are at least two other significant interpretational issues in the OT citation. But first to the issue at hand.

Paul discusses spiritual gifts in the church in several places in his letters: Romans 12.4-8; 1Co 12.4-11 and 27-31; and finally Ephesians 4.7-16. I’ve written on those passages before.

Paul begins his final discussion by speaking of the church as the body of Christ (Ep 4.4), as he has in his earlier discussions. In Romans 12 and 1Corinthians 12 he emphasizes the diversity of function of the body’s parts, but the unity of the body itself. Here he emphasizes the benefit to the body when all its members perform their diverse functions as they should. He begins with a citation from the Old Testament that speaks of gift-giving (Ps 68.15-21).

The Psalmist is writing a hymn of praise and thanksgiving to God. This brief paragraph uses a broad range of God’s most common names: God (Elohim), Psalm 68.15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 (2x), 21; Lord (Adonai), Psalm 68.17, 19, 20; and, significantly, LORD (YHWH), Psalm 68.16, 18, 20 (there translated “GOD”).

There is no doubt who is being discussed—and addressed—in this passage. And Paul selects just the first part of one verse, verse 18, from the middle of the paragraph:

When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men (Ep 4.8).

Who ascended up on high? Well, Jesus, of course. And the man Jesus, who, after physically living and dying and being resurrected, ascended in a physical body from earth to heaven, is, in Paul’s thinking, the one being addressed in the Psalmist’s paragraph. Elohim. Adonai. YHWH.

Unless Paul is mistaken—and he’s not—Jesus is YHWH.

As I noted earlier, there are two—or more—other significant interpretational issues in this passage. The first is one you may have noticed in the citation above. Paul changes the verb, and thus the direction of giving, in the key verse. The Psalmist says God “received gifts for men”; Paul says he “gave gifts to men.” Can Paul do that? Is that a mistake?

The history of the interpretation of both Psalm 68 and Paul’s citation of it here is … complex, to say the least. Of several proposed explanations for the “inaccurate quotation,” I prefer the simple idea that Paul changed the wording intentionally to fit his theme. He does that elsewhere, as when he famously alters Habakkuk 2.4 in Galatians 3.11 and Romans 1.17, and when he alters Deuteronomy 30.12-14 in Romans 10.6-8.

Can he do that? Isn’t that dishonest?

I don’t think so, for the simple reason that Paul is inspired by the Spirit of God, who inspired the earlier texts and, as the original author, is free to modify his earlier wording for any purpose he wishes. In a similar case, Jesus himself changed the wording of Deuteronomy 6.4-5, the “Shema,” or, as he labels it, the “Greatest Commandment,” by adding a fourth descriptor, “and with all thy mind” (Mk 12.30) to the three originally included.

The second issue is in the verse that follows in Paul’s letter. Paul writes that the Christ who ascended also “descended first into the lower parts of the earth”—and that phrase has caused all sorts of discussion throughout church history. It’s the basis for the idea that while his body was in the tomb, Christ “descended into hell.” The line even occurs in the Apostles’ Creed.

Because this is such a significant idea—and because I think it’s both biblically and theologically unfounded—I’m going to take the next post to look at it more closely.

Part 6: Excursus: Descent into Hell | Part 7: “The LORD Will Come in Fire” | Part 8: “Let All the Angels of God Worship Him” | Part 9: “Your Years Shall Not Fail” | Part 10: Other Possibilities

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

The Eye of the Storm, Part 2

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Part 1

Let’s take a closer look at Psalm 11, where we find ourselves faced with a stark choice as we deal with troublous times.

Stanza 1 includes verses 1-3. David’s advisors, having done a SWOT analysis, present him with what appears to be the only logical choice: “Run! Run for your life!”

Flee as a bird to your mountain!

And they give solid reasons: you have enemies, and they are preparing for action, which includes hidden threats to your very life. With weapons. Bad ones.

For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.

They also note the consequences of inaction.

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?!

This is, as we say these days, an “existential threat.” The consequences are world-shaking. What we’re facing is the end of all we know and love. Oblivion.

That’s their case.

Now David presents his.

I note that he doesn’t deny the truth of their facts. He’s not careless, disengaged, distracted, or apathetic. “There are no threats; no one’s after me; you people are a bunch of paranoid freaks.”

No. Accepting their major premise—that there’s a real threat out there—he presents rather a different perspective on it.

He brings in a variable that they haven’t mentioned. There is another actor on the battlefield; his name is YHWH, the ever-present and unchanging one, the one who keeps covenants. David views this God from three different perspectives.

His Person

David begins his response with a statement about who God is, what he is like:

The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven (v 4).

What is he like? Well, for starters, he has a temple—he’s God—and it’s “holy,” or unique. He’s not like everybody else; he’s in a class by himself. Adding him to the scene changes everything.

Second, he has a throne. That means he’s a king. And if he’s holy, then he’s not like any other king. He’s bigger, and stronger, and smarter, and better at kinging than any other king.

There’s a third factor. That throne is in heaven. That means, at least, that he’s above the battlefield and has a broader and clearer perspective on what’s going on down below. The high ground is militarily significant for many reasons, and one of them is the advantage that its perspective gives for strategic planning.

And heaven, of course, is not just any ordinary high ground. It’s the highest ground of all, the home of him who never loses.

So this is who the fearful have left out of their equation. A fairly significant oversight.

His Perspective

David also considers where God is looking—where his attention is focused. He actually bookends his thoughts—what scholars call an inclusio—with this idea.

His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men (v 4).

His countenance doth behold the upright (v 7).

This powerful God, this master general, this unmatchable force, is paying attention. His eyes are focused like a laser on his people; he knows what’s going on, and his hands are poised on the armrests of his throne as he prepares to move against any and all threats to them. His silence is evidence not of distance or distraction, but of concentration.

The storm in which we find ourselves has an eye, a place of calm. And the eye belongs to God.

His Plan

God has plans for every actor on the battlefield.

God’s plan for the righteous is to strengthen him not by avoiding the exertion of battle, but by enduring it.

The Lord trieth the righteous (v 5).

We all know that athletes don’t become great by lying on the couch. They become great by building endurance through physical challenges—wind sprints, road work, scrimmages seemingly without end. And they build dexterity and skills by constant repetition at the blocking sled or doing layups or punching the timing bag.

They get tired.

But they get great.

That’s God’s loving plan for us through the dark days, through the frightening challenges (Ro 5.3-5).

God also has plans for those who threaten his people.

The wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. 6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup (vv 5b-6).

They won’t prevail. They won’t even survive.

The foundations, in the end, cannot be destroyed. The battle may well be strenuous, and we may well pick up some Purple Hearts, or maybe even a Congressional Medal of Honor, along the way.

But the outcome is certain.

Fear not.

Photo by NASA. That’s Tropical Cyclone Eloise coming ashore in Mozambique on January 22, 2021.

The Eye of the Storm, Part 1

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I’ve been meditating lately in Psalm 11, as part of my effort this year to memorize a few key Psalms. (So far, 1, 2, 8, 11, and 14; next is 19, d.v.)

Psalm 11 is most well known for its third verse: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

I’ve heard that verse used as a call to action against evil—typically, social or political action against evil policy proposals, national or regional. Some years ago I even spoke at a Christian-school conference that had chosen that verse as its theme.

But I’d like to suggest that those friends and others have taken this verse to say the very opposite of the intended meaning.

Here’s the whole Psalm—

1  In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain! 2 For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. 3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?!”

4 The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. 5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. 6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. 7 For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

I’ve modified the punctuation of the KJV text just a little: I’ve added quotation marks; I’ve changed the question mark at the end of verse 1 to an exclamation point; and I’ve added an exclamation point to the question mark at the end of verse 3.

It appears to me that the KJV translators viewed the quotation as ending in verse 1; that’s why they put the question mark there. (Note that there was no punctuation in the original manuscripts or in the early copies. All punctuation in the Bible is a later editorial decision.) What basis do I have for extending the quotation through verse 3?

Well, the first consideration in any such decision should always be the context. The contrast between verses 3 and 4 indicates a significant change of perspective—which is why all the major English translations that show paragraph breaks put one there, and all those that include quotation marks end the quotation at the end of verse 3. The fear and frustration expressed in verse 3 seems much more in tune with the quotation in verse 1 than the response in verse 4.

Since it’s always a good idea to run your ideas past experts, the next step is to check the commentaries. Of the technical commentaries I have at hand, Faussett, Keil & Delitzsch, Lange, Kidner (Tyndale), Futato (Cornerstone), Longman (Tyndale), and Motyer (New BC) all agree that the major break is between 3 and 4—in other words, that verse 3 belongs with verse 1.

Thus the psalm consists of two paragraphs, or more properly, two stanzas. In the first, David announces his life principle (“In the Lord do I put my trust”) and then questions those who question him. The words “what can the righteous do?!” are not David’s, but those of his questioners, his self-appointed advisors, who see the world as a much more frightening place than he does. They are words of fear, not of faith.

The second stanza is David’s reply to his fearful advisors. He answers calmly and logically—theologically—and gives reasons for his faith. The reasons are rooted in God’s person, his perspective, and his plan.

And in the face of that, the alarmed have nothing more to say.

I think this Psalm is timely for these days.

In the next post we’ll take a closer look at the words of both the fearful and the faithful. And then we’ll get to pick a side.

Part 2

Photo by NASA. That’s Tropical Cyclone Eloise coming ashore in Mozambique on January 22, 2021.