1 Cor 11:10, "because of the angels": International Septuagint Day

1 Corinthians 11:10 That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels.

No wonder I was reading the LXX everyday for the past week. It's International Septuagint Day today. Yesterday in class while discussing 1 Cor 11:10 where Paul said that women ought to have their hair covered because of the angels, I remember reading Psalm 137 (ET: 138) in the LXX that David sang to the Lord before "the angels" while the Hebrew MT has the word, "gods." It seems that many of the difficult texts in the NT only appear difficult because English readers of the OT read them from the Hebrew translation and not the LXX. Yet the LXX is the Bible of the early church; the Bible of the Apostle Paul, Luke and even of Matthew who wrote the most Jewish of all Gospels. Matthew cited from Isaiah 7 where the word, "virgin" is found in the LXX but not the Hebrew MT.

Mission of Futility (Isaiah 6)

Today at Chapel, the readings for the day were taken from Isaiah 6:1-10 and Luke 5:1-11. The Isaianic text tells of the prophet's vision of the Lord on the throne. These two texts, the commissioning of Isaiah and the call of Peter to be a fisher of men in Luke 5 are among the most influential in my own calling into full-time service. As for Luke 5, Peter experienced the power of Jesus in Peter's profession as a fisherman, so much so that the two boats were about to sink for the  large catch of fish. Peter did not take that miracle as some might do as an inducement to stay on as a fisherman since business was never better with the Lord's help but instead, he perceived his own sinfulness and in spite of it, the Lord could and would bless him in his work.

New Testament Textual Criticism

Sometimes I wonder whether it is worth my while spending Friday and Saturday on sermon preparation if I have to preach on a Sunday. I am not preaching tomorrow and today has been a most productive day in terms of catching up on reading. In the morning I spent 3 hours preparing for my lectures on 1 Cor 11-14. I read 3 articles alongside the Greek of 1 Cor 11-14. My 28th edition NA Greek NT has finally arrived despite my having ordered it before Christmas from Amazon. NT textual criticism is something I need to continue learning and often times when I am not preaching on a Sunday I will spend time reading on NTTC. Today I started reading afresh Bruce Metzger's The Text of the New Testament (4th Edition) and also JW Childers & DC Parker's Transmission and Reception: New Testament and Text-Critical and Exegetical Studies (Gorgias Press, 2006). At the end of the day, biblical scholars are textual critics. We are text analysts. It's our job to make sure that our understanding of the Bible is derived from the best traditions and ancient manuscripts in Hebrew and Greek.

Head-coverings & Headship in 1 Corinthians

I required my NT 2 class to read a journal article by Mark Finney's "Honour, Head-coverings and Headship" JSNT 33.1 (2010) 31-58 for my lectures on 1 Corinthians 11-14 next Thursday. And also another article by Barry Smith on the Lord's Supper from Bulletin for Biblical Research. My classes in the New Testament (NT 2 and John's Gospel) read on average 1 to 2 articles per week plus textbook materials as well. Beside Gary Burge's New Testament in Antiquity, this Semester I am using Walter Taylor's Paul: Apostle to the Nations (2012) which I first read at Otago University Central Library early December last year. The photo here is taken from Alberto Angela's A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome.

John Walton's Genesis lectures

It was not one of the best lectures held at TTC. Prof Walton proposed a non-material creation account in Gen 1. I am not sure what he makes of God's creation of sea monsters and animals. Are they also non-material? Further, he proposed that God was making a temple and Adam and Eve were priests. Again I beg to differ. Adam and his wife were told to till and keep the garden of Eden, a kind of working the land/earth. God resting on the 7th day is like God saying that His creation is good and that Adam with his wife Eve are commanded to rule over God's creation. Dr Walton's take on Eve as almost half of Adam was another intriguing idea but it is not supported by the text. Sure it was part of Adam, a side of him, his flesh and bone. God filled the rib he took from Adam with flesh and made Adam whole after divine surgery was performed on him. With Adam's rib God built the woman and this woman was called Eve who became Adam's wife. After listening to the lectures I spent the rest of the day reading my Hebrew text and LXX of Gen 1-3 and came to the conclusion that Dr Walton's theory lacked textual basis and therefore does not hold good even as God's creation is good and even very good.

Olive Tree LXX Parsed

When I started my doctoral study, I bought my first Bible software, BibleWorks 4 (2000) and now it is BibleWorks 9. Yesterday I purchased Olive Tree LXX with morphology and downloaded it to my ASUS's Windows 8 (11-inch touchscreen) and it works perfectly. The font is clear and adjustable and I can open a side-screen with ESV which makes reading the LXX a lot easier. Whenever I need to parse a word, the Olive Tree LXX is a most convenient tool, more so than the BibleWorks which functions almost the same way but less elegantly set out. My ultra-light 11-inch computer is one that I carry around with me whenever I go out for more than 2 or 3 hours or simply to read biblical texts over a cup of coffee. It's a workhorse outside of home with a battery life of 5 hours while I have another ASUS 14-inch laptop when I work at home.

The Dust has Settled

Moving into the 3rd week of the new Semester, everything falls into a pattern. The add or withdraw period is over. The dust has settled. Now I have 16 students in my Greek 2 class, 21 in my NT 2 class and 23 in my elective on John's Gospel. It is most gratifying that the elective attracted 23 students. Altogether it's good number - 60 students in my 3 classes. I teach on consecutive days from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. By the time I finish NT 2 today and attended my Family Group I was exhausted, having given 9 hours of lectures on 3 separate topics. But it is really encouraging all round. Even in Greek 2, my students are beginning to see the usefulness of Greek. Today in NT 2 class, some students were talking about my last week's lectures on Romans which I spent about 15 minutes towards the end to discuss the issue of homosexuality. Seeing the students discussing it for a whole week is an encouraging sign. I was just wondering whether my lectures in the past years are making any impact whatsoever but this week had thrown up some answers. My John's Gospel class is the most satisfying of all. I am lecturing something that is not introductory like Greek or NT introduction but something close to my heart. I felt inspired to speak about the new birth in John 3 and I did not even share my personal experience how I was born again more than 30 years ago in Christchurch, New Zealand. Next week will be equally exciting as I shall be speaking about worship in John 4. Lord I bow in worship towards Your throne for there is none like You; You are good and a shield to all who trust in You.

Seminar on Revelation in Kota Kinabalu

I am really looking forward to Chinese New Year. I am heading home to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and the most exciting part is that I shall be preaching on Sunday in my home church, SIB KK in Likas. Further, I shall be conducting a full-day Seminar the day before on the book of Revelation. Imagine being a pastor for 5 years and 3 months (2003-2008) but never really taught much about Revelation. I guess it was not yet time then but the hour is now and the time is near for all things to come to pass. It's homecoming in the reverse like Joseph who could not restrain himself when he saw his brothers in Egypt. Joseph, the most powerful man in Egypt wept a total of 6 times in Gen 37-50. He was a loving and forgiving man, forgave his brothers their wrong and took care of them in every way.

Commentaries on John

There are too many words about the "Word" Logos and in terms of commentaries, publication continues unabated. I am recommending Andrew Lincoln's The Gospel according to Saint John (Black's NT commentaries; 2005) for this Semester's class. F. Moloney has written an article about recent commentaries on John's Gospel and I have asked the class to read this article and decide for themselves which one(s) they would purchase for the course. For older commentaries, the top four in the picture remains my favourites - Lindars, Brown, FF Bruce and Beasley-Murray.

Teaching in the New Semester

My first teaching week has just ended for the new Semester. I taught on three consecutive days, Greek 2 on Tuesday, The Gospel of John yesterday and NT 2 today. I already find it a real challenge to teach three 3-hour courses on three consecutive days. It has been physically demanding. But yesterday's class for John's Gospel was filled with about 25 eager students (I hope). There was a good mixture of 2nd and 3rd year students. A number of Master of Ministry students also enrolled with 2 Master of Theology candidates. I lectured on the Prologue of John 1 and got to verse 14 before time was up. Next week I will be looking at the signs in John 2 and the Christology of John 1.

"Your Grace is Sufficient in Weakness"

I think this year will be a year of grace. I have to learn to trust God more and more and rely solely on His grace and not on my own ability and strength. It was always good to preach first up, first Sunday of the year. But less than 48 hours ago, I was struck down by flu. It was so bad that I could not get up whole of Friday and it was Saturday morning that I rose and made myself some breakfast.