An audio to listen to (or not)

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Noel Richards (people think he is a really nice person but he blocked me on email for over a year – more below on this) and I have just recorded with Martin Purnell (of ‘Off Grid Christianity’ fame) our fourth Christmas special. The normal bizarre quiz in which I think I gained ‘nil point’ but did win (in my mind) cos of bonus points. The episode will come out some time around Christmas and we did overrun by more than an hour, so some serious editing to be done! In one of the ‘off the record as you have gone off-piste but could we pursue this…’ the conversation somehow got on to ‘penal substitution’. Anyway Martin P has saved it as a stand-alone recording. It would need a bit of extra work to reach a doctorate level but here it is:

The ‘off grid Christianity’ podcasts can be checked out at:

https://www.accessradio.biz/series/ogc/

And as an extra bonus (we all like bonus points) – try this ‘Gospel in Chairs’ with Brad Jersak.

Oh and the bonus points – I put in a claim for 2 on the basis that when Martin Purnell sent us an email with suggestions I was always the one to reply first. Noel was tardy. He did claim that there was no expiry date to the emails but I was certainly worth 2 points for my all-but immediate replies. And then I claimed 2 more as Noel had blocked my emails for over a year – claiming that he only did that as he had a lot of spam from emails with the suffix ‘.eu’. Claiming that it was nothing personal. Lame excuse.

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Joining the Zoom on ‘Reconciliation’?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Tomorrow night (Wednesday) UK time at 19:30 I will host a Zoom meeting /discussion that is based on what I have written on ‘Reconciliation: in four ways’. If you plan to join the Zoom link is below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5728039267?pwd=NEozVVM0Z1NJSDFKKzNwdG9KUDc5dz09&omn=84117477173

ID: 572 803 9267
Passcode: 5GkMTA

If joining please either watch a short video or read the pdf document:

Pdf document can be read / downloaded here: Reconciliation in four directions

There is no need to agree with what I propose but we do need to listen to agreements that we disagree with as well as opinions that we agree with.

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A stroll in the city

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives, Strategic Prayer

I arrived home last night at 11:00pm after a 7 hour bus journey from Madrid, having been there for a few days to walk the city. So some disclaimers first – no idea what was achieved and certainly am aware that so much of what we (OK, ‘I’) do is for us even when we think we are doing this for ‘God’s kingdom’. I hope it was worthwhile and one day (maybe) will find out. Until then we seek to do whatever we think might be what we ‘should’ be doing in response to our discipleship.

Practically first. Schoolboy error (not the first one I have made) is to walk with shoes that are not fully broken in. I have two pairs of running shoes – one that is on the way out, but still good but covered in paint from when I painted the roof this year. I have another pair that I have been using to drive in and to go and get a few groceries – after a couple of hours I soon discovered they were not fully worn in, and over the following two days used over 200ml of vaseline to oil my way to the finish – more vaseline covering my feet than socks, methinks.

I chose to start and finish at San Lorenzo metro station. I have posted regarding the above mentioned gentleman before. 258, August 10th he came to the end of his life on this planet having been put to death at command of the emperor when his response to being commanded to bring the wealth of the church to the emperor was:

Here are the treasures of the church. You see, the church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor!

He presented those who were blind, physically disabled and impoverished. Not the response that was desired! But what a place to start – values. Any city, any civilisation, any society has to understand true values, and all values are measured by a truly human standard.

I will not document every step but pick up on a few aspects – basically I walked the city from the north east (San Lorenzo) south to finish the first day at Puerta de Alcala (near Retiro park); from there through Atocha station to the south and then turning north at Piramedes and Puerta de Toledo, past the royal palace to the university and then turning east back to San Lorenzo. The north of the city is wealthier, wider streets, bigger houses, people dressed with ‘better’ clothing, then the south (Lavapies for example) was in some contrast with for example right in front of me the police stopping their patrol car and jumping out to confront someone demanding their ID. Probably he was a little high, (un)like a much better dressed person in another part of the city who might be acceptably ‘high’ on having signed a very lucrative deal that day. Values!

What stood out to me was what I saw in the various gates. Try these photos:

End of first day: Puerta de Alcala… from the bullring to Alcala to the fountain of Cybele to the bank of Spain to parliament – draw a straight line, for those who give credence to something along the lines of ‘ley-lines’). Alcala was one of the original gates into the city.

On the south side of the city there is an interesting twin obelisks that then give an entrance to the Puerta de Toledo. Obelisks are of Egyptian origin erected in honour of the sun god, with prisoners of war sacrificed in order to draw the power of the sun god.

Twin obelisks

Standing between these two obelisks then pointing north and one would walk right through the Puerta de Toledo:

More ‘gates’… this one is quite spectacular with a conglomeration of arches and monuments – making quite a statement:

Plaza de Castilla

There were other gates too – and probably ones I missed. One marking the entrance to the bull ring and one ‘off the map’ to the north west in the ‘iron gate’ that unless I wanted to stand in the middle of the freeway I had no direct access to. (That would have been beyond my second ‘schoolboy error’.)

The gates are so often a place of contention and even with some initial tracking of alignments of the gates it seems there is some convergence on the parliament building – also with other aspects such as the obelisk at Plaza de Lealtad.

The major aspect of why I wanted to walk and pray the city was to follow up on what we sensed when we first moved to Madrid (and to complete before moving to Sicily) was that of seeking to hold the government and judiciary in to a wholesome mode of being and behaviour. In big langauge I wanted to make sure that over the next years the government and judiciary cannot ‘escape’!

I am sure there are those who can prayer walk and be effective, I am not claiming to be one of those, but after the Toledo gate I came to the royal palace, then the Temple of Debod (literally moved from Egypt to Spain) and it sits with an East/west alignment and directly outside it on the wall is a sculpture to a fallen soldier from the civil war – this being the area where the entrance was made into the city.

So much more I could add but having started the walk at San Lorenzo with the issue of values the final photo has to be of ‘homeless Jesus’ asleep on a bench outside the main Cathedral (where the rich and famous are interred, including Franco’s daughter – but NOT him, thank God).

So what was achieved? Something cos God is gracious and listens to prayers but of course a percentage of what we do ‘for God’ is more for us and our own little ideas. Here’s to many of our own little ideas combining to sow into the future where values are measured differently, measured by the stature of the incarnated One.

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So Madrid?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Not sure how much of ‘life’ I understand – probably about as much of the Bible as I understand. Loose ends; things not tied up; dots that don’t connect. Maybe that is just me?

It was a significant battle to get ourselves into Madrid, some of which I have recounted in previous posts from years back; perhaps the most bizarre bit was a clause in the contract that in the light of it we were advised to ‘not touch this with a barge pole’ but felt to proceed. It meant that there was a gap between parting with the money and receiving the property when the seller could indeed walk with the money and keep the property. We sensed that was the risk we were to take. In the evening before the legal work the following day we managed to track down who the seller was and that he owned a shop a few streets away. We googled the shop and found only one review… ‘do not deal with this man he is a thief’. Ah well…

We spent much time in Madrid, most days would go to the parliament and pray outside as well as a host of other activities. Then along came COVID and we heard from the grapevine that Madrid would be closed the following day. We left early as we had people due to visit us in Oliva. Madrid was closed and we were unable to go back for quite a period of time. Currently we have a rentee in the apartment, at a very good price for him, as we have to do something that pushes back against the monetary system that dictates.

And the future? Would love to be back there on a longer term basis, but who knows. I will travel up next week and over 3 days walk the perimeter of the city – a small act that I think will settle this part of the journey. Would love to be back there long term but am very aware that many aspects of what we engage with are not fulfilled in the way we think they would. It is the principle of ‘seed’ into the ground for the next phase, and this is where I consider a number of us probably fail to move on well as we hang on for something more in the context that we need to move on from. As for Madrid, we don’t know what this means.

I do know (wow, Martin you are sure you know?)… OK a rephrase. I have a perspective that God is a forward moving God and that Jesus is not about to return today or even tomorrow. We have not yet run out of time to see amazing shifts in our world. [Sidenote: I think the whole pre-, post-, a-millennial approaches are not where it is at; I am not convinced that there is very much in the NT that fuels speculation… loads to encourage us to live today as what is done today provides the building-blocks for the future age.] And here is my perspective that Europe having been the cradle of the gospel and of Christendom can fully throw off the clothing of Christendom and also discover the Pauline gospel that carried a vision of a new creation (Paul makes a rather abrupt statement in 2 Cor. 5:17 ‘So if anyone is in Christ, new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being’.)

A bumpy, most challenging path ahead. Not one that will see a mega-church on every street corner, but could see ordinary people (are there any other types of people?) taking responsibility for a neighbour, a street, a business, a school. Enabling space to come where people can find that where they live is nothing other than a gateway from heaven to earth (Acts 17:26; Gen. 28:17).

Back to Madrid. No one is the saviour of the world other than… I want to walk – a small act – where I simply want to put my feet to say that a manifestation of God’s reign will be obscurely shown in the governmental and judicial spheres of Spain. Not perfectly, but certainly not in opposition to God. I note that there is a big push in certain quarters for government and the judiciary to serve an agenda, that agenda being understood by some as ‘Christian’ but I consider is aligned to ‘Christendom’, motivated, I believe, by a desire to see Christendom extend its life.

There is loss in order for there to be gain. Jesus said ‘better I go’ to the disciples. Really? Better, and more difficult. The next 15 or so years will be tumultuous at crazy levels, but right or wrong in that perspective, God will not abandon us. We will lose some good things, good things that have come our way at a price… but there is always a hope that does not disappoint.

Madrid we always saw as leverage point for Spain. Maybe we need to get back there ere long. Maybe we need to take some new inadequate steps in new direction?

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From a street called Sicily

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

We have found that Oliva is a refreshing, re-orienting place for many. These days we don’t have so many guests – there was a time when for a few years we had people with us between 100-130 days / nights of the year. A season that was. It was interesting finding this place for as I indicated in the previous post we were living in Cadiz when Gayle had that dream of ‘C/ Azahar’. We took ourselves off to Valencia just after Christmas of 2013 and started to drive from 100kms north of Valencia. 2 days in that direction but nothing resonated; 2 days south 100kms of Valencia and finally came to Oliva. We were ready to go home as we had found nothing that resonated. Anything ‘prophetic’ has to ultimately be witnessed to internally. And nothing witnessed. We stopped for a final cup of coffee before planning that our journey was fruitless when we suddenly realised that this was the place as we stepped out of the car at a cafe.

5:55 so read the clock the next morning as I woke. It might have been 7:05 and hopefully not 6:16(there is an alternative MS reading of 616 to the 666 reading!!)… can be coincidence but I was convinced it was not simply a time on the clock. I began to pray… ‘5’ generally the number representing grace, 3 times over. Then this came to me – we will make an offer on 3 properties and it will be a grace package with each one costing more than the one before. ‘Grace package’ is often taken to mean ‘cost less’, but I realised that grace is the emptier we are (our pockets) the more they can be filled. Long story but that is exactly what happened with the final offer being refused with a ‘don’t even talk to me’ coming back from the owner. A phone call out of the blue some weeks later – there is an angel you need to connect with to release you from Cadiz and open the door for you to go. Next morning off we went… and within 30 minutes of the connection the phone rang, and it was the agent in Oliva – ‘I don’t know what has happened but the owner who said not even to talk to him has just called me to say that I am to tell you that you can have the apartment at the price you offered’.

Where did we move – to Calle Isla de Sicilia – Sicily Island street. We have never dug deep into the significance but have wondered why ‘Sicily’ street. From a street to an island – this is the plan.

Last night while seeking to get some keys to the island I read: Sicily’s geographical position makes it a central point in the Mediterranean, connecting it to the Arabic world, North Africa, and Europe.

At times I probably read too much into what others might term coincidences, but the above quote seems alive. Geography has always been important for us – with over 1200 references to land in Scripture maybe this is not surprising. I kinda think there is treasure hidden in the land there that might just make a contribution to the coming age.

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A month of preparation

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives, Prophetic Perspectives

October 6th… plan November 1,2,3 (?) having loaded up the van drive north into France, take a slight detour, then south, south, south to further south than the north of Africa, cross some water and enter the land of Sicily. Our plans are moving and we think we will probably be there for around 6 months.

Although most of the readers of this blog will be aware of our plans I thought I will simply try and give over a few posts some background and any insight that come this way as we plan.

The wonderful aspect about life is it is very personal and from a faith perspective there are as many paths as there individuals as far as following Christ. So these posts are simply personal perspectives.

Where to start? We are in Oliva, an hour south of Valencia and came here as a result of two dreams Gayle had. At the time we were living in Cadiz, south-west Spain and had no sight on this area at all. In one dream Gayle was showing someone where we lived saying, we no longer live in San Isidro (our address in Cadiz) and then she opened her computer and typed in ‘Azahar’ – not knowing that it was a Spanish word (orange blossom). In the morning she typed out what she remembered and lo and behold it was a genuine Spanish word.

Here are two images from google maps – we live right in between these two signs – one is 800 metres in one direction and the second 800 metres in the other direction.

Second from bottom: ‘Azahar’ – pointing in the direction of our apartment
Bottom on sign: ‘Azahar’ – pointing back toward out apartment

So to Oliva we came in March, 2014. Being somewhat nomadic it is quite a surprise we are still based here in 2025. 2017 we also managed to obtain an apartment in Madrid, having prayed for some time that ‘you have given us the lower springs, now also give us the upper springs’. We much later discovered that here at sea level (‘lower’) that the water table is high as a result of underground springs flowing from the centre of Spain to the sea; Madrid seems to be from old Arabic meaning ‘place of many springs’ and is the highest capital city in Europe. I don’t write the above to point anywhere other than God is remarkable and that is the way we have been led / others will have a different story.

We have had many wonderful days in Madrid – what a city. There we have joined protests on the street, but particularly focused on praying for the government and for the judiciary. When looking for an apartment there we were always short of finance and into that mix a German prophet (Michael Schiffmann) said to us that ‘the place you are looking for is bigger than you think’. Well, if short by x amount we thought we will look for something bigger. If we are short we are short! Nothing connected.

We then spent sometime praying over the area we felt where we should land (we had been visiting Madrid for some 9 years by this stage) and one day we were there with Roger and Sue Mitchell. Roger announced that we are just about to come to a marker, a sanctuary (might be good or bad). We rounded a corner and there was San Lorenzo church – we walked in and the first thing on the wall was his date of matyrdom: 10th August 258 at the instruction of the Emperor. My DOB! We like San Lorenzo, and had painted on our last van ‘furgo de San Lorenzo’ – other than I put ‘el furgo’ when it should have been la furgo (furgo short for furgoneta, feminine; the abbreviation threw me!).

[San Lorenzo did not appease the emperor, and his preaching rather annoyed him Eventually the emperor summoned him and gave him a date on which he was to bring the riches of the church with him. He duly did this bringing the disenfranchised, the blind, beggars, widows et al. He announced that this was where the riches of God was manifest. Surprisingly this did not connect with the emperor who ordered him to be burnt at the stake!.]

Then one day we walked into, shall we say, a little challenged apartment in Madrid that no-one seemed to want to buy, and as we walked in we both saw something… we can get the entire government and judiciary in here. The problem was not the size of apartment; the problem was our thinking -‘ bigger than you think‘.

I go back to Madrid next week with one last act before leaving for Sicily. I want to walk the circumference of the city to make sure the government and judiciary do not escape!!! (Like I can really do that… ah well at least I can sow in that direction.) Madrid has been our place for Spain… some while back Gayle asked me about any desire I might have to accompany her on a far eastern trip – the question was helpful for it made me realise my focus is Europe; the old ‘lady’ will and must receive new life. So after walking and then making our way to Sicily? No idea.

Currently clueless of Oliva, soon to be clueless in Sicily.

I will follow up with a little more of this journey of ours with the hope that it will do more than inform but encourage anyone who reads with respect to their unique adventure in life.

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Israel – two states?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

I closed yesterday’s post with a comment on the flotilla en route to Gaza; this morning I read that, ‘The Israeli navy has intercepted boats carrying aid to Gaza and detained the activists aboard, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.’

Not all ‘prophetic acts’ have a ‘successful’ outcome. Jesus’ key protest act in the Temple when he turned over the tables did not end in a permanent table-free Temple, but the effects are ongoing – an eternal protest whenever God’s house is turned into a money-making venture that in particular exploits the vulnerable (see my post https://3generations.eu/posts/2024/12/a-time-to-protest/ where I highlight the focus on the ‘dove sellers’).

Back to Israel… their land promised for ever. So complex: promised the land for ever,

And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding, and I will be their God.” (Gen. 17:8).

´Olam translated here as ‘a perpetual holding’ has the meaning of a long or indefinite time. Achish (Philistine king) believed David would always (´olam) serve him in other words during his lifetime. It could mean during the entire life-time of all descendants of Abraham, but I think Paul (again! he does have so many perspectives, that man) throws a curve ball when he says that Abraham was promised that he would inherit the ‘world’ (kosmos; Rom.4:13).

That curve ball rather changes (for me) the trajectory we look for. The re-gathering of Israel (a bigger term than ‘Jews’… gather all Jews would not gather all Israel) as a result of Pentecost (Acts 1:8; Rom. 11:28) is because the Gospel is gathering all peoples across the planet into the one olive tree, and so as that happens ‘in this way all Israel will be saved’.

Anyway all of the above is probably going to fuel my next longer article.

Back to flotillas, Israel of today (and I don’t think there is a straight line from OT Israel to the modern state), Palestine and Gaza. By any standards what is taking place today is genocide and the deep issue is we have two peoples who are reacting from trauma and peoples who are being exploited by those who claim to represent them.

Maybe an aside – maybe more than an aside – the route to the Middle East (Israel if you like) is through the Islamic world. The three Abrahamic faiths (allow me to suggest, one that was not able to make the step into the era initiated through the death and resurrection of their Messiah, the truly human One; another that has taken the Abrahamic story in a different direction; and one that sees fulfilment through the Son of Man) are, I think, central to where we are. A key principle if ever we need help to see where God is at work we can look to where the devil is at work – and vice versa. Look at the conflicts and the rhetoric that is in the public space to fuel suspicion, fear and hatred.

I hold that God is motivated by love that seeks to reconcile all. The choice of Abraham was not to damn the world (wrong view of salvation); Israel in her land was never to blanket exclude all others based on ethnicity (Rahab, Ruth, two half-Egyptian sons of Joseph et al); and post-the-resurrection a whole new creation was brought into being.

So here is my take. Political solutions go so far. The healing of historic trauma is needed, but if there is one place on the planet that should be open to being a land for all peoples it is the place where the cross demonstrated that God’s arms are outstretched to all. Breaking the curse of the law from ‘us’ (Jews) so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles (Gal. 3:13,14). A two-state solution might indeed be a step toward. A step. Prayer and protest can establish steps.

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Following Jesus?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

I recently heard someone I have known for a long time declare that ‘so and so loved Jesus’ in spite of the reality that the person they referred to often spoke hate of others. I am not able to make a judgement on this person’s life or another’s as the ‘judgement seat of Christ’ will not be vacated on that day for me to sit there. Such statements as ‘she / he loved Jesus’ is deeply complex as we can be in relationship with a Jesus of our own making – a Jesus in our image.

In the OT within the ten words we are warned against making an image of God and for sure we can continue to make many diverse images of God. I recently read of a book that explained the political vote for someone by Christians as being that they were the most God-like character – and by saying that they did not mean ‘the most loving’ nor ‘the most holy’ but the candidate was the best equipped to crush his opponents. Just like God????

The claim of the NT that is consistently expressed is that Jesus reveals who God is (the Jesus’ path is not a path to lead us to ‘god’, but to lead us to know the true God and who s/he is). ‘To the Father’ was the promise of those who travelled the Jesus’ path. Jesus is the express image of God. Most theologies start with ‘the doctrine of God’ and this assumes we know who this God is, from there Christology, Pneumatology etc is defined. I think Jesus turned that upside down – start with Jesus and you can get to God from him. The witness of the Gospels is to testify of Jesus. This is why they are so vital.

Paul captures this ongoing journey to know Jesus with the words uttered close to the end of his life ‘that I might know him’. No tick box, but an ongoing adventure… and ultimately the future experience for us is that ‘we will see him as he is’.

I love the Jesus I have read about; I love the Jesus that I have created from what I have read. Is my Jesus close to the one that is witnessed to by the Gospels? I love the Jesus I have encountered, but even there I am not ‘safe’. Jesus meets me where I am at. My mistake can be that therefore I assume that every encounter meets full approval. Israel asks for a king – Samuel has the inside take on this with the knowledge that they were not rejecting him but they were rejecting God. The people though saw God anoint the king – I wonder if they assumed the move to appoint a king was a good one, one approved of by God. Likewise with the building of the Temple.

I am not appointed to be judge and jury and for sure any inclusion is based on mercy and grace. Although I see no reason to believe in a future ‘antiChrist’ as John says there are many who embody that spirit (‘anti’ can mean ‘against / in opposition to’ or ‘alternative to / replacing’); I can certainly act in an antiChrist way, and perhaps others who totally claim to love Christ and to be ‘saved’ can do so too.

Even if it is deemed that I love Jesus there is no guarantee that all my actions and words are therefore covered by that. We do need to call out ‘hate speech’ and the like when it manifests among us.

From the first commandment to have no other God we come to the command not to make an image of God, and from there to not to bear (carry / display) the name of God in vain. Loving God, not creating an image of God and not reflecting a false image of God. All pretty central and why we need Jesus as the lens for Scripture, for humanity and for God. Otherwise we will not see clearly – even when we quote Scripture to defend ourselves.

The flotilla on the way to Gaza… if I put the Jesus lens there do I see God? I think I do. The true human went to Jerusalem to die for humanity, at some level the flotilla is on the same path. A mixed bunch of people on board for sure. Why this final paragraph on the flotilla? To see God we have to see Jesus, and to see Jesus we sometimes have to look to events in our world, some of which disturbs the status quo of what we consider we know from our Christian world. A living parable in our day.

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Cause, purpose… or something different?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

Definitely something different – from my perspective / objective truth (we all have the objective truth that can never be challenged, do we not?).

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work (Jn. 9:1-4).

Maybe what I write today is a little technical and of course is a push back against the Calvinist / Reformed view of ‘sovereignty’ (just amazed that I could spell the word ‘Calvinist’). I do think that what I propose is totally defensible and on the right track, but maybe the final sentence is what it is all about.

The disciples reflect a common view of the day. Serious infirmity such as the man born blind indicated someone had sinned. The man himself (but born blind, so when did he sin?!!!) or the parents, that is the option. Their view then is concerning ’cause’ – what caused this situation?

Jesus apparently responds with a ‘no’ to cause but seems to says it was for a reason… or so many of our translators and those of a certain theological perspective would have us understand (born blind so that God can heal). Blindness so that God’s works might be revealed. (One day I need to get into Rom. 9-11 where we can read Pharaoh is raised up in a certain way without choice – maybe if we took a trip as Jeremiah was instructed to do to go to the pottery we might read that a little differently.) From my perspective if ‘so that’ is what Jesus said I am not sure it is great step forward in understanding – this happened so that God’s work might be revealed (the reason why the man is blind). If one is a fan of trumpeting ‘sovereignty’ and hiding behind ‘mystery’ maybe it works – but I consider that this is an extreme view of hands-on sovereignty and all-but making life something we can never understand.

So is there an alternative?

In virtually all translations we have a variation of the above option as I quoted at the beginning of this post; the Message (an interpretive paraphrase) does give a much softer alternative:

You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines.

The Contemporary English version likewise is much softer:

But because of his blindness, you will see God work a miracle for him.

I want though to go further than the ‘softer’ interpretations. So a little Greek…

ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα φανερωθῇ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ (this is Jesus response with the first word being alla = a strong ‘but’ (reduced to all here as the next word is a vowel), and the first two words being ‘all hina’).

There is an acknowledgement that there are three uses of the word hina – as a cause or as an outcome; such as: ‘I worked so hard in order to pass my exam’ (purpose) or ‘I worked so hard and so passed my exam’ (result). This happened to the man (born blind) so that God might display his works is purpose, and the way many translations go; softer translations go along the lines of result – born blind, but the result is he is healed by God. I have mentioned two of the three uses – the third in a minority of cases is what is termed the ‘imperatival hina’ use – being used as a command. Still with me? Just read on we will get somewhere.

I lack a library here but as far as I can work out there are four other references to the two words (all hina) coming together in a clause in the NT: Mk.14:49; Jn. 13:18; Jn. 15:25 and 1 Jn. 2:19. (I use The Step Bible as the Greek text there and corresponding dictionary is very up-to-date.)

Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let (ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα) the scriptures be fulfilled (Mk.14:49). The translators have chosen the imperative use here (well done says Martin to the translators) – thus going beyond the idea that the Scriptures have predestined this to happen. (This is the interpretation that I will be pushing for in the text about the blind man.)

I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But it is to (ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα) fulfill the scripture, ‘The one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me’ (Jn. 13:18). Same phrase as Mark above but this time the translation is along the line of purpose. I would suggest this is better understood as an imperative so ‘but let the Scripture be fulfilled‘. Judas fulfilled the Scripture but not as if the Scripture was a prophecy – he and others have fulfilled that Scripture!

It was to fulfill (ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα) the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause’ (Jn. 15:25). Again I think better understood as ‘but let the word that is written in their law be fulfilled…

They went out from us, but they did not belong to us, for if they had belonged to us they would have remained with us. But by going out (ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα) they made it plain that none of them belongs to us (1 Jn. 2:19). Here translated as a result, but if it was an imperative we would read something along the lines of ‘but let them be revealed as not belonging to us’.

All the above personal research and I alone have understood this? No… if ever I had an original idea it would have died of loneliness within 5 minutes… I first came across this in the research of W.G. Morrice’s Greek grammar and the various responses to that; the nature of the clause is not simply that it is the normal ‘hina’ clause but it is preceded by ‘but’ – there is a big pushback to what has gone before.

Morrice says:

In his reply, Jesus indicated that this was a question that should never have been asked. It was neither the man’s sin nor his parents’ that had caused his blindness. The concern of the disciples should be to try and cure him. “Let God’s power be displayed in curing him!” Jesus proceeded to do exactly that. “The hypothesis of the imperatival iva, therefore, releases the text from the fatalism which had obsessed it, and dissolves the picture which had become familiar through all our English versions, a man destined from birth to suffer for the sole purpose of glorifying God when he was healed

(For anyone interested here is an article that is based on Morrice’s work.)

So back to the verse we started with, now with my translation:

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; but let the works of God be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

Any discussion on who is to blame is knocked on the head and Jesus not only pushes past that or any related discussion to the responsibility of taking action for the intervention of God. I do think this is a consistent way to translate the phrase when we meet it in the NT and illustrative that philosophical / theological discussions are irrelevant – we have to work while it is day. Quit the discussion, get on with the redemptive work of heaven.

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When? Or just get on with it?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Biblical Observations

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (emphases added).

Such a disputed passage with regard to interpretation… the restoration of Israel or the replacement of Israel by the church… or something in between? And of course on this blog we only deal with the one and only valid perspective – mine! Anyway been thinking about these verses so here is a take on them.

(I am aware that what I am writing here in a post is shorthand for what should really be part of a fuller article so feel free to skim the contents… or read and fill in the gaps in what I write.)

  • Jesus spends many days with the disciples talking about the kingdom of God so I think we can assume they are not totally ignorant – though like us all they have not grasped everything. The central theme though, based on their Scriptures, has been the kingdom of God.
  • The disciples’ question is a straightforward time question – is this the time (chronos).
  • Jesus resists the time answer (and does not respond simply with chronos but with chronos and kairos). Then he picks up with clear allusions to Isaianic passages / Isaianic theme:

In response to the question Jesus highlights that the outpouring of the Spirit is necessary and as a result this small representation of Israel (12 disciples / sons of the true ‘Israel’) will be witnesses to the ends of the earth so that the tribes of Jacob will be restored. [In what follows I will quote the core Isaianic passages but it is the overarching themes from Isaiah that are important, and I also am distinguishing ‘Israel / tribes of Jacob’ from the term ‘Jew’ – this needs a separate post to follow that theme.]

The Isaianic passages

  • [Desolation]… until a spirit from on high is poured out on us (Is. 32:15, and other references to the outpoured Spirit bringing about restoration and a new day).
  • You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
    and my servant whom I have chosen,
    so that you may know and believe me
    and understand that I am he.
    Before me no god was formed,
    nor shall there be any after me (Is. 43:10, in reference to Israel / a remnant as ‘servant’.)
  • It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to restore the survivors of Israel;
    I will give you as a light to the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth (Is. 49:6).

So the time question is sidelined but the calling is centralised. Time is not relevant – an eschatological perspective, for the task is central; it is the task that determines the timing… and in a strange (to us) way the task seems to answer the ‘restore to Israel’ question. That last Isaianic quote where salvation reaches the end(s) of the earth does two things – it restores the ‘tribes / survivors of Israel’ (not ‘Jews’, nor those ‘of Israel who live in the land’) and light is finally displayed in the nations. OK, hang on…

In Romans 11:28 we read ‘And in this way all Israel will be saved’ (not a time phrase but a phrase indicating a process), and follows this up with a quote from Isaiah,

And he will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the Lord (Is. 59:20).

A quote other than Paul changes it to

Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob’ (Rom. 11:29).

Will God restore the kingdom to Israel? Yes. In Jerusalem now? No. How – from Zion a redeemer will go to the ends of the earth gathering all up who respond, and in this way all Israel will be saved (‘all’ never meant each and every person for when the salvation of Israel was discussed in Rabbinic literature, there were always those who were by ethnicity ‘Israel’ but were excluded / cut off from Israel (‘this people’) – such as ‘not all Israel are Israel’).

The kingdom is restored to Israel, but not as excluding Gentiles for there is only one ‘olive tree’. Indeed by including Gentiles Israel is included! (Formerly the purpose was to include the seed of Abraham (Israel) so that ultimately Gentiles (all the families of the earth) could be included. Now if Gentiles are not included Israel will be excluded!) There is nothing exclusive in salvation; It is not about a great awesome future in the Middle East but an awesome future in and for the entire planet. Not only is there a change in direction (from ‘to Zion’ to ‘from Zion’) but the time is dependent on the job to be done, the witnessing to the entire world (and witness is much bigger term than the reductive term that has been colonised, the term ‘evangelising’). It is not an event in Jerusalem, it is a global vision. It is not about salvation in Israel but the promises of God that Paul contends for in his letter to the Romans is that God has to be faithful to his promises to Israel – including all the dispersed throughout the earth of the ’10 lost tribes’… as he says to King Aggripa:

And now I stand here on trial on account of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors, a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship day and night. It is for this hope, Your Excellency, that I am accused by Jews! (Acts 26:6,7. Emphases added – twelve tribes are bigger than the term ‘Jews’).

Where are those 12 tribes? Throughout the earth… Dispersed. Two tribes were in the land (Judah and Benjamin), but the majority of the others were not. It is not about the kingdom being restored in a place (which we call Israel) nor to a subset of Israel (Jews) but to the entire world (which includes Israel). In this way so we had better get on board with ‘this way’ rather than ask ‘when’.

So my take?

  • Time is not a relevant question.
  • Methodology through fulfilling purpose is central.
  • And the methodology that focuses on the global will be the means by which ‘all Israel’ (the fullness, pleroma: Rom.11:12) and the fullness (pleroma: Rom. 11:25) of the Gentiles come in, thus the kingdom will be restored to our world (and therefore in this way to Israel).
  • God’s calling has always been universal… and Acts sets this out – with the final word ‘unhindered’ (akōlutōs)… from Jerusalem to Samaria (with Philip) to the Ethiopian eunuch who asked what now ‘hinders’ (kōluō) him from being baptised… to Paul in Rome to Martin (and a bunch of similar ‘leaners’ who ask our irrelevant questions) in…
  • So Jesus’ reply is a both ‘yes’ and ‘not as you think’ answer.

Thus endeth the only authentic take on the passage in Acts.

Postscript: the Ethiopian eunuch is probably more central to Luke than might appear. He is reading from the prophet Isaiah and the catalyst ‘chapter’ is Is. 53… but keep reading (as I am sure Philip and the Ethiopian did) and then we might understand the question ‘what hinders me being baptised’ for he has been in Jerusalem but excluded from Israel’s core temple worship on two counts: a foreigner and a eunuch. Here is more of Isaiah:

Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely separate me from his people,”
and do not let the eunuch say,
“I am just a dry tree.”
For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
I will give, in my house and within my walls,
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants… (Is. 56:3-6).

Samaria to one foreigner and a eunuch. Something has broken with the next chapter in Acts being the calling of the ‘apostle to the Gentiles’.

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