#walkingworthy

UNTIL THE NEXT . . .

Theology Thursday: Ephesians This week I had the wonderful opportunity to substitute teach a women's Bible Study that I used to frequently teach. The group is studying the book of Ephesians, which contains so many nuggets of wisdom that it is difficult to focus on just one. My initial thought was to talk about Ephesians 5:15, "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise," (ESV) because some translations (notably the NASB) insert the word 'men' after 'wise' and 'unwise'. It is irritating to me when translators make the Bible more sexist than it is. I have always thought the Bible a marvel of gender neutrality, especially when you consider the times in which it was written. A good example is the Greek for this verse, which carefully does not include any extra nouns that can be translated 'men'. New Testament Greek is a marvel of inclusiveness! I did a search on my own 'Theology Thursday' posts and realized we already looked at the Greek and Hebrew words for 'wisdom' back in January. I then tried a search on the word 'walk' and was astonished how many of my posts include that word, although never to explore the Hebrew and Greek! Walking in the way of the LORD and being intentional about the way we walk is a major topic in the Old Testament Psalms and Proverbs and also of Ephesians. Admonitions for the Christian "walk" were a focus of lesson 3 of Kay Arthur's "How do You Walk the Walk you Talk?" 40 Minute Study. The class found the word 'walk' in verses 4:1, 4:17, 5:2, 5:8 and 5:5. The Greek word is "περιπατεω" (Strong's 4043) transliterated 'peripateo'. According to "The Complete Koine-English Reference Bible: New Testament, Septuagint and Strong's Concordance" by Joshua Dickey, it appears 96 times in the New Testament and 24 times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (keyed to the form used in this verse). An electronic search of Strong's reveals 390 uses of the English word 'walk' from Genesis to Revelation, including the ones already mentioned in Ephesians and two others, Ephesians 2:2 and 2:10. My Rosetta Stone for Greek - Hebrew translation is the Masoretic text of the Psalms in parallel with the LXX. The Hebrew word translated 'walk' הָלַך (haw-lak) is used 1347 times in the Hebrew Bible. It is used several times in Psalm 119, including twice in the first stanza, yet not as the first word of any of the eight verses (Psalm 119:33-40) beginning with the Hebrew letter ה. In Psalm 119 it is translated πορεύομαι, a different Greek word than the one used in Ephesians. The Hebrew word is sometimes translated with various synonyms of 'walk' or other movement words such as proceed, travel, go, behave, live, which may be influenced by which of the two Greek words was chosen in the LXX. The Hebrew and both Greek words for 'walk' are used figuratively and literally. The figurative use seems like an important concept in the Bible because it is presented and explained so many times in so many ways. May this perspective help us walk wisely in the way of the LORD, which according to Ephesians is to walk in love, in light, as children of our loving God, resulting in a walk worthy of the "gospel of the glory of Christ" (2Cor 4:4).

Good Times.