Tag-Archive for » nephesh «

The Shema (5)

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

And you shall love YHWH your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  Deuteronomy 6:5

Heart/ Soul/ Might – If we are commanded to love God with all (kol) we’ve got, obviously that command affects the entire body of behaviors.  Rather than allow us to fumble around trying to decide exactly what is included in the “all,” God’s Word provides three general categories.  Each category helps us focus on the wider implications of kol.  Unfortunately, in a Greek-based culture, we tend to think of these categories as separate boxes.  This division of Man into separate parts often allows us to imagine that we can be “all in” in one area and have less commitment in another.  But Hebrew never views Man as the combination of separate pieces.  Man is a completely unified, embodied, homogenized whole.  Using the three words “heart,” “soul,” and “might,” doesn’t mean we can divide the Hebrew Man.  It only means that Hebrew asks us to pay particular attention to what it means to love God in these three ways.

So what are the three ways?  The first is “heart,” (lev), the way of our choices, our emotions, our actions-decisions, and our thinking.  You could conclude that this covers it all.  How we decide, what we decide, what we do as a result of what we decide, how we feel about what we do and what we think about all of that is “heart.”  To love God with all your heart is to apply God’s point of view and character to our ways in the world.  Make Him count in every thought, word and deed.

So what’s left?  Hebrew suggests that there is a second area of application – the “soul.”  Of course, our Greek understanding of soul follows Plato.  In his view, the soul is a separate, divine spark imprisoned in a moral, fleshly body.  The objective of Greek-based religion is to free the soul from the corruptible body and allow it to ascend to heaven.  If this sounds a little like our theology of “saving souls” and “insuring you’ll get to heaven,” don’t be too surprised.  Most of the early Christian theologians introduced this Platonic interpretation as a replacement of the Hebrew unified view.  The “mind-body-soul” view of Man comes directly from Greek philosophy, not Scripture.

“Soul” is the Hebrew word nephesh.  It is better translated “person.”  It’s everything that makes me who I am.  But isn’t that what “heart” just described?  Not quite.  “Heart” focuses on the individual “me.”  It is about my thoughts, words and deeds.  But who I am as a person is also defined by my relationship to others.  Nephesh isn’t my internal, hidden, spiritual “soul.”  It is the whole person, defined by his relationship to his Creator and to creation.  Since we know that being human is a verb, a process of becoming through a dialog with the Creator and service to the creation, we know that who I am is defined by my connections to God and to His world.  I am to love God through all these connections.  By the way, there is considerable overlap between lev and nephesh, so I can never divide the two in Hebrew.

Finally, there is me’od (translated “might”).  Unfortunately, the translations like “might” or “strength” aren’t quite correct.  The word isn’t a noun.  It is either an adverb or an adjective that is sometimes used like a noun.  But what it really means is “great,” or “very,” or “exceedingly.”  It is the what-ness of life, all the stuff we have on loan to do His bidding.  This is the great abundance of what is put into our hands for His use.  We are to love Him with all our on-loan provisions.

Combining these three areas of focused attention demonstrates that God commands love as the active behavior of treating everything as He would.  His thought must become our thoughts.  His deeds our deeds.  His care of creation our care.  His expressions of emotions ours as well.  Love is what we do in all that we do.  The standard is the behavior of God.  “Be holy for I am holy.”  That pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?

Topical Index:  heart, soul, might, lev, nephesh, me’od, Deuteronomy 6:5

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Food For Thought

Thursday, October 08th, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen

He satisfies the thirsty soul and He fills the hungry soul with good. Psalm 107:9

With Good – Did you expect that? Wouldn’t we expect the psalmist to say, “He fills the hungry soul with food?” After all, isn’t this verse about what we need to survive? The Hebrew mi le-tov is literally “He satisfies [fills or completes] good.” The economy of Hebrew requires that we add the preposition. Actually, the structure of the Hebrew shifts the emphasis for the entire thought. It’s more like billboard announcements. “For He satisfies nephesh thirsty and nephesh hungry He fills tov.” Since this isn’t really about the “soul” in the Greek sense, these statements concern the entire person. The psalmist proclaims, “One thirsty He satisfies; one hungry He fills.”

But what fills the nephesh? From the psalmist’s point of view, what fills us is tov (good). That covers the entire range of God’s grace. It’s not just daily bread. It’s the food that comes from another source which many do not understand (John 4). Of course, it is daily bread. That’s part of God’s provision. But it’s much more, isn’t it? It’s all the goodness of God – grace, mercy, benevolence, provision, protection, satisfaction, delight and patience. Real food is all this and more. When we hunger to be filled, we need to listen to the psalmist and not limit God’s outpouring of goodness. The pictograph gives us the proper perspective. The verb “to fill” (male) is the consonants M-L-A. These show us chaos controlled by strength. Isn’t that the image of God’s goodness?

There’s a crucial lesson in this Hebrew verse architecture. Too many times we seem to put the parameters around God’s answers. We come to Him having already determined how our needs should be met. We plead for a shovel full of grace when He is waiting with a dump truck load. Our lack of spiritual imagination constrains God’s goodness. He is willing to give but we are not prepared to receive. It’s like trying to capture the electrical power of a lightning bolt in a battery. More than anything, we need to strip away our tiny concepts of God. We need to enter into the Hebrew view of awe and mystery, magnificence and grandeur. We need the verb God, not the noun God. He just won’t be boxed. So, why do we try so hard to squeeze Him into our mold?

Meditate on God’s goodness. Reflect on His everlasting faithfulness. Remember all that He has done through countless generations to bring you to the place you stand today. Consider His commitment to your holiness. Be overwhelmed by His willingness to forgive. Ponder His sacrifice. David captured it when he said, “Who is Man that You are mindful of him?” The Hebrew point of view begins with the awesome wonder of God. Perhaps we need a great deal more time to meditate and a lot less time to pontificate. Perhaps the real purpose of worship is simply to stand in His presence in wonder.

Topical Index: good, nephesh, fill, tov, wonder, worship, Psalm 107:9

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Embodiment

Friday, April 24th, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Living - Is the Bible a living Word for you? This is not a trivial question. The Bible is not like other books. There are other books that inspire. There are others books that challenge, encourage, command, discipline and exhort. None of these factors are unique to Scripture. What makes the Bible the living Word? It communicates God’s will to us. And since God’s will for us is life, His Word, in any form, brings life with it. It is zoe (alive, living, life-filled).

The Greeks did not usually use this word, zoe, when they spoke about ordinary life. They used bios (our root for “biology”). For the Greeks, bios was about life right here, the day-to-day activities that made up what we experience as being alive. A recounting of present life is called a biographe (literally “life-writing”). But the Greeks did have a use for zoe. Unless we understand how they thought about zoe, we will not see the startling claim in this verse.

Greek metaphysics is built around the duality of the material and the spiritual. OK, I know, that was a bit scholarly. What it means is that the Greeks thought of existence in terms of two levels. One was the level of the material world, where all the stuff we see and deal with exists. The other was the spiritual world, where the divine resides with Truth, Beauty and Goodness. This dual nature of reality has affected Western civilization for thousands of years. In fact, it is the fundamental philosophical principle behind the Christian idea of getting to heaven. Our proclamation of “escape” from this world, whether through divine intervention, rapture, other-worldly orientation or a heavenly gate pass, is really the affirmation that the “spiritual” world is the preferred existence and getting out of here is the real goal. “Where will you go if you die tonight?” is an evangelistic approach that is rooted in Greek metaphysics. The assumption is that getting to heaven is the goal of Christian belief. It sounds nice. Who wouldn’t want to leave all their problems behind? But it’s not biblical. Too bad!

So, the Greek term zoe refers to what we would call “the force.” Zoe is the life-animating principle that comes from the realm of the divine, empowers existence in the material world, and at death, returns to the realm of the spirit. Bios is where I have to struggle with my individual existence, but zoe is my true home, apart from this valley of tears, existing blissfully in the world of the divine. Of course, in the realm of zoe, there are no particular individuals. We all flow back into the life-force. In this world, where bios reigns, we are intrinsically unfulfilled. We can never reach our true state of oneness with the divine because we are “trapped” in a material body that belongs in a material world. In order to reach fulfillment (and perfection), we must escape from this realm and leave the material world behind. Its very presence constrains us. In the realm of zoe we are freed from the material and can exist as pure spirit, operating under the banner of nous, reason alone. For the Greeks, the world is an evil prison keeping us from being the truly rational beings we were meant to be.

This dualism is still with us. Every time you hear someone speak about the evil world, the bliss of heaven, the desire to depart, the anticipation of the rapture or anything that suggests that our purpose is departure, you are probably treading on Greek philosophy. It has been part of the church since the third century. But it is not found in the Bible.

The author of Hebrews calls the Word of God “living.” He uses zoe. With all this Greek metaphysics in the background, why would he use such a loaded term? The answer is that he uses the term as it is found in the Septuagint, where it is influenced by the Hebrew concept of nephesh. But nephesh is not separate from physical life. In fact, it is essentially linked to life as we know it in this world. Why? Because the world is the creation of God and it is good! There is no dualism, no separation between spiritual and physical. God created the world a wonderful, full, significant place where we are to discover His glory in our embodiment. Getting to heaven is definitely not the goal! Enjoying His Kingdom on earth, and seeing it manifest, is the goal. That’s why Yeshua prays that we will not be taken out of this world. We are to experience life in all its fullness right here. Yes, it’s broken. Sin has corrupted this place. But it is not trashed. It is not evil. It is under the influence of evil, but it is to be redeemed. Leaving is not an option if you want to be where God is active.

There is one more important step in recovering the meaning of this word in this verse. Nephesh is all of me, all homogenized together. I am not body-mind-soul. I am the manifestation of God’s breath embodied. And that means that I am entirely under His sovereignty. Life does not belong to me. It belongs to Him. He gives it as a loan to me. Unlike the Greek concept, I am not on a path to ascend to my true calling in the spirit world. I am me right here, breathing the nephesh hayyah that God has given me, designed to do His will on this earth.

What does this tell us about zoe in Hebrews 4:12? God’s Word is living (zoe) because it embodies God’s character in active declaration. It is the manifestation of who He is. It has the same quality as nephesh. It is totally under His control. It is His gift. It is good. And it is designed for this world. God’s Word is God embodied in language. When you read it, you are in the presence of God, filling your thoughts, words and deeds with His character clothed in human communication.

Topical Index: living Word, nephesh, zoe, bios, Greek metaphysics, Hebrews 4:12

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St. Francis of Assisi

Wednesday, April 01st, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen

Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.  1 Thessalonians 2:8 (NASB)

Our Own Lives – “Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.”  St. Francis got it right.  This is just what Paul said to the Thessalonians.  “We imparted to you the good news along with our own lives.  You saw everything we wanted to say in action because you were witnesses to how we lived.”  The first principle of evangelism is not what we say but how we live.

Paul uses the Greek word psyche, sometimes translated “soul.”  But Paul means a lot more than intellectual knowledge or spiritual apprehension.  He means more than religious education or a code of conduct.  When Paul uses the Greek word psyche, he is trying to capture the Hebrew word nephesh.  The Greek concept of Man was the combination of body-mind-soul, but the Hebrew concept was a single, organic and spirit-filled unity.  Nephesh was all of me, all at once, my embodiment in the world.  That’s why the NASB does not translate this verse as “our very souls.”  That translation would be too Greek.  Paul is expressing a Hebrew idea.  He gives his life to this cause.

Sometimes we wonder why the power of the gospel seems to have such a small effect on the great number of people who claim allegiance to the Christ.  We read the writings of the Apostles.  We see amazing things happening.  We see incredible changes in those people in the first century, and we wonder what’s missing today.  Why did the early church have such a dramatic impact when we seem to do nothing more than add another building to the community every few years?  Perhaps the answer is right here, in this translated phrase.  Too often Christianity has become a Greek-based mental acknowledgement.  We assert that we believe the propositions, the doctrines of the Church.  We agree with the right cognitive conclusions.  But we haven’t embodied them.  They haven’t become our lives.  We have separated saying the gospel from living the gospel.

There’s a simple little test that you can apply to see where you are in all this.  Just ask yourself if anyone around you would know that you are a follower of the Messiah by just watching you.  Would they know that you love God and are obedient to His will without a single word?  Are you a walking sign post for righteousness?  Perhaps this little test gives us another reason why Torah observance becomes important.  God’s purpose is to make you into His billboards.  Of course, you won’t have big letters stamped across your forehead, but how you live should proclaim Him to the world.  That’s why Torah living is different.  If your behavior is the same as the best examples of decent, moral living by non-believers, how can you be a billboard of good news?  God’s plan does not adopt the world’s point of view.  Where we look just like the world, we have nothing further to say.

Topical Index:  evangelism, lives, Torah, psyche, nephesh, 1 Thessalonians 2:8

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