Paul’s Summation (2)
“Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4 ESV
Puffed up – Let’s get the Greek out. Neither Habakkuk nor Paul nor God Himself use the word “soul.” The Hebrew is nephesh. We have the English translation “soul” because of the influence of the Greek word psyche. It is true that the LXX translates nephesh with the Greek psyche, but I can assure you that there is no Hebrew thought of a man’s soul separated from the rest of what it means to be human. The division of man into body-mind-soul is a thoroughly Greek invention. In Hebrew, human beings are one homogenized entity, the person, the nephesh. Paul certainly knew this. When he cites Habakkuk, he is not speaking about the soul as if the soul could be saved but the body could not. Paul is speaking about the entire person, just as the verse in Habakkuk suggests. It is not a man’s soul that is “puffed up.” It is a man’s entire way of being in the world. It involves everything about this man – his thoughts, his choices, his feelings, his will, his bodily actions. God says (through Habakkuk) that this man is ‘uppelah, here translated as “puffed up.” But what does that mean?
There are some issues with this word. When we examine the verb ‘afal (the root of ‘uppelah), we find two schools of thought. One school ties this verb to an Arabic verb meaning “to be heedless, neglectful, reckless.” This school believes the verb in Habakkuk comes from this root, and therefore means “to be proud, presumptuous.” The other school notes that ‘afal is used only one other time in this way in the Tanakh (Numbers 14:44) and it is not clear that the word in Habakkuk is directly connected. The majority of these uses are nouns, not verbs, describing boils or abscesses (thus, “puffed up”). The idea is something diseased, something abnormally swollen. In Habakkuk, the man who is not upright is considered infected and sick. His entire person, not his soul, is diseased. Saving his soul is not going to fix the problem. He has a serious health issue – an issue that affects the entire person. This is Paul’s argument as well. We are not in need of a soul doctor. We are in need of a completely new nephesh.
The translation says that this sick person is sick because he is “not upright within him.” But that doesn’t quite capture the image. The verb yashar means “to be level, straight, right, just or lawful.” As an adjective, it means “upright” and is used extensively to describe the character of God. In the phrase, “to do what is right,” obedience is linked to righteousness. God says that this man is sick because he is bent, twisted, not level in himself. He appears swollen, but on the inside he is mortally damaged. The disease has metastasized. It has infected every part of him.
All of this stands in utter contrast to the righteous. In order to see the scope of this contrast, we must recognize the depth of this recklessness. Habakkuk paints the picture of a man whose cancer has spread throughout his body. He is still functioning but his days are numbered. Just watching him, we see the results of the illness. His thoughts, his will, his movements are all affected. He is dying before our eyes. And there is no cure. It’s too late for any self-determined remedy. “Look and see,” says the Lord. “Don’t you recognize the signs?”
Only when we realize that our tiny external symptoms are indicators of a much greater problem will we confront the true illness. A little swelling, a small bump, a tiny spot – perhaps we ignore. We pretend we can handle it. But underneath something else is happening. Something tragic and disastrous.
Twisted or straight. Which is it to be? There are no small issues here.
Topical Index: puffed up, ‘afal, twisted, yashar, soul, nephesh, Habakkuk 2:4
sin
CARL, I DON’T THINK IN ALL MY DAYS HERE – I HAVE EVER SEEN YOU COMMENT/POST 1 WORD… ♥
I GUESS THERE IS A TIME & SEASON FOR EVERYTHING… ♥
Yes, uncharacteristically short for Carl! 🙂
I’m confused (nothing new ;-). When I was born-again, if I am “one homogenized entity”, why was my body not reborn as well?
And who told you it wasn’t? (Sort of like, “Who told you that you were naked?) Did you expect to see the whole process happen instantly? Or will you allow that the “resurrected body” requires death before it is completed? What does Paul mean when he says that your body is the temple of the Spirit? Does that mean the Spirit occupies a still-corrupted and decaying body?
Thank you Skip, I am now getting a better handle on this.
“A little swelling, a small bump, a tiny spot
the man who is not upright is considered infected and sick. His entire person, not his soul, is diseased – describing boils or abscesses (thus, “puffed up”). ”
Hi Skip
To me this also sounds close to the definition of tzara’ at – that what comes out of/ something from the inside that boils up and errupts. No wonder that stress, trouble, distress and the enemy(tzar – enemy distroys or injures) are all part of the negative root tsadik,resh and they all result in fear(a-rats: resh,tsadik) and the positive is rightseousness(tse-dek).
How will I know what is in my heart or whole body, if it does not errupt on the outside? ( like ” heart-burn’!)
How does the disease enter my body and how do I get rid of this ” true illness”?
If God says that the man is sick because he is bent, twisted and not level with himself, did God then cause or allowed this man to be bent and twisted? Is this man not responsible for the unrighteous choices he made that caused this infection to begin with? How do I confront this illness? The same way as people with tzara-at (which we know is a very curible disease)?
Do the sacrifices for leprosy provide any sort of spiritual road map for making it back into fellowship?
If I know I have been living as a ‘puffed up’ and abscessed nephesh — how can I start the journey from this point back? I can’t help but think there is some sort of tangible lesson tied up in the sacrificial laws. If nothing else, perhaps God knows that giving up something of value is a good way to start the road of repentance.
Perhaps there is a connection here. Thanks for noticing. But I would add that it is not giving up just anything of value. That is the conversion of Hebraic thought to Catholic practice (Lent). What must be given up is specifically related to the “puffed up” issue – measure for measure.
I think I follow. I need to make sure I don’t set up a form of idolatry by deciding myself a system of ‘making things right’ with God.
Normally, I sin — I feel the separation, I feel guilty, I ask for forgiveness,.. then it seems like time must pass until I feel like I can pray for things, study the bible, or feel right again. The cycle repeats and, of coures, the guilt does not keep me from repeating. I know Jesus paid the price, but I can see the practical value in the Israelite sacrifices as:
1. Tangible admission of the sin
2. A concrete gesture that my sin has consequences
3. Psychologically, if I know I will give something up after sinning — it will be incentive not to keep repeating.
4. Clarity. I don’t have to wonder if I’m right again, or wallow in guilt — the event can be over and I can move on.
And possibly the most important to me:
5. There is an immediate chance to start being obedient again.
Without this opportunity, I find myself piling on sins. “Well, I already lost my temper, might as well….”. It’s like temporary insanity, I’ll add more things into the ONE ‘sin episode’ — that I will apologize for later.
I experienced something like this when I was younger and my father would spank me. Instead of a prolonged period of anger and awkwardness — there was a short, defined period of pain. And then it was like a new day had dawned, and even though what I did was not reversed — I felt like I could move on, I knew there wasn’t continuing resentment and it felt like the relationship was restored.
Which brings me to…. I don’t have herds and flocks. But I want to approach God in His way and not my own. I know His physical laws reinforce the work He does in changing me on the inside. So I feel as if I am missing out on a blessing by COMPLETELY ignoring the sacrificial system.