Tag Archives: Second Timothy

The Appian Way Press Greek Reader SBL Sale!

AppianWayPressWill you be at SBL in Denver this year? Have you been itchin’ to purchase an Appian Way Press book — like one of our excellent Greek readers — but you want a deal? Hey, I get it. I postpone book purchases until SBL in hopes of a sweet deal.

Well, the Appian Way Press won’t have a booth at SBL this year (or likely any year, for that matter). But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a SWEET SBL SALE. That’s right. We’ve got five books in print, and we’ll have deals on our Greek Reader series at SBL. So here’s the SWEET SBL SALE deal:

The Plan

Important: This sale is only valid for people attending the conference. I will deliver the books to you personally in Denver. These prices don’t work with shipping and handling, I’d lose money. We’re all better off if you just use your Amazon Prime and order from them if you can’t make SBL.

Step 1: You order books by sending me money via PayPal. Be sure to specify which ones you want and give me some contact info. Feel free to email me the details (rick at faithlife dot com) after sending payment via PayPal as well.

Step 2: I keep track of books ordered and bring them (and maybe some extras?) to SBL in Denver. Note, however, I’d rather not take cash on site for them if at all possible.

Step 3: We meet in Denver, and I give you your books. If for some reason I am unable to make it to Denver, I will either refund your money or ship the book at my expense. If we miss each other in Denver, we’ll work something out.

Why am I doing this?

It’s SBL, and folks want deals on books. I publish some of my own books. I want these books — particularly the Greek Readers — to be easy to obtain and use. That’s why I keep the reader retail price at $9.95. But let’s both benefit, cut Amazon (mostly) out of the deal, and make out. I’m making approximately the same per sale, and you’re saving some money. It’s a win-win (well, except for Amazon).

Also, sales of these books help my family pay bills regarding the adoption of our son, Josiah Michael (he’s doing well, BTW, thanks for asking). All proceeds go straight from PayPal into the account that pays the adoption bills, the money does not go into my pocket. I don’t get much from these books (do the math) but over time it does add up, and every little bit helps.

If you’re feeling generous and want to pay more than sale price (or retail price) for the books, that’s awesome and appreciated. As I said, it goes from PayPal straight into the account we have set up to pay adoption expenses.

Thanks, everyone! See you in Denver!

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Christians, Soldiers, and Word Studies

I’m currently working through the text and vocabulary of Second Timothy, writing Lexical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles: Second Timothy. I ran into the curious phrase in 2Ti 2:3, “as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

This actual phrase “soldier of Christ” only occurs here in the NT. This got me digging a bit because — having grown up in the church — the notion of “Christian soldiers” is not unfamiliar. I was surprised that the only other relatively early witness to this phrasing was found in the Acts of Paul. Of course there is other imagery (e.g. “Christian Armor” in Eph 6:10–20), but I was looking at the expression of a Christian as a soldier.

It was only when I expanded my search from the specific phrase to words sharing common roots that I remembered the term “fellow solider,” which Paul uses twice elsewhere. If you’re looking at word usage in a corpus, sometimes you have to expand your basis because the same notion/concept can be expressed using different formulations.

Does this stuff interest you? Get my Lexical Studies in the Pastoral Epistles: First Timothy in print from Amazon or for Logos Bible Software.

Here’s what I ended up with, at least for now. This will change some between now and whenever I get the manuscript done, but I’m over 25% of the way through the text, which is good news for me.

The phrase “good soldier” is a translation of two different Greek words. The first word, “good,” is a translation of καλός.[1] The second word, “soldier,” is a translation of στρατιώτης, ‘soldier,’ in a non-military sense.[2] The Acts of Paul uses the term similarly:

For they saw how Paul laid aside his mood of sadness and taught the word of truth and said: ‘Brethren and soldiers of Christ, listen! (AcPl 10,[3] [4] emphasis added)

The word στρατιώτης is used with frequency in the New Testament. While military language is used elsewhere in descriptions of the Christian life (Eph 6:10–20), the direct association of a soldier (στρατιώτης) with a follower of Jesus is only found in 2 Timothy. The next known usage of this phrase “soldier of Christ” is found in the Acts of Paul which may go back to the second century.[5]

However, the word συστρατιώτης, ‘fellow soldier,’ is used to similar effect in Phm 2 and Php 2:25:

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our dear friend and fellow worker, and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house. (Phm 1–2, emphasis added)

But I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, but your messenger and servant of my need, because he was longing for all of you and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. (Php 2:25–26, emphasis added)

In these contexts, Paul uses συστρατιώτης to associate Archippus (Phm 2) and Epaphroditus (Php 2:25) with him in common mission for the gospel. They are described as soldiers in common with Paul. They hold common purpose and share a common battle. Understanding Christians as soldiers in common battle is not outside of the frame of Paul or the New Testament.

[1] BDAG pp. 504–505. Occurs 101x in NT, 24x in PE.

[2] BDAG p. 948. Occurs 26x in NT, 1x in PE: 2 Ti 2:3. See also TDNT 7.711–712.

[3] Wilhelm Schneemelcher, “3. The Acts of Paul,” in New Testament Apocrypha, ed. Wilhelm Schneemelcher, trans. R. McL Wilson, vol. 2, 2 vols. ([Cambridge, England]; Louisville, Ky.: J. Clarke & Co. ; Westminster/John Knox Press, 2003), 259.

[4] From the Hamburg papyrus of the Acts of Paul, which BDAG cites as AcPl Ha 8, 9

[5] Hans-Josef Klauck, The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: An Introduction (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2008), 48.

What’s Next for Rick?

BookCoverImage-LCPE-1Tim2016 has been a productive year so far. At the beginning of the year I ran a survey asking what I should focus on with my research and writing time this year.

My own personal goal was to publish some stuff I’d written but simply needed to finish, and to get it done before the summer. Rather than pursue publishing the traditional way, I set up Appian Way Press as my imprint/publisher, and used CreateSpace to publish two books:

One takeaway from the survey was noting interest in material from some classes I’d taught in adult education settings years ago. So next up on the Appian Way Press schedule, I think, is work on a class on the Apostles’ Creed. I hope to re-work my existing notes into a study guide and also a teacher’s edition.

Before that, however, I have an outstanding commitment for an introduction and translation to the Second Apocalypse of John for volume 2 of New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. (more info, volume 1) Once that’s in the can, then it’ll be full-tilt boogie on the Apostles’ Creed.

In other news, it looks like Lexham Press will be publishing my Advent guide, Anticipating His Arrival, in print.

Thanks, everyone, for your support and encouragement!

Translation and Notes on Second Timothy

Back in 2009, I had a series on PastoralEpistles.com with an overview of Second Timothy. The notes are primarily focused on syntax and some issues of discourse grammar. The subtitle is A Phrasal Interlinear with Grammatical and Syntactic Notes.

When PastoralEpistles.com switched to WordPress, the blog lost track of the files. So here is the 2009 PDF of those notes, in all its glory: Second Timothy Translation and Notes