Troublesome Topic: Some Ways to Know it Is Not God’s Voice

1: "narrow gate"

The gateways of ancient cities served for protection, and as places where business was transacted, and where the political leaders of the city met with each other or with common people seeking audiences with them. City gates also became a place to display things that would indicate to the new arrival what or who that city was committed to; this was usually done by placing statues of their most important gods in, on, or over the city gate. The gate complex was made up of several rooms and it was intended to be imposing, and impressive. If a city gate was small and narrow it meant it was an poor, insignificant city that was protected by weak and little-known gods. In the paraphrase column I depict the gate as representing an entire system because the city gates were a representation of the entire city and all that happened therein.

2: “into destruction”

These two words are not in the original Greek at this juncture, but it is implied that the city gate and the road to the gate are representing one and the same thing. The mental picture Jesus wanted people to see in their minds was a road leading up to a city gate. It was one option, one choice. There are many time in Scripture when something is only mentioned once but it is implied to be related to two phrases or clauses in the sentence.

3

The original only says “leading to,” I am rendering it as “leading up to” in order to clearly communicate the proper word picture into the minds of the readers. The image is that of someone coming up to a city and noticing the characteristics of the gate and also the road leading up to the gate. It is not a picture of someone leaving a city. In Jesus’ illustration there are two places, i.e. two cities; one is called “destruction” and the other is called “life.”

4

A different form of the name Theos (God) is used here but I choose to always use the same form to not cause confusion. The different forms used are only for grammatical purposes; they don’t change the meaning, or I would let you know of that change.

5

The victory parades of ancient times differed from ours in one primary way; the victorious king or general was followed by many if not all of the captives he had taken in war. This proved how successful he had been and thus how powerful he was. Obviously, if they had take the king of that other country captive, he would be the first prisoner in the procession, followed by his government officials, then the wealthy citizens, etc.

That is the imagery that was brought to mind by the verb that was used here. But what does it mean? Does it show that we are Christ’s slaves and He is showing off His strength at our expense? No, I don’t think Jesus or God the Father would shame and disgrace us in that way, even though we are His slaves by choice.

Are we His warriors in this procession? Are we participating in the parade as victorious soldiers who are guarding His prisoners? No, that’s not it either. This verb was not used of the guards, but only of the prisoners.

So what did it mean? First I am convinced that the emphasis of this passage is on God the Father and on Jesus Christ, not on us. Paul was thanking God for what He had done through Christ. He was saying that Jesus has been victorious! Jesus is powerful! Jesus deserves a victory parade!

Secondly, Paul was saying that God was using the believers to demonstrate the power and victory of Christ. How He does that is not the point. Every analogy begins to break down if you push it hard enough, and that is the point at which this one breaks down. We are his slaves, but by our own choice. God would not humiliate us, but in other ways He is using us to show how victorious He is. He is even putting us on display before the world, but not as humiliated captives.

Because this word picture was incomplete and had some difficulties associated with it, Paul went on to use another word picture in conjunction with this one.

6

Here the idea of fragrance pertains to the way incense offerings were used prominently during a victory parade in ancient times. Paul is saying that believers are like the incense bearers at those parades. This is further proof that the emphasis is not on us as his captives. It shows that the verb used earlier does not have all of its normal meaning even though the victory parade metaphor is the setting of both word pictures. This part of the verse indicates that we should be showing the world that following Jesus is the best decision we ever made; it brings true joy and peace.

7

This probably refers to knowing Jesus Christ, but it could also refer to both God the Father and God the Son. If you know one you know the other.

8

In the Roman victory parades, just before the procession got to the top of Capitoline Hill, the most important prisoners were taken away to a prison nearby and executed.

9

Some see in the repetition of these verbs (death to death and life to life) a pattern that was common in the Hebrew Old Testament and was used as a form of emphasis. However, the Hebrew phrases were different in that there was not preposition involved. Here we have two prepositions used, “from death to death.” That is why others see in these phrases an emphasis on origin, direction and final result. If your origin was that of a foreign king, and your direction was that you had been resistant and antagonistic to the Roman emperor, the final result would be that your life would soon come to a violent end.

10

The opposite was true in that the Roman citizens assembled for the parade would smell the incense being burned and know that their way of life would continue and they were blessed to be on the right side of that particular conflict.

Paul used the analogy to point out that if someone was seeking God and choosing to follow God, the “smell” of Christ in a believer’s life would encourage him in his quest for God. However, if someone was resistant to God and constantly fighting against God, the smell of Christ in a believer’s life would highlight his guiltiness and make him hate God and Christians all the more.

11

Paul never answers that question. However it is assumed that the answer is a positive one. We are not truly adequate, but God makes us adequate for the task by His Holy Spirit in our lives.

12

Bloodline was very important to the Jews.

13

Literally “a pile of manure or dung.”

14

This word, which means “about to do, will surely do, or at the point of doing” something, was inserted for a purpose. It either shows certainty or proximity in time. Usually the word is used showing proximity in time.