Saturday, July 8, 2017

Why is the NT ambiguous?

Why is the New Testament ambiguous?

The simple answer is: God has allowed it for some reason, given that nothing happens without the consent of God, who is all-powerful (Matt. 10:29, 2 Cor. 6:18, Rev. 1:8, 4:8, 11:17, 15:3, 16:7, 16:14, 19:6, 19:15, 21:22).

The detailed, studied answer is that the New Testament—the 27 texts that constitute the New Covenant through Christ Jesus—is  sometimes ambiguous due to a "competitive principle"* explained repeatedly in the Holy Bible.

[1] In Christ Jesus's teaching
"And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." (Matt. 13:10-15, AKJV)


"Go in through the narrow gate, because wide is the gate and roomy the way leading away into the destruction and many are the in-goers through it, because narrow is the gate and hard-pressured the way leading away into the life and few are the finders of it.." (Matt. 7:13-14, CFB)

[2] In Isaiah
"Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." (Isa. 6:10, AKJV)

[3] In the Psalter
"a good understanding have all they that do his commandments..." (Ps. 111:10, AKJV)

"with the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure;
and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward."
(Ps. 18:26, AKJV)


"Who is the human who is fearing the Lord?
He will furnish law for him, in a way that He selected.
The soul of his will lodge among good things,
and the seed of his will inherit land.
The Lord will strengthen them fearing Him,
[and the name of the Lord, them fearing Him,]
and His covenant He will make known to them."
(Ps. 25:12-14, CFB)

[4] In Proverbs "Wisdom's beginning is fear of God,
and good comprehension is to all them practising it [wisdom].
And piety unto God is perception's beginning,
yet wisdom and fostering impious people will hate." (Prov. 1:7, CFB)


[5] In Ecclesiasticus / Sirach
"When ye glorify the Lord, exalt him as much as ye can; for even yet will he far exceed: and when ye exalt him, put forth all your strength, and be not weary; for ye can never go far enough. Who hath seen him, that he might tell us? and who can magnify him as he is? There are yet hid greater things than these be, for we have seen but a few of his works. For the Lord hath made all things; and to the godly hath he given wisdom." (Sir. 43:30-33, AKJV)

[6] In Baruch
"But they were destroyed, because they had no wisdom, and perished through their own foolishness. Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? Who hath gone over the sea, and found her, and will bring her for pure gold? No man knoweth her way, nor thinketh of her path. But he that knoweth all things knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for evermore hath filled it with four-footed beasts.... He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it into Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved." (Bar. 3:28-32, 36, AKJV)



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Notes

* In the language science of Pragmatics, the Competitive Principle is a corollary (and competitor) to the Gricean and Neo-Gricean hypotheses about a Cooperative Principle that guides human communication. It appears that many Biblical texts, not least St. Paul the Apostle's texts, are guided by a Competitive Principle, made explicit in several places (cf. Matt 13:10-15; Mark 4:10-12; Luke 8:10; John 6:22-68). For further discussion, see "A Competitive Principle Hypothesis", "What can language sciences do for readers of St. Paul's letters?", "A Christian reflexion on Pragmatics", "Sanctification methods, the Competitive Principle, etc.", "Reading the Holy Bible sympathetically".

CFB: Scripture quoted from the Christ Family Bible. Copyright © 2018 by J.J. Thomas. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

AKJV: Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

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