Trinity Sunday | Year A | New Testament Reading – 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 | TJ Torgerson
Yes, that is a Huey Lewis reference.
This week's New Testament reading is found in 2 Corinthians 13. Let's focus a little on verse 13 (verse 14 depending on your translation):
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." - 2 Corinthians 13:13 (NET)
The Bible has many phrases like "grace of Jesus," "love of God," and "the fellowship of the Holy Spirit." These phrases sound nice, but have you ever thought about what the word "of" is doing in these phrases? [1] Here are a few possibilities:
- "Sky of blue" - The "of" is saying that the sky is characterized as blue.
- "Piece of pie" - The "of" is saying that the piece is part of the whole pie.
- "Ball of wax" - The "of" is saying that the ball is made from wax.
- "Cup of coffee" - The "of" is saying that the cup contains coffee.
- "Sport of Football" - The "of" is saying that football is an example of the category "sport."
- "Heat of the Sun" - The "of" is saying that the sun is the source of the heat.
These are just simple English equivalents. There are even more possibilities that can be listed if we take Greek syntax into consideration. For example, in Greek, there is also the objective or subjective sense of these "of words." In the Greek language, the phrase "love of God" could be understood as God being the subject of the act of love. If that were the case, the phrase would be translated as "God loves X." On the other hand, God could also be the object, and it could be translated as "X loves God." How do we decide? Context and scholarly wisdom help us out.
So what is the job of the "of's" in 2 Corinthians 13:13? A likely possibility according to the United Bible Societies commentary is that the "of words" should be understood as the grace that comes from Christ, the love that God has for them, and the fellowship the Holy Spirit creates. [2] The technical term for this would be that the "of words" are functioning as subjective genitives. The New beacon Bible Commentary agrees with this but also states that the term "Fellowship of the Holy Spirit" is the most ambiguous. However, understanding "fellowship of the Holy Spirit" in the same way as the previous two, it indicates that the fellowship is created by the Holy Spirit. [3] This idea makes a lot of sense when we consider the divisions in the Corinthian church and Paul's previous teaching to them regarding "the body of Christ" and the many gifts but the same Spirit.
So, how would you say these "of words" are functioning? And what did Huey mean by "power of love"?
[1] (Note: In Greek, there isn't a word directly translated to "of." Instead, the word "of" is often used when translating nouns in the genitive case. In the examples above, "Jesus," "God," and "Holy Spirit" are in the genitive case. For more information, you can check out Dan Wallace's book "The Basics of New Testament Syntax.") [2] Roger L. Omanson and John Ellington,A Handbook on Pauls Second Letter to the Corinthians, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1993), 247." [3] Frank G. Carver, 2 Corinthians A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition, New Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press, 2009), 374.
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