Gálatas 1

Gálatas 1

Hughes - the idea that God is our Father, our Abba, is not only a sign of our spiritual health and of the authenticity of our faith, it is one of the most healing doctrines in all of Scripture. Some grew up only with a mother and no father. Others grew up in conventional homes where the relationship with the father was negative at best. But whatever our background, we need the touch of a father, and our God wants to provide that. Some of us need to bow before God and simply say, "Dearest Father, Abba" and so find the wholeness and healing that he wants to give us... The problem among some evangelical Christians today is the opposite - they have sentimentalized God's fatherhood so much that they have little concept of his holiness. Many Christians are flippantly sentimental about God, as if he is a celestial teddy bear. Such flip familiarity outwardly suggests super-intimacy with God but actually hides a defective knowledge of God. (Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom. Crossway Books) For (behalf) (5228)(huper - see also uses below) can mean "on behalf of" and thus pictures the substitutionary aspect of Christ's sacrifice (Ro 5:6 2Co 5:15, 21 Ga 3:13 Phlm 13 Gal 1:4, 1Co 15:3; Ga 2:20). He did not become a sinner on the Cross, but our sin bearer (Jn 1:29, 1Cor 5:7, 1Pe 2:24, Isa 53:4-6) (What is the doctrine of substitution?) He Died for You: When Lincoln’s body was brought from Washington to Illinois, it passed through Albany and it was carried through the street. They say a black woman stood upon the curb and lifted her little son as far as she could reach above the heads of the crowd and was heard to say to him, “Take a long look, honey. He died for you.” So, if I could, I would lift up your spirit to see Calvary. Take a long look, He died for you. Huper, a common preposition, appears approximately 160 times in the New Testament, about 135 times with the genitive case meaning “for,” etc.; 20 times with the accusative case meaning “above, beyond,” etc.; and once as a separate adverb meaning “more” (2 Corinthians 11:23). In compounds with verbs, nouns, or adverbs it adds the ideas of: (1) “over” or “beyond,” spatially; (2) “for” someone or something; or (3) “beyond (normal) limits.” (Compare the English hyper- and super- forms which are derived from this Greek word and its cognate Latin form, respectively.) In the Septuagint huper is used about 450 times, slightly over half of them with the accusative (objective) case. This frequent use with the accusative is in contrast with the New Testament where the genitive case is predominant. According to Bauer none of the Septuagint uses are in a local (literal) sense; all are figurative In the New Testament huper, used with the genitive or accusative cases, is not used literally of position. The most common usage is with the sense of “for” someone or something (genitive). Some of these involve the more specific idea of “in their behalf” or “for their sake.” Specific usage of this type involves the following constructions: (1) after verbs of speaking, praying, etc. (e.g., Acts 26:1, “thou art permitted to speak for [i.e., in behalf of] thyself”); (2) with verbs of being (e.g., Mark 9:40, Luke 9:50, “he that is not against us is for us”); (3) following verbs of personal concern, effort, sacrifice, dying, etc. (Luke 22:20, “my blood . . . shed for you”; Romans 8:32, “delivered him up for us all”). Related to this last construction is a usage with the genitive case of the thing affected, e.g., “the life of the world” (= to bring life to), John 6:51; “the glory of God,” John 11:4; “sins” (= to atone for), Galatians 1:4. Huper is also used to refer to actions as done for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20; 12:10) or “his name” (Acts 5:41, etc.). Huper is also used in instances where someone goes beyond just acting in behalf of someone to actually being God’s representative or substitute, i.e., being “in place of” or “instead of” the other (e.g., Romans 9:3; 1 Corinthians 15:29; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15; Galatians 3:13; Philemon 13). This meaning is more precisely expressed by anti (470) which is more commonly used for this idea. At the other extreme, huper is used in some passages in the weaker sense of “concerning, with reference to” (compare peri [3875]): e.g., Romans 9:27; 2 Corinthians 1:7,8; 5:12; 7:4,14; 8:23,24; 9:2,3; 12:5 (twice),8; Philippians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:4; 2:1. In the 20 New Testament occurrences with the accusative case huper is used only figuratively in the sense of excelling or surpassing: “over, above, beyond, more than.” Examples include 1 Corinthians 4:6, “beyond what is written” (NIV); Philemon 16, “more than a slave” (RSV); Philemon 21, “even more than I ask” (NIV). A special form of this usage is its appearance after comparative adjectives (e.g., Luke 16:8; Hebrews 4:12) or a verb expressing a comparison (2 Corinthians 12:13). (Complete Biblical Library - Incredible Resource) Friberg's summary - ὑπέρ preposition; literally over, above; used only in a nonliteral sense in the NT; (1) with the genitive; (a) with a component of protection and concern on behalf of, for the sake of, for (Php 4:10; Col 1:7); (b) after expressions relating to prayer for, in behalf of (Mt 5:44); (c) after expressions relating to sacrifice for, to atone for someone (Mk 14:24); to atone, pay the price for something (Heb 10:12); (d) with a component of representation or substitution in the place of, for, in the name of, instead of (Ro 9:3; 1Co 15:29; Phile 13); (e) to mark cause or reason on account of, for the sake of, in view of (Acts 5:41; 2Th 1:5); (f) to mark general content with reference to, about, concerning (equivalent to περί) (JN 1:30; RO 9:27); (2) with the accusative; (a) with a component of excelling or surpassing exceeding, above, more than (2Co 1:8b; Eph 1:22); (b) preceded by a comparative than (LU 16:8; HE 4:12); (3) adverbially to an even greater degree, more (2Co 11:23; cf. ἐγὼ μᾶλλον [I (even) more] in Php 3:4) (Analytical Greek New Testament )