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The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.
Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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This is the Epistle selection to be read aloud on the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 23], Year B, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. It will follow one of two possible pairings of Old Testament and Psalm readings, depending on what Track the church is following during Year B. The Track 1 offering presents Job’s response to the claims of wickedness having befallen Job, by Eliphaz. Psalm 22 will offer David singing, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress?” The Track 2 offering will present a reading from the prophet Amos, who told the King of Israel, “Seek the Lord and live, or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire, and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.” Psalm 90 has David sing, “So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” All will accompany the Gospel reading from Mark, where Jesus said to Peter, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
I wrote about this reading and went into some depth of interpretation, explaining the way all Epistles should be read. I published my commentary on my website the last time this reading came up in the lectionary cycle [Proper 23], which was in 2018. I will not be repeating that depth here at this time; but I stand behind my views at that time, as they are still valid today. I welcome everyone to read those views by clicking on this link. As always, I invite comments and questions, suggestions and corrections. However, now I will address how Paul’s letter to the Hebrew-speaking Christians of Rome fits into the whole of the Proper 23 readings.
One thing that I did not address in my 2018 analysis is the use of the Greek word “kai” in New Testament Scripture. The word translates as “and,” which is a simple little word of conjunction, which rolls off the tongue as easily as does “um” and “you know” in conversational English. When seen in this manner, the word “kai” becomes unimportant; and, there is nothing unimportant in New Testament Scripture, because all comes from the Christ Mind, onto paper by a prophet [a Yahweh elohim].
The word “kai” should not even be translated, but instead read as a mark of language. When one sees a comma mark or a semi-colon, one does not read (silently or aloud) the name of the mark read. Marks are symbols of direction in reading, as vital parts of language. The fact that punctuation was inconsistent and a refining element of the cavemen Europeans before the eighteenth century [A. D.] means nothing; as Yahweh knows all rules of language and the original parchments implied pauses and ends, separations and when to denote asides and examples about to be given. While marks can be argued, the word “kai” is written. The way to read it is as a direction that the ignorant masses miss, being those who cannot see the truth that is right before their eyes. To read "kai" as "and" means to be separated from the ones led by Yahweh to understanding. Paul understood divinely; and, he wrote divinely to those who would understand divinely, meaning they would know how to read “kai” (among other hints and signs).
The word “kai” is a marker word that always denotes importance to follow. To be read as a simple conjunction might be a way to see additional truth, but not the whole truth. One must always see “kai” as one sees a comma mark. It is a sign that says, “Look for importance now coming.” In verses twelve through fourteen in this reading there are nine uses of “kai.” In all, there are a total of ten in four verses, meaning the two verses to follow only have one use of “kai,” whereas the first two verses have many uses of “kai.” Four uses follow comma marks [", kai"] – which is an English no-no, because a comma is a symbol for “and” – and one follows a period mark, so those three announce importance to be found in new segments or statements. Then, there are five uses that are found internally in a segment of words. Those appear to be connecting the word before and the word after. In those internal uses, the word before should be seen as importantly restated in the word that follows.
Now, I have administered this lesson in 'New Testament Scripture reading' because the first internal use of “kai” has been translated by the NRSV as this: “it divides soul from spirit.” They take a word Strong's says means "and, even, also" and translate it as "from." Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and the NASB Translations find no places where "from" is acceptable. That is not what was written; and, it is not what is said by Paul. Paul wrote (literally translated): “the division of soul kai spirit.” In that, a “soul” [“psuché”] is the same thing as is spirit [“pneuma”], especially when “pneuma” is not capitalized [capitalization denotes a divine level of meaning]. Both words mean “breath,” which is the “breath” of life given by Yahweh at birth. That life is a “soul.” The importance of “spirit” is then shown to be that to which Yahweh will merge; but it can also be where demons can merge.
[In the Gospel story of Jesus encountering the man possessed by the demon spirit called "Legion," that was an example of gross multiple personality disorder, or an ancient event of Sybil or The Three Faces of Eve." In The Exorcist - a movie where a Roman Catholic priest was called to address a demonic possession - there was an additional "spirit" that had become attached to the native "soul." This is how one should see the depth of meaning that comes from Paul's words. He is saying the only way to achieve Salvation of a "soul" is through the divine addition of Yahweh's "Spirit."]
Seeing that importance of “spirit” then says a “soul” can be divided by the “sword two-edged” [“machairan distomon”], where a “spirit” can be added to the “soul,” which is a possession by a “spirit.” Paul was rejoicing how he was given true “Life” [a capitalized “Zōn”] by “God” [“Theon”], which was importantly “kai penetrating as far as dividing of soul kai spirit.” That must be seen as Paul saying his soul was saved by it being married to Yahweh’s Spirit. However, the “sword two-edged” means a soul can also be divided, where the possession is by a demon “spirit,” and that is important to realize also.
[In last Sunday's Gospel reading, when Jesus quoted Adam, from Genesis 2, the element of "what God has joined together" should here be seen as a soul being like a genetic code or DNA strand. Yahweh is the master DNA code, which is the code for entrance into heaven. In the entrance of a sperm into an egg, the DNA of both father and mother are split into two half-strands and one half of each is rejoined to make the one master cell of a fetus. One needs to see this divine process - the truth of marriage - as being symbolic of the way that a soul is merged with the Spirit of Yahweh. It is a forever merger, which cannot be torn apart.]
In verses fifteen and sixteen, where the uses of “kai” have been greatly reduced, the focus is not on the receipt of the Spirit of Yahweh and all the wonders that brings one [the purpose of life, the strength of resistance to weaknesses, and the purity of Yahweh’s presence]. Instead, Paul then spoke of the resurrection within one’s divinely purified soul-flesh of Jesus. This is stated as a divine possession, by verse fifteen beginning with the capitalized word “Echontos,” which means “Possessing” or "Having." Paul wrote, “Possessing then a high priest great.” It is the soul of Jesus, as the “Son of God,” that “has passed through the heavens.” The “heavens” [“ouranous”] are the coupling of a soul-spirit and the Spirit of Yahweh, such that everything spiritual is “the heavens.”
These four verses can be honed down to the bare bones or the nuts and bolt that say, “Marriage to Yahweh brings about His most divine Spirit, which purifies one’s soul, so it can be reborn as Jesus Christ, making one another Son of man in the flesh.” That then means one can resist all temptations the world can offer, including all demonic spirits (elohim), and be capable of entering ministry for Yahweh as His Son reborn. This fits snugly into the theme of Job resisting the suggestion of Eliphaz. It fits snugly into the message taken by Amon to the leaders of Israel, telling them to “seek Yahweh and live,” because everything they were doing was for naught. It also fits snugly into the Gospel reading where a rich man was seen as so married spiritually to wealth that it was extremely hard for a soul of a rich man to enter heaven.
When Paul ended his chapter saying, “that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need,” the time of need is prior to death. It is for all readers to hear Paul’s words in the same way they are to hear all the words of the other readings. Every reader is influenced to reject Yahweh, by Satan disguised as someone helpful. Every reader is a leader of a nation headed for ruin. Every reader is a rich man who refuses to marry one’s soul to Yahweh and do as Jesus said, becoming him reborn. Until a reader sees himself or herself in all these readings, then they will never marry Yahweh. They will never become the high priest Jesus, as the Son of God; and, they will never enter heaven. The time of need is now, before death comes; otherwise, it will be too late.
As a reading that will be read aloud on the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, when one’s own personal ministry for Yahweh should already be well underway, the lesson is to learn to read divine Scripture divinely. In Paul’s thirteenth verse, the NRSV translates it to say, “And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.” That sounds like a fine thing to memorize and say to people, making oneself seem knowledgeable of Scripture. That translation is weak and serves no purpose; so, memorizing it says the one memorizing it, likewise, serves no purpose.
The Greek word translated as “creatures” is “ktisis.” That word means, “creation (the act or the product)” (Strong’s Definition), but implies “an institution, ordinance.” When this is seen, Paul said, "with God’s divine presence in marriage, no ordinance is hidden.” The “ordinance” is Scripture, of all kinds, Old and New Testaments. That “hidden” is reading “kai” as “and” and getting no depth from that written. All that will be “naked and laid bare to the eyes” is the truth of the Word. The “one to whom we must render an account” is Yahweh. We must “Live” the Word, or we fail Yahweh. Therefore, “Life” means being reborn as Jesus and knowing how one’s life must be led. That leads to true ministry, so others can also be led to marry Yahweh.
If one is playing priest or pastor, when one cannot read the truth of Scripture, that says one is a free-swinging single, whose soul is one’s ticket to wealth, with no plans to ever marry Yahweh and have His truth laid bare before one’s eyes. These four verses of Paul should be read and re-read. They should cause your soul to feel the penetrating cut of the sword that slices deep to the core of one’s being. You either understand you are failing God and need to repent now, or you thank God for having found Him already, as you preach His truth for others to hear.