| First comes firstOne of the first things | | | | someone else--and return to focusing on Him, |
| journalism students learn is "the inverted | | | | the one who has "rescued us out of the |
| pyramid": they learn to cram all of the most | | | | dominion of darkness and has brought us into |
| important points of their article into the | | | | the kingdom of the Son He loves, in Whom we |
| opening paragraph. In normal English usage, | | | | have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" |
| the most important person or thing should go | | | | (Colossians 1:13-14).Left to ourselves, we |
| at the head of almost any list.Biblical Greek | | | | would be a barren field, a collapsed |
| employs similar usage: the most important | | | | building. But God makes His chosen ones into |
| item usually comes first in a list. And | | | | a verdant paradisial garden, a gloriously |
| because, unlike English, Greek does not need | | | | splendid temple. Let's give the credit to |
| word order to determine how a word is used in | | | | Whom it belongs.Want to go deeper? |
| a sentence--it has word endings for that--it | | | | |
| can leverage word order to indicate emphasis. | | | | If you want to explore other places where |
| The beginning and then the end of a sentence, | | | | "of God" (tou theou) occurs in an emphatic, |
| a clause, or a list is the place where the | | | | first position, look up these verses. You |
| emphasis falls in Greek. Unfortunately, we | | | | will see how in these instances also, the |
| lose much of this emphasis in English | | | | emphatic word order of the original does not |
| translations, because the translators feel | | | | survive the translation process. Acts 12:22 |
| forced to rearrange the words back into | | | | |
| normal English order.Good example of emphatic | | | | Romans 13:4 (twice) |
| usageConsider 1 Corinthians 3:9, which the | | | | |
| NIV renders, "For we are God's fellow | | | | 1 Corinthians 1:24 (twice) |
| workers; you are God's field, God's | | | | |
| building." A more literal rendering would be: | | | | 1 Corinthians 2:7 |
| "God's fellow workers we are; God's field you | | | | |
| are, God's building." Paul is making a triple | | | | 1 Corinthians 6:9 |
| emphasis that we almost completely lose in | | | | |
| English: God is the important One, not what | | | | 2 Corinthians 6:4 |
| we are or what you are. [TOP]The context | | | | |
| bears out this emphasis. The Corinthian | | | | 2 Corinthians 11:2 |
| Christians are wrangling about whose group is | | | | |
| the best, the one that claims Paul, or that | | | | 2 Corinthians 11:7 |
| one that names Apollos, or Cephas (Peter), or | | | | |
| Christ (see 1:10-12). Apparently, the | | | | Ephesians 2:8 |
| Corinthians are in danger of splitting into | | | | |
| competing factions or sects, each thinking of | | | | Hebrews 6:5 |
| themselves as superior to the others. Perhaps | | | | |
| their fellowship is deteriorating so much | | | | James 1:1 |
| that they are discounting their rival | | | | |
| factions and even writing them off as no | | | | 1 Peter 2:16 |
| longer members of God's kingdom. Whether that | | | | |
| has happened yet, they certainly seem to be | | | | 1 Peter 4:14 |
| moving in that direction.Paul's antidote to | | | | |
| this sectarian poison is pointing all of them | | | | 1 Peter 4:17 (2nd time) |
| to God. He notes that he and Apollos are not | | | | |
| in competition or leading rival factions. | | | | 2 Peter 3:5 |
| Instead, he says, "God's servants we are." | | | | |
| Similarly, the Corinthians' organic growth as | | | | 2 Peter 3:12 |
| Christians is because "God's field you are." | | | | |
| Their organizational growth is because they | | | | Jude 4Here are two more instances, using |
| are "God's building."God at the centerHere is | | | | "Jesus our Lord" (1 Corinthians 9:1) and "of |
| a lesson for all of us. Let's get our eyes | | | | the Lord" (1 Corinthians 10:26), quoting |
| off of ourselves--our status, our | | | | Psalm 24:1. (The Hebrew has the same emphatic |
| achievements, our position relative to | | | | word order. |