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RE: To the 169 authors I follow.
Thanks creatr. Romans 13 is the big one. I believe its encoded, since it was being sent into the heart of the Roman Empire and was incredibly likely to be intercepted.
If your girlfriend is crazy, jealous, controlling and opens your mail, my letter is going to say, "You should marry that girl, because she's so easygoing, well adjusted and trusting".
She'll pass it along to you, but you'll decode it accurately.
Hey, Matt,
That is a fascinating take on Romans 13; one that I have never heard before. My brain will no doubt be dragging me back to think about it repeatedly... ;)
I do have a rather strong, divergent view of Romans 13 myself that I hope to share with steemit one day. For the moment, I'll just summarize it for you as contrasting paraphrases of the verse one, first the commonly accepted corrupted understanding:
Now I'll , give you what I believe to be the proper spin:
Matt, thanks for responding! :)
There has to be more to it than a straightforward reading would suggest. He says the state isn't a threat to those who do the right thing; just after the state executed, (without charge or trial), the only sinless man to ever exist.
We're used to religious liberty and free, uncensored speech, so we take people's writing at face value. The small, persecuted church in Rome would have been far more discerning as to subtext.
I have at least one friend who does not believe the chapter is canonical. I'm not quite ready to go that far, but I do struggle with the matter. Your notion of it possibly being a cryptic message is appealing. Do you have any sources/references for that thought, or is it original with you? :)
BTW, here is an online Greek language tool that I think is quite helpful:
As a former student of Greek and a some-time teacher, the tool helps me exercise my "Greek neurons" and when I need help, just floating the mouse over a word pulls up all of the lexical information... Very cool! ;)
P.S. Your article here has inspired me to start a new series on the New Heavens and New Earth... I'm sweating over the first installment, stay tuned! ;)
It's all me, and I'm reluctant to make theological arguments because I'm not as well read, biblically as I should be; and the stakes are so high.
I look forward to reading your new article, starting is the hardest part.