Blowfish baseball games

Info on their games at Capital City Stadium and abroad, including ticket purchase. Ryan and I are looking into taking the Summer Greekers to a game on July 4.

Greek flashcards for Croy textbook

I have uploaded the Greek flashcard program and the supplementary database of vocabulary organized by chapters in the Croy textbook to a server.

Alas, I only got as far as Lesson 24, which is still enough vocab to hold people over until July 24.

Click the following links to download:
* Greek flashcard program
* Croy vocab database

I originally got the program from Dr. Enermalm's website, here.

The flashcard system that Jeff Callier developed will be available soon at Dr. Peterson's Summer Greek webpage.

Acts 2:12

I like the words that describe the condition of those hearing the Holy Spirit languages event: existjmi and diaporew.

Existjmi has been translated as amazed (NIV and NRSV) and astounded (NET Bible). The root verb histjmi means something like stand or settle. The prefix ex- indicates, as we might expect in English, to be out of or no longer a part of whatever it precedes. Picture those foreigners, unexpectedly hearing the Galileans speaking in their own language, as being unsettled or mentally knocked out of their reasonable expectations of status quo.

Diaporew has been translated perplexed (NIV and NRSV) and confused (NET Bible). The related verb aporew means to be without means or resource. Diaporew was used as an intensive form of aporew. In a sense, the foreigners were totally at a loss, in easy speech, when they tried to get a handle on what they were suddenly exposed to.

Acts 2:4

As the room has been filled, pljrow, with the wind, so they have been filled, pimpljmi, with the Holy Spirit. This author uses the term pimpljmi in passive voice for being filled with the following:

• filled with/of (genitive) the Holy Spirit - Luk 1:15, 41, 67, Act 2:4, 4:8, 31, 9:17, 13:9
• filled days or time - Luk 1:23, 57, 2:6, 21, 22
• fulfilled Scriptures - Luk 21:22
• filled with emotion - rage (Luk 4:28), fear (Luk 5:26), fury (Luk 6:11), wonder (Act 3:10), zeal (Act 5:17, 13:45), confusion (Act 19:29)

Outside of these verses, pimpljmi only occurs in 2 other places in the New Testament, both times in Matthew. Both uses are, in contrast to the figurative Luke/Acts occurences, purely literal.

• 22:10 - The wedding hall of the king is filled with guests when the servants go out into the streets to bring in everyone they can find, both good and bad.
• 27:48 - The sponge offered to Jesus on the cross is filled with sour wine for him to drink.

The combination of all of these uses paints a picture of being filled with the Holy Spirit. From the seasonal and prophetic uses, we have the sense of the covenant promise that the filling of the Holy Spirit is the delivery on. From the emotional uses, in each case leading to activity on the part of the one filled, we anticipate a similar, visceral response to a force that will also bring to action, in word and deed. From the literal uses, we can infer a saturation as well as a crowding. Imagine the Holy Spirit filling the senses, crowding out fallen, human inclination, empowering and instigating in one heart-pounding moment.

Acts 2:3

The image we normally think of when we hear this passage is one of little candley flames appearing above their heads. Given that the next verse uses glwssa to mean language, rather than the organ of the tongue, there is an alternate reading of this passage possible, given some flexibility in the Greek verb oraw and s0me regularity in the adverb wsei.

Oraw can mean perceive as well as see. Combined with the pronoun autois, in or among them, it could be translated as they perceived among them languages being distributed like fire. The adverb wsei is usually applied to the word glwssa in this passage in English translation. This implies a missing copula, as in tongues [which were] like fire. As there is a verb present, diamerizw in the participle for which glwssa is the subject, languages being distributed, the wsei puros could be taken to be modifying the participle, indicating the manner in which the languages were being distributed, rather than some aspect of the languages or tongues themselves.

Imagine then the wind, filling the room, accompanied by the sudden impartation of another language to each person in the room. The realization sweeps through, spreading like wildfire, burning in their hearts, blazing in their consciousness. This realization settles firmly upon each of them, setting the stage for the dramatic events to follow.

Acts 2:2

Here, we have more language relating to fullness, pljrow, as the sound like a violent, carrying wind filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Acts 2:1

The phrase translated as when the day of Pentecost had come is actually not a dependent clause at all but a prepositional phrase with an articular infinitive; tw sumpljrow or the filling. This construction, indicating a fullness of time or an arrival of an anticipated moment, has the feel of all moments leading to this one. The verb, sumpljrow, appears 3 times in the New Testament. When it has no article, it has the literal meaning of swamping, filling to overflowing as a boat that can hold no more (Luk 8:23). In the other passage where it has an article (Luk 9:51), it refers to the fullness of the day of Jesus' ascension happening (literally ginomai becoming). So, in these texts, which are attributed to the same author, we see an idea of the gathering of history into one moment. There is a culmination of events leading to a singular, overwhelming event that alters the course of those who have been gathered together, sailing together in this Christian journey.