Calvin began the Little Book in the very opening paragraph of Ch 1 with the overarching idea of a “rule” for the Christian Life based upon certain principles. In Ch 5 he returns and completes the idea with a discussion of how we should live and journey in the present world, given all that he covered in Ch 1-4.

In Ch 5 he suggests several principles for establishing one’s boundaries on one’s life-journey: determining that which is useful / purposeful for God’s Calling on our life, and that we causes us to recognize and be grateful for, God’s multiple provisions for such journey (and used only within such bounds).

Now, how should be make specific the idea of such boundaries?

A New Testament Law?

One answer that recurs during this church age is the development of a legal code, closely aligned with the OT, including all the many rabbinic extensions such as were in place in the NT period.

This is, or quickly becomes, what is known as “legalism.” The term has a range of meaning. At one extreme it becomes a work based life that earns (as if such a thing were possible) justification in the sight of God. Basically such perspective is that all that failed in the OT did so only because it not have the example of Christ and the teaching of the NT. So, in such ‘new’ standing, man can now do what he did not, and (according to this view) perhaps could not, do under the OT ‘economy.’

Such a view is not taught in the NT as evidence by many places, including the entire Epistles to Romans, Galatians, and Hebrew, but also such passages as Col. 2 below:

⁶ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.¹¹ In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

¹⁶ Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

²⁰ If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ²¹ “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ²² (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? ²³ These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Colossians 2, ESV

The NT as Defining a Period Where “God is Love”

A phrase popularized especially in current times is the singular emphasis on “God is Love.” Well, indeed, God is love, which is the foundation of Grace, Redemption, Election, Propitiation, Regeneration, Forgiveness, and so forth.

But “God is Love” has become a code for license to feel, do, say, or go whatever one is inclined to be or act. Such “whatever” is then deemed to be unrestricted in any way, except as society / culture may establish (“consenting adults,” etc.) because, well, “God is Love” and so He will always support what makes us happy, or what we think will make us happy, by whatever course of life we may be inclined to follow.

Such alternate perspective to legalism, the opposite of legalism, is likewise not consistent with either the Character of God nor the teaching of the NT. God is more at a fundament level than just love: He is “Holy, Holy, Holy,” the so-called “Try-Hagion.” God cannot even look upon sin (and does not, but for the blood of the Lamb which covers such sin–but does not become the universal ointment that means sin may abound).

Consider this passage from Romans:

6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ¹³ Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

¹⁵ What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans Ch 6, ESV

Establishing Boundaries

Jonathan Edwards’s Example

Jonathan Edwards is noted for many things, among which are the 70 “Resolutions” he recorded for himself, beginning as a young man, to acts as recurring reminders of boundaries on his actions. After his untimely death (as we think of it) these were found among his many writings and published. They are not available in many forms, and as part of whole books expounding on Edwards’s ideas. A pdf of these resolutions organized into useful categories is below:

Key Boundary Words

Let us consider four ordinary English words relating to “boundaries” in the context of establishing such in practical matters of Christian life.

1-Barrier

The word, and idea, of “barrier” comes from the root “bar” which means something that obstructs or hinders / impedes movement, and came to mean any that has the physical shape / geometry of what might be used as a “bar.” (So we have “candy bar,” “bar codes,” and “bar graphs”).

Like the other examples below, a “barrier” (“bar”) can be a good thing–because it prevents one from wandering into harms way–or it can be a harmful thing as something that is being used to prevent me on a rightful journey.

In our context of Calvin Ch 5, we are considering the “good” barriers, just the kind one would construct as a parent of children in some area where beyond such boundary harm could occur. So such a barrier could be, for say a teenager, home by 10 p.m., because, as all parent know, nothing good happens after 10 p.m.. It could be a level of performance, say, the grade letter “C” is such a barrier, meaning that C+ is the lowest, right on the edge, acceptable level of performance and the student needs to orient their level of preparation, help-seeking accordingly.

2-Fence

The word “fence” actually comes from “defense,” which in turn comes from Latin de + fensum (fendere is the verb form), where “de” means “from, away” and “fendere” to “strike, hit, push.” So we, being lazy, dropped the “de” and made “fence” which means, then, an instrument that can push or hold back someone or something attempt to cross over.

Fences come in myriad forms. One of the most interesting is the “barbed wire” fence, invented in the form we know it today, as a double wire trend, by Joseph Glidden of DeKalb IL in a patent application October 27, 1873. This invention revolutionized the American West, as it made a very cheap, quite effective fence against range animals, particularly cattle, and the associated annual cattle drives. As someone has aptly said, barbed wire converted space to place. In our context, metaphorical strung barbed wire transform our limitless, endless wanderings to a road ahead (dromos, as discussed in the Pilgrim, Pilgrimage special topic).

3-Rail(s)

The word “rails,” as would be used of “handrails,” comes from the Latin word “regula” which means “rule, or a straight section of wood;” the verb form, regere, means to straighten and comes from the PIE root *reg- meaning “to move in a straight line.” So, one would presume that “regular troops” would be those adequately trained that they march in straight lines.

When we think of railings, such as on the side of stairs or encompass balconies, they have the special purpose of keeping one from falling over the side. What is perhaps not fully appreciated is how uncomfortable a person will be walking up or down stairs, or standing even on a large balcony, with railing. Railings provide a visual security that changes a fearful context to a comforting one.

And if one you speak to an anthropomorphic train locomotive to ask its view of the constriction provided by the twin rails confining its wheels, we would hear the relief of joy for such rails and the enduring wish that they be forever well-maintained. Rails to trains provide the essence of its being to be expressed: no rails, no train, no journey, no value.

4-Routine, Route, Rupta

Routine is made up of two parts, with the “-ine” suffix designating the idea of “according to” or “derived from.” So dropping it, “routine” becomes “rout” (and “route”).

The secret behind any “route” is the “rout” that made it possible.

Obstacles

The word “obstacle” comes from the Latin and Koine, where the prefix “ob” means “in front of” and “stacle” in Latin is from “stare” meaning “to stand.” So a principle of our legal system is “stare decisis,” which means that it stands on prior decisions, that is case law.

In the Koine the word translated “stand” comes from “histemi.”

What, then, are “obstacles?” Well in one sense they are those boundary key words considered above, as such are obstacles to departing from our road, our journey. But obstacles, and those boundary words, can also arise on and across our road to travel. In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress we see multiple occasions where Christian is confronted by such obstacles and seeks, or hopes, for some alternative way, beginning at the beginning of his journey out of the City of Destruction where he conform the “slough of despond.”

As in many other examples, we can see two different situations with obstacles. One the one hand, they are not of our doing, and not able to be removed by our doing (Paul’s thorn in the flesh), and so we must go forward under those conditions, praying for relief, and perhaps not experiencing relief.

In other situations it is ourselves who have placed those obstacles or even commonly are carrying them with us. Consider this passage from Hebrews Ch 12, coming immediately after the recounting of various heroes of the faith in Ch 11:

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. ⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
    nor be weary when reproved by him.
⁶ For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and chastises every son whom he receives.”

⁷ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.¹¹ For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

¹² Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. ¹⁴ Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶ that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Hebrews Ch 12, ESV

What Form Might Obstacles Take?

We can almost use Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress as a checklist for the kinds of obstacles a Pilgrim might face. Consider just these examples:

• The slough (or bog, quicksand) of despond (depression, discouragement)
• A false-teacher directing one off the journey’s road to some dead end (such as legalism)
• Sloth (stopping one’s journey out of sheer laziness, seeking ease in rest)
• A false ideal of some easier bypass (“Bypass Meadow,” crossing the boundary by a “style”)
• Forgetfulness, or having lost one’s way, so as to require back-tracking
• Vanity Fair (the lure of the world’s ‘treasures’ including honors as well as ‘stuff’)
• The direct combat with an / the enemy (Christian had to face the dreaded Apollyon)
• Fright is sights and sounds emanating messages of terrors both present and ahead
• Perseverance failure, even for one who has coming a long way at the very end of physical life

What can be especially tricky, and such can be the delight of the devil, is that a pilgrim’s journey has many moments of delight, joy. These are of course refreshing, restoring. But they have a consequence that the next obstacle then feels more incongruous and more painful. This seems to be the way of torture strategies are used in the world today to break people down: show compassion then extreme cruelty, back and forth, causing even more anguish, as well as being greatly disorienting.

Although our enemies within and without have their workings, we cannot forget that it is God Whose Providence controls the entire journey. So we can fully appreciate those periods of refreshment as being gifts from God, even if the enemy has some evil hope in them or by the wrongful use of them. And God uses even the adversities of obstacles purposefully, however incomprehensible them may seem to us.

Below is a list of places that Pilgrim encountered on his journey. It reflects this variation between smooth, delight travel and severe or sneaky obstacles.

Places in The Pilgrim’s Progress[edit]

A map of the places Pilgrim travels through on his progress; a fold-out map from an edition printed in England in 1778

City of Destruction, Christian’s home, representative of the world (cf. Isaiah 19:18)

Slough of Despond, the miry swamp on the way to the Wicket Gate; one of the hazards of the journey to the Celestial City. In the First Part, Christian falling into it, sank further under the weight of his sins (his burden) and his sense of their guilt.

Mount Sinai, a frightening mountain near the Village of Morality that threatens all who would go there.

Wicket Gate, the entry point of the straight and narrow way to the Celestial City. Pilgrims are required to enter by way of the Wicket Gate. Beelzebub’s castle was built not very far from the Gate.

House of the Interpreter, a type of spiritual museum to guide the pilgrims to the Celestial City, emblematic of Calvary and the tomb of Christ.

Hill Difficulty, both the hill and the road up is called “Difficulty”; it is flanked by two treacherous byways “Danger” and “Destruction.” There are three choices: Christian takes “Difficulty” (the right way), and Formalist and Hypocrisy take the two other ways, which prove to be fatal dead ends.

House Beautiful, a palace that serves as a rest stop for pilgrims to the Celestial City. It apparently sits atop the Hill Difficulty. From the House Beautiful one can see forward to the Delectable Mountains. It represents the Christian congregation, and Bunyan takes its name from a gate of the Jerusalem temple (Acts 3:2, 10).

Valley of Humiliation, the Valley on the other side of the Hill Difficulty, going down into which is said to be extremely slippery by the House Beautiful’s damsel Prudence. It is where Christian, protected by God’s Armor, meets Apollyon and they had that dreadful, long fight where Christian was victorious over his enemy by impaling Apollyon on his Sword of the Spirit (Word of God) which caused the Foul Fiend to fly away. Apollyon met Christian in the place known as “Forgetful Green.” This Valley had been a delight to the “Lord of the Hill”, Jesus Christ, in his “state of humiliation.”

Valley of the Shadow of Death, a treacherous, devilish Valley filled with demons, dragons, fiends, satyrs, goblins, hobgoblins, monsters, creatures from the bottomless pit, beasts from the mouth of Hell, darkness, terror, and horror with a quicksand bog on one side and a deep chasm/ditch on the other side of the King’s Highway going through it (cf. Psalm 23:4).

Gaius’ Inn, a rest stop in the Second Part of the Pilgrim’s Progress.

Vanity Fair, a city through which the King’s Highway passes and the yearlong Fair that is held there.

Plain Ease, a pleasant area traversed by the pilgrims.

Hill Lucre, location of a reputed silver mine that proves to be the place where By-Ends and his companions are lost.

The Pillar of Salt, which was Lot’s wife, who was turned into a pillar of salt when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. The pilgrim’s note that its location near the Hill Lucre is a fitting warning to those who are tempted by Demas to go into the Lucre silver mine.

River of God or River of the Water of Life, a place of solace for the pilgrims. It flows through a meadow, green all year long and filled with lush fruit trees. In the Second Part the Good Shepherd is found there to whom Christiana’s grandchildren are entrusted.

By-Path Meadow, the place leading to the grounds of Doubting Castle.

Doubting Castle, the home of Giant Despair and his Giantess wife, Diffidence; only one key could open its doors and gates, the key Promise.

The Delectable Mountains, known as “Immanuel’s Land.” Lush country from whose heights one can see many delights and curiosities. It is inhabited by sheep and their shepherds, and from Mount Clear one can see the Celestial City.

The Enchanted Ground, an area through which the King’s Highway passes that has air that makes pilgrims want to stop to sleep. If one goes to sleep in this place, one never wakes up. The shepherds of the Delectable Mountains warn pilgrims about this.

 The Land of Beulah, a lush garden area just this side of the River of Death.

The River of Death, the dreadful river that surrounds Mount Zion, deeper or shallower depending on the faith of the one traversing it.

The Celestial City, the “Desired Country” of pilgrims, heaven, the dwelling place of the “Lord of the Hill”, God. It is situated on Mount Zion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim%27s_Progress

The Obstacles of Our Own Nature

Finally, let us return to the text of Hebrews 12 quoted above to consider the obstacle(s) we bring with and upon ourselves. Here is Heb. 12:1 and the first part of vs. 2 arranged to highlight four actions (bold font) as to four objects (underlined):

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also
(a) lay aside every weight, and
(b) [lay aside also every] sin which clings so closely, and 
(c) let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 
(d) looking to Jesus,

Heb. 12:1, 2a (ESV, highlights mine)

We could memorialize the above by “3 E’s and 1 L:” Every, Every, Endurance, and Looking. Below is a ‘deep dive’ form of this text, following the similar format as given previously in such charts:

This special topic derives from Calvin’s Little Book Chapter 5 on how the present life should be viewed. This is Chapter 10 of Book 3 of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion.

In his Ch 5, Calvin notes the slippery slope as this question of how to live in the near and now where to the one side falls extreme asceticism and withdrawal and to the other side beastial license even antinomianism.

The issue then, seeks for some “rule” of living, that can keep one on the middle ground, consistent with the teaching specifically of the New Testament (NT). We have addressed this beginning in Week #18 Calvin’s study here. In this page, we will pull together from Calvin’s thoughts in his Ch 5 the common theme and propose such a “rule,” more of a perspective of this life.

We Are Pilgrims

Pilgrims are on a journey. It does include stops, visits, and stays, but never truly “belonging” anywhere but on the journey to which they have been called. In the NT there are many “journey words.”

Status as a Pilgrim

One cluster of such words describes the nature of the traveler as given directly below.

parepídēmos (G3927) adj. from pará (3844), near or close to, and epídēmos (n.f.), stranger, which is from epí (1909), in or among, and dḗmos (1218), a people. A stranger, sojourner; not simply one who is passing through, but a foreigner who has settled down, however briefly, next to or among the native people (Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11; Sept.: Gen. 23:4; Ps. 39:12). Also from epídēmos (n.f.): epidēméō (1927), to reside as a stranger.

pároikos (G3941), alien, sojourner

apódēmos (G590), sojourner, living in another country

xénos (G3581), a stranger, foreigner

allótrios (G245), stranger

allogenḗs (G241), one of a different race.

 Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

Roads, Ways of a Pilgrimage

Another category of “journey words” relate to the road of travel itself, as given below (and note in particular the OT book “Exodus” means, literally, the ‘out’ (“Ex”) ‘road’ (“Hodos”)):

hodós (G3598) Way. (I) In respect to place, a way, highway, road, street. (II) In action, way, i.e., a being on the way, a going, journey, progress, course. (III) Metaphorically meaning way, manner, means.

éxodos (G1841), way out, exodus, an exit;

hodeúō (G3593), to travel, journey;

hodēgós (G3595), guide, leader;

párodos (G3938), a passing or passage;

sunodía (G4923), a caravan.

drómos (G1408), a race, running, career, course;

poreía (G4197), from verb poreúomai (4198), to go; A going away, a journey, venture (LXX Jonah 3:3). Course of manner of life (Jas 1:11; LXX 2:7)

poús (G4228), foot. Many occurrences, including combined with other words.

tríbos (G5147), a worn path;

trochiá (G5163), a track of a wheel;

tréchō (G5143), to run (intransitive), [many occurrences and uses, including the spread of the Word of God (2 Thes 3:1; LXX Ps 147:14)]

trópos (G5158), manner.

 prókeimai (G4295), prokeímenos, from pró (4253), before or forth, and keímai (2749), to lie. To lie before, to be laid or set before someone. Intrans. (Sept.: Lev. 24:7). In the NT used only figuratively: (I) To lie or be before the mind of someone, to be present before him (2 Cor. 8:12). (II) In Heb. 6:18 prokeiménēs, equivalent to the perf. pass. of protíthēmi (4388), to set forth, “the hope that is set forth” (a.t.). See Heb. 12:1, 2; Jude 1:7, prókeintai, they lie before.

patéō; (G3961) from pátos (n.f.), a path, a beaten way. .

katapatéō (G2662), to trample;

peripatéō (G4043), to walk around.

Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

Pilgrim as an Outcast

 Yet another aspect of being a Pilgrim is that of being an outcast. In the Gospel of John in two adjoining chapters we have exactly this point illustrated. In John 3 we have the famous passage of a leader of TRI, a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus, coming to Jesus by night with some questions. His name, Nicodemus, is the union of two Koine words, “nico” which comes from the word “victor” as in “winner,” and “demos” meaning the people. His very name goes with his TRI importance and, possibly TPI importance as well.

In John 4 we have another famous passage this time of a woman, in mid-day, not night, who is unnamed and an outcast from even the Samaritan people who in the eyes of TRI were outcast people as a whole. So the unnamed Samaritan women was truly at the bottom of any ordering of respectable people.

Unlike Nicodemus, was bound tightly with the established order, the Samaritan Woman was unbound, and unwanted, apparently even by the multiple men in her life. The Koine has of course words for “woman “and “man,” gunḗ (G1135) and  anḗr (G435), respectively, but not distinct word for “wife” and “husband.” So when Jesus asked her “Go call your husband, and come here” (John 4:16), the word in the Koine is  anḗr and the translators have interpreted this to mean “husband,” which is entirely plausible, but not necessarily so. Then when the woman replies that she has no  anḗr (which again is commonly translated “husband”) Jesus commends her honesty and says that she had had five  anḗr (plural) and the one  anḗr she present has is not her “husband.” This could be understand that in ever case the best understanding is “man” not husband, meaning that she married none of the five, as well as not the current “man” with whom she is living. Another possibility is that her first  anḗr was indeed her husband, but after divorce of separation or widowhood the rest were “men” not husbands. (I lean to the meaning of “man” / “men” in all six references, the five in the past, and the one then current). Whatever the case, one can conclude that this woman has been on the most-sad ‘journey’ through relationships, or more accurately, brief connections, of what God has designed to be the most-intimate, personal, and permanent relationships. One could say she was looking for true joy in all the wrong places or she was used for such by men, or some combination.

So she, dramatically unlike Nicodemus, though bound to a geographical and racial people, was a stranger and alien from them. This was why she was at the well at mid-day instead of when the woman of a village would customarily gather at the village well in the early morning, before the heat of the day. This woman was not welcome there and then. So her pilgrimage was a most painful one, and for all expectations one that could never be cured, or undone. She was a true outcast, but stuck in her own neighborhood where she was the recurring object of scorn especially by the women of the village, but unworthy of respect by the men. So it is likely that as her life went from “man” to “man,” it went downhill in some scale of measure of the quality of the men, as each succeeding one would have recognized her history and villages then, as know, are such that everyone pretty much knows everything, especially regarding the norm-breakers.

And, so, those who left the confines of the Jewish practice of the Mosaic Law were likewise outcasts in their own neighborhood because they reject TRI, and in particular TRI that had a recognized and privileged position within the Roman Government, TPI. Yet, the Roman TPI did not ‘welcome’ Christians any more than they did the Jews. In fact, such Christians became a particular object of persecution because they fell outside of the circle of tolerance that the Romans had carved out for the Jews who practiced monotheism, and rejected Roman paganism and polytheism.

Given below are outcast-related Koine words used in the NT:

The Epistle of 1st Peter begins with three identifying words of pilgrims as outcasts as shown in the below image:

Although the Epistle of 1 Peter had a specific audience of “elect exiles of the dispersion,” namely those (primarily) Jews located in various regions of Anatolia presently known as Turkey. This very extensive country connects Asia with Europe at its western boundary at the city of Constantinople (presently Istanbul). It’s Western area is where the seven cities of the Book of Revelation (Ch 1, 2) were located and the recipients of two important NT Epistles (Ephesians and Colossians). It was the territory of Paul’s Missionary Journeys which included the central region of Galatia, and the two years Paul was the teacher-in-residence ministering the Word (Ephesus). The Apostle was a native of Celicia a city in southwest Anatolia.

After the two defeats and exiles recorded for us in the Old Testament (OT), first by Assyria and then by Babylon, the Jewish people were subsequently scattered throughout the known world, with only a remnant returning to “Israel” as permitted by the Persian King Cyrus the Great. In time, Israel regrew as a populated area but remained under the political-military control of other nations, first Persia, later the Greeks, and ultimately the Romans.

Within the broad territory of Anatolia, as throughout the known world. Jewish gatherings known as synagogues arose, a term never used in the OT. These synagogues were outposts of Judaism, and holders to the customs and practices of the Mosaic Law. By the nature of tribal divisions, such centers of Jewish people were more than mere places of worship: they were the familiar, community, and economic nucleus of all Jews of that immediate region.

After Pentecost, in ca. 30 A.D., the time of the next generation to the destruction of the City of Jerusalem and its Temple and the Holy of Holies, all these areas became centers of turmoil as we see in the Book of Acts. There were Gentiles turning to God through Jesus Christ and, so, embracing also the Old Testament (which the Jews saw as simple their “bible,” books). Further there were racial Jews and proselytes (Gentiles who had converted to Judaism) in these communities who also became followers of Jesus Christ. As we can see through the Book of Acts and especially in the denouement of Acts, there was vehement opposition to such message of Grace in Christ driven largely by such message claiming to be the complete, genuine fulfillment of the OT and the requirements of the Mosaic Law. The traditional Jewish practice was to abhor the Gentile people on religious grounds, but also social and racial grounds. That was a given norm that was a permanent layer of hatred for 1500 years, going back to the time of the Exodus. What was new, and in a sense even more offensive, was direct challenge to such traditional view of the importance and work of the Mosaic Law, especially by peoples who had been born and were racially Jews themselves. This led to the intense conflict we can see in Acts, but also in the Epistles to the Galatians and Hebrews, and in the so called “General Epistles” including First and Second Peter, James, and Jude.

What is relevant here and to us is that such condition of being dispersed exiles as ascribed by the above image from 1 Peter 1:1 is that although there was a near-term context to Peter it exactly typifies how TRI has (ultimately) treated followers of Jesus Christ. From time to time there are forms of accommodation, and attempts at syncretism, these cannot endure. The claims of Grace in Christ are fundamentally incompatible with the practices of TRI (all this a much broader subject than can be addressed here). The result is that followers of Christ become exiles from north TRI and even TPI when it forms itself into religious structures as it does with historical regularity.

And, so, the addressees of the above clip from 1 Peter 1:1 is us, in some form. We might in certain circumstance become geographical outcasts to avoid torture and martyrdom as were many examples during the Reformation period including Tyndale who fled England for the Continent because his translating the Bible from its original languages into English was deemed a crime against both TRI and TPI of England; ultimately he was captured where he worked in hiding, taken back to England, garroted and burned at the stake. Luther similarly survived in hiding, protected by a German prince from the Roman Catholic embodiment of TRI. There were many others including the St Bartholomew Day Ejection of 1662, and its later Five Mile Act of 1665, a subject worth researching.

In other circumstances the explosion and exclusion manifests by more subtle forces of power, judgment, and disdain. Sometimes within individual families it can extend to a form of expulsion and even hatred, disowning.

The relevance here is that by external circumstances, be they relatively benign (though hateful and painful) or extremely murderous, we become Pilgrims in one way, or form, or another.

Koine NT words that relate to various aspects of being such exiles are given below:

parepídēmos (G3927) adj. from pará (3844), near or close to, and epídēmos (n.f.), stranger, which is from epí (1909), in or among, and dḗmos (1218), a people. A stranger, sojourner; not simply one who is passing through, but a foreigner who has settled down, however briefly, next to or among the native people (Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11; Sept.: Gen. 23:4; Ps. 39:12). Also from epídēmos (n.f.): epidēméō (1927), to reside as a stranger.

Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

pároikos (G3941), alien, sojourner;

apódēmos (G590), sojourner, living in another country;

xénos (G3581), a stranger, foreigner;

allótrios (G245), stranger;

allogenḗs (G241), one of a different race.

διασπορά diasporá (G1290) noun from diaspeírō (1289), to scatter abroad. A scattering or dispersion, spoken of the state of dispersion in which many of the Jews lived after the captivity, in Chaldea, Persia, and chiefly in Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor (Sept.: Jer. 34:17). In the NT, it refers to the dispersion of the Jews (James 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:1). In John 7:35 “the dispersed among the Gentiles” means the Jews dwelling either among the Gentiles generally, or among nations that used the Greek language, e.g., in Egypt and Asia Minor, the Hellenists (Sept.: Ps. 147:2).

Ibid.

 Pilgrims as Ones “Called Out From…”

The TRI seeks our banishment, condemnation. And we are not welcome within TPI except as to our responsibilities for payment of taxes, and our honoring it.

But there is another side of such exclusion, namely that we have at the same time been “called out” of TRI and to the extent of its claim of intimate allegiance even TPI.

Even our very important words “Elect“– eklektós (G1588), eklogḗ (G1589)–and “Church“–ekklēsía (G1577), literally “called out ones–begin with the prefix “ek” (in English becoming “ex-“) which means “out from” (just as our common word “exit” is “ex-” + “it”).

eklektó (G1588) from eklégō (1586), to choose, select. Chosen, select. In the group of three important biblical words, eklektós, eklégō, and eklogḗ (1589), choice or election, selection involves thoughtful and deliberate consideration.
(I) Select, choice, elect. Used as an adj. in regard to stone as in 1 Pet. 2:4, 6 quoted from Is. 28:16; see Ezra 5:8. In both of these instances the stone is the Lord Jesus Christ as the one chosen of God the Father to accomplish the work of redemption for sinful man. Of persons, chosen or distinguished as in 1 Pet. 2:9, génos eklektón (génos [1085], generation), “a chosen generation,” referring to the believers in Christ. See Sept.: Is. 43:20. Of angels in 1 Tim. 5:21, referring to them as chosen by God to minister to the special needs of believers.(II) By implication meaning chosen, with the accessory idea of kindness, favor, love, equivalent to cherished, beloved. In Luke 23:35, the enemies of Christ around His cross said, “Let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God,” which means the one cherished and beloved of God and who was selected to accomplish the work of salvation for others. In Rom. 16:13, referring to Rufus, “the chosen one in the Lord” (a.t.), meaning the beloved one as in the previous verse referring to Persis…. The word is used to differentiate those who believe in Christ from those who do not. They are Christians because God chose them from among the lost world to become His followers.

eklogḗ (G1589) noun from eklégō (1586), to choose, select. Election, choice, selection.
(I) Generally as in Acts 9:15, a chosen vessel, an instrument of usefulness.
(II) Election, the benevolent purpose of God by which any are chosen unto salvation so that they are led to embrace and persevere in Christ’s bestowed grace and the enjoyment of its privileges and blessings here and hereafter…
There are two Gr. words that need to be examined in their interrelationship: klētoí (2822), the called ones, and the eklektoí (1588), the chosen ones. No one can be a chosen one unless he is a called one. The initiative always comes from God. In Matt. 20:16; 22:14 the words of Christ are “For many are called, but few are chosen.” These two terms seem to be coextensive, as two aspects of the same process, klētoí, the called, having special reference to the goal, and eklektoí, referring to the starting point. The same persons are “called” to Christ and “chosen out” from the world. All are called by Christ: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

ekklēsía (G1577) noun from ékklētos (n.f.), called out, which is from ekkaléō (n.f.), to call out. It was a common term for a congregation of the ekklētoí (n.f.), the called people, or those called out or assembled in the public affairs of a free state, the body of free citizens called together by a herald (kḗrux [2783]) which constituted the ekklēsía. In the NT, the word is applied to the congregation of the people of Israel (Acts 7:38).

 Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

The immediate above “ek” words each convey the meaning of “out from” something. What is that something?

• Self, self-reliance, personal agenda / mission, self-justification / self-righteousness, “pride of life”
• The Religion Industry (TRI) which provides means, and ends, for all of the above “self” inclinations, plus its own “self” inclinations, particularly of the persons claiming TRI authorities such as “priests,” people called “father,” people claiming to be “the bishop,” etc.
• The Political Industry (TPI) which goes beyond the necessary utility of shared expense for shared essentials professionally managed to such ends, and which TPI likewise has emerge people who claim authorities and centralized “values” beyond which they are entitled.
• Entertainment, broadly speaking, extending beyond the customary “lusts of the eye” and “lusts of the flesh” to becoming a black hole of ones time and attention, and ultimately becomes a the very end / objective of an all encompassing value system.

Markarios: The Blessedness of our Separation

There are two Koine words that are translated “blessed” and “blessedness.” One is the Koine word that transliterated is our English word “eulogy,” which means, literally, good (“eu”) words / speech / oratory (“logos”); it’s what we do at funerals when everyone attempts to frame the deceased’s totality-of-life-now-ended with positive, uplifting thoughts.

The other Koine word from which we get “blessed” does not have a direct English counterpart nor is it easily translated by any single word or even phrase. This Koine word is “makarios.” It is an extremely important word that headlines key passages in the Bible.

• It is the very first word of Psalm 1, and so of the entire Book of Psalms: “Makarios” is the man who…”
• It is the first word of each of the nine phrases that begin His ‘Sermon on the Mount:’ “Makarios” are the poor in spirit, …” (Matthew Ch 5)
• It is the word the Lord uses of the understanding that His disciples had of His Being in contrast to that of TRI. (Matthew 11:6; 13:16)
• It is the word that the Lord uses to characterize Peter’s ‘Great Confession,’ in answer to the Lord’s Question “Who do you say I am?” with the most crucial reply possible “Thou are THE CHRIST!” To which the Lord replies: “Makarios are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew Ch 16).
• It is the shout of the crowds upon the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem at the time of the final Passover (before they would later shout, at the insurrection and command of TRI to “crucify” Him!): “Makarios is He who comes in the the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:9).
• It is the keyword that we, our Christian fellow-pilgrims, will say upon His Return (Matt 23:39).
• It is what the Lord will say os us as faith servants (Matt 24:46) and upon our welcome into our inheritance of the Kingdom “prepared for you from the foundation (katabolḗ, G2602) of the world (kosmos, G2889)” (Matt 25:34).

A useful, summary definition of makarios is given below:

makários (G3107) adj. A prose form of the poetic mákar (n.f.), blessed one. Blessed, possessing the favor of God, that state of being marked by fullness from God. It indicates the state of the believer in Christ (Matt. 5:3–11, “Blessed . . . for my sake”; Luke 6:20–22, “Blessed . . . for the Son of man’s sake”), said of one who becomes a partaker of God’s nature through faith in Christ (2 Pet. 1:4). The believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit because of Christ and as a result should be fully satisfied no matter the circumstances. Makários differs from the word “happy” in that the person is happy who has good luck (from the root hap meaning luck as a favorable circumstance). To be makários, blessed, is equivalent to having God’s kingdom within one’s heart (Matt. 5:3, 10). Aristotle contrasts makários to endeḗs (1729), the needy one. Makários is the one who is in the world yet independent of the world. His satisfaction comes from God and not from favorable circumstances. Deriv.: makarízō (3106), to declare blessed.
Syn.: eulogētós (2128), blessed, well–spoken of; eulogēménos, blessed; eulogéō (2127), to eulogize, bless, thank.

 Zodhiates, S. (2000)

What must not be missed with respect to “makarios” and all the contexts of our being ‘called out,’ is that such is in the context of some form of suffering even if only the unpleasantness of disengagement from the world (kosmos) system that surrounds us (e.g., TRI and TPI), and even the economic realities of providing our necessary sustenance. Markarios is not about ‘our best life now’ in the earthly prosperity context in which the phrase is used. Makarios is indeed about a ‘prosperity,’ but it’s one that is outside of spacetime, and our normal human imagination or conception, and is the most ultimate, final, and even eternal prosperity of being forever in the presence of God. It is our being called back to that union that we, as the image of God’s Creation had at the beginning, but with a maturity of understanding certain realities of the true fallenness of the world system and the incredible reality of amazing Grace. We, thereby, have attained to the real knowledge of that tree of “knowledge of Good and Evil,” whereby “The Good” was inconceivable until the fullness of “The Evil” was fully expressed even, especially, unto the very rejection, killing, crucifixion by the combined passions of TRI and TPI, and which to their horror actually produced the very “Good” they were seeking to extinguish, as servants of the Serpent himself has been working to do, day and night, since that first question of Eve: “Yea [You, Eve], hath God said…?” (Gen. 3:1, KJV)

baínō  βαίνω

Another important “journey word” that deserves special mention is the simple-to-pronounce and spell: baínō. Baínō never occurs as a standalone word in the NT (hence it has no Strong’s number), though it does in the LXX (e.g. Deut. 28:56), but is used in many places as part of a more complex Koine word and expression.

Baínō means (roughly) “foot,” but in a special sense. It is closely related to basis from which we get the like English word meaning, logically enough, “foundation”, or “grounds of:”

básis; (G939) fem. noun from baínō, to go, tread. A basis, base or foundation from its steadiness (Sept.: Ex. 30:18). The sole of the foot, or in a more general meaning, the foot of a man, which is, as it were, the basis on which he stands or goes (Acts 3:7).

Zodhiates, S. (2000). Ibid.

 The NT testament book we know as “Acts,” or the “Book of Acts,” and sometimes as “The Acts of the Apostles,” would be better titled, in my view as “The Book of baínō.” (I actually do not know whether the extant title we have for “Acts” comes directly from the Koine mss, and so is inspired, or whether it was the consequence of an early copyist).

Here’s my evidence for such claim to retitling “Acts.” In the below pdf are the occurrences of baínō (and its direct relatives) which are embedded in numerous other Koine words in many passages in Acts alone.

Additional background on the meaning of these various occurrences of baínō is given below:

The takeaway point from the above many details is this: in exactly the same way the Lord Himself journeyed about Israel presenting Himself as Messiah, mirrors in a certain way His much more massive, and incomprehensible ‘journey’ from Infinite-Eternal into finite spacetime, and in another way how His Word spread throughout space and time, and peoples, in the NT period, and so it has continued to this very day. Once Adam (our federal representative), and Eve, were cast out of the Garden in Gen. 3, they were not longer ‘home,’ nor in the direct apprehension of God their Creator. They were not, on the other hand, completely plagued as wanderers, as was their first born son, and murderer, Cain who was condemned to the “Land of Nod” (which word means, literally, to no fixed place). Rather Adam (and Eve) were to spread out, fill the earth with their descendants, subduing it in the process (but as a responsible steward, not a looter / vandal). Such spreading out was, in effect, an endless journey, just as Abraham’s example being called out the major “river value civilization” (RVC) of the East, in the Mesopotamian Valley, to the Land (then) of Canaan, and unto Egypt, the major RVC of the West, and back again to Canaan. And we have the example repeated in the life of Jacob, and in David, and many of the OT prophets. And, so, we see it in the Book of Acts (or, of baínō), and so we see it now.

This movement also mirrors the even more difficult journey we each have had, and continue to have, in coming to faith, and pursuing our called course, neither of which would have been possible or our inclination but for the Grace and Calling of God.

Our Present Life as Pilgrimage

One of the most important books of the past 500 years is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. It was written by Bunyan while a prisoner of the TPI and TRI in England in two parts, 1678 and 1684. He was in prison not as an ordinary criminal, but as one who sought to preach the Word of God from the Word of God, not by the circumspection of TRI. It is no accident that prisoner Bunyan understood something very deeply about being a pilgrim outcast from the world system. Since its original publication it has been re-published countless times more than three centuries since and translated into almost every language on earth. In the humble homes of people who only had two books, the first would have been the Bible, the second Pilgrim’s Progress, with the latter likely the earliest reader of the children.

Bunyan’s book is available in multiple printed forms in any bookstore, by electronic book form, and by free pdfs. Since the very earliest editions extending to the present they have been published with touching illustrations.

What is it about Pilgrim’s Progress that has made it so important? I think the answer begins with the two words of the title: it’s about a Pilgrim–in the first book a man named Christian, in the second book it is his wife Christiana and their sons–and its about a journey, a progression. Those twin ideas captures the essential feature of this life, is the central spirit of Calvin’s Ch 5, and is the theme of the New Testament in contrast to the Old Testament. In the OT, the central design element was the centrality of the place where the Holy of Holies stood, where the festivals, ceremonials, and sacrifices occurred, where the people waited for the true Messiah / Redeemer / Lamb of God. Once that happened, in fulfillment of all the OT’s prophecy and imagery, the theme changes from central location based to a journey home, made crystal clear by God’s use of the Roman Legions to utterly destroy Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, the Temple, the Holy of Holies itself (70 A.D.).

Three Books

The theme of a journey is contained throughout the entire NT, though in a sense hidden there. When the Lord appears in spacetime, one might think that He, like the greatest of all possible Caesar’s and Kings, would sit in utmost magnificence on the throne of the world in complete inaccessible splendor before Whom everyone would prorate themselves. But the opposite was the case.

The Lord was born ‘on the road,’ in a town (Bethlehem) a long journey away from His earthly ‘home’ (Nazareth), neither of which was the central location of Israel / TPI (Jerusalem), nor was it of the central authority of Rome / TRI (Caesarea on the Israel coast, or of course Rome itself in what we know to be Italy).

Further, the Lord’s entire public minister was a traveler, a picture of a Pilgrim, and an outcast of TRI, and ultimately at the very end, a condemned ‘man’ by TPI.

Then, what? We have the Book of Acts which is in its entirely a Pilgrim journey. Then we have all the Epistles which are in scattered locations, having been reached in one way or another by Pilgrim Apostles. It isn’t until the Book of Revelation that we begin to see the great ingathering, and central resolution of all of the dispersion of spacetime, ultimately into the creation of a New Heaven and Earth.

There is a deeper significance to such NT journey imagery and that is the inner journey, between one’s ears and the connect with the heart and mind, that we each must go through. So we see in Nicodemus that he undertook a physical journey to see Jesus, but we do not see that he underwent that inner journey to “see” who he was seeing physically. We then see the immediate contrast with the Samaritan woman at the well. She made no physical journey to see Jesus as she was on her normal daily route and there He was, sitting by the well. However, we see the beautiful imagery of her making an inward journey of grasping Who Jesus really was.

That twin portrayal of physical verse inner journeys is then narrated for us by example after example throughout the rest of the NT.

I have written and self-published a book entitled Three Books. The books are the Gospel of John, Acts, and Romans, the three books that flow in sequence in our Bibles, with highlighting of the texts by distinguishing the physical journeys with the inner, spiritual journeys are taking place.

Resources supporting Three Books are available here: The physical books are presently out of print (all of the originally printed copies have been given away, save my own).

Life by Pack

We all know the experience of the walk around the block, or in the park, or to class or work. But a difference occurs when it’s a “hike” somewhere. For a “day hike” we would take a small “pack” with the essentials, as we see them, for a few hours, perhaps just water and a snack. For an “overnight hike” it’s more complicated as “necessity” may require a tent, or hammock, sleeping bag and pad, a toiletry kit, and so forth. For a “backpacking trip” such as a week or more, the list gets longer, the pack gets bigger, and we begin thinking more carefully about (1) what is truly “necessities” and (2) what are taking, or not taking and should be taking, that contributes to the peculiar enjoyment / purpose of such hike.

Then there are backpacking trips known as a “thru-hike.” Such a thru-hike is backpacking trip that extends end-to-end of a significantly long trail, one for which the duration cannot be exactly known, because of the distance involved and matters of weather, personal exhaustion, equipment breakdowns, and so forth. In the United States well-known thru-hikes include the Appalachian Trail (the AT, as it’s known, 2189.1 miles, exactly), the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT, 4271 miles), the Continental Divide (3100 miles), the American Discovery Trail (6800 miles), and many others.

Then there is “bike packing,” as with pedal bikes. These are different than hike-packing as the loads that can be carried are greater, the distances that can be covered further, and by the repair / maintenance tools and parts wisdom and practice requires.

Then there is “motor biking” as travel by motorbikes. Here the load carrying ability is even greater, accompanied by mechanical complexity, tools, and the need for spare parts, and of course the speed and possibility of extremely long distances including “Round the World” (RTW rides).

Finally there is “overland travel” typically by all terrain vehicles, often to desolate far flung exotic locales, and as part of RTW experiences. Here, again, load carrying capabilities increases further but as does the mechanical and electronic complexities.

What is interesting to us about each of these ‘life by pack’ examples is that such travelers must think carefully about both the “necessities” and the experience “multipliers” of the travel being planned. Too much, or too little, of either “necessities” or “multipliers” becomes a bad thing, even a very bad thing.

The Great Discarding of ‘Necessities’

Continuing with the metaphor of travel by pack one of the universal experiences is the discarding what was originally taken, deemed as “necessities,” but were soon found neither to be such, being the very opposite of helpful they were only burdensome.

Have you not had this experience? You packed and packed for some journey, making choices, finding containers, stuffing them full, getting more containers, actually buying more stuff, and yet thinking of yet more stuff until finally the exhaustion of time before needing to leave saves you from an endless gathering.

If you were carrying such on a backpack, you found it heavier than you possibly imagined. But the enthusiasm of those first steps on the trail you begin with a naive optimism. Yes it’s a great burden, but at least you have everything you “need.” Usually by the end of that first or second day of travel–sometimes by midday of that first day–you conclude that this cannot be endured, survived. What then? For some, they literally turn back, vowing to never backpack again. Others may begin to make a little pile alongside the trail with a small lettering of “free,” or offers to other hikers that pass by. The most common outcome is that at the first little store encountered there is a discussion with the proprietor who knows already your request. “Yes” they say, “we can box and ship this to your home for you,” at a mind numbing cost of postage. That leads to another inspection your pile of discarded ‘necessities’ as to their intrinsic worth compared to the substantial cost even of the simple postage to return to where you first extracted it. And, in turn, that often leads to some version of the 80:20 split, whereby 80 percent is offered to a giveaway (or throwaway) pile, and only some 20 percent is found to be worthy of postage.

Alas, that is not the end of the discard of ‘necessities.’ That was only your learning from the first couple of days of travel. Usually there are two more discard episodes as the days wear on and the true value of ‘necessities’ as a principle emerges. (Along the way, you get leaner as well–another inner blessing of the travel).

There are many quite funny, and some very touching, stories of such paring down. And it does not only occur with backpacking. Bikepacking, motorbike-packing, and even RV travel camping have very similar experiences though of varying degrees of intensity and timing. If you are a traveler, a journey-person, a pilgrim, the idea of “necessity” gain an emergent meaning that only a fellow traveler understands, and which becomes a shared experience.

The Great Need for Sources / Occasions / Opportunities of Joy, Meaning

Travel by pack is not about optimal necessities. Life is more than necessities, though they are (some of them, some of the time) necessary. Calvin’s Ch 5 makes the important point that beyond and distinct from necessities are, from his Latin word–oblectamentum–which has a rich semantic range of meaning:

• Delight
• Pleasure
• Enjoyment (note: “in” the state / condition of “joy”)
• Recreation (note: “re” [again] “creation”)

The Latin word helps us think more deeply than a simple English word such as “pleasure,” which can, at first glance, lead to shallow thoughts. The idea here is something deeply satisfying, enriching.

The Pilgrim’s Pilgrimage is not a grimace of endless pounding the pavement, mindless head-down grinding ever forward. It can be that, especially in certain seasons of life. But God intends us to have a particular, and I would say peculiar (that is to us as individuals), experience of deep joy and satisfaction.

So what is in my pack that is beyond (real) necessities?

Real Physical World Pack-Travelers

in the below pdf, I have collected several images of keys to success in physical world pack-travelers, using primarily examples from motorbike adventure travelers, with additional points from the world of backpackers and even the famous long-distance plane and pilot, Charles Lindberg. I could easily add another important example category that of pedal bike-packing. Finally I would note another area in which I had direct experience, sending men to the moon of the Saturn Apollo missions of 1960-1973. In every one of these examples there was the central battle of determining the “necessities” and the “oblectamentum.”

Here’s that pdf:

This week we conclude Calvin’s Ch 4 of his Little Book (Beveridge translation of Calvin’s Institutes, Book 3, Chapter 9) beginning with Sec. 5 and concluding with Sec. 6.

Calvin’s Heading

The Beveridge translation gives us his translation of Calvin’s headings for 4.5 and 4.6 of Chapter 4 “Of Meditating on the Future Life:”

5. Christians should not tremble at the fear of death.
Two reasons. Objection. Answer. Other reasons.

6. Reasons continued. Conclusion.

 Calvin, J., & Beveridge, H. (1845). Institutes of the Christian religion (Vol. 2, p. 285). Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society.

Verses Cited by Calvin

Calvin’s Theme / Summary

Calvin is a very organized thinker and succinct writer. As a rule the opening sentence or brief collection of sentences, together with the closing sentence or two encapsulates his observations of each Section. So, an excellent way to see the big picture before reading is to examine these ‘bookend’ sentences before reading the Section and then after reading to go back and review the same.

For Calvin 4.5, The Theme and Conclusion is as Follows (Beveridge)

Theme:

5. But, most strange to say, many who boast of being Christians, instead of thus longing for death, are so afraid of it that they tremble at the very mention of it as a thing ominous and dreadful

Ibid., opening sentence of Calvin 4.5

 Conclusion:

Therefore, let us come to a sounder mind, and how repugnant so ever the blind and stupid longing of the flesh may be, let us doubt not to desire the advent of the Lord not in wish only, but with earnest sighs, as the most propitious of all events. He will come as a Redeemer to deliver us from an immense abyss of evil and misery, and lead us to the blessed inheritance of his life and glory.

ibid., ending two sentence of Calvin 4.5

For Calvin 4.6, the Theme and Conclusion are as below:

Theme

6. Thus, indeed, it is; the whole body of the faithful, so long as they live on the earth, must be like sheep for the slaughter, in order that they may be conformed to Christ their head, (Rom. 8:36.) Most deplorable, therefore, would their situation be did they not, by raising their mind to heaven, become superior to all that is in the world, and rise above the present aspect of affairs, (1 Cor. 15:19.)

Ibid., opening two sentences of Calvin 4.6

Conclusion

To conclude in one word, the cross of Christ then only triumphs in the breasts of believers over the devil and the flesh, sin and sinners, when their eyes are directed to the power of his resurrection.

Ibid., closing sentence of Calvin 4.6, and of Calvin’s Chapter 4, “Of Meditating on the Future Life”

Desire to Preserve Existence

Calvin begins 4.5 discussing our natural desire for continuing our existence in spacetime.  Except for extreme situations of physical or emotional pain whereby end-of-existence, or non-existence, may appear the better option, we all by nature cling to the life and circumstances of it that we now have.

But Scripture’s call is to another life, after this one.  But it is indeed difficult to give up the one life we have here for an unknown yet-to-come, especially if plagued by the uncertainty of God’s final judgment upon us.

Calvin reminds us, using the phrase of D&P, that as true believing Christian by our piety be one who “conquers and suppresses fear by a stronger feeling of consolation.”  This is one great test of true belief and proper understanding of Scripture.

Death is to be something different than the mere resignation of inevitability, though inevitable it is.  A Christian testimony to oneself and all others at that finality of physical life is a truly unique opportunity to reveal true faith.

The Consolation that Surpasses any Fear

Let us look at a key sentence fragment from Calvin’s original Latin (which I have highlight to match to the English translation):

lumen, quod maiori consolatione qualemcunque illum timorem superet ac supprimat.
light, which by greater consolation surpasses and suppresses that fear of any kind.

Calvin, J. (1834). Institutio Christianae religionis (Vol. 1, p. 462). Berolini: Gustavum Eichler.

Surpassing Consolation

As highlighted above in bold, Calvin uses the Latin word from which we directly get the English “consolation.” However, to our ear, and mind, “consolation” sounds like a poor, even losing substitute for something that could have been good, or even wonderful. When we speak of a “consolation prize” (a phrase first used in 1853, 300 years after Calvin) everyone understands that is what’s given to someone who did not ‘win’ the ‘real’ prize. Or when we are “consoling” someone we are helping them to process the disappointment of some actual result in contrast for a hoped for result to aid them in coming to acceptance, and only that.

The key here is the word “surpassing.” This word is in reference to something that is greater, or beyond, that which it is being used to make comparison.

Our issue, then, is what makes life to come, in heaven with God, “greater” (in comparison, and surpassingly so) and how do we know?

1. Home at Last (2 Cor. 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. ESV)
2. The Beatific Vision: The Sight that makes truly happy. (1 Cor. 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. ESV)
   [Thomas Aquinas “Even as we hold by faith that the last end of man’s life is to see God, so the philosophers maintained that man’s ultimate happiness is to understand immaterial substances according to their being.” which even present desire drives our quests.]
   [The notion of vision stresses the intellectual component of salvation, though it encompasses the whole of human experience of joy, happiness coming from seeing God finally face to face and not imperfectly through faith. Wikipedia]
3. The Satisfaction of Perfect “Rest” (contra endless restlessness) (Ps 17:15 I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake. ESV. The true “Rest In Peace,” R.I.P., not the carcass lying beneath a gravestone)
4. Eternal Being / Existence (no ‘specter of death’ & its finality) (2 Tim. 1:10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces…” ESV)
5. A body (instantiation of being) made specifically by God for heaven for eternity, the restoration (John 14:3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 2 Cor. 5:2-4 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. ESV)
6. No longing, inclination, desire for sin: non posse peccare instead of
   posse non peccare while at the same time non posse non peccare
7. Knowing, as in ever knowing, God face-to-face (Job 19:26 “Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God.” ESV)
8. Joy of Glorifying God, the Highest Good, the Greatest Beauty (Ps 86:12 I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever. ESV)
9. Every deepest need met (Rev. 17:16-17 “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” ESV)
10. Creative work to do: God is the Greatest Creative Being. The parable of the the 5 Talents (Matt. 25:14) and 10 Minas (Luke 19:13ff) has as the result, more Talents and more Minas for yet more investment.

Cyprian on Mortality

Calvin in Sec. 4.5, p. 103 (D&P) cites Cyprian’s book On Mortality for further reading on the matter of fearing death.

Cyprian lived in Carthage, a famous city and former city-empire, near present day Tunis in Tunisia on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. Carthage was the leading city of the Mediterranean before the rise of Rome, It was ultimately destroyed by Rome in about 150 B.C. after a series of wars known as the Punic Wars. It was later rebuilt by the Romans as one of their leading trading ports. Cyprian (210 – 258 A.D.) was a Christian leader in Carthage during this second era of its history.

The book Calvin cited was written in A.D. 251/252 based on a series of messages Cyprian gave to the church (churches) in Carthage. The particular context was the prevalence, and horror, of death by some form of pestilence / virus that had swept over much of the Roman Empire. It has become known as the Cyprian Plague not because Cyprian was the cause of it but from Cyprian’s writing of its effects. This is timely for our time (2020 / 2021) as we are experiencing a worldwide plague from a virus named COVID.

Many people of Cyprian’s day suffered horrible physical deaths with of course very limited medical technologies and medicines. The not-yet-death suffered greatly as well both from the death of family and friends but also from the terror of knowing the fragility of their own mortality, and helplessness in the face of the invisible but real plague.

Cyprian’s book admonished and comforted Christians by reminding them of their true, eternal life, that whatever it is of this world is passing and not their true home. From the perspective of Calvin, who was writing his Institutes (and our Little Book) 1300 years later, and from ours nearly 1800 years later, we can see that an earlier-than-expected death from the plague is little different from however long a hoped-for physical existence might then have been. We all liver here for a very very short time, plague or not, “early” death or “late.” The important points of Cyprian is that our eyes belong outside this world regardless of how many or few days they will be physically present in time.

Cyprian’s life and the cited book are worthy of consideration for several reasons:

His perspectives on eternal / heavenly life contrasted with the present mortality.

His writing in the early years (251 /252) of what was to be a ca 15-year plague (250 – 265) anticipates the dramatic adverse effect it had on the Roman Empire itself both in terms of population devastation but also military and economic fortitude.

Cyprian’s life becomes a demonstration of the innate hatred of The Political Industry (TPI) of its time, the Roman Empire, toward any people or group who does not give in, TPI, its primary, even sole, even soul, obeisance. During the date of his writing On Mortality coincided with the beginning persecution of the then Roman Emperor Decius (the “Decian Persecution). A few years after writing On Mortality, in A.D. 258, Cyprian was confronted with the demand of TPI, and an Emperor who succeeded Decius, to offer sacrifices to the Roman Emperor (or “for” the Roman Emperor), to be attested and certified by a document, something like a ‘passport’ permitting him to live. He declined and was beheaded for doing so. Having then survived the plague of the biological virus, he (and others) were exterminated by the plague of the virus of TPI. But God has His Own Providence at work: Decius was Emperor for just two years, 251 -252, as he was killed in battle, along with his son, fighting the ‘barbarians’ infringing the Empire’s borders, enemies who were attacking Rome’s claims of sovereign territorial rule, and so becoming the first Emperor in Roman history to die in battle by the and of its enemies. Decius along with massive losses of Roman Legions perished trapped, surrounded in a swamp; his body was not found, nor gathered up for some glorious internment in the Forum of Rome.

The Cyprian Plague was a turning point in the history of the Roman Empire. The Second Century A.D. is known as Pax Romana, the Law of Rome. This designated a century-plus period that rule, law, and order existed through the vast Roman territories. This greatly facilitated the spread of the Gospel. Beginning in the Third Century a long slide from prominence began from which the Western half of the Empire was doomed to fall in the Fifty Century.

Finally, in Cyprian’s book we see numerous quotations of the Bible. This is a significant example of the prevalence of Scripture, and the faithful correspondence of the text to our translations today. Cyprian quotes from multiple books of the NT and even from the OT. He must have had access to number mss, some or all of which may have been first generation copies of the Autographs of the NT. In the 1920s an important manuscript known as the Beatty Manuscript, or P46, was found. It’s date is estimated as 150 to 250 A.D., with a working estimate of 200 A.D., predating Cyprian’s writing. Could Cyprian have known about P46? Seen it? Used it?

Below are two pdfs relating to Cyprian. The first is a general introduction of Cyprian and his time, and of Carthage itself. The second is Cyprian’s book On Mortality, which I have highlight two ways: the yellow highlights are of key points on the subject of the book, the blue or green highlights are of quotations Cyprian gives from the Bible.

Deep Dive of Calvin-Cited Verses

2 Cor 5:2-4

Titus 2:11-14

Week #18 resources are here: