Re: LOGIKON ADOLON GALA EPIPOQHSATE IIPeter2:2

Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Tue, 12 Aug 1997 21:50:18 -0400

At 01:21 AM 8/13/97, Ben Crick wrote:
>On Tue 12 Aug 97 (23:46:53 +0800), scox@ns1.chinaonline.com.cn.net wrote:
>>ÊHow can "rational" be applied to an inanimate object
>>Ê like "pure milk"? Or does it somehow relate to the
>>Ê "desiring" of this milk as opposed to something else?
>>ÊYet how can it? What am I missing?
>
> What you are missing, Steven, is that "pure milk" is a metaphor for the
> Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. The Apostle is telling his readers and us
> that the Scriptures are rational and logical and feed you up spiritually as
> milk feeds up a baby physically.

Neither of the two NT lexicons that I have, BAGD and Louw & Nida, agree with
you in translating LOGIKOS as "rational" in this context. I've already
quoted Louw & Nida, so let's try BAGD. BAGD says that LOGIKOS can mean
either "rational" or "spiritual", and points to a passage in Philo where we
are told that God places no value on sacrificial animals, but on TOU QUONTOS
(sacrifice) PNEUMA LOGIKON. It would be hard to interpret it as rational in
that context. BAGD continues to say, "Most likely TO LOGIKON ADOLON GALA 1
Pt 2:2 is to be taken in the same way 'pure spiritual milk'; it is to be
borne in mind that LOGIKOS means 'spiritual' not only in the sense of
PNEUMATIKOS, but also in contrast to 'literal', with the meaning
'metaphorical'."

"Rational" and "logical" have nothing to do with the context, which talks
about how the word endures, will help us grow in respect to salvation, and
shows how we can be built up as living stones as we draw near to Christ and
are made into a holy temple. Incidentally, I don't see that the Bible really
touts its own logical consistency or rationality; instead, it consistently
asks, "where is the wise man? where is the scholar?", tells us "the Lord
knows the reasoning of the wise, that they are useless", reminds us that not
many of us were wise according to the flesh. God had every chance to write a
systematic theology instead of the Bible that he gave us, and he declined
the chance. In the passage in question, we are not being called to logical
consistency, but to Jesus Christ, who alone can make us one spiritual
temple. I don't really think that being "rational and logical" has that much
to do with "feeding us up spiritually", and I think that this passage is
about the latter. The scriptures are not there primarily to help us know
about God, but to help us know him; they point the way to him without really
trying to explain him.

Jonathan

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Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie
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