Without further ado, I invite you to visit the new tohu va bohu.

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I got an email today from a friend asking and urging for the void to be filled.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

The request was apropos since my last post was January 19. Since then, most of my time was spent preparing for, then enjoying, and then recuperating from, the 06SR. I will certainly have more to post about that in the coming weeks. Thank you to every student who went, every staff who lead, and every parent who prayed.

But that is all I'll say for now. There are some changes coming to tohu va bohu within the week. No, I will not be going gangblogging like TeamPyro, I don't have that many friends. But I think the changes will be for the better, and I'm excited for the reveal. It is good to be back.

Paul's prayer for abounding love comes in Philippians 1:9-11. And rather than giving a typical outline, I've portrayed the text itself in an outline form that it might be clearer what each phrase is doing/modifying in the sentence. Philippians 1:9-11 is one long sentence in the GNT and in our English translations, so this is especially important to keep the last few phrases in their proper place. The following is the TVBAV: "Tohu va Bohu Amalgamation Version":


The most important thing to note is that there really is only one request. Everything else modifies that one request, expanding or clarifying it. Each subsequent phrase burrows down a little deeper into the one main idea.

And the request itself is found in the first part of the content:

your love may abound still more and more

I'm kind of disappointed with the ESV here. The NASB gets it right. In verse nine we observe the verb abound (περισσεύῃ), an adverb still (ἔτι), and then another adverbial phrase more and more (μᾶλλον καὶ μᾶλλον).

This is known as making a point. Why do I say that? Because praying for their love "to abound" is adequate. By definition something that abounds is more than enough. Praying that it would abound "more" would have sufficed too, "more and more" is perhaps better, but "abounding still more and more" makes quite a statement.

Add to that the present tense emphasis of "keep on abounding" and you've got a picture with highlighter marks all over it. The whole phrase conveys the idea of overflowing and overgrowing love. Perhaps the imagery is of a river spilling over its banks during a flood. Here is love, not just vast as an ocean, but like a raging torrent.

We talk about being "in love" with someone. What do we mean by that? We're not referring to a bare minimum level of affection. We're talking about being head over heels, captivated, twitterpated, consumed, preoccupied. This is the kind of love we're to have; love that is superabundant.

Now who is the object of this love? Abounding love to whom? There is no explicit object mentioned in verse 9.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:11-13 Paul uses some of the very same vocabulary as he does here in Philippians, including the words for abounding love. But there he specifically prays that they would have love "for one another and for all."

So what do we do with Philippians 1:9? Should we see it as similar or different from 1 Thessalonians? I believe there is probably a close connection, but I don't think the best choice is to limit abounding love as something only for others. Rather, when Paul prays that their love would abound still more and more without explicitly mentioning an objject, I think he is concentrating on their love for God--that spills over onto others. As our affections for Him increase and abound, that will necessarily result in an increased love for others.

But don't miss the primariy point: love is to be always abounding. Individuals and churches should expect and pray for advancing from one level of loving to more and more mature and lively levels of loving. You should love God and others more next year at this time. Your love should be ever greater 5, 10, 35 years from now. In heaven there will be a glorified capacity to increase in love. Love never ends, and it should always be abounding.

tohu va bohu tag: Abounding Love

One last note of context on Paul's prayer for abounding love in Philippians 1:9-11. This affectionate prayer for abounding love comes in the context of suffering. Paul wrote this letter probably nearing the end of a two year imprisonment in Rome. Not only was he in prison for preaching the gospel, but in the very next paragraph after his prayer (vv.12-12-18) he explains that there were some who were preaching the gospel from envy and spite, hoping to get Paul in more trouble by their preaching.

I don't know about you, but somme of my clearest, most earnest thinking (and praying) is done during times of difficulty. I would think that Paul would have no need for Christian cliches and prayers filled with platitudes. This was serious business, not some game.

When the things of this world were dim, what was bright to Paul was the need for abounding love. Tomorrow I hope to dig into the prayer itself.

tohu va bohu tag: Abounding Love

One of the prodigal series has returned.

It has been two months since the last installment in the abounding love series. If you need a refresher you can read the inaugural post for our discussion of Philippians 1:9-11. Then we observed that abounding love comes in the context of prayer and the context of confidence.

Today I want to point out that abounding love is also in the context of care. The apostle Paul was thankful to God for the Philippian believers and told them in verse seven, "It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart." And in verse 8, "For God is my witness how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus."

Paul probably visited Philippi three times, once at the beginning of his second missionary journey and twice during his third journey. We don't know exactly the reasons for all these visits, but we do know that out of those visits came a deep love and attachment, so much so that four or five years after his last visit he could write these words to the Philippians with expressions of care and concern like they had just been with each other.

Again, these are people that he cared for. Don't you always look out for the ones closest to you? You want not just good or great things for them, you want the best. So the best request Paul could make was for abounding love.

tohu va bohu tag: Abounding Love

fatuous

definition
adjective 1: foolish and pointless, especially in an unconcious, complacent manner. 2: unreal; illusory.

other forms
adverb fatuously
noun fatuousness

synonyms
absurd, asinine, mindless, inane, idiotic, pointless, senseless, cockamamie, half-baked

antonyms
intelligent, smart, meaningful, productive

example of usage
The PyroManiac has managed to find himself on the wrong side of the matchstick again, as commenters on his recent cessationism preamble have adamantly criticized his lack of proof-texts and exegesis (101 comments on this post at the time of my writing this one, though not all of them were negative!). In response to those charges, he reiterated with subtelty that his arguments thus far have not yet needed exegesis. This of course quieted the crowd, as there are only 120 comments on that post so far.

Here is the thesis of his reiteration, and the example of our word:

The kneejerk demand for "exegesis" at the very start of the cessationism discussion is fatuous.

application
Fatuous is a great word. Use it, but don't be it. And please, help Phil's self-esteem by leaving a postive, non-fatuous comment.

tohu va bohu tag: fun with words

My wife is a blogging fanatic now. Those of you wily readers will have already noticed her addition to the blogs that fill a big part of my void roll. She's only been posting less than a week and is apparently addicted. Increase her hits, leave her a comment, and enjoy pictures and stories of our kids at hobbsandbean.

The annual MacWorld conference is happening this week in San Francisco. Steve Jobs gave his keynote yesterday, and though I'm not sure I was as excited as I was last year, this ad about Mac and Intel is not only hilarious (to a Mac user at least), but do you recognize the voice? That's right. Kiefer from 24. I consider that an alignment of the planets.

My kudos to CelestialShine are WAAAAY Past the Expiration Date as well. Hers is an honest and insightful post on the relationships series. May her tribe increase.

TheWebbLog is under new management. Alright, not really. But it did receive a new face and a new name, Lover By Blood. Now all we need is a new post, maybe from the year 2006 or something.

Is it just me, or did a "not a junior higher, not yet a high schooler" state that publicly that he loves a song written in 1824? And they say

TheLuggNut made some of his own resolutions for the new year. I and my house were mentioned. That's sweet.

I know I said that I wasn't going to be posting-in anymore, but since December 23 I've lost another four pounds, leaving me this morning at 193. That seemed noteworthy for what is already a somewhat banal post.

Finally, there are some weird ways that people get to tohu va bohu. My SiteMeter account lets me see some of the referring URLs as well as keeping track of the number of visits and page views. All that to say that someone made a visit to my site today after searching Yahoo! for "fundoplication and death." I'll let you make your own conclusion.