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Waltke, Bruce. A brilliant Hebrew
linguist who has, unfortunately, turned aside from literal
interpretation
of Scripture in some areas. Waltke earned an A.B. from Houghton College, a Th.M. and
Th.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), and a Ph.D. from Harvard
University. He served as president of the Evangelical Theological
Society (1975). I first met him while I was a student at DTS from
1969-74. A full disclaimer: I was not one of his notable students. He
served as professor at DTS from 1958-1976, but apparently could not
stomach the school's literal
interpretation of the OT and NT. That is another way of saying he
was not dispensational
at heart. So he left Dallas and accepted a position as professor at
Regent College in Vancouver, from 1976-1985, and again 1991-1995. He
was professor at Westminster Theological Seminary from 1985-1991, and
professor at Reformed Theological Seminary from 1996-2010. From there
he departed to teach at Knox Theological Seminary. He is currently
listed as Professor
Emeritus at Knox Theological Seminary; retired Professor
Emeritus of Regent College; and Legacy
Professor at Our Daily Bread University.
Waltke was a signatory to "An Open Letter to Evangelicals and Other Interested Parties: The People of God, the Land of Israel, and the Impartiality of the Gospel." Though there are a number of statements therein with which all Christians can agree, this "Open Letter" denies God's role for Israel as a nation both in the present and in the future. It states unequivocally the following: "Furthermore, a day should not be anticipated in which Christ's kingdom will manifest Jewish distinctives, whether by its location in "the land," by its constituency, or by its ceremonial institutions and practices." This clearly denies the coming Millennial Kingdom of Christ so forthrightly proclaimed in the Old Testament and in the New. This position in the open letter cannot be supported from a literal understanding of God's words. The Covenant God made with Abraham and his physical seed, the land of Canaan, and God's blessing was an eternal, unconditional covenant. Tragically, Waltke's non-literal interpretation of Scripture subsequently also ran him afoul of Biblical Creationism. At some time in 2010 he admitted to being a theistic evolutionist. This led to his departure from Reformed Theological Seminary and his transfer to Knox Theological Seminary. In a video
published on the website of the BioLogos Foundation, a
theistic evolutionist think-tank, Waltke said that “the data is
overwhelmingly in favor of evolution” and that “to deny that reality”
makes Bible-believing Christians “a cult, some odd group that is not
really interacting with the world.” He went on to say that denial of
evolution is “spiritual death” for the church - a “witness to the world
that we are not credible, that we are bigoted, we have a blind faith,
and this is what we are accused of.” (This, according to Paul M. Elliott,
linking to an article
on The Design Spectrum website that no longer appears on its pages.)
It
is sad when intelligent Christians are so deceived by the world's
biased interpretation of data that they jettison the clear teaching of
God's Word in an attempt to be academically respectable. It is
especially sad when so many gifted creationist scientists show evidence
for a young
earth,
yet are held in disrepute by those Christian academics who would
otherwise profit greatly thereby. The end result is the perception that
God cannot really be trusted to mean what He says in the way that He
has said it. Pseudo science trumps the Scriptures. Water Vapor Canopy. A hypothesized stratospheric umbrella of water vapor that seems to have enveloped the earth and its original atmosphere from the second day of Creation (Gen. 1:6-8) until its dissipation in the forty-day torrential rains of the Great Flood (Gen. 7:11-12). This theory was first broached in book form by Dr. Henry M. Morris and Dr. John C. Whitcomb in their book, The Genesis Flood (1961). Dr.Morris, repeated the theory in his commentary on Genesis, The Genesis Record (1976). Though there are Creation Scientists that dispute the theory, I do not see that any of them have advanced a better theory that accords both with science and with the Bible. For more information on this topic, see The Water Vapor Canopy Theory. Waw, Vav. The sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In general terms, it serves as the English conjunction "and." It typically appears as a prefix to other words, often to verbs.I have found no good way of reproducing the Hebrew letter Waw in standard English Word-Processing programs that transfer directly to HTML programs (the language of the internet for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser). I can describe it in a minimal way, however. It looks like an English small letter i without the dot. Instead of the dot, there is a small, straight protrusion or "hook" that proceeds upward, but left at about a 45 degree angle. Below is a pictograph of the letter in proper Hebrew script. See also an article on the letter found in Chabad.org.
Waw Consecutive.
A now somewhat-outmoded Hebrew grammatical label for consecutive verbal
forms used in narrative literature to indicate sequences of consecutive
actions, either in the past, present, or future. The Waw Consecutive
can be used either with Imperfect
Aspect or with Perfect
Aspect. In some older grammars
it is labeled a Waw Conversive, which, according to Vern Steiner,
"derives from an old understanding of that word as somehow “turning” or
“converting” a prefixed or imperfect verb into a past or preterite. All
of these labels have now pretty much been replaced by the morphological
tag wayyiqtol, or WYYQTL, which simply labels the
grammatical form (w
+
doubled prefix + paradigm word qtl),
without predisposing the
grammatical meaning or significance of the form." For
a fuller explanation of the Hebrew phenomenon, see Bill
Mounce's discussion. The Waw
Consecutive obviously contains the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet,
Waw (pronounced vahv) as a prefix, meaning "and" in its most basic
sense. Stylistically, English translators sometimes use the word "then"
for the Waw, and more frequently, they ignore it altogether because it
is not good idiom in English to begin sentences with "And" or otherwise
to keep using "and" as a connective. The Waw Consecutive is very good
Hebrew idiom, however. Waw
Disjunctive. "A disjunctive Waw is prefixed to a non-verbal form and is non-sequential, that is, it
introduces some kind of a break or interruption in the narrative. The
disjunctive Waw may be used in a number of different ways. Four of the
major uses are: (1) parenthetical, (2) circumstantial, (3) contrastive
and (4) introductory" (Basics of Biblical Hebrew, Pratico and Van Pelt, p. 10 in the pdf file). For example, in the beginning words of Genesis
1:2 the initial Waw in the sentence is prefixed to the noun earth
('erets). It is used circumstantially, to tell the reader the initial
condition of the earth when God had first created it in Genesis 1:1. West Bank. A pseudonym for Samaria and Judea. "West Bank" refers to the portion of the territorial State of Israel that is presently occupied by so-called "Palestinians" who are actually living in land conquered by Jordan in 1948. These "Palestinians" were declared to be citizens of Jordan when Jordan conquered the land in 1948. This land was rightfuly re-conquered by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. The West Bank constitutes a large portion of ancient Judea and Samaria, which were situated on the West side of the Jordan River. It is in contrast to land on the East side of the Jordan River, which was formerly called "Transjordan" and now, simply Jordan. The bulk of the world's nations, including the United Nations, the Arabs, the Europeans, and even the United States, claim, incorrectly, that Jewish settlements in the "West Bank" and East Jerusalem constitute land illegally occupied by the Israelis. But it is all land that God has promised Israel. How can Israel wrongfully be occupying land that God has given to the nation in perpetuity (Gen. 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:18-20; 17:1-8, 15-19; 22:15-18; 26:2-5, 12-14; 27:27-29; 28:1-4, 13-15)? For a map of the West Bank biased in favor of the Palestinians, click here. For a more realistic, more Biblical map, click here. For a pro-Israeli discussion and video, go to "What They Don't Want You to Know About the West Bank." Word of God. God’s communication to His creatures. God speaks to humans in several ways. God communicates His power and majesty through nature, the Natural Word of God. God communicates His moral will through prophets, who utter the Spoken Word of God. God communicates His moral will through the Bible, the Written Word of God. God communicates His great love and essence through His Son, Jesus, the Living Word of God. Word of Knowledge. A spiritual gift listed only in 1 Cor. 12:8. It is difficult to know exactly that to which Paul referred here. Was it a message of knowledge about the Scriptures and their interpretation which those to whom have been given the gift of teaching possess? If so, it is still in existence today. Or was Paul referring to revelatory knowledge, the knowledge revealed to prophets and Apostles? If the latter, that gift does not appear to be given today. Paul
predicted its demise (1 Cor. 13:8). In that regard, I believe that one
stage of "the complete" (1 Cor. 13:10) refers to the closing of
the canon of Scripture with the death of the Apostle John, the last writing Apostle about A.D. 100. No new Scriptures have been written for 1900 years. That is unprecedented if prophecy and revelatory knowledge still exist. Word of Wisdom. A message or utterance based on wisdom. Wise counsel. A spiritual gift listed only in 1 Cor. 12:8. The Greek noun for “word” is lógos (3056), “speech, word, or message” (JTB), and the noun for “wisdom” is sophía (4678), “shrewdness and perception in dealing with knowledge and action” (JTB). No definite article is present before either noun. We all know Christians who seem like wise people, who seem almost invariably to give good advice on how to handle a given situation or problem. They may be good at counseling others. Some people are gifted that way by the Holy Spirit. They may not say a whole lot, but when they do, it is generally an opinion worth listening to and heeding. Some Christians are good at repairing automobiles, others good at carpentering, and others good at counseling. World in a Non-Ethical Sense. (kosmos, 2889). (1) The created world as having a beginning in space / time / history (Matt. 13:35; 24:21; 25:34; John 17:5, 24; 21:25); as made by Christ (John 1:10); as made by God (Acts 17:24); as evidencing God's invisible attributes, such as His eternity and His power, which are some of His Divine attributes (Rom. 1:20). (2) The world of humanity (Matt. 26:13; Mark 16:15), all of whom God loves and for whom Christ died (John 1:29; 3:16; 4:42; 17:23), and who are accountable to God (Rom. 3:6, 19). (3) The inhabited earth (Rom. 1:8). (A synonym here would be oikoumene, 3625). World in an Ethical Sense: When used in an ethical sense, “world” (kósmos, 2889) appears frequently in the NT as an evil, Satanic-inspired realm which is antithetical to God, to Christ, and to followers of Jesus. Here are some examples of "world" in that sense: (1) The world hates Jesus (John 7:7). (2) Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31; 16:11). (3) The world cannot give peace (John 14:27). (4) The world hates followers of Jesus (John 15:18, 19; 17:14; 1 John 3:13). (5) The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). (6) The world is a source of tribulation for believers (John 16:33). (7) Believers are not “of the world” (John 17:14, 16). (8) The world does not know God (John 17:25). (9) The world has its own, ungodly wisdom (1 Cor. 1:20, 21) which is foolishness to God (1 Cor. 3:19). (10) The world will be condemned (1 Cor. 11:32). (11) The world has a deadly sorrow (2 Cor. 7:10). (12) The world emits an aura of darkness, crookedness, and perversity (Php. 2:15). (13) The world has its “elementary principles” which are inimical to the values of Christ (Col. 2:8, 20). (14) Friendship with the world is hostility toward God. Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4). (15) The world is characterized by a corruption that provokes “lust” (meaning it emits a strong attraction) (2 Pet. 1:4). (16) The world defiles (2 Pet. 2:20). (17) The Christian is not to love the world or the things in the world. If he does so, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15). (18) Everything that is in the world is characterized by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. None of this comes from the Father (1 John 2:16). (19) The world is temporary, passing away. So also its lusts (1 John 2:17). (20) The world does not know believers because it never knew God (1 John 3:1). (21) The world is characterized by deceptive false prophets and the spirit of antichrist (1 John 4:1, 3; 2 John 1:7). (22) The One who is in the believer is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4). (23) The world listens to its own (1 John 4:5). (24) Whatever is born of God conquers the world by virtue of his faith (1 John 5:4, 5). (25) The whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19). (26) The time will come when the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, who will reign forever (Rev. 11:15). Worship. The act of ascribing to God the true value of His infinite worth. Since God is infinite and his greatness is beyond comprehension, human worship must necessarily be finite. When man worships God he stands in humility before Him and offers praise for His powerful and moral attributes. Worship includes praise, thanksgiving, and sacrifice. Failure to worship God is an act of human arrogance and disdain. No worship of God can be overstated. Wrath
of God.
God’s great anger at sin
and evil.
God alone understands the deadly nature of sin, defined as departure
from God’s will. The wages of sin is
death,
which in its deadliest state is eternal separation from God.
God created man in His own likeness and image
in order to have eternal fellowship with him.
Sin utterly degrades man’s ability to have any fellowship with God
whatever, for God is utterly holy.
Consequently God exhibits fierce and settled anger at sin because it is
a relentless carcinogen on man’s soul and body.
In God’s love He has provided in Jesus
redemption
for man from the
pathology of sin and death. When man
rejects God’s only provision for redemption, ultimately man suffers
the wrath
of God. Updated April 16, 2024
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