I remember, as a youth, the threat that if you failed a class during the school year you might have to go to “summer” school. As a youth who lived for the summer (see my blog "Summer Fun"), I was hard pressed to imagine a fate worse than giving up my summer to go back to school!
After the confusion I created regarding Greek Grammar during my sermon on spiritual warfare Sunday, I have determined that I may need to do summer school! Talk about a mental block!!! I simply could not find the grammatical term I was looking for. That is, I could not find it when I was looking for it in the midst of my sermon (as the congregation was painfully, patiently waiting). But it did eventually come to me, when it was no longer of any real value for the body, in the middle of eating lunch during our 5th Sunday fellowship. VOICE! The question I meant to ask regarding the verb translated “be strong in the Lord” was what voice the verb was in.
In simplest terms, voice reveals whether the subject of a sentence is the actor or is acted upon. If the subject of a sentence is the actor, we call it active. If the subject is acted upon, we call it passive. The point is that when Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord, he does not use the active, as if we have the ability to strengthen ourselves. It is in the passive to indicate that the giving of this strength requires someone else to act. And that someone is “the Lord.”
However, the fact that this verb is an imperative, a command, indicates that though strength comes from God, we have a part to play, as well, in taking a stand in the face of evil. God is the source of our strength, as is indicated by Paul’s words, “be strong in the Lord,” but we must actively seek God’s strength.
This tension between our role and God’s role continues in the discussion which follows where Paul tells us to put on the armor of God. For the armor comes from God, but we need to put it on—appropriate it and use it—in the face of life’s trials.
Hopefully, this brings a little clarity to the grammatical confusion from Sunday. I welcome any further questions or comments on this topic below. Or, if you prefer, you can write me while I am away at my Greek Grammar Summer School class!
Pastor Dan