In this episode of The Interpreter Radio Show, our hosts are Martin Tanner, Terry Hutchinson, and Brent Schmidt. Martin and Terry are joined by special guest Grant Hardy during the first hour to discuss his new book and by Brent Hardy during the second hour to discuss Come, Follow Me New Testament lesson 48. You can listen to or download the October 29th broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. These audio tracks are also included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast).

The “New Testament in Context” portion of this show, for the Come, Follow Me New Testament lesson 48 will also be posted separately on Tuesday, November 14.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

Original air date: October 29, 2023. These recording have been edited to remove commercial breaks.

Discussion: The Annotated Book of Mormon by Grant Hardy

The New Testament in Context Lesson 48: “Rejoice with Joy Unspeakable & Full of Glory” on 1st and 2nd Peter

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The Interpreter Radio Show is a weekly discussion of matters of interest to the hosts, guests, and callers of the show. The views expressed on the Interpreter Radio Show are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Interpreter Foundation, nor should statements made on the show be construed as official doctrinal statements of the Church.

 

In this post, we highlight a preview video for our new film series, “Not by Bread Alone: Stories of the Saints in Africa.” The series is about African Saints who thirsted for tranquility and found peace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Episodes in the series will be published over the next few years, starting in 2024. Video shorts will be posted monthly.The film series is produced by the Interpreter Foundation, a non-profit organization whose aim is to support the Church through scholarship. The point of contact for the project is Jeffrey M. Bradshaw. We are working in association with Redbrick Filmworks, an award-winning Latter-day Saint producer of inspirational media.

For more information, go to https://notbybreadalonefilm.com/en/For more information in French, go to https://notbybreadalonefilm.com/fr/To see all of our posts about The Church in Africa, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/africa/

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are you doing this?

To tell some the little-known yet highly inspiring stories of the Saints in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, formerly Zaïre) in celebration of the dedication of the Lubumbashi temple. Additional episodes will share the stories of Latter-day Saints in the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. The scope of the series may eventually extend to other parts of Africa.

Who is the audience?

The series is aimed at an “Africa first” viewership. However, we expect it will also provide vivid reminders to people throughout the world of the truth and goodness of the Gospel.

Abstract: This study builds upon Hugh Nibley’s insightful observation that several Book of Mormon passages reflect “the ritual embrace that consummates the final escape from death in the Egyptian funerary texts and reliefs” as expressing the meaning of Christ’s Atonement. This study further extends Nibley’s observations on Jacob’s “wrestle” as a divine “embrace” to show that Lehi’s, Nephi’s, and their successors’ understanding of the divine embrace is informed by their ancestor’s “wrestle” with a “man” (Genesis 32:24–30) and reconciliation with his brother (Genesis 33:4–10). Examples of the divine embrace language and imagery throughout the Book of Mormon go well beyond what Nibley noted, evoking the Psalms’ depictions of Jehovah whose “wings” offered protection in the ritual place of atonement. Book of Mormon “divine embrace” texts have much to teach us about Jesus Christ, his love, the nature of his Atonement, and the temple.

Nephi testified that pure love motivates everything Jesus Christ does, including his wholly voluntary atoning work: “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him” (2 Nephi 26:24).1 As recorded in Ether 12:33–34, Moroni said to the Lord,

[Page 110]And again, I remember that thou hast said that thou hast loved the world, even unto the laying down of thy life for the world, that thou mightest take it again to prepare a place for the children of men. And now I know that this love which thou hast had for the children of men is charity; wherefore, except men shall have charity they cannot inherit that place which thou hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father.

The Savior’s words to Nicodemus as recorded in John 3:16 (“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son”) and to Orson Pratt on November 4, 1830, in D&C 34:3 (“who so loved the world that he gave his own life”) confirm that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the supreme expression of the love of the Father and the Son for humankind.

As David Seely has noted, William Tyndale, the first translator of the Bible into English from texts in the original Hebrew and Greek languages, appropriated the non-religious English expressions atone and atonement as fitting theological descriptions2 of the effect of Christ’s redemptive act. Regarding the Hebrew verb most often translated as atone (kpr), Mary Douglas writes,

According to the illustrative cases from Leviticus, to atone means to cover, or recover, cover again, to repair a hole, cure a sickness, mend a rift, make good a torn or broken covering. As a noun, what is translated as atonement, expiation or purgation means integument made good; conversely, the examples in the book indicate that defilement means integument torn. Atonement does not mean covering a sin so as to hide it from the sight of God; it means making good an outer layer which has rotted or been pierced.3

The “Messianic Secret” theory proposes that Jesus Christ forbids demons and followers from revealing who he is for an enigmatic reason. While the findings of the original theory have largely been abandoned, the idea of secrecy motifs in Mark has endured. Mark’s use of the “Son” may be an interpretive key for understanding some of Mark’s enigmatic secrecy motifs. The Gospel of Mark casts the “Son” as a sacred and identifying title for Jesus Christ, which he receives at baptism, keeps hidden from the profane, and ultimately reveals at the cross, symbolized by the rending of the temple veil. This name is used as a device to highlight the ironic recognition of demons, the misunderstanding of the disciples, and the ultimate access humanity has to Jesus Christ’s salvific identity.

Presented at:

2020 Temple on Mount Zion ConferenceSaturday, November 7, 2020https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2020-temple-on-mount-zion-conference/

Conference Proceedings:

The Temple: Past, Present and Future at https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/the-temple-past-present-and-future/

Listen to an audio recording of this talk:

  Download audio recording

 

 

Transcript

 

In the October 22nd Come, Follow Me segment of the Interpreter Radio Show, our hosts Martin Tanner and Robert Boylan discuss New Testament lesson 47, “Be Ye Doers of the Word, and Not Hearers Only” on James.

You can listen to or download the New Testament in Context segment of the October 22 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. It will also be included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast). The other segments of the October 22 radio show can be accessed at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-october-22-2023.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

 

Original air date: October 22, 2023. This recording has been edited to remove commercial breaks.

The Interpreter Radio Show is a weekly discussion of matters of interest to the hosts, guests, and callers of the show. The views expressed on the Interpreter Radio Show are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Interpreter Foundation, nor should statements made on the show be construed as official doctrinal statements of the Church.

 

 

In this episode of The Interpreter Radio Show, our hosts are Martin Tanner and Robert Boylan. They discuss Come, Follow Me New Testament lesson 47, changes in the Church’s name, tithing, and differences in the understanding of New Testament terms by Protestants and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You can listen to or download the October 22nd broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. These audio tracks are also included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast).

The “New Testament in Context” portion of this show, for the Come, Follow Me New Testament lesson 47, “Be Ye Doers of the Word, and Not Hearers Only” on James, will also be posted separately on Tuesday, November 7.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

Original air date: October 22, 2023. These recording have been edited to remove commercial breaks.

The New Testament in Context Lesson 47: “Be Ye Doers of the Word, and Not Hearers Only” on James

Gospel Advocacy: Changes in the name of the Church

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Gospel Advocacy: Changes in the understanding of tithing and its use

Podcast: Download

Discussion: Differences in the understanding of New Testament terms by Protestants and members of the Church

Podcast: Download

The Interpreter Radio Show is a weekly discussion of matters of interest to the hosts, guests, and callers of the show. The views expressed on the Interpreter Radio Show are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Interpreter Foundation, nor should statements made on the show be construed as official doctrinal statements of the Church.

 

Abstract: While references to heaven in the Old Testament are sparse, non-explicit, and predominantly cosmological, the New Testament reveals a more complex concept of the afterlife that reflects a rapidly evolving understanding of Heaven. The Jewish apocalyptic literature of the late Second Temple period describes a heaven of multiple degrees that is populated with angels and the righteous dead of varying glories. Those glories also tangibly reflect astral qualities of light and glory comparable to the sun, moon, and stars. Within this worldview of Heaven, several of the Apostle Paul’s writings to Corinth can be read with added insight, including his ascent to the “third heaven.” Paul’s teachings of resurrected bodies assuming astral qualities may reflect the native Corinthians’ metaphysical views of the body and soul, which Paul may have shared himself. While Western Christianity would embrace degrees of glory through the Middle Ages, Reform Theology of the Protestant Reformation would affirm a concept of Heaven that supported only a single habitation. It would take a Restoration-era vision to Joseph Smith to restore the doctrine of degrees of glory original to the Jews and early Christians but lost to those of the modern era.

The current belief in two diametrically opposing post-mortal states — Heaven and Hell — is so ubiquitous within Christendom as to be tacit. However, recent challenges to such a binary conception of the afterlife have sparked debate and discussion in the past few decades.1 While the Old Testament seldom comments on Heaven and the qualities of the afterlife, it does differentiate between the place where [Page 82]God resides (for example, Genesis 28:12; Psalms 11:4) and the physical cosmos around the Earth (Genesis 1:1, 17; Exodus 24:10; Psalms 8:3). New Testament discussions of Heaven, in contrast, show that Heaven is a far more complex idea. As Paul discussed the state of the resurrected in eternity, he taught, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:41– 42). Paul also observed that after Christ’s resurrection he ascended to his Father “up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:8–10). Paul also wrote that a “man in Christ” — who may be Paul himself — was “caught up to the third heaven” in vision (2 Corinthians 12:2). Additionally, The Savior taught that “in my Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2). Several of his parables imply a system of graded rewards among the faithful in Heaven — notably the parables of the Pounds (Luke 19:12–27) and the Sower (Matthew 13:1–9).

The peculiarity of Paul’s symbolism (sun, moon, and stars) to Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15:41 leads the inquisitive mind to seek clarification on the associated worldview of first-century Jews and Christians. What was the prevalent view of Heaven in the centuries before and after Jesus? A greater grasp of the afterlife as they understood it would certainly be of value in understanding the frame of reference that underlies several New Testament utterances.

Previous Latter-day scholarship has examined several aspects of the Plan of Salvation, including the three degrees of glory and many aspects of the Latter-day Saint temple, in light of ancient Jewish and Christian literature. Hugh Nibley’s pioneering work on 1 Enoch and the ancient temple opened the door to many fine recent studies.