Pastors Jim and Marie Watt
(From: MARK #1 - 1:1-8)
MARK - SUMMARY: THE GOSPEL OF SERVICE AND POWER
I. 1:1-8 THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST - INTRODUCTION
a. 1:1 A beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
ArCHE[746]tou eu-ag-geLIou [2098]IeSOU ChrisTOU.
b. 1:2-4 JOHN PREPARES FOR JESUS BY A REPENTANCE MESSAGE
KaTHOS GEgrap-tai en toE-SAIa toproPHEte[4396]:
Evenas itis written in :Isaiah the prophet:
I-DOU, a-poSTELloton AGgeLON [32]mou pro proSOpou [4383]sou,
Lo, I send my :messenger before your face,
hos ka-ta-skeuAsei [2680]ten hoDON [3598]sou; phoNE[5456]boONtos [994]en teeREmo[2048],
Who shall prepare your :way; 3A voice of one crying in the wilderness,
He-toiMAsa-te [2090]ten hoDON KuRIou, euTHEIas [2117]poiEIte tas TRIbous [5147]auTOU;-
Make you ready the way of theLord, Make his :paths straight;-
eGEne-to IoAnes, ho bapTIzon [907]en teeREmokeRUSson [2784]
4John came, who wasbaptizing in the wilderness and preaching
BAPtis-ma [908]me-taNOIas [3341]eis Aphe-sin [859] ha-mar-tiON [266].
a baptism of repentance unto remission of sins.
c. 1:5 THE WIDE RESULTS OF JOHN'S MESSAGE
kai e-xe-poREUe-to pros auTON PAsa heIouDAIa CHOra [5561],
And all the country ofJudea went out unto him,
kai hoi Ie-ro-so-luMEItai PANtes; kai e-bapTIzon-to hup' auTOU
and all they of Jerusalem; and were baptized of him
en toIorDAnepo-taMO[4215], e-xo-mo-loGOUme-noi [1843]tas ha-marTIas auTON.
in the river Jordan, confessing their :sins.
d. 1:6 JOHN'S FOOD AND CLOTHING
kai en ho IoAnes en-de-duMEnos [1746]TRIchas [2359]kaMElou [2574]
And :John was clothed with camel's hair
kai ZOnender-maTInen[1193]peRI ten osPHUN [3751]auTOU; kai ESthon aKRIdas kai MEli Agri-on.
and a leather girdle about his :loin; and waseating locusts and wild honey.
e. 1:7 JOHN HIGHLY EXALTS JESUS
kai eKErus-sen, LEgon, ERche-tai ho i-schuROteROS [2478]mou oPIsomou, hou ouk eiMI hi-kaNOS
And he preached, saying, After me comes the onemightier than I, the latchet
KUpsas [2955]LUsai [3089]ton hiMANta [2438]ton hu-po-deMAton [5266]auTOU.
of whose :shoes I am not fit to stoop down andunloose.
f. 1:8 I baptized you with water; but he shall baptize you with theHoly Spirit.
eGOeBAPti-sa [907]huMAS HUda-ti [5204]; auTOS de bapTIsei huMAS PNEUma-ti [4151] HaGIo[40].
NOTE: The Gospel of Mark with its first eight verses points up the uniqueness of Panin's Discovery of Bible Numerics as it relates to a clearer and more accurate context. The old adage of “A text without a context is a pretext” applies here. God's Bible Numeric sentence, subdivision, paragraph and section structure - establishes a context for the entire NT with a uniqueness not found anywhere else. For instance: between Ephesians chapter 1 and chapter 2, Bible Numerics makes but a sentencedivision - nota chapter - as is normally found. Here in Mark, the first 8 verses form a Section or chapter equivalent. This sets these 8 verses apart in a unique and important manner. The next chapter equivalent section is Mark 1:9 to 6:29! This throws an entirely different light on these beginning 6 chapters from the point of view of contextual understanding. I encourage all readers of this Interlinear Greek NT based on the two texts of Ivan Panin - to carefully examine all NT books from this outlined point of view. Many of the insights found in my NOTES- spring out of such an examination. I am not sure if even Panin himself saw the importance of outlining the entire NT on the basis of his Discovery. God set this up at the time of each Hebrew and Greek Bible writer, and not even theywere aware of this unusual and helpful feature. It would seem that God has reserved the production of a text featuring this Discovery of “Context” for the “Last Days,” preceding the return of His Son - to offset the erroneous “Textual Criticism” of many of the Liberal, Modernistic and Humanistic so-called scholars.
It was in 1945 that I discovered the significance of Ivan Panin's Discovery. Since then I have devoted tens of thousands of hours to produce this Interlinear Greek NT, which has but 40 chapters to go for completion. The enemy of our souls greatly hates and fears this production. Four different individuals who call themselves friends of Ivan Panin, have done everything in their power to undermine this work, giving it a twist that completely destroys its efficacy. Normally - at 87 I should be too old to be giving myself to this work. But I believe I have a mandate from God to do this for Him - no matter how difficult. It is for me, then, a joy to have heard his Word in 1967 - “Get MyNew Testament done!” This for me is then a labor of love, and a privilege to please Him. If Heis pleased, I am pleased. If others are pleased and profit from it also, that is an extra bonus. For me aloneto make use of this Interlinear, the labor has been worth it.
Mark 1:8 contrasts John's waterbaptism with that of Jesus' Spiritbaptism. The two are analogous! They are both baptisms of immersion, not “washing” as one has said. In the family of words or cognates surrounding the root word baptize, (bapTIzo); there are 80 total references, with 4 parts of speech involved. All but one of these deal with immersion. bap-tisMOS, appearing 4 times in the NT, isproperly translated a “washing”, but noneof the other 76. This is an example where “a little bit of Greek is a dangerous thing.” One of the 4 so-called friends of Panin with no academic background in Greek, has changed Panin's translation in all 80 cases to say “Washing” or “to wash.” Who needs enemies when they have so-called friends? I do notcount myself as a scholar. I have had 2 years of classical Greek at the University of Saskatchewan under Dr. Leddy, a Rhodes scholar; and 3 years of NT Greek, which does not make one a scholar, but it does provide some background in this area. I have also had 5 years of Latin and 5 years of Hebrew, which again, does notqualify one as a scholar; but it does give somewhat to help Lay-folk make use of the Bible Numeric Discoveries of Panin.
In 1947 at St. Andrew's College, a Seminary of the United Church of Canada in Saskatchewan, I studied the Gospel of Mark under Dr. John Corston from Nova Scotia, who obtained his doctorate degree in Greek from Edinburgh, Scotland. He knew this Gospel so thoroughly, that he could quote it in Greek in its entirety, giving his own free translation as he went along. One day for a special verse, he asked the 20 or so of us in the class, to read from any other translation we happened to have, to give more light on the verse. Mr. Thomas read from Panin's English translation, which he had purchased from me. Dr. Corston said - “Mr. Thomas - that translation comes most closely to the Greek text. From what are you reading?” When Mr. Thomas said that it was Ivan Panin's translation, the professor replied - “Oh no! that this could happen to me!” The average scholar is like Dr. Corston. He won't even investigate the validity of Bible Numerics. Such scholars say, “This is so incredible, that it's not even worth investigating!” Even many Evangelical scholars often take this same position.
But what theycount incredible - God chose the only two languages in the world, Hebrew and Greek, which have no numerical equivalents, for His Bible of 66 books. (24 in the Jewish OT). When numbers are substituted for letters, the Antichrist, the man of sin, when he comes, will be equivalent to “666”. Jesus in Greek - “IeSOUS” - is 888. Iota, 10; Eta, 8; Sigma, 200; Omi-cron, 70; Upsi-lon, 400; SIGma, 200; Total, 888! Go to our Website, <www.2rbetter.org>;and click on “Interlinear”. At the close of the Introduction, is a “URL”, leading to Toronto, Canada, for an article on “How to Use Bible Numerics to witness to Mathematical and Scientific individuals.” There are 5 links in this article. The one under “Dr. Keith L. Brooks,” is helpful as an introduction. It also makes available how to order all books “by” or “on” Ivan Panin. Karl Sabiers book was written in 1941 one year before Panin's death in Aldershot, Ontario. Sabiers interviewed him for one year prior to the writing of this book, so it clearly represents the final thinking of Panin on this Discovery. Panin's Introduction to his Bible Numeric Greek NT is very helpful also, for those who desire to check out more thoroughly this extraordinary Discovery. Panin was not the first to make this Discovery. It had been uncovered by Astruc in the 1700's - but Panin was the first to do 100,0000 hours of research to produce a Greek NT with no alternate readings, and an English translation setting forth the contextual basis of sentences, subdivision, paragraphs and sections or chapter equivalents. Because of this phenomenal research, he could be called the true Discoverer.
I apologize for the length of this NOTE: there are many already convinced of the integrity of Panin's Discovery, and others who are interested to research it for personal satisfaction. Men like Dr. Jowett of Scotland, Winkie Pratney of New Zealand, Dr. David duPlessis of South Africa, are but 3 of hundreds who are satisfied with the Discovery claims of Dr. Panin. J.A.W.
Addendum: Here are a couple of good questions that came in as a result of the above mailing. I am giving them, plus my response: “I find the explanation about “bap-tisMOS” interesting. Obviously, I too hold that biblical baptism means the immersion of the believer. But I am curious about the explanation.
Two questions: If “bap-tisMOS means immersion, then why don't you translate it “immersion” rather than the more nebulous transliteration “baptism” that I believe was invented in the early English translations to avoid taking sides in the immersion/dipping/pouring debate?
And, what is the actual difference in meaning between “washing” and “immersion” since both would refer to the total contact of water with that which is being “baptized”? Does “washing” refer to the impact of the act ofbaptism while “immersion” refer to the mode of the act? - Just interested in your thinking.
Answer: Good questions - not sure if I can give a satisfactory answer - but here goes -
One: bap-tisMOS really doesn't mean immersion in the strict sense of what John the Baptist or Jesus' disciples or the early church did. It seems to be a specific noun used in Jewish liturgy for the Levitical washing of sacrifices and containers. In the Tabernacle and Temple there were water containers specifically for this purpose, not directly for immersion. The Levites washed parts of the sacrifice at these places, and the utensils connected with these duties - so that immersion was not really the thought here. My former associate took these 4 references, and applied them to all the other 76 - notkosher!
Here's another thought: John Knox, when sent back to Scotland by Calvin, had to make a decision on the “mode” of baptism. 49 went down to London from Scotland for this purpose. 24 voted for immersion; 24 for sprinkling. The Chairman cast the deciding vote for sprinkling - hence the Presbyterians (my background) by one vote left the Baptist field!
King James set English translators to produce the King James or Authorized Version of 1611. The King was a language scholar, so the translators came to him with their specific problem. They reminded him that bapTIzoin the Greek literally means to dip or immerse. Should they translate it this way, the people would say - “Then why don't we do it?” But if we transliterate the Greek word, we can give it any meaning we want.”
Reply of the King - “Transliterate it” - and say it means to sprinkle. - Interesting!
Question 2 - The difference between “washing” and “immersion is based on the technical Levitical use of the two words. So - only 4 times in the NT is “washing' the proper translation for the technical use of bap-tisMOS - while all the other 76 are properly translated dip as in dyeing - or immersion. So - really there isa distinct difference as I understand between bap-tisMOS and the other references, and should not be confused.
Maybe this doesn't answer your questions to your satisfaction - but it seems the best I can do - Jim