Title Agados (Hebrews 9:11, Word Study)
Contents
Agados is used as an adjective and a real name to express the excellence or importance of an object or person. As an adjective, this word means 'excellent, excellent, good, excellent'. As a real name, this word signifies the excellence of a person, the quality of things, or the good of something material or spiritual. And it also signifies moral and spiritual integrity in Greek philosophy, and salvation in Hellenism and the Bible. Thus, the word is used to describe a person, object, condition, state, quality, emotion, action, or time.
I. Agados in Greek Philosophy
The concept of good (善) plays an important role. The philosopher's concern is to understand what is important to give meaning to existence. For example, the Sophists identified good with pleasure. According to Plato, the concept of good is the most noble and superior idea, giving up everything. For good is the power that preserves and sustains, in contrast to evil that corrupts and destroys. A person becomes good through the discipline of goodness. Aristotle said that good is divine or rational, virtue or moderation, or necessary. And he defines the purpose of every action in his ethics as the attainment of some form of good.
2. Agados in Hellenism
In Hellenism (less humanistic), the concept of agados, or Zen, took on a religious color, and once became popular in a religious sense. The good signifies salvation. According to the Hermes texts, salvation comes from Divinity, that is, by deification, and is good. Therefore, in the nature of goodness, the God who brings salvation was preserved (God is good). For only God can be free from being attached to matter. On the other hand, good means “please God” on our part, and 'kindness, goodness' on God's part. Man is made good by abstinence and sanctification of material things.
For Philo (a commentator on Hellenistic Judaism) the supreme good deity is a personal God. Philo pointed to moderation, the fear of God, and wisdom as the greatest assets needed for the soul to find the path to God, the highest good. Godliness, faith, and wisdom are good things, and with God's help, we can come to know God and serve Him.
3. Agados in the Old Testament and Judaism
a) The approach to good in the Old Testament and in Judaism is as religious as in Hellenism, but what is decisive here is God's self-revelation. In the Old Testament, the concept of goodness is inextricably linked with man's belief in God. The concept of good as a human being separate from the concept of God - compared to the concept in Greek and Hellenistic thought - is unthinkable. Goodness is always a gift of God from God, and therefore good is outside the control of human power (Genesis 3:5).
In the Old Testament, the idea that God is not just 'good' but has a good disposition is thoroughly presupposed. In the Old Testament, this recognition was further developed as the relationship between God and the people and between God and the individual matured.
The fact that God alone is good means that in the Old Testament he saved his chosen people, gave the law (Deut. 30:I5; Prov. 28:10), and the Exodus and Conquest of Canaan (Ex. 18:9; Deuteronomy). IO:29 et seq.) became apparent in historical events. The Israelites, whether in God's creative activity (Gen. l:l-8), in his word (Isaiah 39:8), in his spirit (Psalm l 43:l0), even when he appeared to speak to his opponents. (Genesis 50:20) From the knowledge that everything that comes from God is good, it developed into a new opportunity to praise God as only good.
God does good in His work through history (cf. Exod. 8:9), the purpose of which is salvation and to give direction to man through the law. The good has already been done, and it is also prepared. The good that God promised His people will be fulfilled in reality in messianic and eschatological salvation (Leviticus 32:39-42; Isaiah 52:7). On the other hand, we can know what good is through the will of God revealed in the law. Those who do good are good. But whether this would be possible without God's help is debatable. The evangelist thinks it is impossible without God's help (Ecclesiastes 7:20).
b) Rabbinic Judaism believed that the goodness of Hina Nim brought salvation. What is good and what is achievable is revealed in the law. Only when we practice God's law can man do good and become good. Nevertheless, the ultimate good can only be practiced in the personal relationship between God and man, and between man and fellow humans.
4. Agados in the New Testament
a) The basic approach is also religious. Only God is truly good. Jesus said, "No one is good except one God" (Mark 10:I7ff; Luke 8:18ff; Matthew I9:I7). The personal concept of God cannot be expressed in neuter. Agados in these verses signifies moral perfection and expresses the essential goodness of God in goodness and kindness.
Salvation, the central point of New Testament thought, that is, the revelation of God's salvation in Jesus Christ comes from this God. Agados is used in this sense in Hebrews 9:11 (“Christ has come as high priest [of good things]”) and 10:1 (“The law is a shadow of [good things] to come”). The melonta agatha (good things to come) pertaining to the future world and to those communicated through the Torah as 'substances' of models and shadows are now given to the community in Christ. Those good works are “eternal atonement” (Ionia lyrosis, v. 12) and “serving the living God” (Lyreuein deo johnti, v. 14), that is, deliverance from the powers of sin and death, the living God to fellowship with and to serve him.
The goodness of God is the 'mercy' of doing "good works" through Christ. Therefore, it is only in Jesus Christ that human beings are given the opportunity of a new life. Human beings are good only insofar as they share it in God's goodness, and by doing good they can impart that goodness to others. Jesus, as the Good Shepherd (Kalos), is sacrificing his name to make the eternal good of salvation in effect right now (Kalos in this verse is used as a synonym for Agados).
Jesus' words in Mark and Luke's message probably imply that man can never be innocent, so if you think of me as a man, you cannot call me good.
Matthew's message accurately conveys Jesus' intention. He does not raise the question of his own innocence, but rather raises the question of the glory of God. That is to say, the answer to Jesus' interrogator is left to the word of God's sovereignty and perfect goodness. The problem is that the interrogator should kneel before him and turn his attention to God, who is the only good who should give him glory.
In John 1:46, in the skeptical question, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth," Agathon (neutral), which corresponds to "good thing," is 'salvation' (cf. salvation that brings According to Morris, this question does not reflect any known views of Nazareth, but is best understood as the argument of someone who thought the Messiah could never come from such an insignificant place.
b) There is nothing in the world that can be called good, and there is no one who can be called good. The distinction between right and wrong between the institutions established by men is broken before God. This shows that (1) God alone is good and nothing else is good, and (2) melonta agathas (the good things to come) are the only true agados because sin and death are eliminated in them. . - End -