Lightning Bug and Lightening

Lightning bugs (aka fireflies and glowworms) are small beetles that can illuminate the lower half of their bodies to attract their prey and mates. On the other hand, lightning bolts are powerful electric discharges (one gigajoule of energy) from electrically charged clouds. Mark Twain said, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

In theology, too, this difference exists, especially when we translate a word or a sentence from one language to another. The Greeks, for example, used a particular “case” (a form of a noun) to show (a) reference, (b) location, and (c) instrument:

I gave the book to Thomas (a)

I sat in the rain (b)

I was trained by a carpenter (c)

All these propositions – to, in, by – come from one form in Greek, the dative case.

Peter had finished exhorting people to do good and suffer for doing good rather than doing evil. And he gave the Messiah as the most excellent example:

“Christ died once for sinners – the righteous for the unrighteous – so that he might draw them to God, by being put to death in the flesh and being raised to life in or by the s/Spirit.” (1 Pet 3:18)

Christ Jesus didn’t die for his sins; he was righteous. He died to draw people nearer to God. While he was innocent, he died for the guilty. That Peter wanted his congregations to understand.

The last phrase, a dative case, however, has caused a great many theological debates. The Greek construction is just four words [I’ll hyphenate it to show the words] in a poetry format:

Being-put-to-death [a passive verb] in-flesh [a dative case]

Being-made-alive [a passive verb] in/by-s/Spirit [a dative case]

The passive verbs tell us that someone else did this to the Messiah. The first phrase isn’t difficult – the religious leaders and the soldiers put Jesus to death while he was in his fleshly body. With the second phrase, however, scholars take two views: “in his spirit” or “by the Spirit [Holy Spirit]. The words for one’s spirit and [Holy] Spirit are the same – pneuma.

Some understand the “spirit” as “Jesus’s spirit” and opposite to his flesh – “He was put to death in his flesh, and his spirit alone was raised to life.” He was like a ghost. This, however, contradicts Jesus’s own words:

“See my hands and my feet – I am he. Touch me and see. A spirit (pneuma) doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” (Luke 24:39)

The resurrected Jesus had flesh and bones. He was unlike Casper’s uncles, whose food fell to the floor as they ate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pu5AcGfMGc). He could sit on a chair, eat his food, break the bread, give the cup, etc. – all in a glorified state (“Fullness of divinity in a bodily form,” Col 2:9).

A better parallel is:

“Being put to death in his fleshly body, and

Being raised to life by the Spirit, i.e., the Holy Spirit.”

NT often attests to the truth that God raised Jesus through (instrumental) the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:11; Eph 1:19). The difference between in and by is the difference between a lightning bug and lightning. Jesus was raised to life by the Holy Spirit.

We can’t forget the basic message of this poem: the Messiah suffered innocently. The same call waits for the believers: if we must suffer, it must be for doing good.