One Year Anniversary of Promotion

I just realized that it has been one year since my promotion to full professor last year. My body and spirit go well hand in hand. I pray that I will maintain speed and quality in my teaching and research. I am that I am. I will be that I will be.

Power of note (Proverbs)

The Book of Proverbs feeds my imagination. Just finished reading all 31 chapters with notes. Here is my first-page note to which I will come back. Close reading is the beginning of biblical interpretation. Tomorrow I will move on to the Book of Job.

Wisdom everyday

I am thinking of wisdom.

1 Cor 9:16

1 Cor 9:16ab:
"If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me"

For Paul, the gospel (or the good news) has to do with both the gospel of God (c.f., Rom 1:1) and the gospel of Christ. The gospel of God means the good news about God and the good news that God declared through Abraham and other prophets.

The good news of Christ is the gospel Jesus proclaimed. Namely, he proclaimed the gospel of God. The gospel of Christ also means the good news about Christ because he did good things for God and people. Christ's love and grace are also important. Paul believes that Christ demonstrated God's righteousness through faith. In other words, he risked his life and he was crucified because of his bold proclamation of God's good news, not Rome's good news or Rome's rule.

Therefore, Paul proclaims the good news of God through Christ. That is, he emphasizes Christ crucified (1 Cor 2:2) and his faithfulness and his grace. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith. Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. Preaching is his duty to make this truth and power of God effective to all. It is not for boasting. He believes his God-given calling is to proclaim the good news of God through Jesus.

For this job, he does not want to burden anyone with financial things. He wants to live a simple life, so that the gospel may be proclaimed to the poor and weak who cannot pay him at all. An obligation is laid on him because he was called by God to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles. 

The third revision of the commentary on 2 Corinthians

I summarize what I have done so far in my manuscript, 2 Corinthians: Contextual Critical Commentary (Cascade Books 2024 estimated).

• The first stage: Writing a full story of the book in one sitting (40 days).
• The second stage: Revising and refining (14 days).
• The third stage: The focus is to embellish the manuscript by engaging more in scholarly literature and finalizing the bibliography (5-6 days).

*Conclusion: I can write a new book in 2 months (of course, my style book with about 40k words).

The book begins with the following paragraph:

Though this book is not a verse-by-verse commentary on 2 Corinthians, it involves a new translation and new literary outlines with which we will examine the text critically and seek to forge contemporary implications. However, the difficulty of outlining and interpreting the letter lies in whether this letter is a single, unified letter or a composite document.

The book ends with the following:

“Jesus’s crucifixion by weakness” implies a double entendre that he did not give up on God’s righteousness that must be effective to all, and therefore that he could not escape death because of his persistence in God’s love for them. His crucifixion results from what he said and did concerning God’s radical love and justice. His death by weakness means his humiliation, torture, and crucifixion, and he could not overcome these because he was weak as the Messiah. But God makes him live. Jesus, as the last Adam, became “a life-giving spirit” (1 Cor 15:45).

2 Corinthians

Contextual Critical Commentary

(Cascade, forthcoming 2024)

Working Manuscript

  

Yung Suk Kim

Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity

Virginia Union University 

Dr. Boykin Sanders's Lecture: "My Life in the Ministry"

Dr. Boykin Sanders’s lecture: "My Life in the Ministry." He is Distinguished Professor of New Testament and served 40 years at our school, Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. He has brought us the spirit of protest, challenging the normative, traditional theological education. He always blew the trumpet with the melody of justice. I have been with him as a dear colleague for the past 17 years. I have quick, free notes of the lecture: 

"I enjoyed not being okay. I am a freedom fighter. Redefine what you do. Pray for what? Black people with white Jesus? What do you know about Jesus? Hear other voices. Start with nothing." #stvu

One pearl of great value (Matt 13:45-46)

[Courtesy of FreeBibleImages.org]

 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it" (Matt 13:45-46)

In the parable of pearls, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven with a merchant. So, we have to see the merchant's behavior in the story. This parable differs from the parable of treasure in which Jesus compares the kingdom with the treasure hidden in the field and discovered by accident. But in the parable of pearls, the merchant went out to search for fine pearls. As a merchant, he has to buy many fine pearls, not a single pearl. That must be his business rule number one because he has to store many fine pearls in his warehouse and sell them later with much profit. But something happened when he found one pearl of great value. He sold everything to buy it. Then, he did not search for fine pearls anymore. His action seems silly from the usual business practice, as noted before.

The question is: Would he sell his one pearl of great value? If he sells it, it means the one pearl he found is not so precious to him. Supposedly, one pearl of great value he found must be so priceless that he would not sell it. That is, he may not live without it. Then, what would that be?

If he did not sell it, he would have economic difficulties. Keeping one great pearl looks foolish in some sense.

This merchant is not the same person anymore. He used to be a typical merchant who went out to find many fine pearls (plural) to make more profit.

We may need one vocation of great value, one great love, one great dedication, and one commitment to God. We need to find something without which we cannot live. That is one pearl of great value.

What is something of great value you want to buy and keep by investing all you have?

*My book on the parables of Jesus: Jesus's Truth: Life in Parables (2018).

2 Cor 7:10: Which Grief?

"ἡ γὰρ κατὰ θεὸν λύπη μετάνοιαν εἰς σωτηρίαν ἀμεταμέλητον ἐργάζεται· ἡ δὲ τοῦ κόσμου λύπη θάνατον κατεργάζεται."

"For grief according to God produces repentance for salvation without regret, but the grief of the world produces death" (trans. by Yung Suk Kim).

Here, Paul juxtaposes "grief according to God" (kata theon lupé) with "the grief of the world" (tou kosmou lupé). Part of what I wrote in my forthcoming commentary on 2 Corinthians (2 Corinthians: Contextual Critical Commentary by Cascade):

In Stoic society, showing grief/pain is considered weak, so people endure pain and go to die without hope. They are distressed, disconsolate, and dejected, yet they do not know what to do with their pain, which is left uncared as much as it suffocates them. So, tou kosmou lupé must be worldly grief that does not find hope in God. Without hope in the God of mercy, the end of pain would be death. Likewise, Paul says "worldly grief produces death" (2 Cor 7:10).

Then, what is godly grief? I continue to write about it.

religious study

I learned a lot because of this textbook I used years ago when I taught one course at a community college, in addition to my regular job at my school. At some point in the coming years, I love to use this one for seminary students in my elective course. This book is about the religious study, and the major question to be tackled is why humans are religious. Apparently, it surveys world religions according to their message, rituals, and history. I think theological students need to know basic religious theory and history.

Book writing tips

I have the pleasure of sharing my book writing tips. Since 2005, I have written almost 20 books, editing two volumes.   

1. When you feel ready to write something after enough research and brainstorming, begin to write from your heart and do it non-stop, day and night. Once I start, I write for several hours, and I have enough rest for several hours during which I may do whatever I want: sleeping, watching videos, listening to music, walking in a park, on a couch, or in a massaging chair. Then, my mind becomes clear and rebooted with much energy. Then, I write again and take a rest later. I repeat this tempo and rhythm. If you don't feel like writing, stop it and come back later if you feel ready again. I write what I think is most important for my intended readers. I try to write it clearly as if I were reading for them. This first stage won't take more than 2--3 months, depending on the project. In this stage, the most crucial part is to keep writing and surface the crest of your points, like your storytelling in one sitting.

2. Pause for a week or so after the first round. Then, reread what you wrote, refine it, and make sure about documentation including citations. This second step will take about the same amount of time, 2--3 months, depending on the project.

3. The third stage is to ensure the quality of the manuscript by proofreading and asking for feedback from colleagues.

  

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