A call to breathe together and walk together is all about recalling the pia conspiratio � �the pious breathing together� � which was urged by John Calvin in his Preface to the Catechism and the Confession of Faith [1538], which consultation made a commitment to breathe together and walk together in this journey. If we want to prove our obedience to our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, then we must bind ourselves in a pia conspiratio to cultivate its peace among ourselves. What? Is the enemy, the devil himself, driving us to be thus united with one another? NO! [Preface to the Catechism and the Confession of Faith CO 5, 321 (1538)].
The literal translation of conspiratio is �breathing together�. The term is normally used to designate �accord� or �harmony�. For Calvin it has no doubt a deeper meaning: the Christian community can share the same breath.
Remember those who have rule over YOU in the word of God by the doctrine of grace should be followed (Heb 13:7, 9); Herein they should be obeyed, because they have rule over you: Wherein you are to SUBMIT YOURSELF TO THEIR LOVE, which is the profitable thing to do (13:17, 1). Those who are in this [loving] service need to supply the wants of its saints, who are the administrators of it, so that thanksgiving would be unto God (2Cor 9:12). Which experimental administration [of to love] sets forth the exceeding grace of God needs to be i9n us (9:13-14). Thanks is for ITS GIFT which is without words [unspeakable] (9:15).
Let us take a look at THIS GIFT OF GRACE: Herein called the spiritual gift, which can be imparted (Rom 1:11). Which impartation is by our breath/soul (1Thes 2:8). We need to find this rest for our souls from those who are so meek in heart that we can learn all of this from them (Mt 11:29-28).
STRONG�S INTERLINEAR: SOUL [5590] psuche from [5594], TDNT � 9:608,1342;n f AV � soul (58 times), life (40), mind (3), heart (1), heartily. (1 breath 1a) the breath of life � the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing.
ADAM CLARK: Being affectionately desirous of you - We had such intense love for you that we were not only willing and forward to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to you, but also to give our own lives for your sake, because you were dear, because you were beloved by us. The words used here by the apostle are expressive of the strongest affection and attachment.
BARNES NOTES: So, being affectionately desirous of you - The word here rendered �being affectionately desirous� � occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means to �long after, to have a strong affection for�. The sense here is, that Paul was so strongly attached to them that he would have been willing to lay down his life for them.
We were willing to have imparted unto you - To have given or communicated; [RE: Romans 1:11]. But also our own souls - Or rather �lives� � psuchas; Matthew 6:25, 20:28, Luke 12:22, 12:13, Mark 3:4. This does not mean that the apostle was willing to be damned, or to lose his soul in order to save them, but that if it had been necessary he would have been ready to lay down his life; see 1 John 3:16.
FORERUNNER COMMENTARY: Although the context is somewhat different, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16, like Romans 1:15, reinforces the point that �preaching the gospel� includes teaching the church. Not just a means of conversion, the preaching of the gospel supplies continued growth in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Paul followed this procedure in Thessalonica. He preached to the Thessalonians for a long time, stretching from their first exposure to the gospel through conversion until with further growth they became imitators of the churches of God in Judea [verse 14].
JAMIESON, FAUSSET, AND BROWN: So�to be joined to �we were willing�, �As a nurse cherishes� so we were willing�, etc. [Alford]. But Bengel, �So,� that is, seeing that we have such affection for you.
Being affectionately desirous�The oldest reading in the Greek implies, literally, to connect one�s self with another; to be closely attached to another.
JOHN WESLEY�S NOTES: To impart our own souls � To lay down our lives for your sake.
ROBERTSON�S WORD PICTURES [NT]: Even so, being affectionately desirous of you [outwv omeiromenoi umwn]. Clearly the correct text rather than imeiromenoi from imeirw, old verb to long. But the verb omeiromai [Westcott and Hort om., smooth breathing] occurs nowhere else except MSS. In Job 3:21; Psalms 62:2 [Symmachus] and the Lycaonian sepulchral inscription [4th century AD]about the sorrowing parents omeiromenoi peri paidov.
To impart [metadounai]. Second aorist active infinitive of metadidwmi, old verb to share with [see on Luke 3:11].
The Son of man came to minister His breath to many (Mt 20:28, Jn 10:11).
John Courtney Murray once described the early church as a �conspiracy�. By that he meant that ancient believers �breathed together� [con: �with� and spire: �breath�]. It wasn�t sinister behavior, of course, that held these Christians together. It was their shared sense of grace, their breathing together as a people of God. The contemporary church has exactly the same potential and same requirement. God�s people can breathe together, modeling a common way of life that is good for the world. As members of one body, the body of Christ, they all breathed together. Though regarded by outsiders as a sinister behavior, those in the church understood themselves to be practicing a common way of life, breathing together, a way of life grounded in common values, which would be meaningful for those within the church and had the potential to be meaningful for the rest of the world as well. The word �Conspire� means to �breathe together� in Latin.
The word conspire carries a ton of negative baggage, but in the Greek the word conspire means breathing together. When people conspire, when they plan together secretly, they are breathing together, you can just picture them huddled together, planning. In the same way, when God works with us to advance His will we breathe together with God. God fills us with life, inspirations, and power. [Community Congregational Church].
In today�s world of transformation and the emerging consciousness of positive human potential, the word inspire is very often uttered into the air. �I�m inspired.� �You inspire me.� �That was inspiring.� We are often inspired by those teachers and role models that speak most directly to our hearts, but what does the word inspire really mean? It comes from the Latin �in� which means �inside� or �to infuse with� and �spirare� which means �breath�. In essence to inspire is to infuse with breath! An alternate meaning is to breath life into!
There is a connection between spiritual experience and having �spirit� [in the sense of an animating courage]. Both words come from the Latin word for breathing. Our breath is �the part of the self that is most tangibly at the same time our and not-ours.� Think about it.
One of the early church fathers, Clement of Alexandria, writing in the second century, recognized the connection between breathing and the church. �Breathing together is properly said to be of the church. For the gift of the church is the Word breathing as incense from holy souls.� The Word of God has a bodily and communal character.
Now this writing made a lot of sense to me LOL, thank you. And I encourage you to continue to hang in there and use commentaries to help you in your studying of God Word and your writings... May God bless you in all things:glow::applause:
