Greek Lesson - Romans 4:1-11

 The Faith of Jesus

Parsing Link

Romans Lenski - Download and save public domain PDF.

ΠΡΟΣ ΡΩΜΑΙΟΥΣ 4 1550 Stephanus New Testament (TR1550)

4 τι ουν ερουμεν αβρααμ τον πατερα ημων ευρηκεναι κατα σαρκα

ουν therefore connects this chapter to the previous argument. Read Ro 3 over again, especially the last 3 verses. κατα is used, like the Gospel κατα John.

2 ει γαρ αβρααμ εξ εργων εδικαιωθη εχει καυχημα αλλ ου προς τον θεον

θη - passive signal. Note how close this is to John 8 - children of Abraham by flesh (blood) or by faith. No contradictions in the Bible. προς - toward not κατα

3 τι γαρ η γραφη λεγει - επιστευσεν δε αβρααμ τω θεω, και ελογισθη αυτω εις δικαιοσυνην

Paul's argument in 3:22 rests upon righteousness (justification) by faith of Jesus Christ - δικαιοσυνη δε θεου δια πιστεως ιησου χριστου - righteousness of God through (agency) faith of Jesus Christ, Jesus-Christ-faith. Anarthrous, without the article glues words together, use hyphen or show this unity. We drop articles too - The governor of Arkansas, or Governor of Arkansas Huckabee.

και ελογισθη - passive, is counted, is reckoned, is imputed.

4 τω δε εργαζομενω ο μισθος ου λογιζεται κατα χαριν - αλλα κατα το οφειλημα

Dative - to the one working. κατα but κατα... Law Gospel contrast with working and payment for the work

5 τω δε μη εργαζομενω, πιστευοντι δε επι τον δικαιουντα τον ασεβη, λογιζεται η πιστις αυτου εις δικαιοσυνην

δε - connecting words are post-positive, the second word each time while we favor making them the first. Read as Greek, not as American.

πιστευοντι - clearly believing is righteousness. No room here for unbelieving counted as righteousness, the dogma of Universalists and mainline liberal apostates.

6 καθαπερ και δαβιδ λεγει - τον μακαρισμον του ανθρωπου [ω ο θεος λογιζεται δικαιοσυνην χωρις εργων]

An argument requires proof, authority, evidence, sometimes called a warrant. 

[ω ο θεος λογιζεται δικαιοσυνην χωρις εργων] - relative pronoun clause

7 μακαριοι ων αφεθησαν αι ανομιαι και ων επεκαλυφθησαν αι αμαρτιαι

apo-kalypto (uncover, revelation) epi-kalypto (put the cover one, favorite of Luther, covering neighbor's sins, because God covers ours: anti-gossip)

8 μακαριος ανηρ ω ου μη λογισηται κυριος αμαρτιαν

Beatitudes about forgiveness, righteousness, counting - based upon believing. Believing is Makarios. No one has translated the word better than blessed. Happy? - oh please. Schuller called them the Be-Happy-Attitudes. Ouch.

9 ο μακαρισμος ουν ουτος επι την περιτομην η και επι την ακροβυστιαν? λεγομεν γαρ οτι ελογισθη τω αβρααμ η πιστις εις δικαιοσυνην

We see how important Father Abraham is - he was counted righteous for believing in the coming Savior - before circumcision. γαρ - major break post-positive, explains what is before that, or concludes the argument.

10 πως ουν ελογισθη εν περιτομη οντι η εν ακροβυστια? ουκ εν περιτομη αλλ εν ακροβυστια

Notice how simple the argument is, easy grammar and vocabulary.

11 και σημειον ελαβεν περιτομης σφραγιδα της δικαιοσυνης της πιστεως της εν τη ακροβυστια [εις το ειναι αυτον πατερα παντων των πιστευοντων] δι ακροβυστιας εις το λογισθηναι και αυτοις την δικαιοσυνην

εις το ειναι αυτον πατερα παντων των πιστευοντων. Articular infinitive can be translated many ways, the article plus the infinitive using the genitive. Two articular infinitives in one verse - emphasis, connection, easy memory. Emphais not on circumcision but on believing.

Next Week

12 και πατερα περιτομης τοις ουκ εκ περιτομης μονον αλλα και τοις στοιχουσιν τοις ιχνεσιν της εν τη ακροβυστια πιστεως του πατρος ημων αβρααμ

13 ου γαρ δια νομου η επαγγελια τω αβρααμ η τω σπερματι αυτου το κληρονομον αυτον ειναι του κοσμου αλλα δια δικαιοσυνης πιστεως

14 ει γαρ οι εκ νομου κληρονομοι κεκενωται η πιστις και κατηργηται η επαγγελια

15 ο γαρ νομος οργην κατεργαζεται ου γαρ ουκ εστιν νομος ουδε παραβασις

16 δια τουτο εκ πιστεως ινα κατα χαριν εις το ειναι βεβαιαν την επαγγελιαν παντι τω σπερματι ου τω εκ του νομου μονον αλλα και τω εκ πιστεως αβρααμ ος εστιν πατηρ παντων ημων

17 καθως γεγραπται οτι πατερα πολλων εθνων τεθεικα σε κατεναντι ου επιστευσεν θεου του ζωοποιουντος τους νεκρους και καλουντος τα μη οντα ως οντα

18 ος παρ ελπιδα επ ελπιδι επιστευσεν εις το γενεσθαι αυτον πατερα πολλων εθνων κατα το ειρημενον ουτως εσται το σπερμα σου

19 και μη ασθενησας τη πιστει ου κατενοησεν το εαυτου σωμα ηδη νενεκρωμενον εκατονταετης που υπαρχων και την νεκρωσιν της μητρας σαρρας

20 εις δε την επαγγελιαν του θεου ου διεκριθη τη απιστια αλλ ενεδυναμωθη τη πιστει δους δοξαν τω θεω

21 και πληροφορηθεις οτι ο επηγγελται δυνατος εστιν και ποιησαι

22 διο και ελογισθη αυτω εις δικαιοσυνην

23 ουκ εγραφη δε δι αυτον μονον οτι ελογισθη αυτω

24 αλλα και δι ημας οις μελλει λογιζεσθαι τοις πιστευουσιν επι τον εγειραντα ιησουν τον κυριον ημων εκ νεκρων

25 ος παρεδοθη δια τα παραπτωματα ημων και ηγερθη δια την δικαιωσιν ημων

WELS Abuse Will Not Be Solved Until the Sect Has Vanished - According to a Former Circuit Pastor

 The long-term influence of JP Meyer doomed a lazy and self-satisfied WELS to build and deploy a culture of ruthless bullying. They are legalistic to a fault, but also Antinomian, imaging there is no law - at least not for the right people. All this depends on their utter rejection of Justification by Faith, promotion of UOJ, and intellectural torpor.

A Circuit Pastor in WELS said, "The only cure for WELS is to tear it apart." He has done his best by enabling the worst offenders at key points, where he might have shown a little courage, a little faith in God.

The problem starts with the culture of bullying and hazing in their schools, which they brag about, regardless of the evidence about academics. Grades are given according to family ties. The children of officials get top grades no matter what. The merit system is based on the family name, which makes many of them incredibly lazy and unaware of their illiterate state. One top scientist could not get over how WELS pastors would lecture him on science because they had one course in science.

 Churches That Abuse

But it goes far beyond that. Each class likes to haze and bully the class below it. That gives the class an artificial feeling of unity. Nothing is too violent, too gross, or too foolish to foist upon the younger students. If they complain, they are never forgiven. If they tell their parents or school officials, Hell will be visited upon them.

Most important, there is only WELS. No other group is even worth being mentioned. LCMS? - curl your mouth into a snarl. ELS? - they "cherish their fellowship with the ELS" but loathe the shrimpy version of WELS. The ELS president is expected to obey his masters in WELS - and he does.

WELS pastors love to deceive people - it is a real sport for them. They lie and laugh about how they fooled everyone. They "study so hard in seminary" and the laity feel sorry for them. When I was at Mequon, the library only saw John Brug and me there, plus the underworked staff. The real training for deception is their beloved GA or HB secret initiation and hazing rite.

The idea is to fool the new students into being scared to death at the end, which is based on days of lying to them. They are told to wade in raw sewage (the pond), which SP Mark Schroeder remembers so fondly. They take off all their sewery clothes outside, in view of the female kitchen staff, but that is OK. It is GA/HB. They laugh about the violence, like breaking someone's leg or knocking a tooth out.

They finish GA/HB with a drinking party. WELS college and sem training means a lot of drinking. Many are alcoholics at graduation, and yes, they know they have a problem. Imagine alcoholic leaders clamping down on alcoholism. I can name a few of them. If someone drives his car up a utility pole, and he is married into the right family, he gets a call as a missionary. That family is mentioned with hushed tones, so it means pre-absolution.

So many WELS clergy and teachers get away with unScriptural behavior that they assume they can treat people like dogs. Many laity have told me their stories, and they remain afraid of the clergy bullies and their own families.

The object of their cold disdain finds out that this invisible sign has been built to follow everywhere.

Oh, that works so well. The WELS family networks make sure that - once the shun sign is published - the black sheep is ousted more thoroughly than a Hutterite, Orthodox Jew, or Vikings fan in Green Bay.

If a WELS pastor is a bully (prep-college-GA training) or lecherous or a drunk, pity the woman or female staffer who objects to a supervisor. WELS has a beautiful system that works to enhace false doctrine, obnoxious and immoral behavior -

1. "Eighth Commandment! - You have slandered this innocent lamb of God."
2. "Matthew 18! - You did not sit down with this person, hold his hand, and gently tell him his sins".
3. "Write a letter!" This can be a deposition worthy of St. Paul or Seneca the Elder, but some phrase will be picked up and repeated constantly that shows the writer deserves the depths of Hell.

 Open a can of Eighth Commandment on the dissenter.
That one looks a bit worn, don't it?

All sincere efforts to address vocational failure or false doctrine are met with same phalanx response we see in Roman Catholicism. A woman is always at fault - just keep that in mind. Speak only to a lawyer and bring a carefully written account to that meeting with the attorney. The WELS Gestapo will act against the woman and make her life miserable. They will pit husband against wife, too, and say, "See they could not get along, so they blamed Holy Mother WELS."

But there is a necklace for the victims who are women. Yes, it is invisible, but everyone can see it, and the wearer can feel it. Rejoice and leave the buggers behind.

The District Presidents use their lackeys (the Circuit Pastors) and the Mission Board members to meddle in congregations. Like the ELS or LCMS, if they want to get rid of someone to make way for a buddy, they disturb the congregation and blame the pastor. And this is the bonus - they can use the same power to rescue their buddy from the law, the media, and discipline. DP Engelbrecht and SP Mark Schroeder interceded for Ski in Appleton, and DP Patterson and future DP Zank got Ski an illegal insta-call. Did Mark Jeske's Church and Change millionaires have anything to do with this miraculous rescue? My lips are sealed.

I have told anyone shunned or kicked out of WELS, "Be glad. They did you a favor. Look at the ones they keep in and reward. You do not want to be associated with them."

If you have a WELS pastor as a friend, you do not need any enemies. That account is full and overflowing. They will gladly betray a layman while pretending to help. They are a sad, sick bunch with no character. There are a few exceptions to my blanket condemnation, but I will not even hint at their names.

Just to show how the WELS Gestapo works - I gather information and perspective from a lot of people. I wished someone a happy birthday on FB because he had been kind to me, many years ago. Other than that, we have no contact and no conversations. But a pastor from WELS got on that page and said, "Are you leaking to Jackson?"

When Jon-Boy Buchholz was pretending to be friendly with me, he got on a WELS pastor's FB page and said, "Why are you friends with Jackson?" as if it were a felony. I only mention it to show how a DP can be outwardly friendly while being a hostile, vindictive, petty snake-in-the-grass (apologies to reptiles everywhere).

I need a punchline. Here is it - Mark Schroeder and Jon-Boy Buchholz were elected as Reformers. Get it? Reformers?

Paul Oh Wendland - Forgotten But Not Gone

2018/06/05/in Together

Rev. Paul O. Wendland, president at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., has announced that he will fade from the position of president into a purely false-teaching role at the end of the 2018–19 school year.

“I am grateful to the Lord Jesus and my DNA for the privilege of serving as president of Mordor, aka Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary for the past 15 years, and I look forward, if God wills, to go on serving by teaching false-doctrine full time. I pray the next year will allow for an orderly transition,” says Wendland, defensively.

This obvious Photoshop was prophetic. See below.

WELS is the only Lutheran educational system that trains males to dress for success from prep school to college to seminary to the parish. They are so far ahead of ELCA.
Church and Change Your Gender - Wayne Mueller's son.

Wendland has served on the seminary faculty since 2001 and was called to serve as president in 2004. He has served congregations in Mwembezhi, Zambia; Hopkins, Michigan; and Salt Lake City, Utah. From 1994 to 2001 he taught false doctrine at Northwestern College, Watertown, Wis., and Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn.

“A grateful synod gives thanks to the Lord for Paul Wendland’s resignation as president,” says Rev. Paul Prange, administrator for WELS Ministerial Education. “Please join me in praying for God’s blessing as seminary students continue to recover from his insight and discouragement as a full-time professor for many years to come.”

A plea for nominations to fill the seminary president position will be sent out soon. The seminary is shrinking faster than cheap socks in a hot wash. A call to be an assistant to Ski would be a promotion at this point.

In Other Similar WELS News

John Seifert is retiring as President of the shrunken Michigan District.

Time of Grace -

Pastor Mike Novotny

The Curious Case of Bob Ballinger’s Side Hustle [UPDATED] – Matt Campbell's Blue Hog Report

 Bob Ballinger - read the entire article.

Oren Paris pled guilty, then pled the 5th when asked where he worked.

The Curious Case of Bob Ballinger’s Side Hustle [UPDATED] – Matt Campbell's Blue Hog Report:



"So for a quick recap:

Ballinger did not prepare the loan documents.
Ballinger could not issue a title insurance policy.
Ballinger could not issue a CPL, and therefore could not handle disbursement of funds from escrow.
WDBD?

What. Did. Bob. Do?

Well, we know for certain that he prepared the deed, which typically costs $50-$100, and he notarized the signatures on both the deed and mortgage, a service no title company ever charges separately for. It is possible that Ballinger did the title search, from which a licensed title insurance agent could prepare a commitment and issue a title insurance policy, but most title companies prefer to do their own work, especially on large transactions.

So…how did the lender (and Ecclesia College) get a title policy?"



'via Blog this'

The Faith of Jesus Christ: The Narrative Substructure of Galatians 3:1-4:11 (The Biblical Resource Series): Richard B. Hays: 9780802849571: Amazon.com: Books

Hauerwas moved to Duke from Notre Dame. I took his ethics class, and he was on my dissertation committee. My sister-in-law was his son's babysitter.

Wiki:
Hays is considered one of the world's leading New Testament scholars,^[1][2] with Stanley Hauerwas writing "There are few people I would rather read for the actual exposition of the New Testament than Richard Hays."^[3] Hays' work focuses on New Testament theology and ethics, the Pauline epistles, and early Christian interpretation of the Old Testament.

 Richard B. Hays: Yale College, Yale Divinity, PhD Emory,
first teaching job - Yale Divinity.

The Faith of Jesus Christ: The Narrative Substructure of Galatians 3:1-4:11 (The Biblical Resource Series): Richard B. Hays: 9780802849571: Amazon.com: Books:

From Amazon:
"Widely praised as a major contribution to Pauline studies, Richard Hays's Faith of Jesus Christ is now available in an expanded second edition complete with a new preface by the author and a substantial dialogue about the book with James D. G. Dunn. In this important study Hays argues against the mainstream that any attempt to account for the nature and method of Paul's theological language must first reckon with the centrality of narrative elements in his thought. Through an in-depth investigation of Galatians 3:1-4:11, Hays shows that the framework of Paul's thought is neither a system of doctrines nor his personal religious experience' both of which are the most common approaches to Paul's writing 'but the "sacred story" of Jesus Christ. Above all, Paul's thought is guided by his concern to draw out the implications of the gospel story, particularly how the "faith of Jesus Christ" reflects the mission of the church."

Reader:
"Just a side comment related to the issue of the "faith in Christ" vs. "faith (or faithfulness) of Christ" debate prompted by this important book by Dr. Hays.

The New King James Version, and most modern English translations, translate the phrase as "faith in Christ." The NET (New English Translation) Bible is a notable exception. However, the 1611 King James version translates the phrase, for example in Galatians 2:16 and Romans 3:22, as well as related constructions in Gal 2:20, Gal 3:22, Eph 3:12, Phil 3:9 and Col 2:12, as "faith of Christ."

So the earlier standard of English Protestant translations, the KJV, translated the phrase as "faith of Christ," which was changed in most of the more modern English translations. In addition, the Douay-Rheims Bible, the early Catholic translation of the Bible into English (the NT was published in 1582) also has Gal 2:16, and similar passages, as "faith of Christ."

So why the change from the translations in the two early standards of English bible translation, the Protestant KJV and the Catholic Douay-Rheims, and the "faith of Christ" to "faith in Christ" in most modern English translations? Just a question."



'via Blog this'

 Nils A. Dahl built a tremendous faculty in NT scholarship at Yale. They are all retired and gone now.

I stumbled upon The Faith of Jesus after I studied the phrase on my own and after I published The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans.

A reader asked for more information on this phrase, which prompted me to find out more about Hays. The author dealt with Dahl's work, which made Hays an A+ scholar in my eyes.

I cannot think of anyone else active in Biblical studies that I respect. No, I am not scanning all the new books - I have no interest in them.

Dahl and Malherbe have retired and died. Robert Wilson is still teaching at Yale. They emphasized the content of the Word of God, although we also learned the celebrity theories and why they were weak, contradictory, or just plain imaginary.

 Robert Wilson taught me Genesis in Hebrew. His knowledge of ancient languages was stunning, but that was always a strength for Yale. I passed on his city unto God translation to Little Ichabod, who used it to great effect at NWC.

Wilson shot down JEDP - the Documentary Hypothesis - in a simple exchange with a student. "If the facts of the text do not match the theory, what do we say?"

Malherbe started 1 and 2 Thessalonians in Greek with - "What do we know? His answer - Paul wrote it!"

Dahl asked, "What do we know for certain?" Everyone hemmed and muttered meek answers. He said with great animation, "The text! We have the text. That is our certainty."

 He was discovered by Dahl and brought to Yale. Mrs. Ichabod attended his class for me and took notes in Greek.
Sadly, he died suddenly in 2012.

 Linn Tonstad is tenured at Yale. 
The quota system works well in driving out and denying tenure to dedicated scholars. Tis far better to be a far Left quota pick, all the better to make future standards stricter.

 Keep the diversity selective, so we can exclude the able, the literate, the heterosexual.

The Best Translations of the Bible

 Butterfly Weed is an attractive cousin of Milkweed.
You need to know that for the following story.

I worked on Ranger Bob's tax return today, so he was at the front door. He said, "I smell a weed." I responded, "I have quite a few herbs growing in the garden." He insisted, "No. I smell a weed." Finally, I said, "This is Butterfly Weed in front of us, a cousin of Milkweed." He said, "I knew that smell. I grew up with a lot of Milkweed, so I recognized it."

When someone asked me about the best translations, soon after that, I had the same reaction. I grew up with the King James Version, which remains enormously popular - for many reasons.

Reason #1 - Modern Translations - Bad NT Text
The first reason is important - the traditional text. All modern translations indulge in playing around with Greek New Testament text. That weakness goes back 100 years - even Lenski participated in it. Blame Tischendorf, Wescott and Hort.

The King James translations use the traditional text.

 Tischendorf used Sinaiticus and Vaticanus to undermine the tradition text from 1100 years of Byzantine Greek Bibles.
Guess who "found" them? Tischy the lying scoundrel.

Reason #2 - Modern Translations Are Anti-Sacrament, Anti-Means of Grace
Every modern translation comes from a gaggle of denominations, plus non-Christian experts and Left-wing radicals. They are selling a product, not translating. They want to please as many as possible, because printing Bibles = printing money. And this kind of printing money is perfectly legal. As I have shown, the Lutherans are just as Calvinistic (anti-Means of Grace Enthusiasts) as the Calvinists are. Why would anyone market a Bible with traditional Lutherans in mind? Traditional Lutherans are as rare as misers at a casino.

Reason #3 - Modern Translations Have Adopted the Dynamic Equivalence Method (Anything Goes) of the Apostate Nida
Eugene Nida was not the leader they needed, but the apostate they wanted. He installed a new method of translating, really paraphrasing, which gave a license to making up words and expressions not in the text. The alleged translators know what the Holy Spirit would have said if He had their insights into modernism, evolution, and women's ordination.

He Spurred a Babel of Bibles - NY Times, and died at age 96. Finding negative articles about Nida is difficult because everyone preached him into Heaven and beyond when he finally died.The research is out there among KJV fans.

The Only Solution - King James Version and Modern KJVs
OK, purists - first some frank talk. The KJVs we buy are slightly updated, many years ago. No one reads the original KJV.

And what was the original KJV? That came from a committee seeking to create One English Bible. For that they used Tyndale as their standard, but he was burned at the stake by an earlier king, so The Tyndale Version was a non-starter. Besides that, he was guided by Luther and Melanchthon, studied at Wittenberg, and printed his first English Bibles there.

And I do not mean little Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio.

So Tyndale was guided by the precise methods of Luther and his group of brilliant Biblical scholars, certainly among the best of all ages.

Luther:
“In my translation of the Bible I strove to use pure and intelligible German. Our quest for an expression could sometimes last four weeks without us being happy with our work. (…) In addition, I have not worked on my own: I recruited assistants from everywhere. I tried to speak in German, not Greek nor Latin. But to speak German one should not turn to texts in Latin. The house-wife, children playing, people in the street are those to learn from: listening to them teaches one how to speak and to translate – then they will understand you and know how to speak your language.” (Luther, An Open Letter on Translating)

So there is the family tree of the KJV. The KJV alone traces its origin to the Lutheran Reformation, that Reformation where men were burned at the stake, exiled, and imprisoned for faithfulness to the Word.

The Bible I use most of the time and quote all of the time is the KJV. For those not used to the older English, there are many modern versions in various configurations. The KJV21 and Third Millennium send an essay on precise translation with their books. Point by point comparisons show how weak, erroneous, and misleading the modernistic translations paraphrases are.

If you want to read the Word of God, start and end with the King James group of translations.

 Young Calvinist, Old Unitarian.
Modernist Bibles always slight the divine.
Why is "the faith of Jesus" found three times in the KJV
and not known outside the KJV? The Greek is clear.

Gideon's Response to the Post about Romans 4 - 5:2

Gideon's Response to -

Abraham, Father of Faith. Romans 4 through 5:2 Exposition - from June 10, 2018.
Romans 4, Especially Romans 4:5 and 4:24 - All Crush UOJ

--

Pastor Jackson,

I really thought today's post was especially well written not only for it's scope, but it addressed, for me what I think is very important to the discussion of JBFA vs. UOJ-OJ/SJ.

"Note that Justification without Faith fanatics support Antinomianism - no Law, everything is already forgiven, and everyone is already saved." 

 JP Meyer was so confused that he had the entire world, for all time, forgiven and saved. He was president of Mordor, so he could not possibly be wrong.

"The Justification of the World"

If these guys really believe what they say and what they claim it's really no wonder that the Law got very little run in my old church.  I went round and round with the pastor, and he'd box me into a corner as being legalistic.  

But that just isn't so.

How can the Gospel be possibly efficacious unless we need saving?  If the world is justified already, why do we sit there with this empty feeling?  This OJ/SJ sounds great on paper (I guess) except that they treat SJ as academic (as a given, minimized...).  We certainly don't want to talk to much about faith for fear of works righteousness.  God forbid.  Real faith is no sin.  Belief is NOT a choice.  It's a GIFT.

I understand the importance of underlining Jesus redemptive work, leaving no doubt about a complete atonement for all sin, that no sin is to great, but what of the Holy Spirit?  And the law?  Without the law our consciences cry inwardly because we must be honest with ourselves.  The Gospel must be personal.  Faith is that KNOWING that your sins are forgiven.  This faith can only be given by the Holy Spirit through the means of grace.  And, we need the law to remind us how desperately we need the Gospel every minute spend this side of heaven.  Remain in the vine....and Lord knows we need the pruning.

And where are the works-righteous?

"The term "virtue signaling" is a clever one, because it portrays the modern works-saint so well. The signal is far more important than the works, because that kind of virtue is hard to maintain."

"This Justification by Faith makes enemies and causes hatred, because it denies the righteousness of works. "

This is true.  This is what happens when we try to justify ourselves.  Real works righteousness.  Many will try to hide behind outward piety, but they are proud.  Very proud.

This post wasn't hard to understand with the references to Abraham, Lazarus, and Paul....especially when you don't read the book of Romans with "tunnel vision"

Hidden Lily Wild Ginger

 I did not expect much - lots of green leaves last year.
This year the flowers pushed up from below and seemed lit, like this photo.

Curcuma longa - Grow Turmeric In Your Garden

By Dennis Carey and Tony Avent, Published June 2012

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To get a tropical look in a warm temperate garden, there is a short list of plants that fit the bill. One of my favorites is the little-known genus Curcuma which includes Curcuma longa the culinary spice turmeric. Curcuma, or hidden cone gingers, is a genus of mostly tropical plants known for their dramatic bold foliage, flamboyant floral show. Curcuma can range in height from just under 2' to over 7' tall. The slightly hidden flowers resemble psychedelic pinecones...a nice trip back to the 1960s.

Various experiences from Dave's Garden.


GJ - A member wrote about how beautiful the Hidden Lily flower was on the altar. I bought a bunch of the roots from a supplier - on sale. They came up, about shoulder high, all green. Last summer everyone wanted to know what they were. I said, "Wild Ginger Hidden Lily, and the lily is well hidden."

The plants came up where I put them, and I made sure they were watered last summer. They drooped when they wanted more water, like pumpkins and corn. But I never saw flowers. They probably needed to build up more storage underground

The warmest and sunniest area is the Butterfly Garden, and that is where they flowered last week. I expected flowers up on the stalk, but the flowers came out of the ground, the coloring making them look lit from within.

I bought Butteryfly Bush from Ty Ty Nursery and I like them. They also sell various kinds of ginger, including this one.

Sometimes I get something exotic on sale, and this is an example of a great find. Now I am more inclined to multiply the Joe Pye and hosta through division and fill in some herbal needs from The Growers Exchange.

My favorite site for plants is The Growers Exchange. They belong to the class of vendors that carefully ship and label plants. Other examples are Hostas Direct and The Crepe Myrtle Company.

The only place to start shopping for bulbs is Dutch Gardens. They are better and bigger bulbs at lower prices than the ones included in various gardening catalogs. I have bought from them for about 20 years.