John Colenso and some interesting notes
in 1862
---John Colenso was an Anglican
missionary to Africa near the place where I grew up. ---He went to Africa during British involvement
in Africa. To find the precise words to speak of their projects in Africa is
not easy. Pragmatically, they were building beautiful buildings and brought to
Africa that which was not there, for millennia maybe…highly developed
civilization. ---No archaeology in Africa has revealed
a past civilization like the Incas in South America. Nothing. ---So Colenso had a mission station near
Pietermaritzburg in Kwazulu Natal. ---There are eight black cultural groups
in South Africa or slightly more, each with their own heritage. But only the
Zulus were in Natal. Not the others. ---So some young black men quickly
became students of Colenso. ---So he learned Zulu and wrote a
Dictionary and Grammar of their language. ---His students in turn learned English.
Fluently. That was shortly before 1862. ---He quickly went on a trip to England
in 1862. ---His commentary on Romans was
published in 1863. ---Because of the commentary and what he
said in it, he was branded as the hero of civil right fighter for the blacks in
South Africa. ---Because of his commentary. ---He was branded a heretic and a number
of courtcases followed. ---Civil rights fighter for the blacks? ---Until I opened a gift book from my
uncle to me….a Greek Bible. ---My uncle was asked around 1994 to
rebuild or reconstruct the foundations of the church at the mission station of
Colenso. ---As they cleaned out the garbage and
threw it on the side he saw the Greek Bible and said: “Ah. My cousin would like
this”. ---So opening it up after many years
preserved by my father and taken to my house later, I realized it is the actual
Greek study Bible of Colenso with his notes in the margins. ---What I learned is that he did not say
anything about civil rights. 99.9% nothingness. ---These notes were written in 1862 one
year before the publication of the Commentary on Romans. ---My opinion is that the civil rights
statements in the Commentary on Romans that was published were inserted by his
black students. ---Let me suggest that he may have asked
them to edit the commentary manuscript while he left for England for a number
of months, especially August until October of 1862. It is written in the Notes
of the Greek Bible. ---Is it his handwriting? Undoubtedly. I
am 100% sure. ---So let us look at some of his
comments that are noteworthy for me as an Adventist in his notes. _____________________________________________ ---In Romans 7:5-6 he contrasted Spirit
vs Literal Obedience. ---In Romans 7:7 he wrote “Fault lies
not in the law, but in the perversity of the human will”. ---Some sources that Colenso consulted
are: Lightfoot for Galatians 1-2, C. Vaughan at 2 Peter 1-20. He used Pliny’s
Letters at Revelation 13:18 on the 666. ---At 1 Timothy 4:1 he wrote that
asceticism mentioned in the verse cannot refer to the Roman Catholics “because
they cannot be apostate”. ---We find a very unique comment of
doubt or agony or fatigue in 1 Timothy 6:2 where he says in a midrash on “slavery”
that Christianity cannot totally give up slavery but that it may “die away in
degrees”. ---He discussed the offices of Elders in
1 Timothy 3:1 and Revelation 2:1. ---He mentioned the temple in Revelation
8:3. ---“The Word of God must be digested in
word” he said in Revelation 11:9. ---Colenso said that the seventh angel
is “final consummation of all things” Revelation 11:15. ---The four empires he listed as
Chaldeans, Medo-Persians, Greece and Rome. ---He says in Revelation 13:3 that Christianity
wounded heathen Rome. ---He said that not to worship the beast
will lead to persecution (Revelation 13:8). ---At the end of Revelation 14 he said
that the end of this chapter describes the end of all things. See Revelation
14:20 for his note. ---His comment on the 1000 years in
Revelation 20 is interesting. He said that it is either before the Second
Coming or between the Second Coming and the Hell event. ---These notes are not published yet
except for one article so far that my wife and I wrote on his comments in
Revelation. End.