Tag Archives: Bible

“My Word will not return unto me void”

5 Replies

On the road this week, I’m sharing some “blasts from the past.” Here’s a post that gets looked at a lot.

*****


“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Is 55:11 KJV)

This verse is sometimes used to say that giving people a Bible is enough, for it is God’s Word and God’s Word will not return void. Personally, I don’t think that’s what this verse is saying. I think that “my word” here refers to God uttering a decree; when God says something it will happen.

Still I have long held to the belief that anyone can and should be able to understand the Bible on their own and, through that understanding, learn the truth and become a Christian. While still believing in the power of God’s Word, I have some doubts about that exact process. Here’s why:

  1. As I’ve been discussing recently, God’s Word was not originally delivered in book form, not originally distributed to the masses in book form as it is today. Therefore, that cannot have been God’s original plan. It could be a way for people to come to the truth, but it’s certainly not intended to be the most important way. In fact, this whole idea didn’t spring up until the last few centuries, when printed Bibles were readily available.
  2. The Bible never makes the claim that everyone can just read it and understand it. As troubling as that sounds, it’s true. Faith in biblical times was not built around people sitting at home reading God’s Word. They had to come together to do it. And they didn’t have trouble with the idea that someone would need to explain it.Look at Nehemiah 8, when Ezra stood and read the Book of the Law to the people following their return from exile. Notice that the Levites were explaining the meaning as Ezra read: “Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.” (Nehemiah 8:7-9 ESV)Look also at the eunuch’s words in Acts 8: “So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” (Acts 8:30-31 ESV) Philip didn’t reprimand him saying: “Of course you can understand. Anyone can.” He taught him.
  3. I cannot think of even one example in the Bible where evangelism is done by giving someone a Bible. Again, look at Philip and the eunuch. The eunuch had the Bible in his hand, yet Philip was sent to teach him. I believe in the Bible and the power of the Bible. I just don’t see where God says, “Hand out these books and people will become Christians.”

God works through people and through relationships. He always sent a prophet. He didn’t just hand Moses a book. Jesus wrote no book. People need God’s Word, but “Bible-only” evangelism isn’t God’s way.

Teaching to the test

8 Replies

There’s an expression used in discussing education: “teaching to the test.” With more and more states using standardized achievement tests, the fear is that teachers will only teach the things that are going to be tested, rather than trying to give the students a well-rounded education.

It’s my opinion that the same thing happens in our Bible study. On a personal level, we can find ourselves focusing on certain parts of the Bible that address the topics we feel are most important. At a congregational level, we can find churches that emphasize certain aspects of doctrine or that emphasize relational topics. Some concentrate on proper worship. Others look at the marks of a true church. Some focus on the gospels, others stick to the epistles. Some churches neglect the Old Testament; others neglect the central doctrines of the New Testament.

What we see to be most important will shape what we study and what we teach. Some will focus on head knowledge, others on correct behavior.  Some will emphasize grace, others will focus on personal responsibility.

How do we ensure that we maintain balance in our teaching? How can we teach “the whole counsel of God,” avoiding the neglect of biblical topics? Do you have any suggestions?

Choosing a Bible version

18 Replies

signA few years ago I got into a discussion on the Internet about Bible versions. One man who worked as a missionary in India insisted that it was possible to perfectly translate something from English to Hindi then have someone else translate it back into English without changing a word from the original. All I can guess is that he didn’t speak Hindi and was easily fooled by his translators.

There is no direct correspondence from one language to another. Some are closer than others, like Portuguese to Spanish. The best a translator can hope to do is communicate the same idea in the target language as that in the original.

That’s where the tension between literal translation (“word by word”) and dynamic equivalence (“thought by thought”) comes in to play. In Bible translations, we have everything from Young’s Literal Translation to paraphrases like the Living Bible or the Message.

Here are a few of my thoughts on selecting a version:

  1. For the majority of us, it really shouldn’t come down to choosing just one version, at least for serious study. We should use multiple versions, especially with the number of versions available online today.
  2. For devotional reading, you need a version you can understand. I recommend switching versions now and again to avoid letting one translation’s rendering shape our interpretation.
  3. Whatever version you choose, go for one with good footnotes that show you when the translators have chosen an interpretive translation over a literal one.

What are some of the prime considerations that you would add?

P.S.—For some fun, check out the Lost in Translation web page.

{Photo by Andrew Beierle, sxc.hu}

How do you evaluate a version of the Bible?

10 Replies

KJVGenesispg1These days I’m reading the New Living Translation, trying to get a feel for it.

So how do you evaluate a translation? What are your priorities? Readability? Literalness? Use of older manuscripts?

There are certain passages that I look at to see how they’ve been translated. Do you have any “test passages” that you look at? Words that you want to see how they’ve been interpreted?

How do you evaluate a version of the Bible?

Respecting the weave

1 Reply

threadsThe Latin word for “weave” is texere; we can see that root in words like textile. The word for “with” is com. Put the two together and you get a word that is extremely important in Bible study: context. The imagery for the word context is that of a woven fabric; lifting a thread out of that fabric tears the weave, ruins the fabric, and leaves the thread as weak version of its former self.

I remember selling men’s clothes back when I was in college. I didn’t know much about it when I started. I remember one day I was giving a woman a pair of pants that had been altered. She noticed a thread sticking out of the pants. Being the helpful salesman, I reached for a pair of scissors to cut the thread off. The woman who was working with me screamed from across the room “No!” I didn’t realize that these pants were woven, and the thread that I was about to cut was an integral part of the weave. Had I clipped that thread, it would have continued to unravel, ruining the pant. Luckily the other saleswoman was there to save the situation.

We must remember that the verses of the Bible are not pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that can be removed and put together as we wish. They are threads woven together by the Holy Spirit; surely we don’t think that we are wiser than He as to how they are to be arranged. One of the worst things that we can do when studying a topic is to use a concordance to find all the verses that speak to that topic and then only study those verses. A concordance is a wonderful tool for identifying passages to be studied, but we must go to each text and study it in its context lest we teach something that is not true.

A verse out of context can lose all meaning. Remember the old saying: “A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text.”

{photo by Dariusz Rompa, sxc.hu}