Part 2
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Q: How should Christians respond to the issue of gender confusion in America?
A: My answer is to always spring from the authority of the Word of God. The Bible is a book of absolute, non-negotiable, clear cut truth on virtually all issues of life. And it is very clear on how God created us either male or female.
Genesis 1:27 MEV
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
The phrase “made in the image of God” refers not to the physical body because “God is spirit” said Jesus. We are like God in that we have a soul/spirit that sets us apart from animals and makes us just a little lower than God’s other glorious creation, the angels (Hebrews 2:7).
2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
Genesis 1:28 NKJV
“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; …”
Notes
Q: There are people that say they die and go to heaven, but get sent back to earth. How is this possible if the Bible says we are to die only once and then judgment?
A: This statement from Hebrews which reads, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, …” (Heb 9:27 NKV) is a fact for all mankind. Everyone dies. We don’t come back as something else per the false teaching of reincarnation. Having died we face the judgment. This is not negated by the experience of some who, for whatever reason, die and are brought back. Lazarus died and was brought back by the resurrection power of Christ Jesus. In fact, 3 people in the OT and 5 in the NT were resurrected. These rare events still do not negate the universal principle for us all that we will die and face God.
Notes
Q: Roman’s 5:6 says: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Why was that point in history the right time for Christ to die?
A: Paul the Apostle repeats the same thing in Galatians 4:4 NASB: “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.”
First, it was the time when all the prophecies regarding His first coming as the Babe born in Bethlehem were fulfilled and there could be no doubt about their fulfillment.
Secondly, the world had had ample time to see its need of a Savior.
Galatians 3:19 NLT
“Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. …”
Third, because of the vastness of Rome and the superiority of Roman roads, it was a perfect time for the spreading of the gospel throughout the land once Jesus ascended back to heaven.
Notes
Q: Has anyone noticed that certain Bibles are changing words? A Bible was recently gifted to me that has different words than my old bible. I have many examples but one example is in Mark 2:22. The new bible changed the word “wineskins” to “bottles”. Does that not change the whole meaning?
Another person asks a similar question. “What do you think about the Passion Translation? It seems to change a lot of words and says things not found in my other Bible?”
A: Ok, both questions come to the issue of Bible translation. Before I comment further, I want to read a warning from the book of Revelation:
“I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book” (22:18-19).
The OT was originally written in Hebrew and the NT was written in Greek. The reason that some words may change from translation to translation rests at the feet of the translators themselves. The job of a translator is to take the original language and translate the Hebrew or Greek into another language, say English. They must search for the English words that best give the meaning of the Hebrew or Greek words.
For instance, here is a simple example (John 1:1):
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος.
In beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.
With the good translations we have like the KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV, NLT and so on, a team of translators came together who were highly proficient in Hebrew and Greek. At least 60 men were involved in translating the KJV. A 130 person team translated the NKJV, including Greek, Hebrew, and English scholars, editors, church leaders, and Christian laity. Altogether it took seven years to produce. More than fifty men with earned doctorates in Biblical languages worked on the translation of the NASB. The story is the same for any good Bible translation.
Which brings us to the Passion Translation. First, the PT is not a translation at all. It is written by primarily one man, Brian Simmons, who claims that in 2009, Jesus Christ literally visited him in his room, breathed on him, and commissioned him to write a new translation of the Bible.
Simmons said in an interview, “It felt like Heaven’s wind. The rock, the breath, the wind of God came upon me. And he (God) spoke to me and said, ‘I’m commissioning you to translate the Bible into the translation project that I’m giving you to do.’ And he promised that he would help me, and he promised me that he would give me secrets of the Hebrew language.”
Simmons claims that, by blowing on him, Jesus gave him “the spirit of revelation.” He claims: “he breathed on me so that I would do the project, and I felt downloads coming, instantly. I received downloads. It was like, I got a chip put inside of me. I got a connection inside of me to hear him better, to understand the scriptures better and hopefully to translate.”
Ok, this is problematic on so many levels. First, he mentions “secrets in the Hebrew language.” What could that mean? We have men and women with earned doctorates in Bible languages who can assure us there are no “secrets” of the Hebrew language. You either know it or you don’t.
Second, he’s basing his “translation” on “downloads” from heaven. In other words, this is not a translation work. It is a personal “revelation” work. This is what Joseph Smith of the Mormons and Mohammad of Islam claimed to be the way they received the Book of Mormon and the Koran—personal revelation. There’s no team of translators involved here. No group of skilled linguists. Just one man. He later claimed that he did have help but never gives the names or qualifications of the helpers.
Let’s look at an example of the PT ‘translation’ compared to others. Consider Simmon’s translation of Galatians 6:6. In the KJV it reads:
“Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.”
The word “communicate” is translated from a Greek word meaning “to share” (as translated in other English translations as well). It is about sharing material things with those whose full time job is to teach the Word of God.
Compare this to the Passion Translation:
“And those who are taught the Word will receive an impartation from their teacher; a transference of anointing takes place between them.”
This has nothing to do with the meaning of the verse or the Greek text. There is no mention of a “transference of anointing, or importation from a teacher” in the original Greek text. The original Greek says it is fitting that teachers should be helped by their students, as much as they are able, with things necessary for their subsistence. But the PT turns it on its head and makes it about the teacher imparting anointing to the student. So the PT adds to the Bible something that was never there! And it’s that way all throughout the PT.
Romans 1:8 NKJV
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.”
Romans 1:8 TPT
“I give thanks to God for all of you, because it’s through your conversion to Jesus Christ, that you are becoming well known. For the testimony of your strong, persistent faith is spreading throughout the world.”
Where on earth does this lengthy insertion come from? It’s not in the original. Period.
Bible scholar Dr. Andrew Wilson writes, “The Passion ‘translation’ inserts all kinds of concepts, words and ideas of which the original gives no hint whatsoever.”
Old Testament scholar and NIV Translation Committee member Dr. Andrew Shead is even stronger: “TPT is not a Bible….abandoning all interest in textual accuracy, playing fast and loose with the original languages, and inserting so much new material into the text that it is at least 50% longer than the original. The result is a strongly sectarian translation that no longer counts as Scripture.”
In closing, what you want for your daily Bible study is a good, solid, faithful translation of Scripture. Again, the NASB, KJV, NKJV, NLT, ESV, are some translations you can be confident in.
Notes