God's Vision. God's Hearing.

"We must display the love of God."

“AND THANK GOD for broccoli.” Romans 14:6 in the Message Bible. There it is in print and penciled beside it my note – “No.” Okay, so I will eat broccoli, despite not being a fan. But that is not my point. Nor is the meaning of the verse my point. Although it makes a good one. Don’t condemn each other over food or holy days. “Forget about deciding what’s right for each other.” Verse 13.

My point, instead, is, “Is that really accurate?” How do we know what translations to read?

Well, the answer. Walk in the Spirit. He is our Guide into the wisdom and understanding, the discernment of all things. We must listen with His ears, so to speak, no matter who is speaking. Men called of God to share the truths of the gospel speak from their own minds all the time, what is personal reasoning and mental understanding, and NOT from the Spirit. This doesn’t make it sinful, necessarily. But often, it isn’t accurate.

I always remember when He gave me the name of a minister, who’s long been gone to glory, and how I gleaned something important from his teaching. And also heard something not scriptural. But what I gleaned, summed up, was both what was right that I was supposed to see, and also a knowing on how to discern what wasn’t, yet still love that man for being part of the body of Christ. This is key and what the apostle Paul was sharing in Romans 14.

But as to the Message Bible translator’s choice of words, those were from the Spirit. Men make analogies in the pulpit all the time that are helpful to listeners. I do also in writing and, as a habit, in study. Writing fiction taught me how to make comparisons. Walking in the Spirit taught me how to love people, even when they are wrong, and it gave me God’s vision, God’s hearing, for what’s placed in front of me. There are verses in translations that are wrong.

Read that carefully.

There are VERSES in translations that are wrong, but NOT entire translations. Often, the translator uses definitions from the original Hebrew or their knowledge of Greek that take the words of the original writer out of context. We can give the meaning too much emphasis or not enough. We can fail to understand the context and turn it where our mental reasoning would take it. This is often the case.

One of my favorite recent translations, the Remedy, was made by a medical doctor who had an amazing understanding of faith and the character, nature, methods, and principles of God. His use of the term “survival-of-the-fittest” is also of huge help. But he made some medical analogies that throw some people off. And help others. I still recommend you get a copy if you can find one.

An older translation made by Ronald Knox is out of print. It contains apocryphal books which are not anointed by the Holy Spirit but were penned by men. At the same time, if you can read Isaiah 53, Psalms 3 and 4, Proverbs 3, and John 14, they will change your life.

I recommend Philippians 4:7-8 in the Living Bible, another translation which has drawn some ire.

Ire, anger, and spite are not who we are. God does need our defense, which is what these negative emotions are. He knows the heart of every person and works in them to discern truth. Translators, pastors, teachers, apostles, and prophets. I have placed them out of order for a reason. Some have made the manifestations of the Spirit separated when they work together and are part of a united whole. Others have made the five ministry offices a social ladder. Neither is appropriate.

In Romans 11 in the Message Bible, there is such a beautiful picture of God’s love for Israel. How does this fit to the above examples? It is because some have said Jesus is Christian now and no longer honors the covenant of His people. This is a serious mistruth. To say so is to make Him not Jewish. I am American. I will always be American. Even if I were to become part of another nation, I would still be an American for this is where I was born. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His love for His people goes beyond bounds, and we are to pray for Israel and to honor them. Especially as Americans. Our nation was formed in order to protect theirs.

“I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends. This is complicated. It would be easy to misinterpret what’s going on and arrogantly assume that you’re royalty and they’re just rabble, out on their ears for good. But that’s not it at all. This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house. Before it’s all over, there will be a complete Israel.” (Romans 11:25, MSG)

The apostle Paul was called to the Gentiles, to spread the gospel to those who knew nothing of Jewish Law, feasts, and holy days, this despite being a Pharisee himself. His love for the Jews, though, was seen in His writings and, I can imagine, when you met Him in the flesh. He was a most changed man from the hater of the church to a man so filled with the love of Jesus Christ. “Don’t act like who I was,” he says. Then, in another place, “Act like who I am.”

“For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:” (Galatians 1:13)

“Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:9)

We need to take a lesson from Paul and apply it to our churches, to our teachings, and our relationships with each other. Whether it is in person or in what we read of other’s writings, we must display the love of God. Because we died to all we were and were raised to life, filled with the love of God, the very nature of who He is, and that should be what we see through, what we hear with, and how we respond. Though the King James Version remains my foundation, for it is the most accurate to the Spirit, there is much to learn from translators, who filled with the Spirit, sat down and wrote the Word.

Much like the disciples, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who not only saw things through their own individual experiences, but heard them specifically through the Spirit who had them pen the words they did, in the order they did. From their choice of wordage to the relationship of their verses, although the numbering system was added later, God was in control. And this is where we should focus.

Because we are not to walk in the flesh but in the Spirit. Men have taught this as separation of the flesh from the Spirit. But it is, instead, that we give our flesh to the Spirit. The God who can raise the dead, also made our Savior and His disciple walk on water. He calmed the storm, at Jesus’ words, then moved the boat to the opposite shore, without their needing to do any more rowing. We are told the disciple Philip was translated from the desert to a town, many miles away (Acts 8:39). The Holy Spirit breathed His life into the dust and man moved and talked and lived and breathed and reproduced Himself. He is who we should rely on for our physicality.

Proper understanding of this will give us long life and satisfying days in complete health. With the Word of God within us.

“You will never worry about an attack of demonic forces at night nor have to fear a spirit of darkness coming against you. Don’t fear a thing! Whether by night or by day, demonic danger will not trouble you, nor will the powers of evil launched against you.” (Psalms 91:5-6 TPT)

“O God, what mysteries I find in thee! How vast the number of thy purposes! I try to count them?—they are more than the sand; I wake from my reverie, and I am still lost in thee.” (Psalm 139:17-18, Moffatt)

“This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Phillips)

“Therefore put on the complete armour of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground on the day of battle, and, having fought to the end, to remain victors on the field.” (Ephesians 6:13, Weymouth)

“And vigilantly do all that is necessary to keep yourselves in this inexpressible, indescribable, unspeakable love of God by praying in the Holy Spirit and reaching out to embrace and lay hold of the ever-responsive mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that extends even into the vast expanse of eternal life.” (Jude 1:21, RIV)

Photo by Jared Erondu on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com