FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
RENEWING
THE MIND – XII
THE WORD
OF IAUE - 3
…..
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of IAUE.
As a faithful translation, all
contemporary Bibles serve to provide us a platform for “hearing the voice of
IAUE.” If we study the Bible we have in
our own language, today, and do not listen for the voice of IAUE while we
study, we are going to achieve absolutely nothing higher than an academic
knowledge of the words on the page; and we will totally miss the Word of IAUE.
* * * * *
It is necessary, in
order to walk in confident trust of the Word of IAUE, that we resolve HOW to
use the Scriptures that are translated into our native language. It is not my
intention to break down anyone’s confidence in today’s Bibles; but rather to fortify
your confidence in them by understanding how to make use of them.
Let’s take a look at
a very well-known verse of the bible:
Galatians 2:20
KJV I am crucified
with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me.
NASB I have been crucified
with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in
me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
NET I have been crucified
with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in
me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.
HRV I have been crucified with
Messiah, and I live, yet no longer I, but Messiah lives in me.
And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith toward the Son of YAHWEH, the One
loving me and giving His life on my behalf.
SS I have been impaled with Mashiyach;
and it is no longer I that live, but Mashiyach living in me: and that life which
I now live in the flesh I live in
faith,the faith which is
in the Son of Elohim, who loved me, and gave himself up
for me.
Here are five
translations (King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New English
Translation, the Hebrew Roots Version and the Sacred Scriptures version). Each says our life is now lived:
“by the faith OF the Son of God;”
“by faith IN the Son of God,”
“because of the faithfulness of the
Son of God,”
“by faith toward the Son of Yahweh,”
“in faith, the faith which is in the
Son of Elohim”
Notice also the
differences between “am crucified” and “have been crucified,” “Christ” and “Messiah,”
“Son of God” and “Son of Yahweh,” “gave Himself up” and “giving His life.” Each of these have slightly different
meanings. My question for you is…which
one of these is the divinely inspired Word of IAUE? Upon which translation can you have faith? Each one of these verses has a different
meaning regarding how we currently live, and potentially vastly different
applications. There are ministers who
have built entire doctrinal positions on the KJV’s use of the word “of” despite
the fact that almost all other English translations use the word, “in.”
You see, this sort of conflict exists within English translations literally thousands of times, especially when the meaning of a verse hinges upon a preposition, whether it is “with,” “of” or “in” something. If you have been following this blog from the beginning, you have heard me say many times that an academic knowledge of the Scriptures is not the same thing as the revelation knowledge of the Scriptures. When the Holy Spirit provides revelation, your understanding of the Word of IAUE will transcend the words on the page and render irrelevant whether a verse should be rendered “of” or “in” or “with.”
You see, this sort of conflict exists within English translations literally thousands of times, especially when the meaning of a verse hinges upon a preposition, whether it is “with,” “of” or “in” something. If you have been following this blog from the beginning, you have heard me say many times that an academic knowledge of the Scriptures is not the same thing as the revelation knowledge of the Scriptures. When the Holy Spirit provides revelation, your understanding of the Word of IAUE will transcend the words on the page and render irrelevant whether a verse should be rendered “of” or “in” or “with.”
Now, let’s look at
another issue.
Deuteronomy 25:4
Thou
shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.
What does this verse
mean? It seems simple enough, doesn’t
it? You don’t restrain the ox from being
able to eat a bit of corn while he is doing the work of treading out the corn. Maybe there is a subtle suggestion that you
should not tempt the ox by making him help you glean the corn while denying him
from being able to taste the food which is so desirable to the ox. After all, Solomon does tell us in Proverb
12:10 that a righteous man regards the life of his beast.
If this is what this
Scripture means to you, then you have missed the Word of IAUE. Look at what Paul says regarding this verse.
1 Corinthians 9:9 For it is written in the law
of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.
Doth Elohim take care for oxen?
10 Or saith he it altogether for
our sakes? For
our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in
hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
11 If we have sown unto you
spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?
12 If others be partakers of this
power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power;
but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Messiah.
13 Do ye not know that they which
minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which
wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?
14 Even
so hath IAUE ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the
gospel.
1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders that rule well
be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and
doctrine.
18 For the scripture saith, thou
shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy
of his reward.
What this verse in
Deuteronomy 25:4 actually means is that those who labor to minister to you in
spiritual things should benefit from your material goods. The passage in 1 Timothy 5:17, above, which
says the elder who rules well, and especially the one who teaches, should be “counted worthy of double honour” actually has
reference to being paid twice as much as ministers who either do not rule well,
or who do not teach.
Let’s look at
another illustration.
Genesis 9:9 And
I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after
you;
Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He
saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Messiah.
We might say that
Paul was just taking advantage of the verse in Genesis unto his own objective. In English, the word “seed” can refer both to
singular and to plural; but Paul was not reading from an English translation,
and the Hebrew word “zerah” is not both singular and plural. (Actually, Zerah was the name of the primary
star in the constellation Virgo which specifically represented the person of
Messiah. It was the word used to
identify the Messiah both to Adam in Genesis 3:15, and to Abraham in Genesis
15:5.) Can you see that
the fact we read this verse in English poses a potential problem to our being able
to hear the Word of IAUE?
One more thing: Those who diligently study the Scriptures,
today, and seminaries all across the globe rely on the Greek manuscripts for
their source material in understanding the New Testament. You will have noticed on many occasions, my
use of Greek words underlying the English words in some of the passages of
Scripture we have used in this blog.
There is value in this as long as we understand that the Greek, too, is
nothing more than a translation of an original Hebrew or Aramaic original. In
fact, many scholars who are fluent both in Hebrew and Greek readily admit that
much of the Greek manuscripts is meaningless as written unless it is “reverse
engineered” back into Hebrew. Then the
verses make sense. One obvious evidence
in the English translations that the Greek manuscripts are themselves
translations is the many times we see the phrase “being interpreted.” The problem in these verses is the Greek has
no vocabulary to translate the Hebrew, so it provides an “interpretation.” For example:
John 1:41 He first findeth his own brother
Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being
interpreted, the Christ. (KJV)
Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud
voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being
interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (KJV)
Mark 15:22 And they bring him unto the
place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The
place of a skull. (KJV)
The Holy Spirit does
not need to interpret the meaning of His own words within the text of the
original language in which He inspired men to write. That is provided by the
men who translated the Hebrew/Aramaic text into Greek.
In the wilderness,
when Messiah was being tempted by the devil, he responded, “It is written,” then
he recited the verse of Scripture which contained the Word of IAUE. He relied upon his Father’s words throughout
his life and ministry; but his use of the Scriptures transcended the words on
the page and captured the heart of IAUE…the Word of IAUE. (“You
have heard it said…but I say unto you…” Matthew 5.) So, too, it should do for us. Throughout the Scriptures, IAUE repeatedly
commanded His people to “hear and obey” His voice. His voice was the source material for His
Word. THAT is the point of origin; and
when we have the voice of IAUE (or what many might call, “the witness of the
Holy Spirit”) on the Scriptures, we have the thing upon which we can have
faith; and which can empower our lives of obedience to Him.
The
translations we read every day, as we read them, should be an open invitation of
our heart for the Holy Spirit to “teach us all things, and to guide us into all
truth.” When we hear His voice, we have received the
Word of IAUE; and our faith can soar and produce the results IAUE intended.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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