A BRAND-NEW TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE – PART II

Posted: June 24, 2004
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

Here’s how Williams, the top Anglican archbishop, describes the new Bible: “Instead of being taken into a specialized religious frame of reference – as happens even with the most conscientious of formal modern translations – and being given a gospel addressed to specialized concerns … we have here a vehicle for thinking and worshipping that is fully earthed, recognizably about our humanity.”

In addition, notes Ekklesia, the archbishop praises Henson’s translation for eliminating “the stale, the technical, the unconsciously exclusive words and policies” in other translations. Here, according to the London Times, are a few sample passages:

Mark 1:4

Authorized version: “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”

New: “John, nicknamed ‘The Dipper,’ was ‘The Voice.’ He was in the desert, inviting people to be dipped, to show they were determined to change their ways and wanted to be forgiven.”

Mark 1:10-11

Authorized version: “And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him. And there came a voice from the heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

New: “As he was climbing up the bank again, the sun shone through a gap in the clouds. At the same time a pigeon flew down and perched on him. Jesus took this as a sign that God’s spirit was with him. A voice from overhead was heard saying, ‘That’s my boy! You’re doing fine!’”

Matthew 23:25

Authorized version: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”

New version: “Take a running jump, Holy Joes, humbugs!”

Matthew 26:69-70

Authorized version: “Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, ‘Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.’ But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.”

New: “Meanwhile Rocky was still sitting in the courtyard. A woman came up to him and said: ‘Haven’t I seen you with Jesus, the hero from Galilee?’ Rocky shook his head and said: ‘I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!’”

1 Corinthians 7:1-2

KJV: “Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: [It is] good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, [to avoid] fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”

New: “Some of you think the best way to cope with sex is for men and women to keep right away from each other. That is more likely to lead to sexual offences. My advice is for everyone to have a regular partner.”

1 Corinthians 7:8-9

KJV: “I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.”

New: “If you know you have strong needs, get yourself a partner. Better than being frustrated.”

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THE GOSPEL OF LIFE: Chapter VI

John 6:47-59
The Sign of the Cross

The sign of the cross is death! The cross was Rome’s way of putting to death those condemned to die. Jesus was put to death on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Without His death we can never regain life, but by His death we have received life everlasting. And we cannot have this except by trusting in Him, by believing in Him with our whole being.

It is not enough to believe with our lips, nor with our heads. This is particularly the case of those who grow up in the Church, who being overwhelmed by long Christian tradition give mental assent. We must believe with all our heart, yea, right down to the stomach (innermost being). That was our experience with a Sunday school boy of 12 dying of a heart disease. This boy requested
baptism before his death. After water was sprinkled on his head, the same asked if he needed to drink the water in the baptismal bowl also. This revealed the depth of his vibrant faith.

This is what Jesus means in the second part of His sermon on the Bread of Life. That Bread is His body and His blood. Except we eat His flesh and drink His blood we have no life. Except we believe, to the point of going with Him through death and sufferings, we are still outside Christ. Such faith is exemplified in the partaking of the Lord’s Table. When we take the Lord’s supper do we inwardly eat of His flesh and drink of His blood? If not, we still have not the life eternal. We are still unsaved – nominal Christians. Like the Jews who strove among themselves saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (v. 52) Like the Jews who heard Jesus in the Synagogue of Capernaum, retorted, “This is a hard saying: who can hear it?” (v. 60) However their unbelief and our unbelief do not surprise the Lord. “For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him” (v. 64).

John 6:60-71
The Preaching of the Cross is Power (I Cor 2:1-4)

While the great majority of the Galilean “disciples” left Christ, there remained, nevertheless, the faithful Twelve, except Judas Iscariot. This Jesus openly hinted, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” (v. 70, 71) But there were others too. Of course Jesus’ mother Mary, and the other Marys, “and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance” (Luke 8:1-3).

How did these become so attached to the Lord? When Jesus tested their faith, “Will you also go away,” Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 68, 69). This is the deeper understanding of the elect, the saved ones through Jesus’ preaching. In v. 63 Jesus stresses the power of preaching, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life” (v. 63). But what words? The words of the sermon on the Bread from Heaven, His flesh and His blood that a man eateth shall never die. That is to say, the preaching of the cross, as attested also by St. Paul to the Corinthians (I Cor 2:1-4). “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” (I Cor 1:23).

Let our pastors and Sunday school teachers remember never to stray from the centrality of the cross in their preaching and teaching! So let us repeat again John Sung’s famous chorus, whose cleansing power we’ve felt from the thirties to this day:

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Orthodox Jews at the Wailing Wall