Today’s scripture: 2 Timothy 2:14-15
One of our responsibilities as children of God is to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we are to remind each other about God’s faithfulness, speaking truth from His word. We’re not to “wrangle about words,” or as one paraphrase says, “argue about words” (CEV).
We can be very opinionated, and many of us are fiercely loyal to our particular translation of the Bible. And that’s okay. I grew up with the New American Standard Version of the Bible, and it still tends to be my favorite. In my studies, I also review the New King James Version, The Message, The Amplified version, The New Living Translation, and the Contemporary English Version.
However, we have to be careful not to be so attached to our translation that we “wrangle” with others about how our version is the only one. When we get into arguments about wording, we’re not being examples of Christian unity.
Instead, we should remember that God is bigger than any of our Bible translations. If He inspired the original authors, why wouldn’t He work through the pens of translators and paraphrasers? (As an aside, I do believe that some versions have been watered down or aren’t as accurate translations of the original language, but not being a scholar, I can’t intelligently enter that debate.)
And our real responsibility is to know and study God’s word ourselves—even researching and reading several other translations—and then to be prepared to share that truth with others. We need to both unashamedly and accurately handle the Bible.
Only then will we be the workers God has designed us to be.
One of our responsibilities as children of God is to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we are to remind each other about God’s faithfulness, speaking truth from His word. We’re not to “wrangle about words,” or as one paraphrase says, “argue about words” (CEV).
We can be very opinionated, and many of us are fiercely loyal to our particular translation of the Bible. And that’s okay. I grew up with the New American Standard Version of the Bible, and it still tends to be my favorite. In my studies, I also review the New King James Version, The Message, The Amplified version, The New Living Translation, and the Contemporary English Version.
However, we have to be careful not to be so attached to our translation that we “wrangle” with others about how our version is the only one. When we get into arguments about wording, we’re not being examples of Christian unity.
Instead, we should remember that God is bigger than any of our Bible translations. If He inspired the original authors, why wouldn’t He work through the pens of translators and paraphrasers? (As an aside, I do believe that some versions have been watered down or aren’t as accurate translations of the original language, but not being a scholar, I can’t intelligently enter that debate.)
And our real responsibility is to know and study God’s word ourselves—even researching and reading several other translations—and then to be prepared to share that truth with others. We need to both unashamedly and accurately handle the Bible.
Only then will we be the workers God has designed us to be.
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