Matthew 20:24-28 – Authority Not the Way – Serve Others
|| Mark 10:41-45; Luke 22:24-27
MT20:24 Having heard this the other ten [apostles] became indignant[1] at the brothers [James and John]. MT20:25 But Jesus asked the disciples to present themselves, then he told them: “You are aware that the non-Jewish rulers lord it over their subjects;[2] and, the ‘greats’ wield authority over others. MT20:26 Not so among you.[3] Rather, whoever wishes to be ‘great’ must be your slave. MT20:27 Whoever wishes to be prominent[4] must be your slave. MT20:28 Just as the Son of Humankind came not to be served[5] but to serve and to sacrifice his soul[6] [Isaiah 53:12] as a ransom[7] in the place of many.”[8]
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[1]Indignant: RHM: sorely displeased; RIEU: grumbled; PME: highly indignant. We can only imagine the jealous feelings of the others who had their own political ambitions, particularly Judas. Peter has already been given a special trust and he must have had his own feelings regarding this matter.
[2]Non-Jewish rulers lord it over their subjects: Or, KJV: the princes of the Non-Jews exercise dominion; RIEU: the rulers of the pagans exercise despotic powers; NOR: the heathen rulers are high-handed; NEB: in the world, rulers lord it over their subjects.
[3]Not so among you: Or, KJV: it shall not be so among you; KNX: with you it must be otherwise; BER: but among you it’s different. This is a command from the Lord that authoritarian tyranny will be absent from genuine disciples of Jesus. We find in Jesus the perfect example of a true leader within the Christian framework: a humble and loving model who asks nothing of his fellows that he himself will not do. Not once does the Nazarene take advantage of his followers by living a life-style better than they.
[5]Came not to be served: Or, GDSP: not to be waited on.
[6]To sacrifice his soul: Or, KJV: give his life; NEB: to surrender his life. On the subject of “soul” or, PSYCHE see articles elsewhere: Where Are the Dead?
[7]Ransom: Or, WMS: ransom price; WEY: redemption price. Research the word ransom.
Matthew 16:24 (TS2009)
24 Then יהושע said to His taught ones, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his stake, and follow Me.
AND FOLLOW ME:
“Of the three things enjoined, the last is a vital thing: to follow. The other two are utterly essential because through the essential you achieve that which is vital. The reason is this. You can approve, and not follow. You can applaud and not follow. You can understand and preach, without following. You can defend the Truth pugnaciously, without following. You can tire yourself out on busy works – without following.. The central thing is the denial of self. It is utterly radical. Denial of self is the inward thing. Taking up the cross daily is the external manifestation of the inward condition. To talk of it is not to realize it. To write about it is not to achieve it. The use of the word ‘daily’ emphasizes that it is not just a theory but something that is real and practical; facing squarely every new circumstance; confronting bravely every impediment; grasping joyfully every new opportunity. In practice it means giving unhindered access to the Master into every chamber and esp into every dark corner. To think of that possibility might make us feel ashamed but at the same time it may do us good” (GD).
“The sentiment that Christ’s righteousness alone is to be the basis of our acceptance, is one of the countless and pernicious corruptions of clerical theology. It doubtless originated in the misapplication of a certain element of apostolic truth, namely that which informs us that all are under sin, and that our salvation is not of works; but through the righteousness of faith that is in Christ. Men have long ceased to perceive that this principle applies only to unjustified sinners, and not to those who have been placed in a justified or forgiven position, through the obedience of faith. Christ is righteousness for sinners in this sense, that God offers to forgive them for Christ’s sake, and to grant them a coheirship with Christ, of what Christ, as a manifestation of God, has achieved for himself. But when sinners become saints, they come into relation to a new principle. They are responsible to him as servants to a master, and he will judge them according to their works” (SC 164).
“The cross is the symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of the human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said goodbye to his friends. He was not coming back. He was not going out to have his life redirected. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing. It slew all of the man completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. it struck swift and hard and when it had finished its work the man was no more. That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of man is false to the Bible and cruel to the soul of the hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world. It intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our life up on to a higher plane. We leave it at a cross. The grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die. That is the beginning of the gospel” (AWT).
“To give my life for Christ appears glorious. To pour myself out for others.. to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom – ‘I’ll do it. I’m ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory.’
“We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table – ‘Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all.’ But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of saying, ‘Get lost.’ Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home.
“Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it’s harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul” (F Craddock).
I think it wouldn’t be going too far to say that there IS a discernible reason for every commandment which we are given.. and that that reason leads, without too much delay or detour, right back to the Atonement.
Christ’s sacrifice is not just about blood, and sweat, and tears.. and it is not just about the cross on that dreadful, but wonderful, day.
It is – and we all know this! – about the life he lived every day, every hour, before he arrived, finally, at that cross. Because it was his own unique life, built up day by day, with the building blocks of a thousand moments of ten thousand days, that made his cross meaningful.
Thousands of Jewish men died on thousands of Roman crosses across the length and breadth of Israel. But only one man died a sacrificial, atoning death on a cross. Because he was the perfect sacrifice, without spot or blemish.
So Christ’s sacrifice is really about a life of many choices, each one in one way or another a choice to deny himself, and his own will, and to serve his Father, and his Father’s will.
A lifetime of choices made the final choice – of the cross itself – a choice of cosmic significance.. a choice which resonates to this day, and echoes in our lives.
The essence of sacrifice is denial of self. And if we choose Christ and his cross, then we are also choosing denial of self.. as a way of life. It is the hardest choice we can make, but it is the most rewarding. Allowed to work in our lives, that commitment and that choice will change us.
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his life? Or what can a man give in exchange for his life?’ ” (Mat 16:24-26).
We could run down a list of Christ’s commandments, and the commandments passed along by the apostles as well, and ask:
And in every case, I venture to suggest, we shall find the answer – and the meaningful example for us, of HOW to keep the commandment, and WHY we should keep it – in the “living sacrifice” of Christ.
Do we wonder why we are commanded this, for example?:
“Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Mat 5:39-42).
Well, of course, reason enough to do this – or (let’s be honest) to try very, very hard – is that Christ has commanded it. But was it just an otherwise pointless requirement plucked out of the air:
‘Let’s test them with this one, while we are at it’?
Of course not. We are told not to resist evil because Christ did not resist evil. And Christ did not resist evil because he had committed himself, wholeheartedly, to his Father who would ultimately judge rightly (1Pe 2:23). If we believe that that final judgment of our Father is sure and certain and righteous, then what does it matter if evil ones misuse us today, or tomorrow, or all the rest of our lives? God will set it right. What does it matter if we lose our coat, or our time, or our creature comforts – the loss of those things which we might hold dear will only reinforce to our minds the one thing that we MUST hold MOST dear – which no thief or bully or evil circumstance can take away from us:
“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?.. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (Rom 8:31-32; Rom 8:35).
And suppose the “cross” we are called to bear at this very moment is not the loss of property, or health, or loved ones.. the terrible losses that Job, for example, bore? Suppose the “cross” we are called to bear at this very moment is.. simply.. the harsh word spoken to us, or the little slight we experience, or the brief delay because some driver cut us off in traffic, or the tiny barb that pricks our pride?
Maybe the “cross” that we are called to bear, right now, is not the great mountain of difficulty that looms in front of us.. but the little grain of sand in our shoe!
How do we respond? Do we give harsh word for harsh word, little grumble for silly slight, little whispered curse for minor inconvenience? Do we recoil at the least threat to our pride, or the least questioning of our intelligence, or our strength, or our goodness, or our wisdom?
Or.. do we recall that “even Christ did not please himself” (Rom 15:3)? And do we therefore “turn the other cheek” to the little slap, the little needle, the little attack – even if, and especially if, it comes from a brother or sister?
If we do, and when we do, then we are “living the atonement” in our lives.
Through fits and starts, and stops and blind alleys, sometimes failing but sometimes succeeding, we are learning to be, even in the small things of our lives, “living sacrifices” (Rom 12:1-2).
But the trouble with “living sacrifices” is that – as one writer put it
– “they keep crawling down off the altar”.
°°°
Lord, help me to hold on to your altar, and “die a little bit” every day, so that I might show forth your death until you return.
In the previous chapter we showed that in the 1980ies and 1990ies publishers looked for way to have some cheap material easily printed and reproduced. For them the Word of God or the Bible looked very handy to use, because when they changed here and there some words they could publish it freely without having to bother about copyrights. In those years lots of economical and political problems started showing up, the Gulf War and beginning pressure from Islamicterrorist groups, making that people went looking for alternatives and solutions for making their life better.
From the time that all sorts of translations were provided for different groups of people, like housewives, prisoners, blue-coloured workman, modern women and modern man – Good News for modern man New Testament in Today’s English Version
Many publishers knocking the ball around presented booklets, pocket editions but also hard-covers with fragments and with full texts of the Bible. Many wanted to bring out a ‘fresh’ or ‘up-to-date’ Bible translations which could draw on a particular group of people or could be favoured by a particular denomination. For some it did not matter so much when the words got twisted a little-bit or when the translation was so loosely done it went very far from the original Holy Writings. The Good News Bible, which also presented a version for the ‘modern man’ is such a Bible translation were too much liberty is taken, but which manage to continue to exist until today.
Though for those thematic bibles, like the Poverty and justice Bible [2009; using the clear Contemporary English Version (CEV) text], the Street bible (2003) or The Word on the Street (2004), which was was one of the bestselling religious books for the next two years, Modern Man Bible, Women’s devotional Bible,the aim may well have been to help people to apply God’s Word to their everyday life, but too many do forget that all those notes are human additions. Lots of readers of such works take those human notes as part of the bible and start thinking that the bible is saying what those theologians say.
The full versions and study Bibles, like the The Full Life Study Bible (revised as the Life in the Spirit Study Bible) could find a long life, whilst the books which had only a selection of Bible texts have disappeared in obscurity.
The Liberator (2006) a retelling of the life of Jesus based on the gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, could find perhaps a prolonged life because of the Lacey Theatre Company toured shows based on this book in 2007 and 2008, and extracts also being performed in “St David’s Praise” (31 May 2008, St David’s Hall in Cardiff).
Titlepage and dedication from a 1612-1613 King James Bible, printed by Robert Barker. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Coming closer to the 400th birthday of the publication of the Authorised King James version, several companies also started bringing new King James Versions, whilst others found it time to not only update the language but to restore the names and present the words like it would be linguistic right.
Some of the new King James versions around the turn of the century did not alter the language much, like the minor very conservative update of the King James Version, the 21st Century King James Version bible, which stays true to the Textus Receptus and does not delete Bible passages based on Alexandrian Greek manuscripts. Obsolete and certain archaic words are eliminated but further it preserves the traditional Biblical language, making it possible to have all those using a King James Bible to follow easily. The 21st Century King James Version has also been released in an edition with the Apocrypha and without the unusual formatting; this is known as the Third Millennium Bible.
Having taken 7 years to complete the New King James Version (NKJV) already commissioned in 1975, published by HarperCollins (a subsidiary of News Corp), conceived by Arthur Farstad with 130 biblical scholars, pastors, and theologians, alters the language more significantly from the 1611 King James Version, but still trying to retain the purity and stylistic beauty of the original.
The exceptionally rich and accurate translation of the Holy Scripture became first available in 1982 but got more in the picture around the 400th birthday of the original KJV, also receiving some new study edition.
The purpose of the New King James Version was to preserve the authority and accuracy, as well as the rhythm and beauty of the original King James while making it understandable to 21st century readers. The result is an even better King James, scrupulously faithful to the original, yet truly updated to enhance its clarity and readability. There are several other good modern Bible translations available, but none does a better job of presenting the accuracy, beauty, and clarity that Bible readers need than the New King James Version. The Second Edition includes more features according the editors to make it the best all-purpose study Bible which sold to date: more than 1.3 million and more than 60 million copies for the stand alone NKJV.
The NKJV claiming to be “more accurate” because it leaves untranslated words like “Gehenna,” “Hades” and “Sheol” is misleading the people and has the only reason not to bump some church-member’s head. They choose for security not to knock against those who keep insistently wrong teachings of having gehenna/hades/sheol being a place of doom, the hell, where so called sinners would be penalised for their sins, instead of an abode of the dead, the grave/tomb. For that reason also many present bibles are afraid to print the Divine Name of God (יהוה) where it stood in the original writings, because also there people would come clearly to see about whom is been spoken and soon would come to see the difference between Jehovah God and Jehovah God His only begottenbeloved son, יהושׁעJeshua, where all of those KJV’s print Jesus.
But some of the newer versions restored the names. By them avoiding, where most trinitarians loved to see “Lord“, having titles placed instead of the original names, using the names of the people makes it much clearer for the bible reader about whom is been spoken, and as such mistaking one person fro the other is avoided. This way the Restored Name Versions and the New European Version are King James versions which haven taken up the old way of presenting God’s Name like it was in the original King James version, to leave no doubt when is spoken about the God of gods or about the son of God.
For the English Bible translations God’s Divine Name was already in the William Tyndale Bible of 1530 and in the King James Version in 1611. The excuse of avoiding the risk of taking God’s name (יהוה/YHWH) in vain, according to devout Christians was not necessary any more, because Jeshua liberated us from the curse of sin and restored the relationship between God and man. After the sacrifice of God‘s only begotten son, man does not have to be afraid any more to come up to God and speak to Him using His Sacred Name. Being convinced of the restored relationship and feeling that we as children of God not only may use His Name but should spread His Name, several Sacred Name Bibles started seeing the light.
When we look at the original texts and see how frequent that Divine Name appears, and hear how God speaks about His Name, we should comprehend its importance. The Tetragrammaton occurs 6,828 times in the Hebrew text (BHK and BHS). This is confirmed by the Theologisches Handwörterbuch zum Alten Testament, Vol. I, edited by E. Jenni and C. Westermann, 3rd ed., Munich and Zurich, 1978, cols. 703, 704. The New World Translation renders the Tetragrammaton as “Jehovah” in all occurrences.
The knowledge of the correct pronunciation of God’s name was there at the time of Christ, as it was heard at least by the high priest until 70 CE and respectively its utterance was common practice until at least the 1st century CE, but Hebrew speaking people can and do read the name in some groups as well as the majority of Messianic Jews who also accept that the relationship between God and man is restored by the Mashiah or Messiah.
The Jerusalem Bible: Reader’s Edition Hardcover – Abridged, February 15, 2000
Though throughout history there have been several versions which used God’s Name Jehovah or placed Yahweh for the Tetragrammaton, like The Jerusalem Bible (JB or TJB) (translated from the French La Bible de Jérusalem of 1956, revived and updated in 1973), first introduced to the English-speaking public at the time when the fear for the users of God’s Name (the Jehovah Witnesses started growing) in 1966 and published by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a CatholicBible, it includes the traditional 73 books found in most English translations until the mid 19th century: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonical books as the Old Testament, and the 27 books shared by all Christians as the New Testament. It also contains copious footnotes and introductions. It is the basis of the Lectionary for Mass used in Catholic worship throughout England, Wales, and the majority of the English-speaking world outside the United States and Canada, though the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has approved other translations for conditional liturgical use.
The New American Bible (With the Revised Book of Psalms and the Revised New Testament) New American Bible Revised ed. Edition by World Bible Publishing St
The Revised New American Bible (RNAB) had the traditional phraseology — absent from the 1970 edition — restored to the New Testament, and having several non-traditional gender-neutral terms incorporated in its 1986 version. The New Testament was almost completely revised, and bears a much closer resemblance to the 1941 Confraternity version, as opposed to the much more periphrastic 1970 NAB NT. In 1991 the Book of Psalms was amended to introduce the use of extensive gender-neutral language. The last update is from 2011, including the newly revised Old Testament and re-revised Psalms, and the revised New Testament from the second edition.
Several English people did not like it that God’s Name was printed and would have preferred the Name of God be left unpronounced, or substituted with Lord or another title. In 1985, the English translation was completely updated. This new translation — known as the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) — was freshly translated from the original languages and not tied to any French translation any-more (except indirectly, as it maintained many of the stylistic and interpretive choices of the French Jerusalem Bible).
When the the Catholic Truth Society in 2007 published the CTS New Catholic Bible, consisting of the original 1966 Jerusalem Bible text, prepared by the faculty of the Dominican Biblical School in Jerusalem, on the basis of the Hebrew and Greek and revised to match its use in lectionaries throughout most English-speaking countries, in conformity with the directives of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and the Pontifical Biblical Commission the name “Yahweh” was replaced by “the LORD” throughout the Old Testament, which frequently departs from the traditional Masoretic text, and the Psalms have been completely replaced by the 1963 Grail Psalter. The revised text is accompanied by new introductions, and textual and liturgical notes, supplemented as needed with material from the notes to the New Jerusalem Bible.
In the 1990s the ex-Jehovah Witness Mark Heber Miller started working at a contemporary American literal version with limited paraphrase translation with non-trinitarian notes. The Nazarene Friends, several Bible Students and the Belgian Christadelphians started using his work in progress. The Nazarene Friends and Belgian Christadelphians from the end of the 1990s started distributing a digital version in the Online BibleBiblical software program, with Larry Pierce, of his bible translation 21st Century Version of the Christian Scripture and of his Nazarene commentary. After several Windows renovations and adaptations in the Online Bible program those modules did not work any more, and no computer technician could be found to rework the material. As such we and many others can not use it digitally, though brother Marcus Ampe is working at it and placing it again in an Online Bible module. The printed copies where offered to the public from 2007 onwards.
Concerning “the scriptures” we can think of any Religious texts (also known as scripture, or scriptures, from the Latinscriptura, meaning “a writing” ) having the texts which various religious traditions consider to be sacred, or central to their religious tradition.
Religious texts may be used to evoke a deeper connection with the divine, convey spiritual truths, promote mystical experience, foster communal identity, and to guide individual and communal spiritual practice. {Free encyclopedia Wikipedia on Religious text}
But we, like other Belgian Christadelphians, Messianic Jews and Messianic Christians (sic), use also a literal Bible translation with the name “The Scriptures“, which follows the order of books of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Tanakh, and restored the Name of the Most High, (יהוה) throughout. Where it had become fashion in the 1980ies and 1990ies to replace the tetragrammaton with the title Lord instead of putting the Divine Name where it should belong, in 1998 the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR) published “a literal translation of the Bible in English”. In the 2009 version they made it easier having the Hebrew names of Book Titles placed on the right hand pages with corresponding traditional English names on the left hand pages. They do not only use the divine Name (the tetragrammaton), יהוה, {Jehovah} but also restored original Hebrew personal names of people and places, such as “Yirmeyahu” for Jeremiah, “Yeshayahu”, for Isaiah and “Mosheh” for Moses and in the Messianic Scriptures, or New Testament, יהושׁע { Y’hoshua / Yeshua = Jeshua for Jesus his real name}, “Mattithyahu” for Matthew etc..
(Hebrew names are also used where possible for annual festival days, as well as being used, minimally, for ambiguous words).
Opposite to the Hebraic Roots Version Scriptures (HRV), which contains over 2000 footnotes giving important alternate readings from the Aramaic Peshitta Tanakh, Aramaic Targums, Dead Sea Scrolls, Greek Septuagint, and Samaritan Pentateuch, The Scriptures has no place given for doctrinal comments from footnotes, explanatory notes etc., (including deletion of prophecy hairlines) in favour of more useful notes – thus clearing away obstacles to your unbiased study of Scripture.
For many english people accustomed to the KJV order of books it may demand some adaptation to come used to the original order of the Tanakh (Old Covenant Scriptures) which is restored according to the order of the Hebrew Scriptures, i.e. Torah, Neviim, Kethuvim. In the newer versions the New Covenant Writings (Brit Chadasha / New Testament), its allusions to the Tanakh are printed in Bold, and cross referenced to the Tanakh (Old Covenant Scriptures).
Dr. Chris J. Koster, with the aid and support of other scholars and textual experts from both Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds in different parts of the world, was the original translator for the South African and English version. He formed the ISR so that it could continue the work, even after his death (+4 May 1995). At the ISR, which also publishes the Hebraic Roots Version Scriptures (HRV), the board of directors is now overseeing the on-going work of translation and revision. It was around the time of his death that brother Marcus Ampe got to know him and his work and asked if he could make a Dutch version of the work. He had requested the version in Afrikaans, but never got it. The text fragments from 1993/1995 he got and 1998 had some little differences with the 2009 and 2010 versions. (At the moment in the ecclesia we use the 1998 and 2010 version, next to the NWT and the Bible Students Reference bible.) Because of his daily work and Marcus Ampe writing for several websites the translation-work got very much slowed down, also by his work on the Christadelphian modules for the Online Bible program.
Don Esposito, Senior Elder of the Congregation of YHWH Jerusalem, for his Hebrew Roots Version used the original names of our Creator, but presented it from the Paleo Hebrew as YAHWEH (יהוה HWHY/YHWH), and for God’s Son, our Saviour he used Yahshua (יהושׁע Yeshua/Jeshua in modern spelling), throughout. Because there was no letter J at that time he kept to the Y. Though than you also could say there did not exist a letter u and still should use the v or also for the w one still should, in that instance use, the vv. We do know also in the Catholic Imprimatur Bibles from the 1950ies there was written Yehowah, but in later prints this became modernised to Jehovah. The “New Testament” portion is titled “The Ketuvim Netzarim” (“Writings of the Nazarenes”) and is also a Messianic Sacred Name Edition and is translated from the original Aramaic and Hebrew. The NT books are also in the original manuscript order (The Gospels; Acts; James, 1&2 Peter; 1,2,3 John, Jude; Pauline Epistles; Revelation) but the titles of the books are their Hebraic names. The HRV also divides the books into two sections The B’sorah (Goodnews) and The Sh’lukhim (Emissaries).
The HRV Complete Bible is by many considered to be the first complete Messianic Study Bible.
It was the 1993 Chris J. Koster version of the Scriptures which was also used for the HalleluYah Scriptures (HS). Designed for the Hebrew Roots of the Faith of the people of Israel with the Messianic restoration of the name of Elohim transliterated as YaHUaH from the tetragrammaton and God as YAH, Daniel W Merrick, PhD searched the Paleo Hebrew phonetic that show the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith which are embedded in many old testament prophesies and translated and transliterated the Hebrew Bible and Messianic writings.
Shalom and Max Weiss also known as Deborah (Debra) and Ken Allen or Deborah and Ken Wessel, from New Zealand, seem to be the sole “voice” of www.halleluyahscriptures.com/ www.halleluyahscripturesproject.com (which is Halleluyah Scriptures in print since 2009) having Alan Horvath (Alan J. Post) as their frontman. The direction of Halleluyah Scriptures has been carried out publicly by Debra and Ken Allen-Wessel. Alan Horvath (the Vice President) has been recently thrust to the forefront as a public voice for H.S. and all funds, mail, etc have been redirected from Fort Wayne to New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Further there where Ted Ramp, President of Halleluyah Scriptures Inc. (Incorporated Dec. 6, 2012) – Fort Wayne, IN, Robin Ramp, Secretary of Halleluyah Scriptures Inc. , Erik Klausner, Marilyn Nave and Nance Whitaker who seem to have broken with Deborah (Debra) and Ken Allen and their the Halleluyhah Scriptures.
The HalleluYah Scriptures wants to be the purest version and the closest to the Hebrew than any other version by far, and wants to take it very seriously the Torah Commands not to mention the names of false mighty ones especially when it pertains to the Father, His Son and His people…
This has taken years of research as it is not always obvious that English words are derived from pagan deities. Much diligent research has been done into assuring that there are no pagan words used to describe our wonderful Father and His Son and as such we also do not find the false name of the Messiah which was given in the 4th century to the rabbi, but which is now the common name, Jesus, coming from Issou or Hail Zeus. In this version all paganism and names of false gods that have traditionally been used in translation when pertaining to the the Father, His Son and His people have been avoided, and in many cases retain a Hebrew transliteration if the word is linked to paganism, though we do find some words which are still presented like a name, like Satan, though in the Name Meaning guidebook they print it right giving the reading the real English word ‘adversary’. The reason they probably did not translate it this way in their translation is perhaps some of their translators do want to believe in a devilish figure, called ‘Satan‘ instead of heaving any adversary being called so.
Although the English language is replete with words derived from pagan deities, this translation has attempted to remove most, if not all of these words when attributed to the Almighty, His Son or His people. Problem for translators is that certain words or Hebrew terms have no comparison in English.
HalleluYah Scriptures chose to retain the Hebrew term “qodesh” for ‘holy’ or ‘set-apart’ (for we are qodesh and not Set apart from Him), and removed all occurrences of the word “set” in obedience to the Word (Exodus 23:13, Josiah 23:7, Psalms 16:4). eg.
Underneath you may find on the left the HalleluYah Scriptures words and on the right the versions other restored Name Scriptures use:
qodesh vs set-apart*
Qadosh One vs Set-apart One*
qodeshi vs set-apart one*
qodeshim vs set-apart ones*
qodeshah vs set apartness*
put vs set*
depart vs set* out
lit vs set* (on fire)
Due to the fact that the term “spirit” in English carries so many confusing possibilities from ghosts to alcohol, HalleluYah Scriptures renders the Spirit of Yah in it’s Hebrew form Ruaḥ or Ruaḥ ha’Qodesh, like you may find Ruach also in “The Scriptures” and mark Heber Miller his 21st Century bible translation and the Nazarene Commentary.
In the HalleluYah Scriptures you may find Ruaḥ ha’Qodesh vs Set-apart Spirit, Ruaḥ vs Spirit and Ruaḥoth vs Spirits.
For the Messiah/Mashiah/Masschiah, to maintain the Hebrew origin of many words borrowed from the Greek texts, HalleluYah Scriptures used the Hebrew words in the following Mashiaḥ vs Messiah, Mashiaḥiyim vs Messianic, talmidim vs taught ones, Gĕy-Hinnom vs Gehenna, Shabbath vs Sabbath and Shabbathoth vs Sabbat.
Because the title Master is linked etymologically with the goddess Maia through the common root word “Meg” the original Hebrew form of Adonai used in the Hebrew scrolls is used as the title for the Almighty. Some people teach that Adon is a pagan word based on the greek false god Adonis. But the Hebrew is the original form where as Adonis is just a copy used for wicked means. It does not mean the word Adonai is pagan.
To retain the Hebrew origin of the qodesh Moedim (Appointed Times/Festivals) HalleluYah Scriptures rendered these Festivals in Hebrew.
HalleluYah Scriptures uses the words on the left.
Pesaḥ vs Passover
Matstsoth vs Unleavened Bread
Shaḇuoth vs Weeks
Yom Teruah vs Trumpets
Yom Kippurim vs Atonement
Sukkoth vs Booths
Yoḇĕl vs Jubilee
LIFE vs. HAI
The translators and publisher’s idea is that adding footnotes etc. is in conflict with the Word of God. According to them nearly all translations (including all Restored Name versions) add italicized words to the text in the attempt to ‘clarify’ certain portions causing much confusion and damage with the addition of these italicized words and in many cases goes against Deuteronomy 4:2 not to add to the Word.
Although there are a few situations where the context or root word may be translated with an ‘added’ word, HalleluYah Scriptures chose to remove as many as physically possible while maintaining a coherent translation. Space does not permit the number of italicized words that were removed and/or reworded, but amounts to well over 80% from the total of added words.
In many cases this required re-writing an entire verse to conform with the original language and this was not an easy job taking many months. The HalleluYah Scriptures translation team are working on the other 20% of added words and will make the changes in following print runs when completed.
For over 2 years a translation team has worked on two special editions, the HalleluYah Scriptures and Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled with the Jews their own language, Hebrew. That special book contains around 300 prophecies of Ha’Mashiach (Jeshua the Messiah) in the first Covenant alongside all their fulfilments recorded in the Renewed Covenant.
This will aid many people who do not believe that our Saviour was the promised Redeemer of Yisrael/Israel. This book will prove without a shadow of a doubt that Jeshua (Jesus Christ) is the Saviour.
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You may visit the HalleluYah Scriptures web site and read more about this important project that has touched and changed thousands of lives forever. http://www.Halleluyahscriptures.com
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No Footnotes, No Explanatory References, No Doctrines of Man! Just the Word of YHWH…
HalleluYah Scriptures Paralell Hebrew Bible & Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled New Book
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An other version using the Paleo Hebrew for the Names of the Creator and The Messiah is the Besora of Yahushua (Besorah being the Hebrew word for “message” or “report” = The message of Jeshua). Sadly, this translation has a number of notes throughout, including 60-odd pages of man’s writings, pictures and poems, with misleading doctrines. They transliterated the Name of the Messiah as Yahusha.
The Christadelphians have also some projects where a restored name version is sent out to those who want to read the word of God, so that it can be as a lamp to man’s feet and a light to our path, Psalms 119:105; 2 Peter 1:19. They have “The Scriptures” with the tetragrammaton and God’s Name Jehovah in it, but also distribute two older King James versions (with Jehovah) and a new King James version with the (transcribed) name Yahweh in it.
New European Version of the Bible with commentary
The New European Version of the Bible is a remediation of the King James Version into modern English, correcting some glaring issues in translation here and there. The NEV Bible is published in hard copy with a brief commentary on a few verses from each chapter, printed at the bottom of each page. At the back of the volume, there is a reduced version of the book Bible Basics. There is also an online version provided which has a dedicated page for each chapter of the Bible. On each page there is the Bible text, basic commentaries and links to other resources relevant to that chapter. There is also a “Deeper commentary” tab on each chapter. This gives some deeper insights on some Old Testament chapters; and in the New Testament, this tab connects to the New European Commentary. This is an in-depth, verse by verse commentary on the entire New Testament.
Duncan Heaster
Duncan Heaster
The NEV is published by CarelinksMinistries who say to pray earnestly that this Bible and the distribution of it will play a part in the spreading of the Gospel worldwide before Christ returns. Though also for this editor we must give a warning.
They say they are Christadelphian, but out of experience we have found that they do not take on a Christian attitude, namely not willing to share brotherly love with each other. We do have the impression it is more a cult organisation around one ex-communicate Christadelphian preacher, Duncan Heaster who has written over 20 books and having edited “Gospel News” magazine for over 20 years, has a team of followers round him, who do a lot of great work, but once people get baptised in their organisation they do not want them to have contact with others. They do not want their members to share with other Christadelphians or Bible students. So please if you order a copy by them and would become interested in what they teach and want to get baptised, never forget those who brought you into contact with them.
We also want to make it clear that the New European Version isn’t a fresh translation. It is more a re-working into modern English of the Old and New Testament as found in the King James and American Standard Versions. In some difficult and controversial areas, the original Greek text has been retranslated in an attempt to provide dynamic equivalence in modern English, seeking to provide a text which is familiar to those who have been used to the traditional Bible versions, and yet which is sensitive to the needs of those for whom English is a second language. During the years 2010 – 2014, the project of sending Bibles to those who need them and supporting them in their Bible reading [or Bible studies] with other books and article, now being funded by Bibles Worldwide Trust has sent out over 50,000 Bibles. The largest numbers are to Russian speaking countries, to Africa and to many English speaking countries.
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Free Bible Distribution, New European Version Free Bible with commentary
New American Standard Bible NAS on line – 1971, widely regarded as one of the most literally translated of 20th-century English Bible translations next to the New World Translation.
We’ve been duped! {Note: Marcus Ampe also had promoted the HalleluYah Scriptures in 2011 and later and got many complaints. This year he contacted that organisation again an could find a copy in his letterbox this October. We too are willing to give another chance to that organisation, and therefore would like to ask readers who order a copy to let us know how it goes and if they really get a copy for free or at reasonable price and how long after they ordered it.}
“Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.”
The doctrine of atonement involved in this scriptural principle is one of the most important and in some respects one of the most difficult of all the primary truths connected with the Gospel. Nowhere else is it so easy for men to get out of their depth, and there is no other subject that proves so tempting.
There is certainly danger that vital truths affecting the sacrifice of Christ may be called in question or may be obscured by wrong teaching on this subject. There is far more danger that a destructive strife of words should arise through men getting out of their mental depth in an effort to measure the mind of God. Dr. Thomas once remarked that the elementary truths regarding redemption were few and simple and no reason could be given for them beyond “the fact that God wills them”. If a candidate for baptism revealed a sound knowledge of these simple truths and of this simple explanation of them, we should not dare to “forbid water”. Suppose that having rendered a satisfactory confession of faith on all other first principles the candidate said:
“I believe that God required a perfect sacrifice before He could forgive sin, and that He provided the One capable of rendering that sacrifice. He sent forth His Son, the Lord Jesus, made of a woman, made in all points like his brethren, tempted in all points as we are, but by virtue of his divine parentage so superior to us morally that he was able to render the perfect sacrifice required and thus to secure redemption for himself from sin-stricken human nature and both forgiveness and redemption for those who come to God through him in the way appointed.”
Should we dare to forbid baptism because the candidate was unable to explain why God required a perfect sacrifice, or why He demanded the shedding of blood before sins could be remitted?
If we are quite agreed that an understanding of these simple elements is sufficient for one to enter the Covenant, surely it is a tragedy if brethren become divided simply through the effort to see further. It may be even worse than a tragedy, for it sometimes leads to destructive strife in which extremes act and re-act upon each other, the disputants getting further and further out of their depth, while the vital duties of life are neglected. We would not suggest for a moment that being agreed on the simple and elementary truths we should be content to go no further. Certainly we must push on and gain all the knowledge of divine things that is possible. Discussion of such matters may be very helpful if conducted by brethren who have grasped the more elementary teaching of the Word regarding human conduct. This, however, is certainly a subject in which we do well to be swift to hear and slow to speak; we may venture to suggest, still slower to write. So much sin lies at the door of the man who invented printing.
It may be helpful to take note of the main causes that have led brethren astray when they have tried to probe deeply into the doctrine of atonement. We may then be on our guard at least against these particular dangers.
One cause has been through the tendency to confuse the shadow with the substance. Brethren have reasoned that the types of the law suggested such and such necessities and the sacrifice of Christ had to conform. The truth is, of course, exactly the other way. The work of Christ was the very central feature of the divine purpose and all the shadows of the law had to conform to it. The Apostle in writing to the Hebrews, truly reasons from the types forward to Christ, but he makes it plain that Christ is the substance. We recognize the writings of the Apostles as of precisely the same authority as the Old Testament Scriptures. We do well therefore to take their plainest language as our guide and see that our understanding of types and symbols falls into line.
A second cause of confusion is the tendency to seek an explanation according to a human conception of logic and legality. Many years ago we had to point out that while human laws might often have effects far removed from the intention of the law makers, this could never be the case with the laws of God. We cannot recognize any distinction between the divine law and the divine will. When God makes a law it is the expression of His will for the time to which it applies, and it is made with a full knowledge of all its effects (see Acts 15 : 18).
“that have been known for ages.” (Acts 15:18 NIV)
We can hardly suppose that any brother would ever dispute this proposition; but some have reasoned as if they never thought of such an idea. We do well therefore to remind each other of this simple truth, which forbids us to make any distinction between legal necessities and the divine will.
A third cause of confusion has been through the persistent use of phrases that are sometimes misleading. Some staunch brethren in upholding the truth that Christ bore our sin-stricken nature have used language suggestive of an automatic cleansing by death. We could easily have rival camps in this matter, disputants on each side being totally unconscious of the ambiguity of their own language but too acutely conscious of the worst interpretations that could be put on the language of opponents.
Earnest brethren and sisters, anxious to hold the truth, have sometimes been perplexed and almost distracted in the strife of words, beyond their power to understand. The havoc that such strife may cause is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that one of the most capable men we ever had among us, in his efforts for legal logic ended by teaching justification for sin without faith, and we were all slow to realize the full enormity of the position. I well remember the surprise and even consternation of one of his supporters when he was first shown this feature of the case.
Even now there is the same disposition towards legal reasoning regarding types and shadows with the clear principles of Scripture neglected. Although disputants would deny the charge, it is a fact that some of them persistently lose sight of the fact that all things in God’s dealings with this world centre round Christ. The reason that all things under the law were cleansed by the offering of blood, was that all things in the age to come will be through the sacrifice of Christ. In reasoning with Jews it might be necessary to invert the argument, but we who are privileged to know the substance of God’s great purpose must never lose sight of it.
What is the literal truth revealed in the New Testament as to the meaning of sacrifice? It is that God forgives sins and offers eternal life on the basis of the perfect sacrifice effected by Christ in his life and death. Whatever figurative or partly figurative language the Bible may use, this is the real meaning. Washed in his blood, our sins laid upon him, a bearing of our sins in his own body, the purchase of his blood, the ransom, his being delivered for our offences, the just for the unjust-all such expressions must be understood in harmony with the literal truth that God forgives. Transgressions of the divine law can only be put away by the forgiveness and forbearance of God. Physical uncleanness of nature can only be put away by the power of God. The sacrifice of Christ is the divinely appointed basis in which God in mercy and forbearance offers forgiveness and redemption to sinners (Rom. 3 : 23-4, 4 : 7; Eph. 1 : 7; Col. 1 : 14; 1 John 1 : 9, 2 : 12).
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23 NIV)
“”Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.” (Romans 4:7 NIV)
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7 NIV)
“in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:14 NIV)
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NIV)
“I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.” (1 John 2:12 NIV)
If we desire to probe further and ask the question why did God require such a sacrifice as the basis of the forgiveness offered to humanity, we shall never find any answer through the various interpretations of the law or by talk of the penalty due to sin. Divine law is simply an expression of divine will. It was not the will of God that man should sin, but it was the will of God that man should be a free agent and that death should be the wage of sin. It was the will of God that the human race having been defiled by sin should have no access to His holy presence except on the basis of a perfect sacrifice.
And it is the will of God that we should respond to the gracious invitation and be saved on the basis He has provided (1 Thess. 5 : 9). If we ask why God required such a sacrifice, we must seek a moral explanation. It is no answer to quote the law which expresses His will.
“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9 NIV)
Guided by Scripture we can find a moral explanation that satisfies every demand that the intelligence can make. The perfect sacrifice was required that the flesh might be effectively repudiated, that sin might be conquered and condemned, that the righteousness and holiness of God might be declared, and that sinful man should be humbled without a particle of ground for boasting being left to him (Rom. 3 : 23-27, 8:3; Eph. 2 : 1-9).
“23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith.” (Romans 3:23-27 NIV)
“For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,” (Romans 8:3 NIV)
“1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no-one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:1-9 NIV)
God made it clear even in ancient times that humanity could not approach to Him at all except with humble faith and on the basis of blood shedding. He gave a law that emphasized the sinfulness and helplessness of His people (Rom. 8 : 15, 5 : 20).
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”” (Romans 8:15 NIV)
“through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:2 NIV)
He made it clear that when sins were put away by sacrifice they were really forgiven (Lev. 4 : 20, 26, 31, 35).
“and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4:20 NIV)
“He shall burn all the fat on the altar as he burned the fat of the fellowship offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the man’s sin, and he will be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4:26 NIV)
“He shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. In this way the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4:31 NIV)
“He shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the lamb of the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the offerings made to the LORD by fire. In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4:35 NIV)
He promised a deliverer who should “make an end of sin”, and “bring in everlasting righteousness” (Dan. 9). When the fullness of time was come He revealed that scheme of love into which even the angels had desired to look. He made selection of a virgin of the house of Israel and produced from her one who should be strong for the great work required. So the flesh was repudiated even in the birth of Christ, sin was conquered and condemned in every act of his life, and finally he freely rendered the last obedience even unto death that he might be raised from the dead to immortality and glory as the captain of our salvation-made perfect through suffering (Heb. 2 : 10).
“In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” (Hebrews 2:10 NIV)
To him much was given and of him much was required. The lights and shadows inseparable from the formation of a character needed to be intense in the probation of our great Captain. He worked out his perfection and salvation by the strength God gave him, and thus through him God opened the way of life for us. Here is the sin nature that had produced only helpless sinners, controlled, condemned and finally put away by the strong Son of God in his perfect obedience of life and death. On this basis humanity can approach the holiness of the Creator and men of faith though sinners can be exalted to the divine. On this basis of the sin nature conquered, repudiated and condemned by the one God made strong for Himself, God forgives. That is the real meaning of atonement.
It is hardly possible to imagine anyone who had ever caught even the most fleeting glimpse of this vision turning back to the pitiful speculations of men as to supposed legal necessities. There are those in the world who think that the real body of Christ never rose, but remains eternally dead as the price due to God or the punishment due to sin! It would be difficult to make any comment on such an idea while preserving the language of decorum. The brethren are doubtless proof against such monstrous teaching. Let them keep far from the narrow reasoning that leads in that direction. The New Testament describes the sacrifice of Christ in plain and literal language. Let us interpret all figures and symbols by reference to the plain statements. God-who knows the end from the beginning, who does according to His will, but who “cannot deny Himself” God provided the means for condemning and overcoming sins on the basis of which He with much forbearance forgives those who please Him by their faith.
Much controversy has been caused by the question as to whether Christ offered for his own cleansing. It has been largely a war of words, due on the one hand to a fear of saying or subscribing to anything derogatory to Christ and on the other hand perhaps a tendency to relapse into the old exaggeration of “original sin”. There ought not to be a minute’s difficulty in dealing with the question and securing agreement.
When we speak of “sin” in the flesh we use the phrase just as the Apostle used it in Romans 7. Obviously it is a derived or secondary sense of the word, for the primary meaning of sin is transgression of divine law. It is a similar extension of meaning to that of the word “death” for poison when they said, “there is death in the pot”. The Apostle speaks of a law in his members which wars against the laws of God and leads to transgression. He calls this physical weakness “sin” in the flesh or “sin” that dwelleth in me. It is the diabolos in human nature, the natural desires of the flesh which, if they are allowed to “conceive”, “bring forth sin”. We need not argue as to whether there is such a law. We all know it only too well. We are born with it and if we give way to any sin we correspondingly strengthen the evil desire in that direction and thus make “sin” in the flesh more active. To suppose that an extraordinarily pure and righteous man would feel this weakness less than others is a huge mistake. The truth is the other way. It is the thoroughly fleshly man who is unconscious of the sinful law in his members and who probably would not understand what the Apostle meant. The man with the highest ideals and the most spiritual mind will feel the struggle most. To suggest that Christ was tempted in all points as we are and yet without this law of sin in his members is to proclaim a complete contradiction. It is like saying, “Except that he was not tempted at all!” Suggestions from without are no temptation to us if they do not appeal to something within. Christ bore just this same denied nature that we bear or he could not have been tempted as we are and therefore could not have condemned and conquered sin. Christ bore this quality in the flesh, but he never allowed it to conceive even to the point of sinful thought. Therein was the most terrific struggle and the most portentous victory of all human experience. It is easy to understand that with his ideals, and his standards of rectitude, the weakness of the flesh would be so distressing that even the most startling language of the Psalms is comprehensible.
Now whether we take the plain language of the Apostles (Heb. 9 : 12; 10 : 20) or the prophecies and types of the law, the teaching is that all things were to be cleansed by the perfect sacrifice and that no one of Adam’s race should have access to the Most Holy place except on the basis of that sacrifice (Lev. 16 : 2-14 note seven times of sprinkling). Some have caused confusion by arguing whether Christ’s offering for himself was “only a matter of obedience to God” or whether it was something more. What do they mean? Obedience to God is carrying out the will of God. What can be required beyond this? Surely we are all agreed that Christ, “the beloved son“, “the servant in whom God delighted”, and the one who “always did his Father’s will“, needed no forgiveness. Surely we are also agreed that he needed cleansing from the sin-stricken nature in which he wrestled with and’ conquered the diabolos. There could be no forgiveness for personal sinners except on the basis of the perfect sacrifice, for this was the will of God. There could be no cleansing and immortalizing, no entry into the Most Holy by any of Adam’s race except on the basis of the same perfect sacrifice, for that also was the will of God. Christ came to do God’s will, he was obedient in all things even unto death, and so with his own blood-in other words, on the basis of his perfect offering-he entered the Most Holy “having obtained eternal redemption.”
The truth is that when brethren who are agreed as to these fundamentals still argue and suspect each other of being “unsound”, they are really in their minds raising that old question of many years ago,
“Supposing Christ had been the only one to be saved, would he still have had to die a sacrificial death?”
Everyone ought to have learned long ago that this question is not legitimate. It is asking,
“If the will of God had been totally different in one direction, would it have remained the same in another closely related matter?”
There is only one proper answer to such a question. No one knows what the will of God would have been if His purpose had been other than it is, and only a presumptuous man would claim to know.
We have to do with the purposeof God as it is and as it is revealed to us. These truths are so simple and withal so beautiful that unless brethren insist on a misleading form of words making for strife, there should be no difficulty in agreeing.
The will of God determines everything. It was the will of God that none of our sin-stricken race should enter His holy presence except on the basis of the most complete repudiation of the flesh involved in a perfect obedience even unto death. He provided the strength necessary for this great work and it was for this purpose that Christ was born. Thus through the blood of the everlasting Covenant he was brought again from the dead. With his own blood he entered the Most Holy place, having obtained eternal redemption, and we, if we are faithful, can stand at last “washed from our sins in his blood” and covered with his righteousness. All these figures meaning that God accepts, forgives and cleanses His people on the basis of the perfect life and death of His Anointed Son.
We are redeemed; we are “bought with a price,” even ” the precious blood of Christ.” He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. This being so, eternal torment cannot be the penalty for our sins, because our Redeemer, upon whom they were laid, is not suffering eternal woe. He tasted death for every man, and the evidence that His sacrifice was satisfactory is in that lie was raised from the dead by the power of the Father.* (Eph. 1: 18, 19; Acts 2: 24.) Let those who believe in eternal torment ask themselves the solemn question, ” Has a ransom, a propitiation, a corresponding price, a satisfaction, ever been offered for what is due on account of my sins ?”
Since the Scripture teaching on the Ransom makes clear so much that before was not so, it is not surprising that William Tyndale, the great Reformer, said that the doctrine of the Ransom is the “touchstone to try all teachings.” A few illustrations of the Ransom teaching as a “touchstone” have been given. The student will at discretion apply this “stone” to other religious or so-called Bible teachings. Whatever he finds out of harmony with the Ransom is to be rejected
forthwith; time spent with it is wasted. Although there may be beautiful thoughts expressed by some who openly or covertly deny the Ransom, we are not to go through their error for the sake of a few good things which, by the grace of God, we can get from His Word, without wading through a mass of false teaching.
But some one will say that the Apostle commands us to ” prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (1 Thes. 5: 21.) It cannot be that the Apostle means that God’s people are to undertake to acquaint themselves with all the details of all the religious teaching in the world. Life is too short for this. He Himself wrote that there was one foundation, Christ, and other foundation can no man lay. If a teaching be presented for our consideration, we are not to shut our eyes and ears, and, as it were, run away from it without knowing what it is. We are to prove it ; and the first question will be, Does it agree with the one foundation, the fact that Jesus “gave Himself a ransom for all ? ” If it do not agree, even though the words ” r a n s o m ” and ” p r o p i t i a t i o n ” be frequently employed, the task of proving it is finished — perhaps in
one minute — and our obligation toward it is discharged in full. If the teaching presented be found to be harmonious with the Ransom, it will be right for us to examine it more closely, and derive whatever blessing we may from its presentations.
The Ransom as a “touchstone” will not only be a test of all teaching brought to it, but it may also be a test of the student, in that some long cherished beliefs may be found to be inconsistent with the faith in the Ransom. Happy will he be to whom the “touchstone” does not become a “stumbling stone and rock of offence,” as it was to the Jews, and is now to a large number in Christendom. — 1 Cor. 1: 2 3 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 8.
-NCA 1929, April, p. 29
“2 to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their [Lord] and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:2-3 NAS)
“and, “A Stone Of Stumbling And A Rock Of Offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this [doom] they were also appointed.” (1 Peter 2:8 NAS)
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19 NAS)
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In I Corinthians 6, the Apostle Paul exhorts the brethren not to practise sin, because (v. 19) “. . . ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price.”
Bought with a Price
Now just how was this transaction fulfilled? Was the Lord Jesus as a sinless spirit being in heaven, and before He came to the earth, so valuable that His life was of sufficient worth to cover the whole human race? or so valuable as to be worth more than all the human race?
Some Christians think along these lines. Yet this is not the way the Scriptures describe the transaction.
The Scriptures say that He “gave himself a ransom for all.” Ransom means “corresponding price,” or “a price to correspond.” When we go into a shop to buy an article we are told the price. We hand over the counter just exactly the price demanded for the purchase of that article. The seller hands over the article, which now belongs to the purchaser. The article has changed hands at a price satisfactory to both parties. If the shopkeeper likes he may quite rightly and justly give you your money back, and you may justly retain the article also, receiving the price as a gift along with the
purchase. Thus, you see, everything is quite in order, and each party to the transaction is still perfectly satisfied.
Just so, along lines somewhat similar, was the ransom or corresponding price paid for the purchase of the human race, and himself, the price paid by Jesus the Purchaser, was returned to Him when He was raised from death by the Father, to whom He had offered himself without spot.
-NCA 1929,May p. 104
The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Jesus was born, got a beginning, after the many years he was been promised to come. After he learned how to behave and what to do, getting the Bible teaching from his earthly parents (Mary and Joseph) and his Jewish teachers in his parents community (the Essenes) he came into the public around the age of thirty and had himself baptised by his cousin John. At the moment he raised from the water the heavens opened and God declared that there the world could see His beloved son.
“16 And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, [and] coming upon Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”” (Matthew 3:16-17 NAS)
It was by that son of man and son of God that we could find salvation because it was God Who did raise an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David His servant. As such the salvation is of the Jews, but Jesus, who only wanted to do the Will of his Father, was not recognised by the majority of the Jews as the Messiah. They rejected him, but Jesus invited all to come to him and to accept him as the Way.
It was for all people that Jesus voluntary gave his body to be brought on the ‘slaughter bank’ by impalement, coming his life to an end. The God of gods Who is the Most High and can not die made Jesus than higher than the angels (though he was lower than them before) and took him to sit at His right hand to become a mediator between God and man.
It is God’s wish that all flesh shall see the salvation of God. And those who want to belong to the Body of Christ do have to take care that many people come to see who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. They have to take care that people come to know what they worship and that they get a “stedfast” belief in the Word, and become of all accepted worthy, that Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners, for the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.
For God did not send His son to the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him, and find hope for all of their beloved, a chance to enter the Kingdom of God for free, because the Ransom is paid by Christ Jesus. And there is not salvation in any other, for there is no other name under the heaven that has been given among men, in which it behoved us to be saved.
As followers of Christ, bought free by him, we should present ourselves also to him and his heavenly Father. For it was becoming to Him, because of whom are all things, and through whom are all things, many sons to glory bringing, the author of their salvation through sufferings to make perfect.
“And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant — ” (Luke 1:69 NAS)
“And All Flesh Shall See The Salvation Of God.’”” (Luke 3:6 NAS)
“”You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” (John 4:22 NAS)
“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost [of all.]” (1 Timothy 1:15 NAS)
“”For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”” (Luke 19:10 NAS)
“”For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.” (John 3:17 NAS)
“”And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”” (Acts 4:12 NAS)
“For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.” (Hebrews 2:10 NAS)
“Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” (John 14:6 NAS)
The Servant of his Father asks from us also to become servants for God, for Christ and for each-other. To be worthy to come in front of the heavenly Father we do have to Flee from Immorality and have to do our best to stay clean and worthy to enter the gates of the Kingdom. We thereby should always Remember the day that we were running in the darkness and should therefore be patient with others trying to bring them to God. Christians do have the task to tell others why we need a ransom, and to let there eyes be opened to come to see that there is a Ransom for all.
Moving Through Time: Timeline of Religion (pcr.wpengine.com) Since the beginning of time, mankind has formed beliefs of the unexplainable and unknowable. Over thousands of years, these beliefs became traditional, customary, and institutionalized within regional societies. People continue to express an interest in spiritual matters from all corners around the world. Everybody has pondered the meaning of life, what happens after we die, what existed before us, and whether any other life exists in the universe. Mankind may never know concrete answers regarding the spiritual. In fact, humans may destroy the planet before we can discover the remaining life in unexplored regions. Nevertheless, we continue to seek spiritual enlightenment and a connection with our Creator.
God is Love (dailybibleplan.com)
Great freedom comes from understanding the true heart of God. Praise Him today for His great love for us. Be blessed knowing that God’s perfect love for you will never fail.
#LivingthePromise God is preparing me (seanwhitenack.wordpress.com)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Jesus is Matchless (theencouragementexpress.com)
people change people as much as ideas change people. The power of personality is strong. One could find many illustrations to prove that often personality is greater than the idea. Such is the case with Christianity. The secret of the power of Christianity is not in its ethics. It is not in Christian ideas or philosophy, although Christianity has a philosophical set of ideas. The secret of Christianity is found in a Person, and that Person is the Lord Jesus Christ.
What was Abolished in Christ ? (isaiahministries.wordpress.com)
It is said of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, that He “hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 2 Tim. 1:10. Death is the result of sin. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
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We read that Christ “was manifested to take away our sins.” 1 John 3:5. He is the sin-bearer, “Who His own self carried up our sins in His body to the tree, that we having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness.” 1 Peter 2:24, R.V., margin. Sin is lawlessness, and Christ was manifested to take away, not the law, but lawless-ness.
What does the Bible say about finding a husband? (mmfit1.wordpress.com)
We must enter into the second most-important relationship of our lives (marriage), not under an emotional cloud, but with eyes wide open. Our most important relationship, with our Lord and Savior, has to be the focus of our lives
Thankfulness from A to Z! (pamelastephens.me)
Can you think of hymns, or praise songs that truly express your gratitude for an Awesome God? It is an act of worship to allow your spirit to be transported into the heavenlies with these melodies; but it is more than just a tune, combined with the words it becomes a heart felt prayer as we sing! Consider, meditate and praise Him for His blessings from A to Z! “Count your blessings, name them one by one! Count your many blessings see what God has done!”
November 16th (learning2walkdaily.wordpress.com) Paul is challenging the people to get past the small things that have grown to divide them and focus on Jesus. This has obviously mushroomed over time into many sects, some of which may even be the “official” church of some nations. Now, more than ever, in such an unfriendly time for the church, we should all be heeding Paul’s instruction and simply strive for unity through Jesus Christ.
At the beginning of our contemporary age a son of man was hailed, by some triumphantly praised as a king entering Jerusalem, by others regarded as a dangerous person undermining their power. About 2 000 years later it are still religious leaders who do not want people to come to know that Nazarene man or to accept him as the son of God and future King of this world.
Jesus told his disciples that he will return only once and that when he does, after a time of great tribulation, it will be visible to everyone and be followed by immediate and dire consequences for those unprepared and for those who were adversaries of God.
The disciples expected that Christ would “come” as King, with a royal presence, and to remove the Romans and thrown down the corrupt temple, all at the same time and soon! It was a disappointment for them it turned not out that way, but they came to understand we could have an even much better future because of what Jesus had done. Though they also became convinced of the necessity to be prepared for the time that Jesus would return and that each believer could add by his effort of preaching, to bring the time closer.
In de vroegere tijden toen de mensen nog dagelijks hard labeur moesten ondergaan om in hun levensonderhoud te voorzien, betoonden zij hun dankbaarheid aan diegene die zij dachten dat het voor hen mogelijk maakte dat zij die vruchten van de aarde konden gebruiken. In de eerste eeuwen van onze tijdrekening was het in onze contreien […]
In de Schrift wordt ons gevraagd ons in te spannen voor onze redding, en dit te doen in diep ontzag voor God. Hierbij wordt duidelijk gemaakt dat wij ons moeten inzetten of werken moeten doen om behouden de smalle weg op te kunnen gaan om zo als wedergeborenen door de nauwe poort het Koninkrijk van God binnen te kunnen gaan.
Not every covenant that God made with His People is to be viewed as having no limit in time, but that which was bought at a heavy price is sealed with blood forever. The prime necessity of human race, salvation from sin and death, has been provided in the divine purpose and solved by the sent one from God, who was willing to put his own will aside to do the Will of his heavenly Father, and gave himself as a ransom for all people.
Recent Posts on the Lifestyle Magazine: Stepping Toes
In de Heilige Schrift hebben wij meerdere voorbeelden vna mensen met geloof, Abraham daarbij de voornaamste. Onze persoonlijke ervaringen en innerlijk gevoelen moeten ons leiden en bewust maken van de essentiële waarden en geloofspunten, zodat wij dan ook zullen kunnen getuigen van gods aanwezigheid in ons leven en in de wereld.
Strijdt om in te gaan door de enge poort, want velen, zeg Ik u,zullen trachten in te gaan, doch het niet kunnen.”(Lukas 13:24, NBG’51) In Lukas 13:23 lezen we hoe iemand Jezus vraagt: Heer, zijn er maar weinigen die worden gered? En zijn antwoord is: “Doe alle moeite om door de smalle deur naar binnen […]
In de Europese universiteiten vindt me de theologie als wetenschapsgebied in directe verbinding met concrete godsdienstige praktijken. Niet alleen in die zin dat die praktijken voorwerp van onderzoek kunnen zijn, maar zo dat de afgestudeerde theoloog bekwaam en geschikt zou zijn om in die praktijken een professionele leidinggevende rol te vervullen. Als die praktijken uit […]
Every generation has to undergo some turnovers on one or the other factor. What is to considered to be normal at one time in another generation can be “not done”. The last few years it seems like we are living in a society which wants to overcorrect itself. It wants to break with previous passages […]
Jeff Carreira notes that the world reveals itself to us in a stream of sensation. Man has to face a lot of things in his life; Growing up we always go from one (unexpected) situation onto another, always bringing new and other facts and facets. All the time we are confronted with lots of imprints, made […]
Recent Posts on the other Lifestyle Magazine and Readers Digest: From guestwriters
De Vijgenboom of Ficus carica, of Gewone Vijg is een Aziatische soort van bloeiende plant uit de moerbeifamilie, (Moraceae) en zijn eetbare vrucht. De gewone vijg is inheems in een gebied dat zich uitstrekt van het Middellandse Zee gebied, i.h. bijz. Aziatisch Turkije tot Noord-India. Natuurlijke zaailingen groeien in de meeste mediterrane landen; en worden […]
De meeste van ons weten wat vermoeidheid is. We zijn allemaal wel eens moe. Sommigen zelfs altijd, door ziekte of door een vermoeiend leven. Toch hebben wij allerlei dingen die ons het leven makkelijker maken: een stofzui-ger en een wasmachine, een grasmaaier en een elektrische boormachine, een auto of bromfiets (of anders een bus of […]
“Als ik een nachtegaal was, dan zou ik zingen als een nachtegaal; als ik een zwaan was, als een zwaan. Maar omdat ik een rationeel wezen ben, is het mijn rol om God te prijzen.” ~ Epictetus
Bible Today
Dedicated to demonstrating that the Bible is God’s Word for our time
Biblestudents – Bijbelstudenten
A Google Site presenting the Biblestudents with articles in English and Dutch – Voorstelling van de Bijbelstudenten met artikelen in het Nederlands en Engels
Bijbelvorsers Webs
Association for Bibleresearchers. Vereniging voor Bijbelvorsers
Christen Focus
Redenen genoeg om ons gericht te houden op de juiste zaken en personen
Dawn Bible Students Association
Showing that the true gospel is not a new theology, but the old theology, the old gospel preached to Abraham
Focus on Charles Taze Russell
This site is an endeavor to weed out the false from the true regarding Charles Taze Russell.
Getuigen voor Christus
Tegenover de Getuigen van Jehovah zijn er ook de Getuigen voor Christus die Getuigenis afleggen voor Christus en zijn God Jehovah.
International Biblestudents Association
The IBSA or cooperative association of Bible Student congregations worldwide, all united by the common beliefs taught in Brother Russell’s Studies in the Scriptures series
Christadelphian Ecclesia
The Church community in Belgium of the Christadelphians. – Kerkgemeenschap van de Broeders in Christus.
Christadelphian World
News and thoughts from the Christadelphian Worldpointview. – Een kijk op het wereldgebeuren vanuit het standpunt van de wereld der Christadelphians.
Exploring the Bible
26-lesson postal/web correspondence course working following the consistent message of the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation
Glad Tidings
Monthly magazine to encourage the study of the Bible as God’s inspired message to mankind
Jeshuaist Focus
Een site die aantoont dat elke gelovige in de Enige Ware God kan deel uitmaken van het Volk dat in Gods Koninkrijk zal mogen vertoeven.
Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten
Guestspeaker
Relating to God
Bijbelvorsers Webs
Belgische Vrije Christadelphians / Belgian Free Christadelphians – Old Google Main Website
Christadelphian Ecclesia
Hoop tot Leven – Redding in Christus
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #9 Restored names and Sacred Name Bibles
In the previous chapter we showed that in the 1980ies and 1990ies publishers looked for way to have some cheap material easily printed and reproduced. For them the Word of God or the Bible looked very handy to use, because when they changed here and there some words they could publish it freely without having to bother about copyrights. In those years lots of economical and political problems started showing up, the Gulf War and beginning pressure from Islamic terrorist groups, making that people went looking for alternatives and solutions for making their life better.
From the time that all sorts of translations were provided for different groups of people, like housewives, prisoners, blue-coloured workman, modern women and modern man – Good News for modern man New Testament in Today’s English Version
Many publishers knocking the ball around presented booklets, pocket editions but also hard-covers with fragments and with full texts of the Bible. Many wanted to bring out a ‘fresh’ or ‘up-to-date’ Bible translations which could draw on a particular group of people or could be favoured by a particular denomination. For some it did not matter so much when the words got twisted a little-bit or when the translation was so loosely done it went very far from the original Holy Writings. The Good News Bible, which also presented a version for the ‘modern man’ is such a Bible translation were too much liberty is taken, but which manage to continue to exist until today.
The Liberator (2006) a retelling of the life of Jesus based on the gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, could find perhaps a prolonged life because of the Lacey Theatre Company toured shows based on this book in 2007 and 2008, and extracts also being performed in “St David’s Praise” (31 May 2008, St David’s Hall in Cardiff).
Titlepage and dedication from a 1612-1613 King James Bible, printed by Robert Barker. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Coming closer to the 400th birthday of the publication of the Authorised King James version, several companies also started bringing new King James Versions, whilst others found it time to not only update the language but to restore the names and present the words like it would be linguistic right.
Some of the new King James versions around the turn of the century did not alter the language much, like the minor very conservative update of the King James Version, the 21st Century King James Version bible, which stays true to the Textus Receptus and does not delete Bible passages based on Alexandrian Greek manuscripts. Obsolete and certain archaic words are eliminated but further it preserves the traditional Biblical language, making it possible to have all those using a King James Bible to follow easily. The 21st Century King James Version has also been released in an edition with the Apocrypha and without the unusual formatting; this is known as the Third Millennium Bible.
Having taken 7 years to complete the New King James Version (NKJV) already commissioned in 1975, published by HarperCollins (a subsidiary of News Corp), conceived by Arthur Farstad with 130 biblical scholars, pastors, and theologians, alters the language more significantly from the 1611 King James Version, but still trying to retain the purity and stylistic beauty of the original.
The exceptionally rich and accurate translation of the Holy Scripture became first available in 1982 but got more in the picture around the 400th birthday of the original KJV, also receiving some new study edition.
The NKJV claiming to be “more accurate” because it leaves untranslated words like “Gehenna,” “Hades” and “Sheol” is misleading the people and has the only reason not to bump some church-member’s head. They choose for security not to knock against those who keep insistently wrong teachings of having gehenna/hades/sheol being a place of doom, the hell, where so called sinners would be penalised for their sins, instead of an abode of the dead, the grave/tomb. For that reason also many present bibles are afraid to print the Divine Name of God (יהוה) where it stood in the original writings, because also there people would come clearly to see about whom is been spoken and soon would come to see the difference between Jehovah God and Jehovah God His only begotten beloved son, יהושׁע Jeshua, where all of those KJV’s print Jesus.
But some of the newer versions restored the names. By them avoiding, where most trinitarians loved to see “Lord“, having titles placed instead of the original names, using the names of the people makes it much clearer for the bible reader about whom is been spoken, and as such mistaking one person fro the other is avoided. This way the Restored Name Versions and the New European Version are King James versions which haven taken up the old way of presenting God’s Name like it was in the original King James version, to leave no doubt when is spoken about the God of gods or about the son of God.
For the English Bible translations God’s Divine Name was already in the William Tyndale Bible of 1530 and in the King James Version in 1611. The excuse of avoiding the risk of taking God’s name (יהוה/YHWH) in vain, according to devout Christians was not necessary any more, because Jeshua liberated us from the curse of sin and restored the relationship between God and man. After the sacrifice of God‘s only begotten son, man does not have to be afraid any more to come up to God and speak to Him using His Sacred Name. Being convinced of the restored relationship and feeling that we as children of God not only may use His Name but should spread His Name, several Sacred Name Bibles started seeing the light.
When we look at the original texts and see how frequent that Divine Name appears, and hear how God speaks about His Name, we should comprehend its importance. The Tetragrammaton occurs 6,828 times in the Hebrew text (BHK and BHS). This is confirmed by the Theologisches Handwörterbuch zum Alten Testament, Vol. I, edited by E. Jenni and C. Westermann, 3rd ed., Munich and Zurich, 1978, cols. 703, 704. The New World Translation renders the Tetragrammaton as “Jehovah” in all occurrences.
The knowledge of the correct pronunciation of God’s name was there at the time of Christ, as it was heard at least by the high priest until 70 CE and respectively its utterance was common practice until at least the 1st century CE, but Hebrew speaking people can and do read the name in some groups as well as the majority of Messianic Jews who also accept that the relationship between God and man is restored by the Mashiah or Messiah.
The Jerusalem Bible: Reader’s Edition Hardcover – Abridged, February 15, 2000
Though throughout history there have been several versions which used God’s Name Jehovah or placed Yahweh for the Tetragrammaton, like The Jerusalem Bible (JB or TJB) (translated from the French La Bible de Jérusalem of 1956, revived and updated in 1973), first introduced to the English-speaking public at the time when the fear for the users of God’s Name (the Jehovah Witnesses started growing) in 1966 and published by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a Catholic Bible, it includes the traditional 73 books found in most English translations until the mid 19th century: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonical books as the Old Testament, and the 27 books shared by all Christians as the New Testament. It also contains copious footnotes and introductions. It is the basis of the Lectionary for Mass used in Catholic worship throughout England, Wales, and the majority of the English-speaking world outside the United States and Canada, though the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has approved other translations for conditional liturgical use.
The New American Bible (With the Revised Book of Psalms and the Revised New Testament) New American Bible Revised ed. Edition by World Bible Publishing St
For the dioceses of the United States and the Philippines the New American Bible (NAB) Catholic Bible translation first published in 1970 is used, also being approved by the Episcopal Church in the United States. The spelling of proper names found in this edition departs from the ones found in older Catholic Bible versions, such as the Douay, and instead adopts those commonly found in Protestant Bibles.
The Revised New American Bible (RNAB) had the traditional phraseology — absent from the 1970 edition — restored to the New Testament, and having several non-traditional gender-neutral terms incorporated in its 1986 version. The New Testament was almost completely revised, and bears a much closer resemblance to the 1941 Confraternity version, as opposed to the much more periphrastic 1970 NAB NT. In 1991 the Book of Psalms was amended to introduce the use of extensive gender-neutral language. The last update is from 2011, including the newly revised Old Testament and re-revised Psalms, and the revised New Testament from the second edition.
Several English people did not like it that God’s Name was printed and would have preferred the Name of God be left unpronounced, or substituted with Lord or another title. In 1985, the English translation was completely updated. This new translation — known as the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) — was freshly translated from the original languages and not tied to any French translation any-more (except indirectly, as it maintained many of the stylistic and interpretive choices of the French Jerusalem Bible).
When the the Catholic Truth Society in 2007 published the CTS New Catholic Bible, consisting of the original 1966 Jerusalem Bible text, prepared by the faculty of the Dominican Biblical School in Jerusalem, on the basis of the Hebrew and Greek and revised to match its use in lectionaries throughout most English-speaking countries, in conformity with the directives of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and the Pontifical Biblical Commission the name “Yahweh” was replaced by “the LORD” throughout the Old Testament, which frequently departs from the traditional Masoretic text, and the Psalms have been completely replaced by the 1963 Grail Psalter. The revised text is accompanied by new introductions, and textual and liturgical notes, supplemented as needed with material from the notes to the New Jerusalem Bible.
(Hebrew names are also used where possible for annual festival days, as well as being used, minimally, for ambiguous words).
For many english people accustomed to the KJV order of books it may demand some adaptation to come used to the original order of the Tanakh (Old Covenant Scriptures) which is restored according to the order of the Hebrew Scriptures, i.e. Torah, Neviim, Kethuvim. In the newer versions the New Covenant Writings (Brit Chadasha / New Testament), its allusions to the Tanakh are printed in Bold, and cross referenced to the Tanakh (Old Covenant Scriptures).
Dr. Chris J. Koster, with the aid and support of other scholars and textual experts from both Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds in different parts of the world, was the original translator for the South African and English version. He formed the ISR so that it could continue the work, even after his death (+4 May 1995). At the ISR, which also publishes the Hebraic Roots Version Scriptures (HRV), the board of directors is now overseeing the on-going work of translation and revision. It was around the time of his death that brother Marcus Ampe got to know him and his work and asked if he could make a Dutch version of the work. He had requested the version in Afrikaans, but never got it. The text fragments from 1993/1995 he got and 1998 had some little differences with the 2009 and 2010 versions. (At the moment in the ecclesia we use the 1998 and 2010 version, next to the NWT and the Bible Students Reference bible.) Because of his daily work and Marcus Ampe writing for several websites the translation-work got very much slowed down, also by his work on the Christadelphian modules for the Online Bible program.
Don Esposito, Senior Elder of the Congregation of YHWH Jerusalem, for his Hebrew Roots Version used the original names of our Creator, but presented it from the Paleo Hebrew as YAHWEH (יהוה HWHY/YHWH), and for God’s Son, our Saviour he used Yahshua (יהושׁע Yeshua/Jeshua in modern spelling), throughout. Because there was no letter J at that time he kept to the Y. Though than you also could say there did not exist a letter u and still should use the v or also for the w one still should, in that instance use, the vv. We do know also in the Catholic Imprimatur Bibles from the 1950ies there was written Yehowah, but in later prints this became modernised to Jehovah. The “New Testament” portion is titled “The Ketuvim Netzarim” (“Writings of the Nazarenes”) and is also a Messianic Sacred Name Edition and is translated from the original Aramaic and Hebrew. The NT books are also in the original manuscript order (The Gospels; Acts; James, 1&2 Peter; 1,2,3 John, Jude; Pauline Epistles; Revelation) but the titles of the books are their Hebraic names. The HRV also divides the books into two sections The B’sorah (Goodnews) and The Sh’lukhim (Emissaries).
The HRV Complete Bible is by many considered to be the first complete Messianic Study Bible.
Further there where Ted Ramp, President of Halleluyah Scriptures Inc. (Incorporated Dec. 6, 2012) – Fort Wayne, IN, Robin Ramp, Secretary of Halleluyah Scriptures Inc. , Erik Klausner, Marilyn Nave and Nance Whitaker who seem to have broken with Deborah (Debra) and Ken Allen and their the Halleluyhah Scriptures.
This has taken years of research as it is not always obvious that English words are derived from pagan deities. Much diligent research has been done into assuring that there are no pagan words used to describe our wonderful Father and His Son and as such we also do not find the false name of the Messiah which was given in the 4th century to the rabbi, but which is now the common name, Jesus, coming from Issou or Hail Zeus. In this version all paganism and names of false gods that have traditionally been used in translation when pertaining to the the Father, His Son and His people have been avoided, and in many cases retain a Hebrew transliteration if the word is linked to paganism, though we do find some words which are still presented like a name, like Satan, though in the Name Meaning guidebook they print it right giving the reading the real English word ‘adversary’. The reason they probably did not translate it this way in their translation is perhaps some of their translators do want to believe in a devilish figure, called ‘Satan‘ instead of heaving any adversary being called so.
Although the English language is replete with words derived from pagan deities, this translation has attempted to remove most, if not all of these words when attributed to the Almighty, His Son or His people. Problem for translators is that certain words or Hebrew terms have no comparison in English.
HalleluYah Scriptures chose to retain the Hebrew term “qodesh” for ‘holy’ or ‘set-apart’ (for we are qodesh and not Set apart from Him), and removed all occurrences of the word “set” in obedience to the Word (Exodus 23:13, Josiah 23:7, Psalms 16:4). eg.
qodesh vs set-apart*
Qadosh One vs Set-apart One*
qodeshi vs set-apart one*
qodeshim vs set-apart ones*
qodeshah vs set apartness*
put vs set*
depart vs set* out
lit vs set* (on fire)
In the HalleluYah Scriptures you may find Ruaḥ ha’Qodesh vs Set-apart Spirit, Ruaḥ vs Spirit and Ruaḥoth vs Spirits.
For the Messiah/Mashiah/Masschiah, to maintain the Hebrew origin of many words borrowed from the Greek texts, HalleluYah Scriptures used the Hebrew words in the following Mashiaḥ vs Messiah, Mashiaḥiyim vs Messianic, talmidim vs taught ones, Gĕy-Hinnom vs Gehenna, Shabbath vs Sabbath and Shabbathoth vs Sabbat.
Because the title Master is linked etymologically with the goddess Maia through the common root word “Meg” the original Hebrew form of Adonai used in the Hebrew scrolls is used as the title for the Almighty. Some people teach that Adon is a pagan word based on the greek false god Adonis. But the Hebrew is the original form where as Adonis is just a copy used for wicked means. It does not mean the word Adonai is pagan.
HalleluYah Scriptures uses the words on the left.
Pesaḥ vs Passover
Matstsoth vs Unleavened Bread
Shaḇuoth vs Weeks
Yom Teruah vs Trumpets
Yom Kippurim vs Atonement
Sukkoth vs Booths
Yoḇĕl vs Jubilee
LIFE vs. HAI
Although there are a few situations where the context or root word may be translated with an ‘added’ word, HalleluYah Scriptures chose to remove as many as physically possible while maintaining a coherent translation. Space does not permit the number of italicized words that were removed and/or reworded, but amounts to well over 80% from the total of added words.
In many cases this required re-writing an entire verse to conform with the original language and this was not an easy job taking many months. The HalleluYah Scriptures translation team are working on the other 20% of added words and will make the changes in following print runs when completed.
This will aid many people who do not believe that our Saviour was the promised Redeemer of Yisrael/Israel. This book will prove without a shadow of a doubt that Jeshua (Jesus Christ) is the Saviour.
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You may visit the HalleluYah Scriptures web site and read more about this important project that has touched and changed thousands of lives forever. http://www.Halleluyahscriptures.com
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No Footnotes, No Explanatory References, No Doctrines of Man! Just the Word of YHWH…
HalleluYah Scriptures Paralell Hebrew Bible & Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled New Book
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The Christadelphians have also some projects where a restored name version is sent out to those who want to read the word of God, so that it can be as a lamp to man’s feet and a light to our path, Psalms 119:105; 2 Peter 1:19. They have “The Scriptures” with the tetragrammaton and God’s Name Jehovah in it, but also distribute two older King James versions (with Jehovah) and a new King James version with the (transcribed) name Yahweh in it.
New European Version of the Bible with commentary
The New European Version of the Bible is a remediation of the King James Version into modern English, correcting some glaring issues in translation here and there. The NEV Bible is published in hard copy with a brief commentary on a few verses from each chapter, printed at the bottom of each page. At the back of the volume, there is a reduced version of the book Bible Basics. There is also an online version provided which has a dedicated page for each chapter of the Bible. On each page there is the Bible text, basic commentaries and links to other resources relevant to that chapter. There is also a “Deeper commentary” tab on each chapter. This gives some deeper insights on some Old Testament chapters; and in the New Testament, this tab connects to the New European Commentary. This is an in-depth, verse by verse commentary on the entire New Testament.
Duncan Heaster
Duncan Heaster
The NEV is published by Carelinks Ministries who say to pray earnestly that this Bible and the distribution of it will play a part in the spreading of the Gospel worldwide before Christ returns. Though also for this editor we must give a warning.
They say they are Christadelphian, but out of experience we have found that they do not take on a Christian attitude, namely not willing to share brotherly love with each other. We do have the impression it is more a cult organisation around one ex-communicate Christadelphian preacher, Duncan Heaster who has written over 20 books and having edited “Gospel News” magazine for over 20 years, has a team of followers round him, who do a lot of great work, but once people get baptised in their organisation they do not want them to have contact with others. They do not want their members to share with other Christadelphians or Bible students. So please if you order a copy by them and would become interested in what they teach and want to get baptised, never forget those who brought you into contact with them.
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Free Bible Distribution, New European Version Free Bible with commentary
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Preceding articles:
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #1 Pre King James Bible
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #2 King James Bible versions
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #3 Women and versions
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #4 Steps to the women’s bibles
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #5 Further steps to women’s bibles
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #6 Revisions of revisions
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #7 Jewish versions
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #8 Selective Bibles and selective people
Building up the spirit of the soul
A fact of History or just a fancy Story
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