"Train up a child in the way he should go..."

I've been studying Proverbs, and it's frustrating how frequently the English versions misinterpret the Hebrew. Now, I realize it's impossible to translate poetry from one language into another and convey the entire dynamic of the alliteration, meter, rhyme, metaphor, allusion, satire, irony and parallelism of the original text. If you want all that, learn Hebrew.

But please, can we at least protect the meaning of the text?

Proverbs 22.6 is a classic example. Every single English translation I've seen botches it. Most read something like, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." (ESV, emphasis mine.)

But that's not what the verse actually says, nor is it what it's (immediately) trying to convey. Perhaps that's one implication of what the verse teaches, but it certainly is not the only message. Look at the Hebrew with me:

חֲנֹךְ לַנַּעַר עַל־פִּי דַרְכֹּו גַּם כִּֽי־יַזְקִין לֹֽא־יָסוּר מִמֶּ נָּה׃

"Dedicate a youth as goes his way; when he grows old he will not depart from it."

Paradoxical? Yes. Absolutely. Paradox is a very popular literary mechanism of Hebrew poetry. Proverbs is full of epigrams that tend to present partial or distilled truths, so that one is forced to mull over their meaning.

The wit of Proverbs 22.6 is that it does not give away any answers, but candidly states an observation: Children who are left to themselves will never change. This is consistent with other proverbs like Prov 22.15, Prov 23.13 and Prov 29.15 which all teach that children are inherently wicked, and it's up to the parents to teach them the way of righteousness.

So why the mistranslation? The only thing I can figure is that the good folks translating it are trying to do us a favor and spoon-feed us the bottom line. Bruce Waltke, in his first book on Proverbs, comments, "English translators, fearful that an unsophisticated reader will miss the irony, purge the text of the powerful figure by making it say the intended opposite."

Ok, I can give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they mean well. So what's the big deal? Well, theology, for starters. Christians have used this single verse for centuries to assure parents that if they just bring their children up in the "right way," their young ones' salvation is promised. But we know from real life that this is sadly not always true. Heck, we know from Scripture that it's not always true. (Case study: Cain, Ishmael, Essau, almost every king that ever reigned over Israel... All were brought up "in the way they should go," yet still forsook the way of righteousness.)

This is not a guarantee of salvation for all kids raised in the church. Rather, it is a simple admonition for parents to be actively involved in their children's lives. That's it.

Let them do what they want, and they'll continue to do what they want for the rest of their lives.

God Loves You and has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life

I sat down at the new church, flipped through the bulletin, and noticed their mission statement was to help people "realize their dream and begin to live in it." (*1)

Lucifer: The "Angel of Light"

How do we know Satan's name is Lucifer?

Well, it comes from the Latin translation of Isaiah 14.12, which the King James takes and translates as:

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"

However, the name "Lucifer" isn't in the Hebrew text. The word that gets translated as Lucifer is הילל, (heylel) which simply means "shining one." And get this: the Latin Vulgate actually uses the same word in Job 11.17: "And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning," as well as in 2 Peter 1.19: "You will do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts," and it even refers to Christ in Rev 22.16! "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star."

So we can see that unless we wanna use the term "lucifer" to describe Christ, we should probably quit using it to describe Satan. No? Actually, the ESV renders the Isaiah passage more correctly when it uses "Day Star," to translate heylel.


But the next question is, "What makes us think that Isaiah's song about the King of Babylon suddenly switches gears to talking about Satan for four verses (Is 14.12-15) and then goes back to talking about the King of Babylon? Am I the only one who finds that strange?

Strange as it may be, we actually see the same thing in Ezekiel 28. One minute our boy Zeke is talking about the Prince of Tyre, and the next moment (Eze 28.13-18) he's describing Satan. But before you write both of these instances off as grossly misinterpreted, consider that Paul called Satan an "Angel of light" in 2 Cor 11.14.

So I'd say today's myth is half true. Whatever's going on in the minds of Isaiah and Ezekiel (Double Prophecy maybe?), Paul is definitely picking up what they're puttin down. So while Satan's name is not actually "Lucifer," Scripture does teach that he's an angel of light. So be on your guard!


Sola Deo Gloria.

"Just Repeat After Me..."

You know the sermon is almost over because the preacher gets that "soft" tone in his voice. He speaks so gently and quietly it's almost a whisper. 

"Some of you are here today, and you know in your heart it's time to 'get right.'
Now, with every head bowed, every eye closed,
If that's you, I want you to repeat after me...
(If you don't feel comfortable praying out loud, just say it in your heart.)
It will only take a minute,
and you can have assurance that your soul will spend eternity with Jesus..."

FALSE.

Salvation that costs you one minute is not salvation (2 Cor 5.17). Your salvation will cost you everything (1 Pet 4.2). Jesus promised you two things: Eternal life, and a cross to die on (Jn 5.24, Mar 8.34, Lk 14.27). 

There is no "formula" for salvation. Just ask these guys: 

"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" (Mat 7.21-23)

The biggest lie Satan has sold humanity is that if you just pray a prayer once, you can go on living like hell and be assured of your salvation. Religion built on this lie sends more people to hell than all the cults in America combined (*1). Why do you think the American "church" is dropping in numbers? Because Non-believers who "prayed a prayer" once are filling the pews, conforming the church to the world, and then getting bored with their self-made religion, and moving on. And it's been our well-intended altar-call-evangelism that has let this happen.

There is, however, a silver-lining to this exposing of this myth... And that is, of course, the comfort we have in knowing our Lord foresaw this happening, and gave us instructions for how to cope when it did.

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits." (Mat 7.15-20)

If a person dresses like a non-christian, talks like a non-christian, treats their spouse like a non-christian, consumes media like a non-christian, cheats the system like a non-christian, and in every practical way lives like a non-christian, chances are, they aren't a Christian. Love them. Go to coffee with them. Share the Gospel with them. They have yet to be reborn.

And when they do come to repentance, rejoice with them, and glorify God for the transformation He works in His children.

Footnotes:

*1 - Based on the assumption that there are more "non-practicing Christians" in America than there are Mormons/Christian Scientists/Jehovah's Witnesses/Post-Modernists/Emergents. See Barna's study and this U.S. Census abstract.

The Bible is a Letter from God to Me

Alright. Multiple choice time.

Who was the Bible written to?

A) Americans

B) Christians

C) ME!

D) Specific people in specific places at specific times in history

Best answer? D. And here's why I say that:

Along with most orthodox Christians, I affirm the innerancy of scripture. (*1) And fortunately for us, almost all of scripture identifies its audience at the start of each passage! (*2) So I will take the Spirit at His word and accept that the texts were written to who they say they were written to.

The Torah was written to Israel on Mt. Sinai. The prophets all spoke to specific individuals or nations concerning specific events which would take place, most often in the immediate future. The books of poetry are written by kings for the enrichment of their sons and subjects. The historical books are written to a divided, fallen Israel. The gospels, surprisingly weren't written by Jesus Himself but by four onlookers, all of whom were passionate that His message of the kingdom be spread to all. And when Paul arrives on the scene, he works hard to interpret Christ's message for infant churches who were still trying to figure out what it all meant.

Which one of those categories are you in? None?

That's because the Bible wasn't written to you. A few observations though, before the objections start rolling in: This does not mean God didn't want us reading it! A quick review of church history will remind us that there have been hundreds of attempts to obliterate the existence of the Holy Scriptures--none of which God permitted to prevail. He wrote it purposefully, and has preserved it purposefully. Although the Bible is closed to new additions, it will never be closed to study. The truths it contains about who God is and how He interacts with these strange yet chosen creatures called "humans" are timeless. The King of Israel is still King today, and the worship He demanded then is still a divine mandate today. (See Num 23.19; 1 Sam 15.29; Mal. 3.6; Ps 9.10; Jas 1.17)

So yes, we should absolutely take on David's attitude toward Scripture, "I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes." (Ps 119.48) and say with him, "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day." (Ps. 119.97)

But there is a certain danger, I think, in the myth "The Bible is a letter from God to me." If we were really the only intended audience, then the Bible could mean whatever we interpret it to mean. If one morning we open up to Isaiah 41.24 and, since we really believe it to be God's message to us for that day, we will spend all day trying to solve it, like a riddle on a fortune cookie. Surely we would come to a conclusion like, "God is telling me that I will fail in my career. I must change jobs ASAP!!"

My friend, it wasn't written to you.

Are there immutable truths to be gleaned here? Absolutely. Surely from that same page, even that exact verse, the perceptive reader sees God sovereignly protecting His rebellious children. Now there's a message to carry through your day!

For more information on the best way to read and understand Scripture, here are a few articles on one of my favorite topics: "Hermeneutics."

"How to Interpret the Bible" - 10 guidelines for biblical interpretation

"Hermeneutics: It's not life or death, right?" - On the importance of accurate interpretation

"Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance,

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."

- Prov 1.5,7

Footnotes:

*1 - Inerrancy is the idea that everything the Bible teaches is true and free of error. It holds that Yahweh actually means what He said and said what He means. There are exactly zero misplaced or incorrect words in the original text, and because we also know a thing or two about the tedious perfectionism of the scribes in ancient Israel, we can assume further that there are very very few mistakes in the manuscripts we have today.

*2 - The placement of both the author and the recipient at the beginning of the letters was simply for practicality purposes; all writing was done on parchment which was rolled into scrolls for delivery or storage... Imagine how inconvenient it would be to get a scroll in the mail and have to unroll the whole darn thing just to see who it was from!