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Question #47 -
QUESTION:
What about "nuggets" found only in the Greek?
ANSWER:
Why settle for "nuggets" when you can own the whole
mine?
EXPLANATION:
Most "nuggets" that preachers find in the Greek
exist only in the fantasy of their minds.
First, anyone who believes that the Bible is
the perfect word of God, cannot believe that it
can be improved on... even by them. Most men who discover
"nuggets" are filled with a prideful humility through
which they believe that God is going to show them
something in the Greek that no one else has found. Then they can
"humbly" impress their preacher friends with their
monumental "grasp" of the original language.
They do not, regardless of what they say in the
pulpit, really believe that the Bible is perfect as it stands, in
English OR Greek. Therefore they never read their Bible with a
desire for the Holy Spirit to help them understand it. They
instead "pray" that He will show them some better way to
translate some Greek word.
Since the Holy Spirit never does this, they
usually resort to "The Greek Game". This game can be
played by anyone. Even if they have had no
training in the Greek language. Simply put, all that the
pseudo-scholar needs to do is to own a Young's Concordance. In the
very back of a Young's Concordance is a list of the Greek and
Hebrew words used in the Bible. Under each word given is a list of
the different ways that that particular word was translated in the
King James Bible. All the eager critic needs to do is to
interchange the English words used.
For example, take the Greek word "haplotes."
It was translated five different ways in the Authorized Version.
1.
bountifulness II Corinthians 9:11
2. liberal
II Corinthians 9:13
3.
liberality II Corinthians 8:2
4.
simplicity Romans 12:8, II Corinthians 1: 12
5.
singleness Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22
Now, in order for our zealous scholar to humbly
display his massive intellect, he must find a verse where "haplotes"
is translated, let's say, "singleness" or way #5. Such
as Ephesians 6:5.
"Servants, be obedient to them that
are your masters ac- cording to the flesh, with fear and
trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;"
Then in his preaching, when lighting upon his
prearranged victim" he makes some statement that is critical
of the King James translators for having poorly chosen this
translation. Then he chooses one of the other words into which it
was translated, say, way #3 or #4 and takes 10-15 minutes to
expound on the virtues of his choice while ever pointing out sadly
the poor choice of the Authorized Version translators. Of course,
later when he reads a verse such as Romans 12:8, "Or he that
exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity;
he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with
cheerfulness", where his pet Greek word is translated
"simplicity" or way #4, he will reverse the process and
expound on the virtue of choice #5. All the time lamenting, again,
the poor choice of God's translators.
His audience, unaware of the ease with which
this is accomplished, stares on in awe of his intelligence and
tremendous grasp of the Greek language. They feel so fortunate to
have a man of such caliber (.22 Blank!) to point out to them the
errors in their Bible. And of course they are totally convinced by
this charade that they, lowly peons that they are, can never truly
understand the Bible as well as their exalted teacher, because
they lack the "tools" he possesses from the Greek.
This scenario is NOT an over
statement. I have experienced it first hand.
Once while listening to a self-impressed Bible
scholar preach I marveled at the ease with which he duped his
audience. He was reading Romans chapter 8. Upon reading a
particular verse, he stopped at a particular word and stated,
"Now the King James translators mistranslated the Greek word
used here." Then he spent 10-12 minutes expounding on the
merits of his choice of translation. The audience was duly
impressed with this man's grasp of the "original language.
" (I once heard a 14 year old boy do the same thing in a
"preaching contest". You see, ANYONE
can do it!)
The very next day I was listening to another
preacher on the radio. Coincidentally this zealot was also
preaching from Romans chapter 8. He also read the
same verse and ALSO stopped at the very same word
that the expert from the previous evening had accosted. He then
stated, "Sadly, the King James translators did not properly
translate the Greek word used here."
I then braced myself for a rehash of the
previous evening's exposition. But it was not to be. For this
particular scholar pointed out that the word in question should
have been translated an entirely different way (choice #1 vs.
choice #4).
He then, as the previous evening's butcher,
expounded on the virtues of HIS choice over that
of the King James translators, or last evening's
expert. I was amazed! Two completely different men, two entirely
different opinions. In fact, their only point of
agreement was that the Bible could not possibly
be correct as it was. I quickly consigned their
esteemed (and humble) opinions to the garbage heap of education
and accepted the choice that GOD had made for His
Book in 1611.
A second method of finding "nuggets"
is for someone with a limited understanding of Greek to do the
same as the above, only they take their choice of words from the
Greek Lexicon instead of the Concordance.
The result is always the same, the congregation
is over-whelmed by the "depth" of his study, They are
also convinced that they can never match his comprehension of the
Bible without matching (Ha!) his comprehension of "the
Greek."
A tremendous example of the fallacy of this
method of Bible (?) study is recorded in Dr. David Otis Fuller's
book entitled Which Bible? We quote it in its
entirety.
"An interesting story is found in Walton's
biography of Bishop Sanderson illustrating the truth of the old
proverb, "a little learning is a dangerous thing." Dr.
Kilbye, an excellent Hebrew scholar and Professor of this language
in the university, also expert in Greek and chosen as one of the
translators, went on a visit with Sanderson, and at church on
Sunday they heard a young preacher waste a great amount of the
time allotted for his sermon in criticizing several words in the
then recent translation. He carefully showed how one particular
word should have been translated in a different way. Later that
evening the preacher and the learned strangers were invited
together to a meal, and Dr. Kilbye took the opportunity to tell
the preacher that he could have used his time more profitably. The
Doctor then explained that the translators had very carefully
considered the "three reasons" given by the preacher,
but they had found another thirteen more weighty reasons for
giving the rendering complained of by the young critic."
A third type of "nugget" is one which
actually does not exist except in totally false statements made by
a Bible critic.
The greatest example of this is found in the
analogy of the two Greek words "agape" and "phileo".
Both of which are translated "love" in John 21:15-17.
15 "So when they had dined, Jesus
saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more
than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love
thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea,
Lord: thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my
sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he
said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep."
We have all heard this passage expounded by a
pseudo-scholar. (Sometimes in complete sincerity due to acceptance
of bad teaching.) The presentation is made that "agape"
in Greek speaks of a deep, intimate, selfless love. "Phileo"
on the other hand is little more than a casual
"friendly" type of love. Our scholar then laments,
almost tearfully, the constraints of the English language. He
points out that the Lord actually says, "Peter ... lovest
("agape") thou me. (With a deep, intimate, selfless
love) more than these?"
Peter responds, "Yea, Lord; thou knowest
that I love ("phileo") thee." (With a casual,
friendly type of love.)
Our Bible critic points out that the Lord, not
receiving the answer that He desires, asks again.
"Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
("agape") thou me?"
Peter, it is then pointed out, is unwilling to
commit himself to such a deep relationship so he responds again.
"Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love
("phileo") thee."
At this point our Bible corrector points out
that a saddened Saviour gives in to Peter's lack of commitment and
changes His own choice of Greek words to "phileo".
"Simon, son of Jonas, lovest ("phileo")
thou me?"
This sudden change supposedly shocks Peter into
seeing his own spiritual infidelity to the Lord. Thus, saddened he
answers.
"... thou knowest that I love ("phileo")
thee."
Our false teacher then points out to his
audience that there is no way to attain such depth of meaning from
this passage using only the feeble English. Once more the trusty
"Greek" has enlightened us as English can never do!
This presentation is tremendously effective and
has only ONE flaw. The definitions given for
"agape" and "phileo" are TOTALLY
UNTRUE!
I am about to make a statement concerning
"agape" and "phileo" which is not based on
prejudice or opinion. It is based on careful honest study of the
way in which "agape" and "phileo" were used
in the Bible ("Our final authority in all matters of
faith and practice) by Jesus Christ Himself and
the New Testament writers. The statement
is this: There was absolutely NO DIFFERENCE in New Testament times
between "agape" and "phileo" and that BOTH
are used interchangeably by Jesus Christ and the writers of the
New Testament. REGARDLESS of what Greek grammars,
Greek teachers and Greek preachers may say!
If you have been steeped in the false teaching
of "agape" and "phileo" by your college
professor or pastor, you will immediately (and with much
prejudice) reject my supposition. ("How could such godly men
be wrong?" Right?)
Yet, I will not attempt to prove it is true.
The proof will come from Jesus Christ, Paul, Peter and John, and
any other New Testament writer that I could have chosen for the
comparison. But wait! They are not my final
witnesses. The final and most weighty argument will be waged by YOU!
For years I have been giving a test in Bible
Conferences in which I speak concerning this false teaching of
"agape" and "phileo". A copy of this test is
reproduced below. IF you have the courage and IF
you can be honest with God and yourself, feel free to take it.
Here's how it goes.
In part #I, I have reproduced quotes from the
New Testament which were made by Jesus Christ using
"agape" and "phileo". Without
looking at a Greek New Testament or Concordance or any other help,
use the false rules for "agape" and "phileo"
given by critics of the English Bible. Read the quote. Decide
whether Jesus is referring to "agape" love (deep,
intimate, selfless love) or "phileo" love (casual,
friendly love).Then put an "A" for agape or
"P"" for phileo in the blank before the quote.
Part #II is identical to part #I except that
the quotes are taken from various New Testament writers. Do the
same as in part one, putting an "A" for agape and a
"P" for phileo, using only the critics definition of
these words. No guessing, no hunches. Use only their own rule.
After you have completed the test, turn to the
answer sheet found in Appendix #1 in the back of this book.
JOHN
21:15-17 - AGAPE vs PHILEO
INSTRUCTIONS:
- 1.
Read the Bible quote.
- 2.
Put an A or P in the blank before the quote to signify your
choice of the Greek word used, AGAPE or PHILEO.
DEFINITIONS:
AGAPE love:
Deep, intimate, selfless love.
PHILEO
love: Casual "friendly" love.
I -
Comparison: How Jesus used AGAPE and PHILEO.
____ 1. Luke 11:42 the love of God
____ 2. John
5:42 the love of God
____ 3. Matt
10:37 He that loveth father or mother
____ 4. Rev 3:9
to know that I have loved
____ 5. Rev 3:19
As many as I love
____ 6. Matt 23:6
love the uppermost rooms
____ 7. John
12:25 He that loveth his life
____ 8. Luke 11:43
ye love the uppermost seats
____ 9. John 5:20
the Father loveth the Son
____10. John 16:27
the Father Himself loveth you,
because ye have loved me
II -
Comparison: How other New Testament writers
used
AGAPE and PHILEO.
____ 1. II Tim 3:4
of pleasures more than of God
____ 2. John 11:5
Jesus loved Martha,
____ 3. John 20:2
the other disciples whom Jesus
loved
____ 4. I Cor 16:22
If any man love not the Lord
____ 5. Rom 5:8
But God commendeth his love
____ 6. I Cor 16:24
My love be with you all
____ 7. II Tim 1:7
of power, and of love, and...
____ 8. Rom 12:
10 one to another with brotherly love
____ 9. II Thes 3:12
abound in love one toward
another
____10. Titus 2:4
women to be sober, to love their
husbands
____11. Eph 5:28
So ought men to love their wives
____12. I Peter 2:17 Love
the brotherhood
____13. Heb 13:1
Let brotherly love continue
____14. Titus 3:4
and love of God our Saviour
____15. I John 2:5
in him verily is the love of God
perfected
If you have taken the test and if you have been honest,
you have found that the TRUTH of the matter is
that neither Jesus nor any of the New Testament writers
acknowledged the false rule foisted on us by heady and high-minded
Bible critics.
Thus we see that this little "nugget"
is made only of "FOOL'S GOLD" and has never really
existed except in the deluded minds of men.
Who will you believe? Jesus Christ or your
Greek professor?
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