The Spirit vs. “The Desires of the Flesh and of the Mind”
Eph. 2:3 Eph. 2:3
Stained-Glass Words or Sin-Stained WordsStained-Glass Words or Sin-Stained Words
Mulple Meanings Make SenseMulple Meanings Make Sense
Only the Only the Bible’Bible’s Context Holds Meaningss Context Holds Meanings KJB ABC’s =
KJB ABC’s = AAlwaysBBased onCContext
“
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OR IT IS WRITTEN,I will destroy the wisdom of the wiseI will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not Godmade foolish the wisdom of this worldmade foolish the wisdom of this world? For aer that in the wisdom of Godthe world by wisdomthe world by wisdom knew not Godknew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, andthe Greeks seek aer wisdomthe Greeks seek aer wisdom:: ButBut we preach Christ crucied, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, andunto the Greeks foolishnessunto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God iswiser thanwiser than men
men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that notnot many wise men
many wise men aer the esh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world toconfound the wiseconfound the wise;…” (1 Cor. 1:19-27).
“Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world…” (1 Cor.
2:6).
J
ESUS said, “thewordswords that I speak unto you, theyareare spiritspirit” John 6:63.“…even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received,not thenot the spirit of the world
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak,not in not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheththe words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Butthe natural manthe natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they arefoolishnessfoolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things…For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” 1 Cor. 2:11-16.
“…walknot aer the eshnot aer the esh, but aer the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1).
“For theesh lusteth against the Spiritesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the esh: and these are contrary the one to the other” (Gal. 5:17).
The Greek Vocabulary of the New Testament The Greek Vocabulary of the New Testament
T
T
he ancient pagan Greeks never wrote a Greek-English diconary. What they would have said in English is anyone’s guess. Any English-speaking person who gives an English denion of an ancient Greek word is simply guessing. Denions are ‘guessed’ by looking at the word in context, examining ten words before and ten words aer. The context must be the one in which the word is used, not that of another author. A discussion about ‘love’ byPlayboy founder, Hugh Hefner, or even the Inquisitor Pope Innocent III, will not elicit the denion of ‘love’ used by Jesus Christ in the Holy Bible. Even within the work of one author, a word may have several dierent meanings depending upon each individual context. Yet, in their drive to secularize the Bible, lexicographers and new version editors toss their own rules to the wind and refuse to dene Bible words using only the context of the Bible. They plunge God’s pearls into the murky mire of paganism.Sin-Stained or
Sin-Stained or Stained-Glass WorStained-Glass Wordsds
The Bible tells Chrisans, “be not conformed to this world.” We are to be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 12:2 and 8:29).
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa. 55:8, 9).
Therefore the Holy Bible is wrien, “notnot in thewordswordswhichman’s wisdomman’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:13). Chapter ve ofIn Awe of Thy Word explainswhy the Holy Bible must be as Christ is ― “holy, harmless, undeled,separateseparate from sinners
from sinners, madehigherhigher” (Heb. 7:26).
The words of the King James Bible are oen higher, ‘special’ words, not deled or dened by worldly use. Danker dislikes these, calling them “churchly” words; lexicographers avoid them, calling them “ecclesiascal” words. These include words such as ‘hell,’ ‘heaven,’ ‘preach,’ ‘grace,’
‘gospel,’ ‘mercy,’ ‘lust,’ ‘carnal,’ ‘charity,’ ‘salvaon,’ ‘sanccaon,’ ‘heathen,’ ‘heresy,’ ‘superson,’
‘hereck,’ ‘redempon,’ ‘righteousness,’ ‘salvaon,’ ‘repent,’ ‘judgment,’ ‘covetousness,’ ‘ungodly,’
and ‘tribulaon.’ One will be hard pressed to nd these words in most new versions and Bible study tools. Liberal lexicographers have from the very beginning set out to strip the Holy Bible of its ‘holy’
‘separate from sinners’ vocabulary by replacing these holy words with the words of sinners. The English denions and translaon choices in lexicons are highly secularized, that is, they are “the words which men’s wisdom teacheth,” not those special “separate from sinners” words God inslled early in the English Bible.
God’s words are “unto the Greeks foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:23). Consequently, lexicographers have stoutly resisted any input, even from nominal Chrisans. Their irraonal anthem rings ―
“We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14).
Professor Rykle Borger admits that Chrisans have tried to hinder lexicographers from secularizing the Bible’s vocabulary(Taylor, p. x). He gives the two heresy trials of Bible lexicographers Charles Briggs and Frederick Danker as examples:
“Lexicographers are somemes severely hindered in their work by ecclesiascalecclesiascal authories
authories. The preface of Brown-Driver-Briggs (p. x) menons “serious interrupons from unforeseen circumstances of a personal nature.” In 1892 Briggs was brought to
to trialtrial and condemnedcondemned for heresyheresy by the Presbyterian General Assembly, and suspended
suspended from the ministry…F.W. Danker had similar problems with Concordia
Seminary and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod while working on BAGD. In 1974 he le “Concordia” together with many other teachers and many students, ancipang hisdismissal, and was ordered to stay awaydismissal, and was ordered to stay away””(Taylor, p. 46).
Frederick Danker is the author of the currently most popular New Testament Greek-English lexicon. You may never have heard of him, but you have heard his idle words, as men ‘dene’ Bible words. Lexicographers, such as Danker, wrongly think that the words of the tradional ‘Holy’ Bible give a too-Chrisan ““stained glass” connotaon.” He equates using Chrisan words in the Chrisan Bible with “incest”! Danker says his replacement word ―
“maynot sound churchlynot sound churchly, but it expresses thetruthtruth:: not a not a theological preferenctheological preference,e, but a semanc reality that can steer one away from the hazard of dogmachazard of dogmac presupposions.Refuge in sancedRefuge in sanced vagueness, despite the pana of centuries of usage, is not a lexical gesture devoutly to be greeted. Indeed, such pracce may invite liability to the charge of linguiscincestincest””(Taylor, p. 24).
(Danker’s choice of “truth” over theology echoes Luciferian H.P. Blavatsky’s moo “There is no religion higher than truth.” This book will show that shockingly other authors of lexicons and Greek texts repeat Blavatsky’s moo (e.g. Scrivener, Trench et al.).
Danker gives the word “grace” as an example of a “churchly” word, saying that he prefers the less “churchly” word “generosity.” However, the word ‘grace’ means completely undeserved favor.
Generosity could be bestowed as part of an exchange. All lexicons secularize Bible words. Those that retain a few “churchly” words are gradually being changed to replace these words. Barkley Newman, author of A Concise Greek-English Diconary of the New Testament , said, “…were I to have the opportunity of revising the diconary, I would certainly change the rst meaning given for χάρις [chari s] by oming “grace” from the lisng”(Taylor, p. 93). Such corrupters of God’s words certainly need God’s ‘charicharity,’ that is,GGod’sRRichesAAttCChrist’sEExpense― GRACE.
(Reading grade level is dependent upon the number of syllables in a word. As unusual, lexical substutes have many more syllables than their corresponding KJB words. In this case ‘grace,’ a one syllable word, is replaced by ‘generosity,’ a ve syllable word. Consequently, new versions, which use the words in lexicons, are always a higher reading grade level than the KJB. SeeNew Age Bible Versions.)
Danker is forgeng his own rule that the translaon of a word should t its context; the Bible is a
“churchly” context. Danker admits elsewhere that ―
“Context in the source text determines what specic word in the receptor language is adequate to express what the source speaker nuanced through the syntagmac structure thatcoloredcolored the lexeme”(Taylor, p. 27).
Sorry, Mr. Danker ― the color of the Bibleis “stained glass,” which lexicographers paint over to block the light of the scriptures.
Sociological terminology and thinking pervade Greek-English study tools. To lexicographers all gods and all religions are equal and are mere manifestaons of a culture. John H. Ellio says Danker’s Lexicon gives the “meaning and funcon of terms in their social-cultural contexts”(Taylor, p. 49). Danker feels that with the Chrisan use of “churchly” words, “Thereby certain terms lose almost all connecon with the socio-cultural context that made them meaningful to their primary audiences”(Taylor, pp. 24, 25).
He evidently thinks that the New Testament is merely an historical record, about and for its subjects and not the living word of God for all generaons. When wring about the Spirit in Acts 2:18, Danker uses the term “culc rite”(Taylor, p. 22). The word ‘culc’ is rooted in the word ‘culture.’ Evidently he sees
‘religion’ as merely an extension of human ‘culture,’ not a revelaon from God. He says,
“In brief, it is important that wedo notdo not mulplymeanings based onmeanings based on the rich reservoir of synonyms in our language or on associaons based on elaborate theologicalelaborate theological tradion
tradion””(Taylor, pp. 25, 26).
Observe some examples of Danker’s wrecker-ball crashing against God’s clear light-bringing words.
Danker calls the capitalizaon of the word “God,” a “morphological intrusion.” He says, “one may through such typography succeed in merely suggesng to polytheists that “our God is beer than your god…”” (Taylor, p. 25). Likewise in Bruce Metzger’sLexical Aids for Students of the New Testament , he rst denestheos as “a god” andkurios as “a lord.” He only capitalizes them in their second denions(Metzger, p. 8).Although these words have these secondary meanings, they are hardly paramount in a lexicon about the New Testament.
Danker says, “In English, “preach” suggests a moralisc or didacc mode of communicaon…”Danker therefore prefers the secular “proclaim” in some contexts, as do most new version translators(Taylor, p. 23).
Of the word ‘pray,’ Danker’s suggests the denions, “ask for,demanddemand.” Is it any wonder the name-it-and-claim-it TV preachers tell their listeners to “demand” things from God(Taylor, p. 25).
The word of God is described as “powerful” in Heb. 4:12. Danker wants to defuse its dynamite and
“intensity.” He says,
“Distoron of the source text can also occur when a translator uses an expression that loads the source text with anegave intensitynegave intensity derived from a receptor’s term that has acquired a specialized sense. For example, the Greek verb [blasphemeō]] is clearly transliterated as ‘blaspheme’ meaning “to speak in a disrespecul way that demeans, denigrates, maligns.” The word is thus used in Greek about humans or transcendentbeings [plural!]beings [plural!], whereas in English the transliteraon “blaspheme” has acquired an exclusive associaon withsacralsacral aspects, and when used in translaons of the Bibleobscures the culturalobscures the cultural breadth in usage of the Greek term”(Taylor, p. 26).
Hypocrisy and inconsistency are the hallmarks of new version editors and lexicographers. Their general trend is to secularize, soen and neutralize the Bible. They can not bear to express some of the potenally spiritual aspects of a Greek word which are expressible in English. For example:
While they will not transliterate ‘blaspheme,’ they do transliteratesheol andhades(hell), so you will not know how hot they are.
Although the Greek wordouranos generally means ‘heaven,’ in certain contexts it can refer to the ‘sky. However the word ‘heaven’ is too “churchly,” so lexicons and new versions generally opt for the denion ‘sky.’
However, even Chadwick admits,
“Generally speaking, words which have a basic physical or material sense [sky] tend to acquire by transference non-physical or metaphorical senses [heaven]. One of LSJ’s frequent faults is a failure to disnguish these, especially when a corresponding English term has the same extension”(Chadwick, p. 20).
Lexicographers can do an about face when it serves to defuse the Bible. In these cases they do suggest that some words might be translated in a variety of ways. In other entries Danker has
many synonyms which he admits “may elicit outcries of inconsistency.” For example, Danker writes of “the boredom that might be hazarded by the repeon of “and” in a translaon...”(Taylor, pp. 25, 26).
Boredom? Is this a translaon of the Holy Bible or a comic book? When Danker wants tochange the the Bible he speaks out of the other side of his mouth saying,
“…Greek can be minimalist in its vocabulary compared to English. A seemingly endless variety of connotave possibilies can enrich the meaning of a lexeme, which the English language in its own way is able to color by drawing on its vast repertoire of synonyms within a specic semanc set”(Taylor, p. 26).
Mulple Meanings in
Mulple Meanings in Dierent ConteDierent Contexts Make Sense:xts Make Sense:
The fact is all all versions of the Bible use numerous English words to translate a single Greek word.
Chadwick says,
“If the word has only one meaning, what is somemes called monosemy , this may emerge from only a few examples. Butthis is rarethis is rare, since polysemy , the simultaneous existence of anumber of meanings, is the number of meanings, is the general rulegeneral rule. Where the word is used in a few quite dierentcontextscontexts, it will then be useful to sort the examples bycontextcontext””
(Chadwick, p. 20).
For example, the Greek worddioko is variously translated as the English: ‘persecute,’ ‘follow aer,’
‘follow,’ ‘suer persecuon,’ ‘given to,’ ‘press toward’ and ‘ensue.’ The Greek worddoxa is translated as ‘glory,’ ‘glorious,’ ‘honour,’ ‘praise,’ ‘dignity,’ and ‘worship.’ Lexicons are limited by space constraints and cannot list all possible English equivalents.They oen “separaThey oen “separate” “from their company” te” “from their company” holy KJBholy KJB words
words (Luke 6:22).
Looking rst at the leer ‘a,’ note the following examples in the KJB of mulple translaon equivalencies for just one Greek word.
Greek:
Greek: anabaino English:
English: spring up, grow up, come, enter, arise, rise up, go, come up again Greek:
Greek: anakeimai English:
English: sit at meat, guests, sit, sit down, be set down, lie, lean, at the table Greek:
Greek: anastrepho English:
English: return, have conversaon, live, abide, overthrow, behave, be used, pass Greek:
Greek: aule English:
English: palace, hall, sheepfold, fold, court
(An enclosure can be a sheepfold or a palace depending upon the context. The Greeks also had the context and could understand what was meant.)
The same phenomenon occurs with the Hebrew Old Testament. In the KJB the single Hebrew word sheol is translated 31 mes as ‘hell,’ 31 mes as ‘grave,’ and 3 mes as ‘pit.’ All three words correctly describe a pit, the depth of which varies. All men are buried in a grave or a pit, but all men do not go to hell. The context reveals where the person might be going and the KJB relays that informaon. The word sheol contains both the word ‘hole’ (shheeolol)andthe word ‘hel’ (sheheooll). (In German ‘hell’ is ‘holle’;
have you ever heard of a bad place referred to as a ‘hell hole’?). All go to a hole; some go to a hole called ‘hell; it just depends how far down you ride the elevator of the pit – just to a shallow grave or
down to the deep “enlarged” pit in the center of the earth (Isa. 5:14).
The Language of the King James Bible traces the etymology of the word (s)heol back to the Hebrew wordHel el, meaning Lucifer. The wordshelel and(s)heol are related to ‘burning’ and ‘shining’ (like the hot sun). It is seen in English as ‘hell,’ in Greek as ‘helios,’ in Middle English as ‘helle,’ and in Danish as
‘helvede.’ Many new versions and lexicons join the Jehovah Witness sect and refuse to translate the wordsheol , just as they refuse to translate the Greek word ‘hades’ in the New Testament. They simply leave the Hebrew wordsheoland the Greek wordhades untranslated and carry its leers into English (to transliterate). They do not transliterate ouranos(heaven). Why? It is not as hot! New Age Bible Version (chapter 18) exposes why new versions avoid the word ‘hell’; their editors do not believe in it!
They somemes substute the word ‘grave’ or ‘death.’
“Hell’ is a powerful blood pressure word because its collocaons [nearby words] in the Bible are words such as ‘ame’ and ‘tormented.’ Powerless people use the powerful word ‘hell’ to curse and thereby appear ‘powerful.’ The word ‘hell’ has a meaning recognized by the English mind;sheol and hades have no such meaning. They are powerless. Can you imagine the weakness of an altar call which warns of going tosheol ? (The Bible’s own hot denion of ‘hell’ will be explored later in this chapter.) The three words used to translatesheol in the KJB (hell, grave, and pit) include all aspects of the
“Hell’ is a powerful blood pressure word because its collocaons [nearby words] in the Bible are words such as ‘ame’ and ‘tormented.’ Powerless people use the powerful word ‘hell’ to curse and thereby appear ‘powerful.’ The word ‘hell’ has a meaning recognized by the English mind;sheol and hades have no such meaning. They are powerless. Can you imagine the weakness of an altar call which warns of going tosheol ? (The Bible’s own hot denion of ‘hell’ will be explored later in this chapter.) The three words used to translatesheol in the KJB (hell, grave, and pit) include all aspects of the