Christian Living

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Sometimes in the Christian life we encounter someone who wants to change the meaning of a Bible verse. “Oh no it doesn’t mean that, it means this—if you go back to the Hebrew or Greek or Romanian or Bulgarian…” (Only joking about the latter two, but you get the picture.)

When we begin to juggle with the meaning of Bible verses we’re in trouble. It’s like saying day is night or that a silver watch is chrome. The Bible is the anchor that holds firm the ship of the Christian faith. Weaken the anchor chain until it breaks, and a deserted ship drifts away with no direction and at the mercy of the wind and tide.

When that happens (and there are signs of it now) we end up with a faith which is weak, ineffective and lacking the power of what was intended.

Mostly the Bible is written in simple language easily understood, despite the “thee and thou” of the KJ version. Imagine we’re in a Bible Study reading of one of Jesus’ miracles—for example the healing of a blind man (Mark 8:22). The group leader ignores the fact it is a miracle and says it merely means the healing of those who are spiritually blind and can’t see the promises of God. This diverts the focus from the miracle to something weaker. It negates the supernatural work of the Lord.

Anyone who is healed eventually has to die, we all know that. However, Jesus wasn’t all talk. In showing us the Father, He backed up His words with supernatural works on many occasions.

The delighted man who was physically blind and then received sight would say he got a visit from God, who did something about his condition. That’s it, pure and simple, and that’s what the Bible says.

Likewise, some want to add something which isn’t there to a Bible verse. For example the thorn in Paul’s flesh. (2 Corinthians 12:7). There are those who would have us believe his thorn in the flesh was a sickness. They are adamant about it, but the Bible only says the thorn was a “messenger of satan” which buffeted him. It could have been sickness—or persecution, or someone who sent him death threats. The Bible doesn’t say.

Another Bible verse is often quoted incorrectly and thereby misunderstood. “Money is the root of all evil.” The correct wording is “The love of money is the root of all evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10). A subtle but important difference.

This writer is not playing smarty-pants. We can be definite about what the Bible definitely says. So let’s not try to change Bible meaning into something it is not. Let’s take the Word at face value – and take it as meaning what it says!

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