God's Word

Weekly Message

Tom Seymour

January 26, 2014

Song Of Solomon: 12b Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The Word Of God

          The word “book” or “books” occurs frequently throughout the bible. These references pertain to a number of different books, but not the one we know as the Holy Bible. That book, actually a collection of numerous books, or scriptures, was not yet codified and established in ancient times.

          The writers of the books of the bible never considered that their efforts would be forever contained, as a part of a whole, in one collection, a collection that would shake the foundations of the world and persist until the end of time.

          But the bible as we know it has the stamp of official authority in that it contains only the oldest and truest prose, taken from the original manuscripts and translated from the original tongues. And, of course, there were several original tongues in the bible, prominent among them being the Greek. In order to faithfully translate the ancient manuscripts to English, or any other language, scholars necessarily had to be conversant in the ancient languages.

          For so many years, the bible was written in Latin, which meant that only church officials could read it, because laymen were mostly illiterate. And so the priests were keepers of the Word of God. In time, the bible was copied to the language of the land, English, making God’s word available to everyone. This occurred amid much strife and turmoil.

          Today, we have countless versions of the bible, translations of the same original manuscripts. Which one a person uses depends upon which one resonates with him or her. What’s more, the translations just keep coming. As biblical scholars and researchers learn more, or feel that they have learned more (there is a difference and we’ll discuss that in another message), existing editions are revised and offered anew. It’s hard to keep up with the plethora of new translations of holy scripture.

          So do these new editions of the bible in fact supplant older versions? And is one so much better than another as far as faithfully imparting the Word of God? After all, every bible is translated from the same basic sources.

          The answer to this is probably, but not necessarily. The King James version, for instance, was for many years, “the” bible. But, as the committee that put together the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the bible says, “…the King James (KJ) version has serious defects. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the discovery of many biblical manuscripts more ancient than those upon which the King James version was based made it apparent that these defects were so many as to call for revision.”

          Sorry to drop another question, but this last bit begs the question of the KJ’s validity. Is the KJ version wrong? No, it is not. The revisers changed some small things, but nothing in the way of fundamental doctrine was affected. The original truths of the original manuscripts, reflected in the various bibles offered throughout the ages, remains unchanged.

          So any authorized bible tells the absolute and honest truth of the ancient scriptures and reflects God’s word and actions. The only variable in this equation, then, is the reader. People, me included, are reluctant to embrace change. We stick doggedly to our old ways. Furthermore, some, no, many, Christian denominations parse scripture and extract, often out of context, that which suits their needs. This results in a list of “don’ts,” mostly things that the bible does not necessarily condemn. Dancing comes immediately to mind. Some churches condemn it, others dance in the spirit.

          As an example of picking something out of the bible and wrongly following it, I recently spoke with a friend concerning the 10 commandments that the Lord gave to Moses. My friend mentioned that he has determined to keep the commandments, including Commandment 4, which in his KJ version, reads: “Though shall not make to the any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Commandment 5 continues: “Though shall not bow down thyself to them…”

          “I went through my house and took down all my pictures,” he said. I told him that pictures or artwork was not what the fourth commandment was directed toward. He disagreed.

          However, the NRSV version makes this clearer: “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow town to them or worship them…”

          It’s easy to see how my friend misconstrued this commandment. He took “graven” for “engraved” and applied it to any representation of anything. That’s not what the commandments address, however. They specifically, at least in the NRSV version, say not to make an image of something and than worship it, as opposed to worshiping only the one, true God, the Lord. My friend missed Commandment 5, the commandment that resolves questions in Commandment 4, even in the KJ version.

          Different denominations do this all the time and it only harms their witness as Christians. The bible-preacher who isolates verses against drinking conveniently forgets other verses that tell us drinking is okay as long as it is not done in excess. In fact, Paul tells us not to allow people to deceive us regarding food and drink, since such prohibitions are only to make themselves feel righteous. The Lord does not look at people according to whether or not they eat seafood or pork barbecues or whether or not they drink beer and wine. Jesus drank wine and appears to have very much enjoyed it.

          So here is the gist of the matter, as I see it according to the light that God has given me. Look at scripture, no matter what version of the bible it is contained in, according to what it really says and not how that version says it.

          Of the making of books there is no end. But of the reading and understanding of scripture, there is only one way, and that is the correct and true way, uninfluenced by personal feelings, dogma or politics.