On My Use of Bible Translations

One question that I am sometimes asked is, “Which Bible translation do you prefer?” Those who hear me preach or teach, or who read the variety of materials I post online, see that I use multiple translations. So which ones do I use the most, and which do I prefer?

In my sermon summaries I use the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), since this is the version I use when I preach at my church. This follows a long-standing practice of mine, which is to preach from the Bible translation that used by the church as the pew Bible. I do that so that if a visitor comes in, especially someone who may be unchurched, they will read the same thing I read from the pulpit. The HCSB is a decent translation, and is becoming widely used in Southern Baptist circles.

My preferred translation is the New International Version (NIV). I use the 1984 revision. There is a new revision (2011), but I haven’t really had a chance to evaluate it yet. I have found that some passages are significantly different from the 1984 version, and since I have memorized many passages in the NIV from the 1984 version I’ll stick with that for a while.

For study and sermon preparation, I compare five English translations, as well as looking at the original languages to the extent of my ability. I start with the HCSB and NIV, then add the New American Standard Bible (NASB), which is somewhat more literal; the World English Bible (WEB), which is based on the very literal American Standard Version (ASV) of 1901; and the New English Translation or NETBible, which provides extensive translation notes. Used together, these translations provide a very good cross-section that really gets at the meaning of the text.

Why not the KJV? I grew up with the KJV, and the beauty and formality of the language makes for wonderful reading. However, the English language has changed so much in four centuries that the language of the KJV is difficult for modern readers to understand. There are some good modern updates of the KJV, but I prefer translations built off an eclectic text, since in my studies I have concluded that these texts give us the best opportunity to recover the original text of the authors.

So you can expect to see several translations in the materials I write. Using multiple translations helps me understand Scripture better, and I highly recommend the practice to everyone who wants to seriously study the Bible in English.

Sunday sermon: The Serving Church"

The final installment in the series on the church deals with the church engaging in gift-based ministry to carry out the Great Commission. The summary can be found at http://pastorsteve.wikispaces.com/file/view/The+Serving+Church.pdf.

A Measure of Faith

No, despite my title I'm not trying to find a way to quantify how much faith I have or to work out an equation for who has more or less faith than I do. I'm referring to Romans 12:3, where Paul speaks about God giving us a "measure of faith." This is a curious phrase, and some have taken it to mean something like what I implied above, while others, looking at the context of spiritual gifts, see it as the way God gives "better" gifts to some than others.

I always try to make sense of Scripture by looking at the context. (Ask my Sunday school classes; they'll tell you my first three rules of hermeneutics are (1) look at the context, (2) look at the context, and (3) look at the context.) Verse 3 reads: "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." (NIV 1984- which, as an aside, amuses me to write after reading so many posts and articles that refer to KJV 1611.) Paul is speaking here not of the salvation experience or of any sort of comparison, but of our attitude.


The problem addressed in this verse is one of pride. Paul reminds the Roman church that everything they have, and every gift they exercise, is something God has given them. They should therefore not think that it is their inherent quality that allows them to exercise a particular gift, but the Holy Spirit. The "sober judgment" we are to have of ourselves is due to the fact that we have received grace from the Lord, and that "measure of faith" is not due to our own effort, will, or desire but to God's will and calling.


The Greek word for "measure" here is metron, which underlies our English word "meter." A meter is a standard measurement, and metron can have that meaning. Here, however, it more likely has the idea of "a determined portion," a measure of a quantity given out. The gifts God gives to us are a "portion" given to us. It goes against our culture to think this way, but we have nothing to do with what gifts we are given by God.


So what difference do we make? That is in the verses that follow, where Paul tells us to use the gifts we are given. He mentions a few specific gifts, each time urging those with those gifts to use them well. Where we make a difference is not in the acquisition of our gifts, but in their use. We have a calling from the Lord, and He sees to it that we have whatever gift is needed to carry that out. Our responsibility is to honor Him by using our gifts for His glory.


Don't think too much of yourself, then. Notice Paul doesn't say to think badly of yourself, or to put yourself down, but to think "soberly." That means having an accurate assessment of who you are and what you do for Jesus. Basically it means seeing yourself as God sees you. That will prevent us from getting puffed up about our importance, but it also will keep us from thinking we are worthless.


All Christians are gifted, and we all have a place of service to which we have been called. We need to make sure we are fulfilling our roles in expanding Christ's kingdom, and as keeping ourselves humble as we do.

Fighting Error With Truth

I've probably never used a title for a paper or post that is more likely to make readers go, "Well, duh!" In light of some comments I've seen relating to some current issues, however, I think it is an important reminder. When combating error, we need to begin from a base of knowing and understanding truth, rather than trying to pick apart little snippets of falsehood and fighting them like a series of brushfires.

I worked for a while in a retail store cash office. As a result of my job, I got to handle a lot of cash. (Sadly, very little of it was my own.) I couldn't even guess how many paper bills I handled during my time there. Only once did I encounter a counterfeit bill. (And trust me, if we were passing along counterfeits, our bank would have let us know!) How did I know it was counterfeit? Because I handled a lot of genuine currency. This bill didn't feel right as I counted, and upon inspection it didn't look right either. It wasn't an obvious fake, but I knew it was counterfeit because I knew what the real thing was like. (And yes, our bank did confirm it was a counterfeit bill when we sent it to them with a note explaining our suspicions.)

There is a lot of falsehood in our world today, and even a lot of falsehood in the church. How can we as pastors and teachers prepare people to deal with the false teaching they will encounter? We need to ground them in the truth of God's Word, and train them in how to study the Bible. Armed with truth, we can battle falsehood without having to study in minute detail every possible error we will encounter.

I have been listening to some excellent lectures on the early church fathers from the Theology Network web site. (I would recommend this site for the serious student of theology and church history; I'll add a link to my "favorites" box.) In his lecture on Irenaeus, Mike Reeves points out that Irenaeus' magnum opus, Against Heresies, is often seen as an attack on all heresies. It deals primarily with an attack against Gnosticism, especially Valentinianism, but in his work Irenaeus spends time dealing with orthodox teaching, and in attacking the Gnostics he also deals with the roots of many other heresies.

This reminds us of two points. First, while there are indeed many kinds of error, falsehood tends to fall into a few repeated areas. In a slightly different context, Josh McDowell has said that when answering objections to Christianity, knowing the answer to about twenty standard questions takes care of over 90% of what he is asked. Dealing with error generally involves dealing with world view questions, and those questions at their base fall into just a few categories.

The second point is that it is truth that wins the day. If you can successfully convince a person that what they believe is wrong and they should change their mind,  yet give them nothing to change to, what have you accomplished? We need to do more than point out what is wrong; we have to hold out the truth for people to believe. Our primary mission as Christians is to present the truth, the good news of Jesus Christ, to our world.

So arm yourself with truth. If you have the time and inclination, by all means acquaint yourself with the errors you are likely to encounter. We need informed teachers to tell us what we will face. But as your primary weapon in this battle, arm yourself with God's truth.

Family Radio: Enough Is Enough!

This is a post that brings me no joy to write. Just as God takes no joy in the death of the wicked, I don't believe He takes joy in the fall of the unrepentant either. I grieve for the proud, erroneous, and now pretty much incoherent path that Harold Camping has followed away from Biblical truth and into his own mix of numerology, allegory, and theological error that led him to look at a blatantly false teaching he made and stand up before reporters with a straight face and tell them he had been mostly right.

What angered me more, however, was the absolute callousness and cruelty he demonstrated toward those followers of his who gave up everything to spread his message. When asked if he felt any responsibility, Camping basically said (after several minutes of hemming and hawing) that it was their choice, they should ask God for help, and sometimes being destitute and desperate leads to a closer walk with God. Funny that he himself didn't sell all his possessions, liquidate Family Stations, or even acknowledge that he would do so as a possibility for his new date, October 21.

As I posted before, I used to listen to Family Radio many years ago, and was blessed by its ministry. I listened again tonight, to see if Camping would indeed repent. I will not listen again. (OK, maybe on October 22nd; he has to be out of excuses by then, right??). I am also going on record tonight as advising anyone I know to avoid Family Radio, unless and until the board and the stations repudiate Harold Camping's false teachings and return to Biblically sound, orthodox teaching.

It will, of course, be hard to monitor this while not listening, but I get to enough Christian outlets that somewhere I should see if this happens. (I have heard rumors that WFME, Newark may be ready to move away from Campingism, but I'll believe it when I see it.)

Watching an old friend waste away and drift into oblivion is not easy. I could simply turn away myself and just never talk about FR again. However, I think the hubris, arrogance, and meanness shown by Harold Camping tonight require me to openly state what I believe about this fiasco, and to also state that I will not support FR even by listening to it. I pray the Lord will open the eyes of all involved with FR and bring them back to Jesus and the Word.

Sunday sermon: "The Growing Church"

Today's sermon dealt with the church's function of discipleship. We were reminded that we all need to work to build up each other and our church, and that our standard is always Jesus. The summary is at http://pastorsteve.wikispaces.com/file/view/The+Growing+Church.pdf.

See You Tomorrow!

As I type this tonight, we are just about four hours from the beginning of the Day of Judgment according to Harold Camping. I have to admit, after years of studiously avoiding Family Radio, I have been drawn to the last few days of broadcasting. I guess there's a morbid curiosity at work.

I used to listen to Family Radio (WKDN, Camden, NJ) when I was in college. At that time, there was a nice spectrum of conservative Christian programming on FR, and Camping hadn't yet gone off the deep end. While the music wasn't always the style I preferred, the solid Bible teaching was.

Over the years, with Camping in financial control of Family Stations, more and more of the orthodox evangelical broadcasters left the station, and of course all churches left after Camping declared them apostate. What I have heard over the last two days is the shell of a once-great influence for Christ, now reduced to the pathetic echo of a heretical teacher.

This will make a great lead-in for my sermon this Sunday (assuming, of course, that Sunday comes). When we cut ourselves off from the stream of orthodox Bible teaching and set ourselves up as the sole arbiter of what the Bible means, we can go far off the trail, as Camping has done. That's why the Lord gave the church people who are gifted in teaching us about the Word, our faith, and the way we should live. We cannot reach full maturity without depending on each other and on the wisdom of past generations to keep us on the path of light.

I recognize that we don't all agree on everything about theology and Christian living. We need to understand, however, that together, as each person and each group goes to the Bible for the truth, we can work toward a common understanding of many things. Our goal, of course, is the full unity in Christ that will one day be ours when we get to heaven. Until then, we need to sharpen and challenge our brothers and sisters in Christ to seek after and live the truth.

In the meantime, let's pray for those who will be disillusioned by the failure of the false prophecy of Harold Camping, and may be tempted to give up on God and the Bible altogether. Let's pray for those who would use the heretical predictions of an eccentric teacher to discredit the Bible. Let's pray that Camping himself would recognize his error and repent and turn back to Biblical truth. And let's pray that we will be diligent in our own study so that we re not led astray by those who take a little truth and mix in a lot of falsehood, bizarre interpretations, and ego to seduce us away from the Bible's teachings.