Dear Friends of "Dial Dail y Bread,"
When God speaks, does He use the quaint language of the old Quakers' "thee" and "thou," or does He communicate in modern language? Eugene Peterson's renditions of the New Testament and Psalms, and Old Testament prophets (The Message), are often in vivid, bold language that generally is also faithful to the original Hebrew or Greek. An example is how he renders what Jesus says to the church today (and to its leadership) in Revelation 3:17, "Laodicea." The King James Version has Jesus say, "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth," which sounds like very Bad News--if the church is lukewarm, He will reject it, vomit it out. And some misinformed people decide that if Jesus rejects their church, they better do so too, and they leave. Trouble is, if they stay alert, they will soon find the "new" church is also lukewarm! And they end up bewildered and confused.
But Peterson gets it straight. The literal Greek (if you want it!) is: mello se emesai. The mello is "I-am-about-to-do-this-or-
If an honest artist were to paint a portrait of Jesus today he would have to render His face as expressing the pain of acute nausea. Doesn't sound like very Good News, does it? At least not for spiritual pride and arrogance, feeling "rich and increased with goods, ... [in] need of nothing" (3:17). But "the everlasting gospel" of chapter 14, verses 6 and 7, is also here in the parallel message to Laodicea--Good News.
When our Lord commands us, "Be zealous therefore, and repent," (3:19), He has to mean that He will give Laodicea the gift of repentance--for two reasons: (1) He never commands what He does not give the grace to obey (Matt. 11:30); and (2) repentance is never what we initiate or "do," it is receiving the "gift" that God "gives" (Acts 5:31). And what will He give to Laodicea? Zechariah answers: the gift of repentance for crucifying ("piercing") the Savior--the realization that the crucifixion is OUR SIN (see 12:10). Nothing else can come even close to curing lukewarmness; but that repentance does it!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 9, 2001.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
When God speaks, does He use the quaint language of the old Quakers' "thee" and "thou," or does He communicate in modern language? Eugene Peterson's renditions of the New Testament and Psalms, and Old Testament prophets (The Message), are often in vivid, bold language that generally is also faithful to the original Hebrew or Greek. An example is how he renders what Jesus says to the church today (and to its leadership) in Revelation 3:17, "Laodicea." The King James Version has Jesus say, "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth," which sounds like very Bad News--if the church is lukewarm, He will reject it, vomit it out. And some misinformed people decide that if Jesus rejects their church, they better do so too, and they leave. Trouble is, if they stay alert, they will soon find the "new" church is also lukewarm! And they end up bewildered and confused.
But Peterson gets it straight. The literal Greek (if you want it!) is: mello se emesai. The mello is "I-am-about-to-do-this-or-
If an honest artist were to paint a portrait of Jesus today he would have to render His face as expressing the pain of acute nausea. Doesn't sound like very Good News, does it? At least not for spiritual pride and arrogance, feeling "rich and increased with goods, ... [in] need of nothing" (3:17). But "the everlasting gospel" of chapter 14, verses 6 and 7, is also here in the parallel message to Laodicea--Good News.
When our Lord commands us, "Be zealous therefore, and repent," (3:19), He has to mean that He will give Laodicea the gift of repentance--for two reasons: (1) He never commands what He does not give the grace to obey (Matt. 11:30); and (2) repentance is never what we initiate or "do," it is receiving the "gift" that God "gives" (Acts 5:31). And what will He give to Laodicea? Zechariah answers: the gift of repentance for crucifying ("piercing") the Savior--the realization that the crucifixion is OUR SIN (see 12:10). Nothing else can come even close to curing lukewarmness; but that repentance does it!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 9, 2001.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
