John MacArthur is an amazing, intelligent man of God.
Today in Convocation, he spoke to the students of Liberty, and he had a message for us that will impact my life perspective forever if I can only put it into full out motion.
He is a Koine Greek language scholar, and has discovered a severe discrepancy in the translation of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into English.
I myself am a second semester Greek student myself, and was thus able to keep up with him in general, and will try to explain to you the fallacy that is being sold to Americans and the English speaking population.
The word 'δοῦλος' (doulos) is used in the Greek New Testament 141 times. This word has a very specific meaning, that fortunately for our contemporaries has a very specific, particular meaning.
The word doulos literally and plainly means 'slave.'
Now, I'm not sure how many of you have read your entire Bible, or even just the New Testament- I myself have only read through the New Testament- but I digress from the point.
In the King James Version of the Bible, the word doulos is almost always translated as 'servant' rather than 'slave.' Actually, in every translation (with the exception of MacArthur's Holeman Christian Standard Bible) the word is translated as servant, especially when concerning the Christians.
I'm rather upset that this concept has been hidden from contemporary Christians.
I've been taught my whole life that I am to be a servant of Christ, but that is not at all what the entire idea of the New Testament holds for us.
God does not call me to serve Him. He requires me to be His slave.
He chose me.
He has bought me with the blood of Christ.
My life's purpose is to be His completely, do whatever He asks me to do.
This in reality makes the idea of salvation hundreds of times better.
God has bought me, and made me a slave, yes, but I have become His friend.
He has made me a Citizen of His country, but all of this was not enough.
I, through Christ, have become a Joint-Heir, a Daughter of the the Creator of the Universe.
Even though I was once a speck of dirt, nothing but dust.
Unworthy, yet allowed to one day stand in the presence of God.
Now THAT is True Love.
I was afraid a lot of people would be like "No he's wrong! The english bible is infallible. KJV is the very word of god." Ps did you know there are unicorns in the kjv? But I agree with you. We are more than servants. Instead we are called to share in his suffering so we may also share in his glory.
ReplyDelete"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." NIV
~Romans 7:15-18