An op/ed piece:
As I flicked through Bibles to see which one I thought would teach best today, I was reminded once again some one might think me fickle for the number of Bibles I have and actively use. On the surface, it’s not an unfair point of view.
We all take the view, that as the Word of God, the Bible deserves to be handled with the intention of learning every possible thing it expresses. What better way to do that than carefully go over the same ground looking for new clues and evidence. That’s good spiritual discipline. More’s the better if we can use the same book model for multiple generations. I’ve done this myself in years gone by and it’s a wholesome thing to do…up to a point anyway.
The issue is that the Word of God is more than what that single book you handle can always show you. The Bibles I so dearly love, at the end of the discussion, are the expressions of someone else’s understanding and grasp, shaped by their own prejudices and fears; their own religion and desires for what they want it to say. For what they think God’s said in the basic translated documents. That simply can’t help but embed itself into the book itself. Where the books builder’s blindness, wilful or not, connects with mine, the light of learning grows dim.
We don’t always realise that as we grow accustomed to the word usage and page layout of a specific model and translation, we increasingly become blinded to anything different than anything previously seen, or to the way we’ve previously seen it. As a minister I’ve always felt that the use of different translations helped keep me from building a pet doctrine that wasn’t broadly supported. If I have to have a specific translation to make my case, I need to say that right up front. That doesn’t make it bad, in fact it often adds a flavour of truth and helps us all know how to fit pieces into their rightful positions. It just needs to be owned up to.
Anyway, what I started out to say and want to make certain I at least finish with is this. Reading the same Bible in the same way, at some point- even while it is driving certain truths deeper- also enables mental laziness, keeping us from having a new thought about old truths. The Lord has much to say to us, even about things He knows we already know.
Personally, I want to give him every chance I can to speak old things again. But I also want new thoughts carried by new words and new thought patterns.
Keep your favourite translations, we all have them. But, just for fun, and without having to feel like one has to be better than another (and paradoxically this is true) read a new translation and just dare the Spirit of Truth to teach you something. It’s worth the financial investment. You’ll likely be surprised at the enlarging and depth of what happens. I know I have been.