Mistranslation of Words in The Bible

Many words are poorly translated in the Bible because of the lens the translators look through. Pretty well all of them look through an institutional or authoritative lens (concerning men). I think it is fine to say, "This word was translated wrong. It does not mean what the authors intended." Just because we see a word in the Bible does not mean it is the right word, a good word, or a word to defend. I don't think Christianeze is helpful especially when the original words in the text were common words of the times and not special, exclusive, religious, or spiritual words.

Most words that you'd only hear in church are translated wrong and are common words and should be translated as such. The Spirit will teach truth but the Bible warns so much about false teaching because lies told as truth blind you to the real truth. That is a fact and millions have been deceived. I never intend to fight about words but to expose the truth. Improper word usage can leave you confused (usually unknowingly) and even lead to poor choices and beliefs.

The King James Version translators had a rule from King James and Anglican Archbishop Richard Bancroft to "use The Old Ecclesiastical Words," that "the Word Church is not to be translated Congregation etc." They wanted the words used by the organized church to be used in the translation to validate themselves to the people who will now have the Bible available to read. Before this "authorized version" came about several people who translated scripture into English were murdered for doing so. Interesting that one of them, William Tyndale, used "congregation" instead of "church" in his translation.

Most translations follow the KJV in one degree or another and because institutional churches still stand today we get the same ecclesiastical words in our new translations. Protestants retranslated the words "bishop" and "presbytery" which are found in the KJV because those words don't apply to protestantism, they aren't protestant "positions of authority" so there was no need for them to use these words to back themselves up for having those positions. Of course they still retained the words pastor & deacon in their scriptures because their lens supports their non-biblical hierarchical authority system that displaces Christ.

Most words in scripture, are regular words defined by context. English translators took these common, neutral words and chose to translate them into special words that existed in the church systems of their era. Some mistranslations are intentional or started out that way and some remain because of ignorance. Be assured that the translators do know the real meanings of these words but their bias or lens keeps them from translating them properly.

Preach
One outrageous example of translators bias is how the Greek word behind "preach" means "proclaim" or "announce." It has been translated as the special word "preach" when referring to Jesus or the apostles but when "common men" who were healed by Jesus "preach" the translators chose to use the word "proclaim." They should use proclaim or announce in every case but they decided, because of their authoritative lens, to only use the word "preach" when referring to the "special" men and not with the "common" men. There is no justification for this distinction. It is simply the biased lens they look through. From what I've seen intentional or unintentional lies make it much much harder to trust God because they hide His trustworthiness.

Doctrine
A doctrine is "a teaching." I wouldn't need a doctrine about my wife because I just have a relationship with her. Since God is invisible and relates to many people teachings about Him are useful. Doctor is an old religious word for "teacher" so doctrine is a religious word for "teaching." I'd rather not use the word "doctrine" because it conjures up the idea of overly intellectual academic facts or beliefs that don't really affect how we live (even if they should) that are meant to be argued about. Some view the word "doctrine" as spiritual, official, established, and true but it only means "a teaching," one that can be true, false, or mixed.

Ministers
The only flip-flop translation I can think of is minister. Today we think of minister as a leader but the Greek word it was translated from simply means "servant" which is the opposite! Someone grows up in a church & hears the word minister being used only for leaders so when they go to read the Bible and see the word minister they think of the leader guy at the church building and not a servant. I don't think God is the author of such confusion.

Common Mistranslations, etc.
Faith - Trust
Believe - To Trust
Forgive - Remove A Burden, Take Away, Set Free
Forgiveness - Freedom, Removal
Grace - Favor, Loving Favorable Opinion
Gospel - Good News
Fear - Revere, Respect, Worship
Confess (in 1 Jn 1:9) - Agree, Say the Same Thing As Another
Repent - Change your mind
Repentance - Change of mind
Convict - Convince
Righteous - Right With Relationally, Guiltless
Justified - Made Right With, Made Blameless

Minister - Servant (not an authoritative position)
Pastor - Shepherd (not an authoritative position)
Elder - Older Person (not an authoritative position)
Deacon - Servant (not an authoritative position)
Bishop - Overseer, Guardian (not an authoritative position)
Evangelist - One who proclaims good news
Apostle - Delegate, One Sent on Behalf of another
Prophet - Spokesman
Ministry - Service
Church - Assembly
Ordain - Recognize
Doctrine - A Teaching
Preach - Proclaim or Announce
Sanctuary, Altar - Not Found in the New Testament
Sermon, Pulpit, Surrender, Revival, Rededicate - Do not Appear in the Bible

Devil - Adversary
Angel - Messenger
Prophecy - Message from God
Prophesy - Speak from God
Baptize - Immerse
Believer - One who Trusts
Faithful - Trustworthy
Hypocrite - Actor, Pretender
Heresy - Sect
Scripture - A Writing
Holy - Pure
Saint - Holy person, Pure person
Sanctify - Purify
Sanctification - Purification

Related Posts
The Problem with Mistranslations
How "Preach" is Used with Bias in Translating the Bible
All Posts on Mistranslations

Jesus Did Not Come To Call The Righteous to Repentance?

The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at Jesus's disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:30-32)

The only definition of repentance in the New Testament is "a change of mind." I could change my mind about eating shrimp or I could change my mind about walking to the park. Both are a change of mind but they concern different things. Jesus was speaking of the specific change of mind that leads to someone trusting Jesus. We Christians have already made this change of mind.

Another translation for "saved" is "cured" or "made well." If you are "saved" you are no longer sick because Jesus "makes you well" thus you have no need to repent, that is to change your mind to trust Jesus to be saved, cured, or made well. You've already done it. I don't think Jesus was saying "I never call the righteous to change their mind about anything."

Jesus said, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance" (Luke 5:31-32). When Jesus was saying this everyone was sick because He had not yet gone to the cross to cure people of sin with His blood. Jesus "ate and drank with the tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 5:30) because those who know they need a physician will accept treatment.

Those who are too proud to believe that they are sick or those who think they can cure themselves (in this case with their own good works) will reject the physician. Jesus didn't want to waste time with those who would reject Him. Jesus preferred to go to the spiritual hospitals of the humble rather than the houses of the self-righteous who refused treatment because they denied their sinful condition.

If you take repentance to mean "change of mind" which it does:

• Righteous people don't need to change their mind from unbelief to trust in Jesus to be saved because they have already trusted in Christ and are already saved.
• Righteous people don't need to change their mind as a whole because they have the mind of Christ. Who would want to get rid of that?
• Righteous people do need to change their mind when they discover something they believe to be false.
• Righteous people do need to change their mind about performing unloving actions. A change of mindset is much more effective and longer lasting than a mere change of action or behavior.
• Righteous people do need to change their mind as God leads them to. He may lead you to change your mind about your perspectives, courses of action, manners of approach, about almost anything. Allow God to renew your mind by being open to Him and honest with Him. He may challenge you to change your mind about something you've always held to be true or something that is dear to you.

If you take repentance to mean "turn from sin" which it doesn't:

• Righteous people don't need to turn from sin because as Acts 3:26 tells us "God raised up Jesus and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your sinful ways."
• Righteous people don't need to turn from sin because Christ took away sin. What is there to turn away from if it is gone?
• Righteous people don't need to turn from sin but scripture tells us to "put to death the deeds of the flesh" (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5). That doesn't mean turn away from sin but to claim the victory that our righteousness through the blood of Christ has already won over it. Recognize His grace and by it you will reject godless ways and worldly desires (Titus 2:12).

Repentance is not primarily about sin. Repentance is an openness to God's leading and teaching with the trust in Him to follow His leading and agree with His teaching. Repentance is not trying to do better or feeling really bad about something you've done. Repentance is a change of mind for the better not the mind dwelling on the worse.

When you make repentance (changing your mind) into something you force yourself to think or do you aren't allowing Christ to renew your mind. You may unknowingly be trying to change yourself for the worse! Repentance is most often something natural and unspoken. It is like a child wanting a cookie who is then offered a piece of pie. The child forgets all about the cookie. Repentance is not a work we do to gain or regain God's approval. Repentance is agreeing and cooperating with God's revealed love.

Related Posts:
Forgiven and Loving - Looks at the totality of our forgiveness, what it means to "confess sins," and includes another look at the meaning of repent.