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“By thine Agony and Bloody Sweat; by thy Cross and Passion, by thy precious Death and Burial…. Good Lord, deliver us.

Galatians 2:20 (KJV) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

I rarely, if ever quote from the King James Version of the Bible. However, this is the version I grew up on and memorized many years ago. It is a grand declaration for a believer to make a wonderful statement of faith and intent. I feel pretty good when I quote that passage, all holy and humble, full of resolve and faith. Then a thought comes and whispers this question into my soul, “Oh Really ? ”

It is at that moment that I look down at my hands, my feet, check my side, run my fingers through my scalp and reach behind me and massage my lower back. Wait a minute, where are my Crucifixion scars ?

I know what you are going to say: “ Phil, we claim the Cross of Jesus as our own, vicariously, He died so we don’t have to go through all that awful stuff. Salvation is a gift we receive, we don’t have to do anything…at all !” Oh Really ?

I agree with you, to this end: Salvation is a gift from God, nothing we can do, no law we can obey or price we pay will wash away our sins. Nothing but the blood of Jesus can do that. However the steps we take toward restoration after our forgiveness and the road we walk with Jesus toward Glory is a process. The word for this is Sanctification, the actions God uses to transform us, freeing us from sin and making us pure, like Him, Sanctification is the work Jesus does with us to equip us for Holy living. His passion and death are more than His sacrifice for sin, they are the model for us to live by. Heed the words of Jesus about this:

Matthew 16:24-26(KJV): 24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Carrying a cross is not easy, it requires some agony, some scraped knees, calloused hands, maybe even some bloody sweat. Carrying a cross requires sacrifice and death to self. For when we carry our cross, the rest of the world begins to see Jesus. Just as Thomas refused to believe until He saw those nail pierced Hands, how will my friends, my family and the world believe if they don’t see that I am crucified to Christ as well ?

Peace. Phil Parsons

You know, old King James can still bring it.

* * * * *

From Rodger:

I’m beginning with a fairly profound chuckle.  That’s because the subject of the “Authorized King James Version of 1611” is one of my biggest, longest-standing, vociferous, screaming fit hobby horses!  It’s also the source of one instance of my very visible hypocrisy, when it comes to certain theological issues.

First, to get the obvious out of the way:  The KJV is simply a horribly bad translation.  It’s a biblical version of the old childhood game “Telephone” that we all used to play at youth group meetings.  You know – one person whispers something to the next, who then passes it along to the next, and so on and so forth – all the way around the group, until what comes back is not even close to what was originally said.  The KJV has done this exact thing:  It was based on an amalgam of previous versions, including the “Masorectic text” of the 9th century (for the Old Testament), the “Textus Receptus” based on Desideriius Erasmus’s 1516 edition (New Testament), both of which were heavily influenced by the “Latin Vulgate” Bible, translated by Jerome and completed sometime in the early 5th century.  That, in turn, was based on the Septuagint Bible, referred to as the “LXX” (because it contained seventy books in total) and was the earliest (approx. 3rd century) Greek version of both testaments.  The LXX itself, then referred back to Hebrew (Old Testament) and Koine Greek (New Testament), which in turn both were written versions of the spoken Aramaic that Jesus and others both during and before his time would have spoken.

WOW!  (The writer stops and wipes his brow!)  Look at all the various “steps” in this particular game of “Bible Telephone!”  And don’t forget that not a single discovery of ancient texts (Qumran – the so-called “Dead Sea Scrolls”), Masada, Wadi Daliyeh, Khirbet Mird, Ketef Hinnom, among others – none of these have been used to update, clarify, or correct erogenous translations in the KJV.

Thus, the KJV still reads (my favorite example), in 1st Samuel 24:3, “And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.”  The euphemistic phrase “cover his feet” – more accurately translated “cover his toes” – is from the Hebrew root “סָכַךְ” (çakak), which could either literally or figuratively be translated “cover, defend,” even “HEDGE IN” (hence the name of this website), “join together,” or (wait for it) “relieve oneself.”  But think about the mindset and temperament of the intended audience of the original King James Bible:  How could any self-respecting, Elizabethan-era Christian even THINK of Saul maybe being slaughtered by David’s warriors who were hiding in the very cave he decided to use for a toilet? (Perish the thought – Christian women would have “the Vapors” reading such scandal!)

And so, a mis-translation gave rise to the notion that persisted for 300 years in most Protestant commentary and preaching.  Paul was – many of us learned in Vacation Bible School – “taking a nap!”  “Umm… No ma’am:  He was (cough, cough)… “taking a dump!”

Granted, a petty example; and probably not even the most profound or pertinent one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of what I’ll call “less than ideal translations” in the KJV.  And yet… (Here’s my hypocrisy)

Don’t we love it?  Doesn’t that stilted, aged, out of date language somehow speak to our souls?  On Christmas eve, do we want to hear that the Shepherds were scared senseless?  No!  We want to remember that they were “sore afraid.”  Or when we read Proverbs 29: 28, do we really want to know that “Where there is no vision, the people put off all restraint?”  (We might scratch our heads and wonder what that even means.)  No, we want to be reminded that “Where there is no vision, the people PERISH.”

So, no, the KJV isn’t my “go to” translation anymore.  But I certainly still love it, and in cases like Phil mentions above, think it’s language expresses the idea in a way that can – perhaps should – grab our attention in a way that everyday language does not.  Because, in the end (of a long, meandering road I’ve written as an introduction to a single point)… Carrying our cross matters.  It’s a big deal.  The difference between salvation (that free gift to those who receive it) and the process of sanctification (which is a lifetime journey of following Jesus as his disciple) is perhaps more important than everyday, non-sacramental language can adequately convey.