Robert Smith – Page 34 – What Does This Mean?

Luther’s Eight Sermons at Wittenberg

On the first Sunday in Lent, March 9, 1522, Luther began a daily sermon series in the pulpit of the Wittenberg city church, known as the Invocavit Sermons after the Latin name for the Sunday. Luther criticized the people of Wittenberg for not allowing love for their neighbor guide how they reformed the church. The weak need to be taught slowly and patiently so they desire the change and are not forced to do so before they were ready.

The reformer discussed the issues in the light of two sets of definitions. When something is necessary to sustain faith, then it must be done. Faith needs to be firm and immovable. When it is not, Christian love must control our actions for the sake of weak brothers and sisters in Christ. Love is flexible and does not insist on its own rights.

In addition there are things which must be done and other things which we are free to do. For example, God forbids the making of images in some places in Scripture and in other places commands that they be made. So we are free to make them, providing they are done for God-pleasing reasons. What we should worry about is when we make them to worship them or donate them because we think we’re doing it as a good work.

The sermon series greatly moved those who heard it. The town immediately settled down. Luther was now their preacher.

Luther Returns to Wittenberg

The two treatises of early 1522 became very popular and were well-read during Luther’s lifetime and afterwards. However, they did little to calm the unrest brewing in Germany, however. To complicate matters, men from the Saxon town of Zwickau came to town, claiming to be profits, whom God spoke to directly. They taught many doctrines that would be eventually adopted by the Anabaptist movement, including that infant baptisms were not baptisms at all. Philip Melanchthon confronted them, but was at a loss as to how to answer them.

In mid-February, the Wittenberg town council begged him to return. And so he did, emerging permanently from his retreat on 6 March 1522, five hundred years aggo today. While he was on the road, he wrote to the Elector to warn him of that development. The Elector was worried he wouldn’t be able to protect Luther. Wittenberg was just fifty miles from the Saxon territory of Duke George, a supporter of the papacy — more or less. He would not hesitate to burn Luther at the stake as a heretic.

When Luther arrived home, he spent the next few days conferring with his allies. He decided for the time being not to resume his professorship, but for the next two years preached regularly in the city church (St. Mary’s) and worked on his Bible translation. He began his time as “Preacher in Wittenberg,” on the first sunday in Lent, known as Invocavit Sunday, March 9, 1522. He continued to preach for seven days, concluding on the second Sunday in Lent.

Luther Attempts to Calm a Storm

On his visit to Wittenberg in December 1521, Junker Jörg had a chance to speak with and overhear conversations between everyday Germans. What he learned disturbed him greatly. He sensed anger against the Church and her abuses and general unease among common people. He likely read several of the extreme pamphlets, some threatening violence and rebellion.

For months he had been haunted by the possibility that events could get out of hand. The Electoral Saxon Court was also worried. Not entirely successfully, the Elector forbid the changes being made by Luther’s followers and university students for the time being. Yet many of the changes being made by impatient reformers were ideas he himself had advanced. The end to private masses, distribution of both elements in the Lord’s Supper and an end to monastic celibacy were among these reforms. He vowed to write and discourage the former while encouraging the latter.

In the summer of 1521, from the safety of the Wartburg, Luther wrote a treatise De abroganda missa privata Martini Lutheri sententia (The Misuse Of The Mass [AE 36:129ff]) to help those engaged in beginning to reform the Mass. He explained his chief objections and the reasons why he opposed them so that reformers would have good arguments to employ. He argued for the distribution of the Lord’s Supper in both kinds and the end of private masses, said to accumulate merit for souls in purgatory, He concluded that these practices rested on several false doctrines, that the priesthood is a separate and superior class of Christians and that their work is primarily about sacrifice. Instead, all Christians are priests, the work of the priesthood is preaching, not sacrifice and that the mass itself is not a sacrifice at all, but a promise given by Christ to be received in faith. He sent the work to George Spalatin, Elector Frederick’s secretary, who decided not to publish it. In the meantime, Luther worked from notes to prepare a German version, Uom Missbrauch der Messen When Luther found out the book hadn’t been published, he demanded the publication of Misuse of the Mass under threat to write something more inflammatory. Both versions were first published in January of 1522.

He also sent Spalatin a book to urge his followers not to resort to insurrection. The work, Treue Vermahnung zu allen Christen (A Sincere Admonition by Martin Luther to All Christians to Guard Against Insurrection and Rebellion) appeared in early 1522. In the book, Luther argued that insurrection was forbidden by God. He had given authority to punish and compel reform to the government and it must remain with them. It is the role of the common man to point out where reform is needed, pray for it and urge their rulers to enact it and not to participate in abuses. They ought to trust God to act on their behalf. In the conclusion to this work, Luther asks that his followers not call themselves Lutheran. “What is Luther? After all, the teaching is not mine. Neither was I crucified for anyone.… How then should I—poor stinking maggot-fodder that I am—come to have men call the children of Christ by my wretched name?” (Martin Brecht, Martin Luther: Shaping and Defining the Reformation, 1521–1532, trans. James L. Schaaf (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1994), 32.)

Rev. Brent Keller’s Bio Updated

Pastor Brent Keller was recently installed as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Guttenberg, Iowa and St. Paul Lutheran Church in McGregor, Iowa. His bio has been updated at: https://whatdoesthismean.blog/meet-rev-brent-keller/

Jesus Rejected in Nazareth

Encore Post: Synagogues are like churches. They are places where the Jews gather on the Sabbath (Saturday) to hear a passage from the Old Testament read, to hear a sermon and to pray together. The Old Testament is read from a scroll, instead of a book. Someone would help the reader take it out of a storage box called an ark, unwrap it and roll the text to the place where he should start to read. Often the people would sing while they do this.

When the reading was finished, it was put away until the next Sabbath. When a boy reached the age of twelve, he got to read it for the first time in event called Bar Mitzvah, which means “Son of the Covenant.” If the reader was also a teacher, he would sit down and explain the reading.

This is what Jesus was doing when he returned to Nazareth. He read from Isaiah 61. This passage predicts the ministry of the Messiah to preach the Gospel and heal the sick. He announced that he was that Messiah.

The problem was his neighbors and friends had a hard time believing he was the Messiah. He grew up in such a normal way that there was hardly anything for the Gospels to report for the first thirty years of his life. The contractor down the block is the Messiah — please! They wanted results! What’s in it for them? Nothing! Their lack of faith in Jesus meant he could not perform miracles at home.

That day they tried to kill him, it failed. But it would not be long before Jesus would go to Jerusalem. There he suffered and died for their sins, ours and the sins of the whole world. When he rose from the dead, he set us all free. When he returns for us, then we will also be healed — not for a little while, but for forever.

Testing Translations: Romans 8:15-17

Romans 8 is one of the most comforting chapters in the Holy Scriptures. It follow St. Paul’s description of the frustration he feels with struggling against his old Adam, the dark, sinful self that remains in a Christian. It begins by affirming that Christ can help us with our struggles with the sinful flesh. He fulfilled the requirements of the law for us, setting us free from slavery to our sinful flesh.

The passage before us talks about how we can live according to the Spirit, even while still living in conflict with our sinful desires and all the while suffering in this world. There are several phrases in it that are difficult to render in English. How translators handle them reveal much about their theology.

In Romans 8:15, Paul explains the new status we have as Christians. We do not live fearfully, as a slave fears displeasing his master, but we live the way children and heirs of the paterfamilias — the father of the house, who we can call “daddy.”

The Greek for our relationship is υἱοθεσίας (huiothesias) literally means “to place as a son.” It is the term for adoption, which was very common in Roman and Greek culture. It made the person adopted an heir with all the same rights, privileges and status of the one who adopts. Even slaves could be adopted and thus freeing them and more. It was almost as common to adopt adults as it was to marry. In fact, Julius Caesar adopted his ally Octavius, who then was known as the son of Caesar, and, when Caesar was honored as a god, the son of god.

Following the Vulgate, The English Standard Version translates it as a part of a title for the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of adoption as sons), the old New International Version in a similar, but less accurate way (the Spirit of sonship). The Good News Bible separates it into an event (the Spirit makes you God’s children), losing its connection to the Spirit entirely.

Martin Luther translated the phrase very differently. He wrote “einen kindlichen Geist” — a child-like spirit. If Paul is comparing attitudes, this is likely what he meant. We are not given a slave’s attitude, or the attitude of the follower of a pagan god, which is motivated by the fear of punishment. We are given the attitude of an adopted son. We approach the Father in prayer “confidently with all assurance, as dear children ask their dear father.” (Small Catechism 3.1.2)

Paul then tells us what this adoption means for us. It is not our imagination. The Holy Spirit is our witness, testifying with our spirit that we are God’s children. Since we are God’s children then, we are God’s heirs, heirs with Christ and share everything he has. Since Jesus suffered that he might enter his glory, so we share his sufferings with him.

The Reformed tradition and the Lutheran tradition understand Romans 8:17 differently. For the Reformed, the passage is conditional. If we share in Christ’s suffering, we will be rewarded by sharing in his glory. Lutherans understand it unconditionally. Since we share in his sufferings, we will share in his glory.

The Greek construction can be legitimately understood either way. It is:

εἴπερ συμπάσχομεν ἵνα καὶ συνδοξασθῶμεν.

The Greek particle εἴπερ sets up a relationship between two phrases. It can be conditional or unconditional. What is important is the two are linked. Should the first happen, the second must happen. So, if a translation says, in effect, “since,” we suspect a Lutheran had something to do with it. If it translates, “if,” then a Reformed translator. So, for example, the Evangelical Heritage Version has “since we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him” and the NRSV “if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”

Testing Translation: Philippians 2:5

Philippians 2:5-11 is often called the Christ Hymn. Verses 6-11 are and ancient hymn which explain the work of Christ in a profound poem. The center of the poem is the phrase “death on the cross.” The first part of the hymn speaks about the way Jesus thinks. He let go of his power and glory as God, became a man, then humbled himself further to die on the cross. The second part is how God lifted him up to his full godhood giving him the name above all names. Everyone in the end will confess that Jesus Christ is Yahweh to the Father’s glory.

A lot of meaning is packed into these few verses. how a translator presents several phrases in this passage reveals much about what he or she believes. In Greek, verse five is: “Τοῦτο φρονεῖτε ἐν ὑμῖν ὃ καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ” (literally: “Think this in you all the also in Christ Jesus”) Here St. Paul urges the Philippians to think like Jesus thinks. Jesus put the interests of others — all of us — before his own. φρονεῖτε comes from the verb φρονέω, which means to have an opinion, to consider carefully, to develop an attitude. It is a command to think a certain way. In American idiom it is to have a mindset. The pronoun, which tells us who is to have the mindset, is plural. It is the congregation Paul wants to follow Jesus’ example.

There is a wide variety of ways translators handle the phrase. The King James Version is “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” The English Standard version translates: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” New American Standard has: “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,” the New Jerusalem Bible: “Make your own the mind of Christ Jesus” and the Good News Bible: “think the same way that Christ Jesus thought.”

This variety helps us to see that, no matter how hard you try, translation loses something. All of the translations lose track of the fact that Paul is not addressing individuals. Nor is it an ethical you (as if you read it to mean “one should have the mind of Christ in him”). Paul urges the congregation to be humble and think of others first as a group. In addition, the word “mind” sounds strange to English ears when used this way. Finally, “attitude” often has a negative sense in American English (he has an attitude!) when Paul is intending the opposite.

This is the very reason why Lutheran seminary students are required to learn to read Greek and Hebrew. So, what can a layman, who has a vocation other than pastoral ministry? The best advice is to compare several solid translations. Where you see a range of interpretation like this, you will know the original text is not easily translated. You can check commentaries (The People’s Bible commentaries, like this one: Kuschel, Harlyn J. Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. The People’s Bible. Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub. House, 1986, are good sources for laymen), Ask your pastor, or both.

Testing Translations: John 3:16-17

One of the best known Bible verses is John 3:16-17. Beloved by millions, it is called “the gospel in a nutshell.” In the King James Version (KJV), it is:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

If you open multiple versions to the verse, you will notice very quickly is that they are virtually the same. This is very comforting. It shows the “tradition” side of translation. If you do not read Greek, this tells you also that the original is very clear. There is little controversy as to what it means. By comparing them carefully, you will notice several words are handled slightly differently. One is in the version you likely memorized as a child: “only begotten.” The original Greek word is: μονογενῆ (monogene).

To modern English speakers, the word sounds very old. “Beget” means that a man is the biological father of a child. We often say he fathered a child. When the King James Version used this word, it was following, St. Jerome’s Vulgate (unigenitum) and Martin Luther’s German Bible (eingeborenen). They, in turn, were influenced by the Nicene Creed’s, “Begotten not made.” The point of the creed was that Jesus is eternally God’s Son, not the first created being, as the heretic Arius maintained.

So far, so good. So why do so many modern translations say something like: “only son” or “unique son” instead? It turns out that the word μονογενῆ has a much wider meaning in the Greek language. It means “Unique, one-of-a-kind.” It is used to describe Jesus and an only child in the Gospel of John.

What does it tell us when a translation uses “Only Begotten?” Such a translation has a concern for both word-for-word translation and to preserve a connection with doctrinal language. For example, when describing the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, (Luke 1:28) Martin Luther said he should have translated it “Hi, Mary!” But for doctrinal reasons and tradition, he translated: “Gegrüßet seiest du, Holdselige” (Greetings be to you, blessed one!)

When a translation uses some form of “only, unique, one-of-a-kind,” the emphasis is on what it meant to the original readers. In our next post, we’ll try another passage I use to get to know a translation.

Testing Translations– John 1:1

“Translation is treason,” “Translation is tradition,” are two ways to translate a famous Latin pun. (translatio traditio est) It is credited to St. Jerome, the early Church father who translated the Bible into Latin, giving us the famous version known as the Vulgate. For pastors and Bible scholars it is a cautionary proverb. You really need to carefully test translations — and take care when you do the work of a translator yourself. Over a series of posts, we will look at passages that can be used to do just that.

The beginning of the Gospel of John, known as the Prologue, begins at the Beginning. Not the beginning of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, as the Gospels of Matthew and Luke do. Not the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, as does Mark. The Apostle John takes us back to the beginning of creation. Here, John tells us, the Son of God had already been in existence with God the Father. He reveals that he is ὁ λόγος (the Logos), the Word in Greek philosophy. He is all of wisdom and reason itself in one person. This Word is not a created being, nor a spin off of God’s own essence, but God Himself, present in a relationship with the Father forever. This Word is the Creator of all things and yet became a flesh and blood human being — Jesus of Nazareth. We cannot understand God. Yet in him, the only begotten God, we can know God.

At first, you might wonder why this is a test passage for translations. In almost all translations, it reads:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

Even the translations that focus on conveying what the translator believe the text says emphasize that the Word is eternal and is fully God and do so even more than the surface meaning of the Greek.

There is one “translation,” however, that translates the last phrase: “… the Word was a god.” (John 1:1, the New World Translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. See https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/john/1/ ) (Aside: the so-called translation committee that produced the NWT had no one on the staff that could read either Greek or Hebrew. So it is really not a translation, but a commentary.) The translation justifies this reading by noting the original text, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος, (and God was the Word) does not have the word “the” in front of it. In New Testament Greek, when you want to talk about a specific example of something, you use ὁ, the definite article in front of it. They do this to keep the text from proving the Scripture teaches Jesus is God.

The problem with this way of looking at the text is that the lack of an article in New Testament Greek does not mean one example of the noun out of many. For example, when St. Paul speaks of θεοῦ πατρὸς in his First Letter to Timothy (1:2), he is not speaking of one god or one father, but God the Father. The lack of an article in New Testament Greek, as it is in English, is a matter of style. For example, in John 19:21, Jesus is called the King of the Jews both with and without the article.

To translate it as the Watchtower does here brings all kinds of problems. For example, the Bible clearly states there is only one true God. If Jesus is only one of many beings called a god, then he has to be a false god. The New Testament clearly teaches the opposite. Also, in other places in the New Testament Jesus is called God clearly (Romans 9:5, Titus 2:13, etc.) Third, the Evangelist John continues in this chapter to tell us that Jesus possesses characteristics that only God possesses. (He is eternal 1:2, the creator with the Father 1:3) and is Light and Life (1:4)

For more detailed information on this phrase, see William Weinrich’s helpful discussion at John 1:1–7:1. Edited by Dean O. Wenthe and Curtis P. Giese. Concordia Commentary. Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2015, 94.

The Trouble with Translation

So you’ve decided to get (more) serious about studying the Bible. Maybe you’ve joined a Bible Study or picked up a book or two to help you learn more and get into God’s Word more. That’s very good! Faith comes — and grows stronger — by hearing and reading — the Word.

So, which Bible should you choose? Pastors are asked this question all the time. English readers are blessed with dozens of choices. You can read and compare most of them at the Bible Gateway for free. what do you do with them? Much depends on your purpose.

Some are good for reading. They smooth out the language, choosing words to explain what the translator thinks the Bible is saying. The problem is often that reflects the translator’s theology. That is acceptable when you are just reading large sections of the Bible, but can be a problem when you want to know what the Bible says in detail.

Other translations try to stay close to the original Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic text of the Scriptures. The translators try hard to keep close to the original words. Problems occur when they do this. One is it is impossible to convey all the meaning of one word in Greek into English. The translator has to choose one or another word.

Try this little experiment. If you cannot use the word “excellent,” what word would you choose in it’s place? If you say, “good,” doesn’t it mean the same thing? Almost, but not quite. This happens even more when translating from another language.

With some translations, you have to work at following sentences that sound awkward in English. That is why it is often best to choose two or three translations when you do a deep dive into God’s word. When you find that the different versions of a passage are about the same, you can be sure the original meaning is pretty straightforward. If they are substantially different — not so much. When this happens, ask your pastor. He had to learn Greek and Hebrew in seminary and see what’s going on in the original text and explain it to you.

So, when you pick translations as your study companion, look for a few. You can test them out in Bible Gateway or another app or online Bible site. You may want to check out the English Standard Version, which the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod uses for worship and study materials, the Evangelical Heritage Version, produced by conservative Lutheran translators, The New King James Version and The New American Standard Version. If you can find it, the original New International Version (from the 1980s) is OK. Do not use the one currently for sale in bookstores, however, which has in recent years allowed liberal translators to alter it. The same goes for the old, 1950s era Revised Standard Version. Your pastor may also have some suggestions.

In future posts, I’ll take up passages from Scriptures I use to test translations. I pray those will help you as you begin to acquire your Bibles for study.