Two minutes wasted reading my blog

I’m not a KJV only guy.  Actually, I rarely read the KJV, though I respect it as a very good translation of the bible.  My version of choice is the ESV, which is a literal translation that is much less stilted sounding than the NASB, which is my second version of choice.  Generally, I think it’s important to have a literal version of the bible as opposed to an interpretive one.

I have recently become convinced that the lots of churches are falsely teaching that a person must “repent of his sins” to be saved.  Many people (including myself until recently) believe that “repent” means to “turn from sins.”  I’ve heard many pastors say that repent means to “turn 180 degrees from your sins.”  This is wrong.  The only prerequisite for salvation is faith in Jesus Christ as the only payment sufficient for our sins.

Part of this epiphany stems from a more careful and thoughtful reading of my bible.  I’ve spent more time reading my bible in the last four months than the last four years.  Nearly every day I find something else in the bible about God’s free gift of eternal life that I had missed before.  It’s really exciting.

A side effect of this careful study has been a realization about how important a reliable translation of the bible is.  While I’ve always disliked the more interpretative versions of the bible because I thought they were “dumbed down,” lately I’ve been seeing how they change very significant doctrinal teachings, even those related to the gospel.

Here’s a great example.  The gospels tell about John the Baptist who was who “was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”  Matt. 3:3 (ESV).  The gospel accounts have John the Baptist preaching the following:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Matthew 3:2

⁴ John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  Mark 1:4

³And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  Luke 3:3

⁷He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. ⁹Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  Luke 3:7-9

I have heard lots of people teach that John the Baptist was telling people to turn from their sins so they could get saved.  In fact, the non-literal versions of the bible actually editorialize that teaching right into the verse.  The Message translates the above verses like this:

His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”  Matthew 3:2

John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins.  Mark 1:4

When crowds of people came out for baptism because it was the popular thing to do, John exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to deflect God’s judgment? It’s your life that must change, not your skin. And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as ‘father.’ Being a child of Abraham is neither here nor there—children of Abraham are a dime a dozen. God can make children from stones if he wants. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.”  Luke 7-9

So if you read The Message, the sermon John was preaching was that salvation comes from “life change,” not faith in Jesus Christ as the bible clearly teaches.

John was teaching “repentance,” but this “translation” is correct only if the meaning of the word “repentance” is life change/giving up your sins/repenting of sin.  So what was the “repentance” John was preaching?  Well, you can take The Message’s understanding of it, or you can take the Apostle Paul’s.  In Acts 19, Paul meets a group of John’s disciples who had never heard of Jesus.  They said they had received the baptism of John only and Paul told them the rest of the story.  Paul said:

“John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”  Acts 19:4.

That’s right…according to Paul, repentance means changing your mind to believe in Jesus.  This is consistent, of course, with Paul’s teaching in Acts 17 when he told the Athenians to “repent” of their worship of false gods and believe in the true God.

So if The Message falsely editorialized John’s message in the gospels, at least a reader will see the truth when he gets to Acts 19, right?  Let’s see how The Message translates that verse:

“That explains it,” said Paul. “John preached a baptism of radical life-change so that people would be ready to receive the One coming after him, who turned out to be Jesus. If you’ve been baptized in John’s baptism, you’re ready now for the real thing, for Jesus.”  Acts 19:4 (The Message)

Hmm, there’s that life change thing again…  You’d think if that teaching was correct, God might have put it into the original manuscripts.  Either that, or maybe salvation isn’t based on our own “life change,” but on faith in the saving blood of the Son of God who died and rose again so that we can have eternal life.  Maybe our righteousness comes from what Jesus has done, rather than what we have done.  Maybe our own “life change” is the equivalent of Cain’s sacrifice of his own works for justification, which God flatly rejected.