Pictured to the left is a copy of a version of the Holy Bible, known as THE LIVING BIBLE ( TLB ). The following quotation is taken from this version of the Holy Bible:
"This book is a paraphrase of the Old and New Testaments. Its purpose is to say as exactly as possible what the writers of the Scriptures meant, and to say it simply, expanding where necessary for a clear understanding by the modern reader.
The Bible writers often used idioms and patterns of thought that are hard for us to follow today. Frequently the thought sequence is fast-moving, leaving gaps for the reader to understand and fill in, or the thought jumps ahead or backs up to something said before (as one would do in conversation) without clearly stating the antecedent reference. Sometimes the result for us, with our present-day stress on careful sentence construction and sequential logic, is that we are left far behind.
Then too, the writers often compressed enormous thoughts into single technical words that are full of meaning, but need expansion and amplification if we are to be sure of understanding what the author meant to include in such words as 'justification,' 'righteousness,' 'redemption,' 'baptism for the dead,' 'elect,' and 'saints.' Such amplification is permitted in a paraphrase but exceeds the responsibilities of a strict translation.
There are dangers in paraphrases, as well as values. For whenever the author's exact words are not translated from the original languages, there is a possibility that the translator, however honest, may be giving the English reader something that the original writer did not mean to say. . . .
If this paraphrase helps to simplify the deep and often complex thoughts of the Word of God, and if it makes the Bible easier to understand and follow, deepening the Christian lives of its readers and making it easier for them to follow their Lord, then the book has achieved its goal. . . ." [ See THE LIVING BIBLE, TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS, INC., Wheaton, Illinois, The Living Bible, Copyright 1971 owned by assignment by KNT Charitable Trust, p. v. ]
James 2:1-7 read as follows:
"Dear brothers, how can you claim that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, if you show favoritism to rich people and look down on poor people? If a man comes into your church dressed in expensive clothes and with valuable gold rings on his fingers, and at the same moment another man comes in who is poor and dressed in threadbare clothes, and you make a lot of fuss over the rich man and give him the best seat in the house and say to the poor man, 'You can stand over there if you like, or else sit on the floor' - well, judging a man by his wealth shows that you are guided by wrong motives. Listen to me, dear brothers: God has chosen poor people to be rich in faith, and the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs, for that is the gift God has promised to all those who love him. And yet, of the two strangers, you have despised the poor man. Don't you realize that it is usually the rich men who pick on you and drag you into court? And all too often they are the ones who laugh at Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear."
As Christians ( see Acts 11:26 and James 1:1, for example ), we must not show favoritism: it is a sin ( it is against God's will - see 1 John 3:4, for example ) to do so. We have been commanded by God ( see Psalm 22:22, 25; 40:9, 10; 119:13, 65-73, 142, 151, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Matthew 28:18, John 1:1, 14; 3:16, 17; 5:26, 27; 7:16; 8:26; 10:30; 14:6; 17:17, Romans 1:16; 1:20 ( see Romans 1:20 ( KJV, for example; with center-column references, for example ) to get the equivalent translation for the word "Godhead" ), Colossians 2:8, 9, 2 Timothy 3:16, 17, Titus 1:1, 2, and 1 John 5:6-8, for example ) to "show respect for everyone" ( see 1 Peter 2:17, for example ). Jesus ( see Matthew 22:37 ) said the following in Matthew 22:37-39: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. The second most important is similar: 'Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.'" If we will do what Jesus said, we will not show favoritism.
If you have any questions about the Holy Bible, you can contact me by e-mail at:
<rewillis1_1@juno.com>
<Russell E. Willis>
