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“The Word of God Is Alive”

DOES the Bible live for you? From the benefit you have personally derived from it can you join with Paul in saying, as he told the Hebrews: “The word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and their marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart”?—Heb. 4:12, NW.

Pointing to a prominent obstacle that has erected unnecessary barriers between honest seekers of truth and their understanding of the Bible, The Churchman of April 15, 1952, quoted these words of the “Rev. Dr.” Roy L. Smith, which he voiced at a meeting of the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ: “The Bible is the least understood and the most grossly misrepresented piece of literature ever produced among men. Its flesh and blood characters have been so misrepresented that they appear to be little plaster of paris saints or nameless devils. Now, thanks to the historian and the archaeologist, we are beginning to catch glimpses of them as they stand revealed in modern light involved in desperate struggles in behalf of a decent and righteous world. The book of life fortifies the souls of all those, even today, who labor toward these same ends.”

Fortunately the modern Bible-reader is blessed with access to numerous modern translations which have done much to keep the word of life from gathering dust on the mantel. Only those who have superstitious reverence for black covers or the peculiar phraseology of the traditional King James Version will hold back. The above-mentioned article said further: “It is hard to get rid of the notion that there is something very holy and religious in the language of the Authorized Version, and we forget that it was originally condemned because it was too modern, too much in the language of the common people. We love the old version because we are so familiar with its musical phrases, and like music, they touch our emotions rather than challenge the will. The folks who always used the thee’s and thou’s which we use only in prayers never can seem fully human to us. And it is perhaps more necessary that we should know precisely what the writers of the Bible said, and not be misled by words that have completely altered their meaning.”

The King James Version performed a truly wonderful work in becoming a household book and equipping families everywhere with the Word of God. But it achieved its merit because it was in the language of the people of its day. Now, with another day, other people and another language, there is no reason why the Bible should not be made as understandable as it was in the seventeenth century. So we get the greatest good by reading the Bible in modern-day speech.