Thinking back to Sunday school and other religious gatherings from childhood, I remember at least annually seeing a mural or cutout of a tree displayed with fruits hanging from it's limbs each labeled, "love," "kindness," or some other attribute that I definitely didn't display when sharing my gameboy with my sister. As a Christian, these fruits of the spirit have become fairly familiar, and some might even be able to quickly rattle them off (probably the same people that can sing the presidents of the United States). These fruits are the visible signs of Christ living through us in our daily walk. In the bible, we find these fruits mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23. However, my wife recently pointed out to me, after discovering the fact through a bible study, that this verse has an interesting and notable difference between the NIV and King James translation. It looks like this:
Galatians 5:22-23 (New International Version)
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
and the King James:
Galatians 5:22-23 (King James Version)
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
The term that nearly leaps off the page in the King James version is: "longsuffering." In the NIV, "patience" has thankfully taken "longsuffering"'s place among the more familiar fruits. I mean, I can begin to understand patience. I can patiently wait in traffic, for that raise at work, or for the new ipod to be announced. I can even patiently wait for God to listen to my requests through prayer. However, I have a harder time identifying with: Long, patient endurance of insult, abuse or mistreatment. What is the Word of God suggesting? Am I to believe that following Christ and walking with the Spirit has a cost of suffering? I can't help but be reminded of Christ's words in Luke "Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." It seems the cross, an instrument of torture, is something I must align myself with daily and warmly greet as an attribute of following Christ. However, it leads me to these questions. What is following Christ costing me? Through what do I suffer in the name of Christ? Should I be concerned if it costs nothing all all?
1 comment:
Wow, interesting difference between the two translations. Enjoyed this post - another reminder to pay more attention to what God is saying and less attention to myself.
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