{"id":166,"date":"2008-11-09T21:23:21","date_gmt":"2008-11-10T01:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/Correspondence\/?p=166"},"modified":"2008-11-09T21:23:21","modified_gmt":"2008-11-10T01:23:21","slug":"ephesians-scriptures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/166\/ephesians-scriptures\/","title":{"rendered":"Ephesians Scriptures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastor John,<\/span><\/p>\n

I woke up this morning with the tract SUBDUED<\/span> <\/a>on my mind.\u00a0 Brother Gary said he had recently re-read\u00a0it and it was instrumental in helping him seek God.\u00a0 I felt a strong kinship with him in Spirit, going through similar situations.\u00a0 I really felt the need to get low before God and ask Him to do for me as he had done for\u00a0Gary.<\/span><\/p>\n

In that tract,\u00a0“Subdued”, your father used some phrases from Ephesians 4, although he doesn’t quote them.\u00a0 I found them through my concordance and began researching and enjoying Ephesians, which is full<\/strong> of gold nuggets!<\/span><\/p>\n

In comparing the KJV with the NIV, I noticed a glaring difference in Eph 4:26, 27.\u00a0 Since you know the exact Greek, could you speak about this difference?\u00a0 Is it a difference in translation<\/em> or interpretation, or both<\/em>?<\/span><\/p>\n

I got the feeling that the NIV’s Christian\u00a0bias, typical for Christianity, is\u00a0one of a “forgiving” nature, i.e.,\u00a0“Don’t go to bed while you are still angry at someone”\u00a0\u00a0or\u00a0 “Settle your disputes and don’t be angry at bedtime.”\u00a0 So, I’m curious as to the meaning of the precise Greek translation.\u00a0 According to the KJV and NIV, Paul was saying two completely different things!\u00a0 I would like to know if you have discerned God’s true meaning in that section.<\/span><\/p>\n

============<\/span><\/p>\n

The NIV translation is dead wrong.\u00a0 Your suspicions are correct.\u00a0\u00a0In that verse, Paul is saying just the opposite of the way the NIV translates it.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Paul\u00a0is telling his readers never to stop being angry<\/span>.\u00a0 The Greek says, “Be angry, and do not sin.\u00a0 Do not let the sun go down on your fury.\u00a0 Neither\u00a0give place to the Slanderer.”\u00a0 It has been my observation that whenever a child of God loses\u00a0that holy\u00a0anger against\u00a0sin, he becomes confused about who is the enemy.\u00a0 The phrase, “never let the sun go down on your fury,” means “never let your fury come to an end”, not “Make sure you get over it before you go to bed.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

=============<\/span><\/p>\n

Another Q I had was about Eph 5:15, 16, 17.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Don’t waste time,\u00a0 because the days are evil.”\u00a0 (?)\u00a0 and “. . .don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”\u00a0\u00a0(?)<\/span><\/p>\n

Many times I cannot get an answer from God what His will is for a particular situation or circumstance.\u00a0 How do we KNOW what God’s will is everyday, to walk according to it?\u00a0 I do not want to be considered unwise (or foolish) by God.\u00a0 That frightens me.\u00a0 And if I\u00a0am<\/strong><\/em> unwise, won’t God have mercy on me and help me to make better decisions?\u00a0 He doesn’t want\u00a0His children to be\u00a0foolish, right?\u00a0 Hope you can help.<\/span><\/p>\n

=============<\/span><\/p>\n

God is not always going to make things clear to our understanding.\u00a0 In fact, many times He does not.\u00a0 He tries the heart, not the head, so that we, as well as others,\u00a0will\u00a0see where we really stand with Him.\u00a0 Many times, He creates hard situations, impossible to understand, just\u00a0to show let everyone in the body know who is who in His kingdom (see 1Cor. 11:19).\u00a0 If you are wise, regardless of what anyone thinks of you, it will be made obvious during those trying times.\u00a0 You will make the right chocie because your <\/em>heart<\/em>, not your head, is close to God and understands\u00a0in its own way what the will of God is.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

==============<\/span><\/p>\n

Another great section of Ephesians that I enjoyed was 6 :16, 17.\u00a0 It clearly states that the “sword of the Spirit. . .is the word of God<\/strong>.”\u00a0 (!!)\u00a0 Paul is saying plainly that\u00a0the holy ghost is the word\u00a0of God<\/span>, NOT the Bible!\u00a0 PRAISE GOD!! <\/em>That felt so good to me!\u00a0 Such validation of the truth!<\/span><\/p>\n

Brad<\/span><\/p>\n

===============<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, that verse says quite plainly (even more plainly in Greek than in English) that the Spirit\u00a0is the word of God.\u00a0 I’m glad you noticed that.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pastor John, I woke up this morning with the tract SUBDUED on my mind.\u00a0 Brother Gary said he had recently re-read\u00a0it and it was instrumental in helping him seek God.\u00a0 I felt a strong kinship with him in Spirit, going through similar situations.\u00a0 I really felt the need to get low before God and ask […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}