Unnecessary Bolt-ons
It is important that our understanding of Christ and
our practice of following Him is based on the Bible and
only the Bible. Attempts to add to what Scripture
sufficiently teaches may lead us astray. A few verses
that testify to the trustworthiness of His Word include:
...until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter
or stroke shall pass from the Law. Matthew 5:18. Law may
refer to the first five books of the Bible or the entire Old
Testament.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not
pass away. Matthew 24:35.
...the scripture cannot be broken... John 10:35.
...all scripture is inspired by God... 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
These verses describe not only the reliability of the Old
Testament but the reliability of the New Testament as
we see in II Peter 3:16. There Peter wrote: as they do the
rest of the scriptures, and he equated an apostle’s epistles
with the same sacred status as the Old Testament. As
the Old Testament prophets, apostles were given God’s
Word in a supernatural sense which was affluently
affirmed by the miracles they performed. II
Corinthians 12:12.
Read Jesus explaining this inspiration to His apostles:
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...it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father
which speaks in you. Matthew 10:19-20.
...I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your
opponents will be able to resist or refute. Luke 21:14-15.
Because these true apostles were identified from false
apostles by the miracles they performed as well as their
message, Christ’s followers were able to identify which
epistles were written with apostolic authority. Those
tested epistles were later confirmed by church fathers
as canon. But early church fathers did not determine
canon! Church leaders only gave their assent to what
had already been determined and accepted years
earlier.
Of course, there was confusion concerning false and
corrupted epistles just as there had been confusion
concerning false apostles. But when church leaders
confirmed canon in the fourth and fifth century they
simply agreed with what small assemblies of believers
have held since the first century. Before letters were
sanctioned by church leaders at councils, such as the
Synod of Hippo, these letters had already been
evaluated by eye witnesses to the epistles’ apostolic
origins. We still have numerous records from the
Synod of Carthage in 419 A.D. of Zahn saying:
‘let this be sent to our brother and fellow-
bishop, Boniface [of Rome], and to the
other bishops of those parts, that they
may confirm this Canon, for these are the
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things that we have received from our
fathers to be read in church.’
Can you see from this quote that even though bishops
at the Synod of Carthage confirmed our Canon,
previous bodies of believers had already handed down
those same books to be accepted as God’s written
Word?
We may not have the original Greek or Aramaic
documents but literally thousands of corroborating
copied manuscripts testify to their existence. The
consistency of copied Byzantine and even older
Alexandrian manuscripts assure us that those original
messages have been accurately preserved.
We trust that our Canon is perfect as it was written in
those original autographs and see the consistency of
corroborating Greek copies. But we do not trust in the
perfection of men’s translations. The fact that the
original Greek manuscripts were perfect does not
preclude a mistake from being made by bible
translators.
Therefore it would be a mistake to not take into
account the possibility of translation error where Greek
words relating to the role of elders were inconsistently
translated. An example is the translation of Greek
word proistemi #4291b. We do not have an English
cognate for this Greek word. The New Analytical
Greek Lexicon by Wesley Perschbacher describes
proistemi literally ‘to set before’ which has been
interpreted with different definitions based on the
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context in both Scriptural and secular texts. One of
those definitions is to preside, govern or superintend
and the other is to undertake resolutely, to practice
diligently or to maintain a practice. Translators
determined which definition they would choose based
on the context of each passage.
This Greek verb proistemi is used seven times in
Scripture all by Paul. The same word is found in both
Byzantine and Alexandrian texts (sometimes referred
to as the received and critical text respectively).
Proistemi was translated as ‘rule’ one time in the New
American Standard and a few more times in the case of
the New King James Version. Let’s look at how New
American Standard translations of proistemi varied and
were contingent on the context.
For believers proistemi was translated as engage:
...those who believed God will be careful to engage
(proistemi) in good deeds... Titus 3:8.
...our people must learn to engage (proistemi) in good
deeds...Titus 3:14.
While for elders and deacons in a family context it was
translated as manage:
...one who manages (proistemi) his own household... I
Timothy 3:4.
...if a man does not know how to manage (proistemi) his
own household... I Timothy 3:5.
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...good managers (proistemi) of their children and
households... I Timothy 3:12.
But for elders in a community of believers it was
translated as rule:
The elders who rule (proistemi) well ...... I Timothy 5:17.
Do you see how Paul’s word, proistemi, was
subjectively translated based on the context in each
case? But should not this Greek word be translated
consistently unless there are overriding factors to the
contrary? Especially in the same epistle written by the
same author to the same readers!
The inconsistent translation of I Timothy 5:17 expands
elders’ duties from managing or maintaining to
authoritatively ruling the body. It gives more
sovereignty to elders than either of the other chosen
translations (engage or manage) without New
Testament corroboration and consequently contradicts
Paul’s warning against rulers in Colossians 2:8 ...See to
it that no one takes you captive...according to the elementary
principles (rules).
If proistemi conveys authoritative ruling in our
assemblies, then that would legitimize the places of
honor and the chief seats in the synagogues which Christ
warned against in Matthew 23:5. But if the Pauline
word ‘to set before’ consistently conveys practice,
maintenance or management, then we have cohesion
throughout the New Testament.
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Augmenting proistemi to rule has the effect of
circumventing Paul’s directive to honor elders. The
elders that Paul identifies to receive honor are different
elders than those elders ruling with authority in our
religious organizations today. Paul instructs us to
honor older men in the faith, who in the final stage of
their earthly life, work hard serving the body, leading
(by example) and teaching the brethren. Our
inconsistently translated text calls us to honor a ruler, a
bishop or a magistrate.
The expansion of Paul’s word from manage or
maintain to rule is similar to the translation expansion
in II Corinthians 11:8 where Paul’s word for
‘provisions’ was translated as wages. There Paul is
translated to say, I robbed other churches by taking wages
from them to serve you. This translation clearly supports
paying money to apostles. However the original Greek
word 3800, opsonion, is actually ‘cooked provisions’ not
wages.
Provisions are consistent with apostles being worthy of
food and drink, which were called an apostle’s wages
in Luke 10:7. However monetary wages are not
consistent with Christ’s instruction to apostles in
Matthew 10:9, do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for
your money belts. The slight expansion of the attributes
of the original word to a paycheck suddenly casts
doubt on the clear teaching of other New Testament
passages such as I Peter 5:2 where Peter told elders:
shepherd the flock of God among you...voluntarily... and
not for sordid gain.
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These inconsistent translations have the effect of
expanding or adding to what Paul wrote. Our Father
conveyed many times that we should never add to His
Holy Word. It is sufficient as He gave it.
You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you,
nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments
of the Lord your God... Deuteronomy 4.2.
Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you
shall not add to nor take away from it. Deuteronomy
12.32.
Every Word of God is tested...Do not add to His words or
He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.
Proverbs 30.5-6.
To everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: if
anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which
are written in this book.... Revelation 22:18.
Read how adding to God’s Word was part of the
problem when brothers in Christ divisively turned to
leaders in Corinth.
Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to
myself (Paul) and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you
may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of
you will become arrogant in behalf of one against another. 1
Corinthians 4.6.
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