No, Stuart, this isn't about the BBC! Don recently admonished me to get some more Bible on my blog, so I'm taking this opportunity to discuss a particular text that has long vexed the Christian community. No, not Hebrews 6. I'm talking about 1 Thess.5:22...
In the KJV, this verse reads "Abstain from all appearance of evil". It's my contention that way too many people are still misinterpreting this verse. I'd like to think I'm wrong, but on two occasions in the last week, I've had friends express some tension over this verse. In both cases, it came from a faulty understanding of the KJV.
As you all know, the KJV uses a version of English that no one uses anymore. You've perhaps already heard that when the KJV says "conversation" (e.g. Eph 4:22) it doesn't mean "talking among people". Well, "appearance" is another of those words mis-read by today's modern English audience.
There are those that teach this verse means that we (as Christians) shouldn't do anything that even looks like it might be "evil". We are to abstain from any action that a person might see and think, "Oh, that person is doing wrong!". It's been used to condemn Christians going into bars and pubs. It's been used to condemn going to the movie theatre with your date. It's been used to condemn virtually anything that somebody somewhere might misconstrue as "evil".
I'm here to condemn such a view.
The word "appearance" in the KJV meant "a showing forth". Think, "the president made an appearance today". It doesn't mean that the president "looked like" he was there - he really was! In other words, 1 Thess 5:22 admonishes Christians to avoid all the different manifestations, all the different types of evil. This is why all of the modern translations render it "form" or "kind", not "appearance".
So please!, stop worrying about what someone somewhere might think (wrongly) of your actions. If what you are doing is not any kind of sin, feel free to exercise your freedom in Christ to do it.
Don't take this as an anti-KJV post. As long as you read the language of the KJV correctly, it's a fine translation. It's just that most people - many preachers included - don't.
So, am I the only one still hearing this misinterpretation?
Hatushili
Friday, February 16, 2007
Keeping up Appearances
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2 comments:
Hi, Haggis Breath here--long-time reader, first-time responder. I plan to respond to some of your missional posts soon; but for now, I want to thank you for the textual lesson and encourage more of that. Outdated language, translational problems, and contextual misunderstandings are all rich veins to mine.
Regarding 1Thess. 5:22, would not the common, i.e. erroneous, interpretation still have some application to a believer, albeit not from this verse, from Romans 14-- at least in some areas of life?
Yet another reason I like blogs - I don't have to smell Haggis on your Breath!
You're right about Romans 14, to a limit. For those not familiar with the text, it's the "don't be a stumbling block to fellow believers" passage. If a weaker brother struggles with eating meat offered to idols (for example) we should try not to be a stumbling block to him in the exercise of our freedom in Christ.
Let me give you a very personal example of how this played out in a previous church:
There once was a church with legalistic tendencies that had a member who had been redeemed out of a lifestyle of Satanic rock and other unmentionables. This man had been in a band of very poor moral fiber before the LORD called him to Jesus. This man had extraordinary musical abilities. So the church elders made the decision to place him as our Music Minister. This man rapidly came to decide that one can decide what music honours God via a mathematical equation. Seriously. He was of the deep conviction that old music is good; new music is bad. Every "special music" I wanted to sing had to be pre-approved. He once simply glanced at the sheet music, saw that it was written in shape-notes and declared it acceptable on those grounds alone! On the other hand, I once showed him some modern a cappella sheet, which he interpreted with a disco rythm - his interpretation, mind you. Not my intent (or the composers). Needless to say, he gave it a thumbs down.
All that to say this: what sense did it make to give the responsibility of leading the congregation into worship to arguably the most talented but yet weakest brother? When I asked, Rom 14 was the justification.
That's lowest-common-denominator thinking, not Rom 14 thinking. Instead of gradually and gracefully challenging the weaker brother to grow, we instead gave him a prescription for legalism-roids.
So two things, Haggis. 1) I recognize that having been burned by this thinking in the past, I'm jaded and therefore trying not to swing my pendulum too far; 2) Rom 14 boils down to this verse (IMHO): The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. (Romans 14:3) It's yet another example of Biblical mutual submission.
And like every other example (think: marriage) it requires wisdom and deep thinking, not cliches and off-the-cuff answers.
So Haggis, I agree with you - to this point. Just don't breathe on me!
Hatushili
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