Reading The Bible Critically
One of my seminary professors told us about a time when he guest-preached at a small, rural church as a favor for a friend. When he read the Scripture for his sermon, he used his Greek New Testament, which he translated directly from the original Greek. After the service, he was approached by several of the agitated church elders. "What version of the Bible were you reading from?" they angrily demanded. "We only use the King James Version of the Bible in our church!" He patiently showed them his New Testament and explained that he translated it from the original language on the fly, but they were not mollified. One of them said, "If you ever preach here again, make sure you use the right interpretation." Of course, this begs the question, "What is the right interpretation of the Bible?" I don't have the space in a Daily Devo to address that question entirely, but suffice it to say that whichever interpretation is closest to the an