Dear Associates, Students and Friends:
It is with joy that I present to you this month’s article: “Review – The Holy Bible in Its Original Order: A New English Translation.” This article will assess the value of this first English Bible published with the books presented in the original and correct manuscript order. I will also briefly assess the translation itself.
It is my hope that this Bible will be the first of many published with the books in the correct manuscript order as demonstrated by Dr. Ernest L. Martin in his book Restoring the Original Bible 1 To quickly review the elements of that manuscript order, see Dr. Martin’s article “The Geographical Design of the Holy Scriptures” at http://www.askelm.com/restoring/res999.htm. To view the visual symmetry of the correct manuscript order, see http://www.askelm.com/restoring/res000a.gif which is the GIF format. 2
God gave all mankind His living Word, His only begotten son Jesus Christ, made flesh (John 1:14) as a man (Romans 5:15), to be our Savior. He also gave us (before and after Christ’s enfleshment as a man) His written word which is the Bible we have today. Yes, some translations are better than others, and yes, the correctly ordered Bible greatly helps a reader’s comprehension of God’s plan as He intended it to be understood. It gives you a proper sense of “context” of the place where each verse, passage, chapter, and book occur in the Bible. They are placed there, in that order, for a reason. The reason is to fulfill God’s purpose.
God’s purpose shall be fulfilled. God’s purpose will be worked out according to the motives, thoughts, and counsels of His will. His purpose will be fulfilled in all the world:
“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance [Paul and all the ekklesia], being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will.”
Ephesians 1:11
It is God’s will that you read His word with the greatest possible comprehension of His plan. While God does not in most cases impose His will directly upon most human beings, He nonetheless works behind the scenes to fulfill His will for you in your life.
“… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure [therefore:]. Do all things without murmurings and disputings …”
Philippians 2:12–14
This seemingly a paradox. How can I work out my salvation while God is working in and through me to do His good pleasure? Well, we know that He certainly does just that because Paul admonishes us to do everything with regard to “work out your own salvation ... without murmurings and disputing.” God does by his arranging times, places, circumstances for His work to proceed according to the “counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11).
At present we can look to the past and view the process of the design and development of the Holy Scriptures both in history and from the biblical documents themselves, to see how the Scriptures fit together to form a complete narrative of God’s plan as He intended it to be understood. It tells the story of mankind: its beginnings, its failures (without God), its triumphs (with God), its salvation, and its destiny. All are bound up not just in the words, but also in design and development of the Holy Scripture in their larger patterns and structure.
In the future after your resurrection from the dead, when you have a spiritual mind with total recall of your life’s events and are able to review those events (good and bad) that shaped your life, only then shall you be able to appreciate that God’s plan for your life was fulfilled as a predestinated child of God (see Ephesian 1:11 above). You will then know how God arranged circumstances and times so you would be in the right places at the right times to do the things that accord with His will for your salvation. Your being predestinated by God before the foundation of the world guaranteed your salvation through the mediatorial and salvific work of His firstborn son Jesus Christ and God the Father’s promise to Himself.
We will remember the experiences of our life, the good and the bad, but the sins will not be remembered They will have been forgiven. Read all of Psalm 25, but consider particularly these verses where God’s teaching is explained by King David:
“Lead me in your truth, and teach me: for you are the God of my salvation; on you do I wait all the day.
- Remember, O YHWH, your tender mercies and your lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.
- Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to your mercy
- remember you me for your goodness’ sake, O YHWH. Good and upright is the YHWH: therefore
[a] will he teach sinners in the way.
[b] The meek will he guide in judgment: and
[c] the meek will he teach his way.
- All the paths of YHWH are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. For your name’s sake, O YHWH, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. What man is he that fears YHWH?
[d] him shall he teach in the way that he shall
choose.
Psalm 25:5–12 (Italics for emphasis)
When God begins to work with most of mankind, as he has worked with you and other members of His ekklesia, then the words of this Psalm will be fulfilled. Note the last portion of Psalm 25:12: God shall “teach in the way that he shall choose.” That is how He worked with David and that is how He is working with you now. You are an individual and God teaches you individually in the way best for you. That is how He will work with all mankind later.
Only rarely do people experience God’s will by dramatic events that quickly change a person’s mind to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, Lord, and Messiah. The conversion of the apostle Paul (struck from his horse by the glory of the risen Christ is one example (Acts 9:1–18). Another is the unexpected conversion of the Gentile eunuch (Acts 8:26–39), as is the conversion of the entire family of Cornelius, the Gentile Roman Centurion (Acts chapter 10). Dramatic events from God are usually negative, such as when God struck dead the firstborn sons of Egypt. Even those negative events will have future positive effects when those who died from God’s judgment are raised to be judged and educated during the great white throne period. 3
God’s judgments are His way of communicating to you to “sit up and pay attention.” Later He can and will be merciful to all. God’s judgments cannot bring any sort of salvation. That comes only through the saving work of Christ. The judgments of God effectively make a person pay attention to God’s Word. For example, God’s judgment of death such as toward those involved in the revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiramin Numbers chapter 16, will cause all those who were punished to take notice when they are resurrected from the dead to physical life. God punished them. God will raise them to begin teaching them why He did what He did. Then they shall listen because God will open their hearts and minds to receive God’s teaching — just as he has opened your heart and mind to receive the truths of God (2 Corinthians 1:22).
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
John 3:17
God will open and their minds through faith, just as He opened yours, and changing your mind and heart by making it receptive to the word of the Scriptures, the written word of God, as Peter spoke to the council in Jerusalem about the unexpected conversion of Gentiles:
“And God, which [who] knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost [Spirit], even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying [cleansing] “
Acts 15:8–9
Peter and the others were surprised that God converted Gentiles at that time. That faith, of course, is rooted in the belief that Jesus came in the flesh, lived righteously without sin, died on the tree of crucifixion, was resurrected from the dead (Romans 6:9–11; 1 Corinthians 1:3–8), ascended into heaven, and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father (Ephesians 1:20 and 2:5; Hebrews 10:12). This faith came to you from God as a gift (Ephesians 2:8); so too, it shall come to them from God as a gift. God’s will shall be fulfilled (1 Timothy 2:4; Philippians 2:10–11).
Again, if you require or want an annual receipt for tax purposes, you must request that a receipt be sent to you. You will not automatically receive a yearly receipt unless you request one. Several of you have done so and we are pleased to accommodate your request.
We are immensely grateful to God for your assistance in prayers, encouragements, and with finances to keep ASK producing useful teaching materials. In his message to the Thessalonian ekklesia the apostle Paul was writing about the Bible in his day (the Old Testament), as well as his testimony and that of the other apostles and disciples preaching the Gospel of God and Christ. Paul called all of them together “the word of God.”
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.”
1 Thessalonians 2:13
We agree with Paul in our thankfulness to God that you gain benefit and learn from Dr. Martin’s teaching produced and maintained by ASK. The purpose is for you to better understand the Holy Scriptures. The purpose of all we do at ASK (and the ultimate purpose of all education) is to help you educate yourself in God’s Word by providing background and context to the Biblical revelation. You inspire us in what we do. We trust that we inspire you to study so that you will grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18).
David W. Sielaff
david@askelm.com
1 Portland, OR: ASK Publications, 1994. This book is available complete online at www.askelm.com/restoring/index.asp.
2 See the PDF image of the same diagram at http://www.askelm.com/restoring/res000a.pdf.
3 This was an error of some early church fathers beginning in the 3rd century AD. It was believed by Origen and others that the judgments and punishments of God could bring about a kind of purging of sins. While they never believed that God’s judgments could bring righteousness, they did believe that a cleansing of some sort would come about by judgments.
|
© 1976-2021 Associates for Scriptural Knowledge - ASK is supported by freewill contributions |