Conspiracy or Wisdom?

The criteria that men use when translating the Bible into English is complex and varied based on their overall understanding of the entire bible. They must weigh out which English word would best convey the meaning without creating unwarranted confusion. Some may call this a conspiracy to hide the truth; while others may think it shows wisdom in presenting the correct balance and understanding of our relationship to Christ. I came across two very wonderful sermons; one preached in the year 2000 and the other in 1879 that I think help to illustrate this point.

"Becoming a Christian is not like standing neutral between two possible slave masters and having the power of ultimate self-determination, and then deciding, from outside any slavery, which we will serve. There are no neutral people. There are only slaves of sin and slaves of God. Becoming a Christian is to have the sovereign captain of the battleship of righteousness commandeer the slave ship of unrighteousness; put the ship-captain, sin, in irons; break the chains of the slaves; and give them such a spiritual sight of grace and glory that they freely serve the new sovereign forever as the irresistible joy and treasure of their lives. That's how we got saved. God freed us from one master and enslaved us to himself by the compelling power of a superior promise. So embrace this work of God. Receive Christ and his promise as the treasure of your life.

In passing, I should mention that if the imagery of slavery bothers you – as it should in part – especially in America where the history of slavery is rooted in the most demeaning kind of racism, you will be encouraged to know that the imagery bothered Paul too. Verse 18 is parallel to verse 22 in saying, "Having been freed from sin, you became slaves of [were enslaved to] righteousness." But then notice how he pauses to apologize, in a way, for the inadequacy of the imagery. Verse 19: "I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh."

In other words, as humans we grope in our weakness and finiteness for language that is sufficient for great and glorious and complex realities, and have to settle for words and images that are partially helpful and partially misleading. Paul knows good and well that there were aspects of slavery that he would not want us to attribute to our relation to righteousness or to God, even though he says that we are "enslaved" to righteousness (verse 18) and "enslaved" to God (verse 22).

Jesus, you recall, did the same thing in John 15:15 "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you." So there are some aspects of slavery that we should apply to our relationship to God and some that we should not. And there are some aspects of friendship that we should apply and some we should not. We judge from the context what aspect of an image we are to focus on."

December 10, 2000 - John Piper


Our text proves the point with which I have started, for it speaks of “being made free from sin” and in the same breath adds, “You became the servants of righteousness.” There is no inbetween—there does not appear to be a moment left for an independent state, but out of one servitude we pass into another. Do not think I made a mistake in the use of the word, servitude! I might have translated the Greek word by that of slave and have been correct. “Being made free from sin, you were enslaved to righteousness.” The Apostle makes an excuse for using the figure and says, “I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh.”

He did not know how else to describe it, for when we go from under the absolute power of sin, we come at once into a like subjection to righteousness! As we were governed and swayed by the love of sin, so we become, in a similar manner, subject to the forces of Grace and the Truth of God! As sin took possession of us and controlled our acts, so Grace claims us as its own, takes possession of us and rules us with an absolute sway. Man passes from one master to another, but he is always in subjection! I have often heard of free will, but I have never seen it! I have met with will and plenty of it, but it has either been led captive by sin or held in blessed bonds of Grace.

If you are really saved, Brothers and Sisters, not a hair of your heads belongs to yourselves! Christ’s blood has either bought you or it has not!

And if it has, then you are altogether Christ’s, every bit of you—you are neither to eat nor drink, nor sleep but for Christ—“Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Have you ever got a hold of that? Just as a Negro used to belong to the man that bought him, every inch of him, so you are the slave of Christ! You bear in your body the brand of Lord Jesus and your glory and your freedom are therein. That is the first consequence of being set free from sin—you became the servants of righteousness.

What next? Why, because you are Christ’s, His very name is dear to you! You are not so His slave that you would escape from His service if you could—no—you would plunge deeper and deeper into it! You want to be more and more the Lord’s. His very name is sweet to you. If you meet with the poorest person who belongs to Christ, you love him and though, perhaps, some who are like Christ in other respects may have awkward tempers, you put up with their infirmities for His sake. Where there is anything of Christ—there your love goes forth.

July 6, 1879 - C.H. Spurgeon

Careless Words

“A cover-up of biblical proportions. Centuries ago, English translators perpetrated a fraud in the New Testament, and it’s been purposely hidden and covered up ever since. Your own Bible is probably included in the cover-up!”

Wow! What a statement! If this statement is true, one might wonder:

Are there other words that the English translators have "covered up"?

Should I now doubt the credibility of my English translation?

If the English translators are truly guilty of perpetrating a fraud, are there other things that the English translators conspired to hide?

Ask yourself, "Do we really want to promote truths while at the same time cause people to doubt the reliability of most English translations of the Bible?" I think not. What this amounts to is; Careless, and potentially dangerous, words to promote an important truth.

I have always understood that Christ is my Master and I am His slave-in spite of this so-called "conspiracy to cover up the truth". There are so many texts throughout the bible that speak the truth about our relationship to Christ that I find it difficult to believe that anyone reading (even) English translations for over 40 years could have their "understanding of the new testament explode in a whole new way" after uncovering this "conspiracy".

Careless Words!

Having said that, I am certain that the book will be helpful. I am just concerned about the way in which it was marketed and promoted. I feel it lacked wisdom and was somewhat dangerous in regard to its underlying message. In essence, those statements are also bringing into question the ethics and character of hundreds, if not thousands, of men involved in bible translation work down through history; including Tyndale, the reformers involved in the Geneva Bible Translation, and, even Wycliff, to name just a few.

Bible teachers have always taught these truths about our relationship to Christ, without accusing the translators of the English versions of perpetrating a fraud:

Adam Clark – 1762-1832
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ - The word δουλος, which we translate servant, properly means a slave, one who is the entire property of his master; and is used here by the apostle with great propriety. He felt he was not his own, and that his life and powers belonged to his heavenly owner, and that he had no right to dispose of or employ them but in the strictest subserviency to the will of his Lord. In this sense, and in this spirit, he is the willing slave of Jesus Christ; and this is, perhaps, the highest character which any soul of man can attain on this side eternity. "I am wholly the Lord's; and wholly devoted in the spirit of sacrificial obedience, to the constant, complete, and energetic performance of the Divine will." A friend of God is high; a son of God is higher; but the servant, or, in the above sense, the slave of God, is higher than all; - in a word, he is a person who feels he has no property in himself, and that God is all and in all.

Albert Barnes – 1798-1870
The proper meaning of this word servant, δοῦλος doulos, is slave, one who is not free. It expresses the condition of one who has a master, or who is at the control of another. It is often, however, applied to courtiers, or the officers that serve under a king: because in an eastern monarchy the relation of an absolute king to his courtiers corresponded nearly to that of a master and a slave. Thus, the word is expressive of dignity and honor; and the servants of a king denote officers of a high rank and station. It is applied to the prophets as those who were honored by God, or especially entrusted by him with office; Deuteronomy 34:5; Joshua 1:2; Jeremiah 25:4. The name is also given to the Messiah, Isaiah 42:1, "Behold my servant in whom my soul delighteth," etc.; Isaiah 53:11, "shall my righteous servant justify many." The apostle uses it here evidently to denote his acknowledging Jesus Christ as his master; as indicating his dignity, as especially appointed by him to his great work; and as showing that in this Epistle he intended to assume no authority of his own, but simply to declare the will of his master, and theirs.


Alexander MacLaren - 1826-1910
For you must remember that the word most inadequately rendered here, ‘servant’ does not mean a hired man who has, of his own volition, given himself for a time to do specific work and get wages for it; but it means ‘a bond-slave,’ a chattel owned by another. All the ugly associations which gather round the word are transported bodily into the Christian region, and there, instead of being hideous, take on a shape of beauty, and become expressions of the deepest and most blessed truths, in reference to Christian men's dependence upon, and submission to, and place in the household and the heart of, Jesus Christ, their Owner.