Thinking Out Loud About Christianity

A "Twisted Scripture" is a biblical passage taken out of context and portrayed to mean something that neither its author intended nor it's original audience understood.

Let us think out loud about how later western Christians have twisted scripture by redefining the church leadership vocabulary and concepts of the Bible.

The following point was made by W. CARL KETCHERSIDE (1908-1989 – Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ reformer) in his essay GOALS OF RESTORATION and is the basis to approach to this topic.

"Recognizing that words alter their significance through use by successive generations, the true restorationist must divest his mind as much as possible of prejudice created by ecclesiastical usage, and avoid reading into God’s word those meanings which are hallowed by tradition, rather than by heaven."

Comprehension and understanding of church leadership was radically altered, in early centuries of the Christian Era, from the apostles comprehension of it. This was done not by a latter day revelation but by self serving men (wolves – Acts 20:29) who changed the vocabulary and concepts from biblical (Hebrew) descriptions of leadership functions to ecclesiastical titles of authoritative offices. They did this by simply redefining the words used to describe the overseers and servants, the keepers of orderliness.

To gain a grasp on the situation, the biblical reader must have an understanding of the life and times of the apostles in the first century. Judea was governed by two cultures at the same time and influenced by a third. Village life, family life and religious affairs were governed by the Hebrew culture. Civil matters and commerce were governed by the Roman Empire. Language and art was heavily influenced by the Greek culture which was prevalent among the more educated people. The upper classes often spoke Greek and studied the Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. Greek culture was so admired by the upper class Judeans that many Judeans took on Greek names and for all practical purposes were indistinguishable from Greeks save in dress and Temple attendance. Continue reading →

A "Twisted Scripture" is a biblical passage taken out of context and portrayed to mean something that neither its author intended nor it's original audience understood.

Let us think out loud about how Christians have twisted scripture by ignoring the culture of the Bible.

How is this done? At the onset, a little foundation should be set, if one is a bit fuzzy on how our original biblical literature came to exist. The fundamental method is given in one single passage by the apostle Peter, quoted below in two different versions.

ESV: II Peter Chapter 1 [21] For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

KJV: II Peter Chapter 1 [21] For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The simplicity of the most ancient of the inspired writings is this: The prophets spoke and wrote what the spirit of God laid on their hearts and minds to communicate. As prophets, they did so accurately but using the medium of their own words. They engaged words which they knew and were defined within their culture and education. Exactly the same is true of the New Testament writings. The apostles and others were inspired by the spirit of God within them to communicate certain things. They also used the words known to them and known the same way to their audiences. As Hebrews in culture, they used Hebrew concepts and cultural references. However, the real meaning of their words have often been lost by ignorance of their vocabulary and ignorance of the culture upon which their words and figures of speech depended upon so heavily. This is largely due to two things.

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