Forty-Year-Old Light on How to Translate “Son of God” for Muslims

I found this really interesting! Hope you enjoy it as well! :)

Forty-Year-Old Light on How to Translate “Son of God” for Muslims:

Writing in 1972, J. I. Packer sheds light on the contemporary debate over how to translate the term “Son of God” in Muslim contexts. A common Muslim misconception is that Christians believe Jesus was God’s Son by procreation with Mary, so that there are at least two gods — the Son and the Father.

Motivated by a desire to remove unnecessary stumbling blocks for Muslims, some have advocated translating the Greek behind “Son of God” in a way that does not carry such biological connotations. That means avoiding such Father and Son language. But historically, the problem of ambiguity in Jesus’ Sonship has been solved by context and teaching, not translation.

What Packer contributes to the debate is the observation that the apostle John already faced this ambiguity when he wrote his Gospel. And he points out that the way John dealt with it was not by rejecting the terms Father and Son, but by making clear in the context what they mean. My conviction is that we should take the risks John did, and let the New Testament context do its work the way he intended.

Packer writes, “John knew that the phrase ‘Son of God’ was tainted with misleading associations in the minds of his readers. Jewish theology used it as a title for the expected (human) Messiah. Greek mythology told of many “sons of gods,” supermen born of a union between God and the human woman.”

But, Packer observes, “John wanted to make sure that when he wrote of Jesus as the Son of God he would not be understood” in those wrong ways. He wanted “to make it clear from the outset that the Sonship which Jesus claimed . . . was precisely a matter of personal deity and nothing less.”

To make sure of this, he did not reject the language of Father and Son. Instead, Packer says, he wrote his famous Prologue (John 1:1–18). “Nowhere in the New Testament is the nature and meaning of Jesus’s divine Sonship so clearly explained as here.”

1. In the beginning was the Word. “Here is the Word’s eternity. He had no beginning.”



2. And the Word was with God. “Here is the Word’s personality. The power that fulfills God's purposes is the power of a distinct personal being, who stands in an eternal relation to God of active fellowship.”



3. And the Word was God. “Here is the Word’s deity. Though personally distinct from the Father, he is not a creature; He is divine in himself, as the Father is.”



4. All things were made by him. “Here is the Word creating. . . All that was, was made through him.”
   
   
5. And the Word became flesh. “Here is the Word incarnate. The baby in the manger at Bethlehem was none other than the eternal Word of God.”

Now after showing us who the Word is, John reveals him as “God’s Son. “We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (John 1:14). “Thus John . . . has now made it clear what is meant by calling Jesus the Son of God. . . [It is] an assertion of his distinct personal deity.” (J. I. Packer, Knowing God [London: InterVarsity Press, 1973], 48–50.)

The difficulties of Bible translation are enormous. My veneration for men and women who have given their lives to it is deep. The debt we owe them is profound. I also have spoken with Muslim background believers who are risking their lives for believing the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. Some feel betrayed by the removal of this language from the Bible.

J. I. Packer shows us that the potential misunderstanding of “Son of God” was there from the beginning. The remedy for it was not the rejection of the term. The remedy was the New Testament itself — in all its controversial and self-interpreting fullness.

In addition to context, there are teachers. The ascended Christ gave teachers to his church to explain things (Ephesians 4:11). And he sent us to the nations to proclaim and to teach (Matthew 28:20). And if we are to teach like Paul (five hours a day in the hall of Tyrannus in pagan Ephesus for two years, Acts 19:9–10) we will need a solid, accurate, reliable text that can bear rigorous scrutiny.

Lord, raise up an army of translators and teachers like this.

[This article also appears in the March 10th issue of World Magazine.]

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• Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Wolfhart Pannenberg on Schism



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• Why Did God Let Paul Become a Murderer?

On Sacrifice

If you haven't noticed, I've been spending a lot of time reading Relevant Magazine on line. Today, I was reading this article on Lent... it was more about sacrifice.

This explaination of what sacrifice means blew me away: "taking something perfectly good and destroying it before God." Sacrifice makes no sense. The words that come to mind is reckless abandonment. To truly sacrifice your life is to live reckless abadoned to Christ. The only way anyone can do that is they believed in a God that is better than what they can currently see and understand. If they believe in a God that is molding them and leading them to be a better person than who they already are, then and only then would anyone willing recklessly abandon their life to God.

Even David knew about this concept that when we offer something to God, it must cost us something: "I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing." (2 Samuel 24:24)

If you go back to the time of Cain and Abel, when we don't offer something that costs us, God doesn't even care. "... but for Cain and his offering he had no regard." (Genesis 4:5a)

And if you think this is just an OT thing, then we can talk about Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Where God simply struck them dead... and this is POST Pentacost!

This is not a matter of what we give... I think at the heart of it really is about our heart. Do we love God enough to give Him something will cost us, to give Him our very best, and to give Him our all? 

In the past 2 years or so, the story of sacrifice that has been on my heart has been the story of Abraham and Issac (Genesis 22). Issac was God's promise to Abraham fulfilled. Abraham was already over 100 years old, and he had to wait so long for God to fulfill His promise... and one day, God just asks him to sacrifice his son. If that's not sacrifice, I don't know what is. Awhile back, I prayed a very dangerous prayer. I asked God to give me the same type of faith that Abraham had. I asked Him to take me to a place where I would be able to lay ALL things down at the altar, even if those things were the fulfilled promises of God that I had waited so long for. I asked him to show me what these things were which were my "Issac"... and to take me to the place where I can say, these are not mine, but yours, so teach me to be able to lay them back on the altar for you if you ask.

Here's the thing... God doesn't ALWAYS come like He did in Abraham's story with Issac. Sometimes, God doesn't come at the last minute to stop you, sometimes, He lets you go through with the whole sacrifice, and you really DO have to let go. Would you still trust God? Would you still continue to recklessly abandon your life into his hands? Even when God seems to witholding his promise to you, or delaying his promise... would you keep hanging onto Him?

Needs to stop losing things...

I absolutely HATE losing things. I am one of those people who will kick herself over and over again about being retarded... and then replay the situation over and over in my head to try and figure out how it is that I can be so completely thick-headed. (Yes, I can be quite hard on myself.) I will also repeat over and over (like a broken record) that I CANNOT believe that I lost *fill in the most recently lost item*!

So... to lose my ring, not only once, but twice within the past 6 months... and also my Octopus card (an Octopus is one of those things you just cannot walk around HK without...) not once but twice... there has been a lot of arse kicking of self. I know exactly where and how I lost the first ring and the first Octopus. How exactly I lost the second ring and second octopus I actually have no recollection. I have an idea as to where I lost these items, but I have no idea. Oh... and I managed to lose ONE earring in Shanghai, how, I also do not know.

It's getting really bad... I've become even more scatter-brained than ever... what is going on?!

Tim Keller on Compatibility...

Tim Keller... such a man of God... read this article about compatibility.

prime numbers

I had this most random thought as I was walking home the other night... the ways of God are like prime numbers. There is no pattern to them... you can't multiply numbers together to get to them, they are unique, and well... they just ARE.

hahaha... maybe that was just God's way of explaining something to me in a way that would make most sense to me... through math? Hey, don't judge, we all think and function differently. :P

C. S. Lewis on the Danger of Love

Such a wise man... that C.S. Lewis is...

C. S. Lewis on the Danger of Love:

If you were having a cup of tea with C. S. Lewis on Valentine's Day, and you asked him sincerely, "Mr. Lewis, am I better not to love because it's so risky?" — he might say something like this:

Of all arguments against love none makes so strong an appeal to my nature as “Careful! This might lead you to suffering.”

To my nature, my temperament, yes. Not to my conscience. When I respond to that appeal I seem to myself to be a thousand miles away from Christ. If I am sure of anything I am sure that his teaching was never meant to confirm my congenital preference for safe investments and limited liabilities.…

There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.

But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

The Four Loves, (New York, Harcourt, 1960), Kindle Location 1541.

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Recent posts from "They Still Speak" —

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The journal entries... 1

So... I have decided to take some old journal entries and start putting them up on my blog. This has been something which has been on my heart to do for awhile, and I've decided that the time has come for these things to be shared with others. So this will be my first attempt at doing so! Please, if you read this, give me a shout to let me know what you think. 

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." ~ Hebrews 12:2-3

Jesus endured the crucifixion for joy?! Reconciliation with man brings joy to God. Eternity with Christ, the promise of eternal life, it is for the joy that comes with these promises that Jesus died. The promise of eternity is the secret to eternal joy, the promise of eternity is what gives us the confidence to be bold. When we know what God has promised us... what His son's death on the cross really means for our lives... then we have joy that no one can steal or understand. Then we have a boldness that doesn't make sense.

God you are amazing. Thank-you that my confidence and identity comes from you first. Thank-you that before anything else I am your daughter, your princess, your wife, your lover, your friend and your sister. Before I am these things to anyone else I am these things to you.  

One Thing Remains - Part2

The light just turned on upstairs... ONE thing remains. I blogged this song back in July. And last night we sang this song... and I LOVE this song! 

God is taking to a place where only ONE thing remains... which is Him. That in each and every aspect of my life, He is the one and only thing that remains. Was this not the cry of my heart 3 years ago? For God to remove all so that He can mold me to be the woman of God that He desires me to be. So, God is just continuing His work because He brings all good works to completion. 

So this is my prayers being answered. He is trying to bring me to a place where all that comes into me is God, and all that flows out of me is God. To that place where the words "Your grace is enough" and "Your love is all that I need" are true in every way.

This doesn't really make anything hurt any less, but it restores the peace in my heart. Which is okay... because having God's peace is better than being in a place of no pain. : \

If We’re Going to Be Skeptical, Be Skeptical of Our Perceptions

Ouch... this cuts straight into my heart... :(

If We’re Going to Be Skeptical, Be Skeptical of Our Perceptions:

There he sat, the scum of society on the footstep of heaven on earth, begging the condescending mercy of pious passersby going in and out of the temple. Enough mercy today and he could eat.

This man was blind. He had been born that way. And it was his own fault. As a fetus this man had sinned in the womb against the Almighty. Either that or his parents had sinned and brought a curse upon him. Whichever it was, he was suffering a just punishment.

Those who had been righteous fetuses walked by and sometimes dropped a coin in his hand. This would merit them even more divine favor.

You see, in the law and prophets God had not explained exactly why one sinful person suffers more than another sinful person. So theologians had deduced that a person’s suffering must result directly from a specific offense(s) against God.

Interestingly, Job’s three friends¹ had reached the same conclusions about Job’s suffering. Only God had rebuked them, “you have not spoken of me what is right.”² He was poised to deliver a similar rebuke.

Jesus’ disciples had learned from the theologians. So seeing the blind man on the temple steps triggered their curiosity: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

God the Son stopped and looked at the man. Then he gave an answer that would turn their theology on its head and affect the futures of millions: “It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Okay, let’s catch our breath.

Jesus restated: God made this man blind³ in order to demonstrate his power in him. The purpose of this man’s disability was not punishment but proclamation. It’s just that no one knew it until that day.

And when Jesus spoke these words, he understood their full implications. He knew what this moment of proclamation had cost in the currency of this man’s pain.

All those years the man and his parents had labored under a perception that God had brought his judgment upon them for an unknown reason. All those years they had endured insults, indignities, injuries, poverty, loneliness, and isolation. How many were his tears? How many his prayers for mercy? No hope for an education. No hope for marriage. His only vocational option: begging.

And, according to Jesus, this was God’s plan. Was it worth it? We shall see, if God wills.

After his world-shaking statement, Jesus made the man see! In that moment everything changed. See the power of the Word! Light shown into dark eyes. A brain that had never processed optical stimuli was given immediate ability to interpret a visual world.

But even more revolutionary in its repercussions, the man went from being perceived as the object of God’s wrath to being the object of God’s kindness! And everyone discovered that God’s purpose in his blindness was to let the Light of the world shine.

So was it worth it — all the suffering? It all depends on what God gave him in return.

God so loved him that he gave his only Son so that by believing in him, this man would not perish but have eternal life.⁴ What this man received beyond his miraculous physical healing was the far more miraculous forgiveness of all his sins and eternal life in God’s presence where full joy and pleasures never end.⁵ Such a gift would be worth a thousand blind lifetimes.

Let us be very careful in interpreting God’s purposes in suffering. The man born blind reminds us that our perceptions and God’s purposes can be very different, even opposite. If we are going to be skeptical, it’s best to be skeptical of our perceptions.

And he reminds us that when Jesus finally reveals the real purposes, we will find them more glorious than we ever dreamed, and his reward so overwhelming that there will be no trace of bitterness, only overflowing gratitude.

¹Job 2:11: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar

²Job 42:8

³Exodus 4:11: “Then the Lord
said to him, ‘Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?’”

⁴John 3:16
⁵Psalm 16:11

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Previous posts from Jon Bloom —

• Don't Be Afraid to Pray "Whatever It Takes"



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Swimming in deep waters...

So I'm currently reading this book called Faithful Women and their Extraordinary God... and I read the following this morning:

"I am come into deep waters" took on a new meaning this morning... It dawned that shallow waters were a place where you can neither sink nor swim. In deep waters it is either the one or the other... Swimming is the intensest, most strenuous form of motion. All of you is involved in it, and yet every inch of you is in abadonment of rest upon the water that bears you up. "We rest on Thee and in Thy name we go."   ~ Lilias Trotter

After reading this... some light started to shine upon all that I had been feeling. And simply it is that I feel so incredibly overwhelmed by every aspect of my life at the moment. I feel like I am deep waters, and I am trying to stay afloat on my own efforts, through the flailing of my arms, and kicking of my legs. I am trying to take control over the waters... but if you've been swimming (a sport that I very much dislike)... the more you fight, the more likely you will drown. You must be relaxed and allow the waters AND trust that the waters will hold you up and allow you to float.


It is only February! I have only been 2x for like 3 weeks... yet I feel like my birthday was so long ago, and New Years as well... and honestly for most of January the only thing I have done was bawl my eyes out! And I mean bawl my eyes out... I have shed so many tears that I feel like I should be wrinkled like a prune... but yet there are still more tears fighting their way to be let out of my system. I know that when I decided to take a leap of faith and follow God down this road that I was giving up control of my life... yet somehow I never imagined that when I gave up that control I would feel so utterly and completely at a lost...