Use the whole verse

Pet Peeves. Everybody has them. Some of them are important (Yes, we all should wash our hands before we eat). Some of them are silly (what real difference does it make which way the toilet paper sits on the dispenser?) 

Like any other human being, I have my own set of them. (Don't worry, I'm only going to get into one today). 

But, the Pet Peeve I'm going to cover today, truly does matter and can have eternal consequences. 

First of all, give me KJV or nothing else. The other versions distort, twist, and nullify huge sections of scripture. I'm only going to give one example of this before I get on to what this post is really about today. (Okay, so I'm going to cover 2 pet peeves. Think of it as a two for one deal?)

John 3:13 is an awesome verse. It contains truth that many people do not truly know:

13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Here Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and tells him something amazing! Read it and see if you catch it. Did you get it? It's awesome!

Jesus told Nicodemus that he (the son of man) not only ascended to and descended from heaven, but that at that very moment- while he was speaking those sacred words to Nicodemus- HE (Jesus) was also in heaven! 

How can this be? Because there's only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4) and that one God is omnipresent (everywhere all at once). So, though he inhabited the body of the son of God and was speaking to Nicodemus, he was also still on the throne in heaven watching and controlling everything!

In short, he told Nicodemus, "I'm God. Do you truly understand who you are talking to right now?" 

Wow!

Now, what do a few other versions say?

NIV 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.

NLT13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man[a] has come down from heaven.

The Voice: 13 No one has ever journeyed to heaven above except the One who has come down from heaven—the Son of Man, who is of heaven.

I could go on and on. The NIV and NLT are bad enough. They leave off the whole phrase "which IS IN heaven." This relegates Jesus' whole existence to inside that body- totally changing the whole meaning and context of the verse.  

But, the Voice is even worse: they leave the phrase in, but change one word. IN becomes OF. Again, this totally violates the actual scripture's meaning and relegates Jesus to existing only within that body- but it does admit he came from heaven. 

There are hundreds of changes like this. So, give me KJV or give me nothing. 

Next Pet Peeve:

When you quote a verse (I mean you as in anyone), please quote the whole verse.

There are Christian catchphrases that we all like to use that are nice to hear. But, they leave off the rest of the verse (or context) and totally distort the actual meaning. Here are just a few. 

"Resist the devil and he will flee."

 This catchphrase makes it sound as if the devil comes against you, you tell him no and wave him away. And he's so afraid of us that he takes off running with his tail between his legs. 

Then why doesn't this actually work in practice? Why doesn't he just leave when we resist temptation? Why doesn't he run away when we don't blow our stack at that person that deserves it so much? 

Because it's a partial verse. Here's what it actually says:

James 4:7

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Read that, please. Yes, it does say that if we resist the devil he will flee from us. So, what's the problem, brother Winskie? 

The problem is that we skip the first part of the verse and think all we need to do is resist the devil. But, it says we are to "SUBMIT (OURSELVES) TO GOD first. THEN, we can resist in God's strength and authority. THIS will cause the enemy to flee! 

If we don't submit to God first, we can resist the devil all day long and he ain't going nowhere, bro. 

Do you see how leaving off part of it changes the whole meaning? 

How about this one?

"There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." 

That sounds like an absolute guarantee! Once we're born again, it's a 100% guarantee that we will never be condemned. We have a one-way ticket to glory and nothing can stop us now!! 

Wait. There's one minor detail that they left off. What does Romans 8:1 actually say?

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

Did you catch the difference there? 

If, after we are born again, we choose (because we still have choices to make) to please our flesh rather than strive to please God's spirit, we can (depending on what we do) sin and bring condemnation against ourselves. It's NOT an absolute guarantee. It depends upon whether we follow our fleshly desires or the leading of God's spirit. 

Or, how about this one? 

"God will give you the desires of your heart." 

Holy Cow! What a deal! Let's make our list up right now! 

New Car.

New Truck.

Fix my spouse.

New home.

New job...

Wait. Before you go too far. Let's check out the verse where the phrase comes from.

Psalms 37:4

"Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

Delight (in the Hebrew) means to be soft and pliable.

Lord (in the Hebrew) means the self-existent, eternal God. 

desires (in the Hebrew) means prayer or petition

heart (in the Hebrew) means the inner man: mind, will, heart, understanding.

So. If we allow ourselves to become pliable (easily bent, flexible- in other words moldable into any shape he cares to make us into) in the hands of almighty God, he will answer our deepest and most heartfelt prayers. Why? Because they will line up to his word and will. 

It's all about submission to God. We submit to him and let him change us. Then, when we pray, our prayers will line up with his will and he will answer them. 

It's not a blank check to get anything we may fancy. 

But, Lord, we really need a new truck. 

If he thinks we do, he'll make the way. But, just because we're a believer, doesn't mean he'll give us anything we want. If our parents won't do that, why would God?

But, the point is, when we use scripture, we must use the whole thing. 

If we shorten it into a soundbite that sounds good to people's ears, we could be setting them up for a potentially catastrophic event to their faith. This could cause the new believer to leave their faith. 

Absolutely, we should use scripture and claim the promises of God. But, when we do, we've got to use it complete and in context. 

If we do not, the results could be devastating.