The fear of the Lord

 

            I was talking with a friend.  He brought up an observation he made.  He thought that there are many people who claim to be Christian, but won’t open their Bibles.  He observed that they also have several abhorrent personal practices, and beliefs.  He was frustrated by their resistance to him, attempting to, lovingly correct them with scripture.  He said, “It’s almost like they’re afraid to see what’s in there.” 

            How many of us have had the same experience?  It seems pretty typical.  Usually this is the person who claims to be Christian, but loves tons of other things, over Jesus and His Church.  They might go to Church, but Jesus, His word, and His bride, are far from their thoughts, or affections. 

            I would have to agree with my friend.  I think people are afraid to look in the Bible, and see what it says.  I believe that, in their hearts, they suspect they are wrong.  They know that they might be the goats, on the left waiting to be told, “‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”   They have every reason to be afraid to look in the word, but they also have that much more of a reason to look, and see.  If only they would open the word, read, and study it. 

            We know that gospel is the power of God unto salvation.  We know that faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.  We need to pray for them, and be faithful in our witness to them.  They have the wrong kind of fear.  They fear, finding out they are wrong.  They fear having to give up the things they love.  They fear, having Jesus as their Lord, when they should fear Jesus as their Judge and punishment under condemnation.  They know just enough to be scared off from finding the precious grace offered to us by Christ, in repentance and faith.  Their fear needs to shake them to their very core, and break every allegiance and bond of worldliness. 

The fear they have is impotent because they don’t understand how truly fearsome God is.  To them God is just a little old master craftsmen in a story book, who put together the world.  If they could only see, even if it is just with limited sinful human understanding, how vast, infinite, holy, and powerful God is, perhaps they could see their idolatry and repent of it.  I pray that we all are kept from undue worldliness and that God will convict us of our sins through the Holy Spirit that we may repent.  May He keep us from temptation and deliver us from our oppression, in the name of Jesus our Savior, Amen.

Here are 3 good renderings of these vv. From KJV, NASB, and ESV.  See what differences you notice between these 3 and the last 3 renderings.

 

Make Your Calling Sure

 

³According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: ⁴Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. ⁵And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; ⁶And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; ⁷And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. ⁸For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. ¹⁰Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: ¹¹For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3-11 KJV)

 

3seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.4For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.5Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,6and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,7and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.8For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.9For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.10Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;11for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. (2 Peter 1:3-11 NASB)

 

Confirm Your Calling and Election

3His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to^c his own glory and excellence,^d4by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.5For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,^e and virtue with knowledge,6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,7and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.8For if these qualities^f are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.9For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.10Therefore, brothers,^g be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.11For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:3-11 ESV)

 

 

 

Here are 3 alternate renderings from really bad versions.

 

³ His divine power has given us everything we need to experience life and to reflect God’s true nature through the knowledge of the One who called us by His glory and virtue. ⁴ Through these things, we have received God’s great and valuable promises, so we might escape the corruption of worldly desires and share in the divine nature.

God took the first step to rescue us from this corrupt world. He has granted us His power, revealed to us true knowledge, and spoken to us great promises. He has done all this for a reason: that we might participate in His own nature and reflect His own life. But we are not passive observers of God’s saving actions. We must receive His grace, grow in knowledge, and join Him in this work of redemption.

⁵ To achieve this, you will need to add virtue to your faith, and then knowledge to your virtue; ⁶ to knowledge, add discipline; to discipline, add endurance; to endurance, add godliness; ⁷ to godliness, add affection for others as sisters and brothers; and to affection, at last, add love. ⁸ For if you possess these traits and multiply them, then you will never be ineffective or unproductive in your relationship with our Lord Jesus the Anointed; ⁹ but if you don’t have these qualities, then you will be nearsighted and blind, forgetting that your past sins have been washed away. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers and sisters, work that much harder to confirm that God has called you and claimed you. If you do this, then you will never fall along the way; ¹¹ and you can be sure that you will be richly welcomed into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King.

(2 Peter 1:3-11 The Voice)

 

 

Growing in Faith

³ By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. ⁴ And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

⁵ In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

⁸ The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

¹⁰ So, dear brothers and sisters,^[a] work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. ¹¹ Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3-11 NLT)

 

Living as the Lord’s Followers

³ We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. ⁴ God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.

⁵ Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, ⁶ self-control, patience, devotion to God, ⁷ concern for others, and love. ⁸ If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful. ⁹ But if you don’t grow, you are like someone who is nearsighted or blind, and you have forgotten that your past sins are forgiven.

¹⁰ My friends, you must do all you can to show that God has really chosen and selected you. If you keep on doing this, you won’t stumble and fall. ¹¹ Then our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will give you a glorious welcome into his kingdom that will last forever. (2 Peter 1:3-11 CEV)

 

I know many of you are like, “What’s wrong with these other versions?  Snyder is crazy!  These are fine.”  So what I’d like to do is post the Greek as well with the definitions so that you can judge for yourself which ones should be called translations and which ones should be burned.

 

³ὡς πάντα ἡμῖν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ τὰ πρὸς ζωὴν καὶ εὐσέβειαν δεδωρημένης διὰ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ καλέσαντος ἡμᾶς διὰ / ἰδίᾳ δόξης / δόξῃ καὶ ἀρετῆς / ἀρετῇ,

 

Hos panta emin tes Theias dynameos autou ta pros zoen kai eusebeian dedoremenes dia tes epignoseos tou kalesautos hemas dia/idia doxes/doxe kai arêtes/arête

 

As all things to us devine power of him, that pertain to life and godliness having given, through the knowledge of the one having called us, to his own glory and excellence

 

⁴δι’ ὧν τὰ τίμια καὶ μέγιστα ἡμῖν ἐπαγγέλματα δεδώρηται, ἵνα διὰ τούτων γένησθε θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως, ἀποφυγόντες τῆς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ φθορᾶς.

 

Di hon ta timia kai megista hemin epangelmata dedoretai, ina dia touton genesthe theias koinonoi physeos, apophygontes tes en to kosmo en epithymia phthoras.

 

Through which his precious and magnificent to us promises he has given, that through these you might become of the devine partakers nature, having escaped the in the world through sinful desire, decay.

 

⁵καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο δὲ σπουδὴν πᾶσαν παρεισενέγκαντες ἐπιχορηγήσατε ἐν τῇ πίστει ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρετήν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀρετῇ τὴν γνῶσιν,

 

Kai auto touto de spouden pasan pareisenegkantes epichoregesate en te pistei hymon ten areten, en de te arete ten gnosin

 

Also very reason for this now, earnestness having all brought in deeply, supplement into faith your virtue into and virtue knowledge,

 

⁶ἐν δὲ τῇ γνώσει τὴν ἐγκράτειαν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἐγκρατείᾳ τὴν ὑπομονήν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ὑπομονῇ τὴν εὐσέβειαν,

 

En de tn gnosei ten egkrateian, en de te egkrateia ten hypomonen, en de te hypomone ten eusebeian,

 

Into moreover knowledge, self-control into moreover, self-control, endurance into moreover endurance, godliness

 

⁷ἐν δὲ τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ τὴν φιλαδελφίαν, ἐν δὲ τῇ φιλαδελφίᾳ τὴν ἀγάπην·

 

En de te eusebeia ten philadelphian, en de te philadelphia ten agapen;

 

In moreover godliness, brotherly affection in moreover brotherly affection, love.

 

⁸ταῦτα γὰρ ὑμῖν ὑπάρχοντα καὶ πλεονάζοντα οὐκ ἀργοὺς οὐδὲ ἀκάρπους καθίστησιν εἰς τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπίγνωσιν·

 

Tauta gar hymin hyparchonta kai pleonazonta ouk argous oude akarpous kathistesin eis ten tou kypiou hemon Iesou Christou epignosin;

 

These things indeed in you being and abounding, neither idle or unfruitful make you, as to the of the Lord of us, Jesus Christ, knowledge;

 

⁹ᾧ γὰρ μὴ πάρεστιν ταῦτα, τυφλός ἐστιν μυωπάζων, λήθην λαβὼν τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ τῶν πάλαι αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν.

 

Ho gar me parestin tauta typhgos estin muopazon, gethen gabon tou katharismou ton palai autou amartion.

 

In whomever for not are present these things blind he is being short sighted forgetfulness having received of the purification the former of him sins.

 

¹⁰διὸ μᾶλλον, ἀδελφοί, σπουδάσατε βεβαίαν ὑμῶν τὴν κλῆσιν καὶ ἐκλογὴν ποιεῖσθαι· ταῦτα γὰρ ποιοῦντες οὐ μὴ πταίσητέ ποτε·

 

Dio mallon, adelphoi, spoudasate bebaian hymon ten klesin kai eklogen poieisthai; tauta gar poiountes ou me ptaisete pote;

 

Therefore rather brothers be diligent sure your calling and election to make these things indeed to be practicing never not shall you stumble at any time.

 

¹¹οὕτως γὰρ πλουσίως ἐπιχορηγηθήσεται ὑμῖν ἡ εἴσοδος εἰς τὴν αἰώνιον βασιλείαν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

 

Hoytos gar plousios epichoregethesetai hymin ho eisodos ies ten aionion basileian tou kuriou hemon kai soteros Iesou Christou.

 

In this way indeed richly will be supplied to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of the Lord  of us and savior Jesus Christ.

 

( 2 Peter 1:3-11 Westcott and Hort / [NA27 variants])

Sola Scriptura and the Early Church.

Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics.