“Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22 NLT)
I can imagine Jesus bending down, breathing upon a spiritually unconscious person, and resuscitating him. The Holy Spirit is the breath of God. It is the eternal source of life, goodness, and wisdom. It is possible to sleepwalk through our time on earth, functioning in the physical domain, while remaining oblivious to the metaphysical realm. We don’t know what we are missing when we have never experienced anything more.
“Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God's Spirit is doing.” (1 Corinthians 2:15 MSG)
The Divine breath revives us from our temporal stupor, animating our souls. We are no longer paralyzed by sensuality and ego. When our intentions and thoughts are aligned with God’s, trust becomes natural. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing. We take part in the sacred. Infused with the Spirit of Truth, we become conscious and discerning. The sanctifying energy of the Holy Spirit fills us, empowering us to experience the transcendent vitality of God.
“Breathe life into our lungs so we can shout your name!” (Psalm 80:18 MSG)
While I do not necessarily agree with you basic premise, I am curious why you choose to read and worse yet teach from the Message Bible. Are you aware that it is not actually a translation? It is a paraphrase by one man. Essentially commentary on a translation based on what Eugene Petersen believes the scriptures are saying. If you choose a more accurate English version you will see that your 2 Corinthians 2:15 reference is poorly worded in the paraphrase and as such skews part of you premise because of your direct usage in the body of your thought. I don't mean this as a negative criticism, just not sure if you are aware of the vastly flawed nature of the Message Bible.
ReplyDeleteDear 'Unknown'--yes, I am aware that the Message is a paraphrase. However, it helps me draw closer to God. I use a concordance and read through all the translations of each verse I study. More often than not, the Message version speaks to me. I also frequently use the New Living Translation, The Passion Translation, The New International Version, The Amplified Bible, God's Word Translation, etc. in these blog posts.
ReplyDeleteI commend you for searching diligently to understand the true meaning of the original languages. Not many seem to make that much effort. Out of curiosity have you tried to learn the original languages?
DeleteI rarely read in the Message Bible or any paraphrase for that matter. But I have read enough to see many things which are inconsistent with the original meaning of the text and some things that are outright altered or omitted. Have you come across any parts of the Message that you see as inaccurate? What do you do in those circumstances?
Dear Unknown, I use biblehub.com which has a lexicon. This site allows a user to search through Strong's, as well as the Hebrew,and origin of each word. I assume, from your question and comments, that you and I have different viewpoints on how to study the Bible. I ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what I am supposed to take away from each verse. Even for the same passage or verse, this can change from day to day, year to year. If someone else learns something different than I do from the same verse, I see no issue with that. I am certain that God has different teaching techniques for each of us.
DeleteIt appears to me that you are saying one verse can mean different things, not only to different people, but also to the same person at different times in their life. What then do you think of 2 Peter 1:16-21? To me it is clearly saying that there is only one correct interpretation of scripture because it is not derived by The will of man but by God and God is unchanging in His Word.
ReplyDelete