A good resolution

I like Tony Reinke's Miscellanies blog and his post about a good New Year's resolution is a typical helpful post.

What are you resolving? Tony cites these words of the apostle Paul:

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. NIV

He points out that Paul is not anti-intellectual, but is opposing intellectual vanity.

Tony concludes with:

May each of us resolve to center our lives upon Jesus Christ and him crucified in 2011.

168 hours: Christmas Eve, by Christina Rossetti

168 hours: Christmas Eve, by Christina Rossetti

Authors never wrote their most famous quotes?

Michael Thompson points out in the post linked above that Luther probably never said these beloved words:

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. To be steady on all battle fronts besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

And Voltaire never said:

I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Francis never said:

Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words

and never prayed

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace

.

And worst of all, Bach never wrote his two most famous minuets in G, nor his lovely musette!

Why study biblical languages?

"We may not be able to retain the gospel without the knowledge of the languages in which it was written. For they are the scabbard in which this sword of the spirit is sheathed.... Indeed, should we overlook all this, and (which God forbid...!) let go our hold on the languages, then we would ... lose the gospel."
- Martin Luther

ESV Trusted By Leaders from Crossway on Vimeo.

Somebody said that the blokes in this video missed an opportunity to do a new version of Bohemian Rhapsody!

I find the way the ESV is promoted in this video and the way the ESV is generally promoted to be a little scary.

The video seems to imply that the ESV is so reliable, it is the only version you need.

I really like the ESV and have read it through completely twice, but I don't think that it is so reliable that we don't need the other popular Bible versions also.

It comes close to asking us to put our faith in the ESV version rather than in God and his Word, I think.

NIV2011

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--

This is Galatians 1:6 in NIV2011
It is the most interesting change from the NIV/TNIV which I have seen so far. It is also different from other translations I have available.

Is it an accurate rendering?

NIV 2011

The new NIV looks good. I think that Douglas Moo and Bill Mounce being on the
committee would have had quite a bit to do with the way it has turned out.

See http://www.biblegateway.com/

If you already use this site, it may default to your preferred setting, so to
get to the new NIV, you could start here.

NIV 2011 [which will be known simply as NIV] has removed soem of the things that
have bugged people about it, including "sinful nature" for SARX, and now it
mostly has the old-fashioned word "flesh."

It does use inclusive language in some instances [such as frequently rendering
ADELFOI as "brothers and sisters" where the context shows the writer is
referring to men and women, e g Romans 1:13].

It is 95% the same as the 1984 NIV, but has been updated to reflect contemporary
conservative scholarship.

I think it's looking good and hope there won't be as many whinges as there were
about the TNIV.

I assume it is also about 95% the same as the TNIV, but I haven't read any stats
on that yet.

The translators notes, available at Bible Gateway at the above url [and you
should download the whole shebang and not just read the snippet] are very
interesting and worth reading in full.