Getting the Facts about Crucial Information
I am continuing with “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” also look and next verses (24-26), which will complete the verse. I hear this quoted by Christians so much that it is disheartening. There is such a lack of understanding of many in the body of Christ, including leaders.
Before going further, as I was searching out more information about all have sinned- I looked at the scriptures that proceeded that verse, and oh, what an eye opener. Even though the scriptures are divided into verses and chapters, something caught my eye. Have you ever read a verse and later came back and read that same verse and you saw something that stood out? Well, I know it was the Spirit of God revealing this to me.
I shared it with my Bible study class Tuesday night about the scripture – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and the revelation came to me as I read; I looked at what was the first verse of that section, but there was no period; therefore, the sentence continued with commas and semicolons.
I was amazed at the fact I didn’t remember seeing the for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation
[It refers to the work of Christ that satisfied the demands of God's law and made it possible for God to pardon and bless sinners] by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:23-26).
That is a long sentence, but it is what it is. If someone is pardoned in the court system, can they still be guilty of that crime? Our sins/crime was pardoned by Jesus Christ who took the punishment for us. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
Years ago, I was blessed to go to the John Wycliffe museum in Waxhaw, NC, and I saw Bibles that dated back to the fifteen hundreds. Also, I attended a conference in High Point, NC and there was a large display of similar bibles that I had seen at John Wycliffe’s museum.
The original Bibles did not have commas and semicolons, verses, or chapters. Some sentences were long. Later someone decided to break everything into verses and chapters. However, the scripture that was revealed to me had commas and semicolons, and the sentence is not complete until there is a period.
Brief history
The Bible consists of sixty-six distinct books that were written in different times and places. When originally compiled, the books of the Bible did not include chapters and verses. Our modern chapter divisions of the Bible were created by Stephen Langton and were completed around AD 1227. Wycliffe's Bible (completed in 1382 before the printing press) was the first Bible to use Langton's chapter divisions. Since this time, English Bible translations have followed the pattern, with other languages adopting the same division system.
Those original Bibles did not have commas and semicolons, verses, or chapters. Some sentences were long. Later someone decided to break everything into verses and chapters. However, the scripture that was revealed to me had commas and semicolons, and the sentence is not complete until there is a period.
The craziest thing I heard was about someone talking to a Muslim and the person said that Christians look down on Muslims. She said this: “I am a sinner too.” What I gathered from that was she was saying that she was no better than the Muslim. That is true to a point; no one is better than the other, but I would never tell anyone as a born-again believer, that I am a sinner. What kind of witness would that be? If I were unsaved and someone said that to me, what reason would I need to be saved?
Next – Understanding the Word of God Within the Proper Context
Betty A. Burnett ~ burnettministries.org
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