Not a Servant

When John Wycliffe did his translation of the Bible from Latin into English back in the 1300's, the Roman Catholic Church deemed it to be a heretical act.  Wycliffe believed anyone should be able read the Word, but the church regarded it to be a dangerous thing.   Of course, in  our world everyone has access to a copy of the Bible and the Bibles available are almost as many as there are readers.  In recent decades there has been a rush to provide reader friendly Bibles which are often more concerned with using the current language with all its idioms rather than making sure the words on the page actually reflect the original language of the Scripture.   

One of the ways to distinguish the difference is to see if the Bible is a version of an English translation, or a translation of the original Greek or Hebrew manuscripts.  There is a difference.  The versions may be more readable, but they can also reflect a bias of the one putting the Bible together instead of what is actually intended when the original language is given proper consideration.  Not all Bibles are the same.  The difference is not just in the use of words, but in the way some things get compromised and cluttered with unintended meanings.    

An example is found in the first few words of Romans.  Most of the time Paul is spoken of as "a servant of Jesus Christ,"  (Romans 1:10 which is not a bad thing, but the original intent would have it translated "a slave of Jesus Christ."  It is easy to see the difference.  A servant may have a choice, but a slave has no rights except those given by the master.  The life of a slave is centered on doing the bidding of the master.  Nothing else matters.  Such is how the Apostle Paul spoke of his life and such is how he would have us  understand what it means to live under the authority of Christ and in submission to the Holy Spirit.