Dallas Willard wrote in The Divine Conspiracy that, “when trials are permitted, it only means that [God] has something better in mind for us than freedom from trials.” Earthly trials are the specific implements God uses to reshape us in his image, and to set us free from prisons we hadn’t even seen confining us.
I noticed, in that spirit, that the King James rendition of I Thessalonians 5:18 adds a semicolon. This might not seem like much. However, it is a striking mark of punctuation, given the way it transforms the meaning of the whole passage.
Here is how the New International Version treats I Thess. 5:16-18. It puts semicolons instead after verses 16 and 17:
“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Now here it is in the KJV:
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
The significance of the semicolon in the NIV is that it separates away the last part, and frames this last part together. It says that because all circumstances flow from God’s will, we are to give thanks within those circumstances as part of our recognition that God is in control. The thanks, in the NIV, is the one fundamental response.
By contrast, the King James Version uses the semicolon to separate off the phrase, “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Thanks to the KJV’s ordering of the punctuation, this version says that there is more for us to do in recognition of God’s will than just to give thanks. The thankfulness is part of a threefold response.
I had been more accustomed to the NIV rendition. Yet seeing the difference in the KJV treatment has me rethinking the way I understand this set of verses.
Neither punctuation could claim to be authoritative. The original text presumably had no marks to indicate which of the readings is right. However, if we believe that God wishes a relationship with us and speaks to us by means of the ways he crafts our lives, then the King James punctuation stands as more compelling.
It says that we have a greater role to play. Experiencing the will of God at work in ways that challenge us, we have more to offer—and more to bring to bear—than just thanks. We can also derive value from those trials and resist being submerged in our reactions to them through a set of interrelated responses. Namely, we are to...
1. “Be” joyful—being ruled by joy, which comes from the Spirit, and not being ruled by bitterness or fear;
2. Pray continually—asking in particular for the wisdom (see James 1:5) by which we can receive the instruction that God would have us learn from this challenge; and
3. Give thanks—not for the difficult circumstances but for God himself, the one who loves and safeguards us eternally, and the one who chose us in particular to be transformed by these trials.
I noticed, in that spirit, that the King James rendition of I Thessalonians 5:18 adds a semicolon. This might not seem like much. However, it is a striking mark of punctuation, given the way it transforms the meaning of the whole passage.
Here is how the New International Version treats I Thess. 5:16-18. It puts semicolons instead after verses 16 and 17:
“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Now here it is in the KJV:
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
The significance of the semicolon in the NIV is that it separates away the last part, and frames this last part together. It says that because all circumstances flow from God’s will, we are to give thanks within those circumstances as part of our recognition that God is in control. The thanks, in the NIV, is the one fundamental response.
By contrast, the King James Version uses the semicolon to separate off the phrase, “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Thanks to the KJV’s ordering of the punctuation, this version says that there is more for us to do in recognition of God’s will than just to give thanks. The thankfulness is part of a threefold response.
I had been more accustomed to the NIV rendition. Yet seeing the difference in the KJV treatment has me rethinking the way I understand this set of verses.
Neither punctuation could claim to be authoritative. The original text presumably had no marks to indicate which of the readings is right. However, if we believe that God wishes a relationship with us and speaks to us by means of the ways he crafts our lives, then the King James punctuation stands as more compelling.
It says that we have a greater role to play. Experiencing the will of God at work in ways that challenge us, we have more to offer—and more to bring to bear—than just thanks. We can also derive value from those trials and resist being submerged in our reactions to them through a set of interrelated responses. Namely, we are to...
1. “Be” joyful—being ruled by joy, which comes from the Spirit, and not being ruled by bitterness or fear;
2. Pray continually—asking in particular for the wisdom (see James 1:5) by which we can receive the instruction that God would have us learn from this challenge; and
3. Give thanks—not for the difficult circumstances but for God himself, the one who loves and safeguards us eternally, and the one who chose us in particular to be transformed by these trials.
