One of the selling points used by the marketing specialists hired to increase the sale of new translations of the Bible is that many of the modern versions capitalize pronouns relating to deity.
The thought behind such an action is that God deserves special honor and reverence, and so any "he," "him," "his," etc. which refers to a member of the Trinity will be capitalized.
This sounds like a great idea, and were it possible to carry out such a plan with consistency and accuracy, we would never speak a word of opposition.
There will be only a few spots in the gospels, most notably in John, where anyone could question whether or not a particular reference is to Jesus Christ, the Father, or the Holy Spirit. Other writers have ably pointed out the places where the new versions have failed to capitalize obvious references to God. Such details are not within the scope of this volume.
The problem with capitalizing all references to deity lies in the prophetic passages, particularly the Psalms. Nearly every Psalm contains some direct or veiled reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. If these pronouns were capitalized the passages in which they are found would lose their practical, historical and devotional teaching.
Psalms 55:12-13 would read; For it was not an enemy that reproached Me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated Me that did magnify himself against Me; then I would have hid Myself from him: But it was thou, a man Mine equal, My guide, and Mine acquaintance.
No true Bible student can fail to miss the forward look, in the 55th Psalm, at the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot. But, to capitalize the references to Christ is to take away the heartache of David when his own trusted companion turned against him and all that we learn from his walk of faith.
There are literally hundreds of Old Testament passages which have reference to an event in history, recorded for our learning and admonition, which also point prophetically to the Lord Jesus. By capitalizing the references to Christ the reader is robbed of up to three-fourths of the truth available in such passages.
The Holy Spirit will lead the saved, spiritually-minded reader to see the Lord in all His word Let us leave this sacred work to the Spirit of truth, lest, in our attempts to reveal one truth we obscure another.
Steve Van Nattan-- Balaam's Ass Speaks-- I fear some of you bigoted "scholars" from seminaries will cast this aside. You are much too great in your own eyes to listen to a pastor who has no Doctorate or Seminary Club credentials. This is the attitude which makes certain that you remain, as they say in Missouri, "worthless as tits on a bore hog." I feel sorry for you, but ain't got time to reach you.
BACK TO
THE TITLE PAGE