{"id":4413,"date":"2011-03-14T09:17:35","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T13:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/?p=4413"},"modified":"2011-03-14T09:18:16","modified_gmt":"2011-03-14T13:18:16","slug":"both-of-these-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/2011\/03\/14\/both-of-these-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Both of these four"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"samaria\"<\/a>If you take the time to read carefully through the Bible, you sometimes come across words or phrases that just don\u2019t seem right.<\/p>\n

Acts 1:8 in the King James Version has one of those:<\/p>\n

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s that word \u201cboth\u201d doing in there? It doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense when four things follow it. In English, both means two things. And nothing like that is in Acts 1:8 in most other English translations.<\/p>\n

New King James Version:<\/p>\n

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.<\/em><\/p>\n

New International Version:<\/p>\n

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.<\/em><\/p>\n

The New American Standard also has the word \u201cboth\u201d in there, and even in modern English it still doesn\u2019t sound right:<\/p>\n

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.<\/em><\/p>\n

So what\u2019s up with both the \u201cboths\u201d?<\/p>\n

The translators of the King James Version and the New American Standard at least took a stab at what other translators took a pass on. And since the Greek word they were trying to translate really doesn\u2019t have a good translation in English, even they left people scratching their heads and misinterpreting Acts 1:8.<\/p>\n

You see, that little Greek word is there to tell you something about the list that follows it. In essence, it says that if you were formatting this list for a web page, it should not<\/strong> look like this:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Jerusalem<\/li>\n
  2. Judea<\/li>\n
  3. Samaria<\/li>\n
  4. The ends of the earth<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Instead, it should look like this:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Jerusalem<\/li>\n
    • Judea<\/li>\n
    • Samaria<\/li>\n
    • The ends of the earth<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      In other words, the idea that a church ought to reach \u201cits Jerusalem\u201d first, and then reach out to Judea, etc., is contrary to what this verse says. This verse says you are supposed to be reaching all of these.<\/p>\n

      What\u2019s the difference?<\/p>\n

      Shouldn\u2019t a church concentrate on its home area, and rely on other churches to concentrate on theirs? Practically speaking, just reaching your church\u2019s home area is a big job.<\/p>\n

      The problem is, that kind of thinking results in what we have today. Something like 99 percent of all full-time Christian workers work among people groups where there are already churches. Nearly 99 percent of all funds given to God are spent where there are already churches.<\/p>\n

      That last 1 percent or maybe, to be generous, 2 percent is available to plant churches where there aren\u2019t any yet. That tiny bit is being used among about one-quarter of the world\u2019s people. That small amount is left for the 2,500 people groups still unreached among the world\u2019s 6,000 people groups.<\/p>\n

      Acts 1:8 says that making disciples here, there and everywhere is the responsibility of all believers. Julie and I are pouring our lives into this. What\u2019s God want you to do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Acts 1:8 in some translations has a word that looks out of place, but there’s a very important reason it’s there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[29],"class_list":{"0":"post-4413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ministry","7":"tag-bible","8":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}