That scene where Peter makes his enlightened confession of Christ leads me to ponder. As I recall from scripture, only Peter, James and John witnessed the transfiguration. Before that, the 12, just like everyone else, saw the natural man Jesus, with their natural eyes. Asked “Who do people say that I am?”, there was no risk for the disciples to answer Jesus’ question; they simply repeated what they’d heard. Not once did Jesus say “BZZT! Wrong!” Even when some of the answers were preposterous. “John the Baptist? Someone thought I was John the Baptist? He baptized Me! How could I be him?!?” No, Jesus just listened. But then He asked the $64,000 question; one fraught with risk for the disciples. Did fear of speaking foolishly make for a complete silence? How long did the crickets chirp?

It was Peter who declared what man can see only with eyes opened by God:

“You are the Christ – Son of the Living God”.

How I admire Peter’s willingness to take a risk and get out of the boat again – casting off the safety net of group conformity and boldly declaring his faith.

Conformity is something I’ve observed in comparing Bible translations. For nearly 25 years, I’ve used the e-Sword Bible for Windows, which at present makes 46 English translations available for free. It’s eye-opening to line up and read the same scripture in all 46 translations and observe how many are identical from one version to the next. That suggests to me that the translators start with an existing version that they favor and absent good reason to make a change, stick with precedent. In other words, Bible translators tend to remain “in the boat” of conformity when translating scripture. That there are so many versions identical from one to the other also suggests they don’t go back to the original Greek manuscripts so much as they simply look to modernize the wording. If ever I doubted my cynical views, I was convinced upon learning of translations whose main purpose was gender neutrality.

I’d like to consider a scripture the Lord had me study in depth and what an “out of the boat” translation might look like. In Galatians 1:15-16 Paul wrote:

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son IN me, so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles.

The English word “in” is translated from the Greek word “en” which is a preposition and means “in, by, to” according to Strong’s and Thayer’s Greek dictionaries. The 46 English Bibles I’ve installed for e-Sword are fairly evenly divided between “in” and “to” in their translations. Such small words, easily overlooked, but there’s a BIG difference. “In” suggests the revelation of Christ happened within Paul being by the Holy Spirit. “To” suggests the revelation happened externally – perhaps something He witnessed with his eyes and ears. So what does it matter, as long as Paul received the revelation?

Strong’s dictionary also lists the word “through” as a translation of the Greek word “en” though not one translation renders it that way. “En” occurs some 536 times in the Greek NT, but the King James Version translates it “through” just 37 times. For Galatians 1:15-16 the translators rendered it “in” and thereafter most English translations have simply followed the precedent. Personally, I believe “through” would have been the more spiritually insightful and “out of the boat” translation for that scripture. Strong’s and Thayer’s elaborate on the Greek word “en” as being from a “fixed position”, meaning something that happens “in the midst of” of our very being and makes us into instruments of the revelation of Christ. Just as it was with Paul, Jesus is revealed through us to an unbelieving world.

In similar vein, the word “preach” in that same scripture is translated from the Greek word “euaggelizo” (yoo-ag-ghel-id’-zo) which also means “show”. Accordingly the following is my suggestion for what I consider a more “out of the boat” translation of Galatians 1:15-16 :

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son through me, so that I might show Him among the Gentiles.

As often as we talk about about being “Jesus with skin on” for a world that needs to see Him, isn’t that potentially a more faithful rendering of the passage? That Jesus would reveal His Son through me, so that I might show Him among the Gentiles?

So how does that apply to us as children of God (1 John 3:1)? Well, the world initially sees us as a “son or daughter of man”; with their natural eyes they see our natural being. But eventually the presence of the Son within us will make an appearance by the Holy Spirit and prompt them with the same question Jesus put to Peter and the disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” Those whom He chooses to reveal Himself, those for whom He has opened spiritual eyes, will see the Son of God in and through us. Recognition of Christ is not instantaneous; it occurs through relationship over time as He reveals His character through us. The apostle Peter, for example, walked with Jesus for nearly 2 years before making his confession “You are the Christ, Son of the Living God”.

So what did Peter see in Jesus? Paul writes: For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. (Colossians 2:9) What does God’s word say about the presence of God in us? The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. (Romans 8:11) Friends, when people meet you in this world, they don’t just see you … sometimes, as He wills, they see Jesus!

As for whether the word “en” should be translated in, to or through, and the other word I won’t try to pronounce again should be translated preach or show, there is great impact on our identity and power as children of God. If the better translation is preach and only pastor’s preach, how is the world to see Jesus unless they go to a church and listen to a sermon? If however the better translation is to show Jesus who lives through us, then we are all instruments of Christ by the Holy Spirit. It is for that reason, I’ve come to view Bible translations as biased towards religious tradition and institutionalism. The truth is, we are all priests (1 Peter 2:5,9, Revelation 1:6) not just the pastors, and we all take Christ into the world by the Holy Spirit who lives in and through us.

Like it says: You are the Light of the World. (Matthew 5:14) Christ in you is that light!

Is my proposed re-translation so far fetched? Consider what Paul wrote to the Corinthians about whether it was preaching in words or the power of God that convinced them to believe.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV)

So you find yourself surrounded by sinners? That’s wonderful! It means the Father has placed you where He can reveal His Son THROUGH you to those who need to see Him. Rejoice! You are being used by God as instrument of the Son’s revelation. May you be witness to the awakening of many sleepers and the resurrection of many dead!