CAPITALIZATION
OF PRONOUNS IN NEW BIBLES
By a Pastor 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.
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