Two of the songs on the album are perfect
examples of this variation. Not only are
they drastically different from the likes of “Helter Skelter” and “Revolution”
(any of the three versions of “Revolution”) but they’re stylistically
completely different from each other.
The interesting bit is that their titles differ by only a single
word. “Honey Pie”, sung by Paul
McCartney and backed by the band, sounds like a 1920’s era jaunty, little
tune. With heavy emphasis on Paul’s
piano lead, it sounds as though it could be the backdrop for a Vaudeville stage
act. “Wild Honey Pie” is a horse of a
different color altogether. It’s
completely a Paul McCartney bit. With
silly guitar playing, a simple drum beat and Paul looped over himself twanging
out “Honey Pie….Honey Pie” over and over.
It was a little bit that he worked up while in India, and Pattie
Harrison (George’s wife) liked it – and it made the album, ridiculous as it
is. Two songs with a single word
difference in the title, and it makes all the difference in the world. Don’t walk up to the jukebox, drop your dime
(or whatever jukeboxes cost these days), and punch the numbers for one
expecting the other.
It’s funny how a single little word can
call up such drastic differences. It’s
like when someone has something tragic happens and you hear the phrase thrown
around (especially by TV and radio personalities) “sending thoughts and prayers
your way.” Do you really send prayers
their way? I thought we pray to God, through the Son, for
people? So shouldn’t we really be
sending prayer UP for them…asking God’s blessing or comfort to come their
way? But we don’t…we say that we’re
sending prayers their way. Again, not
anything critical that there’s going to be blasphemy charges to answer for
because of the semantics on that little phrase…just one of those little things
that get my attention when people say it.
There’s another example of a single word
with great ramifications that I know of.
The difference between two different two-letter words. It’s not “Wild Honey Pie” versus simply
“Honey Pie” where there’s an extra word added.
It’s actually the difference in translation between the word “in” or
“of”. Our preacher touched on it briefly
in class a while back, so I’ll not try to claim that this discovery was mine
(he’s also the one that pointed out the James/Jacob translation discrepancy
from the “Don’t mess around with Jim” devotional). But the point is that we look at newer
translations as being generally more accurate than older ones. That is to say specifically, we trust the New
International Version or the New American Standard (my translation of choice)
to be more accurate than the good old King James version. But sometimes…just sometimes…King James has
it more right. In particular, Galatians
2:16 has the small little difference of two occurrences of “in” or “of” (Romans
3:21 has the same little twist in translation) that drastically change the
meaning of the verse, and possibly what it means for us to be a Christian. Am I overstating that for dramatic
effect? No…I don’t think I am.
In the NIV Galatians 2:16 reads, 16 know that a
person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by
faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the
law no one will be justified. Meanwhile
the New American Standard Bible translates that passage from the original Greek
into 16 nevertheless
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith
in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be
justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the
works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
But if you’ll go get your big family Bible from Grandma, the one
with the big list of who married whom and when and the funeral dates and when
whoever else was baptized – that is, the one that is most likely a King James
Version (the one with the translation completed way back in 1611) and turn to
the same Galatians 2:16, and you’ll read, 16 Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the
law shall no flesh be justified. Did
you notice that difference? The later
translations (even including the NEW King James Version completed in 1982)
almost all say, “a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but through
faith IN Christ.” But way back in 1611,
that phrase was translated to say that a man isn’t justified by the works of
the law but by the faith OF Jesus Christ.
The latter part of the verse also changes emphasis drastically when
instead of reading, even we have believed
in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ you
actually read it as even we have believed
in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. It’s not our faith in Christ Jesus alone
that justifies us in the sight of God.
The switch in Romans 3 has the same repercussions as the switch in
Galatians. We say that our Faith in
Christ Jesus justifies us in the sight of God so that we are found blameless,
but that’s not exactly accurate.
Listen for the Whisper that sounds like
the adults in Lois Lowry’s book The Giver. We need to have “Precision of speech”. Yes our hope and faith and trust and
salvation are all found when we put our trust and belief in Jesus Christ. But the place where our sins were atoned came
when Jesus Christ was faithful. Jesus
Christ trusted God where man’s faith falters.
He was tempted, but never sinned.
He had no envy, no hate, or anything else the devil offered to Him. He was love.
He forgave others as He wanted God to forgive Him. We say that part of “the Lord’s Prayer” but
that’s the one thing we pray that we never really pay attention to. We’re all keen and hip to that “forgive us”
part, but then sorta rush through the “as we forgive others” qualifier. Jesus didn’t.
Jesus was faithful to the law where we could not be. Jesus knew that trusting God to the cross
would be the sacrifice great enough to cover all mankind. Paul died for God. Stephen was stoned for God while saying
almost the exact words as Christ while he was being stoned, “Lord, do not hold
this sin against them!” Yet, we don’t
put our faith in Paul or Stephen…or Moses or Abraham or Adam or Noah or even
Enoch, who was so righteous in God’s eyes, he was taken up without ever seeing
death (Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5). The
ONLY one we put our faith in is Jesus Christ – because He was God. And HE was faithful completely to the Father. So sure, our faith in Christ is what we do to
find our Salvation, but without the faithfulness OF Christ there is no gain
simply from our faith.
Our faith falters. Even the best of us, at times, have
doubted. Is God real? Is the Bible really “God’s Word”? All of the standard litany of “if God is
real, then why” questions that we’ve all faced.
All of us, at some point, have heard that nagging doubt “what if”. Our faith is imperfect, just as we are
imperfect. Not only is our faith
imperfect, sometimes we can possibly have nearly perfect faith in completely
the wrong things. We trust money, our
Government, our own reasoning of problems, sometimes even our earthly churches,
and just about everything else that we put our faith in, at its best, still
depends on the imperfection of man. The
value of money, even gold, changes day to day.
Our Government is run by people who make mistakes – well-intentioned as
they may be. Our earthly churches are
administered by people: preachers, elders, teachers – all humans. Hopefully our earthly churches seek the
counsel of God the Father in their decisions, but still men. So it’s not simply where we place our trust,
and it’s not simply that our trust is in Jesus that saves us. I mean, it IS that we place our trust in
Jesus, but it’s because of who Jesus was that matters. We can have faith in Paul, or Peter, or
Father Abraham years gone by or we can place our faith in Jesus Christ. But that one little word makes it all as
drastically different as “Wild Honey Pie” is from “Honey Pie”. Jesus’ faith was perfect faith. He pleaded with God, knowing the pain that
would come (both the physical pain of torture and death and the agony of being
separated from God), that there might be another way. But His faith in God never faltered. And though His body stumbled under the weight
of the cross on the road, His faith never faltered under the weight of the
cross, if you know what I mean. A faith
IN Christ can be flawed and imperfect – because it depends on me. But the faith OF Christ…that’s perfect
faith. The faith of Christ is what made
His blood pure and made His sacrifice perfect for all mankind. The faith of Christ is the faith we need to be
trying harder and harder every day to achieve.
I’m not saved by my paltry attempts at what I call believing in Jesus…If
I believed in Jesus 100%, I’d quit asking so many “why” questions when bad
things happen. Jesus’ faith was perfect
faith and when faced when life’s many “unfairnesses” let’s call them (illness,
disease, unfair judgment against others)
Jesus turned to God every single time and asked how that situation could be
used to glorify God the Father. To me, that’s a MUCH more powerful saving force
than my simple utterance of “I believe in Jesus.” I believe in Jesus because He is the
Messiah. Personally, I’m much more
certain of the faith OF Jesus Christ than I am my own faith IN Jesus Christ. But we try.
And hopefully every day our faith IN Jesus gets a little closer to being
like the faith OF Jesus.
~Dwayne
ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.nethttp://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com
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