Whew! That was tough! I've been working on my translation of the "works of the flesh" all morning long. Here's the latest:
Did you notice that the first 5 Greek words all share the same ending? That's probably no accident. That's why I had to change my rendering of the 5th word from "witchcraft" to "sorcery" -- now all the words end in "y" in English. Woohoo!
Moving on, notice too those little boxes at the end of words. All these terms are plural in the Greek. Hence the plurals in my English.
Finally, just for fun, I've given you the renderings found in "my" Bible -- Hawaiian Pidgin. Ain't they something? Man, we know how fo talk in da islands! "Dey get huhu." Oh my!!! Broke da mouth ono!!
I close with this encouragement. In the Great Commission in Matthew, we are commanded to go to all the nations and TEACH. The ministry of the church is to be a teaching ministry. And that has to happen:
- from the front
- in your small group
- one to one
- and at home
In 2023, are you hearing the word taught regularly, are you in a small group, are you learning while chatting with a friend, and -- most importantly -- are you reading the Bible for yourself? That would make a great new year's resolution, wouldn't it -- to recommit ourselves to hearing the Bible at those four levels.