What happens when things don’t go as planned? How do you handle storms you face that are completely out of your control? Do you trust God in the face of adversity? How can God turn tragic circumstances into something beautiful for his glory and cause you to love more, complain less, and see God at work in the most unlikely of places?
Lacey Buchanan: A Tessier cleft lip and palate is actually not a syndrome at all. It’s a condition that affects the face, similarly to a typical cleft lip and palate. The difference is that Tessier clefts can have classifications ranging from 0 to 14. The number classification correlates to the place on the face that the cleft affects. For example, Christian’s classification of Tessier cleft is 3, 4, and 5. Each number represents a place on his face where the cleft is. The 5 indicates the clefting of his eyes.
Describe the challenges your son, Christian, faced at birth.
Lacey Buchanan: His biggest challenge, honestly, is social. I’m sure you’d expect me to say something about his disability here, but sadly no. That isn’t the biggest obstacle he faces. We live in a world where it’s acceptable to discard children like Christian. That carries over into how our society views people like Christian as a whole. People sometimes look at Christian and they feel sorry for him, or they think that he must be miserable or suffering. They think that he must have such a difficult life. They also sometimes think that he doesn’t deserve the same treatment as everyone else.
Christian, first and foremost, is a person just like the rest of us. Sure, he has some challenges that he has to face, but don’t we all? Christian’s challenges are just a little more obvious than some. Physically, Christian also has the challenge of figuring out how to navigate a world where everyone else has vision and he doesn’t. That’ll be a challenge, but not something he can’t handle! The social challenges are much more daunting.
Before Christian was born, ultrasounds foretold some of his challenges. After his birth you were hit with more. Through blow after blow, how did you hold on to faith? Did you ever doubt God’s love?
Lacey Buchanan: I definitely went through a time of doubting God’s love. I think it’s only normal when we go through something that shakes us to our core to really examine ourselves and figure out where we stand. The refining fires can be painful, but they can also make something beautiful out of us!
I spent a lot of time in prayer during those hard days, and I spent a lot of time questioning God. I believe there’s no point in withholding our questions from God because he already knows what our hearts are feeling anyway. I also believe he’s definitely big enough to handle any of our concerns or questions. I asked God hard questions and poured my heart out to him. I asked him why my innocent child had to go through these things. I asked him why he would allow me to hurt so much that some days I wasn’t sure I could stand it any longer.
But, isn’t God good, in all his sovereignty, that he would see fit to hold me close and stay by my side while I was busy questioning his authority, blaming him, and dealing with the hurt in my heart? I didn’t have to hold onto my faith in God during these trials because he was holding onto me. He’s good, and I have never seen it more clearly than when Christian was born.
What role did the Bible play in how you dealt with your situation?
Lacey Buchanan: The Bible was my lifeline during the difficult times. When I hurt the most, I’d open my Bible and beg to hear from God. The Scriptures constantly reminded me of the truth when my circumstances tempted to convince me otherwise.
How did these challenges affect you and your husband? What advice do you have for couples in similar circumstances?
Lacey Buchanan: Anytime something rocks your world, it’s most likely going to rock your marriage, too. We definitely went through a hard time in our marriage right along with the challenges we were facing with Christian. My advice to couples would be to cling to Jesus and always put him first. Build a solid foundation in Christ before the hard times come. Build your house on the rock, so to speak, so that when the storm comes, you’ll be ready.
In response to Internet cruelty you experience, you posted a video on YouTube with music and statement cards, and you showed Christian to the world. Why do you think your video drew six million views?
Lacey Buchanan: I think the video drew so many viewers because the story behind the video is relatable. Not that everyone could relate to our unique challenges, but they could relate to the love of a mother and a child. They could relate to the struggles, too, because we’ve all faced challenges in our lives. And that’s what I was hoping for! I was hoping people would see the video and not make a knee-jerk presumption about Christian and about his disability, but see a mother and a child, a person.
Christian can’t see people’s responses to him, but he can hear or sense them. What do you tell him about how to manage the ignorance or well-intentioned missteps of people he meets?
Lacey Buchanan: As of yet, we haven’t really had to explain much to Christian. He’s just now getting to an age where he can understand what people are saying about him. I hope to teach him about his value and worth now, and build him up so much, that when people do respond in a negative way to him, they can’t tear him down. I also hope to mirror for him how he can respond to people and teach him healthy ways to cope. I want him to always be sensitive to other people and realize when someone is being genuine, even if they weren’t being tactful. I want him to know how to respond gracefully and to give people the benefit of the doubt. I don’t want him to instantly become defensive and angry. I hope that I am doing that now so that I am an example for him to follow.
How is Christian now and what is he up to?
Lacey Buchanan: Christian is fantastic! He’ll be 6 years old next month! He’s in kindergarten now, doing really well. He takes karate and recently successfully tested for his first belt! He’s officially a yellow striped belt in karate, so watch out! 🙂 Every day is a joy and a gift and I couldn’t be more thankful that I get to fill my days with his vibrant personality and the beauty he brings to this world!
This far down a most unusual road, how do you define disability?
Lacey Buchanan: There’s a quote in Chicken Soup for the Soul Children with Special Needs that I love and would be appropriate here: “A disability means the loss of part or all functional ability of certain parts of one’s body. Handicaps are the roadblocks other people, and in some cases our own minds, put in the way of people with disabilities who are trying to live normal lives.” I love to tell people that Christian is differently abled, not disabled. He can do anything anyone else can do, he just may have to do it differently; and different doesn’t equal less!
What do families of people with special needs wish other people knew?
Lacey Buchanan: In my opinion, families who have members with special needs want other people to know that the stigma needs to go. There’s this stigma around special needs: it must be so hard, so difficult to live with day to day, that somehow, people with disabilities aren’t as happy as everyone else because, how could they be? And yes, sometimes disabilities can create extra challenges and obstacles for people to overcome, but that just serves to make them stronger. We’re stronger for what we’ve been through. We’re better people than we were before it. To us, Christian is just Christian and his disability is just a part of that. We aren’t miserable. Far from it. We are, in a small way, thankful, that we’ve faced adversity and come out stronger; and we are, in a huge way, thankful for Christian. Sure, some days are hard, but who doesn’t have hard days? We have so many more happy days than hard ones. We’re just a regular family, loving life and dealing with what’s thrown our way.
What two or three things do you know now about life, love, differences, God, difficulties, and family that you didn’t know before Christian arrived?
Lacey Buchanan: I think before Christian was born, I didn’t fully grasp God’s love for me. The love a parent has for a child is almost too large to comprehend until you have a child of your own. When God blessed me with Christian, I think I understood a little more how God loves me as his child. It was probably still only a small grasp of the unconditional and unfathomable love he has for his children, but it was at least a little deeper glimpse!
After having Christian, I also began to understand even more just how trustworthy God is. I had always heard it in church, but I had never experienced it personally, or been in a situation where I had to depend on God with my all. With Christian, I got to see God’s faithfulness, steadfastness, and just exactly how trustworthy he really is because I was in a place where he was all I had to hold onto. I was able to fully take him at his word and see every promise come to be, and see how perfectly God keeps his promises!
What do you most want readers to come away with from Through the Eyes of Hope?
Lacey Buchanan: I hope that when people read Through the Eyes of Hope, they’ll come away knowing that sometimes what we might perceive as the death of a dream is, in God’s hands, really the beginning of a beautiful journey.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?
Lacey Buchanan: I LOVE Bible Gateway! I use it at least a few times a week when I’m looking up verses or going along in my studies. I also have the app on my phone and love all the ways to use it! I specifically enjoy the audio function so I can listen to Scripture and Christian can follow along! The Bible Gateway App is unique, user friendly, and convenient for anyone who wants to study the Bible!
Bio: Lacey Buchanan is a middle Tennessee native who, with her husband, Chris, enjoys raising two rambunctious boys named Christian and Chandler. She has also earned her Juris Doctor. Lacey travels the country, sharing her family’s story and spreading a message of hope in God. An avid runner, lover of books, and follower of Christ, she plans to use her law degree to educate and advocate for the disabled.
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How do you build a life of significance? How do small persistent daily steps lead to tremendous and lasting results? What does it mean that great lives are built on the foundation of a holy redundancy; a steady faithfulness?
You write, “Success in the Large Things requires deep, abiding commitment to the Small Things.” What are the “Large” and “Small” things you’re referring to?
Jeff Manion: The Large Things might include a thriving marriage or ministry, financial stability, or spiritual maturity. The Small Things are those nondramatic daily behaviors that move us forward in these areas over an extended period of time: such as the habit of resolving conflict swiftly, offering regular encouragement, saving money from every paycheck, and carving out quiet time each and every day. These Small Things feel insignificant when weighed individually but amass over time to build the most critical areas of our lives.
From the Bible, how do we know God wants us to concentrate on the Small Things?
Jeff Manion: Follow the lives of the heroes of the Bible. What tends to jump out are the monumental earth-shaking events. But dig deeper and you’ll often discover a steady, faithful, consistency in smaller things.
Before David’s encounter with Goliath, he’s faithfully watching his family’s flock of sheep (1 Samuel 17:15). Before the dramatic story of Daniel in the lion’s den, the aged servant is faithfully praying, day after day (Daniel 6:10). Carefully read through the ministry of Jesus, and you’ll discover that most of his miracles emerge from settings where he’s devoted to the comparatively mundane tasks of teaching or praying (Luke 5:16).
The extraordinary events of the Bible frequently emerge from lives devoted to ordinary faithfulness. I believe these mundane events are recorded in Scripture to remind us of the significance of faithfulness in the Small Things.
How does your book differ from the concept of “the power of positive thinking”?
Jeff Manion: In Dream Big, Think Small, the emphasis is really on the “think small” part. The focus is less on the dreaming and more on the small daily habits that form our lives—those repeated behaviors that make or break us. Many want to change the world—or at least their corner of it—but grow impatient with the time and sheer redundancy required to effect lasting change. “Thinking positively” is worthless if unaccompanied by steady, faithful, movement.
Why is faithfulness a quiet virtue?
Jeff Manion: Faithfulness generally doesn’t make a lot of noise. It’s built on the repetition of routine activity—that capacity to bring ourselves again and again, usually in the same way, and often to the same people, for an extended period of time. Because of this, it ceases to be new and interesting. It’s rarely attention grabbing. The power of faithfulness is in the sum of its activity over time, but the individual actions are rarely spectacular. Thus, it’s quiet when measured from day to day.
What does the Bible want us to learn from the ant?
Jeff Manion: In Proverbs, King Solomon councils the listener to observe how ants have little power but store up food for winter (Proverbs 30:25) by making steady trips back and forth to the anthill. The proverb uses the ant as an example of what can be accomplished through steady, faithful, activity.
In the matter of attending to “small things,” how should a person care for and strengthen their soul? Guard their heart?
Jeff Manion: Soul care is daily work. Don’t rely on a mountaintop weekend or life-changing sermon to renovate your life.
The work we do daily in quieting our hearts before God, asking for guidance, and dining on the story of the Bible can provide daily food for our daily growth.
What is the power of gratitude?
Jeff Manion: Daily gratitude evicts anxiety and envy. When I chronicle the innumerable blessings that flow into my life, I am less prone to fall into anxious worry (Philippians 4:6), or view others as blessed while I am shortchanged.
What does it mean for a Christian to persevere?
Jeff Manion: The opposite of perseverance is to give up. To call it quits. To throw in the towel.
In Galatians 6, Paul admonished young believers Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9).
The harvest is linked to our perseverance: the capacity to keep moving forward when we feel like giving up.
Explain your statement that goodness grows slowly?
Jeff Manion: Whether investing your life as a parent, a coach, or a pastor; these investments don’t tend to show their impact overnight. The Bible uses farming imagery: you plant, you cultivate. Then you wait. You never harvest in the same season that you plant. Goodness rarely produces immediate results. It tends to grow slow like a fruit producing tree.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?
Jeff Manion: I use Bible Gateway virtually every week. It saves a ton of time in locating Scriptures I’m looking for. I’m also able to swiftly move from translation to translation to see how a particular verse or story is worded in another version of the Bible. I’m deeply grateful for Bible Gateway.
Bio:Jeff Manion is the senior teaching pastor of multi-campus Ada Bible Church (@adabible) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he has served for over 30 years. He’s the author of The Land Between, Satisfied, and Dream Big, Think Small. His great joy is digging deeply into Scripture and passionately teaching the story of the Bible in a clear and relevant way. Jeff enjoys running, cycling and hiking. He and his wife, Chris, have three adult children and are proud grandparents.
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Are you the leader of a regular Bible study or church small group? If so, you probably spend a fair amount of time getting ready to lead weekly or monthly discussions about Bible topics and passages.
That preparation is hard but rewarding work. And unless you happen to be a pastor, you probably prepare for those study discussions with a relatively limited arsenal of Bible study tools at your disposal. Most of us have a study Bible or two on our bookshelves, but certainly not the depth of Bible help represented by an expensive library of commentaries and reference works.
Does that describe you? If so, Bible Gateway Plus was made for you. It’s designed to give you easy and inexpensive access to a library of Bible study helps that would be prohibitively expensive to own in print. If you haven’t tried it yet, take it for a spin for 30 days free and see how it makes your Bible study easier and more Here’s what your 30-day free trial of Bible Gateway Plus provides:
1. Access to over 40 digital study Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, and other references.
You’ll get access to dozens of top-quality Bible reference books—with each entry displayed right alongside the Scripture being discussed! These aren’t just ebooks that you’ll need to laboriously search through; these are keyed to individual Bible verses and are displayed right next to them on Bible Gateway. When you look up John 3:16, Bible Gateway Plus collects every note about John 3:16 from its library and makes them available to you.
What’s more, those 40+ books represent a wide swath of theological perspective. And they aren’t niche titles; they’re prominent reference works that are used by pastors, scholars, and Bible students around the world. They range from the popular NIV Study Bible to the comprehensive Expositor’s Bible Commentary to the accessible How to Read the Bible Book by Book. Click here to see a full list of titles in the Bible Gateway Plus library.
2. An ad-free Bible Gateway experience.
Banner ads help pay our bills and keep Bible Gateway available, but we understand that they can be distracting. Bible Gateway Plus membership removes banner ads from Scripture pages on Bible Gateway, so you can read and study without distraction.
3. For February only, we’ve added the much-loved NIV Application Commentary on Genesis to the Bible Gateway Plus library.
The NIV Application Commentary on Genesis is one of the best and most accessible resources on Genesis available. If you’re involved in a Bible study that’s reading through or regularly referring to Genesis, this is the perfect time to start your free 30-day trial and get access to this useful reference.
We meant what we said above—Bible Gateway Plus was made to help you. There’s no risk involved in starting a 30-day free trial—you’ll get full access to Bible Gateway Plus during the trial period and can cancel anytime. So if you haven’t yet tried it out, start your trial today and see why thousands of Bible Gateway visitors have upgraded their experience with a Bible Gateway Plus membership!
Teaching children to love God’s Word is an important part of parenting. Kids need to see for themselves how God worked in people’s lives through the stories of the Bible and how Jesus infuses all of Scripture.
Sheila Walsh: I want children to understand how amazing the Bible is. It’s the best adventure book and the greatest love story ever written. Even greater than that, we’re invited into this adventure with God and the love story is all about how much we’re loved.
Sheila Walsh: Our culture is flooded with people and places giving all sorts of messages to our children. Our little girls are being told they’re not pretty enough or not thin enough. Television provides poor role models for little boys as to what it means to be brave; to be a true hero. My prayer is that as children discover how loved and valued they are by God, through reading The Bible Is My Best Friend Bible Storybook, they’ll grow strong in him.
I can’t think of anything in life being more important than knowing that your child has a relationship with Jesus. I’m praying that many children will come to a place of understanding that having a real relationship with Jesus is not just for moms and dads but for them too.
Sheila Walsh: My heart in writing The Bible Is My Best Friend Family Devotional was to make it fun for families to come together at the end of the day, spend some quality time together laughing and learning about God and each other. With The Bible Is My Best Friend Storybook there’s now an opportunity to dive in deeper to some of the Bible stories and grow in faith.
How do the unique illustrations bring the stories to life?
Sheila Walsh: Sarah Horne is such an amazing illustrator. Her love for God and her out-of-the-box creativity have taken stories we thought we knew and given them fresh life. Who knew that it was so much fun getting onto Noah’s ark?
How can parents use the resources in The Bible Is My Best Friend brand—specifically these two new releases—to help children understand the role of God’s Word in their lives?
Sheila Walsh: The Word of God is the foundation stone for life. When children begin to understand that every question they have is addressed in the Bible, then they know where to turn when life is hard. We all—children and parents alike—need to be reminded of the grace and mercy of God, of the power of forgiveness, and of our future and our hope. With the new Bible Storybook, families can read together about the love of God that started way back in the very beginning. Parents can help their children understand that even when we let God down, he never lets us down. He’s a faithful, loving Father.
How will these resources help parents in leading their child to Christ?
Sheila Walsh:Where Do I Find Jesus? is a wonderful place to start if your child has questions about having a faith of their own. Sometimes it’s hard to find the right words to explain what it means to know Jesus, so I pray that this book will help.
What are you most excited about with the release of these two new books?
Sheila Walsh: I’m excited about children getting excited about God! I long to see hundreds and thousands of children begin the great adventure of life with a personal relationship with Jesus and his love-letter, the Bible, in their hearts and hands.
Bio: Sheila Walsh is a powerful Bible teacher and bestselling author from Scotland with over 5 million books sold, including 5 Minutes with Jesus: A Fresh Infusion of Joy and The Longing in Me. Her international ministry has reached more than 5.5 million women by combining honesty, vulnerability, and humor with the transforming power of God’s Word. Calling Texas home, Sheila lives in Frisco with her husband, Barry, her son, Christian, and three little dogs. You can reach her at braveheartsisterhood.com.
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Are you dating and wondering if your relationship is ready for marriage? Or are you single but wondering if marriage is part of God’s plan for you?
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we’ve got two short new devotions dedicated to helping you (and your significant other, if you have one) think through the exciting (and maybe intimidating) topic of marriage! Visit our Devotions to Prepare You for Marriage page to sign up for one or both of them!
These devotionals are perfect for reading on your own, but you can use them as the basis for discussion with a significant other. It’s never too early or too late in a relationship to think about where it’s heading, and how you can cultivate a relationship that honors God!
Recently, we offered a few thoughts in response to the common question “Which Bible translation is the best?” Today, we’ll continue the discussion with a look at one type of Bible translation that you can find here at Bible Gateway: word-for-word Bible translations.
A word-to-word Bible translation is a Bible that aims to hew as closely as possible to the wording and grammatical structure of the original text. (The more technical term for “word-to-word” is formal equivalence.) Whenever possible, a word-for-word translation tries to translate each word, phrase, and concept in the original text with an exactly matching word, phrase, and concept in the target language. People sometimes call this kind of Bible a “literal” translation.
What’s Important to Know About Word-for-word Bible Translations?
1. They aim to reduce the “human interpretation” factor in Bible translation. By sticking as closely as possible to the original words and structure, these translations reduce the number of major interpretative decisions that a translator has to make—and thus, reduce the chance that fallible translators will make the wrong translation choice and distort the meaning of the original.
2. “Word-for-word” is a goal to be aimed at, not completely achieved. Because no two languages are exact 1:1 matches to each other, it’s not possible to create a 100% word-for-word translation (certainly not one that is comprehensible). While translators may try to be as “literal” as possible, they must inevitably make many interpretive decisions, sometimes choosing the best of several unsatisfactory options. And it’s not possible to completely remove fallible human interpretation from the mix—even the decision to translate a Bible word-to-word is an interpretive act! Nonetheless, a word-for-word translation tries to keep translation compromises to a minimum.
3. Their language is unique and memorable. Because they’re translating a vocabulary and sentence structure that are quite far removed from modern spoken language, word-for-word Bibles have a unique voice that truly stands out from modern writing and literature. You might use words like majestic, soaring, or inspiring to describe them—perhaps even “old-fashioned,” but in a positive sense. If this style of language appeals to you, you’ll want to be sure to listen to them as well as read them—so visit our library of audio Bibles to get the full effect.
4. They work especially well when paired with a Bible commentary or other study tool. Because these Bibles’ language and phrasing can differ from modern English, you’ll benefit from keeping a commentary or study Bible handy while reading, to help you sort out unusual or confusing terms and phrases. Bible Gateway’s digital commentaries and study Bibles are very useful for this purpose. (Bible Gateway’s study library includes several good free resources; if you upgrade to Bible Gateway Plus membership, you’ll get access to additional study materials, some of them specific to word-for-word Bible translations—like the King James Study Bible and the NKJV Study Bible.)
Who Will Most Appreciate a Word-for-word Bible?
Consider a word-for-word Bible if you:
Want a Bible experience that is closer to the vocabulary and phrasing that its original audiences read and heard.
Love majestic language and phrasing.
Have access to a good study Bible, dictionary, or other tool to help you when you run across unfamiliar terms.
Four Word-for-word Bibles to Start With
Bible Gateway has many Bibles that lean toward word-for-word translation. Here are a few prominent ones that would make a fine starting point for anyone looking for this kind of Bible reading experience.
1. The Authorized (King James) Version: Easily the most famous word-for-word Bible translation, the King James Bible has had a lasting impact not only on Christianity but on the English language itself. Its majestic language and memorable turns of phrase have cemented it in our cultural consciousness. Many popularly-known and oft-memorized Bible verses use the language of the King James Version; if your early encounters with the Bible were with the King James Version, you probably have a nostalgic connection to its language as well! Although it draws on other English translations, it remains a reasonably literal translation.
The King James Version is still widely used today across the English-speaking world. Here’s a sample Bible passage from the Authorized (King James) Version:
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. — Hebrews 6:1-6 (AKJV)
2. Young’s Literal Translation: A very literal translation of the Bible by Robert Young in 1862. This translation vividly highlights both the advantages and drawbacks of the word-for-word approach: it sticks quite close in many places to the structure of the original biblical languages, but as you can see from this sample passage, it’s not always easy going for modern readers. But like many such translations, even its difficult-to-read sections have an appealing poetic quality to them.
Here’s a sample Bible passage from Young’s Literal Translation:
Wherefore, having left the word of the beginning of the Christ, unto the perfection we may advance, not again a foundation laying of reformation from dead works, and of faith on God,
of the teaching of baptisms, of laying on also of hands, of rising again also of the dead, and of judgment age-during,
and this we will do, if God may permit,
for [it is] impossible for those once enlightened, having tasted also of the heavenly gift, and partakers having became of the Holy Spirit,
and did taste the good saying of God, the powers also of the coming age,
and having fallen away, again to renew [them] to reformation, having crucified again to themselves the Son of God, and exposed to public shame. — Hebrews 6:1-6 (YLT)
3. English Standard Version: One thing you may have noticed about a lot of word-for-word translations is that they’re old—although they may have been revised and updated through the years, many of them (like the previous two on this list) have their roots in Bible translations that are often centuries old. This can lead to some added reading difficulty, as you combine the quirks of word-for-word translation with archaic English vocabulary. But that doesn’t need to be the case! The English Standard Version is a very popular word-for-word Bible that uses modern English while still employing a formal equivalence translation philosophy.
Here’s a sample passage from the English Standard Version:
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. — Hebrews 6:1-6 (ESV)
4. The Amplified Bible: One of the most unique Bibles in our library, the Amplified Bible aims for a word-for-word translation… with some interesting tweaks to help convey the original text’s meaning. The Amplified Bible uses “amplifications” in the text to help readers understand concepts that might not be clear in the text. These amplifications include:
Explanatory notes in [brackets] that clarify concepts which the English translation doesn’t convey
(Parentheses) to provide alternate translation possibilities for certain terms
Italics to indicate words which aren’t in the original texts—often used for words like and or or, which the English language requires for readability
This Bible is a fascinating way to really dig into the nuances of translation and the original languages, and is probably best suited for Bible study (as opposed to casual reading or memorization). Here’s a sample Bible passage from the Amplified Bible:
Therefore let us get past the elementary stage in the teachings about the Christ, advancing on to maturity and perfection and spiritual completeness, [doing this] without laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of teaching about washings (ritual purifications), the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. [These are all important matters in which you should have been proficient long ago.] And we will do this [that is, proceed to maturity], if God permits. For [it is impossible to restore to repentance] those who have once been enlightened [spiritually] and who have tasted and consciously experienced the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted and consciously experienced the good word of God and the powers of the age (world) to come, and then have fallen away—it is impossible to bring them back again to repentance, since they again nail the Son of God on the cross [for as far as they are concerned, they are treating the death of Christ as if they were not saved by it], and are holding Him up again to public disgrace. — Hebrews 6:1-6 (AMP)
More Word-for-word Bibles at Bible Gateway
The four Bibles above are just the beginning! We encourage you to explore the many more word-for-word translations available at Bible Gateway, including:
There are yet more for you to peruse in our Bible library. While exploring these Bibles, we also highly recommend using the side-by-side Bible view on Bible Gateway to compare how two or more Bibles translate the same passage.
Hopefully, this has helped you to understand and appreciate the word-for-word Bible translation approach, and given you some good places to start reading these Bibles for yourself! In the next post in this series, we’ll introduce you to Bibles which take a different approach: the thought-for-thought or dynamic equivalence philosophy. Until then, have fun digging into these Bibles—and let’s be continually grateful that God has preserved His Word through the centuries for us to read today.
The Bible teaches a seemingly contradictory way to power: weakness. Are Christian leaders increasingly succumbing to the temptations of power and forgetting Jesus’ words to first give it up? What can be learned from the insights of J. I. Packer, Dallas Willard, Marva Dawn, Eugene Peterson, and other spiritual giants?
Kyle Strobel: Scripture is clear that Jesus could have employed what we normally think of as “power” any time he wanted. He tells Peter that if he wanted he could appeal to the Father and receive more than 12 legions of angels at his disposal (Matt. 26:53). The structure of the Gospel of Mark, for instance, is a journey from his calling in ministry as the Messiah (what we normally think of as a position of power), to the true task of the Messiah—walking the way of the cross. The whole of Mark turns on the key question in Mark 8, “Who do people say that I am?” (Mark 8:27) Most people wanted Jesus to offer power, and Jesus instead points to the cross. Jesus presents us with a different sort of power.
In the way of Jesus, the way Philippians 2 claims is a descent down the ladder of power into service, is, paradoxically, where we come to know true kingdom power. But kingdom power is built on a different foundation than worldly power and it functions according to a different system than the flesh. Kingdom power is power found in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). Kingdom power is trusting that without Christ you can do nothing (John 15:5). Kingdom power is believing that if you try to save your life you’ll lose it, but if you lose it for Christ you’ll find it (Matt. 16:25). The question we’re faced with is: Will we trust in this way for real kingdom power?
How and why has the church abandoned it?
Kyle Strobel: When Jamin and I started this project we were inundated with stories of churches employing worldly power, but it was often not done with wicked intent. In other words, the churches had good goals in mind, but they failed to seek them in distinctively Christian ways.
Everything we do in life has a goal and a means by which we attain that goal. Our temptation is to believe that having the right goal is enough, but then turn to the wrong means to attain that goal. As Paul says in Galatians 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
The temptation the church continually faces, and has given into in many places, has been to try and sow the Christian life in the flesh and yet still believe they’ll reap in the Spirit. This is warping our churches from within. We must accept both Jesus and his way, and not simply accept Jesus and try to follow him according to the power system of the world.
What we have to be confronted with, in our Christian lives and in our ministries, is that Scripture is incredibly clear on this point: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). But do we really believe that Christ’s power is made perfect in weakness? That’s the question that should plague modern churches that have become incredibly savvy. We need to ask ourselves—really discern in our hearts—whether or not we’re interested in Christ’s strength in our weakness, or if we’re just interested in strength.
What happens when Christians embody a worldly approach to power and try to use that to advance Christ’s kingdom?
Kyle Strobel: When Christians embody a worldly approach to power they’re not trusting in the way of Christ. As James puts it, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:4) This comes right after James compares two different ways of living—the way from above and the way from below—and it’s not irrelevant that he goes on to say, “Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James 4:10).
This is the way of Jesus; it’s the way of entering into weakness to rest fully on the power of God. Ultimately, when we employ worldly power, we’ll be able to construct impressive edifices, but it won’t be the building Jesus is constructing. Like the disciples who proclaimed, “Look Rabbi, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” (Mark 13:1), as they gazed upon Herod’s temple complex, we, too, are often easily impressed with feats of human strength. But the kingdom of Christ is built on an entirely different economy. In the economy of the kingdom, the people of God are known not for feats of power, but for the power of love (John 13:35).
Even now I find that, like the disciples, I’m often really impressed with the kind of power people wield in their own strength, and less impressed with the kingdom power wrought in weakness. I, too, need eyes to see and ears to hear the kind of work that Christ is interested in.
How does love factor into the proper use of power?
Kyle Strobel: Scripture advances two ways of power: the way of the world and the way of Christ, and each of these two ways has unique economies of power.
In the way of the world, we find power in strength for control (and possibly domination). In the kingdom we find power in weakness for the sake of love and humility. In the kingdom, love is power, but this kind of love can only be discovered through our weakness, dependence, and abiding in Christ alone. To bear fruit (Gal. 5:22-23) for the kingdom is to trust and abide in both Christ and the way of Christ. This fruit is oriented ultimately by love, and by Christ, which is why we have to abide in his love to thrive in his kingdom (John 15:9).
One sign that we’ve given ourselves to the way of the world is when we can no longer understand love as true power in the way of Christ. For many of us, myself included, we tend to assume that “power” is always worldly power. When worldly power is our assumption, the Christian life, and especially the church, will fail to make any sense to us. We’ll inevitably seek to use worldly means to enact kingdom ends, and, once again, we’ll reap what we’ve sown.
What’s the most powerful resistance to the way of evil?
Kyle Strobel: Jesus has defeated the powers and principalities on the cross, and Scripture tells us that he’s triumphed over them and put them to open shame (Col. 2:15). That victory is already won by Christ. Therefore, our resistance to evil will entail our abiding in Christ and trusting in his way.
But this is counterintuitive. We don’t want to trust in his way. What we want, in our flesh, is to conquer evil ourselves. In our flesh we want to employ our strength in autonomy to dominate and win.
But Christ took evil upon himself and accepted death on the cross. He humbled himself before the Father and was raised in glory. That’s the only way Christian power works—through an abiding trust in Jesus. This is the only way evil will ever be vanquished in full. Our calling in faith is to trust that Christ has done this, and he has done this for me.
How do you want your book to change readers?
Kyle Strobel: We hope that this project will confront readers with the reality that every Christian already has a power system they trust in; and for most of us, it’s not a distinctively Christian sort of power. Maybe more than anything else, the world’s views have shaped how many Christians understand power, and so they’ve given themselves to a way of life that ultimately undermines the Christian life rather than fueling it. If we give ourselves to worldly power for the sake of the kingdom, as we believe many are, it’ll destroy us from within. Our hope is to cast a vision for a different sort of way: the way of Jesus.
How has this project impacted you?
Kyle Strobel:The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb was the hardest book I’ve ever written. I was constantly confronted with places in my heart that wanted to seek out my own power rather than Christ’s, or to employ worldly means of power rather than the way of the kingdom. It was a humbling project. But over and over again, as we sat at the feet of the sages we interviewed, we kept being pointed back to Christ. We don’t lose hope because our hope is not in ourselves, but in Christ. This book led us into our weakness, but it was there that we discovered Christ’s strength anew.
Jamin Goggin serves as a pastor at Mission Hills Church. He has been in pastoral ministry for eleven years, including several years as the Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Saddleback Church. Jamin speaks and writes in the areas of spiritual formation, ministry and theology. He holds two Masters degrees and is currently earning a PhD in systematic theology. He lives in Southern California with his wife, Kristin, and their three children.
Kyle Strobel is a professor of spiritual theology and formation at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University and is an emerging voice among evangelicals on spiritual formation, discipleship, and theology. Kyle speaks regularly and has written for Pastors.com, Relevant magazine (and RelevantMagazine.com), ChurchLeader.com, and DeeperStory.com. Kyle lives in Southern California with his wife, Kelli, and their two children.
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