TruthVid's 100 Proofs that the Israelites were White, Part 25: 45, Specific NT Verse misteachings, mistranslations or corruptions in the epistles of Paul, Romans

TruthVid's 100 Proofs that the Israelites were White, Part 25

In the last few presentations in this series we have been discussing particular passages in the New Testament where certain terms are mistranslated or misunderstood, which also adversely affect the interpretation of the Scriptures throughout the New Testament. Now we have finally reached the epistles of Paul, where more such mistranslations or poor interpretations are found than in any other books of the New Testament. Many of these had to even be purposeful, as they are quite blatant. There are actually many more mistranslations in Paul than what we will present here, where we will only focus on those which concern nation, race and the scope and purpose of the Gospel.

45) Specific NT Verse misteachings, mistranslations or corruptions in the epistles of Paul

Epistle to the Romans

Romans 2:9-10: “9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.”

First, that term Jew should be Judaean, as it should be throughout all of the New Testament, and Judaea was a Roman province consisting of various races of people, but in Paul’s writing we should interpret it to refer to Israelite Judaeans, as later in Romans chapter 9 he explains that the covenants and promises are only for Israel, as opposed to the Edomites in Judaea.

But here we want to focus on the phrases “and also of the Gentile” and “and also to the Gentile” in these verses. In this passage, and also in Romans 3:9, 1 Corinthians 10:32 and 12:13, and twice in John 7:35, the King James Version translated Ἕλλην (1672), which is the Greek word for Greek, as gentile instead of Greek. This is quite dishonest, since Paul consistently used the Greek word ἔθνος to refer to the nations, and the King James Version frequently translated ἔθνος as gentile – or sometimes heathen or nation – everywhere else it appears. But Ἕλλην is a specific word meaning Greek, and nothing else. Therefore here in this passage, the scope of Paul’s statements was Judaeans and Greeks, and nobody else.

Romans 3:9: “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin…”

Since sin is transgression of the law (1 John 3:4) and only Israel was given the law (Psalm 147:19-20) and according to Paul in this very epistle sin is not imputed where there is no law (Romans 5:13) then both Judaeans and Greek must be primarily descended from the ancient Israelites, and that can also be established in history. Concerning the Romans, Paul had already told them in Chapters 1 and 2 that they had the truth of God and changed it into a lie, and that they had the laws of God written in their hearts, so they must have been descended from Israel, as those things pertained only to Israel, as Paul will also attest later in Romans chapter 9.

Romans 4:1: Here the much more recent manuscripts from which the King James Version was translated depart from nearly all of the early codices known as the Great Uncials. At Romans 4:1 the Christogenea New Testament reads “our forefather Abraham”, where the King James Version has only “Abraham our father”. Out of all the Greek manuscripts, only a small number which are dated no earlier than the 9th century support the King James Version reading. All of the earliest manuscripts contain the word “forefather”, except the Codex Bezae, which is known to have had a lot of influence with the King James translators and copyists of the manuscripts from which it was translated.

Paul, using the word forefather, was telling the Romans that Abraham was indeed their natural forefather. He had already explained to them several times that things befell them which only pertained to Israel. For example, they had the truth of God and changed it into a lie, and they had the laws of God written on their hearts. As Paul proceeded in this chapter of Romans, we find that the Romans were among those many nations which had come of Abraham’s seed through Jacob, and for that reason to them the promises of God were assured.

Romans 8:15: “15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Concerning this phrase “Spirit of adoption”, the word υἱοθεσία does not, by itself, ever mean adoption in Greek writings. The word means a placement or a position of a son. There were other words in Greek literature which were consistently used to describe the actual act of adoption, namely εἰσποίησις (a noun, a making into), εἰσποίέω (a verb), and εἰσποιητός (an adjective). While a son can be placed for adoption, where υἱοθεσία may be used to describe the act of the placing, it does not describe the actual adoption, which is εἰσποίησις, to make someone who was placed for adoption into a son by carrying through the act of adoption.

However the lost sheep of the house of Israel for whom Christ had come were already sons, and daughters, and that is found throughout the promises of reconciliation to those same sons and daughters in the words of the prophets. In that manner, the same word υἱοθεσία can be used also to describe other things, such as the placing of a son into a household or as an heir, which also happens to correctly describe the Christian promise as it is outlined in the Old Testament.

Therefore, and especially since there is no other indication in the text that the idea of adoption is ever the context, υἱοθεσία should be rendered here in this passage as the “spirit of the position of sons (or of a son)”. At Romans 8:23, the phrase “waiting for the adoption” would better be rendered “awaiting the placement of sons”. At Romans 9:4 the phrase ὧν ἡ υἱοθεσία should be “whose is the position of sons”. It is absolutely dishonest that υἱοθεσία be translated as adoption, because the word has a much more general meaning, and the translators can only have presumed that the word was used by Paul to mean adoption, yet the overall context of Paul’s letters and of the New Testament refute such a presumption.

But after all of that, even if one wants to insist that υἱοθεσία must be translated as adoption, in Romans chapter 9 Paul informs us that the adoption and other things pertaining to Israel are only for the children of Israel who are Paul’s kinsmen according to the flesh, where he wrote: “3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.”

Later in that same chapter, Paul insisted that “the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Upon saying that, he described the promise made to Sara, and then the promise made to Rebecca concerning their children. So believers are not the “seed” of the promise, but only the descendants of those women, ultimately though Jacob Israel.

Romans 15:9 to 11: First to quote the King James Version rendering of this passage: “9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. 10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. 11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.”

In verse 9 there is a paraphrase of 2 Samuel 22:50 and Psalm 18:49. In the places where the King James Version has “Gentiles” here, the word is “heathen” in the King James Version in those corresponding Old Testament verses. Verses 10 and 11 quote Deuteronomy 32:43 and Psalm 117:1 respectively. In those places in the King James Version where it reads “nations”, the King James Version has “Gentiles” here in Romans. So they apparently could not translate the words which mean nations, whether Hebrew or Greek, with any consistency whatsoever.

The words gentile (which is truly not even an English word), heathen and nation in the New Testament in most cases are used to represent the Greek word ἔθνος, which is primarily a nation in the sense of ethnicity. Here and elsewhere it is evident that by translating ἔθνος into these various words indiscriminately, it is rather easy to create false doctrines and to pervert the interpretation of the promises to Abraham and the other patriarchs. While there are a couple of places where we could legitimately translate the word ἔθνος as heathen, it must be done with great reservation, and also with the knowledge that the word does not ever bear the meaning non-Adamite by itself, or even a non-Israelite, and that it can also properly and literally be rendered people in those places.

We should read these passages, because we cannot assume that Paul was citing them out-of-context. So we will read even longer portions that he paraphrased, but we will use the term nation for the Hebrew term goy, where the King James Version might have heathen or people.

2 Samuel 22: “48 It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me, 49 And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. 50 Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the nations, and I will sing praises unto thy name. 51 He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.”

Psalm 18: “48 He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. 49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the nations, and sing praises unto thy name. 50 Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.”

Deuteronomy 32: “42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. 43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.”

Psalm 117: “1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. 2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.”

All four of these passages which Paul cited are related to Yahweh’s vengeance against the enemies of the children of Israel, and his mercy and deliverance for them. This is the same purpose of the Gospel which Luke had recorded twice in the opening chapters of his Gospel.

So now, reading Romans 15:9 to 11 and translating ἔθνος as nation, it reflects that understanding, but verse 8 is also important so we will include that: “8 Therefore I say, Yahshua Christ came to be a minister of circumcision in behalf of the truth of Yahweh; for the confirmation of the promises of the fathers; 9 And that the Nations might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Nations, and sing unto thy name. 10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Nations, with his people. 11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Nations; and laud him, all ye people.” The children of Israel being prophesied to become many nations, of which Paul had declared the fulfillment, those are the nations which are addressed in each of these four Scriptures which he had cited.

For the confirmation of the promises to the fathers, and the Nations to whom Paul was apostle were of those same fathers, and the promises of the fathers in the announcement of the Gospel of Luke includes salvation from their enemies, which is the theme of the original context of every passage which Paul cited here in Romans chapter 15.

Romans 16:20: Now we should probably discuss Romans 16:20, which reads in the King James Version: “20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”

Yahweh is the God of peace, and the children of Israel shall have peace when they are obedient to their God, but not until the time when Yahweh destroys His enemies, which, as we learn from Luke chapter 1 and elsewhere, are also the enemies of the ancient Israelites. The Gospel says at Luke 2:14 "Honor to Yahweh in the heights, and peace upon the earth among approved men." Those whom Yahweh has chosen, or approved, they shall have peace, while the others await destruction.

Here Paul makes a prophecy, that, as the King James Version has it, “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly”, and the language is reminiscent of Genesis 3:15 for good reason. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 Paul expressed the desire to have visited the Thessalonians, but summarized some of the obstacles which prevented him from doing so. There he says to them that “14 You have become imitators, brethren, of the assemblies of Yahweh in Judaea which are among the number of Christ Yahshua, because these same things even you have suffered by your own tribesmen, likewise they also by the Judaeans: 15 those who killed both Prince Yahshua and the prophets, and banished us, and are not pleasing to Yahweh, and contrary to all men. 16 Preventing us from speaking to the Nations that they would be preserved, for which to fill their errors at all times, but the wrath has come upon them at last. [Romans 16:20] 17 But we, brethren, having been bereaved of you for a measure of time in person, not in heart, more abundantly with much longing have been eager to see your presence. 18 Because we have wished to come to you, indeed I Paul, both once and again has the Adversary [or Satan, in the King James Version] hindered us.”

We are going to examine the King James Version translation of this passage later on, so for now, we merely cited the Christogenea New Testament. We will do the same thing where we now cite 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 Paul discussed the “mystery of lawlessness” and connected it to the “operation of the Adversary”, or as the King James Version has it, the “working of Satan”. In that chapter he said, in part, “1 Now we ask you, brethren, concerning the presence of our Prince Yahshua Christ and our gathering to Him, 2 that you are not to be quickly shaken from this purpose; and you should not be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as if by us; as though the day of the Prince is present. 3 You should not be deceived by anyone, in any way, because if apostasy had not come first, and the man of lawlessness been revealed; the son of destruction, 4 he who is opposing and exalting himself above everything said to be a god or an object of worship, and so he is seated in the temple of Yahweh, representing himself that he is a god. 5 Do you not remember that, yet being with you I had told these things to you? 6 And you know that which now prevails, for him to be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already operating, he prevailing only presently, until he should be out of the way, 8 and then will the lawless be revealed, whom Prince Yahshua will destroy with the breath of His mouth, and abolish at the manifestation of His presence. 9 Whose presence is in accordance with the operation of the Adversary in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, 10 and in every trick of unrighteousness in those who are perishing, because they accepted not the love of the truth, for them to be preserved.”

When we examine the events of the Gospels and the Book of Acts, it was not some spirit bogeyman whom Christ had already revealed. It was not some spirit bogeyman who was sitting in the temple pretending to be a god. Rather it was the Edomite Sadducees who were the high priests pretending to have all the authority of God. In Romans chapter 9, Paul expressed a deep concern for his brethren and kinsmen “according to the flesh”, those were were Israelites, who had not yet turned to the Gospel of Christ. Doing so he compared Jacob and Esau, and explained that the one were vessels of mercy while the other were vessels of destruction. Esau is the son of destruction, and Paul was describing the Edomites who rejected Christ in this passage of 2 Thessalonians.

Therefore we see in both of these epistles to the Thessalonians that Paul thought the Edomite Judaeans to be Satan, or the Adversary. These are those who rejected Christ, and they are the ancestors of today's Jews. The apostle John professed that same thing and he said “18 Little children, it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that the Antichrist comes, even now many Antichrists have been born, from which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They came out from us but they were not from of us. For if they were from of us, they would have abided with us, but so that they would be made manifest that they are all not from of us.” (1 John chapter 2.) Paul considered the Edomite Jews of Judaea to be the Satan of his time, and he told the Romans that they would be destroyed shortly. The only way he could have known this is from Daniel chapter 9. There we see the following prophecy, an answer to Daniel's own prayer concerning Jerusalem: “24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. [This 69-week, or 483-year time period is roughly from the return of Ezra to Jerusalem after 457 BC to the beginning of the ministry of Christ in 28 AD.] 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. [The “people of the prince” are the people of Messiah the Prince of verse 25, although this is denied and perverted in mainstream theology.] 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week [the 70th week represents the ministry of Christ]: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Of course Paul had the warnings of Christ recorded in Luke chapter 21, where He said “20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.... 22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” However Paul must have known that this warning was also connected to the promised destruction of Jerusalem prophesied in Daniel as retribution for the cutting-off of the Messiah, and Paul knew that the Romans were the people of the Messiah as he had explained throughout this epistle, and they were the only portion of the people of true Israel in any position to destroy Jerusalem. Romans 16:20 is therefore a profession that the prophecy of Yahweh would be fulfilled and Jerusalem would be destroyed as it was written. The city was destroyed about 13 years after Paul authored this epistle, in 70 AD.