Bad Translations
Gospel — correctly translated as “good news”.
Apostle — correctly translated as “sent one”, such as Paul and Peter the “sent ones”.
Deacon — correctly translated as “servant”.
Bishop — correctly translated as “overseer” or “elder”.
Pastor — correctly translated as “shepherd”.
Epistle — correctly translated as “letter”.
Doctrine — correctly translated as “teaching”.
Homosexual — correctly translated as “homosexual sex”, referring to the act, not the person. God is not against people. Rather, God is against what people often do, including fornication, adultery and homosexual sex; all three listed together in I Corinthians 6:9. “For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the people, but that the people through him might be saved.”
Disciple — correctly translated as “follower” or “student”.
Preach — correctly translated as “proclaim” — anyone can proclaim the good news of Jesus; no religious cemetery degree either needed, required or desired. However, one should be very careful regarding anything in the Bible, that they understand and teach others correctly.
Church — correctly translated as the “assembly”; the people who believe in Jesus and have his spirit within them. An assembly of believers is not a building or a religious or other organization — it refers to the actual people who believe in Jesus. “Upon this rock I will build my assembly. . .”
Saint — a saint is someone who has been made holy by being washed by the blood of Jesus. No pope or other human being can make anyone a saint. Only Jesus can make someone a saint. And we cannot make ourselves a saint by doing good works or refraining from certain things. Only through forgiveness from Jesus can someone become a saint.
These mistranslations are used to turn Jesus into a religion, which is not the intention of the New Testament; Jesus is deliberately secular, eating, drinking and associating with sinners and the common people, while railing against the religionists of his time. The New Testament is written in secular Koine Greek, the language of the common people. True religion is defined in James I:27.
Be not deceived, Jesus did not come to earth to establish a religion called Christianity. He came to earth to save us sinners, to set us free, to give us life abundantly and to establish his assembly, which consists of his people. “This is the work of God, that you believe in him who he sent.”
The goal of God’s free salvation, is that we will “have love, one for another” and that whatever we want people to do to us, we will likewise do unto them: “For this is the law and the prophets.” Without love, whatever we do is in vain.
