Lectio reflections: "Use both hands when proclaiming the Gospel!"

“in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left” (2Co 6:7 NAS)

Note the relationship of “the word of truth” (for the right hand) and “the power of God” (for the left hand) as weapons of righteousness that the believer is to arm himself with.

I compared this picture with the armor of Eph. 6:16-17 where in the right hand is the Word of God (sword of the Spirit) and in the left hand is our faith in Christ (shield) that places our identity in Christ, that when applied, protects us from the attack of the evil one.*

Frame this picture with 2 Cor 4:4, the enemy being Satan who blinds the minds of unbelievers, and 2 Cor 10:4-5, where the weapons of our warfare are for the destruction of strongholds, and a picture begins to emerge of the mission the believer is called to! In our position as believers we are able to “take captive every thought to the obedience of Christ” through our understanding of, and faith in the Word of truth! To be clear, the battle ground of the enemy is our mind, and it is our applied faith in Christ based on His gospel that sets us free!

Then I ran into a grammatical inconsistency in the Greek structure relating to the lack of the definite article evident in both "word" and "power," which gave cause for an alternate translation found in the NIV and the ESV where they rendered “the word of truth" (NASB/KJV) as “truthful speech” (NIV/ESV). However most translations inserted the definite article "in the power of God".

To translate the passage as “truthful speech” instead of "The word of truth" moves the meaning of the passage in a different direction. As I looked at the passage in light of this, I had to admit both directions had merit and were grammatically correct.  

The general rule when alternative translations emerge is, when in doubt, refer to the context. Our text is  found among a string of qualities that describe how to commend oneself as a servant of God in a hostile world.  As we discover how these qualities relate to each other, clues emerge that help us understand the direction the author intended for his original audience.  

In vs 4-5  “endurance” is expounded upon by many different qualities that describe the suffering the believer may have to endure in this world. 

In vs. 6-7 qualities that reflect the nature of God in the believer, that gives him the ability to endure vs 4-5,  

In vs 8-9, contrasts of living out one's faith in a sinful world. 

The transition found in vs. 6 – 7, centers on "the word of truth" or "truthful speech," as a means to stand firm as a servant of God in a sinful world.  The first translation looks to the Word (Objective truth) as a means to endure, and the second looks to Christ's nature reflected in the believer (subjective application of God's truth displayed in the integrity of the believer's verbal interaction when speaking to worldly people.)

Next I looked at how Paul used the relationship of the words  “word” and “power” in other books. I was looking for clues of how Paul related these two words together in other passages.

I found two other places where the same Greek words were related together that helped to clarify how he intended to use Logos or “word” in relation to the power of God.

”For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1Co 1:18 ESV). Here the ESV specifically relates the word to the cross (or gospel)and the power that comes to the believer when he places his faith in the gospel. Note that this passage includes the definite article for both “word” and “power” 

The second parallel passage is in 1 Thes. 1:5 “for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit.

Here the grammatical construction in the Greek is identical both “in word” and “in power” with no definite article. 

Note in these passages that the relationship of "word" and "power" refer to the gospel and the context centers on salvation.

My conclusion is that in 2 Cor 6:7, both the ESV/NIV rendering of “truthful speech” and the NASB/KJV rendering of “word of truth” are correct, yet the lack of specificity invites ambiguity.

The New Living (NLT) appears to have a closer rendition: "We faithfully preach the truth. God's power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense." (2Co 6:7 NLT) Note the right hand is for the sword (of the Spirit) "attack" and the left for the shield (of faith) "defense"

 Let's return to grammar and context: The grammatical absence of the definite article gives weight to Logos being translated as the "spoken word" combined with the context of Paul's literary style of "word and power" in relation to the gospel, gives weight that the "word of truth" he is talking about is the spoken proclamation of the gospel.  

Wow, this takes on a deeper meaning that our modern translations can sometimes miss. The power of God comes from the gospel, when it is proclaimed (spoken) and received by faith!

This truth is reflected in Rom 10:14-15 “¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?¹ And how are they to hear without someone preaching (speaking out loud)? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"  (ESV)

Someone once said if you take missions out of the Bible all you will have left is the cover! The enemy works hard to blind the minds of our culture to the gospel and his mandate for missions globally where Jesus has sent us to proclaim his gospel.

“speak the word of truth (the proclamation of the gospel), in the power of God (Holy Spirit conviction); by the weapons of righteousness (the sword of the Spirit (His Word)  for the right hand and the (shield of faith) for the left”  (my translation :),

Armed thus, we will be able to take captive our thoughts to the obedience of Christ, and “to destroy strongholds of the enemy" (2Co 10:4 ESV), who has placed a veil of blindness to the gospel over the minds of unbelievers, (2Cor 4:4), and causes confusion in the church (as seen in the overall context of Corinth), and lures the church back to worldly behavior, as they hold their affections (direct context 2 Cor 6:12).

So stand firm Christian, proclaim the gospel in spoken voice, and use both hands!


*(Note there is a difference in the Greek word logos that translated for "word" (word of truth) in 2 Cor. and Rhema (word of God) in Eph 6. While some view Rhema as the spoken word, and consider Logos to refer more to the written or completed word, this is not the case in 2 Cor 6. In this context, the absence of the definite article, indicates that Logos carries a meaning that relates to the "spoken word", which is why I believe the NIV/ESV rendered the passage "in truthful speech" (2Co 6:7 NIV).