“Damned” — Words Mean Things
“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
II Thessalonians 2:11-12
Words mean things.
They present images to our minds. They conjure up responses within us. They shape and direct us. They instruct us. They develop us into who and what we eventually become. They shape entire cultures.
Words are important. The choice of words that are used when conveying thoughts is of the utmost importance.
But, words have inherent problems/issues. We all, through previous exposures in our lives, receive and interpret the words we hear or read in personally carved out dispositions of meanings.
— How am I doing so far? — ;-)
In other words … words are important, vitally important.
Let me lay out my Proposition:
— The incremental spiritual deterioration in society, indeed the world, has greatly accelerated since the late 1800’s. This is due significantly to the reshaping of spiritual thought which gained traction with Westcott & Hort’s translation of 1885. —
Potentially, some reading this might take issue with me. And potentially, I might be perceived as one of those poor, ignorant, unlearned people that are unequipped to tackle the original languages with scholarly acumen.
For sake of discussion, I’ll concede the point.
With that said, however, let’s look at some translation history first. Let me present the major translations from 1382 - 1885. See if you notice a trend of use and then see if you notice a change in the trend and when it occurred.
II Thessalonians 2:12
Wycliffe Bible - 1382
“that alle be demed, whiche bileueden not to treuthe, but consentiden to wickidnesse.”
Tyndale Bible - 1534
“that all they myght be damned which beleved not the trueth but had pleasure in vnrightewesnes.”
Coverdale Bible - 1535
“yt all they might be daned, which beleued not the trueth, but had pleasure in vnrighteousnes.
Matthews Bible - 1537
“that all they myghte be damned which beleued not the trueth but had pleasure in vnryghtuousnes.”
Great Bible - 1539
“that all they myght be damned, whych beleued not the trueth: but had pleasure in vnryghtewesnes.”
Geneva Bible - 1560
“That all they might be damned which beleeued not the trueth, but had pleasure in vnrighteousnes.”
Bishops Bible - 1568
“That all they myght be dampned whiche beleued not the trueth, but had pleasure in vnryghteousnes.”
KJV 1611
“That they all might bee damned who beleeued not the trueth, but had pleasure in vnrighteousnes.”
KJV - 1769 (The common one used now)
“That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (This is almost 400 years.)
Revised Version - 1885 (Brooke Foss Westcost & Fenton John Anthony Hort)
“so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (From this point on most of the modern translations say condemned or judged.)
Granted, there is not a thing wrong with the use of condemned or judged. They are both viable choices and both are correct.
However …
Don’t you internally respond, at least ever so slightly, to the word damned as opposed to the words condemned or judged? I know I do. And I have a sneaky suspicion you might too.
I think all those translators from 1382-1769 knew that all too well. Hence they choose a very poignant and descriptive word in this verse because of the greater context of II Thessalonians.
So, why might they choose to use damned instead of something else? Because Paul uses some very choice hard words in chapter one that point to the ultimate damnation of those he refers to. It has to be put back into the greater context of this epistle.
Therefore, I purposely choose to conclude God knew this when He brought the KJV into existence. To think otherwise is tantamount to accusing God of not knowing what He was doing.
Would God use a bunch of dunderheads and inferior manuscripts to bring about a translation that impacted the world like none had before or after? Would He allow it to hang around 400 years misleading so many people? Would He hold off almost 2,000 years before blessing His people, finally, with “better” scholarship and “better and older” manuscripts?
I trow don’t think so.
Without wanting to belabor this, my point is that not all translations of the Bible are created equal. And there is only ONE that has stood an incredibly long period of testing with quantifiable results that will NEVER be matched.
I went through a period of ten years looking into the translation/textual issues. I’m no expert. However, I have done my own homework from, as much as is possible, an unbiased perspective to determine my own conclusions.
I won’t be around another 400 years to find out if I’m correct or not. Therefore, I’m going to trust the one Source that has already been around for over 400 years and … is still going strong in spite of all the attacks it has faced from friend and foe.
Makes sense to me. Perhaps it might even make eternal sense as well.
Why?
Because whether lost people are going to be condemned, judged or damned it should motivate us to witness to those that will face eternal damnation unless they turn to Yeshua for salvation.
Damnation or Salvation — those are the only two options.