11. The Design of this work.

11. The Design of this work. THE CHIEF DESIGN has been to aid in defending THE TRUE TEXT OF GOD’S WORD, by means of the Peshito-Syriac. God has preserved the Peshito from being corrupted as Greek copies have been. The use recently made of some of these corrupt copies has undermined belief in some parts of God’s Book. The testimony of the Peshito-Syriac tends to re-establish confidence in most of these parts, whether they have been set forth as doubtful or rejected. By comparing the translation here given of the Syriac text, with that of the Received Greek text, printed by the side of it, the reader can see how very much the two agree, and how they tend to fix the true meaning of both. The Received Greek text agrees in most places with the Peshito, in opposition to the new Greek text constructed by the Revisers of the English Version. The Common English Version is also proved to be, as a rule, more in accord with the Peshito, than the Revised English Version is. A hope has also been entertained of making THE WAY OF SALVATION MORE CLEAR. In the common version the verb TO BELIEVE is used where a verb is needed which agrees with the noun FAITH. The Greek noun PISTIS is sometimes translated BELIEF, sometimes FAITH, and correctly so. But the Greek verb PISTEUO is translated BELIEVE, even when it means TO HAVE FAITH; and this leaves the impression that belief of THE TRUTH OF WORDS is meant, when the real meaning is that of trust on God himself, or on Christ Jesus. The word BELIEVE means, indeed, to trust; but only to trust in the truth of words. The Hebrew, Syriac, and Greek words, which sometimes mean to trust in the truth of words, are used also to express trust in persons; and the word BELIEVE cannot express this trust with clearness and full effect. In the Common English Version, those passages in which the idea of trusting ought to be clearly expressed, often fail to convey that meaning, from the unfitness of the word BELIEVE to do so. We do not, in the language of daily life say we BELIEVE IN, or BELIEVE ON a person, when we wish to express full trust in him, with view to some benefit. We say then that we trust in him. Who is there who has not felt the difficulty of defining how a person must BELIEVE, so as to be saved? Some have said that no one really believes a thing to be TRUE who does not act accordingly. But this is plainly contrary to fact; for we may believe a thing to be good and right, and yet resolve to have nothing to do with it. Others, when asked what it is to believe so as to be saved, say that the word believe must be understood in Scripture to have the unusual meaning of rely on. But this is a poor remedy for a faulty translation. The mass of readers and hearers have to trust to the impression given by the word BELIEVE itself, which impression, in most cases, is likely to be, that to believe in the truth of facts and doctrines, and in the reality of the Saviour’s history, if this belief be connected with morality, makes salvation sure.

Some may perhaps ask for PROOF that the Greek word PISTEUO does ever mean to trust.

One proof is, that other passages require repentance, devoted love, and unreserved obedience, as necessary to salvation; and that these would not be necessary if salvation were promised to those who only BELIEVE.

ABRAHAM is often referred to in the New Covenant, in order to show how we may be declared just, and saved. The words in Genesis 15:6, which describe how Abraham came to be declared just, are quoted in three places in the New Covenant Scriptures; in Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; and James 2:23. In each of these three quotations the Common Version says, "Abraham BELIEVED God." It may be asked, perhaps, how these passages can possibly mean more than that Abraham BELIEVED THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORDS. It is true that the English version of these passages DOES convey this meaning; and yet this meaning implies that salvation is sure to all who believe the truth of what God says, even though they should live in sin, and care nothing about him. But these three passages must, in reality, have the same meaning as Genesis 15:6, of which they are a quotation. What do those Hebrew words really mean? The word AMAN is there used in its Hiphil form, of which Gesenius says in his Hebrew Lexicon, "It often means to have faith in, as in Job 4:18; Job 15:15; Job 34:12; Psalms 78:22; Psalms 78:32; Psalms 119:66. In Genesis 15:6, [it means] he had faith in God," that is, he trusted in God. In Genesis 15:6, the word meaning to trust is followed by the preposition IN; and the trust is said to be, not in the words of God, but "in Jehovah" himself. In the following passages the same word with the same preposition IN, can have no other meaning than TRUST IN. Job 4:18, "Behold, he put no trust in his servants. Job 15:15, "Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints." Job 15:31, "Let not him who is deceived trust in vanity." Micah 7:5, "Trust ye not in a friend." In these passages the evident meaning of AMAN with IN could not be expressed by BELIEVE. They prove that the meaning of Genesis 15:6, MAY be, and SEEMS to be, "Abraham trusted in Jehovah." If we substitute "believed in Jehovah," the meaning is, that Abraham believed Jehovah to be what he really is. But is it not evident that "trusted in Jehovah," must be the REAL meaning? Therefore, as Genesis 15:6, not only may mean, but so far as evidence goes, does mean, "Abraham trusted in God;" each of the passages, Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; and James 2:23, must have the same meaning; and this meaning is one which agrees with what all other passages say of the way of salvation. It does not convey the false impression which BELIEVE does, namely, that to believe the truth of what is true, saves. The word trust implies the existence of love and obedience, which other passages make necessary to salvation.

ANOTHER PROOF that PISTEUO means to TRUST, when it refers to the way of salvation, is the description given by Paul of what it meant in his own case; (see 2 Timothy 1:12,) the committing or intrusting of himself to God. He says, "I know in whom PEPISTEUKA -- I have TRUSTED, -- and am persuaded that he is able to guard my deposit, -- what I have intrusted to him, against that day." In many passages PISTEUO means to INTRUST SOMETHING to the care of another. This shows that the idea of trust is really in the word. It is used in this sense in Luke 16:11, "Who will commit or intrust to you the true riches?" Romans 3:2, "Because they were intrusted with the words of God." (See also 1 Corinthians 9:17; Galatians 2:7; Titus 1:3.) THE PESHITO-SYRIAC uses a word which means to trust where the Greek has PISTEUO. For instance, in John 3:36, "He who trusts in the Son has eternal life." John 6:29, "This is the work of God, that ye trust in him whom he has sent." Acts 16:31, "Trust in our Lord Jesus the Anointed, and thou shalt have life-bliss." The Syriac word is the same as the Hebrew word used in Genesis 15:6. It has in Syriac the same meaning which it has in Hebrew. It means in Syriac to trust. Wichelhaus says of the noun HAIMONUTHO, which is derived from the verb AMAN, to trust, "It expresses much more fully than the PISTIS of the Greeks, the true idea of faith; for it denotes that state in which..... the reliance of the heart is placed on that which is most firm and certain." (On Peshito, pg. 329.) A FEW PASSAGES WITH THE WORD TO TRUST SUBSTITUTED FOR TO BELIEVE, will show how correctly and how clearly the way of salvation is thus described; and how fully the wrong or imperfect idea which the word BELIEVE conveys, is thus removed. No one can say that this result is one of slight importance; for nothing can possibly be more harmful than that an English word should be used to describe the way of salvation, which may lead some to believe that A SOUND CREED is meant, instead of a change of heart, and which is the cause to others of ceaseless difficulty, when trying to find out the true meaning of Scripture, or when trying to prove to others that the belief which has salvation, is not what is commonly called belief, but something quite different from it. The following passages are selected from those in which the Greek word PISTEUO is used with IN, with ON, with A DATIVE CASE, and without IN, ON, or A DATIVE CASE.

PISTEUO followed by IN. Matthew 18:6, "Whoso shall make stumble one of these little ones who trust in me." John 3:15, "So must the Son of man be lifted up, that everyone who trusts in him may not perish, but have eternal life." John 6:40, "And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and trusts in him, shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

PISTEUO followed by ON. Acts 11:17, "Since, therefore, God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us, who have trusted on the Lord Jesus, the Anointed," etc. Romans 4:24, "It was written also because of us, (that trust was reckoned to Abraham), of us who trust on him who raised up Jesus our Lord from among the dead."

PISTEUO followed by A DATIVE CASE. John 5:24, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that he who hears my word, and trusts on him who sent me, has eternal life." John 8:31, "Jesus said to those Jews who had trusted on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed."

PISTEUO WITHOUT IN, ON, OR A DATIVE CASE. Mark 16:16, "He who shall trust, and be immersed, shall be saved; he who shall be trustless, shall be condemned." Acts 18:8, "And many of the Corinthians heard, trusted, and were immersed."

Another wish has been, TO CONNECT BY LIKENESS OF WORDS, what is said of ATONEMENT in the New Covenant, with what is said of it in the Old Covenant. The importance of this is evident from the fact that what was written in the Older Scriptures, was written in part for our benefit. (1 Corinthians 10:11); and that what was said to be effected by the old sacrifices, which could not take away sins, is of special use to teach us what was really accomplished by the sacrifice of Christ, which could take away sins. This use of the older Scriptures is partly destroyed by the carelessness of translators, when they destroy that likeness of words by which God has linked the Older Scriptures with the New. The English word used about fifty times in the Old Covenant writings, to describe the efficacy of slain offerings, is the word ATONEMENT. But in our New Covenant version that word is used but once, and then wrongly; for it represents in Romans 5:11, a Greek word which means RECONCILIATION; and reconciliation is THE RESULT of atonement, not atonement itself. Atonement is the cause of forgiveness or reconciliation. In the Revised Version, the word atonement is not, I think, used at all. There are four passages in which the Syriac and Greek words used to describe the efficacy of the sacrifice offered by Jesus, are of the same meaning as the Hebrew word which is represented by the English word atonement, in the Old Covenant Scriptures. They are Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10. In Romans 3:25, the word PROPITIATION is used both in the common and in the revised version. If the word ATONEMENT be used, the English word has the same relation to the English word used in the Old Covenant, which the Syriac and Greek words have to the Hebrew word. The passage then reads thus: "Whom God appointed beforehand [to be] an atonement, by means of faith in his blood." In Hebrews 2:17, the common version has, "to make reconciliation." The revised version has, "to make propitiation." If the word atonement be used, the passage reads thus: "That he might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people." In 1 John 2:2, both English versions have "propitiation." If atonement be substituted, the meaning is, "And he is the atonement for our sins." In 1 John 4:10, both English versions have propitiation. If atonement be used instead, the words mean, "God loved us, and sent his Son to be an atonement for our sins." The English reader, on meeting with the word atonement in these four passages, is reminded of the word atonement in the older Scriptures, and there he finds that when it is said that an atonement was made for any sin, the words often follow, "and it shall be forgiven him." (See Leviticus 4:1-35; Leviticus 5:1-19.)

Another passage in which the word atonement should occur, is Hebrews 9:5, "The cherubim of glory overshadowing the place of atonement."

Another wish has been to use words, the meaning of which is known to the unlearned by their own DAILY USE OF THEM, instead of words which are less known, or which are but partly understood by those who do not know Latin and Greek. There are many Latin-English words in the Common version. Those who have never learned Latin, have scarcely any CLEAR idea of what some of these mean. These words are little better to them than words translated out of one foreign language into another.

Words which do not express their meaning clearly, may also be made strongholds of error. They permit a false meaning to be given them, and become a storehouse of untruth. Thus the word CHURCH, which ought always to mean, as the Greek word does, an assembly, is constantly applied to bodies which never assemble. In the next section a list of words is given which, though well understood by very many, are wanting in clearness to a large number of people. Their meaning is given in words more familiar to most. The desire has been to use the English language ACCORDING TO ITS USE IN DAILY LIFE. In the Greek and Syriac texts, the words used are those which were used about the things of this life. And to use in any translation of them forms of speech, which differ from those in common use, is to distort and disfigure God’s word, instead of giving its true likeness. How absurd and unseemly it is to prefer to call a person WHICH, instead of WHO, as the revised version does; and to suppose that "she RUNNETH," is a more holy expression than "SHE RUNS."