By Mark D. Taylor, NLT Bible Translation Committee

The word doulos is used 124 times in the New Testament. In the Greek culture of the New Testament era, the term generally referred to someone who was enslaved. English translations have often used the word servant to render doulos. But the terms servant and slave tend to have different connotations in our minds. We often think of a servant as someone who is hired and then paid for work, whereas we tend to think of a slave as being owned by a master, completely under someone else’s control. Since there are both similarities and differences between ancient notions of servitude and slavery and those of our modern world, how should doulos be translated?

In many passages, the term can be translated either way. While “slave” might generally be the best corresponding word for doulos, in some contexts, especially a number of Jesus’ parables, the agency attributed to the doulos may be better understood by modern readers through the notion of “servant” (for example, Matthew 24:45-51; 25:14-30).

Sometimes, the term doulos appears alongside another word that connotes “servant.” For example, in Luke 7:1-10 we read about a Roman centurion whose young slave (or servant) was sick and near death. The centurion was eager for Jesus to heal the servant, but he sent some friends to tell Jesus, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” [NLT]

The Greek text uses two different words in describing the individual who was sick—doulos and pais (which refers to a young person, often a slave or servant). The narrator uses doulos throughout (7:2, 3, 10), but pais is used in the centurion’s plea of 7:7. And when the centurion refers to those who are under his authority, doulos is used. The NLT distinguishes these two Greek terms in this passage by rendering doulos as slave and pais as servant. Whether we understand this young person who was healed as a slave or a servant, the key point of the story is that the centurion had great faith in Jesus’ ability to heal.

In Luke 7:1-10, some translations render doulos as “servant,” and others render it as “slave”:

Another challenge translators face is deciding how to translate doulos when the apostles use that term in describing themselves. For example in Romans 1:1, Paul introduces himself as “a doulos of Christ Jesus.” Is he referring to himself as a servant of Christ or a slave of Christ? (See also James 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1; and Jude 1:1.)

Look at how various translations render doulos in these passages where the writer refers to himself as a doulos. In Romans 1:1, for example:

In this context, the NLT translators translated doulos as “slave,” which is generally conceived as a much stronger term than “servant.” Their understanding is that these writers saw themselves not just as servants of Christ, but as actual slaves of Christ. They considered themselves to be in complete submission to Christ. Like a centurion’s slaves, they would do whatever their master (Christ) told them to do. No arguing, no exceptions. Just do it.

Do we see ourselves as slaves of Christ? Or even servants of Christ? It’s all too easy for us to say that Jesus is our friend and that we will follow his bidding when we choose to do so. But to the apostles, there was no choice. They were 100% in submission to Christ. He was not only their Savior; he was also their Lord. May we learn to view our relationship with Christ with the same level of devotion.

by Jonathan W. Bryant, PhD; Senior Editor, Tyndale Bibles; Bible Translation Committee

When we hear or see the word recline, we might picture someone seated in a large, comfortable chair, pulling a lever, and leaning back as the top of the chair angles back. For the most part, we would not associate that image of reclining with eating a meal, an activity we typically do while sitting straight up at a table.

So it might surprise us to discover that in the first-century Jewish and Greco-Roman worlds, meals were often eaten in a reclined position. When people shared a meal at a dinner party or banquet, they would indeed surround a table, but they would lie on a couch or cushion with their heads near the table and feet away from the table, eating while propped up on an elbow. As such, the Greek word used throughout the Gospels to describe eating at a shared meal is a word that means “recline.”

The term ἀνάκειμαι (pronounced ah-NAHK-ay-mai) essentially means “to recline.” But in the New Testament, this term always occurs in the context of a shared meal. So the NLT employs dining language to help readers understand that this form of reclining refers specifically to a posture taken while eating a meal. For example:

• “Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head.” (Matthew 26:6-7)
• “When it was evening, Jesus sat down at the table with the Twelve. While they were eating, he said, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.’” (Matthew 26:20-21 // Mark 14:17-18)
• “Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:27)
• “A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him.” (John 12:2)

The NLT makes explicit that contexts of dining are in view when this Greek word appears. In John’s portrayal of the Last Supper, this word appears in a description of one disciple’s posture in relation to Jesus. A literal rendering of this description would be, “One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining on the bosom of Jesus” (John 13:23; see KJV). The reader should not have the image of a disciple snuggling up to Jesus as a young child might do with a parent. Rather, we should picture a person eating next to Jesus, with his head in relative proximity to Jesus’ chest due to the customary eating posture. Hence, the NLT renders this verse, “The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table.”

Anakeimai twice appears as a substantive (a participle functioning as a noun) in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ parable of the great feast. After the king’s initial invitees refuse to come to the feast, the king invites people from off the streets. These attendees are identified as “those reclining” (anakeimai) at the feast. Given the context, in which the emphasis is on attendance rather than eating, the NLT, along with other translations (including ESV, NIV, NKJV, and NRSV), renders anakeimai here as “guests.”

As these examples suggest, the translation of an ancient-language term into a modern language involves an attentiveness to particular historical contexts.

• Do we always translate a Greek word with the same English word across different contexts? For example, should anakeimai be rendered the same in the context of
  • a typical shared meal,
  • the Last Supper, and
  • a wedding banquet?
• Or do the different emphases in different contexts merit a distinct rendering?

It also involves an attentiveness to what a typical reader today would understand about the ancient context. For example, would the simple translation “reclining” help a reader truly understand what’s going on when there is no prior knowledge of ancient dining practices?

These are the types of questions translators must regularly answer. And these questions are best discussed in community (hence the value of a “Bible Translation Committee”), perhaps around a table, though probably not while reclining!

Greek:      τάλαντον (talanton)
English:   a talent; a weight of 75 pounds; a large value of money

We are probably all familiar with Jesus’ parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). The master of an estate gave three of his servants different amounts of money: five talents to one, two talents to another, and one talent to yet another. But what exactly did the master give his servants?

This was a story Jesus told in order to make a point: We should be careful to use the assets or gifts that have been entrusted to us. So Jesus does not give us any technical details about what exactly the master gave to his servants. He simply refers to these distributions as varying numbers of “talents.” In the ancient Near East, the talent was a measure of weight—about 75 pounds (34 kilograms). The master did not give his servants rocks of that weight. He gave them some kind of money. Let’s assume it was bags of silver or gold that weighed 75 pounds. That’s a large value, and the first two servants invested the master’s money wisely.

The challenge for translators is to translate this Greek term—talanton—in a way that will make sense to the modern reader. Numerous translations simply transliterate the Greek word and use the English word talent, including CSB, ESV, KJV, NASB, NKJV, NRSV, and RSV. But that leaves the reader with a question: What exactly did the master entrust to his servants?

Other translations give some hints as to the meaning and value of these talanta (plural of talanton). Here are some renderings of the five talanta:

Again, the exact value is not the point of Jesus’ parable. Did the master give the servants large amounts of silver (NLT) or gold (NIV)? Those have very different values, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. Note that the 1984 edition of the NIV rendered talanta as “talents of money.” The translators were giving a clue that these “talents” related to money. The 2011 edition of the NIV abandons the term talents altogether, translating talanta as “bags of gold.”

In this parable, Jesus was talking about the importance of stewardship. So the master congratulated the first two servants for successfully investing the money that had been entrusted to them. But the third servant was not a good steward. He hid his one talent (or bag of silver or gold) in the ground, and he returned it without even having earned interest on it. The master was very angry, calling him a “wicked and lazy servant” (Matthew 25:16).

Interestingly, the meaning of talent in everyday English is a person’s natural or special ability. We might say, “He has a real talent for music,” or “She has a talent for investing in the stock market.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this contemporary meaning for talent comes directly from the word “talent” as used in this parable.

May we be good stewards of the “talents” that have been given to us. Whether they are monetary resources or natural abilities, God will hold us to account for our stewardship of these “talents.”

by Jonathan W. Bryant, PhD, Senior Editor, Tyndale Bibles

Many who have grown up in the church are familiar with a statement of Jesus rendered something like this: “If anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for a millstone to be hung around his neck and to be drowned in the sea” (Matthew 18:6 // Mark 9:42). The term translated “causes to stumble” is the Greek word skandalizō (skahn-dah-LIDZ-oh), which is related to the noun skandalon (SKAHN-dah-lon). We get our words scandal and scandalize from these Greek terms.

The basic meaning of the noun skandalon is “trap,” as in, a device or object for catching prey or making someone trip. In Leviticus 19:14, a literal rendering from the Hebrew is “You must not put an obstacle [or stumbling block] in front of the blind.” The Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Old Testament) uses the term skandalon. But in addition to referring simply to a physical trap or object that causes a fall, the term skandalon came to refer figuratively to moral or spiritual “traps”—that which causes a person to “stumble” or “fall” morally. The related verb skandalizō, then, could be used to refer either to the activity that causes one to stumble or fall morally or to the act of stumbling or falling morally or spiritually.

The verb skandalizō appears 29 times in the New Testament, with 22 of these instances occurring in Matthew and Mark. The term is often used in statements of warning from Jesus, as in the one from Matthew 18:6 and Mark 9:42 mentioned above. The traditional term used throughout church history and theology for moral failure is sin. And a number of translations, including the NLT, often translate skandalizō in these warning passages as “cause to sin,” making explicit the notion that moral or spiritual failure is in view.

So, in the NLT of Matthew 5:29-30, we read, “If your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust [naming the specific sin in this context], gouge it out and throw it away. . . . If your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” While some translations render skandalizō here as “cause to stumble” (including NIV, NASB¹⁹⁹⁵), many others (including the NLT, ESV, NKJV, CSB, NRSV, NASB²⁰²⁰) take up clearly the figurative notion present here that the “stumbling” in view is moral or spiritual in nature. (Notice how the NASB translators shifted their approach on this issue between the 1995 and 2020 editions.)

In some other contexts in the Gospels, Jesus alludes to the notion that he himself could potentially be a cause for people to “stumble” or “fall” (for example, Matthew 11:6; 13:57; Mark 6:3). Clearly, these instances do not suggest that Jesus was causing people to sin. Rather, people were “tripping” or “falling” because they misunderstood Jesus or had a faulty view of him. The NLT uses a variety of terms to translate skandalizō in such cases, including “fall away,” “were offended,” “or will desert” (Matthew 26:31-33, in the case of the disciples deserting Jesus at his arrest). The other major English translations display a similar flexibility in rendering this term in these contexts.

As you can see, the NLT, like other translations, seeks to convey this specific Greek term in a way that makes most sense in its context (hence “will desert” in Matthew 26:31-33), and in a way that will be readily understood by readers (hence the explicit “cause to sin” in Matthew 5:30). This is a crucial element of translation and will continue to be so as long as translations are created and updated.

As Paul concludes in his three uses of the term skandalizō (1 Corinthians 8:13 [twice]; 2 Corinthians 11:29), may we be adamant about not causing others to sin. And may we also not trip over Jesus when we encounter him in our daily walk through life.

English:     singular: brother; a person
plural: brothers; brothers and sisters

by Mark D. Taylor, NLT Bible Translation Committee

The Greek word adelphos (pronounced ah-del-FOS) appears 343 times in the New Testament—often in the plural adelphoi (pronounced ah-del-FOI). Its most common translation into English is “brother” or “brothers,” as in Matthew 4:18:

One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and his brother Andrew.

Simon Peter and Andrew were indeed siblings. In the Gospels, this is the most common meaning of adelphos. It refers to a male sibling.

But sometimes adelphos refers generically to an unspecified person. For example, in Matthew 5:23-24 we read:

So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

The context suggests that this principle is to be applied in one’s relationship with anyone, not simply a male sibling.

The term is also used in a metaphorical sense to refer to other believers. Those in the early churches began to view one another in a warm, familial sense akin to how they would view a sibling. This usage is especially prevalent in Acts and the Epistles. For instance, in Romans 1:13 we read:

I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,* that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles.
^{1:13 Greek brothers.}

The Greek text here in Romans (and also in other NT letters) uses adelphoi, a grammatically masculine noun. But note that the NLT renders it as “brothers and sisters,” as it does frequently throughout Acts and the NT letters. Many of the messages in Paul’s letters include greetings to particular women, making it clear that he was writing to both men and women in the church. Thus, we can rightly understand that Paul frequently had both male and female believers in mind when he used this umbrella term.

Many modern translations recognize this meaning through the use of a footnote. When the NLT renders adelphoi as “brothers and sisters,” it includes a footnote that reads “Greek brothers.” The NIV also renders it as “brothers and sisters” (with a similar footnote). The ESV renders it as “brothers,” with a footnote that reads “Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters.”

In some instances, the text uses adelphoi in a context that clearly refers specifically to the male believers. For example, in Acts 1:14-16 we read,

¹⁴ They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.
¹⁵ During this time, when about 120 believers were together in one place, Peter stood up and addressed them. ¹⁶ “Brothers,” he said, “the Scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David.

The highlighted term in verse 15 reflects the metaphorical use of adelphoi (see the mention of women in verse 14), so the NLT renders it as “believers.” But in verse 16 the Greek text uses two words that can be literally translated as “Men, brothers.” So it is clear that Peter was speaking specifically to the men in the crowd. Accordingly, the NLT renders it as “Brothers” rather than “Brothers and sisters.”

Today, you might hear a pastor refer to the believers in the congregation as “brothers and sisters,” and such family-type language is appropriate in light of New Testament usage. May we indeed consider fellow believers as near and dear to us, treating them with love and care—just as we should treat our actual siblings.

If you compare two or more Bible translations, you will occasionally find differences in the breakup of paragraphs or major sections of the text. What’s going on?

For starters, we need to recognize that the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts upon which our translations are based did not have chapter breaks, verse numbers, paragraph breaks, or punctuation. In fact, the earliest Greek manuscripts didn’t even have spaces between the words. All those features have been added by Bible copyists and scholars through the centuries.

The standard Greek text used by most students today, published by the United Bible Societies (UBS), includes chapter and verse numbers and a minimal level of punctuation. The scholars who compiled that Greek text have also inserted section headings in the text, but translators have to make their own judgment as to the placement of paragraph breaks and section headings.

An example where translations differ comes in the section break at Ephesians 5:20-21. The syntax of the Greek text suggests that verses 18-24 comprise one long sentence, yet the UBS text introduces a paragraph break and a new section header beginning at verse 21. Some translations (e.g., RSV, NIV²⁰¹¹, NLT) follow the UBS text and introduce a section header prior to verse 21. Other translations (e.g., NASB, NIV¹⁹⁸⁴, NKJV, NRSV, ESV) introduce a section header prior to verse 22. We can see the difference when we compare this passage in the NLT and the ESV:

Why the difference? It relates to the translators’ understanding of what Paul is saying in verse 21. Is the concept of “submitting to one another” the end of a thought and therefore the end of a major section, as in the ESV? Or is verse 21 the beginning of a new thought that is continued in verses 22-33? If the section break comes before verse 22 rather than before verse 21, it implies that submitting to one another (v. 21) is somehow unrelated to the instruction for wives to submit to their husbands (v. 22).

The NLT translators see verse 21 as an introduction to the relationships within a marriage. Believers are to submit to one another (v. 21). This thought is then fleshed out in terms of the relationship between wives and husbands. Wives are to submit to their husbands as to the Lord (v. 22), and husbands are to love their wives, just as Christ loved the church (v. 25).

We must remember, though, that the section headings in any translation have been created by the translators as a tool to help readers understand the flow of the text. Those headings were not in the original Hebrew or Greek texts.

This is just one small glimpse into the kinds of decisions that Bible translators make as they prepare the text for print. Translators take their work very seriously since they are dealing with God’s message for all people in all cultures and languages. May we as readers also take the text seriously as we read it and apply it to our own lives.

by Jonathan W. Bryant, PhD, Senior Editor, Tyndale Bibles

Sometimes when a word is being translated from one language to another, it can be difficult to find a direct correspondence in a single word. In such cases, the word in the source language (e.g., ancient Greek) carries a meaning known to that audience but for which the target language (e.g., English) doesn’t have an equivalent word. The concept may be present in the target language, but to adequately put the ancient concept into words requires more explanation than a single word can give.

The Greek word paraklētos (pronounced pah-RAH-klay-tahs) provides one such example. This noun (which appears in John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 1 John 2:1) is related to the frequently used verb parakaleō, which at its core means “to call to one’s side.” This “calling” can be for various purposes (e.g., encouragement, an appeal or entreaty, exhortation, or comfort), so the verb can be rendered in various ways in the New Testament, depending on the context. The noun paraklētos similarly means something to the effect of “one who is called to the side of another to provide aid.” To translate this meaning into a single English word proves difficult.

A further complication that emerges in translating paraklētos is that, as a reference to the Holy Spirit, it has been treated as a title (some simply prefer to use the transliterated term Paraclete). Modern English translations have thus generally attempted to render paraklētos with a singular, titular term in English. But note the variation of terms used among popular English translations in, for example, John 14:26:

• NIV: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—
• NLT: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.
• ESV: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
• KJV: And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
• NKJV: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—
• CSB: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.
• NRSV: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.
• NASB: I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever;

The NLT translators opted for the English term advocate, as a general way of referring to someone who is “called to come alongside.” While advocate may sound like an attorney for some readers, other terms like comforter or helper can narrow the sense to coming alongside simply for encouragement or material aid. Similarly, counselor carries for many the sense of either verbal advice or a therapeutic connotation. The overarching notion of “coming alongside another to provide aid” can involve numerous purposes, so any singular-word rendering is likely to leave readers with an understanding of the Holy Spirit that is at least somewhat incomplete. As a way of accounting for this, the NLT translators opted to include a footnote that provides multiple alternative options for translating paraklētos, along with noting the transliterated Greek term Paraclete. See, for example, the NLT rendering of John 14:16 along with the textual footnote:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,* who will never leave you.”

                14:16 Or Comforter, or Encourager, or Counselor. Greek reads Paraclete; also in 14:26.

This textual note (which also appears at John 15:26; 16:7) acknowledges the complexity of rendering this Greek term with a single English term and allows the reader to see a fuller picture of what may be involved in the Holy Spirit’s work as described by John.

May we recognize in our own lives the presence and work of the Holy Spirit—the One Who Has Come Alongside Us. Jesus has not left us alone but has sent his Spirit to dwell in us.

by Mark D. Taylor, NLT Bible Translation Committee

The Greek word diathēkē (pronounced dee-ah-THAY-kay, with a soft TH, as in “thaw”) appears thirty-three times in the New Testament. In English translations, it is usually rendered as “covenant,” even though that word is not used much in everyday speech. But “covenant” is an extremely important word in biblical theology, so English translations, including the NLT, generally retain it.

When Jesus instituted the new covenant at the Last Supper, the Gospel writers used the word diathēkē:

After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant (diathēkē) between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.” (Luke 22:20)

But what did Jesus mean by saying that he was instituting a new covenant? For context, we have to go back to the covenants of the Old Testament. The Hebrew text uses the word berith (typically translated “covenant”) to describe the nature and terms of God’s relationship with his people. God established multiple covenants in the Old Testament. We see the first covenant in the story of Noah:

I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. (Genesis 9:13)

God later established a covenant with Abram (Abraham):

So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River.” (Genesis 15:18)

This covenant with Abraham (and his descendants) forms the basis for God’s intervention on behalf of his people in the Exodus:

God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Exodus 2:24)

Following the Exodus, God established another covenant with his people through Moses:

Then Moses took the blood from the basins and splattered it over the people, declaring, “Look, this blood confirms the covenant the Lord has made with you in giving you these instructions” (Exodus 24:8).

Finally, God established a covenant with David, promising that his descendants would reign forever:

But the Lord did not want to destroy David’s dynasty, for he had made a covenant with David and promised that his descendants would continue to rule. (2 Chronicles 21:7; see 2 Samuel 7:1-17)

Throughout the Old Testament the term berith (“covenant”) is used to describe the relationship between God and the people of Israel. As the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek in the Septuagint, the translators employed the Greek term diathēkē, which can refer to an agreement, a will, or a testament, to render berith. So diathēkē was a familiar term to the Jewish people of Jesus’ day. With this background, Jesus indicated that his death (his blood) would institute a new relationship with his people. This notion is explicated in depth in the letter to the Hebrews, for example, in Hebrews 9:15:

That is why he [Christ] is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

We are very familiar with the term testament (another possible rendering of diathēkē) because we refer to the two parts of the Bible as the Old Testament and the New Testament (though they could also be called the Old Covenant and the New Covenant). The King James Version uses the very term “new testament” in Jesus’ words at the Last Supper:

Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament [diathēkē] in my blood, which is shed for you. (Luke 22:20)

The NLT translators have opted to use the term covenant in line with the familiarity of the Old Testament covenants and its importance as a theological term.

May we be people who fully enter into a covenant relationship with God by accepting Jesus’ gift of an abundant life, which he freely offers to us.

If grief were a destination, no one would choose to go there. It’s the inescapable, often unforeseen turns that land us in that sorrowful place.

We’re told grief is something we must go through, but what if the dark tunnel goes on and on? What if we find ourselves stuck there?

Jen Croucher recently shared how God’s Word was the Truth that set her free from grief. Her story is told in the hope that it comforts and dispels the darkness for others.

For over a decade I carried the heavy burden of grief.

On April 2, 2009, I got the call that wrecked my world. My only big sister had been tragically killed in a car accident.

She was my best friend and second mom. We spent every birthday together, talked daily, and never argued. We had so many things planned.

After the call, I went to her house to pack up her things, and the pain broke me. There was her wet towel, her Bible, all her things left like she would be right back. When she got in the car that day, my sister didn’t know she’d be hit head on and die because a driver couldn’t wait to read a text.

I felt like I died too. Without her, I had no idea who I was. I shut down parts of my life because I felt like I didn’t deserve to be happy, just like she didn’t deserve to die. The grief consumed me, and though I didn’t want to carry it, I also couldn’t seem to give it up. I felt like my grief was the last act of love I was giving her.

I wanted to be free from the pain. I wanted to let it go without letting her go. So I saw a therapist and a psychologist, but nothing was helping. I kept reading my Bible, and nothing clicked. Until one day . . .

I read a verse that I’d read a million times before, usually in the King James Version, but on this day I read it in the New Living Translation. It was Isaiah 57:1-2:

Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die.

These words hit me like a ton of bricks and gave me the breakthrough I’d been longing for. Tears started streaming down my face when the truth hit me. No, my sister didn’t deserve to die, but she did have God’s protection. He can see what we can’t, and He was keeping her safe. My sister is now resting in His peace!

Finally, I could let go of the pain, suffering, and grief—because I knew that she was in the most beautiful place and that one day we would be together again. I felt a huge weight lift from me.

God is so good and so faithful. The grief I carried after my sister’s death stopped me from fully living, and it made me sick and depressed. But there is such power in God’s Word. Praise God!

I highly encourage you to get the NLT because it is much easier to understand and less intimidating than other translations. I am forever grateful for the NLT because through it and with Christ, I have finally found freedom from my grief.

We would love to hear your NLT Story. You can share it with us here

*Photos are stock photos

by Jonathan W. Bryant, Senior Editor, Tyndale Bibles

The Greek word Christos appears in the New Testament over five hundred times—not surprising given the association of the term with the New Testament’s central character, Jesus. Upon seeing the English transliteration of the word (Christos), it might seem obvious that English translators would simply use the term “Christ” as a translation. But some translations, including the New Living Translation, have opted not to use “Christ” in all instances.

The term christos (originally an adjective meaning “anointed”) appears in nonbiblical Greek literature, but it took on a particular meaning in Jewish literature in relation to the Hebrew term mashiach, which also means “anointed.” This Hebrew term could be used in relation to an individual who was anointed with oil and thus set apart for a special office, such as a priest or a king (for example, David, as seen in 2 Samuel 23:1). As the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek in the Septuagint, the translators employed the Greek term christos to render mashiach.

During the period between the Old and New Testaments, messianic expectations became more developed, as seen, for example, in the communities that produced the literature now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Scripture passages such as 2 Samuel 7:1-17, Isaiah 11:1-5, Daniel 7:13-14, and Zechariah 3:8 offered hope that God would send a great “Anointed One” who would deliver his people. Such ideas and texts stood in the background of Jewish thought in the first century AD when Jesus entered the scene. Jesus’ early Jewish followers began to identify Jesus as the mashiach, the Messiah (see, for example, Peter’s confession in Mark 8:29), undoubtedly using the term mashiach (or the related Aramaic term meshicha). As Jesus’ followers began to record in the Greek language the stories of Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection, they used the Greek term christos.

The NLT translators opted to translate christos as “Messiah” throughout the Gospels and Acts when the context assumes a Jewish audience (see, for example, Mark 8:29), while translating the term as “Christ” whenever a predominantly Gentile audience can be assumed (which is typically the case in the Letters and Revelation; see, for example, Romans 5:9). By doing so, the NLT retains the connection between the Greek term christos and the Hebrew term mashiach, treating the English words “Messiah” and “Christ” synonymously since both terms have the same meaning. There is actually a precedent for using the terms interchangeably in the New Testament itself. The Gospel writer John twice used the Greek term Μεσσίας (Messias), which is simply a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew mashiach, placed once on the lips of the disciple Andrew (John 1:41) and once on the lips of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at a well (John 4:25). In both cases, Jewish messianic expectations are in view; and in both cases, the interchangeability of Messias and Christos is highlighted.

As the Good News concerning Jesus spread across the Roman Empire, the term Christos essentially became a proper name for Jesus among his followers (who themselves came to be known as Christianoi, “Christians”; see Acts 11:26). The connection between the term christos and the expectations regarding a coming mashiach (“Messiah”) would have been clear to most Jewish believers.

As we reflect on this term, let us remember how Jesus, the Anointed One, fulfilled the promises of the Old Testament. His coming was according to God’s plan, spoken through the prophets. And as the Anointed One, he perfectly fulfilled the roles of both king and priest, ushering in the Kingdom of God and allowing us access to his throne.