On the jw.org website the Watch Tower confidently affirms You Can Strip off the Old Personality. They quote, in part, Col.3:9, ‘Strip off the old personality with its practices.’ The complete thought here, in context, reads:
‘Do not lie to one another. Strip off the old personality, with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it…’ (Col.3:9/10, NWT 2013)
If you look up this text in a reliable translation you will read:
‘Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.’ (ESV)
Other translations carry the same thought, for example ‘since you have taken off your old self,’ (NIV). The difference here is staggering, the implications far-reaching. In the NWT putting off the old self is something we are to strive to do. In the ESV, and other translations, it is something we have done.
The Imperative Tense Typical of Cults
The difference lies in the Society having left out an essential Greek word – άπεκδυσάμϵνοι (ápekdysámenoi). This translates to ‘having stripped off,’ according to the Kingdom Interlinear Translation. A second Greek word is also missing – ένδυσάμϵνοι (éndysámenoi). This translates to ‘having put on,’ again according to the Kingdom Interlinear.
The NWT has the text in the imperative tense so typical of the cults, giving a command. The ESV, with the Greek that is missing from the NWT, gives the perfect participle tense; having completed the past action, one can carry out the second action: ‘you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self…’ In light of this past action put away the things listed in the text.
God works with and in the new believer.
Further, you have God’s help, in that this established new self, ‘is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.’ This is expressed in the passive voice; something is being done, not simply by you, but with you in the present continuous tense; God works with and in the new believer.
Self-Help Bible, Life Coach Jehovah
The article, following the mistranslation of Colossians 3:9 in the JW Bible, proceeds in the imperative tense, commanding. There is no encouragement here as readers are urged to treat the Bible as a self-help text, Jehovah as our life coach, and your mission, should you choose to accept it, to qualify for baptism:
'In the first century, some of the men and women whom Jehovah chose to be corulers with Christ had once been dominated by bad practices. ‘For example, they had been adulterers, homosexuals, and thieves. With the help of God’s holy spirit, however, they were able to change their personalities. (Read 1Corinthians 6:9-11.) Similarly today, the Bible has helped millions of people to make changes in their lives. They have overcome deeply entrenched bad habits. Their example proves that you too can make changes in your personality and overcome bad habits so that you can qualify for baptism.’
In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, having listed all those who will not inherit the kingdom, the Bible declares:
‘And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.’ (v.11 ESV)
The NWT puts it in the correct tense, ‘And yet this is what some of you were. But you have been washed clean, but you have been sanctified, but you have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit (sic) of God.’
The JW Bible is effectively contradicting itself, pitting Corinthians against Colossians. The article, agreeing with one part of the NWT but disagreeing with another, insists, ‘Their example proves that you too can make changes in your personality and overcome bad habits so that you can qualify for baptism.’
Both the ESV and the NWT give the correct, perfect participle tense in 1 Corinthians; having completed the past action, having been washed, sanctified, and justified... Yet the article insists on the imperative, commanding tense throughout. These are the steps they insist are taken:
1. Use the Bible as a mirror to identify as many faults as you can find.
2. Become convinced Jehovah’s ways are best.
3. Learn to hate what Jehovah hates.
4. Safeguard your thinking.
5. Control your speech.
6. Be willing to take decisive action.
7. Continue to fight fleshly weaknesses.
8. Pray for Jehovah’s help, and rely on his spirit, not your own strength
And you’re not baptised yet!
Once again, we find the Watch Tower Society leaving people stranded in Romans 7:18, ‘I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.’
This is a good list in many ways. Shouldn’t we all hate what God hates, love God’s ways, be disciplined in thought, speech, and action? But how will you act on these things, especially number nine, if you have yet to put off the old personality, yet to put on the new, and if you have not been washed (spiritual cleansing symbolised in baptism), sanctified, and declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Once again, we find the Watch Tower Society leaving people stranded in Romans 7:18, ‘I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out,’ failing to bring them to Romans 7:24/25, ‘Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!’
Jesus Christ will deliver me through faith in him, in whom I have been washed, sanctified, and justified. Now I can look at God’s demands on my lifestyle without fear or anxiety because my new self ‘is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.’ Now I can confidently pray for Jehovah’s help, and rely on his Spirit, not my own strength, because he is already intimately involved in my continual renewal, I having been renewed in his Son.
It’s not for nothing we ask, ‘Have you been born again?’ (John 3:1-8)
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