Spirituality and Interpretation
He who misses the spiritual lessons of the Bible misses right interpretation always. For instance, there is before us an article with the title “How They Have Garbled the Gospel of Christ.” The scripture considered is the parable of the talents in the 25th chapter of Matthew. The writer contends that the interpretation of that chapter has largely been brought about by the interpolation of the five words “the kingdom of heaven is” in verse 14, and holds that the men who improved their talents represent the wicked, rich bondholders of to-day, while the man who buried his talent in the earth represents that sort of Socialist who would not serve under the hard master that wanted him to improve his talent. Now the use of that talent is in harmony with our Lord’s parable regarding the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God is spiritual, and the object of that parable is spiritual, and the talents which are there given are spiritual gifts which God bestows upon His children to use for Him in the salvation of precious souls. And the man who rightly uses those gifts is the man who will win souls to the kingdom of God, gather in redeemed sinners for the Master; but the man who refuses to use it is the selfish man who buries his talent in the earth, and he it is that may be classed with the bloated bondholder and other selfish men whose whole purpose is to live for self. Thus much for the interpretation of the parable. There is another item of interest in the long article, and that is the meaning of words printed in italics in our Bibles. Of course, all intelligent Bible students know that they are there because the idiom of the original is so unlike the idiom of the English, and the English translator has done the best he could to make it plain to the English reader. In order to do this, he must sometimes supply words in order to meet the idioms of the language. This writer claims that he sent out inquiries to a score of persons, asking the significance of words in the Bible which appear in italics. He sent them to men of every school and class, and he gives three answers, one from James Cardinal Gibbons, one from the Christian Science Publishing Society, and one from the Moody Bible Institute. The Moody Bible Institute and the Christian Science Publishing Society both give practically the same answer, and a correct one, too, one saying that the words are interpolated for the purpose of making better English idiom, and the other that it was necessary to add these words in order to give proper construction to the sentences; but it is a strange thing if Cardinal Gibbons answered as it is stated that he did, that the words in italics are for emphasis. Of course, every Bible student knows to the contrary. Sometimes mistakes are made by the translators, but as a general thing they are correct. Certain it is, no great doctrine of the Bible is affected by the great English versions.