No! Not Worthless! — 10/03/2010

Based on “all texts”

In Luke’s gospel, there seems to be an interesting translation of a Greek word (achreios). Because of that, in most bibles, we have the phrase “worthless slaves”. This (and verses like it) has led to people doing truly unhealthy things (both spiritually and physically) to themselves.

(Sermon excerpt):

Jesus sounds like He’s anti-self-esteem. Monks used to go into the desert to force themselves to suffer, and if living a life of solitude in hostile environs wasn’t enough, they would deny themselves food and water, sit in the blazing sun for hours, even flagellate themselves. That sounds impressively anti-self-esteem. Is this what Jesus wants from us? This kind of self-loathing behavior? I hope not — indeed, I know not.

But like I stated earlier, “worthless slaves” is an improper translation. The actual meaning is more like the following

The trouble stems from the translation of a single word in Greek — (achreios). For some reason, the translators of many contemporary versions have chosen to equate this with the words “worthless” and “useless.” But it is not that strong a word.

It is, in fact, a truly koiné word. The Greek of the New Testament is not the classical Greek of Plato and Homer. It is, in fact, marketplace slang, street language, the language of commerce and human interaction. The word (achreios) comes right out of the marketplace and it means “unprofitable” (which is how the KJV translates it)

When it comes to God, you and I are “unprofitable.” We can add nothing to God.

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