About In Plain Sight
“What is truth?” Pilate asked Jesus that question when Jesus stood before him under criminal inquiry. Whether Pilate was asking cynically or honestly we don’t know, but what Pilate was responding to we do know: Jesus had just told Pilate, “I was born for this and for this I came into the world: to testify to the truth; everyone who is from the truth listens to my voice.”
These are astounding words from a man who was about to die. One could say crazy; others might say courageous; but in any case, anyone who reads this account must make an assessment. Was Jesus speaking the truth about himself? If he was, then all that he did and said was true and demands a decision about him—a judgment concerning his identity, his mission, and his invitation to follow.
This Substack is about Truth, specifically truth about the Bible, truth in the Bible, and the truth of the Bible. The Greek word we translate as truth, alētheia (ἀλήθεια) is a noun with the parts “not” (a-) and “forget” (lētheia). The Greek idea was that truth was that which was not covered up, not forgotten.
The Bible is a group of books that together reveal the truth about us—humanity—and God. Jesus as the incarnate Word of God spoke this truth in the clearest terms. If the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) showed the reality of rebellion against God and God’s desire to redeem humanity, Jesus conveyed this message in his very words and deeds as God incarnate.
One thing the Bible can never be accused of is cover-up. Instead, the Bible puts the human condition “in plain sight.” Most people reject the Bible because they don’t like what it says. Others pick and choose the parts that fits their narrative about the world, but freely reject the rest. The unvarnished truth of the Bible is difficult for any person to accept because the truth is about us: pride, envy, rivalry, greed, desire. The Bible does not say that “everyone is basically good.” Instead, “there is no one just, no not one.”
The Bible stands or falls as a whole. The story goes from Genesis to Revelation with the same message: God’s good and free creation—humanity—has freely rejected God and God pursues them anyway, desiring that they freely turn back to God.
In the posts to come, I will seek to uncover the words of the Bible in their conveyance of vivid reality. This will involve examining the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible and pointing out aspects not seen in translation, or often ignored by commentators or preachers, but clear to see when not trying to explain away what is there in plain sight.
Over the years I have personally become not only dissatisfied with English translations of the Bible (some are better than others) but in many cases confused by them. What I read in the Greek or Hebrew text is not conveyed into English at the level of plain sight. Not that I have a corner on the truth; I have simply been reading and studying for multiple decades with an eye for “cover-ups.” I will post on some of these, but primarily I want to read the actual words of the Bible and ask what they actually say.
Generally, I will delve into a verse or two of the Bible, but always within the larger context around. All translations of Greek and Hebrew are my own, unless I use another for comparison or comment. My translation might not be as smooth, but I want to show as clearly as possible the closest rendering in English. The “Observations on the Greek text” will often give some further reasoning behind my translations.
Each post will consist of two sections. The first is a commentary of sorts of the verse(s) at hand with a view to helping to clarify the plain meaning of the text (sometimes the plain meaning involves symbolism or metaphor, but the text is clear about that). The second part will be observations on the Greek text. Those who don’t know Greek can benefit, but there will be some technical jargon, Greek fonts, and some times pure instruction on reading Greek, hopefully in a very readable and understandable way. The first part is free to all subscribers until they are archived, the second is part of a paid subscription. Paid subscribers can always access the archive. In the near future I plan to add Greek lessons to the paid section.
Though I do want to know what people think and to dialogue as much as I can, especially to correct any errors that I may make, my only judge in these words is the God I serve. I believe that God puts everything blindingly in plain sight and chooses those who choose reality. Thus I have no political or social agenda, nor a religious one for that matter (though I am a confessing follower of Jesus). People do what they do, and the Bible speaks about them, about God, and about God’s view of them plainly, directly and unvarnished. Whether a person chooses to accept what the Bible says is up to them.
Please feel free to comment; I may or may not respond but the conversation will be valuable in any case. Welcome to “In Plain Sight.”
About the Author
My Life Mission: To celebrate God's Handiwork in the Light of God's Word.
Vision: To see people free from fear that forfeits trusted Love.
Why? I believe that God puts everything blindingly in plain sight and chooses those who choose reality.
I am Jackson Painter (most call me Jack). Born in 1961 in Alabama, I grew up in Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia as the South transitioned from segregation to what it is today. MLK, Jr. spoke in Albany, Georgia, on the day I was born, and I ended up there from elementary to high school. I remember King’s funeral, and I witnessed the uneasy movement toward integration in school and society in the Deep South. Churches remained segregated, but in school, especially in sports and in music, the divisions broke down in sitting and playing with one another in mutually loved activities, especially band. At my fortieth high school reunion, I related as well with my black friends as my white ones.
When I committed my life to following Jesus (in fifth grade) I began reading the Bible, then taking sermon notes, then memorizing. The Bible always had an allure for me, yet I always was uneasy with what people said about the Bible, either in the acceptance of a particular theological framework to interpret it (for example, the Scofield Bible notes) or, later, those who disparaged the Bible as false or full of errors.
The Bible made me uncomfortable but for a different reason. It spoke to me and my motivations and desires, and that was uncomfortable, even terrifying. It also spoke about the world, about power, about desire, about money, and what it said resonated with what I saw. The words of the Bible took everyone captive under sin (to paraphrase the Apostle Paul).
In college, I attended First Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL. I did not know the church’s history at the time, only that the young pastor was vibrant, and the college group was welcoming. Some of us decided to knock on doors in the section eight housing across the street from the church. When a young black woman and her children came, I was overjoyed. Others were not and when she asked to be a member she was rejected. Only then did I learn that another church in Birmingham already existed because this had happened a decade or so before. On the eve of a summer mission trip to Africa, I was asked to speak to the Wednesday night gathering. I gave a version of King’s dream speech for them (this was 1983). It took another decade and a change of venue, but finally the church accepted non-whites into the congregation—and they flourished. I don’t know what impact my words made, but they were plain truth.
In seminary and PhD studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (during the great Southern Baptist upheaval of the 1980s to 90s), I gravitated from music to the Bible as my focus. In the midst of the inerrantist resurgence and the moderate faculty at Southern, I had to find my own way. I respected the scholarship and heart of the faculty and chafed at the largely loveless (and almost vicious) efforts to power of the inerrantist movement. Yet my own view of the Bible was closer to the latter, but in a different way. I saw and treated the Bible as the very word of God, God’s message to us, that could withstand any questions we threw at it. The Bible needed no defense (as the inerrantist movement was want to do), nor was it like any other literature (the liberal perspective). With all of its “problems” from a contemporary cultural perspective, the Bible simply stands at the true word of God.
Understanding those words was another issue, however. The more I learned Greek (and later Hebrew) and grew in my understanding of ancient history and literature, then read English translations and commentaries, the more disturbed I became about the “whitewashing” of scripture, in translation and commentary (from both sides of the spectrum). In the two years between seminary and PhD studies, and in PhD studies itself and since, my desire has been to get behind the theological accretions to the words of Scripture themselves when they were written (and in canonical relationships) and throw wrenches in received orthodoxy that varnished and obscured the true nature of the words (the truly orthodox). The received orthodoxy is always liable to manipulation by the powers to control and divide—and politically this can come from many angles. The plain truth indicts all powers but God. Scripture speaks to all who would abuse God’s gifts for their own ends, and constantly calls for humility and repentance, something I aspire to every day.
To claim that what I say about the Bible is unobscured and unvarnished is of course overstated, because we all bring who we are to the Bible. I am no different. Yet my desire is to strip away whatever stands between us and the truth of Scripture, myself as a target first of all. As a woodworker, I have had opportunity to refinish some furniture. When the old finish is removed, the wood lying beneath is always a surprise. I find the same surprise when I read the Bible with a view to reading anew with question after question. I am continually surprised.
Over the years, I have taught the Bible in many venues to youth, adults, undergraduates, and graduates, but have published very little, only one small book on John and a couple of articles. I have found that live interaction is where I thrive, where I can speak most directly, and can have the most visceral effect on people’s understanding of the Bible. I have also had to put my faith to the test in standing up to power, when that power is abused, from college presidents to the court-room. Though I have a deep interest in politics, I have largely stayed out of that conversation except among friends.
For some time I have felt the need to write for a wider audience. Doing so takes courage and the willingness to take on rejection at every turn (and correction if I am shown to be wrong). Writing about the plain truth of scripture cuts to the motivations of all perspectives, social, religious, and political. While I consider myself a conservative, Jesus cannot be claimed by any one perspective, he speaks the truth to all, and all come under conviction (which is itself a result of God’s love for us). The powers of the first century could not handle that truth and they executed the messenger, Jesus, just like John before him and the prophets of old. The same holds true today. Untold witnesses lie in their graves (or prisons) as a result of those seeking to cover the truth.
My own question is what does the Bible actually say when we look carefully at its words? How do its words cut through the constructed lies of our culture (and all cultures), and especially the lies of those who grasp for or desperately hold onto power, religious, social, financial, political, or otherwise? These are the questions I will address in In Plain Sight.
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