Devotional: Luke 2:14

Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Luke 2:14: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” KJV
Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”  NASB
This season of the year brings back those absolutely horrid memories as a child of being forced to participate in the annual Christmas pageant.  It was always the pastors or deacon kids who got the plum role of playing Joseph and Mary.  The “gifted” got to be shepherds or (one could only dream) a wise man who got wear the purple robes, crowns and carry the special gifts.  The rest of us average dudes were forced to don the obligatory white sheet and coat hanger halo.  We were then instructed to say, or worse yet to sing, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, and good will toward men.”  This, of course was straight from the King James Version and not those devil inspired, liberal, modern English versions which dared to change the Bible  and say: “Peace among men with whom he is pleased.”
Yet, years later we softened to the modern translations as our bastions of fundamentalism like Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Seminary, from which many of our preachers hailed, started to teach from these translations. I mean if our Evangelical Christian version of the Vatican declared it was ok, then it was ok.   Still, these modern translations presented a major deviation from, what could be, one of the most commonly quoted Scripture verses.  I mean “Good will toward men” has a universal appeal which transcends all theologies and doctrines. Even an atheist would not consider it below his dignity to quote such a passage.  Then, along comes these scholars with their Greek Bible and take this perfectly good and appropriate quote and change its meaning entirely from “good will to all men” to what could be interpreted as an elite “Peace only to those whom God is pleased with,” (my paraphrase of a paraphrase of a translation).   Sure, maybe they are saying God is pleased with all men, but can He be pleased with sinners who refuse to get born again?
Well, you can be sure that our local Wal-Mart will not plaster: “Peace only to those whom God is please with” over their stores at this time of year. No sir, thanks to our commercial system the King James Version will stay in business and we will continue to see “On earth peace, good will toward men,”   and I say: “Amen, you tell ‘em King James.”
Still, as one who fancies himself a diligent Bible student, I am afraid I have to side with our modern translators as the earliest Greek manuscripts, which the King James scholars did not have access to, clearly show that the Greek word used for “good will” is eudokias which means “with whom he is pleased.”  I know, a real bummer to those who are not born again Christians for we all know God cannot be pleased with someone who refused to say the sinner’s prayer.
Ok, I do find it disturbing that this verse in the original Greek seems to honor the select few who are smart enough, unselfish enough, holy enough, and indeed lucky enough to live in a society to hear the Gospel to make this right decision.  I cannot help but go back to that old Gospel adage that I am just a sinner like everyone else, saved by the grace of God and these angels were not bringing honor to the select few who made the right choice but bringing honor to God and God alone.
When I read this passage in the Aramaic and consider some of the understanding of certain Aramaic words that I have gleaned from Jewish rabbis, I find that these angels were not bringing any honor to men or those who make the right  decision, but were indeed declaring all honor and praise to God.
Everything is tied up in those words “good will.”  In the Aramaic the word “good” or “tov” is indeed there where the word “good” is not in the Greek.  The Aramaic word “tov” is identical to the Hebrew word “tov” and means to bring into harmony, to be in one accord, or in unity.  The word “will” in Aramaic is “seweeyana” and looks very similar to the word that is used in this passage which is sawra.  Sawra means hope and good news.  It is also the word used for a positive imagination. Hope is nothing more than to imagine something positive taking place.
The shepherds understood what the angels sang and the shepherds spoke the Southern dialect of Aramaic, so therefore the angels must have sung this in the Southern dialect of Aramaic and what is recorded in the Aramaic Bible may be the closest to what was said.  In English that would be “Glory to God in the highest and on earth He (this child that is born) will bring all men into harmony with God.”   Which you know smacks much closer to “On earth peace and good will to all men” more than peace among men with whom He is pleased.” So let’s chalk one up for the King James Version, Wal-Mart and all those little scholars dressed up in white sheets and coat hanger halos. You spread that Christmas message.