In regard to Just Love, I have friends of mine in both Germany and France who have written to me letting me know that their versions of Scripture already contain the word “justice” where our English versions use “righteousness.”
So, does this book hold any application for them?
If it were just about a linguistic change, the answer would be no. Tobie and I are aware that linguistically, this is an obvious problem in English. However, it is a more subtle problem in other languages. Since the Reformation, a distorted view of imputed righteousness has spread mostly through the English-speaking Protestant world, so that even non-English readers think of the concept of righteousness, even though their text already contains justice.
They just added the meaning of “uprightness” to their word for “justice”; thus, they have the same conceptual misunderstanding, even though they have retained the word for justice.
Here’s what Tobie wrote to someone who said the same problem exists in Afrikaans, where justice may be in their text, but still not in their hearts:
The unique meaning of the English word “righteousness” has crept into Protestant theology to such an extent that “justice” now has two meanings—a spiritual version that carries the definition of righteousness and a legal version that carries the definition of justice. So, the problem persists outside of English, but without the solution of replacing the word with an alternative that is uncontaminated and has always had a single meaning.
English readers of the Bible need a word-shift, the rest need a mind-shift.
Truth be told, we both need the mind-shift.
When you read Just Love, you will first notice the linguistic problem and how it distorted our view of the Gospel. But in the second part of the book, we show how Jesus writes his justice on our hearts with the pen of his love. By filling us with his love, light, and life, we won’t be able to live an ego-centric life in the world. Our awareness of others will rise to the awareness of ourselves, and we will not need to manipulate or exploit others to get what we desire from them. Instead, we will guard their hearts as much as we guard our own.
God’s desire was always to have just people on the earth, as he transforms us, so we become a fountain of his love to the people around us without even trying.
______________________
And if you want to hear Tobie and talk about the book, you can do so here:
The God Journey: Love-Lived Justice, Part 1
The God Journey: Love-Lived Justice,Part 2
With Insight Incorporated on YouTube
And, if you’ve already read Just Love, would you please consider writing a review of it at Amazon and/or Goodreads. I’m told the algorithms need that to help a book find its audience. I am grateful for those who already have
Just Love:
How One Mistranslated Word Distorted the Gospel
by Wayne Jacobsen and *Tobie van der Westhuizen
174 pages
Trailview Media
Available from Amazon, Tuesday, March 3
in Kindle ($10.99)
or in Paperback ($16.99)
