KRISIS
I received this from a reader. He quotes this scripture that I referenced:
“The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (KRISIS).” John 5:28-29
I looked up the definition for the above Greek word (KRISIS) and found the following. There isn’t anything here that suggest what you are saying the word should imply, namely correction. The bible translators seem to have gotten it right.
1) a separating, sundering, separation
2) selection
3) judgment
4) the college of judges
5) right, justice
JJ: Response: You were quoting here from the online Blue Letter Bible which is a useful research tool, but for accuracy it is best to start with the Strong’s Concordance. It is also best to use an older edition for the last one I looked at had a number of changes in it and not for the better. Apparently some believers do not like the literal translation and have added some biased interpretations to more closely conform to orthodox dogma.
Many of the exact meanings of Biblical words from the Greek and Hebrew have been lost and over the past millennia and much guesswork has been involved in translation. This is why one verse will have dozens of different wordings in the various translations giving a number of variations of meaning.
This verse in John is no exception for it is rendered a number of different ways. Translators translate KRISIS here as “damnation” “judgment and “condemnation” in the various Bibles.
The most accepted translation of this word is “Decision.” This is verified by Strong’s Concordance, the most valued authority in Bible translation. Most Bible and Greek scholars agree with this.
The common translation for the word in Bibles is “judgment.”
It is interesting to note that “decision” and “judgment” are the first two key words in the Keys of Knowledge.
A word with a core meaning of decision is often translated as “judgment” because the two words are so closely linked. After all, what is a judgment but a weighted decision?
The fact that the Greek word KRISIS evolved into the English “crisis” gives us some additional hints as to the original meaning.
My dictionary gives two interesting definitions of crisis:
(1) A crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point.
(2) A point in a story or drama when a conflict reaches its highest tension and must be resolved.
Now the interesting thing about the Biblical Greek and Hebrew words is this. Many of them cannot be accurately translated with a single English word. Many of these ancient words are very rich in meaning and would take a whole paragraph to accurately describe. Unfortunately, when translating an entire script it is impossible to elaborate on the meaning of each word so usually just a single word must be picked. When KRISIS evolved into English a new word had to be created to project its meaning. This new word was not decision, judgment, damnation, condemnation or any of the words mentioned by Bible translators, but the new word “crisis.”
Crisis is related to the orthodox meaning of decision and judgment, but with a twist. The twist is a point of tension, or turning point that will lead to an entirely new path, usually one of correction. I therefore gave what I consider to be the most correct meaning of the word as “decision which leads to correction.” If I had to reduce it to a word I would use the word “correction.”
The final test of a correct translation is to go to every place in the Bible where the word is used and see if the word or phrase fits on a consistent basis.
The Bible translators do not use judgment in every case because it doesn’t seem to fit consistently.
For one thing the judgments mentioned in the scripture occur before the resurrection. How then can we have a resurrection of judgment when those coming back to life are already judged?
Let us take a look at a couple places where KRISIS is translated as something other than “judgment” and see if the word “correction” seems to fit better.
First of all let us look at the scripture in question:
“The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (KRISIS).” John 5:28-29
There is no basis at all to use the word “damnation” but a resurrection that places you in a situation where you are forced to make decisions which leads to correction makes sense. “resurrection of correction” thus fits in well here.
Here’s another:
King James:
“And this is the condemnation (KRISIS), that the light is come into the world…” John 3:19
With “correction”
“And this is the correction (KRISIS), that the light is come into the world…”
King James:
“Ye serpents, Ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation (KRISIS) of hell?” Matt 23:33
With “correction”
“Ye serpents, Ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the correction (KRISIS) of hell?”
In this context it is interesting that the hell that is our prison system is called “correctional” institutions.
We also find places where KRISIS is translated as “judgment” that it makes more sense to use “correction.”
For Instance – King James:
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment (KRISIS).” Matt 12:36
With “correction”
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of correction (KRISIS).”
King James:
“But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment (KRISIS) and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” Luke 11:42
With “correction”
“But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over correction (KRISIS) and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”
King James:
“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment (KRISIS) is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” John 5:30
With “correction”
“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my correction (KRISIS) is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” John 5:30
King James:
“Now is the judgment (KRISIS) of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” John 12:31
With “correction”
“Now is the correction (KRISIS) of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”
Standard
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (KRISIS).” Heb 9:27
With “correction”
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the correction (KRISIS).”
King James:
“Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment (KRISIS) upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly” Jude, Verses 14-15
With “correction”
“Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute correction (KRISIS) upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly”
King James:
“Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment (KRISIS) is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Rev 14:7
With “correction”
“Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his correction (KRISIS) is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”
As I said no single word does the job. Correction, judgment and decision all fit fairly consistently, but what fits best of all is the core meaning of the modern word crisis which evolved from KRISIS – which is basically “a decision or situation which brings correction” – or if the wrong decision is made, disaster. When we realize that the great means to make corrections from mistakes in one life is the reincarnation into another then we can see how closely linked to multiple lives this word is.
March 8, 2004
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