{"id":30,"date":"2019-07-21T06:45:55","date_gmt":"2019-07-21T06:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=30"},"modified":"2019-09-04T12:43:05","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T12:43:05","slug":"renegotiations-for-jet-fighter-project-aim-to-ease-burden-on-state-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=30","title":{"rendered":"Reverend: Is it a title appropriate for the minister of the gospel?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I have read many documents and in fact, listened to messages where people of God are rebuked for bearing the title \u201cReverend\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The argument is that Reverend is the name or title referring to or reserved only for God. But I wish to differ and to appeal that we cease rebuking or deriding the Reverend gentlemen, since we bear with those who put Pastor or Prophet, etc before their names. Even if care is not taken, the prefixed Brother X or Sister Y may in future degenerate into a Pharisaic religious identity. But God forbid! I have also not seen a single instance in scriptures where any of the apostles or believers refer personally to himself as Brother So and So.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

But I see \u201cI, John, your brother and partaker with you in the affliction (Rev 1:9)\u2026.\u201dWhen they saw the grace given to me, James, Cephas (Peter) and John\u2026\u201d-Gal 2:9\u2026\u2026\u201dAnd after they had finished speaking, James responded saying, Brethren, listen to me, Simon(Peter) has described how God first visited the gentiles\u2026.'(Acts 15:13). You will notice that from the leadership to the others, they were in first name relationship. Their brotherhood was not about title -Bro So and So but philadelphic relationship.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2.0\u00a0 The issue originated from Psalm 111: 9\u00a0\u00a0 \u201c\u2026\u2026 he hath commanded His covenant forever : holy and reverend is his name\u201d. There is no way we would not be running into the web of narrowness and provincialism if we draw our scriptural resources from only one version of the\u00a0Bible,<\/a>\u00a0especially the KJV- which spirit-filled, consecrated scholars have suggested to be among the most defective. I have mentioned it over and over that even in the preface to the RSV and NRSV Bibles, this same conclusion have been drawn and courageously stated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About five years ago, a student in a seminary retorted that there seems to be a conspiracy against KJV. I was in pain by this exhibition of limited understanding, obstinacy, and intellectual brain-wash displayed by this KJV addict. One does not need to have passed through a Bible College or even a secondary school to realize that if the original KJV is flawless, there would have been no need for its revision to produce NKJV, 20th Century KJV, RNKJV, KJVA, International KJV, MKJV, KJV 2000, KJVR etc. which are all subsequent revisions and update of the 400-year old KJV.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3.0\u00a0 Let us check Psalm 111: 9 in various versions<\/p>\n

NKJV: \u201c\u2026 Holy and awesome is His name\u201d.<\/p>\n

YLT: \u201cHoly and fearful is His name\u201d.<\/p>\n

RSV: \u201cHoly and terrible is His name\u201d.<\/p>\n

NLT: \u201cwhat a holy, awe-inspiring name He has\u201d.<\/p>\n

NIRV: \u201cHis name is holy and wonderful\u201d.<\/p>\n

NIV: \u201cHoly and awesome is His name\u201d.<\/p>\n

Message: \u201cHe\u2019s so personal and holy, worthy of our respect\u201d.<\/p>\n

GW: \u201cHis name is holy and terrifying\u201d.<\/p>\n

GNB: \u201cHoly and mighty is He\u201d.<\/p>\n

Geneva Bible: \u201cHoly and fearful is His name\u201d.<\/p>\n

ERV: \u201cGod\u2019s name is amazing and holy\u201d.<\/p>\n

DRB: \u201cHoly and terrible is his name\u201d.<\/p>\n

BBE: \u201cHoly is His name and greatly to be feared\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In essence, \u201creverend\u201d can be essentially interchangeable with, to be feared, terrible, amazing, to be respected, awe-inspiring, awesome, etc and it is actually not a personal name. Even the Yoruba Bible translated by Bishop Ajayi Crowther gives a good picture, \u2018\u2026\u2026Mimo in oruko re, o si lowo\u2019 literally meaning \u2018His name is holy and hallowed\u2019. So holy and reverend are two adjectives qualifying God\u2019s name and not that God\u2019s first name is \u2018holy\u2019 and that the middle name is \u2018reverend\u2019. Who was that \u201cFather\u201d who gave birth to God and named Him \u2018Reverend\u2019 when He Himself had declared in Isaiah 42: 8 that, \u201cI am\u00a0 Jehovah, that is my name\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

4.0. The Yorubas call Reverend gentleman \u2013 \u201cEni-owo\u201d that is, a respectable person; One to be honoured or held in high esteem. What the unknown Psalmist who composed Psalm 119 implied was that the name of the Lord is awesome, worthy of honours and adoration and to be held in reverence. He did not in the least convey the impression that God\u2019s name is \u201cReverend\u201d. Indeed God is not Mr. Reverend. If it is his name, the \u201cR\u201d would have been in capital. I consulted about 50 Bible versions and all wrote \u2018reverend\u2019 and not \u2018Reverend\u2019. The name of God is forever Jehovah, Yahweh (YHWH-Exodus 6: 2.<\/p>\n

The same logic that seeks to forbid Reverend as a prefix to the names of God\u2019s servants should also apply to \u201cEvangelist\u201d, \u201cProphet\u201d, \u201cPastor\u201d etc before\u00a0 their names; because all the latter, are gifts and not titles (Eph. 4:8, 11-13). On this matter of the awesomeness of God\u2019s name, we read in Psalm 138 :2 \u201cfor you have magnified Your holy Name above all things\u201d-(Complete Apostles\u2019 Bible, Bishops\u2019 Bible, Brenton Bible, Geneva Bible). It is not that God has magnified His word above His name as KJV implies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not congruent that the Name, at the mention of which every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth shall bow, should be surpassed or superceded by His word (utterance)-Phil 2: 10. Many Bible Versions are not comfortable with the rendering, \u2018magnifying His word above His Name\u2019 as in KJV, so they are discreet by putting His word and His Name on the same pedestal-\u201c\u2026.for thou hast magnified thy word and thy Name above all\u201d-(RV, RNKJV, RSV, WEB, CLV, ESV, GNB, HCSB, HNV, Message Bible, NASB, NCV, NIV, NIRV, etc)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

5.0.\u00a0\u00a0 I have seen cases of men of God who renounced the title \u201cReverend\u201d not on the basis of being in competition with God but on grounds of humility and because they felt that it is not meant to be a title. A prominent case was that of former Baptist minister \u2013 Rev. T. Austin-Sparks. He was a mentor to Watchman Nee. In his books, Watchman Nee hardly cite people outside of the Bible characters, but apart from his \u201cdiscipler\u201d, Miss Barber, he made references to T.A. Sparks and quoted extensively from Sparks\u2019 timeless book, \u2018What is Man\u2019. When Rev. Sparks had a vivid encounter with God, he dropped the title \u201cReverend\u201d. Later he resigned his pastoral \u201coffice\u201d.<\/p>\n

He became simply Mr. T. Austin-Sparks throughout his subsequent ministry with Emmanuel Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. Again why do I put office in quote above? It is because the rendering on 1 Tim. 3: 1 as \u201c\u2026\u2026 the office of a pastor, overseer\u201d etc is controversial.. The Greek text does not contain the word \u2018office\u2019 per se. Some translators inserted the word. It is better as \u201c\u2026..aspire to the overseer-ship\u2026..\u201d (Recovery version) \u201cwishes to serve as watchman\u201d (Father\u2019s LIfe Version) \u201c\u2026\u2026to want to be a presiding elder\u2026.\u201d (New Jerusalem Bible).<\/p>\n

What the above shows is that these various ministries are not official status but the expressions or manifestations of the gifting within the gifted ministers. In the same vein, a man of God is to be reverenced, honoured etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6.0\u00a0 We even oversight the fact that Psalm 119: 9 records \u201c\u2026..holy and reverend\u2026\u201d. Why do we contend with aspirations to \u201creverend\u201d but would not contend with aspirations to be \u201choly\u201d since the scripture does not just state reverend is His name, but holy also, even ahead of the word, reverend? Why are we tenacious about an isolated verse in Psalm 111 written by an unknown inspired Psalmist but we are not often trembling at Jesus\u2019 words in Luke 14: 33, 9 :23, Mk. 8 :34, Mt. 12: 36, John 12: 48 etc for instance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7.0\u00a0 As I was about concluding this piece, my attention drew to the commentary on Psalm 119: 9, by Finis Dake, the man of God, who unlike me and many others, read the Bible for about seven and half hours daily for 43 years consistently. On page 602 of Dake Annotated Bible, he stated that the Hebrew word \u201cy are\u201d for reverend means \u2018to be feared\u2019, that this same \u2018y are\u2019 was translated for both God and man in 348 places in the Bible as fear, afraid, terrible, dread and reverence. He wrote further \u201chere we have a simple statement that God\u2019s name is reverend. It does not command or imply that ministers are forbidden to use reverend as title.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The same word is used of the fear of parents (Lev. 19: 3) and of God (Lev. 19: 4). It is even used of reverence of sanctuary, a material place (Lev 19: 30, 26 :2). If God commanded men to reverence a material place as well as parents, how could it be wrong to reverence men of God who are supposed to be holy and reverenced as His representatives here on earth?\u201d unquote.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This universally acclaimed minister had helped to throw more light on this controversial verse. The only issue I have is that I don\u2019t think Reverend should necessarily need be a title, but I reverence (revere) men of God especially those in positions of leadership. So my beloved Reverend gentlemen, I agree with you that you are not usurping God\u2019s name but that we should reverence or revere you provided you do not subsequently augment your \u201cReverend\u201d prefix to \u201cJehovah\u201d. God bless you all-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have read many documents and in fact, listened to messages where people of God are rebuked for bearing the title \u201cReverend\u201d. The argument is that Reverend is the name or title referring to or reserved only for God. But I wish to differ and to appeal that we cease rebuking or deriding the Reverend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"Church Times Nigeria","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"0","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions\/163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}