Vanoggend se erediens is ‘n dialoog tussen die leraar van die NGK Stutterheim, Ds Deon Strydom, en die leraar van die Stutterheim en distrik Presbiteriaans kerk, Ds Ian Hawkridge. Wat hieronder volg is slegs ‘n breë raamwerk van gesprekspunte wat die twee leraars wil aanraak. Geniet!
Lees die teks in twee tale
2020 Afrikaans
17 Elke goeie geskenk en elke volmaakte gawe kom van bo af, van die Vader van die hemelligte, by wie daar geen afwyking of skadu van verandering is nie.
18 Volgens sy wil het Hy ons verwek deur die woord van die waarheid, sodat ons eerstelinge van sy skepsels kan wees.
19 Let op, my geliefde broers, elke mens moet flink wees om te luister, stadig om te praat, stadig om kwaad te word. 20 Want die woede van ‘n mens bewerk nie geregtigheid voor God nie.
21 Doen daarom in sagmoedigheid afstand van alle morele besoedeling en die kwaad wat gedy, en ontvang die woord wat in julle geplant is, en daartoe in staat is om julle siele te verlos.
22 Wees doeners van die woord, en nie slegs hoorders wat julleself mislei nie.
New Living Translation
17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.
18 He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.
21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
Gesprek / Dialogue
IAN – One of the first reformers, Martin Luther, called James an “epistle of straw” because he thought it contradicted Paul and the gospel of grace. I wonder if he was correct?
DEON – Ek sal myself verstout om hier van Luther te verskil. Vers 17 sê: “Elke goeie geskenk en elke volmaakte gawe kom van bo af, van die Vader.” Dan gaan vers 18 voort: “Volgens sy wil het Hy ons verwek deur die woord van die waarheid.” Vers 21 gaan dan nog verder: “ontvang die woord wat in julle geplant is.” Ja, Jakobus lê klem daarop dat ons dade moet wys wat ons glo, bv. in Jak 2:14: “Wat baat dit, my broers, as iemand sê dat hy geloof het, maar hy het nie dade nie? Dié geloof kan hom tog nie verlos nie? Alles begin egter by die genade, by die woord wat geskenk en geplant is in ons. Tog glo Jakobus sterk dat hierdie geloof sigbaar uitgeleef moet word.
Ek het self ‘n vraag. Ek wonder waarna verwys Jakobus as hy van “woord” praat?
IAN – Just about all of us here will at least one Bible? The people James was writing to had no Bibles. Although the scrolls were kept in the Synagogue they were far too expensive to be owned by an individual. So what does James mean when he speaks so often about ‘the word’? It is interesting that James uses the Greek word “logos” for “word”, the same word John uses in his gospel, in these verses. Throughout the NT this word has a particular meaning, namely it refers to the message about Christ. It is not just “word” in a general sense, but the good news of Christ! That is why the NLT translates it as God’s “true word” in verse 18. In this sense one can translate verse 21 as “receive Christ (the word) that was planted in you.” If we think of Ephesians 6 which speaks about the word of God as the sword of the spirit. We tend to think of that sword as the Bible but there was no Bible when Paul wrote the letter. The word of God was truth living through God’s people – what one writer described as ‘faith expressing itself through love.’
DEON – Wat dit nog meer spesiaal maak is dat hierdie Woord, Jesus self, in ons ingeplant is! (Vers 21) Jesus kom woon in, plant Homself in ons in, kom word so deel van ons dat ons al meer soos Hy kan word.
Ek dink wat Jakobus doen is presies dieselfde wat Paulus doen as hy sê ons moet die gesindheid van Christus openbaar, dat Christus moet sigbaar word deur dit wat ons doen en sê. Geloof is tog nie net iets wat ons glo en dan is als reg nie. Dit wat ons glo moet sigbaar word in ons lewens. Na bewering het Francis van Assisi sy monnike uitgestuur met die woorde: “Preek die heel tyd, maar gebruik net woorde as julle regtig nie anders kan nie!” Woorde is (soms) nodig, maar beteken niks as dit nie ondersteun word deur ‘n veranderde lewe nie.
Ons is dubbel bevoorreg, ons het Jesus wat Homself “inplant” in ons lewens in, en dan het ons nog SY woord op skrif ook! Vandag kan elkeen ‘n Bybel – of selfs meer as een – besit!
IAN – It is incredible to think that Martin Luther only translated the Bible into German in 1534 – 487 years ago. Before then, if you did not read Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or Latin (for the translated version) you had no idea what was in it! The work of the Bible Societies is really amazing. By September 2020 the complete Bible was available in 704 languages, including all 11 South African official languages.
DEON & IAN: Final words – Geniet die genade van die Bybel in jou eie taal, nog meer belangrik, lees jou Bybel en leef dit uit.
Diakonos 
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