GOD IS ABLE

Hugo McCord

Two, a man and a woman, before their marriage, and ever since, have put the Lord first in all that they do. Now both are in bad health. He writes:

I am especially grateful for your prayers and concerns for our health, especially Helen’s. She is fighting valiantly this cancer. The side effects of the medicines are very bad but hopefully she will be able to win the victory.

What are considered to be superior Greek manuscripts of Romans 8:28 lead to the translation that “all things work together for good to them that love God,” a translation followed by the KJV, the NKJV, the ASV, and the NRSV. But the translation is false. [T]hings are impersonal, mindless, and incapable of knowing what is good or bad. Paul would be embarrassed and would deny that he wrote such a statement.

Some good Greek manuscripts of Romans 8:28 lead to the translation that “God makes all things work together for good to them that love God," a translation followed by the RSV, the NASV, and the NIV. This translation displays a personal God who cares, and harmonizes with what Paul thought about God: “who can do infinitely more than we ask or imagine, according to the power which works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

The couple now suffering believe that the God who “will not slumber or sleep” (Psalm 121:4) is weaving a pattern for their lives that will make them stronger spiritually than they could ever have been otherwise.