A Greeting Card That Made Me Think

Well, here I go again. I guess some people will say I'm being too serious, but here goes.

We saw a greeting card the other day, and in it was printed a scripture reference. I have no idea what version was used because it wasn’t listed anywhere, but here’s what was printed on this card we were looking at: “Your inner self, a gentle and quiet spirit, is of great worth in God’s sight.” 1 Peter 3:4

Hmmmm. I read that and thought, that doesn’t sound right. Is that really what that verse says?

So, I looked it up in the New King James that I use at home. What I found is that you really cannot read that verse as a stand alone without verse three.

Here’s 1 Peter 3:3-4: “3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward – arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel – 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”

And I looked it up in a few other translations.

Here it is in the NASB:

3Your adornment must not be merely external--braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses;

4but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.

And the NIV:

3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

And the ESV:

3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

And the KJV:

3Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
4But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

After reading several different versions, I kind of wonder if whoever decided on what would be printed in the card took part of the NIV version and just put in the words that fit what they wanted to say. At any rate, what is there and referenced as 1 Peter 3:4 isn’t exactly what that verse says, and that’s the point I’m making. One thing that really rankles me is when a paraphrase of a verse is given a reference with no notation that it’s just a paraphrase and not the actual verse. There weren't even any ellipses to indicate the missing words.

The paraphrase pretty much puts too much focus on me – like my inner spirit is just precious in and of itself. Reading the verse in context shows that the real point is that we are not to focus so much on outward appearance that we neglect the more important thing of cultivating that character of a gentle and quiet spirit – that is to be our most precious adornment. I’m precious to God because I’m bought with the costly shedding of Christ’s blood, not because my inner self is naturally gentle and quiet. Though the difference is subtle, there is a difference. Context is important.

Why do I even bother to bring this up? Am I just being nitpicky, as I sometimes fear I might be, and as I’m often told I am? I’m bringing it up because it got me to thinking about how important it is to be discerning when scripture is used to make a point. I am aware that the point of the card was to be encouraging, and no, I don’t go around and nitpick every card I read, but this one just stuck out to me as a strange use of the verse listed. But my point is, if you read or hear a scripture reference being used to make a point, and it doesn’t sound right, look it up and search it out for yourself. It’s important to read the Bible for ourselves and hide its words in our hearts and to pray for wisdom and discernment so that we will recognize when something doesn’t sound quite right. This is especially important when listening to Bible teachers. Just because a famous preacher or teacher says something, doesn’t mean we should just blindly accept it without doing our own study of the Word. There are a lot of people teaching things on TV, radio, blogs, and in some churches that don’t line up with the full counsel of the word of God, and if we aren’t spending time on our own opening that word and praying about what we’re reading, we won’t recognize it when something doesn’t sound right.

And context is important. We can’t just pull out a verse and say it means what we want it to mean. Even worse, we can’t just pick the words we want out of a verse and make it say what we want it to say. Its meaning is determined by its context.