The Wilson Descriptive Version
This version of the New Testament began as a quest to gain further insight into the meaning of the New Testament concepts. Many terms– such as righteousness, salvation, and hope–either have different meanings in the 21st century, or are not easily understood in our modern context. This is a working project designed to create a descriptive paraphrase to an audience unfamiliar with these terms to better understand them from their historical context.
One example is the word “Christ”, which signifies Jesus’ title as the Jewish Messiah. It symbolizes God’s anointed one, which from Old Testament context would have been a priest, prophet, or king, therefore I use “the Anointed King” where the word “Christ” appears.
I also use definitions that better illustrate the importance of blood covenants, since the Bible essentially contains God’s covenants with his people. The ancient world understood the concept of covenant, so I use descriptions that reflect the ancient covenant language to describe Biblical concepts. One example is the word “circumcision”, which describes the seal of a blood covenant in a person’s body to signify they were a covenant member. Christianity started as a Messianic Jewish movement within the Greek and Hebrew cultures of the Roman Empire.
My prayer is that this version glorifies Jesus, God’s Anointed King, and that helps you better pattern your life as his disciple.