Quote:
Originally Posted by SolaGratia  Affected Teaching
If you will notice the portion I have underlined in the King James verses “and hast reigned.” If you will notice in the modern versions it states ”begun to reign.” This is a serious heresy since God’s reign is from everlasting to everlasting and there was never a time that God did not reign in this universe. This intentional addition by the translators fits in with their beliefs stemming from Micah 5:2: |
I think you may just be misunderstanding the language the KJV is using. If you pull that verse out of context in the KJV as you did, sure, new translations might look a little confusing in comparison. But read it in context. Each of those translations has the same idea. God has taken kingdoms from the world and his reign has come in time. On earth as it is in heaven. Here is what the KJV is actually saying:
"The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever... thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned... the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come..."
That's not heresy in any of the translations. That is the fulfillment of the Lord's Prayer. The kingdom has come. The tent of David fell in the past and the dominion was overtaken, but now the line of David has returned, and God is reigning through him. And we find the same thing if we look at Micah 5:2 in context. It speaks in the passage before of the tent of David falling. The line of David will cease reigning and the kingdom will end but Micah writes that this previous dominion will return, and David's line will again reign:
"the former dominion shall come,
kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.
Now why do you cry aloud?
Is there no king in you?
Has your counselor perished,
that pain seized you like a woman in labor?" (Mic 4:8-9)
Then comes the passage you brought up:
"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time" (Mic 5:2-3)
So I take that, in context, to mean that the former dominion will come again and the former rule of David's line will again come. In which case it is saying, although there is a new rule over Israel now, the Babylonian/Assyrian line of kings or whatever, a king will arise whose origin is not new (meaning the ancient line of David that fell). That's also the idea of saying the king will come from Bethlehem. He won't come from a great city like Babylon, or in Jesus' day Rome, he will come from the ancient line of David, from the small insignificant city of David. I don't think the passage is saying that the line of David originates from eternity. I think it means the king will originate from the ancient line of David... and I think the NT backs this up as it is pointed out numerous times that Christ fulfills prophesies the foretell one coming from the ancient line of David. That said, I'm not trying to knock the KJV here which does seem to be understanding it not as the line of David but as the Son from eternity. Perhaps I am misunderstanding the passage... but to me newer translations make more sense with the context in my opinion.