EPHESIANS CHAPTER ONE - The McDonald Paraphrase of the New Testament

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ; called by God.

To the faithful in Ephesus, and members of the Church of Christ Jesus.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you from the Father in heaven, and His dear Son.

Praise be to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings through His Son. We only have to consider what He accomplished. For it pleased Him to choose us before the creation of the worlds and stars, He caused us to be righteous and blameless, and we are ever in His care.

Because of His great love, He predestined us to be grafted into His family through the finished work of the Messiah; according to both His will and pleasure. He is worthy of glory and honor and praise for the grace which He lavished upon us, and He has accepted us with the same love He has for His Son.

As a result of Christ’ atoning blood, and the grace which flows out of His selfless sacrifice, we have been redeemed, have received full and free forgiveness of our sins, and our eyes were opened as they were never opened.

For God has given us an entre into the Creator’s eternal plan. And His magnificent, premeditated plan is this: That by His infinite intention everyone and everything, past and present, will submit to the authority of Christ. As a result, every man, woman and child, along with all the heavenly angels will realize their fulfillment in Him.

And it is nothing less than astonishing to realize that in the lovely person of Christ we have been predestined according to God’s glorious plan, and we will soon receive a share of the riches and splendor which always surrounds Him.

It is my earnest hope and desire that we, who were among the first to invest their hope in the Savior, might always bring praise to His person and plan. And you were also included in Christ when you heard, and accepted the message of the Gospel of your salvation. When you first believed you were sealed with the blessed Holy Spirit, (promised, and subsequently sent by Him) who is a surety of our inheritance; ‘til the redemption of God’s possession, as the result of an inestimable cost. May God be praised forever.

For this very reason, since I heard about the faith which you have extended towards the Lord of lords, and your love for believers everywhere, I always give thanks to God on your behalf, and you are ever in my prayers. And this, dear friends, is my prayer: I implore the Father of our blessed Lord Jesus that He would, through means of the Holy Spirit, offer you wisdom and rich insight.

I pray our Lord would illumine your spirit so that you may comprehend the eternal certainty for which He has commissioned you; the unfathomable riches of His glorious inheritance among believers. How great is God’s power towards them who have heard and believed the Gospel message.

The power to which I have alluded is one and the same as the Father expended when He brought our Savior back from the dead, and provided Him a place of glory and honor at His right hand, permanent in the heavens, far above any other rule or authority, power or dominion, and any name that can be invoked; not only now, but in the eons to come.

And God has laid all things at the feet of His blessed Son, and has commissioned Him to be Lord of the Church, (and everything else which is). For He of His own volition laid down His life for His Church, and this is the end of Him whose purposes cannot be questioned or resisted. 

by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from The McDonald Paraphrase of the New Testament. Copyright 2018

GALATIANS CHAPTER THREE. Excerpt from The McDonald Paraphrase

Foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell over you? In our own day and time and before your very eyes, Jesus was crucified. Tell me just one thing. Did you receive the Holy Spirit by following every “jot and tittle” of the Law, or by simply believing the Gospel message? I cannot imagine how you have been so foolish. After having begun so well, are you now attempting to complete your salvation by the works of the flesh? Have you endured what you have for nothing? 

Let me ask you again. Has God blessed you with an abundance of His Spirit and worked miracles and wonders among you because you followed the precepts of the Law, or because you invested your faith in the marvelous Gospel? I suggest you reflect on this a while. We have only to consider the amazing faith of our father Abraham. Haven’t you read the scripture?

“So, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness.”

Don’t you comprehend that those who invest their faith in God are the true sons of the patriarch Abraham? The scripture prophesied that God would justify the Gentiles as the result of their faith, and this was the Gospel message spoken in the presence of Abraham. “All the nations will be blessed as the result of you.” Everyone who ever relied on faith in the Messiah has been blessed along with Abraham; a man who believed God.

However, anyone who attempts to fulfill the demands of the Law, apart from the Gospel, finds himself under a curse. Haven’t you read the following admonition?

“A curse is on anyone and everyone who fails to fulfill each and every stipulation in the Book of the Law.”

Clearly, no one who relies on the Old Law has any possibility of being justified by God since, “The just will live by faith.” The Law, however, is not based a man’s faith in anything. On the contrary, it exhorts us that,

“The one who accomplishes these things will live by them.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ saved us from the condemnation of the Law, as the result of becoming a curse for us; when He so nobly sacrificed His life on the cross. What does the scripture say?

“Anyone who is hung on a tree is cursed by God.”

God’s wonderful agenda is obvious. The amazing blessing which God promised to Abraham has at last become assessible to the Gentiles through the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is by faith that we receive the blessed promise of the Holy Spirit.

Allow me to give you a practical example. When two parties have drafted and signed a contract, it is respected by everyone involved, and cannot be changed in the least by another party. Notice what the scripture has to say about it. “The promises were given to Abraham and to his seed, after him.”

This scripture does not speak in the plural. It is not “seeds” (implying numerous people), but rather, “and to his seed,” which infers the presence of only one person, and that seed is Christ!

My implication is this. The Law which was introduced to mankind four hundred and thirty years after the foregoing promise has no power to nullify the contract which God had established with Abraham, nor does it subtract anything from God’s promise. If our spiritual legacy depends on the Law, then it no longer depends on the promise. However, God presented the dispensation of faith to Abraham by the use of an unalterable promise.

Why then, you ask, was the Law given at all? It was temporary inclusion added to highlight the reality and depth of sin until the coming of the Seed, Jesus Christ. The Law was accompanied by the angels and written by the hand of a mortal intermediary. However, the notion of an intermediary comes with a particular implication; that the promise has yet to be fulfilled. It is important to realize that the great and wonderful promise which God gave to our father Abraham had absolutely no need of angels, nor mortal intermediaries, but rather, was and is, and will always be dependent on Christ, alone.

Is the Law, then, opposed to the promise which God has bequeathed to us? Absolutely not! But if a law had ever been written which had the wherewithal to impart spiritual life, then it would have also imparted  righteousness; which would have been in complete accord with the original promise. However, scripture is very clear. We were all under the control of sin because of the existence of the Law, and until the Promised One made His advent on the earth. (And it is through faith in Him that we are saved).

Prior to the dispensation of faith, we were shackled by the Law; bound until that faith which supersedes and overcomes works should arise on the earth. The Law was very much like a harsh schoolmaster until the dispensation when Christ made His appearance, and we were justified by faith in the risen Lord. Now that faith is part and parcel of our daily lives, the schoolmaster has retired from the scene.

Therefore, now that you have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and invested your faith in Him, you have become the very sons of God. Everyone who have been baptized, as it were, into Christ have been clothed in the royal garments of grace.

As a result of our Lord’s sacrificial work on the cross, there is neither Jew, nor Gentile, nor slave, nor free, nor male, nor female. You have all become one in our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you are sons of the Father, and brothers of the Son, you are also descendants of Abraham, and heirs of His magnificent promise!

by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from The McDonald Paraphrase of the New Testament. Copyright 2018

2ND CORINTHIANS CHAPTER FOUR - from The McDonald Paraphrase

It is the result of God’s grace that we have been entrusted with this ministry of the new covenant, and we do not lose heart. And it is important for my readers to understand that I have renounced secret, and shameful ways. My agenda is not to deceive you, nor will I distort the Word of God. On the contrary, I always attempt to preach the simple truth, and allow each man to judge my intent, and morality.

If our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who have yet to come to a saving knowledge of the Truth, and are on the verge of dying. The god of this world has veiled the minds of them who refuse to believe, so that they are unable to perceive the light of the Gospel, the blessed glory of the Christ; who is the tangible image of the invisible God.

For what we teach and preach has little or nothing to do with us, and everything to do with Jesus Christ our Lord. And we ourselves are His slaves and your servants for the sake of the Gospel message. For it is God who caused the light to fill up the darkness, and also caused the flame of the Gospel to shine in our hearts. And we have been afforded the wherewithal to fill up the darkness in the souls of men, as we share this glorious Gospel, and steadily look into the glorious face of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

But this treasure with which God has entrusted us is hidden in common jars of clay, as it were, in order to prove that this incomparable power originates with God, and not with us. We are confronted on every side, but are not crushed, perplexed, but are not depressed, persecuted, but not abandoned, knocked down, but not demolished.

We always carry around in our mortal bodies the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus; so that both his death and his resurrection power may be seen by those whom God has set in our pathway.

For we who are alive are always under threat of death for the sake of Jesus, so that His life may also be revealed in our mortal bodies. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

 As it is written, “I believed. Therefore, I have spoken your Word.” Since we have that same Spirit of faith, we also believe and we also speak; because we know that the One who called the Lord Jesus back from the dead will also raise us up with Him, and present us faultless, with you, to Himself. All of this is for your benefit, so that the grace that works in us cannot help but result in great praise and thanksgiving.

Therefore, we are never dejected. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet our inward man is renewed with each new day. For our light and fleeting circumstances are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs these momentary afflictions which we must endure.

So, my dear readers, I admonish you to fix our eyes not on what you can see with your eyes, but on that which is invisible and untouchable; since what we see now is rapidly passing away, but what we are unable to see now is everlasting.

by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from The McDonald Paraphrase of the New Testament. Copyright 2018

2ND CORINTHIANS CHAPTER THREE - from the McDonald Paraphrase

Are we beginning to congratulate ourselves again? Or do we need letters of recommendation to you, or from you? (As some apparently would prefer). You yourselves are our letter, written on the fleshy tablets of our hearts; known and read by all. You are the virtual letter of Christ, the result of our writing, written not with ink, but by the very hand of the Spirit. Our message has been engraved in the spirits and souls of men and women made just by the finished work of the Savior.

The confidence upon which we depend has little or nothing to do with our own personalities or abilities, but rather, on the power of the Holy Spirit. Not that we are inherently competent to fulfill the commission with which He commissioned us, but our competence lies in God. And as competent stewards we are much less interested in the letter of the Law, and much more interested in the power of the Spirit. For while the Law results in spiritual death, the Spirit bestows the gift of everlasting life.

Now, if the covenant which yielded the fruit of everlasting death, and which was written on tablets of stone was accompanied by glory, and the Jews were not able to stare into the face of Moses because of its radiated splendor, momentary though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit prove to be substantially more magnificent?

If the covenant which brought world-wide condemnation was nothing less than glorious, how much more glorious is the covenant which results in righteousness! For what was once so glorious has surrendered its glory to a second and inestimably more magnificent covenant. And if what was momentary was accompanied by glory, how much greater the glory of that which endures forevermore!

Therefore, since we maintain such a hope, we are very bold among you. We are not like Moses, who wore a veil on his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing what was quickly passing away.  However, the minds of those wandering Jews were blinded. And sadly, even now, the sons of Abraham are unable to see through that same proverbial veil when the scriptures are read in their presence.

Among some, the veil to which I allude has not yet been removed because only Christ is capable of removing it. When the Law of Moses is read aloud, this same veil clothes their hearts. However, whenever our Jewish brethren respond to the Gospel message, the veil which clothes their minds and hearts soon vanishes away.

Now, God is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord happens to be, and where ever the new covenant manages to rip away the veil, there is freedom. Thanks be to God. Now we stand with unveiled faces, and mirror that glory which belongs to Him, and Him alone!

We are in the process of being transformed into His image, and exude the glory which He has so graciously lent to us.

Excerpt from The McDonald Paraphrase of the New Testament, Copyright 2018

(I am preparing to submit my New Testament paraphrase to a publisher, and am posting selected chapters to my blog)

DOING SOMETHING WITH THE DASH

     We get used to status quo, the same old same old. Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, and months turn into years, and so on.

     There is an old, but humorous adage. “Men know they’re getting old when their chests fall into their drawers. Women know they’re getting old when their bra fits better when it’s put on backwards.” Men and woman have only to look in the mirror to see how time has taken its toll. We live in the age of skin creams, face-lifts, and a million exercise regimens. We live in the age of cryogenics. Some well-meaning, scientific fool came up with the idea. A famous ball player’s family fought over the option of “putting him on ice.”

    When we consider the theory of “freezing” closely, we can see a close parallel between the secular notion of cryogenics, and the spiritual reality of life eternal. John 3:16 comes to mind.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (KJV)

      But in spite of this promise, we are guaranteed a date with destiny; our own individual date with destiny.

      Hebrews 9:27 assures us, “It is appointed unto man once to die.” (KJV) That is the only entrance into eternal life. We must die. And no wrapping of a body in “tin foil” and submerging it in liquid nitrogen can suffice for the atoning blood of Christ.

     There was a king who hired a servant. The servant had only one task, a task deemed so important that it was his singular task. The deed literally required but ten seconds per day. The other twenty-three hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty seconds were his to do with, as he wished. I told you it was a singular task!

     At a given hour the servant approached the king, and at that instant a hush always fell over the courtiers and hand maidens. The servant bowed in greeting, and with a loud voice uttered the following words; “Remember, Oh King, one day you must die.” This daily visitation kept the king in focus. All the good he had to do had to be done over the course of a few short years.

     We look at a tombstone and notice two dates, and a dash in between. There is the date of birth and the date of death, and the dash in between. Some wise person, name unknown, mused about the layout of a tombstone. There could not have been a more fitting observation… “Two dates and a dash. When it comes down to it, it’s all about what we do with the dash.” That dash represents the life we live before the hour of our “visitation.” 

     Solomon, in his wisdom, mused, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens.” (Eccl. 3:1, KJV) Yes, we get used to status quo, to periods of quiet, calm and peace. But nothing remains the same; it can’t. Death overtakes each one of us. That anonymous person had it right on…

   “It’s all about what we do with the dash.”

by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Unconventional Devotions," Copyright 2005.

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ISLE OF HOPE. ISLE OF TEARS

My wife and I just completed the most glorious vacation of our entire lives.

We have traveled the highways and byways of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland. We have gazed in wonder at the snow-capped mountains, we have marveled at the singular color of the lush grassy pastures; upon which sheep and cattle feed, we have listened to the mournful sound of the bagpipes, and watched Scottish and Irish dancers strut their stuff, we have sampled foods which baffle the taste buds, we have interacted with the loveliest people to grace the planet, we have walked the quaint lanes and admired the most colorful and interesting of flora and fauna.

Dublin and its massive cathedrals and ancient pubs. The stone ruins of a monastic village. Forty shades of green. 19^th century remnants of the “Famine Houses.” Sea gulls and ocean waves. A Depression-era farm house. Dingle Bay. Massive castles. The Massacre of the MacDonald Clan. The English Occupation of Ireland, and the cruelty they exercised. The Potato Famine. The “Trouble” of Northern Ireland. Sharing “Danny Boy” and “Amazing Grace” with our amazing group of fellow travelers. The Titanic Museum. Drunken and aimless young adults. Street Beggars. Waterford Crystal. A mythical, but very real island. Greyfriar’s Bobby. Sheep shearing. Edinburgh’s pipers. Family roots.

One of the most poignant, and almost magical moments which I experienced during our trip to the Old Country occurred at a dinner theater in Dublin referred to as “Taylor’s Three Rock.” During the course of the evening my daughter and I were afforded some wonderful food, singing, dancing and comedy. However, as I have previously implied, one moment stood out from all the rest. 

Pt. 2

Almost without warning, a video appeared on the overhead screen which featured numerous ancient photographs of 19^th century men, women and children, immigrants all, ships, mountains, rivers, ocean waves, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island, the proverbial (and literal) gateway to the golden door which was and continues to be America.

But “what got me,” what really grabbed me and would not let me go, what struck a spine-tingling cord within me, and inspired my innate sensibilities was the music which accompanied the video.

Isle of Hope. Isle of Tears

On the first day of January 1892
They opened Ellis Island and they let the people through
And the first to cross the threshold of that isle of hope and tears
Was Annie Moore from Ireland who was all of 15 years

Isle of hope, isle of tears
Isle of freedom, isle of fears
But it’s not the isle you left behind
That isle of hunger, isle of pain
Isle you’ll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind

I’d never heard the song before, but I can so identify with it. While most or all of my immediate ancestors immigrated to the United States in the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries, before there was an Ellis Island, they came nonetheless; in most cases, leaving all they ever knew and held so dear. Fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends, homes and land. And in most cases, those who boarded those old triple-masted ships were left with mental images of what was, and would never be again, and they never returned to the lands from whence they sprang.

As the video and its accompanying melody continued, tears sprang to my eyes, and, subsequently, rolled down my cheeks.

In a little bag, she carried all her past and history
And her dreams for the future in the land of liberty
And courage is the passport when your old world disappears
But there’s no future in the past when you’re 15 years

Isle of hope, isle of tears
Isle of freedom, isle of fears
But it’s not the isle you left behind
That isle of hunger, isle of pain
Isle you’ll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind

Pt. 3

I, as was my father before me, am an amateur genealogist, and I love and care deeply for those who have gone on before; though all they left to us were a few sundry bits of information, and fading celluloid photographs. There was a time when they lived, and moved and breathed and loved. They were here, and we were not. And we owe them our very existence, and our own ability to live and breathe and move, as they did before us. And having dared fate, braved the elements, and stared down fear, every man, woman and child among them grasped their providential destinies, and endured ‘til the end.

My 3x great Grandfather Isham McDonald, born in Ireland of Scottish parents, who left it all behind, including his dear papa and mama, “set up shop” in South Carolina, and served in the fledgling Continental Army throughout the American Revolution.

My 3x great Grandmother Mary Elizabeth Stewart, born on the Isle of Skye, Scotland in the 17^th century, who as a young lass dared journey to a place she knew little or nothing about, and which lay across four thousand miles of turbulent ocean. Never to return to the island of her birth, nor to friends and family whom she held so dear. And on those rough-hewn wooden docks, she left a hundred kisses on their cheeks.

My 9x great Grandfather Daniel Mackhoe, of Edinburgh, a Jacobite; one of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s men. Old Dan fought at the Battle of Dunbar, and having been taken prisoner by the British was led on a forced march to a distant stockade; during which time thousands of his compatriots died. Ultimately, my ancient Grandfather was involuntary consigned to the ship, “John and Sara” and adopted, and was adopted by the most bless-ed country which ever graced this planet.

When they closed down Ellis Island in 1943
17 million people had come there for sanctuary
And in springtime when I came here and I stepped onto its piers
I thought of how it must have been when you’re 15 years

Isle of hope, isle of tears
Isle of freedom, isle of fears
But it’s not the isle you left behind
That isle of hunger, isle of pain
Isle you’ll never see again

But the isle of home is always on your mind

But the isle of home is always on your mind

Pt. 4

I brought up the “Celtic Woman” version of, “Isle of Hope. Isle of Tears” today, and without notice tears sprang to my eyes, and I could not contain the sobs which rose in my throat! My wife was standing nearby and uttered an “ahhhh,” and bent down to hug me. And before she was close enough to extend her sympathetic arms, my little pooch drew near, and gazed at me like she’d lost her dearest friend. She just knew I was experiencing one of the most singular moments of my life.

While we were in Ireland, and Northern Ireland and Scotland my mind was taken up with my known and unknown grandfathers and grandmothers, as it never was before.

I left a tribute to each of them in the form of a simple note on the face of a dollar bill; which recounted their names and lives, and whatever else to which I was privy; along with my name and relationship to them.

And with this, I secreted the bill beneath a desk, or bureau, or bedstead in the room to which we were assigned, and in the applicable country with which my forefathers were most and best acquainted.

And whereas, I left a piece of my heart, and a paltry bit of cash behind, my dear grandfathers and grandmothers surrendered all their heart, and the losses they sustained cannot be calculated.

And whereas, these never returned to the peoples and homes and lands they knew and loved so well, I think, in essence, I have returned in their place.

Isle of hope, isle of tears
Isle of freedom, isle of fears
But it’s not the isle you left behind
That isle of hunger, isle of pain
Isle you’ll never see again

But the isle of home is always on your mind

But the isle of home is always on your mind

by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending

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1ST CORINTHIANS 13 - Excerpt from The McDonald Paraphrase of the New Testament

If I speak in the languages of men and of angels, but do not express love by my words, and actions, I am little more than a resounding gong or a clanking cymbal. If I have been given the gift of foretelling the future, and comprehend all mysteries and have access to all knowledge, and if I possess the kind of faith which can move mountains from one location to another, but am bereft of love, I am absolutely nothing. If I give all my possessions to the poor and sacrifice my living body to the fire, but have no love, it benefits no one.

Love is always patient, love is always kind, it does not envy its friends or enemies, it does not boast about its wealth or abilities; it is not proud. It does not disrespect others. It is does not make itself the first priority. It does not yield itself to anger. It does not keep a record of wrongs perpetrated against it. Love does not take great delight in evil, but always rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.

Love has no wherewithal to fail. But where there are prophecies, they will fail, where there are tongues, they will no longer be heard. Where there is knowledge, it will pass from the earth. For we only know a little, and we only prophesy a little, but when that which is complete and comprehensive appears the “little” will be cast aside.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child speaks, I thought like a child thinks, and I reasoned like a child reasons. However, when I became a man, I packed my childish things away. For now, we see a reflection, as if we were gazing into a mirror. But then, but then we will look into His marvelous face. Now I know only a little. However, then my knowledge will be perfected. Then, I will know, as others know me.

And now, three things remain to us. Faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

Excerpt from the McDonald Paraphrase of the New Testament. Copyright 2018