"Psalm 139:16
One of the most common passages you will hear a Calvinist quote is part of Psalm 139. When a Calvinist uses this passage as a proof text for the concept of an ultra-sovereign God, he will almost always use the NIV translation. When the NIV translation first came out years ago, it didn't take much reading for me to quickly come to the conclusion it had a very profound pro-Calvinism spin to it. In spite of the fact that there is no Hebrew, or even Greek word for the English word "sovereign", nor is the word "sovereign" used even once in the KJV or NKJV translations, the NIV translators saw fit to use it 303 times! In almost all of the cases, the Hebrew word translated "sovereign" was "adoni" which means "my Lord". "My Lord" is a title, but the word "sovereign" in the NIV is used as an adjective with the intent to portray a characteristic! This is way out of legitimate lines. Come to find out more recently that the executive secretary of the NIV translation was none other than Edwin H. Palmer... Calvinist extraordinaire, author of other pro-Calvinist books like,
The Five Points of Calvinism ! Surprise surprise.
The NIV quote that one will hear from Psalm 139 is:
"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:16
There's the proof in all its hideous glory! How can anyone argue with this? David clearly said that every day of his life on earth was written out in a book before it ever started! Or was it? The context in which this passage is found is of David describing the wonderful design of his body when it was formed in his mother's womb. Let's look at the context of this statement in the NKJV version.
"For You have formed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You When I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed." Psalm 139:13-16a
The very next sentence is the one quoted above concerning the days ordained for David. That same sentence in the KJV reads like this;
"And in thy book all my
members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." vs. 16b
The NIV translation wants us to believe David was talking about the days of his life being written out in advance. In the KJV version, David is clearly speaking of his body parts being written in a book before they were formed. Which is it? They both can't be right. The context in which this sentence is found is of the wonder and beauty of God's design and engineering when David's body was being formed in his mother's womb. Therefore the context demands that we understand David was referring to his body parts and not his future. Nowhere in this entire Psalm is there any mention of the future.
The sad thing about the NIV version is, not only is it misleading us toward a pro-Calvinist picture, but it is also blinding us to the incredible beauty of the truth that David speaks of. So how can all David's
body parts be written out in a book before any of them came into existence? In the DNA of his genetic code! At the moment of conception, when the
recombination process of all genetic information is completed, every detail of a person's body is written out and established long before any of the body parts actually begin to form. This is what David was speaking about. Read it again if necessary. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, David spoke of this incredibly fascinating feat of God's engineering over four thousand years ago! Science hasn't even known about it for 100 years! "
The Attributes of Deity part 2