No Revision Required

Among Christian leaders today, there are few books save the Bible that have been more influential or universally appreciated than Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders.  Years ago I read the book and was not impressed.  I am horrified to say that until quite recently I have misjudged Sanders.  Why?  It is because the book I read was not actually written by J. Oswald Sanders.  Was his name on the cover?  Yes.  But I admit that I am indignant of the wretched (my opinion) paraphrase that has been attributed to him by the editors at Moody Press.  The second revision, which are all copies printed after 1994, is a "line-by-line revision."  Why they thought it necessary to butcher the latest edition in the process, I will never know.  What I do know is that this revision is a shadow of what J. Oswald Sanders actually wrote.  The original and first revision by Sanders are powerful, inspired, and dynamic.

You be the judge.  Here is a passage from the 1st revision printed in 1989:

Self-sacrifice is part of the price that must be paid daily.  A cross stands in the way of spiritual leadership, a cross upon which the leader must consent to be impaled.  Heaven's demands are absolute.  "He laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16).  The degree to which we allow the cross of Christ to work in us will be the measure in which the resurrection life of Christ can be manifested through us. "Death worketh in me, but life in you."  To evade the cross is to forfeit leadership.  (page 142)

Here is the same paragraph rendered toothless and impotent in the second revision by editors in 1994:

This part of the cost must be paid daily.  A cross stands in the path of spiritual leadership, and the leader must take it up.  "Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down or lives for our brothers" (1 John 3:16).  To the degree the cross of Christ is across our shoulders and over our backs, so the resurrection life of Christ is manifest through us.  No cross, no leadership. (page 116)

Frankly, I am outraged that anyone in the cause of "revising Spiritual Leadership for the Christian living today" (page 9, 2nd revision, 1994) could do such a thing.  You have failed in this instance, Moody Press.  I regret to think of all the time spent trashing a Christian classic.  I am no literary expert, and my meager education perhaps does not afford me the right to say anything on the matter.  But I know this:  classics do not need revision.  The editors write, "Although we have changed the wording extensively, we have remained faithful to the original meaning and intent of each passage" (pages 9-10).  Based upon the examples cited above, I doubt anyone would agree with you.  What would John Oswald Sanders say?

This is a classic example of building on slippery sand.  J. Oswald Sanders built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ and a lifetime of experience following Him.  The editors at Moody built upon the foundation of Sanders.  It is faulty in this instance, and will always remain the case.  I am angry about this injustice.  Worse than this however, think how people have paraphrased the Word of God!  I am not a hard-core "KJV only" man, but with the abundance of paraphrased volumes of "scripture" these days the risk for error is horrible.  Classics need no revision.  The Bible should be translated straight out of the original texts.  I like the fact I can refer to the Strong's Concordance and know the Hebrew or Greek behind the English I read in my Bible.  A single word of God is mightier than all the volumes composed and revised by men combined.

The lesson?  Choose your books carefully.  Pay attention to when the book was written and who revised it.  If you own a copy of Spiritual Leadership printed after 1994, throw it away and buy a 1st edition copy used from Alibris.com or something!  Most of all, make sure the Bible you hold in your hands is the Word of God.  Use the translations which have withstood the test of time, not the remix or flavor of the month.  Don't read versions which intentionally blunt the power of the original.  The Bible is already relevant.  If we are not agreeable to the Word of God, it's not the Word's fault:  it's us.