Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw Him.
1 Corinthians15:8
What does “born at the wrong time” mean? Take the time to find out. When we come across a part of the Bible which is hard to understand, most of us skip over it. I guess we figure, “it‘s too hard for me to understand”.
- I am not a scholar.
- I can’t possibly understand the difficult bits.
- Hey I can’t even understand the easy parts let alone the hard ones. It doesn’t matter.
- I kind of understand it so that’s good enough for me.
But is it? Is that the kind of attitude you should take with the Word of God? So what should you do then? I have suggested a number of times in the Gems to use the versions available to you.
Here are some I have listed below:
- (AMP) And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one prematurely and born dead [no better than an unperfected fetus among living men].
- (CEV) Finally, he appeared to me, even though I am like someone who was born at the wrong time.
- (ESV) Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
- (GNB) Last of all he appeared also to me—even though I am like someone whose birth was abnormal.
- (GW) Last of all, he also appeared to me. I’m like an aborted fetus who was given life.
- (ISV) and finally he was seen by me, as though I were born abnormally late.
- (LITV) and last of all, even as if to one born out of time, He was also seen by me.
- (Murdock) And last of them all, he was seen by me, as it were by an abortion.
- (NLT) Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw Him.
The other thing to check out is the word ἔκτρωμα [ektrōma] which is translated in many versions “born out of time”. The correct understanding of that word is the key to understanding this verse. It is helpful when someone points the way and says, “dig here; there’s gold here.” or “this is the where the information is hidden”. For those of you new to Gems, the way to do this is download E-sword if you haven’t already done so. You will need to download the versions you want and a selection from the dictionaries available. It’s all free. My recommendation is that you download the following dictionaries:- Brown Driver Briggs Lexicon, Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, Thayer’s Greek Definitions and the New American Standard Exhaustive Concondance. Then go to one of the dictionaries you have downloaded, open one up and simply click on the word ἔκτρωμα in any one of the versions with a + sign following it. Immediately the explanation and detail will appear in your dictionary window.
Of course another source you have available to you are the commentaries you have access to in E-Sword. They are helpful for looking at the meaning of this verse. Again you will need to download the ones you want from the E-Sword website. Again this is all free. No cost, just download time. Highlight the verse in the Bible window and then click on the commentary entry you wish to read. My recommendations are to download the following commentaries :–
- Keil & Delitzsch (Old Testament only)
- John Gill
- Jamieson Fausset and Brown Commentary
- Adam Clarke’s Commentary
- Albert Barnes’ Notes
I will give you time again to look at it and hold my input until tomorrow. As I have told you many times, My intention is not just to “tell you the answers” but to point you in the right direction for finding the information for yourself.
Liberty is the right to discipline ourselves in order not to be disciplined by others.
Clemenceau
Your Life Will Only Remain A Seed Until The Moment You Choose To Plant It.
Robb Thompson
Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce back.
Ian Vail