Tuesday, August 30, 2016

tidbits: "i loved you at your darkest"

If you haven't seen this alleged Romans 5:8 quote on Pinterest, you simply aren't looking hard enough.  This is a phrase that resonates with many of us; we're all that person at some point, for someone - the person who stands by another when they are at their lowest, most painful, most difficult time in their lives.  It's a verse that brings out positive feelings as well as negative ones - being human, we can sometimes twist beautiful words to carry ugly meanings.  How could you do [insert terrible thing] to me?  I was there for you when nobody else was.  I know you've thought that.  I have too.

But I digress.  Notice how I wrote "alleged" Romans 5:8 quote?  Now pay attention: the quote "I loved you at your darkest" does not exist in Romans 5:8 ... or in Romans, or in the bible at all, actually.

You're probably feeling terribly deceived at this point - maybe I can help.  I'll open my bible [RSV Catholic Edition] right now and copy Romans 5:6-8 for you (the two previous verses are relevant for context), and then maybe you won't feel like Pinterest has led you completely astray.

"While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man - though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die.  But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." 
Romans 5:6-8

The last sentence of the above quote is - you guessed it - the real Romans 5:8.  But you can see how the now-famous social media derivative makes sense, right?  "I loved you at your darkest" is simply a translation from third person to first - in the Bible, God's death and greatest act of love was described by someone else, while the quote is the interpretation of the verse from God's point of view - as if God was talking to you, the reader.

In the end, though, this tidbit is all just one big technicality - for those of you who are religious, you know that God loves you, even at your darkest moments.  So whether you like the bible version or the social media version, the message remains the same :)

x Deven

1 comment:

  1. I was just looking at this yesterday. Thank you for posting. Your right the wording how ever presented speaks of Christ's love for humanity to the point of the cross.

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