Malachi 1:11

"From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, saith Jehovah of hosts." (American Standard Version)

(Malachi 1:11) For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts (Revised Standard Version).

There is no better example in all the Bible of the manner in which, here and there, the RSV has corrupted the text of the Holy Scriptures. The excuse which the scholars give in defending this bastard translation is that, in the Hebrew language, the tense of verbs must sometimes be selected by the translator, the option here being between the future tense (which is correct) and the past tense (which makes the passage into an impossible falsehood). As Dr. Jack Lewis said, "The present tense could just as well be supplied as has been done in the RSV."[29] Notice that the future tense is not required, it is the deliberate choice of the revisers! As we shall see, in this study, this bold choice violated the conviction of at least two thousand years that the passage here relates to the future. Of course, as Lewis said, it was the supplying of the future tense that converted the passage into a Messianic prophecy; but the choice of the RSV scholars converted the passage into a monstrous falsehood. How is one to know which tense should have been chosen? Certainly, we dare not trust scholars to do it who will lean over backwards to make a passage contradict the truth. "The context has to be the deciding factor."[30] The only objection that we have ever seen that is related to the context was also given by Baldwin who interpreted the future tense if used here as having the sense of, "Is about to be offered, indicating that the event is near at hand and sure to happen";[31] but all of the prophets spoke of the Messianic age in the same language, being absolutely true, of course, in the cosmic sense. Besides that, the simple use of the future tense carries no such meaning, as a hundred Biblical examples illustrate. Thus, there is no objection at all in the context that forbids understanding the passage as a prophecy of the acceptance of the Gentiles into the kingdom of Christ.

But what about the objections (from the context) to the alternative option of making the passage to be a statement of conditions then prevailing on earth? They are as follows:

1. If read as a statement in the present tense, the verse states an abominable falsehood.

"At the time of Malachi the name of Jehovah was not great from the rising to the setting of the sun, nor were incense and sacrifice offered to him in every place ... consequently we must understand the words prophetically."[32]

"Incense shall be offered to my name ..." "This expression, 'my name' presupposes the knowledge of God, who to this point in history was known only to Jews."[33]

2. At the moment when Malachi was .written (or actually, at anytime prior to the coming of Christ in the first advent), "a pure offering for God's name" was not found anywhere on earth!

"And in every place ... a pure offering ..." The only pure offering for sin in the whole history of the world is the blood of Christ; and the celebration of Christ's atoning death in the institution of the Lord's Supper honors that event every Sunday in every village all over the world.

"The Fathers and medieval writers, and many commentators of modern times see in this verse a prophecy of the Holy Eucharist, "the pure offering" commemorative of Christ's sacrifice."[34]

Or course, some Roman Catholic writers went overboard on this with all kinds of speculations about the sacrifice of the mass, etc. But if one feels that the prophecy could be fulfilled only by an offering, it lies in the "presentation" of themselves by Christians (Romans 12:1), such an offering indeed being made "pure" by the blood of Christ celebrated in their observance of the Lord's Supper. If this is not the "pure offering," where would one look to find it? "At their best, the Levitical sacrifices (of the Old Testament) were never described in these terms; but to maintain that pagans (all over the world) could offer `pure offerings' to God, when not even the God-given sacrifices were so described, is indefensible."[35] The word for "pure" in this passage is not used elsewhere in the Bible and therefore refers to a unique offering then unknown on earth.

3. The most potent objection of all to the use of the present tense in this passage is seen in the implications of it. We shall cite a few of these in which men have really gone wild in their postulations:

"Malachi virtually recognizes all sincere worship, wheresoever and by whomsoever offered, as in reality offered to Jehovah, the God therefore not of the Jews only but of all the earth,[36] The view that the gods of the heathen were only so many different names for the one great God, and that the nations were therefore in reality worshipping Yahweh finds many supporters."[37]

The acceptance of such views, founded solely upon the use of the present tense here, nullifies everything that the sacred Bible teaches. If all of the debaucheries, licentiousness, shame, drunkenness, and sacred prostitution being practiced at the pagan shrines of an entire worldwide Pantheon of godless gods and goddesses, in the times of Malachi, if all that is here endorsed as "a pure offering" to the one true and Almighty God, it is as bold and contradictory a denial of the Word of God as may be found at any time in history since Satan said to Eve, "Thou shalt not surely die!" Such a contradiction cannot be what God said here.

With these observations, we shall let the RSV rest in peace. What does this passage mean, as properly translated in the ASV? Before taking that up, it should be remembered that throughout history the unanimous consent of Jewish and Christian scholars alike for thousands of years accepted this verse as a prophecy of the future. Among them were: Justin (133 A.D.), Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Cyprian, Eusebius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Augustine, etc. Jamieson's summary of the meaning is:

"`In every place,' implies the catholicity of the Christian Church; `the incense' is figurative of prayers (Revelation 5:8); `sacrifice' is used metaphorically (1 Peter 2:5,12); in this sense, the reference to the Lord's Supper maintained by many of the ancients, may be seen, metaphorically, as a spiritual offering."[38]

The most practical statement of the meaning we have seen is that of Hailey:

"The prophecy looks to the time when, under the Messiah, not in any one locality, but from one end of the earth to the other, God's name would be great among the Gentiles. The incense offered are the prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8); and the "pure offering" is the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips, and the doing of good in a holy life (Hebrews 13:15,16). Through the gospel of Messiah, Jehovah's name would be reverenced as great."[39]

A number of other current interpretations by respected authors are:

"The Mosiac system was seen by Malachi as about to be transcended, as indeed it was in the sacrifice of Christ. Through this sacrifice those who were strangers to the covenants of promise would be reconciled to God.[40] This prophecy would be fulfilled only when Christ would be received into Gentile hearts the world around.[41] It is ... a reference to the Messianic age, when the Gentiles come to know God and worship him outside the narrow confines of the land of Palestine.[42] We must understand the words prophetically as relating to the spread of the kingdom of God among all nations."[43]