Master or Teacher – Which One Commands More Respect From You?

Most of my Bible reading this year has been from the Authorized KJV rather than the usual NKJV or NIV. I’m not a die-hard ‘King James only’ Christian, but I am very glad to have one in my possession, having been greatly blessed by studying or meditating on some words not used in the other versions. But in reference to the Lord Jesus, it was only this week that I was quickened to the difference between Master in the KJV and Teacher in the others. A casual glance in my Concordance might suggest they mean the same, but not so when the Holy Spirit draws attention to the matter. Master or Teacher – which one commands more respect from you?

I praise God for most biblical Christians, Jesus has probably always been Master to them even if they’ve never read a KJV. But I wonder how many more would see Him as that and obey Him as such had the word Master not been replaced in those other versions by the word Teacher. One of the biblical meanings of Master is ‘Commander’ … a military term well understood by people who’ve done military service. I wonder what would happen to a church group over twelve months who caught the vision of Jesus as not simply Savior, but Lord, Master or Commander as well. In today’s culture and language, it is imperative for the church to see Jesus Christ as more than a Teacher.  

In the KJV, Jesus is called Master approximately 60 times. In the NIV, about 46 times, Master has been replaced by Teacher. Why remove such an incredibly powerful term? How could anyone who’s experienced the Master’s power even consider reducing the word to Teacher? I don’t believe anyone could. Therefore, could it be that the people who made the change haven’t experienced His power? Or, could it be that they don’t want Him as Master? I’ve known Christians to want Jesus as Savior but not Lord. It reminds me of to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little Luke 7:47. Jesus is the Master who taught/teaches. That truth should impact greater reality for us than the Teacher who taught/teaches.

I’m aware that the defenders of the change claim there is no difference between the two words. Is that true? Go back to your High School days and ask yourself who held the most authority over you, your teacher or your head master? Which one got more respect from you when it looked like your behavior might land you in trouble, big time? If you and I were to go back in time and ask a slave the difference between a teacher and a master, they wouldn’t have to think twice; you’d get an immediate answer! When we look at what Jesus confronted and once and for all defeated – Satan, death, disease, demons, deafness, blindness, sickness, fear, worry, anger, anxiety, addictions and perversions … He did it all as Master, not Teacher! 

Something else I’ve been considering in all this. This business of so-called scholars, “finding more authentic and better texts” enabling them to bring us “more authentic and better translations” since the 1960’s … how come the church has not gotten better since that time, but in fact has gotten worse? Not only has the church steadily declined in the last fifty-odd years, it has also steadily decayed! Is this decline and decay the legacy of such translations? I believe it could be, coupled with declining and decaying Bible teachers and preachers. Any person who can stand in a pulpit and speak of, “my buddy, Jesus” has very little respect for the biblical Lord Jesus Christ and none at all for, Master.

The Bible has always withstood the attacks of any enemy, so that is not really my concern. C H Spurgeon summed it up perfectly when he said, “Scripture is like a lion. Who ever heard of defending a lion? Just turn it loose; it will defend itself.” I love that statement. After all, Jesus the Master is known to us as the Lion of the tribe of Judah Revelation 5:5. But my concern is for many people. It grieves me to see some spiritually confused, bound and timid just as much as it grieves me to see others spiritually proud, flippant and arrogant. The other day I watched two pastors on You Tube defending their homosexuality on the basis of, “Jesus never said anything about it.” That’s the Teacher mentality, never the Master mentality.

We must get released from, “Jesus never said………” With Jesus as Master, we discover there are no loopholes for Christians to jump through. Jesus Christ is God Almighty Incarnate, the Living Word of God John 1:1 … of course He said something about “it” whatever the “it” may be that He’s spoken against elsewhere from Genesis to Revelation. We must be willing to pay the price and allow God to change our lives by bringing us face to face with all truth – about ourselves and about God and His will. Where a modern translation fails to accomplish that it must be set aside (not thrown out) for the Authorized Version. Matthew Henry said, “All who are designed for heaven hereafter, are prepared for heaven now.” That’s what the KJV is designed to do.

All power has been given unto Me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach……… Matthew 28:18-20 and Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you Luke 10:19. These are the words, commands and promises of a Master more so than a Teacher. Have a look at the word ‘power’. It means: ‘freedom’ ‘mastery’ ‘magistrate’ ‘superhuman’ ‘potentate’ ‘token of control’ ‘delegated influence’ ‘authority’ ‘jurisdiction’ ‘right’ ‘strength’ and ‘liberty’. Under the discipline and guidance of the Holy Spirit, God wills us to operate our lives in this manner. This is what I want every spiritually confused, bound and timid Christian to begin to experience.

Power over personal besetting sins, power over the un-holy trinity of religion, politics and control operating in most churches, power over political correctness, power over worrying what others think and say about them, power over sickness and disease, power over liars and deceivers who come into their midst, power to stand on the word of God at all times; that’s my desire for God’s people. Is that the power of a perfect Christian? No, it is the power of a perfect Master. Christian bro and sis, don’t believe all those who arrogantly demand of you, “Show me proof of God.” Embrace the biblical meaning of power and they’ll see it soon enough. They may not admit it, but they’ll see it.

When Jesus told us we would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us and that we would be witnesses unto Him Acts 1:8, that’s exactly what we are – witnesses. He didn’t say they would all become convinced and converted, but witnesses we are, because they all get convicted and they know it. Both individually and corporately, it is vital that Christians demonstrate the power of our Lord in our day to day activities. There is no greater witness to the world that He is indeed Master. So many people all around us today have such faulty concepts of Christ. In my nation (Australia), one of the ruling spirits is rebellion – the resistance to or defiance of authority.

Having said this, people are willing to show some respect for authorities who demonstrate honesty and integrity. The only problem is, such authorities are as scarce as hen’s teeth! We’ve got so many phonies, liars and deceivers lording it over us in both National and State governments, all sides of politics, big and small business, plus legal and judicial systems, that the people have simply turned off. They don’t expect anything different from them. Worse; it’s the same in the church! The other day I was speaking with an authority-hater and as soon as I mentioned Jesus, his first reaction was to snarl at the Roman Catholic Church. That’s how he saw the Lord …  a Roman Catholic, powerless to deal with the sex perverts in there.

But he did listen when I said, “But hang on, Jesus is not part of any religious institution that violates the Scriptures, Roman Catholic or Protestant.” Then giving me a slit-eyed look, he started on, “the Jewwwzzz” (Jews), telling me that, “they’re the cause of all the trouble in the world.” He suggested it would be a good idea if they were thrown out of Israel. Once again he listened when I mentioned the land belongs to God, that He had decreed it to the Jews and because of that, nobody will ever take it from them. The man listened, because as he spoke, I listened to the spirits of rebellion and anti-Semitism speaking through him and subjected each to the Holy Spirit. Again, that’s the power of the Master, more so than the Teacher. 

To my mind there’s only one way for biblical Christians to help people get delivered from faulty concepts about Jesus Christ and that is for us to pray for a fresh vision of Him for ourselves. How easy it is for us to read a couple of New Testament chapters, a Psalm or two every day, yet not take in what God is saying to us because we’ve read them multiple times before. Whenever I find myself doing that, I praise God for His conviction. “Lord, quicken Your word to me today. I want to see the word through Your eyes, I want hear it through Your ears, I want to feel it with Your heart and I want to understand it with Your mind.” That’s a prayer that helps me become aware that I’m bowing before a Master first and Teacher second.

To visualize Jesus as the image of the invisible God…. and that, all things were created by Him and for Him…. and by Him all things consist Colossians 1:15-17, these Scriptures never fail to help me see Him as Master. Neither does For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily Colossians 2:9. And again, Jesus being the brightness of His (God’s ) glory and the express image of His (God’s ) person, and upholding all things by the word of His power…. Hebrews 1:3. Stop a moment and visualize the entire universe … hanging on nothing but the Master’s powerful word! Is it any wonder no devil, death, demon or disease can enter His holy presence and expect to maintain the upper hand?!

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever Hebrews 13:8. Amen to that! Jesus Christ, Master yesterday, and Master today, and Master forever! Yes, Jesus was, is and always will be Teacher too; there’s no Teacher like Him. But in the days we face ahead, every Christian must see and experience Him as Master because it is this that all enemies of the Cross seek to wrench from Him.

Too many in the church are content to reduce Jesus to a Savior and too many in the world are content to reduce Him to a teacher, just like any other historic religious figure that came before and after Him. Again, Master or Teacher – which one commands more respect from you? “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow….Jesus Christ is Lord” Philippians 2:9-11.