First Nations Version

by Terry M. Wildman

  I also send greetings to Worthy of Praise (Epaenetus), our much-loved one, who was the firstfruits of Land of the Rising Sun (Asia), the first to walk the road with the Chosen One in that territory.

  6Give my greeting to Tears of Sorrow (Mariam), who has worked tirelessly for you.

  7I send greetings also to Victory Man (Andronicus) and Younger One (Junia), my fellow Tribal Members and fellow prisoners, who have a good reputation as message bearers. They walked with the Chosen One before I did.

  8Greet Large Man (Ampliatus), who is a much-loved one in our Honored Chief.

  9Greet Village Dweller (Urbanus), who has worked side by side with us for the Chosen One, and Ear of Corn (Stachys), who is also a much-loved one.

  10Greet Stands Alone (Apelles), who by walking a rough road has proven himself to be a faithful follower of the Chosen One. Also greet Gives Wise Guidance (Aristobulus) and his family.

  11Greet Walks Brave (Herodion), a member of my Tribal Family. Greet the family of Sleepy Head (Narcissus) who are also in our Honored Chief.

  12Greet Soft Garden (Tryphaena) and Sweet Garden (Tryphosa), who work hard for our Honored Chief. Also greet my much-loved friend Woman Rides Horses (Persis), another who has worked hard for our Honored Chief.

  13Greet Red Man (Rufus), one who stands tall for our Honored Chief, and his mother, who has also been a mother to me.

  14Greet No One Like Him (Asyncritus), Fire Starter (Phlegon), High Messenger (Hermes), Follows His Father (Patrobas), Keeps Things Steady (Hermas), and the sacred family members who are with them.

  15Give my greeting to Likes to Talk (Philologus), Soft Haired Woman (Julia), Shining River (Nereus) and his sister, Bright Mountain (Olympas), and all the sacred family members who gather with them.

  16When you greet each other, do so with a holy kiss. All the Chosen One’s sacred family gatherings under my care also send their greetings to you.

  A WISE WARNING

  17And now, my sacred family members, I warn you to be on the lookout and stay away from the ones who cause trouble and place stumbling stones in your path by teaching things that are against what you have learned. 18For the ones who do this are not walking in the ways of our Honored Chief and Chosen One. Instead, they are feeding their own selfish desires, and like tricksters they use smooth words and big talk to fool the hearts of the ones who lack wisdom.

  19Even though you have a good reputation for following Creator’s ways, which makes my heart glad, I still felt the need to give you this counsel. But I want you to walk in wisdom toward what is good and to keep your path free from evil ways. 20For it will not be long before the Great Spirit of Peace flattens the head of Accuser (Satan), that evil snake, under your feet.77 May the great kindness of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) be your guide on the road of life.

  21He Gives Honor (Timothy), who works side by side with me, greets you, along with Bright Light (Lucius), Healer (Jason), and Sets His Father Free (Sosipater), my tribal relatives.

  22I, Third Born (Tertius), the one who is writing this message from Small Man (Paul), send my greetings to you as one who also trusts in our Honored Chief.

  23Glad Heart (Gaius), who has opened his home not only to me but to all the sacred family, greets you. Much Desired (Erastus), who keeps track of the money pouch for the village, and Fourth Born (Quartus), a member of the sacred family, also greet you.

  24May the great kindness of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) rest on all of you.78

  25I pray that the Great Spirit will make you stand strong and firm by my telling of the good story about Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. From the time before all days this message has been kept secret, 26but it has now been made clear. The Great Eternal One told his prophets to write this down in our Sacred Teachings, so that all nations would hear, put their trust in his good story, and follow all his ways.

  27May the Great Mystery, from whom all wisdom comes, be honored through Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, to the time beyond the end of all days.

  Aho! May it be so!

  FIRST LETTER FROM SMALL MAN TO THE SACRED FAMILY IN VILLAGE OF PLEASURE

  1 CORINTHIANS

  GREETINGS

  1From Small Man (Paul), called to be a message bearer for Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, and from Safe and Strong (Sosthenes), our spiritual brother.

  2To the members of Creator’s sacred family who gather in Village of Pleasure (Corinth).

  I write to you, the ones who have been made holy in harmony with the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), who have been chosen to walk the road of life with him in a sacred manner. I also write this to all people everywhere who call out to and put their trust in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) our Honored Chief and all that his name represents. He is their Honored Chief and ours.

  WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

  3Great kindness and peace to you from our Father the Great Spirit and from our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One. 4I am always giving thanks to Creator for you, for the gift of his great kindness given to you in Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One. 5He has blessed you with the right words to speak and a deep understanding of all things. 6So we can now be sure that your lives are telling the true story of the Chosen One. 7This shows that you have all the spiritual gifts you need as you wait with pounding hearts for the great revealing of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One.

  8He will keep your feet on solid ground and guide you to the end of the trail so that you will have a good reputation when the day comes for our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One to be revealed. 9Creator can be fully trusted for these things, for he is the one who chose you to walk side by side with Creator Sets Free (Jesus), who is the Chosen One and our Honored Chief.

  FIRM WORDS OF CORRECTION

  10My sacred family members, I come to you representing our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One. I am speaking to you from my heart with firm words. To keep the family from splitting into opposing groups, you must seek harmony with each other and speak with one voice. In this way, you will be joined together with one mind and purpose.

  11My sacred family members, some who gather at the house of Tender Grass (Chloe) have made it clear to me that there is much conflict among you. 12It was told to me that one says, “I follow Small Man (Paul).” Another says, “I follow He Tears Down (Apollos).” Another says, “I follow Stands on the Rock (Cephas).”1 And someone else says, “I follow the Chosen One.”

  13Has the Chosen One been broken into pieces? Was Small Man (Paul) killed on a cross for you? Did you participate in the purification ceremony2 under the name of Small Man (Paul)? 14I thank the Great Spirit that I performed the purification ceremonyb for only Curly Hair (Crispus), Glad Heart (Gaius), and no one else, 15so no one can say their purification ceremonyb was done in my name.

  16I also remember that I performed the purification ceremonyb for Headdress of Many Feathers (Stephanas) and his family, but I do not remember performing the ceremony for anyone else. 17For the Chosen One did not send me to perform the purification ceremony.b He sent me to tell the good story, not with the wisdom found in high-sounding words, because that kind of wisdom empties the cross of the Chosen One of its power.

  THE WISDOM OF THE GREAT SPIRIT

  18The message of the cross seems foolish to the ones who are walking a path to a bad end. But for us who are being set free and made whole, the message itself is the power of the Great Spirit.

  19For it has been written in the Sacred Teachings, “I will tear down the wisdom of the ones who see themselves as wise and undo the understanding of those who think they know all things.”3

  20So then, where are the ones who think they are wise? Where is the scroll keeper who explains the meaning of our tribal law? Where is the trained speaker of this present world? Has not the Great Spirit made the ones who are trusting in the wisdom of this world look foolish? 21In his great wisdom Creator knew that t
he world through its wisdom would not come to know him. So his heart was glad to rescue and set free the ones who trust in the “foolishness” of the good story we tell.

  22The people of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) require powerful signs. The Wisdom Seekers (Greeks) search for wisdom. 23But we tell the good story about the Chosen One, who died on a tree-pole—the cross. This message puts a stumbling stone in the path of our Tribal People and is nothing but foolishness to the Outside Nations. 24But to the ones who have been called out from among our Tribal People and the Wisdom Seekers (Greeks), the Chosen One is the power and wisdom of the Great Spirit. 25Creator’s foolishness is wiser than the wisest of human beings, and his weakness is more powerful than the strongest of all.

  WHO CREATOR CHOOSES

  26My sacred family members, take a look at your own calling. In the eyes of the world, there are not many wise or powerful or of noble birth among you. 27For the Great Spirit has chosen the foolish to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong. 28He has chosen the ones the world looks down on, those who seem to have nothing to offer, to bring to nothing the ones the world looks up to. 29In this way, no one will be able to boast when they stand before the Great Spirit.

  30It is the Great Spirit himself who has brought you into harmony with the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus). The Chosen One has become Creator’s wisdom for us. He put us in good standing and made us holy, by paying the highest price to set us free.

  31This brings full meaning to the Sacred Teachings that say, “Let the one who boasts boast in what the Great Spirit has done.”4

  WISDOM FOR THE SPIRITUAL

  1My sacred family members, when I came among you to tell you about Creator’s mysterious ways, I did not use big words or high-sounding wisdom. 2For I decided not to know anything while I was with you except about Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One—and his death on the cross. 3I came to you as a weak human being in fear and trembling. 4I did not come with strong words or great wisdom, but with the Spirit showing his power in my weakness. 5In this way your trust would not rest on the wisdom of human beings, but in the Great Spirit’s power.

  6On the other hand, there is a wisdom that we speak among those who are mature in the Chosen One. It is not the wisdom of this present world or of its rulers, who are fading away. 7Instead, with a strong voice we make known the wisdom of the Great Spirit. A wisdom that is mysterious and hidden away in Creator’s heart. He decided long ago, before the world began, that this wisdom would be for our honor.

  SPIRIT WISDOM

  8None of the rulers of this present world have understood this wisdom. If they had, they never would have killed our great and shining Honored Chief. 9The Sacred Teachings tell us that no human being has ever seen or heard or imagined all the good things the Great Spirit has planned for the ones who love him.5 10But Creator has revealed these things to us by his Spirit.

  The Spirit searches everything, even the deep things found in the mind and heart of the Great Spirit. 11No one can know the thoughts of another except for that person’s own spirit. In the same way no one can know Creator’s thoughts except his own Spirit. 12We have not received the spirit of the world, but we have received Creator’s Spirit. This is how we can know the things that have been gifted to us by the Great Spirit.

  13So when we speak, we do not use words taught by human wisdom. Instead we use words taught by the Spirit—speaking in a spiritual manner about spiritual things. 14Humans without the Spirit are not able to see the things revealed by Creator’s Spirit. These things sound foolish and are beyond their understanding, for they must be interpreted in a spiritual manner. 15On the other hand, the spiritual are able to see into the meaning of all things in ways the unspiritual do not understand.

  16“For who understands the mind and heart of the Great Spirit and can sit in council with him?”6 But we who share his Spirit do understand the mind and heart of the Chosen One!

  MILK FOR SPIRITUAL INFANTS

  1My sacred family members, the first time I came to you I could not speak to you as I would to the spiritually mature. Instead, I had to speak to you as I would to the unspiritual, as infants in the Chosen One. 2I had to feed you with milk, since you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are not ready. 3As long as there is jealousy and fighting among you, are you not unspiritual and walking like weak and broken human beings?

  4When one of you says, “I follow Small Man (Paul),” and another says, “I follow He Tears Down (Apollos),” does this not prove you are walking like weak and broken human beings? 5Who is He Tears Down (Apollos)? Who is Small Man (Paul)? Only servants who with the help of our Honored Chief led you down the path of trusting. 6I planted the seed, and He Tears Down (Apollos) watered it, but it was the Great Spirit who made it grow.

  7So it does not matter who plants or who waters. What matters is the one who makes the plants grow. 8The one who plants and the one who waters both share the same purpose, and each will be honored according to how well they have served. 9For we are working side by side with the help of the Great Spirit. You are Creator’s garden where he grows good fruit, and you are the sacred lodge where he has chosen to live.

  BUILDING THE SACRED LODGE

  10In his great kindness Creator gave me the wisdom of a skilled lodge builder. I set the stone in place for the lodge to rest on, and others are building on what I laid down. But each person must take care to see how the lodge is to be built. 11For this lodge cannot be built on just any stone, but only on the stone that has already been set in place. That stone is Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One.

  12-13Each builder must use the right building materials, for a day is coming when the quality of each one’s work will be tested by fire. Then it will be clearly shown whether the builder has used gold, silver, and costly stones, or wood, dried grass, and corn stalks. 14If what has been built survives the fire, then the builder will be honored. 15If what has been built is burned up, then the builder will have no honor and will lose all that was done. The builder’s life will be spared, but as one who has escaped through the fire.

  TRUE AND FALSE WISDOM

  16Do you not know that Creator’s Spirit lives in all of you, making you his sacred lodge? 17Creator will bring ruin to anyone who ruins his lodge, for Creator’s lodge is holy, and you are his sacred lodge. 18Do not trick yourself. All who think they are wise in the ways of this present world need to become foolish, so that they may become wise in Creator’s ways. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of the Great Spirit.

  Our Sacred Teachings tell us, “He is many steps ahead of the wise who think they can trick him.”7 20They also say, “Human beings may think they are wise, but Creator can see how weak and empty their thoughts truly are.”8

  21So you can stop bragging about human teachers! 22Men such as Small Man (Paul) or He Tears Down (Apollos) or Stands on the Rock (Cephas) are all yours in the Chosen One. All things are already yours—whether it is this world, or life, or death, or today and all the days that will follow. 23For you are of the Chosen One, and the Chosen One is of the Great Spirit.

  SERVING IN A SACRED MANNER

  1So you should think of us message bearers as servants of the Chosen One who have been entrusted with the sacred task of making known the mysteries of the Great Spirit. 2The ones who have been chosen for this sacred task must walk it out in a sacred manner, to prove they are worthy of it.

  3I am not at all troubled about how worthy you think I am, because deciding how well I have performed this sacred task is not up to you or any human council. It is not up to me to decide how well I have done. 4I know of nothing in which I have failed, but this does not prove me to be in the right. That decision belongs to our Honored Chief.

  5So do not keep deciding these kinds of things ahead of time. Instead, wait until the coming of our Honored Chief. On that day he will shine his light on the things hidden in darkness and make known the plans of all human hearts. The Knower of Hearts will then give to
each person whatever honor is due.

  WISDOM LEADS TO HUMILITY

  6Now, my sacred family members, I have made an example of myself and He Tears Down (Apollos) so you will not get big heads bragging about how one teacher is better than another. You should not think of human beings beyond what is written in our Sacred Teachings.

  7Who made you better than others? Do you have anything that was not gifted to you? If it was a gift, then why do you behave as if you gained it by yourselves? 8You think you need nothing more. You think you are well-to-do. You think you have become grand chiefs with no help from any of us! How I wish you really were. Then we could serve together as chiefs.

  MESSAGE BEARERS ARE IN THE WORST PLACE

  9I am thinking that the Great Spirit has put us message bearers in the worst place. We are like captured warriors being dragged through the village pathways to their death—for all to see. He is making a big show of us to all the world, to both humans and spirit-messengers. 10We look like sacred clowns for the Chosen One, but you are seen as his wisdom keepers! You seem powerful, while we are seen as weak.

  11Even now we are hungry and thirsty. We are dressed in rags. We are often badly beaten and wander about with no regular place to lay our heads. 12We have had to work hard with our own hands to have enough to eat. We have blessed those who cursed us and have been patient with the ones who bring harm to us. 13To those who speak against us, we wage peace. To those who walk in the ways of this world, we are the mud they scrape from their moccasins and the buffalo chips they wipe from between their toes. Yes, to this very day we message bearers have suffered all these things.