Natalie Hoffman of Flying Free has an exceptional ministry and offers a wealth of resources designed to help women in abusive relationships. She recently invited me to do a podcast with her to discuss my new book[i] and the issue of Christian marriage counseling in general.
In the course of our conversation, we were tossing out some of the Scriptures that often tend to keep us bound to our abusers. Among them was “Love… keeps no record of wrongs’…” from I Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)
Natalie shared that, in her previous marriage, she would write down accounts of her husband’s abuses, but a day or two later, she would tear them up and throw them away as an exercise of faith by not “keeping a record of wrongs.” I had the opportunity to briefly explain that our English translations of this verse are painfully inaccurate, and there are times when a literal translation must take precedence to see a more accurate meaning – and the heart of God.