The Bible – Part 2: Translations
I knew a man in Mexico that was a car mechanic. Years earlier, he became very concerned about the condition of his soul before God. God's working upon him became so intense that he began looking for answers. There was a church in his neighborhood. The sign read, “Church of Jesus Christ” of Latter Day Saints. He attended a service and apparently there was enough Gospel there for him to get saved. Now he is a new creature with the intense hunger of a newborn. He was so thankful to the church he found that he began devouring everything that this church taught. It seemed that he really was born-again. He did not get saved because this church was so accurate in theology but because of his hunger. God met him, worked upon him, and saved him. It is easy to see how a church that, apparently, brought him to real life would now be his source for learning. However, I would not recommend that a person attend or learn from this organization.
Can God use error? Does God use you? Then God can use error. None of us is 100% pure or accurate in our understanding of God. I have heard ex-Jehovah's Witnesses say that there is enough Gospel in their translation to see a person saved. Their translation is one of the few “translations” that are truly perverted from the actual texts. The teachings that this organization gives are in grave error concerning the person and work of Jesus. What else there might be that is accurate, if we miss Jesus and His work all is lost.
Which translation is the best?
There are tons of information from “experts”. I know of a couple Hebrew scholars that watch YouTube videos for entertainment. They watch experts (that cannot even handle English) that teach about the intricate nuances of the ancient Hebrew language in Bible translation. According to these scholars, the YouTube experts are so far off, they watch them and then scream with hilarity. Pretty entertaining, I guess.
While I am not a scholar, there is something I have noticed. God's preservation of His written Word is amazing. Even the deliberately evil translations still contain enough of the truth that a genuinely seeking person can still find the Lord. Imagine what happens when a group of godly scholars work together to translate the scriptures as accurately as they can.
I am most familiar with the King James Version. I read from many other translations also. If you use any of the older, widely accepted translations you may have notice something. In the New Testament Jesus or the apostles quote from the Old Testament. If you go to that Old Testament passage that is cited, you may find that it is very different from the New Testament verse. Why the difference? Many translations of the Old Testament in our English Bibles are translated from Jewish works that were done about 1000 AD. Jesus and His disciples are using a Greek work by Jewish scholars from about 200 BC. Interesting. Jewish works from well before the time of Christ compared to Jewish works several centuries after the time of Christ. BC versus AD. Could there possibly be some Jewish bias against Jesus of Nazareth in the later works? There could not possibly be any bias against Him centuries before He was born.
Some scholars insist that this bias is there. Not much, just the tiniest bit to try to refute the idea that Jesus could be the Messiah. This mostly has to do with dates and numbers. Even if this is true, the miraculous preservation by God renders most Bibles untouched in any essential doctrine. Even Jewish scholars that hate Jesus could not change the Bible in any significant way.
BC or AD. You might find the Greek Old Testament or the Septuagint to be interesting. Some scholars say that while it may not be the most careful work, at least it is impossible for it to be tainted by any hatred of Jesus since it was translated several centuries before He was born in Bethlehem.
Actually the question of which is the best translation is almost pointless. If we do not believe it or obey what it says, God's miraculous preservation of the Scriptures through the centuries does us no good. If we disobey God in KJV or in NIV which is the greater sin? Is there any difference?
Jan. 9, 2024