5: Trustworthy Translations

NOTES: https://bit.ly/SolaScripturaDevo

Last week we talked about Recognized Writings where we tried to answer this question:

How did we get the 66 recognized writings in the Bible today and what about the other writings that got left out?

Criteria for Canonized Writings

Authors Apostles & Associates? Who wrote it? It must have been an apostle (i.e. Matthew, John, Peter, & Paul) or someone closely connected with an apostle (e.g. Luke, John Mark, James, Jude). Eyewitness testimony is essential to authenticate the incredible claims made by Jesus and his followers in the New Testament.

Content Orthodox Teaching? Many false teachers & teachings were trying to worm they way into the church, but the church was to trust the Gospel as taught by the apostles of Jesus, while those opposed the clear teaching of the apostles were condemned.

Galatians 1:6–9 (NET)

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different gospel—not that there really is another gospel, but there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell! As we have said before, and now I say again, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be condemned to hell!

That’s a HEAVY HANDED response, isn’t it?

Church Response Universal Acceptance? The writing had to be “accepted by a broad geographic segment of the church.” Considering the cultural diversities within the churches, their agreement of which books belonged in the New Testament canon demonstrates that the Holy Spirit led people from different cultures to universally receive the same writings as canonical.

Then we briefly dove into...

TRUSTWORTHY TRANSLATIONS

How are English Bible translations developed & what are the differences that matter?

Translations are biblical writings transferred from in their original languages into other languages so the audience can understand it.

Translations of the Bible are nothing new.

The Septuagint was a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (OT) that was completed by 200 B.C., well before the time of Jesus.

This translation was quoted by Greek writers including Jesus’ first disciples, Paul, & the writer of Hebrews.

Key Insight: The New Testament writers believed this Greek translation carried the same authority as the Hebrew writings it was translated from.

Remember - Most of the 4 gospels are actually Translations of what Jesus said. That is, Jesus most often spoke in the common language of Jewish people in His day - Aramaic, but the gospel writers translated what Jesus said...in Greek. Here are a few examples that demonstrate this to be so:

Mark 5:41 (NET) Then, gently taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.”

Mark notes the words of Jesus in Aramaic, then he translates to his audience reading this in Greek. YOUR translation takes the Greek and brings it to our language - English.

Mark does the same thing later as Jesus is on the cross.

Mark 15:34 (NET) Around three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In other words, the writings we have are already a TRANSLATION of what Jesus said - Aramaic to Greek. We then translate from Greek to English.

QUESTION: Why would the gospel writers translate the words of Jesus from Aramaic into Greek?

BIG TRUTH: Translations communicate the message of Jesus in a meaningful way.

From the Greek manuscripts came more translations, like Latin, Coptic, Syriac, and more - so that more people could understand the message of Jesus in a meaningful way.

Miriam Adeney writes: Everywhere Christians go, they translate the Bible. This has been noted by Lamin Sanneh, a Christian with a Muslim background who is Professor of History at Yale University. Muslims insist that people learn Arabic, because that is the language of God. But Christians say, "God speaks your language."

Wycliff Bible Translators note that the Bible has now been translated into more than 2,200 languages...for ONE reason:

BIG TRUTH: Translations communicate the message of Jesus in a meaningful way.

So just How are English Bible translations developed & what are the differences that matter?

First, let’s give some clarity on HOW THE BIBLE IS DIVIDED.

The Bible is divided by TYPES of writings, not by TIME:

Law/Teaching: Genesis, Exodus, Lev., Numbers, Deut.

History of Israel: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Sam, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chron., Ezra, Neh., Esther

Writings: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon

Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obad., Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Hab., Zeph, Haggai, Zech, Malachi

Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

Church History: Acts

Letters (Epistles): Paul’s 13, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter; 1,2,3 John, Jude

Revelation

Chapter and Verse Division

The current division of chapters and verses was introduced in 1551 in Greek and Latin NT. These were first used in an English translation in Geneva Bible of 1560.

There are 2 warnings here that we will discuss in depth when we deal with Interpretation in a couple of weeks.

Verses weren’t intended to be taken separately. Lifting text from its surrounding text usually blurs the context.

Beware those who make mathematical calculations based on Chapter and Verse numbers. This numbering system was NOT INSPIRED by God and didn’t exist until 1500 years after the NT was written!

HOW WERE ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS DEVELOPED & WHAT DIFFERENCES MATTER?

Around A.D. 400 an early church leader named Jerome translated the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic into Latin - the official language of the Roman Empire. This translation - The Latin Vulgate - was used over 1000 years in the British isles.

But in 1380, John Wycliffe translated the Bible from the Latin Vulgate (instead of original languages) to English. For this he was persecuted and considered a heretic...all because...

He wanted to communicate the message of Jesus in a meaningful way.

Wycliffe’s translation dominated the English-speaking world for 200 years.

Then came William Tyndale: He wanted to translate from the original languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek - to English. Eventually, with the help of others, this was accomplished in 1535. His desire was for the everyday farmer to know the Bible better than most scholars. For this, he was imprisoned and executed in Oct 1536 - tied to a stake, strangled, and body burnt...ALL BECAUSE...as those who had gone before him...

He wanted to communicate the message of Jesus in a meaningful way.

Several other English translations like the Geneva Bible arose as their authors faced persecution as well.

Finally, in 1604 King James I made it official. The Church of England would have an English translation - King James authorized multiple university scholars to do the work. In 1611 this translation was completed and called The KJV or the Authorized Version (by King Jimmy). This is where we need to take a minute to explain how a lot of people get tripped up.

Just as others have done in history, we can think OUR VERSION is the best version and not allow for further translations. Some who love the 1611 KJV claim that it is inerrant - without error. This is NOT true. While it is a great translation it certainly isn’t perfect. (Read more below.)

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The translators used the Greek text (1516) of a Catholic scholar named Erasmus. He used portions of only 6 late manuscripts (12-14 century) of the NT. Since that time, many earlier and more reliable manuscripts have been uncovered and are used for translating.

The 1611 KJV version included the Apocrypha and had several mistakes. For example, “In 1611, the KJV had “Then cometh Judas” in Matthew 26:36. Today it is rendered in the KJV as, “Then cometh Jesus.”

The 1613 printing omitted the word “not” from the seventh commandment, & read “Thou SHALT commit adultery.” This King James edition became known as the “Wicked Bible.”

In fact, since 1611 there have been many revisions of the KJV: 1613, 1629, 1638, 1729, 1762. But the 1769 is the edition that is still in use today. If you use the KJV - a fine translation - then you most likely have THIS edition. Why not stick with the 1611? Because language changes over 158 years!

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The KJV translators never intended for this to be the last English version, that we would have to read Shakespearean English when we no longer spoke that way in daily conversation. Look what they wrote in the Preface to the 1611 King James Bible:

...without a translation in the common language, most people are like the children at Jacob’s well (which was deep) without a bucket or something to draw the water with; or like the person mentioned by Isaiah who was given a sealed book and told, “Please read this,” and had to answer, “I can not, because it is sealed” (Isaiah 29.11).

In other words, the KJV translators understood that...

BIG TRUTH: Translations communicate the message of Jesus in a meaningful way.

In order to OBEY it, we must UNDERSTAND it.

Today’s modern translations don’t start with the KJV and change the words to modern terms. The translators start with EARLIER manuscripts - unknown by the KJV translators - and go straight from the manuscripts - Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek - STRAIGHT TO English.

Preface to the 1611 King James Bible:

As the King’s speech, which he uttereth in Parliament, being translated into French, Dutch, Italian, and Latin, is still the King’s speech, though it be not interpreted by every Translator with the like grace, nor peradventure so fitly for phrase, nor so expressly for sense, everywhere.

Therefore as S. Augustine saith, that variety of Translations is profitable for the finding out of the sense of the Scriptures.

Differences in Translations? (Dan Wallace: https://bit.ly/WallaceTranslations)

Formal Equivalent - Word for Word; studying languages (NET, ESV, NAS, KJV, NKJV, AMP)

Functional Equivalent - Thought for Thought (CSB, NIV, NLT, NCV, GW)

Paraphrase: The Message; The Living Bible (*use with caution)

Corrupt: New World Translation, Passion ‘Translation’, KJV from Mormons (multiple notes from Joseph Smith)

Are the NIV and other Modern Translations CORRUPT? I see this kind of Screen Shot every now and then on Facebook, saying “The NIV took this verse out. Here’s something I wrote on that: https://bit.ly/KJVvsModern

WHY CHOOSE MODERN OVER KJV?

2 Examples of KJV and NIV.

Isaiah 14:12 (KJV) How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Isaiah 14:12 (NIV84) How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

The KJV translators borrowed this term - Lucifer - from the Latin Vulgate. Lucifer is Latin for "morning star” or “day star”. They didn’t translate it to English! * Note: This is the ONLY place in the Bible that uses ‘Lucifer’.

The question is not how the NIV compares to the KJV, but how the KJV and NIV compare to the oldest manuscripts in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

1 John 3:17 (KJV) But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

1 John 3:17 (ESV) But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

Which one, to borrow a phrase from the KJV translators, is ‘a translation in the common language’?

Which one communicates the message of Jesus in a meaningful way?

What’s the best translation? I encourage you to choose from a ‘word-for word’ or ‘thought-for-thought’. Beyond that...The best translation is the one you READ and HEED.

If your translation CONFUSES you instead making things CLEARER for you, ask a mature Christian to help you find a Bible.

HOMEWORK: read ACTS (28 chapters) and note how God speaks to people IN THEIR LANGUAGES (through His people)!

Podcast: http://bit.ly/FellowshipPodcast

NEXT WEEK is my favorite part, as we begin to explore INTERPRETATION: How can we read it right?