Christian Publishing House Blog
Apologetic Defense of the faith, the Bible, and Christianity
What is the fight for the truth worth if the person misrepresents (alters by adding to or removing from) God's Word (Revelation 22:18-19) when the textual reading or the translation does not favor the theological position of a textual scholar or the Bible translator/publisher or an interpreter or a Christian reader. Do we prefer outright lies in the translations? Would Jesus want that?
The Christian, on the other hand, but notably the Christian, have persistently sought to make their Bible speak all languages at all times. It is a curious fact that a Book written in one tongue should have come to its largest power in other languages than its own.
It is not necessary for everyone to know translation theory to the point of a scholarly level, nor is it even necessary for pastors and teachers to know everything about translation theory. However, it is necessary for pastors, teachers, and churchgoers around the world at the beginning of the twenty-first century to know something about translation theory, for two reasons.
The Byzantine text family that makes up the Textus Receptus, which is behind the KJV and the NKJV is 80-85% in agreement with the Alexandrian text family that is behind almost all modern translations. The King James Version Onlyists (KJVOists) & the Textus Receptus Onlyists (TROists) call the differences omissions in the Wescott & Hort 1881 Greek New Testament (WH) and the Nestle-Aland 28th edition Greek New Testament (NA). They would argue that many of the differences are actually additions to the original texts, which has now been restored to its original form by removing spurious interpolations? Who is correct?
Let me remind the reader, no doctrine is lost over one verse. Moreover, the policy to follow is, let the textual evidence lead where it leads, the translation go where it goes, the translator do what needs to be done, and the exegete discover what the author meant by the words that he used. God does not need our help in manipulating verses to get our desired outcome.
DR. DON WILKINS: has worked with The Lockman Foundation (TLF) as a senior translator since 1992 on the NASB. Wilkins offers a brief objective article herein that answers this question for us.
It is often argued by the Textus Receptus Onlyists and the King James Version Onlyists that there are thousands of differences between Codex Vatican and Codex Sinaiticus. John Miller on Social media makes a typical comment: "You think the TR is corrupt? What about the ~3500 differences between Vaticanus and Sinaiticus just in the gospels... Continue Reading →
The beginning and the end. In the New Testament Book of Revelation, God says, “I am Alpha and Omega,” meaning that he is the beginning and end of all things. In the Greek alphabet, alpha is the first letter and omega is the last. “Alpha and omega” refers to God’s sovereignty and eternal nature.
The papyri are documents written on papyrus, material prepared in ancient Egypt from the pithy stem of a water plant, used in sheets throughout the ancient Mediterranean world for writing. The early papyri of about 100+ manuscripts that date from 110-390 C.E. are said to be of the most important for establishing the original. Are... Continue Reading →
The Revised Version, Standard American Edition of the Bible, more commonly known as the American Standard Version (ASV), is a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901, with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament; the revised New Testament had been released in 1900. It was originally best known by its... Continue Reading →