MODERN textual scholars do not hesitate to omit from the Bible the spurious passage found at 1 John 5:7-8. It is omitted by the translations ERV, ASV, RSV, ESV, NASB, LEB, CSB, UASV, etc.) Commenting on these words, the greatest textual scholar of the 20th century Bruce M. Metzger said, “these words are spurious and have no right to stand in the New Testament is certain …” – Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (1994), 647.
Be honest in all things
Follow the truth regardless
Obey God not man
If textual scholars and translators obey all three of those principles; then, if the text, translation, or interpretation supports our specific doctrinal view, fine, if it does not, fine. A so-called major doctrine does not hang in the balance based on one Bible verse.
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?
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.
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.
