A Moment on the Scriptures: Bible Translation Comparisons

By any conservative count, there are at least 50 different English translations of the Bible. One of the main questions for us, then, is: What do we do with all those options?

I think it’ll be helpful in this situation to compare several translations to each other to see how they’re similar and different.

What have we seen? I think what we’ve seen is that, in general, the common modern English translations of the Bible can be trusted. The Bible translation landscape is not as dangerous as it’s commonly made out to be.

The other thing we’ve seen is that the English translations available to us have in mind to get us the word of God, albeit in a particular and specific manner, which is where the differences come in.

So, do we really have major differences between verses in different translations? Yes. However, those differences are not nefarious; instead, they’re expected due to the philosophies adopted by the translation committees.

A Moment on the Scriptures: Who Wrote Romans?

The question of who actually wrote the Bible is one that comes up often, but rarely is it answered with the text of the Bible itself.

Now, it needs to be said that there’s nothing wrong with using historical linguistic or archaeological research into the writing habits of those in the first century or prior in order to determine how the books of the Bible came about. Plenty of good books and articles have been written on that topic, and we can be and are greatly helped by them. The question is, though, why not use the Bible as a primary resource to better understand how these collected writings came about?

Let’s look at the letter to the Romans as an example of how this might help us answer the question of authorship.

On the first page of the letter it’s clear who’s behind it: “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,” (Rom. 1:1, NASB). Who’s the one speaking to us from this letter? Clearly, Paul. He is the first person identified in the letter and his name is actually the first word of the letter. These are absolutely his words.

What do we see, though, when we get to the last sentences of the letter? In Romans 16:22 we read, “I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Lord.”

Who is Tertius, and what does he have to do with this letter? Well, according to the letter itself, he’s the one who wrote it.

This means that although the letter is rightly ascribed to Paul—as it’s his words, and his thoughts, and his theology—the one who wrote down those words, thoughts, and theology was not Paul—it was Tertius. And it’s right there in the text. There’s no mystery here. And neither is there any scandal. This is how, at least, the letter to the Romans came about.

Spoiled for Choice

When it comes to having ready access to the Scriptures, Christians living today really do live in a unique time in the history of the church.

If we’re not careful we can begin to think it’s a normal thing to have regular access to a Bible, when in reality this has not been true for most of the Christians who have come before us. To be able to pull down a printed Bible from a bookshelf or pick one up from your coffee table is a testament to the amazing period of time we’re currently living.

It wasn’t until 1455 that the first printed Bible was created. Up until that point, the only copies of “the Bible” were handwritten sections (sometimes bound together in larger sections) of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. And these were not readily available to everyone. They were shared, and copied, and passed on from community to community and from church to church. This means that if you were born in the year 1500 and you were converted to Christianity in your twenties, you more than likely had no Bible to read on your own for your entire life because, although the printed Bible was around, it was expensive—more expensive than you could have afforded. Sure, you probably had a church to go to and that church may have had access to the Scriptures, but this did not mean you had the opportunity to read the Bible on your own.

Think about that with me a little more. That’s roughly 1,500 years after the entirety of the New Testament writings were penned and started to be copied by the earliest Jesus followers. For nearly 1,500 years, Christians had no choice but to rely on others to tell them the stories or their local church to make the Scriptures available by reading out whatever they had access to during the services.

That was then, but what about now?

For large portions of the world—and this does not mean every part of the world—what used to be a given about limited to no access to the Bible just isn’t so any longer. We have immediate access now, but that it not without it’s own set of questions and complications.

What translation of the Bible do you want to read? Because, there are many to choose from. Do you want a Bible printed on paper or an electronic one? How about one that reads to you? You know, if you go to the store down the road you can actually pick up and try out a number of different Bibles.

Do you want one where the words of Jesus are in red or black? What about the font size? Do you want a larger font or a smaller font? Also, did you know that they make Bibles with single column spacing and others double column spacing? How about one where there aren’t any footnotes? Because, those can be distracting. They even make them now where they’ve taken the chapter and verse numbers out because, you know, those were actually added later.

Do you want to see what the New Testament looked like in the original Greek? How about the Old Testament in Hebrew? They have those for you, too. Did you know that you can access the Bible almost anytime anywhere from your computer or your phone?

You don’t even have to own a Bible, they’re free online to read whenever you want.

For large portions of the world—maybe most notably the United States—that’s the reality now. We are spoiled for choice.

Now, we can’t really do anything about the time we’re living in. Nor, would we really want to. I mean, who would want to give away the access to the Scriptures we have now? God has blessed us greatly and we ought not reject that blessing. That being said, let’s also be sure not turn this blessing into a curse because of how we mismanage it.

What should we do then with all these choices?

Make a decision and move forward.

Should you read the NIV or the ESV? To be honest, I don’t think it matters that much. Just pick one and read it. The best translation is the one you actually read.

Should you read a paper Bible or an electronic one. I don’t think that matters much either, as long as you’re reading it. I’ve used both in the past and I’ve benefited from both.

Should you use a reading plan or just read at your own pace? Again, as long as your reading, I don’t think it matters much. The point of reading your Bible is not to complete a plan or read a certain number of pages each day. The point of reading your Bible is to grow closer to God through coming to know him in his word.

When offered the abundance of choices with respect to the Bible we can often turn into little kids with a table full of deserts. We can freeze up and do nothing because we can’t decide on a cupcake, or a brownie, or ice cream, or cookies. We miss out because we can’t make up our minds.

Make up your mind for your Bible reading. Don’t make it more difficult than it needs to be. Pick up and read today and tomorrow pick up and read again. And, if what translation you’re reading or how you’re reading changes then that’s OK. The point is not to be overwhelmed with making the “right decision” for your Bible reading. The point is to read.

The Forum of Christian Leaders

I recently took part in an online class on the trustworthiness of the gospels, which was put on (in part) by the Forum of Christian Leaders (FOCL). During the class we were given some information on the FOCL and I was so excited to see all the free video and audio presentations they have available for anyone.

If you want to learn about topic in particular there’s a Topics page or if you’d like to learn from one of your favorite teachers there’s a Speakers page. Check it out and enjoy!

New Testament: The Living Text

Two Sides

There are some who earnestly believe that the New Testament has been reproduced perfectly in English, to the extent that there are absolutely no questions regarding the authenticity and accuracy of the text. In their eyes, the English version of the New Testament they hold in their hands is perfect in the sense that it cannot be improved upon.

There exists another group who believe that the New Testament has never been perfectly reproduced in English (nor could it be) because of its inherent unreliability and errant nature. In their eyes, the New Testament they hold in their hands cannot possibly reflect what was written 2,000 years ago because those original writings have never been recovered.

The two groups above often go head-to-head trying their best to convert others from the opposing side. As a result, it’s often assumed that there are only two honest and worthwhile points of view to hold regarding the New Testament we use and read in English today.

Mercifully, to those who have problems with both sides, there exists a third way.

The Third Way

Must one either believe that the New Testament in English today cannot be improved upon or that there’s no way for the New Testament today to hold true to what was originally written?

No.

In fact, the third way of viewing the New Testament provides a firmer foundation. It provides a foundation upon which one can place their trust in the reliability of the words they read because it deals with the truth as it is, not the truth as some would like it to be.

Within the third way, the New Testament reproduced in English is neither seen as perfect nor unreliable; instead, it sees the New Testament as living. The English translation of the New Testament is not living in the sense that the foundation upon what it’s based is changing or growing; it’s living in the sense that translators, archaeologists, historians, and textual critics are still working to get closer and closer to the original wording in every place within the New Testament. Throughout church history the work of these people has helped us today to be as close as we’ve ever been to what was originally written by those like Luke and John. The necessary consequences of this continued work is an English translation that requires updates every so often. When additional information is discovered that brings clarity to the text of the New Testament then the only responsible thing to do is to go with those clarifications because honest historical, text critical work is always a support to the Kingdom of God.

A Necessary Consequence: The Woman Caught in Adultery

The excellent work being done to bring us closer and closer to the original writing of the New Testament means that there will be changes to what some have grown accustomed to reading in their English translation. By way of example, consider with me the regularly-retold story of the woman caught in adultery in John 7:53-8:11. This story shows up everywhere. It’s in movies about Jesus, articles about the gospels, children’s storybooks about Jesus—it’s a remarkable story showing the compassion and love of the Lord in standing up for this woman, being honest with her, and not condemning her because of her sin.

There’s just one problem: John, as a part of his gospel story, probably didn’t write it.

“The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53-8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.” The wonderful thing about this is that it’s not a secret; the quoted section above comes right from the New International Version (NIV2011) Bible in John’s gospel once you get to John 7:53. And this type of note isn’t unique to the NIV2011; most modern versions of the Bible will indicate this note either by having this section of John’s gospel in italics or by putting parentheses or brackets around the text.

Now, this does not mean that the conversation/confrontation between Jesus, the adulterous woman, and the Pharisees did not happen. It does mean, however, that (as far as we’re able to currently know) John did not write it when he wrote his gospel, which is hugely important if we want to rely on what the original writers wrote as our foundation for what God said.

Does this mean anything and everything in the New Testament is up for grabs? Could we be wrong about John 3:16-17, Romans 8, or Revelation 21-22? The radical skeptic would answer in the affirmative but the one who rationally looks at the evidence we have must conclude that we can and are certain about the text of the New Testament precisely because we’ve gone where the evidence has led.

Still, the question may remain: How can this be?

1,000 Piece Puzzle

Suppose you sat down on some lazy Saturday afternoon to work on an old 1,000-piece puzzle you have stuffed away in a closet. The problem with this puzzle, though, is that it’s not in a box; it’s in a plastic bag because the box has long since been lost. This means you don’t have a picture to use as your guide as you work on the puzzle. Is this a huge problem? Maybe yes, maybe no. Let’s suppose you decide to work on the puzzle even though you don’t have the box with the picture.

After a few hours of work, you discover that, even though you’ve used all the puzzle pieces, you haven’t completed the puzzle; in fact, you’re short about 50 pieces! Depending on the location of those missing puzzle pieces; it could be a big problem.

Now, let’s suppose we have the same situation with same puzzle in a plastic bag with no box. However, this time, after a few hours of work, you discover that you’ve completed the puzzle, but you have pieces remaining! In fact, after counting them up, you find that you have 50 puzzle pieces remaining. What kind of a problem do you now have? The problem is not that you don’t have enough pieces to complete the puzzle; the problem is that you need to decide which pieces don’t belong and thus need to be removed to make room for the remaining pieces that do belong.

Moving Forward in Confidence

The story about the puzzle with 50 extra pieces is similar to the situation that exists with the New Testament. This means that when you consider the reliability and authenticity of what was originally written compared to that of your English New Testament, you should see it as a translation built upon extra puzzle pieces; not one based on pieces that are missing.

When you’re reading your New Testament in your favorite modern translation (NIV, ESV, NLT, NASB, CSB, etc.) and you notice footnotes, brackets, and/or parentheses with explanations about earliest manuscripts you can know with confidence that what was originally written is either found within the verses or in the footnotes.

Granted, a couple of small sections of the New Testament have been discovered to be less than authentic throughout the history of the church but, again, this problem highlights the situation of there being too many pieces; not too few.

The New Testament may be a living text but that by no means suggests that it is an unreliable text. Trust the words of the New Testament and, therefore, trust the God about whom they testify.