Glory to God said:
Hi and Welcome to Talk Jesus.
First we need to understand what we mean by a "version". A better word than "version" is "translation". The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. If every man could read Hebrew and Greek, then we would have no need for an "English version". Most people can't read Greek, "It's all Greek to me"! We must rely, therefore, upon men who are fully fluent in English and Greek. These "scholars" read the original Greek Bible and come up with an English equivalent.
This process is called translation. We have all seen a foreign diplomat give a news conference through the help of a translator. One translator may choose different words or sentences, but the message is identical. Translation is a reliable science of communicating between different languages. Remember, it was God Himself who created all the language barriers in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel. God is satisfied that His inspired word can be maintained although translated into over 200 languages.
Translation of the Greek New Testament is a very precise science. The New American Standard Bible, for example, was translated over 10 years, by over 45 scholars and was first published in 1962 AD. Similar painstaking work was applied to the production of the New International (1978 AD), and King James (1611AD) and the New King James (1982AD). These translations and others like them were the products of many years of work from scholars from many denominations.
Each translation has its own strengths and weaknesses. The King James Version (KJV) is excellent, but you must use a dictionary as you read because it uses language typical of the time it was translated (1611). I recommend you purchase a more recent translation. The New American Standard Version (NASV) is believed by many to be one of the most accurate translations and is an excellent study Bible. The American Standard Version (ASV) is also excellent and highy accurate. The New King James Version (NKJV) is high on the recommended list. The New International Version (NIV) tries to make the text as easy to understand as possible and is an excellent reading Bible, but not a good study Bible.
Although the exact choice of words or sentence structure is different in each translation, the meaning is identical. Take the words of Jesus in Mark 16:16 from three "versions" as an example; NIV: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved". KJV: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved". NAS: "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved" Different words and sentences but the meaning is identical. To blame religious division on the fact there are different Bible versions, therefore, is incorrect. The view that each translation of the Bible conveys a different message is also incorrect. There is only one Bible message that has been translated into hundreds of different languages.
As you say they are good study bibles but when you come up with words being misinterpretted and substituted one begins to questions it's authenticity.
Being a Christian, or Follower of Christ, you get asked a lot of questions.
• Why do bad things happen to good people?
• Why do babies die?
• Why does God let bad things happen?
• How do you know there is a God?
• How can you depend on something that you have never seen or touched?
These are just a few questions I have been asked as a Christian by some lost people.
Now I don’t have all the answers to these questions, and to be honest I don’t mind being asked these questions, as it may present an opportunity to lead people to Christ.
However, the question that I get asked from lost people and saved people is, “Do Versions Matter?”
Well, I do have the answer to this question, and have told it many times. The answer is “Yes”, versions do matter, but Satan continues to blind the eyes of the very people who ask this question.
In the Book of Revelation, chapter 22 verses 18 and 19 states:
18“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book”
Now I believe that The King James Version is the true, preserved, infallible, Word of God, because I have read other versions, and when I compare them to the King James Version I find that these other versions are either taking away from the Word of God, or adding to it. However, I must emphasise that this does not mean that I have a problem with other people using these other versions, this is a personal preference.
I am going to present some of the verses from the “Newer versions” and compare them against my preferred bible, the “King James Version”, and I pray that those who are seeking may see the truth.
GNB Good News Bible or TEV Today’s English Version
The GNB questions the Virgin Birth of Christ, by removing the prophecy of Christ’s’ Virgin Birth in Isaiah 7:14
KJV: A virgin shall conceive.
GNB: A young woman will have a son.
Also the GNB questions the Eternal Pre-Existence of Christ by tampering with Micah 5:2 and removed the word ‘everlasting’.
KJV: from everlasting
GNB: from ancient times
The GNB alters our Lord’s Divine Goodness by deleting the word ‘Good’ from Matthew 19:16-17
KJV: Good Master, what good thing shall I do…Why callest thou Me Good? There is none good but One, that is God
GNB: Teacher…what good thing must I do…Why do you ask me concerning what is good? There is only One who is good.
The GNB eliminates Christ’s Divine Sonship in John 6:69
KJV: We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God
GNB: We believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God.
The GNB omits Christ’s title as “Son of God” in John 9:35
KJV: Son of God
GNB: Son of Man
The GNB rejects the reference to our Lord’s Incarnation in 1 Timothy 3:16
KJV: God was manifest in flesh
GNB: He appeared in human form
The GNB replaces references to Christ’s “Blood” with “Death” in Ephesians 1:7
KJV: In Whom we have redemption through His Blood
GNB: For by the death of Christ we are set free
Also in 1 Peter 1:18-19
KJV: But with the precious Blood of Christ
GNB: But the costly sacrifice of Christ
The GNB presents another Christ, not the Christ of the Bible, the only begotten of the Father, the Virgin-born Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, the Second person of the Trinity.
The GNB eliminates the vital doctrine of redemption through the Blood of the Lamb, to present a bloodless and false gospel.
NIV – New International Version
The NIV claims to be “the most exact, illuminating rendering of the original languages into English…so faithfully accurate, that it ushers in a new era of Scriptural Christians around the world.” – Zondervan Publishing House, 1978.
To be most exact and faithfully accurate a Bible version must, among other things, do honour to the Person and Work of My Lord and Your Lord Jesus Christ, in these eight vital areas, and no less:
1. His Work of Redemption
2. His Eternal Pre-Existence
3. His Deity
4. His Sonship of God
5. His Virgin Birth
6. His Bodily Resurrection
7. His Bodily Ascension
8. His Bodily Return
On close examination the NIV fails to pass the test in each of the eight categories and many others beside.
1. The NIV distorts Christ’s work of Redemption
Verses which speak of our Lord’s coming to save men
Matthew 18:11
KJV: For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost
NIV: {The Entire verse is missing}
Luke 9:56
KJV: For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.
NIV: {This part of the verse is missing}
Removal of the Blood of Christ in Colossians 1:14
KJV: In whom we have redemption through his Blood
NIV: In whom we have redemption
The NIV translators have removed “through his Blood.” Why? Because Satan hates the Blood of Christ. It is the Blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7), and God’s people overcome Satan by the Blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:11)
The NIV destroys the uniqueness of Salvation in Christ in John 6:47
KJV: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
NIV: I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
The NIV removes “on me”, on Christ, to open the door of salvation to anyone who believes anything. This favours the ecumenical view that “All Faiths Lead to God.”
2. the NIV obscures Christ’s Eternal Pre-Existence in Micah 5:2 by removing the word, “everlasting”
KJV: Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
NIV: Out of you will come for me one whose origins are from ancient times.
The NIV by changing the word “everlasting” to “origins” and “ancient times” has destroyed our Lord’s Eternal Pre-Existence, reducing him to a mere man.
3. The NIV eliminates reference to Christ’s Incarnation and Deity
1 Timothy 3:16
KJV: God was manifest in the flesh
NIV: He appeared in a body
The NIV has changed “God” to “He” and in this place has destroyed our Lord’s Deity in His Incarnation
Philippians 2:5-6
KJV: Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
NIV: Christ Jesus, Who, being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped
The NIV translators have reversed the meaning of the text whereas in the King James Bible our Lord is equal with God, the NIV states the opposite. Satan hates God the Son, therefore he attacks the Deity of Christ by this manipulative act.
1. The NIV questions Christ’s Sonship and His title “Son of God.”
John 9:35
KJV: Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
NIV: Do you believe in the Son of man?
Acts 3:13
KJV: The God of our fathers, hath glorified His son Jesus.
NIV: The God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus.
In these two verses, the NIV has dishonoured our Lord, changing “God” to “Man”, and “Son” to “Servant.”
2. The NIV undermines the Virgin Birth of Christ
Luke 2:33
KJV: And Joseph and his mother marvelled.
NIV: The child’s father and mother marvelled.
The NIV translators have undermined our Lord’s Virgin Birth by making Joseph His father, which is a lie of the Devil.
John 3:16
KJV: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
NIV: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son
The Greek word “monogenes” means “only begotten” and describes our Lord’s Sonship as the “eternally begotten of the Father.” This excludes a human father in His birth. The NIV rendering “one and only” obscures the doctrine of our Lord’s eternal Sonship and Virgin Birth.
3. The NIV removes Christ’s Bodily Resurrection
Mark 16:19-20 speaks of our Lords appearances after His Resurrection. The NIV separates this passage from the rest of the text, and inserts before it the note:
“The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.” The “most reliable early manuscripts” allude to the most corrupt Vatican and Sinai manuscripts, the source of Modern English Versions.
7. The NIV omits the Bodily Ascension of our Lord
John 16:16
KJV: A little while, and ye shall not see me because I go to the Father.
NIV: In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a while you will see me.
Do the NIV translators believe in the Resurrection of our Lord, and his Ascension to the Father? Why did they remove the record of His Ascension found in the words, “I go to the Father”? Because they were following the erroneous text of Wescott and Hort and its modern counterparts.
8. The NIV omits the Lord’s Bodily Return
Matthew 25:13
KJV: Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
NIV: Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
The NIV translators have accepted a Greek text whose philosophy is leavened with the leaven of unbelief and which denies thing which pertain to the to our Lord’s Deity, His eternal Pre-Existence, Virgin Birth, Resurrection, Ascension etc. Therefore they have removed the six words of our Lord’s which speak of his return.
Revelation 11:17
KJV: O Lord God almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come.
NIV: Lord God almighty, the One who is and who was.
The NIV translators have removed the three words “art to come” which speak of our Lord’s promised Return, which they rejected here.
The NIV’s Pro-Homosexual Bias
Among the NIV translation committee was a self-confessed lesbian and a pro-homosexual member, who do not believe that Homosexuality is a sin to be condemned, but rather a loving relationship acceptable to God.
In Five Old Testament Passages the words “sodomite” or “sodomites” are replaced by “shrine prostitute” or “male shrine prostitutes.” (See Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7)
The NIV’s wresting of Scripture, 2 Peter 3:16, justifies homosexuals in their abominable practices and makes the version “Homosexual Friendly”, and acceptable to the Homosexual community.
The few verses shown are proof enough that the NIV is a corrupt version of the bible.
The ecumenical arrangement of the translators, which included: Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Atheistic scholars pre-determined an ecumenical outline for the translation process.
Therefore it is no surprise that the NIV, in these verses, and others, presents:
1. A humanized Jesus, born of natural parents.
2. A Saviour Jesus, one among many.
3. A heaven open to all, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and others.
