April 15, 2002, Vol.2, No.8.
Two new articles every two weeks.
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us.
THIS ISSUE: "English
Translations of the Bible, Part 2" (below)
and "Part 1"
English Translations
of the Bible
Part 2
by Keith Sharp
For centuries the Roman Catholic Church controlled all Western
Europe. The Pope would not let anyone translate the Bible into
the language of the common people. Furthermore, few people could
read and, before the invention of the printing press, Bibles
had to be copied by hand and were very expensive. So, most people
had little if any knowledge of God's Word.
 But
John Wyclif, who is remembered as "The Morning Star of the
Reformation," translated the Bible from Latin into the English
of his day in around 1384. He was severely persecuted by the
Catholic Church for doing this.
 William
Tyndale completed a translation of the Bible from the original
Hebrew and Greek into English in 1524. Because of this, the Church
authorities condemned him as an heretic, and he was strangled
and burned. His work heavily influenced the translators who gave
the world the King James Version of the Bible.
Various other translations were made into English over the
next seventy-five years.
 In
1603 King James VI of England called a conference of the finest
Hebrew and Greek scholars of England to make a standard translation
from the original languages into English. Forty-seven scholars,
working under guidelines established by the King, completed the
translation in 1611. The King James Version of the Bible
has been the standard version of the Bible in English ever since.
It has had more influence on the English speaking world than
any other book.
A number of translations have been made into English since
1611. In 1885 the English Revised Version appeared, the
work of 101 scholars who basically agreed with the Westcott
and Hort text. This version came out in American English
in 1901 as the American Standard Version.
The Revised Standard Version (1947) and New Revised
Standard Version (1989) are in basic agreement with the Nestle-Aland
and United Bible Society texts.
In 1971 the New American Standard Bible, which basically
agreed with the Nestle-Aland text, was published. This
translation was updated in 1995.
The New King James Version, a revision of the old King
James Version, was completed in 1982. It basically follows
the Textus Receptus, like the old King James Version,
but does make allowances for modern manuscript discoveries. This
version is updated regularly.
The most popular modern English translation is the New
International Version (1973), which follows the United
Bible Society Greek text.
English Translations Compared
Some English translations are not useful for general reading.
Some are one man translations, which makes them weighted toward
the weaknesses of that man. The so-called New World Translation
was made for the purpose of promoting Jehovah's Witnesses
doctrine. Some are not even translations but are paraphrases
(putting into one's own words what one thinks the author meant,
e.g. The Living Bible). Some are so loosely translated
they are more human doctrine than the word of God (e.g., Today's
English Version, also known as Good News for Modern Man
and repackaged as The Book). The translators of the Revised
Standard Version were heavily influenced by modernism, and
this comes through (e.g., Isaiah 7:14, "young woman"
rather than "virgin"). The New Revised Standard
Version is influenced by both modernism and political correctness.
The New International Version uses the flawed translation
method of "dynamic equivalence," in which a word or
phrase is translated in a "sense for sense" rather
than "word for word" fashion. This makes for smoother
reading in English, but it makes word studies difficult and gives
greater room for doctrinal bias on the part of the translators
to slip in. The Revised Standard Version and New Revised
Standard Version also follow this method of translation.
Furthermore, the translators of the NIV were heavily Calvinistic.
The chairman of the translation team was Edwin H. Palmer, author
of a textbook (The Five Points of Calvinism) in defense
of Calvinism. Both these flaws are illustrated and demonstrated
by the fact that the NIV usually mistranslates the Greek
word "sarx" as "sinful nature" rather
than correctly translating it as "flesh." Also, the
word "nomos" is mistranslated by the word "principle"
in its first occurrence in Romans 3:27, whereas it is correctly
translated by its primary meaning, "law," in its second
usage.
The New American Standard Bible, is a generally accurate,
literal translation made by qualified scholars who believe in
both the verbal inspiration of the Bible and the deity of Jesus
Christ.
The New King James Version is a generally accurate,
literal translation. Some printings of this version have footnotes
specifying where the Nestle-Aland/United Bible Society
(noted as "NU") text differs from the Textus
Receptus, and where the Textus Receptus
differs from the majority text. These notes are a useful study
tool. This version is updated annually.
Conclusions
Most importantly, we can trust our Bibles if we have a translation
that is literal. There are not very many doubtful readings, and
no Bible doctrine is affected by any disputed readings.
Translations are made by uninspired men. All of them have
faults. But God in His providence has preserved His Word for
us in our own language so we can understand His will (1 Peter
1:22-25). If you will study your Bible from a reliable English
translation, you can know and do God's will and go to heaven
in the after awhile.
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