Which Bible Should I Study?
Introduction
The King James Version
(KJV or AV) and New International Version (NIV) are the most popular
translated English Bibles, but are they the most profitable for your
spiritual understanding and growth?
Which Bible Should you
Chose?
You have many choices when it comes to deciding which
bible to use. But not all translations are consistent in their
rendering the original Hebrew or Greek. Does it matter?
The
Bible is the most translated book in the world. As of
September 2016 the complete Bible was available in
636 languages (438
in 2007) according to
Wikipedia. The New Testament alone into
1442 languages. At least 4.9 billion people (70% of the
world’s population) have access to a full Bible translation in their
native language. Incredible, yes. That is great.
One of the
major challenges facing a person who is searching the scriptures for
understanding is knowing which Bible to study. There are so many
translations. Which one is best or the most accurate? Of the English
translations some will chose the New International Version(NIV),
others the King James (also called the Authorized Version) or New
King James and others the New Living Translation.
Other
popular versions of the English Christian Bible include:
American Standard Version (ASV)
English Standard Version
(ESV)
Good News Translation (GNT)
Holman Christian
Standard Bible (CSB)
Douay-Rhiems Catholic Bible (RHE)
New Jerusalem Bible (NJB)
New American Standard Bible
(NAS)
New Living Translation (NLT)
Revised Standard
Version RSV
Concordant Literal Version (CLV)
Young’s
Literal Translation (YLT)
Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible (REB)
Deciding which Bible to study
Clearly there are many
versions. Some are truer to the original text than others. Some are
translated to make it easier for the modern reader to understand,
but often contain inaccuracies. Each translation has the power to
transform your life. However, although there is great value in
reading and studying any of these versions, some can lead to a
misunderstanding of the original intent and meaning of verses and
words
Some words and parts of the bible seem confusing,
inconsistent or contradictory. Not easily understood, it seems.
There many varied explanations and interpretations by Bible
scholars, Church leaders and teachers. Most offer a conformist point
of view based on tradition. This article looks at the development of
various translations and why there is so much variation from one to
another. It is to bad that there isn’t one excellent English
translation that does justice to the original text.
The
bibles are not often consistent and often times even contradict the
original inspired words.
So how do we decide on which
translation to use?
If you desire to get to the real meaning and
intent of scripture, you need to read a translation that most
closely replicates the original language of the Hebrew, Aramaic or
Greek text. However some will say that a translation should transfer
the message, that is, the exact thought and emotion of the original
text. To do this, it should use as many words as are necessary to
reproduce the idea precisely in English. This is a noble goal but
often results in the translators own preconceived ideas and biases
as to what the exact thought of the original inspired writers was.
They are often off the mark. An example of this conundrum is:
King James Version (AV) - poor translation for today
Job
36:33 The noise thereof showeth concerning it, the cattle also
concerning the vapor.
New International Version - a better
translation
Job 36:33 His thunder announces the coming storm;
even the cattle make known its approach.
Concodant Literal
Version - very accurate translation
Job 36:33 His thunder
tells about it, The cattle, also, about what is coming up.
Of
course, since the KJV dates from 1611, it contains some archaic
language, but the message of the KJV in this verse is also very
difficult to decipher. In the NIV in this case the meaning comes
through with more clarity.
It is a common mistake among
Christians to suppose that the Bible is written in very plain and
simple language, and that the correct meaning is that which lies
upon the surface – the most obvious and apparent sense. But the fact
is that a person much search beneath the surface to really
understand what the scriptures reveal. The Bible often means
something very different from what it says. There is a hidden,
spiritual sense that is like “the pearl of great price.” It may
sound strange and erroneous to hear someone say that the Bible does
not mean what it says when you read the literal words. Is that
statement unwarranted? As we continue you will see it is not
unwarranted. By not understanding this, many honest seekers after
truth who read the Bible stumble because of almost innumerable
differences of opinion on Bible doctrine. Men equally religious,
devoted and learned, are in opposition to each other in regard to
Scriptural doctrine, each one pointing in a different direction and
are brought into endless perplexity and confusion. The fact is, most
of these leaders are wrong.
There is, undoubtedly, among
Christians, too great a disposition to acquiesce, without
examination, in the religion of their forefathers. There is too
great an aversion to the kind of research, which requires time and
labour; so that many who are fully competent to examine the
foundation on which their religion rests, never take the pains to
enter on the investigation. It is to be regretted, that many who are
much occupied with speculations on abstruse points of theology such
as prophecy. They waste energy on subjects which can yield them
little profit and neglect many points of fundamental importance.
By handling the Bible as it is usually handled by the various
leaders and teachers, it may be made to prove or disprove, almost
any section that man may, possibly imagine or conceive. The great
mistake in all this is that men are disputing about the letter. The
key to the unraveling of all this tangle, the one foundational word
to bring order out of all this confusion, is the SPIRIT of the
Word,-“the spirit that giveth life.” But the spirit of the Word is
hid away under the letter, purposely hid, so that some shall not
understand, hence the ignorance of the great majority.
This
does not mean automatically that the spiritual meaning of Scripture
is always something entirely different from the letter. Often yes,
it is so, but not always by any means. The Spirit of the Word is its
real, true, full meaning, whatever that may be; sometimes that true
meaning is properly expressed by the letter, but in order to get the
full meaning you must take other scriptures in connection with it
and you must occasionally refer to Old Testament types or
allegories, or prophecies also.
All the scriptures are
harmonious with one consistent, grand plan. We need to study these
truths not only to learn what they signify in themselves, but what
are their connections with other truths and how they all fit
together. In this way, we get somewhere near the full truth. This is
not to say that under every word, phrase and sentence of Scripture
there is hidden away some spiritual meaning entirely different from
the letter. But a person needs to search out these things. We just
need to be aware how wonderfully the letter sometimes hides (as well
as reveals) the true meaning
Do you believe the words of
Jesus Christ?
Hear what Jesus Christ says about the words
which He speaks.
Jesus spake unto the multitudes in
parables, always with a parable. Why?
Mat 13:34 (KJV) All
these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without
a parable spake he not unto them.
Why? To make it easy for
the masses to understand? Orthodox authorities positively declare He
spoke to make the subject plain, and easy, to understand. Not true.
The exact opposite. Scriptures below are from the King James
Version.
Mat 13:10 (KJV) And the disciples came, and said
unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11
(KJV) He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is
not given.
Mat 13:12 (KJV) For whosoever hath, to him shall
be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not,
from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13
(KJV) Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see
not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mark 4:11 (KJV) And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know
the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without,
all these things are done in parables:
Mark 4:12 (KJV) That
seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear,
and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and
their sins should be forgiven them.
Mark 4:33 (KJV) And with
many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to
hear it.
Mark 4:34 (KJV) But without a parable spake he not
unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his
disciples.
And so when He and His disciples were alone he
explained all things to his disciples. Does it not seem strange that
Jesus should give these explanations when alone with his disciples,
and not in public so that all might have the benefit of them? He
spoke to them in parables that they might not understand, and then
gave the explanation in private. Does it not look as though Jesus
did not want the masses to understand?
The simple explanation of
all this is that to the disciples it was “given to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but unto them that were without
it was not given.” Christ worked according to the great plan-first
the promised “Seed” must be perfected, Christ and they that are
Christ’s, (Gal. 3:16-29;1 Cor. 15:22,23), then, through that Seed,
“all the families of the earth shall be blessed” “in the ages to
come,”-but “every man in his own order.”
Examine Christ’s
conversation with the Jews as recorded in John 6. as a further
illustration of the same truth. In that conversation Jesus seems to
bewilder and confuse his hearers by the strange statement He makes.
John 6:48 (KJV) I am that
bread of life.
The Jews
then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came
down from heaven. Now we should expect that Jesus would explain to
them what he meant, but no, He gives them a still greater quandary
by telling them
John 6:50-51 (KJV) This is the bread which
cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I
am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of
this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, “How can this man
give us his flesh to eat?” Is it any wonder that they did not
understand Him? Was not His language calculated to completely baffle
the wisest among them? Did not his statements seem like dark enigmas
and riddles? But does He now explain? No,
He still further staggers
them by making the bold assertion, without a particle of
explanation.
John 6:53,
56-57 (KJV) Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood,
ye have no life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my
blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent
me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall
live by me.
It would seem
that this statement was too much even for the disciples, and they
began to murmur and concluded that this is an hard saying.
John 6:60 -63 (KJV) Many therefore of his disciples, when they had
heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When
Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said
unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of
man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they
are spirit, and they are life.
All of this should lead us to
conclude that we need to look beyond the letter of the word and come
to see the spiritual meaning. The words Jesus spoke are SPIRIT. His
words of the spirit are understood by those He has specifically both
called and chosen.
Christ preached in such a way that only a
few were able to fully understand. His method exclude the multitude,
and select out a few individuals suited to His purpose.
Thus it
appears that selection or election was certainly a part of the plan
upon which He acted, and hence He says, “Ye have not chosen me, but
I have chosen you,”- “to you it is given to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven, but to them that are without it is not
given,”- “No man can come except the Father draw him. This indicates
that not just anyone who reads the Bible really gets the full
spiritual meaning. Nevertheless reading it is a superb way to live a
moral and satisfying life.
So a basic question remains. Why
is the truth thus hidden under type and shadow and figure in God’s
revelation? It is because God has a plan, because there is order,
system, and a “due season” to that plan. The plan that
God created
consists of periods of time called ages (eons). In that plan there
are stages, in one stage there are “first fruits” “first born” and
later born, a “first resurrection” and eventually a second
“resurrection”. There is a “special salvation” (1 Tim. 4:10) and a
“common salvation” (Jude 3), and every person is to be dealt with
“in his own order”. For each individual God knows the best time to
open spiritual understanding and call that one to salvation and
ultimately into His Kingdom.
What to Do
Those of us
who love God’s Word, have
choices on which bible version to buy and study. Many who have a bible
will say that theirs is the best. Maybe because it is easy to read,
maybe it is the version their parents used, maybe it is the one
their church endorses, or maybe it is the KJV (AV) which many people
believe was inspired by God. After all, the KJV has been around for
over 500 years. But the truth is we have to study versions that are
as close as possible to the original inspired scripture. There are a
few.
A concordance is often used to derive a deeper meaning
of words or phrases. The concordant method of studying the
scriptures uses a concordance to discover the meaning of a word, not
in any version, but in the original. Look up the occurrences of the
word in the Hebrew, Chaldee, or Greek, and determine how it may be
translated into English.
So, which bible to use? The solution
is to have one or more that is as close a translation to the
original text as possible. This includes Rotherham’s Emphasized
Bible, Young’s Literal translation, the Concordant Literal Version
or the Emphatic Diaglott (NT only). They are most certainly not the
most popular, but they are the most true to God’s inspired word.
The web sites below are valuable resources for those seeking
further study of His Word:
http://www.e-sword.net is downloadable
and has the KJV, with the Hebrew or Greek, and many additional
articles.
http://www.scripture4all.org/
in the original text.
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