Translating the Word

Let's look here first

• Deut. 32:3; Psalms 68:11
• Isaiah 52:7; Jonah 3:7
• Acts 8:30; Romans 10:18
• Revelation 1:11

The Scriptures

• Their uniqueness sets the apart
• Not just the originals but the copies
• God still deals with us through His Word
• That didn't stop when they were written

It's possible

• That a bad manuscript could be made
• A poor translation rendered
• God seems to have limited the influence of these
• While maximizing the influence of His Word

The Scriptures

• If it were wrong to make copies of the originals
• Few people would ever be able to read the Bible
• Maybe not even the disciples
• Psalms 12:6-7 makes it obvious
• We are to preserve the Word of God

Early History of Translations

• Septuagint - around 250 BC
• Done by 72 Jewish scholars
• In Alexandria, Egypt
• Earliest copy of the Old Testament
• Some contest this date(post-christian?)

Early History of Translations

• This would have been what Jesus had
• Even if some contest it, Jesus approved of them

Archeological work in the 1940's

• The town was Masada
• They unearthed copies of OT books
• They were dated 35-40 AD
• These match exactly the accepted Massoretic text

Translations of the NT

• Quickly as they were received they were copied
• They were copied in Greek though
• The Gospel soon reached non-Greek speakers
• The NT had to be translated
• First language was Syriac

Translations of the NT

• Syriac was followed by Egyptian
• Then Ethiopian, Armenian, old Latin
• Earliest translation 50 yrs after John's death
• Germanic language around 350 AD
• Then Jerome translated into Latin, Latin Vulgate

Jerome's translation was the last translation rendered from the original language until the Byzantine Empire fell to the Turks in 1454.

Middle History of Translations

• John Wyclif, 1378
• Had a deep burden for the common man 
• Translated Latin Vulgate into English
• Resulted in excommunication from Catholic

Catholic Church

• Persuaded English Parliament to pass a bill
• They forbade anyone to have a copy
• Penalty was martyrdom
• A century passed before another English translation

100 years after Wyclif's death

• William Tyndale was born
• He was well educated(7 languages)
• He was devout
• He spearheaded an effort to translate NT
• The Church of England didn't support him

Things were changing

• Wyclif couldn't get Hebrew and Greek manuscripts
• Now they were brought west by Christians
• They were fleeing the Turks who were invading
• Their church had, for centuries, kept manuscripts
• They used the original languages, Greek and Hebrew

Renewed interest in Greek and Hebrew

• 1476 first Greek grammar published
• 1503 first Hebrew grammar published
• First Greek NT published by Erasmus in 1516

Erasmus

• A Greek scholar
• Had the best of the old Greek manuscripts
• They reflected the majority of Greek manuscripts
• This is what we have today in the Majority Text
• aka Received Text, Textus Receptus, Byzantine Text

Tyndale used the Textus Receptus to translate from Greek into English. Martin Luther did the same into German

Martyrs

• Tyndale was strangled and burned at the stake
• Died in 1536
• "Lord, open the King of England's eyes"
• 3 years later, Church of England authorized, Great Bible
• 1535, private printing of Coverdale Bible

Martyrs

• Matthew's Bible came in 1537
• A pseudonym for a reformer martyred by Queen Mary
• Great Bible, Coverdale Bible, Matthew's Bible
• All basically revisions of Tyndale's work

Queen Elizabeth

• Reformers came back to England
• From Geneva, Switzerland they brought, Geneva Bible
• Dominant English Bible for 60 years
• First one to be divided into verses
• It also omitted the Apocrypha

King James of Scotland

• Elizabeth died in 1603, he took over
• Millenary Petition, signed by 1,000 ministers
• Asked him to authorize a new translation

Disadvantages of other Translations

• Great Bible - was huge in size, impractical
• Geneva Bible - John Calvin, some offensive marginal notes
• Coverdale Bible - Wasn't a scholar and used the Greek/Latin
• Bishop's Bible - an inferior translation

King James

• January, 1604 - bishops and puritan leaders
• Came to Hampton Court
• King James agreed to authorize a new translation
• Appointed 54 of the greatest scholars
• Charged them to make it an exact translation

The Plan for Translating

• Was detailed and very demanding
• Each verse was gone over 14 times
• To maximize their expertise of the Word
• The committee was very learned
• They still pulled in men to help

The Plan for Translating

• The purpose was to give the best rendering
• So they consulted previous translations
• Chaldee, Hebrew, Syrian, Greek, Latin
• Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch
• They also looked at commentators

The Plan for Translating

• They worked and reworked the translations
• Carefully, reverently, cautiously, and expertly
• This resulted in the 1611 translation
• Still considered a masterpiece
• Even by its detractors

Recent History of Translations

• In keeping with the commandment of Jesus
• Mat 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations
• The same Hebrew and Greek text has been used
• The KJV or Authorized Version has been translated
• 900 languages

Modern English Translations

• Around 25 English translations
• Yet there are only 2 Bibles to choose from
• Two basic texts from which translators work
• Majority text and Minority text both Greek
• They differ in over 6,000 places, which ones right?

Majority Text

• aka Textus Receptus, Byzantine Text
• Used to render the KJV
• First Greek text by Erasmus
• It agrees 90% of the time with the
• 5,225 Greek texts existing today

Minority Text

• aka Westcot-Hort, United Bible Societies
• Used by virtually every translation since RV(1881)
• Differs from Majority text in 6,000 places
• Differences more pronounced when rendered into English
• 36,000 differences between KJV and RV

This includes entire passages, verses, portions of verses, and single words left out or in some cases added.

Majority/Minority

• Majority represented in thousands of manuscripts
• Minority formed by 5
• Most important of the 5
• Codex Sinaiticus(Aleph) and Codex Vaticanus(B)
• These differ in thousands of places, preference is given (B)

Minority Text

• First edition compiled by Westcott and Hort
• They were also on the committee for the RV(1881)
• This committee was dominated by liberals
• It even included unbelieving churchmen

Minority Text

• Westcott and Hort leaned towards Catholicism
• Another guy didn't believe the Pentateuch was by Moses
• He thought the Word of God was in other books
• Included a Unitarian who rejected the Diety of Jesus
• He liked new translation of 1 Timothy 3:16(God - He)

Wextcott and Horts rules

• There were only three
• Hardest reading preferred
• Reading from which others preferred
• Shorter reading preferred
• They didn't approach it with carefullness

Westcott and Horts rules

• Assumed that God didn't preserve His word
• Assumed, with no proof, that the scribes simplified
• So if a reading was smooth they suspected it
• If a reading was shorter they thought it was original
• This faulty text has remained what has been used

Minority Text

• Used by the RV, ASV, RSV, NIV
• New English Bible, Today's English Bible
• Amplified Bible, Moffatt's New Translation
• New Testament in Modern English

Do we believe God preserved His Word to all generations, as He promised, in the great majority of manuscripts, or do we believe God's Word has been rediscovered after being lost for 1500 years, and now exists in a mere handful of manuscripts of clumsy workmanship?

Why do we prefer the King James Version?

Nearly every new translation takes from the Scriptures

• The Minority text differs from the Majority in 6,000
• Examples: John 5:4, Acts 8:37
• Matthew 17:21; 18:11; 23:14
• Mark 11:26; 15:28

Others makes subtle changes that affect doctrine

• The Minority text doesn't just delete a word it changes it
• This results in attacks on fundamental doctrine
• John 3:16; 6:47, 69; Romans 1:16; Colossians 1:14
• 1 Timothy 3:16

Some translations are doctrinally biased

• Notable example - New World Translation
• Used by the Jehovah's Witnesses
• Supposedly translated from same text as NIV
• It's made even worse
• They make strained attempts at doctrine

Some translations are doctrinally biased

• An example is John 1:1
• KJV "the word was God"
• NWT "the word was A God"
• This mistranslation isn't accepted
• Not even by the most liberal translators

Nearly every new translation adds to scripture

• Despite the theory of shorter is better
• The newer translations adapt the longer readings
• They do this in following the Minority Text
• An example is 1 Peter 2:2 "that ye may grow thereby"
• The newer translations "you may grow up into salvation"

Some New Translations are Paraphrases

• A paraphrase isn't a translation
• It's a reworking of a translation
• The Living Bible is one
• Kenneth Taylor paraphrased the RV
• Most of it is his opinion, it's not scholarly at all

Some translations "condense" the Bible

• Readers Digest Bible - deletes much of God's word
• It might be interesting to read
• It can't be considered a Bible
• Matthew 4:4 - "every word"
• No human can edit the inspired Word of God

Some translations have changed meanings

•  The National Council of Churches 
• Translation that eliminates references to God as a male
• John 3:16 "God gave God's only child"
• So they make God the father and the mother

The King James Version of the Bible is the accepted translation. The reason is it is the most accurate.

We can say of the newer translations what has been said of the RSV. "...many of the fundamentals of our Christian faith and doctrine have been changed and are very misleading...the majority of the...translators...are proven to be modernist and liberal scholars...and...there is no evidence that they hold to the literal complete inspiration of the scriptures."

The King James Bible

• God continues to honor the use of the KJV
• The standard by which new translations are judged
• A new, accurate and updated version is possible
• If it uses the same text and carefulness of the KJV
• KJV was revised in 1629, 1638, 1762, 1769

The King James Bible

• We continue to have confidence in it
• We believe we hold the "Word of God"
• We feel like Robert Wilson
• He was a master of 45 languages

Robert Wilson
"The things I do not understand in the Bible I put down to my own ignorance."