UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCES IN BIBLE VERSIONS
PART TWO


I n part one we took a look at some of the differences between the new Bible versions and compared them to the trustworthy and time-honored King James Version (KJV). In the New Testament alone we found that there were 17 complete verse omissions and thousands of other differences.

 Confusion

As Christians we know that in God there is no confusion. "God is not the author of confusion" (1 Corinthians 14:33). The secular world realizes that something is wrong with all these different Bibles. A newspaper once printed: "Confusion reigns in Bible World". We must realize that if one Bible is leaving something out or saying the direct opposite of another Bible, they cannot both be right! Only one can be God's words.

 Paul's Warning

Paul wrote that many would "corrupt the word of God" (2 Corinthians 2:17). He also warned us in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ". Paul's warning tells us to be discerning about the word of God and those behind it. There are two different lines of manuscripts behind the Bible. Let's take a look at where they originated.

 From Antioch to King James

To determine truth from error the place to start is God's word. Let's first look at what the Bible says about the city of Antioch. Antioch is located in Syria on the continent of Asia Minor. In Genesis 9:26; Noah prophesied, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem". The native people of Antioch were descendant from Noah's son Shem. Abraham was a descendant of Shem who God used to establish His chosen nation and a people who would be used in God's fulfillment of salvation (See Genesis 12:1-3). To the Jewish people were "committed the oracles (word) of God" (Romans 3:1-2). God used the Jewish people to write down His words (2 Peter 1:20-21). Most of the books of the New Testament were either written or received in Asia Minor. These were the books of John, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Philippians, 1 Peter, 1,2,3 John, Revelation and possibly other books.
Antioch was the place where the disciples were first called "Christians" (Acts 11:26). The Church of Antioch was also a preaching, witnessing, and teaching church (Acts 11:20-26), a serving, giving church (Acts 11:26,29), also a praying, and missionary church (Acts 13:2-4). This church would only make sense that God used it to preserve His word. Biblical Scholar Wilbur N. Pickering writes:


The Church of Antioch, is the church of the Apostle Paul and is from where this same stream of Manuscripts that the Bible was used and then hand copied over and over until finally we had the King James. I truly believe that we can have the confidence that we are reading the words that Jesus, Paul and others spoke, the preserved word of God (Psalms 12:6-7).
Irenaues, one of the early Church Fathers who lived 130-200AD said:


Rev. D.A. Waite's has a list in his excellent book "Defending the King James Bible" that shows the thirty-seven historical evidences that support the Textus Receptus. He makes a list that starts when it was first written during the Apostolic age (33-100AD) up until up to the 1611 KJV. (2)

After studying this subject for close to thirty years Waite comments:


The Greek manuscripts called the "Received Text" or "Textus Receptus" that underlies the King James Version began with the Apostolic Church and was preserved and protected many times by martyrs of the Christian faith down through the ages. Wilkinson shares from the revealing book "Which Bible?":


 1611 King James Translators

The King James Version was composed by forty-seven scholars of the highest qualifications. They were men of great faith, dedication, and intelligence. Some of these men knew up to twenty languages and spent up to five hours a day in prayer!
Joseph Philpot (one of the greatest Hebrew and Greek scholars of the 1800's and also a faithful minister of the gospel) says this about the King James Bible:

The King James has been around and tested for close to 400 years and translated into hundred of languages, many faithful Christians have died so we could have it. It has been the cause of many awesome revivals. It was used by the reformation and the worldwide missionary movement of the English speaking people, the Bible that Sunday, Torrey, Moody, Finney, Spurgeon, Whitefield, Wesley, Chapman, and early Billy Graham used.

Frank Gaebelein shares how dedicated these men really were:

The Bible teaches "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them" (Matt 7:20). Creation scientist Henry Morris shares his comments regarding the King James Version:

 

 Just Coincidence?

In the book of Ecclesiastes 8:4 it says; "Where the word of a king is, there is power:" King James was the only Bible issued by a King. Another interesting fact is that the Hebrew word for the Jewish name of "James" is "Jacob". Psalms 147:19 says; "He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel". Is God revealing something to us in these two verses?

 

 The Enemy
The King James Bible is often called the enemy of the Catholic Church. Many in the New Age Movement also do not allow that there is any truth in the King James. H.P. Blavastsky, the founder of the Satanic New Age Movement believes this:

This is also believed by other false religions that do not have the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus clearly taught us that there is no truth in Satan (John 8:44), and we can also safely say that there is lies of deception in every religion or cult that is produced by the Devil. Just by the fact that Satan and his people hate the King James Version gives us more reason to believe that it is the truth!

 From Alexandria to New Bible Versions

The city of Alexandria is located in Egypt. Unlike Antioch, no original texts were written in Alexandria. Noah prophesied this of Ham's son; "And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren" (Genesis 9:25). Egypt is scripturally known as the "land of Ham" (Psalms 105:2). Egypt is mentioned over and over in the Bible as opposed to the things of God. God would not allow His Patriachs (Genesis 50), His nation (Exodus 12), or His only begotten Son (Matthew 2) to remain in Egypt. Egypt is a type of sin and a type of the world system. It was a land of bondage (Exodus 20:1), Jeremiah was to be ashamed of it (Jeremiah 2:36), and to trust in Egypt was confusion (Isaiah 30:3).
Many modern scholars have accepted some of the early manuscripts that were apparently altered in Alexandria. This has led to the confusing array of different modern Bible Versions. Would God want us to accept anything that claims to be His word, from this land of confusion?


 Origen
The School of Alexandria was a theological school; it was established in the second century A.D. after Christ. It mixed Greek philosophy or Gnostic beliefs (secret mystical occult knowledge) with Biblical teaching. This school became very prominent through a man named Origen (185 to 254 AD). Origen taught many Anti-Christian doctrines. He believed Christ was created (as do most cults, and the American Standard Bible says Christ was a created being; see John 9:38 at footnotes). He also believed in universal salvation which meant all humans and even the devil would eventually be saved. He taught transmigration (this is the belief that at death the soul passes into another body). This teaching clearly contradicts scripture (see Hebrews 9:27).
He is known for the Old Testament six-column Bible called the "Hexapla" in which each column had a different version of the Bible. Origen was well known for his labor to produce a "so-called" correct text of the Greek New Testament. He was known for spiritualizing or turning biblical events into allegories.

Jack Moorman author of the book "Forever Settled" writes:

Wilkinson also writes:


Even before Origen, history tells us there were other heretics who were busy altering Scripture to fit their own doctrine. Well-known Bible scholar Scrivener shares:


Gaius is another early Church Father who wrote between 175-200 AD. He names four heretics who prepared corrupted copies of scriptures and who had disciples who multiplied copies of them. It is important to understand that the most corruptions took place in areas away from the original autographs of Antioch. This may be one of the times in history that human reasoning supposedly decided to take over the words of God!

 The Catholic Bible

We now jump ahead to 352 AD, the time of Constantine. Eusebius, a great admirer of Origen, was asked to prepare 50 copies of scripture to be used in the Christian churches. In 380 A.D. a Pope called on Jerome (a promoter of Mary worship, self-denial, and celibacy of the clergy) to prepare a Bible that would favor the Roman Catholic teaching. Jerome translated from the corrupt manuscripts of Origin and Eusebius.

David Reagan of Antioch Baptist Church shares some interesting facts:

Is it a coincidence that soon after this time the Dark Ages were ushered in? The Catholic Church has used these same underlying manuscripts until modern times.


 God the Winner!

There was a struggle between light and darkness for the first three and four centuries over the true word of God. But praise our almighty God, who is always in control, has watched over His word as He has promised, keeping it as a far greater "majority of texts" throughout the ages. He will continue to watch over it even though Satan and man try to get in the way. God's word will be preserved always!

Jack Moorman writes about this ongoing conflict:

 The Alexandrian Manuscripts

Jumping ahead to the nineteenth century, two of these Alexandria-centered manuscripts were discovered. These two manuscripts are known and believed by modern scholars to be the "oldest and best manuscripts" that date back to the 4th century. This over all is a very deceiving term that is far from the truth when we realize that these two texts contradict each other thousands of times!!!
The two texts that were discovered are called the "Vaticanus B" and the "Sinaticus" or "Aleph". The "Vaticanus B" was found in the Vatican (Pope's) library and was under lock and key for years. The "Sinaticus" was found by a man named Tischendorf in 1844 AD at St. Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai in a trash basket, waiting to be burned!

 The Men Behind the Modern Bible Versions

We have already briefly looked at the lives of Origen and others with a shady past that have been behind biblical manuscripts, but unfortunately it doesn't get much better as we jump up to the late 1800's. Two men by the names of B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort very privately, without the authorization of the Church of England, proceeded to create an altogether new Greek text using the Alexandrian texts. Their goal was to replace the Textus Receptus that had already stood for over 250 years. By using the method of textual criticism (which is human reasoning) they proceeded to produce in England in the year 1881 a new Bible version called the Revised Version.

Is it another coincidence that England lost its place of power after this? Remember that 15 centuries in the past soon after a new translation had been made the Dark ages came. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Gal. 6:7).
Let's take a look at some of the things that Westcott and Hort wrote in their letters, as they wrote back and forth to one another and others while working on their new Bible. As we look at some of the following quotes taking from the books "Life and Letters of Westcott and Hort", I can guarantee I would not want to go to their next Bible study!
In 1846, Dec. 23 Westcott wrote:

In 1890 Mar. 4th Westcott wrote:

This statement sounds like something Origen once wrote:

Satan knows that if he can destroy faith in these first three chapters of Genesis, he is on his way to destroying faith in the rest of the Bible.
1860 Apr. 3rd Hort wrote:

Evolution was designed to take away the creation account of Genesis chapters one and two. Here we read that Hort was proud of the evolution theory. The theory of evolution has no place in the word of God.

In 1865 Oct. 17th Hort wrote:


Jesus is to be worshipped as the creator. Mary is only Jesus' creation and is absolutely not to be worshipped. This is condemned all through scripture to worship any other thing. God alone is worthy of all praise.

These statements listed above are only a few of the many false belief's about the Bible that Westcott and Hort wrote in the their letters. Theses men behind the New Bible Versions espoused "doctrines of demons" and were opposed to the true word of God! I would beware before I put my trust in men of such unbelief to judge the word of God!

 Modern Scholars
In Luke 18:8 Jesus said; "I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
Many modern scholars who are influenced by the theories of Westcott and Hort believe that copyists or translational errors have crept into all texts and textual criticism is needed to sort them out.
James White a defender of Modern Bible Versions states his opinion:
"The scribes of old made errors, too. Even the best professional scribes had bad days." (19)

The preface to the New International Version (NIV) says:

This is how we got hundreds and hundreds of different Bible versions. Man correcting God's words and even each other to produce what they think is a better and more accurate version of the Bible!
Let us all take the advise of Jesus Himself when he said some things are impossible for men, but with God who is the creator of all things in heaven and on earth we can be assured that He can certainly watch over His word! "And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27).


 The Moving Process
Instead of using a literal approach, like the King James translators did, many modern scholars chose even another method called "Dynamic Equivalence" this is changing the words of God to what they think He meant. The word for "dynamic" means "moving". Dr. Waite shares his thoughts on this new translation technique:

The verse that is found exactly in the middle of the Bible is one that has been supernaturally designed by God to be there. It says; "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man" (Psalms 118:8). Let's just believe God when He said He has preserved His word forever and put our trust in Him rather than what man may believe.


 

 

 

 The Balance

Scripture often teaches us that more than one witness is reliable; "the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established" (Matt. 18:17). Proverbs 11:1 says; "a false balance is abomination to the Lord; but a just weight is his delight".
There are no remaining original Greek texts, but there are over 5,000 copies of the originals that exist today. Out of these 5,000 texts, the majority of them (over 95%) say basically the same thing! These texts are known as the "Majority Text".
The "Textus Receptus" (which is very similar to the Majority Text) is what was used to translate the King James Bible. This bears witness that the King James is based on a just weight and balance (Proverbs 16:11) and this alone should prove the accuracy of it.

Thomas Holland shares this valuable information:


The remaining less than 5% of the over 5,000 manuscripts is what was used to translate modern Bible Versions. Not only does this small handful of texts contradict the `Majority Text" (95% of the over 5,000 manuscripts) but they don't even entirely agree with each other! The text behind the modern versions is a false balance!

Holland continues:


There is also the evidence of early versions that date back to 200AD and quotes from the Early Church Fathers that also support the King James Bible. This early evidence from these sources, show us that words or verses were not added to the King James like some modern scholars would have us believe. Satan only comes to steal, kill and destroy, (John 10:10) and would obviously not add words that exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. He would much rather deceive and subtly take away like we have seen in the modern versions.

 False Deceptions
Two major deceptions arose in the 1800's. The first deception or lie was the unproved theory of evolution. This lie has grown into a religion that has absolutely no proven facts, but is taught in most public schools. This lie teaches that the first few chapters of Genesis is just a legend and are not really true. If the first few chapters of Genesis are not really true, than why read on and trust the rest of the Bible? Satan has deceived millions upon millions with this clever lie.
This first lie did not deceive all Bible believing Christians, so Satan decided to come up with another subtle tactic. This time he would change and take away from the word of God! This lie has also succeeded. Just as evolution is taught in public schools, modern bible versions are used in most Christian colleges and churches. Statistics have shown that many seminary graduates actually come out not believing in main Christian doctrines that deal with the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, salvation by grace, the resurrection and the second coming.
There is absolutely no truth in Satan, who is the father of lies. He has deceived millions of souls to reject the Bible and salvation of Jesus Christ, thus leading them to hell. He has also deceived Christians by robbing them of the bread of life.

Dr. D. A. Waite shares his testimony on this incredible fact:

I did not write these articles to condemn everything that these modern versions say. Probably ninety-five percent or more of everything translated by these modern Bibles is based on the word of God. But by mixing a little bit of false ideas with the truth becomes the greatest deception of all. The dangers of Christian counterfeit cults are the same way, most of their doctrines may be truth, but the little bit of falsehood is where the deception is.

The Bible clearly teaches us over and over to obey all of God's commandments. But how are we to obey all of God's commandments, if we do not have all of God's word? Christians who use modern Bible versions may be walking on dangerous ground because their Bibles are missing many important verses and phrases.

 No Condemnation

As before, I have written this information after countless hours of study with love and no condemnation to others. I also used to read modern versions before I became aware of the truth. For the last four years I have been using only the King James Bible and have been blessed by it beyond measure. God has in it spiritual truths that have been taken out of the new Bibles. I have also written these articles for two reasons: To expose the deception behind the modern versions, and, most of all, to share and encourage you to built up your faith that you can be positively assured that we have the word of God in its purity that He has lovingly preserved for us (Psalm 12:6-7), in the Bible which I truly believe is the Authorized King James Version.


 The Challenge
My challenge to you is to read, study, and search the scriptures daily (Acts 17:11), because the days that we live in are evil and we need to be led by the truth. There is no greater blessing in this world then to know that the God of all creation loves and cares that much for us that He has given us His preserved Word so He could teach us the way of salvation which is only through His precious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Notes and Bibliography:

(1). Wilbur Pickering, The Identity of the New Testament, Nashville: T. Nelson, 1977
(2). Rev. D.A. Waite, Defending The King James Bible, The Bible For Today Press, Collingswood, N. J. 1998, p. 44-48
(3). Ibid, p. 48
(4). David Otis Fuller, D.D. "Which Bible?" Fifth Edition, Grand Rapids International Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501, 1975, p. 210
(5). David Otis Fuller, D.D., "True or False" Grand Rapids : Grand Rapids International Publications, 1973.
(6). Frank Ely Gaebelein, The Story of the King James Bible, Wheaton, Ill. Van Kampen Pr. [c. 1934,1950) p. 47.
(7). Henry M. Morris, "A Creationist's Defense Of The King James Bible", Institute for Creation Research
(8). H.P. Blavatsky, "The Secret Doctrine" New York: The Theosophical Publishing Company, 1893 (As cited by G. A. Riplinger, New Age Bible Versions, A.V. Publications Corporation, Ararat, VA. USA, 1998, p. 29
(9). Jack Moorman, Forever Settled, p. 68
(10) Benjamin G. Wilkinson, Part two of "Which Bible?", Our Authorized Bible Vindicated, Fifth Edition, Grand Rapids International Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501, 1975, p. 192.
(11). F. H.A. Scrivener, Introduction to New Testament Criticism, 3rd Edition, p. 311. (As quoted in Fuller's "Which Bible", p. 193.
(12). David Reagan "A Tale of Three Cities" (Quoted from an article off the internet).
(13). Jack Moorman, Forever Settled, p. 70
(14). B.F. Westcott, Life and letters of Brooke Foss Westcott, : London : Macmillan and co. ; New York : Macmillan company, 1903.
(15). Ibid
(16) "Origen," McClintock and Strong, Encyclopedia.
(17). Fenton John Anthony Hort, The Life of Hort
(18) Ibid.
(19). James R. White, "The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust The Modern Translations?", Bethany House,Minneapolis, Minn. : 1995
(20). New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1985, preface xii.
(21). Rev. D.A. Waite p. 102
(22). Thomas Holland, Manuscript Evidence
(23). Ibid
(24). Rev. D.A. Waite p. 44

(c) Copyright 2000 Fill The Void Ministries. This article may be copied for personal use or reproduced to give to others. Article must be kept in original format and may not be sold for profit.

 

 

 

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(c) Copyright 2000 Fill The Void Ministries. This article may be copied for personal use or reproduced to give to others. Article must be kept in original format and may not be sold for profit.


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