In any journey one cannot hope to reach the intended destination without knowledge of the way to get there, usually accomplished with a map. If we have gone a certain way before we may have the map in our heads, knowing which roads to take, where we need to turn, and where we may pause for a break in the journey. There are times when we may have no knowledge of the road before us, but can reference a published document with the routes available between point A and point B. Other times we may have neither knowledge nor document available to us, or we are uncertain of the map’s direction, at which time a knowledgeable and trusted guide is of inestimable value.
The same is true in our journey of life, and the only map available that is worthy of our trust is the Word of God. As I referenced before, the “word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Ps 119:105) God alone can declare the “end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.” (Is 46:10) Furthermore, the same God declares that “my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is 55:9)
The scriptures are the revelation of an infinite God to finite man for the benefit of the latter to bring him into a relationship with the former. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Tim 3:16) Without it we would be lost in our own speculations as to the purpose and direction of our lives, just as the multitudes who have rejected the claims of God on them. “When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” (Rom 1:21,22)
“God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is” (Acts 4:24) “hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.” (Heb 1:2) Not only that, but the Son promised that “when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.” (Jn 16:13)
However, the words which he has spoken cannot be understood intellectually, for “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor 2:14) That is, we need the Spirit of God to understand the things of God, for “the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” (1 Cor 2:11)
How then do we receive the Spirit? That, praise be to God, is so simple that a child can grasp it. In fact, the Lord said “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein” (Lu 18:17) because it requires nothing but simple trust. When the Philippian jailor enquired, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:30, 31) That is present tense! Not tomorrow, not next week, not when you get a few things straightened out in your life: right NOW! There is nothing simpler than that!
When an individual becomes like a child in that simple act of trust “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Cor 5:17) That person will be able to join with the prophet Jeremiah in declaring that “thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.” (Jer 15:16) As time goes on he will discover that “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” (1 Cor 2:9, 10)
At this point I must pause in the trajectory of my subject and consider a rather sensitive matter that may at first seem tangential, but in fact is of utmost importance to understanding the scriptures. The scriptures, or Holy Bible that we have today, was not written in our native language—in my case English—but was written in the ancient tongues of Hebrew, Greek, and some Aramaic. We therefore must rely upon an accurate translation to get the message that was originally intended by the Spirit of God in inspiration to the original writers.
Today we have a plethora of English translations, most of them produced in the last 150 year or less. There are many options to choose from, but as with any smorgasbord the quality and value of the “eating” will be a direct result of the choices made. Unfortunately, I believe most of the choices available on the Bible translation menu are of poor quality at best and toxic at worst.
It is not my intent to go into a long dissertation of the sundry issues pertaining to the translations available to the English speaking world, but hopefully to inspire the reader to consider the source of their Bible.
I suspect that most people are as I was in thinking that all the translations come from the same sources, but in fact they do not. Most of the translations since 1881 have relied upon a set of manuscripts compiled by Brooke Foss Wescott and Fenton John Anthony Hort. These men were in fact heretics by Biblical standards, and were champions of so-called textual criticism, which called almost every aspect of the authority of the scriptures into question. The seeds of this scholarly criticism have borne the fruits of apostasy today. Furthermore, the more recent a translation is the more it has been affected by this apostasy, but that is an entirely different subject, which I will not address at this time.
Some of the modern versions are not translations at all, but are paraphrases, such as The Message. I believe they should be classified as commentaries at best because they are merely the interpretation of their authors, not translation of the inspired text—no matter what manuscript is used. Some, like the New Living Translation, purport to be translations of thoughts. Once again, this is not a true translation, but an interpretation of a thought or section in the original text. Since it is interpretation and not translation, it is left wide open for error on the part of the interpreter.
Consider, for a moment, that you wanted to read Victor Hugo’s seminal work “Les Miserables” but you do not speak French; you must then rely upon a translation. Many such have been done into English, but some are adaptations and not translations. If you want to read Victor Hugo’s book, you either have to learn French or get an English translation that is as close as possible to the original. That is, a word for word translation with changes in word order only for grammatical convention.
Only a word for word translation is able to accurately convey the meaning of the original text. It may be more difficult to follow at times due to the grammatical rules of the original and translated languages, but that in itself leads to an increased knowledge on the part of the reader, both of the Biblical text and the language in which he reads.
Due to the considerable influences of heretics such as Wescott and Hort on the Biblical text, both in manuscript form and its translation, I believe it is crucial to use an English translation that predates the so-called “higher criticism” and “textual criticism” of the late 19th century. Personally I use the 1611 King James Version, which has stood the test of time of over 400 years. It is sometimes called the Authorized Version, but I don’t particularly like that nomenclature because it was authorized only in the sense that King James authorized the translation work to be done for the Church of England.
I must hasten to add that I do NOT believe, as some mistakenly do, that the King James Version is inspired in its English form, but is still a translation from the original inspired languages. As such, it is not perfect, but is as close to it as I can get in my native tongue, and it has been blessed by the Lord in the saving of souls and subsequent growth “in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)
Consequently, any scriptural quotations I use will be from the KJV. I do reference other literal translations from time to time as a study help, but only as one would reference a dictionary or concordance.
For me there are several practical benefits to this as well. First of all, the scripture I have committed to memory has been the King James, which gives me that map in my head that I alluded to at the outset. Secondly, the English of 1611 was far richer than the language we use today and thereby more specific. One such example is the personal pronouns “thee, thou, thine etc” versus “ye, you, yours, etc.” The former is always singular and the latter is always plural, making it much easier to determine the force of a given passage as being individual or collective. The King James also gives the reader a larger vocabulary, making it easier to understand both specifics and nuances of the text. This gives me the fine detail that I need to understand God’s ways and means in the map that he has given. Finally, there is an abundance of doctrinally sound study helps that have been compiled over the course of four centuries as a guide in understanding those details.
Some who read this may wish to defend the modern translations by pointing out errors in the KJV. As I mentioned before it is not perfect, but the imperfections are few and are widely known due to the length of time that it has been in circulation. Furthermore, in most cases these imperfections do not change the meaning of the passage, unlike many modern translations. A good example would be Acts 12:4 where the term Easter is used. It has been correctly pointed out that Easter was not celebrated as a “Christian” holiday until long after this point in history, probably not until at least the second century AD. As a result, the original word should be translated Passover, as it is in every other occurrence of the word in the New Testament. However, the intent of the passage is to describe a series of events at a certain time of year, and Easter and Passover are roughly the same time, so the meaning of the passage is not changed despite the incorrect term.
All of this is to say that in this our journey called life we need a map that is accurate, detailed, and true. Only the inspired Word of God can fill all requirements, but we must be exceedingly careful that it is an accurate copy and that it is interpreted correctly. There is nothing worse—or more dangerous—than trusting a map that does not have all three characteristics, especially if it purports to be the Word of God.
-A.N. Scharf
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