From the column, “What About It, Bob?” By Bob Siegel
©  2002 by Bob Siegel All Rights Reserved
This article is not to be reproduced without written permission from the author.

Unless you are referring to the Apocrypha ( a section in some Bibles included alongside the New and Old Testaments) we do not actually have different versions of the Bible, but rather, different translations. This is nothing unique to the Bible. All ancient works have numerous translations from numerous translators, because scholars/linguists enjoy making their own translations and sometimes they enjoy using different synonyms for words. (For example: A word  describing  the size of a rock might translate as large or big) And in any translation, translated by a real team of scholars, the differences are Minot. Occasionally we get some people who don’t really know Greek or Hebrew and attempt a translation anyway, (such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses did with their New World Translation), but for the sake of future conversation, please note that when I refer to a translation, I mean a real translation.

With that in mind, there is little difference between one Bible translation and another. Even in those volumes which include the Apocrypha, the Old and New Testaments are virtually the same as the OT and NT in volumes that do not include the Apocrypha.

It should also be pointed out that if anyone has doubt about our translations, the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts still exist today in museums. Through books and the Internet, one can double check our translations against these documents at any time.

Now, there is some minor difference to note between The King James Version and the modern versions, because when King James commissioned his translators in 1611, some key New Testament manuscripts had not been discovered yet, (Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Alexandrius). Another key manuscript, the Codex Vaticanus, did exist at that time but it was the property of Rome and the Catholic church certainly wasn’t going to let the Church of England use it.

Still, there are literally thousands of New Testament manuscripts and even when England printed the 1611 publication, they created a translation almost as accurate, (but not quite as accurate) as the modern ones. When I say “not quite as accurate” I am referring to a microscopic difference, very few verses and very short verses, nothing that makes any real difference to the overall gospel message.

I realize that different Christians prefer different versions.  All too often, people are merely gravitating toward the version they were first exposed to. Since the translations are very similar, this is fairly harmless.  Still, the more we can include the latest manuscripts, the more accurate we will be.  For myself, there are two translations that I prefer. I enjoy the New International Version because it captures the spirit of the Greek language, sometimes using some paraphrase to make its point. With certain Greek words or phrases, many ideas would come up in the mind of a Greek and a “one word for one word” translation does not always capture this. On the other hand, I enjoy The New American Standard Version, because it is a more accurate word for word translation.

For example: Rom 8:9-10 in NIV says:

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

The same verse in NASV says:

However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

The word flesh did mean “sinful nature” depending upon its context. NIV caught the spirit of the context and described  it accurately, but still, the Greek text really does say flesh and not sinful nature.  Also, in Greek, being “in the Spirit” meant being controlled by the Spirit but the word controlled was not actually there in the manuscripts. Therefore, each translation is providing its own special contribution. I want to know that the word controlled is not really there but I also want to know that ancient Greeks would have thought about control when reading the phrase “in the Spirit.”

I hope this helps.

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