Muy estimados hermanos:
Espero les sea de utilidad el siguiente texto en inglés que se encuentra en
http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/unholyhands1.htm (primera parte)
y
http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/unholyhands2.htm (segunda parte)
Se dan muchos datos sobre la actuación de las Sociedades Bíblicas Unidas en los últimos años.
Sólo copié la primera parte, sin el formato original de cursivas, etc., por lo que se podría leer mejor estos materiales en el sitio de origen.
Que el Señor les bendiga por Cristo. Amén.
Home Daily Articles Listing Apostasy Database CD-ROM Library FBIS Mailing List
About Way of Life Publications Catalog Foreign Language Literature O Timothy Archives Directory of Churches
Make an Offering Order Video Series Subscribe to
O Timothy Hear Bro. Cloud’s Sermons
UNHOLY HANDS ON GOD’S HOLY BOOK: A REPORT ON THE UNITED BIBLE SOCIETIES
By David W. Cloud
Copyright 1985 by David W. Cloud
Distributed by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Copyright 2001.
These articles cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites or sold or placed by themselves or with other material in any electronic format for sale, but may be distributed for free by e-mail or by print. They must be left intact and nothing removed or changed, including these informational headers. This is a listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. Our goal in this particular aspect of our ministry is not devotional but is TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR.
How to Subscribe
Please note that this is not a free service. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and each subscriber is expected to participate.
Subscribing using your Web Browser
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Click on the following link to go to
http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html
Subscribing using Email
To Subscribe, just send email to
lists@wayoflife.org, with the Subject: Subscribe FBIS
To Unsubscribe, just send email to
lists@wayoflife.org, with the Subject: Unsubscribe FBIS
This is an automated service and you need to respond to the reply to confirm your subscription.
Some of these articles are from O Timothy magazine. David W. Cloud, Editor. O Timothy is a monthly magazine in its 18th year of publication. Subscription is $20/yr. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site:
http://www.wayoflife.org/.
Way of Life Literature,
P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061–0368.
1-866-295-4143 (toll free: USA & Canada),
519-652-2619 (voice),
fbns@wayoflife.org (email)
Internet Discount on Fundamental Baptist CD-ROM Library until 31 May, 2002
1999 Edition
PART I OF II
By any standard the United Bible Societies are enormously wealthy and are involved in quite an amazing amount of work. The first Bible society, the British and Foreign Bible Society, was formed in 1804. The American Bible Society was formed in 1814, and similar societies have multiplied throughout the world as the years have passed. The United Bible Societies was formed in 1946 and now coordinates the work of most of the world’s Bible societies (Andrew Brown, The Word of God Among All Nations, p. 124). As of 1998, there were 135 member societies involved in the United Bible Societies. In 1997, the world distribution of Scriptures by the United Bible Societies reached almost 561 million (this includes Bibles, New Testaments, portions, readers, etc.). This total included 20 million whole Bibles and 18.5 million New Testaments. Nearly 80 percent of the world’s Bibles are distributed through the UBS. As of 1998, the United Bible Societies were involved in translation work in 685 different languages.
The annual budget of the UBS is almost $40 million, and almost half of that is underwritten by the American Bible Society.
As we can see, the United Bible Societies are very influential. Take a close look at Christian work in practically any locality, and you will find that an affiliate of the United Bible Societies is actively involved, and especially will be found at the forefront of any ecumenical activity.
Not only do the Bible societies have a great influence around the world through their Bible translation and distribution activities, but their influence is increased by the fact that their Greek text and vernacular versions are used by most Christian groups, even many which are strongly Bible-based. The world’s most commonly used Greek New Testament is the one published by the United Bible Societies. A majority of the new Bible translations produced this century has been based upon this Greek text (or one practically identical to it).
It should be kept in mind that there are many organizations involved in Bible translation and distribution that are not a part of the United Bible Societies. Among these are the Trinitarian Bible Society, Wycliffe Bible Translators, the International Bible Society, the Lockman Foundation, Lutheran Bible Translators, Living Bibles International, plus many church-based Bible printing centers, such as the Bearing Precious Seed ministries in the United States.
Some of these are New Evangelical in philosophy and are becoming increasingly ecumenical. Wycliffe is a prime example. Wycliffe is a very large organization, and though not a part of the United Bible Societies and not as liberal as the UBS, Wycliffe is extremely ecumenical and has close ties with the Roman Catholic Church. For example, according to an article in Eternity magazine, November 1971, page 22, "The Catholic Bible Association and the Lutheran Bible Translation Society sponsored the Wycliffe mission's celebration of their annual Bible Translation Day in Washington, D.C." Wycliffe uses the United Bible Societies' Greek text in their translations, and works closely with the UBS in many of their projects.
We praise the Lord that there are faithful Bible publishers. Following are some of these:
Bearing Precious Seed
First Baptist Church, 1367 Woodville Pike, Milford, OH 45145. 513-575-1706 (voice),
fbcm@one.net (e-mail),
http://www.fbcm.org/toc.htm (web site).
Berean Baptist Church
1191 West County Line Rd., Greenwood, IN 46142. 317-888-4003 (print shop), 317-888-0921 (fax).
Bible & Literature Missionary Foundation
713 Cannon Rd., Shelbyville, TN 37160. 423-684-0304.
Lock Haven Scripture Press
Lock Haven Baptist Church, 14246 Boggy Creek Rd., Orlando, Fl 32824. 407-857-0461 (voice).
Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church
P.O. Box 341, Oliver Springs, TN 37840. 423-435-7782 (voice),
MountPisgah@juno.com (e-mail).
Old Paths Scripture Press
Caprock Baptist Church, 3627 SE 29th St., Amarillo, TX 79103. 806-373-7575 (voice),
KA5YKB@aol.com (e-mail).
Parker Memorial Baptist Church
1902 E. Cavanaugh Rd., of Lansing, MI 48910. 517-882-2280 (voice).
Russian Bible Society
P.O. Box 6068, Asheville, NC 28816. 828-681-0370 (voice), 828-681-0371 (fax),
http://www.abraxis.com/ alligood/rusbiblesoc.htm (web site).
Trinitarian Bible Society Canada
39 Caldwell Crescent, Brampton, Ontario, Canada L6W 1A2. 416-454-4688 (voice).
Trinitarian Bible Society England
17 Kingston Rd., London, SW19 3NN, England. 081-543-7857 (voice),
www.biz.ukonline.co.uk/ trinitarian.bible.society/ (web site).
Victory International Press
Victory Baptist Church, P.O. Box 766, First Baptist Church of Milton, FL 32572. 850-623-0086 (church), 850-623-2505 (print shop),
victory@gulf.net (e-mail).
Wyldewood Baptist Church
3030 Witzel Ave., Oshkosh, WI 54904-9371. 920-235-5400 (church), 920-232-5560 (print shop),
revrgk@vbe.com (pastor's e-mail),
wbcts@juno.com (print shop's e-mail),
http://www.wyldewood.org (web site).
Without going any further, though, into the workings and doctrinal position of other Bible publishers, it is enough here to remind our readers that none of these should be confused with the United Bible Societies. For the purpose of this study, we are referring only to member bodies of the United Bible Societies when we use the term "Bible society."
THE BIBLE SOCIETIES’ STRANGE HISTORY
Apostasy is not new to the Bible societies. They have been leavened with apostasy from their very inception in the early 19th century. The apostasy has increased with the passing years, but the destructive seeds of false doctrine and ecumenism were present from the earliest days.
The first Bible Society was formed in 1804 in England and named the British & Foreign Bible Society (BFBS). It was established on March 7, 1804, at London Tavern (The History of Christianity, Lion Publishing, 1977, p. 558). The BFBS, which was a founding member of the UBS in 1946, was deeply leavened with heresy from the beginning. Consider a few well-documented facts regarding this group's early history:
The British Bible Society Worked with Roman Catholic Priests
"Roman Catholics also enjoyed the support of the BFBS. Soon after its founding, the BFBS sent funds to Bishop Michael Wittmann [Roman Catholic] of Regensburg. When the Bavarian priest, Johannes Gossner prepared a German translation of the New Testament, he too was supported by the BFBS. The main Catholic agent of the BFBS was, however, Leander van Ess, a priest and professor of [Catholic] theology at Marburg" (The History of Christianity, p. 558).
"The policy of the United Bible Societies regarding the Apocrypha and interconfessional co-operation with Roman Catholic scholars on Bible translations was outlined in a booklet published by the American Bible Society in 1970 ... Referring to the interdenominational character of the Bible societies, [the booklet] states that Roman Catholics participated in the founding of some Bible societies in Europe, and that ‘the British and Foreign Bible Society from the beginning co-operated with Roman Catholic groups.' It is also acknowledged that Roman Catholic churchmen were invited to participate in the founding of the American Bible Society in 1816" ("The Bible Societies," Trinitarian Bible Society Quarterly Record, Jan.-Mar., 1979, pp. 13-14).
The British Bible Society Invited Unitarian Participation
Most of the readers of this study will know that Unitarians, while claiming to be Christian, have no right to be called such. They deny the very Triune God of the Scriptures, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They scoff at Christ's Deity, vehemently denying that our Lord was very God and very Man. How, then, can they possibly be considered Christians? And yet, the British & Foreign Bible Society brought these heretics into its membership upon its founding at the turn of the 19th century. The shameful history is given briefly from firsthand accounts and historical documents quoted from the files of the Trinitarian Bible Society in London.
"When the constitution of the British and Foreign Bible Society was first formulated, it was understandably not foreseen that the question of Unitarianism would have much relevance to the society's work. Before long, however, UNITARIANS GAINED SUBSTANTIAL INFLUENCE UPON THE AFFAIRS OF THE BIBLE SOCIETY, PARTICULARLY IN EUROPE, WHERE SOME AUXILIARY SOCIETIES WERE RUN ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY BY PERSONS OF UNITARIAN BELIEFS" (Brown, The Word of God Among All Nations, p. 12).
It was the failure to secure a provision in the society’s constitution to remove the Unitarian heretics which led to the formation of a separate organization in 1831, the Trinitarian Bible Society.
"The Trinitarian Bible Society was founded in 1831 after a period of controversy among supporters of the British and Foreign Bible Society regarding the constitution and policy of that Society. Deep concern was expressed over the lack of a Scriptural doctrinal basis sufficiently explicit to ensure that ‘Unitarians’ denying the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ could not be admitted to membership or hold office in the Society. A motion recommending the adoption of such a basis was the subject of a prolonged and heated debate in Exeter Hall in the Strand, London, at the Annual Meeting. THE MOTION WAS REJECTED BY A LARGE MAJORITY, but those who were deeply convinced that the decision was wrong from ‘Provisional Committee’ ... When it became clear that there was no prospect of bringing this about [the changing of the BFBS's unscriptural policies], the ‘Provisional Committee’ convened a meeting to establish a Bible Society on Scriptural principles" (Trinitarian Bible Society Quarterly Record, No. 475, April-June, 1981, p. 3).
One would certainly think that a Bible Society should be founded on "Scriptural principles"! As we have seen, though, such was not the case with the British and Foreign Bible Society, and such has not been the case with the other societies which have banded together to form the United Bible Societies. They translate and distribute the Bible, but they do not obey it.
The British Bible Society Did Not Allow Public Prayer Or Bible
Quotations In Its Meetings!
The history of the British and Foreign Bible Society becomes even stranger. One compromise leads to another, as the Bible so solemnly warns. Let’s take a closer look at the British and Foreign Bible Society around 1830, keeping in mind that the Unitarians were a strong presence by this time.
There arose a question over the desirability of offering up prayer to God at meetings of the society, concerning which there was no provision in the society’s constitution. Lack of such provision would perhaps not have led to serious disagreement were it not for the simultaneous problem about Unitarians. There was a feeling that public prayer to God, offered in the name of Christ, was being avoided for fear of giving offence to Unitarian members. ...
The committee was urged to call a special meeting of the society to settle the matter, but it refused to do so. Since the society's rules did not provide for the requisitioning of special meetings by the members, there was no option but to raise the matter at the next Anniversary Meeting, in May 1831. ... It was to be expected that, with these emotive issues occupying the minds of many people, the Anniversary Meeting would run into stormy weather. The meeting took place on Wednesday, May 4th, 1831, at the newly built Exeter Hall in the Strand. ...
On this occasion the annual report included a recommendation that oral prayer should not be introduced at meetings of the society, but made no explicit reference to the problem about Unitarians. ... At the conclusion of the seconder's speech, a degree of excitement seemed to pervade the Meeting ... J.E. Gordon immediately advanced from the northern end of the platform, and took his place on the right of the chair, amidst loud and continued applause. Several minutes passed before order was restored, and then Gordon spoke:
"If, instead of thus clapping your hands, you would lift up your hands to the throne of grace, I must take the liberty of saying, you would perform an act more becoming a Christian Society. ... The first portion which I seek to establish is, that the British and Foreign Bible Society is preeminently a religious and Christian Institution, and that no person rejecting the doctrine of the triune Jehovah. ..." --interrupted by thunders of applause, which lasted several minutes, BUT WHICH WERE IMMEDIATELY REPLIED TO BY MOST DETERMINED HISSING FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF THE MEETING.
When order was restored, Gordon resumed his speech: "...That no person rejecting the doctrine of the triune Jehovah can be considered a member of a Christian institution. Thirdly, that in conformity with this principle, the expression ‘denominations of Christians’ in the Ninth General Law of the Society, by distinctly understood to include such denominations of Christians only as profess their belief in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity."
He went on to say that he would not at present raise the question of opening meetings with prayer, as this would be an utter waste of time if the proposition about non-Trinitarians was not at first accepted. When he sought to justify his arguments by quoting from Scripture, HE WAS MET BY REPEATED INTERRUPTIONS AND HECKLING FROM PART OF THE AUDIENCE. THE CHAIRMAN, LORD BEXLEY, SIDED WITH THE INTERRUPTERS AND RESTRAINED GORDON FROM CITING SCRIPTURE, ON THE GROUNDS THAT TO COMMENT ON THE SCRIPTURE WAS "TO GO AGAINST THE PRINCIPLE OF THE INSTITUTION."
A general uproar ensued which the Rev. William Howels vainly tried to calm ... Gordon was seconded by the Rev. George Washington Philips ... Amid scenes of wild disorder, one speaker after another failed to make themselves heard. ... AT THE END OF THE MEETING, WHICH LASTED FIVE AND A HALF HOURS, GORDON'S PROPOSALS WERE VOTED ON BY A SHOW OF HANDS, AND REJECTED BY A MAJORITY ESTIMATED AT 6 TO 1 (Brown, The Word of God Among All Nations, pp. 12-16, quoting The Record, May 5th, 1831).
Could anything be stranger than this true history of the British Bible Society? What a shameful, sad account! Here we have professing Christians hissing at and heckling a man of God who had made a simple proposition that those who deny the Triune God should have no part in that God's business! Do not forget that these were supposed Christian leaders and men involved in Bible translation and distribution. Here we have a Bible Society refusing to allow the Bible to be quoted, saying such is against their principles! Here we have a Bible Society having to fight a great battle just to have public prayer allowed in their meetings! And here we have a Bible Society, within 30 years of its founding, voting 6 to 1 against separating from Bible- and Christ-denying Unitarians!
If any of our readers are confused at this, please understand that those causing the trouble at the meeting discussed above were not true Christians in any sense. The Bible warns that there will be many who claim to be Christians, but who will be false Christians. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself warned of this many times: "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many" (Matt. 24:11). "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matt. 7:15). Those who were in control of the Bible Society in Britain in the 1830s were the wolves in sheep’s clothing Jesus warned of. What could be more clever than for the Devil to take over the very production and distribution of the Bible! He has done exactly this during the past century and a half. Praise God that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the true churches (Matthew 16:18), and even in this day of awful apostasy (turning away) from the truth there are many churches and organizations continuing to translate and distribute the pure Word of God and who not only distribute the Bible but OBEY the Bible! The Word of God is not lost, and God's work is not confounded. At the same time, it is true that much of the work of Bible production has been taken over by heretics.
The Apostles added their voices to Christ's warning about false teachers. Paul foretold that conditions among professing Christians will grow increasingly corrupt: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men ... [will have] a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ... Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of truth. ... Evil men and seducers SHALL WAX WORSE AND WORSE, deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:1,5,7,13). What a perfect description of today's Bible Society "scholars," who are swept from one new theory of inspiration and textual criticism to another!
THE BIBLE SOCIETIES’ APOSTATE VERSIONS
To produce and distribute the Bible is good only inasfar as the Bible being distributed is an accurate translation of the preserved Word of God. The Devil has not kept his dirty hands out of the matters surrounding Bible production. As early as the first century A.D. we find the Apostle Paul warning that many evil men were already about the Devil’s business of corrupting the Word of God. "For we are not AS MANY, WHICH CORRUPT THE WORD OF GOD: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:17). Note that the Apostle reported that MANY were then corrupting the word of God.
In fact, the attempted corruption of God's Word began at the dawn of man's history when the Devil questioned and openly denied the Word of God in his conversation with Eve. For her part, Eve changed the Word of God when she quoted it:
"And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, let ye die" (Genesis 3:2-3).
God did not say exactly what Eve quoted. God's exact command was this: "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17). Note how Eve corrupted God's Word by adding her own thought about not touching the tree and by subtracting the word "freely." To change God’s Word in any way is to corrupt it. If one takes away from God’s Word or adds to it or changes the meaning, he corrupts it.
This dirty business of tampering with the Word of God has not ceased since that terrible day in the Garden of Eden. In the days of the prophets in Israel we are told that the false prophets "perverted the words of the living God" (Jer. 23:36). Yes, the Devil and his cohorts have been busy corrupting the Word of God throughout earthly history.
ROMAN CATHOLIC VERSIONS
The Bible societies have distributed many different kinds of versions in various parts of the world. They have actually distributed Roman Catholic versions, that is, versions produced by the Roman Catholic Church. An example comes from Canada.
The Canadian Bible Society [a member of the United Bible Societies] is prepared to make use of Roman Catholic versions like that of Ronald Knox, a modern English translation of the Latin Vulgate [Roman Catholic version]. Copies of this version have been circulated bearing on the front cover, ‘The New Testament, presented by the Canadian Bible Society, an Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society.’ The title page has the words, ‘This New Testament is a gift from the Canadian Bible Society, an Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society.’... The Preface continues with commendations by Cardinal Griffin and Pope Pius XII. The title page bears the names of the publishers--Montreal: Palm Publishers.; London: Burns and Oates. Publishers to the Holy See [the Roman Catholic Vatican in Rome] (Perry F. Rockwood, God's Inspired Preserved Bible, pp. 39-40).
This business of distributing Roman Catholic Bibles began in the very earliest days of the Bible societies. We have already shown that the British and Foreign Bible Society supported versions produced by Roman Catholic priests in the early 1800s. These Roman priests were working with the Latin Vulgate, the officially approved Catholic version. Catholic Bibles had to contain the approved notes that taught Catholic heresies.
According to the Catechism prescribed by Pope Pius X in 1911:
Any translation of the Bible into our mother tongue may be read, if it has been approved by the Catholic Church ... and if it is accompanied by the explanations approved by the Church. If a Christian should be offered a Bible by a Protestant, or by some emissary of the Protestants, he ought to reject it with horror, because it is forbidden by the Church; and if he should have accepted it without noticing what it was, he should at once pitch it into the fire, or fetch it to his Pastor. The [Catholic] Church prohibits Protestant Bibles, because they are either altered and contain errors, or not having her approval and notes explaining obscure passages, they may be injurious to faith. For this reason the Church also prohibits translations of Holy Scripture which she has already approved, but which are reprinted without the explanations approved by her.
This policy was changed somewhat during the 1960s, but when we read that a Bible society sponsored the work of a Catholic priest prior to Vatican II we can be sure that the version was purely Roman Catholic.
That this was a great problem in the early days of the Bible societies is seen in the protests made against the policy by godly men. An illustration is found in two letters to the Trinitarian Bible Society, one in 1859 and one in 1860, by a missionary and Bible translator. He speaks concerning God’s work among the Spanish-speaking people. Consider the wise things this man had to say about Bible distribution, and keep in mind that he is referring to the practice of the British and Foreign Bible Society in circulating Catholic versions of the Bible:
THE IMPORTANT QUESTION IS NOT THE MERE NUMBER OF COPIES [OF THE BIBLE] THAT ARE PUT INTO CIRCULATION, BUT THE CHARACTER OF THOSE COPIES AND THEIR FREEDOM FROM DOCTRINAL CORRUPTION. We should think but little of sermons preached, if we were only told that their number was very great, and we had reason to believe they did not set forth the Gospel of Christ, or if we knew that their object was to deny some foundation truth: one orthodox declaration of Jesus Christ crucified would be worth them all and more.
On the subject of the Romish versions, it seems however, to be peculiarly difficult to obtain a proper hearing, and to convince well-meaning persons that we are not justified in putting forth as the truth of God some known error in the hope of effecting some supposed extensive good (September 12, 1860).
THOSE WHO DEFEND THE CIRCULATION OF THE FALSIFIED ROMISH VERSION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE CONTINUALLY SPEAK AS IF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SUCH AND HONESTLY MADE TRANSLATIONS WERE SO SLIGHT THAT THE QUESTION IS ONE OF BUT LITTLE PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE. ...
We may well ask, Is it important whether we consider our Lord Jesus Christ to be the bruiser of the serpent's head, or attribute this to the Virgin Mary? Is it of no consequence that the second commandment be altered so as to make it only forbid the rendering of supreme worship to images? [Catholic doctrine makes this change in order to allow for the idolatry which goes on within Catholicism with its multitudes of statues, pictures, and holy trinkets which are worshipped by the followers of Romanism.] Are we to regard the substitution of penance in the place of repentance as of slight moment? [The Catholic versions make all of these corruptions in their official Scriptures, either in the text, or through their footnotes and "explanations."] So I might go on with inquiry after inquiry, and THE RESULT WOULD BE THE PLAIN PROOF THAT THE DIFFERENCES ARE SERIOUS INDEED; FOR THEY SUBSTITUTE THE FALSE DOCTRINE OF MAN FOR THE TRUTH INSPIRED BY THE HOLY GHOST, AND THEY GIVE APPARENT SANCTION OF GOD TO THAT WHICH IS SO CONTRARY TO HIS HOLY WILL. Those who thus defend the corrupted versions show, that either they are really unacquainted with them, or else that they do not object to the false doctrine of Rome thus insidiously introduced. ...
But how do some engaged in circulating the Scriptures gain their experience? They would speak of copies sold, and of the individuals into whose hands they pass. But there is another kind of experience little known to such distributors or sellers, and the results of this I wish to state. Let anyone who intelligently knows the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ have to do not only with Bible distribution but also with the reading of Holy Scripture himself to Roman Catholics. ... HE WILL BE MADE TO FEEL, POINT BY POINT, THAT A SINGLE PERVERTED WORD BECOMES OF CONSEQUENCE. ... I HAVE BEEN REPEATEDLY SO CIRCUMSTANCED AS TO BE MADE TO FEEL THIS PAINFULLY. ... I SPEAK FROM AMPLE EXPERIENCE WHEN I SAY, THAT THERE IS NO REASONABLE GROUND FOR REGARDING THE DIFFERENCES AS SLIGHT, UNLESS, INDEED, WE SEEK TO PALLIATE ROMISH ERROR (Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, September 17, 1859, quoted by Brown, The Word of God Among All Nations, pp. 41-44).
A few comments on this honorable letter are in order. First, note the wise observation that "the important question is not the mere number of copies of the Bible that are put into circulation, but the character of those copies and their freedom from doctrinal corruption." We cannot forget this when considering the work of the United Bible Societies. Though they have done an amazing amount of work, they have done as much harm as good since great numbers of the Scriptures being distributed are corrupted. Second, the missionary recognized that even seemingly "small" changes in the Bible are important and produce great harm. We agree wholeheartedly with his conclusion that "a single perverted word becomes of consequence." Amen and amen! We could only wish that the United Bible Societies had such a wonderful attitude toward the holy, eternal, God-breathed words of Scripture.
We have seen, then, that the Bible societies have distributed various kinds of versions, even purely Roman Catholic ones. Of course, they have also distributed accurate versions such as the King James Bible in English and the old Luther Bible in German, but the Bible reminds us that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump."
The apostasy of the Bible societies has come into full blossom in the 20th century. This appears in the form of their Greek New Testament and three versions taken from it, the Revised Standard Version, the Today's English Version and the New English Bible.
The copyright of the Revised Standard Version is held by the National Council of Churches in America, but it is widely distributed by the Bible societies.
The Today's English Version (Good News Bible) was published by the American Bible Society, founding member of the United Bible Societies. This version has become the model for many of the so-called "common language" versions being produced throughout the world by the United Bible Societies (as well as by other organizations such as Wycliffe Bible Translators).
The New English Bible was produced by the British & Foreign Bible Society.
The United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (or one of its earlier predecessors) is the basis for all of these translations.
THE UBS GREEK NEW TESTAMENT
The Third Edition of the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament was published in 1975; it is also the 26th edition of the Nestle-Aland text. Its influence is incalculable. It is used for study and translation throughout the world, and can be found in practically every country, in pastor's libraries, on translator's desks, in Bible college classrooms. What sort of Greek text is this? We limit our comments to two basic observations:
The UBS Greek New Testament Was Produced by Heretics
The Bible forbids God's people to fellowship with heretics. Romans 16:17 says, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." 2 Timothy 2:16 commands us to "shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness." 2 Timothy 3 describes the apostasy of the end times, and warns of those who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. From such God says to "turn away" (2 Tim. 3:5).
As we look at those who produced the UBS Greek New Testament and see their deep apostasy, we must keep these warnings in mind. God has commanded us to separate from heretics. It is clear that He would not use heretics to give us the Scriptures!
The editors of the UBS Greek New Testament are Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, and Allen Wikgren. Eugene A. Nida also "took part in Committee discussions, especially those relating to major decisions of policy and method (The Greek New Testament, United Bible Societies, Preface to the First Edition, 1965). Not one of these men believes the Bible is the verbally inspired, infallible Word of God. Six of these men are theological modernists. The seventh is a Roman Catholic archbishop!
Jesuit cardinal CARLO MARIA MARTINI (1908- ) is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Milan. Since 1967, he has been a member of the editorial committee of the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament. His diocese in Europe is the largest in the world, with two thousand priests and five million "laity." He is Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. He is also President of the Council of European Bishop’s Conferences. Time magazine, December 26, 1994, listed him as a possible candidate in line for the papacy. Another Time magazine article reported that Martini brought together a syncretistic convocation of over 100 religious leaders from around the world to promote a new age, one-world religion. In addressing this meeting, Mikhail Gorbachev said, "We need to synthesize a new religion for thinking men that will universalize that religion for the world and lead us into a new age."
EUGENE NIDA (1914- ) is the father of the blasphemous dynamic equivalency theory of Bible translation. Originally with Wycliffe Bible Translators, Nida has been associated with the American Bible Society and the United Bible Societies since 1943. "In addition to administrative responsibilities, his work involved field surveys, research, training programs, checking manuscripts of new translations, and the writing of numerous books and articles on linguistics, anthropology and the science of meaning. This work has taken him to more than 85 countries, where he has conferred with scores of translators on linguistic problems involving more than 200 different languages. Dr. Nida was also Translation Research Coordinator for the United Bible Societies from 1970 to 1980" (Record, American Bible Society, March 1986, p. 17). Though retired, Nida retains his relationship with the ABS and UBS as a Special Consultant for Translations, and is active in research, writing, and lecturing.
As to his view of biblical inspiration, Nida says, "...God’s revelation involved limitations. ... Biblical revelation is not absolute and all divine revelation is essentially incarnational. ... Even if a truth is given only in words, it has no real validity until it has been translated into life. ... The words are in a sense nothing in and of themselves. ... the word is void unless related to experience" (Nida, Message and Mission, pp. 222-228).
The Psalmist did not hold to Nida‘s theories about the words of Scripture. He said, "The words of the Lord are pure words..." (Psalm 12:6). Throughout Scripture, it is the very words of the Bible that are said to be important, not just the basic meaning. The words of the Bible ARE something in and of themselves, regardless of whether they are related to anything else. Nida is wrong. The words of the Bible are intrinsically the eternal words of God. Nida’s chief problem is his rejection of the doctrine of verbal, plenary inspiration.
"Nida states emphatically that the biblical revelation is not ‘absolute’ and applies Paul’s statement that ‘now we see through a glass, darkly’ (1 Cor. 13:12) to the biblical revelation itself, which as the really incarnate Word can offer no absolute truth. Because it is a medium of communication within a limited cultural context, human language is unsuited as a vehicle for supernatural, eternal truths that would, in fact, need a language that is unhuman or divine" (Nida, Message and Mission, pp. 224-228, cited by Van Bruggen, p. 76).
"In a time when the Bible was thought to be written in a kind of Holy Ghost language, the only criterion to exegetical accuracy was the pious hope that one’s interpretations were in accord with accepted doctrine. At a later period, when grammar was viewed almost exclusively from an historical perspective, one could only hope to arrive at valid conclusions by ‘historical reconstructs,’ but these often proved highly impressionistic. At present, linguistics has provided much more exact tools of analysis based on the dynamic functioning of language, and it is to these that one ought to look for significant developments in the future" (Eugene Nida, Language Structure and Translation, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1975, p. 259).
Nida is dead wrong in his views that the Bible is not absolute, is not eternal truth, and that it is written in imperfect language. Though written by imperfect men, the Bible is written in words chosen by God and settled forever in heaven. The Bible IS written in a language that is divine; it IS Holy Ghost language. The Bible’s words are God’s words and they have eternal validity whether or not they are "translated into life," whether or not they are understood by man!
Nida says the accounts of angels and miracles are not necessarily to be interpreted literally.
".. wrestling with an angel all have different meanings than in our own culture" (Nida, Message and Mission, p. 41).
The Bible’s accounts of angels do not have different meanings for different cultures. They are infallibly recorded accounts of historical events. Jesus Christ believed in literal angels and interpreted the Old Testament miracles literally, and He is certainly a more faithful guide than Dr. Nida.
As to the atonement of Jesus Christ, Nida says, "Most scholars, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, interpret the references to the redemption of the believer by Jesus Christ, not as evidence of any commercial transaction by any quid pro quo between Christ and God or between the ‘two natures of God’ (his love and his justice), but as a figure of the ‘cost,’ in terms of suffering" (Eugene Nida and Charles Taber, Theory and Practice, 1969, p. 53). In A Translator’s Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Nida (with co-author Barclay Newman) says, "...‘blood’ is used in this passage [Romans 3:25] in the same way that it is used in a number of other places in the New Testament, that is, to indicate a violent death. ... Although this noun [propitiation] (and its related forms) is sometimes used by pagan writers in the sense of propitiation (that is, an act to appease or placate a god), it is never used this way in the Old Testament."
Nida is wrong. The sacrifice of Christ was not just a figure; it WAS a placation of God, of His holiness and of the righteous demands in His law. Christ’s sacrifice WAS a commercial transaction between Christ and God, and was NOT merely a figure of the cost in terms of suffering. The sacrifice of Calvary was a true sacrifice, and that sacrifice required the offering of blood—not just a violent death as Nida says. Blood is blood and death is death, and we believe that God is wise enough to know which of these words should be used. Romans 5:8-10 teaches us that salvation required BOTH the blood and death of Christ. Had Christ died, for example, by strangulation, though it would have been a violent death, it would not have atoned for sin because blood is required. Those, like Nida, who tamper with or reinterpret the blood atonement often claim to believe in the cross of Christ and in justification by grace, but they are rendering the Cross ineffective by reinterpreting its meaning. There is no grace without a true propitiation. This word means "satisfaction" and refers to the fact that the sin debt was satisfied by the blood atonement of Christ. The great difference between the heathen concept of propitiating God and that of the Bible is this—the God of the Bible paid the propitiation Himself through His own Sacrifice, whereas the heathen thinks that he can propitiate God through his own human labors and offerings. The fact remains, though, that God did have to be propitiated through the bloody death of His own sinless Son.
Nida is a clever man. He does not openly assault the blood atonement and the doctrine of inspiration as his translator friend Robert Bratcher does. (Bratcher, translator of the Today’s English Version, has co-authored books with Nida.) Nida uses the same words as the Bible believer, but he reinterprets key words and passages such as those above. This is called Neo-orthodoxy. Beware.
Nida says Bible language was not given of God but was determined by the writers of the Bible.
"Nida and Taber state that Paul, if he had been writing for us rather than for his original audience, would not only have written in a different language-form, but also would have said the same things differently" (Jakob Van Bruggen, citing Nida and Charles Taber, Theory and Practice of Translation, p. 23, n. 3).
Nida does not believe the Bible’s own confession about its nature. In 2 Peter 1:21 we read that "the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Since the Bible writers did not choose their words, it is heretical to say they would write in a different language form if they were writing today. Paul’s words did not arise from his own will and context but were Revelations from Heaven and were written in words chosen by God. "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal. 1:11-12). See also 1 Corinthians 2:10-13, where Paul states that the very words of New Testament Revelation are of God.
Nida says there are no absolutes in Christianity except God.
"The only absolute in Christianity is the triune God. Anything which involves man, who is finite and limited, must of necessity be limited, and hence relative. Biblical culture relativism is an obligatory feature of our incarnational religion, for without it we would either absolutize human institutions or relativize God" (Eugene Nida, Customs and Cultures, New York: Harper & Row, 1954, p. 282, footnote 22).
Nida puts everything which man has touched in the category of imperfection, even the Bible and the institutions of described in Scripture, such as the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the church. Nida is wrong. The Bible, though written by fallible man, is infallible Revelation.
Nida says Bible translation is to be tested by the response of non-christians and by youth.
"Nida and Taber describe the difference between an earlier concept of translating and their own concept as a shift of the focus from the ‘form of the message’ to the ‘response of the receptor’; therefore the translator must now determine in particular the response of the receptor to the translated message (p. 1). Here it is not a matter of an abstraction, such as ‘The English-speaking person,’ but it is a matter of real individuals that appears when Nida and Taber desire that translations be attuned to non-Christians and to youth (pp. 31-32), and be tested by the potential users (p. 163)" (Van Bruggen, citing Nida and Taber, Theory and Practice of Translation).
Nida has things backwards. How could unsaved people and young people determine if a Bible is an accurate translation of the preserved Greek and Hebrew text of Scripture? They don’t have the ability, spiritually or educationally, to make such a determination. The Bible plainly says the unsaved cannot understand God’s Word (1 Cor. 2:12-14). It is the translator’s job to make an accurate Bible translation. It is then the job of evangelists and teachers to help people understand the Bible.
Nida’s erroneous view of the Bible is his foundational heresy, and this heresy alone is justification for God’s people to mark and avoid him (Romans 16:17). It is very strange to see people who profess to accept the Bible as the inerrant Word of God following the teachings of men who deny this precious doctrine.
Another of the editors of the United Bible Societies‘ Greek New Testament is BRUCE MANNING METZGER (1914- ). Metzger is George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, Princeton Theological Seminary, and he serves on the board of the American Bible Society. Metzger is the head of the continuing RSV translation committee of the apostate National Council of Churches in the U.S.A. The Revised Standard Version was soundly condemned for its modernism when it first appeared in 1952. Today its chief editor sometimes is invited to speak at Evangelical forums. The RSV hasn’t changed, but Evangelicalism certainly has!
Metzger was the chairman for the Reader’s Digest Condensed Bible and wrote the introductions to each book in this butchered version of the Scriptures. The Preface claims that "Dr. Metzger was actively involved at every stage of the work, from the initial studies on each of the sixty-six books through all the subsequent editorial reviews. The finished condensation has received his full approval." The Condensed Bible removed 40% of the Bible text, including the warning of Revelation 22:18-19! In the introductions to the books of the Reader’s Digest Bible, Metzger questions the authorship, traditional date, and supernatural inspiration of books penned by Moses, Daniel, and Peter, and in many other ways reveals his liberal, unbelieving heart. Consider some examples:
Genesis: "Nearly all modern scholars agree that, like the other books of the Pentateuch, [Genesis] is a composite of several sources, embodying traditions that go back in some cases to Moses."
Exodus: "As with Genesis, several strands of literary tradition, some very ancient, some as late as the sixth century B.C., were combined in the makeup of the books" (Introduction to Exodus).
Deuteronomy: "It’s compilation is generally assigned to the seventh century B.C., though it rests upon much older tradition, some of it from Moses‘ time."
Daniel: "Most scholars hold that the book was compiled during the persecutions (168-165 B.C.) of the Jewish people by Antiochus Epiphanes."
John: "Whether the book was written directly by John, or indirectly (his teachings may have been edited by another), the church has accepted it as an authoritative supplement to the story of Jesus’ ministry given by the other evangelists."
1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus: "Judging by differences in style and vocabulary from Paul’s other letters, many modern scholars think that the Pastorals were not written by Paul."
James: "Tradition ascribes the letter to James, the Lord’s brother, writing about A.D. 45, but modern opinion is uncertain, and differs widely on both origin and date."
2 Peter: "Because the author refers to the letters of Paul as ‘scripture,’ a term apparently not applied to them until long after Paul’s death, most modern scholars think that this letter was drawn up in Peter’s name sometime between A.D. 100 and 150."
Metzger‘s modernism was also evident in the notes to the New Oxford Annotated Bible RSV (1973). Metzger co-edited this volume with Herbert May. It first appeared in 1962 as the Oxford Annotated Bible and was the first Protestant annotated edition of the Bible to be approved by a Roman Catholic authority. It was given an imprimatur in 1966 by Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, Massachusetts. Metzger wrote many of the rationalistic notes in this volume and put his editorial stamp of approval on the rest. Consider some excerpts from the notes:
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT: "The Old Testament may be described as the literary expression of the religious life of ancient Israel. ... The Israelites were more history-conscious than any other people in the ancient world. Probably as early as the time of David and Solomon, out of a matrix of myth, legend, and history, there had appeared the earliest written form of the story of the saving acts of God from Creation to the conquest of the Promised Land, an account which later in modified form became a part of Scripture. But it was to be a long time before the idea of Scripture arose and the Old Testament took its present form. ... The process by which the Jews became ‘the people of the Book’ was gradual, and the development is shrouded in the mists of history and tradition. ... The date of the final compilation of the Pentateuch or Law, which was the first corpus or larger body of literature that came to be regarded by the Jews as authoritative Scripture, is uncertain, although some have conservatively dated it at the time of the Exile in the sixth century. ... Before the adoption of the Pentateuch as the Law of Moses, there had been compiled and edited in the spirit and diction of the Deuteronomic ‘school’ the group of books consisting of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, in much their present form. ... Thus the Pentateuch took shape over a long period of time."
NOTES ON GENESIS: "[Genesis] 2.4b-3.24 ... is a different tradition from that in 1.1-2,4a, as evidenced by the flowing style and the different order of events, e.g. man is created before vegetation, animals, and woman. ... 7:16b: The Lord shut him in, a note from the early tradition, which delights in anthropomorphic touches. 7:18-20: The waters covered all the high mountains, thus threatening a confluence of the upper and lower waters (1.6). Archaeological evidence suggests that traditions of a prehistoric flood covering the whole earth are heightened versions of local inundations, e.g. in the Tigris-Euphrates basin."
NOTES ON JOB: "The ancient folktale of a patient Job (1.1-2.13; 42.7-17; Jas. 5.11) circulated orally among oriental sages in the second millennium B.C. and was probably written down in Hebrew at the time of David and Solomon or a century later (about 1000-800 B.C.)."
NOTES ON PSALM 22: "22:12-13: ... the meaning of the third line [they have pierced my hands and feet] is obscure." [Editor: No, it is not obscure; it is a prophecy of Christ’s crucifixion!]
NOTES ON ISAIAH: "Only chs. 1-39 can be assigned to Isaiah’s time; it is generally accepted that chs. 40-66 come from the time of Cyrus of Persia (539 B.C.) and later, as shown by the differences in historical background, literary style, and theological emphases. ... The contents of this section [chs. 56-66] (sometimes called Third Isaiah) suggest a date between 530 and 510 B.C., perhaps contemporary with Haggai and Zechariah (520-518); chapters 60-62 may be later."
NOTES ON JONAH: "The book is didactic narrative which has taken older material from the realm of popular legend and put it to a new, more consequential use."
INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT: "Jesus himself left no literary remains; information regarding his words and works comes from his immediate followers (the apostles) and their disciples. At first this information was circulated orally. As far as we know today, the first attempt to produce a written Gospel was made by John Mark, who according to tradition was a disciple of the Apostle Peter. This Gospel, along with a collection of sayings of Jesus and several other special sources, formed the basis of the Gospels attributed to Matthew and Luke." [Editor: The Gospels, like every part of the New Testament, were written by direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This nonsense of trying to find ‘the original source’ for the Gospels is unbelieving heresy.]
NOTES ON 2 PETER: "The tradition that this letter is the work of the apostle Peter was questioned in early times, and internal indications are almost decisive against it. ... Most scholars therefore regard the letter as the work of one who was deeply indebted to Peter and who published it under his master’s name early in the second century." [Editor: Those who believe this nonsense must think the early Christians were fools and the Holy Spirit was on a vacation.]
NOTES FROM "HOW TO READ THE BIBLE WITH UNDERSTANDING": "The opening chapters of the Old Testament deal with human origins. They are not to be read as history ... These chapters are followed by the stories of the patriarchs, which preserve ancient traditions now known to reflect the conditions of the times of which they tell, though they cannot be treated as strictly historical. ... it is not for history but for religion that they are preserved ... When we come to the books of Samuel and Kings ... Not all in these books is of the same historical value, and especially in the stories of Elijah and Elisha there are legendary elements. ... We should always remember the variety of literary forms found in the Bible, and should read a passage in the light of its own particular literary character. Legend should be read as legend, and poetry as poetry, and not with a dull prosaic and literalistic mind."
This modernistic babble is a lie. The Pentateuch was written by the hand of Moses and completed during the 40 years of wilderness wandering hundreds of years before Samuel and the kings. The Old Testament did not arise gradually from a matrix of myth and history, but is inspired revelation delivered to holy men of old by Almighty God. The Jews were a "people of the book" from the beginning. The Jewish nation did not form the Bible; the Bible formed the Jewish nation! In Metzger’s "Introduction to the New Testament" in the New Oxford Annotated Bible, he completely ignores the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and claims that the Gospels are composed of material gathered from oral tradition. The Bible says nothing about this, but Jesus Christ plainly tells us that the Holy Spirit would guide the Apostles into all truth (John 16:7-15). The Gospels are divine revelation, not some happenstance editing of oral tradition.
Bruce Metzger is a heretic. He piously claims on one hand that the Bible is the inspired Word of God; but out of the other side of the mouth he claims the Bible is filled with myth and error. He denies the Bible’s history, its miracles, and its authorship, while, in true liberal style, declaring that this denial does not do injustice to the Word of God, because, he says, the Bible is not "written for history but for religion" and is not to be read "with a dull prosaic and literalistic mind"!
Metzger has been called an Evangelical by some who should know better, but upon the authority of the man’s own writings, I declare that Bruce Metzger is an unbeliever. He is a false teacher. He is an apostate. He is a heretic. Those are all Bible terms. Having studied many of the man’s works, I am convinced those are the terms that must be applied to him. One Baptist writer cautiously defended Metzger to me with these words—"he did write a superb pamphlet in 1953 refuting the Jehovah’s Witnesses and defending the full and absolute deity of Christ." Even the Pope of Rome defends the full and absolute deity of Christ. A man can defend the deity of Christ and still be a false teacher. A man who denies the written Word also denies the Living Word. They stand or fall together. If the Bible contains error, Christ was a liar. If Christ is perfect Truth, so is the Bible.
In The New Testament, Its Background, Growth, and Content, which appeared in 1965, Metzger claims that "the discipline of form criticism has enlarged our understanding of the conditions which prevailed during the years when the gospel materials circulated by word of mouth" (p. 86). This is not true. Form criticism is that unbelieving discipline which claims that the Gospels were gradually developed out a matrix of tradition and myth. Form critics hold a variety of views (reflecting the unsettled and relativistic nature of the rationalism upon which they stand), but all of them deny that the Gospels are the verbally inspired, divinely-given, absolutely infallible Word of God. Metzger says, "What each evangelist has preserved, therefore, is not a photographic reproduction of the words and deeds of Jesus, but an interpretative portrait delineated in accord with the special needs of the early church" (Ibid.). Metzger is wrong. The Gospel writers have indeed given us, by divine revelation, a photographic reproduction of the words and deeds of Jesus Christ in precisely the form designed by the Holy Spirit to present Christ to the world. Praise God for it!
KURT ALAND (1915- ) has served as coeditor of the Nestle-Aland Greek text since the 1940s. His wife, Barbara, is director of the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, Munster, Westphalia, Germany. With most Bible critics, Aland rejects verbal inspiration.
"This idea of verbal inspiration (i.e., of the literal and inerrant inspiration of the text), which the orthodoxy of both Protestant traditions maintained so vigorously, was applied to the Textus Receptus with all of its errors, including textual modifications of an obviously secondary character (as we recognize them today)" (Aland, The Problem of the New Testament Canon, 1962, pp. 6,7).
"The present state of affairs, of Christianity splintered into different churches and theological schools, is THE wound in the body. The variety in the actual Canon in its different forms is not only the standard symptom, but simultaneously also the real cause of its illness. This illness--which is in blatant conflict with the unity which is fundamental to its nature--cannot be tolerated. ... Along this road [of solving this supposed problem], at any rate, the question of the Canon will make its way to the centre of the theological and ecclesiastical debate. ... Only he who is ready to question himself and to take the other person seriously can find a way out of the circuus vitiosus in which the question of the Canon is moving today ... The first thing to be done, then, would be to examine critically one’s own selection from the formal Canon and its principles of interpretation, but all the time remaining completely alive to the selection and principles of others. ... This road will be long and laborious and painful. ... if we succeed in arriving at a Canon which is common and actual, this means the achievement of the unity of the faith, the unity of the Church" (Aland, The Problem of the New Testament Canon, pp. 30-33).
Thus, we see that Aland does not believe in a settled, authoritative canon of Scripture. Everything is to be questioned; everything is open to change. He believes it is crucial that a new canon be created through ecumenical dialogue. He rejects verbal inspiration.
Having considered the editors of the UBS Greek New Testament, we come now to the text itself.
The UBS Greek New Testament Differs Vastly from the Preserved Text
The United Bible Societies Greek New Testament is a revision of the Greek text introduced to the English Revised Version translation committee in the late nineteenth century. This text was produced by two of the members of the committee, Westcott and Hort, who preferred two Greek manuscripts (the Sinaiticus and the Vaticanus) to make hundreds of changes in the traditional Greek text that had been used up to that time. The Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament was a critically different text from the one used by Bible translators during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries and by the missionary translators who produced versions in the major languages of the world during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Everett Fowler made extensive studies of the Westcott-Hort Text, the Nestle Text, the United Bible Societies (UBS) Text, and many of the modern English versions based upon these, comparing them with the Received Text and the King James Bible. When the UBS Greek New Testament (the revision of the Westcott-Hort Text that is the most popular Greek text today in Christian education and translation work) is compared with the Received Text, we learn the following:
2,625 words are omitted
310 words are added
18 entire verses omitted; 46 verses questioned by the use of brackets
221 omissions of names regarding the Lord God
318 other different omissions having substantial effect on meaning
TOTAL WORD DIFFERENCES 8,674 (Fowler, Evaluating Versions of the New Testament, p. 9).
The point is this: If the Bible Societies’ Greek text (there are only 250 or so word differences between the Westcott-Hort text and the United Bible Societies’ text) is assumed to be the nearest to the verbally inspired original text, then the Received Text includes over 8,000 Greek words not inspired of God, including several dozen entire verses and portions of verses. The difference amounts to roughly the same amount of material as the books of 1 and 2 Peter combined.
The UBS New Testament deletes or questions more than 40 entire verses that are contained in the KJV and the other God-honored Protestant versions--Matt. 12:47; 17:21; 18:11; 21:44; 23:14; Mk. 7:16; 9:44,46; 11:26; 15:28 16:9-20; Lk. 17:36; 23:17; 24:12,40; Jn. 5:4; 7:53-8:11; Acts 8:37; 28:29; Rom. 16:24; and 1 Jn. 5:8. Large portions of other verses are deleted, including most of Matt. 5:44; 15:8; 19:9; 20:7; 20:16,22; 25:13; 27:35; 28:9; Mk. 6:11; 7:8; 9:49; 10:24; 11:10; 13:14; Lk. 1:28; 4:4; 9:55,56; 11:2-4; 21:4; 22:64; Jn. 5:3; Acts 2:30; 9:5-6; 23:9; 24:6-8; 28:16; Rom. 8:1; 11:6; 14:6; 1 Cor. 6:20; Gal. 3:1; Eph. 5:30; 1 Thess. 1:1; 1 Tim. 6:5; Heb. 2:7; 1 Jn. 5:13; Rev. 1:8,11; and 5:14.
Not only are the new texts and versions quantitatively different from the Received Text, but they are qualitatively different. Many of the differences are doctrinally significant. Many of the omissions in the UBS Greek New Testament affect important doctrines of the faith, including the Deity and Virgin Birth of Christ, the Atonement, and the Trinity. For example, the UBS Greek Testament deletes the word "God" in 1 Tim. 3:16, thus destroying one of the Bible’s clearest testimonies to Christ’s Divinity. The words "the Lord" are removed from 1 Cor. 15:47, thus destroying this testimony to Christ's deity. The words "by Himself" are removed from Heb. 1:3, thus deleting this powerful witness about Christ’s atonement. The deletion of Acts 8:37 in the UBS Greek Testament destroys the effectiveness of this passage of Scripture as to the fact that faith must precede baptism. The omission of 1 John 5:7 removes from the Bible one of the plainest references to the Trinity.
We have included a detailed study of the doctrinal corruptions of the Westcott-Hort Greek text in the book Myths about Modern Bible Versions (1999, Way of Life Literature, 1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277. 360-675-8311).
There can be no doubt that the UBS Greek New Testament is a significantly different text than that which underlies the King James Version and other great Protestant translations which have been so honored and singularly blessed by God for 400 years.
The Bible societies themselves admit that their Greek text is significantly different from the Bible text used in the centuries preceding ours. According to Bible society scholars, the Greek text of the Protestant Reformation is a corrupt text. They contend that it was not until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that the purest text and most accurate methods of discerning the correct textual reading were discovered. This is stated in the Preface to an American Bible Society edition of the Revised Standard Version:
The King James Version has GRAVE defects. By the middle of the nineteenth century [the 1800s], the development of Biblical studies and the discovery of many manuscripts more ancient than those upon which the King James Version was based, made it manifest that THESE DEFECTS ARE SO MANY AND SO SERIOUS as to call for revision of the English translation ... The King James Version of the New Testament was based upon a Greek text that was marred by mistakes, containing the accumulated errors of fourteen centuries of manuscript copying. ... Now we possess many more ancient manuscripts of the New Testament, and are far better equipped to seek to recover the original wording of the Greek text (Preface to the Revised Standard Version, American Bible Society edition, 1978 printing, pp. iii and iv).
Is this true? Is the King James Bible and its underlying Greek text gravely defected? No, it is not, but we see that the translators of the RSV did not accept the popular idea that there is no significant doctrinal differences between the texts and versions.
There are many reasons for rejecting the Bible society’s position in this serious matter, but for the purposes of this study we want to focus on one, and that is God’s promise of preservation. God has promised to preserve His Word from generation to generation. He gave a pure, holy Word, and He has promised to preserve that Word. I believe God has done just this.
Consider the following promises carefully:
"The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." Psalm 12:5-6
"The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations." Psalm 33:11
"For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations." Psalm 100:5
"For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89
Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever." Psalm 119:152
"Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever." Psalm 119:160
"As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever." Isaiah 59:21
"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matthew 24:35
"But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." I Peter 1:25
Because of these promises, I cannot accept any new Greek text which is different from the one that was spread throughout the world during the great Protestant Reformation and world missionary movement of the past four centuries. In light of God’s promises regarding the preservation of His Word, it simply is not possible for me to believe that God would allow the purest text to be hidden away for hundreds of years (collecting dust in a heretical monastery at Mt. Sinai and in the Pope’s library at the Vatican!), while a corrupted text in the form of the Received Text was being distributed throughout the world more widely than at any other time in history. (I deal more thoroughly with the doctrine of preservation in the book Myths about the Modern Bible Versions, available from Way of Life Literature.)
This is no light matter. If the Bible societies are correct in their assumption that the Bible of the Protestant Reformation was gravely defected, the great work of God during the hundreds of years prior to this century was based upon a corrupted Bible. If the Bible societies are wrong about this matter, it is their Greek text which is the corrupted one, and they are responsible for distributing to men a perversion of God’s Word. What could be more serious? What could provoke the wrath of God more quickly, more certainly than the corruption of His blessed and Holy Word? It is our settled conviction that the Bible societies of our day stand guilty in this matter. They are using their vast resources to spread throughout the world a seriously corrupted Greek text.
THE REVISED STANDARD VERSION
Let us pass now from the Bible societies' Greek text to the English versions they are distributing, beginning with the Revised Standard Version.
The Revised Standard Version is copyrighted by the National Council of Churches in America and is widely distributed by the United Bible Societies. In South Asia, for example, where we have had our missionary work, the RSV is very popular due to the influence of the Bible societies. On a trip to India in recent years I visited a Roman Catholic bookstore in Calcutta and was told by a nun there that the main version they distribute now is the RSV. I wanted to purchase a Roman Catholic translation, but they had only a few dusty copies of the Jerusalem Bible. The translation they were pushing was the RSV, and the copies they had were published by the Bible societies. On that same trip I visited the Calcutta branch of the Bible Society in India [a member of the United Bible Societies] and saw a large supply of RSV Bibles containing the apocrypha.
In addition, it should be pointed out that most translations made by the Bible societies are made from the RSV or from the Greek and Hebrew text underlying the RSV. This is true for the Hindi language, which is one of the two official languages of India and which is spoken by 31% of the more than 700 million people of that country. Practically all of the vernacular translations of the Bible in India are based either on the RSV, the Bible societies' Today's English Version, or the Bible societies' Greek New Testament.
What kind of Bible is the Revised Standard Version? Rather than giving a detailed analysis of the translation itself, I will share a brief study of the doctrinal position of the men who produced the translation. Keep in mind, also, that at least two of the editors of the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament were involved in this shameful endeavor. These men are Bruce Metzger and Allen Wikgren. Tell me now, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed" (Amos 3:3)?
The RSV translators included some of the most notorious Modernists of this century. To demonstrate this we will not quote what someone else has said about them; we will give excerpts directly from their own books which we have obtained at considerable expense. The heretical position on biblical inspiration held by these modern translators can be contrasted sharply with that of the men who produced the text and translations in the lineage of the King James Bible.
WILLIAM FOXWELL ALBRIGHT (1891-1971) served on the Old Testament committee of the Revised Standard Version.
"One cannot of course place John on the same level with the synoptic Gospels [Matthew, Mark, Luke] as A HISTORICAL SOURCE" (William Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1957).
WALTER RUSSELL BOWIE (1882-1969) served on RSV New Testament committee. He also contributed to The Interpreter’s Bible of 1951-57.
"According to the ENTHUSIASTIC TRADITIONS which had come down through the FOLKLORE of the people of Israel, Methuselah lived 969 years" (Walter Russell Bowie, Great Men of the Bible, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1937, p. 1).
"The story of Abraham comes down from ancient times; and how much of it is fact and how much of it is LEGEND, no one can positively tell" (Bowie, Great Men of the Bible, p. 13).
"The man of whom these words were written [Jacob] belongs to a time so long ago that it is uncertain whether its records are history or legend" (Bowie, Great Men of the Bible, p. 37).
"Men in ancient Israel could not anticipate, any more than other human beings could, the knowledge of the universe which has come through the patient thought and study of the centuries since. They could only draw the picture which their reverent IMAGINATION saw. ... The details of their story of Creation could not go beyond CONJECTURE ... Such was the picture of Creation--coming probably from priests and scribes of the temple in Jerusalem some 2400 or 2500 years ago--as they conceived the Creation to have been. ...worshipful IMAGINATION ... FOLKLORE ... stream of TRADITION ... spontaneous IMAGINATION ..." (Bowie, The Living Story of the Old Testament, Prentice-Hall, 1964, p. 4-7).
"We cannot tell in any sure way just how the Resurrection happened. We do not know just exactly in what form or at what time the risen Jesus appeared. ... The writers of the Gospels were trying to put into words an overwhelming experience that could not be expressed" (Bowie, I Believe in Jesus Christ, New York: Abingdon Press, 1959, p. 55).
Bowie was dead wrong. We know precisely the form of Christ’s resurrection. It was bodily! We know precisely the time. It was three days after the crucifixion. The writers were not trying to describe the resurrection in their own words; they were writing words given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Their description of the resurrection was not a haphazard attempt to put the event into fallible human words. To claim such a thing is an absolute denial of biblical inspiration. Bowie’s book is misnamed. It should have been titled "I Believe in the Jesus Christ of My Own Imagination."
MILLAR BURROWS (1889-c.1990), Yale University, served on the RSV New Testament committee as well as the Old Testament committee. He also helped produce the RSV Apocrypha.
"We cannot take the Bible as a whole and in every part as stating with divine authority what we must believe and do" (Millar Burrows, Outline of Biblical Theology).
HENRY JOEL CADBURY (1883-1974), Harvard Divinity School, served on the RSV New Testament committee. He also helped produce the RSV Apocrypha.
"As they [the first Christian authors] wrote with neither grammatical precision nor absolute verbal consistency, he [the modern translator] is willing to deal somewhat less meticulously with the data of a simple style that was naturally not too particular about modes of expression or conscious of some of the subtleties which some later interpreters read into it" (Henry Cadbury, Introduction, Revised Standard Version, 1952, p. 52).
"HE [JESUS CHRIST] WAS GIVEN TO OVERSTATEMENTS, in his case, not a personal idiosyncrasy, but a characteristic of the oriental world" (Henry F. Cadbury, Jesus, What Manner of Man?).
"As to the miraculous, one can hardly doubt that time and tradition would heighten this element in the story of Jesus" (Cadbury, Jesus, What Manner of Man?).
"A psychology of God, IF that is what Jesus was, is not available" (Cadbury, Jesus, What Manner of Man?).
CLARENCE TUCKER CRAIG (1895-1953), Oberlin College, served on the RSV New Testament committee. He also helped produce the RSV Apocrypha.
"Revelation has sometimes been understood to consist in a holy book. ... Even on Christian soil it has sometimes been held that the books of the Bible were practically dictated to the writers through the Holy Spirit. ... I DO NOT THINK THAT THIS IS THE DISTINCTIVELY CHRISTIAN POSITION. If God once wrote His revelation in an inerrant book, He certainly failed to provide any means by which this could be passed on without contamination through human fallibility. ... The true Christian position is the Bible CONTAINS the record of revelation" (Clarence T. Craig, The Beginning of Christianity, New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1943, pp. 17,18 ).
"The mere fact that a tomb was found empty was CAPABLE OF MANY EXPLANATIONS. THE VERY LAST ONE THAT WOULD BE CREDIBLE TO A MODERN MAN WOULD BE THE EXPLANATION OF A PHYSICAL RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. ... The resurrection of Jesus did not mean the reanimation of a corpse for a brief continuation of fellowship with his friends. It meant that the new age of God had already begun. ... In order words, Paul was not talking about an event which could be photographed by eye-witnesses, but an event in the world of spiritual perception. ... It was not to be demonstrated by appeal to graves that were empty. It was a proclamation that must appeal to religious faith" (Craig, The Beginning of Christianity, pp. 135,36).
ROBERT CLAUDE DENTAN (1907- ) is a translator for the New Revised Standard Version. He authored The Apocrypha, Bridge of the Testaments (Greenwich, Conn.: Seabury Press, 1969), Preface to Old Testament Theology (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950), and The Design of the Scriptures: A First Reader in Biblical Theology (New York: Seabury Press, 1965). He also edited The Idea of History in the Ancient Near East (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1955).
"In accordance with the ecumenical perspective of the planning for the NRSV, the membership of the committee had been expanded to include ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOLARS ... the presence of an eminent JEWISH SCHOLAR on the Old Testament committee, participating as a full contributing member, was intended as both an expression of good-will and an assurance that the NRSV translation of the Hebrew Scriptures ... WOULD CONTAIN NOTHING OFFENSIVE TO OUR JEWISH NEIGHBORS" (The Making of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991, pp. 10,11).
EDGAR JOHNSON GOODSPEED (1871-1962), University of Chicago, was a member of the translation committee for the Revised Standard Version New Testament. He also published his own translation called the American Translation of the New Testament in 1923.
"The oldest of these elements [Genesis] was a Judean account of the nation’s story from the beginning of the world to the conquest of Canaan by the tribes. ... BABYLONIAN MYTHS AND LEGENDS AND CANAANITE POPULAR TALES HE FREELY APPROPRIATED to his great purpose of enforcing morality and the worship of one God. Sometimes crude old SUPERSTITIOUS IDEAS still cling to some of these. The writer of this ancient record was a prophet ... He wrote his book about 850 B.C. in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. ... And IN THE CAPTIVITY IN BABYLONIA THESE BOOKS [THE FIRST SIX BOOKS OF THE BIBLE] WERE COMBINED INTO A GREAT COMPOSITE WORK of history and law ... So at last, not long after 400 B.C., arose the Hexateuch" (Goodspeed, The Story of the Old Testament, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1934, pp. 107-110).
"JESUS ... WAS FAR FROM GIVING TO THE OLD TESTAMENT AS A WHOLE THE UNQUALIFIED ASSENT natural to a Jew of his day. His attitude is a discriminating one, combining eager acceptance of its statements of enduring spiritual truth and free criticism of its moral imperfections" (Goodspeed, The Formation of the New Testament, 1926, p. 7).
"The books of the New Testament show a decided development in the degree of regard which their several writers feel for the Old Testament. From the free critical treatment of it on the part of Jesus, the very modified authority which Paul ascribes to it, the Old Testament returns in the hands of later New Testament writers to its larger Jewish claims" (Goodspeed, The Formation of the New Testament, p. 8).
"Paul did not expect his letters to be preserved or collected, still less to be regarded as Holy Scripture" (Goodspeed, The Formation of the New Testament, p. 11).
"John ... In his great effort to restate Christian truth in Greek terms he departs widely from the positions of the earlier evangelists and he differs from them in many important historical particulars. ... He had no scruple about changing and correcting their material" (Goodspeed, The Formation of the New Testament, p. 14).
FREDERICK CLIFTON GRANT (1891-1974), Union Theological Seminary, served on the RSV New Testament committee. He also helped produce the RSV Apocrypha. Grant translated works by Neo-orthodox Rudolf Bultmann. One of these was Form Criticism: a new method of New Testament research; including the study of the Synoptic gospels by Rudolf Bultmann (1962).
"We may admit at once that the older view of Jesus’ life and ministry was NOT ENTIRELY HISTORICAL" (Frederick Grant, The Beginnings of Our Religion, New York: Macmillan Co., 1934).
WALTER J. HARRELSON was a translator of the New Revised Standard Version. He authored Interpreting the Old Testament (New York: Hold, Rinehart and Winston, 1964) and contributed to Tradition and Theology in the Old Testament, edited by Douglas A. Knight.
"It is a genuine pleasure ... to be able to read the lessons appointed for the day in such a way as to ELIMINATE ENTIRELY MASCULINE REFERENCES TO THE DEITY, and to do so without having had to retranslate or reproduce the biblical lessons in advance. ... [the NRSV] is by far our most inclusive Bible..." (The Making of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991, p. 84).
RSV translator H.G.G. HERKLOTS made the following announcement of his modernism:
"But few scholars outside the Roman Church now believe that St. Matthew was the first Gospel: most are convinced that—as it exists to-day—it is essentially a Greek book, partly dependent upon two Greek sources, one of which has been lost, but the other of which is St. Mark; and that these two sources were also used by St. Luke" (Herklots, How the Bible Came to Us, New York: Oxford University Press, 1954, p. 75).
According to the Modernist, the Gospels are a hodgepodge of almost haphazard man-made writings. According to the Apostles, though, the Gospels were written under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
WILLIAM ANDREW IRWIN (1884-1967), University of Chicago Divinity School, served on the RSV Old Testament committee.
"This phrase [‘Thus saith the Lord’] is an almost unfailing mark of SPURIOUSNESS" (William Irwin, The Problem of Ezekiel).
"Only bigotry could bring us to deny an EQUAL VALIDITY WITH THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL in the religious vision of men such as Zoraster or Ikhnaton or, on a lower level, the unnamed thinkers of ancient Babylonia" (Irwin, The Problem of Ezekiel).
FLEMING JAMES (1877-1959), dean emeritus of the School of Theology, the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., served (beginning in 1947) on the RSV New Testament committee.
"The narrative of calling down fire from heaven upon the soldiers sent to arrest him is PLAINLY LEGENDARY" (Fleming James, The Beginnings of Our Religion).
"What REALLY happened at the Red Sea WE CAN NO LONGER KNOW" (James, The Beginnings of Our Religion).
JAMES MOFFATT (1870-1944) was Yates Professor of Greek at Mansfield College, Oxford, and later Professor of Church History at the United Free Church College, Glasgow. From 1927-1940 he was Washburn Professor of Church History at Union Theological Seminary. He served on the translation committee for the Revised Standard Version New Testament. He also made two translations of his own: The first was The Historical New Testament in 1901. The second, The Moffatt Version New Testament, first appeared in England in 1913 and in the States in 1917. The Moffatt complete Bible was printed in 1926.
"But once the translator of the New Testament is freed from the influence of the theory of verbal inspiration, these difficulties cease to be so formidable" (James Moffatt, Preface, New Testament: A New Translation, 1913).
"The writers of the New Testament made mistakes in interpreting some of the Old Testament prophecies" (James Moffatt, The Approach to the New Testament).
WILLARD LEAROY SPERRY (1882-1954), professor at Harvard Divinity School, was on the RSV Old Testament committee.
"WE DO NOT PRESS THAT GOSPEL [JOHN] FOR TOO GREAT VERBAL ACCURACY IN ITS RECORD OF THE SAYINGS OF JESUS" (Willard L. Sperry, Rebuilding Our World).
Truly, the prophecies of the Apostles regarding the coming of unbelieving teachers and prophets into the churches are being fulfilled as never before.
We can see that the Revised Standard Version was produced at least in large part by men who were not born of the Spirit, men who were unbelievers and apostates. This fact alone is sufficient reason for rejecting their work and the work of the Bible societies who promote this wicked translation. The Bible commands that God’s people separate from those who are false in doctrine. Certainly this would mean we are to reject Bible texts or translations made by such men.
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." (Romans 16:17)
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall by my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness ... from such withdraw thyself." (1 Timothy 6:3-5)
"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called." (1 Timothy 6:20)
"But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. ... If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." (2 Timothy 2:16-21)
"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." (2 Timothy 3:5)
"Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp [unregenerate religion], bearing his reproach." (Hebrews 13:13)
"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." (2 John 9-11)
We will do well, brethren, to obey these divine commands and to reject the works of unbelieving and apostate men. That means, of course, that we must have nothing to do with translations such as the Revised Standard Version. These are the works of the Devil. These verses also command that we separate ourselves from organizations such as the United Bible Societies, which produce and promote such wicked projects.
When we come to the section dealing with the Bible societies’ affiliations with the Roman Catholic Church, we will see that the Revised Standard Version is often the basis for the so-called "interconfessional" Bible translation projects.
THE TODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION
As we pointed out earlier, the Today's English Version (TEV) is owned by the American Bible Society, a founding member of the United Bible Societies. Almost half of the money for the annual operating budget of the United Bible Societies comes from the American Bible Society (Christian News, Dec. 8, 1986, p. 22). That the TEV is fully a United Bible Society production is seen in the following notes:
"The Good News Bible extends to 1292 pages. ... The copyright of the whole production, with the exception of the twelve maps, is owned by the American Bible Society. ... The volume bears the imprint of ‘The Bible Societies,’ and includes a list of 99 societies" (Trinitarian Bible Society Quarterly Record, Jan.-Mar. 1978, p. 16).
"In September 1966, the American Bible Society published The New Testament in Today’s English Version, a translation intended for people everywhere for whom English is either their mother tongue or an acquire language. Shortly thereafter the United Bible Societies requested the American Bible Society to undertake on its behalf a translation of the Old Testament following the same principles. ... Final approval of the text on behalf of the United Bible Societies was given by the American Bible Society’s Board of Managers upon recommendation of its Translations Department Committee" (Preface, Good News Bible, edition published by Thomas Nelson Inc., publishers under license from the American Bible Society).
The popularity of the Today’s English Version (otherwise known as the Good News for Modern Man) is phenomenal. The New Testament portion of the TEV was published in 1966. In its first three years, it sold 17.5 million copies (Parade Magazine, Nov. 2, 1969). By 1971, more than 30 million copies of the TEV New Testament had been sold (Jakob Van Bruggen, Future of the Bible, 1972, p. 19).
In 1973, the TEV whole Bible was published and the popularity of this paraphrase translation has continued unabated. From 1976 to 1987 the American Bible Society distributed more than 25 million copies of the TEV Bible (New Zealand Herald, Monday, May 4, 1987). By 1987, the TEV New Testament had sold more than 75 million copies (Focus, Oct. 1986, p. 5).
According to the Sowing Circle, a publication of the Bible Society of India, the distribution of the TEV has averaged six million copies per year (Sowing Circle, Oct.-Dec. 1986, p. 2).
The Today's English Version has become the most popular text of Scripture in Australia as well as in England (Undated brochure distributed by the Bible House, Australian Bible Society, Perth, West Australia, June 1988; Word in Action, Spring 1986, British & Foreign Bible Society, p. 5).
What Greek text was used for this new translation? The Preface to the Thomas Nelson edition of the Good News Bible gives the answer: "The basic text for the New Testament is the Greek New Testament published by the United Bible Societies (3rd edition, 1975), but in a few instances the translation is based on a variant reading supported by one or more Greek manuscripts."
We have already seen that the UBS Greek New Testament was produced by heretics. It represents the impure stream of corrupted texts.
Apostate Translator Robert Bratcher
The Today's English Version was translated primarily by Robert Bratcher. Again, rather than giving a detailed analysis of this popular version of the Bible, we will give some of the frightening facts about Robert Bratcher’s life and doctrinal beliefs. Following the biblical principle that a bitter fountain cannot produce a sweet stream, we know that if the translator of a version is a heretic his version will be untrustworthy. For our look at Bratcher we will go back to the early 1950s, when we find him doing missionary work for the Southern Baptist Convention in Brazil.
While serving as professor of Greek and New Testament theology in a Southern Baptist Seminary in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dr. Bratcher edited the "Questions and Answers" section of their paper, O Journal Batista. In this paper, July 9, 1953, Bratcher was asked how to reconcile Matthew 24:36 with John 14:9. His answer (in part): "This cannot mean however, that Christ retained in his incarnation all the attributes of Deity; rather he freely gave up those qualities he enjoyed in his eternal existence with the Father." In a letter to Julius C. Taylor, July 16, 1970, Bratcher said, "Of course I believe what I wrote in the Journal Batista of July 9, 1953" (Donald T. Clarke, Bible Version Manual, Sunbury, Pennsylvania: Bible Truth Institute, 1975, p. 95).
Dr. Bratcher held a question and answer session October 13, 1970, at the First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, South Carolina. Following is one of the questions and his answer:
Question: "Is Jesus Christ God, or the same as God?"
Answer: "Jesus is not the same personality as God" (Clarke, op. cit., p. 98).
We see that as early as 1953, Bratcher denied the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. This would easily explain why the Today’s English Version perverts the most important passages on the Deity of Christ.
Bratcher’s most vicious attack, though, has been against the Bible itself. Isn’t this an amazing testimony for a Bible translator! Consider some of the public statements Bratcher has made concerning the Bible:
"The New Testament scriptures were written to specific situations, at specific times, to specific groups or individuals and in response to some felt need. The New Testament writers probably never intended their work to be the gospel record of the future--so there is not a sterile order to the scriptures" (Robert Bratcher, The Baptist Courier, Feb. 22, 1968).
On November 5, 1970, after a lecture at Furman University, Dr. Bratcher talked with students: "You admit that the Bible has fallacies; then how is it valuable?" a student questioned. [Bratcher answered,] "IF WE BUILD OUR FAITH WHOLLY ON THE BIBLE, THEN WE ARE BUILDING OUR FAITH ON SHIFTING SAND. We must follow the facts or there is nothing to believe. We cannot literally follow Jesus, only go in his direction" (The Greenville News, Greenville, South Carolina, Nov. 8, 1970).
Though Bratcher’s apostasy was evident before he translated the Today’s English Version, little was known publicly about the man until 1981. In that year, Bratcher made some statements at a Southern Baptist Life Commission seminar in Dallas, Texas, which received close media attention. Following are quotes from Bratcher’s speech:
ONLY WILLFUL IGNORANCE OR INTELLECTUAL DISHONESTY CAN ACCOUNT FOR THE CLAIM THAT THE BIBLE IS INERRANT AND INFALLIBLE ... To invest the Bible with the qualities of inerrancy and infallibility is to idolatrize it, to transform it into a false god. …
Often in the past and still too often in the present TO AFFIRM THAT THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD IMPLIES THAT THE WORDS OF THE BIBLE ARE THE WORDS OF GOD. SUCH SIMPLISTIC AND ABSOLUTE TERMS DIVEST THE BIBLE ALTOGETHER OF ITS HUMANITY and remove it from the relativism of the historical process. NO ONE SERIOUSLY CLAIMS ALL THE WORDS OF THE BIBLE ARE THE VERY WORDS OF GOD. If someone does so it is only because that person is not willing thoroughly to explore its implications....
THE WORD OF GOD IS NOT WORDS; it is a human being, a human life ... Quoting what the Bible says in the context of its history and culture is not necessarily relevant or helpful--and may be a hindrance in trying to meet and solve the problems we face....
We are not bound by the letter of Scripture, but by the spirit. EVEN WORDS SPOKEN BY JESUS IN ARAMAIC IN THE THIRTIES OF THE FIRST CENTURY AND PRESERVED IN WRITING IN GREEK, 35 TO 50 YEARS LATER, DO NOT NECESSARILY WIELD COMPELLING AUTHORITY OVER US TODAY. THE FOCUS OF SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY IS NOT THE WORDS THEMSELVES. It is Jesus Christ as the Word of God who is the authority for us to be and to do.
As a biblical scholar, I VIEW WITH DISMAY THE MISUSE OF SCRIPTURES BY FUNDAMENTALISTS; as ... Christians we listen with alarm to the simple-minded diagnoses and the simplistic panaceas proposed with smug self-assurance by Moral Majority people intent on curing the evils of this age (Bratcher, cited by Dan Martin, Baptist Courier, a publication of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, April 2, 1981).
Here, then, we have the strange matter of a Bible translator who believes faith in the Bible is "shifting sand" and who utterly despises the doctrine that the Bible is the holy, infallibly inspired Word of God.
Didn’t the Bible Society Fire Bratcher?
The American Bible Society (ABS) was embarrassed by Bratcher’s remarks in Dallas because it cost them significant financial support. Bratcher issued an apology of sorts, saying, "I deeply regret the language I used and I apologize to those who were offended by it." Note that he did not repent of or apologize for his heresies, only of offending people. Soon thereafter, the ABS issued a public statement "completely disassociating" itself from Bratcher’s remarks, and within days Bratcher resigned from his position in the American Bible Society. This was only a duplicitous political move, though. Bratcher’s apostate translation is still distributed by the ABS and the United Bible Societies, and many other Modernists whose views are as heretical as Bratcher’s continue to work for the Bible societies. In fact, Bratcher himself still works with the United Bible Societies as a chief translation’s consultant! (Bulletin of the United Bible Societies, No. 138-139, 1985). Thus, part of Bratcher’s salary is still paid indirectly by the American Bible Society through its massive support of the UBS.
In light of what we have seen about Bratcher’s life and beliefs, it is not surprising to learn that his translation is perverted. For instance, in several important passages the TEV weakens the doctrine of Christ's deity. See the TEV translation of John 1:1; Philippians 2:6; 1 Timothy 3:16; 6:14-16; Acts 20:28; Colossians 2:3; and Colossians 2:9 for examples. Also, in at least 12 passages, the TEV deletes the word "blood," referring to the precious blood of Christ which was shed for our sins and without which "there is no remission of sin." See the TEV translation of Acts 20:28; Romans 3:25; Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:13; Colossians 1:14; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 12:4; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 1:5; and Revelation 5:9. The Bible societies accept Bratcher’s argument that to replace the word "blood" with the word "death" in these passages makes no difference in meaning or doctrine. Hebrews 9:22 gives answer to that lie by reminding us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Christ’s death was not sufficient in itself to atone for our sins; He had to shed His blood as well. Therefore, when speaking of Christ’s atonement, it is wrong to replace the word "blood" with the word "death." Romans 5:9-10 explains the matter. Verse nine says we are justified through Christ’s blood, and verse ten says we are reconciled through Christ’s death. In other words, we are saved through the bloody death of Christ. Both were required for the Atonement. Only an unholy mind and unholy hands would make such changes in God’s holy Word.
There are many other wicked changes that have been made in this unfaithful version. Yet, the United Bible Societies are distributing millions of copies of this translation throughout the world. This is a very evil thing. In many of the countries where the Bible societies work, Christians are uneducated and poorly trained. They lack the tools with which to discern the errors in the TEV and often do not have properly trained leaders who can protect them from perversions. The result is the weakening of the faith of multitudes of people.
Jesus Christ said even the very smallest details of the Scriptures are perfect and will be fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18). He said the Scriptures cannot be broken, meaning they are unchangeable and infallible (John 10:35). The Apostles held the same view of Scripture. Paul said, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16). Peter said, "Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:20-21). Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, reminds us that the words of the Psalmists are not man’s words, but God’s! (Acts 4:25). In Psalm 12:6-7 we are told that God’s words are absolutely pure and that God preserves His Word. The prophet David, in Psalm 19 and 119 exalts and glorifies the Word of God, the Scriptures, in the highest way, testifying, "Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate very false way" (Psalm 119:127,128).
Any concept of biblical inspiration lower than this is false. And any man or society that promotes a fallible view of biblical inspiration is to be treated as apostate. They are to be marked and avoided in obedience to the Word of God. Dr. Bratcher and his companions in the Bible societies who hold similar views are evil false teachers, wolves in sheep’s clothing, and should be dismissed from their churches and denominations as such. It is sad that the Christians with whom they are associated are so weak, so compromising, so undiscerning, so fearful of man that they will not do this. May God help us to have the courage to obey His Word.
Root Problem: Unbelief and Unregeneracy
Robert Bratcher held a question and answer session October 13, 1970, at the First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, South Carolina. Following are four of the questions and answers:
Question: ‘Why did you leave out the blood of Jesus Christ in Romans 5:9 and 14 and other places?’
Answer: ‘It is a matter of translation.’
Question: ‘Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour?’
Answer: Dr. Bratcher would not answer this question.
Question: ‘Is the human heart by nature Man-centered or God-centered?’
Answer: ‘Let us stick with questions about translation’ (Donald T. Clarke, Bible Version Manual, pp. 98-99).
On October 15, 1970, Bratcher held a question and answer session at the First Baptist Church, North Augusta, South Carolina. Before anyone could ask a question, the group was advised they could not ask Bratcher questions relating to his theology. Following is one question asked him:
Question: ‘If you should die, do you know you would go to heaven?’
Answer: Dr. Bratcher would not answer this question (Clarke, Bible Version Manual, p. 99).
The Bible says, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so..." It is VERY strange for a Bible translator to refuse to testify to his salvation. The problem with many Christian leaders today, though, is that they have no salvation of which to testify.
On a visit to Calcutta in 1984, I sat before the desk of a leader of the Bible Society of India. His name was Mr. S. Biswas, and we were visiting the offices of the Bible Society. An evangelist friend, Maken Sanglir, was sitting beside me as we talked for several minutes with Mr. Biswas. During the course of our conversation, I briefly described how I was saved at age 23 after having grown up in a Christian home. I then asked Mr. Biswas when he was saved. He sort of chuckled and replied, "No, no. Not like that. In fact, I am a third generation Christian, as my grandfather as well as my own father were Christians." He had no personal testimony of the saving power of Jesus Christ in his own life. "Biswas" in the Hindi language means "faith." How sad that a man with such a name, a man who is a leader in a society that promotes the production and distribution of the Bible, has never been saved! Yet, as many others could testify, this is the sad condition of many Bible Society leaders and workers. They have "churchianity"; they have been baptized and confirmed; but they do not know Christ in His saving power.
Thus far, we have seen that the early buds of apostasy within the United Bible Societies have come into full blossom. This is reflected in their Greek New Testament, in their promotion of the Revised Standard Version, and in their ownership and distribution of the Today’s English Version. It is also reflected in the New English Version, perhaps the worse Bible Society perversion of all.
THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE
The New English Bible was produced by the British and Foreign Bible Society and the National Bible Society of Scotland. It was an ecumenical project involving Protestants and Roman Catholics in Britain in the 1950s and ‘60s. The New Testament portion was first published in 1961, and the entire Bible in 1970.
To illustrate the doctrinal perversion of The New English Bible we will look at some of the Old Testament Messianic passages. (For a more complete report, see The New English Bible by M.L. Moser, Jr., Little Rock, Arkansas: Challenge Press, 1971).
Genesis 3:15
KJV: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
NEB: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your brood and hers. They shall strike at your head, and you shall strike at their heel."
This ancient prophecy is Messianic, describing Christ as the seed of the woman who shall bruise the Devil’s head. The "seed of the woman" points to Christ’s virgin birth. The New English Bible’s corrupt translation destroys the prophecy.
Isaiah 9:6
KJV: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
NEB: "For a boy has been born for us, a son given to us to bear the symbol of dominion on his shoulder, and he shall be called in purpose wonderful, in battle God-like, Father for all time, Prince of Peace."
This is one of the most powerful testimonies in the Bible to the divinity of Jesus Christ. He is the mighty God, the everlasting Father! The New English Bible has destroyed this testimony by changing "The mighty God" to "in battle God-like" and "everlasting Father" to "Father for all time." Christ’s title "Counsellor" is completely omitted.
Micah 5:2
KJV: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
NEB: "But you, Bethlehem in Ephrathah, small as you are to be among Judah’s clans, out of you shall come forth a governor of Israel, one whose roots are far back in the past, in days gone by."
The eternal pre-existence of Christ is plainly described in the King James Bible, but the New English Bible denies that Christ is "from everlasting," claiming instead that he has "roots in days gone by." This corrupt translation supports the heresies of Modernists, Unitarians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others that deny that Jesus Christ is God.
Psalm 45:6
KJV: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre."
NEB: "Your throne is like God’s throne, eternal, your royal sceptre a sceptre of righteousness."
This Psalm is cited in Hebrews 1 as Messianic. It describes Jesus Christ as God. The NEB version removes this powerful testimony.
Zechariah 13:6
KJV: "And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends."
NEB: "‘What’, someone will ask, ‘are these scars on your chest?’ And he will answer, ‘I got them in the house of my lovers’."
This passage refers to the crucifixion of Christ and prophetically describes the day when Israel will receive its Messiah. The NEB obliterates this Messianic prophecy by changing the "wounds in thine hands" to "scars on your chest."
Psalm 69:21
KJV: "They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."
NEB: "They put poison in my food and gave me vinegar when I was thirsty."
This is a Messianic prophecy of Christ’s crucifixion, but the NEB destroys it by changing "gall" to "poison." Matthew 27:34 plainly states that they offered Him "gall."
Psalm 22:16
KJV: "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet."
NEB: "The huntsmen are all about me; a band of ruffians rings me round, and they have hacked off my hands and my feet."
This is another prophecy of the crucifixion, but the NEB destroys it by changing the piercing of the hands and feet to hacking off the hands and feet! This is also in direct contradiction to the Scripture that says, "A bone of him shall not be broken" (John 19:36).
Isaiah 53:9
KJV: "And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth."
NEB: "He was assigned a grave with the wicked, a burial-place among the refuse of mankind, though he had done no violence and spoken no word of treachery."
This Messianic prophecy was fulfilled in the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ. He did make his grave with the wicked because He died as a sinner (though He was not a sinner) and was buried with sinners. His burial in the tomb of a rich man fulfilled the second part of the verse, "and with the rich in his death." Christ’s sinlessness is attested in the last two parts of the verse. The NEB perverts the prophecy, falsely claiming that Christ had a burial place among the refuse of mankind. This is contrary to the Bible record (Matt. 27:57-60).
Psalm 2:12
KJV: "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."
NEB: "Kiss the king, lest the Lord be angry and you are struck down in mid course; for his anger flares up in a moment. Happy are all who find refuge in him."
The translators of the NEB again deny Christ by their perversion of this verse. They replace the specific word "Son" with the general term "king," which could refer to any king. In this way, a powerful messianic prophecy is rendered impotent at the hands of these translators.
Genesis 49:10
KJV: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."
NEB: "The sceptre shall not pass from Judah, nor the staff from his descendants, so long as tribute is brought to him and the obedience of the nations is his."
The NEB robs this verse of its prophetic foreview of Christ’s Second Coming and the regathering of Israel.
This should be sufficient to show that the New English Bible is vile. These changes in the Word of God are shocking. Obviously the men involved were unbelievers and the entire translation was the work of the Devil. Well did the Lord Jesus Christ say of false teachers that they are of their father the Devil (John 8:44)! The Apostle Paul, speaking of the same type of men, said, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works" (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
New English Bible Director C.H. Dodd
Charles Harold Dodd (1884-1973) directed the New English Bible project. The preface to the New English Bible (1970 edition) says: "As Vice-Chairman and Director, C. H. Dodd has from start to finish given outstanding scholarship, sensitivity, and an ever watchful eye." Dodd was also vice-president of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Bible says "every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." The following quotations from Dodd’s books prove beyond doubt that the tree that produced the New English Bible was corrupt, and it no surprise that it is filled with heretical translations.
"The Bible itself does not make any claim to infallible authority for all its parts..." (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 15).
"It long ago became clear that in claiming for the Bible accuracy in matters of science and history its apologists had chosen a hopeless position to defend" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 13).
"The old dogmatic view of the Bible therefore is not only open to attack from the standpoint of science and historical criticism, but if taken seriously it becomes a danger to religion and public morals." (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 13).
"GOD IS THE AUTHOR, NOT OF THE BIBLE, but of the life in which the authors of the Bible partake, and of which they tell us such IMPERFECT HUMAN WORDS as they could command" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 16).
"Moses has left us no writings, and we know little of him with certainty" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 27).
"Jacob ... at the haunted ford, alone in the dark, meets a nameless Being in desperate conflict. Dawn comes, when all ghosts and goblins flee, and Jacob, surprised at finding himself alive after that night of terror names the place Peniel— presence of El" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, pp. 40,41).
"[MOSES] WAS A MAGICIAN, a medicine man, whose magic wand wrought wonders of deliverance and destruction. ... To separate history from LEGEND in the stories of his career is impossible and not very profitable" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 45).
"[Ezekiel] appears subject to trance and catalepsy. He feels himself like a psychic ‘medium’ lifted into the air and transported to distant places. The strange episode of the death of Pelatiah may perhaps be interpreted as a case of clairvoyance. No other of the great Prophets appears to display such definite symptoms of abnormality" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 46).
"In the ninth century B.C. JEHOVAH IS STILL CRUEL, CAPRICIOUS, IRRITABLE, UNJUST (by human standards of justice), AND UNTRUTHFUL. The prophets of the classical period brought the overdue advance in ideas of Jehovah’s character. The prophets’ remoulding of the idea of God is indeed, as we must frankly confess, partial" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 98).
"No one not BLINDED BY SUPERSTITIOUS BIBLIOLATRY could possibly accept for truth, as they stand, many elements in Old Testament prophecy" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 127).
"INSPIRATION DOES NOT CARRY INERRANCY, nor is it inerrancy that gives authority" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 129).
"Certainly THE PROPHETS WERE SOMETIMES MISTAKEN. That is why it behooves us to let them speak for themselves, with eyes open to the element of error in their teaching" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 128).
"There are SAYINGS [OF JESUS] (not many indeed) WHICH EITHER SIMPLY ARE NOT TRUE, in their plain meaning, or are unacceptable to the conscience or reason of Christian people" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 233).
"We need not doubt that JESUS shared the views of His contemporaries regarding the authorship of books in the Old Testament or the phenomena of ‘demon possession’--views which we could not accept without violence to our sense of truth. We readily recognize that so far HE WAS A MAN OF HIS TIME" (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 237).
"‘In the fulness of time’ Jesus came. Believing Himself called to be the ‘Messiah’ of His people, He gathered up their highest traditions..." (Dodd, Library of Constructive Theology, p. 254).
"The famous ‘whale’ or sea monster, is no zoological specimen. The ancient monster of chaos, the dragon of darkness, was a familiar figure in several MYTHOLOGIES of the ancient world ... When the Gospel of Matthew uses the story of Jonah as a symbol of resurrection from the dead, it is not very far from the original intention of the MYTH" (Dodd, The Bible Today, Cambridge: University Press, 1960, p. 17).
"Critical analysis ... shows that THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS IS A RELATIVELY LATE COMPOSITION. We have in the second chapter an earlier, and cruder, Hebrew story of creation. The account in the first chapter was written after the prophets had done their great work towards a purer and more spiritual religion" (Dodd, The Bible Today, p. 30).
"If Isaiah says, ‘I saw the Lord,’ Paul also says, ‘Have not I seen the Lord?’ ... The implication is that THE DISCIPLES’ POST-RESURRECTION MEETINGS WITH OUR LORD MAY HAVE BEEN ‘VISIONARY’" (Dodd, The Bible Today, p. 102).
"Creation, the Fall of Man, the Deluge and the Building of Babel are symbolic MYTHS" (Dodd, The Bible Today, p. 112).
"As every human being lies under God’s judgment, so EVERY HUMAN BEING IS ULTIMATELY DESTINED, IN HIS MERCY, TO ETERNAL LIFE" (Dodd, The Bible Today, p. 118).
"The strange LEGEND of the destruction of the cities of the plain has its vital centre in Abraham’s encounter with God" (Dodd, The Bible Today, p. 150).
"It has long ago become clear that in claiming for the Bible accuracy in matters of science and history its apologists had chosen A HOPELESS POSITION TO DEFEND" (Dodd, The Authority of the Bible, p. 13)
"…the New Testament Revelation ... as a whole is sub-Christian in tone and outlook" (Dodd, The Authority of the Bible, p. 15).
"God is the Author, not of the Bible, but of the life in which the authors of the Bible partake and of which they tell in such IMPERFECT HUMAN WORDS as they could command" (Dodd, The Authority of the Bible, pp. 16-17).
"MOSES HAS LEFT US NO WRITINGS, and we know little of him with certainty. But it is scarcely questionable that the Hebrew religion, before the time when its literature begins, had felt the impulse of some tremendous personality. Tradition calls him Moses, and so may we. We are not, however, in direct touch with him, but only with men who drew their inspiration from the impulse he communicated" (Dodd, The Authority of the Bible, p. 27).
"MOSES WAS A MAGICIAN, a medicine man, whose magic wand wrought wonders of deliverance and destruction. ... To separate history from legend in the stories of his career is impossible and not very profitable" (Dodd, The Authority of the Bible, p. 45).
"The Old Testament contains not only the epoch-making writings of the great prophets, but LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS which reflect the elementary piety of the common man" (Dodd, The Authority of the Bible, p. 139).
"For indeed THE BARE IDEA OF VICARIOUS EXPIATION [THE SUBSTITUTIONARY DEATH OF CHRIST IN THE PLACE OF SINNERS] IS NOT WHOLLY RATIONAL, and easily lends itself to fanaticism. After all, if God demands the suffering of one in order that the sins of others may be forgiven, a meaning is found for suffering, but at the expense of the rationality of God for which the prophets contended so vigorously" (Dodd, The Authority of the Bible, p. 215).
With the above quotations set before us, we see the prejudice of Dr. C. H. Dodd against the Bible. His words are blasphemous, yet he was selected chairman of the translation committee. A man who holds such heretical beliefs cannot be trusted with the Word of God. Jesus said in Matthew 7:18, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit."
The New English Bible is just one example of what happens to the Bible when the false teacher defiles it with his dirty hands. You cannot trust a Modernist or other heretic to be the translator of the Word of God. E. L. Bynum, pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church of Lubbock, Texas, has well said: "We might as well trust a lunatic for a lawyer, a quack for a physician, a wolf for a sheep dog, an alligator for a baby sitter, a rapist as a Girl Scout leader, or a communist for our President. No modernist can be trusted with the translation of the Word of God, or the proclamation of the Word of God!"
The Bible is replete with warnings about men who "handle the word of God deceitfully" (2 Corinthians 4:2), and we are warned to beware of such.
For the United Bible Societies to be in fellowship with such apostasy inexcusable. Again, the Spirit-given words of Amos cry out, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3).
Have we forgotten the vivid warning of the destruction that shall come upon apostate men such as C. H. Dodd? To show their condemnation even more clearly, we will quote from their own translation. They have condemned themselves in their own translation!
"But Israel had false prophets as well as true; and you likewise will have false teachers among you. They will import disastrous heresies, disowning the very Master who bought them, and bringing swift disaster on their own heads ... But the judgment long decreed for them has not been idle; perdition waits for them with unsleeping eyes. God did not spare the angels who sinned, but consigned them to the dark pits of hell, where they are reserved for judgment. He did not spare the world of old ... but brought the deluge upon that world of godless men. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah God burned to ashes, and condemned them to total destruction, making them an object-lesson for godless men in future days. ... These men are like brute beasts, born in the course of nature to be caught and killed. They pour abuse upon things they do not understand; like the beasts they will perish, suffering hurt for the hurt they have inflicted. To carouse in broad daylight is their idea of pleasure; while they sit with you at the table they are an ugly blot on your company, because they revel in their own deceptions. ... God's curse is on them! ... These men are springs that give no water, mists driven by a storm; THE PLACE RESERVED FOR THEM IS BLACKEST DARKNESS" (2 Peter 2:3-18, New English Bible).
Obviously, I have not quoted from the New English Bible to show my approval of its translation. Even in the verses quoted there are many mistranslations when compared to the faithful King James Bible. While Dodd and company did not given a pure translation of 2 Peter chapter 2, they did give a translation accurate enough to show their own frightful end—"the place reserved them is blackest darkness." Do you see, though, that these translators have left something out of verse 18? The King James Version reads, "to whom the mist of darkness IS RESERVED FOREVER." Perhaps the word "forever" was just too frightful for these Christ-denying heretics, so they simply left it out! But the heretic’s eraser does not change the preserved Word of God. The punishment of heretics is the mist of darkness FOREVER!
May God’s people not be found in fellowship with or in support of these wicked men, or found using their perverted Greek texts and Bible translations.
Unholy Hands on God's Holy Book: Part II
Way of Life Literature. Copyright 1997-2001.
P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061–0368.
1-866-295-4143 (toll free: USA & Canada),
519-652-2619 (voice),
fbns@wayoflife.org (email)
http://www.wayoflife.org/(web site)
Canada: Bethel Baptist Church, 4212 Campbell St. N., London, Ont. N6P 1A6 1-866-295-4143 (toll free), 519-652-2619 (voice) ( 519-652-0056 (fax)
