Questions & Answers 3082

Guest (Male): Which Bible translation is the best? Do you know? Well, stay with us and find out.
Guest (Male): You're listening to the question and answer program with our Bible teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee. This is a ministry of the Through the Bible Radio Network. And today we have a very interesting program. Many of you have raised the question about some of the modern translations being put on the market today. Well, Dr. McGee is going to deal with some of these translations and provide you with some insight into some of their differences. But before we get to this issue, let's turn to a question from a listener in Greensboro, North Carolina who writes in Ezekiel chapter 37, is God going to give the Jews, that is the ones who have died in sin, a second chance by bringing them back to life?
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, the chapter that this part is referring to is the 37th chapter of Ezekiel. Actually, it's the valley of dead bones. And those bones came together and so on. And I think that if you will let the scripture explain itself, it will explain. And we read in verse 11, he said unto me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Now, they're not individual Israelite. It's the nation Israel. It's the whole house of Israel. That is a national entity. And they actually today are not what you call a national entity, although they're probably 2 million back in that land, they have a government and all that sort of thing. But God didn't bring them back there on this trip, by the way. He brought them there at the time of the Exodus, and he's going again to move in the future and bring them back into that land. And that's actually what he's talking about here is the time when they become a living nation, not individual Israelite. He's not talking about their resurrection at all. He's talking about that he'll bring them back and they will have a national life. Now, their national life, you remember, was around actually a tabernacle, then around the temple. And they had that worship. They don't have that today. And I don't see how you can call them a national entity until they have their restored worship of God. And I believe that it will be a worship of the Lord Jesus Christ when they are raised as a nation. And they will worship him. And it's the national entity, and it hasn't anything to do with individual Israelites. It doesn't mean those that have died are going to be brought back to life again. It means that those that are living at that time will be brought back into that land and they'll be an entity. They will live in peace. Every man will live under his own vine and fig tree and none will make him afraid. And I want to tell you, if you live in that land today and you're a Jew, you're afraid. And you know that. When God brings them back, they won't be afraid.
Guest (Male): Now, let's go to our main topic for today. Here now is Dr. McGee with the issue of the various translations.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And may I say to you, the whole question of Bible translations, I do not think has been a healthy experience for the church or for Christians because it actually has taken off the very edge of the inerrancy of scripture. The fact that the words of scripture are the ones that are inspired and we do need to get translations that are nearer the original or as near as possible. First of all, let me say that I believe that the manuscripts that are being used by all of the different groups are satisfactory manuscripts. The fact of the matter is all of these translators had access to the manuscripts that are available today. And some of them have leaned on one manuscript over against another. That is true, but the manuscript background actually is very good. And we can believe that we do have a reliable translation in most of them. In other words, they were attempting to take a word in the Hebrew or the Greek and attempt to bring it over into the English in a meaningful way. That is that the word would mean exactly what it meant in the original. And if you know anything about languages, you know how impossible that is in some cases. And therefore you have to depend upon the reliability and the thinking of the translators, whether you feel like that they were attempting to stay as close as they could to the original as possible. Now, we want a translation that will say to us exactly what we believe that the original said to us. And that is something that is very difficult in some cases. But they are the exception actually, not the rule. Now, there are quite a few translations. And I would like therefore just to say a word or two about these as we go along. The one that I want to mention and then dismiss it as quickly as possible. However, I'm going to refer to it again is going to be the revised standard version. And that is the one that was put out by the National Council of Churches back in 1952 is when it first appeared. And it was very popular for a while. I was then pastor of the church in downtown Los Angeles. And I spoke on that version. And to tell the truth, I spoke on it and I only took the New Testament. And I asked my very good friend Dr. Charles Feinberg, who is an outstanding Hebrew scholar, to speak on the Old Testament. And he did. And you can be sure of one thing, that we had nothing very complimentary to say about it. But if you go back to Isaiah, where the prophecy is given about the virgin birth of Christ, well, you are surprised to find that the revised standard version here and this is one of the first. And I'm turning to Isaiah the 7th chapter here at verse 13. And he said, Hear then, oh house of David, is it too little for you to weary man, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Now, may I say that instead of using the term virgin, they use the term young woman. And now that has been heatedly debated over the years. And I remember that Dr. Feinberg spoke on that that Sunday evening. And to translate it, young woman is to certainly water down the meaning of it because this was to be a sign. Well, a sign and all that the translator could say was a young woman will have a child. Well, that happens about every minute during the day. That's no sign and would not have been a sign in that day. But the thing that made it a sign was the fact it was a virgin. And that is actually the language that's used. And when it's brought over into the New Testament, by the way, into the Greek, even the Hebrew scholars back at that time that made the Septuagint, they thought that and understood Isaiah to mean virgin and they so translated it. And may I say to you that is one good reason I think that the revised standard version today is going out of style. The fact of the matter is the language it uses is already old-fashioned. And so if you have a copy of it, it'd be better if you could use it maybe to put it as a door stop or use it in some practical way like that and get something out of the money that you paid for it because that is all actually that this volume has served. It has now gone down in sales. And I think that it will go the way of all flesh, that it will soon disappear and not be a contender at all. That's the liberals' contribution. And then the conservative boys all gotten a field and they've really had a field day, by the way. And we have here and I have before me the New American Standard Bible. And I have here before me another one, the New International version. And that one, by the way, is becoming rather popular today. And I frankly am not going to have any severe criticism to make of these different ones. But I do know that Christianity today got out an article in their magazine on Bible translations. And they gave it a guide through the forest. Well, they, of course, you would expect them to put down the King James version, which they did. And I think sometimes they are doing it because I'm the one that recommends the King James. So, and a friend of mine says, now McGee, don't develop a bad case of paranoia. They don't even know that you're even in the field for that matter. Well, I want to say that I do use the King James. I still recommend it. And with all these translations that I have here, I'd be very frank with you. I find all of them deficient. Therefore I can even find deficiencies in the King James for that matter. Now, one that's not a translation at all, it's a paraphrase. And that's the Living Bible done by Ken Taylor. He was in my midweek service one evening and somebody gave me a loaded question. They asked what I thought about the Living Bible. And I told them what I thought. And that's that Ken Taylor. I didn't know him then. I'd never seen him before. And now he sat right out there and he heard me say that I did not believe it was a translation at all, could not be called a translation, but that it was a paraphrase and an interpretation. And if you wanted to use it as an interpretation, it would be good and it would be helpful. And he came down to me afterward and told me, he says, well, that's it exactly. He told me, I didn't intend to translate the Bible. I intended it to be a paraphrase. I intended to be just an interpretation. So, if you want to take it like that for that is the way that Mr. Taylor told me is the reason that he wrote it. But I understand that today they're attempting to make it one of the translations. And I don't think it ought to be put in that category at all. Now, this New English Bible, it's a British Bible and it's very good, but it's the British attempt to come up with something that they feel will be more readable than the King James is readable. And I therefore am not going to either recommend it or attempt to say anything for or against it because to tell the truth, my feeling is that it stands in the same position that anyone of our translations that we have today that have been made in this country. And then there is the New American Standard Bible. And this, I find it very good. If you want to read these as interpretations, I think they're excellent. And I think this one can be used like that also. And then we have here the New International Version. And very candidly, it is possibly the one that is going to take the place of the King James. That is if any Bible takes the place of the King James, it will be this New International version. I find more using it than any other. It's the one that's called the NIV version. And it's in contrast to the NAS version. You see that all of these, it's about as confusing as anything possibly could be. Now, I'd like to take the King James version. And there are several very difficult passages that you have and you have to understand. Now, I'm going to take one that has been given to us to show that it's hard to understand. And it is that Psalm 119 147. And the way that the King James has it is, I prevented the dawning of the morning. We know that the English word prevent does not mean to hinder, but actually means to go before. And I go before the dawning of the morning. And I like it that way. I think that's very beautiful if you just understand what the word prevent meant in that day. But now that of course gave a field day to the boys as they attempted to translate it. And you will find that the New American Standard version, and I'm going to turn to it. And it has translated Psalm 119 147. It says, I rise before dawn and cry for help. And here they have a little note on it. They don't want to take, you know, full responsibility. And they give you the literal, which is anticipate. And may I say to you, I don't know why they didn't put that in the translation because the word means that. It does not mean I got up. It means I anticipated. The man could still be lying in bed. And he could anticipate the dawning. And it would actually make sense. I anticipate the dawning. And I cry for help before get up. I cry for help. And may I say to you that I don't think the translation is been helped at all by this. So, let us maybe look at another one. I want to turn for instance to the one I've referred to because the two that are out in front today are the New International Version. And also this one that is the New American Standard. The New International Version, unfortunately, I did not turn to it. But I understand that it follows the usual pattern of I got up. And it's not quite like that. There is the idea that it just simply means I got up before dawn. I'd like to go now to a version that a great many have passed by. And I would consider it one of the best that we have today. And that is the amplified. That is if you're talking about new translations. And I'd like for you to hear the translation that's given in the amplified. And this, may I say, is closer to the original than any of the new translations. It says, I anticipated the dawning of the morning and cried in childlike prayer. I hoped in your word. In other words, you have here really a literal translation. In other words, in the morning before he got out of bed, anticipated. And I think all these new translations have just missed it, absolutely missed the very subtle point that is given to us there. And you'll find that others have attempted to give us a translation. And this one that I follow a great deal. And that happens to be the American Standard Version that goes back to 1901. I think it's probably more literal than any that we have. And it has. I anticipated the dawning of the morning and cried, I hoped in thy words. And very frankly, that is probably closer to the original than any. And that's exactly what the King James is saying. If you just take a little time and study and find out what prevent really means. Prevent doesn't mean hinder. Prevent means to go before. Pre before, venio go, to go before. So, we've got the word meaning something at the opposite of what it should be meaning today. And so that would give the student a good lesson in words today, a word study that is very desperately needed, by the way, in this hour in which we live. Now, I would like very much to say just a word therefore about these translations in connection with another translation that is given. And I probably should bring in here the New King James version. The man who translated the New King James version really had a task set before them. I was put on the original committee that had oversight of it. And I got off of it because candidly I didn't feel that I could give it the time that it should have, that if you're going to deal with a Bible translation, you sure better be able to give time to it. And I didn't have the time to give. So, I got off the committee. But the horns of dilemma on which they were was this. They had to retain as much of the old King James as they could. And yet they had to do enough of changing to call it a new King James translation. So, they really were on the horns of the dilemma. And they got rid of the these and the vows. Well, and all the translations have done that, of course. And I do not see why we can take maybe three minutes and tell little Willy or little Suzy that the and thou was the way that they spoke back in those days. And that it was rather reverent way of speaking and not the flip way of speaking that we have today. Our language is anything but reverent. There's nothing reverent in Americanism today, nothing at all. And therefore to translate the Bible into the common colloquialism of the street, you'd really come up with something. Somebody says, well, it was translated in the common language of that day. Yes, but they had a reverence that we do not have today. We're a flip generation. We are a cynical crowd. And therefore I don't think it ought to be put in our language. I think it be kept in a language that we could show reverence for. And that's one of the things that I think these new translations, their self-defeating purpose is to give us something that is modern, but I want the word of God. And I don't want some street language that's used today that's highly irreverent. Now, I think I would like to take up a word or an expression that is used again and again in the New Testament. And that is found in Acts 16:31. Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now, the amplified does a good job here. They say believe in and on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then they give a little explanation. That is give yourself up to him. Take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into his keeping and you will be saved. Now, that of course is more than a translation. It's an interpretation also. But it's a true interpretation of the original because the Greek word pisteuo carries in it the idea of trust more than just the belief. You see, if you say believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, what do you mean? They say believe in his death and resurrection. Well, do you mean to believe that it's a historical fact that he died on the cross? And that is a historical fact. And many a man who are not Christian accept that. And do you believe he was raised again the third day bodily from the grave? Now, Christians believe that. They believe it was an act that actually happened, that it was a historical act that took place. And therefore is just a historical thing and it could have no effect upon you. But the word that's used has in it more than just that. And actually the word trust, I think conveys more the meaning than the word believe does. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have today in the church a great many people who believe that Jesus died. They believe he rose again, but they're not trusting him. That's a personal transaction. And that's what the word means. And if you go through these translations, oh, you are so disappointed because they didn't take time like the amplified to sort of, you know, help us out on it. I read now from the American Standard Bible. And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved, you and your household. And I say to you that hasn't helped it a bit to change from on to in. If it said in to, I would thought that would have been better. And then if you go to this Bible, there are many believe it's going to become the most popular one of all, the New International Version. And it says, they replied, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. And I say to you, friends, that's not quite the translation we ought to have if we're going to have a new translation. It ought to be a little bit better than that. And therefore I say to you that all these new translations have not added anything to the King James as I see it. It's still the King James. I recognize that. But it is the Bible that shows reverence. The language is reverent. And if you will take time to study and read it, it'll become very meaningful to you. And by the way, you may have two minute eggs for breakfast. And you may have all these new gadgets, but you can't get the Bible translated into that kind of language, my friend. If you're going to know the word of God, you're going to have to take time with it.
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