TODAY’S SCRIPTURES – GOD’S ORIGINAL TRUTHS
-Introduction
-2 Tim 3:16
-2 Pet 1:19-21, 1 Cor 2:9-11, John 14:26
-A person might ask, “How do we know whether or not the scriptures of today
(translations) still contain God’s original truths? Are they the same? Can we know that
obedience to today’s scriptures is truly obedience to the will of God? Or, are we obeying
the work and message of mankind – a changed version of God’s original truths?
-These are legitimate and important questions / concerns.
-God’s Word Endures
-Ps 117:1-2, 1 Pet 1:24-25 (Is 40:8)
-But, a person might say, “You are appealing to the word. How do we know that the word
of today is accurate?”
-Some simply question God’s word to discredit it because they don’t want to obey it.
-Others are sincere individuals whose confidence has either been shaken or never
firmly established in the first place.
-They aren’t denying the inspiration of the original scriptures. They just wonder if
God’s truths have remained intact as they have passed through the hands of
fallible men and many translations.
-Once again, a legitimate question and important concern.
-Some might say, “If you have faith, you’ll believe the scriptures.” But others might
say, “If you believe the scriptures it is based on only faith with lack of evidence”.
-Let’s consider some evidence.
-Early Copies of the Scriptures
-We do not have any of the original documents of the scriptures? (If we did people would
probably revere them more than they would their message.)
-Originally, copies of the scriptures had to be hand written. It was a tedious and time
consuming project.
-scribes
-Therefore, the number of copies was limited.
-However, we do have a considerable amount of material available to us in regards to the
scriptures. (For example, there are 5,358 Greek manuscripts of the N.T.)
-quotations from the church fathers – Those who lived immediately after the apostles.
-One chart shows 36,286 quotations from the Bible.
-J. Harold Greenlee has written, “These quotations are so extensive that the New
Testament could virtually be reconstructed from them without the use of the New
Testament Manuscripts.”
-early sources
-tablets, stones, wooden tables, pieces of pottery, leather, paper, papyri, scrolls,
manuscripts, codices (book form), etc.
-Found at and from various times and in various places
-The most complete manuscript of the Greek Bible is the Codex Vaticanus.
-It contains both Testaments and is a 4th century document.
-It begins with Gen 46:28 and ends with Heb 9:13. (Ps 106-138 is missing)
-It is held in the Vatican Library.
-The Dead Sea Scrolls were some of the oldest materials found, some believed to date back
as far as the 2nd – 4th centuries B.C.
-However, they lent a great deal of validation and accuracy to the translations that were
made prior to their discovery.
-I point this out to show that the translations we have today did not come from a single
source nor a very narrow and limited source but rather a compilation of material which
has been found.
-Any time you have a process of copying, you are going to have some mistakes. If our
sources were very limited, we wouldn’t be able to determine those mistakes.
-When you have a larger amount of information available, you have an increased ability
for checks and balances and can better determine which is accurate.
-Most mistakes are unintentional while some have probably been intentional.
-Language to Language
-Anytime you translate from one language to another, there are going to be some
variations.
-The Septuagint (LXX) – about 250 B.C. - Hebrew to Greek
-Many of the direct quotations of the O.T. found in the N.T. are actually quotations
from the Septuagint. This lends credibility to the process of translation.
-Other Greek translations followed.
-The Latin Vulgate – Jerome – Latin was the language of the Romans.
-There were a number of Latin translations as well.
-Prior to the English translations, many of the translations were in Latin – the language of
the Roman Empire. However, a minority of people could read Latin.
-The English Bible
-John Wycliffe is known as the man who first produced an English bible to the chagrin of
the catholic church.
-His English translation was produced in about 1380 and he died 2 years later.
-The catholic church had such a hatred for him that in 1415 they had his body
dug up, his bones burned and his ashes thrown in the River Swift.
-Tyndale, another man who worked on making the English bible available to the common
person, was betrayed by a friend, imprisoned, strangled and burned at the stake in 1536.
-English translations:
-Great Bible – 1540
-Geneva Bible (revision of the Great Bible) – 1560
-Bishop’s Bible (revision of the Geneva Bible) – 1568
-Geneva Bibles were commonly used in homes while the Bishop’s Bible was
commonly used in churches.
-Because of this and rising criticism of the Bishop’s Bible, the process was started
for a new translation which would be known as the King James Bible.
-Since that time there have been a number of translations including:
-ERV, ASV, NASB, NKJV, NIV and others.
-But, through this all, the meaning of the scriptures has remained intact.
-The vast majority of differences from one translation to the other deals with very
minor issues. (Rom 8:1,4 – “who walk…after the Spirit”)
-However, God’s plan of redemption for His people is never in question in any of
the translations. Those passages have remained very clear.
-Summary and Invitation
-Example of witnesses describing the same event (perhaps different words but same
meaning – in some cases the meaning changes as well)
-Example of the whisper game – Usually, the words and meaning of a simple statement
change drastically.
-Now think of the content of the scriptures – the different writers, the different time frames,
the different situations being dealt with.
-Think of the circumstances through which the scriptures have come since then –
different languages, different translators, different government situations, different
locations, different times – yet the message is still in tact. (providence of God)
-2 Tim 3:16
-1 Pet 2:24-25
-We can and must put our full trust and confidence in the scriptures. The scriptures of
today still contain God’s original truths.
-Yes, some translations have gone too far (“Once upon a time”, politically correct, etc).
Some are paraphrases rather than translations.-You can study and teach out of any of
the primary translations and come to the same conclusions – KJV, NKJV, ASV, NAS,
ERV, NIV.
-They all tell us to believe (John 3:16), confess (Matt 10:32), repent (Luke 13:3), be
baptized (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, Gal 3:26-29)
-We are to walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4) and pray to God and confess our faults
when we fall short (1 John 1:7-9).
-Won’t you trust in God’s word and do as it says?