THE BIBLE TODAY |
The World, the Word & You!
Broadcast
Commentary by Dennis L. Finnan
“NEARLY TWENTY CENTURIES HAS PASSED SINCE
THE BIBLE WAS COMPLETED. FOR NINETEEN CENTURIES IT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK OF
ALL. YET TODAY MANY ARE QUESTIONING ITS RELEVANCY AND ACCURACY FOR THE 21st
CENTURY”
I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about “The Bible Today…”
… We know nothing of the value of books to more ancient generations. For centuries, the written Word could only be communicated by that very tedious form of handwriting alone. The Bible for thousands of years had to be written down by hand on sheepskins or later parchment by religious scribes. To copy a single edition of the Bible almost always took over a year of full time work to produce. For that reason, few ever had a copy of the Bible for their very own. Such handwritten books were very expensive. The owner of a Bible then would have been judged a very rich man.
But in 1456 AD, all that changed when a German named, Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press with moveable type. The very first book to be printed was the Bible. It’s cost? ¾ Just four dollars. Gutenberg’s dream came true. Now everyone could in time have his or her own copy of the Bible. Yet criticism of the Bible has not changed. Many still say, “Suppose that during all those years when scribes copied the Bible, they made little mistakes? Small errors would become large mistakes through the copying process, and in time, its true meaning would have been lost.” Many point to the King James translation, the most popular through the years, as an example. You see, the manuscripts used to bring us this most reliable book were questioned since the earliest full manuscript copies were dated no earlier than 1000 AD. A lot could happen in a 1000 years, which at the time no one could responsibly verify. Well since then, that ago-old cry has intensified. I therefore want to share with you some important facts and truths that will help you appreciate the Bible for today, and to learn of its great message of hope and love. But first one more pause for a musical refreshment, then I’ll return to attack this subject with zeal and reality…
… The real question today is “Can anyone really trust
what the Bible says since it is such an ancient book?” Since it is so old,
obviously its ancient perspectives and pleadings, are not relevant for modern
man today, right? Well the answer is wrong! Let’s get down to a basic
understanding of the Bible. In a nutshell here are some comforting truths for
you to consider.
1. TODAY EVERYONE CAN HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE
RELIABILITY OF TODAY’S MODERN BIBLE – Now admittedly, the Bible was
not written by one person in a short period of time. God used many authors from
all walks of life, over a period of 1500 years to complete this glorious work!
Its writers came from differing cultures, experiences, and backgrounds, yet God
superintended their writings to remain harmonious and accurate to His
revelations to mankind. Now the original writings or autographs were
handwritten and tediously copied with accuracy through the years. One wonders
how can it be reliable with so much manual copying? The answer is, we have more
than 24,000 partial and complete manuscripts copies of the Bible to compare
earlier copies with today’s printed bibles. When comparing these translation
copies, scholars note that there are “variants,” or differences among them.
Does this mean there are errors that make it unreliable? The answer is a
resounding no! Here’s why.
All of these “variants,” are generally insignificant for they are often just
misspellings, a missing letter, a missing word or perhaps reversed words. The
variant readings that affect any passage of the Bible today compared with
copies that are ancient, show less than one-half of one percent in the New
Testament alone, and NONE OF THESE EVER AFFECT ANY FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES OF
CHRISTIANITY! By doing these comparative analyses of the Bible and its ancient
copies, we can conclude that today’s copies and translations give us the
highest degree of accuracy one can imagine. Yes we moderns can have confidence
that the Bible today is a reliable copy of what was originally written down by
the scribes of both the Old and New Testaments.
2. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MANY DIFFERING
TRANSLATIONS, WHICH ONE IS RIGHT? – Indeed today we have a wide
variety of modern translations that for centuries didn’t exist. The King James
Version was about the only translation for more than 300 years. Some today
loudly claim the King James Version is a re-inspired divinely preserved issue
of God’s original Word and all others today are not only inferior but perhaps
demonic. Such individuals and groups which promote this, although they claim to
be fundamental Bible believing Christians, well they dangerously border on
fanatical and heretical beliefs. I’ll not go into why for I covered that in a
previous broadcast which you can obtain a copy of, by writing to me or visiting
our website at “wwy.org.” for it.
However, the Bible today does exist in different forms of translations. For
instance, translators generally base their work on two differing forms of
philosophical rendering. One is called the,
(1) FORMAL
EQUIVALENCE TRANSLATION TECHNIQUE - ( King James Bible,
New American Standard, etc.) and the other is called the,
(2) DYNAMIC
EQUIVALENCE TRANSLATION TECHNIQUE. - ( New International Version,
New Living Translation, etc.)
What’s the difference? Well, the Formal Equivalence Translation
philosophy advocates a literal rendering of the original text as much as
possible. In other words, carrying over from the original language into the new
using the same words, order, structure and form. The advantage of this is its
excellence for serious Bible study. The disadvantage is that it can be much
harder to read, even understand and the actual meaning intended can be missed.
Now the other technique of translation is called Dynamic Equivalence
which advocates a more readable translation in the language of today, and does
not provide an exact word for word and order rendering of the text. Rather, it
focuses on communicating the exact meaning of the text in today’s thought and
language. In other words it is a “thought for thought” translation that seeks
to provide the dynamic impact upon its readers as the original had on the
people of the day in which it was written. The advantage to this type of
translation is it is easier to read and understand, and seems to help keep one
from missing the real intended meaning of a text. Languages usually cannot be
translated word for word, and to do so can corrupt meanings and understanding.
Now, the disadvantage for this type of translation is that it may incorporate
too much of the translator’s personal interpretations, and is therefore less
suitable for intensive Bible study.
In addition to these two basic types of translations there are also what are
called Paraphrase Bibles (The Living Bible) . These simply are a means
to bring to the reader the easiest meanings and summations as interpreted by
the translator. These are often the most unreliable for formulating the exact
meaning of a text, but when used with a formal equivalence translation they can
be very helpful. Now, saying all that, how can one know which Bible translation
is the best? The answer is complex because it depends on what you want to do
with it. May I first say this? Remember, today’s conservative Bible
translations, ALL give us the fundamental doctrines and teachings God wants
transmitted to us in the most accurate and reliable form. Translations such as
the King James Bible, the New King James Bible, the New American Standard
Bible, The New International Version Bible, and a host of other newly
translated works can be depended upon for faith and practice of the Christian
life. However depending on whether you intend to be an in-depth student who
wants to study the original languages, certain versions will better assist you.
Now the next question many have is…