One of the most popular debates among Christians nowadays is what translation should be used for newer believers, daily reading, or even an in-depth Bible study. There are so many different Bible studies, many Christians chock it up to preference and stick with what best suits them. However, this might not be the best approach. After all, the Bible is God's truth to us. Used for correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). If there is only one truth, it doesn't make too much sense to choose for ourselves which version of the truth we want to use for our studies. This raises the dilemma, which version of the Bible is THE one to use.
Paraphrase vs. Literal Translation
As can be seen from the diagram above,1 each translation lands somewhere within this "paraphrase vs. literal" scale; even the almighty KJV so many swear by. One of the bigger debates in Christian circles is whether or not it's okay to use a paraphrase. Personally, my opinion leans sharply towards the literal side of the spectrum. Here's why.
- "For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (Revelation 22:18-19 NKJV)
- This verse doesn't need too much of an explanation. The only argument against this verse is that people could say that the author was only talking about the book of Revelations. However, if we can agree that the Bible in its entirety is true, that the original manuscripts were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it can be used as outlined in 2 Timothy 3:16, then we can agree that those manuscripts were in and of themselves absolute truth, then it would only be appropriate that Revelation 22:18-19 would follow.
- This verse doesn't need too much of an explanation. The only argument against this verse is that people could say that the author was only talking about the book of Revelations. However, if we can agree that the Bible in its entirety is true, that the original manuscripts were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it can be used as outlined in 2 Timothy 3:16, then we can agree that those manuscripts were in and of themselves absolute truth, then it would only be appropriate that Revelation 22:18-19 would follow.
- Furthermore, other more popular translations leave out many Bible verses including the NIV and ESV translations.
- Mike Leake of the Borrowed Light wrote an article2 called, "On Those Missing Verses in Your NIV and ESV Bible" where he names a few verses including but not limited to, Matthew 17:21, Matthew 18:11, Matthew 23:14, Mark 7:16 and more. How can we trust a translation to give any of the other verses accurately as truth, when they refuse to even give the whole truth in the first place.
What to Trust?
At this point I've had negative stuff to say about many versions of the Bible. The fact of the matter is, I don't believe many of the translations are legitimate enough to trust. Personally, I only trust three translations. The KJV, the NKJV, and one called The Scriptures (2009).
Let me put your mind to rest real quick. The Scriptures isn't some random translation that was written by one guy who thought that they knew all of the Bible and quickly wrote a "translation" of the Bible (ahem... yeah I'm looking at you "The Message"). Rather, The Scriptures was written by The Institute for Scripture Research by a group of reputable Hebrew Rabbis that decided to take their knowledge of the Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic languages and translated them as close as humanly possible to English. However, with this translation, they also preserve all of the original nouns. It doesn't use "God" in that book, but rather "Elohim". Instead of Jesus, it uses יהושע. So as you can see, this translation could be extremely hard to understand because every single name isn't what we thought it was. Moses now becomes Mosheh, and David now becomes Dawid. So how do we fix this issue?
Combining Clarity and Accuracy
Long story short, I personally use The Scriptures (2009) and the NKJV combined. This gives a nice blend of accuracy and clarity in my studies so that I can somewhat grasp concepts from the Scriptures, and then gain some more understanding from reading the same verses in the NKJV. This method has proven tremendous for me.
Let me know what you think! What versions do you like, and what are the reasons?