Bible Verse Comparisons
This is the next chapter of the book, The Foundations Under Attack: The Roots of Apostasy – By Michael de Semlyen
Chapter 10
Bible Verse Comparisons
Just thirty examples follow, out of many hundreds of instances in which the new translations seriously diminish the divinity of Christ and undermine the Atonement. The new versions are also markedly ecumenical, lending support to Roman Catholic teaching and dogma, as will be shown; and for this reason they have surely been an important factor in the recent rapid advance of the inter-church process. We have discussed earlier that the modern versions lend themselves more readily to futurism, to a two-stage Second Coming, and to a world ruler Antichrist to appear after the rapture of the saints. Daniel’s “seventy weeks” is translated with an unmistakable antichrist “prince” to fit the futurist thinking of the Oxford movement, of Newman, of Westcott and Hort, and of so many others who have exonerated the papacy from Scripture’s identification.
We believe that conservative evangelicals are correct when they insist that the KJV is the only Protestant Bible in common use in our language. We are not aware of any instances of the KJV weakening the translation in any way in relation to the standing of Christ, His divinity, His name, His blood or His sacrifice. Even those who have set out to argue the superiority of the new translations have not cited instances of the KJV in any way undermining the great truths of the Gospel. Where opponents of the Authorised Bible point to what may seem to be obvious error in the translation they are often mistaken. Perhaps the best example of this is Easter in Acts 12.
1. Acts 12:3-4
| KJV (King James Version) | “And because he [King Herod] saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.” |
| NIV (New International Version) | “When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.” |
Those who oppose the concept of a perfect Bible seize on the translation of Easter for the Greek word pascha as clear proof of the imperfection of the KJV. After all, in twenty-eight other appearances in the New Testament pascha is translated Passover. However, Easter is correct and Passover incorrect. Easter derives from the ancient pagan festival of Astarte, or Ishtar, the female goddess, known in the Bible as the “queen of heaven’’ (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17 & 25). Herod was a pagan Edomite and would therefore observe Easter in honour of Astarte, not the Passover. The key to the correct translation is the sequence of events. Verse 3 tells us that Herod imprisoned Peter during the days of unleavened bread which were after the Passover (Exodus 12:13-18) with the intention of holding a public trial after his own festival of Easter. The Passover preceded the events of Acts 12. Scripture does not use the term “Passover” to refer to the entire period. “The Feast of Unleavened Bread” is the form used, for example Mark 14:12.
The Deity of Christ
2. Acts 8:36-38 (Verse 37 removed.)
| KJV | “And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.” |
| NIV | “As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.” |
| Good News | “As they traveled down the road, they came to a place where there was some water, and the official said, ‘Here is some water. What is to keep me from being baptized?’ The official ordered the carriage to stop, and both Philip and the official went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.” |
This verse, one of the outstanding testimonies to the deity of Christ in the Bible, is missing altogether from the text of the new versions. It appears as a footnote in both the Good News and in the NIV. Yet, the Church fathers Irenaeus and Cyprian mention it in the second and third centuries, well before the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus codices came into existence.
3. Micah 5:2 (Jesus’ origins “from ancient times”?)
| KJV | “…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.” |
| NIV | “… out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” |
| NWT (New World Translation) | “…from you there will come out to me the one who is to become ruler in Israel, whose origin is from early times, from the days of time indefinite.” |
This great prophecy refers to the eternal Son of God who has no origin. John 1:1 : “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Both the NIV and the Jehovah’s Witness NWT blasphemously describe the Lord Jesus Christ as a created being.
4. 1 John 5:7-8 (Verse 7 removed; verse 8 rearranged.)
| KJV | “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” |
| NIV | “For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.” |
| Good News | “There are three witnesses: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and all three give the same testimony.” |
The NIV, Good News and almost all other modern versions omit verse 7, which says, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.” Additionally verse 8 is divided to conceal this omission.
Known as “the Johannine Comma”, this verse and its inclusion in the Bible has been at the centre of considerable controversy for a long time, and the arguments against it are formidable. However, there is surely no verse in Scripture that more clearly defines the Trinity and the divinity of Christ. For Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons it is unanswerable, unless they can marshal the arguments of the “naturalistic” and “higher” textual critics, or argue that it wasn’t divinely inspired.
The omission of the last twelve verses of Mark’s Gospel in the Westcott and Hort versions, which record in the footnote that “the two most reliable early manuscripts do not have Mark 16:9-20”, was comprehensively challenged by John Burgon, Dean of Chichester, who wrote to the Revision Committee:
Later on, in 1883, Burgon, the principal dissenter of the 1881 Revising Committee, gave a second solemn warning to posterity,
Also missing from Mark’s Gospel is the second part of verse 11 of chapter 6, the Saviour’s solemn warning, as shown below.
Mark 6:11
| KJV | “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.” |
| NIV | “And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.” |
| The Message | “If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.” |
5. Matthew 5:44 (Verse from the Sermon on the Mount is mutilated.)
| KJV | “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you.” |
| NIV | “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” |
6. 1 Timothy 3:16
| KJV | “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” |
| NIV | “Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.” |
| NWT | “Indeed, the sacred secret of this godly devotion is admittedly great: ‘He was made manifest in the flesh, was declared righteous in spirit, appeared to angels, was preached about among nations, was believed upon in [the] world, was received up in glory.’” |
This verse clearly reveals the divinity of Jesus Christ. The Authorised translation describes Christ as truly God; the NIV translation could hardly be more banal. Widely seen as the most serious corruption of God’s pure and holy Word (which one would expect to find in the Jehovah’s Witness bible). Believers who use the NIV are handicapped in evangelising Jehovah’s witnesses.
According to Burgon, out of 254 copies of Paul’s Epistles known to the 1881 Revision Committee, no less than 252 preserved the expression “God was manifest” with only the favoured two differing with “he who was manifested (the revisers first translation). The 1882 choice of wording was influenced by the Unitarian member of the Committee who declared himself entirely satisfied with the translation.
7. Daniel 3:25
| KJV | “He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” |
| NIV | “He said, ‘Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’” |
| NWT | ”He was answering and saying: ‘Look! I am beholding four able-bodied men walking about free in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt to them, and the appearance of the fourth one is resembling a son of the gods.’” |
| Good News | “‘Then why do I see four men walking around in the fire?’ he asked. ‘They are not tied up, and they show no sign of being hurt—and the fourth one looks like a god.” |
The KJV describes the fourth man in the fiery furnace as “like the Son of God”. One edition of the Good News Version translates this as “like an angel”. In the NIV, the NWT, The Good News footnote, and several other versions it is “like a son of the gods.” The difference is very considerable.
8. Matthew 8:2
| KJV | “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” |
| Good News | “Then a man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to him, knelt down before him, and said, ‘Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean.’” |
In this one short verse, Christ’s divinity is twice lessened by The Good News Version. The word worshipped, referring to Jesus during His ministry, is used six times in the Authorised Version of the Gospel of Matthew but only once in The Good News.
9. 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.” |
| NIV | “If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your body?’ he will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’” |
| NWT | “And one must say to him, ‘What are these wounds [on your person] between your hands?’ And he will have to say, ‘Those with which I was struck in the house of my intense lovers.’” |
| RSV | “And if one asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your back?’ he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’” |
The prophetic reference to the crucifixion has been removed from the NIV and other modern versions.
Washed in the Blood of the Lamb (?)
10. Revelation 1:5
| KJV | “…Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” |
| NIV | “ … To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,” |
| Good News | “ … He loves us , and by his death he has freed us from our sins…” |
The NIV, the Good News and almost all other modern versions nowhere have the believer “washed in the blood of the lamb.” Thus the majority of Christians now sing “O happy day—when Jesus washed my sins away” without Biblical warrant.
The Virgin Birth
11. Luke 2:33 (Jesus—the Son of God or the son of Joseph?)
| KJV | “And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.” |
| NIV | “The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.” |
| The Message | “Jesus’ father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words.” |
Besides this change in verse 33 (in the NIV and most of the new versions), in verse 43, “Joseph and His mother” becomes “his parents”. In both places the Greek text contains the word Joseph. It is translated as Joseph thirty-three times in the New Testament. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that there seems to have been a deliberate attempt to undermine the Virgin Birth, which is nowadays called into question by many leading liberals in the Church of England and elsewhere.
12. Isaiah 7:14
| KJV | “…Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” |
| Good News | “…a young woman who is pregnant will have a son and will name him ‘Immanuel. |
| NIV | “…The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” |
In The Good News Version this famous Messianic prophecy does not predict the Virgin Birth. Any young pregnant woman may have a son, but the Virgin Birth is unique. Of a total of fourteen occasions when the word virgin is used in the Greek and in the KJV, the Good News has eleven times substituted different words, i.e., girl, young woman, young girl and unmarried.
The NIV translation of Isaiah 7:14 is “The virgin will be with child…” as it is also in Matthew 1:23. The use of the definite article points to The Virgin Mary, the “Mother of God”, and the “Queen of Heaven” of Roman Catholicism.
Roman Catholic Doctrine supported by Ecumenical Translations
13. Matthew 1:25
| KJV | “And knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son: and he called his name JESUS.” |
| NIV | “But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name of Jesus.” |
| The Message | “But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.” |
The NIV and most other modern versions, to uphold Roman Catholic teaching of the perpetual virginity of Mary, omit first-born.
14. John 1:42 (Peter—the Rock or the Little Stone?)
| KJV | “…Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.” |
| Good News | “…‘Your name is Simon son of John, but you will be called Cephas,’ (This is the same as Peter and means ‘a rock.’)” |
| The Message | “He immediately led him to Jesus. Jesus took one look up and said, ‘You’re John’s son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas’ (or Peter, which means ‘Rock’).” |
Whereas the KJV translates the name Peter as “a stone”, The Good News, The Message, and some other modern versions translate it as “rock.”
Much of the new authority recently gained by the Roman Catholic Church, based on the ancient claim of the Popes to be the successors of Peter, rests on these new translations. The Good News is seen as an ecumenical bible; the Revised New English Bible, a recent addition to the many revisions, is also an ecumenical bible, translated by both Protestant and Roman Catholic scholars. According to the International Bible Society, the NIV, RSV, NASV, Good News and RNEB New Testaments are all based on the United Bible Society/Nestle-Aland Greek eclectic text. Prominent among the scholars that produced this text in its second and third editions was His Eminence Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Archbishop of Milan, a Jesuit and the Vatican’s leading Greek scholar, who had long been among the favourites to succeed John Paul as Pope. Many “new evangelicals” see the wide distribution of these “ecumenical Bibles”, based on “a common text” authorised by the Vatican, as an essential step towards reunion with Rome.
15. John 6:55
| KJV | “For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed.” |
| NIV | “For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. |
| Good News | “For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink.” |
The KJV translation emphasis on “indeed” carries the meaning “true” which is the closest to the Greek Received Text. The new translations suggest “the real presence”, the dogma of Roman Catholicism which was the central and crucial issue of the sixteenth century Reformation in England. Most of the martyrs of the faith chose to die in denying that there is “real food” or “real drink” in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. They insisted that there is the true spiritual nourishment received in the heart by faith with thanksgiving.
16. Matthew 24:23
| KJV | “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.” |
This has long been interpreted, as warning against “the real presence” and “the Blessed Sacrament” which is “reserved for adoration” in Roman Catholic and many Anglican Churches. The “real presence” is being brought back into currency again in a different form among professing Protestant churches through the summoning or calling down of the Holy Spirit to effect healing and other signs and wonders or “to practise the real presence of God with us.”
17. Matthew 19:17
| KJV | “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God:…” |
| NIV | “‘Why do you ask me about what is good?’ Jesus replied. ‘There is only One who is good.’” |
The Church of Rome calls all that have been beatified or canonised “good”. They are to be venerated and often their relics are to be adored. This is an example of a “dynamic equivalence” translation in the NIV—the ecumenical translator not accepting from the plain text what he believes simply cannot be there.
18. Matthew 6:7
| KJV | “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do:…” |
| NIV | “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans,…” |
| Good News | “When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do,…” |
Repetitious prayers like the “Hail Mary” can be said without censure from the new versions.
19. James 5:16
| KJV | “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed…” |
| NIV | “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” |
Here we find the new biblical warrant for the Roman Catholic sacrament of the Confessional.
20. 2 Peter 1:20-21
| KJV | “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.” |
| Good News | “Above all else, remember that no one can explain by himself a prophecy in the Scriptures…” |
| CEV (Contemporary English Version ) | “But you need to realize that no one alone can understand any of the prophecies in the Scriptures…” |
In other words prophecy is not an expression of the personal opinion of the prophet, but of God, through His Spirit. The Good News translation renders a totally different meaning to these verses by beginning, “No one can interpret any prophecy of Scripture by himself…”
The Apostle was teaching us how prophecy was given. This and other modern versions tell us how it should be received. The Church of Rome’s position that the individual must not exercise private judgement in interpreting Scripture but submit to the authority of Mother Church, the Magisterium, is supported by this translation. As Kansas City Jesuit Professor, H. Willmering, recently wrote in The Catholic Community, “it is of prime importance to know that prophecy of Scripture is not subject to private interpretation by every individual, as the false teachers assume it is.” It will not have escaped the reader that the issue here is that very issue at the heart of the Protestant Reformation —the authority of the Bible over the authority of the Church, or the authority of the Church over the Bible.
21. 2 Thessalonians 2:7
| KJV | “… For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way.” |
| NKJV | “… For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.” |
The New King James Version, although considerably closer than other modern versions, is not the KJV in updated language. Nor is it faithful to the Received Text. Like other modern versions it reflects the views and interpretations of its translators and is eclectic in its choice of manuscript renderings, often preferring the corrupted minority texts to the received text.
Some new Bible versions, besides the New King James Version translate this as He (not he), which clearly means the Holy Spirit. This only allows for a futurist interpretation and a pre-tribulation rapture. See Chapter 1, “The Historical View of Prophecy and Antichrist”; Subheading “The Man of Sin and Mystery of Iniquity.”
22. 2 Thessalonians 2:10
| KJV | “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” |
| NIV | “and in every sort of evil that deceives those who arc perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” |
The coming of the “man of sin” was to be with “all deceivableness of unrighteousness.” As J. A. Wylie, Victorian author of The History of Protestantism wrote, “Let us mark the phrase. It is a very remarkable one. It is used in no other place; it is employed to describe no other system; it describes the great apostasy and it alone. It is not simply ‘deceivableness,’ nor is it simply ‘unrighteousness’, it is the ‘deceivableness of unrighteousness,’ nay, it is the all-deceivableness of unrighteousness.
“Paganism was a system of deceivableness. It was the worship of a false god, under the pretence of being the worship of the true God, but popery is deceivableness on a scale far beyond that of paganism. The one was a counterfeit of the religion of nature; the other is a counterfeit of the Gospel. Popery has a god of its own— him, whom the canon law calls ‘the Lord our God.’ [Decretales Gregorii IX. Tit. 7. The Pope is called God, Decretum Gregorii XIII. Distinctio 96, Can. 7]. It has a saviour of its own—the Church. It has a sacrifice of its own—the Mass. It has a mediator of its own— the Priesthood. It has a sanctifier of its own—the Sacrament. It has a justification of its own—that even of infused righteousness. It has a pardon of its own—the pardon of the Confessional; and it has in the heavens an infallible, all-prevailing advocate unknown to the Gospel—the ‘Mother of God.’ It thus presents to the world a spiritual and saving apparatus for the salvation of men, which neither sanctifies nor saves anyone. It looks like a church; it professes to have all that a church ought to have; and yet it is not a church. It is a grand deception; it is ‘the all deceivableness of unrighteousness.’”
Prophecy Lost
23. Isaiah 31:5
| KJV | “As birds flying, so will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.” |
| NIV | “Like birds hovering overhead, the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.” |
| Good News | “Just as a bird hovers over its nest to protect its young, so I, the LORD Almighty, will protect Jerusalem and defend it.” |
Many Christians who hold to an historical view of Bible prophecy believe that this Scripture was actually fulfilled in December 1917. The deliverance of Jerusalem from the longstanding Moslem rule of the Ottoman Turks was accomplished, in answer to the faithful prayer of God’s people, by the British forces under General Allenby, using aeroplanes for the first time in such a campaign.
The Modem Versions are at variance one with another. The NIV translation is similar to the KJV, but the Good News does not allow for such an interpretation at all: “Just as a bird hovers over its nest to protect its young, so I, the LORD Almighty will protect Jerusalem and defend it.” The seriousness of the problem of different translations is perhaps illustrated here as clearly as it is anywhere— God’s prophetic Word altered into something entirely different.
24. Isaiah 59:19
| KJV | “So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” |
| NIV | “From the west, men will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along.” |
The second part of the Scripture is virtually unrecognisable in the NIV; this great word of prophecy is mutilated.
25. Daniel 12:4
| KJV | “But thou, 0 Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” |
| Good News | “He said to me, ‘And now, Daniel, close the book and put a seal on it until the end of the world, many people will waste their efforts trying to understand what is happening.’” |
The vivid portrayal of life as we now live it in the second half of the verse is obscured entirely in the Good News and other modern versions’ mutilated renderings.
26. Daniel 9:26-27 (Daniel’s 70th Week)
| KJV | “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” |
| NIV | “After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” |
| Good News | “And at the end of that time God’s chosen leader will be killed unjustly. The city and the Temple will be destroyed by the invading army of a powerful ruler. The end will come like a flood, bringing the war and destruction which God has prepared. That ruler will have a firm agreement with many people for seven years, and when half this time is past, he will put an end to sacrifices and offerings. The Awful Horror will be placed on the highest point of the Temple and will remain there until the one who put it there meets the end which God has prepared for him.” |
Careful comparison of Daniel’s great words of prophecy in the KJV, NIV, and Good News versions demonstrates how the Protestant Historical view of these verses as predicting the sacrifice to end all sacrifices at Calvary, followed by the desolation of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70, is superseded now by the Futurist theory of Antichrist at the end of the church age. In the new translations, Antichrist, who has replaced Christ “the Prince” of the KJV rendering, will make and break a covenant with the Jews, first allowing them to offer sacrifices in a “rebuilt” temple and after three and a half years causing the sacrifice to cease. The “fulfilled” interpretation, which can only be received from the KJV translation, has the covenant confirmed and the sacrifice and the oblation ceased when Christ died after a ministry of three and a half years in the middle of the 70th week. See Chapter 2, “Futurism Devised by the Jesuits – The Wiles of the Devil”; Subheading “The Seventy Weeks.”
Doctrine Lost
Apart from such enormous variations in the text and such radical changes in meaning, and apart from the loss of whole verses and even whole passages of Scripture, key words of much spiritual significance are changed or left out of the new editions. For example the word “blood” is omitted no less than thirty-four times in the New Testament by the Good News Version. As we have already noted, “virgin” is replaced, not translated, by “young woman” eleven times. “Hell” is another word that the new translators prefer to avoid, as do many of the new school of preachers. It is often replaced with “Hades”, “Sheol” and “world of the dead”. The NIV changes it to “grave” in several instances. The word “sin”, another of the “buzz words” of the Bible, as one Charismatic preacher called it, has survived the purging of such terms in the new versions, although it has not fared so well in the pulpit, nor in everyday use in the nation.
27. Mark 2:17
| KJV | “…I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” |
| NIV | “…I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” |
| Good News | “…I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts.” |
The term “repentance” disappears several times from the New Testament in both the NIV and the Good News Version.
28. John 3:16
| KJV | “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” |
| NIV | “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” |
Possibly the best known verse in the Bible teaches in the NIV that we are not sons and our God in heaven is not our father. The KJV tells us that God has only one begotten Son.
29. Matthew 5:22
| KJV | “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment:…” |
| NIV | “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment…” |
According to this verse in the NIV, Jesus’ conduct in Mark 3:5 would be subject to judgement.
30. Titus 3:10
| KJV | “A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;” |
| NIV | “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him.” |
| Good News | Give at least two warnings to the person who causes divisions, and then have nothing more to do with him.” |
The Scripture has been turned on its head. The “divisive” person that warns of error and heresy in the church (the “heresy-hunter”) is liable to be the one that is excluded from fellowship and rejected. But Romans 16:17-18, “Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine you have learned; and avoid them,” which is as clear in the NIV as the KJV demonstrates the poverty of the translation, “divisive person.”
As American Bible teacher Dr. Charles Woodbridge once noted in a warning to the well-known evangelist Billy Graham: “If you persist in making common cause with those that deny the Word of God, and thus in minimizing the sharp line of distinction between those who are loyal and those who are disloyal to the Scriptures, it is my strong opinion that you will be known as the great divider of the church of Christ of the 20th century.” (September, 1963, from “Dr. Billy Graham, the Champion of Compromise”,
The loss of the term heresy in Scripture and from today’s preaching has in a very real sense undermined and emasculated church history. The inference is that in the past, Christians were less enlightened, less tolerant and loving, and were diverted from the fullness of relationship with Christ by negative attitudes. This can be seen as part of the strategy of Satan for dividing the true church as well as seriously weakening the Word of God. Bishop Ryle’s words summarise the issue very well.
The term reformation has also been dropped from Hebrews 9:10 and with it the strong link with our Protestant heritage.
| KJV | “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.” |
| NIV | “They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.” |
| Good News | “…since they have to do only with food, drink, and various purification ceremonies. These are all outward rules, which apply only until the time when God will establish the new order.” |
The NIV and the Good News have replaced reformation with the term new order, which is entirely different and suggests departure from the past. It cannot be ruled out that in the near future we shall have a version called The New Age Bible.
Perhaps the foundations for such a bible are already being laid.
Isaiah 14:12-15
| KJV | “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” |
| NIV | “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God;I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.” |
The KJV makes it very clear that it is Lucifer whose self exaltation caused his being thrown down into the pit. The NIV, on the other hand, is by no means as clear, as it uses the very same title that the Lord attributes to Himself in Revelation 22:16: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”
Luke 11:2-4
| KJV | “…When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” |
| NIV | “…‘When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.” |
Again, the KJV is quite clear as to Whom we are praying—God, our Father in heaven, Whose will is done in heaven, Who alone can deliver us from evil. The Lord Jesus of the NIV only tells us that we are to pray to some indefinite father, and who that father is remains in the realm of our vain imaginings, making this prayer quite acceptable to those who prefer to honour the “whoever-one-wants- him-to-be” god of the New Age.
Continued in The Origins of Arminianism
All chapters of The Foundations Under Attack: The Roots of Apostasy
- The Foundations Under Attack: The Roots of Apostasy – By Michael de Semlyen
- The Historical View of Prophecy and Antichrist
- Futurism – Leapfrogging History – The Wiles of the Devil
- The Counter-Reformation – The Source of the Futurist View of Prophecy
- Futurism Devised across the Centuries by the Jesuits
- Historicist Expositors of the Nineteenth Century
- Islam in Prophecy
- The Proliferation of Modern “Bibles”
- The Modern Versions – Origins and Influences
- The Textual Controversy
- Bible Verse Comparisons
- The Origins of Arminianism
- Catholicism and Arminianism in England and France During the Sixteenth and Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
- “New Revivalism” Charles Finney, D.L.Moody, and a Man-Centered Gospel
- The Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
- The Abandoning of the Protestant Reformed Religion
Related posts:
The Olivet Discourse in All Three Synoptic Gospels Compared Verse by Verse
Matthew 24 and Luke 21 Compared Verse by Verse: The Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Preterism, Futurism, Historicism – Three Schools of Interpretation of Bible Prophecy
Pope Francis versus the Bible
Are Bible Doctrines Important to Teach and Know? Or is “All You Need is Love”?
The Bible Reveals the Existence of Conspiracies
The Popes And The Bible
Hermeneutics: The Principles for Proper Interpretation of the Bible