TRANSLATION ERRORS IN MODERN BIBLES

[Richard Aberdeen]

Every modern version contains mistranslations, including the King James Version. Here's a list of a few of them:

Gospel - correctly translated as "good news" from the Greek.

Church – “assembly”.

Apostle– “sent one”, such as Paul and Peter the “sent ones”. Paul calls other people “sent ones” besides the twelve, including at least one woman.

Deacon - "servant".

Bishop - "overseer” or “elder".

Pastor– "shepherd". Shepherds did not preach sermons and were not a leader.

Word (in John 1:1) – correctly translated as “logos”. Logos means ultimate truth and wisdom; universal and beyond view or God's view, as opposed to human understanding; creative mind; Creator. Logos did not mean “word” to the Greeks, as modern bibles mistranslate the entire idea and meaning.

Epistle -"letter".

Doctrine -"teaching".

Homosexual - correctly translated as “homosexual sex”, referring to the act, not the person. God is not against people. Rather, God is against what people often do, including fornication, adultery and homosexual sex; all three listed together in I Corinthians 6:9. “For God did not send his son into the world to condemn people, but that people through him might be saved.”

Disciple – "follower"/"student".

Angel – “messenger”

Minister–“servant” – Ministry - “service”

Preach-"proclaim" – anyone can proclaim the good news of Jesus; no religious cemetery degree either needed, required or desired. However, one should be very careful regarding anything in the Bible, that they understand and teach others correctly.

Saint-a saint is someone who has been made holy by being washed by the blood of Jesus. No pope or other human being can make anyone a saint. Only Jesus can make someone a saint. And we cannot make ourselves a saint by doing good works or refraining from certain things. Only through forgiveness from Jesus can someone become a saint.

These mistranslations are used to turn Jesus into a religion, which is not the intention of the New Testament; Jesus is deliberately secular, eating, drinking and associating with sinners and the common people, while railing against the religionists of his time. The New Testament is written in secular Koine Greek, the language of the common people. True religion is defined in James I:27.

Be not deceived, Jesus did not come to earth to establish a religion called Christianity. He came to earth to save us sinners, to set us free, to give us life abundantly and to establish his assembly, which consists of his people. “This is the work of God, that you believe in him who he sent.”

 

[NBTT]

Very good post @Richard Aberdeen.

Translation is inherently imperfect due to differences in languages. Even the oldest manuscripts we have contain some minor transcription errors but they don't impact doctrine. Luckily God preserved so many copies that it permits error correction just like modern communications systems insert redundancy for error detection and correction.

Human language is finite and limited so even the original manuscripts (if we still had them) do not convey perfectly the entire mind of God. God does however provide in His word everything we need to know in this life.

Are we loving (agape love) Him and one another as He instructs us to? I fail to do that and pray that the Holy Spirit that indwells us guides us to obey those instructions by submitting fully to Him.

 

[Richard Aberdeen]

Very good post @Richard Aberdeen.

Translation is inherently imperfect due to differences in languages. Even the oldest manuscripts we have contain some minor transcription errors but they don't impact doctrine. Luckily God preserved so many copies that it permits error correction just like modern communications systems insert redundancy for error detection and correction.

Human language is finite and limited so even the original manuscripts (if we still had them) do not convey perfectly the entire mind of God. God does however provide in His word everything we need to know in this life.

Are we loving (agape love) Him and one another as He instructs us to? I fail to do that and pray that the Holy Spirit that indwells us guides us to obey those instructions by submitting fully to Him.

Translation errors matter significantly to how people understand the Bible and should be corrected whenever known. It is foolish to call something "the gospel" that Jesus himself called "good news". Everyone can relate to "good news", while the majority of people on earth have no idea what "gospel" means.

 

[KingJ]

These mistranslations are used to turn Jesus into a religion, which is not the intention of the New Testament; Jesus is deliberately secular, eating, drinking and associating with sinners and the common people, while railing against the religionists of his time. The New Testament is written in secular Koine Greek, the language of the common people. True religion is defined in James I:27.

I can see your point about Jesus associating with sinners and ordinary people rather than the religious elite. However, that is not the same as saying Jesus was secular.

Jesus certainly opposed hypocrisy, legalism, and man made traditions, but He constantly taught about God, repentance, righteousness, judgment, prayer, worship, the Kingdom of God, and eternal life. Those are not secular themes.

Jesus was not anti religion. He was against false religion. James 1:27 even speaks of "pure religion," showing that Scripture distinguishes between true and false religion rather than rejecting religion altogether.

 

[NBTT]

It is foolish to call something "the gospel" that Jesus himself called "good news". Everyone can relate to "good news", while the majority of people on earth have no idea what "gospel" means.

I was taught from the KJV. My teachers repeatedly explained that the definition of "gospel" is "good news". That's the dictionary etymology of "gospel".

A friend of mine studied Hebrew and Greek his entire life and studies the word daily in their original languages. We joyfully talk about God's word every time we meet and have little to no doctrinal disagreements. There are translations out there that contain "errors" that appear to be deliberate attacks. The KJV however is a good translation.

We worship the perfect loving God who inspired the bible. We don't worship the book itself written in imperfect human languages.

 

[Richard Aberdeen]

I can see your point about Jesus associating with sinners and ordinary people rather than the religious elite. However, that is not the same as saying Jesus was secular.

Jesus certainly opposed hypocrisy, legalism, and man made traditions, but He constantly taught about God, repentance, righteousness, judgment, prayer, worship, the Kingdom of God, and eternal life. Those are not secular themes.

Jesus was not anti religion. He was against false religion. James 1:27 even speaks of "pure religion," showing that Scripture distinguishes between true and false religion rather than rejecting religion altogether.

True religion that is acceptable to God is defined in James 1:27. Any other religion is corrupting the good news of Jesus.

 

[NBTT]

Yesterday while in the bible I came across an error about the number of chariots in KJV 1 Samuel 13:5. A good example of what I meant in post #2 of a correctable error that does not affect doctrine.

 

[DoYouREALLYthinkThat?]

Every modern version contains mistranslations, including the King James Version. Here's a list of a few of them:

Gospel - correctly translated as "good news" from the Greek.

Church – “assembly”.

Apostle– “sent one”, such as Paul and Peter the “sent ones”. Paul calls other people “sent ones” besides the twelve, including at least one woman.

Deacon - "servant".

Bishop - "overseer” or “elder".

Pastor– "shepherd". Shepherds did not preach sermons and were not a leader.

Word (in John 1:1) – correctly translated as “logos”. Logos means ultimate truth and wisdom; universal and beyond view or God's view, as opposed to human understanding; creative mind; Creator. Logos did not mean “word” to the Greeks, as modern bibles mistranslate the entire idea and meaning.

Epistle -"letter".

Doctrine -"teaching".

Homosexual - correctly translated as “homosexual sex”, referring to the act, not the person. God is not against people. Rather, God is against what people often do, including fornication, adultery and homosexual sex; all three listed together in I Corinthians 6:9. “For God did not send his son into the world to condemn people, but that people through him might be saved.”

Disciple – "follower"/"student".

Angel – “messenger”

Minister–“servant” – Ministry - “service”

Preach-"proclaim" – anyone can proclaim the good news of Jesus; no religious cemetery degree either needed, required or desired. However, one should be very careful regarding anything in the Bible, that they understand and teach others correctly.

Saint-a saint is someone who has been made holy by being washed by the blood of Jesus. No pope or other human being can make anyone a saint. Only Jesus can make someone a saint. And we cannot make ourselves a saint by doing good works or refraining from certain things. Only through forgiveness from Jesus can someone become a saint.

These mistranslations are used to turn Jesus into a religion, which is not the intention of the New Testament; Jesus is deliberately secular, eating, drinking and associating with sinners and the common people, while railing against the religionists of his time. The New Testament is written in secular Koine Greek, the language of the common people. True religion is defined in James I:27.

Be not deceived, Jesus did not come to earth to establish a religion called Christianity. He came to earth to save us sinners, to set us free, to give us life abundantly and to establish his assembly, which consists of his people. “This is the work of God, that you believe in him who he sent.”

But, what is God's Name?

 

[Richard Aberdeen]

But, what is God's Name?

God told Moses his name is I am. Jesus says, "before Abraham was, I am."

 

[Richard Aberdeen]

Yesterday while in the bible I came across an error about the number of chariots in KJV 1 Samuel 13:5. A good example of what I meant in post #2 of a correctable error that does not affect doctrine.

You act as if it doesn't matter if billions of people understand what Christians who call the message of Jesus "gospel" means. Do you really think God doesn't care if people understand what gospel means? Or if Jesus says "assembly" or church. But it very much does matter. Many people today believe church refers to a building or religious organization. While nobody believes "assembly" means anything other than people gathered together. Correct Greek meaning very much matters.

 

[Richard Aberdeen]

I was taught from the KJV. My teachers repeatedly explained that the definition of "gospel" is "good news". That's the dictionary etymology of "gospel".

A friend of mine studied Hebrew and Greek his entire life and studies the word daily in their original languages. We joyfully talk about God's word every time we meet and have little to no doctrinal disagreements. There are translations out there that contain "errors" that appear to be deliberate attacks. The KJV however is a good translation.

We worship the perfect loving God who inspired the bible. We don't worship the book itself written in imperfect human languages.

 

[Richard Aberdeen]

Gospel is an Old Saxon word meaning "good story". But many people on earth have no idea what gospel means. Do you really think God doesn't care if people understand what gospel means? Or if Jesus says "assembly" or church. But it very much does matter. Many people today believe church refers to a building or religious organization. While nobody believes "assembly" means anything other than people gathered together. Correct biblical Greek definition very much matters.

 

[Richard Aberdeen]

I can see your point about Jesus associating with sinners and ordinary people rather than the religious elite. However, that is not the same as saying Jesus was secular.

Jesus certainly opposed hypocrisy, legalism, and man made traditions, but He constantly taught about God, repentance, righteousness, judgment, prayer, worship, the Kingdom of God, and eternal life. Those are not secular themes.

Jesus was not anti religion. He was against false religion. James 1:27 even speaks of "pure religion," showing that Scripture distinguishes between true and false religion rather than rejecting religion altogether.

Jesus was secular. The entire New Testament except the letter of James is written in secular koine Greek. There are no religious-sounding words like apostle, bishop, church, gospel, epistle, etc. in the Greek New Testament; these are misleading mistranslations that are used to make a religion out of Jesus when none is intended. Jesus didn't come to establish a religion, he came to set us free and give us life more abundantly. Jesus defines why he came in Luke chapter 4, reading the prophecy of Isaiah regarding Messiah.

 

[Richard Aberdeen]

Very good post @Richard Aberdeen.

Translation is inherently imperfect due to differences in languages. Even the oldest manuscripts we have contain some minor transcription errors but they don't impact doctrine. Luckily God preserved so many copies that it permits error correction just like modern communications systems insert redundancy for error detection and correction.

Human language is finite and limited so even the original manuscripts (if we still had them) do not convey perfectly the entire mind of God. God does however provide in His word everything we need to know in this life.

Are we loving (agape love) Him and one another as He instructs us to? I fail to do that and pray that the Holy Spirit that indwells us guides us to obey those instructions by submitting fully to Him.

I'm aware of that, but correct meaning significantly matters in understanding what the Bible actually means. For example, if I say the word "church" in the United States, the majority of Americans likely think of a building or religious organization. But if I say the correct Greek meaning, which is "assembly", everyone knows that refers to a gathering of people. Jesus chose his words carefully and, we should strive to teach them accurately. Jesus calls his message "good news" and so should we. I would bet that the majority of people on earth have no idea what "gospel" means, while virtually everyone can relate to "good news".

 

[NBTT]

Different bible translation styles have different uses. The best teachers I've had refer to a range of styles including interlinear. This graph, by no means complete, summarizes the range of styles.

 

[DoYouREALLYthinkThat?]

God told Moses his name is I am. Jesus says, "before Abraham was, I am."

Mistranlation.

 

[Richard Aberdeen]

Different bible translation styles have different uses. The best teachers I've had refer to a range of styles including interlinear. This graph, by no means complete, summarizes the range of styles.

I'm aware that Greek and Hebrew contains words with multiple meanings, but the words I listed do not mean as they are translated. For example, the Greek means "assembly", not church, "teaching", not doctrine; "good news", not gospel, "sent one", not apostle. It is not okay to confuse sinners who Jesus dearly loves with deliberately wrong translation or otherwise, using Middle and Old English words like "gospel" instead of "good news". Everyone on earth of any age understands what good news means, while the majority of people on earth have no idea what gospel means.

 

[DoYouREALLYthinkThat?]

What about the MAIN mistranslation: God's very NAME replaced with the generic "LORD"!

 

[Richard Aberdeen]

What about the MAIN mistranslation: God's very NAME replaced with the generic "LORD"!

This is because orthodox Jews will not speak God's name out loud, thus out of reverence to who God is, they say "adonai", translated as Lord into English. God's name in my opinion, is probably not correctly translated as Yahweh. Rather, YHWH, according to the Britannica, has a Hebrew meaning, which is "I am, I shall be, spoken to infinity." Humans of course, cannot speak to infinity, thus God tells Moses to tell his people that "I am" sent you.

God does not tell Moses to say that Yahweh sent you but rather, God told Moses to tell them that "I am" sent him. This is why I don't agree with the modern practice of filling in the vowels and calling God Yahweh, which again in my opinion, is probably not accurate.

 

[DoYouREALLYthinkThat?]

This is because orthodox Jews will not speak God's name out loud, thus out of reverence to who God is, they say "adonai", translated as Lord into English. God's name in my opinion, is probably not correctly translated as Yahweh. Rather, YHWH, according to the Britannica, has a Hebrew meaning, which is "I am, I shall be, spoken to infinity." Humans of course, cannot speak to infinity, thus God tells Moses to tell his people that "I am" sent you.

God does not tell Moses to say that Yahweh sent you but rather, God told Moses to tell them that "I am" sent him. This is why I don't agree with the modern practice of filling in the vowels and calling God Yahweh, which again in my opinion, is probably not accurate.

That was their EXCUSE- it was used almost 7,000 times in the OT!
And there you go with the great "I AM" Hoax.