New Testament: Todays Bible Translation That Says What It Means

Rating:
Summary: Not a reliable translation
Review: God's Word follows a dynamic equivalence (thought for thought) method of translating. But there are potential problems with this method. I will use a well-known passage (Ephesians 2:8,9) to demonstrate such problems. The verses will be quoted first from the more literal New King James Version, then from God's Word:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

"God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. It is not the result of anything you have done, so no one can boast."

It should be obvious that these two versions differ greatly. If nothing else, God's word is considerably longer, having 39 words versus the NKJV's 27. But the important question is: are these added words justified by the Greek text? A look at some of the more important changes will answer this question.

First, the conjunction "For" has been omitted in God's Word. But this word is important as it indicates that this verse is related to the preceding one. The problem here is, by omitting this and other conjunctions, God's Word makes it much easier for people to take verses out of context. Conjunctions let readers know that one verse must be interpreted in light of a preceding or following verse.

Second, the first sentence has been restructured. Rather than "you" being the subject of the verb "saved," God's Word has made it the predicate noun. In order to have a subject for the verb, "God" is added to the text. And it should be noted that neither this word nor any other added word is italicized to indicate they are added.

Third, "by grace" is rendered "as an act of kindness." And "kindness" is a possible rendering of the Greek word. So this is not inaccurate. However, there is a separate word for "kindness" in Greek which appears in the previous verse. God's Word also renders this word as "kindness." By rendering both the same way, God's Word hides the fact that two different words are being used. Moreover, it must be asked why "grace" needed to be changed? Is it really a word that people today would not understand?

Fourth, "and that not of yourselves" has been changed to "You had nothing to do with it." Now it is true that the latter is a more natural way of expressing the concept, but none of the words are accurate translations of anything in the Greek text. Moreover, a phrase has been changed to a full sentence.

But most importantly, the word "that" has been changed to "it." So a demonstrative pronoun has been replaced with a personal pronoun. But at least God's Word is still using a pronoun. This pronoun is important as it refers back to "something" in the verse, but there is much debate as to what that something is. However, the two versions differ as to whether they make a decision for their readers as to what the antecedent to the pronoun is. This can been seen in the next words.

The NKJV begins the next phrase with "it is" in italics. The italics indicate these words are added. But God's Word adds, "Being saved is" without indicating the words are added. The Greek text actually has simply "this." So neither version is really literal here. But the NKJV is closer in using a pronoun to render a pronoun rather than God's Word's use of a participle functioning as a noun.

The difference here is this: the NKJV leaves it vague as to exactly what "that" refers to, and hence what the "gift from God" is. Many believe "that" and "the gift" refer back to the verb "saved." But others believe they refer to the noun "faith" or the entire preceding sentence, which includes faith, along with grace and salvation.

This difference is important as this verse could help to answer a very important yet very debated question: Do people generate faith from their own "free wills", or is the very ability to have faith a gift from God? If the antecedent to "that" is "faith" then the latter would be true. Faith itself would be a gift from God. But if the word "that" refers back to being "saved," then this verse does not settle the question one way or another.

So what God's Word has done is settle this issue for its readers without letting them know that it has done so. In other words, the theological opinions of the translators have been inserted into the text.

Continuing with comments on this verse, the phrase "not of works" has been changed to the sentence "It is not the result of anything you have done." God's Word does express the idea, but the only word actually in the Greek text is "not."

And finally, in the last phrase, the negative "lest" and the pronoun "anyone" has been changed in God's Word into the conjunction "so" and a different pronoun. But at least the final verb is rendered in a possible manner.

In conclusion, God's Word has left many words untranslated and has replaced words by completely different words. But worst of all, the theological opinions of the translators are inserted into the translation. As such, God's Word is not a reliable translation of the actual words of God.

The above was adapted from my book "Differences Between Bible Versions." My book contains more on the God's Word, along with reviews of over 30 other versions of the Bible.