Paraphrases And Testaments

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. Deuteronomy 4:2

The writers of the books of the Bible were moved by the Holy Spirit to write. The warnings of God are that we should not diminish from it or add to it. If each generation before us were to add to or take from God’s Word at will what would we have? Moses, being the writer of the first five books of the Bible, would be the most obscure. By the time of Christ would the writings of Moses be reliable? To that add the almost 2000 years since Christ and again consider that each generation were to add or subtract at will from the Bible, what would the final edition look like? The Reader’s Digest version is an extreme example, but what if each generation took that kind of liberty and subtracted 40% of what was written. Matthew 1:17 states that there are 42 generations from Abraham to Christ. If we just take those 42 generations and the five books of Moses what would we have if we removed just 1% from those books during each generation. We would have 42% removed from it. That would be the equivalent of all of Genesis and most of Exodus. Now what if we added 1% of our own ideas to the text. Wouldn’t the text look very different from what it is now? What if each generation just sat down and imagined themselves into the stories and just wrote what came to mind. And what if their ‘translation’ was the only surviving one from their generation. What would we have? Would it be accurate?

I’m reminded of the game I played as a child called Gossip. A row of people begin at one end to relay a statement from one person to the next until it reaches the other end. The statement can be said only once. When the remark reaches the other end of the line the last person says out loud what they heard. I don’t remember a time when the final remark had any resemblance to the original. That is how the Bible would be if care is not taken in adding or subtracting from it. God has preserved it from such things happening, but Satan is continually attempting to obscure what God has made plain.

But how freely paraphrases are written is disturbing to me. One author in his preface equivocates on the literal understanding of creation and uses what is called ‘interpretive freedom’. Another says that his translation cannot be used as a basis for doctrinal disputes. Can we really put our trust in a translation for doctrine that is written by someone who doesn’t take God at His word when He says, "The evening and the morning were the first day." If he doesn’t havcaptere even that much faith in God why should I trust this author? And if I cannot use a bible for doctrinal purposes what good is it? I wouldn’t even feel safe reading it for ‘devotional’ as some people argue. Why take the chance with our eternal life? This is a eternal life and death subject. We should want to know who God really is, not what someone else imagined Him to be.

The work called the Clear Word is one man’s notes made from his own personal study. I am sure they were a great benefit to him and I would hope that everyone would spend as much time in God’s Word, but to take ones personal notes and call that a bible does not seem right to me. I know that it is now called a Clear Word Paraphrase which is more honest but, it is still considered by many to be a ‘bible’ and it is still sold in the bible section of our stores. Why? I have seen the users of these trying to prove doctrine from them. By doing that are we not putting ourselves on the level with the Jehovah’s Witnesses in producing, using and preaching from our own Bible? Aren’t we like the Mormons who have their own ‘scripture’, the Book of Mormon if we extol a particular paraphrase.

The paraphrases I have looked at follow, with few exceptions, the reading of the other bibles mentioned in this book. The NIV, NASB, NEB, RSV and CEV are more commonly followed than is the KJV. But the paraphrases go beyond those using ‘interpretative freedom’. One example of that is in 1 Kings 22:38 of the Clear Word. The KJV reads:

And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the word of the LORD which he spake. 1 Kings 22:38 KJV

The Clear Word reads:

As they were washing his chariot by the pool of Samaria where the prostitutes of the city came to get their water, dogs came and lapped up Ahab’s blood just as the Lord had said. Then Amon, the mayor, released Micaiah, the prophet of God, from prison. But Zedekiah, the false prophet, who had slapped Micaiah hid himself in the back room of one of the houses just as Micaiah had said he would.

Where did all this extra stuff come from? Is this ‘interpretive freedom’ or is this what happens when someone ‘visualize’ themselves ‘into each biblical scene’?

What about the ‘hollow pillars’ used in the building of the sanctuary found in Exodus 26:32. The KJV makes no mention of these pillars being hollow. Is God’s earthly representation of His heavenly sanctuary a cheap imitation? Or is the heavenly sanctuary made with hollow material? What would that say about God? Does He cut corners?

The story of Samson in Judges 16 makes me wonder too. This doesn’t agree with any of the translations of the Bible in several places. In verse 9 we are told in the KJV that the men that were lying in wait were ‘abiding in the chamber’. The Clear Word says that one man was in the next room while the rest were outside. This same idea is repeated in verses 12. Words are put in Samson’s mouth in verse 11. Verse 21 in the KJV reads:

But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. Judges 16:21 KJV

The Clear Word says:

He went after the Philistines but they could tell that he wasn’t the same as he had been before. So they jumped on him, wrestled him to the ground and tied him up. Then the Philistines put out his eyes and took him to Gaza on the coast where sometime before he had carried away the city gates. They put his ankles and wrists in shackles and put him to work pushing the arm of a huge millstone to grind grain.

Verse 28 of the KJV reads:

And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. Judges 16:28

The Clear Word reads:

Then Samson prayed to the Lord and said, "O Sovereign Lord, I have asked you to forgive me my sins so many times, I believe you have forgiven me. So please give me back my full strength just one more time. I want to let these Philistines know that their god is nothing. Besides, why did they have to gouge out both my eyes and bring me here to make fun of me?"

Does the Clear Word version live up to its name in the following verse? The KJV reads:

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Matthew 7:15

It reads, ‘Some spiritual leaders seem to be very interested in the things I’m telling you, but you can’t always be sure which way they’re leading you.’

How about Matthew 24:11? The KJV reads:

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. Matthew 24:11

But the Clear Word reads, ‘False preaching will be going on everywhere, and many people will be deceived.’ What happened to the false prophets? With this ‘bible’ a person can claim to be a prophet of God and the Bible texts warning about false prophets won’t be there to guide people.

These are just a very few of the many changes in this book. How do we know that the rest of the book is true? Maybe, I could write my own version and add that Delilah painted Samsons face with a clown face while he was asleep. Wouldn’t it be as good as what we see here? Whose to say that my ‘translation’ of the bible is wrong?

Could it be that these two texts are applicable here?

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah 8:20 KJV

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 Peter 2:1 KJV

I just don’t get it! Why are we so easily led? Joseph Smith was a Mormon and he wrote his ‘scriptures’. Mary Baker Eddy was Christian Scientist and she wrote her ‘scripture’. I guess we need ours too! Is that it? We are suppose to be the people of the Bible. Line upon line, precept upon precept should be our motto. We should be people of the real Bible!

Now I want you to know that I care very much for Jack Blanco and perhaps his study was helpful to him, but what he wrote cannot be called a Bible. And being a Seventh-day Adventist doesn’t mean one is always right. His opinion is just that, his opinion. If the Bible doesn’t say that someone said or did something I am on dangerous ground if I tell others that those people did it. We should let the Bible speak for itself.

If you are like some people I have shared my concern with I might hear you say, "Well, the King James translators made additions, just look at the italicized words in the texts." And I agree, they did add some words. But in humility and respect for God’s word it has been italicized so that the reader would know what was added and what was not. They gave the reader the choice to take their rendering or if they chose they could read the text without their words. They were honest about what they did. But look what the other versions do. If you put them to the same standard that you put the KJV then they have added to the text too but you no longer know what is theirs and what is original text. They don’t make a distinction. Consequently you are led to believe that all those words were in the original text.

Often we say that we want Bible study to be easy. That is often the reason for the interest in a paraphrased version. We want it on our terms. But the Lord wants us to search the scriptures. He never promised that understanding it would be easy or that the meaning would be right on the surface. The Bible says this in Matthew 13:10,11 & 15:

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given... For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." KJV

Further on in verses 44-46 our Lord likens it to hidden treasure and a pearl of great price. It is by searching that we will find the treasures of God. Things that we consider to be of the greatest value are those things we work for. When you work hard to own your own house you care for it. The same is true of the truths of the Bible. God could have put it all out in the front, a list of rules. But it would not have the value for us. In my own experience I have found that a verse means much more to me and I remember it longer if I have to look up a difficult word that I don’t understand. I remember it because I have to work for it.

Christ’s hearers could choose to understand by asking questions or they could pass over what He said. We can ask the Bible questions by praying and asking for the Holy Spirit to guide us and then by reading other passages on the same subject. We are to think about it. In the same way that we eat a meal we are to eat the Word of God. Break it up, and chew it. Don’t just swallow it whole. A word study, allowing the Bible to speak for itself is one valuable way we should study. "Here a little and there a little" the Bible says. When I take this approach with a paraphrase it is nearly impossible because the words are so different.

Many think that they must consult commentaries on the Scriptures in order to understand the meaning of the word of God, and we would not take the position that commentaries should not be studied; but it will take much discernment to discover the truth of God under the mass of the words of men. How little has been done by the church as a body professing to believe the Bible, to gather up the scattered jewels of God's word into one perfect chain of truth? The jewels of truth do not lie upon the surface, as many suppose. The master mind in the confederacy of evil is ever at work to keep the truth out of sight, and to bring into full view the opinions of great men. The enemy is doing all in his power to obscure heaven's light through educational processes; for he does not mean that men shall hear the voice of the Lord, saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it."[2 ISA. 30:21.] Christian Education p. 85

Compare the number of pages of your KJV with the Clear Word bible.

The foreword of the Living bible I have has this quote in it, "We caution those who wish to engage in theological disputes not to use this volume." They say that most people who chose that version will not be interested in technical and theological things.

On the subject of the publication of Bible parts like the New Testament or Psalms or one of the gospels I will refer you to these quotes:

Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. Matthew 13:52. In this parable, Jesus presented before His disciples the responsibility of those whose work it is to give to the world the light which they have received from Him. The Old Testament was all the Scripture then in existence; but it was not written merely for the ancients; it was for all ages and for all people. Jesus would have the teachers of His doctrine diligently search the Old Testament for that light which establishes His identity as the Messiah foretold in prophecy, and reveals the nature of His mission to the world. The Old and the New Testament are inseparable, for both are the teachings of Christ. The doctrine of the Jews, who accept only the Old Testament, is not unto salvation, since they reject the Saviour whose life and ministry was a fulfillment of the law and the prophecies. And the doctrine of those who discard the Old Testament is not unto salvation, because it rejects that which is direct testimony of Christ. Skeptics begin with discounting upon the Old Testament, and it takes but another step to deny the validity of the New, and thus both are rejected. Bible Commentary Vol. 5 p. 1094

The two witnesses represent the Old and New Testament Scriptures. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation. The types, sacrifices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward to a Saviour to come. The Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact manner foretold by type and prophecy. Spirit of Prophecy Vol. 4 p. 188

With these references in mind I will not spend much time in writing about them. One that most closely matches the New Testament of the KJV is the one done by George Lamsa. It is translated from the Eastern Text. It is very readable. Goodspeed on the other hand has some unusual things about it. Like the fact that John 7:53 through John 8:12 is missing. The version I have has it in a parallel form with each page having both the KJV and the ‘American Translation’ side by side. On the pages that these texts are missing it has this big blank space. In fact there are several places where there are blank pages on that side while the KJV has text. Some of the texts missing are Matthew 16:2-3, 18:11, 23:14, 27:35(end), Mark 6:11(end), 7:16, 10:44&46, 11:26, Luke 22:19(end)&20, 22:43-44, 23:17, 23:34(beginning), 24:12, John 5:4, Acts 9:5(end), 24:7 and 1 John 5:7. I have not looked real closely at this but these are what I have found at a glance.

I’d like to close this chapter with this very important quote:

Satan is watching that he may find the mind in an unguarded moment and so get possession of it. We do not want to be ignorant of his devices, neither do we want to be overpowered by his devices. He is pleased with the pictures that represent him as having horns and hoofs, for he has intelligence; he was once an angel of light. Those who trust in their intelligence he will make believe that they can correct the Scriptures. You are going to meet this infidelity in high places. You need the Holy Spirit of God, the divine power to cooperate with you to discern the trap that the devil is preparing, and escape it. He is going to lead the religious world captive (see 2 Thess. 2:11). How dare they to lay their sacrilegious hands upon the Scriptures! We must bring the Sabbath of the Lord to the front. It is so plain, and so decided. It is a sign between the children of God and the children of the world. . . . Upward Look p. 101