What Bible to Choose?

 If you, like me, have been blessed to be a part of a Church that maintains its teaching strictly through the Word of God, then you may have heard the Pastor mention that you must be careful as to which version of the Bible you are reading. Some of you may have even been recommended a version that your Church uses. But, have you ever asked yourself why books are different, why there are so many, and what makes one “better” than another? Well to answer those questions, we have to take a trip through history.

We must look back to the original Hebrew Bible, which for us Christians is the Old Testament. For this topic, we will focus on two of the main different versions of the Hebrew Bible. If you are a visual learner you may want to draw some pictures to keep along since we will be referencing a lot of sources. The Septuagint is the oldest surviving Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. It was written sometime between the third and first century B.C. This is an important detail we will delve into soon. In parallel to the Septuagint, we have what we will refer to as Hebrew Texts which vary between texts. The printing press had not been invented yet so the use of scribes were used in the creation of these texts explain the variations. The Dead Sea Scrolls, written sometime between the third and 1st century B.C. and discovered in the 1940s, further corroborates the Hebrew Texts. For centuries the tradition of the Jewish religion was based off of Biblical Hebrew and Rabbinic teachings through oral traditions taught by Rabbis. As the generations grew, more people wanted to be able to read the Hebrew Bible for themselves and not just listen to Rabbis’ teachings. The years pass and now we have Jesus entering the scene. Following His crucifixion his disciples started writing the Gospels. These Gospels will eventually become a part of the New Testament. As a side note, when Jesus speaks and references the Old Testament, he is actually referencing from the Septuagint. In addition, in 70 A.D, Rome destroys the Temple in Jerusalem and most likely destroyed countless manuscripts of the original Hebrew Texts. As mentioned before, the Jews wanted to be able to read their texts themselves in the common language, Greek. This thought for independent study was largely influenced by Grecian philosophy to “learn for yourself”. This lead to a group known as the Masoretes (traditionalists) to compile the Masoretic Text between the 7th and 10th century A.D. This text used the best surviving Hebrew Texts available at the time in conjunction with their oral teachings. This attempt was to develop a Hebrew Bible without dissolving into competing translations or interpretations.

As we go back and forth, it can get a bit confusing. Bear with me as there are multiple events taking place at the same time. To illustrate this point I ask you to imagine a tree. The tree is growing and branches are sprouting. Those branches are forking at the same time but the tree remains the same. One of the branches takes us back to 405 A.D. During this time the Latin speaking church commissions St. Jerome to begin translating the Septuagint into Latin. This will eventually become known as the Latin Vulgate which includes the Old Testament and New Testament texts. This is important because although there were corrections and revisions through the years, this eventually became the official Bible of the Catholic Church until 1979.

Now delving into the compilation of texts that make up the New Testament, it is generally accepted that the last book or letter written was completed by 96 A.D. These books or letters were then compiled in their handwritten versions into Canons, or believed genuine documents. The first known Canon was Mauritorians Canon which was compiled between 180 A.D. and 200 A.D. This Canon contained 22 of the now 27 books of the New Testament. Remember, at the time before the Canons, these were all individual manuscripts. So in essence of time and not explaining each and every one of the roughly 66,000 manuscripts used to bring us to today’s Bible, we will flash forward to the 1500’s. Two things happened at this time. The first, in the beginning of the 1500s, a man by the name of Erasmus compiled the texts into a printed version that will become known as the Textus Receptus, or received texts. It is important to note that Erasmus did the best he could with what he had available to him at the time. At the same time, the Protestant Reformation was taking place with prominent and well known Protestants like Martin Luther, who even used the Textus Receptus in his later versions of the Bible. In addition, in 1611, the Kings James Version was translated, basing its New Testament portion off of primarily the Textus Receptus. The KJV which is still used today, was the first sanctioned English translation of the Bible, both New and Old Testaments, which make it widely readable across the Nations.

Ok, so now we are in todays Bible and we at least have KJV (with corrections and changes over the years) but the basics are there. But why do we have countless other versions of the Bible out there, such as ESV, NASB, NIV, NKJV, ASV etc…? And more importantly which one do you choose for you? Well, it is the opinion of this writer that now armed with the basics of historical context, it is up to you. Some versions are written for ease of reading, some are written as word for word translations, and some are written in thought for thought (as in trying to understand the original thinking of the original authors) . It can be confusing for sure to try and figure out the best one for you. For sure there are some extreme false doctrines out there, and sometimes they are more slight trying to align with secular world views (such as gender neutral pronouns). So the key is be discerning, and do your own research. Find out what version, the Holy Spirit uses to speak to you. I personally like to use multiple versions and compare as I read. Luckily for us, our salvation is not based on what version of the Bible we read, but specifically on the belief of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Mark 16:16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."