When the first edition of the NIV appeared in 1976, Bible believers immediately attacked its omissions, additions and changes of the Bible TEXT. And, rightly so, because it followed the same corrupt manuscripts as the RV of 1881, RV of 1884, ASV of 1901, RSV 1952, NASV 1965, NWT, LB, GNMM, etc., before it.
Many ignorant Christians ignored the warnings and followed the pied pipers of advertising, which dumped billions of dollars into the greedy pockets of Bible publishing companies. Like sheep to the slaughter, many Christians paid to continue this headlong rush into apostasy. Well, welcome to the new generation of Bible correcting! You asked for it—you paid for it–now you got it: a Bible that not only uses the same critical text as the Jehovah so-called Witnesses (New World Translation) but you have a Bible from the corrupt text that “speaks in” a dumbed down style that does not offend a God-forsaken
generation. The Bible corrupters are no longer subtle about it. The Preface to the NIV
2011 proudly states: “The work of translating the Bible is never finished. As good as
they are, English translations must be regularly updated so that they will continue to
communicate accurately the meaning of God’s Word. Updates are needed in order to reflect the latest developments in our understanding of the biblical world and its languages and to keep pace with changes in English usage.” Here is how this slick
preface “to communicate accurately the meaning of God’s Word” actually works out:
- Continue to gradually change words of the text, especially those that emphasize the Deity of Christ, the Holiness of God, supernatural events, miracles, etc.
- Do not offend any contemporary lifestyle. Example: Remove all gender references that reflect “maleness” in the Bible. Where “man” is in the Bible text, replace it with “person.” In this way the Bible “more accurately ” relates the message to us today. After all, what man is actually the “head” of the wife in today’s braless culture? The ultimate goal is to refer to God not as “He” or “Him” or “Son.” He becomes some unknown neuter “IT”.
NIV PRINCIPLE: Remove anything offensive to modern thought and lifestyle
in order to make the Bible writers as much like contemporary writers as
possible.
The feministic reasoning also asks how can a woman be a “son of God?” If you have
no answer to that, the girls caught you, didn’t they? If so, it is because you don’t know
Bible doctrine “from a hole in the ground.” …That is another Tennessee idiom I learned
from my uncle, Jesse James Reese, (the distinguished southern farmer of a past
generation quoted in the February issue).
- The actual TEXT no longer is important–it is the MEANING of the text to the reader. (We know that once a preacher forsakes “WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURE” and tells us WHAT IT MEANS, there is madness or wickedness afoot. Who does not know that a man may make the Scripture SAY ANYTHING as long as it is prefaced with ” THIS MEANS…”)
- Push the lesbian/feminist issue that “brother” is not a generic term for male and female believers.
MATTHEW 5:22 and MARK 3:5 ERRORS IN THE NIV
The Greek word translated “brother” in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:22 is:
αδελφω (adelpho). The NIV 1984 says:
“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother[a] will be subject to
judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,[b]’ is answerable to the
Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Footnotes:
Matthew 5:22 Some manuscripts ‘brother without cause’.
Matthew 5:22 An Aramaic term of contempt.”
First: the Greek word for brother is “αδελφω” in all Greek texts. The reader will note
that the NIV 1984 above correctly translates the word “αδελφω” BUT OMITS A
PHRASE, “WITHOUT A CAUSE.” The omission is critical as we will see but we will
deal with one error at a time.
Now look at how the NIV 2011 translates the verse:
“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister[a][b] will be
subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’[c] is
answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the
fire of hell.
Footnotes:
Matthew 5:22 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a
fellow disciple, whether man or woman; also in verse 23.
NIV PRINCIPLE: Even though the words are NOT IN ANY GREEK TEXTS,
critical or Textus Receptus— add, change, do anything necessary to present
the Bible as non-judgmental.
Matthew 5:22 Some manuscripts ‘brother or sister without cause’
Matthew 5:22 An Aramaic term of contempt.”
Notice the “great” advance the NIV 2011 has made over the NIV 1984—they have decided that English Bible readers cannot understand that the Bible term “brother” includes both male and female! Who would think the “brother” in the Bible refers strictly to the male in this context? (This foolishness reminds me of IRS tax forms that are supposedly made easier to understand every year).
- (Continuation of previous number 3) Translate the Bible text according to what the situation or words “mean” to us today. In other words, it is not the actual “words” God said, rather, it is what or how we would express it today. To illustrate this frog-tongued, linguistic malpractice principle, the Bible says:
” Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.” (Luke 2:41-42 KJB).
A Sunday School teacher asked her class why Joseph and Mary took Jesus with
them to the temple…a 6 year old girl replied, “They couldn’t get a baby-sitter.”
The “custom of the feast” was totally ignored by the little girl as to the reason
because there is no such observance today. Therefore, in this young child’s
understanding the only reason for parents having to take their kids with them would be
the only problem she had experienced—the absence of a baby sitter! Following this method the NIV 2015 could probably read:
“The government custodians were invited to a big party in D.C. and because they couldn’t find a registered baby sitter, Mary and Josephine were forced to take the child with them.”
This is an exaggeration of the principle but it is not as far off as you may think!
The NIV 2011 takes the first century TEXT that is left after they chop and mangle that
Bible record, and gives you what they think God might have said if He was speaking to
us today.
According to this nonsensical, banal principle, the English language changed so
significantly and scholarship advanced so rapidly between 2005 and 2011—a brief
period of 6 years (TNIV 2005 to the NIV 2011)— a new translation is demanded! This
twisted reasoning prompted a total of 7 translations from 1973 to 2011—a new
translation on the average of almost every 5 years.
The NIV is just getting warmed up. They suppose they have justified the following
practice:
- Continue further changes to the Biblical record.
- Take a more aggressive method of interpretation to agree with lifestyle issues.
THE OMISSION OF THE PHRASE “WITHOUT A CAUSE” IN
MATTHEW 5:22
The New International Versions of 1976, 1984, 1987, 2001, 2005, 2010TNIV and 2011 all have the same Greek texts at their base as all the other English perversions. The errors are many and they have been identified, catalogued and publicized. But there are many preachers, who because of their loyalty to religious associations, or pride are loathe to offend man or admit they have been wrong. It is a hard thing to risk the ridicule of your peers and loss of friendship over Bible translation issues. Eating crow and tearing up “inspired” sermon outlines before your congregation has stopped many pulpit wonders from taking the matter by the horns. Some dare not even look at the facts for fear of losing their positions and prestige.
Some personal experience on the Bible translation issue…
Back a few decades ago I was a graduate and on the faculty of one of the most, if
not the top, effective and influential church, Bible school, college and seminary in the
USA. It was certainly in the top five religious, fundamental, independent institutions in
the world in student enrollment and as a model ministry. All the ministries, including the
schools, were under the direction of the church. The Pastor and Founder (now with the
Lord) was the most godly and effective leader I have ever known.
Some small minded ex-students with large internet space but not a single byte of
character have written lies to the effect that the Pastor/Founder fired me! (I resigned
from the teaching position to pastor a church and left the University with his blessing
and support). They know nothing of the relationship between that man and myself–what
they would be surprised to learn is that he continued to personally write me encouraging
letters every one to two months for years after I resigned. He was excited that the
church and later missionary work was so successful. This is especially noteworthy since
my stand on the KJB was well known while some of those who continued to teach were
KJB opponents. One was even a member of the NKJV committee!
Those who are acquainted with USA church work from 1955-1980 will know of what
church and to whom I refer here; those who do not, it is not important that you know. In
addition to that Pastor, there were many innocent and good people on the staff, faculty
and in the student body, over the years. Out of respect for those people, I do not
mention names. Personalities are not important but principles are. The few nuts who
were students and less than a half dozen faculty Bible correctors were a drop in the
bucket and are unknowns. For me to use their name would give them more credibility
than they presently have.
Right after I began to teach at the school, one of the Greek professors had gotten
some reel to reel tapes (these were the days before audio cassettes or CDs) on
manuscript evidence and textual comparisons between the Greek manuscripts,
specifically the Westcottt/Hort hypothesis and Majority Text, and wanted the Bible
faculty to consider them. The author of the tapes was a Greek professor of another wellknown seminary, who later went on to write several textbooks and become one of the leading and very influential opponents of the Westcott/Hort critical Greek text.
The instructor went to all our faculty, gave personal invitations and announced in a
staff meeting of the 200 plus faculty members that we would be meeting together,
listening to the tapes, and then offering comments pro and con on the lectures. All were
welcome to come and it was certainly a pertinent subject, one that was to be faced by
the schools sooner or later.
[You must realize that at that particular time, the Bible manuscript discussion arose in fundamental
and independent school circles and was almost an unknown non-issue in other schools. In fact, the only
major English translations that were available on the market at that time were the NASV of 1965, ASV of 1901, the RSV of 1952 and of course the RV of 1881-84, the grandfather of them all, had been totally forgotten. The issue of “which Bible” was just heating up!
The ASV of 1901 was used with great restrictions in the seminary classrooms but NEVER was it heard in fundamental pulpits–and only infrequently in liberal churches. The RSV with the omission of “a virgin” in Isaiah 7:14 was absolute taboo and looked upon as a modernist viewpoint–even in the Southern Baptist College I had attended a few years earlier. At that school we were urged to get an ASV 1901 for our Hermeneutics class due to its supposed “excellent translation of the verb forms” but not for much else. In the SBC school we had Baptist college dances and cussed along with poet Carl Sandberg in literature classes but we did not hear the ASV in the pulpit— that’s how “solid and sound” even the Southern Baptist Convention was back then!]
Needless to say, ONLY one of the eminent professors at the school where I was on
the faculty listened to more than one session of the 10-12 hour tapes! These faint-hearted ones were doctors from another old line university and a few who had
graduated from the Southern Baptist seminaries. We did have 4 or 5 who like me, had
come out from the SBC and graduated from that school where we taught.
There was one notable faculty member who sat in on all the tape sessions. He had
memorized the entire NT of the ASV1901 and also knew most of the OT. This man was
blind from his teen years and had been on the faculty of the J. Frank Norris school in Ft.
Worth, Texas and a companion of Dr. William R. Newell on his Bible conference tours.
(Those familiar with Dr. Norris and Dr. Newell’s ministries will know the popular caliber
of those ministries). The blind professor said he had memorized the ASV 1901 at the
recommendation of Dr. Newell and many times he had regretted memorizing the ASV
instead of the KJB. He was a brilliant man with an exceptional grasp of Bible truth and
had graduated from Stetson University and Southern Baptist Seminary (Th.D) in
Louisville with the highest grade averages ever made–and he did it while blind. He was
not a Five-Point Calvinist (several seminary faculty were) and I took every class I could
from him and dearly loved him and his family.
There is no doubt in my mind and I am not alone in this view–when the schools
refused to listen, and gave way to the perverse translations, and no longer had respect
to the BOOK that built the ministry, God wrote “Ichabod” over the door. To whom much
is given, much is required. I do not write these things without tears in my eyes and a
broken heart over what could have been and should have been.
erg…
Unless you wish to charge that godly Pastor with some sin or failure in not having
perfect foresight, it should be very clear that the man whose vision and ministry led the
work to those previous heights of Christian excellence, had nothing else to do with its
fall. For whatever reasons beside a demand for revivals and conferences, he resigned
in his seventies to continue a demanding weekly schedule until he went home to be with
the Lord. At that time, the work had not fallen into reproach.
Those who followed him were products of poor trustee decisions. The ministry was
too demanding for those and one who dared presume to be equal was a flop. Carnal
pigmies attempted to continue the work of a giant. Men who were spiritually challenged
fumbled the baton and stumbled in disgrace. It was after the elders that outlived Joshua
in which the truth was trampled under foot and so it was there. Prior leadership was
imitated but had no substance to endure. Small minded men weaseled themselves into
the offices of a great man and stumbled over themselves.
In my opinion, the whole building fell because the foundation was slowly destroyed.
The work was built on the King James Bible. Little by little the small foxes were inserted
into the classes and gnawed away the structure from the bottom up. A work that is built
by the King James Bible will not co-exist or continue with a corrupt text in its place!
On one occasion, a Christian businessman (a prominent benefactor of the school)
offered to give every student a NASV New Testament. This was mentioned in the
weekly staff meeting and several teachers commented on what a “great idea” that was.
One exclaimed, “Oh, it is wonderful! I do my devotions every morning in the
NASV.” (This was one of the new teachers and one who refused to listen to the tapes
mentioned earlier). The Bible school Dean, a good teacher and Bible believer, said:
“Dr.–I do not think it is a good idea. The NASV Bible comes from corrupt manuscripts.”
Several others commented, a few pro and several con. While the discussion continued I
went through the sample they had distributed to each of us and turned down the various
pages where verses were omitted and changed. After the meeting I caught up with Dr
—- as he walked to his office and showed him the places where verses were changed
and omitted.
His exact words to me were, “Hmm.. I did not know these things were changed! We
will not give it out.” And, it was not given to the student body. My view is that the Pastor
was caught between trying to keep up with enough teachers in the growing schools and
having to hire men who outwardly professed to believe the Bible, while they really did
not. It is not much different today in many churches and schools. To ask a man “Do you
believe the Bible?” is not enough. All of them “believe the Bible is God’s word.” You
must ask, “WHICH Bible do you believe?” because they are not all the same.
The school where the professors as a whole refused to listen to the manuscript
facts–eventually fell from grace just as the churches of Galatia did in the first century
and all have since. The church and school today is but a faint shadow of what it used to
be. Within 20 years of those events that I mention above, the whole ministry of the place
began to fall apart in moral disgrace, doctrinal error, and foolish administration. It is now
a byword and every former member shakes his head in pity remembering what grace
and glory the place used to have. Conversations among graduates now always turn to
“what used to be.” From a worldwide ministry that launched the largest independent
Baptist missionary group in the world, and whose graduates started and pastored
mega-churches all over the USA, while thousands of converts were baptized after every
service: Sunday AM, PM, Mid-week and special services for over 15 years—the corner
of the two avenues that use to bustle with thousands of students is almost deserted
now. I know–I was there and watched it fall.
I say all of this to let the reader know that when I speak of these matters, I have
some experience and knowledge of the reaction of “scholars” to the Bible issue. Over a
decade of my life was spent there as a graduate and faculty member. We were also
pastor of a church for 17 years right in the midst of the independent, fundamental
movement as the English Bible translation corruption influenced our generation of
churches.
What is the issue?
One example among hundreds: The RSV, ASV, NASV, Philips NT, GNMM, 1984NIV,
NIV2005, TNIV, NIV2011 plus the Jehovah Witness Bible: the NWT—all render Matthew 5:22 (below) the same way! The reason they do it is because they ARE ALL FROM THE SAME CORRUPT TEXT.
Was this omission deliberate? Most likely, not from a scribal error, but definitely from
the satanic opposition to the word of God. It is a subtle attack on the sinlessness
(impeccability) of Christ. If the reading is accurate as it appears in the NIV 2011, the
Lord Jesus Christ is condemned by His own words!
This is not the only place these Bibles condemn themselves and is only one of many
hundreds of changes these Bibles make using a corrupt Greek text. We use the NIV
2011 here:
“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister[a][b] will be
subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’[c] is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:22 NIV 2011).
Footnotes:
Matthew 5:22 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a fellow disciple, whether man or woman; also in verse 23.
Matthew 5:22 Some manuscripts ‘brother or sister without cause’
Matthew 5:22 An Aramaic term of contempt.”
Notice the omission of the phrase “WITHOUT A CAUSE” from the NIV text and
the drop into the footnote.
Now notice the NIV 2011 reading in Mark 3:5:
“And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.” (Mark 3:5 NIV 2011).
The NIV 2011 says in Mark 3:5 that Jesus looked “ROUND ABOUT ON THEM
WITH ANGER”
THERE IS NO QUALIFYING CLAUSE FOR ANGER IN MATTHEW 5:22 NIV!
THE ISSUE IS THAT THE NIV IN MATTHEW 5:22 (“ANYONE WHO IS ANGRY”)
WITH MARK 3:5 IN THE NIV (“JESUS LOOKED…ON THEM WITH ANGER”) MAKES
JESUS A SINNER AND SUBJECT TO JUDGMENT!
A young Christian might ask, “IS THE BIBLE THAT EXACT?” OUR ANSWER IS
“YES, A THOUSAND TIMES, YES!’ Our very salvation is based upon WORDS,
EXACT WORDS–IN FACT, EVERY DOCTRINE IN THE BIBLE IS STATED IN TERMS
MORE EXACT THAN A MANUAL ON BRAIN SURGERY. AND, ALL OF THE BIBLE
AGREES WITH ITSELF AS IT SAYS IT, WHERE IT SAYS IT.
The modern translations such as the NIV have made a travesty out of the very
basic tenet of the Christian faith: THE INERRANCY AND INFALLIBILITY OF EVERY WORD AND ALL THE WORDS OF THE BIBLE. Therefore, since all liberal
theologians believe “inspiration” happened only with the so-called “original
manuscripts” they gave themselves a license to change, omit, add, ANY word
they decided. This is the rule and practice of the modern translations. Loosed
from verbal restraints–they now construct their own bibles.
The King James Bible says:
“But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5:22 KJB).
The issue is that the NIV makes Jesus a sinner along with everyone
else who is angry–no matter what the reason. The KJB allows anger
with cause. The Bible says:
“God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.” (Psalm 7:11 KJB)
NOW LOOK AT THE NIV’S NECESSARY PERVERSION OF PSALM
7:11 WHERE GOD DOES NOT JUDGE THE RIGHTEOUS AND ONLY
“DISPLAYS HIS WRATH”. THUS, HE CAN “DISPLAY” HIS WRATH BUT
HAVE NO ANGER TOWARD THE WICKED.
“God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day.” (Psalm 7:11 NIV 2011).
THERE IS NO END TO PERVERTING THE WORD OF GOD. WHEN ONE
WORD IS CHANGED, OTHERS MUST FOLLOW. A LITTLE LEAVEN
LEAVENETH THE WHOLE LUMP!
Due to our field work we are combining APRIL and MAY issues of Word Bible Study. Our examination of the New International Version will continue in the June issue with “Only Begotten Son OR ‘one and only son?”.
