Difference between revisions of "Essay: How to choose a Bible"

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How to choose a Bible is an important question for every believing Christian who takes the Christian Faith in Jesus Christ seriously. The Bible is unique in world literature, because it contains the written communication of God the Holy Spirit through chosen human writers addressed to all mankind, male and female. A clear and accurate text is of supreme importance for the reader who desires to know what God has said and who seeks to understand, as far as possible, the revealed mind of God Himself.

Facts to bear in mind

The task of seeking a reliable and trustworthy version of the Bible is relatively simple when undertaken with a few very basic facts in mind.

The original languages of the Bible

The original languages of the individual books of the Bible are Ancient Hebrew and Aramaic and (mainly) Koine Greek. If you do not know these written languages, then a reliable and accurate translation will be needed.

Parallel and interlinear editions

For those whose primary or native language is English, the best editions of the Bible are those offering accurate Parallel English and Hebrew texts with accurate Parallel English and Greek texts. Understand that all languages change over the course of several centuries and the language forms in the Bible today differ greatly from the current 21st century forms of these languages. A useful companion for aid in reading the original Bible languages is called an Interlinear Edition, in which every line of the Bible text has a translation in English usually below it.

Compare the following examples online:

• Luke 3 Ellopos/Elpenor Greek Texts New Testament Parallel English and Greek (Brenton) scroll down the site page to see the text
• Luke 3 Strong's Interlinear Bible Search Passage Lookup: King James Version scroll down the site page to see the text
• Luke 3 Strong's Interlinear Bible Search Passage Lookup: New American Standard scroll down the site page to see the text
• Luke 3 Strong's Interlinear Bible Search Passage Lookup: Holman Christian Standard scroll down the site page to see the text

• Luke 3 Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament (MOUNCE)
• Luke 3 Bible Hub Interlinear Bible

Critical editions

The most recent textual research in print is represented by what are called Critical Editions of the text, which feature important variations in the earliest manuscripts of the Bible, often read by Biblical scholars as their own personal devotional Bible.

The biblehub.com online link page displays multiple versions of any canonical verse of the Bible in several languages, including scholarly researched Hebrew and Greek texts. See the following examples:

• Genesis 1:1
• Deuteronomy 17:12
• Matthew 7:8
• John 1:1
• 2 Peter 1:20

Important sources for study of the original texts.
Be aware that some of these are prepared by liberalist scholars, most of them by conservatives, and that all of them should be compared:

Septuagint

• IOSCS The International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies. Critical Editions of Septuagint/Old Greek Texts
• CODEX. Resources for Biblical, Theological, and Religious Studies maintained by Tyler F. Williams: Greek Editions of the LXX
• Abram: October 8, 2012: "BHS, the Göttingen Septuagint, and other critical editions: a basic orientation to what they are"

Hebrew Bible

• Biblia Hebraica Quinta and the Making of Critical Editions of the Hebrew Bible. Richard D. Weis, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities
• The Oxford Hebrew Bible Project. The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition
• A New Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible, By Ronald Hendel. Norma and Sam Dabby Professor of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies, University of California, Berkeley. August 2014

Vulgate

• The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915): The Vulgate, by Samuel Angus
• The Biblia Sacra Vulgata and its history
• Vulgate + Vetus Latina St. Jerome's Vulgate & Old Latin Bible : The Internet Edition With Critical Apparatus
• Which Latin Vulgate Should You Purchase? by Dr Taylor Marshall

Bible of faith tradition, family, community, denomination and church

Most Christians will have been exposed to the traditional form of the Bible approved by their own faith tradition. For example, many Protestant Christians treasure the King James Bible KJV, but many Evangelical denominations also use more recent translations such as the New International Version NIV or the English Standard Version ESV. The United Methodist Church today prefers the New Revised Standard Version NRSV. English-speaking Orthodox Christians have the Greek Bible as handed down from the time of the apostles available to them in the traditional English translation by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, but they also have since then more recent translations in English approved by the Synods of Bishops of their countries—in the U.S. the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America ACOBNCA. Catholic Christians who are more conservative use the Douay-Rheims Bible in the Confraternity edition, but they also have the New American Bible, Revised Edition, approved by the USCCB, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Almost all Christians trust the English version of the Holy Bible handed down to them through their families. They are each held to be a good choice for members of their own faith tradition, or community, or denomination, or Church. However, some of these are held to be faulty or defective translations by expert linguists and experienced Bible scholars.

The Canon

The number of books in the Bible accepted as a faithful transmission of the sacred scriptures by any religious tradition can differ, from the shorter Protestant canon of 66 books to the expanded canon of 81 books in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Authority to determine the canon

No version of the Bible contains in any of its books or texts of scripture an explicit listing of an authoritative Biblical canon as revealed by the Word of God. The religious tradition of each particular sect or denomination, Samaritan, Orthodox, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, has determined for their members the particular Biblical canon they have accepted as authoritative and definitive, the particular Bible they normally use. Some denominations have additionally specified the particular translation or version of the Bible which they have defined as authentic, as against other versions and translations which they deem to be defective, or false, or even demonically corrupt.^[1] The King James Only movement is an example. Traditionalist Catholics who use only the Douay-Rheims Bible translation of the Clementine Vulgate as the only truly accurate and reliable translation of the Bible are another. The number of Christian denominations alone, worldwide, varies in estimate from 20,000 to 43,000, but not all of them differ in doctrine.^[2]

Choosing a particular canon

The particular Biblical canon which any individual person accepts as finally and definitively authoritative, is directly determined by the specific claim of authority presented by that particular canon-defining person or group or organization or religious body which the individual person perceives as authentic (see Logical fallacy). The average believer normally accepts the Bible tradition of his or her own family and worship community as being authentically true. Some alter their perception of which version and which canon of the Bible is true after investigating the historical development of the Biblical canon, and some after investigating are more fully confirmed in their original belief of which Biblical canon represents the Bible of the original Christian Church. A thorough knowledge of history together with prayer to God for discernment can be of substantial material aid in the quest for "how to choose a Bible".

"Now the Lord's power was so mighty upon me, and so strong in me, that I could not hold, but was made to cry out and say, "Oh! no; it is not the scriptures;" and told them it was the Holy Spirit, by which the holy men of God gave forth the scriptures, whereby opinions, religions, and judgments were to be tried; for it led into all Truth, and so gave the knowledge of all Truth." —from the Journal of George Fox.^[4]

See Apostolic succession

Discerning good and bad translations: Study Bibles

Every Christian faced with the question of how to choose a Bible must carefully learn how to discern good translations from bad translations, and this includes deciding among those Bibles offering footnotes and marginal "running commentary" on particular verses.^[1] Many of these are called "Study Bibles" and they always reflect the particular doctrinal interpretation of a particular individual or committee of editors or denomination, for example the Scofield Reference Bible which promotes the fundamentalist doctrine of dispensationalism, or Concordia's Lutheran Study Bible with commentary by Martin Luther, and the Orthodox Study Bible and The New American Bible, Revised Edition which promote and explain the doctrinal teaching of those Churches.

Compare the following examples:

• Wycliffe Bible, Updated with Notes: publisher, Terence P. Noble.
• Scofield's Reference Notes—Cyrus I. Scofield
• The Lutheran Study Bible–Concordia Publishing House: Samples of text and notes
• The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, New Revised Standard Version
• Orthodox Study Bible, HarperCollins Christian Publishing © Copyright 2015 HarperCollins Publishers. All Rights Reserved.
• New American Bible, Revised Edition with notes
• The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Bishop-approved Catholic commentary of Scripture linked to as much historical Church documentation as possible.

• ORT: Navigating the Bible II online. —STUDY: Translation: This is the Five Books of Moses along with commentaries.
  —Jewish commentary by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan 1983.^[5]

Helpful Conservapedia resources

Conservapedia has several articles which can aid Christians in discerning which Bible is the best choice for assisting their ongoing personal relationship with God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

Articles

See the following articles in this order:

• Bible offers a listing of different versions of the Bible with linked articles offering a conservative critique of each on their degree of accuracy
• Biblical Canon
• Deuterocanonicals
• Anagignoskomena
• Antilegomena
• Bible translations —see Badger skins (Bible) regarding KJV translation of ערת תחשׁים tahash skins
• Exegesis
• Historical-critical method (Higher criticism)

The best approach in reading these articles is to access and read all of the footnotes, and all of the articles and sources under "External links". This will take a while, but will be well worth the effort.

The Reward

αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή, ἵνα γινώσκωσιν σὲ τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλας Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν.
—ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ 17:3 SEPTUAGINTA

haec est autem vita aeterna ut cognoscant te solum verum Deum et quem misisti Iesum Christum
—Ioannes 17:3 VULGATE

And this is life eternall, that they might know thee the onely true God, and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
—John 17:3 AUTHORIZED KING JAMES VERSION of 1611

And this is eternal life: knowing You, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent.
—John 17:3 CONSERVATIVE TRANSLATION

Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
—John 17:3 NEW AMERICAN BIBLE, REVISED EDITION 2010

References