Lydia said, “How can we trust the Bible anymore? They keep coming up with all these new Bibles, and they’re changing it.”
Ruby and I shared a picnic table with Lydia and her friend Amy after a long October day exploring the booths at the St. James Art Show in Louisville, Kentucky. Lydia and Amy (not their real names) were strangers to us, but our conversation was friendly and wide-ranging on family, the state of the country, and eventually Scripture. Lydia’s question is a good one: How can we trust that today’s Bible translations are reliable?
I grew up using the Revised Standard Version, both as a preteen and later in college. After college, when I became serious about my faith, I used the King James Version (KJV). Shortly after my baptism, I read the New International Version, and today I use the New American Standard Bible (NASB 1995) for personal study. When I teach Bible classes, I primarily use the NASB 2020. The NASB has been updated several times since 1971. How can you “update” God’s Word?
The foreword of the NASB (2020) includes this statement:
“The New American Standard Bible has been produced with the conviction that the words of Scripture as originally penned in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek were inspired by God…
The NASB strives to adhere as closely as possible to the original languages… and to make the translation in a fluent and readable style according to current English usage.”
Similar statements are found in many English translations, and they offer both reassurance and realism.
- Reassurance: It affirms that only the original writings (the autographs) were directly inspired by God.
- Reassurance again: Translators work diligently to reflect those originals in clear, current, accurate English.
- Realism: Translators acknowledge their work is not inspired by God.
A Brief History of English Bible Translations
The King James Version is widely considered the most prestigious English translation, and many Christians treat the KJV almost as if it were the inspired original. Yet the KJV itself is a revision, specifically a revision of the Bishop’s Bible. See the chart below.
The first English Bible translated from the original languages was Tyndale’s Bible. The KJV, completed in 1611, was published 85 years after Tyndale’s work..
The Tyndale, Geneva, and the New International Version were translated directly from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Other major English versions are revisions of earlier translations as their base text but reflect the original languages and the best available manuscripts.
So are revisions and new translations good or bad? I believe they are a very good thing. Without hard scholarly work across centuries, we would not have readable, reliable Bibles in our own language.
Why Translation Is Difficult
Bible translation is challenging for at least three major reasons: linguistic, cultural, and textual.
1. Linguistic differences.
Languages rarely have exact word-for-word equivalents.
For example, the Hebrew word chesed has no single English equivalent. It can mean steadfast love, loving-kindness, mercy, or covenant faithfulness.
Ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts also lacked vowels, punctuation, and even spaces between words. Meaning often depended on context.
2. Cultural differences.
The biblical writers lived in cultures vastly different from our own. Translators must understand ancient customs, figures of speech, and different literary genres. Scripture includes history, poetry, prophecy, wisdom literature, and legal instruction, each requiring a different translation approach.
3. Textual issues.
We do not possess the physical originals (autographs) of the biblical books. But this should not shake our confidence.
We have:
- Over 5,800 Greek manuscripts.
- Some dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
- 10,000+ Latin manuscripts.
- 9,300+ manuscripts in Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, and more.
This massive number of manuscripts, spread across time and geography, allows scholars to compare, cross-check, and reconstruct the biblical text with remarkable precision.
Can We Trust Modern Bible Translations? Absolutely.
Lydia has nothing to worry about.
If you trace the history of the English Bible, you’ll see that every translation from the Bishop’s Bible onward has drawn on the best available Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of its time. As new discoveries have been made, translators have incorporated that evidence.
One of the most encouraging facts is that the oldest and best Greek manuscripts (like Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus) were not available to the translators of the King James Version. Yet the KJV remains remarkably similar to modern translations.
This shows:
- The biblical text was stable and well-preserved early.
- Modern translations reflect the original writings with extremely high accuracy.
Scholars estimate that over 99% of the New Testament can be reconstructed with virtual certainty. The remaining 1% consists of tiny variations that do not affect essential Christian doctrine. Most variants are documented in translation footnotes with the most significant being the ending of Mark (16:9–20), the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53–8:11), and certain verses known to be later additions (e.g., Acts 8:37; 1 John 5:7–8).
New translations will likely continue as discoveries deepen our understanding of ancient languages and the English language continues to evolve. We should be thankful for the men and women, across centuries, who have worked to ensure that we have accurate, readable Bibles in our own language. In your own Bible study, I suggest you compare different versions. It will deepen your understanding of the passage. I use Biblehub when I’m preparing lessons; it has a huge number of resources and makes consulting different versions very easy.
What about you? What translation do you prefer and why? Do you have concerns about modern Bible versions?
Photo by Age Cymru on Unsplash.com
What a great post! I use NKJV study Bible for morning devotions right now, but I’ve used so many different versions over the years. Ligonier Ministries Reformation Study Bible is really good, and I liked the Ryrie Study Bible as well. Of course, I grew up KJV and I love its poeticism. I’ve never read The Message, and though I know it’s more of paraphrase than a translation, the verses I’ve seen here and there seem very personal and that’s appealing because we serve a very personal God.
Keep diving in and dishing it back out, Chuck. I’m thankful for your faithfulness. Merry Christmas, brother writer.
Hi Kristy,
Thanks for the encouragement. I sometimes check passages from the Living Bible. It’s also a paraphrase. Merry Christmas!
Even with all the biblical translations, I’m amazed that they are primarily in sync with the story of a compassionate, forgiving, and loving God. Which reveals the sovereignty of our God.
And the veracity of scripture ensures the authenticity of the living God.
Amen! What we have is very close to the original autographs.
I had been curious about this as well. Someone in my family had a similar question about how can you trust the Bible when it was “created” by the King (at that time)? This was in relation to the King James Version. I guess the person thought that King James had influence over what went into the Bible since it was named after him? Still not 100% sure of a good answer for that person but this was a good read. Thank you.
Hi Gwen,
Thanks for your comment. To answer your relative’s question you could admit that politics has influenced Bible translations. The example I’ve heard for years is that KJV translators anglicized the Greek word “baptizo” which means to immerse or dip. Instead they created the word baptism because the Church of England practiced infant baptism by sprinkling. That has misled a lot of people, yet with other Bible examples of baptism as well as resources we have now like Greek/English dictionaries and sites like Biblehub, we are able to sort out the truth and trust our English Bibles.
Great post, Chuck! As a Substacker whose Faith Connections essays tackle the way in which the words in The Word have taken on new and often problematic meanings since the English Bibles were first translated, I’m especially appreciative of your chart! One other translation that I find very helpful is William Barclay’s own, which he cites in his treasured commentaries on the New Testament (The Daily Study Bible Series, Revised Edition, Westminster Press, 1975.) They aren’t paraphrases or derivatives, but are his own translations from the Greek, and his understanding of the nuances of the Greek language informs his excellent commentaries. I count myself fortunate to have a complete set of Barclay’s, a bequest from my late spiritual director, Father Roger McGuiness. If a Catholic priest valued this work of a Church of Scotland protestant, the work must be good! And I agree. Thanks for this post Chuck, and Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Thanks Chris. Merry Christmas! I have a couple volumes from Barclay’s The Daily Study Bible Series. I received them years ago after a preacher friend passed away, similar to your experience.