BIBLE TRANSLATIONS ~ Which translation is best for you? If you
are serious about studying God's Word, you must have asked, or been
asked, which Bible translation you are using - and is that the best one for you?
There are legalistic churches in most denominations, and among the independent ranks - who will tell you that their church fellowship is a KJV ONLY church. That is sad when a fellowship is that dogmatic. And that is a church which I would visit only one time.
There are church fellowships whose predominant Bible used in their worship service is KJV. No problem with that - as long as they do not declare me an infidel for using my NASB or a NKJV in church, in my studies, and in my writing.
How well I recall when I was saved in the Filipino-American Church of Irvine (FACI) in 1987 and began attending their Friday Night Family Bible Studies. I was a new believer, eager to dive into a study of the Bible and God's message to us. Every night as we lay in bed, Dory and I would read our Bibles. I switched between reading the Old Testament and the New Testament. And all went well until I hit a brick wall called Romans. I could not grasp Paul's message in that book.
At our next Bible study I told our pastor, Pastor Sam Lacanienta, about my predicament and he asked, "What Bible are you reading?" And I showed him the only Bible I had, a KJV Bible given to me by a visiting team of Mormons. He went into the next room and came back with new NASB Study Bibles, one for me and one for Dory. That night I began to read Romans and "Viola!" it started making sense for the first time.
That NASB Study Bible has been my go-to Bible since then. About that same time, at the suggestion of Pastor Sam, I began my Christian writing ministry. When I am writing a blog, I try to be consistent using one translation, either NASB or NKJV. But there are times when the King James or the NIV will better explain the point I am sharing.
In my early writing days when I wanted to share a Scripture verse or passage, I would have to type it, which led to many typo mistakes. Then, praise God, the Blue Letter Bible web site went live in 1996 - and finally I could copy/paste verses into my writings eliminating the typo mistakes.
Since then the Blue Letter Bible, Classic Version (blbclassic [dot] org) has been one of my major writing tools. That web site has a gold mine of tools to aid in our studies - about 15 translations, concordances, great commentaries by many different pastors/scholars, etc. If you are serious about your personal Bible studies, find that web site and bookmark it.
In the chart below which I am using to present the flow of Bible translations through the millennia - I have added color to better show the flow of the translations which brought us our English version Bibles today.
Orange being the early Hebrew/Aramaic writings and the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls used to verify our Bibles today. Yellow showing the different translations leading to the abundant English language Bibles available to us today. Blue to show the Latin Vulgate, 405 AD, leading to the Roman Catholic Douay Bible. This may point you to the Bible translation best for you in your study of God's Word and make your studies even more exciting.
To my KJV ONLY Friends and brethren, you will notice that seven English language Bibles preceded the King James, eight if we include the Roman Catholic Douay translation. So how can anyone make the claim that one Bible, the KJV, is the ONLY English language Bible?
In the 1960s, the Decadent Decade, when many young people were getting high and letting it all hang out, i.e., the Hippies. Many of them blowing their minds on drugs - God brought two things into the picture: (1) Pastor Chuck Smith and his wife, Kay, and (2) Paraphrase, easy to read, versions of the Bible. The Paraphrases are really only commentaries, but served a great purpose in God's plan.
In 1965, Pastor Chuck and Kay Smith felt God calling them to minister to the drugged-out Hippies in Southern California, bringing many of them into the Calvary Chapel - Costa Mesa church family.
And in 1971 the New Living Bible was published offering people with little or no knowledge of God's Word a paraphrased English version. That paraphrased version of the Bible had many thousands of people, young and old, reading the Bible for the first time.
Upon reading God's Word, even in a paraphrased version, that brought many into the local churches where, as they studied with other believers - they began to move to a true Bible translation in place of the paraphrase. Back then the NASB was very popular, along with other true Bible translation.
But praise God, the paraphrased Bible brought them to church - where they could get involved and mature into knowledgeable believers. So while I would not use a paraphrased version, except as a commentary, I praise God for it being there when so many needed to read the Word of God.
I pray you find this chart and blog informative and, if you are looking for the right Bible translation for you, that this has helped you.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
There are legalistic churches in most denominations, and among the independent ranks - who will tell you that their church fellowship is a KJV ONLY church. That is sad when a fellowship is that dogmatic. And that is a church which I would visit only one time.
There are church fellowships whose predominant Bible used in their worship service is KJV. No problem with that - as long as they do not declare me an infidel for using my NASB or a NKJV in church, in my studies, and in my writing.
How well I recall when I was saved in the Filipino-American Church of Irvine (FACI) in 1987 and began attending their Friday Night Family Bible Studies. I was a new believer, eager to dive into a study of the Bible and God's message to us. Every night as we lay in bed, Dory and I would read our Bibles. I switched between reading the Old Testament and the New Testament. And all went well until I hit a brick wall called Romans. I could not grasp Paul's message in that book.
At our next Bible study I told our pastor, Pastor Sam Lacanienta, about my predicament and he asked, "What Bible are you reading?" And I showed him the only Bible I had, a KJV Bible given to me by a visiting team of Mormons. He went into the next room and came back with new NASB Study Bibles, one for me and one for Dory. That night I began to read Romans and "Viola!" it started making sense for the first time.
That NASB Study Bible has been my go-to Bible since then. About that same time, at the suggestion of Pastor Sam, I began my Christian writing ministry. When I am writing a blog, I try to be consistent using one translation, either NASB or NKJV. But there are times when the King James or the NIV will better explain the point I am sharing.
In my early writing days when I wanted to share a Scripture verse or passage, I would have to type it, which led to many typo mistakes. Then, praise God, the Blue Letter Bible web site went live in 1996 - and finally I could copy/paste verses into my writings eliminating the typo mistakes.
Since then the Blue Letter Bible, Classic Version (blbclassic [dot] org) has been one of my major writing tools. That web site has a gold mine of tools to aid in our studies - about 15 translations, concordances, great commentaries by many different pastors/scholars, etc. If you are serious about your personal Bible studies, find that web site and bookmark it.
In the chart below which I am using to present the flow of Bible translations through the millennia - I have added color to better show the flow of the translations which brought us our English version Bibles today.
Orange being the early Hebrew/Aramaic writings and the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls used to verify our Bibles today. Yellow showing the different translations leading to the abundant English language Bibles available to us today. Blue to show the Latin Vulgate, 405 AD, leading to the Roman Catholic Douay Bible. This may point you to the Bible translation best for you in your study of God's Word and make your studies even more exciting.
To my KJV ONLY Friends and brethren, you will notice that seven English language Bibles preceded the King James, eight if we include the Roman Catholic Douay translation. So how can anyone make the claim that one Bible, the KJV, is the ONLY English language Bible?
In the 1960s, the Decadent Decade, when many young people were getting high and letting it all hang out, i.e., the Hippies. Many of them blowing their minds on drugs - God brought two things into the picture: (1) Pastor Chuck Smith and his wife, Kay, and (2) Paraphrase, easy to read, versions of the Bible. The Paraphrases are really only commentaries, but served a great purpose in God's plan.
In 1965, Pastor Chuck and Kay Smith felt God calling them to minister to the drugged-out Hippies in Southern California, bringing many of them into the Calvary Chapel - Costa Mesa church family.
And in 1971 the New Living Bible was published offering people with little or no knowledge of God's Word a paraphrased English version. That paraphrased version of the Bible had many thousands of people, young and old, reading the Bible for the first time.
Upon reading God's Word, even in a paraphrased version, that brought many into the local churches where, as they studied with other believers - they began to move to a true Bible translation in place of the paraphrase. Back then the NASB was very popular, along with other true Bible translation.
But praise God, the paraphrased Bible brought them to church - where they could get involved and mature into knowledgeable believers. So while I would not use a paraphrased version, except as a commentary, I praise God for it being there when so many needed to read the Word of God.
I pray you find this chart and blog informative and, if you are looking for the right Bible translation for you, that this has helped you.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
Click on the image to enlarge:
