Which Translation of the Bible?

People have very strong feelings about Bible translations.

There are those who feel the King James Version is the best translation that is available. Some have scholarly reasons for coming to that conclusion. Some have cosmetic reasons. It sounds good. There is something spiritual about the old English. It is a good thing to love the Bible and there is nothing wrong in having wonderful feelings about the version you like best.

There are translations where the philosophy of the translaters might be considered faulty, and that raises serious questions about the integrity of the translation. It isnt always easy to know what the philosophy of translation was so we need to be careful in doubting the integrity of people without being sure that we know the facts about it.

Having and reading different translations is a helpful tool in studying the Bible. Words are hard to translate from one language to another and it is often true that there are several different possibilities for translating some words. Often the context will help to make that meaning clear, but that is not always the case.

The Hebrew Bible originally only had consonants in it so it is not always easy to be sure that you have the right vowels. The Hebrew Bible of today has the vowels in it, but they were not inserted until several hundred years after Christ which means that even the insertion of them was based on interpretation of the meaning.

Another problem to be considered is that there was no break between the words or punctuation in the Greek New Testament. Sometimes it is hard to know if the letters between the words go with the preceding word or with the following word.

Then there is the manuscripts themselves that are often questioned। Is the oldest manuscript the best one or is a later one better?

It is important to remember that we are always dealing with the Word of God and that one translation may be better than others, but they are still all translations of the Word of God. We should seek to have the very best one that is possible because we want it to be as close to the original manuscripts as possible. This makes it important that the translators have integrity in their work.

We are very fortunate to have so many translations and to be able to pick which one we feel is the very best.

Follow me, Peter

In my book, SIMON SAYS, I suggest that it is interesting that after Jesus told Simon that his name was Peter and that Jesus would build his church on his confession, the Lord never did call Simon, "Peter." He always called him Simon. Even in the last chapter of John, when Jesus spoke to Peter about his love, He called him Simon, son of Jonas.

I believe that Jesus knew that Simon really had not become Peter yet. When he told Simon that he would be Peter, Jesus must have been indicating that it would be at a later time. It is hard to imagine that Simon was a rock when he betrayed the Lord. He was a rock when he stood up at Pentecost. That must mean that sometime between John 21 and Peter's message at Pentecost, he became Peter.

Perhaps it happened when Jesus spoke to him in John 21 or later in a private conversation, but Peter really had become a rock at Pentecost.

The other thing that I suggest is that Simon had really not learned to follow the Lord while the Lord was still present because on almost every major time of interaction the Lord concluded it by saying to Simon, "Follow me." Hear again, I believe that when Simon became Peter, he also had learned what it meant to be a follower.

Perhaps if the Lord had been still on the earth when Peter preached at Pentecost, He would have said to Peter after the message, "Well done, Peter, my true follower.