The Gnostics, the New Versions and the Deity of Christ

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful job of separating fact & fiction.
Review: I have read the first edition of this book, and am shocked at how the new versions have blatantly misinterpreted, distorted, and altogether changed the Word of God over the years. They claim to be an "easy-to-read" "accurate" version of supposedly outdated language, but through subtle changes they often misguide and pervert understanding (as the Gnostics did).

The author does a wonderful job of showing word for word translations from the original Greek and then comparing them to longstanding translations like the KJV, NKJV, MKJV and LITV (Literal translation) and how the "new" versions like NASB, NIV, ERV, NAB et al. fall horrifically short. What I really like is that after presenting all of this evidence against the new versions, the author never says that Bible-readers and believers MUST abandon them for the accurate ones, but he simply presents a few verses to meditate upon and then if you decide to stay with the new ones, you stay with the new ones. Personally, Bible translation and interpretation is a good way to separate the wheat and the tares and the Elect from the non-believers.

Rating:
Summary: Bible versions can differ in important ways
Review: In this book, Greens looks at verses that support the deity of Christ. He does so by looking at verses that support the various attributes of Christ that only God can have, such as omnipotence and omnipresence. But Green shows how the way these verses read in many new versions they no longer support the deity of Christ.

The reason for this problem is most new versions are based on the Critical Text (CT) and follow a dynamic equivalence translation method. Meanwhile, versions like the KJV, NKJV, and Green's own Literal Translation of the Bible (LITV) are based on the "Textus Receptus" (TR) and my Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament (ALT) is based on the Majority (MT), and all of these versions follow a literal or formal equivalence translation method.

To explain, dynamic equivalence refers to a thought for thought translation method while formal equivalence refers to a word for word method. But the problem with the former is that by only translating the thoughts of the original writers, important points of a verse can be left out, such as proofs for Christ's deity.

As or the issue of Greek text type, the MT and TR are very similar, but there are some significant differences between, but there are far more significant differences between either of these and the CT. And some of these differences affect verses relevant to the deity of Christ.

So this book shows there are differences between a CT/ dynamic equivalence version and a TR/ MT-formal equivalence-literal type of version. And these are not minor differences but can affect very important issues, such as the Deity of Christ.

However, this difference between types of versions is somewhat exaggerated in Green's book. Sometimes he claims a version mistranslates a verse when in fact it has not. Green seems to think that there is only one correct way to translate a passage and any deviation from this is a problem. But very often there is more than one legitimate way to translate a passage.

Also, Green tends to be rather disparaging in his comments about versions and even their translators. And such language is really unnecessary.

But even with these caveats, this book is worthwhile. It demonstrates there are significant differences between Bible versions. I know this is true as I wrote a book titled "Differences Between Bible Versions." And in my book I use the same standards Green uses in regards to both the Greek text type and translation method.

Rating:
Summary: A useful comparison of the modern treatment of this issue
Review: In this book, Jay Green continues to defend the Word of God against modern assaults. This book compares the modern treatment in Bible versions of the doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ.

Buy his Interlinear Bible, buy his Literal Version or his Modern King James Version, buy his New Englishman's Greek Concordance and Lexicon; if you want an accurate putting of the Hebrew and Greek into English.

Rating:
Summary: A useful comparison of the modern treatment of this issue
Review: In this book, Jay Green continues to defend the Word of God against modern assaults. This book compares the modern treatment in Bible versions of the doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ.

Buy his Interlinear Bible, buy his Literal Version or his Modern King James Version, buy his New Englishman's Greek Concordance and Lexicon; if you want an accurate putting of the Hebrew and Greek into English.