BIBLE TRANSLATION PIT FALLS - part 3

Verses deliberately omitted in the NIV

(with their context to highlight their importance):  

On exorcising demons:
Matthew 17:21 KJV 
Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.       

On Jesus reason for coming:
Matthew 18:11 KJV
For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.     

On the (negative) spirit of religion:
Matthew 23:14 KJV 
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.    

On purification through knowledge:
Mark 7:16 KJV
If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.  

Consequence of sin; specific repetitive emphasis on torment in Hell
Mark 9:44, 46 KJV
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.       

Condition for an effective prayer life (without which, prayer is seriously hindered)
Mark 11:26 KJV
But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.     

Indication of specific fulfilment of scripture regarding the cross
Mark 15:28 KJV 
And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.    

On the end time rapture:
Luke 17:36 KJV
Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.    

The manner in which healing was done: through an angel
John 5:4 KJV
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.    

Condition for salvation (without which salvation, in this instance, is not possible)
Acts 8:37 KJV
And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.     

Persistence of an evangelist
Acts 15:34 KJV
Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.     

Reference to known historical figure (similar to mentioning Ponticus Pilate)
Acts 15:34 KJV
Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.  

Real effect that Paul's teaching had on the Jews
Acts 28:29 KJV
And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.     

Standard greeting
Romans 16:24 KJV
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.     
     

Verses altered or incomplete in the NIV

1 John 5:6-8 KJV 
[6] This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. [7] For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. [8] And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.   

1 John 5:6-8 NIV 
[6] This is the one who came by water and blood---Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. [7] For there are three that testify: [8] the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

Deliberate omission of reference to the spirit man within the believer:

Acts 18:5 KJV
And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.   

Acts 18:5 NIV
When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.   

Acts 18:25 KJV
This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.   

Other problems

     NIV is based on 2 sources. Researchers have stated that these sources are older. (a)must because they are older it does not mean they are right; (b) the apostle Paul mentioned already in his day people were defrauding scripture. KJV is based on 49 sources.  The modern Bible translations are more and more ecumenical, all inclusive and liberal, so as to offend less people.  NIV does not mention "Hell" in the Old Testament at all, unlike the KJV which mentions it dozens of times.
    

What about the New King James Version?

    The NKJV is infinitely better than the NIV but it does pose some problems worthy of note as well. He NKJV does more than change the old English into modern. It departs from the original KJV in some areas:

Omits "Lord" 66 times.
Omits "God" 51 times.
Omits "Heaven" 50 times.
Omits "repent" 44 times
Omits "blood" 22 times
Omits "Hell" 21 times.
Completely omits: “Jehovah”, “Damnation”, “Devils”.

A note on the publisher

Zondervan publishes the NIV. They are owned by Harper Collins, who is a secular (non-Christian) company. The best possible result here is that profit is leading the motivation for over 100 different Bible publications, some of them downright heretical.   Jesus said "beware of the scribes" (Luke

20:46) What are scribes? People that write. Publishers.

Conveniently, the NIV changes this to "beware of the teachers if the Law", but that is not what the original versions (and even the Amplified) are saying.

Luke 20:46 KJV
Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts.  

Luke 20:46 NIV [46] “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.

Conclusion

  Exclusion is very dangerous. As we read the Bible we see how one passage or one book reinforces others all over Scripture. Likewise if we start excluding this passage and that passage very soon it will lead to the exclusion of the whole book and truth of God.   All Bibles translations have flaws here and there. To be a diligent student of God's word implies reading different passages from different translations while sticking to a more unadulterated translation, namely the KJV, as your main source. My purpose here is simply to caution you NOT to make the NIV your main source as you'll be, at best missing out on a whole world of wealth and wisdom from the Word!  
Blessings.    

 

Andy De Campos

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BIBLE TRANSLATION PIT FALLS - part 2

I couldn't believe what I saw (not)

One day the spirit brought the passage to my attention where ages us says "this one can only come out through prayer and fasting". Jesus was referring to casting out a demon. As we should, when the spirit brings a passage to our mind we should always look it up. So I opened my habitual NIV and this caught my attention:

Mark 9:29 NIV
He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer. ”

Where was the rest? I knew it existed. I knew I had heard it, read it somewhere before. For sure. I could not have made it up. So I consulted another translation and there it was:

Mark 9:29 KJV
[29] And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

I was horrified. I felt a slight betrayal (not from God of course, but from men) followed immediately by a feeling of "why?". Moments after that I thought to myself: "goodness, what other parts of scripture has the NIV thrown away.

I often react to things like this rather dramatically at first and then discern better what the implications are in the next couple of days. My wife is a great anchor for me in these situations. In this case, for instance, she said the reason the NIV may have omitted this passage was that it was that some translations of the original manuscripts may not have had this part of the verse. This may be the case or not. We can easily find this out but, regardless, this explanation did not suffice for me. I just wouldn't let this go and, later, I realized why: there simply was no good reason to omit this in a "new" version of any Bible.

My rationale, and prompting of the Spirit, both pointed to this. The weakest argument I can make supporting that the NIV should never have omitted this is as follows. If there are two groups of manuscripts - proven to be genuine - and one has "prayer and fasting" while other has only "prayer", then it is not only I. Everyone's best interest that we include both "prayer and fasting".
This is not an omission of a key verse. This, unfortunately had a graver consequence. It is that it implies that the message is actually different than what it is. It devalues the word. For when I'm reading "prayer and fasting" on one scripture and then read only "prayer" in this New International Version which I am consciously aware of having been prepared by scholars of much greater intellect than myself, I may erroneously assume that

(a) Jesus may not have said "fasting",
(b) Jesus may not have meant "fasting",
(c) Jesus may have said something that combined both ideas.

But if point "c" we're to be the case then why omit "fasting"? Why not keep both "prayer and fasting" like most earlier translations have it?
So this devalues the great gift of fasting from, at, least, this passage. And when that happens, beware.

Why the omission?

In the end, there was no good reason, ever, to omit "fasting". No matter which way you sliced it the end result was negative.

Something that so caught my, by this point, very receptive intellectual sense was that the study publication of the NIV (the study Bible with all those notes) made not even any reference to the fact that "fasting" existed in other manuscripts. This was very odd, for study Bibles have copious amounts of notes, footnotes and references to material far less important than this.

Also, this was no small passage. After all it was not a matter of leaving out the words "six" or "ceremonial" or "thirty" in the following passage here used as an example.

John 2:6 NIV
[6] Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

Mark 9:29 is a key instruction on spiritual warfare. The implication of not following it properly equated that of sending a couple of soldiers into a particular attack which calls for, and can only be undertaken successful with, the use of a tank.

This discovery on the NIV's Mark 9:29 took place after a time when I had had a major breakthrough through fasting. Indeed all my major breakthroughs have taken place after fasts. I'm not saying this is the only way they happen but I am sharing my experience which (a) is real, (b) is biblical and (c) which I have first hand knowledge of.

According to some scholars Jesus gave us three main commands:
1. to pray;
2. to love God through loving others;
3. to fast.

One of the most easily forgotten weapons among modern churches. Fasting is extremely powerful. Indeed it is a real secret weapon in spiritual warfare but,unfortunately, it is not given due credit or attention so it becomes "secret" in a negative way.
The point is it is crucial for our lives and some things can only be done through fasting. Jesus says it himself.

It’s worse

Let's do this. Let's throw out everything I said until now.
Just read Matthew 17:21 in the NIV. This is referring to the same (or very similar) story as Mark 9:29.
Go ahead. Look it up for yourself. Matthew 17:21. It is there isn't it? Except there is nothing after the indicator for verse 21. It just blank! It's not there at all. This time the prayer went right down the tube with the fasting. Good night!!!

So this is the comparison (I included the verses before and after for greater emphasis to my point):

Matthew 17:20-22 KJV
[20]  [...] nothing shall be impossible unto you. [21] Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. [22] And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men:

Matthew 17:20,22 NIV
[20]  [...] nothing will be impossible for you.” [21] {BLANK}
[22] When they came together in Galilee [...]

Incidentally, I also discovered this after another fast.

To be persistently alarmist is wrong and unbiblical. Scripture is not meant to be reduced to one or a few passages, it is to be taken as a whole. Sure I have taken way more positive out of the NIV than negative. If I was in an island and it was all I had, God bless it. However, nothing excuses from changing, dramatically, a message by deliberately omitting verses in the world's most popular Bible translations.
This is why I strongly urge you to cease using the NIV. Essentially, you don't have to and why would you if it undermines your full and sometimes correct understanding of God's word.

The gift that keeps on taking

The worse problem is that the NIV has many revisions and with each new one, the scriptures get more and more blurred and altered. So far the 2012 edition is the most skewed.

Why, why, why? I can only think of this quote from the 1962 film “Lawrence of Arabia”:
“Big things have small beginnings.”

This is the end of the line for me. I will not speculate. I stop with the facts and with a list of Bible verses that have been completely eliminated from the NIV.
I have no theory, that I could in good conscience safely put forth, as to the reason these verses are not in the most widely circulated Bible version on the planet.

However, see for yourself and ask yourself: "is there any sane reason why the following are omitted from the NIV?"
Or
"Is there a pattern to the passages that are omitted in the NIV?"

Ummmm!...

NEXT TIME
Let's get to the meat.
I will share Bible passages which are missing in the NIV.