King James Bible:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15 KJB).

JB (the Roman Catholic flavoured) Jerusalem Bible:

Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through all his trials and, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life’s work and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth.

NIV:      

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

CEV (Contemporary English Version):

Do your best to win God's approval as a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed and who teaches only the true message.

(ISV) International Standard Version:

Do your best to present yourself to God as an approved worker who has nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of truth with precision.

Catholic Public Domain Version:

Be solicitous in the task of presenting yourself before God as a proven and unashamed worker who has handled the Word of Truth correctly.

See what is happening here. Modern Bible versions omit “study” and the phrase “rightly dividing the word of truth”. So, the “workman” who seeks to be approved by God is left to attempt to do so entirely on his own abilities and merit.

 In sharp contrast the King James Bible has Paul telling Timothy the way to be approved is to 1. “Study” and 2. To “rightly divide the word of truth”. When that is done the would-be workman will have nothing to be ashamed of because he is relying, not on himself, but on the power and truth of God’s word to change, quicken and empower him.

In sharp contrast, I think, the above Bible versions (other than the KJB) have much to be ashamed of. Fancy telling Timothy to “do your best” (the ISV) when no-one apart from Jesus Christ has ever found their best good enough to please God. And how can anyone “handle the word of truth correctly” without “rightly dividing” it (the phrase is missing from all the versions cited above with the sole exception of the KJB)?

So what happened to cause the modern bible translators to depart so radically from the Received Text underlying the King James Bible? Answer: in a word, the coming of Bible correctors. Today you find them on the campuses of universities and Christian institutes.

Their speciality is something called “textual criticism”. What they do is “criticise”, or find fault with, Bible texts that God has carefully preserved for thousands of years. Today the truth of these texts in English, can be found only in the King James Bible and one or two others.

Why are such academics so critical? The short answer is because they refuse to believe God has truly preserved his word in written form. For example, they deny that the accuracy of the Received Text though it is proven true by thousands of early manuscripts.

In doing so they take a humanistic, evolutionary approach asserting that while the first original inspired manuscripts were correct the texts were then corrupted over time, so that now it is up to them as “scientific” academic experts to reconstruct the original meaning. Imagine, science “falsely so called”, according to 1 Tim. 6:20 (KJB), and man’s flawed wisdom is now to decide what God actually said.

It is no coincidence therefore that nearly all modern bibles replace the word “science” in 1 Tim. 1:20 with “knowledge” without defining what such “knowledge” is. Actually, empirical “science” was all the rage in the 1600s when the King James Bible was produced. It was seen as a break away from mystic Greek ideas and the way to advance human progress. Fact is, that today, as in 1611, so-called “science” is biggest enemy of the gospel and Bible truth.

We have seen what scholastic correctors have done to one of the most important verses in the Bible. 2 Tim. 2:15 in the Received Text, faithfully transmitted down many centuries, is a vital guide to studying and understand scripture. Yet in the modern bible translations it is no guide at all because key words “study” and “rightly dividing the word of truth” have been left out.

In Eph. 2 the Apostle Paul sets forth the basic three-fold division in God’s dealings with mankind: Time past (v.11, 12), But now (v.13), and the ages to come (v.7). Consider again and compare how bibles based on the “Critical Text”, which departs in thousands of instances from the faithfully preserved “Received Text”, treat this important instruction from the Apostle Paul on how to understand your Bible:

King James Bible:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Notice, the JB and NIV mistranslations make no mention of the need to “rightly divide the word of truth”, nor to “study”. And what believer can claim to have kept “a straight course” throughout his “life’s work”? None I know of, and that includes the Apostle Paul.

Rightly dividing in Greek is orthotomeo, to cut straight, as in ploughing.

Shew – means to stand beside.

Study - Prov. 15:28: The heart of the righteous studieth to answer, but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.

Study – spoudazo = (Strong’s) make effort, be prompt, give diligence, labour endeavour, study.

So, which to choose ? The eclectic “pick and choose” method of text translation, oldest first (Westcott and Hort) or trust the Received Text supported by nearly 5,000 historic, hand-written manuscripts and preserved by God over nearly 2,000 years?

DID GOD PRESERVE HIS WORD IN WRITTEN FORM?

Psalm 12:6 (KJB):

The words of the Lord as pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

Psalm 12:6 NIV:

And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.  You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked.

Note that the NIV and other modern translations change the meaning from God preserving his word, to supposedly preserving people. Clearly, there’s a huge discrepancy between the KJB and NIV renderings of Psalm 12:6. Is it words that the Lord will preserve, or people? Fact is the context in verse 6 is that of words not people.

So, is it coincidence that whenever the King James Bible speaks about God preserving his word the modern Bible translations alter the text to make it mean something else? I think not.

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com

For more important truth visit the website Day of Christ Ministries.