Sola Scriptura

is Latin for “by scripture alone.” This is the Christian belief that the bible is the supreme authority in all matters of doctrine and practice. With these high standards it is imperative that the integrity of any translation be accurate ( Rev 22:18,19 ).

Few of us read the scriptures in their original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, & Greek); therefore to spread the “good news” we have translations. However, with translations we have a few issues that we must consider:

Biases/agendas influence translation

Sources vary in accuracy

Incorrect translations

Scribal errors/mistakes

Intentional scribal changes

Languages are always changing so over time scriptures meanings change

Some words don’t have an equivalent word in the target language

All of these issues could be expounded upon in separate studies but we are using a straight forward example that is a great example of “bias/agenda” which encompasses our topic of integrity in translation. We will be examining two translations and our concern is that they were translated accurately and with integrity (not falsely representing anything), conveying what the writer of the source manuscript was saying.

The example I’m going to use deals with the most important topic for both believers and non-believers; SALVATION. We are going to look at the verse that is probably the best known verse in the bible. We will use two different versions that have glaring differences in their meanings, even though they both use the same source language and are rendered in English. Then we will look at the Greek manuscript to see which version was truly translated with integrity.

The easiest verse to understand salvation is probably the most quoted verse in the bible; John 3:16. This verse is a really good example because all English versions of the bible render this the same way with one exception (that still says the same thing) and the New World Translation (NWT) which has a very unique rendering. The NTW was translated by the Watchtower Society and is used by every Jehovah’s Witness worldwide.

As a whole the two versions are very similar but the key difference is that the NWT says “exercising faith” while the NKJV say “believes.” “Exercising faith” is an action, making salvation based on what someone does or doesn’t do, which is completely different form “believes.” Dictionary.com defines “believes” as “to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so.” A Jehovah Witness friend of mind didn’t like this definition because it was too general, so here is the Strongs definition for the word "believes" . These are two different meanings and only one can be correct.

At this point I hope we are in agreement that these two versions are saying two different things.

We are asking about the integrity of translations for two examples that were translated into English. The original language of the Gospel of John is Koine Greek, so let’s take a look at an interlinear version (this contains both the Greek and English equivalent) and see what it has to say. Keep in mind that a Greek sentence isn’t structured like English so reading the English words will sound very odd but we will see the words that are in the original text.

The NKJV matches up very well but the NWT has several major concerns.

Did you catch what words you did NOT see in the Greek? The words “exercising faith” doesn’t appear anywhere in the Greek text! How could this be if someone was creating a translation of the bible that has integrity?

Here are some things that should be noted about the NWT pertaining to the word “exercise” or any of its variants (exercises, exercised or exercising):

“Exercise faith” appears 17 times in the book of John and at least 10 other places in the NT.

“Exercise faith” NEVER appears in any extant Greek manuscripts.

When translating from a language into English, when adding a word(s) that don’t appear in the source language, they are supposed to be in brackets []. The translators of the NWT use this rule in other places but NEVER in any instance of “exercise faith.”

The Greek word that the NWT translates as “faith” is actually “believes” (πιστεύων). “Believes” is derived from the Greek word for “faith” (πίστις – note nothing about “exercise”) but is actually a different word with a slightly different meaning and is used in a different context.

One of the “issues” about making a translation, noted above, is “biases/agendas.” These come about because the organization or person(s) paying for the translation dictate the teachings that will be represented. They don’t have to say it will say “a, b, c,” they simply get translators that are proponents of “a, b, c.” The Watchtower Society is no different, they have a set of teachings they want their followers to believe and they will do whatever it takes to push that agenda.

“an act or statement intended to make people believe something that is not true”

Is this not exactly what the Watchtower Society did here in John 3:16? How does the Watchtower Society measure up with their translation so far?

Did the Watchtower Society add the word “exercises” (not only here but 26 other places in the NT) which changed the meaning of the source text? Yes they did and yes it changed the meaning.

Did the Watchtower Society change the word “believes” into the word “faith?” Yes they did. They had to, “exercising believes” doesn’t make any sense!

Did the Watchtower Society make these changes and represent them as if that is what was said in the source text? Yes they did.

Any one of these three things would qualify as deceptive but the Watchtower Society did all three! This is a clear cut example of DECEPTION perpetrated by an organization to its followers!

The deceiver ( Eph 6:12 , the deceiver uses people/organizations) is out to deceive and if he can deceive you concerning salvation any other belief is irrelevant because he’s got you. The accurate translation of John 3:16 says “whoever believes” not “everyone exercising faith” is how one is saved; don’t be deceived!