Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Answering Questions About Adding Words & Sharp's Rule in the New World Translation


In Phil 2:9, the NWT inserts the word "other", even though it does not appear in the original Greek (see Gr-Engl Interlinear). What is the reason for inserting this word? Is the word "Jehovah" a name? See Ex 6:3, Ps 83:18, and Ia 42:8. How would the verse read if the word "other" had not been inserted? What does scripture say about adding words to the Bible? See Prov 30:5-6.

Phil 2:9: "Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name" American Standard Version
Phil 2:9: "And for this God raised him high, and gave him the name which is above all other names" New Jerusalem Bible

Reply: Why did the New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Bible/TEV, Williams NT, Beck's Bible, New Living Translation, Weymouth's NT, 20th Century NT, Knox Bible, Contemporary English Version, The Complete Bible by Smith& Goodspeed, Jerusalem Bible and the Living Bible add the word "other" here also? Every Bible translation and version has to add words (and does) in the receptor language to clarify what is meant in the source language.
And yes, Jehovah is indeed a name, as the above scriptures mention. But yet most English Bibles have removed this name. What does the Bible say about removing words from the scriptures (Rev 22:19). See, I can play that game also.

Why does the WT break the Granville-Sharp rule of the Greek grammar for Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1, "...of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ", which show Jesus Christ and God to be one and the same person? Yet they always get the rule right where the Diety [sic] of Christ is not an issue (such as in 2 Peter 1:11, 2:20, 3:2, 3:18, 1 Peter 1:3, and Eph 1:3)?

Reply: Why don't other Bible versions like the New American Bible, Moffatt, ASV, Concordant, Rotherham, Schonfield, Jewish NT, Lamsa, Webster, HNV, Lattimore, Newcome, the margins of many other Bibles also apply this "rule" consistently?
Because the rule does not apply where proper names/nouns are used, as in Matthew 17:1, "Jesus taketh with him Peter and James and John." If we were to apply the rule strictly, then Peter, James and John would be the same person. So there are exceptions to this rule, and this should apply in a way that is most often used. In at least 10 other instances though, God and Jesus are described as different individuals.(2Peter 1:2; 1Timothy 1:1,2; 2:5; 6:13; 2Timothy 1:1,2; 4:1; Titus 1:1; 3:6) Is is not better to explain things in a way that people understand, rather than relying on obscure "rules". After all, Paul and the other writers of the Greek scriptures did not view Jesus as God:

"Apparently Paul did not call Jesus God" (Sydney Cave, D.D., Doctrine of the Person of Christ, p. 48).

"Paul habitually differentiates Christ from God" (C.J. Cadoux, A Pilgrim’s Further Progress, pp. 40, 42).

"Paul never equates Jesus with God" (W.R. Matthews, The Problem of Christ in the 20th Century, Maurice Lectures, 1949, p. 22).

"Paul never gives to Christ the name or description of ‘God’" (Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, Vol. 1, p. 194).

"When the New Testament writers speak of Jesus Christ, they do not speak of Him nor do they think of Him as God" (J.M. Creed, The Divinity of Jesus Christ, pp. 122-123).

"Karl Rahner [leading Roman Catholic spokesman] points out with so much emphasis that the Son in the New Testament is never described as ‘ho theos’ [the one God]" (A.T. Hanson, Grace and Truth, p. 66).

In John 14:14, why did the New World Translation (NWT) omit the word "me" in "If you ask me anything"... in the New World Translation, especially since the Kingdom Interlinear has the word "me". see Gr-Engl. It should therefore read "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it". Why the change?

Reply: John 14:14 is rendered that way probably because of the same reason it is in the Darby version, Williams NT, New English Bible, King James Version, Revised Standard Version, Emphatic Diaglott, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, 20th Century NT, Living Bible, Unvarnished NT, Modern Language Bible, Young's Literal Version, Contemporary English Version, Lattimore, Moffatt, Montgomery NT, New King James, Jerusalem Bible etc.
The word "ME" is also omitted from ancient manuscripts like A, D, K, L, Codex Petropolitanus, Codex Athous Laurae and the Byzantine manuscripts amongst others. Why is this? Because the book of John clearly says that this phrase is a referent to the Father (John 15:16; 16:23). Remember, according to trinitarian theology, Jesus is NOT the Father.
Looking at the above list of Bible versions leads to another question...why can't you people agree on anything?
"That evangelicals, all claiming a biblical norm, are reaching contradictory theological formulations on many of the major issues they are addressing suggests the problematic nature of their present understanding of theological interpretation. To argue that the Bible is authoritative, but to be unable to come to anything like agreement on what it says (even with those who share an evangelical commitment) is self-defeating. " EXEGETICAL FALLACIES by D. A. Carson p.18

In Romans 10:13, why does the NWT translate it as "name of Jehovah", when every Greek manuscript translates it as "Lord"?

Reply: Every Greek manuscript does not translate it as Lord, it is in there as KYRIOS, and it is untranslated. In fact, you will find that there is a wide discrepancy between most translations and versions as to the number of times KYRIOS is translated as "Lord". It is widely known among textual critics that the later Byzantine manuscripts embellished titles like "Lord" and inserted them more into the actual text. Question: Why do most Catholic and Protestant versions omit the divine name in the OT, especially when every Hebrew manuscript has it in there over 6000 times?

The NWT translates Jn 1:1 as "...the Word was WITH God, and the Word was a god". How can the Word (Jesus) be "a god" if God says in Deut 32:39, "See now that I, I am he, and there are NO gods together WITH me"?

Reply: For the same reason Moses can be a god (Ex 4:16; 7:1), Angels can be gods (Ps. 8:5; 97:7, 138:1), Judges can be gods (Ps 82/John 10:34) and King Solomon can be a God (Ps 45:6 KJV, NIV, NASB etc).

"I said you are gods. Scripture gives the name of gods to those on whom God has conferred an honourable office. He whom God has separated, to be distinguished above all others [His Son] is far more worthy of this honourable title ... The passage which Christ quotes [at John 10:34] is in Psalm lxxxii [82], 6, I have said, You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High; where God expostulates with the kings and judges of the earth, who tyrannically abuse the authority and power for their own sinful passions, for oppressing the poor, and for every evil action ... Christ applies this to the case in hand, that they receive the name of gods, be- cause they are God's ministers for governing the world. For the same reason Scripture calls the angels gods, because by them the glory of God beams forth on the world ... In short, let us know that magistrates are called gods, because God has given them authority."-John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel According to John, p. 419, 20.
So what kind of *god* is meant at Deut 32:39? The same one that is mentioned at v.12, "Jehovah alone did lead him, And there was no foreign god with him." ASV

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