Are all Bible Translations the Same?

[John317]

Hey John, have you ever heard of TSK, Treasury of Scripture Knowledge? It was edited by R.A. Torrey. I have it in my e-sword, and it's the best Bible cross reference program I've ever seen.

So I am thinking I should get it in book form for when I need to study the old fashioned way. Since I'm so used to having it. You can get the book on e-bay for about $12.00 and it is a MOST handy study tool.

Thanks for that, Richard. No, I never heard of TSK. It sounds great. I'll have to look into getting it. I also need to get e-sword.

[John317]

1) Matthew 1:25 (NIV) omits the word 'firstborn' in front of son. While this may be trivial, but by omitting firstborn, it takes away the possibility of Mary having other children and implies that she only had a son.

But the use of "firstborn" in that passage is no proof that the Bible teaches Mary gave birth to other children.

ESV-- Matthew 1:25

but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The reason most modern translations omit "firstborn" [Gk prototokos] is that it is omitted in the codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, two fourth century manuscripts of the Alexandrian type. The Majority Greek Text contains it, including the fifth century codex C, and I believe it is a part of the original manuscript. (Other codices which contain it are D L & W.)

However, Matthew didn't write "firstborn son" in order to indicate Mary had additional children after she gave birth to Christ. His purpose, rather, was to tell us that no child was born to Mary before Christ. From the viewpoint of the word "firstborn," it is irrelevant whether a child was born to her afterwards.

The word "until" also does not prove that Joseph had sexual relations with Mary after the birth of Christ. For evidence of this, see 1 Sam. 15: 35; 2 Sam 6: 23 and Matt. 12: 20.

1 Samuel 15:35

And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul...

2 Samuel 6:23

And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to [until] the day of her death.

Matthew 12:20

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a smoldering wick he will not quench,

until he brings justice to victory;

[Bert]

The removal of the word 'firstborn' to the birth of Christ provides the argument by the Catholic Church that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Christ, and that it infers that He was the only Child, thus implying that she retained her virginity, even in marriage, for she is known by her title...the Virgin Mary.

Following is an excerpt from one of the many articles in Wikipedia concerning the "Blessed Virgin Mary", and it says:

"Since the 4th century, Roman Catholics have believed in the Virgin birth of Jesus, namely that Jesus was miraculously conceived through the action of the Holy Spirit while Mary remained a virgin. This was decided at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Going beyond the virgin birth of Jesus, the doctrine of Perpetual virginity of Mary holds that before giving birth to Jesus and even thereafter Mary remained a virgin all her life. This dates back to the Council of Constantinople in 533."

Thus, I believe that a person being intially exposed to Biblical truths could be led astray in this particular 'word deletion' if using the NIV or some of the modern versions that use the texts of Westcott and Hort, who used the two codices...Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, as their source. And this is just one of the thousands of errors that have been compounded through the questionable Alexandrian Code, through the corrupt Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, which were used by Wescott and Hort to create a text that is used as a basis for the writing of modern versions under the guise of providing a clearer and easier read of the Bible.