By Dean Lusk
A few days ago I talked about the differences in a few English Bible translations. Not the standard kind of "thee" versus "you" differences, and not the bigger, deep theological sorts of differences. Something in between, really. This post will follow up where I left off and is a little longer than usual.
In Matthew 6:1, Jesus says that we shouldn't be making a showy spectacle of ourselves as we do good stuff. We should not help people so that we'll get attention and credit for doing something good. (At the same time, we should be an example to people around us; our motivation is the key.)
In that verse the New Living Translation quotes Jesus as saying, "Don't do your
good deeds publicly, to be admired by others..." The phrase "good deeds" is also used in Matthew 5:16: "Let your
good deeds shine out for all to see..."
I thought it odd that Jesus would speak of exactly the same acts twice within five minutes of each other,
once saying to do them publicly and next saying to do them privately, so I looked at the English Standard Version for a different perspective. Sure enough, while in 5:16 the ESV says "let your light shine before others, so that they may see your
good works," it says in 6:1 "beware of
practicing your righteousness before other people..."
Must be a different Greek word(s) in the two verses, I reasoned. This proved to be correct.
In my
Blue Letter Bible app for iPhone (which I tend to use more than
YouVersion because it has a Greek interlinear feature), looking at the Greek text, "good works" (καλός ἔργον -
kalos ergon) mentioned in 5:16 are specific works. "Kalos" means beautiful or good, and "ergon" means to work, toil, or labor. "Righteousness" (δικαιοσύνη -
dikaiosunē) in 6:1 focuses more along the lines of a person's good character (equity of character or action), meaning to me that the latter was saying, "Don't try to get people to think that you're all pious and stuff. Be humble."
Good enough to give clarity the two passages. And then I looked at the King James Version.
"Take heed that ye
do not your alms before men, to be seen of them..." Zoiks! That's different. I saw no way of rendering "dikaiosunē" to mean alms or money, so I checked another interlinear Bible at
Scripture4All.org. Imagine my surprise when I noted that Matthew 6:1 used the Greek word "ἐλεημοσύνη" --
eleēmosunē. This means "compassionateness" (is that even a word?) or alms, as exercised toward the poor. This made Jesus' words in 6:1 have a much more focused point. He was literally talking about giving to the poor; a specific kind of work that we shouldn't trumpet so people will see us being all philanthropic and what-not.
But why the differences in the
Greek text? It's easy to understand the variances in English translations, but could be a big deal if someone's using a different Greek manuscript.
Ever notice the footnotes in your Bible that say things like, "Some manuscripts add
Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you."? I'll bet you have. Have you seen the footnote at Mark 16:8? "The most reliable early manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark end at verse 8. The majority of manuscripts include the 'longer ending' immediately after verse 8."
Here's the tip of the iceberg: the King James Version was translated from a manuscript called
Textus Receptus, meaning "the received text." Almost all modern translations rely primarily on other manuscripts, notably
Codex Vaticanus and
Codex Sinaiticus (interestingly,
Sinaiticus was discovered in St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai in 1844,
supposedly in a wastebasket about to be burned to help heat the monestary). The latter two, dating to about the 4th century A.D., are older than the most recent copies of
Textus Receptus by a few hundred years, so one line of reasoning says these must, then, be more accurate manuscripts. But not so fast! You'll find that
many phrases from Textus Receptus that are omitted in Vaticanus and Sinaiticus are quoted by sources within 50 years of Jesus' resurrection.
Here we have the source of a debate that has remained strong (heck, it's raged) for several hundred years now, though it is much less visible than many other debates in the Church.
My point is not to fan the flames of that debate. I'm not saying that the KJV, translated in 1611, is superior to modern translations. I'm not even arguing for one ancient manuscript over another. What I'm saying is that
we live in a fantastically wonderful time in history. Do you realize the breadth of ancient study materials available to the average person? How on earth could we squander these things? If we truly believe that we have in our possession a divine book that the Creator of the universe wrote/breathed so that we can know Him and know more about Him,
why in the universe do we leave it sitting on the table, on a shelf, in a car floorboard, or in a drawer? Why don't we take advantage of the amazing resources at our fingertips? Here are just a handful of online tools that you need to be taking advantage of:
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Comments (4)
Great research!
Most people have neither the time nor the interest to play trivial pursuit with the Bible.
No matter what your particular brand of Christianity there are great compendiums out there to explain holy scripture.
Do-it-yourselfers guided by the dogma they already believe in, will make the Bible come out the way they want, anyway.
So would you recommend The Blue Letter Bible over YouVersion?
I have an iPod and I have YouVersion,,, but Im going to check this other ap out.
Good post tho..
Thanks, you guys.
Prisoner, I regret that you feel like I just played a game with the Bible. I also would hate to think that you've attempted to pigeon-hole me in your third sentence. But I'm grateful you took the time to read the post, though. Seriously.
Lady, I know it sounds odd, but yes. YouVersion looks better (great, even), and it's a little easier to get around on, but not much. Don't let the interface of Blue Letter Bible turn you off. Having an interlinear Bible (with a Greek dictionary) handy is one huge bit of coolness. Also, you can set up a split-screen with one translation on top and another on the bottom. Also, I don't really make use of the social features of YouVersion.
By the way, I remember when it came out. I was appalled that someone would call it "YouVersion," as if someone were writing his own Bible. I eventually got past the name, though.