I was
writing an article this morning refuting the false religion of
Calvinism. When I went to expose the Calvinist heresy of Limited
Atonement I immediately thought of one of my favorite Bible verses,
which is 1st John 2:2, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” As I
relished in the theological beauty of the word “PROPITIATION” (which
means: “to appease the wrath of God”), I became curious if the modern
Bible revisions butchered this important theological passage. I will
compare some Bible versions in a moment, but first I want to explain
what propitiation means.
God is a holy God, whose holiness demands justice. Because God is absolutely holy (perfect in every way), no human being can enter into the Kingdom of God, because we are sinners. Even one sin is enough to keep a person out of Heaven! This is confirmed in James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Whether you commit one sin, or a million, either way you CANNOT enter into the Kingdom of God. That is why we read in 1st Corinthians 6:9-10, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” God's wrath is against all sinners (Psalms 7:11; John 3:36).
Jesus came into the world to die on the cross as our sacrificial Lamb. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt of sin we could not pay! Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6-8). We are all ungodly sinners in need of the Savior (Galatians 3:24-26). Jesus died on the cross for our sins; He was buried; after being dead for three days, He miraculously resurrected bodily (1st Corinthians 15:1-6); He ascended up into Heaven bodily to sprinkle His literal liquid blood on the Mercy Seat (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 9:12, 24; 12:24; Acts 1:9-11). It is only through Jesus' precious blood sacrifice, applied to the heavenly Mercy Seat, that appeases (turns away) the wrath of a holy God. Romans 5:9, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) - 1st John 2:2, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
EASY-TO-READ VERSION (ERV) - 1st John 2:2, “Jesus is the way our sins are taken away. And he is the way all people can have their sins taken away too.”
CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE (CSB) - 1st John 2:2, “He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.”
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV) - 1st John 2:2, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
NEW AMERICAN BIBLE REVISED EDITION (NABRE) - 1st John 2:2, “He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.”
GOOD NEWS TRANSLATION (GNT) - 1st John 2:2, “And Christ himself is the means by which our sins are forgiven, and not our sins only, but also the sins of everyone.”
NEW CENTURY VERSION (NCV) - 1st John 2:2, “He died in our place to take away our sins, and not only our sins but the sins of all people.”
All of these different Bible versions convey a different meaning than what God intended. Our holy Creator meant for the reader to understand that He was angry at humanity because our own sins, but Jesus (the Lamb of God) appeased that wrath by His sacrificial death on the cross. In every case of the other six Bible versions I quoted, not one conveys the idea of God's wrath against sin being appeased. Ironically, I had to go get a dictionary to look up the word “EXPIATION,” which means “to compensate for a wrong.” Folks, expiation is drastically different than propitiation! I thought the whole idea of revising the Bible is to make it easier to understand? Expiation? Are you kidding me?
Although it is
true that Christ is the means by which our sins are forgiven, that still
does not convey the idea of Christ appeasing the WRATH of a holy God.
Only the King James Bible associates God's anger with our sins. 2nd
Thessalonians 1:8-9, “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;” I have heard
heathen people again and again rationalize that a loving God would never
burn someone in Hell forever. What saith the Scripture? Psalms 7:11,
“God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every
day.” John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the
wrath of God abideth on him.” Don't be deceived, God is angry at
wicked people! God is angry at all Christ-rejecters! God's wrath abideth
(continually resides) upon them!
Sadly, even
some professed Christians deny the existence of a burning Hell, on the
basis that a loving God wouldn't do that. Renee Roland is a popular
voice on YouTube. She has some good videos. She has even promoted my
ministry, reading some of my articles against Lordship Salvation, for
which I am delighted. However, she also
DENIES THAT HELL HAS EVERLASTING
FIRE! I have had some people ask me if someone can be saved who
doesn't believe in a literal burning Hell. Something is very wrong with
a person's mindset who doesn't believe the Bible. Revelation 20:15,
“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into
the lake of fire.”
Never Confess Your Sins To Anyone Except God
These
modern Bible revisions are dangerous. I heard a local pastor on Guam,
while listening to Harvest Baptist Church's KHMG 88.1 FM radio station
on the island, telling people to confess their sins to each other! I
almost drove my vehicle off the road in shock! He was quoting from the
English Standard Version (ESV) that Bob Jones University official uses,
sells and endorses...
English Standard Version (ESV) - James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) - James 5:16, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
There's a VERY
BIG difference between FAULTS AND SINS! A “fault” is having a habit of
being late, or being impatient, or having a tendency to worry; but a sin is
something very personal that ought not be repeated to anyone. Pastor
Jack Hyles used to say: “Don't be reluctant to admit to others that you
have feet of clay, but don't ever show them your feet.” Do you see how
just changing one word, changes the whole meaning of the Scripture
passage? Using the right Bible matters!!! I could show you hundreds more
examples of corruption of theology in the modern perversions!!! If you
look at Philippians 2:6 in the modern perversions, many say Jesus
couldn't grasp equality with God. The King James Bible correctly says
Jesus, “thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Bob Jones
University's perverse English Standard Version (ESV) says that Jesus,
“did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” There's a big
difference!
Words compose sentences, and sentences express thoughts, which form
doctrines, and shape lives and churches!!!
The Great Theological Doctrines Are Being Obliterated
The
perverted modern Bible revisions
replace the important and beautiful theological word “imputeth” in
Romans 4:6
with the lame word “credits.” This is one example how the new
Devil's Bibles are obliterating Bible theology. Liberals are
secularizing the Bible! I cannot emphasize enough the
importance of leaving those precious theological terms in the Holy
Bible!!! Although I don't agree with many beliefs of the Westminster
Theological Seminary, I fully agree with them on this beautiful
defense of leaving the word “impute” in the Word of God...
The use of technical theological terms is important for communicating with care key truths about what is revealed in Scripture. Quite often, however, these terms are either not found in Scripture (such as Trinity) or are used in specific ways that may not fit with every use of a given term in Scripture. But such use of technical language is important and legitimate, since it is the task of theology to explain in a systematic way the coherent teaching of all of Scripture without simply repeating Scripture.
This brings us to the sometimes debated term imputation. Imputation is a theological term that comes from the teaching of Scripture (see, e.g., Rom. 4:5) and communicates with precision some important aspects of the gospel. So what does imputation mean? In brief, in Reformed theology imputation most often refers to the legal (or forensic) crediting of Jesus’s perfect righteousness to believers by faith for justification (another important theological term). Imputation communicates that believers are made right with God (or justified) on the basis of the obedience of Christ (both active and passive—again, key theological terms). By Jesus’s active obedience he meets the demands of perfect righteousness God has always required of humanity. By Jesus’s passive obedience, he pays the penalty due to humanity on account of sin. Additionally, beyond the imputation of Christ’s full obedience to believers, imputation may also refer to the counting of believers’ sins to Christ as the sin-bearing substitute.
Evangelist Ray Comfort wrote a commentary on the Bible in 2000 titled, “THE EVIDENCE BIBLE.” In this horrible work of darkness he completely ignores the great Bible doctrine of IMPUTATION! Likely it is because he used 'The Amplified Bible' (AMP) to write his commentary. It just proves my point that these perverted modern Bible revisions corrupt the people who use them! Even a heathen abortion-loving reprobate judge understands the importance of words and grammar...
“At Cornell University, my professor of European literature, Vladimir Nabokov, changed the
way I read and the way I write. Words could paint pictures, I learned from him. Choosing the
right word, and the right word order, he illustrated, could make an enormous difference in
conveying animage or an idea.” —Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
So what the hell is wrong with America's pastors, evangelists and Bible professors? ...Uh duh uh duh duhhh! I wouldn't give you a dime for any religious leader who bids Godspeed to any Bible translation other than the inspired King James Bible!!! All of the Devil's Bible revisions remove important key theological terms, which are rendering today's church members theological ignoramuses!!! I could go on and on and mention hundreds more corruptions in the New English Translation (NET), but it is the SAME perversions in all the other Alexandrian revisions (i.e., they were translated from the 1881 corrupted Greek text of Brooke Westcott and Fenton Hort, allegedly found in Alexandria, Egypt). You can trust your inspired King James Bible!!!
