A social media post shared on a lot of accounts compared differences between the King Jame Version (KJV) and the New International Version (NIV) and said there is a nefarious “crusade geared towards altering the Bible as we know it.” Are the differences a plot to destroy the Bible, or is something else happening?
The post asked, “Why did Jesus come to earth?” Many passages answer that question and are in the KJV, NIV, and English Standard Version (ESV) with negligible differences (Luke 19:10; John 10:10; 18:37).
However, in Luke 9:56, the KJV says, “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
These words are missing from the NIV and ESV. The post also compares Matthew 18:11, “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost,” which is omitted by the NIV and ESV.
Normally, I just pass by posts like this
This time I did not. It bothered me how this post made it sound like a conspiracy theory. The post said, “NIV was published by Zondervan but is now OWNED by HarperCollins, who also publishes the Satanic Bible and the Joy of Gay Sex” (emphasis in original). It leads people to think HarperCollins is trying to change the Bible. It implies that HarperCollins, Zondervan, and the NIV are all bad. Of course, this doesn’t explain why the ESV, published by Crossway, a conservative evangelical company, omits the passages in question. Many people responded in shock.
Conclusions can be wrong
Most of the post’s conclusions are wrong because they are based on wrong assumptions. The differences between the NIV, ESV, New American Standard Bible (NASB) and the KJV or New King James (NKJV) are not a result of a Satanic conspiracy. It comes from differences among the Greek manuscripts, handwritten copies of the New Testament. Uninspired, handwritten copies of the original writings are prone to copying mistakes. The discipline of textual criticism seeks to compare all the witnesses and reconstruct the original text. Thankfully, there is over 90% agreement in the witnesses. Most differences can be traced to spelling differences, conflation of words, skipping lines ending with the same letters, or assimilating marginal notes from a previous teacher or scribe.
Complex issues
Among other reasons, translational differences arise from textual variations, evolution of the English language, translators’ word choice, or discovery of new manuscripts. The post disingenuously and misleadingly insinuated there is a plot to undermine the Word of God, ignoring the reasons for the differences. Beware of believing in or sharing uncritical social media posts that disparage genuine differences or oversimplify complex issues.
Preaching Minister