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| Q: | I'm currently attending a Bible study at a local WELS church and have questions about Bibles. I have been using a New King James Version Reference Bible from Nelson. I just received a gift of a NIV Study Bible from Zondervan. Some research on my own, via internet, has brought up some concerns of if the NIV Bible is a correct translation of the orginial text. Zondervan was specifically mentioned in different places. The pastor leading our Bible study recommended the NIV but mentioned that publishing houses can be biased and not all are using the correct translation. He also recommended a publishing house, but I can't remember the name. I did a search on your website and did not find any specific NIV called out. I did notice that the Concordia seems to be the most common Bible in your store. I also found one Zondervan. Is the Zondervan NIV Study Bible considered a correct translation? I have to admit I like the NIV for it's ease of reading and the study notes. I have just begin accept God into my life and the Bible study I'm attending is great. With all the different versions of the Bible and opposing views of God it makes it difficult to decide which Bible is correct. I appreciate any feedback you have on this topic. | ||||||||
| A: | Before our Synod began using the NIV in the publications printed by Northwestern Publishing House (Milwaukee, WI - our synod's publishing house), a group of pastors spent about a year comparing the NIV with other translations. Their study report indicated that the NIV was the best translation available for several reasons: 1) It was faithful to the original Hebrew and Greek languages in which the Bible was written; 2) It was as easy to read as any other translations; 3)It did not promote any doctrinal errors. The NIV translation is printed without any explanatory notes on passages of the Bible, and it also comes in several additions with notes. If you prefer a Bible with explanatory notes, the most trustworthy one is the Concordia NIV Bible With Notes. The pastor at the WELS church where you are attending a Bible study can probably help you find a place to purchase this Bible at a fairly good price. Most of the things that have been written against the NIV translation are written by people who believe that the only acceptable English Bible is the KJV. They argue that it is the only Bible based on the right Greek text. The problem is that they think that the Greek text that was copied about a thousand years after Christ is the only one that should be used. They ignore all the other copies that were made from about 200 to a thousand years after Christ. There are very few differences in the copies that were made for those first thousand years since God guided the copying so that his Word would remain pure. But these critics of the NIV make it sound like many things are left out in the NIV. Our church also has made a very careful study of the complaints that have been made about the NIV being copied from the wrong Greek text, and we have found that those complaints just are not valid. | ||||||||
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