|
#14 The Facts on Jehovah's Witnesses
Analysis and Critique: Does God Speak
Only Through the Watchtower Society?
Four Tests Examining This Claim
14. What are some examples of NWT
mistranslation?
The Watchtower Society has
warned, "God does not deal with persons who ignore His Word and go according to
their own independent ideas." The Watchtower further asserts that Jehovah is
against those who "steal" or change words from His Bible to make wrong
applications.
Yet the Watchtower has perpetrated just such error by
incorporating hundreds of mistranslations in the NWT. Though space
permits us to examine only a few examples of its mistranslations, even these
make a mockery of the Society's claims to have tried to publish an honest,
unbiased accurate translation of the Bible.
In each of the examples below we will: 1) list both the
New World Translation (NWT) and the New International Version (NIV)
translations for comparison, b) give the Society's reason for mistranslating,
and c) explain why the Jehovah's Witnesses' New World Translation is
biased, dishonest, and wrong.
Illustration 1 - Titus 2:13
a) Comparison of
translation of Titus 2:13 (the same mistranslation occurs in 2nd Peter 1:1).
The Jehovah's Witnesses in the New World Translation have translated
Titus 2:13 in this way:
NWT: "While we wait for the happy hope and
glorious manifestation of the great God and of (the) Savior of us, Christ
Jesus." (Jehovah's Witnesses have added the word "the" and put in parentheses in
front of the word Savior.)
On the other hand, the NIV
translates this:
NIV: "While we wait for the blessed hope - the
glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ . . . "
b) The reason the Jehovah's
Witness have mistranslated this verse is to deny the deity of Jesus Christ, a
doctrine they do not accept.
c) Proof and documentation
from scholars that the New World translators dishonestly translated this
verse:
By adding the word "the" in parentheses, the New World
translators obscured the fact that in this verse Paul clearly called Jesus "our
God and Savior." They have made it read as if Paul were speaking of two persons
here, God and Jesus, rather than one, namely Jesus. Paul expressly stated that
it is Jesus who is our great God and Savior. The Jehovah's Witnesses completely
violate what Greek grammarians call Granville Sharp's rule for the use of the
article with personal nouns in a series. In essence, Sharp's rule states that
when two singular personal nouns (God and Savior) of the same case (God and
Savior are both in the same case), are connected by "and" (the Greek word is
kai), and the modifying article "the" (the Greek word is ho) appears
only before the first noun, not before the second, both nouns must refer to the
same person. In Titus 2:13, "God" and "Savior" are connected by "and."
Also, "the" appears only before "God." Therefore, "God" and "Savior" must refer
to the same Person - Jesus. (The same rule also applies to the words in 2nd
Peter 1:1 that the Jehovah's Witnesses have also mistranslated in the NWT.)
In fact, scholars have conclusively
shown that in ancient times the phraseology "god and savior" was used of a
ruling king, clearly showing that only one person was meant. In an exhaustive
study, C. Kuehne found Sharp's rule to be without demonstrable exception in the
entire New Testament. Thus, honest and unbiased scholarship requires that the
words in these verses must be translated "our God and Savior, Jesus Christ." Dr.
Bruce Metzger, an authority on the Greek language and professor at Princeton
University, has stated:
In support of this translation [our God and
Savior must refer only to Jesus Christ] there may be quoted such eminent
grammarians of the Greek New Testament as P. W. Schmiedel, J. H. Moulton, A. T.
Robertson, and Blass-Debrunner. All of those scholars concur in the judgment
that only one person is referred to in Titus 2:13 and that therefore, it must be
rendered, "our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ."
Greek scholars Dana and
Mantey, in their A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, confirm the
truth of Sharp's rule, and then explain: "Second Peter 1:1 . . . means that
Jesus is our God and Savior. After the same manner Titus 2:13 . . . asserts that
Jesus is the great God and Savior." The greatest English-speaking Greek scholar,
A. T. Robertson, insisted that "one person, not two, is in mind in 2nd
Peter 1:1."
Even the context of Titus 2:13 shows that one Person, not
two, was in Paul's mind, for Paul wrote of the "glorious appearing" of that
Person. The Bible knows of only one such appearing: when "the Son of Man [Jesus]
comes in his glory" (Luke 9:26). Indeed, an appearing of "the invisible God,"
other than as the visible Christ, who is His image (Colossians 1:15), would be
impossible.
From all of this, scholars conclude that the Jehovah's
Witnesses' New World Translation of Titus 2:13 is a biased and inaccurate
translation.
Illustration 2 - Colossians 1:17
a) Comparison of
translation of Colossians 1:17. The Jehovah's Witnesses in their NWT
have translated Colossians 1:17 in this way (everyone agrees this verse speaks
of Jesus):
NWT: "Also, he is before all (other) things and
by means of him all (other) things were made to exist." (The Jehovah's Witnesses
have dishonestly inserted the word "other" twice and placed it in parentheses
when this word does not appear at all in the Greek text.)
On the other hand, the NIV
translates this:
NIV: "He is before all things, and in him all
things hold together."
b) The reason why the
Jehovah's Witnesses have mistranslated this verse is to change the fact that
Christ is eternal and therefore God - a doctrine they deny. To do so, they
dishonestly insert a word not found in the original Greek language which gives
the false impression that Christ Himself was a created being and not eternal.
c) Proof and documentation that the New World translations
dishonestly translated this verse:
Here in Colossians 1:17 the Watchtower Society's
translators have inserted the word "other" twice and put it in parentheses (they
also did this three more times in verses 16-20). They did this to imply that
Christ Himself is not the Creator. But as their own Greek interlinear shows
(pages 896), the Greek word panta means "all things," not "all
other things."
The Watchtower claims that inserting "other" is justified
five times because the context implies it. But the only thing that implies it is
their own bias against Christ's deity.
The Watchtower Society's own Greek interlinear version (page
896) embarrasses them, for it proves that there is no "other" in the Greek text.
Yet this didn't prevent earlier editions of the NWT from inserting
"other" without parentheses or brackets, implying that it was part
of the original Greek text (see the 1950 and 1953 editions). Even the 1965
edition of Make Sure of All Things quotes Colossians 1:15-20 in this
manner, implying that "other" is actually in the Greek five different times.
This is not the only place the Jehovah's Witnesses added
words to the text. Recent versions of the NWT have inserted the word
"other" in Philippians 2:9 without parentheses or brackets, to change the
meaning of that verse. The meaning is changed from "the name above every name"
to "the name above every other name."
The Society's objectivity cannot be more questionable than in
examples of this type. They add to the divine text what simply is not present in
order to deny what clearly is taught.
One similar example of how the NWT mistranslates the
Bible is John 8:58. This verse is absolute proof that Jesus claimed to be God.
Obviously, the Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that, so they have
deliberately and dishonestly changed the words. Instead of translating Jesus to
say ". . . Before Abraham was born, I am" (NIV), the Jehovah's Witnesses
translated these words, ". . . before Abraham came into existence, I have been."
Christ's actual statement that He was the "I am" was clearly
understood by the Jews to mean that Jesus had applied the divine name of God
used in the Old Testament to Himself (Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 43:10). That is why
the next verse states that the Jews immediately tried to stone Him to death for
blasphemy (John 8:59).
The Jehovah's Witnesses have dishonestly translated Jesus'
words "I am" to "I have been" to obscure the fact Jesus was making a direct
claim to being God. In mistranslating these words, they try to teach that Jesus
was saying He merely existed before as Michael the angel.
The Watchtower Society has explained its reason for
translating the Greek ego eimi ("I am") as "I have been" in John 8:58.
It's because the verb eimi is in the "perfect indefinite tense." But when
scholars pointed out to them that there has never been a "perfect indefinite
tense" in Greek and that eimi, as any beginner's Greek grammar shows, is
the first person singular, present, active, indicative form of einai, "to
be," and therefore it must be translated "I am," not "I have been," they
changed their mind and gave a new reason for mistranslating this verse. This too
was incorrect - nevertheless, the Society has even admitted once that it was the
present indicative tense. But it hasn't followed through and translated it as
such in its English Bible. Only its theological bias can explain its blatant
mistranslation. Interestingly, their Kingdom Interlinear, which shows the
Greek words, actually condemns the Watchtower's translation, giving correctly "I
am" directly beneath ego eimi. But unfortunately, no Jehovah's Witness
will ever accept the truth of these words because the Watchtower translators
further perpetuate this distortion by placing "I have been" in the column to the
right.
Illustration 3 - Matthew 25:46
a) Comparison of
translations of Matthew 25:46. The Jehovah's Witnesses in their NWT
have translated Matthew 25:46 in this way:
NWT: "And these will depart into everlasting
cutting-off, but the righteous one into everlasting life."
On the other hand, the NIV
translates this verse:
NIV: "Then they will go away to eternal
punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
b) The reason Jehovah's
Witnesses have mistranslated this verse is to deny the biblical teaching on
eternal punishment and replace it with their doctrine of the annihilation of the
wicked.
c) Proof and documentation
that the New World translators have mistranslated this verse:
All standard Greek
dictionaries define the Greek word in question in Matthew 25:46) (kolasin)
as "punishment," not "cutting-off," as the Jehovah's Witnesses have claimed it
means. The Watchtower is in conflict with standard Greek authorities, including:
Moultion and Milligan's The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament (Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1980, p. 352), Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the
New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1983, p. 353), Walter Bauer's
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature
(second edition, trans. William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, ed. F. W.
Gingrich and Frederick W. Danker [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979],
p. 441), and Gerhard Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
(ten volumes, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1978,
vol. 3, p. 816]).
These authorities all say that the word kolasin must
be translated as "punishment." This definition is clearly substantiated by the
word's use around New Testament times. For example, one early Christian writing
says that "evil-doers among men receive their reward not among the living only,
but also await punishment (kolasin) and much torment (basamon)."
They could hardly suffer "torment" if they were annihilated, as the Watchtower
Society believes.
Greek scholar Julius Mantey wrote that he had "found this
word in first-century Greek writings in 107 different contexts, and in every one
of them, it has the meaning of punishment, and never 'cutting-off.' "
Another verse the Society mistranslates to support its
rejection of the biblical doctrine of eternal punishment is Hebrews 9:27. The
standard way this is understood can be seen from the NIV's translation, which
reads: "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment . .
. " Next, please notice how the NWT adds words not in the original to
justify the Watchtower's own biased doctrine: "And as it is reserved for men to
die once for all time [that is, be annihilated], but after this a
judgment." The words "for all time" are not in the Greek text, as their own
interlinear shows (p. 988). Dr. Mantey observes, "No honest scholar would
attempt to so pervert the word of God." In the Bible God Himself warns all
translators, "Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a
liar" (Proverbs 30:6).
Space doesn't permit discussing all of the following verses,
but consulting any of the standard authorities on the New Testament Greek text
will show in each instance that the NWT has dishonestly changed the true
meaning of the words. And they do this hundreds of times.
-
In Acts 20:28, the actual words "His own blood"
have been mistranslated by the Watchtower Society as "the blood of His own
(Son)" to circumvent Christ's deity.
-
In Hebrews 1:8, the proper translation, "Your
throne, O God," has been mistranslated by the Watchtower Society to read, "God
is your throne," in order to deny Christ's deity.
-
In Colossians 2:9, the word "deity" is
mistranslated by the Watchtower Society as "divine quality," again in order to
deny Christ's deity.
-
In John 1:1 the phrase, "the Word of God" is
mistranslated by the Watchtower Society as "the Word was a god" to deny Christ's
deity.
All of this clearly shows that
the Watchtower Society miserably fails to pass the test of accurately
translating the Bible. Because the Watchtower's New World Translation has
universally been condemned as a biased and inaccurate translation, then it
cannot legitimately claim it is faithfully presenting the Word of God. And if it
is not faithfully presenting the Word of God, the Watchtower Society cannot
possibly be the sole channel on earth through which God has chosen to lead all
men.
Distorting God's Word is serious enough. But making God a
liar by speaking false prophecy in His name, so that men will worship a false
god, is an offense so serious that in the Old Testament it brought the death
penalty (Deuteronomy 13:1-5).
John Ankerberg & John Weldon
|