The New International Version Bible

• Corrupt bibles promote corrupt doctrines.
  
  
• Use of a corrupt bible in Seventh-day Adventist publications or meetings or by a Seventh-day Adventist minister is an endorsement of that bible.
  
  
• When a bible contradicts itself and/or the Spirit of Prophecy, it makes one lose confidence in either being the infallible Word of God.
  
  
• It promotes the idea that it's not important what you believe.
  
  
• The plethora of new bibles used does not help in memorization of Scripture. Of the easily obtainable bibles, the King James Bible is the easiest to memorize. Memorization comes by repetition. If one bible is used in church services and publications, memorization of texts is made easier. In fact, for those texts used frequently, if one bible is used, memorization will occur automatically.
  
  
• Since the new bibles contradict themselves, contradict other bibles and contradict the Spirit of Prophecy it leads the layman to think he needs a scholar or at least a pastor who had a class in Greek and Hebrew to explain the contradictions to him. Testimonies for the Church volume 5 page 331 says, "The Bible with its precious gems of truth was not written for the scholar alone. On the contrary, it was designed for the common people; and the interpretation given by the common people, when aided by the Holy Spirit, accords best with the truth as it is in Jesus."

• The only text in the King James Bible that names Lucifer is Isaiah 14:12. In the NIV it reads, "How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!" See, no mention of Lucifer but a title of Jesus Christ has replaced it. The NIV says in Revelation 2:28 that "I will also give him the morning star." In Revelation 22:16 the NIV reads, "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."
  
  
• Twice in December 2017 I heard in a Seventh-day Adventist church responsive reading 730 in the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal taken in part from Luke 2 in the NIV. The problem occurs in Luke 2:14 where the NIV says, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." The King James Bible says "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will towards men." John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world" and John 3:17 says "For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." God sent his Son for sinners with whom he was not pleased. I doubt anyone in the congregation beside myself knew they were reading corrupted scripture.
  
  
• Another responsive reading I heard in a Seventh-day Adventist church taken from the NIV is from Psalms 51 (see responsive reading 756 in the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal). Psalms 51:5 says "Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." This will read a little differently depending on the edition of the NIV used but will say essentially the same thing. The first edition of the 1611 King James Bible says, "Behold, I was fhapen in iniquitie: and in finne did my mother conceiue me." What appear to be typos are not typos. That is the way English was written in 1611. The Revised Standard Oxford Edition of the King James Bible of 1769 says, "Behold, I was fhapen in iniquity ; and in fin did my mother conceive me." This last Bible is the one on which the King James Bibles we buy now are based; they say THE SAME THING but spelling has been standardized and the use of letters has changed a little. Doctrine in the King James Bible is NOT changed no matter what edition you use. Psalms 119:89 in the King James Bible says, "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven." God's Word is definitely not settled in the new bibles.
  
  If you compare that text to the King James Bibles you buy now, you will find that what was a "u" in the first edition is now a "v." An "s" occurring at the beginning or in a word was represented by what superficially looked like an "f" in the first few editions of the 1611 King James Bible. Since I don't have a Gothic font available, I had to make do with a lower case "f." On the letter that used to represent the "s" the horizontal bar of the "f" was only on the left side while the lower case "f" had the horizontal bar through the letter as it is now. An "s" at the end of the word was the same in the first edition through and including the current edition. The figure at the top of the page is Luke 10:1-2 from a page of the first edition of the 1611 King James Bible. A Gothic font was used for the text and a Roman font for commentary.
  
  There are serious doctrinal issues with the NIV's rendition of that verse. The King James Bible says we were born of a sinful mother and have inherited the weakness of humanity and its tendency to sin but we are NOT sinful in utero nor has an infant who has no conception of right or wrong become a sinner until that child has violated the Law of God. The NIV supports the Roman Catholic doctrine of original sin and Limbo where an infant who dies unbaptized goes neither to hell or heaven but somewhere in between for eternity. It is also saying that Jesus Christ, if born of a sinful mother, was a sinner in utero and at birth unless, as Roman Catholics believe, Mary was sinless. A further ramification is that Jesus must have been different than us and could not have been tested in all points we're tested in.
  
  Once again, the congregation was probably oblivious to what they were reading.
  
  
• There is in Jude verse 9 an interesting change in word order that changes the meaning of the text. It says, "But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"" The King James Bible says, "Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation but said, The Lord rebuke thee."
  
  Changing "Michael the archangel" to "the archangel Michael" obscures the fact that there is only one archangel which is Michael and Jesus Christ. First Thessalonians 4:16 says "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel." Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Angels don't resurrect anyone. Roman Catholics believe that Gabriel and Raphael were also archangels and, contrary to scripture, even worship them.
  
  
• In my 1983 edition of the NIV 2 Samuel 21:19 says, "In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver's rod." In 1 Chronicles 20:5 it says, "In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver's rod." So, did Elhanan or David kill Goliath? Did Elhanan kill Goliath or Goliath's brother? Apparently in the NIV God's Word isn't "settled in heaven." The King James Bible even from the first edition of 1611 has always said, in 2 Samuel 21:19, "And there was againe a battell in Gob, with the Philiftines, where Elhanan the fonne of Jarre-Oregim a Bethlehemite, flewe the brother of Goliath the Gittite , the ftaffe of whofe fpeare was like a weavers beame." Once again the strange spelling is not an error. That is the way the first edition of the King James Bible was written.
  
  
• Second Peter 2:9 in the NIV says, "if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteousness for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment." In other words, the unrighteous are conscious and being punished in hell while waiting for the judgment. The King James Bible says the unjust are "to be punished."
  
  
• In my 1983 edition of the NIV, Acts 15:34 is missing. Acts 24:7 missing. Acts 28:29 missing. Acts 8:37 missing. Luke 17:36 missing. Luke 23:17 missing. Mark 11:26 missing. Mark 15:28 missing. Mark 7:16 missing. Mark 9:44 missing. Matthew 17:21 missing. Matthew 18:11 missing. Matthew 24:14 missing. A large part of Luke 9:55-56 missing. Romans 16:24 missing. Some editions may include the text but have a footnote casting doubt on its validity.
  
  
• Here is a text feminists LOVE in the NIV. It's Romans 16:7 which reads, "Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was." Those pushing the feminist agenda allege that the name Junias is that of a female and that she was an apostle. The King James Bible says, "Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me." The is no proof that Junias is a female name and the real Bible says that person was "of note" which doesn't mean Junias was an apostle but just well known by the apostles. Even if Junias or Junia was generally a female name, it doesn't mean that person was female. I once met a man named Carol.
  
  
• The King James Bible in Daniel 3:25 says, "He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." The NIV says, "the fourth looks like a son of the gods."
  
  
• There is something interesting that has been done with the word "hell" in the New King James Version (NKJV) and the NIV compared to the King James Bible. Hell come up 54 times in the King James Bible, 32 times in the NKJV and 14 times in the NIV. Those versions aren't alone in doing this. For instance the word hell occurs only 13 times in the New American Standard Bible and 13 times in the New Revised Standard Version. Hell is not named at all in Revelation in either the NKJV or NIV (using The Strongest NIV Exhaustive Concordance with a copyright date of 1999). It appears that in those new bibles the word hell has been left out where it would indicate anything but the hot place. Words such as Hades, realm of the dead, death and destruction and Sheol have been substituted for hell. It may seem a small thing but makes cross-referencing Scripture problematic and even has doctrinal implications. It's really a big thing.
  
  
• In the King James Bible, Hebrews 2:14 says, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." The 2011 edition of the NIV in that verse says, "Since the children have flesh and blood, he to shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil." There has been a subtle change. In the NIV Jesus "shared" in humanity but it doesn't say what he shared or how much he shared with humanity. The King James Bible says Jesus shared the "same" flesh and blood humanity has. First John 4:3 says, And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

© Martin J. Lohne 2018.