Topic(s): Bible Authority

Todd Clippard

Concerning translations, as much as I love the KJV, it is slowly being phased out. The New King James is a very good translation and follows closely the King James, and I recommend it highly to all. In fact, we buy NKJV Bibles for all our new converts, unless they already have a NKJV. The English Standard Version is also a new translation that is pretty good.

The problem with the NIV is that it is not a translation, but rather a "dynamic equivalent," meaning the so-called "translators" did not attempt to give an accurate word for word translation, but instead wrote what they thought the verse means. In this way, dynamic equivalents are nothing more than unglorified paraphrases. A paraphrase is usually one man's ideas on what he thinks the Bible means as opposed to what it actually says.