New Bible Versions Diminish, Rather Than Affirm Sound Doctrine
The Catholics recently published yet another translation of the Holy Bible, which once again, as with all new versions, attacks sound doctrine.
Key among its many changes to the Authorized King James Version (KJV) is a major departure from orthodoxy found in Isaiah 7: 14, which reads in the KJV: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
The new version translates ‘virgin’ as ‘young woman.’
This is one of the greatest prophecies in the Bible, pointing toward the miraculous conception and birth of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. And here it is perverted for what purpose?
The Higher Critical School of Bible perversion that began in earnest in the 19th Century attempted to remove every trace of the miraculous and divine mystery from the Christian faith, and, unfortunately, its adherents continue this day to distort and deceive.
Now, granted, the Hebrew word for virgin can also be translated young woman. But as in all aspects of Bible study and interpretation, context is everything.
Here, the prophecy cannot be divorced from its stated fulfillment in the New Testament, where the apostle Matthew in the first chapter of his Gospel quotes Isaiah 7: 14, as the miraculous fulfillment of the prophet’s prediction. After revealing that an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream to reveal that he should take the virgin Mary to be his wife, because the child in her was conceived of the Holy Ghost (verse 20), Matthew affirms in verse 23 that this is the sign prophesied by Isaiah.
First of all, what kind of a sign, a divine omen, would result from a young woman giving birth to a child? It happens every day all over the world.
Secondly, how many children, besides Jesus, have been conceived by the Holy Spirit of God?
And third, how many, besides Jesus, have been called Emmanuel, meaning God with us?
Why would the Catholics, who so revere the virgin Mary (even claiming she remained a virgin, though scripture states she had many other children with Joseph after Jesus’ birth), attack this vital rung in the Christian ladder?
It makes no sense.
Neither do many other new translations and paraphrases of the infallible Bible make sense in diluting sound doctrine for the sake of poetic-sounding, yet perverted, scriptures.
Stick to the old paths, beloved, for the alleged new lead only to disillusionment and destruction.
