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Old 06-01-2008, 04:50 PM
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Will Kinney Will Kinney is offline
 
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Default 2 Timothy 2:15

Quote:
Originally Posted by againstheresies View Post

2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV) Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Hi ah, I think what Renee was objecting to was your use of the NKJV, which definitely is not the true Bible.

Is it 'study' or 'be diligent'?

2 Timothy 2:15 "STUDY to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

So even if you thought that "study" should be "be diligent", what are you to be diligent in? - the answer is in the verse - "rightly dividing the word of truth". That's why contextually it makes perfect sense to translate as "study".


Not only does the KJB render this word as 'study' but so also do Tyndale 1525, Coverdale 1535, the Bishops' Bible 1568, the Geneva Bible 1599, Webster's 1833 translation, the Douay-Rheims version, the Amplified Version 1987, Green's interlinear and his Modern KJV, the KJV 21st Century Version 1994, and the Third Millenium Bible 1998.

The Italian Diodati 1602 and the Nuova Diodati 1991, and the 1927 Italian Rivudeta have "study" spelled 'studiati'. "STUDAITI di presentar te stesso approvato a Dio..."

The French Martin 1744 also reads like the King James Bible with: "ETUDIE-toi de te rendre approuvé à Dieu

Likewise the 2004 Reina Valera Gomez Spanish bible says: "ESTUDIA con diligencia para presentarte a Dios aprobado, como obrero que no tiene de qué avergonzarse, que traza bien la palabra de verdad."

The word is spoudazo in Greek and I have a modern Greek dictionary that has nothing to do with the Bible at all. It is like a Spanish/English- English/Spanish dictionary you buy in the stores.

If you look up spoudazo it says "to study". Also the well known lexicon of Liddell & Scott on page 1630 lists one of the meanings of spoudazo as 'to study'. The noun form means 'study' and another noun form spoudastees means 'a student'.

To me the difference is:

1. new versions: "do your best" ===> "present yourself to God as one approved"

2. KJV: "study" ===> "approved unto God"

In the new versions it almost rings of Bible study vs. good works dichotomy

Perhaps the reason the Bible Relativists are enamored with "do your best" - "work hard" etc. is due to a fundamental difference in one's appoach to God's Words -

The Bible Relativist - Bible Corrector approach:
Presented with a Bible text, the Bible corrector approach is to gear up for a rigorous Bible reconstruction project, since they have no Bible they can trust completely they must work hard, sweat nails to ferret out every greek nuance, every learned scholar's conjecture - they first consult 50 different versions, Cardinal martini, Von Soden, then consult Thayer, Kittel, Driver, etc. if needs be look for some fragment from an Egyptian garbage dump, Ugaritic tablet, Dead Sea scroll etc. - anything that could aid the never ending search for what possibly God may have maybe kinda said so as to reach a tentative speculation on the meaning to the text, pending Cardinal Martini's next Nestle-UBS text of course. Much like Cain's sacrifice in Genesis they can proudly proclaim to God, "Look at what I've done with your Words!"

In contrast - the Bible Believer is blessed to have God's inerrant preserved Words in the KJV, they study God's Words. The Bible Believer praises God that He has providentially preserved His Words so we can read them today in the KJV.


So the modern versions that change this word here to "be diligent" or
"do your best" or whatever, have neglected the context of the verse and made a change only for the sake of changing things to get their copyrights and make money.



Will Kinney