The New Testament

It was never the intention of this author to produce a modern translation of the New Testament to be used to either update or replace the King James Version. My original intention was personal. Having a hunger for God's Word, and understanding that there are a variety of hidden nuances when translating from one language to another, I desired to understand more fully the inflections of the Greek language which are sometimes missed due to certain weaknesses in the English language.

This is the second time I have translated the New Testament from the Greek. My first exercise was from a Critical Text (CT) - known as the Nestle-Aland edition after its most influential editors, Eberhard Nestle and Kurt Aland. At the time of this writing, there have been twenty-eight edition/revisions of this text.

Having completed that translation work, I found several issues that caused me some concern. I was so moved that I destroyed my first efforts, which represented nearly ten years of work.

While modern scholars will defend the CT as being older and "more reliable," more recent scholarship would place the Textus Receptus (TR) as having its origin within a few years of the close of the Canon traced through the Peshitta text. Modern scholars would also suggest that there are no major doctrines of the Christian faith which cannot be found in the CT; however, when those major doctrines appear clearly and obviously, why use a text that shrouds these doctrines from plain view.

To that end, this translation resulted after another ten years of pleasurable work. This work is a literal translation - so literal, in fact, that the wording is sometimes awkward and the reading is not smooth; however, every attempt to be true to interpretation, syntax and grammar has been made.

Through this work, I have enjoyed walking with the New Testament authors and gaining a better understanding of my Savior.