The following article is taken from the book, Top Ten Bible Verses in High Definition. To buy click here.
When I was a child we only had one television. It had a "sharp" black and white picture if we put a folded up piece of paper behind the channel dial and turned it just right. The “sharp” picture was actually low resolution, but we didn’t know that.
Christians are confident that today’s Bibles have a "sharp" image. But unbeknown to them, it is low resolution. It could be much sharper and clearer.
Oh How Things have Changed
Major advances in the world of television have made high definition televisions plentiful. Everyone has one, and they keep getting better and better. Go to the store and look at the detail, range of color, and size of today’s televisions. Fifty years ago no one would have thought it possible.
Modern technology has also brought major advances to the world of the Bible. A person sitting in a Sunday School class can have more Bible information at the touch of his finger on his tablet or phone than the King James Version (KJV) translators had after a lifetime of study.
Imagine the detail and clarity that a trained and experienced Bible scholar could bring to the Bible using today’s technology.
Resistance to Change
Despite all the advances, people have been reluctant to change.
Just a decade ago the United States government had to force broadcasters to switch from analog to digital. I remember that. At the time I was not too happy about it, but now that I have a high definition television, I will never go back.
The world of English Bible versions has also defied moving to high definition. Compare the present day ESV (2001) with the 400+ year old KJV (1611) and you will find very few differences. Publishers realize that Christians are resistant to change. So they give them what they want, the same image that they are confident is "sharp".
Why is it so Important?
If the Bible were just some novel written in a foreign language, a low resolution translation would be fine. But the Bible is so much more than that.
The Bible is the only collection of books from God to the human race that is God-breathed. It is important to remember that English Bibles are not God-breathed, they are translations of God-breathed words, words that are in Greek and Hebrew. The closer an English Bible gets to the original Greek and Hebrew text, the closer it gets to God’s words.
Which would you rather have, a low resolution surveillance tape of the person who stole your wallet or a high definition tape? Why isn’t the message of God worthy of the same precision and detail?
Why this Book?
In 2015 the first high definition Bible was published (the Breakthrough Version). Its Textus Receptus counterpart followed in 2017 (the Breakthrough KJV).
Very few readers knew how special these versions were because they did not have the Greek expertise needed to compare them to the original text. Most did not realize that the new wording was the actual wording of the Greek text that other Bibles have missed.
This book takes the reader to that place, a place where an extensive knowledge of Greek could take him. It steps him word by word through the top ten Bible verses revealing the low resolution areas that go unnoticed and the detail that could be there. No prior knowledge of Greek is needed.
What is in this Book?
The top ten verses of the New Testament are John 3:16; John 1:1-3; John 14:6; Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 3:23-24; Ephesians 2:8-9; Acts 1:8; 2 Timothy 3:16; Romans 10:9-10; and Romans 6:23.
Each chapter covers one of these passages. It starts out by showing the passage in two popular Bible versions (KJV and ESV) and marking the low resolution words.
Then the passage is shown in high definition using the Breakthrough Version (BV) and the Breakthrough KJV (BKJV). When the BV and BKJV are identical, they are combined.
After this the suggested improvements are explained and a big picture of the passage and its context is presented.
Enter the world of high definition Bible and experience the clarity and detail of the original text that for all these years has been lost in translation.
Mini-Glossary
Nestle27/USB4 - a compilation of the earlier New Testament Greek manuscripts (most of them partial) that have been discovered. This group of manuscripts date closer to the New Testament times but has fewer manuscripts, so it is called the Minority or Critical text. The differences between the Minority and Majority texts are minimal. The ESV and BV were translated from the Minority/Critical text.
Textus Receptus (TR) - a compilation of the New Testament Greek manuscripts (most of them partial) that have been discovered. This group of manuscripts date further from the New Testament times and has more manuscripts, so it is called the Majority text. The differences between the Minority and Majority texts are minimal. The KJV and BKJV were translated from the Majority text.
transliterate, transliteration - creating a word in a different language by transferring the letters of the word to that language. For example, the transliteration of the Greek word, “christos” is christ. Its meaning is anointed king. Using a transliteration to translate a word often hides the meaning of the word.