Differences in Greek

I received the following questions:

Greetings. I use King James Bible and I have noticed some differences in verses when reading your articles on the Seed and Bread website. I am wondering how the word differences I am seeing have come about and how would I go about myself in finding the correct Greek word?

Below are the 2 differences I have found so far. Thank you.

The article Ephesian Study
https://seedandbread.org/images/stories/Ephesian_Study.pdf
says that “in Ephesus” is not in the text. KJV says “at Ephesus” (Ephesians 1:1) and Blue Letter Bible seems to confirm this.

The other verse I noticed is on the Dispensational Chart which reads:
https://seedandbread.org/dispensational-chart/
“Having come to this settled and firm persuasion concerning this very thing; namely that the One having begun a good work in you, will be suspending it until the day of Jesus Christ.“

While King James says
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

They seem to be opposites. Can you explain the differences and how the average Bible student may find them? Thank you!

You have indeed found differences in Mr. Sellers’ Resultant Version and the KJV. These do not both have the same explanation, so I will have to explain them one at a time.

The Mystery of Godliness

I Timothy 3 Part 5

New King James Version 16. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.

The Resultant Version 16. And beyond all argument the secret of true worship is great: which was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, witnessed by messengers, heralded unto the nations, believed on in the world, received in glory.

Here we have a very important verse, but also another one that is difficult of interpretation, just like verse 15. As it stands we read that “without controversy the mystery of godliness is great.” However, we realize that the word “mystery,” which is the Greek word musterion, is used in Scripture not for an unsolved “mystery,” but rather for things that are secret. Particularly when a secret is mentioned, it is something that formerly God had kept a secret, but now He is revealing it for the learning of His people. In other words, once God starts talking about a secret, it is a secret no longer. What this is telling us is that it formerly had been kept secret, but now it is being revealed.

Prove He Said It!

I received the following question:

Thank you for the reply.May I ask you questions about the bible please?

If God transmitted the message to the author of kings,whom did the author of kings transmit the message of God to?Is there a chain of narration/transmission?If so,who are they?What are their names?and can I trace it back to the author of king?
AND
for example if u have seen me u have seen the father.Just because it is written in the bible does NOT necessarily mean Jesus said the verse. john 7:53 and john 8:1 to 11
jesus did NOT say these words written in this reference because this story is NOT in codex vaticanus nor codex sinaiticus
so just because John 7:53 and 8:1 to 11 are in the bible does NOT necessarily mean jesus said those words
Please prove to me that Jesus really said if u have seen me u have seen the father.if u say it is written in codex sinaiticus i say there are about 300 years between jesus and the codex
if u say early church fathers said that jesus said so
which early church father said that jesus said the verse?
Trace it back from the church father to Jesus.
r u 100% sure that jesus really said the verse?
please prove to me that jesus really really said this verse.

Yes, you may ask me questions about the Bible. I will answer as I have time.

Books like Kings were probably written in what I call “chronicle style,” that is, one prophet wrote part of the book, and then passed it on to a succeeding, younger prophet, who continued the book, and then passed it on to another, younger prophet, who continued it, etc. We see an example of this in I Chronicles 29:29, where the book of Samuel is referred to.

The Sopherim

I received the following question:

I had a question though about something you mentioned in response to something the person arguing the KJV-only position said. You mentioned the “Sopherim” and referred to Bullinger’s appendix about it, so I read into that and tried to look through the verses in question and Bullinger’s comments on each specific verse. My question was, are these changes they made found in any current versions anymore, or have they been since addressed and corrected? If you have anything further to add about them also beyond what Bullinger said, I would be interested to hear that. Always got to be on the lookout for things like that! Thanks for your time.

Well, the changes from Yahweh to Adonai are not fixed. In English, that amounts to “Lord” being written as Lord rather than LORD. The other emendations, the so-called “18 emendations of the Sopherim” (but there are actually more like 27) are still edited in the current Massoretic text, which is the one usually used when making translations. At least one is translated correctly even though the current Hebrew is not correct. Lot’s wife says “Curse God and die,” and it is usually translated that way even though the current Hebrew says “Bless God and die.” I guess the translators figured that one is so obviously wrong they changed it back even though the Hebrew doesn’t say “curse” anymore. But the other ones generally aren’t fixed, but still read according to the Sopherim’s changes.