Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why

Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why is a book written by Bart Ehrman that deals with the errors in transcription and translation that occurred from the time of Jesus to the time the King James version of the New Testament was finalized in 1611. Ehrman makes the case that the New Testament is not the true word of God because of the magnitude of these errors. One of his arguments is that since Jesus spoke Aramaic, which was translated years later into Greek in the original gospels, some of which was then translated into Latin and then back to Greek before Eramus' copy was translated into English as the King James Version, the New Testament's integrity has been compromised by excessive translation. Ehrman also argues that since the New Testament was maintained for over a thousand years solely by making handwritten copies of copies, errors and inconsistencies between different manuscripts were common. Since the earliest manuscripts available to modern scholars are from the 4th or 5th century AD, Ehrman argues that it is very difficult to discern the original content.

Reality

Of course Ehrman likes to sell books, otherwise he might note that copies of the Bible today are translated directly from the early Greek manuscripts from the 4th or 5th century, so there are no "translations of translations". Taking a moment of history, the King James Bible in 1611, and using that as a point of contention that has no bearing on modern Bible translations and has not for years is disingenuous. Although some modern Christians continue to use only the KJV and reject all other translations.

It has also been widely noted just how accurately the Bible has been copied, as is seen by comparing ancient versions that existed in different locations thousands of miles apart. The quantity of copies of the Bible from ancient times either in full, fragmented parts, or quotes from the writings of the ancient fathers, makes it by far the most copied and reliable document of antiquity. To question the Bible, one must throw out all ancient writings as being inaccurate since they are not nearly as well documented, as extensive, or copied as accurately between versions.^{[Citation Needed]}