From a friend...
Those who promote the modern Vatican supervised versions like the ESV, NIV, NASB, NET, Holman Standard, etc. cannot deny the fact that their ever changing UBS/Nestle-Aland critical Greek text is the result of a formal agreement with the Roman Catholic Church to create an “inter confessional” text to help unite the separated brethren.
The Catholic St. Joseph New American Bible 1970 says in its Preface: "The translators have carried out the directive of our predecessor, Pius XII, in his famous Encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, and the decree of the Second Vatican Council (Dei Verbum) which prescribed that..."
WITH THE APPROVAL OF CHURCH AUTHORITY, THESE TRANSLATIONS MAY BE PRODUCED IN COOPERATION WITH OUR SEPARATED BRETHREN SO THAT ALL CHRISTIANS MAY BE ABLE TO USE THEM.” From the Vatican, September 18, 1970
I have a copy of the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece 27th edition right here in front of me. It is the same Greek text as the UBS (United Bible Society) 4th edition. These are the Greek texts that are followed by such modern versions as the ESV, NIV, NASB, Holman Standard AND the new Catholic versions like the St. Joseph New American Bible 1970 and the New Jerusalem bible 1985 AND the Jehovah Witness New World Translation.
If you have a copy of the Nestle-Aland 27th edition, open the book and read what they tell us in their own words on page 45 of the Introduction. Here these critical Greek text editors tell us about how the Greek New Testament (GNT, now known as the UBS) and the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece grew together and shared the same basic text.In the last paragraph on page 45 we read these words:
"The text shared by these two editions was adopted internationally by Bible Societies,
and FOLLOWING AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE VATICAN AND THE UNITED BIBLE SOCIETIES IT HAS SERVED AS THE BASIS FOR NEW TRANSLATIONS AND FOR REVISIONS MADE UNDER THEIR SUPERVISION. THIS MARKS A SIGNIFICANT STEP WITH REGARD TO INTERCONFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS. It should naturally be understood that this text is a working text: it is not to be considered as definitive, but as a stimulus to further efforts toward defining and verifying the text of the New Testament."
There it is folks, in their own words. They openly admit that this text is the result of an agreement between the Vatican and the UBS and that the text itself is not "definitive" - it can change, as it already has and will do so in the future, and is not the infallible words of God but merely "a stimulus to further efforts".
The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
This from their own site -
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/p...pc_chrstuni_pro_20051996_chrstuni_pro_en.html
Collaboration for the Diffusion of the Bible
“Following the responsibility undertaken by the then Secretariat for the preparation of the dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, the PCPCU was entrusted with promoting ecumenical collaboration for the translation and diffusion of Holy Scripture (Dei Verbum, n. 22). In this context, it encouraged the formation of the Catholic Biblical Federation, with which it is in close contact. TOGETHER WITH THE UNITED BIBLE SOCIETIES IT PUBLISHED THE GUIDELINES FOR INTERCONFESSIONAL COOPERATION IN TRANSLATING THE BIBLE.” (1968; new revised edition 1987).
The modern Vatican Version users (ESV, NIV, NASB etc.) use this flimsy and ultimately meaningless “Erasmus was a Catholic Humanist” excuse to justify their use and promotion of their ever changing versions that not even they believe are the complete and infallible words of God.
They ignore the fact that Erasmus never was a practicing Catholic priest.
He often criticized many doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
He died in the presence of his Protestant friends.
His books were eventually placed on the forbidden to read list by the RCC and most importantly -
No Catholic bible version ever used the Greek text of Erasmus to make up their translations, but ALL Reformation bibles did use Erasmus, Stephanus and Beza as their textual basis.
The King James Bible translators did not even primarily use Erasmus but relied far more on the Greek texts of Stephanus and Beza.
As usual, the KJB critics’ argument is misinformed, deeply biased and misapplied.