Which Bible does the Church of God use?

Answer 1

The United Church of God, based in Milford, Ohio, generally uses the New King James Version published by Thomas Nelson in its printed publications. The New King James is a word-for-word type translation, updating the King James or Authorized Version with more modern English usage. When other versions are quoted in United Church of God publications, the name of the version is included with the quotation. Here is a form letter used by the United Church of God Personal Correspondence Department in answering requests for recommendations on a Bible translation: Dear Friend, Thank you for your interest. You asked for our recommendation on a Bible translation. For your standard reference, we recommend the New King James Version (NKJV). Although there are more than 60 English versions of The Bible available today, we can divide them into three broad types: word-for-word, meaning-by-meaning and paraphrased. The word-for-word, and meaning-by-meaning are referred to as translations, but the paraphrased are considered just that, paraphrases, not translations. (Most Bibles explain in their introductory pages which approach was used in preparing that particular version.) The word-for-word versions most accurately follow the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. They can be slightly harder to follow the meaning sometimes, due to the word-for-word approach, but are generally slightly more accurate. The King James Version and its modern counterpart, the New King James Version, are word-for-word translations. The King James Version is a good translation. The NKJV is equally good, and it is easier to read. That's why we selected it as the standard translation for our publications. (We also occasionally refer to other translations, when they make the meaning of a given passage clearer-always taking care to ensure accuracy.) The New International Version is one example of a meaning-by-meaning translation. This type can be useful as a secondary source. Some English translations also use slightly different Greek manuscripts as their source for the New Testament too. Paraphrased Bibles, such as The Living Bible, (or its most recent revision, The New Living Translation) can be useful, too, but should not be sources for establishing doctrine. The goal of a paraphrase is to make the Bible easily understandable, and in doing so, the authors exercise "poetic license." The result often reflects their personal religious ideas. Please see chapter 6 of How to Understand the Bible for more information on selecting and using Bible helps. If you don't have a copy of this booklet on hand, we would be happy to send you one. Or you can find it online at the literature library of our Web site at www.ucg.org. If we can be of further help, please let us know. Sincerely, Personal Correspondence Department