Defense of 1 Corinthians 1:18

In the following article we will look at the differences between the King James Bible and some of the modern versions. We will examine some important differences that arise from the changes in the later translations.

Consider the primary verse for this article:

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. — 1 Corinthians 1:18 (A.V.)

Now, take a look at this version.

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” — (New King James Version)

Do you notice anything different? If we were to look at the original underlying Greek version of this Scripture passage, should there be anything different?

Was this change in the New King James Version necessary?

If there is a difference in meaning between these two versions, what is the difference… and which one is right?

The Greek verb σῳζομένοις, found here, is the passive present participle (plural), which is an ongoing passive action. It is a word that is translated, “are saved” in the King James Bible. It is translated like this in many earlier translations that predate the KJV also.

It turns out that, some translators have a motive to change the act of being saved, from an action that happens in an instant of time and continues on, instead into a continuous action, that is partial, incomplete, and might not continue on. We will see that actually, the translation of multiple verses in modern versions are affected by this motive, not only 1 Corinthians 1:18. But let us first consider this verse.¹For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
— 1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV

In English, an ongoing passive act can potentially be expressed as either “are being + (past participle)” or “are + (past participle)”. The “past participle” in our general example here can be “saved,” or another word.

As an example, the statement, “The books are stored in the box” is equivalent to the statement, “The books are being stored in the box.” In both cases, the books are within the box in the current moment. You can replace the books and the verb with anything else for this example.

Now, once we have considered all this, there is a good reason to decide, which of these two choices of expression²as we said, either “are being (past participle)” or simply “are (past participle)” is the most clear in the English language, if possible. It turns out that in this place, many modern versions have an attempt to create an unclear situation, and they do this by adopting the “are being saved” version, but without giving any reason for it. In English this form can potentially mean that it is passive, or it might mean that it is active.

But we know that it is passive from the Greek form of the word. So what is going on here?

In what situation would someone choose to use this more ambiguous form when writing in English?

Well, take another kind of case, where an action or adjective in question might be seen as an active, imperfect or progressive participle. This could describe a present state that started in the past and has not reached its realization, but is ongoing. This sense for a verb does not always exist. When it does, it is sometimes called a “continuous present passive” participle. When it does exist for a given word, we see that the difference between “are” and “are being” is used to distinguish between the two cases.

To put this in example form, if we used the verb of “transport” instead of “store” for our books, as in the former example, then there is a difference between “are transported” and “are being transported.” The statement “The books are transported” is not the same as “The books are being transported.”

The verb “transport” has an an imperfect state. In English, “are transported” signifies the action is complete. Meanwhile, “are being transported” signifies the action is yet partial and incomplete. This is different from the case of using the term “stored,” because “stored” does not really have an impartial or continuous ongoing state.

Note: If you wanted to force it to have one, you might say, “they are being stored at this very moment,” if you want to communicate that the act of storing the object is not instantaneous.

So we see that there are some verbs that have a continuous present passive form, in addition to the regular, and that some that only have a regular present passive form. In the former case, “are being + participle” in English is reserved specifically for the active, partial and ongoing towards completion sense of the verb. If we wanted to communicate the continuous present passive, then we would add the word “being.” But if there was no continuous present passive, then the two ways of writing are equivalent.

In order to avoid any confusion between passive and active participle versus active and passive voice (every example here is passively voiced), the difference between the types of participles can be referred to as being either telic or atelic. Telic verbs are defined as “verbs expressing an action tending towards a goal envisaged as realized in a perfective tense, but as contingent in an imperfective tense.”

Atelic verbs are defined as “verbs which do not involve any goal nor endpoint in their semantic structure, but denote actions that are realized as soon as they begin.”

Now we ask ourselves, what is the Greek New Testament telling us with regards to the action of being “saved.” Is it telic or atelic? Well, if you read the original, it is present passive participle. That means it is a completed action that remains in completion passively. That is to say, there is nothing to indicate that the action of being saved is incomplete, partially complete or actively ongoing, progressing towards completion. It is an action that is realized as soon as it begins. For this action there is only a “complete” state, never an “active” or “partial” state.

This means that “saved” is atelic. As we saw before, atelic verbs do not possess a continuous present passive form. They only have a regular present passive. Hence, “are being saved” and “are saved” should be equivalent.

Now, we see by logic that if the two forms of expression are equivalent, then there is little or no reason to use the wordier expression “are being saved,” especially if there was confusion over whether the verb possessed a continuous present passive state or not. The use of the wordier expression would only serve to further confuse the reader who might have questions over whether the verb might only be in a partial state and not a state of completion. Throwing the added “being” into the sentence naturally suggests to them that there might be a continuous present passive state, when in fact there is not.

So here is the ploy of the modern version translators.

Note: It is not necessary to say: that the present participle (in Greek) refers to an active participle (in English) for the sole reason that the perfect participle (in Greek) – which is another tense of this word – exists. This assumes too much. This assumes the word is telic and possesses an active participle. We are about to show the opposite is true.³this is necessitated by facts below— see the Greek of Ephesians 2:5,8 ; Rev. 21:24 in T.R. At most, this might be implied if there were only a future perfect participle form of the word in Greek, but in this case there is not one. In fact we can go further than this in arguing for the passive participle, because there exists a (present) perfect tense of the word, which occurs in Ephesians 2:5.⁴Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
— Ephesians 2:5 KJV This necessarily means that the plural subject “are saved” in a perfect tense, meaning the whole action of being “saved” is complete in the present tense in this example.

So our verb for being saved in the Greek is actually atelic according to our earlier definition. A question now arises: What is the difference between the present and the perfect tense of this word in the Greek? This question has a simple answer: The distinction between present and perfect in the original language consists in the two different lexical aspects of the same one passive participle. I am saying that in our case, the present participle (in Greek) refers to the present participle in English – while the perfect participle, found in Ephesians 2:5, refers to the inchoate lexical aspect of the same. The inchoate points specifically to the beginning of the unbounded state of completion (the point when one became saved).

Ephesians 2:5 and Ephesians 2:8 are special, because these are the only two places where the inchoate occurs.

Having said all that, the point bears repeating: If we know that we have a passive participle, it would make no sense for the English writer to use the wordier expression “are being” if this might be mistaken as signifying an active participle. Example— the reader of the New King James Version reads its version of the verse,⁵“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (NKJV) and notices that this wordier expression of “are being saved” was deliberately chosen in the translation instead of “are saved.” After seeing this, they infer naturally but incorrectly that the root word must be active. Otherwise (the reader thinks), the translators would not have added that extra word for “being” saved. Yet, we find that the actual root participle is passive! Hence, the extra word is not needed here at all, because “are saved” is equivalent to “are being saved.”

So, what is going on here?

Modern translations attempt to obscure the true tense/voice of that word in scripture, and the way in which it is made obscure is very ambiguous. Anytime the translation choice is brought up, they can simply say that, “are being + (past participle)” can potentially mean either passive or active. This is true in general. But they do not tell you that in the specific case of this verse and verb, the translation choice they made tends to indicate active over passive. Despite the root word being passive! But in a verbal discussion format, there is not enough time to explain all of these facts.

It seems the assessment has been made by the translators, that they will get away with slipping in this small change to the English wording here.

However, another way in which we can see that obvious toying around with the text has occurred is by cross-comparison between modern versions on the translation of this word. For example:

Our specific Greek term, as mentioned earlier, actually occurs (in the same present tense, passive voice) at each of the following locations:
Luke 13:23⁶Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
— Luke 13:23 KJV, Acts 2:47⁷Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
— Acts 2:47 KJV, 1 Corinthians 1:18⁸For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
— 1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV and 15:2⁹By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
— 1 Corinthians 15:2 KJV, 2 Cor. 2:15¹⁰For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
— 2 Corinthians 2:15 KJV, and an equivalent passive participle for “sanctified” exists at Hebrews 10:14¹¹For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
— Hebrews 10:14, that we will also look at.

The NKJV translation (1982) changes the term from “are saved” to “are being saved” in four out of 6 locations: Acts 2:47, 1 Corinthians 1:18, 2 Corinthians 2:15 and Hebrews 10:14, [ ¹²“praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:47 NKJV¹³“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
Hebrews 10:14 NKJV ]- while leaving both Luke 13:23 and 1 Corinthians 15:2 unchanged, as seen by comparison in our linked footnotes here.[ ¹⁴“Then one said to Him, ‘Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And He said to them,”
Luke 13:23 NKJV¹⁵“by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:2 NKJV ]

However another modern version – the MEV (2005) – instead changes only two of the 6 to add the extra word “being”: Acts 2:47 and 1 Corinthians 1:18; and it leaves four alone: Luke 13:23, 1 Corinthians 15:2, 2 Corinthians 2:15, and Hebrews 10:14.

A third version known as WEB changes Acts 2:47 and Hebrews 10:14 by adding the extra word; but they leave Luke 13:23, 1 Corinthians 1:18, 15:2, and 2 Corinthians 2:15 in the original tense.

Also among the “Alexandrian” or “eclectic-text” modern translations, the tendency is to obfuscate most of these verses by adding the extra word. However, they are not consistent here either. For instance, the ESV translation changes Hebrews 10:14 but not Luke 13:23[ ¹⁶“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
Hebrews 10:14 ESV¹⁷“And someone said to him, ‘Lord, will those who are saved be few?’ And he said to them,”
Luke 13:23 in the ESV ]; while the NASB only changes Luke 13:23 but not Hebrews 10:14[ ¹⁸“And someone said to Him, ‘Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?’ And He said to them,”
Luke 13:23 NASB¹⁹“For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”
Hebrews 10:14 in the NASB ].

Also, most of the modern translations do not change 1 Corinthians 15:2 by adding the extra word. However, ESV translation insisted on rendering it in the “alternative” form with the extra word as well,²⁰“and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:2 ESV as did the 2017 CSB translation²¹“and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you–unless you believed in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:2 –CSB 2017 (but not the 2004 H-CSB that came before it²²“You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you–unless you believed for no purpose.”
–HCSB 2004).

This shows that later modern translations tend to add the “extra word” in more places than earlier modern translations do.

Among the six we have chosen, the one verse which they all attempt to change except the Authorized Version is that given below:

Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. — Acts 2:47 (A.V.)

It is easiest here to make the participle look like it is active when it is actually present-passive. The modern versions will replace either “be saved” or “were saved” with “were being saved” in nearly every case – giving in English the active, partial and ongoing toward completion sense, where the root word is actually passive.

There is no rule or grammatical understanding supporting these changes in the modern translations. As you can see, the translation teams have implemented the changes haphazardly as they saw them. Each modern translation team found different verses in which they wanted to make this change by adding the “extra word.” There is no familiarity, or continuity with the related verses that have the same construction in the Greek. These verses are all supposed to contain passive present and not active participles, as we have shown. In all of these places, the Authorized Version (KJV) uses the correct tense/voice, and never once deviates. This is because they, the translators, had a grasp of both the English and Greek languages. They made a systematic and not a haphazard translation.

It can also be said that the NKJV translation is raising a contradiction with itself, when rendering 1 Corinthians 1:18 and Acts 2:47 with the text, “are being saved,” (thereby with the implication that the word indicates a partial and ongoing process). This is because of the following:

In the book of Revelation 21:24, in the (original) Greek it is written,
“And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it.”

Notice the words in bold here. They are derived from the same Greek word we have introduced earlier, which is also in a present-passive tense and voice. In this verse, despite the fact this is equally a present-passive word tense and voice,²³however one is dative, while the other is genitive the NKJV translators are unable to add the “extra word” in this verse – and make it seem ambiguous – because it is located at the close of the book of Revelation.

In this verse, the present-passive word (as we see it is given) must refer to a completed state (are saved) and cannot refer to an active, partial and progressing toward completion state (i.e. are {yet} being saved). This provides us with some more evidence for the correct usage of the word when in present-passive.

The Alexandrian-eclectic translations do not have to deal with translating this verse, because they omit the phrase “of them which are saved” from the verse completely. Hence, they altogether avoid the obvious issue for them of how to deal with this word.

At the end of the book of Revelation, the present passive participle was used and not the perfect passive. This indicates our earlier explanation that the perfect passive²⁴Eph. 2:5,8 is a reference to the moment of salvation, while the present-passive²⁵Rev. 21:24 ; Acts 2:47 ; 1 Cor. 1:18, etc. refers to the present state of “is saved,” which happens passively and extends indefinitely after the inchoate “moment of salvation.”

In light of all this – there is no explanation for the New King James Version adding the “extra word” in Acts 2:47 or 1 Corinthians 1:18, as it is the same word in the same tense and voice as it is in Revelation 21:24.

To find a motive, we can look at other verses involving those that are saved. This is done by investigating the word changes and deletions made in modern versions, which are apparently made in order to make salvation seem like both a “difficult” and a human-reliant process²⁶that is, active rather than passive voice in order to be saved.

In Mark 10:24 for instance, the phrase, “for them that trust in riches” is completely removed from the verse by most modern versions²⁷the Revised Version of 1880 and the ASV of 1901 did not remove it, however most later modern translations do remove it, which turns the whole statement by Jesus into an emphasis on how difficult it is for anyone²⁸rather than those that trust in riches to enter the kingdom of heaven. See below:

But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! — Mark 10:24 (KJV)

But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! — (NASB)

These say two different things. The modern version would make it seem like entering the kingdom of God is an active process that depends on human effort. However we know elsewhere that Jesus said: “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”²⁹Luke 18:27. Therefore, entering the kingdom of heaven is indeed going to be difficult, if one trusts in riches.

The alteration of this statement by removal of the phrase “for them that trust in riches” is effectively a reversal of doctrine. This creates a hollow form of Mark 10:24 in the later 20th- and 21st- century modern versions that teaches an untrue statement.

We see that if the act of being saved were an active and ongoing, partial process, that it would then also make sense to use this altered version of Mark 10:24, to say that entering the kingdom of God is unconditionally difficult. We see how the change to 1 Corinthians 1:18, et. al. aligns with the doctrinal change in the modern version of Mark 10:24, where the modern versions also change this verse, by making “entering into the kingdom” unconditionally difficult.

The changes to 1 Corinthians 1:18, et. al., which are also in the same modern versions, make salvation into a partial and incomplete action, which is in the active voice and human-dependent (rather than being complete in the passive voice).

Furthermore, modern versions, in John 9:4³⁰I must work the works of him that sent me,
— John 9:4 KJV also change the statement which Jesus made, “I must work,” to instead say “we must work”.³¹Ex: “We must work the works of him who sent me”
John 9:4 in the ESV This is another change relevant to everything we have discussed above.

The change to John 9:4 in the modern versions takes work that Jesus had attributed to himself and places it on the group of followers, by changing “I must work” into “We must work.” This should also be kept in mind when considering how the same modern versions change Mark 10:24 to make entering the kingdom of heaven unconditionally difficult. Furthermore, these same modern translations also change 1 Corinthians 1:18 et. al., so that salvation is inaccurately represented as a continual, active process which is incomplete and in progress – rather than a passive, completed action which was completed, and which (indefinitely into the future) has ongoing present-tense effects.

This change (from passive to active) mirrors the change which is also contained in the modern versions at John 9:4, which changes the text from “I must work” to “We must work.”

So we see that doctrine surrounding what salvation itself is, in all of these verses becomes systematically changed by modern translations of the Bible, as opposed to what it says in the Received Text, and in the KJV translation and other accurate received text translations.

Hebrews 1:3 contains the following bit of information:
“And upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”

The modern versions change “by himself purged our sins” to the more simple statement “purged sins”.

Example: “…After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” — Hebrews 1:3 in the ESV translation.

Notice the change here. In the ESV version, it is not specified whose sins it was that Christ made purification for. In the KJV, Hebrews 1:3 tells us that he by himself purged our sins.

In the ESV version, it is not stated whether the purging of sins was done by himself or not. In the KJV, Hebrews 1:3 states, that he, by himself purged our sins.

So in two ways the Received Text makes clear what happened here.

In the modern versions, it is significantly less clear from this verse what was happening. It could be that this was simply one person making purification for sins and others would have to make their own purification. It does not says that Christ was acting alone, nor does it say he made purification for our sins. All of these details are removed in the modern version. Considering the other changes we have noted in the modern versions, where it is made to sound difficult to enter into the kingdom of God, and salvation is made an incomplete process that is human-dependent, we see that if Hebrews 1:3 from the received word of God were included in the modern versions, it would leave the atonement of Christ explained too well to allow for the interpretation that salvation is a process where each person earns their own way. Hence, the modern versions also include this change in Hebrews 1:3 as well as all of the other changes in the various other passages in the modern versions as compared to the KJV which deal with doctrine on salvation.

Likewise, in 1 Peter 4:1³²Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind:
— 1 Peter 4:1 KJV the fact that he “suffered for us” is changed to simply that he “suffered”.³³Ex: “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking,”
1 Peter 4:1 ESV

Also the fact that “he was manifested to take away our sins” is altered by removing the word “our” in 1 John 3:5³⁴And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins;
— 1 John 3:5 KJV in some versions (ESV³⁵Ex: “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins,”
1 John 3:5 ESV, NASB³⁶Ex: “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins;”
1 John 3:5 NASB).

Future modern versions may make (many) more changes to additional verses beside the ones listed so far – which would likely include making more changes to additional verses dealing with the doctrine of salvation, in addition to the ones already discussed here.

The same Eclectic modern versions also change 1 Peter 2:2³⁷As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
— 1 Peter 2:2 KJV by adding words. Where the KJV says, “that ye may grow thereby”, the modern versions say “…that by it you may grow up into salvation”.[ ³⁸“…that by it you may grow up into salvation—”
1 Peter 2:2 ESV³⁹“…so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,”
1 Peter 2:2 NASB⁴⁰“…so that you may grow by it for your salvation,”
1 Peter 2:2 HCSB 2004 ]

So far from these clear examples, all of which appear in the modern translations but none of which appear in the KJV translation and the received text, a similar motive can be seen for those changing all these verses – which is, a vague form of “works-salvation,” that gradually seems to become more clear by contradistinction from how selectively the original Greek text has been changed or mistranslated, in all of these diverse places, but in the exact same same way, in every modern version to alter doctrine with respect to salvation.

You probably see the point that I have been trying to stress here. This is what the modern version writers deny, so it has to be repeated. Below are a couple more examples before our final remarks on the matter.

The second half of Romans 11:6⁴¹And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
— Romans 11:6 KJV is also removed in all these versions. This is another interesting coincidence. We shall have some additional conclusions about this below.

Some versions, including the NKJV, make a change in the Gospel of Matthew 7:14. “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”— Matthew 7:14 KJV.

These modern translations change the second term,
“narrow” into “difficult”.

Example: “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:14 in the New King James Version

Again, this word change is exactly the kind of change you would expect from the same originators of the previous translation changes we have covered.

The problem with the New King James, etc. is that the definition of this second root word in Matthew 7:14 is “narrow,” with a meaning of being confined or pressed in a close space; This shall be shown. Meanwhile, the Greek word which means “difficult”⁴²δύσκολόν is already used in other passages of Scripture and not here (e.g. in Mark 10:24, Matthew 19:23 and Luke 18:24).

If the root word “difficult” as such does not appear in Matthew 7:14, then what could be the motivation for translating it as “difficult” in the English tongue?

The Greek word θλίβω = narrow (the second word) in Matthew 7:14 has its usages in Greenfield’s Lexicon (1829):

Θλίβω, f. ψω, p. τέθλιφα, a. l. ξφλιψα, p. pass. τίθλιμμαι, to press upon, encumber, throng, crowd, Mar. 3. 9; met. to oppress, afflict, 2 Co. 1. 6; 4. 8, et al. ; to compress, confine in narrow limits ; pass. to be compressed, narrow, Mat. 7. 14.

The usage of English in the Authorized Version also agrees with this (passive form as given above). There is no “difficult” here: not without abandoning literal translation and leaping to an interpretive translation methodology. Yet somehow, this is the translation given of this second word in some modern translations,⁴³such as NKJV, ESV, CSB 2017 of “difficult” or, in other words, “excessively challenging.” That is not the meaning of the Greek word we just defined. Consider the similarity of the above definition for the Greek word with the English word definition for narrow below:

NAR′RŌW, adj. [Sax. neara, nearo, nearu, nearew.]
1. Of little breadth; not wide or broad; having little distance from side to side; as a narrow board; a narrow street; a narrow sea; a narrow hem or border. It is only or chiefly applied to the surface of flat or level bodies.
2. Of little extent; very limited; as a narrow space or compass.
3. Covetous; not liberal or bountiful; as a narrow heart.
4. Contracted; of confined views or sentiments; very limited.
In this sense and the former, it is often prefixed to mind or soul, &c. ; as narrow-minded; narrow-souled; narrow-hearted.
5. Near; within a small distance.
6. Close; near; accurate; scrutinizing; as a narrow search; narrow inspection.
7. Near; barely sufficient to avoid evil; as a narrow escape.

Consider that “straight and narrow” are the two terms used in every English Bible; from the translations of Wycliffe⁴⁴Medieval English translation, 1381 and Tyndale, through the Geneva Bible and Bishops’ Bible and finally the Authorized KJV. Every English Bible has always said “straight and narrow.”

But the modern versions try to change “narrow” to “difficult.”

Even the Anglo-Saxon version from the first millennium contains these words in Matthew 7:14, Eala hú nearu and hú angsum ys ṭḥaet geat, and se weg, ṭḥe to life gelaet; and swyṭḥe feawa synd ṭḥe ṭḥone weg finden!⁴⁵The Anglo-Saxon Version of the Holy Gospels, edited by Benjamin Thorpe, F.S.A., from the original manuscripts (NY, 1848), p. 14.

The definition of the word chosen to represent θλίβω here is given as follows:⁴⁶Bosworth-Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (Oxford Univ. 1898), p. 43.

ang-sum, anc-sum; adj. Narrow, strait, troublesome; Lat. angustus

Everyone has understood what this word means. Changing this second word in modern translations from “narrow” to “difficult” is in no ways justified. There is another word in Greek, which is properly used for the term “hard” or “difficult” and that is used elsewhere.⁴⁷δύσκολόν, Mark 10:24, Matthew 19:23 and Luke 18:24 That is not the Greek word used here, so why are modern translations using the word “difficult” here? The root word here as we have just shown means “pressing upon” – or in the passive voice: “being narrow or enclosed.” In the case of a pathway, then, it means straight or narrow!

And both of the words in Matthew 7:14 carry this signification, not just one of them. The narrowness signifies how closely one stays within certain bounds, rather than emphasizing difficulty or the ‘highly challenging’ nature of passage overall, which is not necessarily the case.

Consider the similarity of this with what we saw back in Mark 10:24. There, the verse was changed from “But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!” into “But Jesus answered again and said to them, Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!”

Many churches have switched to the modern versions. How many sermons have been preached using these corrupted sayings of Jesus taken from the modern versions? Thousands? Millions?

If someone is changing just a few words of every page of a book, you can see how such changes can work together to significantly change an overall doctrine. Should we be surprised that worldly wickedness has tried to change the Holy Bible with such strategic, and systematic changes? It was bound to happen. None of these modern changes can have an effect on the received text. So it’s time to return back to God’s word. Realize there are common motivations that outside forces have, which cross the ages, for corrupting the word of God. This is why some of these corruptions are found in ancient manuscripts while others are purely from modern translations. After all, the apostle John tells us in 1 John 4:3 that the spirit of antichrist was already present in the world in his day. So we see that the mystery of iniquity is already working presently in the world, and that “many” will corrupt the word of God, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:17.

The apostle Paul had this to say,

“As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”— Galatians 1:8

This article helps to show that the alteration of 1 Corinthians 1:18 is actually motivated as part of a much larger shift in modern bible versions with the goal of to changing salvation into a vague, works-based process. We see this group of modern versions includes the New King James Version. This goal is clearly a motivation other than accurately translating the Greek New Testament. This means that these modern translations are consequently less accurate as compared to the Authorized Version, which was set forward as an accurate translation of the Holy Bible. Therefore if accuracy in translation is desired from the original text, the A.V. is certainly highly recommended.