And what truth has god revealed to you concerning the multiple flaws, mistranslations and out-right contradictions in the Bible?
The answer is not a simple one, In fact, I am presently writing a book entitled "Translation: the nemesis of language." I'm about 100 pages into it, roughly half-way, and plan on a release late summer, early fall, depending on publisher. However, I will offer an excerpt from a chapter specifically dealing with mistranslation:
In Matthew 16, we read of a critical moment when Jesus asks his apostles who others say that he, Jesus, is. This is significant because in the first verses of the Chapter, Jesus tells the apostles they must be careful about interpreting the leaven in bread of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They misunderstand Jesus is not really talking about physical bread; he is using "bread" by parable referring to the flawed teaching by the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were both serious interpreters of the Law, but often opposed one another in specific doctrine.
That matter resolved, Jesus later asks them:
"Whom do men say that I, the Son of man am?"
They replied naming various prophets of old or John the Baptist.
"He saith unto them: But whom say ye that I am?
"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Let's see verses 17 and 18 in Greek:
"...Μακάριος εἶ Σίμων Βαριωνᾶ ὅτι ἀπεκάλυψέν σοι σὰρξ σὰρξ αἷμα ἀλλ μου Πατήρ ἐν οὐρανοῖς
"δέ κἀγὼ λέγω σοι ὅτι σὺ εἶ Πέτρος καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου ἐκκλησίαν καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς,"
The key verse that is widely misunderstood is the 18th, wherein, so is commonly interpreted by the English translation from Greek in three critical instances which allege Peter is the rock and foundation of the church:
First, with "...thou art Peter." In Greek, "Peter" is rendered as "Πετρος" [Petros], which is a name, nominative masculine singular, not an ordinary noun, "rock," which in Greek, is ρετρα [petra].
Second, "...upon this rock" in Greek, "this" is rendered as ταύτε [tautē], demonstrative pronoun, dative feminine singular [therefore, not referring to a man]. And, "rock" is rendered as ρετρα [petra], noun, dative feminine singular; again, not referring to a man, but some other, foundational something which must be identified by going back to verse 17 to discover that to which "this" is referring. Why? Because both words, "this," and "rock," are feminine, not masculine, and, therefore, cannot refer to Peter. English is one of several languages that do not use grammatical gendered nouns, whereas Hebrew and Greek both do so, and all "romance" languages, i,e., Latin-based, and virtually all Semitic languages, such as Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic, do so, as well.
Third, Jesus tells us Peter knows who the Savior really is, not by "flesh and blood" but by "hath revealed it." "It" is a specific revelation from God, ἀπεκάλυψέν [apekalypsen], verb, aorist indicative active, 3rd person singular; to uncover, or reveal something.
Therefore, the correct sense of verse 18, as revealed by analysis of verse 17 from Greek is, according to Christ, himself, "You are Peter [an apostle] and upon [revelation from God - from verse 17] I will build my church..."
