Introducing: The Concordant Literal New Testament.

THIS IS THE STUDY BIBLE FOR ANYONE WHO REALLY WANTS TO KNOW WHAT GOD’S WORD ACTUALLY SAYS.

Dear Fellow Bible Student and Believer,

Words matter. Words reveal ideas. Words reveal intent. Words reveal purpose.

And of course, God’s word matters.

And… If God’s word is not translated correctly, how are we to know the mind of God?

What if there was a translation of the Bible that strips away “the middle man”? A translation that gives you the exact words that you’ll find in the oldest Bible manuscripts? Not a translation that is made with pre-conceived notions about religion, theology, or man’s ideas? Not a “loosely” translated bible? But what if there was a Bible translation that stuck to “just the facts”.

What if the word was plural vs. singular?

What if the sentence was missing a verb or a preposition or a comma?

What if the verb tense was present tense vs. past tense?

What if a given noun was understood to mean one thing in the first century, but now, 2,000 years later, we’ve totally gotten away from that understanding and “forced” our own ideas on that word?

For all these reasons and more you need to check out the Concordant Literal New Testament.

The big idea behind this translation is this:

Each Greek word in the New Testament, “should” be translated by only ONE English word… as near as possible. Of course sometimes you must account for some weird idiom in Greek, or some weird English idiom. For example, in English, we don’t use “double negatives”… But that may not be true in the 1^st century Greek language.

But apart from idioms, what would happen if you made a “literal” translation where ONE Greek word in the Bible, is translated by ONE word in English?

Might this clear up any confusion and misunderstanding about God’s purpose, God’s plan, and salvation itself? You bet it would.

If God actually had a meaning behind each word used in the bible, it would be extremely helpful to know the exact word used, right? You bet.

Here are two examples:

1. “Hell” is an English word, not a Greek word, but an English word. But in all the popular Bible translations (like the King James Version) “hell” could be a reference to “gehenna”, “hades”, or “tartarus”. – Three different Greek words, all translated “hell” in most Bible versions.

But not in the Concordant Literal New Testament. (CLNT) There, you’ll find the Greek word “gehenna” is translated “gehenna” in English.

And “Hades” is translated “Hades” in in English.

And “Tartarus” is translated “Tartarus”… three Greek words get three English word in the CLNT.

Is this an important distinction? We think so, since there is so much discussion in Christian circles about what exactly is “hell”. If God’s word used three different words, they may or may not be referring to the same thing, but shouldn’t we know that it’s a different word under discussion? It might help us understand the mind of God. And that’s the goal of reading the bible, after all.

Consider another example:

The English word “eternal” is just one English word use to represent some of the occurrences of the Greek word “Aion”. However, many popular English Bible translations also use “forever, “world” “age” and “never” etc. to also characterize this Greek word (Aion). Can you see how the confusion might begin?

So, you’ll be glad to know that the Concordant Literal New Testament picked the ONE English word “Eon” to represent EVERY occurrence of the Greek word “Aion”. And guess what? It grammatically works.

And… It actually clears up a lot of confusion regarding TIME, prophecies, past, present and future…

By consistently following this principle (one English word representing only one Greek word of the New Testament) you will come away with a different understanding of the Bible’s teachings.

CLNT VS KJV

Consider John 3:16. It’s a very popular verse. Here’s how the CLNT handles the verse compared to the King James Version:

KJV: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

CLNT: For thus God loves the world, so that He gives His only-begotten Son, that everyone who is believing in Him should not be perishing, but may be having life eonian.

The verb tense is striking in the CLNT. In the Greek language of the time, you’ll see it’s more of a TIMELESS verb tense than a past tense or even a present tense.

“For thus God loves the world”… timeless fact.

“…that he gives His only-begotten Son”… timeless fact.

“…believing in Him” … timeless fact.

“…not be perishing…” timeless fact.

“…may be having…” timeless.

The serious Bible student needs to grab a copy of the Concordant Literal New Testament. It opens up a new understanding of God, His purpose and plan.

And get this… by following this “concordant principle” of making a translation of ONE English word representing only ONE Greek word (as near as possible)… almost anyone can make this version of the Bible and it would be relatively the same translation. In other words, this principle does not rely on “an expert”. In other words, it eliminates the need for a “middle man”.

It actually puts God’s word in your hands.

The work to create the Concordant Literal New Testament started in about 1900. So, for over 100 years, serious students of God’s word have gone over every word in the New Testament. In fact, long before computers, the Concordant Publishing Concern (the publishers of the CLNT) the researchers created a huge 3X5 index card file of every New Testament word and EVERY PLACE where that word showed up in the New Testament.

It was a complete concordance of all these words. Finally, after every Greek word was cataloged, an English word was chosen to represent each of those words (unless some grammatical idiom demanded an alternative).

Can you trust the Concordant Literal New Testament? That question would be better applied to all over versions of the Bible. Why? Because all other versions of the Bible rely on the “smarts” of the translators. “Middle men” so to speak. But this version (the CLNT) does not rely on “middle men” to be “smart”… instead, it just gives you the facts of what was said and it does not try to overwhelm you with an interpretation that’s pre-conceived, or hidden behind some theological agenda.

Even though the CLNT has been around for 100+ years, it has never been wildly popular, as you might expect. Why? Well, truthfully, most Christians are not serious Bible students. Nor are they even aware that a more honest, reliable translation of the Bible exists. But if you’re the kind of person who wants to get at the truth of what’s revealed in the Word Of God, the Concordant Literal New Testament should be your handy study Bible.

Go back, for a moment to John 3:16. The language of the CLNT is so much more moving than what you’ll find in the KJV. “God loves the world.” “He gives his Son.” There is something there to draw you in closer to God. Something you might miss if you’re only using the popular translations of the Bible.

Stop what you’re doing and order a copy of The Concordant Literal New Testament. You can get one for as little as $10 bucks. And it just might be the best $10 bucks you’ve ever spent.

And as Paul was fond of saying in his letters, “Grace to you.”

Sincerely

Linwood Austin