Bible Version	Date	Translation of Matthew 10:8	Translation of Greek word daimonia
King James Version: word order incorrect.	1611	Heale the sicke, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out deuils...	deuils
King James Version (Blaney's revision): word order still incorrect.	1769	Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils...	devils
Revised Version (RV): correction of word order in the RV and in subsequent modern versions; correction of translation of daimonia as "devils" in the appendix of the RV and in the text of subsequent modern versions.	1881, 1885	Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils...	devils
"The seal of Christian Science" on Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, etc.	1881 to present	Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons...	demons
American Standard Version	1901	Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons...	demons
Revised Standard Version	1946, 1952	Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons...	demons
New Revised Standard Version	1989	Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons...	demons
Today's English Version	1966, 1971, 1976, 1992	Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, heal those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases, and drive out demons...	demons

 

The "seal of Christian Science," which includes the trademarked "Cross and the Crown" design, has the words, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." This wording is not from the King James Version [KJV]. The wording is identical with the 1901 American Standard Version [ASV] translation of Matthew 10:8. This quotation is on the cover of every authorized copy of Mary Baker. Eddy's writings and on or within the cover of all the Christian Science periodicals. This is one of two very prominent places where Mrs. Eddy chose not to use the KJV. Instead she used the wording preferred by the American scholars in the RV translation project, as ultimately represented in the American Standard Version [ASV]. (See the above table of translations of Matthew 10:8.)

The other very prominant place was on the editorial page of the very first issue of The Christian Science Monitor in 1908. That editorial page carried the 1901 ASV translation of Mark 4:28, "First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." It still remains on the editorial page of today's Monitor.

Note: The American Standard Version [ASV] Bible was first published in 1901. It is basically the American version of the RV. Though the RV was actually initiated by the English, it almost immediately became a joint English-American project. For the most part the ASV is the RV with American spellings and American idiomatic expressions, but there are some differences from the RV in interpretation and in word usage. The ASV is essentially based upon the same documents and research data that were used for the RV.

In both Matthew 10:8 and Mark 4:28, the ASV differs from both the RV and the KJV. The wordings in the RV verses are almost identical with the KJV wordings, except for one significant difference. The KJV word order for Matthew 10:8 reflects the errors of the Greek word order in the TR. On the other hand, the word order on the "seal of Christian Science," in the RV, and in the ASV all agree with the Greek word order in Westcott and Hort's Greek text, upon which the RV and ASV were based.

Note: At that time Westcott and Hort's Greek text was the most reliable version publicly available.

Curiously, when the "seal of Christian Science" first appeared, in the 1881 Third Edition of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy used exactly the same Matthew 10:8 wording that ultimately appeared in the ASV, but the ASV Bible was not published until 1901! American biblical scholarship, which ultimately published the ASV, had been part of the RV translation effort since 1870.

In that original 1881 edition of the Revised Version of the New Testament, the English scholars agreed to publish the American Committee's preferred "readings and renderings" in an Appendix for a fourteen year period, and the American Committee agreed not to publish an American edition of the Revised Version (which was to include textual changes reflecting the American Committee's preferences) for the same fourteen year period.

{Note: The "Preface to the American Version" [ASV, 1901, page iii] stated: }

In the course of the joint labors of the English and American Revisors it was agreed that, respecting all points of ultimate difference, the English Companies, who had the initiative in the work of revision, should have the decisive vote. But as an offset to this, it was proposed on the British side that the American preferences should be published as an Appendix in every copy of the Revised Bible during a term of fourteen years. The American Committee on their part pledged themselves to give, for the same limited period, no sanction to the publication of any other editions of the Revised Version than those issued by the University Presses of England.

Less than two months after the initial publication of the RV in England in 1881, Mrs. Eddy not only had obtained a copy of that brand-new RV New Testament, but she also had used that RV New Testament to determine the text on the first appearance the "seal of Christian Science" in the 1881 edition of Science and Health. However, the text of the RV read as follows:

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out ³devils:

What Mrs. Eddy did was to use the basic text of the RV but also to substitute "demons" in the place of "devils." In the RV's margin, immediately to the right of that text of Matthew 10:8 is the marginal note,

³Gr. demons.

This marginal note indicates that the meaning of the Greek word translated as "devils" in the RV is actually "demons." And in the appendix, the RV's "List of readings and renderings preferred by the American Committee" stated,

VIII. Substitute for "devil" ("devils") the word "demon" ("demons") wherever the latter word is given in the margin (or represents the Greek words daimon, daimonion)...

In Matthew 8:10, "demons" was the rendering of daimonia (the accusative plural form of daimonion), which was preferred by the American scholars who had collaborated on the RV translation. This is exactly the wording that the American scholars used when in 1901 they published the ASV. The ASV reads: "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons:..." This is also exactly the text that Mrs. Eddy had used on "the seal of Christian Science" twenty years earlier in 1881, when she had followed the recommendations of the RV's American scholars.

All of this attests both to Mrs. Eddy's honesty in representing the Scriptures and to her vision, willingness, and courage to use wording that not only was different from the much maligned RV but different from the revered King James Version itself. The inspiring conclusion on this matter is that the wording of the Matthew 10:8 text that Mrs. Eddy chose for the "seal of Christian Science" and the wording for the Mark 4:28 text that she chose for The Christian Science Monitor were enduringly accurate, and their textual basis and language appear destined to stand the test of time. This brings to mind an interesting comment that Mrs. Eddy made in 1886 (Miscellaneous Writings, page 363:27-5):

The Bible is the learned man's masterpiece, the ignorant man's dictionary, the wise man's directory. I foresee and foresay that every advancing epoch of Truth will be characterized by a more spiritual apprehension of the Scriptures, that will show their marked consonance with the textbook of Christian Science Mind-healing, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Interpreting the Word in the "new tongue," whereby the sick are healed, naturally evokes new paraphrase from the world of letters.

And in 1891 Mrs. Eddy wrote (No and Yes, page 15:7-12):

Fatiguing Bible translations and voluminous commentaries are employed to explain and prop old creeds, and they have the civil and religious arms in their defense; then why should not these be equally extended to support the Christianity that heals the sick?

For more information about the Greek text from which the KJV New Testament was translated, and its impact on the accuracy of the KJV translation, browse http://www.bibletexts.com/kjv-tr.htm.

For more information about the history of the use of other, non-KJV English versions in the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lessons and in Christian Science church services, browse http://www.bibletexts.com/bl-ver.htm.